Arch Daily |
- Kane World Food Studio / Bogdan Ciocodeică
- Juan Herreros on Spanish Architecture and Starting a Small Practice
- Parking Garage Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc / de Jong Gortemaker Algra + Modulo architects
- Loft Panzerhalle / Smartvoll Architekten ZT KG
- Grid / APOLLO Architects & Associates
- Nonhyun Matryoshka / L’EAU design
- The Bridge / HAO Design
- Allen Key House / Architect Prineas
- "The Big Bend" Imagines the World's Longest Skyscraper for Billionaires' Row in NYC
- Urdanibia Square / SCOB
- Carmody Groarke’s Cliff-Top Seaside Hotel Secures Planning Approval
- Colonial House Recovery on 64th Street / Nauzet Rodríguez
- 120 Hours Announces Winners of Its 2017 Competition, "The Way of the Buyi"
- GZ House / Studio Cáceres Lazo
- 13 Buildings in Bizarre Spaces
- Tsinghua Ocean Center / OPEN Architecture
- How a 3D Printer Changed My Life
- MVRDV Breaks Ground on Reflective Public Art Depot in Rotterdam
| Kane World Food Studio / Bogdan Ciocodeică Posted: 20 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Andrei Margulescu
 © Andrei Margulescu From the architect. Located in an upcoming neighborhood of the city, the restaurant aims to be a landmark for the regeneration of the old distressed urban tissue. It's approach is simple and clear, using natural materials and mixing them with the abundant greenery. Both architect and client agreed upon using design as a tool for reaching a particular atmosphere rather than aiming to enhance a certain type of image.  © Andrei Margulescu The space is designed as an urban oasis, a lush jungle enclosed in a concrete and steel frame. The green, vegetal component of the design comes to complete the concept of the restaurant, that serves a unique, exotic, round the world, fusion cuisine. The plants create a strong outdoor connection, at the same time defining a few private, secluded areas.  © Andrei Margulescu  Floor Plan  © Andrei Margulescu The materials used are raw, direct and uncomplicated. Concrete on the floor and the pillars, glazed ceramic tiles for the colored background layer, mirror on the walls and brass details all make up a perfect background for the marble and wooden furniture. All the different areas are the direct result of the functional scheme, a delicate balance between the higher, more strict perimetral sitting area and the middle , softer, more organic, fluid occupancy.  © Andrei Margulescu The space is treated uniformly with various different focal points, starting with the eight meter long marble bar with a mirror in the background and a light mint ceramic frame and continuing with the delicate exotic wall painting, that balances the fine constructed lines with the strong and abundent theme of the luxurious jungle. For more depth and perspective a mirror has been added next to the painting extending the artwork. The technical ceiling is apparent, continuing the straightforward, exposed approach of the entire design, painted in a rich, dark, deep green that ties the elements together.  © Andrei Margulescu The light is soft, and focused on the tables, with a few exceptions that highlight various focal points. The entire atmosphere is constructed to complete the culinary experience and to help immerse into the green, lush urban oasis.  © Andrei Margulescu The restaurant stretches on a surface of 180 sqm, with 74 seating places and it features, custom made furniture as well as ready to use pieces from brands such as Normann Copenhagen, Bolia, HK Living, Seletti and Hubsch. The open plan space allowed for a layered and sequential perspective, that creates depth and consistence.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Juan Herreros on Spanish Architecture and Starting a Small Practice Posted: 20 Mar 2017 09:00 PM PDT  In this second episode of GSAPP Conversations, Amale Andraos speaks with Spanish architect and GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros about the relationship between teaching and practicing architecture, and how he has carefully designed a particular way of working globally. Herreros, who co-founded Abalos&Herreros in 1984 and currently leads estudio Herreros, offers insight into how working sensitively in foreign settings also helps to develop a robust local practice, and how he is bringing new models of emerging practices to his students in GSAPP's Advanced Architecture Studios.  GSAPP Conversations is a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice. Each episode pivots around discussions on current projects, research, and obsessions of a diverse group of invited guests at Columbia, from both emerging and well-established practices. Usually hosted by the Dean of the GSAPP, Amale Andraos, the conversations also feature the school's influential faculty and alumni and give students the opportunity to engage architects on issues of concern to the next generation. GSAPP Conversations #2: Juan Herreros in Conversation with Amale AndraosAmale Andraos: Today I'm speaking with Juan Herreros, who directs the Advanced Architecture Studios here at Columbia GSAPP. In addition to your full teaching schedule you're busy with estudio Herreros, an architectural office in Madrid that is currently building major projects in Casablanca, Bogota, Madrid, and elsewhere. You've built this incredible new practice, even coming out of another influential practice, Ábalos&Herreros, whose work is now archived at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, and which was recently rediscovered through younger practices which curated its material in 2014 and 2015: OFFICE, SO-IL, amongst others. So it is in this spirit of practice that I wanted to talk about new forms of practices today. I know it's a question that you've been really interested in and redefining, both through your own work and your own practice, but also through your seminars here at the School and more recently the Transfer Dialogues that you've established here - really trying to redefine creative practices for architecture. Can you say a few words about how you're trying to reshape that conversation? Juan Herreros: I have to say that my new practice has been established for ten years now, and curiously that's the time I have been teaching at Columbia. It means that I have to de-contextualize my teaching practice from Madrid to Columbia, even if I have been teaching in many other schools before. And to have this coincide with my new practice means that perhaps Columbia has been the laboratory of these conditions that I needed to answer my other question of how to establish, or what practice is established in Spain – just at the moment that the economical crisis was starting. And Columbia was also the laboratory from the far to see my own context. So it's a kind of practical decision. Andraos: So I guess Columbia allowed you maybe to take a distance vis-a-vis your practice in Madrid and to kind of reconceptualize it. And I know we've had discussions about this – at that time, about ten years ago, the big model was "global practice". But I think you took a very critical approach where you invested more in-depth into certain places that you understood. And I remember you were going to Panama, and you really spent a lot of time in Colombia, and we spent time together in Rio, and you have an extensive knowledge. So you really designed how you engaged with this question of global practice. And I'm curious to hear more about an architect who's designing that engagement rather than someone who is on the receiving end of just taking anything that comes. Herreros: Yes. Ten years ago when I came to Columbia [University] and I established my new practice, this idea of the global architectural practice was quite directly related to the idea of "export architecture". But because I was establishing in my new practice, I felt that I was like a young architect trying to invent something, and I started my seminars about emerging practice. Of course I was not an emerging architect, but I was trying to invent something that perhaps could be useful also for other people who were just starting from scratch. And at that moment, one of my first decisions was that it should be a kind of global practice, not exactly engaged with the idea of exporting what we do in our big offices. And that's because I went to these countries where it is not usual for architects to go to look for opportunities and they have very well-defined contexts, very local in a certain way. And even though it isn't usual for them to have foreigners practicing there as architects, I tried to demonstrate that there was a possibility of coming with a new attitude to these places, read the context, and give back to the people a new description of what they are, that they could identify better than what you can see when you're a local. And I think the success of our office in these last years has been precisely because in every project we have done outside, nobody is seeing a Spanish architecture, but a kind of reflection of what they are that they don't see anymore and they recognize now. Andraos: That's really interesting because in a way I think this approach offers a sort of third way or an answer between the either/or, and the super-local. We've seen a lot of really fantastic emerging practices such as vPPR in London, who are really working incredibly locally, engaging the city, looking at housing, and defining a new way to be inventive and a new mode that is not a competition mode. But at the same time – I had this conversation yesterday actually with Bernard Tschumi, and he was saying, "Well, I see myself as a smaller practice who does very large projects." And he did it through competitions. That's becoming more difficult, the model of being a global practice that does competitions everywhere and then sort of lands somewhere. And yours is a sort of third way, where you are not here, not there, but you spend enough time that you're really, really engaging the context of a certain place. But at the same time you operate as an outsider reading that context, and then you're working relationally between cities. But it's a very interesting model where I think you've made a choice, you're neither just here nor just there. Herreros: Yes, you are right. I think it's related to the idea of small offices who are flexible and can dedicate some time and some resources to understand local aspects. Perhaps big corporations can't dedicate that time and that effort to sensibilize themselves to a very particular context, especially if the commission is not that big and perhaps is problematic or complicated. If it is not this clean thing, you know, "design an airport". And that is important because I think that for all these practices that you are mentioning, perhaps they don't have the horizon for designing airports. So there is a new type of practice, a new global practice run by small offices who can have this close and intimate relation with the context, where they can train, finally, the relation with their own context. So those practices coming back home, they have developed some muscles also to do the most sensible local practice. So I think that today, the most sophisticated local practice that we can do in our own cities or countries is because we have gone around the world trying to do that in contexts that are not ours. Andraos: And you're bringing that level of questioning actually to the advanced studios. You've done that through the Transfer Dialogues where you've invited emerging practices from around the world to try to almost demonstrate or bring a certain knowledge to students that are about to graduate to redefine practice, no longer just as the idea of an expanded field, but rather showing that it is an architectural practice and today there is so much invention that is both needed and possible to engage building at all scales. And I know you're working on a symposium for the fall that is looking at these questions. Do you want to give us sneak preview? Herreros: Yes. Basically what I have done here in the last years is to bring my own questions to the School and use the School as the instrument to try to find a way of answering them. First of all, it's a question of the culture of studio as teaching format, especially in my case coming from a public, huge school [ETSAM-Madrid] where the studio is not possible in the same way, but this discussion between the both models for me is very important. Second is the practice because in the end the students want to know how to establish a practice. And I think we have to stop that question and say, "No. The question is not how to establish. The question is why establish, for what, and what is the design of the practice you want to start?" So the practice is a design itself – it's a project. And of course we are architects and we want to do architectural practices. So the idea with the emerging practice sometimes is related to how to escape from the conventional practice to invent other jobs. I understand that architects always do projects. Anything we do, anything we are asked to do, we do a project. But those projects shouldn't be so broad in terms of trying to transform everything into projects because we are architects and we want to design and we want to build things. And I think that the practices that the emerging architects have to start have to be focused in that way. And it's possible. It's not that it's impossible and it's a nightmare or not. It's possible. The question is to invent it in the right way. Andraos: That really became very clear in the Spanish Pavilion at the last Venice Biennale curated by Aravena. And so it was interesting for me to see the form of engagement that the Spanish pavilion sort of put forth, which was not the architect as planner or the architect as a kind of advocate. It was really working through the building, and recycling, and taking the building as the object, and questions of preservation. It was both very focused, but with a very important impact in terms of having practices in Spain really rethinking how they could intervene in terms of architecture in this context of crisis. Herreros: Yes. For me it was also a surprise. I tell you that perhaps because I am quite engaged in this context. I need to go to Venice to see from the outside all these small works done by young and not-so-young architects intervening existing buildings, working with very inventive construction systems, creating commissions where nobody had asked them to do anything, offering design for free, like an added-value to a vulgar question – it was incredible. And that is the reason why we commented about doing a symposium bringing some young talents from around the world who are now trying to answer this question about how to be an architect today if all we have to work with is the refuse of the industrial city. And at the Spanish pavilion at the Biennale, for me the most interesting part was that everything was built with nothing: with very, very cheap materials, old materials that had not been thought to be used in that way, a lot of invention, and a lot of fresh air – you know? And I think that at our conference in the fall we'll have some of these people here. Andraos: Okay. Well, hopefully we can touch base again as a result. But I know that your leadership and spirit is transpiring through the studios right now. And this level of invention to rethink forms of practice in terms of not only being an architect, but in terms of architecture is really starting to bubble up in exciting ways. So thank you, Juan. You can listen to every episode of GSAPP Conversations, here. This particular episode is available to listen to directly on Soundcloud and through the iTunes store and iOS Podcasts app, where you can also Subscribe. GSAPP Conversations is a podcast produced by Columbia GSAPP's Office of Communications and Events in collaboration with ArchDaily.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Parking Garage Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc / de Jong Gortemaker Algra + Modulo architects Posted: 20 Mar 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Lieven van Landschoot
 © Lieven van Landschoot From the architect. De Jong Gortemaker Algra, together with architecture firm Modulo, based in Brussels, and engineering firm Ellyps, designed a staff parking garage with a capacity of 985 cars for Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels. This resulted in a fluent structure integrated with the site.  © Lieven van Landschoot Parking garages are often labeled as mere functional industrial buildings rather than being referred to as inspiring architecture. Yet the parking garage is often the first place of contact with, in this case, the hospital and should therefore serve as a warm welcome for the visitors. This parking project at Saint-Luc is made into a positive first encounter, by selecting natural materials, providing abundant daylight and emphasizing contextual connection.  © Lieven van Landschoot  Sketch  © Lieven van Landschoot The Parking Garage  © Lieven van Landschoot  Floor Plan  © Lieven van Landschoot We challenged ourselves to also make the underground decks clear and pleasant. By introducing a sinuous 'canyon' encompassing the garage that allows light and air to reach even the lowest deck. Natural light and this (eventually green) canyon-wall contribute to orientation and ensure a positive experience for the user. The facades, made of meandering hardwood slats (FSC), naturally relate to the character of the canyon. An appealing building, nicely embedded and with added value for the user is the result. The structure is calculated in view of a potential building on top of the parking garage.  © Lieven van Landschoot  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Loft Panzerhalle / Smartvoll Architekten ZT KG Posted: 20 Mar 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Tobias Colz
 © Tobias Colz 2013, architects of smartvoll came out as winners at the internationally advertised contest for the loft in the Panzerhalle. Their design captivates through specific, spatial dramaturgy. On 350 square meters and two storeys, the classic idea of a "loft" is noticeable, yet is being reinterpreted in many regards. „I never play with the façade, I do not live there", said Adolf Loos. As Loos has concerned himself with definitions of space, smartvoll does the same, more than 100 years later. A special focus lies on the exhaustion of materials and of what is technologically possible. Architecture unfolds on the inside. The room- and material-concept develops the encountered and retains the established. Smoothed and waxed concrete is one of the decisive materials for shaping the interior.  © Tobias Colz "We wanted to revitalise the space's original charm. Magnanimity and a spatial experience of both storeys were priorities. In all dimensions." The space is not only being preserved, but it is being enriched by completely new qualities. In order to ensure consistent brightness everywhere, smartvoll decided to forgo typical galleries and to basically leave the upper ribbon window free. Bedroom, bathroom and guestroom are distributed throughout the space, as separate bodies. The epicenter of the room is the kitchen – a seven-meter-long block. The whole composition is rounded off by a concrete sculpture, or stair sculpture, which not only opens up all rooms, but also appears to be carrying them.  Plans "Through the stair sculpture, which spans across the rooms, you do not see the way between the levels as a vertical, functional connection, but rather as an electric spatial experience."  © Tobias Colz Incidentally, the sculpture divides the room, creates a roof over the kitchen, recesses and elevations and therefore allows you to stay in motion – and to see everything from everywhere. The same applies to the glass shower, which protrudes from the fully glazed bathing block at a height of five meters. James-Bond décor like this can be found all over. The absolute highlight, albeit being a bit hidden, is the wellness area. Fireplace included.  © Tobias Colz The stairs are an architecture within the architecture. Concreted in-house, the engineering is being exhausted in all respects. A tender object with minimal dimensions, but tremendous spatial impact. Something that does not allow for competition: Besides the concrete, only subtle, semi-transparent materials are being used, such as Profilit, to separate the guest area, curtains for the bedroom or integrated furniture, like a hanging steel shelf. Every other piece of furniture seems to be integrated into the construction. An unalterable picture, which celebrates only free space.  © Tobias Colz "Connections of space and view are being held intact marvelously and the room is not being cut into different bodies, but can be experienced perfectly with its impressive height of eight meters."  © Tobias Colz  © Tobias Colz At the lower level, the room is connected to two balconies. However, even this façade aligns itself with the carriers of the concrete sculpture in the slant; the balconies look like additional alcoves of the overall concept. They feature a contemplative zen-garden, including a grassy knoll, a tree jasmine and a classic relax-terrace.  © Tobias Colz  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Grid / APOLLO Architects & Associates Posted: 20 Mar 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © Masao Nishikawa
 © Masao Nishikawa From the architect. The client for this project has a large art collection, and wanted to start a new chapter in life with his family in a house with museum-like qualities that would take advantage of this collection. The neighborhood surrounding the site is quiet, so in order to keep noise to a minimum and not create an intrusive feeling, we proposed a single-story reinforced concrete structure. Like the exterior, the interior features a monochrome color scheme that serves as a good background for artwork. The building and finishing materials were also carefully selected and kept to a minimum, giving the spaces an austere atmosphere.  © Masao Nishikawa The layout is extremely simple, with a family room in the center, a courtyard adjacent to that, and a master bedroom, children's room, and hobby room occupying the wings on either side of the courtyard. While this symmetry gives the house a Western-style formality, the design also disrupts the symmetry in classic Japanese style by including steps and a private courtyard on only one side.  © Masao Nishikawa  Plans  © Masao Nishikawa The family room facing the courtyard has a high ceiling and clerestory windows that run on the north and south sides. The natural light that pours through these windows is partially blocked by eaves that extend out 1.8 meters and have thin outer edges that give the building a light, floating feeling. The room's coffered ceiling, divided into a 1.2-meter-square lattice, resembles the architecture in temples and sukiya-style structures, which are inspired by the elegance of the classic teahouse. In addition to serving the structural purpose of supporting the weight of the roof, the ceiling turns the building itself into a piece of minimalist artwork.  Sections By integrating the client's meticulously curated collection of artwork and designer furniture and lighting into the architecture, the spaces express individuality without being overly busy. As a result, the building becomes a "house with museum-like qualities" rather than a museum in the shape of a house.  © Masao Nishikawa  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nonhyun Matryoshka / L’EAU design Posted: 20 Mar 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Kim Yongkwan
 © Kim Yongkwan From the architect. Nonhyun Matryoshka is located in a residential area of four to five-story buildings, situated deep within Gangnam's main street. Existing housing developments usually require closed boundaries to prevent an invasion of privacy. However, new neighbourhood living facilities desire demarcation in order to populate each domain with its own distinctive features, as these spaces are made up of many diverse programs. As such, it has been planned to mark this duality.  © Kim Yongkwan The site is rectangular with pyramidal frame, tapering at the top due to setback regulations. A hard crust has been built here to make the internal space flexible. This crust becomes a structure which includes a boundary within a boundary, becoming smaller and overlapping at the top. Just like the Russian doll Matryoshka, it is a repeating and overlapping "object within a similar object".  Diagram Forming a flexible layer of air, this provides not only a room to continuously create private narratives within its scope, but also the privacy demanded by both this building and the surrounding houses. This creates a mise en obyme that keeps creating a box-in-a-box and a story-in-a-story, as if parallel mirrors place us within an endless infinite relationship. Although a building can be said to externally form a boundary, self-enclosed and set apart from surrounding buildings in a residential area, it has to become "Matryoshka", inclusive of its own private landscape.  © Kim Yongkwan  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Mar 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Hey!Cheese
 © Hey!Cheese From the architect. Mr. Wang enjoys his life, so he has a clear idea of what he wants from his home. For his family, only the best would do. Mr. Wang approached HAO Design with a blueprint for a beautiful future, and this got everyone's eyes glistening with anticipation. The east-facing front building gives soothing warmth in the morning hours, while the rear building, which faces west, provides mellow, laid-back afternoons. The Wang family cares deeply for each other, so in order to complete their beautiful vision of a new life; they finally decided to build a bridge to connect them together.  © Hey!Cheese To make sure the expansiveness of the home does not add distance within the family, HAO Design chose to use the available space to its full. Walking into the main entrance, there is now a staircase leading to the second floor. The front building serves as an open-concept kitchen, while the rear building is a great library. Further extension establishes a perfect setting for the desired meeting point. A strategically placed window at the corner allows a glance –across the wooden bridge – to know that one's comforting partner is there in the reading room. From the library, a look into the kitchen – from which culinary aromas entice – shows the beauty of everyday activity.  Diagram Unique outdoor scenery, the semi open-air glass eaves, and retro siding all contribute to transform the bridge into a Southern garden during the day, where its dancing foliage transports the beholder into another place and time. At dusk, as the sconces light up, a  © Hey!Cheese European country atmosphere begins to emerge. While doing volunteer medical work in Africa, Mr. Wang was given a variety of folk collectibles. They now adorn this lovely, quiet vista and enrich it with unspeakable meaning. The roomy, open-concept kitchen has a generously-sized island. This gives Mrs. Wang, an expert cook, easy access to her favorite foods and tastes. At the end of the long corridor, the "palace of wisdom" hides behind a half-closed glass door, and the red- brick arch echoes the preceding bridge. Arriving at the fifth floor, one is greeted with a green tea-colored sliding door that opens to a Japanese-style living room. Thus, in a departure from convention, meeting places have been conceived for every floor. The semi open-air scheme results in superb daylighting for the inter-building bridge, merging seamlessly with an inviting outdoor cooking area. Along one side is a painting studio, permeated with a deeply artistic atmosphere, where this gifted family can unleash their inner creativity.  © Hey!Cheese If communal space adds a sense of warmth and communication, then with a closed door, individual rooms become places for time alone. The older son's bedroom, featuring grey-green walls and a wall-sized wardrobe in the style of American lockers, reflects the sunny disposition of a healthy athlete; whereas the individuality of the younger son is sketched out with the industrial-style ceiling light installed above the head of the bed – a symbol of a bold, new generation. In the master bedroom, instead of a bed for two, two single-sized beds have been chosen, as they more aptly complement Mr. and Mrs. Wang's routine. The vibrantly colored decorative pillows can be freely mixed and matched according to the spirit of the season, while connecting couches on each side offer personal reading zones. Since the Wang family cherishes their memories, aged photos and paintings fondly accumulated over the years allow those old stories to converse with their new surroundings, and help precious mementos find a new home.  © Hey!Cheese  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Allen Key House / Architect Prineas Posted: 20 Mar 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Chris Warnes
 © Chris Warnes From the architect. The project involved a rear renovation to 1930s Californian Bungalow, located in Sydney's leafy North Shore.  © Chris Warnes The brief was centered about a reconfiguration of the existing house in order to emphasize the importance of the kitchen as the hub of the home. Poor access to light and air also compromised the amenity of the existing house and was a central challenge around which the design revolved.  © Chris Warnes To maintain the existing bungalow and its original features, the addition is connected via a glazed link. This link creates two internal courtyards that bring additional light and ventilation into the ensuite and study. Challenged by an extremely tight budget, the design was centered around a shed-like structure that followed the lines of the existing roof form and ensured simple construction. Interventions and manipulations of the roof form were explored as a means to introduce additional light to the new addition.  © Chris Warnes The size and scale of the living/dining areas were increased to maximise functional and comfortable spaces. These new spaces connect the house with its garden and leafy surrounds. Joinery was designed around a flat pack storage system that was integrated seamlessly into the addition. Oversized dormer windows create a complex and lofty ceiling plane within the open plan space. The highlight windows draw views of the treetops into the kitchen and living areas, creating a strong connection between the house's interior and its leafy surrounds.  Plan  Plan Materials have been kept simple and direct. Black aluminum windows frame garden views as crisp white walls are offset with black detailing. The structural slab has been ground and lightly polished, in keeping with the economy of the design while also maximising the thermal efficiency of the new interior spaces. A generous outdoor timber deck creates extension of the internal spaces. The overall aesthetic is softened by classic timber furniture.  © Chris Warnes Allen Key House has become a case-study for the development of a modular, repeatable design that has the flexibility to suit the individual and the site. Within this case study, Architect Prineas has explored one and two level options made of a series of modules. These modules are based on a grid system incorporating the double height roof forms that are voluminous, airy, light filled and memorable in Allen Key House. This system of modules allows simple reconfiguration of courtyards, lightwells and stairs to relate to the individual context. The modular system makes the house easy and economical to construct (all in one go or in stages). The design lends itself to the monolithic use of materials. Options could be offered to allow for diversity and varying tastes and budgets.  © Chris Warnes Product Description: A polished concrete structural slab has been sealed and finished with a matte satin polyurethane as an economical floor finish that provides the house with additional thermal mass.  © Chris Warnes  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| "The Big Bend" Imagines the World's Longest Skyscraper for Billionaires' Row in NYC Posted: 20 Mar 2017 09:20 AM PDT  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio In 2014, midtown Manhattan received its first supertall (taller than 1,000 feet) residential building, Christian de Portzamparc's One57. The following year, Rafael Viñoly Architects' 432 Park Avenue surpassed the mark, confirming the trend of sky-shattering, pencil-thin skyscrapers rising along Central Park's southern edge. In all, at least 10 supertall projects have been planned for the neighborhood, earning it the nickname of Billionaire's Row. Responding to this phenomenon, architect Ioannis Oikonomou of oiio architecture studio has proposed an alternate solution, called "The Big Bend," that asks the question: "What if our buildings were long instead of tall?"
The proposal envisions a tower that, rather than continuing skyward, bends over on itself to create a massive inhabitable arch. The resulting building (with its non-coincidental similarities to 432 Park) would stretch 4,000 feet long in total, meeting the ground in two locations straddling several existing buildings.  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio "New York city's zoning laws have created a peculiar set of tricks trough which developers try to maximize their property's height in order to infuse it with the prestige of a high rise structure," explain the architects. "If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan. The longest building in the world."  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio To allow for circulation around the bend, Oiio envisions using the latest in elevator technologies, Thyssen Krupp's MULTI system, which allows elevators to travel independently both vertically and horizontally through shaft loops within a building.  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio "The Big Bend can become a modest architectural solution to the height limitations of Manhattan," the architects conclude. "We can now provide our structures with the measurements that will make them stand out without worrying about the limits of the sky." News via Oiio Architecture Studio.  © ioannis Oikonomou – oiio architecture studio
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| Posted: 20 Mar 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Adrià Goula
 © Adrià Goula From the architect. The redevelopment of Irun's old town square Urdanibia Square is a public area at the heart of Irun’s old town, where the main public events of the city take place, such as the weekly market, the patron saint festivities, craft fairs, concerts, etc. Before this area was redeveloped, the space destined to these activities was limited to the interior of the first boulevard. The rest of the public space was occupied by roads, parking lots and fenced areas.  © Adrià Goula  Floor Plan  © Adrià Goula The Project reclaims this great central empty space, while establishing close bonds with the existing urban elements and their history, with an emphasis on the great dimensions of the area, which were highly fragmented in the past. It also represents a big opportunity for the economic and social development of the neighborhood and the city itself.  © Adrià Goula New connectivities  Site Plan Sustainable mobility  © Fernando de la Hera Vegetation  © Adrià Goula The banks of shrubs situated within the open space of the square are laid out in such a way that the interior landscape connects with the nearby agricultural space background, comprised of big forest glades as well as dense forests.  Courtesy of SCOB  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Carmody Groarke’s Cliff-Top Seaside Hotel Secures Planning Approval Posted: 20 Mar 2017 07:15 AM PDT  Model of the proposed new building from above. Image © Carmody Groarke Carmody Groarke's competition winning design for a new hotel retreat on Burgh Island off the coast of Devon, UK, has received planning approval, clearing the way for the dramatic structure to begin construction. The cliff-top "Pool House" will join the Grade-II listed art deco Burgh Island Hotel in providing accommodation to adventurous visitors, offering panoramic views of the of the Bantham Estuary and the hotel's Mermaid Pool, an outdoor seawater pool and private beach for hotel guests.  View of the proposed hotel suite from above, looking over the mermaid pool. Image © Carmody Groarke Commissioned by Burgh Island Ltd, the project will provide the island with additional accommodation space without requiring the historic hotel, built in 1929, to be altered. Envisioned as an inhabited bridge, the retreat will consist of a series of interconnected rooms that complete the sculptural profile of the eroded mud-stone sea cliffs and frame unique views of the sea and island landscape.  Model of the proposed new building. Image © Carmody Groarke  Model of the proposed new building, viewed from the mermaid pool. Image © Carmody Groarke "We are delighted to have achieved planning for this very special project, which will be now realised as an important part of the client's vision for the environmental, cultural, and economic livelihood of this unique place," said Andy Groarke, Director of Carmody Groarke.  Plan of Burgh Island with the propsed new building. Image © Carmody Groarke  View of the Burgh Island Hotel from the mainland. Image © Carmody Groarke Carmody Groarke is collaborating with Paul Batty of Price & Myers (Structural Engineers) and West Country landscape consultants Westley Design to realize the project. As part of its planning confirmation, the South West Design Review Panel mandated the design be delivered to the highest standards, ensuring it will become a world-class building upon completion. The Burgh Island Hotel suite is expected to begin construction in late 2017. Learn more about the project here. News via Carmody Groarke.
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| Colonial House Recovery on 64th Street / Nauzet Rodríguez Posted: 20 Mar 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Pim Schalkwijk
 © Pim Schalkwijk From the architect. The project for this bar has been strictly determined by the nature of the building itself and its cataloging as a Historic Monument by the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico. This cataloging does not allow the modification of the property, having to recover the existing architectural elements and design the project with absolute fidelity to the original work.  © Pim Schalkwijk In this sense, we proceeded to recover a balcony on the facade that had been modified years ago; to restore existing doors in the cases that it was possible and replacement by replicas in the cases in which they either did not exist or their status was irrecoverable; to reconstruct two ceilings in the image and likeness of the originals; to fully recover original floors; to repeat wall finishes; and introduce concealed reinforcing elements such as reinforced concrete enclosures and columns. For the exterior area, the criteria applied was the consolidation of the spaces as they were found, preserving the traces that the passage of time has caused in the building.  © Pim Schalkwijk  Plan  © Pim Schalkwijk The new uses of the property are therefore conditioned by the original construction and not the other way around. The location of the kitchen and its distribution, the bar area, living room and dining rooms, etc. are rigorously adapted to the rooms of the building and its circulations, resulting in a bar, that although might not respond strictly to the most conventional typologies of its kind, becomes a space full of peculiarity and character, provoking experiences and circulations that are remarkably surprising for the visitor, out of the sequentiality of the building and full respect of the remodeling project. A 40 meter stage visible from the street, rooms that are discovered while walking around the house, a fully open bar, a walkable pantry, a kitchen open to the garden.  © Pim Schalkwijk Given the impossibility of incorporating bathrooms and services to the original building, these had to be built in the backyard and with the complicated task of adding contemporary elements to an old building. We opted to use exposed concrete in the same way as other architects of the region previously worked similar projects with great success. This service module houses a warehouse, an office and toilets for women, people with special needs and men.  © Pim Schalkwijk The interior design of the project is dressed with an industrial / rustic aesthetic, with exclusive use of iron and wood avoiding the use of materials unrelated to the time and nature of the building. The installations pose views, emphasizing the industrial aesthetics and avoiding the deterioration that their concealment would suppose on the original stone walls.  © Pim Schalkwijk  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 120 Hours Announces Winners of Its 2017 Competition, "The Way of the Buyi" Posted: 20 Mar 2017 05:10 AM PDT  120 Hours Winner 2017. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours International student architecture competition 120 Hours has announced the winners of its 2017 competition, "The Way of the Buiy." For this year's edition of the challenge, which gives participants just 5 days from the announcement of the brief to its deadline to conceive a project, students were asked to design a 100-square-meter building housing a canteen and library for the LiangMeng school complex, located in the rural area of Puan City, China. This year's competition saw 3024 participants from 79 countries across the globe, with winners selected by a jury consisting of Jan Olav Jensen, Chiara Sala, Tran Kinh Manh, Angela Gigliotti, Fabio Gigone and Christian Hermansen Cordua. For the first time ever, the winning project will be constructed, after further development alongside the 120 Hours team. The building is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. WinnerIN'N'OUT VILLAGE / Agnieszka Kołacińska and Jakub Andrzejewski; Warsaw University of Technology, Poland  Winner: IN'N'OUT VILLAGE / Agenieszka Kołacińska and Jakub Andrzejewski. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Winner: IN'N'OUT VILLAGE / Agenieszka Kołacińska and Jakub Andrzejewski. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours "The winner has an original and sophisticated answer to a task that has been solved countless times before," said the jury of Kołacińska and Andrzejewski's scheme. "In addition to its advanced position and concept, it is in a high degree seen through the eyes of the users, the children, maybe more so than any of the other proposals.»  120 HOURS Project Manager, Seweryn Zawada (left), awarded the first prize diploma to Agenieszka Kołacińska (middle) and Jakub Andrzejewski (right) in a surprise visit Sunday evening. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Honorable MentionsJIAN / Sebastian Uthaug, Ingrid Jordheim; Bergen School of Architecture, Norway  JIAN. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  JIAN. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Rich & Simple / Troung Cong, Vogel Elias; ENSA Strasbourg, France  Rich & Simple. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Rich & Simple. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours The Process / Karolina Pajnowska, Magdalena Osiniak; Lund University of Technology, ETH Zürich, Poland  The Process. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  The Process. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Converge/Diverge / Kaitlin Dale, Cameron Blake Costley, John Ferguson; University of Calgary, Canada  Converge/Diverge. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Converge/Diverge. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours In Between / Maxime Eon, Sacha Lorand; Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles, France  In Between. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  In Between. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours The Storage / Ilinca Andreea Pop, Maria Ghement, Ioana Iacob; Facultatea de Architectura "Ion Mincu", Romania  The Storage. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  The Storage. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Lantern Library / Valentin Karl August Dürselen, Kaspar Jamme, Milan Johannes Loebner; Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Germany  Lantern Library. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Lantern Library. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Food of Knowledge / Sarah Oudrhiri, Lauren Nony; Faculté d'architecture, d'ingénierie architecturale, d'urbanisme (LOCI), Belgium  Food of Knowledge. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Food of Knowledge. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Let's Enhance Community / Ignacio Navarro Soriano, David Meana González; Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid ETSAM, Spain  Let's Enhance Community. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Let's Enhance Community. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours Steps of Liangmeng / Marta Szczepanska, Edyta Milczarek; TU Delft, Poland  Steps of Liangmeng. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  Steps of Liangmeng. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours 720 Hours International Architecture Student Workshop / Ane Villaverde García, Julia Díaz Beca, Fernando Cruzado Sallago; Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Sevilla, Spain  720 Hours International Architecture Student Workshop. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours  720 Hours International Architecture Student Workshop. Image Courtesy of 120 Hours For more information, visit www.120hours.no and www.facebook.com/120hours.
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| GZ House / Studio Cáceres Lazo Posted: 20 Mar 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Pablo Casals Aguirre
 © Pablo Casals Aguirre From the architect. At the beginning of 2012 a young couple approached our practice for a house. They had fallen in love with the beautiful setting of a small community on the outskirts of Santiago. On top of a steep hill, no road to reach it, with all the utilities’ network down below, the plot posed quite a challenge. Amazing unobstructed views of the Chicureo valley, however, made it more than worth the effort.  © Pablo Casals Aguirre  Reasonably, the view of the landscape became the house’s raison d'etre. A room without a view -no matter its purpose- was unacceptable. Also, because they had been living in an apartment for quite a while they felt very strongly that everything should fit onto a single floor.  © Pablo Casals Aguirre A chain-like sequence of rooms became the logical layout for the house, where all of the common areas sit at the center of the chain with the couple’s master bedroom at one end and the children’s and guest rooms at the other. This gives the parents a certain level of independence once the children are older. Next to the kitchen a covered terrace was added to allow for the husband’s preference for grilling –no matter the season or weather.   © Pablo Casals Aguirre Living, kitchen and dining rooms are all integrated into a single space, enclosed by large windows at two sides. Both sides slide back to expand the fun to the adjacent-covered, and outdoor- terraces when desired. Boundaries were also blurred at the master bedroom, with just a big walk-in closet dividing it from the bathroom, no doors whatsoever.  Courtesy of Daniel Lazo  © Pablo Casals Aguirre Atop a set of boulders protruding from the hill at mid-height, the long and narrow chain-link scheme creates a gravity-defying image. Both ends cantilevering freely, it seems like a balancing act. Despite the effect, the house’s concrete slab rests safely over a podium defined by retaining walls of the same material. Slim, slanted columns were added wherever extra support was needed. Their irregular shape and inclination exaggerate the sensation of instability. On the outside, Equitone© fiber-cement boards were used to clad the whole of the steel structure that arises from the slab and shapes the house. An air chamber between this skin and the house’s inner envelope is placed to help with its thermal comfort. Because of its color, the cladding and concrete give the house a monolithic appearance, only subverted by the glass façade that faces the panorama. This controlled material palette makes the house a constant monochromatic counterpoint to the extreme changes in color and vegetation that the site undergoes through the seasons –from desert-like shades of browns and yellows in the summer to the most exuberant greens during the winter.  Courtesy of Daniel Lazo  Four years after their call, the now full-blown family of four finally moved to their tailor-made house on a hill. Happily, they found it to be a comfortable fit.  © Pablo Casals Aguirre  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 13 Buildings in Bizarre Spaces Posted: 20 Mar 2017 02:30 AM PDT  © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/9517027295'>Flickr user Steve Cadman</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a> We're all used to seeing buildings in urban settings, surrounded by glass high-rises and tidy green parks. Yet around the world, there are many buildings in much more extraordinary spaces. Some have made it to the news because of their unusual locations, while others remain relatively hidden or even abandoned. Whether historic or brand new, protected or restored, grand or humble, flooded or floating, the following 13 buildings have one thing in common: their less-than-normal locations. 1. Gate Tower Building, Osaka © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_penetrated_by_an_expressway_001_OSAKA_JPN.jpg'>Wikimedia Commons user Ignis</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC NY-SA 3.0</a> After a dispute between property owners and highway corporations, Gate Tower Building became the first building in Japan to have a highway passing through it. The highway cuts out the 5th, 6th and 7th floors of the tower, surrounded by sound-dampening materials. 2. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mesa_Verde_National_Park_Cliff_Palace_2006_09_12.jpg'>Wikimedia user Andreas F. Borchert</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'>CC BY-SA 4.0</a> Around 600 sandstone and mud mortar constructions made up this Ancestral Puebloan village which was occupied until about 1300. They are found under an overhang on a cliff, at an altitude of 2600 meters. Since 1978, the site has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 3. Crooked House, North Carolina © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/69214385@N04/8235405166'>Flickr user Don McCullough</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> With a "For Rent" sign on hanging on its railing, the "Wave Breaker" was one of the seaside buildings placed on the beaches of North Carolina, far too close to the coastline. It has now been restored and moved further up inland, to a more ordinary space. 4. Stone House, Portugal © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/40145521@N00/4027035559/'>Flickr user Feliciano Guimarães</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> As implied by its name, this building is found between "stones." Four large boulders, to be specific, that serve as the building's foundation, walls and part of its roof construction. Filling in the gaps are ordinary windows, a door, roof tiles and a concrete mixture. 5. Maunsell Forts, England © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/9517023503/'>Flickr user Steve Cadman</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a> Erected during the Second World War as a part of the Thames Estuary defense network, the group of stilted buildings was decommissioned in the 1950s. Although they were taken over in the 1970s by pirated radio stations (with one of the forts sort of becoming an independent nation), they are now all abandoned. 6. Flooded Crypt of San Francesco, Ravenna © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flooded_crypt_-_San_Francesco_-_Ravenna_2016_(2).jpg'>Wikimedia user José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro</a> licensed under <a href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'>CC BY-SA 4.0</a> Due to the fact that large parts of Ravenna were originally marshland, the crypts of the Basilica de San Francesco are slowly filling up with water. Or, in other words, sinking. Seeing as there is no way to avoid the situation, the crypt is now home to some goldfish and the occasional duck enjoying the water. 7. Floating House, Ontario Courtesy of MOS Architects This building is constructed upon steel pontoons, allowing it to float on the surface of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. The lake's water levels vary greatly over the course of the year, meaning the building's floating foundations have to be flexible enough to fluctuate with the water level. 8. Jal Mahal Palace, Jaipur © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/9713805222'>Flickr user Arian Zwegers</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> Housing a total of five floors, Jal Mahal Palace sits in an artificial lake in Jaipur. When the lake is full, four of the palace's floors are concealed underwater. Before restorations conducted in the early 2000s, the palace walls were so water-logged that water would seep through. 9. The Cinder Cone, Skamania WashingtonThe Cinder Cone is the name given to a "multi-platform treehouse", built by a group of professional carpenters as well as complete beginners, in Skamania Country, Washington. There is also a short film following the building process, as well as a book of photographs, sketches, models and notes used in the process. 10. Keret House, Poland © Polish Modern Art Foundation / Bartek Warzecha Wedged between two existing urban structures, the Keret House is probably the world's narrowest house. It is 122 centimeters wide, at its widest point. Jakub Szczesny, the architect behind the design, describes it as a "symbol of modern Warsaw ingrained in its complicated history," showcasing how "coincidental" the architecture of the city is. 11. Drina River House, SerbiaPerched upon a rock on the Drina River, this little wooden house has stood for over 45 years. As the story goes, a group of friends discovered the rock while looking for a place to lay in the sun, spotting it in the middle of the river. Against all odds, the house has survived through strong floods, winds and currents. 12. The Old Mill, Vernon © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vieux_Pont_de_Vernon.png'>Wikimedia Commons user Pablo altes</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> Now the symbol of Vernon, this unusually placed timber construction was even visited and painted by Claude Monet. It was probably built in the 16th Century, originally straddling the Seine River on a wooden bridge that, after being destroyed several times, was replaced by a stone bridge in the 19th Century. 13. Rooftop Rock Villa, BeijingA wealthy resident living on the 26th floor of this Beijing apartment building decided to expand his apartment upwards—using fake rocks and trees, and without asking for any kind of building permission. After the weight of the additions caused structural problems and leaky plumbing in the building below, local authorities demanded that the mountainous fort be dismantled.  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| Tsinghua Ocean Center / OPEN Architecture Posted: 20 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Iwan Baan
 © Iwan Baan Tsinghua Ocean Center, a laboratory and office building for the newly established deep-ocean research base of Tsinghua University, is located at the eastern end of Tsinghua graduate school campus in Shenzhen Xili University Town, and right next to the main campus entrance.  © ZHANG Chao  Axonometric  © Iwan Baan Instant university towns are recent Chinese urbanization in epitome: far away from city centers, these isolated urban archipelagos are often over scaled, lack of humanistic concern and its related services. With the opportunity of designing Ocean Center, the last building on this campus, we hope the new building will participate in the campus life with a brand-new attitude and present possibilities that rarely existed before. This is a building with an open and welcoming atmosphere, while the injected public spaces encourage all the staff and students to participate and socialize; It is a building where intelligent brains may encounter each other and inter-disciplinary communication happens naturally.  Vertical Campus Design Concept The design takes the organization of public spaces within the overall campus as a starting point. Instead of terminating the campus' main axis on the plan, the building folds the axis to extend it upwards, with abundant public spaces injected along the way. The conventional quad typology for university campuses is re-interpreted here, to form a lively vertical quad system. Meanwhile, the semi-autonomous yet interdependent relationship among the research centers can be visualized in this vertical campus - a shared public level is sandwiched in between every two research centers. Conference room, brain-storming area, exhibition space, study rooms, cafés and other facilities can all be found in these shared levels. Furthermore, within each research center, the labs and offices are separated by a vertical gap, with stairs connecting different horizontal and vertical public spaces together. As time goes by, the plants in these shared spaces will flourish and extend the greenery on the ground all the way up to the roof garden at 60-meter high. The roof garden has a small open air theater which will be a very special panorama viewing platform in the campus, where one may not only enjoy the views of distant mountains and changes of the sky, but also glimpses of giraffes in Shenzhen Wildlife Zoo not too far away.  © ZHANG Chao  Section  © ZHANG Chao Hidden underneath the entry plaza, there is a deep-sea research tank, the most unique lab of this center. Three concrete cone-shaped skylights bring natural lights from different directions down to the basement, while forming abstract sculptures for the entry plaza. Round-windows on the concrete walls of the meeting rooms recall the memories of ships. The brise soleil on the façade is organized according to "ocean" by Debussy, varying its angles to produce a symphony of light play every day. The blue soffit colors of the public floors gradually change from deep color below to lighter ones above, not unlike the ocean with different light appearances at different depth.  © Iwan Baan The architectural language of the building is born out of the local climate of Shenzhen. Abundant semi-outdoor spaces regulate the micro-climate of the building, while the thin-slab typology maximizes the potential of natural ventilation. Densely and carefully placed exterior shading device efficiently cut down the heat gain, yet still offers good views for the lab and offices. Passive strategies are adopted whenever possible to lower the energy consumption. Exposed structural concrete provides a long-lasting and maintenance free exterior finish, in direct contrast with its stucco-ed neighbors.  © Iwan Baan  Site Plan  © ZHANG Chao The mechanical rooms and shafts required for the laboratories, together with the vertical structural cores, are organized at both ends of the building, which then delivers the various building mechanical systems horizontally through the ceilings of the central corridor to different laboratories. This configuration leaves the research floors open and allows flexible re-partition should alternative future changes be needed. The research labs are planned according to a basic module. Offices and ancillary spaces are arranged in vicinity, to offer scientists both quietness and convenience.  © Iwan Baan  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How a 3D Printer Changed My Life Posted: 20 Mar 2017 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Héctor Llano | Teamstudio 3D printing is here to stay. Every day we see articles that show us the latest accomplishment using 3D printers. From bridges printed entirely in 3D to 3D replicas of lost architecture or for something silly machines that print pizzas. We are fascinated and impressed by everything they can do, but still, regard them as something without real life application. In the field of architecture we see it as the next revolution that will save us the time spent on making models, but ... why limit it to only that? The world of 3D printing has fascinated me for a long time. The uses for 3D printing have only one limit: the imagination of the person behind the printer. And although until now it was a world limited to super fans or people with resources, 2017 will be the year in which the 3D printers reach the home user, not just professionals. When I started playing around with 3D printers my goal was to be able to do a lot of models in a very short time, which would allow me to try different options for the same project. 3D modeling on a computer, as powerful as it is, doesn’t replace a physical model, so I decided to take the plunge (into the world of 3D printing). What I didn’t know is that after a few weeks my perspective on things would very drastically change.  Modulor, 1948. Le Corbusier. Image via Arqhys As architects, we’re taught to understand and use scale as a project element. We talk about the human scale, the one Le Corbusier defined so brilliantly, that we learned through Francis D.K. Ching or Neufert, or of the scale of the city defined by Aldo Rossi. 3D printing gives an architect a third scale, an insignificant scale, so small that it probably never mattered to us. After all, what is 0.1 millimeters in a world of meters and kilometers? In 3D printing, 0.1mm is a world of difference. 0.1mm is the difference between a fast print or a quality print, it is the difference between a fully functional piece or 16 hours wasted. Thanks to 0.1mm objects from daily life take on new meaning, beginning to understand the interconnected relationships of those pieces from points of view such as ergonomics or the particularities of each user. An architect knows how to place a railing, but have you ever thought about the perfect shape of that railing so that users can grasp it in a comfortable and natural way? What is the perfect shape of a switch? What about for a lamp?  Spaghetti 3D. Image © wolf555hound A 3D printer teaches us how to design pieces that make some daily tasks simpler. Why not utilize this in our work as architects? Why not parameterize a design, so that it is compatible with a wide variety of users? Why not go a step further and think about how you are going to use a piece of furniture in a space, and not just the space itself? I think all architects should have access to a 3D printer. The lessons that it can give us in the first few years of our careers can radically change our future skills as architects. For already established architects, the 3D printer can give way to new methods that were unthinkable until now. Add a low cost that is worth trying, and if that doesn’t work, you’ll always have a machine that lets you make models much faster.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| MVRDV Breaks Ground on Reflective Public Art Depot in Rotterdam Posted: 19 Mar 2017 11:00 PM PDT  © MVRDV MVRDV's public Art Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen has broken ground on the northern edge of Rotterdam's Museumpark in the heart of the city's cultural campus. The 15,000-square-meter reflective vessel will store the esteemed collection of over 70,000 art and design objects, adding a new cultural landmark to join the nearby Kunsthal, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Chabot Museum and Sonneveld House. Officially breaking ground this past Friday, the BREEAM Excellent-planned "Collection Building" will combine restoration facilities, exhibition spaces, offices, logistics, a bar, restaurant, public roof terrace and private collectors facilities alongside a specially commissioned atrium that will allow visitors to experience 90% of the collection, including artworks in storage. Originally conceived in 2014, the project was selected as the winner of an international competition for the building design held by the city of Rotterdam. The project was approved by the planning commission in November of 2015. In addition the the publicly-accessible spaces, the building will include logistic spaces, quarantine and rooms for private art collections where owners can visit their art in a secluded space. Further depots and an exhibition space run by philanthropic foundation De Verre Bergen will complete the structure. Site establishment on the project is now underway, which includes installing construction infrastructure and beginning to drill foundation piles. The building is scheduled to top out by April 2018, and be ready for public opening by the end of 2019. Progress on the building can be viewed via a live construction cam, found here. Learn more about the design here. News via MVRDV.
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