Arch Daily |
- A R D 334 / A R D designs
- Veherakanda Road House Baddagana / Chinthaka Wickramage
- Longnan Garden Social Housing Estate / Atelier GOM
- Ishiuchi Pennon / CAPD
- St. David Street / Drawing Room Architecture
- KAAN Architecten Reveals Plans for New Medical Campus in São Paulo
- Jenny Sabin Studio's Light-Capturing "Lumen" Installation Debuts at MoMA PS1
- Mechanic Linking to the Epinettes / Atelier MOSCA
- The Year's Best Architectural iPhone Photos Win 2017 IPPAWARDS
- Casa Risco / Estefanía Barrios & Silvana Barrios
- Stefano Boeri on Designing the World's First Forest City in China
- Apartment House Koněvova / A.LT Architekti
- Envisioning a Hip-Hop Urbanism in Washington DC
- House MP / SALWORKS
- VV Building / Ça Arquitectura
- Lendager Group Unveils Plans for Permaculture Farming and Cabin Escape in Swedish Wilderness
- See Jože Plečnik's Unrealized "Cathedral of Freedom" Animated For The Very First Time
- Eco Bridge Design Winner Creates an Undulating Mountainside Infrastructure in Seoul
Posted: 30 Jun 2017 07:00 PM PDT
From the architect. A R D 334 is a Residential Building located in North Amman-Jordan. One of the areas that are witnessing the extended urban growth of the city. The project explores the Ammani urban fabric and rethinks the conventional apartment building in search for a more meaningful approach to residential real-estate development that goes beyond the repetitive and bland. During the economic crisis Jordan is currently facing, a modern, simple, and economic design will flourish and give some life into the area. A solid void contrast on the facade of the building was chosen not only because it creates a statement but also does not compromise the interior uses, rather enhance them. The buildings around it try very subtle means to change their appearance using glass or bulkier stone pillars but neither really push the boundaries. It does so to the context without really adding an extra material or ornament, standing out from the rest of the buildings to break the uniformity that plagues the Jordanian scape. Adding some form of color to the scene also assists in breaking the standardization. This kind of reflection likewise aids in giving off a more direct, transparent feel. The black stone used offers enough similar texture when compared to the white that it is not an eyesore when looking at the building as a whole. The white solid part of the exterior compliments the interior as it shields the main bedroom from the sounds of the street and closes off the view to the inside. The bedrooms have windows on the sides of the building that look over the street from an angle so nothing is truly cut off. While on the contrary, the black void half lets light and scenery right into the living room. In addition, the sides of the building are fairly regular, making sure that it doesn't become a thorn to the neighborhood instead of an interesting and dynamic addition. The building comprises of five residential floors, ten apartments in total, each covering 150m2, the average space required for Jordanian families. It boasts in giving a satisfying, affordable, modern living condition for regular families. Both simple and complex furniture can be used within, according the needs and idiosyncrasies of the families moving into it. Whatever within, the black window will offer a nice frame to the setting. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Veherakanda Road House Baddagana / Chinthaka Wickramage Posted: 30 Jun 2017 03:00 PM PDT
From the architect. The house, which is situated in the leafy suburb of Baddagana Pita-Kotte, is arrived at after traveling through a network of narrow winding roads, at the end of a gently sloping lane. At arrival one is absorbed by the natural beauty of the terrain, with breathtaking views of the adjoining marshes and the lush green vegetation of Diyawanna Bird Sanctuary. This Simple mono sloped steep roofed House is designed to overlook the adjoining Diyawanna Marshes with ample use of double height spaces. It was designed, as an extension to an existing two-storied old house with its two storied part, wrapping itself around, by verandahs in ground floor and open to sky terraces in first floor. It is orientated towards its overpowering context the adjoining marshes The double height Living Dining area is surrounded by abovementioned single height verandahs, forming intermediate outdoor spaces between the interior of the house and its garden. The House contains three Bedrooms, Guest Bedroom in Ground Floor with a common toilet Master and Small Bedroom in First Floor, with a common toilet. The Bedrooms, Pantry and Bathrooms are stacked, at the back of the house, away from the marshes, but give access to Verandahs in Ground Level and Terraces in Upper Level, giving uninterrupted panoramic views of the surrounding greenery. The marsh beyond the garden is considered the 'extended garden' of the house and the garden proper is barely landscaped. The house is designed using a combined palette of materials such as pre-cast RCC floor slabs, pressed cement tiled open to sky terraces, terrazzo machine cut Titanium Cement floors, Kumbuk timber decked floors surrounding a central double height Living Dining Hall. Timber Decked TV Lobby on upper level over-looks this spacious double Height Living Dining Hall. Simple steel horizontal handrails around the double height lobby are hot dipped galvanized and give an industrial aesthetic outlook. The exposed handrails around the terraces are also hot dipped galvanized to prevent corrosion. Staircase landing is lit by a circular glazed skylight, giving the opportunity to change moods, according to changing colour and light of the sky above. There is direct access to the open to sky terraces on either side, from the centrally located TV lobby cum family Living area. Steeply sloping exposed rafter ceiling is painted sky blue, in an attempt to bring in the skyline to the interiors of the house. Exterior and Interior Walls of the house is painted completely in white with Blue coloured soffits adding colour to the house. Terrazzo Machine cut Titanium cement floors, Matt varnished Kumbuk Timber decks, natural grains of pivoting and antique door windows, in the backdrop of white walls and coloured soffits, give a certain contemporary modern aesthetic to the house. The house uses a mixture of recycled antique doors and chunky framed pivoting door windows in Lower levels and timber framed glazed windows in Upper Levels. Entrance Gate and all light fittings are custom designed using perforated metal sheets. All external columns & Beams are left bare with smooth cement float finish as a contrast to the overwhelming whiteness, leaving a monastic feel to the house. External single height verandahs are tiled using terracotta tiles increasing the overall monastic ambiance of this small simple house. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Longnan Garden Social Housing Estate / Atelier GOM Posted: 30 Jun 2017 01:00 PM PDT
"Fortress Besieged," a metaphor when We talked about traditional Chinese residential architecture. Before modernist architecture has spread all over the world. Chinese traditional residential architecture is almost like fortress besieged, although they might be different in material selection, form and so on because of regionalism. Fortress Besieged, is the so-called courtyard. In China, We have a long tradition of courtyard gardening. To encircle a world of our own and entrust our sentiment to the flower and plants in the garden, is an idea dwelling state deep into our bone. However this dwelling state in today's China, has almost disappeared in urban living and only reveals itself in historical building. Like all postwar countries, we have experienced a period of rapid population growth and inadequate housing construction. Modernism architecture of Le Corbusier and his theory of La Ville Radieuse were relatively mature subjects at that time, yet Post Modernism and the incisive issues proposed in the book of were still under intense debate. And we learned from Le Corbusier to solve the housing problem and gradually evolved it into a paradigm. As a result, there is almost the same residential pattern in China today, which spans numerous climatic regions. Even some region where planning typology could diversify begins to learn from the residential pattern dominated by real estate. This residential pattern has several obvious characters such as high-rise, low-density, determinant, all facing south and so on. This is a thought provoking and painful reality for us. Atelier GOM has begun its residential studies and urban studies rooted in the domestic environment since 2002. In the project of Longnan Garden Estate, vocabulary such as "Fortress besieged" and "corridor" are reintroduced. With the study of residential typology, the improvement of urban morphology, the introduction of public space, the impact of residential height and density on living comfort, and other issues, Longnan Garden Estate has become an exciting Chinese new residential estate phenomenon. Longnan Garden Estate belongs to the type of social housing estate, but Atelier GOM hopes to challenge the deeply rooted residential pattern in China through social housing, in order to promote the improvement of other types of residential design in China. Longnan Garden Estate locates in the intersection of Tianyao Bridge Road South and Xiataibang Road, Xuhui district, Shanghai, and is closely next Huangpu River. There are eight buildings in the estate, of which five are sets of small apartment uni(t Apartment Area: 40-60 ㎡), two are sets of single dormitory(Apartment Area : mostly 35 ㎡), and one for independent commercial building. Planning level: under the requirement of FAR (2.2), and the East, West and North have a large number of existing residences which need to be considered in the impact of sunlight, four opposite seven - story, U - style, semi - enclosed and corridor type residential buildings are put to the North to avoid the complicated sunlight calculation. In the South, three high-rise residential buildings progressively going down are to weaken the dependence of the residential district planning sunlight calculation, so as to free other buildings. These three high-rise residences away from sunlight calculation, from west to East are 12 -storey small skip-floor apartment, 7 to 12-storey corridor type small apartment, 8 to 17-storey single dormitory. "Fortress Besieged" - courtyard space in different types Longnan Garden Estate abandons the rooted, high-rise, low-density, and determinant residential estate paradigm, it discusses the impact of residential height and density on living comfort. Half enclosure and all enclosed courtyard spaces gather here. The roof platform progressively going down not only creates rich activity space, it is a garden or an observation ladder, but also allows more sunlight to shine in the courtyard full of flowers and trees. Creation of social housing public space. On the north side, there are generous pilotis space of two floors and community rooms, and every one or two floors of the North corridor will have a projecting public terrace to welcome some East-West sunlight.These public spaces in the context of small apartments, is a balanced and efficient strategy for social housing. "Corridors" In the context of Chinese traditional architecture, "Courtyard" and "Corridor" are two inseparable themes. The linear corridor runs through courtyards, and the sunlight changes from dark to bright. It also connects those community rooms on the second floor, providing another level for human activities other than the ground. The No.8 building at the north end is a miniature, linear communication spaces scatter and overlap on different levels, They link separate commercial spaces and the roof platform. SI (Skeleton Infill ) Residence The initial concept of No.5 building of Longnan Garden Estate came from "HOUSE CHATTING" Research by GOM. It is intended to create SI(Skeleton Infill) Residence in social housing background. If we take a look at the European housing development, after the period of the greatest demand for social housing, a large number of social houses, as assets, will be sold to some organizations for other uses, such as residences, offices, hotels and so on. Therefore, the function for the post social housing time should also be fully considered. Social housing of today's China is mostly shear wall structure with a height of 2.7 meters to 2.9 meters. There is nearly no possibility for reconstruction,if in twenty years , the post social housing time. Hence we have developed this large concrete frame (Skeleton), 7.6 meters high, embedded steel structure (Infill), 2.8 meters + 2 meters + 2.8 meters. It contains two skip-floor mini apartments. SI Residence challenges the space variation of mini apartments in the background of social housing standard, but also give infinite possibilities of functions for the post social housing time. The architectural elevation details of Longnan Garden estate, such as the bay window component, balcony, downspouts, hiding of air conditioning equipment and so on, are designed under the suggestion of the social housing management company,to avoid management and utilization problem as far as possible. At the same time,many management approaches are discussed here with intelligent design company. Calculation and simulation of residence sunlight condition. In today's China, all types of residential estate should be designed to meet the stringent sunlight standard of its region, and the social housing estate can be relaxed to 90% to meet the sunlight standard. Sunlight standard, undoubtedly, bound up residence volume, layout in fetters. The layout type of high-rise,low-density and determinant is relatively simple solution, and the courtyard layout often increases the difficulty of the design. The human scale of the courtyard, the progressively going down roof platform, the height of residence, floor plan design of residence and so on are often results oriented by sunlight design in Longnan Garden Estate. Sunlight standard in China here is restriction, and opportunity for design. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Posted: 30 Jun 2017 12:00 PM PDT
From the architect. Ishiuchi Penon is a complex commercial facility that revolves around eating, living and learning about food, beauty, interior and other lifestyle-related shops, pop-up shops, events, classrooms, and other creative abilities that nurture the senses and enrich their minds. A project that was launched as an employer of a construction store specializing in wooden houses. All unique tenants are active companies based in Hiroshima Prefecture, and all of those involved in various tasks, not to mention its attraction, have realized overcoming them all together in the first attempt. Buildings are constructed by the employer, the beautiful interior cottage tale tells its skills and tells visitors directly the unique beauty and warmth of wooden buildings that can not be experienced at the model house of the housing exhibition hall. I expressed in a new form the "life" which is the theme of this facility, the "home" which can be said as its fundamental. The design of the triangular roof is very simple and straightforward to express "house", it is also familiar to the surrounding greenery rich environment. In a different form from the usual housing exhibit, we designed it so that we can feel the technology of the wooden house construction which is the main businessman's business and the characteristics of the company. It is meaningful to cut cost and time because of legal problems, but by separating the building, by arranging it so as to conform to the shape of a river flowing behind the site, it makes the sense of unity with the site more dense , It is the result which thought that it takes distance from the front road where the car moves fast and becomes a relaxed place. Even though it is a lush, idyllic environment, the front road is the main trunk road leading to the expressway, just a place for a running car to pass. I relaxed the speed of such a busy movement, it became a buffer point for time, so to speak, I designed it with such thought so that it will be a comfortable place for visitors. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
St. David Street / Drawing Room Architecture Posted: 30 Jun 2017 10:00 AM PDT
From the architect. The clients, a young family, were after a modest addition to their Victorian townhouse to house a new kitchen, dining room, bathroom, laundry & a large storage shed for their many bikes. The addition would front their garden & get all day sun so would effectively be the space the family would spend a lot of time in. It needed to be open to the garden, light & sunny as a space as well as space efficient & very functional.. A white, copper & timber palette was selected & the space was planned to make maximum use of minimal space. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
KAAN Architecten Reveals Plans for New Medical Campus in São Paulo Posted: 30 Jun 2017 09:10 AM PDT Dutch firm KAAN Architecten has revealed plans for the new Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi (UAM) in São José dos Campos, as the firm announced the opening of a new office in Brazil's largest city, São Paulo. The campus will be located on an elevated site perched over a main highway leading into the city, creating both isolation and visibility that will allow the building to become a new landmark within the dense urban fabric. "Optimizing the topographical characteristics of the area, the project stands firm and visually opens itself up to the city," explain the architects. "The intense Brazilian solar radiation is mitigated by a fully encompassing system of vertical slabs that fulfills the need for shade in every façade. Choosing a regular structural system enabled KAANArchitecten to feature glass between the concrete slabs and roof beams. These are molded in loco, relying on the expertise of the local workforce, and eliminating the need for masonry." The Medical complex joins a number of Brazilian projects currently in progress by KAAN Architecten, including City Hall Park; a broad urban redevelopment plan in São Bernardo do Campo; the refurbishment of the city hall tower; the Paço Building; and Ferrazópolis, a transit hub featuring housing and a commercial program. The new São Paulo office will coordinate these project while focusing on urban planning, renovation projects and educational programs between the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The Faculty of Medicine in São José dos Campos is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. News via KAAN Architecten.
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Jenny Sabin Studio's Light-Capturing "Lumen" Installation Debuts at MoMA PS1 Posted: 30 Jun 2017 08:15 AM PDT Update: We've added a 360 rendering of "Lumen" to the post, after the break (courtesy Jenny Sabin)! Jenny Sabin Studio's "Lumen," winner of the Museum of Modern Art's 2017 Young Architects Program, has made its debut in the MoMA PS1 Courtyard in New York City, where it will play host to the 20th season of Warm Up, MoMA PS1's pioneering outdoor music series. Constructed from more than 1,000,000 yards of "digitally knitted and robotically woven fiber," this year's structure features 250 hanging tubular structures designed to capture and display the ever-changing color of sunlight over the course of the day. "Socially and environmentally responsive, Lumen's adaptive architecture is inspired by collective levity, play, and interaction as the structure transforms throughout the day and night, responding to the density of bodies, heat, and sunlight," explains MoMA PS1. "The result of collaboration across disciplines, Lumen applies insights and theories from biology, materials science, mathematics, and engineering—integrating high-performing, formfitting, and adaptive materials into a structure where code, pattern, human interaction, environment, geometry, and matter operate together." Beneath the canopy, 100 robotically woven recycled spool stools and a motion-detecting misting system will allow visitors to relax and cool off out of the heat of the hot New York summer. "Jenny Sabin's catalytic environment, Lumen, captured the jury's attention for imaginatively merging radical materials with unique spaces," said Sean Anderson, Associate Curator in MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design. "With innovative construction and design processes borne from a critical merging of technology and nature to precise attention to detail at every scale, Lumen will no doubt engage visitors from day to night in a series of graduated environments and experiences." "Now in its 18th iteration, this annual competition offered jointly by the Architecture and Design Department at MoMA and MoMA PS1 continues to take risks and encourage experimentation among architects," added Klaus Biesenbach, MoMA PS1 Director and MoMA Chief Curator at Large. "Jenny Sabin's Lumen is a socially and environmentally responsive structure that spans practices and disciplines in its exploratory approach to new materials. Held in tension within the walls of MoMA PS1's courtyard, Lumen turns visitors into participants who interact through its responsiveness to temperature, sunlight, and movement." The other finalists for the 2017 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program were Bureau Spectacular (Jimenez Lai and Joanna Grant), Ania Jaworska, Office of III (Sean Canty, Ryan Golenberg, and Stephanie Lin), and SCHAUM/SHIEH (Rosalyne Shieh and Troy Schaum). An exhibition of all 5 proposals will be on display through the summer at The Museum of Modern Art. Previous winners of the Young Architects Program include Escobedo Soliz Studio's Weaving the Courtyard (2016), Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation's COSMO (2015), The Living / David Benjamin's Hy-Fi (2014), CODA / Caroline O'Donnell's Party Wall (2013), HWKN's Wendy (2012), Interboro Parners' Holding Pattern (2011), SO-IL's Pole Dance (2010), MOS' Afterparty (2009) and Work AC's Public Farm 1 (2008). News via MoMA PS1.
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Mechanic Linking to the Epinettes / Atelier MOSCA Posted: 30 Jun 2017 08:00 AM PDT
From the architect. Built as a route, on an exceptional hillock in terms of view and landscape at the foot of the towers of Épinettes, the project was developed around three major goal: - Offering an open pathway allowing not entry into a tube to reach the hillock but allowing open-air movement in harmony with the broader landscape of Ile-de-France and Paris; - Offering contemporary facilities made up of minerals consistent with the greenery of the park; - Recomposing the landscape and woodlands of the park, part of which had been left wild for a certain period. The project is built combines two concepts: - shouldering as a motor for landscape insertion; - origami with the deployment of a covered canopy opened by stainless steel folded strips offering an open structure and views of the landscape. The canopy, through its structure of folded and fragmented roofing, offered more room for the greenery. The escalators were inserted into a crumpled concrete structure making up the lateral guardrail and the mineral body of the structure. At each landing linking the pathways of the park, information tablets, benches and cultural billboards develop spaces of communication, pause and dialogue. The stainless steel canopy is equipped with tiles of LEDs offering interactive lighting according to time of day and season. A veritable reshaping of the wooded landscape was implemented. A motor of insertion of the project, the green zones were combined to allow regeneration of the wooded land. A system of terracing of the vegetation (a layer of bushes and herbs around the structure before a layer of tufts and stumps, then trees) allows users to avoid a feeling of being closed in and allows greater visibility of distant landscapes and filtered views of the surrounding woods. The project creates clearing effects (between platforms) alternating with vault effects (in the immediate surroundings of the platforms), giving a rhythm to the journey. It favours greenery echoing forests of beech, oak and hornbeam, ensuring improvement of the woodlands. 260 trees were planted, as well as 2,500 bushes and 13,500 carpeting shrubs covering 1,600m2. A new people mover project The project is part of a study of new means of movement and local mobility. The slope and the complexity of serving Epinettes through the park allowed for the studying of a project which, while being an integral part of the continuity of public transport, such as is the Grand Paris Express and the electric buses put in place for Fort d'Issy, offers a contemporary solution for local mobility. Initial figures, at the beginning of the project, estimated a flow of people at rush hours of 600 people. The service will be operational from 7am to 10pm. The project has seen the deployment of six escalators measuring 80m allowing the scaling of the 25m slope, while the space required is 400m2. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
The Year's Best Architectural iPhone Photos Win 2017 IPPAWARDS Posted: 30 Jun 2017 07:10 AM PDT The year's best architectural photos have been announced as winners of 2017 iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS). Founded in 2007 – the same year as the release of the first iPhone – IPPAWARDS is the first and longest running iPhone photography competition. Now in its 10th year, the awards continue to select the best images taken by iPhone, iPad or iPod touch from a variety of categories including Landscape, Animals, People, Still Life and Architecture. This year's architecture category was won by Paddy Chao for his photo of Chand Baori, one of the deepest stepwells in India. Second prize was awarded to Naian Feng for his shot of the red walls of Beijing's Forbidden City. Continue after the break to see the winning and honorable mention photos. 1st Prize - Paddy Chao, Taipei, TaiwanChand Baori 2nd Prize - Naian Feng, Shanghai, China"This photo was shot during a trip to the Forbidden City in Beijing. I was walking on this wide boulevard with two high red walls on both sides which really make me feel nervous and majestic. There were pigeons flying around the Forbidden City from time to time, this particular photo was one of the shots I took using the burst mode on my iPhone." Honorable MentionsHover over the image for photographer credits. To see all of the 2017 winners from every category, visit the IPPAWARDS website, here.
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Casa Risco / Estefanía Barrios & Silvana Barrios Posted: 30 Jun 2017 06:00 AM PDT
"The tectonic is used as the main element of design, the structure and materials speak for themselves to show their nature and purity, structure is the essence of ornamentation, beauty is in the truth of unpolished materials''. Casa Risco was projected in the Pedregal de San Ángel, south of Mexico City. This residential area designed by Luis Barragán, one of the most outstanding architects and artists who were involved in this project in the 50's, the project combined Mexican regionalism with architectural functionalist architecture. Like the first houses in this area Casa Risco respects the site tectonic and use it as one of the main design elements. The stone that was rescued from the excavation was reused in the foundations and apparent walls. The natural stone beautifies the interior, as it was part of the natural phenomenon that suffered this area of Mexico City (the eruption of the volcano Xitle). This is why it was decided that the structure was undressed and mimicked with finishes and materials that were preserved in their natural state, allowing them to speak for themselves. With the purpose of giving back to the structure its beauty by the simple fact of its function, as the bearer element, the structure can be read from the interior as a piece of art and ornamentation. Therefore it plays two roles, as structural architectural element and as piece of art. The apparent concrete structural wall tells the story of the construction process; in this way it becomes a piece of conceptual art. The room is the meeting point of people, where thoughts and ideologies are exchanged; the marble wall that lies parallel plays the role of metaphor, in which a blank canvas awaits users embody their ideas. Casa Risco strengthens human activities, since each room refers to a particular activity; in contrast it seeks amplitude and continuity when playing with different spatial and visual planes. The living room and the dining room, both maintain a vision of the continuity that allows to see the gardens from any point of these areas to create a feeling of amplitude. The garden is integrated in both the dining room and kitchen, through the use of retractable glass windows, allowing the green to integrate as part of both spaces, creating a connection between the interior and exterior. The façade is the reaction to the needs of light, shade and regulation of the thermal sensation of each interior space of the house. For example in the bedrooms the remittance of the window provides shade; also the height decreases in comparison to the ground floor to providing greater thermal comfort. It is possible to read all the different heights used in the house on the façade of the stairs. Therefore the façade works as a diagram of the internal functions of the house. Originally the site had a natural slope of three meters height, this allows to provide intimacy to a spa area inside the house, where a gym, sauna, cava, lap pool and garden creates a small oasis in the City. In the same way the beauty of the natural terrain was kept leaving the volcanic stone exposed to the interior. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Stefano Boeri on Designing the World's First Forest City in China Posted: 30 Jun 2017 05:00 AM PDT
In this video, Stefano Boeri explains the design of the just-announced Lizhou Forest City, which, when completed in 2020, will become the world's first ground-up city constructed employing the firm's signature Vertical Forest research. Boeri explains the evolution of the concept from their first Vertical Forest project in Milan to the Lizhou development, which will accommodate up to 30,000 people in a master plan of environmentally efficient structures covered top-to-bottom in plants and trees, as well as the planning processes required to bring the project to fruition. Learn more about the project here:
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Apartment House Koněvova / A.LT Architekti Posted: 30 Jun 2017 04:00 AM PDT
From the architect. The new designed residential house at Koněvova Street is subtlely trying to fit in beside its neighbors and the environs. The visual character of the building speaks to the past spirit and atmosphere of Žižkov, with it's relaxed bohemian mood, among the genius loci of a shabby, post-industrial periphery. Though the building looks a bit retro, it desires to be contemporary. The size of the construction on its plot corresponds to the size of two or three typical houses in Žižkov. Therefore, the design has divided the new structure into two almost identical houses that differ only visually in the use of color shading. The southern front and northern rear facades are designed in darker shades. The internal facades are white, considering the limited natural ilumination of the flats. Meanwhile, the street facade has been articulated as a reflection of the interior layout. The proportions of all of the windows are adapted to the traditional window dimensions typical for the original environs. The subtle horizontal metal sheet ledges inserted into the facade's insulation system divides the facade horizontally. A significant addition of the frontal facade is the long console balcony on the 5th floor with a railing creating the impression of a horizontal ledge. The pattern of the railing attempts to evoke traditional motifs inspired by hand-made elements of Prague architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This building is on a relatively busy street. So, the quality of its place lies in its close proximity to Vítkov park on the building's northern side, along with an attractive, newly-built bicycle trail, which has replaced the former train tracks. As a clear gesture of interconnection with the park, there is a passage-way on the ground floor creating a spacious entrance to both houses and deflecting the entrances from the busy main street. The passage also creates an extension of the common area for the house's residents. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Envisioning a Hip-Hop Urbanism in Washington DC Posted: 30 Jun 2017 02:30 AM PDT
In her companion publication to the 2014 group exhibition "Ruffneck Constructivists," the show's curator, Kara Walker, lays down a radical manifesto for urban intervention. Just months before Ferguson [2] and a year before Baltimore, [3] Walker proposes her theory through which installation artists (along with architects and designers by extension) can become "defiant shapers of environments." [4] The invocation and juxtaposition of the terms hip-hop and architecture in the intro to her manifesto is particularly remarkable given the show's exclusive assembly of visual and installation artists. Hip-hop architectural theory seeks to reify a form of expression that is a natural component of any cultural movement, but was largely inaccessible to teenaged Blacks and Latinos in 1970s South Bronx. As illustrated in my first essay on the subject, "[e]ach major cultural shift in Western society—Renaissance, Baroque, Modernism—has had its register in a plurality of creative outlets: theater, music, dance, fine art, and architecture. The first four art forms find their counterparts in the 'four pillars of hip-hop': deejaying, emceeing, b-boying, and graffiti writing. Architecture is lost." [5]
A third-year undergraduate design studio at Syracuse Architecture entitled "New Chocolate City: Hip-Hop Architecture in Washington, DC" asked students to reflect on these writings, ideas, and other provocations to ground their semester's work. Funded by a grant from the DC Office of Planning, the course employed Hip-Hop Architecture as a lens through which to frame new understandings of identity within various Washington, DC neighborhoods. Seven neighborhoods were chosen for the testing and development of a hip-hop urbanist manifesto, mining five hip-hop elements (the four original elements plus hip-hop fashion—a subject fraught with architectural parallels) for resources with direct architectural application. Three are presented here in some detail. Each provokes some standard assumption about the way we shape our urban environments and challenges traditional urban development strategies. They are presented in parallel with excerpts from Walker's manifesto to more fully gauge the applicability of her theory. Third Space
The deejay, the first player in the hip-hop opera and the first subject of diagrammatic analysis, uses a freeform assembly logic that is immediately applicable to architectural production and suggestive of a new design methodology. Audio tracks, once only consumed through the phonograph, are now seen as a starting point for manipulation, fragmentation and distortion. Each composition produced is a collage of diverse references from a multitude of musical genres and miscellaneous recordings. Through simple color-coding of waveforms representing each individual sound sample, a clear diagram of these multi-layered compositions is created for complex tracks such as "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force (Figure 1, top), or "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" by Grandmaster Flash (Figure 1, middle). Additional annotations indicating primary transitions, loops and breaks are layered on as part of the rich indexical language of the diagram—a Rosetta Stone of sorts for translating the language of hip-hop to that of schematic design. The techniques and attitudes of the deejay are brought to the Southwest DC Waterfront neighborhood, an area that has long occupied a privileged position just a few blocks south of the National Mall with its iconic memorials and monuments. What existed for over a century as slum settlements for poor Blacks was indiscriminately razed to make way for gridded modernist superblocks—a classic example of mid-century Modernist hubris. Aerial photographs from the 1950s (informal era) through the 1960s (Modernist era) to the 2010s (gentrification era) tell the story of the neighborhood's drastic transformation. Backyards, side yards and courtyards once used for informal collective street life made way for rational grids and I.M. Pei-designed residential monoliths. These, in turn, catalyzed a series of high-end developments claiming waterfront territory once occupied by the fishing trade. The projected future of the area looks much like a continuation of the last few decades of high-density, low-risk, market-rate developments. Hip-hop—always the contrarian—rejects the inevitability of market-driven decision making. It flips the script and carves its own path through this hyper-rational concrete jungle. Referencing organizational techniques learned from the deejay, the new proposal samples 1950s-era conditions of Southwest DC and imprints itself between the high-rises, forming the blueprint for a new pedestrian promenade. Traces of former tenements, lean-tos, and outhouses mark the rise of permanently and temporarily programmed insertions paralleling the busy M Street throughway. A barbershop or a meeting hall creates a permanent anchor while transformable frames and planes allow for seasonal occupation of the throughway. The new path connects low-income housing to the east (slated for imminent demolition) with the waterfront to the west. Other traces simply mark the ground with grassy plots, variable pavement, or informal seating. A new mixed-use development, at the end of the promenade (Figure 1, bottom), grows out of the inscribed urban pattern and stands in contrast to the self-similar waterfront housing. Adams Morgan Re-Coded
Whether using simple line work, bubble letters, or wild style, graffiti writers communicate in code. Decoding these various styles—understanding their varied patterns, geometry, and structure—was the first step in understanding their applicability within the architectural design process. The resultant process provides architects with a graphic means of understanding, and thus decoding, complex urban systems. In the example above (Figure 2), density mappings based on programmatic connections help decode the nightlife along 18th Street in the Adams Morgan neighborhood—bars and nightclubs, restaurants, and retail locations. The three graphics intersect and interlock to generate a new coded identity for the popular strip, legible around the clock only to those with the master key. Adams Morgan Re-Coded marks place with colored surfaces weaving through and overlapping across the existing pavement. Proposed pedestrian amenities fold off the ground in the form of benches, tables and tiered amphitheater seating. Each ground manipulation realizes graffiti's long-held aspiration to break away from the two-dimensional canvas. The outdoor life along 18th Street is now a programmatic extension of its indoor function, all connected through color. The final phase of the proposal tests graffiti's ability to not only suggest space, but to inscribe space. Streetscape graphics, first imagined to re-code desire paths for commercial activity, fold and thicken to define places for human occupation and activity. The architectural object seamlessly integrates with its color-coordinated context. The final presentation (Figure 3) is not immune from this reconceptualization of graffiti's process and image. Drawings, renderings and models recode themselves to seamlessly integrate the graphic backdrop that, in turn, is grafted unto an uneven surface. Hip-Hop Architecture thus forces a reassessment of both product and process. Ivy City Redux
In addition to its coded organizational logic graffiti culture maintains an unwritten code of conduct. Etiquette and respect are essential aspects of this society guided by territorialism and competition. Hierarchical structure within graffiti production (tag, throw up, burn, piece, mural) is determined by graphic complexity, color variety, and time commitment. Each level supersedes the level below. (You don't piece a mural; you don't burn a piece; you don't tag anything you're not prepared to fight over.) A similar hierarchical structure is overlain onto one of DC's fastest transitioning neighborhoods as a tool for envisioning its imminent growth. The denizens of Ivy City are first organized into four stereotype-dependent crews representing four distinct ways of life. Each is a metaphoric "graff crew" jacking territory and jockeying for supremacy (Figure 4). Entrepreneurs, the primary gentrifiers, provide the most revenue and contribute the most to rising property values. Homo Ludens, or hipsters, provide the necessary reference points for contemporary culture, lifestyle, and image. Pupils, the most transient and diverse group, operate in a world between the first two, bringing equal parts financial and cultural influence to the neighborhood while committing only year to year investment in its identity. Proletarians, the blue-collar residents, boast the longest tenure in the area and are the only ones who can remember "the good old days." Each crew is assigned a territory based on Yelp-rated locations typically frequented by its members. These territories consolidate themselves along a dense commercial strip requiring new rules of engagement and reconciliation. Diagrams developed in the study of graffiti culture help in this negotiation. The proposed new construction typology of Ivy City is one born out of claiming and reclaiming space. It begins with a semi-demolished structure as its foundation and builds itself gradually, as any marginal neighborhood might, on its way to becoming an artistic icon. Each crew has access to disparate resources ranging from custom fabricated curtain wall systems (entrepreneurs) to crowd-funded materials (homo ludens) or from stolen shipping containers (pupils) to discarded delivery palettes (proletarians). Each has its own set of programmatic requirements and design agendas. All will have to collaborate to identify common circulation and support systems (stairs, elevators, lighting, plumbing, etc.) and to negotiate emergent spatial complexities. The final proposal is an ever-growing organism adherent only to rules set by its occupants. It has no identifiable genre or style, as it is never finished. Time is its only limitation. The work as presented for review (Figure 5) rejects the flat pinup surface and instead creates its own backdrop collaged from found and recycled materials—a prototype of the proposal itself. Other Proposals
Four additional proposals (not presented here) were developed for other DC neighborhoods, each embracing similarly radical approaches to urban design. In Benning, east of the river, the deejay's ability to mix and scratch was studied to sample elements of a sprawling neighborhood and to condense them in a single consolidated strip. This strategy allowed for development to be gradual, adaptable, and cost-effective, transforming the neighborhood over a 25-year period. A proposal for the U Street corridor borrowed from hip-hop fashion's affinity for amplified graphics. It referenced historical imagery to graphically brand tensile structures dramatically draped across the entire width of 14th Street NW, transforming the strip into a multi-colored public marketplace. In the Mid-City East region the emcee's mode of storytelling, with all its external references and variable rhyming patterns, informed a new pedestrian pathway that transforms shared mid-block voids into publicly accessible courtyards and pathways. One final proposal, though not presented in detail, warrants some additional examination. In a city park at the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X in the Congress Heights neighborhood a peculiarly informal claiming of public space can be observed. Cars strategically parked near a bench under the shade of a tree extend the amount of outdoor space to which one can stake claim. Users of public sidewalks who decide to walk between the open vehicles and the bench dwellers have now violated the personal space of the original claimant. Similarly, stoops attached to houses adjacent to the park have an additional extension taking over much of the extra wide sidewalks. The proposal adopts the attitude of the b-boy. It covers the entire park area with spaces and surfaces for extended loitering. Benches, tables, and other places of repose organize themselves in response to the newly carved parking inlets along the park's edge, amplifying the observed condition as if through 9" speakers. Public space is further assimilated, and pedestrian traffic further disrupted, by additional amplification of the residential stoops and insertion of more parking inlets along the edge of the MLK Boulevard curb. OutroThough some of these proposals (the last one in particular) seem anti-utilitarian in their composition, utilitarianism is only a secondary convenience. Hip-Hop Urbanism is interested in answering a larger question than "how do we fix our neighborhoods?" The more pressing inquiries for those interested in social justice are "how do we envision neighborhoods developed from the bottom up?" "What kind of city can be realized outside of traditional urban design strategies?" "What does an experiment informed by the spirit of Walker's manifesto reveal about our role as design professionals?" In his seminal work on the topic of race, space, architecture and music, Wilkins states, "the study of hip-hop culture in general and rap music in particular is essential to the new generation of urbanists." [6] "New Chocolate City" is the first true test of this prophetic incantation. For a complete presentation of the "New Chocolate City" projects, view the online publication here. This essay was previously presented at the 105th ACSA Annual Meeting Conference and a version of it published in the conference proceedings. Notes:
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Posted: 30 Jun 2017 02:00 AM PDT
From the architect. Built in an area of uncertainty between a fast track and a densely wooded area the MP House it is located on the border between the urban and the rural. The deployment of the house on an existing slope allows gaining dominance over a lot of unusual configuration that, strangled in the North, clearly opens to the South. The presence of deciduous trees and the exposure to winds and sounds, caused by the presence of a road led to the use of two attics that protects the House and helps to define 2 patios that preserve the views to the South and to the West. The House was designed in such a way as to conceal with the natural development of the vegetation around it. In the kitchen, there is a vertical element which turns into a strong Southern light and works as a periscope in order to see the ocean on a mirrored surface overcoming the visual barrier imposed by the road. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Posted: 30 Jun 2017 02:00 AM PDT
From the architect. This residential building, located in the city of Moreno in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, is among the first in a city block with recently updated zoning guidelines. In the present it operates independently and as the protagonist of its surroundings, but it will also fit perfectly into the urban fabric planned in the municipality´s vision. Composition and program. • The building is composed of two volumes of one- and two-bedroom apartments. The front volume contain 2 small businesses on the ground floor. Intermediate spaces The element "facade" works as a formal envelop, giving shape to the building; it has functional meaning, improving energy efficiency and creating a screen between the interiors and the street. A "new facade" emerges with thickness and the capacity to harbor different programs and propose new spatialities. It blurs the boundary between the interior and the exterior. It is constructed through the superposition of layers. Each adds functionality to the facade, from the interior furniture, to raw brick, to ornamentation . While the facade fulfils programmatic, functional and esthetic roles, it also has phenomenological value. Sight is unhindered from the interior looking out, but gazes from the exterior are interrupted, in the tradition of the 16th century peruvian balcony. The second skin faces North, serving as a parasol and generating an intricate play of light and shadows that endows the interior with feeling. The second skin continues to the terrace, reading like a monolith from the street and generating an intermediate space that is neither interior nor exterior. The facade is a manually-designed arabesque texture that is reminiscent of cursive penmanship. The drawing was plasma-cut into steel sheets and was later treated in a process of oxidation and fixation. The facade was crafted entirely in small-scale local workshops. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Lendager Group Unveils Plans for Permaculture Farming and Cabin Escape in Swedish Wilderness Posted: 30 Jun 2017 01:00 AM PDT Lendager Group have released drawings and renderings of Stedsans in the Woods, a farming development currently in progress in the deep Swedish wilderness. A collaboration with restaurant owners Mette Helbæk and Flemming Hansen, the project will feature a permaculture farm, restaurant, and lodging. A focus on sustainability and living off the landscape drives both the architecture and the Stedsans brand, who stress the idea of 'giving more than we take.' Located in Bohult, Sweden, the development offers visitors an escape from the city with opportunities for fresh dining and connecting with nature. Helbæk and Hansen have a long history with investing in farming as former owners of a popular restaurant in Copenhagen that served locally-sourced produce. Their dedication to sustainability and food has garnered widespread public attention, seen in the success of their Kickstarter for the project which raised over 1,000,000 SEK ($120,000 USD). The core of the development is called the "Third Space" and it houses the restaurant and cooking facilities. According to the architects, the main structure is repurposed from two wooden ladders sourced from Slöinge, Sweden. With big rocks and concrete acting as additional support, the rest of the enclosure is a glass greenhouse system. The form of the building is split into two intersecting triangular prisms, one housing outdoor ovens and the other providing dining and cooking prep space. Guests eat at one long table that can fit 30 people. Visitors to the site will be lodged in one of the 14 small cabins located around the site. To showcase a wide range of forest scenery, an assortment of cabins will be placed to include views of the lake, and some will float on it. Additionally there will be a grouping of cabins deeper in the woods, with some canopying between the trees. An integral part of the design process for both the clients and architects was to create a project that had a limited environmental footprint. Lendager Group, is known for their dedication to experimenting with old or raw materials in a process known as "upcycling." By repurposing materials from nearby structures, using rammed earth for the interior walls, and including stones from the excavation process, Stedsans in the Woods looked to its building materials as an opportunity to be as sustainable as possible.
The permanent structures are slated to be completed in Autumn 2017 but the grounds are set to open this summer with temporary cooking and housing facilities. News Via: Lendager Group. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
See Jože Plečnik's Unrealized "Cathedral of Freedom" Animated For The Very First Time Posted: 30 Jun 2017 12:00 AM PDT Jože Plečnik is often described as Slovenia's greatest architect despite his passing over seven decades ago. The trace of his hand, which was trained in Vienna under Otto Wagner, can be seen across the country – and especially so in Ljubljana. Although Plečnik is often most keenly remembered for his restorative work and renovation of Prague Castle in the 1920s, the impact he left on the Slovenian capital is unmistakable. Today, the city is dominated by a medieval castle, sat definatly atop a hill. It was for here, on this particularly charged site, that Plečnik proposed a radical intervention in the mid-20th Century. He wanted to build a new Slovene Parliament – a structure of State to house the legislature of the People's Republic of Slovenia within the second Yugoslavia. With this plan rejected by the authorities, Plečnik proposed a second design—known colloquially as the "Cathedral of Freedom"—here rebuilt and animated for the first time by Kristijan Tavcar. Described by Tavcar as "a square and a colonnaded false façade" surrounding a "cylindrical main structure of two stories" would have been "surmounted by a tall, spirally tapering conical cupola." Inside, this would have been supported by "inclined columns," while "the cupola would have spanned the Parliament chamber." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Eco Bridge Design Winner Creates an Undulating Mountainside Infrastructure in Seoul Posted: 29 Jun 2017 11:00 PM PDT In response to the Yangjaegogae Eco Bridge Design Competition commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, SLOPEWALK is a mountain-inspired bridge designed by a Lithuanian team, KILD, proposing a structure evoking the "pictorial passage through the southern slopes of the two discontinued mountain peaks of Mt. Umyeon and Maljukgeori Parks." Seeing a current infrastructural void, the project aims to unite the two neighboring mountain parks over the Gyeongbu Expressway, as a continuation of the sloped landscape.
Focussed on an experience that follows the natural slopes of the surrounding green landscape, the bridge's one-sided link reduces wind effects and gains more exposure to sunlight as pedestrians make their way through a mountainside spatial experience. Panoramic and close-up views are on offer, celebrating the purity of the hills, while the central opening captures Seoul to the north. To prioritize animal habitation and movement, the peaks of the connected mountains remain uninterrupted, creating zones of little to no human circulation. The bridge's structural slope helps maintain a privileging of the landscape's elevation. By separating elevations based on the relationship between humans and the wildlife, SLOPEWALK forms a gently undulating structural core that offers simultaneous circulation and inhabitation, while creating a key piece of infrastructure. The winning team, KILD, was comprised of Ivane Ksnelashvili, Petras Išora, Ona Lozuraitytė, Dominykas Daunys.
News via: KILD.
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