Arch Daily |
- La Cartoucherie / h2o architectes
- The Miraculous Zaha Hadid: A Tribute by Patrik Schumacher
- Innovatin Center 2.0 / SCOPE Architekten
- Bare House / Jacobs-Yaniv Architects
- U RETREAT / Heesoo Kwak and IDMM Architects
- Shitang Village Internet Conference Center / AZL Architects
- Hello Wood Launches Call for Team Leaders and Students at Project Village 2017
- Taitung Aboriginal Gallery / Bio-architecture Formosana
- Brasserie Restaurant / Kokaistudios
- Getty Research Institute Acquires Extensive Frank Gehry Archive
- The Junsei House / Suyama Peterson Deguchi
- Philadelphia Museum of Art Breaks Ground on Frank Gehry's $196 Million Renovation Scheme
- AVA Building / Marsino Arquitectura
- Insights From The Man Behind Gensler, The World's Biggest Architecture Firm
- Spotlight: Hans Hollein
- Keukenhof / Mecanoo
- The Real Deal Behind the Dangling “Asteroid Skyscraper” Proposal
- House in the Dune / Luciano Kruk
- Stoves, Sinks, and Refrigerators: Downloadable CAD Blocks for Kitchen Designs
- Arup Designs Prototype Building Based on Circular Economy Principles
| La Cartoucherie / h2o architectes Posted: 30 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Julien Attard
 © Myr Muratet From the architect. The R buildings concerned by our rehabilitation project are located in the lower part of the site of the Cartoucherie at Bourg-les-Valence, listed as a Historic Monument. The first phase of the work led by the town and the architect Philippe Prost allowed for the rehabilitation of the principal building with its fine architectural qualities and of the courtyard, which were both in a ruinous state. This important building of our heritage was, in 2009, transformed into a place of creation with the opening of a new major center for quality film animation.  © Julien Attard Very active, the Image Center of the Southern Rhône-Alpes region will rapidly need more space. The decision is thus taken to rehabilitate the R buildings located below. Their construction is more basic. Their parallel, stepped implantation follows the natural slope of the ground. Built in successive phases, from as early as 1915, these linear buildings of industrial character offer large volumes which will be preserved by the rehabilitation project.  Sections We sought to preserve the qualities inherent to the existing buildings which are modest yet efficient: a spatial generosity bathed throughout by natural light, a repetitive and simple constructive system. The planning of the different programs was guided by this logic. The halls pierced with bays will thus quite naturally house the working places; the central hall, well lit but without a view will become the living heart of the project, a meeting space for the different companies working there.  © Julien Attard The rehabilitation included a complete refurbishment of the outer shell (roof, glass covering and façade).  Plan Different punctual elements come and enliven the great working spaces. The entrance, first of all, made up of an aedicule whose geometry stretches and extends to the wall and the ground, wrapping visitors as they come in. In this case, rather than confronting the new and the ancient, we tried to create a complementary, coherent whole.  © Julien Attard The R1 hall has a mezzanine in the shape of an ellipse which flirts with the existing walls. The R2 hall in the middle, which functions as the common room, includes a great multi-function piece of furniture (counter, benches, kitchen and storage). It is the living heart of the building, a place to meet and share with other creators.  Sections A data-center, the neuralgic center of companies specialized in digital creation, is located at a lower level with all necessary network and technology. Lastly, a shared meeting room is housed in a shed-like space; a glass wall allows for transverse views across the different working places.  © Julien Attard  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Miraculous Zaha Hadid: A Tribute by Patrik Schumacher Posted: 30 Mar 2017 09:00 PM PDT  © José Tomás Franco It was in 1988, at London's Tate Gallery during the Deconstructivism conference held in anticipation of MoMA's eponymous exhibition that I first encountered Zaha Hadid in person. She was lecturing among her six co-exhibitors: Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Wolf Prix, Bernard Tschumi, and Daniel Libeskind. I had encountered her work a few years earlier as a young architecture student (at Stuttgart University) and was stunned and thrilled by the unprecedented degrees of compositional freedom, versatility and dynamism in her work. Up until then I had not been so sure if architecture was such a good career choice for me. I was rather underwhelmed and bored by architecture but, through my encounter with Zaha's incredible work, architectural design unexpectedly transformed into an adventure. The bounds of architectural possibilities had shifted. Thirty years later, this sense of adventure continues. Zaha changed our field and changed everything for me. At the 1988 conference I was also struck by Zaha's genuine openness in comparison to the pretentious demeanor of the other (male!) protagonists. They were showing off, whereas she showed what she was trying to do. This was my impression, anyway. It was clear to me that these architects represented the most significant new tendency within architecture at the time, and Zaha seemed the most forceful and the most approachable of this group. She was also the youngest of them. At that time I was an exchange student studying in London and expected to return to Stuttgart that year to continue my studies. I changed my plans and joined Zaha's studio instead. When I was hired we were only four or five people working in a single room: Studio 9 at No. 10 Bowling Green Lane, where she had set up her first proper office three years earlier. She had hired some of her former students and the office would temporarily swell with additional ex-students who would come in to help us during competition deadlines. At that time our work was mostly competitions and exhibitions, although we also worked on the Berlin IBA project and two small Tokyo projects in a stop and go fashion. Zaha delivered an unprecedented expansion of the discipline's repertoire, offering new degrees of freedom to the designer. As her collaborators, we were quick to appropriate and run with the audacious moves she made newly available. Zaha was always giving us plenty of creative freedom. Design was a collective and an internally competitive creative search process in the studio. She was fierce in her demand for novel forms of beauty and brutal in her rejection of our attempts. She explored an uncharted universe of form via very abstract sketches that did not attempt to approach design solutions but only to discover new formal expressions or new spatial concepts. It was our task to 'translate' those abstract atmospheric and conceptual hints into more concrete design sketches. She was working with two-dimensional formal structures and we were working on three-dimensional compositions inspired by her formal explorations. The compositional moves we could employ in this attempt were based on her prior, repertoire-expanding breakthroughs, delivering new compositional freedom.  Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher in 2004. Image © Martin Url What we did not yet grasp at the time—and I doubt that Zaha herself or anybody else fully understood this then—was the performative empowerment that these new options and degrees of freedom delivered to us as problem solvers. Zaha had expanded architecture's universe of possibilities, i.e. the designers' search space in which they seek solutions, and in which unprecedented solutions might be found. From the perspective of an expanded solution space, the constraints of former restricted spaces look like arbitrary dogmas. What were Zaha's major expansionary moves? Of course there is the abandonment of the right angle in exchange for hundreds of new angles that could be utilized. However, this was a general (rather than her unique) feature of what was by that time christened "deconstructivism." I would therefore rather prefer to focus on three wholly original and empowering 'discoveries' that Zaha gifted to our discipline. These moves seemed utterly surreal or absurd at first. I guess that's why nobody else had ever hit upon them. There is, first of all, the move of translating the dynamic curvelinearity of rapid calligraphic sketching literally into an architectural drawing that was then read as an intended geometry to be built, as opposed to treating the curvature of a rapid sketch as a rough accidental indication of an ideal geometric form, which was then meant to be rationalized into straight lines and arcs. Zaha's lines display continuously changing curvature and thus offer more versatility. Further, as a function of the changing centrifugal force of the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the hand and pen, the curves and curvelinear compositions display dynamic trajectories that we can recognize as coherent and legible figures, each with its own poise, dynamism and degree of fluidity. A new language of architecture with much-increased versatility when it comes to problem-solving, and with a much richer, more expressive and more communicative repertoire of organization and articulation, was born. The surreal move was redeemed and instrumentalized by taking these sketched curves, hardlining them with the use of an expansive range of "French curves" or "ship curves," and thus taking them seriously as the elements with which to solve the plan. There was a second, equally surreal a move, with equally as surprising performative fertility. We built up pictorial spaces within which multiple perspective constructions were fused into a seamless dynamic texture. One way to understand these images is as attempts to emulate the experience of moving through an architectural composition, revealing a succession of different points of view. Another, more radical way of reading these canvasses is to abstract them from the implied views and to read the swarms of distorted forms as a peculiar architectural world in its own right, with its own characteristic forms, compositional laws and spatial effects. One of the striking features of these large canvasses is their strong sense of coherence – despite the richness and diversity of forms contained within them. There is never the order of monotonous repetition; the field continuously changes its grain of articulation. Gradient transitions mediate between large quiet areas and very dense and intense zones. Usually, these compositions are poly-central and multi-directional. All these features are the result of the use of multiple, interpenetrating perspective projections. Often the dynamic intensity of the overall field is increased by using curved (instead of straight) projection lines. The projective geometry allowed us to bring an arbitrarily large and diverse set of elements under its cohering law of diminution and distortion. The resultant graphic space very much anticipates the later—and still very much current—concepts of field and swarm. The effect ultimately achieved is very much like the effects currently pursued with curve-linear mesh-deformations and digitally simulated "gravitational fields" that grip, align, orient and thus cohere a set of elements or particles within the digital model. The third move was the introduction of gradients into the repertoire of architecture. All three of these moves came together in the potent landscape analogy which Zaha had posited as a guiding inspiration. Instead of dissecting and ordering space by walls, the landscape analogy suggests a continuously flowing space where zones bleed into each other, where transitions are soft, where a smooth topographic ground relief, rather than hard edges, structures spatial relations. It was through these unexpectedly and, indeed, miraculously productive and persuasive design moves and strategies that Zaha Hadid conquered and transformed her field, giving it a new magic.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Innovatin Center 2.0 / SCOPE Architekten Posted: 30 Mar 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Zooey Braun
From the architect. In an exposed location on Jungfernsee SCOPE built the Innovation Center 2.0 next to existing SAP building. The architects are also responsible for its interior design.  © Zooey Braun The Innovation Center 2.0 is a special place for software development and a special place for SAP. Here software solutions are being developed with the agility of a start-up and the background of this global leader.  © Zooey Braun Attractive jobs were created on 5,400 square meters for 160 employees, young IT talents from all around the world. These focused on the promotion of fresh ideas and offer best conditions for team-based and playful thinking. In this way they stimulate innovative work practices such as design thinking.  © Zooey Braun On the outside, the new, four-story glass cube adapts with rotating balconies to the inventory and is characterized by its exciting concrete pillars structure with industrial character, which breaks the glass facade in numerous diagonals. The building resembles an open workshop hall in which all floors are interconnected via a cross-story airspace.  © Zooey Braun In the middle of the building is a closed concrete core that receives all serving and technical features of the building such as the emergency stairwell, the elevator, the technical infrastructure and the sanitary system. Entering the building through the main entrance the room opens up in the shape of a large airspace. A large light installation on the ceiling and a green wall catch the view.  © Zooey Braun In this airspace also the huge main access can be found. Single-flight stairs of exposed concrete, steel and matt black levels oak floors combine the floors with each other. The single-flight stairways end on different deep galleries that receive communication and residence zones.  © Zooey Braun The airspace with its diverse compounds illustrates the architectural ambition of making communication an essential part of a vibrant corporate culture. On the ground floor the coffeebar, the workshop rooms, the large design thinking - area and the meeting rooms are arranged around the core.  © Zooey Braun In these spaces, the idea of a flexible and agile working environment is most evident. Large whiteboard surfaces are hanging from the ceiling and can be moved. The great design thinking space is characterized by constant change and enables multiple workgroups in various sizes to work together or to give presentations for up to 200 people.  © Zooey Braun The meeting and workshop rooms are also expandable by flexible partitions. All the furniture and the stands are on wheels and support agile working.  Floor Plan On the upper floors the office spaces are U-shaped around the core and are separated by large glazing of the atrium. The workstations are designed to be as flexible as the spaces on the ground floor.  © Zooey Braun Here flexible working groups can also be assembled by movable whiteboards and scrollable tables. The three working groups on each floor are surrounded by differently sized meeting rooms and think tanks at the corners of the building.  © Zooey Braun Micro meeting cells - small, sound-proof areas for telephone calls, two -man conferences or personnel meetings - complete the space. The material mix including wood, planted sideboards and leather seats visually and haptically meets the industrial charm of raw concrete walls, screed floors, visible installations and cooling fins on the ceilings, which are also acoustically effective.  © Zooey Braun The tidy atmosphere is plain, reduced and stimulating at the same time. Visual protection on glass walls separate functional spaces from communication areas and also create connections and transparency.  © Zooey Braun The holistic approach of openness, cooperation and flexibility can be felt everywhere. On the third floor, the atrium opens to a larger communication zone, through which the roof terrace of the building can be acessed.  © Zooey Braun In addition to far reaching views over the Jungfernsee and the adjacent development area, the rooftop also serves as advanced workstation area during the warm season. Individual furnishings such as swinging seats, benches and sofas encourage different working techniques in these special zones.  © Zooey Braun  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bare House / Jacobs-Yaniv Architects Posted: 30 Mar 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Amit Geron
 © Amit Geron From the architect. Bare house is a house of two architects and two children. The design of our own home was an ongoing process of about 6 years.  © Amit Geron In that time we tried different forms, sizes, materials, details, all on paper and never realized due to the lack of time to commit ourselves to the design, budget etc. Considering that during that time we gained a lot of experience on other projects and spent hours of conversations with clients, listening to their dilemmas, we became more aware of our own needs and our values became clearer and clearer.  © Amit Geron The point in time in which we finally felt ready to build was a combination of both professional and personal clarity as to what we are dreaming of and what we need.  © Amit Geron After living on the plot in a small house for many years, and experiencing life by 2 large pecan nut trees, and many other fruit trees, we knew the new house would become part of the existing garden which has been there long before us. The green surroundings, ideal daylight and western breeze from the close by Mediterranean were our starting point.  Plan The choice of materials was a very determined agenda to work with materials at their bare, basic state; celebrating form and structure in their most sincere condition. Celebrating also what is to us, a harmonious and subtle joining with the well-grounded garden.  © Amit Geron The same materials are carried through to the inside to blur boundaries between inside and outside.  © Amit Geron Concrete and blockwork are the most common building materials and building techniques in Israel. On a practical note, the raw finishes weather respectfully and aesthetically unlike render that always needs refurbishment. We love the local materials a lot and are always disappointed when render covers everything.  © Amit Geron The height of the house is derived from the dimensions of the blocks and of a subtle search for powerful harmony in scale between people and space, between the street and the house, between the land and the tress.  © Amit Geron A thin concrete roof hovers above the centre space allowing a constant glimpse at the sky and tree tops and examines the question of weight of the chosen 'heavy materials'.  © Amit Geron In the public area a two-sided iron library crosses and separates between kitchen and lounge without disrupting the ceiling. The design of the library purposefully creates two 'gates' between the two sides.  © Amit Geron Questioning the space for a single family and provoking the programmatic layout, we have decided to split between the children's area and our area to the ends of the house while the meeting point for everybody is in the centre, where lounge, kitchen and dining are right in front of the trees. The desire was that the lounge would act like a court yard; An enclosed garden, an extension of the garden inside the house. Each area is defined by its own roof which defragments and reduces the general span of the house.  © Amit Geron The house is built on one story, about half the height of the trees; So on the one hand it does not overpower the trees but on the other hand, when inside, it feels very spacious and airy, with openings facing east and west for optimum daylight and air. Outside the main house there are decked walkways and two additional enclosed service spaces which together create the atmosphere of a small village interweaving indoors and outdoors.  © Amit Geron  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| U RETREAT / Heesoo Kwak and IDMM Architects Posted: 30 Mar 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © Kim Jaeyoun
 © Kim Jaeyoun From the architect. Bordered by the Sori-san mountain range in South Korea, the U RETREAT sits at the core of the Sari-gol valley in Hongcheon-gun Daegok-ri. Looking down on the site from as little a distance of 40 meters, a sharp vertical cliff stretches at an altitude of 100 meters. The scale of this geological formation, pinned down by enormous stones, and the vitality of the flourishing vegetation within it totally overwhelm the surroundings.  © Kim Jaeyoun Hongcheon-gun (洪川) Daegok-ri(垈谷), which literally means 'wide lake' and 'high mound', is a name that alludes to the long persisting conditions of the land. The wind that passes through the valley forms a sense of movement which shakes the entirety of the cliff. The small gestures of the trees, each of which shake according to their weight, come together to form a flowing cliff.  © Kim Jaeyoun This project has been asked by a retired business man from fashion industry. For a retired life, he wanted a unique and meditative accommodation located in a deep valley. The important point of this project was how local small accommodations, so it called as "Pension", can be architecturally evolved. To do so, I conceived an individual interpretation for the nature and an analysis for diverse views from position of guests to extract a new spatial experience.  Sketch It varies from families for one night trip to couples for a date. All of them want to take a rest at a fancy space without any disruption. They can experience a new spatiality via multi-leveling floor plan that living room, main bedroom, Korean style bedroom, bathroom, terrace and spa are divided through different levels rather than partitions. The reason of multi-leveling is that various levels can offer the diverse relationship between guest and natural scenery, which enables a colorful appreciation for the nature.  © Kim Jaeyoun  Floor Plan  © Kim Jaeyoun Mountain viewed from the site delivered the image of flying solid mass. Also, I expected that oblique lines made by concrete mass can contrast with irregular and varied lines of the nature. In this respect, diagonal column and cantilever and upper and lower parts connected with twist generate active shapes harmoniously diversified with natural scence.  © Kim Jaeyoun It is a kind of dealing with hilly land through minimizing contact surface. This incidently creates as if cantilever masses talked with hilly land.  © Kim Jaeyoun U RETREAT is faced with a cliff on the opposite side. As if the cliff were a big picture altering seasonally. U RETREAT naturally embraces colorful scenes of the cliff via glass window and multi-leveled platforms of concrete. As a material, concrete can be neutral as a background of natural objects like trees, flowers, rocks and so on.  © Kim Jaeyoun U RETREAT has two types; upper unit (108m2) and lower unit (49m2). The lower unit is faced with ground and separated from the upper unit although they are linked within one mass. The upper unit has sky terrace and spa where we can enjoy meditative bath seeing the cliff and sky.  Section Utility space plays a role as a concierge, cafe, restaurant with small kitchen. It supports outdoor activity within U Retreat for swimming, barbecue, and meditation.  © Kim Jaeyoun  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shitang Village Internet Conference Center / AZL Architects Posted: 30 Mar 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Hou Bowen
 © Hou Bowen From the architect. The trend of modernization and urbanization in rural development inevitably requires the introduction of new types of functions. As multi-functional buildings with large space, the Internet conference center is one of them. Taking the commune auditorium and the vegetable greenhouse as the original form, Shitang Village Project in Jiangning tries to reconstruct public buildings in a rural context. Efforts have been made to rapidly build a system through industrialization, bringing in the technology of pre-fabricated super slender column structure, selectively applying suitable technology to eliminate the existence of weakened and materialized buildings and restoring the primitive feeling of rural villages, hence having conducted a rejuvenated construction practice in an extremely short construction period of time in rural villages.  © Hou Bowen 1. Big houses in a small town:  Axonometric 2. Re-structuring of types:  © Hou Bowen  Ground Floor Plan  © Yao Li The awakening of the memory of commue auditoriums has naturally led to the basic spatial elements of dual-slope roofs. In fact, for most of the time, the big space of this conference center will also continuously become the venue for villagers to get together for folk customs. The assembled member-bar structure is the development of the light steel structure for green houses. Despite its complexity and reliability higher than the demands of the latter, its rational construction logic marked by the least interference against the natural environment is retained.  © Yao Li Technology-local rural areas:  Section  © Hou Bowen  Detail "The Internet conference center"is a new functional type in the countryside. The composition of its elements is undoubtedly the requirement of progress in our times.The way of thinking regarding "types" and the essence of "transformation" and "evolution" are never marked by refusal, but urgent needs for active merger of new technological strategies to promote the integration between technology and local rural areas to prolong innate order of the spatial environment.  © Hou Bowen  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hello Wood Launches Call for Team Leaders and Students at Project Village 2017 Posted: 30 Mar 2017 12:30 PM PDT  © Péter Ráday Masters of wooden architecture and design, Kengo Kuma & Associates, expert of portable architecture, Robert Kronenburg, prestigious architectural and design studios, Local Architecture Network (France) and SKREI (Portugal), and International landscape and urban designers, Groundlab will be some of the most inspiring guests at Hello Wood international summer school & festival for the arts and architecture this coming summer. This year promises to be a unique one as the three-year-long architectural experiment and research programme called Project Village—exploring the relationship between communities and their built environment by building its own settlement—comes to its final stage calling new participants to question, respond to, build on, or dissect the existing artefacts, concepts and ideas. In a special year, special participants are needed: Hello Wood calls for team leaders and students to apply to the summer school and festival (1-9 July 2017) and join the continued exploration of building a community settlement, responding to the theme "Shaping Communities: Courtyards." Read on to see some highlights from the past 7 years of this unique annual event.  Hello Wood Project Village Going back to foundations, Hello Wood's concept is based on three ideas: socially engaged architecture, learning by doing and the love of wood. The venture started in 2010 and has grown into an award-winning international summer school and festival for students in architecture and design from more than 20 universities and 30 countries. It is seeking replicable models to achieve social benefits and improve quality of life through architecture and design. It is an opportunity for learning by doing, breaking down barriers between different generations, and connecting in ways that are beyond the walls of universities. During the past years, top designers of the architectural world like Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, Katsuya Fukushima, Kosmos and Urban Think Tank visited the summer camp and participated in the creative process. During the one-week camp, architecture students and academics from TU Delft, AA School of Architecture, Columbia, ETH Zürich, Tokyo University, University of Liverpool and University of Glasgow widen Hello Wood participants' perspectives of mobility, experimenting and the process of turning architectural theory into practice. Beside its annual nomadic campus in Hungary, just a few weeks ago, Hello Wood organized its first summer camp in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Highlights of the past seven years © Hello Wood In 2011, a Snail, the symbol of the art festival, Valley of Arts was installed for its official opening. After a long period of experimenting, wooden sticks of 4x4 centimeters were swayed in a way to compose a reticulated wooden system. An aim of the creators was to be able to build something that weighs less than 300 kg so that even 8 people can easily move it around.  © Hello Wood The next year, Hungarian artist Gábor Miklós Szőke conceived and constructed the figure of the Tiger with a special artistic vision. Szakácsi, with its 183 inhabitants, is the third most disadvantaged village in Hungary, facing notable problems every day. The artist and his team installed the enormous wooden "guarding Tiger" in the village that the local community was proud of, could use to gain national publicity and win some funds to develop tourism.  © Hello Wood In 2013 the world's smallest pub, called Body Bar, opened. At 1.44 square meters, it inspired people with its sense of closeness, even making it to one of Europe's biggest music festivals, Sziget.  © Tamás Bujnovszky Hello Wood projects in 2014 focused on the idea of balance, where the construction called Cornwalk was something very special to plan, build and experience. A secret path of 4x4 wooden sticks had one end in the sea of corn and nobody knew where it led to. The 40-meter long installation was balanced in the corn field where, after a short walk, one could see a wonderful view. A new chapter: building a campusIn 2015, Hello Wood arrived at a new phase. Instead of building projects in teams, they launched Project Village to find the connection between the artifacts, and explore the relationship between the community and the built environment. Hello Wood has been establishing its own settlement, a rural campus for its nomadic faculty. The creators are motivated by the question of whether a week-long exercise in real-time masterplanning, living together, practicing the craft and politics of building can result in a new form of settlement. In the first year of 2015, a Portable Village moved around, and became a catalyst for events and interactions for its temporary communities. The second year of Project Village was the year of Settling at a permanent site where village functions were explored and accommodated by the newly built wooden structures. 2017 will be the final year of moving in, and inhabiting this site. New community members will be asked to continue building on the first threads of the settlement to further define the spatial identity and complexity of the campus by adding new patterns of collaboration. Shaping Communities: Courtyards is the third and last step in envisioning the permanent campus for Hello Wood's nomadic faculty. Applicants can develop new forms, spaces, places and rules of participation fundamental to shaping a community. Constructed on the border of the ideal and the real, Project Village is an architectural experiment. It is a construction site, a place of debate, reflection and disintegration. A place where participants work, party, learn, eat, sleep and contemplate. To become a team leader or a participating student, please apply to the summer school and festival (1-9 July 2017). Location: in Csóromfölde, Vigántpetend, Hungary The curators of Hello Wood's Project Village are Johanna Muszbek (University of Liverpool School of Architecture) and Peter Pozsar (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) Hello Wood Team: Péter Pozsár, András Huszár, Dávid Ráday (co-founders of Hello Wood), Orsi Janota, Niki Lakatos (project managers), Gergely Szőke (graphic designer), Anita Farkas (project coordinator), Csaba Bányai (product designer), Réka Holánszki (carpenter), Dani Kiss (architect), Gyula Végh (architect), Laci Mangliár (architect), Renáta Pikó (finance manager), Márton Szabolcs (logistics manager).
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| Taitung Aboriginal Gallery / Bio-architecture Formosana Posted: 30 Mar 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Lucas K. Doolan
 © Lucas K. Doolan From the architect. Taiwan is the origin of Austronesian culture, and is located at the northern-most area of the cultural region. The unique Austronesian architectural style has been shaped by its climate, oceans and forest, and has deeply inspired our design concept. Just within 50 km, Taitung's topography ranges from sea level to mountains of 3000 meters. Taitung consists of seven different tribes, spread between the ocean and the mountains.  © Lucas K. Doolan This project aims to portray the architectural elements of the Austronesian culture. The design uses a large roof covering, creating a shaded space suitable for Austronesian activities. The design facilitates wind flow throughout the structure, and allows sunlight to shine through the beetle nut trees, ferns, shell flowers, and various other types of Austronesian plant life, creating an experience of being surrounded by the rainforest.  © Lucas K. Doolan The aboriginal handcraft shops utilize recycled container houses, arranged in different directions to create the effect of a "market" space. In Taiwan, there are approximately 10,000 containers retrieved from the ocean each year, providing about 15,000 m² of recycled space. Unlike typical buildings, this project consists of two different types of spaces: individually air conditioned units and naturally ventilated outdoor walkways. In Taitung's tropical climate, individualized air conditioning reduces the refrigerating ton by 50%, and the electricity use by 60%.  © Lucas K. Doolan  Ground Floor Plan  © Lucas K. Doolan The shape of the roof corresponds to the fluctuating topography. Its slanted surface connects to the railway and the hotel buildings, and collects rainwater into five small ponds at the plaza. Aboriginal art often utilizes talisman to portray historical and spiritual stories. The steel structure of the roof incorporates diamond shapes that symbolize the eyes of the ancestral spirits.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Brasserie Restaurant / Kokaistudios Posted: 30 Mar 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Seth Powers
 © Seth Powers From the architect. Kokaistudios is delighted to announce the opening of our first project with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts; the Brasserie restaurant and lounge, core of the new outstanding Four Seasons resort and residence in the heart of the heritage district of Kyoto; the ancient capital city of Japan. Having visited some of our award winning projects across Asia the Four Seasons team invited Kokaistudios three years ago to conceive an innovative F&B product that could integrate breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, fine dining and lounge in one space.  © Seth Powers Adding to the already difficult design task was the challenge to create a successful destination not limited to the resort guests that serves French inspired fine cuisine in the city of Kyoto; known domestically and internationally as a traditional temple of Japanese food culture. The new hotel is located in the UNESCO protected area of the temples of Kyoto at the base of the mountains and faces a historical traditional Japanese pond surrounded by a magnificent heritage ikeniwa garden. The restaurant positioned between the arrival lobby and the garden is the core of the public space of the hotel becoming in this way the main representative space of the entire resort. For this reason we conceived the space on with a strong architectural strategy by using the Kyoto traditional system to connect indoor to outdoor creating a large architectural feature that frames the view of the garden from the lobby level all over the restaurant at the level below. In this way the long facade between the restaurant and the garden located on the north side of the hotel become a transparent diaphragm that transmit the indirect light reflected by the garden pond and trees creating a magic contemplative mood in the restaurant space.  © Seth Powers The layout of the restaurant has been developed by unifying under the large architectural frame three different functions, a lounge area at the arrival, a central bar and banquette counter and a more private fine dining area. The access to the restaurant has two different entrances'; the main entrance is directly connected to the upper level lobby through a special staircase designed as a main sculptural feature capable to become a visible milestone and drive the public guests directly from the main entrance of the hotel through the dramatic double height space looking at the garden down to the lounge area. The second, more private entrance for hotel guests is located on the restaurant level and is designed as a path through a series of experiences, from the lift lobby where a stone garden designed in cooperation with Japanese artist Ramon Todo welcomes the guests in a spectacular view of the garden and a carved stone tunnel that drives to the restaurant door. The lounge area welcomes the guests in a spectacular double height space with nine meters high ceilings which has been conceived an intimate area defined by a central fire place and a custom made carpet developed in cooperation with Taiping that creates a three-dimensional wave effect typical of the traditional Kyoto stone Zen gardens.  © Seth Powers  Plan  © Seth Powers In the center of the restaurant has been designed a unique and original bar area integrating inside an iconic stone platform traditional Japanese style bar and a buffet counter flexible to be used in the morning for breakfast and during the rest of the day as a food display or a decorative sets for the late night. The bar counter is a pure stone mass carved with unique Japanese craftsmanship technique finished with a precious massive wooden table 15 meters long selected exclusively for this project. On the side of the bar we located around a central fireplace a more private area for fine dining completed by a series of custom made banquette seats conceived as bamboo nests where guests can appreciate the full view of the garden maintaining a strong sense of intimacy. At the end of the restaurant we placed a special feature for display of wines that transforms from a delicate decoration during the day to a glittering iconic spotlight during the night.  © Seth Powers The design of this project is a new step in Kokaistudios method of combining a strong architectural approach to the design of interiors with an original use of materials and light to create unexpected subtle emphatic feeling between the space and the people; handcrafted materials shaped and controlled up to the finest detail interact and interplay with the both the day and night light and reveal an incredibly expressive power. Stone surfaces are hand hammered so to make them become visually and tactilely soft, wooden surfaces and treated in the same methodology as the traditional outdoor Japanese timbers, and special metal materials has been developed in cooperation with Japanese craftsmen so to make them reveal unusual and original artistic effects. For this unique project Kokaistudios created a series of custom designed furniture inspired by the traditional Japanese styles and revised with a contemporary attitude to optimize the comfort and create through the development of fine details a subtle sense of essential elegance. Inspired by the local traditional art of bamboo waving we design exclusively for this project a series of iconic seats crafted as large wooden nests that define in a unique way the character of the space and create a strong relation between indoor and outdoor. The terrace facing the magnificent pond has been designed in cooperation with the landscape design firm and hosts a series of seats conceived for a casual and flexible dining setup. Elegant outdoor seats from European manufacture Tribu combined with custom made nest seats and fine artistic designed tables contribute to create a unique feeling of empathy with the magic environment of the historical and traditional garden.  © Seth Powers  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Getty Research Institute Acquires Extensive Frank Gehry Archive Posted: 30 Mar 2017 09:30 AM PDT  Frank Gehry, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Model, 2003; Los Angeles, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute, © Frank O. Gehry The Getty Research Institute has announced their acquisition of the Frank Gehry Papers, a major archive covering work from the architect's career, including drawings, partial and complete models, project documentation, correspondence, photographs, slides and related materials pertaining to 283 projects from Gehry's early to mid career. "Frank Gehry is undoubtedly the world's most famous living architect. This extensive archive, covering the first three decades of his illustrious career, offers an in-depth look at the genesis of Gehry's distinctive style and includes many of the projects for which he is internationally known," said Thomas W. Gaehtgens, director of the Getty Research Institute.  Frank Gehry, Winton Guest House, Model, 1982-1987; Wayzata, Minnesota; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute "The Getty Research Institute's architectural holdings, especially in modern and contemporary architecture and design from the West Coast, are unparalleled and widely used," Gaehtgens continues. "This standout addition connects with threads throughout these collections, and I'm sure it will quickly become an indispensable resource for researchers and curators. At the Getty, we have enjoyed a long, fruitful relationship with Mr. Gehry for many years, and we're so proud to give this archive a home and to further his rich legacy."  Frank Gehry, Ron Davis House, South Elevation, 1968-1972; Malibu, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute, © Frank O. Gehry The massive archive, acquired by part purchase and part gift, comprises more than 1,000 sketches, 120,000 working drawings, 100,000 slides, 168 working models, and 112 presentation models, as well as hundreds of boxes of office records, personal papers, and correspondence. The collection ranges from as early as Gehry's graduate studies, beginning with his unbuilt designs for the Romm House in 1954, to his competition entry for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 1988. The collection also contains early design drawings for future projects such as the Grand Avenue Project (yet unbuilt) and materials produced after 1988 produced for projects initiated prior to that date, such as construction documents for the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Other documents include materials for the Loyola Law School, 1520 Cloverfield, and the Gehry Residence in Santa Monica. In total, the Getty believes the documents "offer a comprehensive portrait of the emergence and rise to prominence of Gehry's architectural practice over a 30-year period."  Frank Gehry, Norton House, Model, 1982-1984; Venice, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute, © Frank O. Gehry  Frank Gehry, Danziger Studio and Residence Sketch, 1964; Hollywood, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute, © Frank O. Gehry "This archive constitutes a unique scholarly resource for research into postwar global architectural culture," said Maristella Casciato, senior curator of architectural collections at the Getty Research Institute. "The collection details important architectural trajectories in the decades which witnessed shifts away from high modernism to early postmodern vocabularies, and then to high-tech and digital architectures. Frank Gehry was a powerful figure in this evolution. He contributed to the essential concepts which put Los Angeles and its particular architectural vision at the center of the global architectural discourse."  Frank Gehry, Sirmai-Peterson House, Model, 1983-1988; Thousand Oaks, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute In addition to the physical material, the archive includes digital files for projects including the Vitra Museum (1989), the Disney Concert Hall, and the Grand Avenue Project. "I'm honored by the attention of the Getty Research Institute delving into the history of my work, my beginnings, and other things that I never thought anybody would be interested in," said Frank Gehry. "I'm very moved that this great institution, with its resources to search for the best examples of creativity in our world, has found me an interesting party. I will be forever grateful."  Frank Gehry, Greber Studio Sketch, 1967, unbuilt; Beverly Glen, California; Frank Gehry Papers at the Getty Research Institute, © Frank O. Gehry Selections from the archive will be displayed at the Getty Research Institute during the Berlin/Los Angeles: A Space for Music exhibition, on view from April 25 to July 30, 2017. Learn more about this event, here. News via the Getty Research Institute.
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| The Junsei House / Suyama Peterson Deguchi Posted: 30 Mar 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Charlie Schuck
 © Charlie Schuck From the architect. Designed for a couple interested in simplifying their lives and learning to live with less, The Junsei House was created with a holistic approach to designing architecture that is sustainable. The house's spaces give one a feeling of completeness, eliminating the need for more things. Simple, efficient and quiet in design, the house is a reaction to today's technology and offers a refuge in an ever changing, chaotic world. Located in an area once rich in fishing and logging and still supported by commuter ferry, the site is lush with trees. Respectful to the existing landscape and touching the ground minimally, the house is appropriate and compliments its surroundings rather than competing with it. Wishing to honor the existing site, all of the trees were left in place and excess excavation was limited to protect tree roots leaving only 18 feet in width and 80 feet in length for the house. Surrounded by trees and water, nature now becomes the house's art. Instead of the typical design solutions with unobstructed views to the water, the central tree becomes dominant, and accentuates views and vistas by blocking some while slowly unveiling others as one's journey to the water's destination is created.  © Charlie Schuck Working within a minimal budget and a simple material palette with close attention paid to details, the client was able to create more with less, resulting in a purer design and lifestyle. Producing little visual noise, the house is composed of a simple vernacular shape in which all programmatic elements were distilled down to their fundamental requirement. The relatively open floor plan and flexibility of spaces lends itself to a variety of uses, causing the resident to reevaluate how they live. Spaces can be occupied in different ways depending on seasonal conditions or social gatherings.  Sections On the exterior corrugated metal siding is used while throughout the interior natural wood and plywood define space. The site built window system continues the simple vernacular geometry and the use of flat grain wood visually makes the windows appear as if they were carved from the skin. The structural system allowed the interior volume to be completely empty of structure creating a pure skin that helps to accentuate the white box containing the service elements and a loft space above. With The Junsei House, designing for sustainability is not only about material choices or products, but rather shifting one's attitude, and examining how essential design elements can alter the living habits of the occupants.  © Charlie Schuck  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Philadelphia Museum of Art Breaks Ground on Frank Gehry's $196 Million Renovation Scheme Posted: 30 Mar 2017 07:15 AM PDT  AFTER: The Forum, looking west and up to Lenfest Hall. The Forum extends from Level A to Level C and will be one of the most highly trafficked and recognizable areas created during the Core Project. This stunning space will serve as a venue for performances and events, as well as a welcoming spot for visitors to socialize or orient themselves. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has broken ground on the Core Project, a $196 million transformation of its main building led by Frank Gehry. In total, the renovation will add a total of 90,000 square feet to the museum, including 67,000 square feet of new public space, 11,500 square feet of gallery space for the museum's American Art collection, and another 11,500 square feet of contemporary art display space. As suggested by its name, The Core Project will focus on the heart of the museum; the main circulation of the building will be completely reorganized and museum infrastructure will receive much-needed upgrades, improving access to the community and enhancing the visitor experience. Speaking about his approach to the design, Gehry recalls his first impressions of the space:
 AFTER: Upon entering the Museum via the West Entrance, visitors will be able to see up into the Great Stair Hall and down into the Forum, revealing pathways to art on all levels. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. Central to the project will be the removal of the current auditorium to open up a new main axis through the building and a multi-level public space called 'the Forum.' A new grand staircase will pass through the Forum, connecting visitors from the historic 640-foot-long Vaulted Walkway to the floors above.  AFTER: Staircases are a signature feature of Frank Gehry's design. Part of the challenge for the architect was to use a light touch, ensuring that the Museum's history is preserved, yet brought into the modern era. This sleek, winding staircase is one of Gehry's brilliant and subtle changes, leading to another set of steps, to the Forum. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art.  AFTER: Access is critical—and here Frank Gehry has again camouflaged his mark. These new ADAcompliant ramps update the entrance with a modern aesthetic, yet also feel as if they've always existed. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. Further increasing access to the building, the West terrace will be entirely rebuilt to integrate ADA-accessible ramps and the currently unused North Entrance will be reopened, allowing it to serve as the primary entrance for large groups and the large numbers of visiting schoolchildren. New classrooms and art studios for these groups will be equipped with the latest in education technology. Also included will be a restaurant, café, meeting rooms, and the large new art galleries. All spaces have been designed with respect to the building's original architecture and materiality, resulting in a "seamless blending of old and new."  AFTER: At the base of the steps in the Great Stair Hall, new sightlines will offer views of Lenfest Hall to help orient visitors. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Core Project is the second phase of the long-term Facilities Master Plan envisioned by Gehry in 2006. The first project of the master plan, a new Art Handling Facility, was completed in 2012.  AFTER: The Forum, looking east. Many significant improvements are happening on Level A, including the removal of the auditorium to create the Forum. The heart of the Museum will be opened up to simplify wayfinding. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art.  AFTER: The South Lobby will offer visitors a light-filled space with high ceilings for installations of contemporary art, including large-scale sculpture. What was once a dead end will now become a lively beginning. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. The master plan itself is part of a larger fundraising effort by the museum to improve education and programming, improve access and community outreach, and further engage audiences through the implementation of innovative new technologies. The largest cultural fundraising campaign in Philadelphia history, the 'It Starts Here' initiative has raised more than $326 million of its $525 million goal.  AFTER: The renewal of the Vaulted Walkway is critical to the construction of future Level C galleries beneath the Rocky steps—creating more places to display our collection and many more ways to experience it. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art.  AFTER: Just like in ancient times, forums were places for the public to gather. The Museum is no longer just a cultural resource, it's a communal space. The Forum opens the heart of the building and provides a much-needed hub for community activity. Architectural rendering by Gehry Partners, LLP and KX-L. Photo courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Core Project is expected to take approximately three years for completion, with new spaces to open in phases from now until Fall 2020. The museum will remain open and fully operational through the entirety of the construction process. Check out the gallery below to see all the before/after images. News via Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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| AVA Building / Marsino Arquitectura Posted: 30 Mar 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Nicolás Saieh
 © Nicolás Saieh From the architect. The project tries (seeks or aims) to make visible the current moment of the city of Lima, and especially the neighborhood of Miraflores, in which the great cultural density of Lima is intermingled with cosmopolitan lifestyle. This is expressed in all the temporal spheres of society, reaching its best formal representations in literature, decoration and gastronomy.  © Nicolás Saieh  © Nicolás Saieh This cultural density is perfectly combined with a good amount of sophistication and results in the great Peruvian cuisine that surprises the world in the current fervid foodie scene, as it was recently described by the NY Times.  © Juan Solano Ojasi  Site Plan  © Juan Solano Ojasi An initial concept then appears, which allows us to advance under a guideline: SOPHISTICATION.  Section The challenge was to build a building that reflects this value and initial concept, through design, with the challenge of consolidating itself as the best residential building in Lima and as a reference in South America.  © Nicolás Saieh How not to replicate this concept in Architecture ?, How should be a project that speaks the same language? That is the initial challenge.  © Nicolás Saieh This initial concept forced us (and allowed us) to advance in a long discussion that was giving shape to the project, even without even thinking about its Architecture ... what Is SOPHISTICATED ?, How is a sophisticated structure ?, How is a sophisticated program ?, How is a sophisticated department ?, How should be its spaces? ... its finished ?, etc. Just as the kitchen attempts to rescue the roots of this Peruvian cultural density, the challenge is - from Architecture - to rescue the modernism of Miraflores. The one that had been lost by the growing insecurity and that today, with a more secure city, recovers all sense. How to recover the dignity of public space, how to integrate the pedestrian, this new citizen of Miraflores: cosmopolitan, urban, cultured and sophisticated, in a building that inspires "life from another angle."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Insights From The Man Behind Gensler, The World's Biggest Architecture Firm Posted: 30 Mar 2017 05:00 AM PDT Gensler has "more than 2,700 active clients, work[ing] across the global economy," as their profile attests. In this interview with Fortune, Arthur Gensler—founder of the firm in question and now 81 years of age—offers insight into his own beginnings, as well as to his company's wild success. With a $1.3 billion revenue bracket last year alone, the largest architecture firm in the world have become "best known for designing interiors – everything from the original Apple Stores to headquarters for Facebook and Airbnb." Read the interview in full, here. Via Fortune.
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2017 04:30 AM PDT  Büro + Fabriksgebäude, Tainan, Taiwan, 2005-2008. Image © Atelier Adam Chen Described by Richard Meier as an architect whose "groundbreaking ideas" have "had a major impact on the thinking of designers and architects," Austrian artist, architect, designer, theoretician and Pritzker Prize laureate Hans Hollein worked in all aspects of design, from architecture to furniture, jewelry, glasses, lamps—even door handles. Known in particular for his museum designs, from the Abteiberg Museum in Mönchengladbach to the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt to Vienna's Modernism.  Mobiles Büro, aufblasbares Bürogebäude, 1969 . Image © Gino Molin-Pradl  Juweliergeschäft, Graben, Wien, Österreich 1972-1974. Image © Jerzy Survillo Hollein, who was born in Vienna in 1934, was born into a family of mining engineers. Studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts before heading to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and the University of California in Berkeley, Hollein dedicated himself to the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Buckminster Fuller (whom he got to know personally) and became an advocate of Modernism. Throughout the 50s and 60s, he became known for his trailblazing theoretical writings and visionary architectural drawings, models, and collages. Hollein's unbuilt competition entries—such as his designs for the Guggenheim Museum in Salzburg's Mönchsberg—have particularly garnered interest.  Bürohochhaus, Shenzhen, China, 2008-2016. Image © Hans Hollein & Partner ZT GesmbH Hollein's architectural office in Vienna was established in 1964, his first independent commission being the design of the Retti candle shop. In 1972, he represented Austria at the Venice Biennale with his installation Work and Behavior, Life and Death, Everyday Situations. He then continued to be Austria's commissioner for the Venice Art Biennale from 1978 to 1990 and commissioner of the Biennale for Architecture in 1991, 1996, and 2000, as well as its director in 1996. The Shenzhen.  Haas Haus, Geschäftshaus, Wien, Österreich, 1985-1990. Image © Atelier Hans Hollein / Sina Baniahmad Hollein sadly passed away in 2014 just after his 80th birthday after a long illness. See more of Hollein's work featured on ArchDaily via the links below:
In 2009 Interview, Hans Hollein Reflects on His Career and How the Pritzker Changed His Architecture  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2017 04:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Mecanoo
 Courtesy of Mecanoo From the architect. Keukenhof finally has a proper main entrance. Mecanoo designed an elegant gatehouse to welcome the large flows of, mainly international, visitors to the world famous gardens. A striking timber roof leans on two volumes, forming an impressive gateway to the park. The stepped roof structure of interwoven isosceles triangles provides shelter, whilst creating an ever-changing play of light and shadow.  Floor Plan From the Outside World to the World of Flowers  Courtesy of Mecanoo Integral Design  Courtesy of Mecanoo  Diagram  Courtesy of Mecanoo Spring  Courtesy of Mecanoo  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Real Deal Behind the Dangling “Asteroid Skyscraper” Proposal Posted: 30 Mar 2017 02:10 AM PDT  © Clouds AO There's a decent chance that in the last few days, you've seen images of Analemma, the futuristic proposal from Clouds AO to hang a skyscraper (or should that be "earthscraper"?) from an asteroid in orbit of the earth. The project has been difficult to avoid, having been picked up not only by much of the architectural media but also by NBC, CNN, Forbes, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Mashable, IFLScience—the list goes on almost as long as the building itself. Is the design realistic? Obviously not, and it's obviously not intended to be. It's intended as a utopian thought experiment. Clouds AO has something of a pedigree in this field, as winners of a NASA-backed competition to design a Mars base with their idea for a building made of ice. As a result, it would be facile to join the internet's collective bottom-of-the-page comment mob to point out that it would be prohibitively expensive, or that it might be more enjoyable to live on the ground anyway. But is the design a useful utopian thought experiment? There are some design failures that better technology, or a lot of money, or the changed mindset of a futuristic society just won't fix. So without further ado, here are a list of the problems that this out-of-this-world design would face, in chronological order, with the issues that make it impractical in our current world marked as "minor" and the ones that would undermine the proposal in any universe marked as "major."  © Clouds AO Step 1: Go fetch an asteroid and bring it into orbit around the earthAs surprising as some may find this idea, it's actually becoming increasingly feasible, with NASA hoping to place a small piece of an asteroid in orbit of the moon by 2021. The much larger asteroid needed for Analemma would cost a lot more to capture, but as Clouds AO argues in their project description, "if the recent boom in residential towers proves that sales price per square foot rises with floor elevation, then Analemma Tower will command record prices, justifying its high cost of construction." Step 2: Build a 27 kilometer-tall skyscraper in DubaiMinor problem: The image below clearly shows that the intention is to build the skyscraper on the ground first, before loading it onto the asteroid. However, the final building is proposed to extend from 32 kilometers in the air down to just above the height of the "tallest obstruction." Under Clouds AO's plan, a safe height is likely to be around 5 kilometers (more on this later), requiring a tower of 27 kilometers. There are all sorts of reasons that building a 27 kilometer-tall structure isn't currently possible, especially one as slender as is shown in these images, ranging from wind-loading problems to material strength. For now, let's assume that this will one day be possible.  Initial construction of the tower in Dubai. Image © Clouds AO Step 3: Attach a 35,754 kilometer-long cable to the asteroidMinor problem: If you thought material strength was an issue in the previous step, this is a whole other level. Currently the strongest material known to us is Carbon Nanotubes; if we could, hypothetically speaking, make those longer than just 6,000 kilometers, they would snap under their own weight. A cable strong enough to support this design would likely need to be at least six times stronger. Let's imagine that, at some point in the future, this material exists (which, incidentally, would also likely mean space elevators are not far from a reality). Step 4: Lift the Building Off The GroundMinor problem: Lifting such a structure off the ground would be incredibly tricky. Assuming it is lifted from the base, even a minor deviation from vertical would cause it to topple over uncontrollably. Also, all the comfortable, settled structural members would have sudden, unpredictable loads added to them as the building begins to move, and as discussed above, this structure is precarious to begin with.  © Clouds AO Step 5: Attach the building to the cable hanging from the asteroidMinor problem: More structural problems for the building. Structures that are efficient in compression (ie those built on the ground) are not necessarily efficient in tension (ie those hanging from an orbiting asteroid). Let's hope future engineers are talented enough to build a structure that, even at 27 kilometers long, can do both efficiently. Minor problem: The asteroid is in a geosynchronous orbit—one in which it completes one orbit at the same speed as the earth rotates, once every day. However, since Dubai isn't on the equator, this orbit can't be geostationary. That means, from the perspective of the construction site, the asteroid briefly slows down overhead once every day, then dashes off southward, eventually coming to a halt a few hundred kilometers east of southern Madagascar before making its return at the same time the following day. In other words, the building needs to be attached very, very quickly. Minor problem: The instant the building is attached to the asteroid, the center of mass of the whole system will be moved lower than it was before. That means the system is no longer in geostationary orbit; it is now on a collision course with Earth, unless the whole assembly can be lifted higher very quickly. Even Clouds AO's own diagrams show the asteroid itself at 50,000 kilometers, well above the 35,800 kilometer height of a geosynchronous orbit. This change in height would have to be done pretty quickly to avoid the asteroid crashing down to earth—which would take some powerful thrusters given the bulk of the asteroid. Then, once the assembly (including your building) has been lifted up 14,000 kilometers, what to do? Hopefully the engineer planned 14,000 kilometers of slack in that supporting cable.  © Clouds AO Step 6: The building is now "in orbit"MAJOR PROBLEM: Anything "in orbit" which is dangling a significant portion of itself into the atmosphere cannot be considered to be in a stable orbit (unless, perhaps, it is in a geostationary orbit, as a space elevator would be). Since the building would be moving at speeds of hundreds of kilometers an hour between the northern and southern limits of its geosynchronous orbit, it would experience significant air resistance, which would gradually slow down the asteroid and de-orbit the entire assembly. This effect could only be counteracted with a continuous injection of thrust, which would require a lot of fuel—in fact, to imagine how much fuel, try envisaging our 27-kilometer skyscraper, while still oriented vertically, with wings attached, flying around at the speed of a commercial airliner. This would be just as efficient.  © Clouds AO Step 7: Move the building to New YorkClouds AO's plan is to utilize the cheap construction costs in Dubai and then take advantage of high home prices in New York, making the project more economically feasible. Like the original capture of the asteroid, this change in orbit would take a significant amount of fuel, but since this is a one-time expense (rather than the continuous use of fuel outlined in step 6) we'll let it slide. Step 8: Put the building in a geosynchronous orbit that sits above New York at its northernmost reach and off the coast of Peru at its southernmostMinor problem: The orbit diagrammed by Clouds AO simply isn't possible. In any orbit, the northernmost latitude reached is matched by an equal latitude to the south. This isn't a problem per se—it simply means that the building is going to travel almost 3,000 kilometers further south, stopping just north of the southern regions of Chile. But this demonstrates that orbits aren't as malleable as the proposal suggests, and that the dream of waking up over Cuba, eating breakfast as you fly past Atlanta, stopping in New York at lunch and then seeing Haiti around dinner time is not going to happen.  The building's proposed final orbit. Image © Clouds AO Step 9: Attract residents with spectacular, low flying views of the cityMAJOR PROBLEM: As discussed above, the bottom of the tower needs to be high enough to avoid the highest obstacle. For this orbit, that obstacle comes in Peru in the form of the upper range of the Andes. Thus, to be safe, the bottom of the building should orbit at a height of around 5,000 meters—hardly the "reach out and touch the Empire State Building" kind of distance suggested by the renders. It's possible that the orbit could be calibrated to rise higher in its southern reaches and dip low over New York, but the trade-off in doing this is that the building would then be moving faster when it reaches the city, which in itself creates more challenges.  This transfer system will enable a few seconds of connection to the ground each day. Image © Clouds AO Step 10: Build a tower that allows people to hop on and off the moving skyscraperMinor problem: Some of the renders show brave residents base jumping out of their homes, which is inadvisable for all but the northernmost and southernmost portions of the orbit, since the building will be moving at an average speed of around 720 kilometers per hour relative to the ground. But the detailed plans also show a rather nifty transfer tower, which should give a handful of people a window of a few seconds in which they can step off the building each day. The challenge here is the precision required. A lot of factors can affect the precise alignment of orbits (especially when the orbiting body is dragging its tail through the atmosphere) so making sure the tower hits its mark exactly will be tough. Also, as discussed above the transfer tower may have to be up to 5,000 meters tall, which somewhat diminishes the cost benefits gained by building the main skyscraper in Dubai. For all its problems, the biggest downfall of the Analemma proposal might be its specificity. As astrophysicist Dr. Jonathan McDowell told The Christian Science Monitor, "it is a fun idea that gets engineers and architects thinking outside the box, which is its purpose." It might also be considered an ironic take on the astonishing price of New York real estate. But if those are its strengths, outlining the proposal in such detail—allowing it to be picked apart as I have done—might be a mistake. While the proposal would do better to place itself in the fuzzy boundary between science fiction and everyday reality, the extreme detail of this proposal allows an incredulous public to take it more seriously than they probably should. That's great news for news publishers, who feed off of the outrage of their internet audiences. But it's less good news for architects, who are left explaining to their friends that no, they aren't totally serious about this and no, this isn't the kind of thing that most of the profession spends their time on.   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House in the Dune / Luciano Kruk Posted: 30 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Daniela Mac Adden
 © Daniela Mac Adden From the architect. The House in the Dune is located in The Coast Disctrict, in a seaside neighborhood 13 km north of the city of Pinamar and four hours away from Buenos Aires.  © Daniela Mac Adden  Floor Plan  © Daniela Mac Adden Lying on a curved cul-de-sac, the site is a trapezoid with its widest side at the back. Originally, even though it lacked tree vegetation (particularly pines, which are typical in The Coast District), the land seemed impenetrable, completely covered as it was with acacias.  © Daniela Mac Adden Following the topography of the area, characterized by the natural sandy dunes, the terrain is plain towards the street and slopes downward steeply until it turns plain again near the back.  © Daniela Mac Adden The client commissioned a typical summer house for him and his family, but he also requested that the house should accommodate standard uses to allow it to be rented out. The most prominent space in the house should be the social area. Connected with the unified dining and living rooms, the kitchen should be spacious and communicate into a semi covered space housing a grill and belonging to an outdoor area that allows the living room and dining area to expand into the exterior. Regarding the private areas, three bedrooms were commissioned: one en suite master bedroom and two secondary bedrooms separated from the former, sharing a bathroom. It was decided that the house would be materialized in exposed concrete, due to its zero maintenance needs.  Section The Studio’s proposal was to organize the program into one architectural object that would integrate harmoniously into the site’s topography with as little environmental impact as possible. The house would merge into its surroundings by following the terrain’s natural forms and through the partial burying of its volume under the slope.  © Daniela Mac Adden As houses in the area can be relatively close to one another due to the parcels’ organization, it was decided that the setback should be expanded beyond the minimum required by the building code so that more air and privacy could be gained. This wider setback, the mostly blind side walls, and the facades’ permeability both at the front and the back made it possible to achieve a space configuration that is private enough and that provides shelter from the outside views, which would undermine the house’s intimacy.  Axonometric Set at the highest level of the site, the access floor houses the social areas. With uninterrupted views from the front backwards, it opens into a deck over the slope that overlooks the green lung at the back of the site and, at the same time, shelters the private uses floor that lies beneath.  © Daniela Mac Adden Two staircases (one inside, linking the social and private areas, and one outside, linking the deck and the woods beneath) set on the same line define an axis for vertical circulations around which all spaces are organized. While on the upper floor it emancipates the living room from the kitchen-dining area-grill chained spaces, downstairs it separates the master and secondary bedrooms according to what the client asked for.  Site Plan The longitudinal, open views from the rear of the upper level display the surrounding acacias in the foreground and the distant pines in the valley behind. Located at the lowest part of the site, the bedrooms open directly into the green lung through semi covered private expansions, establishing a continuum with the natural surroundings.  © Daniela Mac Adden The outer stairs slide between two big concrete boxes, one containing a swimming pool and the other, a garden, and both of them linked to the deck into which the social areas open. The water, the earth, and the vegetation contained in these boxes help insulate the bedrooms beneath.  © Daniela Mac Adden In addition to the insolation control provided by the upper floor’s expansion, the semi covered area of the deck, and the overhangings that reduce the sunrays’ incidence on the glazed surfaces, the house was also equipped with Split air cooling systems and heating through a wood-burning stove and radiant floors.  © Daniela Mac Adden The esthetic proposal shows at once both the complementarity and the contrast between the exposed concrete’s noble expression all over the house, and the refined details of the anodized aluminum framing, the glass, and the smoothed concrete floors.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Stoves, Sinks, and Refrigerators: Downloadable CAD Blocks for Kitchen Designs Posted: 30 Mar 2017 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Teka In order to support the design work of our readers, the company Teka has shared with us a series of .DWG files of its various kitchen products. The files include both 2D and 3D drawings and can be downloaded directly from this article. Download the objects below, which have been separated into the following categories: drop-in sinks, built-in sinks, undermount sinks, built-in ovens, faucets, stoves, extractor hoods, and refrigerators. Drop-In Sinks+ 60 x 50 cm 1C  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + 100 x 50 cm 1C 1E  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + 120 X 50 2C 1E  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) Built-In Sinks+ LUX -86 1C- 1E  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + DR 80 1C 1E  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + CUADRO 2C 1E  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) Undermount Sinks+ BE 50.40  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + BE 2C 880  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) Built-In Ovens+ HL-940  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) + HL-890  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) + FGA-820  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) Faucets+ ARES  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + INX 914  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + INCA  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) Stoves+ EW 60 4G AI AL  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + EW-90 5G AI AL TR  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) + TM 601  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Plan / Elevation / 3D) Extractor Hoods+ DPL 90  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) + CC 40  Courtesy of Teka Descarga aquí (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) Refrigerators+ CI 342  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) + NFT 340  Courtesy of Teka Download here (Frontal / Lateral / 3D) Find more kitchen-related products here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Arup Designs Prototype Building Based on Circular Economy Principles Posted: 29 Mar 2017 11:00 PM PDT  © Simon Kennedy In a prototype developed for the 2016 London Design Festival, Arup Associates designed The Circular Building, one of the first buildings in the UK built to satisfy Circular Economy principles, in which "all components need to be implemented and utilized to their full potential and to the duration of their life cycle, while creating a comfortable and aesthetic environment for the user." In order to achieve these goals, designers and engineers worked together to refine the application of prefabricated construction techniques, producing details that utilize finely tuned engineering rather than mechanical fixings. Through this methodology, the team was able to create a low-waste, self-supporting, and demountable structurally integrated panel (SIPs) wall system (which used cladding provided by Accoya) with reusable clamp connections between the wall and recycled steel frame elements, as well as sustainably sourced, heat treated timber for the cladding and decking.  © Simon Kennedy The interior volume of the building is subtly divided into three zones, reflecting how the circular economy could shape living, working, and public environments, as described by Arup in a press release:
 © Arup Associates Through the design process, extensive materials research and testing was required to ensure circularity. This information thus became a Materials Data Base and exhibition catalog, "collating for the first time information on the production, material substance, and next use of each asset," tracked via QR code. The entire project was created in an eight-week design stage and build time of two weeks on a constrained site in central London.
Learn more about the project here. News via v2com.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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