Arch Daily |
- House in Pribylovo / AB CHVOYA
- Work-Studio in a Plant-House / O-office Architects
- IT IS A GARDEN / ASSISTANT
- Flat Scape House / EKAR
- COOOP3 / Domino Architects
- Courtyard House / FIGR Architecture & Design
- New Documentary to Explore the Life and Legacy of Jane Jacobs
- De Componist / HVE Architecten
- MVRDV to Complete Two Stone Mixed-Use Towers in The Hague
- 360 Villa / 123DV
- BIG and Silvio D'ascia Unveil New Renderings of their Pont de Bondy Metro Station in Paris
- Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus - Phase II / Moriyama & Teshima Architects + Montgomery Sisam Architects
- Kenneth Frampton On The Work of Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu
- RS29 / Ecker Architekten
- Pavilion Made from Aluminum Cans and Cracked Clay Wins 2017 City of Dreams Competition
| House in Pribylovo / AB CHVOYA Posted: 23 Mar 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov
 © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov Location for this house is Pribylovo village, situated on the inner Vyborg gulf shore. Regular flat site is facing the sea in the north and touches the water edge. Due to local law and the site restrictions, the house had to be built in the back of the plot, on a rather small area.  Floor Plan  © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov  Floor Plan  © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov Inspiration for observing the sea, along with the site restrictions, formed a compact, three-leveled house.  Section The ground floor is divided into a entrance and facility zone, along with the stair, and wide living / dining / kitchen zone, which has a completely transparent wall to the sea and a future outdoor terrace. On the second floor four bedrooms (for each member of the family) and a tiny space below opening are situated, while the whole third floor is a studio with a large window to the sea. Ground floor has regular wooden vertical walls, sheathed with raw pine planks, while the second and the third floors are covered by folded metal roof with velux windows.  © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov The only exception is the large northern wall, facing the sea and all bearing three openings – one full width panoramic glass wall with shutters on the ground floor, a small opening for the master bedroom and large studio window, that, especially in the evening, becomes an additional seamark, and flags the house in the village panorama.  © Dmitry Tsyrencshikov  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Work-Studio in a Plant-House / O-office Architects Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Liky Photos
 © Liky Photos This green work-studio was transformed from the central part of a vacant plant-house built hill-side facing south that used to be a warm house for flowers. An old concrete portico, covered with liana, lying in the front provides an entry pathway to the studio part. The space was designed to house a local landscape design firm.  Axonometric The architect planned to construct an intimate and small-village-like work environment under the plant-house's original building skin, maintaining the natural daylight and ventilation in the new working cluster to achieve a low-energy-cost green spatial infill. The internal space is vertically divided into two, the ground part for the big design team to work closely together and the upper floor for several small design and management teams to work independently.  © Liky Photos  Section  © Liky Photos The open shared space of the "village", all naturally ventilated, connects the ground from the reception atrium to the upper floor by a large concrete stairs with greenery. Three heteropanax trees grow from the ground work studio to the upper floor, giving it a semi-outdoor gardening experience. The whole construction relied on on-site process due to the inconvenient transportation to the site. Local timber and hemp-twist technique has been adapted and contributed to the project's finishing phase.  © Liky Photos  Upper Floor Plan  © Liky Photos  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © ASSISTANT
 © Daici Ano Hiroi Ariyama & Megumi Matsubara of the architectural firm ASSISTANT are pleased to announce the completion of a house IT IS A GARDEN, in the forest of Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan.  © Daici Ano IT IS A GARDEN stands in the forest of Karuizawa, surrounding and surrounded by the trees and plants of the forest. The house was designed as a guest house containing a private art gallery for the owner's collection.  © Daici Ano Its shape being flat and square, the one-story house has a floor plan entirely defined by five courtyards alone. All facades of the building are made of concrete walls and black glass, clearly dividing its interior space from the external environment. The house opens its reinforced concrete roof to the sky in order to create five courtyards. The exterior roofs tilt inwards only vertically inviting light as well as shadows and reflections of the surrounding nature. The interior roofs and floor levels consequently create rhythmical geometry to support the simplicity of the exterior. All rooms are designed to face the courtyards each of which is distinct in character designed to receive light at different times of the day. The sun rises and sets. The moon waxes and wanes. This unbroken rhythm of light, to which we submit the entire architecture, defines this house.  © Daici Ano  Floor Plan  © Daici Ano In the design of IT IS A GARDEN, the concept of vertical interplay of the sun through the courtyards crosses with the horizontal connection to the Japanese natural sceneries. The architecture's volume is designed to receive those elements in all dimensions; the slants of light at ever-changing angles, the shadow of the forest trees, as well as komorebi—the interplay of light and leaves. They keep moving and draw a garden of shadows all over the floor at the speed of the moving sun and wind. The interior glass walls and windows create a garden of kaleidoscopic reflections of trees and plants projected on them from every courtyard.  © ASSISTANT  Section  © Daici Ano Not only the courtyards, but such gardens made of immaterial elements that emerge between interplay of vertical and horizontal relationships to nature are also the gardens meaningfully designed in this house.  © Daici Ano Light and shadows move freely as if they were the main inhabitants of this house. The client of the house desired it to be a private space to provide inspiration more than anything else. The architects answered that the first priority of this house should become the sunlight—light being the permanent host, closest cohabitant.  © ASSISTANT  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 01:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of EKAR
 Courtesy of EKAR After living in his own aluminium manufacturing factory in a congestion of Surat Thani, the client searched for a spacious and nature-surrounded location for his vacation house. The result was the 167-meter-long and 75 meters-wide site surrounded by beautiful Palmyra palms, at the meander of the longest river in southern Thailand - Tapi River. That was the beginning of Baan Nai Bang project. The Perception of Flat Land and the River Due to its west-facing, flat site at the meander of the Tapi River which gives the site an expansive panoramic view of 165-meter-wide of the river, the architects enhanced the uniqueness of the surroundings as well as designed this one-storey vacation house. For master planning, the Baan Nai Bang was placed parallel to the flow of the river. While, the landscape architecture was designed to be exceedingly flat to the horizontal line. Both were meant to create an extensive sensation of the space and consistency between the river, the land and the house, as well as to bring the atmosphere of the surroundings into the house.  Diagram Moreover, the landscape architecture was designed as layering, yet based on horizontal line, to divide different areas, started from the first layer of the land to the last layer - the river. Began with the living layer, the wooden layer, the stone layer, the artificial water layer, to natural water layer - the Tapi River. These different layers were defined by particular materials and plants, no vertical boundaries like walls or fences. Similarly, the house's plan was an open-plan, which all services were located at the back of the house, to creating spacious interior for the front of the house and to increase the connection to the river. However, the architects concerned about the local context. Since boats were main transportation for Thai people, especially those living along the rivers, it meant people could paddle a boat along the river and looked through the borderless house. Consequently, creating privacy to the house became one of the priorities.  Courtesy of EKAR Instead of placing a fence at the end of the land which would block the panoramic view, the architects designed huge sliding grilled panels, made from various sizes of leftover teak, which allowed the client to slide the panels when he needs privacy. Besides, these panels could block the strong sunlight from the west to penetrate the house.  Courtesy of EKAR  Courtesy of EKAR  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Gottingham
 © Gottingham We designed a new office space for a creative agency in Tokyo applying mixture of technology and traditional Japanese wood works for structure, furniture and fixtures. To keep the flexibility of the space, we suggested a portable partition system to insert on the floor and create proper size of the area.  Floor Plan The floor includes lab space intended for long-term project and war room intended for many projects to have short, intensive period of discussions. Each space is divided by glass partitions so that each active project can feel each other and is visible at a glance.  © Gottingham The war room is split into 4 small areas with crossed wooden base. Because the number of projects simply outstands the numbers of available space, we proposed an operational system which allows each project to own portable polycarbonate panels. The panels can be slot into the grave on the crossed base to temporarily create its own space and be easily remove once the session is finished. The tables and stools are intentionally made high in order to encourage people to stand up easily and approach the wall to actively participate in their discussions.  © Gottingham  © Gottingham The base for the removable panels, the base for glass partition and the long bench by the window are all made by extraordinarily huge section of pine wood traditionally used as main column of Japanese wooden houses. The appearance of this wood volume is what characterizes the space. Each wood volume is carefully combined with metal fixtures having distinct functions and shows an interesting contrast between the rough wooden existence and delicate details.  © Gottingham We selected materials such as wood, copper and linoleum which ages over time and usage. By continually using the space, these materials will feel and become more comfortable with the activities conducted in the space.  © Gottingham During the designing phase, the wall located at the center of the space had no explicit function. It was assumed that its usage would vary and alter over time. Thus we proposed a wood joint grid system on the wall: the female side is fixed on the wall, while the male side can be tailor-made with a 3D printer to suit each occasion and flexibly "hack" the wall. The wood joint employs traditional carpenter's technique, symbolizing the harmony between delicate handcraft and cutting edge technology. The wood joint is a furniture-level example of our major concept for this space: "free to hack," meaning the design is intentionally left open-end for users to further customize and fulfil their various needs.  © Gottingham  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Courtyard House / FIGR Architecture & Design Posted: 23 Mar 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Tom Blachford
 © Tom Blachford From the architect. The Courtyard House is a nod to the tradition of the Italian Palazzo and Australian courtyard house, creating the constant connection between outdoor and indoor spaces. The house is divided by three landscaped zones: the front yard, the courtyard and the rear yard. The landscaped courtyard is the heart of the house, masking the neighbouring dwellings while at the same time revealing canopies of the surrounding trees.  © Tom Blachford This tranquil, calm space has an intimate connection with the interior spaces of the house which reveal themselves from various angles. Further negotiation of the landscape and nature is achieved through the material palette. The internal timber batten ceiling not only guides and navigates visitors through the spaces, but also creates a dramatic juxtaposition to the white concrete flooring. Elongated brown bricks were used respectfully integrate the exterior fabric of the surrounding context of Templestowe and a further play on the horizontal nature of the built form proportions.  © Tom Blachford  Ground Floor  © Tom Blachford A utilitarian material which sits comfortably within its context is also a reminder of this once working class suburb. The brick is also used inside, creating a series of colonnades which are broken by windows, allowing the light of the courtyard to spill into the corridor.  © Tom Blachford  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New Documentary to Explore the Life and Legacy of Jane Jacobs Posted: 23 Mar 2017 09:05 AM PDT IFC has announced the release of their latest documentary, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, which will dive into "the enduring legacies of one of the most prominent figures of modern urban planning, Jane Jacobs, and talks about her David-Goliath fight to save NYC." The film will take a deep look into Jane Jacob's past; her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities; and her longstanding battle with iron-fisted city planner Robert Moses over the future of New York City. The film promises to be particularly timely for our current political climate, in which essential programs for the well-being of American cities are being scaled back, and a new wave of urbanism is beginning to bubble. Within this context, Jacob's teachings are analyzed to "examine the city of today through the lens of one its greatest champions." The 90-minute-long film will open theatrically and on-demand on April 21st. Check out the trailer above, and a review of the documentary here. News via Altimeter Films, IFC.
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| De Componist / HVE Architecten Posted: 23 Mar 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Peter de Ruig
 © Peter de Ruig Senior Housing De Componist The large housing block 'De Componist', designed by HVE Architecten, is situated in a park area. The green-grey slate cladding and the sand coloured masonry of the building's base result in a natural look that blends well with its green surroundings.  © Peter de Ruig The project consists of a mix of 175 regular and social housing apartments, divided in group housing with common spaces and apartments for people over 55 years of age.  Site Plan On the north side the lot of 30 x 200 meters borders on a forest strip that is part of the old forest 'Meer en Bos'. On the other side the project is adjacent to a sports field and a primary school. The entire building envelope has been translated into a composition of volumes that form one continuous building with a multitude of semi-public spaces and vistas. Each volume is clearly defined by a draped shell of green-grey slate cladding. Within this framework the side walls, access galleries and private balconies are located. Through the use of different building heights, the view from the adjacent neighbourhood to the forest is maintained. The trees remain visible above the lower volumes.  © Peter de Ruig A three story high cut-out in one of the central volumes creates a public route for pedestrians and a direct view to the forest strip on the other side of the building.  © Peter de Ruig  Section  © Peter de Ruig This cut-out space, which is illuminated by lighted surfaces in the wall and ceiling, forms the central point of a large (semi) public space on which all main entrances of the building complex are situated. Through the overlap of the passageway and the entrance area, a place of social activity, a lively urban space has been created.  Floor Plan The entrances, the openings in the slate cladded facade skin and other special elements in the building complex have been cladded with copper coloured metal sheets, creating a uniform architectural language and orientation markers for the tenants and visitors of the senior housing complex.  © Peter de Ruig  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| MVRDV to Complete Two Stone Mixed-Use Towers in The Hague Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:15 AM PDT  © MVRDV MVRDV and developer Provast has revealed plans for a two new mixed-use residential towers in The Hague that will add over 500 new apartments to the city's Central Business District. Located on Grotiusplaats adjacent to the National Library and near the city's Central Station, the "Grotius Towers" will offer 61,800 square meters of residential and commercial space to service the needs of The Hague's growing downtown core. The towers' design reacts to the typical tower typology found in the Hague by focusing on high-quality details, a subtle facade, a 'soft' landing on the street and a 'crown' of large outdoor spaces. Inside, a mix of social housing and private accommodations will ensure the buildings are inhabited by a diverse community, while their ground-floor commercial plinths will make the complex a destination for shopping, dining and socializing. The buildings will be located along the soon-to-be-realized Grotiushof public park, which will cover the adjacent motorway to connect city center to northern neighborhoods. Proximity to several public transit options will allow residents to reduce their dependence on automotive use, though the development will include access to parking. "The CBD of The Hague has few open plots left," explains MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas. "Our site is ready for densification because a section of inner city motorway will be covered. The project will add critical mass to a currently underused neighbourhood that lacks life at a location that was so far never considered for homes, yet that will provide for a truly urban lifestyle and – from the tenth floor onwards – fabulous views onto the sea towards the north and the skyline of Rotterdam towards the south." The design of each tower is informed by the "Haagse Toren" guidelines stipulated by the community, which mandates the delineation of a base, body and crown. "The shape of both towers are the results of a study of the optimised connection to the context, formed by the lines of view to the National Library and newly established routes in the neighbourhood," explain the architects in a press release. "The façade of both towers will be executed in natural stone with their base consisting of a colour gradient changing from beige to darker hues, and larger windows and specific detailing for a 'soft' landing at street level." At the peak of the building, a crown of wood-clad terraces will provide green outdoor spaces for residents. Grotius I will rise as a long and slender volume with an elongated façade forming the wall for Grotiushof, while Grotius II will retain a more compact profile to optimize the connection between the block and street. Apartment units will feature extra-large windows offering generous natural light and views of the city and sheltered outdoor spaces. Balconies in the lower floor units are completely sheltered, providing increased privacy for residents close to street level. MVRDV and Provast have previously collaborated on the Markthal Rotterdam, the Netherlands' first indoor food and retail market. The Grotius Towers will continue in that spirit, carrying out The Hague's citywide strategy to densify and repopulate the city center and areas east of the central station. The project is expected to begin construction in 2018. News via MVRDV.
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| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Hannah Anthonysz
 © Hannah Anthonysz From the architect. The family consists of a couple and their beautiful Alaskan malamute dogs. This time, our slogan 'Living in a tailored suit' got a special dynamic: the tailoring of our design to the requirements of an ultimate personal experience of living also concerned the arctic dogs that are important in their lives. It is important for the couple to stay in contact with their dogs, both in and outside of the house. The dogs ask a lot of attention and therefore they need a lot of contact with their owners. Also the dogs need a shelter outside.  © Hannah Anthonysz Why a modern circular villa ? A continuous window that is shaped in a circle all around the house provides a 360 degree connection between the inside and outside of the house. Therefore, continuous visual contact with the dogs is made possible – that is why this time we thought of designing a circular villa.  © Hannah Anthonysz The canopy goes all the way around the house and offers the dogs a sheltered place in case of rainy days, no matter the wind direction. On sunny days it provides the necessary amount of shade. On one side of the villa, near the bedroom and kitchen, the garden floor goes half way up to the facade. This way the residents can look their dogs in the eye, being at the same eye level, for instance while cooking or when wishing them good night. The hill also provides privacy at the side of the street.  Floor Plan The mirrored walls at both sides of the terrace also provide a possibility of visual contact between the residents inside and the dogs outside.  © Hannah Anthonysz Within the small area of 85 m2, we have tried to capture a spacious feeling in the design, in combination with ensuring maximum contact between residents, their pets and the garden. The house has an open floor plan. As is often the case in hotels, the bedroom, bathroom and living room are connected. If they want, the clients can disconnect the bedroom from the living room by closing a sliding hatch.  © Hannah Anthonysz The couple about their 360 Villa 'For us the slogan of 123DV 'Living in a tailored suit' also became a tailored suit for our spacious plot in the forest. Liong directly sensed what was for us the most important issue: openness and creating a feeling of freedom so that the inside and outside of the house are blended into one. 123DV has completely succeeded in achieving the aimed result, without us losing any sense of privacy.'  © Hannah Anthonysz 'The whole process together with Liong and his team, from the first meeting until the final design, was an amazing experience! We are really looking forward to building our 360 Villa.'  © Hannah Anthonysz Life-changing On a beautiful day in spring, I visited this family in their completed 360 Villa and stayed with them untill late in the evening. We brought up memories of how the design of their home started and developed into what it is now. We talked about the process of getting the design approved by the municipality and getting it built, just like we promised them. Meanwhile, they served a delicious sushi dinner. After dinner we walked through the garden and at a certain moment they said: 'Do you realise you changed our lives for the better?' These words were overwhelming to me and I felt that moments like these make all the hard work and effort to get things done worthwhile.  © Hannah Anthonysz  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| BIG and Silvio D'ascia Unveil New Renderings of their Pont de Bondy Metro Station in Paris Posted: 23 Mar 2017 05:00 AM PDT  © BIG BIG and Silvio D'ascia Architecture have released new images of their competition-winning design for the new Pont de Bondy metro station in Paris. One of a total of 68 new stations commissioned as part of Société du Grand París' Grand Paris Express project, the Pont de Bondy station will "[continue] the Parisian tradition of utilizing bridges as social spaces and cultural landmarks."  © BIG "Located at the encounter between the communities of Bondy, Bobigny and Noisy-le-Sec, the station is conceived as both bridge and tunnel wrapped around a giant atrium, connecting the riverbank to the train landing," explain BIG.  © BIG "The deepest train tunnels will now open directly to the Parisian sky, and all three surrounding neighborhoods will be united in a single inclusive loop—a new architectural hybrid of urban infrastructure and social space."  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG  © BIG Also contributing stations to the Grand Paris Express project will be Kengo Kuma & Associates, Dominique Perrault, Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT) and Bordas+Peiro, Agence Duthilleul, and Elizabeth de Portzamparc. Check those out here:
News via BIG.
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| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Shai Gil
 © Shai Gil The design concept is built on an understanding that learning and creativity are not only fostered in the traditional classroom environment, but also happen in open and inspiring interstitial spaces that allow for serendipitous encounters and collaborative activities. The design focuses its attention on the essential qualities of collaborative spaces that include: natural light; connection to nature and views; warmth of materials; and comfortable scale. Building users can choose amongst a variety of collaborative spaces.  © Shai Gil The programs, pedagogical approaches, and physical spaces all support innovative thinking, curiosity, and experimentation. Accordingly, the heart of the project is the Creativity Common – a unique program element, conceived as an incubator for invention and creativity. This space is the physical and intellectual heart of the campus and includes an Institute for Creativity, research and leadership centres, meeting rooms and classrooms.  © Shai Gil  Section  © Shai Gil The building is designed to be durable, flexible and adaptable. It is intended to be one of the most energy-efficient academic buildings in Canada - designed to consume half the energy when compared to standard academic buildings. The building is a Living Laboratory that allows students to explore, learn about and freely experiment with their built environment.  © Shai Gil Product Description.  © Shai Gil 2. Concrete finish raised access floor system by Camino  © Shai Gil 3. Perforated acoustical wood ceiling system by Decoustics  © Shai Gil To provide contrast, a number of key meeting spaces have been highlighted with wood. The perforated acoustical wood ceiling system by Decoustics provides a warm quality and 'finished' look to those spaces while improving acoustical performance. Part of Sheridan College's Mississauga Creative Campus, the Phase 2 expansion houses Sheridan's Sustainable Built Environment Department consisting of Architecture, Interior Design, Interior Decorating and Visual Merchandizing programs.  © Shai Gil  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Kenneth Frampton On The Work of Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu Posted: 23 Mar 2017 02:30 AM PDT  Amateur Architecture Studio, Wa Shan Guesthouse / China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus, Hangzhou, 2013. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana Until April 30th, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is exhibiting the work of Wang Shu. The first in a new series of monographic exhibitions collectively titled "The Architect's Studio," this show of the work of the 2012 Pritzker Prize winner features an exhibition catalog that includes essays from Kenneth Frampton, Ole Bouman, Yiping Dong and Aric Chen. The following excerpt from the exhibition catalog, written by Kenneth Frampton, is republished here with the permission of the author and publisher. The work of the Amateur Architecture Studio has come into being in categorical opposition to the recent, rapacious development that has engulfed large tracts of the Chinese continent, and which was first set in motion by Deng Xiaoping's 1983 decision to open up the People's Republic of China to foreign trade, first with special economic zones and later with regard to the entire country. Based in Hangzhou, Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have witnessed firsthand the juggernaut of maximizing Chinese modernization from its impact on their own city. Three decades ago, Hangzhou had been expressly chosen by them as a desirable place in which to live and work, largely because of its venerable artistic traditions and its harmonious report with nature, symbolized for them by the virtually sacred West Lake, set in the very heart of the city and traversed, then as now, by the flat-bottomed boats plying across its surface. Wang Shu's unique sensibility takes as its point of departure the equally panoramic tranquility of traditional Chinese painting. As Wang Shu has written:
 Amateur Architecture Studio. Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, 2008. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana Wang Shu's first excursus into the domain of the Chinese tradition came with his monumental Ningbo Museum, built in 2005, as if it were a vast concrete fortress; a cultural stronghold, as it were, set against the widely dispersed helter-skelter fabric of the new city. Wang Shu has referred to this building as a mountain and in this regard what is of the greatest consequence is the surface of the building which is comprised of massive canted reinforced concrete walls, the surface of which is partly clad in recycled terracotta and clay tiles. These are used as the permanent inner lining of the formwork so that when they are cast in position, they make up a randomly decorative revetment, subtly recalling the countless demolished buildings of which they were once constituent parts.  Amateur Architecture Studio, Regeneration of the Wencun village, 2016. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana Wang Shu will use this 'poetics of recycling' as a means to engender a new language which is at once traditional and modern, the former stemming from the self-conscious revival of traditional building techniques through his collaboration with traditional artisans who are capable of transmitting to architects innumerable lost construction techniques, which he, in turn, is capable of transforming into an unprecedented expressive form, as in the case of the so-called tiled garden that he and Lu Wenyu built for the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006, a work composed out of some 60,000 tiles and 5,000 bamboo strips. Wang Shu informs us that he did not know, prior to the act of construction, how to resolve the edges of the tiled roof covering this work and that, in the event, the seam was worked out on the spot with the aid of a master craftsman.  Amateur Architecture Studio, Regeneration of the Wencun village, 2016. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana The breakthrough that projected the Amateur Architecture Studio into a totally different scale and class of work was surely the state commission to design, virtually overnight, the twenty-five faculty buildings that now make up the Xiangshan Academy of Fine Arts, built between 2002 and 2007 on a rural site, situated some thirty minutes by car from the center of Hangzhou. In retrospect it is possible to see this highly topographic assembly as a kind of Piranesian world en miettes, that is to say as a cacophonic requiem for the willfully destroyed Chinese vernacular which certainly never existed in this form. Hence seemingly the ironically meandering ramps and staircases are surely in excess of any reasonable circulatory requirements. These are suspended beneath over-hanging eaves as a kind of vertical labyrinth, an indecipherable and enigmatic sculptural inscription written against the sheer face of a series of artificial mountains. These last are often graced by characteristic switchback roofs rising and falling in a wave-like rhythm, insistently evocative of the traditional Chinese roof. These répétition différente, combined with elegiac stretches of canalized water are randomly arranged, cheek by jowl, around a small hill in the center of the campus. Of recent date, a public core has been added to the campus in the form of a reception center compressing a restaurant, conference facilities and a small number of guest rooms for temporary accommodation. Apart from entry ramps and passerelles, the ubiquitous staircases appear once again, only now they have been rotated through 90 degrees and they cut across the section to penetrate into the heart of the building between the innumerable cross walls of which the building is composed. From time to time these stairs become interwoven through interim landings passing from one slot of space to the next as they continue to climb up into the overarching, cavernous timber roof covering the entire structure, and these in extremis climb up onto the roof itself; the architect ultimately justifying this soaring labyrinthic itinerary in terms of Piranesi's Carceri. As we have already noted, the body of the building itself is made up of concrete framed cross walls, while the infill walls themselves are made of red and yellow adobe, the different colored earth being taken from two different local quarries.  Amateur Architecture Studio. China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus, Hangzhou, 2007. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana The crowning feature of this entire complex is a timber roof, as monumental without as within, assembled as a repetition of wire-cable reinforced timber trusses, stacked close together as this trope had been first explored by Lu Wenyu in the Zhongshan Street Museum, treated as an integral part of the street itself. In the academy, the roof is similarly raised off the cross walls by transverse steel girders, which in their turn deliver the load down onto the framed walls via short cylindrical steel columns. There is possibly a distant reference at this juncture to the timber-trussed and tiled roof of Carlo Scarpa's Castelvecchio Museum, Verona, of 1959.  Amateur Architecture Studio Wa Shan Guesthouse / China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus, Hangzhou, 2013 Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana The urban dimension of the Amateur Architecture Studio first emerges in 2006 with their reconstruction of Zhongshan Street, a one kilometer stretch within a six-kilometer pre-existing axial street running through the center of downtown Hangzhou. It says everything about Wang Shu's prestige, even before the award of the much converted Pritzker Prize in 2012, that he was able to insist on a number of absolute conditions before accepting to design this piece of urban renewal. These were: (1) that he be granted a six month study period prior to beginning to work on the overall design, (2) that the inhabitants of the street not be moved for any reason during the restoration (3) that there will be no kitsch replication of pre-existing buildings in relation to the street, and finally (4) that the plan be adhered to for the length of one kilometer. Two particular elements gave a unique character to this wide pedestrian street; in the first instance, the maintenance of a stone bound ornamental water course throughout its length, and, in the second, a large undulating trussed timber roof poised on top of load-bearing, stone walls enclosing the forecourt of a subterranean museum. This roof is, in the main, a masterwork of Lu Wenyu, inasmuch as she has become, over the years, an autodidact master carpenter in tensegrity timber construction. This roof consists of closely packed adjacent timber trusses, which are linked together statically by the thrust and counterthrust of adjacent timber frames.  Amateur Architecture Studio, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, 2007. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana The award of the Pritzker Prize to Wang Shu in 2012 had an immediate impact on his status in China and, on his return from the award ceremony, he was inundated with commissions, most of which he refused in order to maintain the relatively modest size of his office. At the same time, the prestige of the award elevated his status within the Chinese hierarchy, with the result that he and his partner Lu Wenyu were able to design and realize works which would otherwise have been unattainable. Among these is their ongoing restoration of the Wencun Village in Fuyang, situated an hour and a half by car from Hangzhou. This ongoing project may be seen as a demonstration of the possibility of resurrecting a traditional village in such a way as to bridge the gap between restoring a decayed historical fabric and upgrading both the amenities and the spatial capacity of each house.  Amateur Architecture Studio Zhongshan Road Renovation, Hangzhou, 2009. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana As a consequence of the desire to commission the Amateur Architecture Studio with the design of a museum, the mayor of the municipality of Fuyang was obliged to make a village available to the architects as an experiment in restoration, having Wang Shu made this a precondition of accepting the commission. Although Wencun was not on the government's list of villages to be restored, it evidently possessed a traditional linear structure which could be rearticulated through the renewal and reconstruction of its iterative form, both in terms of the typical house-type and its rhythmical reiteration. More of an incremental rebuilding of a village than a restoration in the usual sense, this undertaking involved bending the rules and exceeding the normative budget allocated by the government for the building of new agrarian dwellings. If the architects had adhered to the official standards they would have had to design to the standard of no more than 120 square meters per house, whereas they wanted their new houses to be twice the size of the old; that is to say, 250 square meters per unit. This was necessary in order to provide adequate spaces for living, dining and cooking, plus three bedrooms and a bathroom on each floor, with a utility room that would be used either for storage or for the breeding of silkworms, which is still a mainstay of the village economy. At the same time the architects wanted to maintain the traditional type-form of an entrance hall facing onto a courtyard as an honorific space traditionally devoted to the celebration of marriages and funerals, along with the time-honored worship of gods and ancestors.  Amateur Architecture Studio Ningbo History Museum, Ningbo, 2008. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana The deeper polemical significance of this phased reconstruction stemmed from the architect's use of traditional local materials such as stone, bamboo and rammed earth, all of which were proscribed by the government. At the same time, in order to meet the current seismic regulations, these materials had to be integrated and sustained through the use of an in-situ reinforced concrete frame. Moreover, in the interests of energy conservation, double walling had to be employed throughout. Even so, all the interior courtyards are lined with wood in accordance with local tradition, while the exteriors of the houses are generally faced in a black tile imported from Southern China. What is truly remarkable and refreshing about this entire undertaking is the way in which a new hybrid language has been brought into being that is, as I have already suggested, neither modern nor traditional.  Installation shot from the exhibition. Material sample, detail. Image Courtesy of Louisiana One may well ask, what does this entire enterprise signify exactly, particularly when its practice is established under the rubric of the amateur, a term that traditionally means the pursuit of an activity for the sheer love of it, and without asking for any remuneration in return? Clearly this altruistic idea qualifies the concept of architectural practice as a civil profession, and its critical significance surely resides in the fact that it is a categorical repudiation of the way in which both foreign and Chinese architects have participated in the wholesale destruction of traditional Chinese building culture for the immediate rewards of money and fame. Of necessity, the Amateur Architecture Studio must also work on commission in order to survive, but this, as the title indicates, is not its primary aim.  Amateur Architecture Studio, Ningbo History Museum, 2008. Image © Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of Louisiana Kenneth Frampton (born 1930), is a British architect, critic, historian and the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. He has been a permanent resident of the USA since the mid-1980s. Frampton is regarded one of the world's leading architecture historians of modernist architecture. He has contributed decisively to the development of the concept of 'critical regionalism.' His latest books are Five North American Architects: An Anthology (2012) and Genealogy of Modern Architecture: A Comparative Critical Analysis of Built Form (2014).
 Wang Shu Amateur Architecture Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Brigida González
 © Zooey Brown From the architect. This former Café is situated in the Western Quarter of the city of Heidelberg West, and in its previous incarnation, was the hotspot of the local art scene in the 1950s. Unfortunately, this building was disfigured in its later years and required a complete renovation to restore it to its former glory and to return it to a quiet oasis in the city.  © Brigida González  +00 Level  © Brigida González The building lies parallel to the main street but is located in the "second row" behind a cohesive, five-storey housing block typical of the Heidelberger Weststadt. Since the 1980s the building was exclusively used as a residence. A new concept - home and office, public and private use - now called for a dismantling of the modifications made earlier. To make the edifice usable meant restoring the two-story space to the garden as originally envisioned and constructed directly after the Second World War.  © Brigida González  Section  © Brigida González The former two-storey building has been increased in height; above the earlier roof, there now exists comfortable living spaces facing the southeast roof terrace. Facing the heavily frequented Römerstrasse, a narrow shop window marks the entrance to spaces dedicated to a small architectural office. Inside, a long narrow space connects the 'front house' to the residential spaces deeper in the block.  © Brigida González  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Pavilion Made from Aluminum Cans and Cracked Clay Wins 2017 City of Dreams Competition Posted: 23 Mar 2017 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd) Cast & Place has been announced as the winner of the 2017 City of Dreams competition to create a pavilion for New York City's Governors Island. Held by not-for-profit arts organization FIGMENT, the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee, and the Structural Engineers Association of New York, the competition called for a design to be the hub of FIGMENT's free community arts festival during Summer 2017, based on questions of the future of New York, how design can confront environmental challenges, and how architecture can be built from recycled or borrowed material. With these questions in mind, Cast & Place was conceptualized as a pavilion made entirely from waste. 300,000 recycled aluminum cans, cast into the cracks of dried clay, will form structural panels that assemble into shaded spaces for performance and play.  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd) To make these panels, the team—called Team Aesop, consisting of Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd—will collect five tons of clay from Flushing, Queens, through the Clean Soil Bank, an organization that facilitates the transfer of earth from excavation sites, lays it out to dry in reclaimed wood molds from Big Reuse. The recycled aluminum cans, partially supplied by recycling center, SureWeCan, will then be melted and poured into the cracked dredge, creating lightweight, strong panels.  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd)  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd) At the end of the summer, when the arts festival is over, the pavilion will be disassembled and turned into benches and trellises for the people who helped to support the project.  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd)  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd) Cast & Place will be entirely funded through its kickstarter, which is open and accepting donations towards its $30,000 goal until March 27. Learn more about the project, or support its kickstarter here.  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd)  Courtesy of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward M. Segal, and Max Dowd) News via: Team Aesop and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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