ArchDaily

Arch Daily

Understanding the "Public Interior," From the Palace to the Garden
Pfaffenthal Lift / STEINMETZDEMEYER
Summer House on the Baltic Sea Island / Pluspuu Oy
BE Friendly Space / H&P Architects
22 Toh Yi Road / Ming Architects
Hermès Gion-mise / ODS
The Whyte House / buck&simple
Palermo Named Italian Capital of Culture for 2018
Edmunds.com Headquarters / M+M Creative Studio
RIBA Awards 2017 Royal Gold Medal to Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Winning Times Square Valentine's Day Installation Will Celebrate NYC's Immigrants
Haus D / EBERLE Architekten BDA 
Adjaye, Chipperfield Among 6 Shortlisted in Competition for Edinburgh Concert Hall
Out of the Box / Arjen Reas Architects + Van Voorden Architecture
Future Architecture Platform Reveals 2017 Laureates
Layers and Lighting: How Top Architects Design Fashion Stores to Turn Heads by Day and Night
Città del Sole / Labics
10 Brilliant Tiny Houses that are Revolutionizing Micro-Living
Call for Submissions: Architecture-Themed Valentine's Day Card 2017

Understanding the "Public Interior," From the Palace to the Garden

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 08:00 PM PST

In this article, which originally appeared on BD, Nicholas de Klerk (a London-based Associate Architect at Aukett Swanke) reviews The Public Interior as Idea and Project – a new publication by the Netherlands-based Canadian artist, architectural historian and educator Mark Pimlott.

Mark Pimlott's new book, The Public Interior as Idea and Project (2016), expands on prior publications, notably Without and Within (2007). In this earlier book, Pimlott explored the concept of a 'continuous interior'—examining repetitive spaces which share characteristics—for example, shopping malls and airports, and which, collectively, set about the urbanisation of the American territory.

Public Interior is no less ambitious. It looks closely at the development of a series of themes—the garden, the palace, the ruin, the shed, the machine and the network—all of which formed the subject of a series of lectures given to Masters Students in Architecture at the Delft University of Technology. Through these themes, Pimlott examines different types of interior spaces, which are considered public, not necessarily in terms of ownership, but in terms of their capacity to be taken as 'public, even though they may be privately owned and operated'.

Pimlott first introduces the concept of interiority which emerges from early settlement patterns, and is iterated at every scale – whether "a dwelling, a temple, a settlement, a city or a continental territory." The idea of the interior as relational is one that runs throughout the book, and one of architecture's fundamental roles is to "situate and bind" its sheltered interior to the world. The book performs much the same function, taking each of the public interiors identified in the book and relating them to a wider historical, geographical and social context. This, then, is the project: It shows a city's public interiors as a collection of spaces that reveal something about the city itself and the people who live in it, and how vital these are to civic life and, indeed, survival. The corollary to the relational process of creating an interiority is the ideological process of othering, which is often none too subtly reinforced by cities and their planning, architecture and its interiors. This introduces a thread of political thought to the book which underpins much of the work, emerging clearly again at its conclusion.

The Winter Palace. Image © Marius Grootveld

In the first chapter, Pimlott traces an arc that begins with the idea of landscape and the designed, picturesque garden: "a potent site for contemplation of the world, one's place in it and the conceit of one's dominion over it." The chapter concludes with an exploration of the workplace interior (office landscapes or Bürolandschaft) and internal atria. The office environment is concerned with planning and organisation inasmuch as it describes implicit and explicit power relations. Picturesque landscapes worked in a similar fashion, using vistas and architectural fragments or follies set within pastoral contexts to suggest hierarchies and other forms of control using visual and spatial relationships.

This conception of the designed environment finds one of its greatest forms of expression in the great glass houses, such as Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace built for the 1851 Great Exposition in London's Hyde Park. These glass enclosures were also replicated in greenhouses, conservatories and smaller vitrines and caskets across the country. The building of structures such as these coincided with the rise of bourgeois culture in Northern Europe which was itself, as Pimlott notes, "driven by colonialism, and the subjugation, exploitation and removal of resources from faraway lands by force." These structures and spaces created an internal environment that could contain and sustain plants as well as a wide variety of other objects and artefacts. They demonstrated the empire's reach while also reflecting a mythical, but nonetheless enduring, national self-image of power, influence and beneficence.

Urban parks function in a not dissimilar fashion, as "public interiors within the body of the metropolis" whose carefully crafted, utterly fictional, bucolic landscapes offered a counterpoint to soften and ameliorate their host's urban project. It did this while also suggesting that the countryside outside of the city could be managed or controlled. Office atria, such as in Roche and Dinkeloo's 1969 Ford Foundation in New York, embraced "the idea of a contained pre-urban fragment, representative of indigenous hinterlands – much like the fiction of Olmsted's Central Park."

Palazzo Ducale Urbino IV. Image © Marius Grootveld

Palazzo Ducale, Urbino. Image © Mark Pimlott

The Crystal Palace appears again in Pimlott's chapter on The Shed. The author draws links between it and other typologies such as market halls and transport terminals. Each of these spaces have their own qualities as 'public interiors' and these new associations enable us to understand the glass house from a slightly different perspective. This occurs a number of times in the book; Lina Bo Bardi's SESC-Fábrica de Pompéia, for example, is examined both in the chapter on ruins and, once again in the chapter on sheds.

The approach creates a textured, multivalent analysis which prompts you to read, re-read, page backwards and forward, examining and re-examining, thinking and rethinking. The book is impeccably researched and referenced, and written with a generosity and openness that evidences Pimlott's deep knowledge of the subject. It is beautifully illustrated (many of the photographs are the author's own) and each chapter ends with a comprehensively referenced visual index, which appears again at the end of the book.

Most of the chapters finish with a very recent built example of the theme explored, but only the last chapter—on the network as public interior—offers a conclusion. Pimlott observes how many 'network' spaces are under threat from creeping commercialisation and surveillance and offer little respite from the increasingly consumer-driven character of public life. He suggests that a public interior 'might place us in profound contact with our own material culture, with what we have made in the world, with the natural world and with each other'. The network, which 'enables or structures connections in cities' and is 'bound to its experience' offers that potential. This observation reads as propositional and perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay the book is that it will undoubtedly influence my own work (which often involves the design of public interiors as conceived here). It has already influenced the way in which I read, understand and navigate the city that I live in.

The Public Interior as Idea and Project

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About the Author

Mark Pimlott (Montréal, 1958) is an artist, architectural designer and writer, whose practice encompasses installation, photography, film, art for public spaces and architecture, particularly, interiors. He has taught architecture and visual arts since 1986. He was Professor in relation to practice in Architecture at TU Delft (2002-2008), and is now Assistant Professor in TU Delft's Chair The Architecture of the Interior. He is the author of Without and within: essays on territory and the interior (episode publishers, 2007) and In passing: Mark Pimlott photographs (Jap Sam Books, 2010). His articles and essays are published in numerous journals of architecture, and he lectures widely.

Realised works include Neckinger Mills interiors, London (1988; 1994); Red House interiors, London (2001; 2004; 2011; 2014) in collaboration with Tony Fretton architects; Guinguette, Birmingham (2000); La scala, Aberystwyth (2003); restaurant Puck, The Hague (2007), in collaboration with Zeinstra Van Gelderen architecten; and World, a public square at BBC's Broadcasting House in central London (2013). Solo exhibitions include Studiolo and 1965 (Todd Gallery, London (1995; 1998); Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, (NAi, Rotterdam, 2005) and All things pass (Stroom, The Hague, 2008). The installation Piazzasalone (in collaboration with Tony Fretton) was shown in the Corderie dell'Arsenale at the 12th Biennale internazionale di Architettura di Venezia.

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Pfaffenthal Lift / STEINMETZDEMEYER

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 07:00 PM PST

From the architect. The construction of a public lift between the historic district of Pfaffenthal and the upper city of Luxembourg was a multi-challenges project: to promote soft mobility (pedestrians and bicycles), to open up a valley floor district with a free and fast mean of transportation, and to create a work of art, emblematic for the district and harmoniously integrated in this landscape protected by UNESCO.

This public facility attracts a wide range of users from mid-2016. From cyclists going to work, to tourists or regular residents, everyone has discovered the city from one of the most spectacular perspectives!

The success of this project, carried out by the City of Luxembourg and designed by STEINMETZDEMEYER in collaboration with INCA Associate Engineers and Jean Schmit Engineering is also due to its location. The lift's foundations are in the heart of the historic district of Pfaffenthal and it directly arrives in the park Pescatore, where the user will find a direct connection to the cycle and pedestrian paths of the City. Moreover, these connections highly contribute to the development of the touristic and cultural trail Grund-Clausen-Pfaffenthal-Upper City.

The architects aimed at maximizing the comfort and the experience of the various users. In order to facilitate the movement of the cyclists, the cabin is equipped with two large opposite doors. Thus, they do not have to maneuver back and forth between the top and bottom accesses.

Suspended above the valley, the cabin is entirely out-sheath and is glazed from floor to ceiling on half of its surface. It thus offers to the users a journey through the landscapes of a quarry, the supporting walls, the wood on the side, to finish after 30 seconds on a magnificent panorama of the Alzette valley and the Kirchberg plateau.

At the upward exit of the lift, a footbridge is hung on the side of the tower. This footbridge is launched above the valley by an overhang of more than 9 meters, in order to offer fantastic panoramic landscapes on the architectural and contemporary heritage of the City of Luxembourg: the medieval district of Pfaffenthal, the sixties artwork Pont-Rouge ("The Red Bridge"), the Kirchberg district in a continuous urban development and the Bock, witness of the City's origins in 963. The most reckless ones can contemplate this wonderful view through a sheet of glass at more than 60 meters above the district!

Practical, sustainable, aesthetic and offering an unforgettable experience, STDM architects always targeted these qualities while designing this public lift, which today constitutes a landmark in the valley and confers a new identity to the historical district of Pfaffenthal.

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Summer House on the Baltic Sea Island / Pluspuu Oy

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 06:00 PM PST

Architects: Pluspuu Oy
Location: Finland
Architect In Charge: Esa Liesmäki
Engineer: Mikko Kyläkoski
Area: 114.0 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Samuli Miettinen

Project Manager: Arto Saksa
Contractor: Jarkko Nikkilä

From the architect. This unique rocky Island on the Baltic Sea belongs to the family living in Helsinki.

The Island is 5,5 hectares and located in outer sea with huge sea views. The starting point to architectural planning was Pluspuu models Isokari and Luoto - villa and sauna. The houses were planned to different places on the island - distance about 900 m.

House models were modified according to family's wishes and hopes and were fitted to the building sites rocky terrain and nature. The target was to plan houses like birds do their nests - they have to see everything from nest but no one has to see the nest.

Both houses are in two parts under the same roof. In the main house the rooms for quests are separated with handy decked intermediate space. And in the sauna house the sauna and washroom are separated from dressing room.

The most important thing in architectural design was naturally to catch the sea view and rocky nature to the part of houses. Only large and simple windows separates those.

The height positions of the houses were carefully planned. The house, large terrace made of Siberian larch and the rocky beach are in great harmony.

The circumstances in this island are really hard. In winter there may be snow one meter or more and temperature -25 degrees. In the summertime may easily be +30 degrees and sunshine whole day - on the other hand the wind and rain may be 35 meters/second.

Both houses are made of Pluspuu logs with special modern shape. There are no traditional log corners or overlaps. This makes possible modern architectural design.

Log is an excellent material for this kind of buildings in hard circumstances - it is strong and lasting and it breaths - you can leave the building without heating even in the winter if you don't use the it. In addition to architectural design there's been paid great attention to engineering design. There is a special sealing between logs to keep the rainwater outside. Also in the eaves there are special wind deflectors. All the insulation materials are natural and breathing wooden fiber and linen. Plastics are not used. There are no nails also on outer surface.

Log is the most used wall material in Finnish summer houses. This project represents modern Finnish and Scandinavian log cottage design at its best.

Product Description. Both buildings are made of modern logs without traditional log corners. The main houses walls are made of log frame + additional wooden fibre insulation + internal surface made of plasterboards. Sauna walls are made of solid log – inside painted white.

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BE Friendly Space / H&P Architects

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 02:00 PM PST

Architects: H&P Architects
Location: Mạo Khê, tx. Đông Triều, Quảng Ninh, Vietnam
Architects In Charge: Doan Thanh Ha, Tran Ngoc Phuong
Design Team: Nguyen Manh Hung, Chu Kim Thinh, Nguyen Hai Hue, Nguyen Van Manh, Nguyen Van Thinh
Area: 220.0 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Doan Thanh Ha, Nguyen TienThanh

Bamboo & Earth Construction: Nguyen Manh Hung, H&P Architects

From the architect. Initiated by H&P Architects in a combined use of the two major materials Bamboo & Earth since 2013 (BES pavilion in Ha Tinh, 2013) in a series of projects to create "a friendly space in suffocating urban areas", BE (Bamboo & Earth) friendly space presents an open space for the community, with importance being attached to aspects of culture and art (exchanges, exhibitions, cuisines, ..). BE friendly space is, thereby,expected to undertake the mission to improve the stormy relationship between man and nature in modern times.

Located in the centre of Mao Khe town, BE friendly space is made of locally available friendly materials, in simple building operations and with the participation of local builders. The entire project is made of earth-rammed walls (thickness 40cm) adjacent to each other in a zigzag pattern that spares valuable green spaces for common use. These open spaces are also connected to each other through randomly placed windows (110cm X 220cm). Above the used space is a double alternate layer of bamboo- made roof to regulate light and air as well as to blur the boundary between the interior and exterior, architecture and landscape.

The objective of BE friendly space is to help raise social awareness of the need for friendly spaces for community in the context of urbanization and concretization which is gradually suffocating Mao Khe - one of the most populous towns in Vietnam, thereby making contributions to shaping actions of community in the process of creating sustainable spaces for the future immediately from today's friendliness.

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22 Toh Yi Road / Ming Architects

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:00 PM PST

Architects: Ming Architects
Location: 22 Toh Yi Rd, Singapore 596504
Architects In Charge: Tan Cher Ming, Erica Chan
C&S Engineer : JS Tan Consultants Pte Ltd
Quantity Surveyor: WS Surveyorship Pte Ltd
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Edward Hendricks

From the architect. Flanked between the koi pond and the swimming pool, the double volume courtyard - a fulcrum to the house, was introduced to break the monotony of spaces in this linear house. Horizontal and vertical movements are endless and ample daylight floods the key living spaces. A 3-storey high feature steel staircase floats above the koi pond, with a vertical feature wall of black river pebbles as its backdrop. A slim bridge suspends over the courtyard and ties the front and rear wings of the house.

The house composes of sleek, robust linear architecture with multiple punctuation of varying sizes, completed with balconies and timber screens on its façade. Featuring a consistent chamfered wall detail, the cool sleek white façade is complemented by warm timber elements and further soften with landscaping. Together, they cohesively create a simple yet sophisticated outlook.

Termed as a visual feast, the interior is a visual layering of spaces, of which spaces superimposes one after another. One traverses through these spaces fluidly, devoided of the typical experience of corridors. When the sliding-folding doors are fully tucked away, the boundaries blurs between the spaces and activities spills over to one another.

The house being positioned on higher ground, naturally accommodates an unobstructed view of the surrounding greenery. Capitalizing on this view, coupled with the activation of the roof plane into a roof terrace, allows the client – who frequently entertains guests – to extend their entertainment areas beyond the ground plane and onto this roof, through the pebble-walled feature staircase.

Product Description. One key feature of the architecture is the hand-made feature wall of black polished river pebbles, which acts as a backdrop for the floating steel staircase. The feature wall stands 3 stories high, and ties in the main common areas where the family entertains and gathers. The pebbles were specially selected accordingly to their shape, size and color. 5 workers painstakingly installed each pebble by hand over a period of 3 months to create the visual effect that we specified. The black textural quality of the wall serves as a contrast to the white polished marble flooring and painted walls of the rest of house.

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Hermès Gion-mise / ODS

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 11:00 AM PST

Architects: ODS
Location: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Design: Koichiro Oniki
Area: 212.0 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Takumi Ota

From the architect. This was an architectural project for the design of Daimaru Kyoto, Gion Machiya, as a part of Daimaru's 300th anniversary for its foundation. We also conducted the interior design of <Hermès Gion-mise> as the first shop opened in this traditional Japanese house.

The site is located along Hanamikoji Street, which goes through the center of Gion area in Kyoto city with traditional townscape. We renovated and transformed a town house previously used as a tea house/ residence into the store.

Since the area is designated as the Historical Landscape Preservation and Improvement District, the building's exterior design visible from the street remains with its original condition.

The former building used as a residence was composed of partitioned small rooms, narrow hallways and several spot gardens; therefore, it was required to link those small spaces to make them function as a store, while maintaining the framework of the building.

Then, we connected those separately allocated spot gardens to be reconfigured into an exterior "alley", which leads visitors to the shop directly from the storefront street, to the 1st floor shop space located along this alley.

Register area and fitting room area are gathered at the west side of the building, while an elevator and a staircase are newly built at the east side. This enabled the central area for product sales to become a single room without any partition―a space with a feel of continuity to the "alley" produced by a large glass surface and eaves.

In the sales area on the 1st floor, a Japanese wood joinery technique called "kigumi", which is often found in traditional Japanese buildings, is utilized for furniture and fixture, and it is placed along the wall surfaces of the space. "Kigumi" is the technique to apply mortises and tenons on wood pieces to fit them together without using any nail or adhesive.

While the furniture and fixture built by 50mm x 50mm square wood pieces appears to be arranged randomly, its 150mm grid unit allows the furniture to be easily disassembled and freely reconfigured into different shapes.

Since the < Hermès Gion-mise> is a temporal store for a limited period, we proposed the design using "kigumi" technique, so that the furniture and fixture can be reused at other locations in different forms after this temporal store is closed.

The shop, mainly the central area surrounded by the furniture and fixture, is designed as the space to hold various events on a regular basis.

For that purpose, one of the surfaces of the sales space is designed as an illuminating surface with a capability to change brightness and colors of the lighting, so that the atmosphere of the space can be created differently depending on the event held in the space.

The 2nd floor to be used as a gallery and a lounge has an open ceiling space along the roof shape, while those tie beams are exposed to the main part of the space.

Wiring duct is embedded in the beams from which fixtures can be hung, and this helps the space to be utilized for multiple purposes.

Kyoto city, the center of handicraft and performing arts for more than one thousand years, boldly maintains the presence of traditional culture even today.

At this site where tradition and innovation coexist, we intended to produce a kind of "stage" to communicate and transmit the voices of various new experiments to the world.

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The Whyte House / buck&simple

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 09:00 AM PST

Architects: buck&simple
Location: Manly NSW 2095, Australia
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Tim Pascoe Photography

Builder: Adam Gaukrodger

From the architect. House Justice involves alterations and additions to a two storey, semi-detached, Edwardian Queen Anne/Arts and Crafts style house listed on the state heritage inventory. The project begun with our client requesting that we add a carport and an awning reacquainting the rear yard with their home.

Their decision to downsize and remain local to the civic and social places they love, thankfully, had positive repercussions on the design process.

The practicalities of downsizing encouraged the existing building fabric to achieve maximum efficiency. Every family room has been arranged to allow social flexibility, modestly scaled for the interconnecting spaces. The individual functionality of each area required an ability to function as a quiet space for one person or as a platform for entertaining multitudes.

The carport structure is the view from the outdoor spaces, the outdoor spaces are the view from the living areas and the living areas are the termination point of this sequence, the interconnectivity dictates every element must offer an aesthetic that has to be considered, consistent and not overbearing, a part of the whole.

An emphasis on materials, inherent in their own character, proficient to withstand the desired function and location was encouraged, showing pride in each element. External timbers are either painted white to prolonge lifespan or made from teak capable of enduring harsh environments. Roofing is naturally weathering zinc sheet, folded in a traditional double standing seam as is best for rigidity. Sandstone adds texture and was hand-selected from a local quarry to create a consistent aesthetic with existing heritage elements.

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Palermo Named Italian Capital of Culture for 2018

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST

Palermo. Image © Flickr user madeva71. Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The city of Palermo has been named the "Italian Capital of Culture" for 2018 by Italy's Ministry of Culture, following the city's selection of host for "Manifesta 12", the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, this past November. With the decision, Palermo will receive a million euro award for promotion and public investment, which will likely result in a surge of tourism in the next year.

Home to a wealth of historical and cultural sites, Palermo was selected from a shortlist of eleven cities including: Alghero, Aquileia, Comacchio, Ercolano, Montebelluna, Recanati, Settimo Torinese, Trento, and a joint Elima-Erice bid.

"We saw that this virtuous competition creates a system of communal participation," said Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, "Being on the shortlist is a bit like receiving an Oscar nomination: it allows them to do a lot of work, in terms of planning and promotions."

The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Manifesta 12, will be led by "Creative Mediators" OMA, who will investigate the role of governance in the Italian city, and address how contemporary urban centers are affected by tourism, gentrification, migration and climate change.

Other initiatives for the city include promoting the newly-granted UNESCO Heritage Arab-Norman route connecting Palermo with Cefalù and Monreale, and a slate of world-class opera performances for the city's Teatro Massimo.

This year's capital of culture is Pistoia, with Mantua serving as the 2016 representative.

News via Il Sole 24 Ore.

OMA Announced as "Creative Mediators" for Manifesta 12 in Palermo

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Edmunds.com Headquarters / M+M Creative Studio

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 07:00 AM PST

Architects: M+M Creative Studio
Location: Santa Monica, CA, United States
Architects In Charge: Chris Mitchell, Sandra Mitchell
Executive Architect: Lewis/Schoeplein architects
Area: 145000.0 ft2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Benny Chan

From the architect. Our client's brief was straight-forward … the CEO of this "Silicon Beach" automotive information and car buying online site – Edmunds.com - wanted an inventive space, focusing on his 600+ person team … a space where they could collaborate, team, create, define, recruit, discuss, focus and work however they felt best fit their current assignments.

Working with two floors totaling 145,000 SF, we started with the larger moves; first, we harnessed the perimeter of the existing rambling internal atrium as the circulation 'expressway' for both floors, second, we concentrated the larger meeting spaces throughout the 1^st floor – anchored by a 'main street' of program/design elements – main entry, reception and 'the hub' (i.e. 'hubcap'), their one and only coffee bar for their entire company) and third, because it was critical to the CEO for each team member to have their own individual desk (i.e. 'parking spot'), the bulk of the 2^nd floor is comprised of a plank-desking system that allows flex in linear feet per person where required, with additional smaller meeting rooms dispersed throughout and miscellaneous programmatic requirements such as quiet rooms ('rest stops') and the IT service desk (the 'pit stop').

Necessity and pragmatism are the basis of design for any car (getting from point 'A' to point 'B'), it is in the details that the designers strive to set each apart from the next – this is the very thinking that fueled and drove our entire team. Beyond the programmatic ease of use and neighborhood groupings, the design is meant to immerse all in the client's newly branded world, eliciting motion through fluid shapes and shimmering materials, complete with 'roadway graphics' to assist in way-finding. Details include mounting two Corvettes (they turn in unison clockwise above the reception desk – because cars are meant to be in motion) above the mirror-polished stainless steel reception desk (a '1966' [the year the company started] and a '2016' [the year this project opened]) – a meaningful recognition of their past and future. Additional automotive design elements include a chrome hubcap chandelier, chrome exhaust pipes creating the backdrop texture for the welcoming/'on ramp' monitor (playing loops of test track footage), a 1948 Cadillac (the coffee station from their very first office) re-imagined to be the happy hour bar and 2,472 individual 'matchbox' cars creating their 'car' logo.

In addition, the 10,000 SF exterior central atrium was completely re-envisioned – a newly dynamic outdoor space with both larger social and more intimate spaces – connected to the adjacent interior spaces with over 130 LF of retractable glass doors. Inside the atrium itself, the multiple 15' long raised linear planters (planted with lavender, jasmine and kangaroo paws) and gurgling water features – all run in parallel lanes (like cars seen from above on a super-sized highway), weaving among the embedded LED strip lighting that, like a highway at night, race and change color with a varying choreography.

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RIBA Awards 2017 Royal Gold Medal to Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 07:00 AM PST

Update: Paulo Mendes da Rocha was today awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal at a ceremony at the RIBA headquarters in London. The article below was originally published when the award was announced on September 29, 2016.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded its 2017 Royal Gold Medal to Paulo Mendes da Rocha. The 87-year-old is among Brazil's most celebrated architects, known for his special brand of Brazilian Brutalism which has had a dramatic effect in his home country, particularly in the city of São Paulo. The award continues a spectacularly successful year for Mendes da Rocha, who won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale in May, and was announced the 2016 Premium Imperiale Laureate just weeks ago. Mendes da Rocha has also previously received the Pritzker Prize in 2006 and the Mies van der Rohe Prize for his Pinacoteca de São Paulo project in 2000.

Mendes da Rocha becomes the second Brazilian to win the RIBA's Gold Medal, after Oscar Niemeyer received the award in 1998. He joins other luminaries such as Zaha Hadid (2016), Frank Gehry (2000), Norman Foster (1983), and Frank Lloyd Wright (1941).

MuBE / Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Image © Nelson Kon

Patriarch Plaza / Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Image © Nelson Kon

Born in Vitória, Brazil in 1928, Mendes da Rocha first received acclaim in 1957 for the Athletic Club of São Paulo. Since then, he has built a number of other seminal works in including the Saint Peter Chapel (1987), the Brazilian Sculpture Museum MuBE (1988), Patriach Plaza (1992-2002), the Pinacoteca do Estado gallery (1993) and the FIESP Cultural Center (1997). Outside São Paulo, notable buildings include the Serra Dourada football stadium in Goiás (1973), Lady of the Conception Chapel in Recife (2006) and Cais das Artes arts centre in Vitória (2008). Outside of Brazil, his most notable projects are Brazil's pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan, and his Museu dos Coches in Lisbon, completed in 2015.

Capela de S.Pedro / Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Image © Cristiano Mascaro

Pinacoteca Estado / Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Image © Nelson Kon

"Paulo Mendes da Rocha's work is highly unusual in comparison to the majority of the world's most celebrated architects," said RIBA President Jane Duncan. "He is an architect with an incredible international reputation, yet almost all his masterpieces are built exclusively in his home country. Revolutionary and transformative, Mendes da Rocha's work typifies the architecture of 1950s Brazil – raw, chunky and beautifully 'brutal' concrete."

Responding to the award, Paulo Mendes da Rocha said: "After so many years of work, it is a great joy to receive this recognition from the Royal Institute of British Architects for the contribution my lifetime of work and experiments have given to the progress of architecture and society. I would like to send my warmest wishes to all those who share my passion, in particular British architects, and share this moment with all the architects and engineers that have collaborated on my projects."

Museu dos Coches / Paulo Mendes da Rocha. Image © Armenio Teixeira

The RIBA Gold Medal jury comprises RIBA President Jane Duncan with Sir Peter Cook, Neil Gillespie OBE, Victoria Thornton OBE and the 2015 Royal Gold Medallist Sheila O'Donnell. Mendes da Rocha was nominated by Neil Gillespie OBE and seconded by John McAslan CBE. Read on for John McAslan's full citation.

I'm pleased to have been invited to prepare the following citation in honour of the eminent Brazilian architect, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, the 2017 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner. Paulo's international stature, which has been considerable for decades, arises from a remarkable and sustained combination of architectural originality, social concern, and educational work.

"All space must be attached to a value, to a human dimension," he said in 2004. "There is no private space. The only private space that you can imagine is the human mind." He has also said: "Every problem requires thinking, not ready-made solutions. You know that you don't know, but there is urgency to do something. You have to discover the knowledge – that's the whole point." That remark applies not only to the nature of architectural enquiry, but to the way Mendes da Rocha has approached teaching over the decades.

His potential greatness was immediately apparent in 1957 when, as an emerging architect, he designed and built his first major work, the Paulistano Athletic Club. The building immediately confirmed him as an original force among the international modernist avant garde, and established so-called Paulista Brutalism.

Though very different, his architecture projects have the same degree of powerful formal and structural presence as the works of masters such as Louis Kahn and Kenzo Tange. Whilst Mendes da Rocha's architecture may seem to fit Robert Hughes' definition of Modernism as "the shock of the new", his structures are never designed to shock, but rather engage as directly as possible with ordinary people, ordinary lives, and ordinary settings.

The ideas that continue to produce his architecture are still internationally influential. When Mendes da Rocha was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2006, the citation spoke of his mastery of the poetics of space. And this year, when he was selected for the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, the citation referred to the physical and stylistic timelessness of his buildings and the fact that his "astonishing consistency" was the product of "his ideological integrity and structural genius." His 2016 citation as an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, also refers to these qualities, and whilst highlighting his influence on the post-WWII ground-breaking work in Scotland of Metzstein and MacMillan and others, brings the relevance of his work even closer to me.

A further and recent accolade for Paulo, is this year's Praemium Imperiale Award by the Japan Art Association, for this lifetime contribution to architecture.

His architecture resists summary, but it very often counterpoises massive concrete formal elements with relatively delicate transition points of structure. This, in itself, is not uncommon. But the way da Rocha assembles the pieces in the geometry of his buildings remains unique; his engineering intelligence has always equalled his formal originality.

For example, his Brazilian Pavilion at Expo 70 in Japan was effectively balanced on a single point of terrain. At the gymnasium of the Paulistano Athletic Club, six concrete blades supported the thin, pre-stressed concrete circular roof; the blades anchored 12 cables which held up a central cap to the roof: a riveting combination of heavy elements and relatively delicate structural details that added something new to modernist architecture.

The same originality of form, and social connection, can be seen in his Brazilian public buildings in the 1970s and 80s, which included Estádio Serra Dourada and the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo in 1975; and the Forma Furniture showroom and the Saint Peter Chapel in 1987; the latter a concrete structure with two-storey glass facades, and a single concrete column anchoring the centre.

In the 1990s, in his Mies van der Rohe Award-winning scheme, Mendes da Rocha transformed Sao Paulo's oldest fine arts museum, the neoclassical Pinacoteca do Estado, with internal bridges, a central canopy and an architectural language which magnificently retains, to this day, a freshness and quality of raw beauty and remains, in my view, one of his finest works.

Among his other important works are the Cais das Artes, Vitoria; the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture, Sao Paulo; and the dramatic canopy structure at the Patriarch Plaza, Sao Paulo. His domestic architecture – such as the Casa Mendes da Rocha, Casa Masetti, and Casa King – reflect the same explorations of strikingly clear compositions involving heavy structures and finer details.

Most recently, the scale and articulation of the 2015 National Coach Museum in Lisbon is continuing proof that the humane integrity and structural boldness of Mendes da Rocha's approach to architecture is absolutely intact.

On a personal note, when I first met Paulo, with his family in Sao Paulo in 2012, I found him to be very clearly, deeply concerned with how architects can improve peoples' lives and with an unfailing commitment to the art of architecture. He certainly did not consider himself as an heroic designer of iconic architectural objects, which makes this highly-engaging and modest innovator even more engaging and relevant today.

I would like to end my citation by quoting something da Rocha wrote in 2003: "Unlike many people who are afraid of poverty, I have always been attracted to it, to simple things, without knowing why. Not hardship, but the humility of simple things. I think everything superfluous is irritating. Everything that is not necessary becomes grotesque, especially in our time."

In the increasingly closely bound worlds of architecture, consumerism and corporatism, the resonance of that remark has increased through time. Paulo Mendes da Rocha's particular genius may have originated in the mid-1950s, but he unquestionably remains an architect – and specifically not a "starchitect" – for our own times. This is surely the essential mark of his greatness.

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Winning Times Square Valentine's Day Installation Will Celebrate NYC's Immigrants

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 06:00 AM PST

Courtesy of The Office for Creative Research

The Office for Creative Research has been announced as the winners of the 2017 Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition. Their winning design, titled We Were Strangers Once Too, is a public data sculpture in the shape of a heart that "highlight[s] the role that immigrants have played in the founding, development, and continued vibrancy of New York City."

The design comprises 33 colored metal poles that create a visual representation of data from the 2015 American Census Survey outlining the origins and shifting populations of foreign-born NYC residents. As visitors travel around the sculpture to a designated observation point, their perspective will line the poles up to create an iconic heart shape.

"Conceived as both a striking visual object and as a point of dialogue and conversation, We Were Strangers Once Too champions the value of diversity in the city, and specifically the city's immigrant populations, new and old, at a time when they are increasingly under siege," said competition-organizer Times Square Arts.

"Now more than ever New Yorkers need to stand up and say we are proud to live in a city of immigrants," explained The Office for Creative Research. "We Were Strangers Once Too is our way to acknowledge and say thank you to the diverse communities of NYC for their many contributions historically, currently and into the future."

Other invited finalists for the 2017 Times Square Valentine Heart Design included: AWED Alan Waxman Ecosocial Design, Ekene Ijeoma, Future Firm with Andrew Heumann, Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects, McEwen Studio | V. Mitch McEwen, Partner & Partners with Annie Barrett, and Young New Yorkers. This year's competition was curated by the Urban Design Forum.

This is the 10th edition of the Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition. Previous winners have included: Collective-LOK (2016); Stereotank (2015); Young Projects (2014); Situ Studio (2013); BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) (2012); Freecell (2011); Moorhead & Moorhead (2010); and Gage / Clemenceau Architects (2009).

The sculpture will be unveiled on February 7, and will be displayed throughout the month at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets adjacent to the TKTS booth and the Red Steps.

Visitors are invited to use the hashtag #oncestrangersTSq to share their experiences on social media.

News via Times Square Arts.

Collective-LOK's "Heart of Hearts" Takes Shape in Times Square

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Haus D / EBERLE Architekten BDA 

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 05:00 AM PST

Architects: EBERLE Architeckten BDA 
Location: 86415 Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Mering, Germany
Area: 212.0 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Rainer Retzlaff

From the architect. A three-storeyed „tower" is the answer to the difficult corner-property.

The kitchen, dining area and living area are all located on the ground floor. The first floor belongs to the children. The second floor, consisting of a bedroom, an office, and a reading area, is reserved for the parents.

The concrete garden wall on the exposed corner of the property provides both privacy and security.

The position and orientation of the building on the property guarantees an optimal exposure to sunlight from the south and the west.

The solid brick construction was plastered and then finished using a special technique – one that has almost been forgotten in the area in and around Augsburg.

After lengthy and detailed discussions with talented and dedicated plasterers, the plaster was applied to the forty two and a half centimeter thick brick walls (standard exterior brick wall), then combed vertically using a trowel with a notched edge. This method resulted in a structured and well-defined pattern on the facade.

All in all, an optimal addition to the existing situation, one that ideally responds to the needs of a young family, came into being

Product Description. - After lengthy and detailed discussions with talented and dedicated plasterers, the plaster was applied to the forty two and a half centimeter thick brick walls (standard exterior brick wall), then combed vertically using a board with a patterned edge. This method resulted a structured and well-defined pattern on the facade.

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Adjaye, Chipperfield Among 6 Shortlisted in Competition for Edinburgh Concert Hall

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 04:00 AM PST

The new building will be located behind the existing Royal Bank of Scotland / Dundas House, a category A listed building built in the 18th century. Image © Flickr user kaysgeog. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust Scotland (IMPACT Scotland) has announced a shortlist of 6 teams in the running to design a new concert hall and arts center in the heart of the Edinburgh New Town World Heritage Site. The building, estimated to cost up to £45 million ($57 million USD), will house a 1,000 seat auditorium that will become the new home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

From 69 expressions of interest in the competition, six teams have been selected by IMPACT Scotland's judging panel as finalists for the commission. The firms are as follows (in alphabetical order):

Adjaye Associates (London) with Sandy Brown, Buro Happold and DHA Designs
Allies & Morrison (London) with Charcoalblue, Speirs & Major, Harrison Stevens and Buro Happold
Barozzi Veiga (Switzerland) with Alan Baxter, Max Fordham, KahleAcoustics, 3DReid and Ian White Associates
David Chipperfield Architects (London) with Arup, Whitby Mohajer Engineers, GROSS MAX and Theatre Projects
KPMB Architects (Toronto) with Simpson & Brown Architects, David Narro Associates, Arup, Sound Space Vision, rankinfraser landscape architecture and Transsolar Energietechnik
Richard Murphy Architects (Edinburgh) with Arup, Graven Images, GROSS MAX and Montagu Evans

Sir Ewan Brown, who is the Chair of IMPACT Scotland's judging panel said, "We have an extremely strong shortlist to choose from. The submissions we received show that this project will transform the resource available to Edinburgh's Festivals and provide new opportunities for music groups across Scotland by building for greater inclusivity and access."

The new building will be located behind the existing Royal Bank of Scotland / Dundas House, a category A listed building built in the 18th century. In addition to the auditorium, the complex will contain rehearsal studios and recording space, adding to Edinburgh's growing arts scene.

"It is being located, conceived and designed so as to complement, rather than compete with, the city-owned and operated Usher Hall; to provide Edinburgh with additional possibilities for cultural expansion; and to launch the next stage in the city's artistic growth," added Impact Scotland.

"There will be major benefits to the wider community of Edinburgh and the surrounding regions by providing access for all forms of popular music, jazz, folk, chamber and other small classical music and dance groups as well as solo and song recitals, traditional and Celtic music, and high-end experimental rock, pop and electronica."

A winning team is expected to be selected in April.

News via The Edinburgh Reporter, Scottish Construction Now, Herald Scotland.

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Out of the Box / Arjen Reas Architects + Van Voorden Architecture

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 03:00 AM PST

Courtesy of Arjen Reas / Martijn van Voorden

Architects: Arjen Reas Architects, Van Voorden Architecture
Location: Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Architect In Charge: Arjen Reas, Martijn van Voorden
Area: 160.0 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Courtesy of Arjen Reas / Martijn van Voorden

From the architect. Villa Out of the box is situated on the edge of Zoetermeer, next to the Bentwoud Park. The design is a contemporary interpretation of the rural surroundings. Inspired by the local building typology, the villa closes itself off from the busy street, only to open itself up to the garden via several carefully designed terraces.

For their home, the owners wanted en rustic and robust building that at the same time was light and spacious. Therefor the main core of the house is designed as to resemble an old barn, with a black timber exterior and a recessed thatch roof. The extensions for the kitchen diner, the study and the garage form a strong contrast to the barn. Sleek white boxes, interconnected by a robust white wooden beam.

Due to the specific layout of these boxes, outside spaces are formed with several unique characteristics, so that the owners can enjoy the gardens all year round.

Large openings in the wooden façade create a smooth transition between the terraces and the interior and flood the house with natural light. This interior is characterized by a large degree of spaciousness while at the same time providing intimacy and diversity. The large kitchen diner is connected seamlessly to the main living area, but by slightly offsetting the spaces an element of surprise is created adding to the feeling of space.

Designed as a well-tailored suit the house adepts effortlessly to the needs of its inhabitants. Whether enjoying a glass of wine at the large kitchen island, relaxing in front of the fireplace or sunbathing on one of the terraces Villa Out of the box is above all a home in which to enjoy life.

Product Description. - To express the difference between the two volumes, we used Cape Cod as wooden cladding against the typical plastering. This Board and Batten system is used in three sizes to make the pattern.

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Future Architecture Platform Reveals 2017 Laureates

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 02:15 AM PST

Courtesy of Future Architecture Platform

Following a second call for ideas from the Future Architecture Platform (MAO), a total of 337 ideas by 594 authors from 56 countries were submitted and distributed for public vote. 14,381 valid votes were logged by the organisation, and Assembling Narratives by Danai Toursoglou Papalexandridou (Greece) was chosen the favorite. She is one of a further 24 selected creatives who will be invited to participate at the Matchmaking Conference in late February at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana.

The top ten ideas (and their corresponding votes) include:

Assembling Narratives (647)
The Utter City (592)
Bellastock (497)
Redevelopment of social housing infrastructure (369)
Self Sufficient Structures (368)
Activate Modern Ruins! (360)
Skopje reckless (300)
Infra-Scape (254)
Thinking Outside the Blocks (228)
Model of Temporary Housing (225)

The complete list, selected by Future Architecture members, includes the following authors:

Adriana Pablos Llona (Spain) with Urban homework for Europe
Alberto Martinez Garcia, Hector Rivera Bajo (Spain) with Hidden Architecture
Bika Rebek, Matt Choot (Austria) with The Invisible Blanket
Culture Territories Association (Łukasz Pałczyński, Agnieszka Kołacińska, Jakub Andrzejewski, Hania Raniszewska, Natalia Kobylińska, Adrian Krężlik) (Poland) with Culture Territories
DRRlab (Shareen Elnaschie, Kimberly Pelkofsky) (UK) with Office of Displaced Designers (ODD)
Dimitris Grozopoulos, Effie Kasimati, Fani Kostourou (UK) with Activate Modern Ruins!
Dominika Janicka (Poland) with Fair Building
FAKT (Germany) with Urban Arcadia
Florian Bengert (Germany) with Space in Time
Giuditta Vendrame (The Netherlands) with Humid Europe
Grupo De Arquitectura Subalterna (Spain) with Modulor´s Bastard Children
Jasmina Cibic (Slovenia / UK) with Spielraum
José Tomás Pérez Valle (Chile) with No-Man's-Land
Lucia Tahan (Spain) with Return to Zion
Marija Marić, Damjan Kokalevski (Switzerland) with Designing a Curriculum
Mika Savela and Henrik Drufva (Finland) with Proxima Utopia
Miloš Kosec (Slovenia / UK) with I Would Prefer Not to
Paul Landon (Canada) with Dissolving Futures
Pedro Pitarch (Spain) with Archipelago Lab
Studio NO (Magda Szwajcowska, Michał Majewski) (Poland) with City Patch

The Future Architecture alumni of 2016 selected the following authors:

DRRlab (Shareen Elnaschie, Kimberly Pelkofsky) (UK) with Office of Displaced Designers (ODD)
Filipe Estrela & Sara Neves (Portugal) with Air Profit and Dwell
Guerilla Architects (UK) with The European Dream
Léopold Lambert (France) with Publishing a Post-Colonial Magazine
Miloš Kosec (Slovenia / UK) with I Would Prefer Not to
Paolo Patelli (The Netherlands) with The Architecture (an Archaeology) of a Post—Nation

Future Architecture is the first pan-European platform of architecture museums, festivals and producers, bringing ideas on the future of cities and architecture closer to the wider public. Find out more, here.

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Layers and Lighting: How Top Architects Design Fashion Stores to Turn Heads by Day and Night

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:30 AM PST

Flagship stores excite both fashion shoppers and designers alike due to their role as visionary laboratories for the latest trends and stimulating retail experiences. Architects have developed various ways to dress haute couture stores, from distinctive icons in the day to seductive night-time images. The images accompanying this article, created by the Portuguese architect and illustrator André Chiote, help to explore the graphic potential of famous brands like Dior, Prada and Tod's. The illustrations clearly reveal the various techniques of playing with diaphanous layers, intimate views inside or the contrast of light and shadow.

For Tod's Omotesando Building in Tokyo, Toyo Ito created a tree-like concrete structure around the L-shaped glass volume. He wanted to avoid a conventional uniform dress and therefore developed a structure that expresses the flow of forces with interlocking branches, evoking a sense of nature. During the day the glass reflects the bright sky and does not allow a view of the interior. But with dawn and the interior lighting it requires, the building opens to the public with an intimate view through the branches. The branches themselves emerge as a dark silhouette as potential customers look through the tree-like skin for the latest fashion trends.

In contrast, the nearby Dior store reveals strictly nothing of the interior with its translucent dress. By day the elegant white skin reminds the visitors of a couture dress with overlapping layers, and the facade creates a link to traditional Japanese shoji walls. SANAA composed this diaphanous brand image with a sophisticated double-skin: A transparent glass façade for the outside and undulating white acrylic panels for the second layer. White horizontal bands subtly divide the building volume into segments of different heights. At night these bands turn into a distinctive pattern of dark lines framing the luminous lantern of white and bluish shades. For special events, the lighting infrastructure between the double skin can even turn the flagship store into a colorful energetic volume with red light, or into an ice block with blue.

Herzog & de Meuron envisioned a crystalline look for the Prada Aoyama store in Tokyo, with a rhomboid-shaped grid for the façade comprising convex, concave and flat panels of glass. During the day the people encounter distorted reflections due to the glass shapes - comparable to a contact lens resting on the façade. The bright environment reflected in the glass façade makes it difficult to see of the inside. But by night, when warm light fills the interior, the flat skin transforms into a transparent layer and reveals a spatial experience. The distorted view vanishes and grants a clear sight of haute couture.

The Dior flagship store in Miami abstains from the glass effects used by many of its contemporaries. Barbaritobancel Architectes transformed the form of a plissé dress into slightly curved façade elements. As the sun moves during the day, the shadow patterns change slowly and elegantly. The white dress creates a clean canvas to absorb the sun and enjoys an interesting play of light and shadow. By night the interior lighting reveals the fine cuts between the façade elements. The vertical light structure thus recalls the linear aspect of plissé.

Light matters, a monthly column on light and space, is written by Thomas Schielke. Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting and works as an editor for the lighting company ERCO. He has published numerous articles and co-authored the books "Light Perspectives" and "SuperLux". For more information check www.erco.com, www.arclighting.de or follow him @arcspaces.

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Città del Sole / Labics

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 01:00 AM PST

Architects: Labics
Location: Rome, Italy
Architects In Charge: Maria Claudia Clemente, Francesco Isidori
Design Team: Luigi Panetta (team leader), Paola Bettinsoli, Chiara Capriulo, Gaia Maria Lombardo, Michele Morganti, Giorgio Pasqualini.
Project Team: Mauro Bartoli, Diego Moriconi
Area: 13.5 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Marco Cappelletti

Design: Labics (Maria Claudia Clemente, Francesco Isidori)
Structural Engineer: Studio Pagnoni - Vita
Mep: 3TI Italia – eng. Alfredo Ingletti
Direction On Site: EIDEO engineering

City of Sun, winning project of a competition held by the Municipality of Rome in 2007, consists in an intervention of urban regeneration, aimed at the creation of a new centrality, through the insertion of an articulated mixitè - office, commercial and residential - and, above all, a system of public spaces conceived as common and collective domain.

The project emphasizes the site conditions: located on the edge of the consolidated city, it pursues the aim of building an open and porous fabric, thus confirming the character of the site as a place of transition with privileged access to the historical city.

In response to the context features and to the competition brief, the City of Sun presents a clear and coherent morphological and programmatic structure:

a pedestal system hosts commercial spaces on ground floor and offices on the first floor; on an urban level the pedestal becomes part of the surrounding system of open spaces;
the volume bridging over the existing building hosts offices and directional spaces;
two different residential buildings host urban villas/duplex in the smaller volume and simple flats in the nine floors tall building;
finally a public library will be realized inside the existing building.

Based on the belief that the project of the public space has to be the fundamental urban structure, in the City of Sun the project of the open spaces is never residual but, on the opposite, it is the structure along which the volumes are built, in a sequence of solids and voids on different levels looking for spatial and morphological relation with the context.

Following the aim of building an urban system able to put in place structured relation with the existing, the project takes shape starting from the scale, the alignments and the solid/void relation of the overlooking Tiburtino II, a qualitative neighborhood of the early XX century.

The project builds a long facade towards the city confirming the role of the street, while it opens towards the outskirt, incorporating a series of public spaces, the main of which, just opposite the main entrance of Tiburtino II, represent the turning point of the entire intervention: a wide open space which connect all the project sites and programs. Finally, the elevated terraces on the 2nd floor gives back to the city the area occupied by the buildings: looking from the public/private point of view City of Sun is a zero-foot print project.

Product Description. The facade system represents an important element of the project: the neutrality of the building envelopes – made of glass and/or aluminium brise soleil - allows, on an urban scale, a background perception of the different volumes. Only at a closer distance the façades reveal their differences and singularity giving each building a different identity.

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10 Brilliant Tiny Houses that are Revolutionizing Micro-Living

Posted: 01 Feb 2017 12:00 AM PST

Inspired by the increasingly popular micro house trend, these 10 project designs came about for various reasons. In addition to being a cheaper option when compared to larger homes – both for construction and in maintenance – they are an ideal solution for people who want to reduce their material possessions and the space they occupy. Tiny houses have evolved far beyond cramped quarters into a custom being adopted both as a viable alternative to the unaffordability of housing and a source of freedom.

These selected houses, each under 40 square meters, serve as perfect examples of innovative designs that provide a simpler life, while fostering social interaction between people and dialogue with their environment.

Check out the 10 examples below.

Forest Retreat / Uhlik architekti

Area: 16.0 m²

"We designed a compact enclosed volume – an object resting freely on boulders with a stern raised on a huge boulder. The enclosed black object made of charred wood contains one interconnected space with the dimensions of 3.1m x 5.8 m."

Call for Submissions: Architecture-Themed Valentine's Day Card 2017

Posted: 31 Jan 2017 11:00 PM PST

Roses are red, violets are blue; we'd love to receive a valentine from you!

Following the overwhelming response to last Valentine contest, we can't wait to see (and share) the love this year.

Competition Guidelines:

All entries must be received by February 11, 12:00 pm EST
Design must be submitted as a .jpg/.png/.gif
Format must be 1800 x 1200 pixels (vertical or horizontal)
Design must be original and suitable for publication on ArchDaily
The theme for the design should be Valentine-related and have something to do with architecture
You may submit more than one entry
Our favorite submissions will be published on February 12

How to share a link to your submission:
In the form below, please submit a link to the .jpg/.png/.gif that you have created. We will not accept submissions as zip files, nor do we accept submissions sent via WeTransfer, MegaUpload, or a similar service. Any entry submitted as a zip file or using a file transfer service will be disqualified. If you are sharing a file that has been uploaded to Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Imgur or Google Drive, please ensure that you are sharing a public link that can be accessed by ArchDaily editors.
How to share a file using Dropbox
How to share a file using Google Drive
How to share a file using Imgur
How to share a file using Microsoft OneDrive

Any submissions that do not conform to the guidelines will not be considered.

Want to see our past favorites? Check 'em out!

The Best Submissions to Our Valentine's Day Card Contest

Send These Valentines To the Architects You Love

Architect Valentines 2014

Architect Valentines

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