Arch Daily |
- Viking Seaside Summer House / FREAKS Architecture
- Burgos Railway Station Refurbishment / Contell-Martínez Arquitectos
- Tree House / Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design
- Guizhou Firestation / West-line studio
- Live Urban / Urbansociety
- Transform and Rethink / Hu Yue Studio
- National Archives Preservation Facility / May + Russell Architects
- New Renderings of Penn Station's $1.6 Billion Renovation Released as Project Gets Greenlight
- Una Vida Boutique Villas / Studio arquitectos
- Diller Scofidio + Renfro Breaks Ground on Juilliard’s First Overseas Campus in China
- Alpine Loft / Office Winhov + Office Haratori
- Foster + Partners Wins Competition for Landmark Tower in Sydney's Circular Quay
- New’R / Hamonic + Masson & Associés
- 9 Incredibly Famous Architects Who Didn't Possess an Architecture Degree
- Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten Reveal OMA’s Design for Australia's MPavilion 2017
- House of Music / Mario Cucinella Architects
- 30 Graphs and Charts to Boost Your Visual Presentations
Viking Seaside Summer House / FREAKS Architecture Posted: 19 Jun 2017 10:00 PM PDT
From the architect. The project is located on the west coast of France, in the Cotentin region, where came waves of vikings from the 9th century. FREAKS has been commissioned to refurbish a preexisting concrete fishing shack built in the 50's on a rock, on the beach, facing the sea. Its dimensions and ratio are exactly the same as Henry David Thoreau's log cabin in Walden, 3 meters per 4, 12m2. Because of the very strict French coastal construction regulations, the project couldn't change either the size nor the shape of the shack, but major works have been done to change the roofing and exterior insulation by using a light champagne-colored galvanized metal cladding and to install two large sliding windows allowing to open the house towards the horizon. The interior architecture is very minimal and simple and consists in a yellow-jointed- white-tilled core in which the toilets and a glazed showerezzanine hosts a double bed. The lounge area hosts a couch and a table for 8 person by using the folding arm chairs "Soley" designed by Icelandic architect Valdimar Hadarson. A very are gathered. The kitchen is open towards the main room while a half m large outdoor terrace expands the living space to the stunning seaside pink granite landscape. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Burgos Railway Station Refurbishment / Contell-Martínez Arquitectos Posted: 19 Jun 2017 08:00 PM PDT
From the architect. The project aims to rehabilitate the Old Railway Station to accommodate a recreational and leisure programme intended primarily for children and youth. The intervention extends, on one side, over the Station Square (former Travelers Courtyard) as a pedestrian and relationship space and, on the other side, a boulevard that is today where the railways used to be. In order to contextualize and integrate the building, a new pergola is built adapting its shape to this new boulevard. It serves not only as a transition between the scale of the building and the green area but also it remains to the great iron and glass marquee that protected the railways and the platforms. This pergola serves now as support for the cafe as well as it dilutes the boundaries of the building in relation with the westside wooded area. The intervention proposed in the Travelers Building seeks to recover its essence, adapting the construction to the new intended use. This is achieved by reinterpreting in depth the spatial whole conception, as well as the physical and visual relationship between the parts that characterize it as an architectural piece. The building is structured along a linear axis and is divided into the different areas requested in the program: In the east wing, the children's area; in the west one the restaurant and cafe area; in the access space, at the old mezzanine level, the administration and on the first floor, the youth area. Finally, the three towers are joined through walkways with stairways at the ends. The core of vertical communications and services is strategically built in the central body, this allows the individual use of the different building areas without the need to duplicate communication elements or toilets, while allowing facilities concentration. In the access to the building from the Travelers Courtyard, the original space is recovered thanks to two canopies that penetrate in the building, which also serves as windbreaks. These define the access point and the original geometry by reinterpreting that element. Inside, loading walls are cut down on the ground floor to achieve a fluid space and to get visual continuity between the different bodies. At the same time, the mezzanine slab, which was executed with little fortune in the middle of the twentieth century fragmenting the original height of the ground floor space, is completely eliminated. This level is only partially recovered at the access, after crossing a threshold with the original height of the Train Station, which achieves a compression of the space prior to accessing to the lateral bodies. All the existing interior linings are removed, exposing the brickworks and stoneworks. This operation, necessary for the rehabilitation of the walls, allows to clearly differentiate the existing parts of the building from the new ones. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Tree House / Malan Vorster Architecture Interior Design Posted: 19 Jun 2017 07:00 PM PDT
From the architect. The architects have been involved with previous projects on this tree-rich property, and were commissioned to design a small contemporary house to compliment the existing collection of buildings - spatially organised around a modern interpretation of the Cape Werf. Inspired by the trees on the estate, the client requested a cabin-like, one bedroomed hide-away resembling a tree house. The structure is located in a small clearing amongst forest-like gardens, and respond similarly to the verticality of the surrounding trees in order to maximise views from the highest portion of the site. Inspiration was drawn from the timber cabins of Horace Gifford and Kengo Kuma's notions of working with the void or in-between space, while Louis Kahn's mastery of pure form and the detailing ethic of Carlo Scarpa informed a process of geometric restraint and handcrafted manufacturing. The organisational diagramme of the structure explores the pure geometry of a square, with each side divided into three modules and where two of these modules determine the diameter of a circle on each of the four sides of the square - resulting in a pin-wheel plan layout. A square is directional and a circle not - the square relates to the North/South site geometry and the four circles to the organic and natural surroundings. Each circle's centre is the location for a column, and circular rings, supporting the floor beams above, are connected to the columns by means of branch-like arms. Each ring circumscribes a half-round space ancillary to the main square living space on that level. The building becomes a vertically arranged "clearing in the forest", with living space on level one, a bedroom on level two and a roof deck on the third. A plant room is located at ground level below the building. The half round bays accommodate a patio, dining alcove and stair on the living level, a bathroom on the bedroom level and a built-in seat on the roof deck level - the pure geometries provide articulation to the spaces. The building lightly touches the ground, and entry is by means of a suspended timber and Corten steel ramp. The columns, arms and rings are constructed from laser-cut and folded Corten steel plate, and each column is divided into four 'trunks' in the interest of transparency, slenderness and to allow floor beams and windows to pass through the centre points of the rings. The steel trees support timber floors beams, facade glazing and a western red cedar building envelope. The connections between steel and timber are expressed by means of hand-turned brass components. All materials are left untreated, and will express the passing of time as they weather naturally with the surrounding trees. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Guizhou Firestation / West-line studio Posted: 19 Jun 2017 03:00 PM PDT
From the architect. The fire station is located at the very center of Guizhou Province, near its main city, Guiyang. The building grows in between two steep trapezoid-shaped picks, 30m high, facing Huayan Road, an important road artery. The building is designed following a trapezoidal shape, clearly visible in its sections, which carries on the shape of the mountain. It gradually grows creating an iconic slope, from which only few elements pump out: the training tower on the north corner and the white central hall. The design of this hall is deliberately different from the rest of the building, aiming to create a holy space, the so called 'Honor Hall'. A thick white and deep shadows characterize this high sharp space, used for ceremonies where to reward brave fire mans and to strengthen the spirit of the whole team. The plan is quite complex, due to the morphological features of the site. The building is made by a succession of parallel bands to combine different programs and it is arranged on many levels.These are connected by outdoor corridors and boardwalk which, due to the mild temperatures, have been equipped with relax areas, reading rooms and sport equipment to encourage socialization. As in the most typical style of West-line, a severe strong architecture always meets open courtyards, some more wide and open, where to exercise and practice group sports, others more quiet, with water features, to create different environments. The light also plays an important role giving different personalities to different spaces. While on the swimming pool or indoor sports playground we have a diffuse light, in the Honor Hall the light is 'measured' to highlight only few architectural elements and to create iconic shadows. Architects paid particular attention to the design of the staircase. Far from being only passages or connection between different floors, these cores have long cantilevered areas and their own lighting system. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:00 PM PDT
"The city is like a great house and the house in its turn a small city." – Leon Battista Alberti The project site is located in ordinary residential area close to Han River and water-front Park, is approached from three streets with different urban features, The first street is connected harmony to the neighborhood of meddle density residences, second street is a path to Han River front Park for leisure activities, another wide street is a main road that stretch into old downtown. These situations give taking advantage of the spatial possibilities of urban transformation. The existing three story building was built in 1989. Before the remodeling, it looks like one of the typical mixed building with residential and commercial. Former structures on this building were combined ramen structure on low level in building and load-bearing walls that finished red brick exterior. The project includes to change former wall structure to steel frame that interlocked with ramen structure on second and third slabs, this reinforced structure makes the old building possible to expand vertically by adding an extra mass on rooftop. The purpose of project is to extend parts workshop, commercial and residential places each one for three story on expanded volume, to arrange various lives in urban by planning of internal programs like multifunctional space such as workshop, commercial shops, office space, three studio rooms, co-living house as a duplex with a roof garden. In addition, through a strategy to enlarge areas within approximately 25% on intermediary and public space like stair balcony, terrace and rooftop, it is possible to provide the opportunities of communication for dwellers. Especially, 7 persons who live in co-living house can use a rooftop space for watching movies and cultivating some crops, and having a little party. In mass designing the form, volume and exterior materials, we mainly consider local contexts and scales between neighborhood buildings, we suggest exterior materials a black color zinc panel and red brick as old wall for having divided mass volume. It is deeply rooted in a harmony which related to aesthetic value and ambience of the town. The scheme on the rooftop, it is considered to choose vertical wood lubbers, this scheme makes dwellers to promote public activities as the main space of the community. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Transform and Rethink / Hu Yue Studio Posted: 19 Jun 2017 12:00 PM PDT
Transform and Rethink Transform The traditional Beijing courtyard dwelling is designed with a peaceful inner yard and rooms around in good lighting and ventilation condition. However, these characteristics have been disappearing along with the exceeding population expansion and additional construction in chaos. On the premise of satisfying residents' basic need in daily life, this project tries the best to make the traditional layout of the courtyard recur in the extremely crowded circumstance. After partially demolishing and extending, it makes each resident enjoy the inner yard space, enough sun light, nice ventilation, as well as the peace of the traditional dwellings. Also, obtain the happiness and dignity of life again. Rethink Fatty - Scale Transformation Dumplings – Role Transformation This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
National Archives Preservation Facility / May + Russell Architects Posted: 19 Jun 2017 10:00 AM PDT
From the architect. The National Archives Preservation Facility (NAPF) is a facility for over 15 million paper and audio visual records storage, management and preservation with the underpinning design philosophy of "Your story, our history". The architectural dialogue of the design is to express its function as the symbolic keeper of the nation's collective memory, and represent the primary functions of 'archives' and a 'space for archivists'. The predominant concept is to express the passage of time – both the past and the future. Its form and scale relates to its location within an industrial area as well as relating to an international architecture for archive facilities. Although not its formal street address, the NAPF has a dominating elevation adjacent to a key commuter road linking Canberra city with Gungahlin, a major growth town centre. As a main transport corridor and passageway for the future light rail system, the daily grind of commuters would pass the facility at the extreme ends of the day – down and dusk. The façade is comprised of precast concrete panels, which are articulated to accentuate the sun angles and shadows cast at various times throughout the day. The North and South edges of these panels are respectively pronounced with dust and dawn coloured fins which playfully engage commuters to contemplate the passage of time. The precast concrete form houses the archival function of the facility, required to be devoid of windows and constructed to maximise thermal efficiency. It references our past and the Australian landscape by depicting a weathered and eroded mass, evoking a timeless granite outcrop catching a rising or setting sun. The box form and unitised structural grid provides the most efficient floorplate for mobile storage compactus units, which drove the planning of the egress stairs externally, and hence celebrated with the colours of dawn and dusk. In stark contrast, the space for archivists is representative of the present day and our future. The lightweight, metal clad construction is a smooth, machine-like box with regular lines and modular openings. The central circulation spine which connects these two distinct spaces is called Archive Row. A light filled atrium space to provide visual relief to transition between the starkly different environments, the 100m length is clad with clay panels of earthy tones, in a transient graphic depicting movement and the passage of time towards the future of digitised records. Archive Row is to provide a space for incidental encounter and collaboration amongst archivists, to engender pride and respect for the important role they play in preserving our history for future generations. Although the future of archives forges into the digital age, the NAPF is a unique facility which tells the story of the nation; both the past and the future. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
New Renderings of Penn Station's $1.6 Billion Renovation Released as Project Gets Greenlight Posted: 19 Jun 2017 09:20 AM PDT New York City's fast-tracked Penn Station transformation project is moving forward, as Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the closing of the $1.6 billion deal to redevelop a large section of the James A. Farley Post Office into the new "Moynihan Train Hall." The project will consist of a new 255,000-square-foot terminal for the Long Island Railroad and Amtrak, increasing Penn Station's total concourse floor space by more than 50 percent, while an additional 700,000 square feet will be developed for commercial, retail and dining spaces to create a new mixed-use civic space for West Manhattan. "Fifty years after the loss of the original Penn Station structure, passengers will once again experience a world-class rail hub worthy of New York," Governor Cuomo said. "The Farley Building's Moynihan Train Hall is two decades in the making, and we are proud that this project is finally a reality. With better access to trains and subways and state-of-the-art infrastructure, the Moynihan Train Hall seamlessly joins history, architectural design and function, bringing the nation's busiest rail station into the 21st century." Designed by original Penn Station architects McKim, Mead and White as a sister to the grand train hall, the Farley Building will see its core turned into a light-filled train hall meant to evoke evoke the look and feel of its long-demolished partner. New renderings released with the news show the 92-foot-high skylight that will be built above the building's historic steel trusses. Along access to Amtrak and LIRR platforms, the train hall will provide direct connections to the Eight Avenue Subway, and will create an entrance on 9th Avenue for the first time, bringing visitors to within a few blocks of the ongoing Hudson Yards megadevelopment. Other upgrades will include a redesign of the LIRR's 33rd Street concourse, renovations to the existing Seventh and Eighth Avenue subway stations, and tripling the width of the 33rd Street Corridor, one of Penn Station's busiest walkways spanning the station's lower level from 7th to 8th Avenue. Funding for the project will come from a collaboration between Empire State Development ($550 million) and private partners Related, Vornado and Skanska ($630 million). An additional $420 million will come from the three major New York transit agencies (MTA, Port Authority and Amtrak) and federal grants. If all goes well, the new Train Hall is scheduled to open to the public by the end of 2020. News via State of New York.
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Una Vida Boutique Villas / Studio arquitectos Posted: 19 Jun 2017 08:00 AM PDT
The Ceiba with its Chacas and Chechens The project “Una Vida” is located in the south region of Tulum, Quintana Roo, 10 minutes from the Caribbean beaches and in the middle of the tropical lowland rainforest. The location area is 3,305 sqm and it has an irregular triangular shape, which limited the distribution of buildings and common areas. Prior to the project distribution, a land survey was carried out in order to preserve most of the trees to reduce the impact on the area and to provide a more natural environment. This survey was useful to make an analysis regarding the separation and distribution of these trees. This project came out from the idea of creating villas with flexibility for the different booking options, and looking forward to the possibility that they may work as homes in the future. As a result, we decided to divide this project in segments and also provide an organic tour through the whole project while discovering the different species of trees in the rainforest. The maintenance areas are located in the smoothest surface, so is the temazcal (traditional Mayan steam bath). Then we have the different segments called Chaca and Chechen, and then, in the lower part, we have the common area that is connected to the building access. Villa Ceiba is located at the other end of the land, being a wider and more private area. These buildings are in parallel and separated from each other in order to allow the airflow to freshen the environment. This way, we also avoid having one overloaded building that may be dissociated from the surroundings. Additionally, the extensive vegetation and trees provide the necessary shade to cushion the impact of the Caribbean heat. One of the first ideas of the project was to create a sort of village in the middle of the rainforest, with a rustic concept, using the region’s material resources such as stone and palm roof, keeping the natural style from the outside and at the same time providing the necessary warmth and purity for our guests’ comfort on the inside. As a concept, we tried to include abstractly in the design three elements related to the natural cycles and the environment: roots, soil and trees. The roots that spread through the rainforest just like our guests’ tour; the soil that gives life to the environment, maintaining its essence and incorporating the natural elements to the design; and the trees represented by the different buildings of this project. And this is why the segments (made up of different units) have the names of trees typical of the area: Chaca, Chechen and Ceiba. The Chechen is a poisonous tree, whose resin may burn the skin of whoever touches it, whereas, the Chaca is the antidote. The Ceiba is considered a sacred species of trees in the Mayan culture, and also a symbol of wisdom; this tree represents the life-death-life cycle. As a result, each element of this project represents life, its cycles and connections, all of them reflected in the guests’ experience while in contact with the Tulum atmosphere. The Chaca segments are the smallest ones with one bedroom unit and one kitchen-living room-dining room unit. The Chechen segments are composed by three units: two bedroom units and one kitchen-living room-dining room. The same pattern is repeated in ground and first floor of both segments to cushion the footprint in the land. These units allow flexibility if the guest needs to add bedroom units, preventing the limitation of the market to one sector (couples, families, and so on). Then we have the biggest and unique Villa Ceiba, composed by three bedrooms, living room and kitchen area, and garden with private pool. Every apartment located in the ground floor has outdoor shower and tub, providing a very different and natural experience. Every bedroom unit is oriented to the north of the land to provide freshness to the room; whereas the public and service areas are located in the south near the path which crosses the land and is located in the south as well. In this manner, we achieve privacy in the bedrooms, providing rainforest landscapes and receive the prevailing winds. We also created an indoor gallery of the Chaca and Chechen trees in the ground floor with wooden louvers as entrances to the units, simulating a layer to provide privacy and create a space between outside and inside. These louvers are all over the ground floor and their form change into handrails of the first floor. The building morphology is composed by vertical planes of stone holding a slab, simulating lightness of the Chaca and Chechen social segments. These slabs are outside the vertical planes to give a light appearance due to the material they are made off (chukum). In the specific case of Villa Ceiba, it has the best orientation, which is the east; it provides the guest more privacy and a view over their garden. In this segment, the planes of stone hold two large pieces of chukum, giving symmetry and lightness to this combination, which is seen as the fusion of both parts in perfect balance. Every material employed in this project has a specific role: the regional stone gives a rustic and a wild touch, whereas the (chukum) polished cement gives a clean and austere aspect. The wood helps us to blend the complex and the rainforest. Additionally, vegetation is important in this project, giving it the identity, privacy, and life to the image of the place. The materials give balance to the complex, offering a natural experience and remembrance of the region. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Breaks Ground on Juilliard’s First Overseas Campus in China Posted: 19 Jun 2017 07:00 AM PDT Diller Scofidio + Renfro has revealed designs for the Juilliard School's first overseas campus as the project breaks ground in Tianjin, China. One of the world's foremost performing arts schools, Juillard had previously tapped DS+R for the design of their New York City campus. Located within the Yujiapu Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Tianjin Juilliard School will become a center for performance, practice and research, and will welcome in the public with a series of communal spaces and interactive exhibitions focused on the creative process and performance of music. Upon completion, the campus will serve as an international hub for artists to learn and meet, as well as become the first performing arts institution in the country to offer a US-accredited master's degree. "In planning this new facility, we wanted to capture the spirit of Tianjin while creating an architectural connection to Juilliard's home campus in New York City," said Charles Renfro, Partner-in-charge at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The school will take the form of four, programmatically-organized masonry volumes containing the main concert hall, a recital hall, a black box theater, and a music library. These pavilions will be connected by a series of bridges housing the school's classrooms and practice facilities. In the center of the complex, glass roofs will span between the bridges to create an open-air lobby that connects seamlessly to the surrounding park. Publicly-accessible green roofs and a rooftop terrace will further encourage visitors to the site, as well as provide views of the nearby Hai River. The campus will also be located adjacent to Tianjin's new high-speed rail hub, allowing commuting students and visitors alike to reach the school in just one hour from Beijing's South Rail Station. The school is scheduled to open in 2019. News via Juilliard.
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Alpine Loft / Office Winhov + Office Haratori Posted: 19 Jun 2017 06:00 AM PDT
From the architect. The village of Mathon has remained remarkably intact without significant alterations to the built fabric. At its heart sits an old wooden barn which has fallen into disrepair. If it were to be demolished it would never be replaced creating a gap in the centre of the village. To preserve both the structure of the barn and its role in the village ensemble it is converted into an alpine loft, a place for work and reflection. The project draws upon examples from far away, most prominently the Japanese house. Loving the Ordinary We Combine Simplicity with Sophistication This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Foster + Partners Wins Competition for Landmark Tower in Sydney's Circular Quay Posted: 19 Jun 2017 05:00 AM PDT Foster + Partners has been selected as the winners of an international competition to design a new office tower for Sydney's Circular Quay, steps away from the city's harbor and iconic Opera House. Located between George and Pitt streets, the tower will serve as a centerpiece of the urban district's reinvigorated masterplan, featuring a scheme characterized by its array of pedestrian pathways that cross through the site at multiple levels. Injecting life into the area, the laneways will be lined with retail shops, cafes and bars, helping Sydney maintain its identity as a unique cultural destination. "We wanted Circular Quay Tower and its surroundings to be of its place, taking advantage of its topography and unique location near Sydney Harbour," said design team leader Gerard Evenden, Head of Studio and Senior Executive Partner at Foster + Partner. "The tower will be the centrepiece of an urban regeneration precinct that will reshape the northern end of the CBD into a vibrant community contributing to Sydney's status as a global city." Standing out against the Sydney skyline, the tower will feature an innovative façade made up of a series of external cross-brace members that put the building's structural engineering and load-tracing on display. On the south elevation, three bays of transparent elevators will be book-ended by the building's concrete cores, animating the façade and articulating the structure's vertical elements. By offsetting the core to one side and pushing the structure to the exterior, the interior floorplan can remain open, allowing for flexible arrangements for future tenants. "The innovative workspaces at Circular Quay Tower are flexibly designed to support new ways of working in the 21st century so that anyone from a new start-up to large companies can enjoy this fabulous urban location," Evenden added. "We are delighted that the jury concurred with our design vision and look forward eagerly to the next stages of the project." News via Foster + Partners.
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New’R / Hamonic + Masson & Associés Posted: 19 Jun 2017 04:00 AM PDT
From the architect. A unique building in a strategic location. Composed of curved angles and surrounded by undulating balconies, New'R pays homage to Oscar Niemeyer as well as to the architecture of the 1970s French Riviera, (André Minangoy and Michel Marot's "Marina Baie des Anges", for example) and finally the hedonistic fantasy of Miami Beach! Sensual and multi-directional, the building is located at a pivotal point between the 'Mail Picasso' and the new neighbourhood currently being developed alongside the rail infrastructure. Framing and capturing the existing location, New'R embraces the site and forms a new landscape. The building's volume compliments the surrounding scales through its sculpted effect. The construction of intermediate landings creates a sequence within the volume and the piston-like morphology facilitates a graduated system of high-rise living. Its strategic position and impact on the site offer a range of interpretations depending on one's proximity to the building, evoking multiple responses and sensations. A building connected to the ground. The question of public space and its extension through the project was a prerequisite and is a condition that will not only invite different activities and interactions, but also establish a strong link between the shared, public space of the road and the building. The city's flow of pedestrians, cars and bicycles and the mixed programme (parking, retail, office space and housing) interweave and embellish the ground floor, creating a "pedestrian level volume." The building's transparency, depth and various perspectives engender a dynamism and liveliness around the perimeter of the project, consequently enriching the surrounding environment. Above all, this is a residential project. The life and richness of a city are its inhabitants. We have provided diversity within the collective by creating multiple exterior spaces and apartments with a range of typologies. There are forty differing typologies for 156 apartments, meaning the repetition inherently found in housing projects is offset by the tower's uniqueness, which seeks to provide a sense of belonging and identity. Plant containers are built into the balcony railings and a vegetable garden and a greenhouse are integrated into the 10th floor terrace. The organisation 'Bio-T- full' provide around thirty workshops offering residents the opportunity to participate in group activities and the planting and growing of crops. Furthermore, a vast solarium on the sixteenth floor allows residents to organise birthday parties, soirées and other events. Finally, this building is a manifesto. Architecture is not a question of systems or profitability, but rather beauty and pleasure. We must rediscover the freedom to experiment with style, materials and typology. Aesthetic values, meaning those which relate to art and beauty, must be reconsidered in order to create ethical, modern and democratic projects. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
9 Incredibly Famous Architects Who Didn't Possess an Architecture Degree Posted: 19 Jun 2017 02:30 AM PDT Had the worst jury ever? Failed your exams? Worry not! Before you fall on your bed and cry yourself to sleep—after posting a cute, frantic-looking selfie on Instagram, of course (hashtag so dead)—take a look at this list of nine celebrated architects, all of whom share a common trait. You might think that a shiny architecture degree is a requirement to be a successful architect; why else would you put yourself through so many years of architecture school? Well, while the title of "architect" may be protected in many countries, that doesn't mean you can't design amazing architecture—as demonstrated by these nine architects, who threw convention to the wind and took the road less traveled to architectural fame. 1. Frank Lloyd WrightThe man labeled "the greatest American architect of all time" by the American Institute of Architects in 1991, funnily enough, did not possess an architecture degree, although he was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts by his former school when he was in his late eighties. A combination of familial circumstances and a disenchantment with the education system—Wright would go on to call it "a trampling of the herd" in 1956—led him to drop out of the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1887, after just a year of studies in the civil engineering course. He moved to Chicago instead, to gain real-world experience as an assistant to architect J.L. Silsbee. While working under his supervision, Wright took a chance and applied for a job at Adler & Sullivan, which led to a six-year-long apprenticeship at the prestigious firm. Here, Louis Sullivan provided the bedrock of Wright's instruction in architecture, before he established his own practice in 1893. While his long career was marked by scandal and tragedy, Wright's contribution to American architecture and his mainstream popularity remains unparalleled. He continued, though, to harbor a skeptical opinion of formal education, as evidenced by his observation in 1955 that "Education, of course, is always based on what was. Education shows you what has been and leaves you to make the deduction as to what may be. Education as we pursue it cannot prophesy, and does not." 2. Louis SullivanWright's "lieber meister" Louis Sullivan, had an erratic, if varied, formal education. The wunderkind and creator of the credo "form ever follows function" graduated high school at sixteen years of age in 1872, and was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the sole American architecture school at the time. Impatience caused him to withdraw at the end of the year, and next came two brief apprenticeships: First, under architect Frank Furness in Philadelphia, and the second, under architect-engineer William Le Baron Jenney, a prominent figure in the development of the Chicago School of architecture. In the summer of 1874, Sullivan sailed to Europe and enrolled at the influential École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he again just stayed a year, making short excursions to Florence and Rome meanwhile. After returning to Chicago in June 1875, he worked briefly as a draughtsman with several firms, before joining future partner Dankmar Adler's office in 1879. His fourteen-year association with Adler produced more than hundred buildings, characterized simultaneously by a modern, yet ornamented aesthetic. While he wrote extensively on architectural theory and philosophy, he shared Wright's disdain for formal education. "How strange it seems that education, in practice, so often means suppression: that instead of leading the mind outward to the light of day it crowds things in upon it that darken and weary it," he noted in 1894. 3. Le CorbusierThe Swiss architect and urban planner was on his way to learn his father's trade of enameling and engraving watchcases, enrolling at the age of 15 in the École des Arts Décoratifs in his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Three years later though, his art history teacher, Charles L'Eplattenier, insisted that the boy should become an architect instead and helped to secure his first practice on local projects. On his advice, the young Corbusier also traveled extensively across Europe between 1907 and 1911, to cities such as Athens, Venice, Vienna, and Munich, while apprenticing briefly in several architectural offices: Auguste Perret in Paris (1907), Josef Hoffmann in Vienna (1908), and Peter Behrens in Berlin (1910-11). He returned home in 1912, to teach alongside his master and open his own architectural practice, before eventually moving to Paris in 1917. 4. Mies van der RoheThe man who coined the aphorism "less is more" was born to a modest stonecutter's family in Aachen, Germany, which meant he had little opportunity for formal education. Following early apprenticeships as a brick mason while in trade school, Mies worked for a number of Aachen architects sketching outlines of architectural ornaments, a task that helped refine his drawing and drafting skills. He moved to Berlin in 1905, at the age of nineteen, to work for an architect, but left his job to apprentice for Bruno Paul, a leading furniture designer of the time. The impressive execution of his first independent commission in 1907, the Riehl House, prompted Peter Behrens to offer Mies a job in his office. His four-year association with Behrens, a leading member of the Deutscher Werkbund, helped him forge ties with like-minded artists and craftsmen, who advocated "a marriage between art and technology." By the time he left Behrens' office in 1912, Mies had come into his own, successfully handling independent commissions of private houses for Berlin's elite. 5. Buckminster FullerWidely considered to be one of the greatest minds of our times, Fuller had a rocky relationship with formal education. The man who popularized the geodesic dome was expelled from Harvard University not once, but twice, never to graduate. He revealed his circumstances in a 1961 lecture as he spoke at length: "My father died when I was quite young, and though my family was relatively poor I had come to Harvard from a preparatory school for quite well-to-do families. I soon saw that I wasn't going to be included in the clubs as I might have been if I had been very wealthy or had a father looking out for me, for much of the clubs' membership was prearranged by the clubs' graduate committees. I was not aware up to that moment that there was a social class system and that there were different grades of citizens. I became panicky about that disintegration of my idealistic Harvard world, went on a pretended lark, cut classes, and was fired. Out of college, I went to work and worked hard. In no time at all, reports went to Harvard that I was a good and able boy and that I really ought to go back to college; so Harvard took me back. However, I was now considered a social maverick, and I saw none of my old friends; it hurt too much. Again I cut classes, spent all my year's allowance, and once more was fired. After my second firing, I again worked very hard. If World War I hadn't come along, I am sure the university would have taken me back again, and I am sure I would have been fired again. Each time I returned to Harvard I entered a world of gnawing apprehensions, not an educational institution, and that was the problem." 6. Luis BarragánThe Pritzker Prize-winning Mexican architect, whose work has been called minimalist, emotional, and mystic, attended the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros (Free School of Engineers) in Gaudalajara, Mexico, graduating with a civil engineering degree in 1923, while he continued working towards an architecture degree that he would never gain. On a visit to the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, he became acquainted with the published works of French landscape architect and illustrator Ferdinand Bac: Six years later, Barragán met Bac and Corbusier on another visit to Europe, two architects who would eventually have a profound influence on his work. 7. Carlo ScarpaThe Italian enigma, known for his distinct approach to design and building, attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Venice, from where he graduated with a non-professional Professor in Architectural Drawing diploma in 1926. Refusing to sit the required professional exam, he was therefore restricted from practicing architecture without associating himself with another architect. He began his career at the Royal Superior Institute of Architecture, Venice, teaching architectural drawing, before going on to serve as the art director at Venini Glass Works in Venice from 1932 to 1947. It was only after the Second World War that Scarpa received recognition as an architect, most notably for the 1964 renovation of the Museo Castelvecchio in Verona, Italy. 8. Tadao AndoThe Japanese Pritzker Prize-winning architect began as a professional boxer in Osaka, Japan, before a study of his mathematics teacher and local carpenters sparked his interest in architecture. "These two elements—math and carpentry—converse in architecture. That was my starting point," he told Surface Magazine in an interview in 2015. Ando couldn't afford university education, so embarked on a long journey of self-education: reading books, attending night classes, visiting buildings in Japan and overseas and studying them. "I had to think and act by myself. I'm from Osaka, which is located about half an hour from Kyoto and Nara. Every Sunday I made a point to go out and look and study the old buildings in the region," he explained. After a host of informal apprenticeships, Ando, in 1969, opened his own architectural firm at the age of twenty-eight. 9. Peter ZumthorThe 2009 Pritzker Prize laureate, born in Basel, Switzerland to a cabinet-maker, followed in his father's footsteps and apprenticed with a local cabinet-maker for four of his teenage years. He continued his design education at the Basel Arts and Crafts School (1963-67), where teachers from the Bauhaus taught him, as he explained to New York Times Magazine "all the basics of design, the craftsmanship of drawing and looking, of mixing colours, white space and negative space — form, line and surface." This was followed by a short stint at New York's Pratt Institute, where Zumthor studied industrial design; He subsequently returned to Switzerland in 1967, receiving employment in the Department for the Preservation of Monuments, in Graubünden. It took him another twelve years to establish his own practice in Haldenstein, but Zumthor takes pride in the fact that he never earned an architecture degree. "It's all talk these days," he complained in his 2011 interview with New York Times Magazine. "Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier came from a tradition in which architects still knew how things were made, how to make things well. We should force universities to train carpenters and woodworkers and leather workers. Architects all want to be philosophers or artists now. I'm lucky to have had my education, because in the States, especially, you've lost contact with the real business of building." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten Reveal OMA’s Design for Australia's MPavilion 2017 Posted: 19 Jun 2017 02:00 AM PDT The Naomi Milhave Foundation have released OMA's first renders and drawings for their upcoming MPavilion which is set to take shape this fall in Melbourne, Austrailia. The counterpart to the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, the MPavilion is now in its fourth year. Comprising static and dynamic elements, OMA's proposal allows for multiple configurations that can generate unexpected programming, echoing the ideals of the typology of the amphitheater. Following the idea of the traditional amphitheater, OMA's design will be "itself built to perform" as a space for public debate, design workshops, music and arts events. The Pavilion enjoyed great success in last year's design by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai – garnering more than 94,000 visitors to over 287 free events in its 139-day run. Along with Perth's new Museum (beginning construction in 2020), the MPavilion will be OMA's first project in Australia. Past designers include Bijoy Jain, Sean Godsell, and Amanda Levete. Commenting on their aims for this year's MPavilion, Rem Koolhaas, Founder and David Gianotten, Managing Partner of OMA said "MPavilion is a project that hopes to provoke discussion around what architecture can do both globally and in an Australian context. We're interested in treating this pavilion not just as an architectural object, but as something that injects intensity into a city and contributes to an ever evolving culture." Settled onto an artificial hill of indigenous plants, MPavilion 2017 will comprise a circular amphitheater covered by a huge floating roof structure. (Koolhaas and Gianotten previously worked together an earlier floating roof project, the Shenzen Stock Exchange). A two-metre-deep gridded, machine-like canopy with a protective translucent roof will provide lighting and technology services for the series of free public events. The pavilion's materiality will be "related to its direct surroundings, positioning the Queen Victoria Gardens itself – and the city of Melbourne – as a basis for activity and debate within the pavilion," says Gianotten. The moving elements of the design will by the rotating grandstands in the amphitheater. The moving stands allow for different configurations of space depending on the use of the pavilion and create a "flexible civic space" sheltered by the distinctive roof. Blurring the threshold between inside and outside, the sheltered space will also, in turn, blur the distance set between audience and performer.
Construction is set to commence in August. The MPavilion will open free to the public on Tuesday 3 October 2017 until Sunday 4 February 2018. To find out more about MPavilion, click here. News via: OMA.
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House of Music / Mario Cucinella Architects Posted: 19 Jun 2017 01:00 AM PDT
From the architect. The House of Music of Pieve di Cento was born out of the desire to create structures and spaces suitable for two programs: concert promotion and musical teaching in the municipality: the Music Society of Pieve and a Middle School with musical emphasis. The architectural language is inspired by the musical tradition rooted in the city, resulting in a building comprising various independent elements, not unlike the "instruments" in an orchestra which collectively enhance the whole. The reference to musical instruments is also achieved through the choice of oak wood paneling, which wraps exterior and interior and permits - as in the bodies of the instruments - the containment and amplification of sound. The building consists of 9 small circular music laboratories, linked by a "piazza" that acts as a distribution space and becomes a place for sharing and dialogue among young musicians. This central area is also intended for ensemble music and small rehearsals. The House of Music is located in a portion of the former Lamborghini manufacturing area which, after careful restoration with the help of the municipality, has been renovated and transformed into a leisure park. The site is reached by a bicycle path that connects it to the city center and the new expansion district south of the historic center, while a curvilinear wooden bench runs around the building and creates resting and restorative places facing the park. The House of Music thus becomes a space that can be used at any time of the day: a gathering space for the community, not only those in the music field. Illuminated externally, at night, the House of Music appears to the people as a constant and comforting "lantern" to encourage the resumption of musical and recreational activities in the aftemath of the earthquake. The buildings have load-bearing masonry structure, useful for its high thermal inertia and a sound insulation. The ventilated facade cladding, formed with curved oak slats, guarantees excellent energy performance and gives the building a striking architectural quality. The design pays particular attention to the acoustics of interior spaces through materials and strategies for reducing reverb. An autonomous system for each classroom guarantees flexible use of spaces at all hours of the day. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
30 Graphs and Charts to Boost Your Visual Presentations Posted: 18 Jun 2017 11:00 PM PDT Communicating ideas through imagery are central to the design process. In client presentations, site visits, or public exhibitions, we are required to represent important aspects clearly to the receiver, who is often not an architect. Furthermore, producing detailed architectural drawings can allow us to identify and modify certain aspects of the design. Diagrams and charts, because of their non-spatial characteristics, are often neglected until the last moments of the design process, however, they can be a useful tool for analysis and organization. Taking the time to think and articulate these elements yield positive results, from understanding and organizing a design process to providing an unexpected change of idea. In an effort to enhance the graphics and diagrams in architectural representation, check out this series of case studies to help you boost the visual, analytical, organizational power of your work. 01. Programmatic Representation:+ Distribution of the program:Graphs and diagrams can be used to identify different functional parts of a scheme, allowing for a more engaging analysis such as that presented in the Seattle Central Library / OMA + LMN. Furthermore, graphics and diagrams of hybrid schemes allow us to understand the relationship between building uses. + Specific activities and uses:Throughout the design process, specific functions and elements will emerge which merit an individual in-depth study. Using graphs and diagrams in these specific investigations allows us to portray a wealth of information, such as phasing, capacity, and circulation. 02. Contextual Representation:+ Implementation / visual:When establishing links with existing topographies, buildings, and views, diagrams can convey observations which would be more difficult to describe the structured, technical nature of planning/detail drawings. + Solar Orientation / ClimateUsing charts can be effective for a solar and climatic study, describing a wealth of precise data in one drawing, such as wind direction, solar angles in summer / winter, maximum precipitation. 03. Spatial Representation:+ Volumetric Construction:Keeping a record of the evolution of a project is a common and effective way of understanding what tasks are completed, underway, or outstanding. Using graphs and diagrams to analyze and communicate a project schedule can allow the team to quickly explore and modify the process. + Study pieces:Studying individual spatial components in a particular way can reveal a clear understanding and identification of constituent elements. Undertaking exclusive studies using graphics and diagrams allows us to imagine, communicate and test alternative design considerations. 04. Construction Representation:+ Structure and MaterialsRepresenting the connection between different material elements through structural and construction graphics can allow us to more effectively organize the system, such as identifying construction phasing and logistics. + System operationDiagrams allow a clear understanding of how systems and assembly will perform, essential for detecting errors and incorporating new elements. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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