Arch Daily |
- Bolshevik Factory-Museum of Russian Impressionism / John McAslan + Partners
- Azala / Gardera-D Architecture + Atelier Philippe Pastre
- House with Gardens and Roofs / ARII IRIE ARCHITECTS
- Light-House / Shen Ting Tseng Architects
- Call for Entries: City Now City Future - An Idea for a Future London
- Wake Space Up! Urban Eco-Balcony / Farming Studio
- Coppin Street Apartments / MUSK Architecture Studio
- This Interactive Map Shows How London Has Changed Over the Past 100 Years
- Sharon Fields / design/buildLAB
- NADAAA, Gluckman-Tang, LTL Selected as Finalists in Competition for Telluride Arts Center in Colorado
- MGV Building / +arquitectos + Gubbins Arquitectos
- Download High Resolution World City Maps for CAD
- Casa A / Método
- Google's New AutoDraw Feature Will Complete Your Drawings for You
- Why Moscow's Massacre of Mass Housing Is a Huge Mistake
- House in Morrillos / Cristián Izquierdo
- Brooklyn’s Iconic Macy’s Store to Receive 10-Story Glass Office Addition to its Historic Architecture
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon-Inspired Residential Units Proposed for Birmingham
- Ljungdalen / Lowén Widman Arkitekter
| Bolshevik Factory-Museum of Russian Impressionism / John McAslan + Partners Posted: 12 Apr 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Edmund Sumner
 © Mikhail Rozanov From the architect. The Bolshevik Factory remains one of Moscow's most significant examples of pre and post Soviet industrial heritage. Founded in 1855 by Adolf Sioux, the factory was the first building in Moscow to boast electric lighting (in 1884). The redevelopment of the former confectionary factory for 01 Properties and Tactics Group involves the repair of an important piece of Moscow's historic fabric. Located in the heart of Moscow, the site comprises seventeen buildings of varying ages and styles, including listed buildings dating from the late 19th century. The 50,000 sqm redevelopment is a successful fusion of working, living and cultural uses.  © Mikhail Rozanov The 4 hectare site enjoys a prominent position on Leningradsky Prospect. When the site was acquired in 2012, the Bolshevik Factory was in a ruinous state, with collapsed roofs and the 19th-century brickwork facades seriously damaged. The key elements of the original design by French architect Oscar Dio - the original brick facades, arched ceilings, original metal columns and pitched roofs - have all been painstakingly restored. An examplar of adaptive reuse and historic conservation in the city, the scheme is an important addition to the civic diversity of this great capital city. The mix of restored and new build elements is sensitively and seamlessly combined to create a consistent sense of scale and a coherent palette of materials. Every aspect of the adaptation was carefully negotiated with the Moscow Historic Conservation Authorities and the project has been cited as an exemplar of best practice conservation.  Courtesy of Belfrod Communications  Floor Plan  © Mikhail Rozanov The scheme includes 'loft-style' office space ranging in size from 300 to 15,000sqm - high ceilings and large windows provide excellent natural light, ventilation and views. The Bolshevik Factory is now a dynamic economic hub that has significantly enhanced the Belarusskaya district, with tenants including Leo Burnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, Starcom MediaVest, Zenith Optimedia, and the VivaKi Media Exchange Group.  © Mikhail Rozanov The project features five-storey atria which provide covered circulation to many parts of the masterplan. These 'internal streets' were an exercise in structural 'gymnastics' as no element is vertical or aligned. These new circulation routes reveal the original industrial grain of the Factory.  © Edmund Sumner  Section  © Mikhail Rozanov As well as a high-end residential component, The Bolshevik Factory complex also includes a new cultural destination for Moscow - The Museum of Russian Impressionism is the first major private art museum to open in Moscow and provides over 1,000 square meters of exhibition space, a cinema, a multimedia zone, educational facilities for children, a café and retail facilities. The exhibition space is arranged over three floors, with the permanent collection on the ground floor and temporary exhibits on the upper floors. The Museum is an adaption of an existing circular storage silo on the site, making it an authentic part of the Factory's history and hosts annual exhibitions of works from leading museums and private collections.  © Edmund Sumner The scheme also includes open and accessible public realm. The landscaping creates an attractive sequence of spaces, courtyards and gardens, limiting vehicular movement to the perimeter, offering a tranquil oasis in the heart of the capital.  © Mikhail Rozanov  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Azala / Gardera-D Architecture + Atelier Philippe Pastre Posted: 12 Apr 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Mathieu Choiselat
 © Mathieu Choiselat From the architect. The project AZALA, delivered in June 2015 in association with the architecture agency Philippe Pastre, takes place on a site of 1900 m2 in Biarritz, France. With 1900 m2, and encircled by roads, the site adopts a very particular form of a drop of water, in result of the urban layout surrounding it. Located on the edge of an intercommunal highway, strategically positioned at a crossroads, it constitutes a true entrance of the city, leading to the future Joint Development Area of Kleber in Biarritz  © Mathieu Choiselat  Ground Floor Plan  © Mathieu Choiselat The project brings all together, in a semi-buried 52-seat car park, several entities with a tertiary vocation: - A notarial study - An accounting firm and a dentist's office - A medical consultation and a public spa.  © Mathieu Choiselat The shape of the building is a reflection of its environnement, the polygonal building does not have a «frontal» facade but a chain of façades forming a coccon in response of the aggressivity of the roads surrounding the site.  © Mathieu Choiselat A fishnet skin envelops the entire building. This mesh unifies and protects the building and gives it a striking presence day and night. It also offers the functions of venetian blind and breeze view.  Sections Indoors, specific atmospheres, in harmony with the uses, have been developed while maintaining the will of unity of the whole architectural project.  © Mathieu Choiselat On the outside, the proposal is to make a singular landscape, a global atmosphere of the site, which is adapted to the strong and rather sculptural presence of the building.  2nd Floor Plan The meaning of the project lies in the different means used to deform the typical surrounding landscape, tending towards a more poetic, a more singular dimension, in relation with the architectural project and the characteristics of each of the external spaces around it.  © Mathieu Choiselat  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House with Gardens and Roofs / ARII IRIE ARCHITECTS Posted: 12 Apr 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © Daici Ano
 © Daici Ano From the architect. The house is located in Hamamatsu, a city on the southern coast of Central Japan, known for its warm climate. The house is a detached extension of an existing house built in 1983. Our aim was to create a whole, old and new altogether rather than emphasizing the contrast between the two. Linear volumes stretching in the east-west direction, spread over the site leaving spaces in between, which are the terraces and gardens. The group of roofs relate to that of the existing house, creating a sense of continuation.  © Daici Ano  Floor Plan  © Daici Ano The house is conceived of familiar wood construction elements composed in a slightly unfamiliar way: furniture/storage units, beams, studs, and the roof. In between the furniture units are sliding windows and doors that can be fully opened, which connect the detached interior spaces, and the existing house together. The roof is lifted up from the beams, making the indoor somewhat like covered outdoor space. The project is an attempt to seek new relationships between indoor and outdoor, old and new.  © Daici Ano  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Light-House / Shen Ting Tseng Architects Posted: 12 Apr 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Lucas K. Doolan
 © Lucas K. Doolan From the architect. Light-House is located in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. This multi-storied residential building block is designed in consideration of common Taiwanese terrace style houses. This project seeks to rethink the fundamentals of this particular housing model and intends to reinvigorate its underlining idea as "Lian-dong" (describing a continuous housing block) and "Tou-tian" (terrace houses describing buildings with roof spaces open to the sky) in the design approach.  © Lucas K. Doolan  © Lucas K. Doolan Traditionally, the more accurate implication of the term, "Tou-tian", described the relationship between man and nature; "Lian-dong" suggested a dependent relationship between neighbors. The contemporary version of the Taiwanese terrace style housing has lost this connection to its original intensions, although people have land, the connection between neighbors and nature has greatly diminished.  © Lucas K. Doolan The project proposes another version of a contemporary housing model for Taiwan, encouraging spatial encounters in connection with the natural environment by introducing the elements of "breathing pockets" between spaces and within each level - courtyards, balconies, terraces, and light wells. These elements are designed in relationship to its internal staircases, rooms and open spaces in order to generate a layered spatial relationship vertically and horizontally within each multi-leveled unit. This layered interior condition creates private spaces within open spaces; therefore, generating a sense of retreat within a vast space.  © Lucas K. Doolan  Section  © Benson Shen Natural light and wind are brought into the interior, through layers of square openings and windows on the southern elevation, transforming the internal spaces with varying lighting conditions throughout the day. Natural light extend to every corner of the home, creating brighter interior spaces and allowing growth and vitality of greenery internally. Externally, instead of a continuous facade treatment, the facade recedes inward at the position of internal sheer walls in order to construct a visual gap between houses, while retaining spatial possibilities for chance encounters between neighboring properties – creating a home environment where "inside as outside, outside as inside".  © Lucas K. Doolan  Section  © Lucas K. Doolan  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Call for Entries: City Now City Future - An Idea for a Future London Posted: 12 Apr 2017 12:30 PM PDT  City Now City Future Open Call: An idea for a future London The call for 'An Idea for a Future London' is open to all kinds of practitioners (including, but not limited to, artists, designers, architects, planners, creative technologists, filmmakers, writers or social entrepreneurs) and projects. We want to understand how people are operating, or speculating on how, to create positive change in the city and to support a project which will communicate new ways of working to our visitors and communities. The Open Call will award the winner a budget and support to deliver a project which will inhabit the Museum of London's City Gallery between February and April 2018. Alongside the realisation of the winning proposal, we will make public a selected longlist of creative ideas for urban change – a valuable mapping of a shared field of possibility. The brief The brief is to research and deliver a new project for the City Now City Future season in spring 2018 which engages with a community or range of communities in London and which will propose and test out methodologies for urban change. We want ideas to be pragmatic and practice-led as well as propositional and speculative, to act as a 'toolkit' for change. The commission will include a research period between September 2017 - February 2018 with the opportunity to collaborate with local communities outside the museum, and then to present a public aspect of the project in the City Gallery at the Museum of London between February - April 2018. The occupation of this space may be through the form of an exhibition, active space, club, screening room, events programme - or something else entirely. The judging panel will include: Lauren Parker, Lead Curator, City Now City Future, Museum of London Submitting your proposal Applicants are invited to submit their proposal via email at opencall@museumoflondon.org.uk. Please use this email address to obtain further information or submit any queries. For full information about the Open Call and how to apply please download the artist brief. Application deadline: 5pm, Friday 12 May 2017 'An Idea for a Future London' Open Call is co-commissioned by Museum of London and Thirteen Ways for City Now City Future. Download the information related to this competition here.
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| Wake Space Up! Urban Eco-Balcony / Farming Studio Posted: 12 Apr 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Nguyen Thai Thach
 © Nguyen Thai Thach From the architect. We are young Vietnamese and Italian architects, with the intention of opening an architecture start-up in Vietnam. In October 2016, we returned to Hanoi to find a leasing office space. Surveying around Hanoi, we found out that a lot of balcony here are unused, probably because of dust, noise and burglary prevention problem of the urban area. Citizens hardly communicate - interact with the external environment, with surrounding neighborhood. We call those balconies are dead spaces.  Sketch Being aware of the above mentioned, our team planned to rent a downtown house with the balconies in order to awake such spaces up by architectural solutions which create friendly – multifunctional open spaces.  © Quang Tran Solution:  © Nguyen Thai Thach Maximum expansion of glass doors system into balcony takes advantage of the natural light–wind source to the building. Creating microclimate as well as minimizing the adverse effects of climate and surrounding environment by dint of the steel girder-tree system at balcony acting as a sun-proof barrier and a rain-proof structure.  © Nguyen Thai Thach Especially, we developed the second version of this balcony type by applying the AQUAPONIC system to let these dead spaces become the ECO-Balcony system. A system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water. This system does not require too much time on caring thanks to the timer pump system. After stressful working hours in downtown, the host can come home and enjoy fresh fish-green vegetable from this little balcony space.  Sketch The stainless hot dipped galvanized steel girder system is modularized enabling ordinary people to effortlessly install and construct. Select air purifying plants. Besides, the planters are arranged flexibly to be easily moved as the user's habit.  Courtesy of Farming Studio The outside steel girder system also intends to functioned as to prevent burglary entering from the balcony, assure security.  Courtesy of Farming Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Coppin Street Apartments / MUSK Architecture Studio Posted: 12 Apr 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Benjamin Hosking
 © Benjamin Hosking From the architect. The Coppin Street apartments, dubbed the "Richmond six-pack", reinterprets the 60's era, predominantly 3 storey, brick apartments dispersed throughout inner Melbourne. Richmond, to the east of the Melbourne CBD and adjacent significant parkland and sporting precincts is undergoing considerable urban transformation through large scale residential developments along major transport links. This project site, however, is set within a quieter residential street of free standing family homes and intermittent walk-up apartments with minimal setbacks from side boundaries and visually dominant on site car parking. The site was formerly occupied by a single weatherboard dwelling, the dominant characteristic of the street, though dilapidated in its presentation and amenity.  Axonometric The Richmond six-pack, with a brief to increase site density, consists of five 1 bedroom units and a single 2 bedroom unit. It reinterprets the traditional six-pack model through the removal of car parking, increased engagement with the street and improved internal amenity. Taking advantage of the nearby train and tram routes, and the extensive bicycle path network, the design proposes bicycle parking and access to public transport in lieu of private vehicle ownership. Removing on site car parking became a core value of the project, one vigorously pursued through design and planning to provide an alternative living option.  © Benjamin Hosking The key design objective of the two storey form was to use the angled roof, derived from a mapping of solar access to the southern neighbour, as a device to wrap the residential units and define the form. As a result, the project graduates and addresses the street at the scale and articulation of a single dwelling, allowing for a more considered and welcome inclusion to the neighbourhood.  Ground Floor  Section  First Floor Plan Residents enter the building through a transitional forecourt incorporating bicycle parking and leading into a shared lobby with illuminated storage cages. The articulation of storage cages along with the exposed concreate floor and ceiling express a robust industrial aesthetic. Custom lighting is used to soften and enhance the ephemeral nature of the space drawing occupants and visitors from the street, through the lobby and up the central light filled stair. Once inside the apartments, the material palette moderates through the use of timber, stone, tile and bold colour, creating contemporary living spaces unique to each unit.  © Benjamin Hosking Internal unit amenity is achieved through flexible floorplans using large sliding doors to define living and sleeping zones. This adaptability encourages the resident to take ownership of the space. High ceilings and expansive glazing provide a sense of openness, defying the small apartment footprints, reinforced by visual links to the outdoors. Mezzanine spaces further enhance the individuality of each unit, accommodating a diverse range of occupants.  © Benjamin Hosking The Richmond six-pack is a successful integration of increased density into a prominently single dwelling street. The flexible amenity and individuality of the internal spaces create a widely appealing and harmonious living environment. Through considered design, this project works to positively contribute to the existing streetscape and neighbourhood, whilst utilizing prominent existing alternative transport options to become a model for inner city infill development.  © Benjamin Hosking  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| This Interactive Map Shows How London Has Changed Over the Past 100 Years Posted: 12 Apr 2017 09:00 AM PDT  Houses of Parliament – Then and Now. Image Courtesy of Expedia Go on a virtual stroll through century-old London, with this new interactive map produced by Expedia. Named "Historic London," the app takes you through 14 notable sites throughout the British capital, from Buckingham Palace to a view of St. Paul's Cathedral from Fleet Street. Archival images of the sites from the late 1800s and early 1900s are overlayed onto the streetview of today, so you can easily compare what has and hasn't changed over the last 100 years. Check out the interactive map for yourself below: Historic London by Expedia.co.uk
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| Sharon Fields / design/buildLAB Posted: 12 Apr 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO
 © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO From the architect. The Sharon Fields are the second and final phase of a Little League Baseball and Softball complex serving boys and girls from age 3 to 18 in Alleghany County, Virginia. The project includes two ball fields: one at 225' and one at 300', back stops, score boards, dugouts, field equipment storage rooms, press boxes and seating mounds.  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO The Fields are situated on a terraced hillside. The idea driving the organization and design of the project is that the fields themselves are the primary spaces and the "built" elements serve to reinforce the identity of the fields. To this end, each field inhabits its own terrace and the land is carved, rather than simply flattened. The resulting slopes and mounds both define the space and create elevated, informal vantages for spectators.  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO  Scheme  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO  Scheme The dugouts are cool, white oak lined shelters from the hot summer sun. Their back walls are sliced, folded and skewed, creating benches and privacy screens for the players and coaches while inviting breezes and filtered light. The field equipment storage rooms are white cubes with full height, full width vertical axis bi-fold doors. When closed, they disappear into anonymity; when open they become extensions of the fields. The press boxes take the form of a single tower to maximize efficiency. The boxes themselves are expressed independently at the top of the tower, each prospecting its own field. Horizontal axis bi-fold doors rise on electric motors to create a shade canopy for the score keepers and perforated steel stairs allow natural light to filter deep into the concession stand at the tower's concrete base. In the evening, points of white light emerge as a constellation on the oiled oak ceilings of all the buildings.  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO In this rich natural landscape, abstract forms and subtle details imbue the architecture with a peaceful presence, a magical atmosphere for family sports.  Elevations  Dugout Elevation The project is constructed from 3 primary components, each in a distinct material: concrete plinths, wood boxes and steel screens. Shop drawings for all members of each component were extracted from a computer model, facilitating precise and efficient off-site prefabrication.  © Jeff Goldberg / ESTO  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Apr 2017 07:00 AM PDT  via Telluride Arts Telluride Arts has announced the three finalist firms that will compete for the adaptive reuse and transformation of the historic Telluride Transfer Warehouse in the arts district of Telluride, Colorado. Selected from an initial list of 30 firms from across the country, Gluckman-Tang, LTL and NADAAA were chosen as finalists based on "their sensitivity to the Telluride Arts and Telluride Historic Landmark Districts, their experience with historic restoration, and their previous design experience with public spaces for the arts." The three firms will now develop conceptual designs for the building, with the vision of "[creating] an architectural and cultural landmark in the heart of Telluride that provides contemporary, public art space that deepens and expands the cultural life of Telluride." Located on within the larger Telluride Master Plan, the project site is located on a lot adjacent to a new school, underground parking and affordable housing units. A National Historic Landmark-listed building, the 6,000-square-foot sandstone Warehouse operated from 1906 until its roof and second story collapsed in 1979. Since then, the building has lied largely vacant. The project will transform this fertile framework into a new arts center organized into four main zones: "The Great Hall," "The Stables," "The Loft" and "The Cellar." Within these areas, programmatic spaces will include a "Kunsthalle" for exhibitions, a digital screening room, flexible gallery and event spaces, a museum-style bar/cafe, offices and a variety of support spaces. The destroyed second floor will be a particularly important element of the design that organizers refer to as "a blank canvas that provides an exciting design challenge within the historic shell." "Rare is the opportunity to both preserve an important historic landmark and create something wholly unprecedented," commented Katie Faulkner and Nader Tehrani, NADAAA. "The Transfer Warehouse stands as a monument to Telluride's history of perseverance. The fundamental challenge of the project will be to maintain the power of the ruin while sponsoring vision and opportunity through architectural speculation for the Arts District." The three firms have each been awarded $10,000 to develop their conceptual designs. Proposals will be presented to the public in late May, after which a final selection will be made. Learn more about the project and the history of the site, here. News via Telluride Arts. H/T Architect's Newspaper.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| MGV Building / +arquitectos + Gubbins Arquitectos Posted: 12 Apr 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Aryeh Kornfeld
 © Aryeh Kornfeld MGV is an open plan office building, with 5 levels above the street and 1 underground level, illuminated and ventilated by sunken courtyards, plus 2 underground parking lots levels.  Courtesy of +arquitectos Additionally, it contemplates a multipurpose room for 120 people, with direct access from the public space.  © Aryeh Kornfeld The Building consists of two separate volumes, which share the main hall, covered by an aluminum structure, that is the characterizing design element, forming an atrium access public space, wich it´s the main architectural resource to optimize the energy efficiency of the building, by minimizing the solar radiation on the curtain wall. This, complemented with other technical resources, allowed to reach LEED GOLD Certification – Core & Shell of USGBC (LEED Consultant, B-Green).  © Aryeh Kornfeld  Sections  © Aryeh Kornfeld Once the construction was completed, we made the interior design of the two upper floors of the North Building, maintaining the criteria of formal simplicity of the rest of the building.  © Aryeh Kornfeld  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Download High Resolution World City Maps for CAD Posted: 12 Apr 2017 05:00 AM PDT Mapacad is a website that offers downloads of .dwgs of dozens of cities. With 200 metropolises in their database, the founders have shared a set of their most-downloaded cities. The files contain closed polyline layers for buildings, streets, highways, city limits, and geographical data--all ready for use in CAD programs like Autocad, Rhino, BricsCad and SketchUp. To activate the free downloads, sign up at Mapacad.com and enter "Mapacad" as the coupon code when payment is requested. If you'd like to download additional maps, you can use the coupon code "PlataformaArquitectura" for a 25% discount. Clicking on the maps below will direct you to Mapacad so that you can begin your downloads.  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  Cortesía de Mapacad  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Apr 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Tatiana Mestre
 © Tatiana Mestre From the architect. Architecture has the capacity of situating us in space, and making the inhabitability of a site possible. In many ways, it is the most powerful tool that humans have to fully interact with its surroundings and natural environment.  © Tatiana Mestre In sites with imposing natural landscapes, architecture scales us and works as a transition so that humans can –at a distance- absorb its surroundings. It is only through architecture that we are able to appropriate a site and live it.  © Tatiana Mestre  Corte  © Tatiana Mestre The intention of House A is precisely to be able to appropriate its surroundings and give its inhabitants a way to “live” the lake. The “A frame” shape is used to its fullest potential to make this possible. Therefore, it was very important that the structure was present in every space of the house. Additionally, we wanted the structure to be a coherent element with the houses functionality.  © Tatiana Mestre The sub-humid climate and the north facing views made us seek solar orientation in other directions. In order to counteract these conditions, we opened lateral balconies –like a boats deck- that permitted us to receive solar radiation in mornings and evenings. This also gave us the advantage to use the most acute spaces of the house that otherwise would have been unutilized.  Planta Baja The mix of natural materials like: stone, wood, steel, and glass, together with the acute and high spaces of the house give it a warm and contemporary feeling. House A is a building of modern conceptualization with local construction techniques and materials. It is a very efficient contemporary steel structure adapted to local construction techniques.  © Tatiana Mestre  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Google's New AutoDraw Feature Will Complete Your Drawings for You Posted: 12 Apr 2017 03:15 AM PDT Drawing on a touchscreen or trackpad can be a huge pain – but when you're on the go, sometimes that may be your only option to quickly convey an image. To the rescue, Google has unveiled its latest AI experiment, AutoDraw, which uses machine learning to pair your wobbly doodle with a corresponding artist-drawn image – like autocorrect for sketching. The interface appears as a basic drawing program, with shape, fill, text and free-draw options to select within a menu on the left of the screen. At the top, the "AutoDraw" button is the true novelty. Start drawing, and the program will begin making guesses as to what you're attempting to portray. Tapping on one of these options will replace your sketch, and then give you the ability to resize or move it around the page. For us architecture enthusiasts, AutoDraw currently includes representations of some famous world landmarks: the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, One World Trade Center, to name a few. AutoDraw will also help correct your simply geometries, resulting in quick ways to draw perfect cirlces, triangles or squares. As much as architects appreciate the natural stroke of a pen, we also appreciate precision. Using AutoDraw to sketch out some geometric concepts could help make the diagram as clear as possible.  via Google What other implications could this have for architecture? While the technology is currently limited to the selection of preloaded images, it's easy to imagine that in the future, users could upload their own sets of buildings or entourage, allowing people to create quick drawings that still express the same language as their own personal drawing style. Further, a crowdsourced database of these buildings and figures could be a possibility, letting users compare their own drawings to those of people around the world. For now though, the program is still a whole lot of fun to play with. Give it a try for yourself, here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Why Moscow's Massacre of Mass Housing Is a Huge Mistake Posted: 12 Apr 2017 02:30 AM PDT  © Max Avdeev The Moscow government has just launched the biggest demolition program in the city's history. Its goal is to get rid of 8,000 5-story residential buildings constructed in the Soviet era—it is probably the biggest program of erasure of modernist architectural heritage in world history. The main assumptions of the plan, as well as the press comments following it, show that we have forgotten what modernism was about, and what the real values of this architecture are. A few years ago I published an essay titled Belyayevo Forever, dedicated to the preservation of generic modernist architecture. I focused on Moscow's microrayons—vast, state-funded housing estates built in the Soviet era. In the essay, I explained the spatial and cultural values these prefabricated landscapes had. I also speculated about how one would go about preserving architecture that completely lacks uniqueness. The essay ended with a provocative statement: we should put Belyayevo—the most generic of all Soviet estates—on the UNESCO heritage list.  The first Khrushchevka constructed, on Grimau Street in Moscow. Image © Konstantin Mitrokhov, The Village For many, the idea to add something seemingly worthless to the list of humanity's most precious artifacts was disturbing. But it also ignited exciting discussions. How can we define the value of architecture that completely lacks uniqueness? How should preservation deal with the unprecedented scale of modernism? Which elements of those vast housing estates are worth preserving and which can go? Although Belyayevo Forever was focused on Russia, I intended to give my essay a universal tone. I imagined that answering these challenging questions on the scale of one microrayon would help better understand the values of modernist architecture in general. Earlier this year, my call to preserve a microrayon suddenly became dramatically relevant. On February 21st, the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin and the president of Russia Vladimir Putin launched the biggest demolition campaign against modernist architecture in history. They agreed to bulldoze all of Moscow's khrushchevkas—the 5-story residential buildings that are the basic units of the microrayons I had proposed to preserve. The scale of this planned destruction is unprecedented. The demolition list includes 8,000 residential buildings, totaling 25 million square meters of housing. Dozens of entire housing estates will be torn down and replaced with new ones. But, this Russian precedent holds universal importance for modernist architecture, and the proposed plan is, therefore, a very bad idea.  The first Khrushchevka constructed, on Grimau Street in Moscow. Image © Konstantin Mitrokhov, The Village Why Was the Demolition Campaign Launched?The mayor of Moscow presented a consistent and well-argued rationale behind the demolition plan, presenting arguments from two fields: the building technology and the social aspect of demolition. The technological arguments focus on the extremely poor physical condition the khrushchevkas are in today. The pipes are leaking, balconies are falling off. The concrete walls don't meet contemporary insulation norms. Though cutting-edge in the fifties, today the apartments provide a living standard that is way below expectations. The dwellings are also extremely small—an extraordinarily tiny bathroom is a trademark feature of a khrushchevka. Most importantly, the khrushchevkas lack the flexibility required to improve these standards. The rigid system of parallel load-bearing walls makes it almost impossible to noticeably improve apartment layouts. Broken prefabricated elements also need to be replaced rather than fixed. That makes any renovation very costly. The social line of reasoning completes the technological one. If the khrushchevkas cannot be saved, let's use the demolition to at least improve the standard of living for their current residents. Since 1999, 1,650 of Moscow's khrushchevkas have already been demolished and some 400,000 people moved to new homes. During this "pilot program," the Moscow government developed a method of demolition that reduces negative social impact. Counterintuitively, the demolition starts with the construction a new building—typically a highrise, erected by a private developer. Once the tower is ready, residents of a nearby khrushchevka receive apartments in the new building—slightly bigger than their previous ones and built to a higher standard. The rest of the apartments are sold on the free market and the old building is demolished to make space for another highrise.  © Max Avdeev The new program estimates that 1.6 million people will be relocated from their homes—equal to the whole population of Barcelona or double the population of San Francisco. Many families are looking forward to the demolition, hoping for a radical increase in their standard of housing. Many others fear it, but the scale of protests is small. Under the force of the arguments presented, the residents, experts, and journalists seem to agree that the demolition and replacement of the khrushchevkas is a sad necessity. The technocratic argument of Mr Sobyanin seems convincing and final. But it completely misses an important point: the architectural value of the housing estates in which the khrushchevkas are located. The key to fully understanding the disappearing value of Moscow's modernist estates is understanding the relation between the khrushchevka and the microrayon.  © Max Avdeev What Is a Khrushchevka? What Is a Microrayon?The khrushchevka is the most basic unit of Soviet housing. There are many sub-types (a so-called "series of houses"), but they all share very similar features. All the khrushchevkas are five-story buildings that contain around 40-50 tiny flats. The apartments are equipped with toilets, kitchens, and balconies, but lack elevators or cellars. Khrushchevkas had to be extremely simple and cheap, for their primary objective was to quickly satisfy the dramatic housing need. That is why they were also extremely simple to build: the first series, the K-7, was designed to be assembled on site from only about two dozen different components, brought there directly from a factory. In terms of its efficiency in providing living space, its simplicity, and its low price, the khrushchevka was the kalashnikov of mass housing. The production of khrushchevkas dates back to the mid-fifties. Immediately after replacing Joseph Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev had to deal with a terrible housing deficit. Russian cities were overcrowded, and millions lived in wooden barracks or primitive dugouts. In December 1954 Mr Khrushchev made an uncompromising speech, in which he ordered the full industrialization of construction. The idea was to harness heavy Soviet industry for work on housing and to quickly end the housing crisis. For the following decades, the Soviet factories worked 24 hours a day and seven days a week, producing millions of square meters of dwellings. By the end of the sixties, as much as 400 million square meters of apartments was created in the form of khrushchevkas all over the USSR—a scale unprecedented in world history.  © Max Avdeev Khrushchev's U-turn revolutionized Soviet architecture. The scale of the projects started growing immediately after the 1954 speech and with them, the scale of responsibility of architects. Existing architectural practices were quickly consolidated into huge design offices and subordinated to Soviet industry. As a consequence, architects lost control over the design of separate buildings. Their field of action moved from designing individual buildings to laying out masterplans for whole neighborhoods. A completely new typology of architectural project was born: the microrayon. A microrayon (Russian for "micro-district") was simply a modernist housing estate—and the most basic unit of Soviet city planning. It typically occupied an area from a few dozen to a few hundred hectares. Besides the apartments, it included services like schools and kindergartens, cinemas, and cultural and medical centers. It contained carefully designed green zones and a system of circulation—pedestrian and public transport. The structure of a microrayon's space was hierarchical and based on rational calculations. In other words: a microrayon was as complete and self-sufficient as a housing estate possibly could be.  Illustration of the "ideal" microrayon. Image © Kuba Snopek, redrawn from illustration found in L.N. Avdotin, Gradostroitelne Proyektirovaniye, Moskva Stroizdat 1989 The microrayon was also the basic project that the architects of the time worked on. Having lost the opportunity to design individual buildings, architects invested their creative energy and talent in designing perfect masterplans. Instead of composing facades, they planned perfect compositions of buildings. They thoughtfully juxtaposed ready-made buildings of different heights in order to create dynamic compositions and provide the optimal amount of sunlight and fresh air. They skillfully complemented these compositions with trees, orchards, and ponds, in order to maximize the positive effect the created space would have on everyday life. In their new role, architects also designed the invisible: comfortable trajectories for the residents' daily routines. They meticulously calculated optimal distances between homes, services, and hubs of public transport and laid out the most convenient paths between them. Designing those huge projects, the architects focused on the logic of the use of space: they proposed optimal land use intensity for each space. They tailored the sizes of different services to the size of the expected population. A separate khrushchevka might not be impressive, but the whole spatial system into which it was embedded is complex and extremely well thought out. Designers of microrayons studied them from all possible angles: visual composition, public transport, functionality, and health. Clearly, it is the architecture of the whole spatial system which harbors exceptional value, not the architecture of separate buildings.  © Max Avdeev If we shift our focus from the architectural to the urban scale, the Moscow demolition plan seems disastrous. There is no overall masterplan for the future neighborhoods. Nor is there a consistent vision of how they should look like and how they should function. All demolition-reconstruction operations are carried out separately and not coordinated by architects. As a result, in each affected microrayon, its consistent overall composition will be replaced by a completely random one. At the same time, the newly-built towers will be much taller than the original ones, which will multiply the density of these neighborhoods. Consequently, all the meticulous calculations behind the sizes of schools, kindergartens and green zones will instantly become meaningless. The same will happen to the design of the internal circulation: calculations regarding public transport or parking places. When the invisible part of the architectural project is lost, the whole system will work counter-efficiently. Shifting our focus to the city scale allows us to see a parallel logic standing behind the demolition—one of a grand real-estate operation. The 8,000 buildings that have been sentenced to demolition are located on the fringe of Moscow's center. They form a belt, several kilometers wide. On its inside, the belt meets the city center; on its outside, the newer housing estates, composed of much taller buildings. In other words, the khrushchevkas occupy relatively central land and use it with considerably low density. They occupy extremely valuable land in a city with a lot of economic pressure. Complex and multilayered thinking about city planning was reduced to business logic based on land value. Architecture was replaced by land development.  © Max Avdeev What Should We Remember About Modernism?The Soviet experiment with mass housing had an exceptional scale, but the logic standing behind Soviet modernism and European architecture of the time was not very different. In all countries of post-war Europe modernist architecture was about much more than just buildings—there was a rich social agenda behind it. The continent needed to be quickly rebuilt after the war. Architects and policy makers were working hand in hand, using the recent disaster as an opportunity to improve living conditions in European cities. This mix of pragmatism and idealism emerges in modernist architecture as simplicity of form and modesty, exactly the features that make modernism so vulnerable for criticism today. An ugly prefabricated residential slab is easy to condemn if it is not seen as a part of a system of mass housing that solved the housing deficit. The architecture of a simple primary school is easy to criticize unless it is seen as a part of a system of schools that helped fight illiteracy, and so on. Working on the fringes between architectural scales and the scale of grand spatial policies, the modernist architects were able to smuggle additional values into their designs. One of their priorities was to generate spaces that are healthy—full of light, fresh air, and greenery. The other, to efficiently use the available space and scarce building resources. The case of Moscow's new demolition plan shows how easy it is to manipulate the discussion about modernist heritage, focusing on the flaws of separate buildings and ignoring the values of much bigger entities. I do not think that all modernist heritage should be preserved—maybe the majority of these buildings should actually go. But before it is destroyed, this idealistic architecture deserves a fair trial. Kuba Snopek (born 1985) is an urban planner and researcher. Kuba graduated in urban planning from Wrocław University of Technology and Strelka Institute in Moscow. He has worked on architectural, urban planning and research projects in Poland, Russia, and Denmark. In 2011-2015, he taught at the Strelka Institute in Moscow. He is one of the authors of the research project "Architecture of the VII day." His book "Belyayevo Forever," on the preservation of intangible heritage, was published in English, Polish and Russian.
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| House in Morrillos / Cristián Izquierdo Posted: 12 Apr 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Tomás Rodríguez
 © Tomás Rodríguez From the architect. This project is by a long, open beach, on a desert dune rising in front of a wetland. It is a seasonal house to accommodate up to three couples, and can be leased or bartered the rest of the year. Its intermittent occupation and isolated location led us to think of it as a superposition of two models: the motel and the cabin. The motel suggests self-sufficient rooms served from the outside by a second access, while the cabin presumes a centralized space that brings the community together. A set of 4 rooms come together in a shared central kitchen, forming a larger compact structure enclosed by mobile panels, which open different possibilities of use according to their position.  © Tomás Rodríguez  Plan  © Tomás Rodríguez Each room consists of an interior space connected to an equivalent-sized courtyard, both covered by a common beamed ceiling, with two sides open to the outside and a wall separating them from the adjoining unit.These four structures are placed together in a perpendicular axis from one another, conforming a cross plan over a squared base. The tip of this form, which faces the horizon, hosts a living room connected to a kitchen and dinning room in one common area. The opposite end contains a guest room with views to the wetland. At either side, two units host equal master bedrooms-courtyard facing the peninsulas located at both ends of the beach.  Axonometric The construction is entirely conceived in pinewood with glued joints managed without metal pieces exposed to the sea oxide. The beamed ceiling is developed in four separate rectangular structures, settled over the walls and a perimeter porch avoiding diagonal main beams.The rotated disposition of these four structural units leaves a skylight above the central kitchen. By shifting the openings of the exterior structure by half a module from the axis of this skylight, a diagonal view is generated from the kitchen's center, fostering the perception of the exterior as a moving panorama.  © Tomás Rodríguez  Sections  © Tomás Rodríguez Outside these rows of pillars, 72 wooden doors enclose the house. When opened outward, each room-courtyard is a private space connected to the outside by a row of portals framing the horizon. When closed, instead, they become an intimate space, protected from the wind and the views, but opened to its neighbors through a perimeter porch. Opening the views foster independence. Closing some doors can open common uses.  © Tomás Rodríguez  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Apr 2017 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of The Wheeler Plans have been announced by Tishman Speyer for "The Wheeler", a glassy new addition above downtown Brooklyn's iconic Macy's store on Fulton Street. The design is a collaboration between Shimoda Design Group and Perkins Eastman, and incorporates 10 stories of dynamic office and mixed-use space that will sit atop the existing department store. Paying homage to the renowned 19th century Brooklyn developer Andrew Wheeler, the new offices will come complete with 16 foot ceiling heights, an acre of combined outdoor terrace gardens and decks, an amenity floor, and 360,000 square feet of rentable space, all while capturing the surrounding views of Lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and New York harbour from its vantage point above the existing architecture.  Courtesy of The Wheeler
 Courtesy of The Wheeler The Fulton Street Macy's is, in fact, a melding of two different buildings and their respective architectural styles – the main department store occupies a nine-storey 1930s art deco structure, which is interconnected with a four stories cast iron building, the original Wheeler building constructed in the 1870s. Prior to its conversion to a Macy's in 1995, the art deco building was home to Brooklyn's flagship Abraham and Straus Department store, one of the most esteemed and luxurious shopping experiences in the area, in the prosperous era of the Brooklyn Bridge. Shoppers could even be dropped directly from their horse carriages into the store via a porte-cochere entrance, though this has been bricked up today.  Courtesy of The Wheeler  Courtesy of The Wheeler Earlier, in the 1870s, the wrought iron portion of the building housed a mix of occupants, accommodating a billiards lounge, the Olympic Theatre, as well as "J.B. Bunnells' Dime Museum", which advertised bearded ladies, giants, and "living skeletons". The bulk of the structure has been torn down since, and only the façade remains. Planned for completion in 2019, The Wheeler is Shimoda Design Group's first New York-based project. It will connect the buildings and their distinctive histories as Brooklyn experiences rapid development and growth, while Macy's will continue to operate the first four floors and lower levels of the two buildings. News via: Tishman Speyer. Additional historical information via Atlas Obscura and Brownstoner.
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| Hanging Gardens of Babylon-Inspired Residential Units Proposed for Birmingham Posted: 11 Apr 2017 11:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Architects of Invention A new housing complex in the form of 500 terraced units has been proposed by London practice Architects of Invention for the city of Birmingham, in response to its growing multicultural population. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Garden Hill's formal composition is that of two staggered 25-storey towers, with private and communal gardens on each level of terraces. With the project's swooping mass, the residences aim to offer panoramic views of Birmingham, given its central location in the Digbeth area, a 10-minute walk from the city center. Additionally, the staggered towers capture ample daylighting over the course of the day, with the south end benefitting from the morning sun and the north end in the evening.  Courtesy of Architects of Invention  Courtesy of Architects of Invention A central plinth caters to various programs for the students, such as music recording studios and rental spaces to accommodate startups, among other communal spaces. At street level, various retailers will add to the identity of High Street Bordesley. 60% of the 500 student units will be single bedrooms, while the remaining 40% will accommodate two people. An elevated park and rooftop garden will accompany the units, embodying a modern day Babylonian character.  Courtesy of Architects of Invention  Courtesy of Architects of Invention Sustainability is another element that the project strives for, with the complex being constructed entirely from cross-laminated timber (CLT). Additionally, the project aims to capitalize on the UK's increasingly affordable renewable energy sources including wind and solar power, which will be responsible for underfloor space heating and thermal hot water supplies. The 38,500 square meters Garden Hill is also located within close proximity to Birmingham's Custard Factory, a local hub for media providers, artists, and small creative businesses. News via: Architects of Invention.
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| Ljungdalen / Lowén Widman Arkitekter Posted: 11 Apr 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Åke E:son Lindman
 © Åke E:son Lindman From the architect. The project is designed as a mountain hut for a large, and, or four prospective families and is a paraphrase or modern reinterpretation of a traditional timbered house of the region. The idea is that it should blend into the landscape with the same straightforwardness as a barn, or a storehouse, as a natural part of the built surroundings.  © Åke E:son Lindman The framework of massive wood from Isotimber is manufactured in the same municipality, and is a natural refinement of a timbered house structure.  © Åke E:son Lindman The untreated wooden facade of Northern old pine heartwood will age over time and get a natural variation depending on the direction of the facade, like the oldest houses in the village. The housing body is long and narrow 4.2 x 19.2 meters and follows the terrain up to the highest point on the plot.  © Åke E:son Lindman  Floor Plan  © Åke E:son Lindman On the site the house creates a natural shield against the north and west, and thus provides a sheltered spot in the southwest with afternoon sun.  © Daniel Widman The windows are large modern three glass windows without frames which is fixed and held in place by the liners.  © Åke E:son Lindman  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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