Arch Daily |
- Blessed Sacrament Chapel / Pablo Millán
- Villa Z / Mohamed Amine Siana
- Two Homes in Jeongwang-dong / Maasarchitecture
- VVIP Circuit House - I / Sunil Patil And Associates
- TM Headquarters / Jun Murata
- Loewinger Residence / Shevi Loewinger + Ravit Kaplan
- Adam Caruso: "Fashion is the Opposite of Architecture"
- Tornillo Land Port of Entry / Richter Architects
- Herzog & de Meuron's West Village Condo Building Takes Shape In New York
- deFlat / NL Architects + XVW architectuur
- UNStudio Wins Competition for Landmark Mixed-Use Development in Frankfurt
- Copper Head / YOD design lab
- With the Jarahieh Refugee School, CatalyticAction Demonstrates the True Potential Of Temporary Structures
- The Hidden Pavilion / PENELAS ARCHITECTS
- This Campaign Envisions a Three-Storey Lightning Bolt in Honour of David Bowie
- Twice as Nice? Suzhou's Latest Architectural Homage Copies London's "Tower Bridge"
- Studioshaw's Competition-Winning Interactive Hub for Dundee
- AD Classics: Master Plan for Chandigarh / Le Corbusier
| Blessed Sacrament Chapel / Pablo Millán Posted: 02 Mar 2017 07:00 PM PST  © Javier Callejas
 © Javier Callejas From the architect. To think of a space destined to house the Blessed Sacrament is to think of a very specific area within a temple, the Sancta Santorum, a place for the encounter with God. If we analyze how these spaces have materialized throughout the history of architecture, we observe a radical importance of geometry and strong directionality. Under these premises, Diego de Siloé will design a new renaissance plant for the cathedral of Granada with the sole objective of being an imposing custody or later Leonardo de Figueroa will do the same with the baroque San Luis de los Franceses.  © Javier Callejas Church repeats in her prayer of Laudes the song of the "Benedictus." The movement of the earth always makes, every hour, in some corner of the world, the night is giving way to clarity and outbreak this prayer. It is the same that, as Luke the Evangelist tells us (Lk 1:78), arose as the praise of the mouth of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, when he learned of the next birth of his son, a fact that would change his life, canceling the debt that had left him dumb for his lack of faith.  Sketch In this song, almost at the end, it is said "by the tender mercy of our God, the sun that is born from above will visit us." The Light, according to the theological experience of Zechariah comes from above and is the daily test of God's goodness towards his people. Evidence of this truth has undoubtedly been the intention to make a space in which only an opening above shows daily to the parishioners of the chapel that God is with his people.  © Javier Callejas The construction of this small chapel starts from the need of the adjacent church to introduce light. Thus, the project arises from a single reflection, creating "a box for the Light", with the double meaning of being a box that contains light for the rest of the temple and of being a place that will contain the Light for all Christians: The Blessed Sacrament. The search for light, possibly the most important task of any architect, has become latent in this project by making a container space that, because of its orientation and zenith opening, is capable of introducing clarity throughout the church. Thus, the entire surface will be white and clean. Following this same sense, the floor of the rest of the temple will be changed with the objective of a greater luminosity.  Sketch The search for an essential space, naked, without any element that can distort the radically important in a sacramental chapel, has led us to opt for a Franciscan architecture, sober, clean of forms and adornment. The precision sought in a space of these characteristics will be determined by a strict geometry, radical, without any option that can be reason for dispersion. Thus, a concentrated space will be an illuminated and clean space, a space in which the Blessed Sacrament is the center, and in an almost theophanic way, light is proof of it.  © Javier Callejas This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2017 06:00 PM PST  © Doublespace Photography
 © Doublespace Photography From the architect. It was only one sentence : "I want to have an open feeling into a protected house from the sights of neighborhood". So it was a challenge between this privacy need from the client and my belief in an open and a lighty architecture.  © Doublespace Photography The Villa Z is a product of very strict city regulations, ones that ultimately confined the building into a 15m distance in a tight square. my principal intention was to go out from the cube percetion  © Doublespace Photography to answer to the client program and routine and to find the best way to preserve privacy and protect the project from the noise of the prominent front avenue.  Ground Floor Plan The project must draws its inspiration from Moroccan cultural roots, while opening up to new horizons. The intention was - working closely with the client's lifestyle in mind - to build a house with discretion and introversion. The design centers on the opacity of the main facade, combining the principles of traditional architecture with a strong contemporary identity.  © Doublespace Photography Based on intimity, orientations and on the basis of a cube, our work is done on the opening of such plans cube leaves and sculpture, providing fully veiled openings from the outside by planes games which direct them to good prospects on the outside while avoiding vis-à-vis and within the appropriate guidelines and sunshine.and to protect opennings from the sights.  © Doublespace Photography In the city of Casablanca, traditional modernism has been the norm in recent years, it was a laboratory for some brilliant architects and this Villa does well to not poke anyone in the eye while in the same breath maintaining a characteristic distinct plausibility to its integrity as a modern artefact in the city of Casablanca. The project is an experience which try to develope practical-spaces for the new way of morrocan life, a cultural dilemma between privacy and the cotemporary opened way of life.  © Doublespace Photography This architecture is based on ecological and passive solutions to maintain the best climate possible inside, so the automatised roof canopy just can play the role of acclimatization of the traditional patio. From the first step it was important to avoid the square and the circular form of the skylight was the best solution and a harmonious way to valorize the curves of the project.  © Doublespace Photography the others openings in the cellings are lightings circles with carved wood panels used like skins to mark the different important spaces of the house.  © Doublespace Photography This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Two Homes in Jeongwang-dong / Maasarchitecture Posted: 02 Mar 2017 02:00 PM PST  © Namsun Lee
 © Namsun Lee From the architect. Prologue A young landowner, who has lived in an apartment for about 10 years, has been given a detached housing area within a housing site development district. This young couple with a 7-year-old child visited our office with an intention of having a single-family home where the child could enjoy more playful interaction with its surroundings. This 248 m2 land is a class II exclusive residential area with a 30% building coverage ratio and an 80% floor area ratio. It is a district unit planning area with slightly smaller building coverage ratio and floor area ratio than other class II exclusive residential areas. We started working on constructing two homes with 72 m2 of building area here.  Site Plan Requirements from the owner 1. House for two families: They wanted two homes for easier accommodation into a relatively new neighborhood since the house will be second of its kind in a new housing site development district with a few neighbors. Also taken into consideration was that this will be the first time for the families living in an independent house.  © Namsun Lee Design principles 1. Arrangement A. 1+1=1 (Two gardens like one yard)  © Namsun Lee B. Long house, Long wall  © Namsun Lee 2. Form/Space A. 1+1=1 (Two homes in one house)  Plan  Section B. House featuring triangular gable roof The owner's house has two floors and the attic; the rental house has three floors. On the second floor, people would feel a sense of space offered by the attic, and even though the gable shape of the roof is in its natural, simple form, the interior would present various sense of space. From the third floor of the rental unit, we designed so that residents can feel the gable shape with secured high ceilings, which presents a sense of rich space despite the small size.  © Namsun Lee C. Bordered/Borderless  © Namsun Lee Epilogue The biggest problem was the construction of two separate houses facing the ground on a small land. When the excavation was proceeded and foundations were laid, we were reminded of the worrying words of the owner. "Is it a one-room house?" We thought that it is not yet ready to understand the single house which has the same area but looks smaller than the apartment, to organize the way of life that has lived and to adapt to the new life environment. The insulation performance, heat recovery ventilation system, and triple glazing window system, which were standardized by the district unit plan, became the prestige of raising the building cost based on the passive house standard. We had to make the owner understand why the building cost was different from what they know from a lot of media and blogs were covering.  © Namsun Lee The house, which was built in August 2016, was completed in December 2016 and became a new home for the owner. I hope to give them a new life, and to be a 'Jeongwang-dong Du Jib' (Two Home in Jeongwang-dong) for them to gather together warm happiness. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| VVIP Circuit House - I / Sunil Patil And Associates Posted: 02 Mar 2017 12:00 PM PST  © Hemant Patil
 © Hemant Patil From the architect. Circuit house is a government public building which not only accommodates the VIP authorities but also acts as a node for political meetings, government authorities' discussions and conferences. Usually, circuit houses have large number of visitors and occupancy can vary extremely. The project site is located in Pune - political hub for western Maharashtra. The project is mainly divided into two parts- - Accommodation - Guest suites - Public areas –Conference and meeting hall facilities, Dining, Reception, VIP and visitor's waiting areas etc.  © Hemant Patil Design is based on climate responsive architecture with passive strategies for thermal and visual comfort along with innovative active strategies to achieve energy efficient green building. The project has received GRIHA Five star rating.  Ground Floor Plan Today architecture has become threat to our planet. One has to be conscious while using natural resources for any development on the earth.  © Hemant Patil Hence green and sustainable architecture is not just a trend but a lifesaving measure for our earth and so the sustainable green architecture is no more a distinction as a design concept. In fact it shall be the basic ethos for all the development.  Section Government buildings are normally perceived as menace to sustainability as they consume high energy because of basic lacuna in the planning and design. This project is an initiative to make Government buildings "Green and Energy Efficient" and to create awareness in the government sector.  © Hemant Patil Our focus here is to design a climate responsive building with passive strategies for thermal and visual comfort along with innovative active strategies to achieve energy efficient green building.  © Hemant Patil We also believe that, "Architecture shall adhere to its time, the era, in which it is built." The contemporary architecture of this building has been derived from vernacular ethos. The shaded courtyard, which is the focal point of the building and passage around it leading to suites, is a highly contemporary version of the 'old chowk' of traditional Wadas of Pune with interiors and landscape seamlessly merging with architecture.  © Hemant Patil This project is designed following all passive strategies of planning, fenestration, zoning etc. Central shaded courtyard and spaces around it are well protected from sun yet allowing plenty of natural ventilation. The facade of the building responds to the orientation. Transition spaces play a key role in achieving thermal and visual comfort. Following table shows the details of energy efficiency achieved in terms of lighting, water, HVAC and materials.  © Hemant Patil 10 POINTS OF GREEN STATUS 1. The project is Griha certified with 5 - star rating for green building. 2. The building design is completely based on solar passive, climate responsive architecture. All the areas are naturally day-lit and ventilated with optimized shading devices designed to control glare and heat gain achieving thermal and visual comfort. 3. The building envelope is a crucial element of green building, hence each facade in this building is designed taking into consideration its orientation and function. Vertical and horizontal Louvers have been used for south and west facade to cut the solar radiation. 4. 22 kW solar photo-voltaic renewable energy plant is designed to cater more than 30% of artificial lighting. 100 % outdoor lighting catered by renewable energy system 5. Double glazed windows with low Solar Heat Gain Coefficient is used to minimize direct heat gain from the windows & to reduce air conditioning load. Highly efficient HVAC system (VRV) brings down the energy performance index (EPI) of the building. 6. 52.81 % reduction in building energy performance index (EPI) is achieved in this design. 7. 90% of hot water demand is catered by heat pump based hot water system. 8. Efficient water fixtures have been used, resulting in 50% water conservation. Waste water has been utilized for landscape irrigation. 9. Native & drought tolerant species with efficient irrigation system are proposed in landscape to minimize the water requirement for landscape. Irrigation water demand is reduced by 48% by the use of treated water from the STP installed on site. 10. Building execution is done with all safety measures & procedures, innovative green construction techniques and effective air and noise pollution control measures.  © Hemant Patil Product Description. LOUVERS. In a hot-dry climate as that of Pune, creation of an apt second skin as the building envelope is one of the most critical factors for a sustainable approach. Similarly even in The Circuit House, this second skin ie, the louvers on the west and south façade of the building plays a very important role in limiting the amount of solar radiation and light admitted into the building. A combination of vertical and horizontal louvers has been adopted, each placed at precise angles, thus achieving thermal and visual comfort for the occupants. The reduction in solar radiation helps in limiting the heat gain hence reducing the load on air conditioning. Overall it helps in improving the energy performance of the building, and achieving green building status. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2017 11:00 AM PST  © Jun Murata
 © Jun Murata From the architect. This is the renovation of the headquarters of the real estate company based in Osaka, Japan. On the 12nd floor – the top floor of this building, new head office is required. The VIP space and meeting spaces are very important for this company which is having many conferences with clients.  © Jun Murata Firstly, visitors reach the elevator hall which is installed a reception counter. From the hall with an impressive monochrome contrast, they can catch a glimpse of the wooden entrance space through the glass door.  © Jun Murata In the darkness, the statue of Maitreya which is said to "save countless sentient beings" is enshrined on the entrance wall, and welcomes guests gently. The corridor is divided into right and left, the president's office room, rest spaces and the kitchen are arranged on the left side, and the meeting area and the main office room are arranged on the right side.  Plan From the VIP room / the president's office, guests can enjoy beautiful view of majestic Ikoma-yama mountain range in the daytime and the urban illumination of Osaka at night. In order to respond promptly to visitors and quickly grasp internal trends, the president room is located closest to the entrance and in the middle of the traffic.  © Jun Murata In the back of the right hand of the corridor, a double louver of aluminum gently separates the space. There are large and small meeting spaces on the left and right, and a passage leading to the office is arranged in the center.  © Jun Murata By inserting a vertical louvers into this ambiguous one room connected from the corridor, I aimed at a semi-public space like a lounge without having complete sealability. The sunlight from the south passes through louvers and projects impressive shadows on the floor.  © Jun Murata On the back of the narrow corridor between the grids on both sides, there is a spacious office for 20 people. From the horizontal opening facing the west side,workers can see the various aspect of the city that is changing every moment. I expect they can concentrate their business with relaxing mind in this office space.  © Jun Murata This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Loewinger Residence / Shevi Loewinger + Ravit Kaplan Posted: 02 Mar 2017 09:00 AM PST  © Chad Mellon
 © Chad Mellon From the architect. As an entrepreneur and design lover with lots of guts, I was looking for a piece of land to build a new modern vacation rental home that will be totally my own design. I found a beautiful flat sunny lot in the small town of Guerneville, surrounded by old redwoods and with a giant one in my back yard.  © Chad Mellon I envisioned the house from the beginning: It should be a wooden house but with a very modern appeal, high and tilted ceiling, huge windows, open space living room.  Floor Plans  Sections - Elevation The house has a main living space/kitchen with huge windows in both sides and a high tilted ceiling, ranging from 13 feet at the front to 20 feet in the back, facing the huge tree and the mountain. There are three bedrooms on the main level. Modern metal staircase leads to a beautiful mezzanine over looking the main space and the mountain. The house has two large decks, one in the back facing the large yard and the huge tree, and another one in the front, for shed sitting, looking at a small tree house we built for my daughter.  © Chad Mellon My friend Architect Ravit Kaplan prepared the plans for the permit. After getting the permit, I managed the interior design and materials choices: Cedar for the sidings, concrete floors, Blomberg Windows, Kitchen from Leo Claudio cabinets in SF, designing the bathrooms (one of them with dramatic black penny floor), teaching the contractor how to do flash doors (by learning it myself from the internet), and all the way to the landscape and gardening. I chose mostly neutral colors and straight lines.  © Chad Mellon In the beginning I was thinking of a black house but after I saw the beauty of the cedar, I decided to leave it natural.  © Chad Mellon It was a great full year of driving several times a week from San Francisco to Guerneville (In Russian River area, 1.5 hours drive from SF) to manage the project. I worked with a local contractor and local workers and I'm planning to work with all of them again. I can't wait for the next project!  © Chad Mellon This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Adam Caruso: "Fashion is the Opposite of Architecture" Posted: 02 Mar 2017 08:30 AM PST
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Canadian architect Adam Caruso, founding partner of London-based Caruso St John, provides his take on the current climate of the architectural profession and the influences driving his own personal architectural philosophy. With his firm, Caruso has led the design of numerous art institutions, including the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize winning Newport Street Gallery in London, that respond to "a deeper idea of place, of the history and culture of the place and how you read it today.  Screenshot via Louisiana Channel "Unfortunately, nowadays, when buildings are built as objects that are meant to stand out, they don't have any of that open-endedness," says Caruso. "They are so specific that you can't help but think that as soon as the client who caused them to be gets bored of them, they'll just have to demolish them. And that's kind of the point – it's about architecture just becoming a commodity like fashion, which is in fashion, out of fashion. And to me, that's the opposite of architecture." In the interview, conducted by Marc-Christoph Wagne, Caruso discusses his respect for tradition in architecture, his skepticism of novelty for novelty's sake, and how contemporary artists like Andreas Gursky, Gordon Matta-Clark and Eva Hesse impacted the way he looks at design. Via Louisiana Channel. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Tornillo Land Port of Entry / Richter Architects Posted: 02 Mar 2017 07:00 AM PST  © Craig Blackmon
 © David Richter From the days of the Spanish Missions, the waters of the Rio Grande downstream of El Paso have been harvested by flood irrigation to create rich farmland from the harsh Chihuahuan desert. Over centuries a Nile-like green swath has grown to extend more than fifty miles to the southeast of El Paso / Juarez bi-national metropolis. In the middle of this artificial but productive eco-zone, this new LEED Gold Port of Entry returns 117 acres of this farmland back to its desert origins. The irrigation water that greens productive fields all around the site is too precious to support landscape for imagery or momentary respite. The water-conscious design creates a vest-pocket desert micro-ecology within the immediate region's green agricultural context, which in turn resides within a vast desert that reaches for hundreds of miles into both Mexico and the US. This dichotomy, layering and sequential experience of passage - born of water and its scarcity - inspires the spirit of place at the Tornillo Port of Entry.  © Craig Blackmon Programmatic goals include:  © Craig Blackmon Inspection and processing buildings are arrayed along an east/west axis for beneficial orientation and to create a narrow green belt along the line of passage - metaphorical to the macro context and creating order to often chaotic traffic patterns. High technology ubiquitous to border screening is incorporated as visual elements of place. With the technology appropriated as part of the architectural language, the design becomes more energetic, relevant, flexible and adaptable to the change.  © Craig Blackmon The performance-inspired precast roof canopy panels are the color of the dusty desert soil and are designed to incorporate inspection technology, convective ventilation, daylighting and non-disruptive expansion potential via modularity.  Courtesy of Richter Architects The Tornillo US Port of Entry is intended to clarify and heighten the desirable qualities of passage and arrival in support of a welcoming and meaningful international border-crossing experience. It raises awareness of the local ecological context in a rapidly expanding metropolitan region, engages local historical culture, maintains flexibility for evolving technology and addresses the challenges of scale, order, and security inherent to a major Port of Entry.  © David Richter This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Herzog & de Meuron's West Village Condo Building Takes Shape In New York Posted: 02 Mar 2017 06:10 AM PST  Construction on Herzog & de Meuron's 160 Leroy condominium tower in New York's West Village has nearly topped out, with 12 of its planned 15 floors now complete. The design, inspired by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, features a curved concrete and glass facade and contains 57 luxury condos ranging in price from $3.1 to $48.5 million.  via Field Condition The building is the third major New York project to be led by Herzog & de Meuron in recent years, following a jenga-like condo tower at 56 Leonard Street and a hotel at 215 Chrystie Street. Construction on 160 Leroy began last summer and is expected to complete later this year.  via Field Condition  © DBOX To see the full construction progress, visit the Field Condition blog, here. News via Curbed. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| deFlat / NL Architects + XVW architectuur Posted: 02 Mar 2017 05:00 AM PST  © Stijn Poelstra
 © Stijn Poelstra From the architect. Kleiburg is one of the biggest apartment buildings in the Netherlands: a bend slab with 500 apartments, 400 meter long, 10 + 1 stories high.  Site Plan Kleiburg is located in the Bijlmermeer, a CIAM inspired residential expansion of Amsterdam designed in the sixties by Siegfried Nassuth of the city planning department. De Bijlmer was intended as a green, light and spacious alternative for the -at that time- disintegrating inner city.  © Marcel van der Burg The Bijlmer was designed as a single project. A composition of slabs based on a hexagonal grid. An attempt to create a vertical garden city.  © Marcel van der Burg Traffic modalities were radically separated; cars on elevated roads and bicycles and pedestrians on ground level. They would no longer share the same space.  © Stijn Poelstra Now the area houses about 100,000 people of over 150 nationalities. The Bijlmermeer had a very optimistic start. But soon the enthusiasm for this radical residential area was overshadowed by fear-for-the-unknown. Fed by heavily economized execution, bad publicity, lack of understanding, poor maintenance and the sudden emergence of a new residential dream type -the suburban home- the Bijlmer turned into a slowly disintegrating parallel universe.  © Marcel van der Burg A renewal operation started in the mid nineties. The characteristic honeycomb slabs were replaced by mostly suburban substance, by 'normality'. However it was decided to keep the most emblematic area intact -flanking the stunning, for-ever-futuristic elevated subway line. The so-called Bijlmer Museum came into being; a compact refuge for Bijlmer Believers. Kleiburg is the cornerstone of the remaining ensemble.  © Stijn Poelstra Bulldoze? Kleiburg is the last building in the area still in its original state; in a way it is the "last man standing in the war on modernism".  © Marcel van der Burg Housing Corporation Rochdale, however, had plans to demolish it. They calculated that a thorough renovation would cost about 70 million Euro... But bulldozing the masterpiece by architect Fop Ottenhof would lead to a collapse of the magnificent urban composition.  © Marcel van der Burg In anticipation to the fierce resistance by 'believers' and pressure by the local government, that hoped to avert demolition, Rochdale launched a campaign to rescue the building: Kleiburg was offered for ONE EURO in an attempt to catalyze alternative, economically viable plans. Over 50 parties responded with a range of ideas from student or elderly housing to woon/werk-units, or homes for the homeless.  © Stijn Poelstra Klusflat Four teams were selected to further develop their ideas. Ultimately Consortium De FLAT consisting of KondorWessels Vastgoed, Hendriks CPO, Vireo Vastgoed and Hollands Licht, was chosen with their proposal to turn Kleiburg into a Klusflat. 'Klussen' translates as to do it yourself.  © Stijn Poelstra The idea was to renovate the main structure -elevators, galleries, installations- but to leave the apartments unfinished and unfurnished: no kitchen, no shower, no heating, no rooms. This would minimize the initial investments and as such created a new business model for housing in the Netherlands. The ambition was to open up new ways to live, to offer new typologies by combining two flats (or even more!) into one, by making vertical and horizontal connections.  Diagram Section The future residents could buy the shell for an extremely low price and then renovate it entirely according to their own wishes: DIY. Owning an ideal home suddenly came within reach…  © Marcel van der Burg Bliss By many, repetition was perceived as evil. Most attempts to renovate residential slabs in the Bijlmer had focused on differentiation, the objective, presumably, to get rid of the uniformity, to 'humanize' the architecture.  Diagram But after two decades of individualization, fragmentation, atomization it seemed an attractive idea to actually strengthen unity: Revamp the Whole! It became time to embrace what is already there: to reveal and emphasize the intrinsic beauty, to Sublimize!  © Marcel van der Burg Interventions In the eighties three shafts had been added on the outside featuring extra elevators: although they look 'original' they don't belong there, they introduce disruptive verticality. But it turned out that these concrete additions could be removed. There was still enough space in the existing shafts; new elevators could actually be placed inside the existing cores. And the brutal beauty of the horizontal balusters could be restored!  Diagram Sandblasting the painted balusters revealed the sensational softness of the pre-cast concrete: better than travertine!  © Marcel van der Burg Originally the storage spaces for all the units were located on ground floor creating an impenetrable area, a 'dead zone' at the foot of the building. By relocating the storerooms to the upper levels near the elevators the ground level could be freed up for more interactive forms of inhabitation: apartments, workspaces, daycare. As such the plinth would be activated: a social base embedded in the park.  © Stijn Poelstra The interior street that served as the connector between parking garages and elevator cores was a fundamental ingredient of the Bijlmer. It was located on the first floor at plus three meters and forced the underpasses to become low. And unpleasant. But since lowering the elevated roads was one of the central ideas of the renewal of the area the inner street became obsolete. Now larger openings could be created connecting both sides of the building in a more scenic and generous way.  © Marcel van der Burg On the galleries the division between inside and outside was rather defensive: closed, not very welcoming. There was room for improvement. The opaque parts of the facade were replaced with double glass. By opening-up, the facade becomes a personal carrier of the identity (even with curtains closed).  © Stijn Poelstra In addition a catalogue of facade modules was created from which the future inhabitants could choose a set of window frames that would match the customized layout of their FLATs: openable parts, sliding doors, double doors, a set-back that creates space for plants or people. As such a personal 'interface' could come into being that could activate the galleries. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| UNStudio Wins Competition for Landmark Mixed-Use Development in Frankfurt Posted: 02 Mar 2017 04:15 AM PST  The four towers will reach a maximum height of 228 meters (748 feet). Image Courtesy of UNStudio UNStudio has been selected as the winners of an international competition to design a new mixed-use development on the site of the former Deutsche Bank offices in Frankfurt, Germany. Selected to complete the urban strategy for the district last March, UNStudio has now been unanimously selected to carry out the architectural redevelopment of the site, beating out third prize proposals from the teams of Dudler / Jahn and MSW / Snøhetta, and an honorable mention from Christoph Mäckler / CoopHimmelblau. The new mixed-use development will consist of four high-rise towers ascending from a multi-story plinth in the heart of the city. The project includes space for retail, restaurants and hotels, as well as a full range of residential accommodation. The four towers, rising up to 228 meters (748 feet) high, will serve as a new landmark on the Frankfurt skyline.  The development will become a new landmark on the Frankfurt skyline. Image Courtesy of UNStudio The eight-member jury, consisting of city representatives, architects, and urban development experts Groß & Partner Grundstücksentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, commended UNStudio's scheme for its strong silhouette and the arrangement of the four towers to create strong connections to the existing network of inner city routes. "I am delighted that the four towers will create a new, lively location in the heart of Frankfurt City," said Jürgen Groß, Managing Partner, Groß & Partner. "The project offers the opportunity to increase Frankfurt's attractiveness as an interesting and viable city on an international level and thus make an important contribution to the development of our city. We consider UNStudio's design to be very successful, because the four towers enrich the skyline not only architecturally, but also as a public attraction."  The existing Deutche Bank district. Image Courtesy of Groß & Partner Previously restricted from public access, the redevelopment will allow visitors to the site for the first time in more than 45 years. The full district masterplan is estimated to accommodate 3,000 workers and 1,000 residents. In addition to the residential and office spaces, the complex will feature retail, catering, and playground and adventure areas for children "The project will play a pioneering role in the transformation of Frankfurt's banking district into a mixed-use quarter," commented City Councilor Mike Josef. "With the new layout of the site and a greater mix of programmes, a new space with a publicly accessible roof area and affordable living space will be created. The centrally located site, which has for a long time been closed, will now be open to the public. This will become a lively neighbourhood, not only for working but also for living." Ben van Berkel, Founder and Principal Architect of UNStudio added: "Bringing a mixed-use project into this financial district will not only enliven the area during daytime, but it will also introduce evening programmes and create an essential form of social sustainability to this part of the city. The introduction of the residential and the leisure components are key to this strategy. This sculptural family of towers will also create the impression of a cohesive neighbourhood within the skyline and emphasise the importance of this part of the city within the whole." Construction on the project is expected to begin later this year, with the first building slated to open in 2021. UNStudio Chosen to Transform Former Deutsche Bank Site in Frankfurt This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PST  © Andrey Avdeenko
 © Andrey Avdeenko From the architect. In Copper Head bar high technologies and classic traditions merged into one. Brewery gives an opportunity not only enjoy freshly brewed beverage, and to look behind the scenes the process of making it. The bar opens its door in historical downtown of Ivano-Frankivsk, in building, which constructed during the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century. The building has special history. In 1897 firstly in the city was shown movie.  © Andrey Avdeenko Entrance group harmoniously inscribed in the facade of the building, without spoiling its architectural image.  © Andrey Avdeenko Visiting card of Copper Head - it is the bar. It meets guests and located right behind of the bar beer tanks immediately set up a guest on relevant topics  © Andrey Avdeenko At the basement floor located the heart of Copper Head - the brewery, which is located behind of the glass, to make the process of brewery accessible for guests. The concept of transparency developed open part of the kitchen too, was visitors can see all finalizing works at the kitchen.  © Andrey Avdeenko Copper Head - that is about beer. The concept of the bar reflects the idea of a single organism, which has its own "vessel." Idea expressed with a copper pipes, passing through the whole bar, extending the walls and becomes the light. In the bar each detail - from door handles to authors light - reminds about beer theme.  © Andrey Avdeenko The anchor element of the basement floor is installation of ceramic balls, symbolizing the integral attribute of the drink - beer head. Another installation - wall metallic panel with a perforated hops picture. To authors idea of the bar includes an array of lamps on the basis of beer glasses.  © Andrey Avdeenko The copper theme also gets its continuation. The material meets not only in the interior, also in logo and other elements of identity of the bar.  © Andrey Avdeenko This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2017 01:30 AM PST  Courtesy of CatalyticAction The 2015 Milan Expo required the input of more than 145 countries and 50 international organizations resulting in over 70 temporary pavilions; a combined effort totaling more than €13 billion. Norman Foster's rippling pavilion for the United Arab Emirates ended up at €60 million. The massive slab of concrete, laid out over the previously green agricultural land to act as the Expo's foundation cost a whopping €224 million. Even Vietnam's "low cost" pavilion came in at $2.09 million. Compare that with, for example, IKEA's proposal for a temporary refugee shelter that can house 5, costing just $1000, and one can see the absurdity of spending gargantuan sums on buildings that will perhaps be sold to be used later as a clubhouse, or to a museum as another temporary cultural center. Where is the architectural action behind an architectural event that boasts "Energy for Life" or "Better City, Better Life" - the slogan of the Shanghai 2010 Expo - yet spends extraordinary amounts of resources on structures that provide little sustainable development to parts of the world that are actually in dire need of it?  Courtesy of CatalyticAction Out of the 70-plus pavilions exhibited at the 2015 Expo, one belonged to Save the Children Italy, who demanded that the construction be reused for a charitable purpose after the exposition. CatalyticAction, a non-profit design studio specializing in play and education spaces for refugees, took up the challenge by addressing the lack of educational facilities at Jarahieh refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, home to 500,000 displaced Syrian children. Half of those children do not have access to any education, but among the other half, in the past two years, 320 children aged 5 to 14 have been through the dark tent that was Jarahieh School. To improve the conditions at this school, Save the Children Italy's donation was dismantled, transported to Jarahieh and adapted by CatalyticAction, in collaboration with the children and locals, to turn the pavilion construction into a functional and sustainable educational and social facility. Developments and idea generation began nine months prior to the opening of the school, starting with the children who took part in creative exercises that directly informed the final design. Unusual building strategies were implemented with the help of relationships built with the Syrian and Lebanese residents over several weeks, allowing CatalyticAction to, for example, experiment with locally sourced sheep's wool as insulation and sound dampening material. As 72% of all the sheep in Lebanon are found in Bekaa, this strategy was not only sustainable but also supported local farmers and laborers hired to clean and dry the wool.  Courtesy of CatalyticAction Working with local people had the additional benefit of transferring different kinds of building knowledge to them, equipping both women and men with the resources to continue to work for the community beyond this single project. The combined effort of this "inclusive approach" of sharing knowledge, empowering women and sourcing materials from vulnerable sources is an attempt at building bridges in a community that is made up of a wide range of Syrian ethnic groups. As said by Joana Dabaj, Principal Coordinator of CatalyticAction, during an interview at reSITE 2016: "As long as you are dealing with people, and working with those people, you should set aside some space for the process… for us, architecture is not just about the building itself but also the process. If you do several smaller-scale projects, it will affect the bigger scale." Jarahieh School is also not just a school for children; after 4 pm it is a school for adults, and on weekends it functions as a public cinema and a site for aid distribution. The square formed between the six small buildings creates a public area for all residents of the refugee camp, and during a potential natural disaster such as a flood or snowstorm, the buildings will double as a community shelter. All of this benefit originated in a small children's "village" aimed at kids with parents wealthy enough to afford an Expo ticket. Now that same colony of structures houses a place of learning for less fortunate children across the Mediterranean Sea.  Courtesy of CatalyticAction Jarahieh School is evidence for the fact that temporary constructions can have a substantial effect on people's quality of life, beyond the simple appreciation for an experimental and flamboyant facade. Dabaj explains that "There are huge opportunities when it comes to exhibition structures because usually they have been done in a temporary way. When dealing with urgent situations there's also this requisite that you need temporary structures. In Lebanon, you cannot build permanent structures for refugees, so it also fits the same design guidelines of the building: temporary, it can be disassembled and assembled." The idea is that once Jarahieh School is no longer needed in Bekaa Valley, the structure will be packed up and shipped to another location that does require such a structure to advance the social development of the area. "Recycling is not a new concept. What we maybe should try to push a bit more is to recycle almost at a global scale," says Riccardo Conti, Executive Director of CatalyticAction, during the same reSITE interview with ArchDaily. "Resources are not equally distributed, so it would be great if architecture could find a way to redistribute some resources that otherwise would be wasted anyway."  Courtesy of CatalyticAction Why does it take a non-profit studio to truly embody the values of sustainability and all the other buzz-words constantly used in the architectural profession? Talk of sustainability begins to get old when you don't put your money where your mouth is, but perhaps successful projects like the Jarahieh School can catalyse some action in areas such as the social challenges of migration. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Hidden Pavilion / PENELAS ARCHITECTS Posted: 02 Mar 2017 01:00 AM PST  © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal
 © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal From the architect. The Project fulfills the desire to Build a space for meditation and retreat, a place to Inhabit and to Think. The pavilion is built in a glade of the forest, the only clearing without a tree. It is wrapped up in Nature, hidden in it, in a way that it is only slightly perceptible. Suspended over a small waterfall, the pavilion protects it. The pavilion interacts directly with the growing of trees, allowing them to pass through its terraces and cantilevers by gaps built for them.  © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal Fully embedded within the forest, the pavilion openly embraces the presence of Nature through the enclosure of its glass exterior. The upper level surface is inclined, respectfully providing room for the growth of a bicentenary holm oak tree. The raised light wells catch the sunrays and directs them downwards towards the interior, rays that would have otherwise been blocked by the holm oak tree.  © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal  Section  © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal Only three materials are used: rusted steel structure, glass facade and cherry-tree wood interior, brining Nature inside. The passing of the seasons generates new senses and emotions within the design.  © Miguel de Guzmán – Imagen Subliminal This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| This Campaign Envisions a Three-Storey Lightning Bolt in Honour of David Bowie Posted: 02 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PST  A year since the passing of David Bowie, one of music and pop culture's greatest icons, fans have launched a fundraising campaign to support the erection of a permanent memorial statue in London, in honor of the late musician. "We're taking the lightning flash from the cover of Aladdin Sane, and turning it into a three-storey tall sculpture," explains Charlie Waterhouse of This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll, one of the organizations behind the campaign, working in conjunction with David Bowie's team. Located five streets away from Ziggy Stardust's birthplace in Brixton, the statue will assume the form of the famous red and blue lightning bolt, as featured on Bowie's LP cover, and now his most distinguishable symbol. The memorial is described by Crowdfunder as "unexplained, yet utterly familiar; a poignant reminder that life does exist beyond the everyday. That music and art and curiosity are vital, positive contributors to our collective existence." Rising three stories to a height of 9 meters, the stainless steel monument will be embedded into the pavement directly opposite the Brixton tube station, making it the first sight people will get a glimpse of when arriving in the area. The Crowdfunder campaign aims to achieve its target of £990,000 to allow for the Bowie memorial to become a reality. Pledges are being accepted until March 21st. If you would like to be a hero, even if it's just for one day, you can contribute to the campaign here. News via: NME. Ziggy Stardust Dominates Prahran Apartment Facade This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Twice as Nice? Suzhou's Latest Architectural Homage Copies London's "Tower Bridge" Posted: 01 Mar 2017 11:30 PM PST It's common knowledge that China has "at least 10 White Houses, four Arcs de Triomphe, a couple of Great Sphinxes and at least one Eiffel Tower," report the New York Times. But now photographs of a copy of London's famous Tower Bridge (a Victorian riparian gateway to the city) in the Chinese city of Suzhou have emerged – and it's been adapted to suit a five-lane highway. Almost identical—from a distance, at least—to its British counterpart the new structure, which was completed in 2012, has been doubled – a feat which has also required some spectacular architectural additions.  © User: Colin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA-4.0. Image of actual Tower Bridge in London Speaking to the Times, Cheng Taining of the Chinese Academy of Engineering suggested that "many [Chinese] officials see foreign designs as shortcuts to achieving a look of modernity and worldliness." In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly called for an end to the "weird buildings" being built in China, and particularly in the nation's capital, Beijing. News via New York Times Why China's President Says "No More Weird Buildings" This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Studioshaw's Competition-Winning Interactive Hub for Dundee Posted: 01 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PST  Flexible studios to aid Dundee's thriving digital creative sector. Image Courtesy of Studioshaw London-based firm Studioshaw has won a competition to design a hub facility for children and young people in Dundee, Scotland. The Interactive Hub will be located on the site of a former railway depot at the Seabraes Yards Digital Media Park. The competition, hosted by the Dundee Institute of Architects (DIA) and Scottish Enterprise, was one of 400 events taking place across Scotland as part of the RIAS 2016 Festival of Architecture.  The scheme contains sheltered public space for outdoor digital theatre and drone races. Image Courtesy of Studioshaw Studioshaw's Interactive Hub will form part of a larger masterplan to regenerate the Seabraes Yards area, including Richard Murphy's Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre and Kengo Kuma's V&A Dundee. The Hub will act as a mixed-use development responding to the city's thriving creative industries sector, creating a dynamic space to host activities such as drone racing and outdoor digital theater.  The scheme contains sheltered public space for outdoor digital theatre and drone races. Image Courtesy of Studioshaw  The proposal forms part of a masterplan to regenerate Seabraes Yards. Image Courtesy of Studioshaw
News via: Studioshaw. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AD Classics: Master Plan for Chandigarh / Le Corbusier Posted: 01 Mar 2017 09:30 PM PST .jpg?1487999073 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu On August 15, 1947, on the eve of India's independence from the United Kingdom, came a directive which would transform the subcontinent for the next six decades. In order to safeguard the country's Muslim population from the Hindu majority, the departing colonial leaders set aside the northwestern and eastern portions of the territory for their use. Many of the approximately 100 million Muslims living scattered throughout India were given little more than 73 days to relocate to these territories, the modern-day nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh. As the borders for the new countries were drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe (an Englishman whose ignorance of Indian history and culture was perceived, by the colonial government, as an assurance of his impartiality), the state of Punjab was bisected between India and Pakistan, the latter of which retained ownership of the state capital of Lahore.[1] It was in the wake of this loss that Punjab would found a new state capital: one which would not only serve the logistical requirements of the state, but make an unequivocal statement to the entire world that a new India—modernized, prosperous, and independent—had arrived.  Although Le Corbusier's original plan still survives at the heart of Chandigarh, the city's current population—three times its planned occupancy—means the city has expanded beyond its planned boundaries. ImageCourtesy of Mapin Bereft of Lahore, the Punjabi government elected to build a new capital city in a plain situated along an existing railroad track 270 kilometers (167.8 miles) north of New Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was determined that this new city should project an image of modernity and progress, a mandate which was put to the American architect Albert Mayer and his collaborator Matthew Nowicki. Over the next year, the pair began to develop a plan based on the Garden City model but, when Nowicki died unexpectedly in an accident in August 1950, Mayer withdrew from the project.[2] .jpg?1487999390 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu With the initial design team gone, the directors of the Chandigarh Capital Project journeyed to Europe to search for a replacement. They were referred to the French architect Le Corbusier who agreed on the grounds that his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, be hired as the site architect. Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, the English couple and architectural team who had suggested Le Corbusier for the project, also agreed to work on the housing for the project; Le Corbusier would be in charge of further developing and detailing the preliminary plan already laid out by Mayer and Nowicki.[3] .jpg?1487999219 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Rather than simply fill in the gaps of the incomplete master plan, Le Corbusier embarked on a decisive mission to tailor it to his own design rationale. The curvature of Mayer's fan-shaped concept, with roads conforming to the terrain of the site, was reworked into a grid with curves so shallow as to nearly be orthogonal. The new roads were assigned a hierarchy, ranging from "V1" arterials that connected cities to "V7" pedestrian paths and "V8" bicycle paths.The grid of roadways bounded large Sectors (originally referred to as "Urban Villages" in the Mayer scheme), each of which featured a strip of greenspace along the north-south axis crossed with a commercial road running from east to west. The new layout compressed Mayer's 6,908 acres down to 5,380 acres, increasing the density of the city by 20% while still essentially respecting the principles of the Garden City Movement.[4]  Although Le Corbusier's original plan still survives at the heart of Chandigarh, the city's current population—three times its planned occupancy—means the city has expanded beyond its planned boundaries. ImageCourtesy of Mapin The inspiration for Le Corbusier's master plan has been credited to a number of sources. Its emphasis on ample green space between its roads and buildings drew not only from the Garden City principles requested by the local government but from the architect's own concept of the Ville Radieuse – albeit with the towering glass skyscrapers replaced by sculptures reflecting Chandigarh's governmental purpose. Rather than razing one of the cities in his native Europe to craft his perfectly ordered urban paradise, Le Corbusier had the opportunity to utilize those same principles on the untouched Punjabi countryside.[5] .jpg?1487999153 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu .jpg?1487999397 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Curiously, Chandigarh's system of grand boulevards with key focal points appears to have been derived from that of Paris, the metropolis which so disgusted Le Corbusier that he wished to demolish it in favor of his preferred urban scheme (itself Haussmanian in its vision). It is also likely that inspiration for these qualities came from the earlier plan for New Delhi, a more local example of comprehensive city planning aimed at the glorification of the state. The overall rectilinear format of Chandigarh has also been compared to the squared layout of medieval Beijing; the new city was therefore based on at least three auspicious national capitals.[6]  Although the rest of the project team accepted it as an inevitability, Le Corbusier was never pleased with the categorization of housing into income levels and, in his disgust, withdrew from much of the project. ImageCourtesy of Mapin While the Master Plan took form as Le Corbusier envisioned, he was never pleased with the housing that rose alongside his cherished grid. From the moment he took on the project, the architect intended to apply his Unité d'Habitation concept to Chandigarh, inserting residential highrises for the city's government employees into the otherwise low-lying city; despite his efforts, however, the local government demurred, and the design of the residential units became the sole responsibility of Jeanneret, Fry, and Drew.[7]  Drawings for the lowest level of housing, Type 13D. ImageCourtesy of Mapin  Drawings for Type 5J Housing, intended for mid-level civil servants. ImageCourtesy of Mapin These residences fell into thirteen categories based on the rank and incomes of the government officials who would inhabit them. Each category was assigned both a number denoting its rank in this financial scheme and a letter indicating its designer; however, all were unified in their modern, geometric simplicity. The primary visual interest in the otherwise monolithically rectangular buildings came from the deep overhangs and recesses employed for the purpose of shading, along with perforated screens and, in some cases, verandahs.[8] .jpg?1487999481 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Disappointed and insulted that his vision for a collection of towers in parks had been overruled, Le Corbusier effectively washed his hands of the city – an attitude reflected in the way he developed the Capitol complex. His original concepts designated the complex as the head of the Master Plan, with drawings from late 1951 depicting the Secretariat on a clear line of sight with the rest of the city and framed by the Himalayas in the background. After what he considered the "betrayal" of his team, however, Le Corbusier altered his plans significantly, placing artificial hills between the Capitol complex and the rest of Chandigarh, breaking the line of sight between the two. This was not accidental: not only did Corbusier draw a series of sections to verify that pedestrians could not see one from the other, he ordered workmen to remove a path over the top of the hills on the grounds that "The city must never be seen."[9] .jpg?1487999084 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Now isolated from its urban context, the Capitol complex took on a distinct aesthetic and spatial vocabulary. The Governor's Palace was to be placed at its head, with the High Court and Palace of the Assembly opposite each other nearby and the Secretariat off to the side, subordinated by virtue of its unceremonious location. For the forms of the buildings themselves, Le Corbusier applied a combination of traditional Classical features and Indian design innovations, all simplified and realized in concrete.[10] .jpg?1487999316 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu The Palace of the Assembly took the form of a large box into which the distinct forms of the Senate and Assembly chambers appeared to have been inserted. Its main façade, which faced the High Court building, featured a portico with an upturned curve, through which one entered a cavernous, shadowy interior with a grid of slender columns rising to the darkened ceiling. Across the central plaza stood the High Court, an open-sided box which was also topped by a portico composed of inverted curves. Here, however, the axis of the curvature was perpendicular to the main façade, the sunlight shining between the arches and the roof of the habitable space of the building. The windows lining the front of the Court stood behind a grille of brises-soleil, while a gaping opening to one end of the structure, punctuated by three brightly-colored columns, marked the primary entrance.[11]  A section through the Court House, or Palace of Justice, shows the aerofoil form of the roof, which curved down in a series of shallow arches to meet the box that formed the enclosed spaces of the building. ImageCourtesy of Mapin The Governor's Palace, the intended centerpiece of the Capitol complex, was ultimately deemed "undemocratic" by Nehru and removed from the scope of the project. In its place stands a lone sculpture of an enormous hand seemingly melded with a dove. The sculpture, almost PIcasso-esque in its stylization, was so important to Le Corbusier that he repeatedly urged Nehru to approve its construction despite the latter's admonition that India could not afford the expense. Of its symbolism, he stated: "It was not a political emblem…[but] an architect's creation… Open to receive the wealth that the world has created, to distribute to the peoples of the world… It ought to be the symbol of our age."[12,13] .jpg?1487999258 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu From the moment it was built, Chandigarh enjoyed a position of prominence in both the Indian and global architectural fields. The spirit of exuberant hope that arose in the early days of Indian independence survives in many of its citizens, even if the fabric of the city has been changed by time. Far beyond its intended population of 500,000, Chandigarh and the surrounding area is now home to three times that number – a population boom which has necessitated a series of controversial suburban developments over the years. Despite the inevitable growth of the city beyond its original rectangular borders, Chandigarh continues to hold the admiration and affection of locals and the international architectural community; long after both his and Le Corbusier's deaths, the Punjabi capital continues to serve as, in Nehru's words, "an expression of the nation's faith in the future."[14] References
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