Arch Daily |
- LET’s RIDE Lafayette / DAS-studio
- Around / studioLOOP
- KPWT Residence / Julsamano Bhongsatiern
- FLOS Scandinavia Showroom / OeO Studio
- Noe Valley House / designpad architecture
- Cornell University's Intuitive Push/Pull Furniture Series Blends Asian Sensibility with New York Flavor
- Steam Canoe / OCADU
- World's First Vertical Forest City Breaks Ground in China
- Boeddeker Park / WRNS Studio
- Diébédo Francis Kéré's Serpentine Pavilion Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu
- Rosa Muerta / ARCO mais
- Francine Houben on Washington D.C.'s Central Library, A Balancing Act Between Mies and Martin Luther King Jr.
- The Demolition of Delhi's Hall of Nations Reveals India's Broken Attitude to Architectural Heritage
- Rinconada Margaritas / Luis Aldrete
- NOHlab and Buşra Tunç Create Immersive Installation Based on Centuries-Old Architecture
- Bee Breeders Announce Winners of Hong Kong Pixel Homes Competition
- The Wedge House / Schema Architecture & Engineering
| LET’s RIDE Lafayette / DAS-studio Posted: 23 Jun 2017 07:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of DAS-studio
 Courtesy of DAS-studio From the architect. The second LET'S RIDE indoor cycling studio just opened on 24 Rue Chauchat, Paris 75009. The space, originally a printing factory and a bank with a relatively low ceiling was difficult to optimise. The original « Eiffel Structure » in the lobby and women's dressing room had to be kept, so it was stripped and exposed to it's raw form.  Courtesy of DAS-studio The specially DAS-studio conceived LED lighting circles the structures and evenly enlightens and warms the space.  Courtesy of DAS-studio The whole project is articulated around the cycling studio that occupies a central position. Metal cladding covers the studio wall to illustrate the immersive fitness experience in the room, and emphasise the soundproofing required for the indoor cycling sessions.  Floor Plan As usual in DAS-studio projects, a small number of carefully chosen materials are used for the design. The brass pivoting mirrors in the dressing rooms are a revisited version of the traditional french 'coiffeuse', with incorporated hairdryers. The same brass is used for the lights that are custom made to fit the space and within shelfs and counter top of the lobby.  Courtesy of DAS-studio Concrete for which DAS-studio has a particular affection, was used to cast the front desk. A special casting technique was applied to incorporate the company logo. French OAK, traditionally used to make Armagnac barrels was crafted to design the simple benches throughout the studio.  Courtesy of DAS-studio The challenge was to have a similar atmosphere than the first LET'S RIDE, but to avoid standardisation and make the most of site specific features which is an important part of DAS-studio's creative approach.  Courtesy of DAS-studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 03:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of studioLOOP
 Courtesy of studioLOOP From the architect. This is a rebuilding project for husband, wife, and 3 sons. They wished dinning-kitchen which is separated from living space, concrete slab on grade for their dogs, and the garden that can protect their privacy and safety. We arranged entry, closet, washroom, bathroom, and pantry on the west and east side to produce living and dinning-kitchen space which is protected from the hustle and bustle of outside.  Courtesy of studioLOOP  1st Floor Plan  Courtesy of studioLOOP  Section Also because the small spaces of the west and east side have enough structural walls, we could give a high flexibility of design and comfortable breeze to the center space. Even though the living space and the dinning-kitchen space has same sqft, both height are absolutely different to bring a great change. Living is surrounded by two stairs, study room, and some windows to feel other family's activity. This is a house which has so many details from careful work of craftsman.  Courtesy of studioLOOP  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| KPWT Residence / Julsamano Bhongsatiern Posted: 23 Jun 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Beersingnoi
 © Beersingnoi From the architect. This KPWT residence project offers an example of a modern house in the tropical climate country. In order to build a modern architecture in this particular area, it is not only about a form, less-is-more, clean and clear, box-like building but also, for its longevity, building needs some sun shading devices as well as a roof for the rains. This project offers architecture which is more applicable.  © Beersingnoi The house is on an 800 square metre land plot, situated in a residential area of Bangkok, Thailand where the owner wants to build a house for his contemporary family; two storey, open-plan living, dining area with a double volume space and three bedrooms are altogether in the main building whereas a 6 metre high ceiling multifunctioning hall and cinema room are in one another. Both are connected to each other by a gallery on the second floor with another bedroom behind it.  © Beersingnoi  Ground Floor Plan  © Beersingnoi  First Floor Plan Orientation of the building has strong relationship with the context, the 6 metre high building turns its back on the unpleasant 8 storey office building nearby in the north, whilst the 2 storey main wing makes a connection across the site to adjacent existing 1970s modern house in the south, creating an interesting conversation between the two modern houses that are built through different times.  © Beersingnoi Mass of the architecture itself illustrates admiration to the site, the long horizontal lines are used to emphasise and celebrate long frontage of this land plot, 40 metre long facing the road. For the tropical climate aspect, main surface of the house is slightly angled to create sun shading for itself instead of only plain surface confronting the sun. The aluminium windows also makes a feature, rather than building another wall as a second skin or a sun protection, which is widely used elsewhere, the windows are preferably designed to be sun shading themselves by embedding the vertical frame gradiently to control daylight from sunrise to sunset.  © Beersingnoi  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| FLOS Scandinavia Showroom / OeO Studio Posted: 23 Jun 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Morten Bentzon
 © Morten Bentzon From the architect. OEO Studio, a multi-disciplinary Copenhagen-based design studio, has unveiled its complete redesign of the 500 m2 FLOS Scandinavia showroom in Denmark. Located in an old tractor repair workshop amongst the spacious former warehouses of one of Copenhagen's old industrial docks, the FLOS showroom has been entirely transformed by OEO Studio to create a bold new spatial experience with an international feel that allows the products to take centre stage.  © Morten Bentzon OEO Studio has worked with spatial elements that draw on the structure of the building itself – monolithic and contrasting elements that inspire curiosity bring the products to life and create a dynamic interplay between architectural and home lighting. The brief from FLOS Scandinavia was to create a showroom of international standing; to create a natural integration of work spaces into the overall space, as well as to design a comprehensive display system that works for FLOS architectural, home and outdoor lighting.  © Morten Bentzon A playful sculptural staircase works as a dramatic display element and as a zone divider within the open-plan space, creating a natural transition between architectural and home lighting. With its bold appearance the staircase triggers curiosity and works as a perfect backdrop for the products. It is like a staircase to heaven leading towards the sky.  © Morten Bentzon Another important design element is the Cover House, a separate home lighting display area within the showroom, which is clad with brick from Danish brickwork manufacturer, Petersen Tegl. The masonry was carefully selected by OEO Studio to create a perfect contrast and to give emphasis to the FLOS lighting products.  Showroom The OEO Studio-designed showroom features many unique architectural details, including bespoke shelving units and a playful and inspiring new display system that offers an interesting approach to display lighting. The display system has been designed so that it can be configured in multiple ways, offering a perfect system to showcase lighting solutions by FLOS and to create a subtle and inspiring spatial backdrop.  © Morten Bentzon The main inspiration for the OEO Studios design solution was the structure and history of the old building – the monolithic architecture, the contrasts of materials, and the interplay of natural and artificial light.  © Morten Bentzon Thomas Lykke, creative director of OEO Studio says: "We have worked with spatial elements that draw on the body of this wonderful old industrial building. Monolithic and contrasting structures have been deployed to create a play of light and shadow – an ambiance that brings the iconic FLOS products to centre stage and inspires curiosity about the possibilities of lighting."  © Morten Bentzon  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Noe Valley House / designpad architecture Posted: 23 Jun 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Adam Rouse
 © Adam Rouse From the architect. The original home was a modest one story over garage, two bedroom, one bath home in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Similar to other homes in San Francisco, when built, a handful of other very similar homes were constructed adjacent to it, each slightly different than the next.  © Adam Rouse Our clients are a young family who at the start of the project had one toddler and towards the end another. Their dream for the home was to modernize and expand the space to allow for a growing family. Connecting to the rear yard and expanding vertically to capture the downtown views were vital as were an open floor that was flooded with light.  © Adam Rouse  1st / 2nd Level Plans  © Adam Rouse  Roof Plan At the ground floor the rear was dug out and expanded to allow for a living space and home office. At the main floor the space was gutted and expanded out with a new rear yard roof deck and an open floor plan. And at the new third story, a master suite and roof deck with city views was designed along with two bedrooms and a new bath.  © Adam Rouse  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 09:00 AM PDT  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning has unveiled a 12-piece versatile furniture series designed for the school's New York City space in Manhattan's financial district. Created by Hong Kong-based architecture office CL3 and interdisciplinary design studio Lim + Lu (founding partners of which are Cornell alumni), each piece has been inspired both by their New York context and intuitive operation by a global user.  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland Description from the Architects Lim + Lu noted that the pushcart is uniquely New York and has become an ubiquitous part of the city's landscape. At every turn and corner, the pushcarts are transporting goods in, out, and around the city. Although it is inherently New York, the pushcart represents matters at a larger scale — globalisation.  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland The design journey began by examining the inherent qualities of these pushcarts and how they are used on a daily basis. They are sometimes used in an upright manner and at other times adopt a more reclined position. This bipolar characteristic of the pushcart presented the opportunity to design a furniture series that could also have multiple personalities. For example, a piece that functions as a three-seater sofa in its reclined position may transform into a coat rack when it's upright. When a piece is in one posture, one can notice subtle hints that it can be used in another stance. This exploration resulted in 12 pieces of multi-purpose portable furniture.  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland Due to the bespoke nature of these furniture pieces, its context was crucial to the success of the project. William Lim of CL3 commented: "We always like to approach our designs within context. Our practice is rooted in the principles of Asian design. We blend an intuitive sense of light, balance and proportion with contemporary solutions and innovative materials to produce design that are versatile. That's what we have done with this range: we have thought about the true purpose of the furniture. How it will become part of Cornell's fabric, go beyond the primary usage, and spread out within the context it has been placed within."  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland Vincent Lim of Lim + Lu added "This has been a fun journey. As alumni we have been peering back into our old school and thought what could we give back. Thinking back to our time as students and how we used the spaces around Cornell, to come together to share ideas. These have a nice function and form element to them, also to apply the Cornell crest to the structure adds a nice sense of pride. Unveiling these in May is a great time to coincide with the 29th annual ICFF platform for global design, where we also have a booth showing our other designs."  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland Kent Kleinman, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of Cornell AAP commented: "Each piece is a hybrid; a modular urban element that functions as a kind of infrastructure, mated to a customized artifact specific to particular program. Taken together, they are a microcosm of Cornell's famous lessons in college urbanism." Design Type: Product Design  © NirutBenjabanpot, Garrett Rowland  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Mark Tholen
 © Khristel Stecher From the architect. OCAD's Steam Canoe was inspired by the canoe; The vessel that symbolizes the rich history of the indigenous first nations and early exploration of North America. The shoreline shelter was built to cut through the harsh wind of the cold winter shoreline, reflecting the interior space created by overturned water vessels. Solar hydronic components were installed within the structure, reflecting the underlying theme of freeze-thaw. Evacuated solar tubes heated a capture pan at the rear of the interior, melting snow and generating warm water, creating a fog halo that emerged from within the structure.  Canoe Parts Diagram The Steam Canoe structure was achieved with a combination of computer assisted parametric geometry, manual cutting of the computer generated forms and innovative experimental production combining the traditional process of rolling Press Laminated Timber Panels with a new mechanical fastening technology called GRIP Metal, a type of "metal velcro," applied in the form of continuous thin-gauge sheet metal layers, with grip hooks on both faces of the sheet.  © Curtis Ho GRIP Metal simplified the process of sandwiching two layers of 1/8 "Oak and one layer of 3/4" Spruce, eliminating the adhesives typically used for laminate panels. This continuous steel sheet is pressed into the veneer and core lumber in this simple press rolling method. The results are strong and lightweight panels allowing an assembly into a pavilion without need for substructure, the external skin is the structure.  © Khristel Stecher  Building Detail and Elevations  © Khristel Stecher  Timber Panels Diagram  © Khristel Stecher Different radii are made possible by adjusting the feeding angle of the assembled panels carefully into the roll press. The panels have a stronger bond than traditional chemical adhesive methods; the components can be separated at the end of their lifetime into pure material origins of wood and metal, making this a perfect innovation in material, process, application, product and sustainability.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| World's First Vertical Forest City Breaks Ground in China Posted: 23 Jun 2017 07:00 AM PDT  © Stefano Boeri Architetti Construction has begun on the Liuzhou Forest City in the mountainous region of Guangxi, China. Designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti, the new ground-up city will accommodate up to 30,000 people in a master plan of environmentally efficient structures covered top-to-bottom in plants and trees. Liuzhou Forest City will contain all of the essential typologies of the modern city – offices, houses, hotels, hospitals and schools – housed within a 175 hectare site near the Liujiang River. Employing the firm's signature vertical forest system, The facades of each building will be covered in plant life, with a total 40,000 trees and nearly 1 million plants from over 100 species specified.  © Stefano Boeri Architetti This implementation of greenery will benefit both residents and the environment, acting as passive cooling systems for interior spaces, noise barriers to shield the city from the nearby highway and a micro-habitat supporting the region's lush biodiversity of organisms including plants, birds, insects and small animals. The system will also improve the air quality of the area, as it is estimated to absorb 10,000 tons of CO2 and 57 tons of pollutants per year, in turn producing approximately 900 tons of oxygen.  © Stefano Boeri Architetti  © Stefano Boeri Architetti In addition to the benefits of the planted facades, each building has been designed for energy self-sufficiency, with geothermal systems providing interior air conditions and rooftop solar panels offering a renewable energy source. Transportation to downtown Liuzhou will also utilize efficiency means, including a high-speed rail line and electric vehicles.  © Stefano Boeri Architetti  © Stefano Boeri Architetti The forest city concept builds upon the firm's vertical forest research, which has resulted in the world's first completed vertical forest tower in Milan, as well as plans for several other iterations of the system throughout the world including the Chinese cities of Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. With construction on Liuzhou Forest City now underway, the project is expected to be realized in just 3 years, with an anticipated opening in 2020. News via Stefano Boeri Architetti.
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| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Matthew Milman
 © Matthew Milman From the architect. San Francisco's Tenderloin is the City's densest neighborhood, and most of its residents live below the poverty line in small apartments without access to back yards or green space. Re-built in 1985, Boeddeker Park never lived up to its potential as the neighborhood's largest public park. Early attempts to address safety concerns resulted in a maze of fences and visibility across the space was poor. Neighbors called it "Prison Park." In response, The Trust for Public Land, in partnership with the City of San Francisco, teamed with WRNS Studio to redesign and completely rebuild the one-acre park and clubhouse to meet the needs of the community.  © Matthew Milman  Site Plan  © Matthew Milman Together, The Trust for Public Land and WRNS conducted extensive community outreach, holding public meetings and forums at the site as well as at nearby youth centers, senior centers and churches—wherever local people were likely to come. Key decisions were made at these forums. The result is a new landmark park and clubhouse that serves as a model of civic engagement, inspiration, resource conservation and adaptability. The clubhouse was conceived as an inviting living room for the neighborhood. Its geometries and language are derived from integration with the park and a respectful contrast to the surrounding neighborhood fabric. This building extends both the tradition of San Francisco clubhouse design and the history of delightful contrast found in Tenderloin architecture.  © Matthew Milman Organized around two flexible gathering spaces, the clubhouse's main recreation room fronts Eddy Street and frames the main park entry on the street. The form of the room reaches to the sky for light and volume and bends into the park to strengthen the feeling of "park pavilion". This room opens to the main entry plaza. The recreation room is transparent, making interior activities evident to both the neighborhood and park. Addressing the community's need for open space that supports a wide age-range of patrons, park amenities include different areas supporting adult exercise, basketball, youth play structures, and socializing and gathering.  Elevation / Section Boeddeker Park is one of the first participants in the Sustainable Sites Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance practices.  © Matthew Milman  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Diébédo Francis Kéré's Serpentine Pavilion Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu Posted: 23 Jun 2017 05:00 AM PDT  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Following the opening of the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion, designed this year by Diébédo Francis Kéré (Kéré Architecture), photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has turned his lens to London. Designed to mimic a tree, or a canopy of trees, the wooden structure has been designed to fuse cultural references from Kéré's home town of Gando in Burkino Faso with more "experimental" construction techniques. His ambition is that the pavilion becomes a social condenser – "a symbol of storytelling and togetherness." You can find out more about the design and development of the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion, including its unique climatic features, here.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu
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| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Paulo Goulart
 © Paulo Goulart From the architect. Situated on the northern side of S.Miguel Island, the plot has an open view over the sorrounding fields and woods.  © Paulo Goulart The client expressed a desire of openness and harmony with nature, and very little concerns about how he would like the interior of the house, except from the wish of including memories of old travels through some objects.  Floor Plan The design keeps the action of building minimal, as aethereal as possible when working with concrete, shaping a simple frame and the border between inside and outside, giving it flexibility.  © Paulo Goulart So we designed and built a floating concrete box. The concrete frame does not touch the ground, and the living space is separated from the outside only through a set of sliding glass panels.  Cross Section In a plot sorrounded by high stone walls, the building is located next to the western end, with no relation with the street, becoming almost invisible from it.  © Paulo Goulart The tension created on the west side between wall and construction gives to the in-between space a sense of intimacy, enough to define it as a garden, in opposition to the rest of the plot.  © Paulo Goulart From the outside, the building materializes itself through light and shadows, its mass and presence appearing and desappearing with a change of wiewpoint or the mere passage of a cloud.  © Paulo Goulart The interior space of the house, taken to the essential, develops into the sleeping area and the living, separated by a functional block including storage, kitchen and the restroom: a box inside the box. Living room and bedroom find an extension on the ouside under the roof slab.  © Paulo Goulart  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2017 03:30 AM PDT  © GSAPP Conversations In the tenth episode of GSAPP Conversations, Jorge Otero-Pailos (Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP) speaks with Francine Houben, founder and creative director of the Dutch practice Mecanoo. Recorded before the school's annual Paul S. Byard Memorial Lecture, their conversation centers on her practice's work to renovate and redevelop the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington D.C., Mies van der Rohe's last building and only library project. 
GSAPP Conversations is a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice. Each episode pivots around discussions on current projects, research, and obsessions of a diverse group of invited guests at Columbia, from both emerging and well-established practices. Usually hosted by the Dean of the GSAPP, Amale Andraos, the conversations also feature the school's influential faculty and alumni and give students the opportunity to engage architects on issues of concern to the next generation. You can listen to every episode of GSAPP Conversations, here. This particular episode is available to listen to directly on Soundcloud and through the iTunes store and iOS Podcasts app, where you can also Subscribe. GSAPP Conversations is a podcast produced by Columbia GSAPP's Office of Communications and Events in collaboration with ArchDaily.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Demolition of Delhi's Hall of Nations Reveals India's Broken Attitude to Architectural Heritage Posted: 23 Jun 2017 02:30 AM PDT  © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/33834913@N00/409859817'>Flickr CC user Panoramas</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/'>CC BY-ND 2.0</a> On the morning of April 24th, Delhi's architecture community reacted in shock and disgust to the news that the city's Hall of Nations and the four Halls of Industries had been demolished. Bulldozers had worked through the previous night at the Pragati Maidan exhibition grounds in central Delhi, where the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) razed the iconic structures to the ground, ignoring pleas from several Indian and international institutions. The Hall of Nations, the world's first and largest-span space-frame structure built in reinforced concrete, holds special significance in India's post-colonial history—it was inaugurated in 1972 to commemorate twenty-five years of the young country's independence. The demolition was met with widespread condemnation by architects and historians alike, not just because of the loss of an important piece of Delhi's heritage, but also for the clandestine manner in which the demolition was conducted. The demolition was part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan—the adjacent Nehru Pavilion was demolished sometime in the ensuing week—to make way for a "world class, iconic, state of the art" Integrated Exhibition and Convention Centre (IECC) at Pragati Maidan. The architect of the structures, Raj Rewal, called it "an act of outrage" since the matter was sub-judice in the Delhi High Court at the time, with hearings scheduled for April 27, 2017, and May 1, 2017, on a writ petition filed by The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Rewal's own related petition in the same court, to declare and preserve the structures as a "work of art of national importance," had been dismissed just four days earlier, owing to a legal loophole concerning the definition of heritage. The ITPO stealthily used this narrow, week-long window to go ahead with its plans, thus evading judicial scrutiny. There are two significant questions that beg to be asked at this point. First, how in a city with several heritage preservation agencies does a situation arise where the judiciary is left to make calls on the fate of structures widely viewed as having heritage value? Second, what exactly constitutes the architectural heritage of a city with a history spanning more than two millennia?  © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pragati_Maidan,_Hall_6.JPG'>Wikimedia user Kprateek88</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> The answer to the first question concerns Delhi's messy bureaucratic machinery: there are as many as nine agencies, including the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the city's municipal corporations, and INTACH, concerned with the protection of the city's notified built heritage—all with varying degrees of power and influence. The buck stops with the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC), which works under the Indian Government's Ministry of Urban Development. The ITPO, while defending its case in the Delhi High Court, relied heavily on the HCC's recent decision to only consider buildings sixty years or older for inclusion in its heritage list. The decision itself, which left several other post-independence buildings in a legal vacuum of sorts and vulnerable to being demolished, is widely believed to have been driven by real estate concerns alone, and was criticized as a mere excuse to raze the structures by A G K Menon, former convener of INTACH's Delhi Chapter. Menon has vociferously campaigned for the protection of Delhi's "modern heritage" ever since the demolition of the Chanakya Cinema in 2008, which prompted INTACH to present a tentative list of sixty-two such buildings in Delhi to the HCC for protection in 2013. The list, which included buildings like Fariborz Sabha's Bahá'í House of Worship and Joseph Allen Stein's India Habitat Centre was "under consideration" by the HCC for over three years, and was only rejected once INTACH approached the Delhi High Court in 2016 alleging "complete abdication" of responsibility by the HCC. The decision was not surprising, as historian Narayani Gupta writes in a polemic in the Indian Express: "When 'heritage' is subsumed under 'urban development', what is the likely outcome?" she asks, suggesting that the HCC should ideally lie under the purview of the Ministry of Culture. In regard to our second question, Delhi-based architect Gautam Bhatia notes in India Today how the city's "selective preservation and development have left a legacy inconsistent with its real history." His words couldn't ring more true today: for example, the Purana Qila, the medieval fortress of the Mughal city of Sher Garh, stands unperturbed under the ASI's protection—quite rightly so—just across the road and barely two-hundred meters south of Pragati Maidan, while the Hall of Nations lies in ruins. "While Mughal and colonial examples are allowed to persist as historical markers, little of post-independent life is preserved in public architecture," Bhatia says. Is age to be the sole criterion to ascertain the heritage value of a building? Is a building's architectural, cultural, or international significance of no consequence?  The Purana Qila, less than 200 meters from the Hall of Nations site, is covered by the Heritage Conservation Committee due to its age.. Image© <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/robphoto/2748901660'>Flickr user robphoto</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> To put things into perspective, the Hall of Nations, designed as the centerpiece of the Permanent Exhibition Grounds hosting the Asia72 trade fair, was called "a new step in the development of modernity in terms of aesthetic, constructive innovation and social engagement," by Aurélien Lemonier, the curator of the department of architecture at Centre Pompidou, Paris. The International Union of Architects, in a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, identified it as a "living testimony to India's contribution to the contemporary architecture and engineering excellence." With several other letters of support from leading Indian and international organizations such as ETH Zurich and New York's Museum of Modern Art noting its architectural and engineering ingenuity, as well as a Change.org petition with 4,300 signatures sent to the Indian Prime Minister, was it not imperative to recognize and honor the heritage value of these structures? There's no dearth of precedent for modernist buildings being declared heritage structures. In India itself, the Le Corbusier-designed Capitol Complex in the northern city of Chandigarh, was accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site honor as recently as 2016. The issue, many believe in the capital of the world's largest democracy, is inherently political in nature. "For too long, architecture has been the victim of political decisions. Since major monuments all have historic associations, it falls on the political party in power to decide the relevance of that association," observes Bhatia. India has been largely governed by the center-left Indian National Congress (INC) for the majority of its post-independence chapter. Congresswoman Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977, took a personal interest in the construction of the Permanent Exhibition Grounds as the eponymous Nehru Pavilion was to house a permanent exhibition on the life of her father, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.  Image by <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pragathi_maidan_Delhi1.jpg'>Wikimedia user Rameshng</a> in public domain The ruling center-right nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which rode a strong wave of anti-incumbency to a heavy majority in the Indian Parliament in 2014, challenges Nehru-vian policies, seeking to move away from the welfare-state economics of the INC in order to be seen as pro-development; the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, approved the redevelopment plan of Pragati Maidan in January this year. Development—but at what cost? Speaking to The Hindu, historian Sohail Hashmi ventures as far as to say that the government's primary target was the Nehru Pavilion and Menon agrees, saying that "They want to rewrite history in their own way." Rewal calls them "philistines" while Bhatia reacts in hyperbole: "as [a former British] viceroy's house, could the Rashtrapati Bhavan [President's Estate] not succumb one day to the rage of an irate nationalist?" Another subject worth pondering over is the reason why this demolition did not create a public outcry outside of the intellectual community. The land of Gandhi has a rich history of peaceful non-cooperation, which was successfully employed by architecture students in 1989 against the government's proposal to, ironically, install a seated statue of Gandhi himself, in place of the Edwin Lutyens-designed Canopy at the India Gate in New Delhi. So where were the rebels this time around? "We architects got engaged in our work and forgot we are leaving people behind. We've not been able to communicate our problems, our objectives, our goals," Menon explains dejectedly. He also states that a monument like the Taj Mahal won't meet the same fate as citizens understand its significance, something modern architecture is denied. "Also, the Taj Mahal is old, so you believe it cannot be replaced. Modern architecture suffers because it is modern. They think it can be replaced." he adds.  © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pragatimaidanhall6.jpg'>Wikimedia user Raulcaesar</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> At the end of the day, regardless of their heritage status, how difficult would it have been to not demolish these structures which occupy barely four percent of the total area of the complex, instead accommodating the IECC on the remaining 120 acres of land available to the ITPO? How difficult would it have been to open up the redevelopment brief to an international architectural competition which hinged on being able to deliver the ITPO's requirements while contextualizing the new development around the Hall of Nations precinct? Because as Gupta concludes brilliantly in The Wire, "A truly world-class city is not one that destroys to build, but one where icons from different pasts live together happily."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rinconada Margaritas / Luis Aldrete Posted: 23 Jun 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Onnis Luque
 © Onnis Luque From the architect. The project is a development of vertical housing, deployed with three buildings in a total extension of 10,126m2. A fundamental part of the project has to do with the terrain, because it conserves a canyon with a significant density of trees and plants, so that 80% of the land is destined for green areas and open space, this represents a privilege, given its urban condition.  Diagram  Master Plan The layout strategy liberates space by creating areas that dialogue and integrate with the landscape, in this way the set of public spaces, gardens and glen takes the structure of daily encounters that fosters collective coexistence. On the other hand the orientation of the buildings is worked to achieve the highest percentage of views from the units as well as the structural system was thought to give the interior a greater sense of privacy and the units configuration achieved a cross ventilation.  © Onnis Luque  © Onnis Luque The concrete together with the landscape design give personality to the project keeping the atmosphere of the place to the maximum. The layout of the buildings leaves an interior space that front the street giving continuity to the low rise neighborhood.  Typical Floor Plan  © Onnis Luque  South Section  © Onnis Luque  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| NOHlab and Buşra Tunç Create Immersive Installation Based on Centuries-Old Architecture Posted: 23 Jun 2017 01:00 AM PDT  © NOHlab As part of the Third Istanbul Biennial, NOHlab and architect Buşra Tunç collaborated with HAS Architects to create OCULUS: an experiential light and sound-based installation. The exhibit focuses on employing a historic location, the Single-Dome Hall of the historic Istanbul Imperial Arsenal, to reinterpret a spatial moment using technology and design. The central theme of the project is the experimentation of permanence, illustrated in the juxtaposition between the dynamic visuals displayed on the temporary structure and the 16th-century architecture.  © NOHlab The form of the installation is a response to the geometry of the existing dome. Offering a contemporary interpretation of the original building's arches, the "light dome" is a geodesic structure that features large triangular panels on which visuals are displayed. Visitors step inside the space and are almost completely enveloped in the semicircle of interlocking screens, able to fully immerse in its atmosphere.  © NOHlab According to the architects, the sense that comes with being surrounded is meant to help disconnect the viewer's consciousness of time and place. The top of the structure is left without panels, allowing for an uninterrupted dialogue between the exhibit and its context. To highlight this connection, a designated ray of light focuses itself on the oculus of the dome, then disperses. From the Architects: Taking the Single-Dome Hall as the focal point, the exhibition uses contemporary interpretations to alternate between old and new, whole and fragment, real and virtual, balanced and unbalanced states.  © NOHlab The graphics guide viewers through a narrative that weaves together the tangible and virtual in an attempt to impart a disoriented perception of space. Undulating geometries sweep across the screens around the dark enclosure, shifting in color and light intensity. Ranging from visualizing fragments of architectural space to lush metaphysical landscapes, the project showcases a connection between design, technology, and environment. To complete the interactive performance, the visuals are accompanied by an atmospheric soundtrack scored by Giray Gürkal that queues itself to match its visual counterpart.  © NOHlab The project's intention is to represent the ideologies of HAS Architects—specifically showcasing a forward-thinking mindset that integrates digital technology with architectural thinking. Through its form and sensory experience, OCULUS situates itself as both installation art and a commentary on the spatial and temporal questions of the future of the built environment.  © NOHlab Space & content design: NOHlab (deniz kader, candaş şişman), Buşra Tunç News via: Buşra Tunç.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bee Breeders Announce Winners of Hong Kong Pixel Homes Competition Posted: 22 Jun 2017 11:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Bee Breeders Bee Breeders have selected winners of the Hong Kong Pixel Homes competition, seeking to address the pressures of expanding populations and urban growth on existing housing markets. The competition asked for solutions which would reconsider our entrenched conventional forms of housing with "formal, technological, and material strategies predicated on modularity and repetition". In announcing the competition results, the jury applauded the exploration of density, amenity and public/private adjacency in the winning schemes, recognizing their consideration for novel approaches to domestic culture and tradition. The competition winners, including noted 'Green' and 'Student' schemes, are set out below. First PrizeTowers within a Tower: Lap Chi Kwong, Alison Von Glinow, Kevin Lamyuktseung  First Prize: Exterior Perspective . Image Courtesy of Bee Breeders The winning scheme 'Towers within a Tower' reimagined the idea of vertical living. Rather than typical stacked apartments, individual units are staggered vertically, establishing a repetitive module for adapted use across Hong Kong. A stepped façade between floors allows for more exposure to natural light, whilst also incorporating circulation and courtyards.
Second PrizeVertical Village: François Chantier, Maria Fernandez  Second Prize: Exterior Perspective. Image Courtesy of Bee Breeders The second place proposal was hailed for its reformulation of typical domestic typologies in order to solve Hong Kong's housing crisis. Using the vernacular gable, the scheme offers a varied sectional treatment to each module, providing a dynamic, rich spatial variety whilst helping to form an interconnected vertical village. A robust morphology, along with simplified post-and-beam construction results in a scheme which is both adaptable, economical, and flexible. Third Prize + BB Student AwardUpside - Down Machine: Yukang Yang, Jingwen Cui / Beijing University of Technology  Third Prize + BB Student Award: Exterior Render. Image Courtesy of Bee Breeders The third place proposal draws inspiration from the Metabolist capsule tower, furthering the micro-unit dwelling as a mechanized zone for flexibility, aesthetic appeal, and efficiency. Circulation and bathrooms are contained in a fixed central core, whilst living spaces rhythmically rotate and interchange. The scheme drew praise for its critique of the dystopian future of technical solutions to the housing crisis, offering an exacerbation of the problematic tendencies of urban living. Whilst not proposed as a firm solution, the scheme relies on the optimistic vision of the inherent fun in "relaying the activity of the private domestic sphere in a theater of spectacle for the public realm". BB Green AwardHong Kong Pixel Homes - Lanterns of Lives: Danaiporn Pongamornprom, Thongchai Wongsrisuppakul, Veeramon Suwannasang.  Green Prize: Exterior Perspective . Image Courtesy of Bee Breeders News via: Bee Breeders.
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| The Wedge House / Schema Architecture & Engineering Posted: 22 Jun 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Nikos Alexopoulos
 © Nikos Alexopoulos From the architect. The Wedge house is a custom-built single family home located in the eastern suburbs of Athens, in the mountainous and full of pine trees area of Pikermi, named Drafi. The site is quite distinctive and has many challenging features. The main complexity is the steep terrain with an almost 20-meter- height-difference from one side of the site to the other. The virtually vertical cliffs on both edges made access very difficult, so when a mild inclined surface appeared in the middle of the site it was quite inevitable that the house would be situated there.  © Nikos Alexopoulos Our design concentrated in creating a house that utterly blends with its natural environment sustaining most of the existing pine trees. This supposition unavoidably led to a split-level house, accommodating the steepness and the fluctuations of the topology. Two distinct blocks, facing north and west, sit on different levels, and come together in the middle with a wedge-shaped volume that forms the entrance and the vertical circulation leading to the main spaces of the house. The entrance emerges in a tight exterior passage that opens up to the whole interior enclosure, immediately as someone enters, surprising the visitor to the house's unpredictable nine-meter- height interior.  © Nikos Alexopoulos Both block facades completely open up through large glazing surfaces to the view of the pines trees and the hills beyond, concealing the boundary between the interior of the house and its surrounding environment.  Section 01  Section 03 The composite structure allows all finishes to appear in their natural state. The basic four walls are covered in stone, to seem as they are coming through the earth, connected to the exposed wooden roof only through a series of triangular aluminum windows. A butterfly roof, which reverses the conventional icon of the pitched roof house, lets natural light to enter through those high windows on the back side of the building.  © Nikos Alexopoulos The wedge permeates the roof as well, creating a skylight right above the metal stairway that leads down to the living room, kitchen and dining room, all based on the ground floor of the block facing north. The three bedrooms only accessed through the wedge are situated on the block facing west.  © Nikos Alexopoulos Again, due to the site's steepness, the parking garage stands next to the main entrance, right above the living spaces.  Ground Floor Plan At the lower edge of the site, beyond the road, there is a small canyon and a narrow stream coming through. Due to the height difference the stream is not visible, but the water sound is noticeable. A longitudinal swimming pool parallel to the direction of the stream, but at a higher level, reenacted that natural condition.  © Nikos Alexopoulos  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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