Arch Daily |
- Study Determines That This is (Probably) What Andrea Palladio Looked Like
- Quartéis de Santa Justa / Carvalho Araújo
- Deskopolitan / MoreySmith
- SHINMINKA / ISSHOArchitects
- Call for 360 Videos and Virtual Reality Tours
- Vertical Village - SOM Leads Design of Major Mixed-Use District in Bangkok
- Looking back on Charles and Ray Eames’ De Pree House
- The Waterdown Library and Civic Centre / RDHA
- 45 Years of Architecture Model Photography in Spain
- How to Use Mindfulness to Escape the Stresses of Architectural Life
- 7510 Zimple / OJT
- First House Designed by Gaudí to Open as Museum
- Les écluses / BLAMM Architecture
| Study Determines That This is (Probably) What Andrea Palladio Looked Like Posted: 16 Apr 2017 09:00 PM PDT  Left: seemingly accurate portrait of Palladio purchased at an antiques store in New Jersey, USA. Right: seemingly accurate portrait of Palladio in a private collection in Moscow, Russia. Image via The New York Times / Palladio Museum In today's culture of narcissism and celebrity it's an assumed expectation that faces can be put to names. Even in 16th Century Europe, the large majority of notable persons had a likeness made of themselves and displayed for posterity – save for architects, it seems. Take, for instance, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) – the Renaissance style-setter and author of the groundbreaking treatise The Four Books on Architecture, the seminal text of which inspired the likes of Thomas Jefferson. If challenged, could you easily put a face to Palladio's name? There is no accurate, agreed-upon "official" portrait of the architect – until now, that is. With little or no empirical evidence that Palladio was particularly averse to sitting for a portrait, the lack of any unequivocal depiction of the man has stumped scholars for centuries. A "fake" etching was made in Britain in the 18th Century, while an Italian version was touted as the homegrown original. According to Fabrizio Magani, an official of the Chief Culture Ministry in Vicenza (the subject's home town), "there were two worlds, one British, one Italian, and each had its own face of Palladio." As reported by The New York Times, a team of Italian architects, art historians and police officers may have finally put the debate to bed. Following a two-year study "that resulted in the diagnostic and forensic examination of a dozen portraits thought to depict Palladio, the team got two positive hits." One portrait is owned privately and kept in Moscow, Russia, while the other—also privately owned—was "bought at an antiques shop in New Jersey." The forensic techniques deployed were used to compare facial features in order determine whether or not the portraits "depicted the same person." They also used age-progression techniques typically used to identify fugitives from the law to see whether the British portrait of the young Palladio would look plausible when the subject was aged." You can read the full story, here. News via The New York Times.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Quartéis de Santa Justa / Carvalho Araújo Posted: 16 Apr 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © NUDO
 © NUDO From the architect. The project of Quartéis de Santa Justa is located at the highest point of Monte de Santa Justa, in Ponte de Lima (Portugal) and have, besides the chapel, a structure that served as a shelter for pilgrims.  © NUDO  Planta  © NUDO The rehabilitation project takes advantage of the existing facilities and the existing walled perimeter: the placement and programmatic distribution of the volumes was preserved and, in constructive terms, the existing was recovered, with the exception of the roof of the main building, which was proposed flat and made of metal sheet and extends northwards, in order to protect an external path. The existing exterior stone walls of the main building were maintained and the spans created by the distance to the roof were used to guarantee the entrance of natural light throughout the north façade. The programmatic distribution in this building was governed by the same principle of rehabilitation: the existing furnace was preserved and settled the location of the dining room and kitchen, at the west end of the main building; the two dormitories also took advantage of the previously existing compartments. The wooden floor and the vertical plane of folding of the beds and the ceiling in the same material, surround the whole space, ensuring a greater sensation of comfort. The main building was finished, at the east side, with a two floor volume, perpendicular to the previous volume, where two individual suites were displayed; at the lower floor, a storage area and public sanitary facilities were proposed to support the pilgrims. In the remaining intra-walled, in an uncovered area without previously defined program, was settled a location for camping, for situations of higher affluence.  © NUDO  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Frédéric Baron-Morin
 © Frédéric Baron-Morin From the architect. MoreySmith, one of Europe's leading architectural design practices, has completed the first ever global co-working concept for new serviced office brand, Deskopolitan, which has launched at 48 Rue du Château d'Eau, Paris.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin The new space comprises 4,430 sq ft (or 1,350 sq m) spread over four floors and has been let in its entirety for three months to French presidential candidate Benoît Hamon, who will run his election campaign from the building. In addition to Mr Hamon, the building is expected to appeal to start-ups and small businesses seeking creative and flexible workspace in central Paris – a revolutionary concept for the French market.  Section Following Deskopolitan's brief, MoreySmith conceived and developed the company's Global Design Concept and transformed the former factory building into a state-of-the-art co-working environment, which challenges the traditional office concept with innovative and interactive spaces. Co-workers are offered full use of adaptable spaces including a café, a barbershop, phone booths and informal touchdown positions at ground floor and mezzanine level, all of which promote connectivity and social interaction.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin The brief from Deskopolitan included the creation of a space that would be unique, welcoming, comfortable, interesting, flexible, easy to use and sociable. The Global Concept was developed originally for Voltaire a 19,685 sq ft (or 6,000 sq m) site in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, that has grown to be a much larger project offering a complete live work model with a gym club, restaurant, nursery and hotel, which is due to open in March 2018.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin MoreySmith worked closely with Deskopolitan to establish the branding for the building, a graphic inspired by the circular geometry found within the iconic Voltaire entrance gates. This was translated throughout the project and included in design elements such as metal work, wall panels, door handles and balustrading, which resulted in a contemporary industrial style with open, bright and connected interiors.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin Deskopolitan's first venture in the heart of the city includes a range of various assigned workspaces and flexible work settings to support drop-in sessions, as well as artist studios, health & beauty suites, and spaces for open group collaboration and networking events. This contemporary approach to workspace design brings a fresh new look to the European market.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin The interiors are designed to offer a contemporary take on the building's industrial heritage. Materials include glazed brick tiles, exposed concrete, crittal window frames, burnished brass and copper mesh, complemented by fresh, bright colours including yellow, light grey and blue. MoreySmith has also worked hard to incorporate greenery into the space through the introduction of plant boxes, which also promote wellbeing and bring air filtration into the office.  © Frédéric Baron-Morin  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Koichi Torimura
 © Koichi Torimura From the architect. Okinawa, once called the Ryukyu Kingdom, has been blessed with rich forest and ocean resources.  © Koichi Torimura The Okinawan people organised a unique social system by gradually adopting the culture and latest technologies of their neighbors while carefully adapting and integrating them to their particular environment. They cultivated particular lifestyles based on their natural surroundings, and thus were able to create a sustainable relationship with nature.  © Koichi Torimura However, due to the constant change of governing bodies, and rapid inflow of new technologies since the Industrial Revolution, they lost touch with this delicate balance between people and nature. The architecture was no exception. The vernacular buildings were replaced by newly-imported conventional construction methods that placed a huge emphasis on convenience and safety. This led to the loss of the Okinawan cultural identity in addition to damaging the local scenery. The extent of the economic impact can be observed the concentration of wealth among the few, and consequently the architectural gap between the rich and the poor has become strikingly pronounced throughout the region's towns and cities. Now more than ever, I see an architectural environment typical of the coffee belt, that is, the obscene contrast between the magnificent resorts and the impoverished conditions of local neighborhoods.  © Koichi Torimura  Floor Plan  © Koichi Torimura Having said that, it is important to recognize this chain of events not as the capitalist economy destroying tradition, but rather as the result of the haphazard adaptation of modern technology without allowing it to undergo the process of indigenization.  Structure System Now that the Information Age is in the process of maturity, we are facing a new challenge to course-correct this trend. But more importantly, it is an opportunity. By connecting new technologies and galvanizing the intelligence of local communities, I aim to nurture a new form of architecture that is indigenized, vernacular, and symbiotic with nature. By doing so, I believe Okinawa can build a rich, distinctive architectural environment once again.  © Koichi Torimura It is with this wish that I built Shinminka. I tried not to be too nostalgic about the past, reasoned inductively, and looked through the lens of modern architecture. While it might be true that in many cases, the end result ended up in line with traditional Japanese architecture, some design progress has certainly been made.  Section This progress becomes evident when we examine two classical conflicts in Japanese architecture. First is the conflict between lateral strength of the structure against natural disasters—particularly typhoons in case of Okinawa—and ventilation to prevent humidity and to provide openness. The stronger the structure, the less ventilation there will be; hence the more humidity will remain inside, and it will also prevent openness. Second is the conflict between wind load and the size of the eaves. The larger the eaves, the more wind load there will be. The smaller the eaves, the less sunshine they can shield the interior from. (N.B. sunshine is quite strong in Okinawa in summer.) It was necessary to create solutions for both of these issues through design.  © Koichi Torimura Usually to ensure lateral strength, braces are placed parallel to the walls. But by designing this way, ventilation and openness will be limited. Hence, my idea was to place braces radially toward the outside, connecting to outer columns of the building. At the same time, the roofs (the eaves) are extended to those outer columns to secure the right size and to control wind load. Thus the design of the 12 braces and outer columns provides sufficient lateral strength and works against wind load, even in the face of typhoons.  © Koichi Torimura In this way I freed the structure from the necessity of walls; for the first time in my design it is possible to employ glass windows on all four sides of the building. The glass windows provide more than enough ventilation and openness to the outside environment. Seamless transition from outside nature to architecture had been realised.  © Koichi Torimura This project has been completed, but I do believe there is space for further development and other possibilities. I hope Shinminka will serve as a good case study for the local architecture of Japan, and will act as a good guide to the general direction our architecture should go towards in the future.  © Koichi Torimura  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Call for 360 Videos and Virtual Reality Tours Posted: 16 Apr 2017 11:00 AM PDT For years people have presaged the game-changing aspects of Virtual Reality in the field of architecture. Head-mounted displays like Oculus Rift, Hololens and others can trick your body and mind into thinking you are somewhere else--standing on the edge of a cliff, riding a rollercoaster, or walking around a building you haven't constructed yet. Architects can already work with their usual software (Sketchup, Autodesk Suite, Graphisoft Archicad, Nemetschek Vectorworks, etc) to export models of unbuilt projects for visualization on dedicated devices or smartphones/tablets. And with the launch of apps that use your smartphone's camera to simulate 360° images, and the introduction of cameras that actually capture high-resolution 360° spherical videos and images, representing projects is closely approaching the experience of "being there." Do you have a 360-degree camera? Are you documenting your own projects or other architectural classics in 360-degrees? We'd love to feature our readers' videos on our site, Facebook page, and YouTube channel! Submitting a 360-experience is easy! Send us a Facebook message with a link to your video, upload 360-videos to YouTube and include the tag "ArchDaily 360" or get in touch with us directly using the form below. Upload 360-Degree Videos to YouTube Still not sure what 360-degree videos are like? Here are some examples:  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Vertical Village - SOM Leads Design of Major Mixed-Use District in Bangkok Posted: 16 Apr 2017 09:00 AM PDT  One Bangkok will provide retail, hotels, offices, as well as homes for 60,000 people. Image Courtesy of SOM via Atchain Chicago-based Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) has unveiled plans for One Bangkok, a new 16Ha mixed-use development in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. Working in collaboration with architects, engineers, sustainability experts and landscape architects, both local and international, SOM seeks to create the single largest private-sector development in Thailand to date - a vertical village providing homes and places of work for an estimated 60,000 people. Through One Bangkok, SOM challenged themselves to translate the vibrancy and energy of Bangkok's neighborhoods into a vertical environment, whilst promoting a 'sense of place' and district-level sustainability. Situated beside the city's prominent Lumphini Park, One Bangkok hosts a range of functions, including residential, retail, offices, a hotel, and 8Ha of public space. Through their 'vertical village', SOM seeks to promote a sense of community and well-being in a dense urban environment, with welcoming streetscapes, public plazas, and landscaped greenspace. A variety of towers with individual characters and features, from cascading green terraces to a lattice of sky gardens, seek to reduce the ecological footprint of the district through careful site placement, and a suite of sustainable engineering systems.  Situated adjacent to Lumphini Park, the scheme offers 8Ha of public space. Image Courtesy of SOM via Atchain
 Streetscapes, public plazas and greenspaces all contribute to a welcoming sense of place. Image Courtesy of SOM via Atchain One Bangkok is the first project in Thailand to target LEED Platinum certification for Neighborhood Development, with an architecture and landscape in response to its tropical climate. A centralized energy and water management system has been designed to optimize efficiency and facilitate future growth. Meanwhile, with water management being a pressing issue in cities around the world, One Bangkok's incorporated greenspace and permeable materials seek to reduce runoff and facilitate absorption to replenish groundwater sources.  A variety of towers will feature individual identities such as green terraces and sky gardens. Image Courtesy of SOM via Atchain One Bangkok is expected to be completed in 2025. News via: SOM.
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| Looking back on Charles and Ray Eames’ De Pree House Posted: 16 Apr 2017 07:00 AM PDT  © Victor Delaqua The Eames are mainly known for their furniture and their house in Pacific Palisades, which they also used as an office. Few people are aware of the Max and Esther De Pree House, a rare venture into residential architecture by the Eames.  © Victor Delaqua The house shares a lot of the qualities of the Case Study Houses, study that took place in California, though one of the project's greatest attributes is that it takes advantage of the local craftsmanship as well as natural light.  © Victor Delaqua The project is situated in a modest neighborhood of small houses in Zeeland, Michigan. Its front facade is composed of two symmetrical structures: garage and a studio that was built later. The covered walkway that acts as a balcony leads to the main body of the approximately 185 square meter building.  © Victor Delaqua For privacy, the lateral gables are lined with natural cedars. The rear area of the house looks to a wooded area where a stream passes. Natural ventilation was also a concern for the project, so windows were inserted to promote cross ventilation.  © Victor Delaqua The ground floor is divided only by a large storage element that covers the whole floor. The furniture hides all the service equipment. The spacious living/dining room has a fireplace. A glassed-in terrace, which was added after the construction was completed, also connects the kitchen with the living room and relates the interior space to the exterior. The upper floor has three decks, two bathrooms, and a sitting area in the center.  © Victor Delaqua The De Pree family occupied the house until 1975 when it was sold to Bob Rynbrandt. He and his family lived in the house until 2010, when Herman Miller bought the house with plans to restore and preserve it.  © Victor Delaqua Location: Zeeland, Michigan, Estados Unidos
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| The Waterdown Library and Civic Centre / RDHA Posted: 16 Apr 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Tom Arban
 © Tom Arban From the architect. For the Waterdown Library and Civic Centre, RDHA applied the studio's practice of customizing off-the-shelf components to create an extraordinary building from ordinary materials. This objective, coupled with the building's location — on the Niagara Escarpment, a rocky ridge overlooking Lake Ontario — established the impetus for the building's design. The multi-use facility, which includes a library as well as a heritage society archive, police and municipal community service outlets, and a seniors' recreation centre, unites various demographics in a single building.  © Tom Arban  © Tom Arban Throughout, RDHA adapted standard, warrantied systems and materials, allowing for experimentation and tailored architecture, while keeping the budget reasonable and removing the risk from the client. Even the most standard elements such as strip lights were treated with a degree of care that adds elegance.  © Tom Arban The building sits at a high point on an escarpment, where the earth begins to drop down towards to the lake, changing three metres in elevation from this high point to the edge of a main thoroughfare below. The low, linear volume cantilevers out from the slope like a hovering block of dolomitic limestone. Stone slab fins and panels clad the exterior, creating a bold, near-monolithic appearance that is inverted within, where the design team used the geography to establish a plan that is based on a series of accessible, sloping walkways that wind visitors through the library and down to the recreation rooms.  © Tom Arban The internal topography heightens awareness of the surrounding landscape. It reaches its peak in the library,where a series of four terraces step up towards the highest point in the building, demarcated by a path of Douglas fir book stacks. At the top, a large, sky-lit reading atrium provides striking views of the escarpment. Outside, an outdoor reading terrace and a sloping green roof with flowering sedums intensify the connection to the site.  © Tom Arban Within the large, open-concept room, RDHA has carefully carved out intimate spaces and maintained a high degree of control over the finishes and furniture to ensure a cohesive interior environment. The Douglas Firaccents in the entry corridor are recycled material from the now-demolished Hamilton Central Library branch.In the children's area, the ceiling dips down, creating a space with child-friendly technology and activities, dotted with baby Panton chairs. Quiet study rooms in the larger library have load-bearing, laminated walls made entirely of glass, uncannily supporting seemingly heavy ceilings that block the sound while preserving site lines. The special quality of the branch is underscored by a line of glass-enclosed, ethanol fireplaces, adjacent to a grouping of Paulin Orange Slice and Tulip chairs in ember hues.  © Tom Arban The new library incorporates automatic check-in and return equipment that has allowed frontline staff to focus on programming and increased customer service. Also, the staff now have access to technology while in the staff workroom, enabling their time to become less constrained.  © Tom Arban  100 Level Plan  © Tom Arban RDHA took similar care with integrating sustainable features. The building has a flowering orchard to shade the parking areas, bio-swales in parking lots and green spaces in conjunction with an underground rainwater collection, and low-VOC, recycled and local materials thoughtfully integrated throughout the design. The Library's standard metrics were up in every category as of August 2016 over the same period in 2015. Increases in visitors to the branch (150.1%), circulation of library materials (physical: 47.7%; digital: 33.7%), program attendance (220.3%), computer sessions used (103.9%), wireless use (1885.7%) and new library cards generated all saw huge gains. Library customers love that they have such a beautiful place community workspace to call home. Some customers have remarked they were unaware that Waterdown had a branch library before, so the new facility has certainly caught the attention of many new-to-library individuals.  © Tom Arban  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 45 Years of Architecture Model Photography in Spain Posted: 16 Apr 2017 05:00 AM PDT  Concurso Internacional de Anteproyectos para el Monumento a José Batlle y Ordóñez en Montevideo (Uruguay), 1959. Arquitecto: Roberto Puig Álvarez. Escultor: Jorge Oteiza. Image © Fototeca del Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Archivo del Museo Oteiza 138 images, 14 albums, 20 magazines, 13 original models and one projection are part of Modeling for the Camera: Photography of architectural models in Spain, 1925-1970, the current exhibition of the ICO Museum in Madrid, curated by Iñaki Bergera, PhD of Architecture from the University of Navarra. The exhibition is tied to the book of the same name that was published in 2016, edited by La Fábrica and the Ministry of Public Works (Spain). In times when 3D visualization software has popularized, accelerated and perfected the rendering industry, both materials choose to value the legacy of architectural model photography in the 20th century.  Anteproyecto del Banco Comercial Transatlántico, Barcelona, 1956. Arquitectos: Francesc Mitjans i Miró. Image © Fondo F. Mitjans Miró. Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya Visitors to the exhibition are shown the perfect pairing of icons of architectural photography and the best Spanish architects of the 20th century, covering more than 40 years of history. It includes the work of historic photographers such as Francesc Català-Roca, Kindel, Pando, Luis Lladó, Oriol Maspons-Julio Ubiña and Francisco Gómez, through the lens of projects by Josep Lluís Sert, Miguel Fisac, José Antonio Coderch, Francisco de Asís Cabrero, Javier Carvajal, Alejandro de la Sota and Fernando Higueras.  Albergue de montaña, Vitoria (Álava), 1957. Arquitecto: Javier Carvajal Ferrer. Image © José Calvo. Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra "In the years of modernity and the avant-garde," explains the ICO Museum in its official communiqué, "the use of the models became especially popular because they are objects that help to describe buildings very well and are already very simple and plastic, devoid of ornamentation and other classical languages and compositions. While the images allowed the architects to depict the model, or rather, to search for the views, frames or compositions that highlight its values and characteristics in relation to the building that represents." Commissioner Iñaki Bergera emphasized that the exhibition reflects "on the construction of the image of architecture in a broad sense, through the models as conceptual representations of what architecture aspired to be through the documentation and visual interpretation of them using only photographs."  Filial Seat, Barcelona, 1961. Arquitectos: César Ortiz Echagüe Rubio y Rafael Echaide Itarte. Image © Fondo O. Maspons. Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya. Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra Below are some of the photographs found at the exhibition. Casa Bloc / Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres i Clavé y Joan Baptista Subirana  "Casa Bloc", Barcelona, 1933. Arquitectos: Josep Lluís Sert i López, Josep Torres i Clavé y Joan Baptista Subirana i Subirana. Image © Fondo J. Torres Clavé. Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya Club Táchira, Caracas / Eduardo Torroja y Fruto Vivas  Club de Táchira, Caracas (Venezuela), 1956. Arquitectos: Eduardo Torroja Miret y José Fructoso Vivas Vivas. Image © Archives de la construction moderne– École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, fonds Alberto Sartoris. © García Moya High mountain lodge / Fernando Higueras, Juan Pedro Capote and José Serrano-Suñer Polo  Refugio de alta montaña. Primer premio concurso Mateu Pla, 1958. Arquitectos: Fernando Higueras Díaz, Juan Pedro Capote Aquino y José Serrano-Suñer Polo. Image © Fundación Fernando Higueras Preliminary design outdoor gazebo for music band / Juan Daniel Fullaondo  Anteproyecto de Templete al aire libre para banda de música. Premio Nacional de Arquitectura, 1962. Arquitecto: Juan Daniel Fullaondo Errazu. Image © Archivo Paco Gómez / Fundación Foto Colectania National Opera House competition / Rafael Aburto  Concurso para el Teatro Nacional de la Ópera, Madrid, 1963. Arquitecto: Rafael Aburto Renobales. Image © Archivo General de la Universidad de Navarra JORBA Laboratory headquarters / Miguel Fisac  Sede de los Laboratorios JORBA, Madrid, 1965. Arquitecto: Miguel Fisac Serna. Image © C. Jiménez. Fundación Fisac Torres Blancas / Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza  Torres Blancas, Madrid, 1969. Arquitecto: Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. Image © Colección Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya. Fotografía: L. Jiménez 'Modeling for the Camera: Photography of architectural models in Spain, 1925-1970' is a project promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Development, organized and produced with the support of the ICO Foundation. Along with collaboration from PHotoEspaña and the FAME research project for documentation work.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How to Use Mindfulness to Escape the Stresses of Architectural Life Posted: 16 Apr 2017 02:30 AM PDT  Studio for Yoga-Kamadhenu / Carolina Echevarri + Alberto Burckhardt. Cundinamarca, Colombia. Image © Juan Cristobal Cobo Mental wellbeing is a real topic of concern in architecture. A recent survey by The Architects' Journal revealed that over 52% of architecture students expressed concern regarding their mental health.[1] When one considers the long hours, the competitive nature of the course, as well as the sheer duration of study, this perhaps isn't that surprising. The "all-nighter" attitude of most architecture schools exacerbates the problem, as studies show a lack of sleep reduces the mind's resilience to issues such as anxiety and depression.[2] Yet this aspect of the architectural education system isn't showing any sign of changing. What can architectural students (and their professional counterparts) do to minimize the impact that architecture has on their psychological wellbeing? I would argue that the answer, at least partly, can be found in the practice of mindfulness.  wNw Cafe / Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. Image © Dinh Thu Thuy Mindfulness at its core is a meditation-based practice that relies on the simple act of focus, typically on breathing or physical sensations. Although Buddhist in origin, it was brought to the attention of Westerners in the latter part of the 20th century by scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn, who was interested in the ways in which mindfulness could be used to reduce stress. Following a particularly stressful time in my life a few years ago, I thought I'd give it a try, using a ten-minute-a-day meditation app. The first time I tried meditating I was fairly skeptical, although ten minutes away from screens and noise didn't seem like it could do any harm. I promised myself I would try the exercise every day for a week, and strangely as this week went on I finished each session feeling calmer and more balanced. And, more surprisingly, as a result of this I started to feel happier as well. I have since learned that practicing these exercises can cause an actual physical change to the brain—a reduction in parts of the amygdala.[3] These were some of the earliest parts of the brain to evolve, and are closely linked to our fight or flight tendencies; despite fleeing or fighting not being particularly great life decisions in modern society, when we get stressed our amygdala still bombards us with adrenalin, which causes many to feel anxious or worried. However, it turns out you can train this part of your brain just like a muscle, and with my newly slimmed-down amygdala I started to feel not only a greater sense of calm but was far more aware of how my mind was behaving. Scientists now believe that meditation can offer us far more than simply feeling calmer and happier. In the hundreds of studies released over the last 20 years, mindfulness has been shown to increase focus, improve the ability to multitask, boost creativity, improve memory and even the ability to regulate emotions.[4] These are all key "soft skills" for an architect and can add up to make you far more employable. Improved focus will help you to draw and model more efficiently than your counterparts, while the ability to multitask can prove vital as you work on different projects across a variety of workstages. Improved creativity will help you to stand out in a team design charrette; a better memory will help you to recall the name of that great precedent you saw; and managing your emotions can be crucial in those meetings with difficult tutors, clients, planners, or members of the IT team who ask if you've tried turning it off and on again.  Kontum Indochine Café / Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Kon Tum Province, Vietnam. Image © Hiroyuki Oki Architect Vo Trong Nghia recently paid for all 80 of his staff to attend a vipassana meditation retreat, which are renowned for long periods of silence.[5] These focus on what Buddhists refer to as the three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and non-self—all of which seem particularly relevant for architects. The company has also incorporated a mandatory 2-hour meditation session into their day.[6] While not quite going to these extremes, I now run a weekly mindfulness session in our office at Assael Architecture. Despite common misconceptions, this doesn't involve scented candles or holding hands and chanting. Instead, think breathing exercises, visualizations, and honing your awareness of the sounds around you or the weight of your body pressing down on your chair. Anybody in the office is welcome to join, not just architects, and it has been met with very positive responses. Almost every "first-timer" has gone away saying how relaxed they feel afterward, while those who have been doing it for longer remark upon how much they look forward to their lunchtime escape from the chaos of the construction industry. Herein also lies the beauty of mindfulness—it can be seen as a tool to strengthen and shape your mind long-term, or simply as a nice way to enjoy ten minutes of silence. If you'd like a taster of mindfulness, next time you're feeling particularly stressed or anxious, here are a few simple exercises to get you started:
Doing one or more of these activities will focus you on the present moment, and hopefully pull you out of the stress-inducing narratives we find ourselves in most days. Ben Channon is a Senior Architect at Assael Architecture and is currently undertaking his training as a mindfulness practitioner. He runs the Instagram @mindful.inspiration and is currently writing a design guide on architecture and mental wellbeing. References:
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| Posted: 16 Apr 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © William Crocker
 © William Crocker From the architect. The project occupies a previously vacant parcel adjacent the clients existing home. The new home is a linked primary residence for their aging parents with a secondary rental unit. The expressed intent was to create a balance between a shared living experience between the families and a sense of autonomy. The primary unit occupies the entire ground floor, which is organized around a deeply recessed entry porch and an internal, private courtyard. Social program components — kitchen, living, dining — were position to respond to similar spaces of the existing home to create shared-use relationships. Whereas private spaces were located towards the extremities. The secondary unit occupies the street-side second floor, which is accessed from the shared entry porch, and intentionally mirrors the second-floor form of the existing home.  © William Crocker Since the home is considered an extension of the original residence there are no obvious, visual clues for entry, aside from an open carport, and is meant to be formally anonymous. The expressiveness comes from the manipulation of the traditional gabled roof form, which is shifted down the length of the home. Spaces are defined by the slanted and stepped ridge line, creating complex volumetric conditions, both expansive and confining, in reaction to specific program areas — high ceilings in living areas, compressed spaces in bedrooms. The massing and positioning of the home itself is meant to re-form exterior space, which produced containment for the rear, secluded yard and raised porch areas that expand interior uses.  © William Crocker  Sections  © William Crocker Critically, the project reflects an ongoing effort to embrace and contextualize historic and conventional domestic types and spatial relationships through the idiosyncratic interpretation of form.  © William Crocker  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| First House Designed by Gaudí to Open as Museum Posted: 16 Apr 2017 01:00 AM PDT ![Casa Vicens. Image © Eric Huang [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_swD6J4xYc2gMv52uzgrHDHxWScSTcMqrLXhTRrd9x5CjSxhB2FO3kheYslqs2m5MHj_9H3f9Uba0_0jbN-PYCfoGyvDe8BQnraNHdTjRpvrDYSrTCSnRHFxRFTXBV2LN4xfIZU4dRtEmyejS0RlhYOnePHzGiC-7uX0HsukzcgsRMlkfhLJUX_5o4fa-ZDzmjwlJa1Qhb8kA=s0-d "Casa Vicens. Image © Eric Huang [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0") Casa Vicens. Image © Eric Huang [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0 It has been confirmed that the museum opening date for the Casa Vicens in Barcelona has been rescheduled for the second half of 2017. Originally scheduled for the second half of 2016, the reopening of Gaudi's first house was not able to be completed due to the complicated and labor intensive renovations. This will be the first time the house, declared World Heritage site, will be open to the public without it being a residential or private space. The Casa Vicens, located on 24 Carolines Street, was the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. In 1883 Manel Vicens, promoter of the project, commissioned the architect to build what would be his summer home. At that time Gràcia, now a cosmopolitan neighborhood, was a separate town. Therefore, the project did not contemplate the possibility of other buildings being built around it, and so to this day, it remains a completely freestanding building in a neighborhood characterized by its compact character, narrow streets, and high density of population. ![Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uQrWPzoMH1FBXqt_f7EeVOGEZMi5kkI21qnUxvb6WIde7LzSFBpPBCoC4bOeLA2YLA3QGWWsVkRviiwv8bVGeT6ORYDr_JJZszh8f20IaA5JYothSzAKQsW3g45wbAxtLtAlh-NLNP9Ix0N52XjqjJSY1xCD8vxVfhNu73kSdjFPaw0XDU=s0-d "Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0") Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0 The project is a key work for understanding Gaudi’s architecture and the development of modernism in Barcelona. Although the structure was enlarged in a respectful and successful manner by the architect Joan Baptista Serra de Martínez in 1925, the museum project has tried to preserve the essence of Gaudí, eschewing modern inventions or styles. In the words of Joan Abellà, director of the museum and former manager of MACBA, to the ABC Newspaper:
The architects of the project, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres and David García, similarly advocate the essence and originality of the work. For precisely that reason they emphasize that the main objective of the project always was "showcase the original work." The museum will try to maintain a sustainable level of tourism, developing a tourist impact plan that includes the possibility that the street at the entrance becomes partly, for pedestrians only. It would be ideal if 20% of visitors would be made up of locals, a challenge considering that the average number of local visitors to the museums in Barcelona is approximately 10%. It is estimated that 150,000 people will visit the museum each year, in small groups and preferably with online reservations to avoid queues that would hinder the normal operation of the neighborhood. With the price of admission, between €12 and €22, visitors will have access to the permanent exhibition, subdivided into three thematic blocks: the history of the estate, Casa Vicens as the essential manifesto of the work of Gaudí, and the social, cultural, and artistic context of the house. News via: El País, La Vanguardia and ABC.es. ![Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vx-3MWjuynHiJ2QAAG_eU20mm9xnpkvRJdEWjOkttFmgRP6_TNooiGeVIvb1dy1BBdvMXGjgbColbthWTuGeGhVM9zZMSTJBrbU5CmaAxgLvT7k2Wh070EoCTSucQwamZuJLRbgLLaJSnTnx3CGGz6TPBLZg1n8Y7si5iauizCIFMKsQjA=s0-d "Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0") Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0 ![Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tz94CvzrFSBiDnwmQfstH4lkEo7B0uJ7cu5_U1HFAaGGI30gBzuC8rnxANBbCPXUBjk1jbLQlQKlX0ymVMMnNwO_7z4zbeuUvv4UiX0caQWCY1dGf2xnUpj-MoNkgfGoz7eGPEaL6vIcG9mlxk9dhneFn9WVf4SJLbeImC4EPpR_7-GdrB=s0-d "Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0") Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0 ![Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vjQI6_OhbecRZ3ZsDxcpmN4bfBtKm35mE-0PY2yPlT1hHoXnQ9LjoA5z8PHp0XPWVE4PRHrCx42mCfAOgpCX2vNkNoiTbvEBG9FdP6shu3oG_HNmdGC1XsK_iXpth2nu8M8J7esehUHa15dzLQF8_bmzpxwcqqhIIcusZGOiidltwYLAny=s0-d "Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0") Detalle de la Casa Vicens. Image © Ian Gampon [Flickr], bajo licencia CC BY-ND 2.0  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Les écluses / BLAMM Architecture Posted: 15 Apr 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Arthur Pequin
 © Arthur Pequin From the architect. The project is located in the heart of Bordeaux on the left bank, northeast of downtown, in the district of Bacalan. It's the first land which has been given by the French Government as a result of the Duflot Law to build social housing in town. It is situated on the corner of two streets, Brunet and Dupleix, adjacent to the tramway.  © Arthur Pequin The position of this housing block with large bay windows benefits from the best exposure to natural day light.  © Arthur Pequin The building consists of 23 apartments, T1 and T3 bis in R + 2, plus attic. It combines a functional aspect and user comfort as well as some architectural, environmental, technical qualities. The black part is family housing and the white part is the social and student housing.  First Floor Plan The materials used, the effect with full and empty spaces, the « epannelage » highlight compounds volumes. Polychrome facades participates in organizing the whole buildings and the larger openings are arranged to provide a dynamic and contemporary architectural rhythm.  © Arthur Pequin The building is in a light or dark tone, briquettes are dark depending on volume. The lower part of the wall on the ground floor which is semi transparent creates a smooth transition between public and private space.  Section The design of the communal parts of the buildings have been inspired by the banks of the river Garonne in Bordeaux which is very close to the site. The walls in the communal parts are decorated with drawings of the various bridges in Bordeaux.  © Arthur Pequin  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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