Arch Daily |
- A Different Kind of Sharing Economy: How the REAL Foundation is Building Social Equity Into the Nuts and Bolts of Architecture
- The Pavilion / The Norman Foster Foundation
- House JRv2 / studio de.materia
- Office of the Future / Killa Design
- Apple Farm House / 2m2 architects
- RS House / axialstudio
- "KITERASU" Model CLT Building at Kuse Station / ofa
- Taringa Treehouse / Phorm architecture + design
- World's First "Smart Street" in London Turns Footsteps into Energy
- Tech901 / archimania
- Ballguthof Hotel / bergmeisterwolf architekten
- New Renderings Revealed of Studio Libeskind's Mixed-Use Complex in Lithuania
- Shelton Marshall Residence / El Dorado
- Spotlight: Buckminster Fuller
- MVRDV Wins Competition for Bay-Window-Inspired Mixed-Use Towers in Rotterdam
- The One Big Problem That Advocates of Copenhagen-Style Urbanism Often Overlook
- PA House / Gonzalo Martínez Oportus + Pablo Campano Sotomayor
- Is This the World's Largest Mural?
- Helen & Hard Win Competition to Built Waterfront Cultural Museum in Norway
- Pedra Da Ra Lookout Point / Carlos Seone
| Posted: 12 Jul 2017 09:00 PM PDT  Interior design by REAL Foundation for Common Stock: Sharing as Luxury, the fourth tower in the Derivative Architecture series. Image Courtesy of Real Foundation The Chicago Architecture Biennial is the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America, and the blog invites designers and other contributors—such as —to express their perspectives in a range of formats. The 2017 exhibition, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018. Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB): We want to start by noting that REAL foundation, which stands for "Real Estate Architecture Laboratory," is not a typical design practice. You design spaces, but you also make books, exhibitions, a magazine, and tools for advocacy. Why? Jack Self (JS): The REAL foundation is an unusual model for an architectural firm. We're a normal architectural practice, but we are governed by a very strict set of conditions that allow us to pursue certain political and economic ideologies. We see the social role of the architect, as well as the structure of the architectural firm, as a subject for design as much as buildings.  Courtesy of Real Foundation We think that architecture is both material and immaterial. It's a form of governing social power relations, class relations, gender, race, and other cultural relations through conditions of space. That means that you habitually end up being involved in business models, in institutional models, in systems of governance, and financial design, just as much as you are involved in the design of real buildings. We also have a particular interest in the domestic sphere at almost every scale, from the politics of a dining room table to the way in which housing is deployed at the national level. We take that as our focus trying to promote higher levels of wealth and spatial and civic equality. We are also really interested in the development of new models, new typologies, and new ways to talk about architecture.  Installation view of Home Economics, the British Pavilion curated by Jack Self with Finn Williams and Shumi Bose at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Each room in the pavilion addressed a different facet of the contemporary crisis of living. Photo by Cristiano Corte. Image Courtesy of Real Foundation CAB: Can you talk a little bit about how your project for the Chicago Architecture Biennial extends those interests? JS: The Chicago Biennial is a great venue to both push forward certain ideas for ourselves, and then to present them in a way in which they can be discussed, critiqued by our peers, and improved upon. Our project is a collectively owned housing block for London called the Glass House that explores living together as a spatial and a political question. It's basically a co-sharing scheme, so there is no circulation space within the plan. All the rooms lead directly into each other, including the lift, the stair, and the elevator. The question of public and private is not so clear. You move through gradations of publicness and privateness, which I think is increasingly the way in which we experience the city. It's no longer the case that you close your front door when you come home, and you are now in a private bubble. You're still connected to a civic space in many ways. The project also relates to a historical precedent: the Glass Room by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, which they made in 1927 for the Weissenhofsiedlung model town in Germany. In the Glass Room, the functions of the spaces are very loosely defined and there is no separate circulation. So not only is there no wasted space in the plan, but there's also a fluidity that allowed different types of people to occupy each space in ways that spilled over from one to the next. CAB: We're also curious how you got interested in designing the systems around architecture, like contracts and financing models. Was it the fact of practicing in a place like London, where buildings are used as financial instruments as much as they are actually for housing or work? JS: Yes, I think it comes from the need to understand the power structures that exist around us and that we disagree with, so that we can strategically engage with them and attempt to alter them from within. Since London is one of the most neoliberal cities in the world, what are the basic qualities of a neoliberal market that can be hijacked or manipulated in order to produce a more equitable city?  The Ingot, a proposal by the REAL Foundation for The Ingot, a gold-plated tower sited next to London Bridge, and designed to house low-paid, precarious workers. Image Courtesy of Real Foundation The Glass House is actually sixth project in a series called "Derivative Architecture," which began in 2013 as an experiment in repurposing the typical incentives that power the real estate market. We started with a building called the Ingot, which wasn't a building so much as it was a long-term financial algorithm designed create social housing in the most expensive parts of the city. The idea was to replace the standard 20-year mortgage with a term of 80 or 100 years, which would lower rent by distributing the cost of the building over a much longer timespan. It would also take the property out of the short term property market entirely and build up a high return on investment over time. From that base model, we then proposed a system in which residents individuals themselves could start to accrue equity in the building, so they might be able to buy shares, for example. This is why it's called "Derivative Architecture." Instead of owning property, you own a share of the property indirectly, which creates a stronger incentive for communal stewardship of a sustainable place to live. That, in a way, is the line of research which has led up to the Glass House. CAB: It's interesting that you're basically repurposing the mechanisms of the real estate market against itself in order to actually slow down or mitigate the inherent pressures on architectural projects. It forces you to think on a much longer time scale than architects are usually allowed. JS: Right. I think it's extremely important to be extremely idealistic in the views that you hold, but to be extremely pragmatic in the way in which you think they can be advanced in the world. In the case of the Chicago Biennial, one of the things that really interested me a lot about the curatorial direction is an acknowledgement of design's relationship to history, but not in a way which was overly academic. It was in a way which is propositional, which is to say, "What is the relevance of history, and how can we make history contemporary, what can we learn from the past?" I find that interesting because I'm very interested in exploring alternative realities and change does take time. The idea of Make New History reminds us that design is constantly evolving, and there is no such thing as a "normal" or "traditional" state of things. As soon as we acknowledge that, both as architects and as the general public, then we can start to consider what sort of society we would like to live in and how that might be reflected in the spaces that we occupy, inhabit, and build for ourselves. We give ourselves the agency to intervene directly in our everyday lives.  Installation view of Home Economics, the British Pavilion curated by Jack Self with Finn Williams and Shumi Bose at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Each room in the pavilion addressed a different facet of the contemporary crisis of living. Photo by Cristiano Corte. Image Courtesy of Real Foundation CAB: You've already spoken a little bit about how those alternative realities start with the very basic methods of structuring a project. What do those first steps look like in practice, and what alternative approaches do you take when you work with clients and collaborators? JS: We don't have clients in a typical way. We always enter into partnerships in order to create a different type of power dynamic between the designer and what traditionally is called a client. For example, we recently designed an addendum to a standard building contract in the UK in order to work with a client who couldn't afford to pay for our services. We said, "Okay, fine. We will take as much as you can afford to pay us now." But rather than debase our value by doing the project at a lower rate, which is normally what happens, we asked for a percentage of the resale value of the property. Now, that client might live in that property for 15 or 20 years. We have no idea. But hopefully the property market will continue to rise, and we can take the risk of not being paid now and turn it into an advantage. We're also, in effect, then in a partnership with the client because we're saying, "Well, we have a stake in this." There is much more of a collaborative level of thinking. We'd like to take that contract addendum, which is of course a legal document, and make it into an open source template that other architects can freely use in their own projects and present as an option to a client as part of their fee structures. For us, part of the communication is being able to take individual examples that we're trying to apply in built work and make them readily accessible to other architects so that they don't have to reinvent these models. CAB: We also wanted to ask you about digital platforms and the sharing economy. Obviously a lot of your projects are built on top of a "stack" made up of land, physical structures, financing, and now another layer, which includes digital platforms for renting domestic space. What's your take on things like "WeWork" transforming into "WeLive," where digitally-oriented lifestyle businesses are starting to "disrupt" the housing market? JS: I think we have to be very careful with the sharing economy because it is presented often under the guise of being a decentralized, non-hierarchical network, with the ability to more fairly distribute profits and resources in society. But at the moment, it mainly involves the exploitation of latent value within our cities and our personal objects. Until the really large sharing economy companies like Uber or Airbnb are collectively owned, until they become cooperatives in which the profit is proportionately distributed amongst users of the network, then they will always effectively be traditional corporate models that are just exploiting other people's resources. This is why we're so interested in viable alternatives for shared property ownership, so we can break the cycle of perpetual debt and perpetual rent. We don't believe that level of debt is necessary at all. To kind of paraphrase Al Gore, we have already all the resources we require. They're just extremely badly distributed amongst us. CAB: Do you see any platform cooperative models that do show promise in real estate or architecture? You mentioned the Weissenhofsiedlung, which was a workers' housing prototype that really shows how invested the early modernists were in progressive social change. Do you see that spirit reappearing anywhere today? JS: Yes, absolutely. There are great examples in Germany, in France, Austria, and Switzerland. All have extremely sophisticated models for cooperative ownership and cooperative housing. There are not so many examples in the UK, but I do think the culture is changing, and we are beginning to see a few promising experiments. A lot of the time REAL Foundation attempts to create templates or models that can then be applied in many different ways according to their context rather than the projects themselves. We do that because we want to create something which is repeatable enough to create meaningful change. I also believe the era of the star architect is in decline, and we should no longer be focusing on the singular individual who is capable of inventing a solution to all of our problems at a stroke. We should really be working in networks and groups with other people to find how our driving ideology can manifest itself in individual instances to move towards that change that we would like to see. It's basically systemic thinking, both at the level of immaterial information exchange systems—contractual design, for example, financial system design, political and bureaucratic design—as well as aesthetic and spatial design, which go hand in hand.  Interior view of Default Grey, a proposal for a domestic tower that provides inhabitants autonomy from debt and enough anonymity to shield them from surveillance. Image Courtesy of Real Foundation CAB: To wrap up, how do you communicate complicated ideas about housing, finance, and building processes to a wider cultural audience? How do you see yourself broadening the accessibility of new ways to practice architecture? JS: As it stands, that's one of the reasons why we do cultural programs and cultural activities, which have a strong relationship to a general audience. We're very interested in exhibitions and their ability to both design space, but also to translate complex ideas into an experience which most people can understand. We also communicate through a magazine, REAL Review, which requires a certain level of commitment, but is supported through a Kickstarter campaign by an interested set of readers. We also do quite a lot of publishing work, and we produce books which are explicitly about these types of issues we're talking about. And of course we curate exhibitions as part of our cultural work, and that's extremely important. In the end, we want to share what we're learning from experimental projects as widely as possible with other architects. We should be able to say, "Hey, that's an interesting finance model for that building, or interesting procurement method, or interesting construction method. Let's just copy-paste it." The future of that, I would hope, is to be able to even run courses—weekend courses or workshops—which are about providing those types of tools and networks to other architects. At the moment, we've mainly been focusing on the communication of these ideas about the politics of space to a general audience, but we're increasingly looking for ways in which we can use some of our work to educate architects and to the general public about more equitable ways of making space. Jack Self is the principal of REAL Foundation, a London-based architectural practice and cultural institute participating in the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Christina Badal and Leo Shaw are researchers and strategists at Consortia, a creative office developing new frameworks for communication who are editing the Biennial blog. This article also features embedded content from Are.na, an online platform for connecting ideas and building knowledge.
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| The Pavilion / The Norman Foster Foundation Posted: 12 Jul 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Luis Asín
 © Luis Asín From the architect. The Norman Foster Foundation, which officially opened its headquarters in a heritage-listed residential Palace by Joaquín Saldaña in Madrid on 1 June, has opened a new pavilion in its courtyard that will show a changing display of objects and images that have, over the years, been personal references for Foster. The flexible space will also be the setting for talks and discussion groups, and features a façade that can open to the courtyard for outdoor events.  Plan The new building resolves the irregular geometry of the outdoor area with a roof shaped like the wing of an aircraft. This is supported by a hidden steel structure cantilevered over a structural glass façade without any visible means of support so the roof seems to oat over it. The result is an architecture which seeks the ephemeral qualities of light, lightness and reflections. Elements are reduced to an essential minimum with a mirrored ceiling and fascia which further dissolves the volume of space to emphasise its contents.  © Luis Asín The courtyard and entrance façade of the pavilion is shaded by a canopy created by the Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias. This work, The Ionosphere (A Place of Silent Storms), is composed of interlocking light carbon bre panels with patterns generated from a text of Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise. It frames the view of the court from the pavilion as well as bathing it in dappled shade.  © Luis Asín From its innovative but understated use of glass, steel and composite materials, the pavilion is a further exploration of techniques that Norman Foster has pioneered over more than ve decades. The wide glass panel to the courtyard next to the entrance is itself a massive door, weighing 2.7 tons and 6 metres long. When this portal is opened up the interior and exterior worlds are united into one owing space for Foundation gatherings.  Axonometric By working closely with the craftsmen in metal and glass it has been possible to develop a combination of slim bead-blasted stainless steel sections welded together and with mirror polished edges which dematerialise the bulk of supporting structures.  © Luis Asín .jpg?1499886610 "Sketch") Sketch The contents of the pavilion are an eclectic selection of objects, models, photography and sculpture from the worlds of art, architecture and design, embracing aircraft, cars and locomotives. For Norman Foster these are not separate worlds but interconnected with a special emphasis on his passion for ight. The display is also an opportunity to acknowledge the importance to Foster of other architects, engineers and mentors from the past as well as the present.  © Luis Asín .jpg?1499886686 "Sketch") Sketch An important and historic car is displayed for the rst time. This is not a replica - it is the newly restored and original 1927 Avions Voisin C7 that was owned by Le Corbusier and featured in photographs of all his early works. The car was very advanced in its time using aviation technology pioneered by Voisin for his ying machines. Because of its large expanse of glass, echoed in the new architecture of its age, it was called the Lumineuse. Gabriel Voisin was also a patron of Le Corbusier who named his radical proposal for Paris The Voisin Plan.  © Luis Asín The pavilion was realised through detail design and construction in six months. This was made possible by prefabricating all the elements which also avoided excavation on the site and disruption to neighbours. The high thermal performance of the glass building envelope, radiant heating and cooling through the oor, generous external shading and the latest generation of LED lighting are all part of its sustainable agenda. .jpg?1499886631 "Sketch") Sketch The Norman Foster Foundation is separate from the practice of Norman Foster - the architects for the pavilion are a design studio based within the Madrid Foundation and led by Foster. Local skills and materials have been important – for example eleven of the twelve consultants are from Spain and six of the nine contractors and suppliers are Spanish – the remainder from Italy, Germany and Japan.  © Luis Asín This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House JRv2 / studio de.materia Posted: 12 Jul 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Tom Kurek
 © Tom Kurek From the architect. The plot lies on the edge of the reserve Żurawiniec, and It is surrounded by a dense park in the south and the west.  © Tom Kurek On the frontier boundary of the plot runs a slope of less than one story. Such terrain has determined the entire assumption of the project.  © Tom Kurek  © Tom Kurek To avoid a steep descent into the garage, it was placed on the roof of the residential part. The living area was immersed in the descending terrain. This makes the house closed from the entrance (east) and open to the surrounding greenery from the west.  © Tom Kurek The functional layout of the home was dictated by the sun, views and neighborhoods. The layout of the house resembles the letter T. In one wing there is a living room with a dining area and a kitchen open to the surrounding park. The second wing is perpendicular. Partially slammed into the escarpment. There is a technical room and a small guest room.  © Tom Kurek  Ground Floor Plan  © Tom Kurek The remainder of this wing contains the wardrobe, the bathroom and the bedroom, which goes out the green side. Such arrangement allowed for obtaining a terrace space that was separated from the neighbor from the north.  © Tom Kurek In order to catch the rising sun in the living room, we designed a small patio that overlooks the living room window. The patio wall is at the same time a retaining wall for the slope  © Tom Kurek While the garage is made entirely of wood (construction and cladding), the bottom part is made of concrete. Concrete walls are made like sandwich - concrete, insulation, concrete.  Section A The roof is covered with extensive vegetation of herbs and stonecrops. Facades complement larch wood. Oak lining was used in the interiors.  © Tom Kurek The house is equipped with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, efficient floor heating submerged in the accumulation concrete floor slab.  © Tom Kurek This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Office of the Future / Killa Design Posted: 12 Jul 2017 05:00 PM PDT  © WAM
 © Nedal Machou From the architect. Killa Design has developed the world's first fully functional and permanently occupied 3D printed office in Dubai. Office of the Future building is currently the home for the Dubai Future Foundation as well as an exhibition space and incubator for future emerging technologies in the region. The initiative comes as part of a Dubai 3-D printing strategy launched in the same year, which focuses on the development of 3D printing to improve people's lives in the construction and medical sectors.  © Nedal Machou The entire structure of the building was manufactured using an additive concrete 'printing' technique using a 3D printer 20 feet high, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide. The printer features an automated robotic arm to implement the printing process which lasted 17 days and was installed on site in two days. Subsequent work on the building services, interiors, and landscape took approximately three months.As a result of this innovative construction technique, the labor cost was cut by more than 50% compared to conventional buildings of similar size, and wastage on site was minimized which helped to reduce the overall environmental footprint of the project.  © WAM  Ground Floor Plan  © WAM The office complex radiates around a tree-shaded cafe courtyard. It comprises a partnership lounge & gallery for exhibitions, events, and workshops, a flexible space for team brainstorming and design work and private meeting rooms for quiet work. A series of openings throughout the project bring natural daylight deep into space while allowing occupants to remain connected to the outside environment. The building layout has been designed to facilitate a mix of creative interactions, quite reflective work, and serendipitous meetings.  © WAM As part of our wider initiative to be involved in the most cutting edge and innovative projects, we made use of a super insulated cladding system, fabricated using computer controlled manufacturing techniques, to form the unique and complex geometry of the building envelope.  Cross Section  Longitudinal Section Ben Piper, a partner at Killa Design and the architect behind the master plan and cladding design says: 'The progressive design of the office conveys a shift from the traditional form of work environments thus paving the way for stimulating innovation and communication within teams." Unique in its design and modularity, the Office of the Future is being hailed as a first major initiative and ground breaking example of computer controlled fabrication in building construction.  © WAM The project is a precursor to the Museum of the Future (also designed by Killa Design). It is part of the Dubai Future Agenda strategy, launched by the UAE to become a major incubator of innovation and future technology in the world. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Apple Farm House / 2m2 architects Posted: 12 Jul 2017 03:00 PM PDT _main_view.jpg?1498798129 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub
.jpg?1498798765 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub From the architect. If you drive a car to the north along the East Sea Road from Pohang Station, you will see the high mountains on your left and the East Sea on your right. Jukjang-myeon, Buk-gu of the city of Pohang, where Apple Farm House is located, is situated at a high altitude and there is Gyeongsangbuk-do arboretum in which the sky and mountains are said to meet. This is a high altitude clean area where soil and climatic conditions are suitable for apple production and apple cultivation is very active in here. .jpg?1498798154 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub The building owner is a couple who is three years away from their retirement and plans to grow apples after their retirement here in their hometown. They have already planted apple trees on weekends for 4 years ago, built cold warehouses, and finally made their first harvest last year. In the meantime, they lived in a temporary container on weekends, but as young grandchildren living in the city came to visit frequently, they put forward the plan of building house that was planned two years later. .jpg?1498798454 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub  Ground Floor Plan
I cannot forget the scenery when I first visited the land after passing a mountain along the winding road. The ground which was located a little higher than the surrounding roads was covered with mountains behind and beautiful scenery was spread out in front. The house could naturally be facing the South and the natural scenery was beautiful, so I felt lighter on my feet on my way back to Seoul than when going there. .jpg?1498798616 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub A small house facing the South with an area of 100㎡ with two rooms, a living room and a kitchen were all that the client requested. And they wanted to have a small space to work outside the house. Work areas are often located on the back of the house. However, since the surrounding scenery is so beautiful, I arranged it in the front so that they could work looking at the beautiful scenery. And instead of simply providing a small space on the remaining land, I planned it as an active space, an extension of the building, and highlighted it as the identity of this small house. .jpg?1498798301 "Detail") Detail The external work space which can serve as the extension of the main entrance and center point is planned to be a canopy structure with a long roof stretching, which prevents rain and forms a shadow. The roof is up in the air without pillars or walls in the front, which gives a panoramic view without any visual obstacles. In addition, you can see the apple farm on the other side of the site on which the owner worked hard for a long time. Also, by slightly turning the direction of the canopy according to the shape of the earth, it gives a rhythmic feel to the straight line, and also brings about structural stability. It is a transition space for entering and leaving the house and it is also used as a playground where the grandchildren can run around enjoying the breeze and can play in water in the summer. .jpg?1498798632 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub The outer finish which uses the pine-wood exposed concrete and the wooden vertical louver mixes naturally with the village of the mountain. When it comes to interior space, rooms are all arranged to the south according to the earth that stretches to the East and the West. Then, the space was divided by sliding pocket doors between the public area of the living room and the kitchen and the private area of the bedroom. There is a large window on the front of the living room, and a wooden deck is laid on it, so that the living room - the outside deck - the inside and outside of the front yard can be freely accessed. The living room ceiling is installed with spruce wood louver finish and the front wall is installed with birch plywood to make it a cozy space. The corridor wall facing the bedroom has exposed concrete finish, which contrasts with the feeling of the living room. It is part of the southern province, but surrounded by high mountains and colder than other areas on the same latitude, so we used thicker insulation than legal standards to allow for warmer winters and cooler summers. Because it was a housing project located far away from the downtown, there were many difficulties in the construction process, but it was able to be completed well with the understanding of the owner and the efforts of the builder. In the Korean society, a generation born in the late 50s and early 60s became a retirement age from their works. I know it is a generation that worked hard when they were young and now I want to cheer them who are entering the second chapter of their lives. .jpg?1498798485 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub .jpg?1498798749 "© Shin Kyungsub") © Shin Kyungsub This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Jul 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Fernando Gomulya
 © Fernando Gomulya From the architect. This single-family residence located in Alam Sutera designed by Axial Studio in a tropical modern manner. The design character can be highlighted through the use of crisp lines and simple geometry forms, and material treatment that further enhance the tropical ambience on the residence's exterior.  © Fernando Gomulya Sited on a corner lot of 550 m2, the owner chose to establish his dream house on the site in the interest of having a healthy home, a home with abundance of natural lights and a well-circulated fresh air.  Plans The architect designed the zoning plan and layout for this residence in a clear and concise manner. Public areas such as living and dining area placed on the ground floor, while the more private area such as bedrooms are set on the first floor. The two-story service area placed on the inside corner of the lot.  © Fernando Gomulya The main building mass of the residence situated on the outside part of the site, with the intention of exploring the potential view of the surroundings. By establishing that, an inner court space that allows optimal natural lights and fresh air flows inside then formed. This inner court space presents potential views from the living and dining area, while also serves as an outdoor playground for the children.  © Fernando Gomulya The façade of this residence already looks modern with its crisp lines and simple geometric forms. Yet, the architect manages to bring it a step further with details that mark as accents and enrich the design character.  Section One horizontal window elongates from one side of the façade to another on the first floor of this residence. This façade-long window gives the resident to enjoy panoramic view of the surroundings from their bedrooms.  © Fernando Gomulya While from the outside, this unique form of a window becomes a focal point for the exterior design. A wide canopy made of thin steel plate covering this opening strengthens the detail's design.  © Fernando Gomulya One inspirational example of how to develop a common material into a design with added value can be seen applied on the feature walls design showcased on the front façade and one on the inner court area.  © Fernando Gomulya A simple aerated concrete of 20cm x 60 cm cut according to the architect's guidelines, then arranged into modules on one plain wall surface, resulting in a 3-dimensional geometric patterned wall that gives a stark accent to an already well-mannered design. Looking at it on a glance, one wouldn't easily notice that the 3-dimensional geometric pattern was made of series of aerated concretes composed together in such a way.  © Fernando Gomulya This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| "KITERASU" Model CLT Building at Kuse Station / ofa Posted: 12 Jul 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Ken'ichi Suzuki
 © Ken'ichi Suzuki From the architect. This is a CLT model building built next to the station in Maniwa. The use of the building is a public toilet and a rest space.  © Ken'ichi Suzuki Maniwa city has materials and technology of CLT. We proposed four things and were selected in the design competition. 1. Utilize the characteristics of CLT (Cross Laminated Timber). The building is a simple structure. Three large walls support three roofs. It is characterized by a large cantilevered roof and a wall with many holes.  © Ken'ichi Suzuki That space is like the furniture of wood. Because not only structural members but also partition and lining were made with CLT.  © Ken'ichi Suzuki We set up a relaxing terrace facing the cherry blossoms so that this building will be a comfortable space as a cycling station and a place to gather.  Floor Plan  Section Since benches and cycle racks made with CLT were placed around the building, in front of the station it became a square where people can spend like a park.  © Ken'ichi Suzuki This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Taringa Treehouse / Phorm architecture + design Posted: 12 Jul 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Christopher Frederick Jones
 © Christopher Frederick Jones From the architect. Taringa Treehouse is a detached residential extension located in a backyard. It is both integrated and independent to the original house. The treehouse instigates a shift in occupation within the Site, reflecting an attitude of informality inspired by a significant tree and the peculiar territory it occupies.  © Christopher Frederick Jones Brisbane is a verdant, subtropical, suburban place. House lots are typically long and thin. Traditional timber and tin houses (Queenslanders) politely occupy the street edge and create largely unoccupied spaces at the rear. These 'backyards' tend to be overgrown, unruly spaces and are the domain of children and makeshift structures. The treehouse is devised as an invitation to visit and engage with this distinct yet typically unchartered territory.  © Christopher Frederick Jones The footprint is confined and placement careful to minimise displacement of valued landscape. The building generates a large courtyard between itself and the house, secures privacy to the side and rear neighbours and casts shade in the afternoon. The triangular plan is the considered response to the field of immediate adjacencies.  Axonometric View The long edge [hypotenuse] has been cut to accommodate the majestic tree and opens a broad north eastern face into the garden. The exaggerated weatherboard elevation has been designed to receive the shadow play of the tree. The short side contains the translucent stair nestled into the tree line. The western elevation catches the intense heat and light of the day and is glimpsed from the street. Draped in metallic cladding, the treehouse is revealed to the neighbourhood as an unexpected urban artefact embedded in the greenery. The treehouse presents no formal elevation back to the original house. Only the 'thin edge of the wedge' is present. The intention was not to fill the backyard but retain the natural aspect and vacancy.  © Christopher Frederick Jones The building is designed as a set of informal spaces, walls sliding open to embrace and borrow from the landscape. The program is un-prescribed, downstairs is a platform with a veranda edge, there is a climbing wall, upstairs is a loft. The scale of the building is proportioned to the tree. The structure is stretched and elongated to reach the low branches. Occupants are scaled by the internal volumes, at some moments swelling relative to the spaces other times shrinking within them. Movement is centrifugal, along its 3 sides, sling-shooting the occupants from the ground up into the canopy. The expressed structure subtly reinforcing the shifts in orientation and geometry along the journey.  Lower Level / Upper Level Plan Many aspects of the Treehouse are informed not from local domestic architecture but rather the playful language and sensibilities of children's cubby houses which traditionally inhabit this terrain. Whilst refined and keenly executed, the treehouse reflects upon the assemblage of eclectic materials and textures of these naïve structures. More particularly their ability to collect experiences of place and solicit memories.  © Christopher Frederick Jones This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| World's First "Smart Street" in London Turns Footsteps into Energy Posted: 12 Jul 2017 09:15 AM PDT  via Pavegen Technology company Pavegen has unveiled the world's first "Smart Street" in London's West End that utilizes the company's unique kinetic paving slabs to generate energy from pedestrians' footsteps. But unlike earlier Pavegen installations deployed in cities like Washington DC and Rio de Janeiro (which uses the panels as the foundation for a soccer field), the London Smart Street comes with its very own app – giving visitors precise information about the power they are generating, and encouraging use by offering up store vouchers in return for steps. The 107-square foot pavement is located along Bird Street, where it produces power for nearby street lamps, Bluetooth transmitters, and hidden speakers that emit bird sounds intended to create a soothing environment.  via Pavegen  via Pavegen Said Pavegen CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook in a statement, "With installations in Washington, D.C. and at vital transport hubs including Heathrow, being able to demonstrate how our technology can bring to life the retail shopping experience is a vital step for us. As retailers compete with online, technologies like ours make being in the busy high street more exciting and rewarding for people and brands alike." Since 2009, Pavegen has already completed more than 150 projects around the world. To create energy, the system uses electromagnetic induction generators – as the tile is pushed down from a person's weight, energy-storing flywheels spin to convert kinetic energy into electrical energy. That energy can then be used to power nearby lights and appliances. Learn more about the Pavegen system, here. News via Construction Dive, Buzzfeed This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Jul 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Hank Mardukas
 © Hank Mardukas From the architect. Tech901, a nonprofit organization, trains new tech workers to take on the diverse challenges of the IT industry and provide growth resources for local employers. They required a new space for collaboration, capable of adapting to serve multiple functions related to the information technology industry.  © Hank Mardukas A dynamic collaboration zone established the design concept. This zone is made up of a long poured-in-place concrete table with power and data capability embedded into 40' long six inch strip of walnut. A contrasting homasote wall surface helps to separate this collaborative space from the lounge spaces, and works to achieve optimal acoustics for discussion and concentration. A linear light overhead lines up with the power and data slots, as well as with the power nine logo at entrance. This space accommodates break out spaces for students to use between classes, offers space for temporary workstations, a surface for tech start-up company meetings and acts as a serving table for public events.  Floor Plan Extending the design emphasis on collaboration, a conference room doubles as small training, testing or war room. Glazing is used to partition smaller offices to achieve openness and light to pass through the space. 42" high film allows partial privacy and effectiveness in the office spaces. Walls with marker board paint surround informal meeting places, and a tectum bridge was developed to mask exposed mechanical and electrical systems nonprofit's unique new home, a recently renovated Sears distribution facility that was vacant for 20 years.  © Hank Mardukas The final construction cost is $702,997 or $143/sf. The total building area is 4,930 sf. Consultants for the project included OGCB for engineering and Pro Tec Fire Systems Inc. for Fire Protection. Grinder Taber & Grinder, Inc. was the general contractor for this project. All photos by Hank Mardukas Photography.  © Hank Mardukas This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Ballguthof Hotel / bergmeisterwolf architekten Posted: 12 Jul 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Gustav Willeit
 © Gustav Willeit From the architect. Architecture as a symbol. A protruding wing in the entrance shows the way, a sweeping buckled roof of black concrete leads to the reception area on the inside, to the lounge, bar, and out to the landscape. The ceiling grid mirrors the new implants.  © Gustav Willeit  Floor Plan  © Gustav Willeit An open floor plan with small boxes or dens provides an intimate atmosphere. In the landscape, a well-lit stairway serves as the link between the outdoor and indoor pools. The bronze monolith seemingly grows out of the ground, out of its depths, and at night becomes a light installation.  Model  Model This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New Renderings Revealed of Studio Libeskind's Mixed-Use Complex in Lithuania Posted: 12 Jul 2017 05:15 AM PDT _(1).jpg?1499875619 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind New renderings and details have been revealed of Studio Libeskind's competition-winning mixed-use tower development located in the downtown business district of Vilnius, Lithuania as the project has secured funding. Located at the intersection of the White Bridge, the Neris River and Old Town, the 20,000 square meter (215,000 square foot) complex will be home to a class-A business center and the region's first Radisson RED-branded luxury hotel, along will an array of restaurants, shops and public amenities. _(4).jpg?1499875655 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind _(6).jpg?1499875634 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind Financing for the project will be provided by Swedbank through an agreement made with JSC Investmira, a subsidiary fund of investment management company Lords LB Asset Management. "We are happy to contribute to this project, which is so unique in terms of its architecture and location in the city. Lords LB Asset Management has an excellent track record of launching and managing new properties, therefore we trust their vision and work. They give a great deal of thought to public spaces, which is critical, given the general layout of the city and comfort of its residents," said Martynas Trimonis, head of real estate clients division at Swedbank Lithuania. _(3).jpg?1499875666 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind _(5).jpg?1499875644 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind "This part of the city has been changing beyond recognition. It attracts new businesses, which will work in the newly built business centers, as well as tourists, who will be able to try out a Radisson RED hotel, which boasts a unique concept and is the first Radisson RED in this region. The management contract, signed with Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, will further increase the sustainability of the project." _(2).jpg?1499875609 "© Studio Libeskind") © Studio Libeskind Construction of the project was approved by the Vilnius City Council last month. The project is currently estimated to complete by 2020. See previous coverage of the building here:
News via LORDS LB This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shelton Marshall Residence / El Dorado Posted: 12 Jul 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Mike Sinclair
 © Mike Sinclair From the architect. The Shelton Marshall Residence is an urban home for a family of four built in the Westside neighborhood of downtown Kansas City. With a main structure consisting of just under 2,000 square feet, the house makes a compelling argument for quality over quantity within the context of a downtown neighborhood that is striving for increased urban vibrancy.  © Mike Sinclair The layout of the residence is a "U" shaped plan, organized around an entry courtyard to the east and a shaded full-length porch to the west. While the entry courtyard dips 6'-0" below the back-yard grade, the front porch floats dramatically in the trees, over 20'-0" above Madison Avenue. Large sliding glass and screen doors connect the kitchen, dining room and the living room to the courtyard and the porch, and provide the entire house with sufficient cross ventilation to enjoy summer breezes during evening hours. The house leverages natural daylighting to provide 100% of its daytime illumination, and utilizes dimmable fluorescent cove lighting and limited recessed halogen fixtures for nighttime illumination.  Floor Plan The master bedroom and bathroom suite is scaled appropriately for an urban residence, and opens up to the front porch to enjoy the quiet Westside nights. The kids' bedrooms are designed for flexible configurations, opening up to one another and the entry courtyard as a single bedroom suite, if desired. Hand-crafted loft beds organize functional closet space and homework stations below.  © Mike Sinclair The unique site section of the Shelton Marshall residence renders its interior as an urban sanctuary; a place of quiet domestic reflection within a gritty, urban neighborhood.  © Mike Sinclair  Section  © Mike Sinclair Tucked in below on one side, and hovering above on the other, the transparent qualities of interior spaces and exterior courtyards open up generously to one another within a cedar clad structure that carefully edits the surrounding exterior environment, distilling the sounds of trains and prevailing breezes through sliding glass walls and dappled western sunsets through adjacent deciduous tree limbs. Upon approach from the alley, however, the house is largely invisible: the public spaces of the house unfold step by step, poetically suspended between the ground below and the transplanted prairie ecosystem on the roof.  © Mike Sinclair The Shelton Marshall Residence is ultimately a careful study of site section, nestled tightly into the site on one hand, and floating effortlessly above the site on the other. It celebrates quiet intimacy of family life by contributing a quiet, unassuming and unexpected presence to the intimate context of its surrounding neighborhood.  © Mike Sinclair This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Jul 2017 03:30 AM PDT  Montreal 1967 World's Fair, "Man and His World," Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic Dome With Solar Experimental House, 2012. Image © Jade Doskow Pioneering radical Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983), an inventor, architect and the second president of Mensa, had a massive impact on the architecture and popular culture of the latter 20th century. Most famous for popularizing the geodesic dome, Fuller is also known as the father of sustainability, and was driven by his intention "to make the world work for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or disadvantage of anyone."  © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BuckminsterFuller1.jpg'>Wikimedia user Edgy01 (Dan Lindsay)</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY 3.0</a> Born in Massachusetts, Fuller's talents for invention became clear during his early childhood, building his own tools and creating a new method of propelling rowing boats with an umbrella when he was 12. Building on this knowledge to attend Harvard University, Fuller was expelled not once, but twice: once for spending all his money on partying with a Vaudeville troupe and again after being re-admitted for his seeming lack of interest and non-conformity. He eventually earned a machinist's certificate while working in Canada, gaining an intimate knowledge of material properties and tools that would later influence his radical architecture.  Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Building Construction/Geodesic Dome, United States Patent Office no. 2,682,235, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print in white ink on clear polyester film; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne. Image © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati. Never confined to a single profession, Fuller worked as a "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist" to solve global problems surrounding housing, shelter, transportation, education, energy, ecological destruction, and poverty. In his prolific career, Fuller held 28 patents, authored 28 books and received 47 honorary degrees. Best known for the geodesic dome, (which has been reproduced over 300,000 times worldwide) Fuller popularized the structure after its invention by Dr Walther Bauersfeld 30 years before, gaining the US patent and erecting models across the United States. As his career progressed, Fuller received increasing attention from the world (and also from the FBI), and his work culminated in the incredible Montreal Biosphere at the 1967 Exposition. .jpg?1373483594 "Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, 4D House, United States Patent Office no. 1,793, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print on Lenox paper; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne. Image © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.") Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, 4D House, United States Patent Office no. 1,793, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print on Lenox paper; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne. Image © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati. As a well-known futurist, Fuller fought for innovative solutions to humanity's problems, becoming an early pioneer of sustainable design and renewable energy and participated in the first United Nations forum on human settlement, Habitat 1. And of course, he carried on creating a huge range of incredible designs and projects, including the three-wheeled Dymaxion Car and the grain-silo-inspired Dymaxion House. Learn more about Bucky via the links and videos below, including a video of him singing his own original "ode to a dome" which features the playful yet critical line: Let Architects dream of glass boxes with steam AD Classics: Montreal Biosphere / Buckminster Fuller AD Classics: The Dymaxion House / Buckminster Fuller Rare Interview with Buckminster Fuller on the Geodesic Life Buckminster Fuller's Daughter Shares Her Father's Best Lessons "Everything I Know": 42 Hours of Buckminster Fuller Video: Norman Foster Recreates Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car SFMoMA Exhibit: "The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area" Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic Dome Home to be Restored as Museum Buckminster Fuller's 50-Foot "Fly's Eye" Dome to be Restored This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| MVRDV Wins Competition for Bay-Window-Inspired Mixed-Use Towers in Rotterdam Posted: 12 Jul 2017 03:05 AM PDT  © MVRDV MVRDV has been selected as the winner of a competition for The Sax, a 51-story mixed-use tower in Rotterdam's Wilhelminapier port development. The building will add a total of 82,000 square meters (882,000 square feet) of residences, retail spaces and commercial facilities across two towers, the Philadelphia & the Havana, connected halfway up by a bridge containing a 150-room hotel. Located on the south side of Wilhelminapier, the Sax will become one of the last residential buildings to rise within a new development on the historic harbor, one of the city's most popular areas. The building's recognizable pixelated silhouette and waterfront siting will give the building an immediate presence on the Rotterdam skyline, recently coined the "Manhattan On the Maas."  © WAX Architectural Visualisations On top of the shorter of the two towers, at 70 meters high, the gold clad hotel bar will offer impressive views of the Nieuwe Maas and city. On top of the hotel, at 80 meters high, a public terrace will allow everyone to experience the views and the building for themselves. Inside both towers (the taller of which tops out at 150 meters), 450 apartment units have been arranged with their main rooms facing the bay-windowed facade, flooding each unit with ample light.  © MVRDV "Rotterdam is more and more a city of towers and The Sax will add a new element to this collection," said Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV. "The façade features a contemporary reinterpretation of the bay window, providing views for each unit with the advantage of allowing individual and unique apartments in this large collective complex. This windowed effect adds an extra dimension in experiencing the view onto Rotterdam. The plinth and the bridge which contains a hotel will be open to the public making Wilheminapier even more lively."  © MVRDV The towers will be connected at the base by an activated plinth featuring numerous commercial facilities including restaurants, shops, bars, cafes and a wellness center, bringing diverse public amenities to the streets and quays. "It reads like a vertical city but is also strongly rooted in contributing to the public life of the Kop van Zuid," explain MVRDV. "The Sax is a building designed in rhythm with the city. It represents musicality, character and elegance, but also variation and improvisation. It also stands for the rough and unpolished; a raw tone; all metaphors echoing its historic port location from which a brand new building emerges as a new soundwave for Rotterdam."  © WAX Architectural Visualisations MVRDV collaborated with ARUP on the structure, façade design and sustainability of The Sax. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018 with a completion date set for the end of 2022. News via MVRDV. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The One Big Problem That Advocates of Copenhagen-Style Urbanism Often Overlook Posted: 12 Jul 2017 02:30 AM PDT  © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/15325678721/'>Flickr user diversey</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> This article was originally published on Common Edge as "What We Can (and Can't) Learn from Copenhagen." I spent four glorious days in Copenhagen recently and left with an acute case of urban envy. (I kept thinking: It's like... an American Portland—except better.) Why can't we do cities like this in the US? That's the question an urban nerd like me asks while strolling the famously pedestrian-friendly streets, as hordes of impossibly blond and fit Danes bicycle briskly past. Copenhagen is one of the most civilized cities on the planet. The world's "most livable," it's often called, with some justification. (Although a Danish relative did caution me, "Spend a few weeks here in January before you make that pronouncement.") But the seemingly effortless civility, Copenhagen's amazing level of grace, is not an accident of place or happenstance. It's the product of a shared belief that transcends urban design, even though the city is a veritable laboratory for pretty much all of the best practices in the field.
A group of us had been invited to the Danish capital by the Gehl Institute, founded by Jan Gehl, the renowned architect and urban visionary. Our mandate—a pleasant one, to say the least—was to observe, to reflect, to think about ways in which the Copenhagen success story might be replicated in cities back home. There was much for our hosts to be proud of. Copenhagen is justly renowned for its bicycling culture. Half of its residents commute to work on bikes (snow or shine), a large number even for Europe and an utterly unthinkable one for visiting Americans. Even with big gains recently, less than 1 percent of US employees cycle to their jobs.  The cyclists commute to work in Copenhagen, snow or shine. Image © Kaitlin Johnson Copenhagen's bike lanes are extensive, and most of them provide something critical for safety: physical separation. But even the unprotected lanes possess a strange, almost ethereal equilibrium, as if the bikes and cars had come to some sort of cultural understanding. It feels unspoken and unconscious and utterly safe, but it's actually learned behavior on the part of cyclists and drivers alike. School children in Copenhagen start bike safety lessons early and the training continues through the upper grades. Our hosts from Gehl were quick to point out that the bike lanes, great as they are, mesh with a larger, holistic approach to urban design. The objective isn't cycling, per se, but transportation. It's about building a network of options, with the overriding goal of creating a more livable city. The equation is fairly simple: more bikes equal fewer cars, less noise and less pollution. (According to our hosts, the city is expected to become carbon-neutral by 2025.) This farsighted approach to place-making isn't limited to transportation. All of the initiatives that we observed—the parks, public spaces, walkable streets, bike lanes, comfortable street furniture, the adaptive reuse of old buildings, even the planting of trees (which eliminated parking spaces! Imagine the uproar in Park Slope!)—were connected to a larger civic purpose: creation of a shared public realm. Copenhagen feels, in a way that no other American city does, like a group effort.  © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclists_at_red_2.jpg'>Wikimedia user Heb</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> And that's where the idea of "learning from Copenhagen" became trickier for a visiting American and maybe a bit sadder, because the key word here is shared. We can use bits or even large pieces of the Gehl toolbox. US cities, such as New York and Pittsburgh, already have. No surprise there, given that Gehl's thinking is rooted in Jane Jacobs' vision of urban scale and eclecticism. But rapid urban transformation—of the kind that we'll desperately need in the future—requires a systemic approach: the Copenhagen model. All of the initiatives must reinforce each other. And getting that level of buy-in, that level of consensus, is ultimately not a design problem, but a political and cultural challenge. Copenhagen of course is not a perfect place, as residents are the first to tell you. The city is struggling with gentrification and displacement; it's confused and conflicted about its response to immigrants and immigrant families; it's becoming far less economically diverse. And not all of Copenhagen's urban lessons, however inspiring, are easily transferable. It's difficult, if not impossible, to compare a city of just 600,000, to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. But perhaps there's one precept that we can take back to our local communities: Copenhagen still operates on a set of collective assumptions about equal access to the city. This is a shared civic value, and it underpins decades of work by people like Jan Gehl. More than curb heights or bike lanes, this is the real secret behind Copenhagen's success. Martin C. Pedersen is executive director of the Common Edge Collaborative. A writer, editor and critic, he served as executive editor at Metropolis magazine for nearly fifteen years. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| PA House / Gonzalo Martínez Oportus + Pablo Campano Sotomayor Posted: 12 Jul 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Diego Aravena S.
 © Diego Aravena S. From the architect. The Project emerges as an economic constructive resolution alternative facing the emergence of commercial modular architecture manufactured in series, efficiently resolving the client's program needs, with the rational use of materials and proposing interior spaces of higher spatial quality than a prefabricated work.  © Diego Aravena S. Volumetrically, the house considered as a horizontal pavilion that rests silently on the ground. The surrounding continues with wooden walls, floors and its deck with gabled roofs and resolves in a simple and honest character of the rural proposal, linking it to the environment in which it is located.  Elevations, Sections and Plan The pavilion conceived as a net volume, appealing, unitary, devoid of artifices, details, material encounter, eaves and ridges. Inwardly, the space is proposed as a white box, neat, free of elements; an interior that lives under the double slopes of its deck, which does not seek to be pretentious, but rather harmonic and diaphanous.  © Diego Aravena S. Constructively, the house is proposed in a modular form to be assembled in a completely wooden area over a continuous concrete slab, which accelerates the construction processes, makes the production proposal efficient and allows the greatest material economy in virtue of a good result.  © Diego Aravena S. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Is This the World's Largest Mural? Posted: 12 Jul 2017 01:00 AM PDT Street Artist Misha Most have finished a gargantuan project – a 10,800 square meter mural set to be the world's largest in Vyska, Russia. The giant mural, titled "Evolution-2" covers the facade of the "Stan-5000" industrial complex from the oldest Russian manufacturer, Vyksa Steel Works. The mural project was chosen in the course of the "Vyksa 10000" open competition and is part of the ArtOvrag urban art festival curated by Sabina Changina and Russian creative studio Artmossphere. Artmossphere is known for curating various art projects, exhibitions, and festivals connected with street art with both established and upcoming street artists.  © Artmossphere
 © Artmossphere .jpg?1499375469 "© Kirill Makarov") © Kirill Makarov The "Vyksa 10000" open competition aimed to "make the art forms of mural and graffiti more popular and highlight them as a contemporary direction of visual arts." Organizers of the competition received 260 application sketches coming from 34 countries, including Japan and Australia, as well as Latin and Central America.  © Artmossphere  © Artmossphere Evolution-2 was created by the artist Most with the help of five assistants over a period of 35 days. It is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the United Metallurgical Company (OMK) and the 260th anniversary of the metallurgical plant in Vyksa (which is part of the OMK). According to Artmossphere, this artwork is the largest monumental wall painting in the world, which authorship belonging to one artist. However, one by artists Ella & Pitr (21,000 square meters) in Norway, depicting a sleeping girl is painted on the roof instead of the building's facade, so the title depends on what you define as a mural – restricted to a wall or with more faces? (The mural in Norway is also co-authored by a duo of artists rather than a single author.) .jpg?1499375453 "© Kirill Makarov") © Kirill Makarov Another famous contender is the Hall of Fame in Colorado (16,554 square meters) - fixed at the moment in the Guinness World Records Book as the largest street mural in the world. The mural is created by hundreds of artists, with new authors adding to it every year.  © Kirill Makarov  © Kirill Makarov Other notable projects on the mural front include French artist JR's giant works across several cities and Germen Crew's colorful mural in the town of Palmitas near Mexico City.  © Artmossphere Representatives of the Guinness World Records expressed interest in the "Vyksa 10000" contest, and are "considering the inclusion of the winning project in the collection of world records." With Most as its only author, the mural seems to have no equal in size and complexity as a solo work. .jpg?1499375340 "© Kirill Makarov") © Kirill Makarov News via: Artmossphere.
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| Helen & Hard Win Competition to Built Waterfront Cultural Museum in Norway Posted: 11 Jul 2017 11:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Helen & Hard Situated at the intersection of a forest-scape and harbor, Helen & Hard's winning museum competition entry, Navet, offers the Norwegian island of Odderøya a place to reflect on the area's heritage and naval history. Located in the city of Kristiansand, Navet will join a group of institutions in the region called the Vest Agder Museums that celebrate Norway's past. Developed through careful consideration of its surrounding landscape, the form of the building situates itself to activate both the water and existing mountain front.  Courtesy of Helen & Hard Firms such as BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Reiulf Ramstad Architects were also asked to compete in the competition, but the jury picked Helen & Hard's Navat, which means hub in Norwegian, because of its approach to integrating the landscape.  Courtesy of Helen & Hard Emerging from the existing rock face of the mountain, the building features a walkable roof-scape that offers views of the harbor, salamander pond forest, and nearby city. The architects took into consideration the ecology of the site as a way to enhance the architecture rather than a factor to work around. The main entrance of the building is at the convergence of the two main facades, mediating the harbor and green areas. Inside on the first floor, a large glass window further blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor, nature and manmade.  Courtesy of Helen & Hard The heart of the museum is the boat hall exhibition space, structurally framed with diagonal timber beams that are suggestive of nautical construction. Along with an exposed mountain wall, the space integrates local materials into its architecture. The boat hall offers interactive exhibits that teach visitors about the region's maritime history. Additionally, the rest of the building houses flexible exhibition and workshop spaces. With a more muted aesthetic than the boat hall, the other rooms are designed to be as multi-purpose as possible.  Courtesy of Helen & Hard The project will continue to be developed and depending on funding it should be completed by 2021 the latest.
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| Pedra Da Ra Lookout Point / Carlos Seone Posted: 11 Jul 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Ana Amado
 © Ana Amado From the architect. The project for the "Pedra da Ra" lookout point is based upon a municipal investment Programme which aims to promote the tourist possibilities of the Riveira City Council. The lookout point known as "Pedra da Ra" has been used as such since the 1980s, when a concrete staircase was built to climb on the rock and from there one could observe the Atlantic Ocean's horizon.  © Ana Amado Over time the original staircase deteriorated while losing all its meaning. The project is born out of the necessity for the demolition of that aggressive concrete staircase. This aggression is acted on both the environment and the rock itself. Thus, one sees the need to propose an action towards the recovery of the natural state of the site.  © Ana Amado Cleaning  © Ana Amado As a result of this cleaning, however, new rock formations appeared and made us rethink the original project. We had to convert it from just a look out one into another that originated distinct pedestrian paths as diverse as the one towards the nearby Celtic settlement - The Cidá Castro- of great archaeological value. There is also the slope path, which leads one towards the dunes of The Corrubedo Natural Park.  Plan Ultimately, we have attempted to build a new setting from where one is able to contemplate both horizons over the Atlantic Ocean and the Corrubedo Natural Park. To be named after the unique rock formation – the Pedra da Rá. However, first and foremost, we propose the Cida settlement to be turned into a unique natural space by virtue of its archaeological past and its landscape value.  © Ana Amado Materials  © Ana Amado The plants to be used for the vegetation will include the creeping species found on the nearby hill and will be replanted around the Pedra da Ra.  © Ana Amado Given the nature of the chosen stone, the wild granite type plus the vegetation, the ground creeping plants, the resulting space will be one of little or no maintenance at all.  © Ana Amado In summary, the project has proposed a fundamental transformation. It goes from being a space which is based on the visual, meaning a centralized focus on a specific point, to become a one of pathways and diverse movement. The origin of new trails will allow one to contemplate nature from different points, but above all, to experience and feel it through the different senses by means of sub textures, sounds, and smells.  © Ana Amado  © Ana Amado Ultimately, the project has attempted to reinforce the flow of movement over the static and regain the tactile experience in addition to the visual. Thus, achieving a set of a unique characteristic, where nature takes center stage and the architecture acts only as a framework.  © Ana Amado This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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