Arch Daily |
- The Point / Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt
- Villa Mediterraneo 01 / Metroarea Architetti Associati
- M'ARS Centre for Multimedia Arts in Abrau-Durso / NOWADAYS office
- Baomaru House / Rieuldorang Atelier
- U38 House / OfficeAT
- The Garden of Forking Paths / officePROJECT
- Bramasole / Herbst Architects
- Aedas Wins Competition for Dragon/Phoenix-Inspired Transportation Hub in Sanya, China
- Casa Villaggio / Sacha Zanin
- Who Should Win the 2017 Pritzker Prize?
- Owensboro-Davies County Convention Center / Trahan Architects
- Robert A.M. Stern Awarded the AIA's 2017 Topaz Medallion
- Omicron Campus / Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten
- Real Takes on Real(ly Successful) Housing Experiments
- ZEN-Houses / Petr Stolín Architekt
- The Anatomy of an Architect
- Utopia Arkitekter Proposes a Green Growth-Ring in Gothenburg
| The Point / Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Posted: 13 Dec 2016 09:00 PM PST  © Hufton+Crow
 © Hufton+Crow From the architect. The new two-storey, 410m2 building caters for around 100 young adults and houses two multi-purpose halls, music room and recording studio, café, a series of activity pods and break-out spaces as well as an outside recreation space. The £860,000 project is used by 11-19 year olds during weekday afternoons and evenings and is available to the wider community during the daytime and weekends.  © Hufton+Crow The Point is a project for the community and by the community. The young people of Tadley worked in collaboration with the architects to create ideas and develop the design through a series of workshops and consultations events. Their ideas and aspirations were supported and brought to life through the town's residents who voted to have an uplift on their own council tax charge to help fund the project – for every £1 contributed by Tadley council taxpayers, the Tadley District and Community Association secured an additional £2.88 in grants or donations towards the project.  © Hufton+Crow  Ground Floor Site Plan  © Hufton+Crow  First Floor Roof Plan Situated on a vacant parcel of land to the rear of the existing 1980s Community Centre, The Point is modern and playful, complementing the scale of the surrounding buildings. The L-shaped configuration and striking roof form create an entrance courtyard space against the existing building, while the eaves to the rear is kept low to avoid overbearing to neighbouring properties.  © Hufton+Crow Dark grey fibre cement cladding acts as the skin of the building, wrapping around the roof and walls to create a seamless mass into which windows and openings are punched. These breaks in the form introduce warmer timber tones through timber veneered rainscreen cladding which in turn reveal the internal spaces beyond. Inside, walls and ceilings use birch faced plywood while the exposed roof structure is made of glued laminated timber and plywood panels. The timber-framed wall panels and floor cassettes were prefabricated offsite for improved quality control and to speed up the construction time.  © Hufton+Crow A generous entrance space opens onto a floated concrete floor that complements the tones of timber while providing a hardwearing surface that will stand the test of time. The building plan is based around a flexible 'spine wall' of storage and activity pods. These pods are conceived as 'secret spaces' situated throughout the building. At ground floor a café/kitchen space and large multipurpose hall form the main spaces while the upper level houses a fully equipped music room and recording studio, breakout spaces, meeting room and another multipurpose hall.  © Hufton+Crow Outside, a generous recreation area provides activity spaces for both the existing Community Centre and The Point while a new pedestrian walkway and raised sculptural seating emphasise the main entrance.  © Hufton+Crow 'We worked closely with the young people of Tadley to develop a sculptural design that is a landmark building for them and the wider community. But more than that it's somewhere they can truly call their own.  Process Text The roof, with its dark folded 'cloak' appearance, gives the building a contemporary edge while internally a series of uplifting spaces create an environment the young people want to use everyday.' - David Ayre, Director, Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt  © Hufton+Crow 'Since we started working with Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt on the initial Feasibility Study, they have demonstrated a complete understanding of our original brief that The Point should have a distinctive identity of its own - influenced by the youngsters themselves. What has been delivered is a wonderful interpretation of those ideas.' - Adrian Noad, Chairman, Tadley & District Community Association This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Villa Mediterraneo 01 / Metroarea Architetti Associati Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:00 PM PST  © Fernando Alda
 © Fernando Alda From the architect. The main concept of the building is the fusion of the Mediterranean culture with the natural environment.  © Fernando Alda Inspired by the roman villa and by Spanish and Arab heritage, the house takes form through the natural lexicon of Italian expressionism (Moretti, Michelucci etc.), which also maintains a strong memory of Rudolf Steiner. For Metroarea, infact, designing a contemporary building in 2016 means establishing a dedicated dialogue with history and with nature.  © Fernando Alda So for example the continuous inside outside relationship obtained by the big glass windows, is filtered by hanging gardens, canopies and custom made bamboo shutters, that are a reminiscence of the traditional awnings and latticework Moucharabieh.  Diagram The typical central patio is the fulcrum of a complex network of multi level paths and, at the same time, as the impluvium was used to gather water, it is enriched by a waterfall and creek that connects the two swimming pools.  © Fernando Alda The Villa shape, follows the natural slope of the ground and it is lying perfectly on the hill, in a shape the reminds of an amphitheater, surrounded by nature.  © Fernando Alda  Second Floor  © Fernando Alda The use of simple materials like irregular board formed concrete and drywalls, underlines the desire to avoid a popular image of luxury, while instead pursuing a connection with the island, the ground and its tradition. The result is thus informal and hospitable, according to the lessons of Busiri Vici, Couelle and Vietti.  © Fernando Alda Product Description. Most of material is custom made or produced on site. The use of simple materials like irregular board formed concrete and drywalls, underlines the desire to avoid a popular image of luxury, while instead pursuing a connection with the island, the ground and its tradition. The result is thus informal and hospitable, according to the lessons of Busiri Vici, Couelle and Vietti. Custom made bamboo shutters are a reminiscence of the traditional awnings and latticework Moucharabieh. Concrete was produced on site as no cement plant on the island could guarantee concrete density.  © Fernando Alda This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| M'ARS Centre for Multimedia Arts in Abrau-Durso / NOWADAYS office Posted: 13 Dec 2016 06:00 PM PST  © Pavel Seldemirov
 © Pavel Seldemirov From the architect. This project of transforming part of a former sparkling wine factory into a multimedia art center was inspired by a genuine interest in the history of the building and executed through a series of light — both in terms of the artwork material and the manner — interventions into the space.  © Pavel Seldemirov MARS, the first contemporary art gallery to be founded in post-Soviet Moscow, now functions as an innovative multimedia art institution. In May 2016, a new MARS center was opened amidst Abrau-Durso's idyllic scenery — a picturesque locale in the South of Russia. The gallery spans the entire first floor of the stone-clad champagne factory.  © Pavel Seldemirov The Nowadays team decided to keep the hallmarks of its industrial past — factory switches and breaker boxes — intact and execute all the interventions in a delicate and respectful way, preserving the historical layers. All the navigation elements designed by a Moscow based MANEGE development department are put together using materials "native" to contemporary multimedia art — differently sized LED-tubes and thin black metal sheets.  Axonometric While the white box has long been established as a default setting for traditional forms of 'low-tech' art, high-tech multimedia art usually requires a black box to bring out all of its features. But the monotonous black space can bore, tire and disorient the visitor. The Nowadays office decided to execute the gallery project as a sequence of 'black' (dark) and 'white' (well-lit) spaces, where most of the artworks are stored inside the rooms (boxes, essentially) which are carefully installed within the existing interior. This approach also serves the goal of delicately incorporating the new into the old.  © Pavel Seldemirov Some of the rooms functioning as artwork containers are boxed-off with chemically treated rainbow steel — a aid to emphasise both the industrial spirit of the space and the ephemerality of the light-based artwork.  © Pavel Seldemirov The new concrete floor doesn't touch the walls, but keeps it's polite distance from the historical elements of the building. This gap that is filled with gravel-stones collected from the lakeshore is also creating nests for the soft LED-lighting.  © Pavel Seldemirov The biggest intervention is in the corridor, where the registration desk and lockers are merged into one solid steel sculpture, providing an exciting preface to the exhibition.  © Pavel Seldemirov On the opposite side — at the end of the exhibition — there is a secret room where, due to its geographic orientation, beautiful rays of light create a poetic atmosphere almost all-day-round. There is no artwork but visitors are encouraged to put on one of the VR-helmets that are offered and take a simulated tour of the Moscow MARS center. Not a teleportation hall, but close enough.  © Pavel Seldemirov Product Description. One of the most aesthetically prominent materials of this project is galvanized steel. Galvanization that produces a rainbow effect on the metal surface is normally used to treat small metal elements, such as framing nails, rolled angles, etc., to make them durable and rust-resistant. We were genuinely inspired by those multicolor blotches and decided to experiment with the same technology and material but on a larger surface — as large as the size of galvanizing bath allows. So our partners, Moscow based multi-functional production company Macrofabrica used galvanization on 1800 x 900 cm steel sheets. The outcome was used to make polychromatic metal boxes for exhibiting individual artworks - to emphasize both the industrial spirit of the space and the ephemerality of the light-based artwork.  © Pavel Seldemirov This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Baomaru House / Rieuldorang Atelier Posted: 13 Dec 2016 02:00 PM PST  © Yoon, Joonhwan
 © Yoon, Joonhwan The clients who had a great deal of fatigue in working and in the urban environment asked to us design a house surrounded by nature. They had a desire for a unique space that was different from the apartment where they lived.  © Yoon, Joonhwan The site is a steep slope with mountains in the back. We did not want to design on the land properly arranged by cutting the ground or build up the soil . The point was to actively use the surrounding natural environment and land while comply with slope of the land and overturns the concept of the building form what people think.  © Yoon, Joonhwan  Floor Plan  © Yoon, Joonhwan  Floor Plan  © Yoon, Joonhwan The house in the ground, the nature in the house. A house-shaped white shell is the space embrace the nature. The residential space lower than the ground level enables a variety of spatial experiences through the skip floor planning. By reversing the shape of the land and the house, we wanted to think about the relationship between house and nature and notion of form.  © Yoon, Joonhwan Product Description. Dirt runs off with the water that falls on the facade. The Lotusan exterior coating possesses a highly water-repellent surface similar to that of the lotus leaf. Its microstructure has been modeled on the lotus plant to minimize the contact area for water and dirt.  © Yoon, Joonhwan This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:00 PM PST  © Rungkit Charoenwat
 © Rungkit Charoenwat From the architect. SITE: The U38 house is located in Bangkok, Thailand. The 400 sqm house was designed for a couple and a child in the site next to the husband existing family house surrounded by typical suburban houses.  © Rungkit Charoenwat  © Rungkit Charoenwat STRUCTURE: Since the owner and also a builder himself need to complete a house within 4 months, architect decided to use very simple steel structure on 6 by 5 meter grid to build it as fast as possible.  Diagram PROGRAM: The program is a 2 story house. Architect place the building on one side to keep some space for green area & swimming pool with carport at the front. On the ground floor including open plan of living room and dining room which are facing onto swimming pool and outdoor terrace. The second floor is composed of master bedroom, son bedroom and family room.  © Rungkit Charoenwat  Floor Plan 01  © Rungkit Charoenwat SCREEN: In order to protect Heat from the Tropical climate of South East Asia and creates privacy for the 2nd floor. Architect design a long terrace on the side to keep the room from the heat outside and moveable recycles wood skin panels over glass layer for more privacy and heat protection.  © Rungkit Charoenwat MATERIALS: Architect chose nature material for this house by use steel structure, painted plastered wall and brick wall and wood lattice.  © Rungkit Charoenwat This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Garden of Forking Paths / officePROJECT Posted: 13 Dec 2016 11:00 AM PST  © Sun Haiting
 © Sun Haiting From the architect. 40 days from design to construction completed-How to transfer a half-way building into a co-working factory  Before  Implantation and Demolition Diagram  © Sun Haiting Longyue Hotel is a unfinished building for 10 years in Tianjin. OfficePROJECT was invited to transfer this abandoned 5000spm hotel space into a co-working model.  © Sun Haiting The first step is to catch the identity of the existing space. The space is high and empty. The rough feeling of an unfinished atmosphere is attractive and fascinating. We want to keep this identity as implanting several different space installation. Some different routes and experiences were set to encourage the communication and interaction between people and the primitive space. Through these paths, people start to encounter and observer. A new observation network formed. The desire of space exploration becomes the motivity of the creative productivity.  Spatial Installation Diagram "wander","watch","enclosure","fold", "look","traverse","loop". These installations explain some basic ways of spacial experiences. We interacted these experiences as an complicated "The Garden of Forking Paths". In this Borges' novel, time sometimes endless, sometimes become a loop. The major character chose all possibilities. Different ending generated. This is the idea of today's internet. An echo here presented between online and offline.  © Sun Haiting  © Sun Haiting  © Sun Haiting These installations have two materials- OSB boards and stressed steel panels. These two materials forms contrasts in different way with the primitive concrete space. These contrasts lead the breaking of the familiarity.  © Sun Haiting  © Sun Haiting  © Sun Haiting 15 days form schematic design to construct drawings, 30 days of construction, this is an informal design process. This process represented a normal condition in China's renovation projects nowadays.  1F Plan  2F Plan This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2016 09:00 AM PST  © Patrick Reynolds
 © Lance Herbst The site's previous existence was a market garden with shelterbelts forming large outdoor rooms. Our client then planted part of the site with vineyards and fenced off paddocks for horses. He built a barn and a dressage arena.  © Lance Herbst The house presented an opportunity to bring order to the large site.  © Lance Herbst The gabion basket walls start low demarcating entry points and rise up to form the anchor wall of the house.  © Patrick Reynolds The house has 3 positive elements with negative spaces between. These positive elements house the Lania, the garage and the bedrooms. They are articulated as simple box forms with weathered timber planked skins referencing agrarian crates. The giant crates form the edges to the negative spaces and frame views of the site.  © Lance Herbst  Floor Plan  © Lance Herbst The primary negative space is the living room pavilion situated between the Lania and bedroom box. A oating roof caps the living room tipping up toward the south light and allowing a view of the tree top foliage. It is intended that the expansive roof gives the building a scale appropriate to the scale of the land.  © Patrick Reynolds The living pavilion extends west to form a terrace and east to trap a sheltered courtyard with tree and water feature. To the north a large sun terrace.  © Patrick Reynolds The house is elevated on a blockwork plinth to lift it out of the potentially soggy homogenous land. This height allows the boxes to oat, gives the occupants a view over the vineyards and brings them closer to the eye height of the horseman. The plinth, intersected and edged by the gabions serves to blind the positive and negative spaces.  © Patrick Reynolds This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aedas Wins Competition for Dragon/Phoenix-Inspired Transportation Hub in Sanya, China Posted: 13 Dec 2016 08:15 AM PST .jpg?1481663316 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas Aedas has been selected as the winner of a competition for a new mixed-use tourist and transportation hub in Sanya, China. To be located in front of the existing Sanya High-Speed Railway Station, the Sanya Integrated Commercial and Transportation Hub will feature a variety of public program elements serving visitors to the city. .jpg?1481663255 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas The design of the complex has been inspired by forms of the Chinese dragon and phoenix. On the ground level, a retail podium will be accessed through an interior shopping street/village. Other elements will include a hotel, serviced apartments, a wedding and event hall, a cinema, a children's playground and a sky garden, all linked together via a continuous canopy system. .jpg?1481663188 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas .jpg?1481663175 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas The complex will be linked to the nearby rail and train stations, as well as the bus terminal, making it easily accessible to the public, and will be integrated into the masterplan for the area, envisioned by Aedas in 2012. .jpg?1481663201 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas The project is expected to be completed in 2019. News via Aedas. .jpg?1481663286 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas .jpg?1481663215 "Courtesy of Aedas") Courtesy of Aedas
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| Posted: 13 Dec 2016 07:00 AM PST  © Marcelo Donadussi
 © Marcelo Donadussi Home in a residential neighborhood in the city of Erechim, located in the northern region of RS state, 390 km from the capital Porto Alegre.  © Marcelo Donadussi Created to functionally accommodate the lifestyle of a couple, the design of the Villaggio House was conceived with well-defined conditions: to preserve the topography and the woods, to be used as an area of leisure, contemplation, privacy, and integration with nature, and to be easily accessible, keeping it to one level without any stairs.  © Marcelo Donadussi Thus, the main house was located on an area of elevated terrain, out of the woods and distant from contact with the street, in a position of topographic declivity. The reception room was placed opposite the house with the woods in between. The woods, besides an area for leisure and contemplation, sets an element of privacy and coolness.  © Marcelo Donadussi  Sections  © Marcelo Donadussi The solution found was the use of a metal structure. The house is a large platform above the land slope, like a tree house, with sustaining metal arms, overhanging a garden. This choice of structure opened the way for plasticity and lightness. Along with providing generous spans, the metal structure contrasts with other elements like concrete, wood and glass.  © Marcelo Donadussi When the house is open, the feeling is that the indoor and outdoor environments interconnect, rendering the size of the rooms even larger, since the integration with nature is constant.  Floor Plan The roofs are actual hanging gardens, shaped by beds of foliage, flowers and grass, that turn into an extension of the patio. The benefits of the roof garden are not restricted to the landscape aesthetic aspect, they influence the thermic and acoustic quality of the environment, and provide more delay time in the absorption of pluvial water on the land.  © Marcelo Donadussi Noteworthy in this project is that the respect to the topography of the land and to the existing nature was integrated to technology for the comfort of the dwellers. The few walls in the design are made with light elements, composed by cement plates, OSB wood panels and drywall panels filled in with rockwool sheets. The house also received an automation system, which enables control of different electronic circuits even at a distance with a mobile phone application that activates lights, security cameras or the alarm system, as well as opens shades and canopies or operates the garden watering system, all integrated within one system.  © Marcelo Donadussi More than the project of a house, the aspiration was to design a place to live fully.  © Marcelo Donadussi This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Who Should Win the 2017 Pritzker Prize? Posted: 13 Dec 2016 06:00 AM PST  The end of 2016 is nearly upon us, and with the start of 2017 comes speculation about who will be the next Pritzker Prize winner. Will the jury honor an influential member of the "old guard," as they did in 2015 when they bestowed the award upon the late Frei Otto? Or will they recognize a young architect who is redefining the profession, as they did when they selected Alejandro Aravena earlier this year? Will they reward virtuoso spatial design, or will they once again acknowledge the role of social impact, as they did in recognizing Aravena and Shigeru Ban in 2014? Will the award go to an individual or to two or more architects working together, as it did in 2010 when SANAA scooped the prize? We want to hear from our readers – not just about who probably will win the prize, but about who should win the prize, and why. Read on to cast your vote in our poll, and let us know in the comments whose name you'd like to hear announced in 2017. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Owensboro-Davies County Convention Center / Trahan Architects Posted: 13 Dec 2016 05:00 AM PST  © Timothy Hursley
 © Timothy Hursley Owensboro is the county seat of Daviess County in north-central Kentucky. Originally part of Shawnee territory, white settlers first arrived there in the 1700s. Over time the city played a role in the Civil War era, serving as an important river port, which continues to this day. The city's environs gave birth to the Bluegrass sound in American music, starting in the 1930s and 40s, continuing on through today.  © Timothy Hursley The site of the new convention center on the Ohio River bank was previously occupied by the Executive Inn which accommodated performances by many of the most popular singers at the time. To serve this wide range of activities, programs and events, as well as to provide an important economic development tool, the city undertook the development of a new convention center which includes over 40,000 sf of exhibition space, nearly 30,000 sf of meeting space and extensive public lobbies, as well as service and support facilities.  © Timothy Hursley Organized on two levels with the halls at grade and the meeting and banquet facilities above, the complex acts as a beacon on the River, signaling the extraordinary ambitions of this community. The exhibition halls and meeting facilities are distinguished by views out to the River while the lobbies overlook the historic downtown.  © Timothy Hursley Set in a newly developed riverside park, the facility will join a recently completed performing arts center and an expanded Bluegrass Museum honoring the city's remarkable history of public amenities unusual in communities of this scale.  Floor Plan Level 01 Product Description. The vertically brushed finishes on anodized aluminum panels on the exterior refer to woodgrain on the tobacco barns. "It was a move we chose from a finish standpoint to keep the exterior tight, taught and smooth," says Brad McWirther, Design Director at Trahan Architects. "We tried to create this smooth, vertical finish that would allow the building to feel like these vertical panels are very similar to the vertical woodgraining of the barns. When the sun hits them, there's this vertical reflection, very similar to some of those woodgrains that you see on the tobacco barns." .jpg?1481396257 "© Timothy Hursley") © Timothy Hursley This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Robert A.M. Stern Awarded the AIA's 2017 Topaz Medallion Posted: 13 Dec 2016 04:35 AM PST  Tour Carpe Diem / Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Image © Peter Aaron / OTTO Following the announcements of the 2017 AIA Gold Medal and Architecture Firm of the Year winners, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of three other national awards: the Edward C. Kemper Award,the Topaz Medallion, and the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award.  Robert A.M. Stern. Image © Flickr user pneedham. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 The 2017 Topaz Medallion, given each year by the AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) to "an individual who has been intensely involved in architecture education for more than a decade and whose teaching has influenced a broad range of students," has been awarded to Robert A.M. Stern, FAIA. Stern is well known for his dual careers as founding partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and former Dean of Yale University's School of Architecture, a position in which he served for over 20 years. In bestowing the award, the AIA noted Stern's remarkable ability to demonstrate "that architecture can be powerful and inspiring by bringing time-honored forms and proportions to bear on a modern world."  Recovery Park Urban Farming / Detroit Collaborative Design Center. Image Courtesy of Detroit Collaborative Design Center The 2017 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, honoring architects and organizations that champion a range of social issues, including affordable housing, minority inclusion and access for persons with disabilities, was awarded to Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) for their work in amplifying "the diminished voices of all citizens through a wide variety of design projects in its hometown and across the country." DCDC is housed within the School of Architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy, and has been modeled after a teaching hospital, pairing 1-4 student interns within 7 design professionals to envision innovation architectural solutions that empower communities. Projects have ranged from playgrounds, to community how-to guides, to urban gardens to social media campaigns.  Tour Carpe Diem / Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Image © Peter Aaron / OTTO The third award, the 2017 Edward C. Kemper Award for professional service, has been given to Ronald Skaggs, for his "uncanny ability to recruit, mentor, and involve others in projects and causes." Among other accomplishments, Skaggs served as the 76th President of AIA National in 2000, establishing the AIA's first finance committee and strengthening ties with professional architects' associations around the globe. You can read more about this year's recipients via the following links: News via AIA. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Omicron Campus / Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten Posted: 13 Dec 2016 03:00 AM PST  © Bruno Klomfar
 © Bruno Klomfar From the architect. OMICRON, a globally active company, is currently expanding its development center in Vorarlberg, Austria. This involves the erection of a new building that provides space for approximately 200 office workplaces and additional facilities. The concepts realized in the already existing OMICRON building are continued: adaptable office units are situated around three open courtyards. These so called 'hotspots′ function as hubs that connect the different sections of the building. Their design aims at stimulating communication and creative thinking. Planning and realization of the hotspots took place in close collaboration with Martin Rauch and Anna Heringer (clay), Border Architects (light ceilings) and Eichinger Offices (wood). The green roof compensates for the loss of green space as a consequence of the construction of the new building.  © Bruno Klomfar OMICRON′s workplace culture emphasizes flat hierarchies as well as open and transparent communication. This is reflected in the architecture. The courtyards feature an open layout and are easily accessible for employees and visitors. Meeting rooms, storage spaces and other facilities are situated on the ground floor. The upper floors host office units. Their size can be easily adapted in order to accommodate the needs of the different teams. The contrast between structured tasks that demand high concentration, and creative thinking tasks that require an environment without artificial limits, is reflected in the architecture.  © Bruno Klomfar .jpg?1481190601 "Floor Plan") Floor Plan  © Bruno Klomfar The high quality working places are equipped with cooling ceilings and most office units have direct access to the exterior. The lighting arrangements are designed to help foster the well-being of the employees. Special glass panes, which facilitate the flow of the natural light, are used. The artificial lighting emulates the daylight and changes over the course of the day.  © Bruno Klomfar The building is energetically optimized. Future extensions are possible by connecting the already existing building with the newly constructed one. This next step would create another 150 working places.  © Bruno Klomfar This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Real Takes on Real(ly Successful) Housing Experiments Posted: 13 Dec 2016 01:30 AM PST  The challenges associated with the provision of adequate and affordable housing around the world demand that architects respond with original solutions that challenge traditional building forms, typologies and methods of delivery. In recognition of this demand, last month's World Architecture Festival in Berlin chose housing as its thematic focus. The festival made headlines with Patrik Schumacher's inflammatory keynote speech that called for cities to be turned over entirely to market forces, scrapping social housing and privatizing all public space. The controversy that followed belied the diversity of the discourse on housing at the Festival and the presentation of innovative architectural responses to housing challenges. The WAF also presented a panel, curated and produced by PLANE–SITE, that brought together the architects of four inventive housing projects. These projects represent a diversity of approaches to similar housing challenges across radically different global contexts. From the redensification of European urban centers to the rapid urbanization of the tropical Asian megacity, these radical housing models challenged existing paradigms in order to advance resident well-being as their principle design concern. In contrast to Schumacher's divisive speech, the panel illustrated projects that were deliberately designed to promote community life and social interaction between residents – and in some cases also with other citizens in spaces that blur the line between public and private. Beyond design and construction, the panel presented real, innovative housing projects that are actually now inhabited, exposing the everyday life of the residents. Video portraits prepared in advance supported the architects' presentations. Drawing from residents' own voices, the format investigated how the inventive architectural proposals have actually played out in reality. PLANE–SITE visited each of the projects and interviewed the residents, observing and documenting their lives at home in these experimental projects. Their first hand experiences, unscripted and in their own words, complemented each of the architects' statements and validated their architectural prototypes. R50 Cohousing / ifau und Jesko Fezer + Heide von Beckerath (Berlin, Germany)One of Berlin's most remarkable Baugruppe projects, R50 embodies the essence of participatory planning and collective decision-making. Guided by the architects, residents chose a unifying balcony that connects all the units on the exterior and creates a wrap-around walkway covering the building. Residents also share a rooftop garden and a double-story common space on the ground floor, which has a semi-public program. Coop Housing at Spreefeld / Carpaneto Architekten, Fatkoehl Architekten, BARarchitekten (Berlin, Germany)Located right on the Spree River and open to the public, Spreefeld was developed as a cooperative by a community of people who wanted to live differently. A celebration of communal living, the complex includes "cluster apartments" that are shared by up to 21 people. These units defy conventions of public and private space by adding gradients between the most intimate spaces and the street. On the ground floor are also "option" rooms that were left somewhat unfinished and open-ended, with the intention that they will change over time based on what residents prefer. Timmerhuis / OMA (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)One of the newest buildings to mark the growing Rotterdam skyline, Timmerhuis is an unusual residential project that integrates municipal offices with residences and retail. OMA restored an existing government building and added two mountain-like towers, with generous receding terraces where residents enjoy outdoor space. Despite its glossy finish and detailing, the building houses a diverse demographic, including young families and empty-nesters. SkyVille @ Dawson / WOHA (Singapore)SkyVille is a progressive housing prototype designed by WOHA Architects for the Singaporean national Housing and Development Board (HDB). Sized to accommodate a burgeoning urban population, the building incorporates clever strategies to "domesticate" the large structure by creating smaller, human-scaled communities. Designed to be high-density and high-amenity, the 960 units are laid out in three tower blocks, naturally ventilated by generous interior airwells. Perhaps the most remarkable feature is the rooftop park on the 47th floor, which is accessible to the public for leisure and recreation. Credits: Article Text: Michael Maginness for PLANE–SITE This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| ZEN-Houses / Petr Stolín Architekt Posted: 13 Dec 2016 01:00 AM PST  © Filip Šlapal
From the architect. According to the brief, the future residence had to be created based on a certain product – the basic production modules called SIP (Structural Insulated Panel). .jpg?1481525184 "© Alexandra Timpau") © Alexandra Timpau  Ground Floor Plan .jpg?1481525092 "© Alexandra Timpau") © Alexandra Timpau The philosophy of these houses is based on absolute simplification of the definitions of housing and development. The perimeter of the houses determines the inner space, which is thus disencumbered of all attributes of a classical house. As to the exterior, both volumes separate three external living areas - public, semi-public and private. Thanks to the site composition and large glazing of strategic vistas, the neighboring landscape is always approachable. .jpg?1481524257 "© Alexandra Timpau") © Alexandra Timpau The interior does not look confined even though the external width of the house is 3 meters; the inner space flows towards vistas. However, well-balanced proportions enable a unique spatial experience. The residents have mutual visual contact even between houses and the inner atrium becomes another room for them. The facade should appear as a fine transparent layer allowing the viewer to sense the mass of the house. .jpg?1481525120 "© Alexandra Timpau") © Alexandra Timpau  Exploded Isometry  © Filip Šlapal The severity and simplicity of these objects are inspired by contemporary Japanese architecture. The experimental character of the houses was the conceptual starting point. Yet the deliberate austerity of the achieved forms definitely brings new lifestyle qualities to an environment built in this way. Still, the slight contrast between the home and office proves that the system could be adaptable to a variety of individual solutions and, in this respect, fulfils the concept of a building typology.  © Filip Šlapal This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2016 12:00 AM PST  Courtesy of Leewardists This here is an architect. The architect is a strange sort of a creature. Typically nocturnal, it survives purely on an unhealthy work-life imbalance. After years of primary research, our experts have finally succeeded in dissecting The Architect... Here is an anatomy.  Courtesy of Leewardists Centuries of civilizations built on structures designed by architects and yet, their voice is lost among the countless stories of rulers and armies and sometimes wondrous monsters. The Leewardists are rewriting the contemporary history of our civilization through the voice of this elusive being, The Architect. For more of The Architect Comic Series follow them on Facebook, Instagram or visit their website. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Utopia Arkitekter Proposes a Green Growth-Ring in Gothenburg Posted: 12 Dec 2016 10:00 PM PST  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter As Gothenburg, Sweden's urban fabric begins to change, Utopia Arkitekter have swooped in with a proposed urban plan for the development of Hovås II, located in the south of the city. Their firm's proposal has won the jury's acclaim over Snøhetta and Gehl Architects and they are now moving toward the project's next phase.  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
By integrating the second part of the plan with its adjacent first portion, Utopia's design allows a seamless transition complete with a traffic solution. Showcasing specific qualities inherent to the site will also allow for a vibrant recreational system. (Placing green space in areas that surround the creek contribute to that notion.) Covering a total area of 79,580 square meters, the plan will include 900 residential units, a library, a cultural center, a cinema, swimming pool and almost 50,000 square meters of retail space.  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter Utopia's proposed traffic solutions aim to create a "more coherent neighborhood." Reducing the width of the motorway zone and fluidly transitioning between Hovås I and II are just part of the team's overall goal. Hovås borders both the sea and nature areas of its region, the city will develop into a small-scale "mixed-use" city.  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
While Hovås I centers on proximity to the sea, Hovås II looks toward the lake and nature reserve, with a small footpath that leads to the lake. Extruding the roundabout from the plan will also provide a cleaner composition within the city.  Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
News Via: Utopia Arkitekter This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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