Arch Daily |
- The Krane / Arcgency
- The Origins of Half-Timbering: 2000 Years of Non-Stop Nostalgia
- CoMED / ad2 architekten ZT KG
- Phatthalung House / Rakchai Norateedilok Architect
- Tent House / Chris Tate Architecture
- Jingshan Boutique Hotel / Continuation Studio
- J&J house / studio_GAON
- Shanghai Chess Academy / Tongji Architectural Design
- Stag's Leap Wine Cellar Winery Visitor Center / BC Estudio Architects
- World's Longest Pedestrian Suspension Bridge Opens in the Swiss Alps
- PI House / Munarq arquitectes
- Aperture-Style Retractable Roof at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium Closes for the First Time
- Triptyk / whyarchitecture
- Caffè Vero / ProgettoCMR
- wHY-led Team Wins Competition for Edinburgh's Ross Pavilion
- Massive River Development Plan Hopes to Rejuvenate India's Relationship to the Ganges
- Casa CHING / MG design studio
- Kobi Karp’s Pair of Mixed-Use Developments to Celebrate Wynwood's Culture of Creativity in Miami
- AD Classics: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library / Gordon Bunshaft (SOM)
- 5x5 Exhibition Features 25 Provocative Models by Young Architects
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Rasmus Hjortshøj
 © Rasmus Hjortshøj From the architect. THE KRANE is an immersive, multi-sensory experience. Inside is exclusive Danish design in black in homage to its past as a coal crane. Outside is the sea, sky, harbour and panoramic views over Copenhagen. An inventive, cohesive concept in this private retreat for two.  © Rasmus Hjortshøj THE KRANE is an aesthetic oasis amidst an industrial landscape on the edge of Nordhavn, one of the last harbours under renovation in Denmark's capital. Spearheaded by visionary owner Klaus Kastbjerg and architect / master builder Mads Møller from Arcgency, the concept builds on its dark past as a crane for loading coal by using black as the colour scheme throughout. Fostering a soothing sense of serenity inside this multi-tiered structure comprised of a reception area on the ground floor, a meeting room called the GLASS BOX on the first floor, a spa and terrace on the second floor, and a retreat on top called the KRANE ROOM with a lounge and terrace.  © Rasmus Hjortshøj It reflects Denmark's less-is-more stance on luxury, where anything extraneous is eliminated favouring only what's essential. Inside, the subdued black interior sets the scene like a picture frame for the unobstructed views over Copenhagen and beyond. The Art is the View Step inside THE KRANE and you'll instantly sense a re-definition of luxury deep in the Danish DNA. An understated elegance with only the essentials. It's all part of the vision, where the focus has been the integration of sensations - sight, sound and stemning (the Danish word for atmosphere)," explains Møller, whose Arcgency projects include the Vipp Shelter, the Absalon Church, the Container Office, STACK I & II made with upcycled, repurposed shipping containers developed in collaboration with Kastbjerg. "THE KRANE involved a 360-degree inside / outside approach. Natural light directly affects how we feel in a space and our happiness overall. So we optimised the inside to capture natural daylight and set the stage for the views of the water outside. Curating the perfect materials and carefully calibrating how the light reflects the surfaces and how that impacts the way people perceive their surroundings. Then there's the water outside. The water is probably 80% of THE KRANE experience. In Denmark, during the summer we have longer days of sunlight from about 5 am till 10 pm. Along the coastline, the light is very soft and diffused. From inside THE KRANE, even stormy weather looks amazing."  © Rasmus Hjortshøj Shades of Black In addition to its allusions to coal, black plays a pivotal role in muting and minimising visual distractions so people feel almost enveloped in the interior. At the same time, black dramatizes the changing light and breath-taking views outside. For Møller, black isn't just black. "There are hundreds of different shades of black. Depending on the time of day, you can see so many subtle nuances." For Kastbjerg, "Usually you go to a hotel and a thousand things are happening. You're at the hotel to de-stress from work but now you have to de-stress from the hotel. With THE KRANE, the black interior combined with the crispy white bed sheets makes everything quiet. You can feel calm, at peace. Enjoying the view as the art."  © Rasmus Hjortshøj Still Life Leather, wood, stone and steel. They're just some of the noble materials you'll see in the furniture, designs and décor details. Not only is the furniture custom-made to fit the concept and the dimensions, the interior is constructed so the primary pieces disappear - with the beds, seating and cupboards integrated into wall panels and the functional pieces hidden away. The result is an extra element of discovery, where objects become like sculptures in a stunning still life. Everything is handcrafted by artisans in homage to Denmark's expertise in craftsmanship. Adding even more to the exclusivity.  © Rasmus Hjortshøj The Old Reincarnated Into Something New In terms of location, THE KRANE is exclusive yet inclusive. Whether you're renting the living space, spa, meeting room or reception area, you're removed from the city without feeling too remote, yet close to the pulse of the city just minutes away. "It's rare to find a harbour like this in Denmark," explains Kastbjerg, "Nordhavn still has an industrial look and feel that's attracting entrepreneurs, artisans and others. We kept that rough, industrial feeling and added something unexpected. An old engine room that's now a high-end retreat where you can enjoy champagne and a spectacular view. Now that's luxury."  © Rasmus Hjortshøj  Side Elevation  © Rasmus Hjortshøj Given the 50 m2 of the top level alone, encompassing the bedroom, lounge and terrace, every detail matters. It's a deceptive size when you consider the enormous sense of space outside. A wow factor matched by Kastbjerg's intention to showcase Danish design. "I've worked with the families of Arne Jacobsen and Verner Panton," notes Kastbjerg. So I wanted THE KRANE to signal some of Denmark's most innovative brands on the global arena." Look for high-profile Danish brands within lifestyle and design, selected for their signature style, impeccable quality and craftsmanship.  © Rasmus Hjortshøj  Plan  © Rasmus Hjortshøj  Bath Plan While other cities renovate areas overlooked and end up eliminating appealing aspects of their past, THE KRANE honours its past with a new reason for being. "How can you tell your kids about an old industrial port if there's nothing left of it? New buildings don't have the same charm or story to tell. I wanted to retain the crane and transform it into an icon for Nordhavn. Which I think we've achieved with Mads, his team at Arcgency and everyone else who contributed to the outcome. It was a fantastic experience. It took us two years, so it was nice to collaborate with people who shared the same dream."  © Rasmus Hjortshøj  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Origins of Half-Timbering: 2000 Years of Non-Stop Nostalgia Posted: 01 Aug 2017 09:00 PM PDT  Sam Jacob Studio's "Half Timbered" T-Shirt. Image © Sam Jacob Studio Sam Jacob Studio harbours a long-held fascination with Half-Timbering. In this essay, Jacob examines the historical, cultural, and aesthetic roots of the style. It's fair to say that "Mock Tudor"—that black and white facade treatment—has a less than glowing reputation. Take these sneering lines from John Betjeman's Slough, for instance:
(Perhaps those very same bars that Martin Freeman's character in The Office notes have "a sign in the toilet saying: Don't get your Hampton Court".) "Mock Tudor" is often accused of "bogus"-ness, of lacking authenticity, of fakeness, and many other types of architectural sin. I'd argue, however, that Betjeman et al fail to recognise a profound depth and sincerity contained within the shallowness of this applied fake history. In fact, it's perhaps Mock Tudor's very shallowness which is an intrinsic part of its depth. The following is the (or at least one) story of "Mock Tudor", "Tudorbethan" and all of the other forms and bastard-isations of Half Timbering. It's a story that spans millennia, that veers between the people and the powerful and wealthy, that rises and falls with nations, that contains different—and sometimes opposing—dreams. It is a story that ends, for now with a t-shirt. Half Timbering was a vernacular construction technique that evolved in Germanic Saxony. It came to Britain with the Saxons in the 5th Century BC, who arrived as a mercenary army to prop up the failing Roman occupation. Once the Romans gave up on this rainy northern outpost, the Saxons remained. By the 6th Century, these Germanic tribes controlled most of the lowlands and were rapidly expanding to both the north and the west. And as they did, they built like they used to back at home. Maybe because that's the way they knew how to build. But also, to make it feel like home. In other words, even two millennia ago, Half Timbering had already cut loose from being an actual bona fide vernacular building technology. It was already performing as a cultural symbol. Even then already a sign, a reconstruction, a revival. Removed from its origins geographically, but still bound up with identity. Planted in a new land, half timbering embodied nostalgia for one culture. But with its roots reaching into the depths of a different soil it began to absorb the mulch of another. The forests that had been home to the Celtic Druids were cut down to make buildings. But perhaps an essential part of the magical tree spirits of Celtic culture remained inside these timbers. We see this in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood. Considered one of the oldest works of Old English literature it blended ancient pagan ideas with modern Christianity. The poem describes the crucifixion of Christ from the point of view of a the wood of the cross. It speaks: "I was cut down, roots on end […] I was raised up, as a rood […] I was wet with blood." And if tree sprites could still inhabit the cross, couldn't the same qualities of symbolism and identity also inhabit the tectonics of building components?  Death of Harold (detail from the Bayeux Tapestry). © <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bayeux_Tapestry_scene57_Harold_death.jpg">Wikimedia Commons user Myrabella</a> available in the Public Domain. Image Courtesy of Myrabella History continues in Anglo Saxon Britain. At least until the the last Saxon King, Harold, faced the invasion of the Normans. William of Normandy, victorious at Hastings, ascended the throne in London on Christmas Day, 1066. He and his Norman Lords seized the assets of the Saxons, recording their new assets in the "Great Survey" that comprised the Domesday Book. But as an occupying military force, the Normans began constructing a network of castle-strongholds to maintain power. The White Tower of the Tower of London was the first. 21 years later 100 had been built across the Kingdom. Oppressed by military strength Saxon culture however remains distinct. Myths and folk heroes like Robin Hood emerge as the scourge of Norman aristocrats (note of course, that Robin and his Merry Men live, wherelse but the forest). And Saxon culture inhabits its old half timbered architecture. In contrast to the massive stone military infrastructure of the Norman castles, Half Timbering is the architecture of the people: the inn and the home. Time passes, the House of Normandy falls, and, for the purposes of our story, we pick things up as Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Bosworth Field. The Tudors forged a powerful new identity for England founded in large part by the rise of English naval power. Seafaring brought security and riches, drove exploration and early colonialism and provided the broad context for Henry VIII's ability to split with the Catholic church. Meanwhile, Half Timbering became the architectural style of the ruling classes. Tudor architecture—as we can finally call it—became extravagant and decorative, like at Little Moreton Hall where the technique becomes so intricate and graphically intense as to work like Op Art.  Little Moreton Hall, England. © <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Moreton_Hall#/media/File:LittleMoretonHall.jpg">Wikimedia Commons user Christine-Ann Martin</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY 3.0</a>. Image Courtesy of Christine-Ann Martin We should note that Half Timbered Tudor architecture is built with the very same skills that are providing England with her burgeoning sea power. These buildings celebrate the importance and skill of timber craftsmanship, while expressing the riches and power that that craft had accrued. Tudor architecture in other words is a kind of spin-off of military technology. Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe, published in 1791, was an embellishment of the Robin Hood story – big on Saxon/Norman fighting. It led to a fashion of reviving English vernaculars, re-mythologising stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood. This historicism is later theorised by Pugin and Ruskin, and bleeds into the Arts and Crafts movement. Arts and Crafts was driven by a moral and social urge and arising in response to the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Politically, it was nascent socialism with anarchist tendencies. In its design manifesto, it reached back to pre-industrial modes of making in the age of the machine. Along with the kinds of medieval crafts that were revived by William Morris, the architects of the Arts and Crafts revived forms of half timbering. Revived as an overtly historical style but imbued with a new political meaning. On the one hand establishing a direct line with older forms of labour and with cultural myths that animated ideology. We could even imagine the Arts and Crafts movement modeling itself of a Hoodian model: A band of men living in the forest away from civilization, robbing of the rich to give to the poor, in opposition to the control of the state and on the side of the people. The decorative effect of Half Timbering is now pattern as political statement. Arts and Crafts drifts from its Christian Socialist origins into mainstream fashion. It becomes a decorative symbol of status, not politics. The country houses designed by Edwin Lutyens feature Half Timbering as part of their picturesque montaging of historical styles. These large, "Tudorbethan", bespoke homes for the wealthy became the template for the inter-war building boom. Volume building interprets the pre-war, expensive Arts and Crafts villas. Building quick and cheap, coupled with a shortage of skilled labor leads to a shift in Half Timbering from structure to applique. Thin timber panels fixed to the exterior of the buildings that make patterns not limited by the demands of holding buildings up.  Anne Hathaway's Cottage, England. © <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_architecture#/media/File:Anne_Hathaways_Cottage_1_(5662418953).jpg">Wikimedia Commons user Tony Hisgett</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>. Image Courtesy of Tony Hisgett These houses represented a way of life. These miniaturised manor houses represented safe European homes after the mechanised horror of the First World War. Half Timbering still retained some of the progressive sentiment of Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities. It became a mixture of optimism and fear, built on a budget. These Metro-Land homes were a mass market version of the pre-war progressive and bohemian lifestyle. Sometime around now, "Mock Tudor" becomes exported around the world. In part through England's still-large Empire, but also through the pages of magazines like Country Life. Movie stars built Half Timbered homes that lined Beverly Hills streets. Frank Lloyd Wright designed icing coloured Half Timbering with giant sized roofs in Chicago's Oak Park. Think of Steve Martin in LA Story showing of first a Tudor House, then—next door—a Three Door House. By now, any vestige of a traditional notion half timbering as a vernacular building technique has been cast off. Liberated and globalized through media, it becomes an international style. Its connection is no longer with a tribe like the Saxons, a Royal Dynasty like the Tudors, a country, or indeed an ideology. In the same way, the stories that were once part of the myth of Half Timbering are remade: Douglas Fairbanks, a black and white and silent Robin Hood, Errol Flynn a Technicolor outlaw. Later, Disney cast a cartoon fox as Robin Hood. Kevin Costner plays a sullen PC romantic version and Sherwood Forest is stalked by denim clad, Fender strummin' minstrel Brian Adams. The folk story has less to do with Norman England and everything to do with Hollywood sensibilities. Like clouds of radioactive fallout, folk stories reach the jet stream and envelop the globe.  "Moe's Tavern" from "The Simpsons". Image via "The Simpsons" / Fandom Half Timbering continues as a means of construction, but it also gains layers of meaning throughout the centuries. At each iteration it continues the story. Tacked onto the outside of Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons, painted pink in suburban London like a Jamie Reid collage, the framing of a Morris Traveller car, an option offered by developers in new developments in Chinese cities. Meanwhile, in the UK, an even more debased form of Half Timbering is the architectural style of the volume housebuilders executive homes, is applied to the hardly-vernacular of out of town "Asdas", a chain of supermarkets. Black and white stripes fixed to the mass of these strange big box retail by way of townscape along with fibreglass clock towers. But even in these half-cocked examples, Half Timbering is like light from a distant star: incredibly old yet, as it falls on our retina, bright and new. Half Timbering has been made repeatedly new through its different incarnations. Bristling with meanings which continue to peel away from geographic place and circumstance, from the specifics of situation to a general and generic condition. Each time, a nostalgia that is reconstructed in the present with a new purpose. Indeed it's the very bogus-ness that Betjeman derides that is the vital authenticity of Half Timbering. A venerable form of bogosity that stretch back through history in over 2000 years of non-stop nostalgia. It is out of this story that the Half Timbered t-shirt emerges. Another kind of flimsiness, this time fabric, dislocated from the facade of the building to become architecture for your body.  Sam Jacob Studio's "Half Timbered" T-Shirt. Image © Sam Jacob Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography
 © Hertha Hurnaus Photography From the architect. Corian for moisture-prone areas, blank steel for the stairways and the furniture beside the fireplace, fabric surfaces for cosyness and pleasant room acoustic, painted board materials for normal use.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography The design of all these custom-made interior transform the clear association to the architecture of the 4 storied house.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography The basics of the colour concept are the so called non-colours black and white, mixed with blue and silvergrey - according to the facade material "galaxy blue" - which relates to water, blue sky.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography  Ground Floor  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography The fitted furniture creates a unit with the building. Everything has their own place. It provides a tidy surrounding for the user - less influences means better physically recovering.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography The interior is body shaped for the client-specific, packaged in one stream. We used the "in beetween" of the main functions to do it like on an unique and visionary style on its focus on well designed and well functioned.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography For merging garden with the folded facade on the hillside of the plot, the "garden folding" in white was created: Made of glassfibre concrete panels, this functional object fit the outdoor living area for habitation with their different features: - The top connects and envelopes the stairway from pool into the garden, the valueable private city green.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography - Lounge area - based on the typical form of a fireplace - is situated on level -1. In the middle there is enough space for the fire itself. - Bed-framing for flowers - Stairway to lounge and lawn area made of 3D steps tapered from seat or connected installed edged with plants.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography - The gardenkitchen is situated protected, beneath the skulptur on level -2. - A huge aslope crack planted with giant miscanthus emphasize the transition of garden and building.  © Hertha Hurnaus Photography  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Phatthalung House / Rakchai Norateedilok Architect Posted: 01 Aug 2017 07:00 PM PDT  © Rakchai Norateedilok
 © Rakchai Norateedilok From the architect. After spending over 20 years in the city of Bangkok, the owner decided to move back to her hometown in Phatthalung province southern Thailand and fulfill her wish to create a private space extended from the estate inherited from family. The estate which is built decades ago, located in the middle of rubber plantation and has been hosting the family gathering every year.  © Rakchai Norateedilok The location is surrounded by peaceful rubber plantation in which represents its local agricultural community. The area for the new house construction is between the plantation and the old house's kitchen, which usually hosts family activities. Therefore, to create a connection between houses and plantation, the new house is designed to encourage the continuity from the old house's kitchen to the plantation scenery through the spacious interior of the new house.  © Rakchai Norateedilok The main functions of the new house are living area, bedroom, and bathroom. Building orientation is aligned in East-West direction, wardrobe and bathroom are placed at the east and west side, for the main area in the middle to avoid sunlight's heat and to be well-ventilated according to the tropical climate. The wooden screen is also installed for privacy, designed to be a diagonal pattern to comfort eyesight.  © Rakchai Norateedilok  Floor Plan  © Rakchai Norateedilok The living area and bedroom are only divided by TV installed partition that the light and air could flow through the whole space. The bathroom is designed without a ceiling to create the atmosphere that the users can embrace nature from tree branches or moonlight sky above.  Section A  Section B The design focuses on using materials to be harmonious with natural surroundings, using fewer kinds of materials efficiently, and prefers to reveal the nature of materials. Main wall and floor structure are finished by plain bare plaster. Black painted steel is used for the roof structure. Wood finishing is also used to express its sense of nature and to create a cozy atmosphere.  © Rakchai Norateedilok  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Tent House / Chris Tate Architecture Posted: 01 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT  © Simon Devitt
 © Simon Devitt From the architect. Chris Tate designed The Tent House for his weekend / personal retreat / studio. It was an experimental project designed to challenge the expectations of what a weekend house may be. It is not tiny but it is compact and very liveable. When not in use it is rented out for short term accommodation and photo shoots.  Floors Plans The house comprises of 70m2 of floor space including the mezzanine sleeping area, there is compromised floor space due to the compounding angles running to the point. There is one bedroom, one bathroom, a fully functioning kitchen with the rest of the space being open plan or some what of a gallery for the living.  © Simon Devitt The front deck has been designed to 'fan out' giving the illusion of a 'shadow' cast by the structure. The house is set in a New Zealand native rain forest setting where hundreds of native plants have been planted to recreate a natural native forest landscape, in doing so many of the native birds have returned.  Sections Chris built as much of the building as he could and had architecture students help with the process, so it was a very much hands on experimental process. They did the foundations, floors, framing and had professionals take over with services and cladding etc. The tent house has been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival in Berlin 2017.  © Jono Parker  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Jingshan Boutique Hotel / Continuation Studio Posted: 01 Aug 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © SHIROMIO Studio
 © SHIROMIO Studio From the architect. This is a project that started from engaging with the site. The site is located up on a mountain ridge, next to a reservoir's dam. There was previously a two-story "San-Ho-Yuan" style dormitory block built back in the 1980s, with a courtyard surrounded by the concave form of the block. There stands an ancient pine in the centre serves as the heart of the courtyard, with its dense canopy covering half of the courtyard and part of the building. Meanwhile, the historical context of the site, to the north of the Jing-Shan Mountain that once gestated the Zen tea ceremony, has prepared it with a deep historical and cultural ambiance. As a result, to preserve the courtyard structure as well as the ancient pine, in order to generate its potential spatial spirit, has been established as our design proposition.  © SHIROMIO Studio Through the study of the surrounding landscapes, the decision was made to reduce the height of the west side of the building to one story, providing the courtyard and the rest of the building with the view of the outlines of distant hills from the west. Said method also induces the sunset nearly horizontally into the courtyard, sprinkling the main façade. Multilayers of water and light together paint the picture of a "Zen temple", with an intense sense of ritual. On the south side of the yard, there lies a wall with the height of 160cm, separating the courtyard from the wild forest. Paths that come along with the mountain breeze go through the two corners opened up on the north side of this concave building. Through the two diagonally staggered doors on the north-west corner that is the main entrance, the pine retained in the yard can just be seen. While to the north –east entrance, a foyer of traffic is placed. The colours of black metal from this translucent steel stair and the green from the nature melt into each other, inducing the wild breeze and the morning sunshine. The establishment of these two foyers also expands the spatial sensation of the courtyard beyond its actual 140㎡.  Parallel In order to enhance the prospect of "Zen Temple", the imagery of "mountain" has been implied along the experience process. It is revealed in the actual mountain climbing required before entering the hotel, as well as in the tour path inside the hotel that resembles a walk in mountain. The entrance and the courtyard is decomposed into various heights, generating nuances of light between different spaces, associating with the physical action of climbing with a subtle intension. The light within the space is controlled delicately by the eaves, the water, the colonnade, the grille, the skylines and other sorts of elements. The differences of light achieve the transition of ambiance from the dark "obscure" to the bright "modern" from the lower ground to the higher, and eventually reach its acme of brightness on the roof terrace, where only the sky and the pine canopy are in sight, from which the artificial beings of architecture simultaneously disappear.  © SHIROMIO Studio  1F Plan  © SHIROMIO Studio The design method, regarding the viewing experience, focuses on the notion of "sitting face to face" with nature. Both of the ritualistic perspective angles and the axis of the courtyard intrigue beholders to ponder the relation between "nature" and "humanity". For another, in terms of the use of natural materials on site, such as wood, stone, iron, white paint and glass, it also implies the naturality and rurality that lies in architectural renovation.  © SHIROMIO Studio  Section  © SHIROMIO Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © Youngchae Park
 © Youngchae Park From the architect. This house is a residence for a typical family of four: A quiet but charismatic father who is decisive, a cheerful mother who loves to laugh and two energetic children who never stop moving.  First floor plan The historic city of Naju, where the house is located, flourished in the past, but it was a city that developed based on agriculture. Lately, many public corporations are moving their headquarters, promoting new homes and commercial facilities, thereby changing the atmosphere of the city. Originally living in an apartment in Seoul, the family had to move to this city following relocation of the company father works for.  © Youngchae Park The site is one of the lots planned afresh in the midmost of the planned city, unrelated to the local history or tradition, built upon land that were previously rice paddies and farms. A scene of artificially divided lots along an artificial street was waiting for us. We always feel a setback with these planned house lots: they crush the trace and ego of the land. The architect has to be in sync with the rhythm of the land but there is no beat. Designing a house in such a site is to sing a song without accompaniment or to dance with ears closed.  © Youngchae Park It is quite awkward. Nevertheless a scheme is needed, so we have to lean on our imagination. How helpful imagination is to an architect in distress.  Section 02 A family of four – two parents and children of two- has been the model for Korean housing policy for a long period. But now, traditional concept of family is becoming faint and new concept of family is replacing it. The golden age of three generation family has gone and now we have single households, Dinkies, one-parent families and many other kinds. On that note, we thought that we are building a very standard, prototype house in a city where is no context for reference.  © Youngchae Park The client, decisive man he is, made the name of the house in advance: The house of Juckdang(적당) and Jakdang(작당). We interpreted that 'Juckdang' means being moderate and not to overflow, while 'Jakdang' means conducting fun activities among the family.  © Youngchae Park We started to envision the house with these two simple but extraordinary words. A two-story residence a bit larger for the family of four became the scheme. The first goal was to make various joyful spaces for the young brother and sister. We judged that they needed a house with discreet distance between family members; a house that children can live in a same room with their parents when they are young, but then is flexible enough so they have independent space as they grow up.  © Youngchae Park We made a living room opening up to the second floor and the main space -kitchen and dining room- connected to the master bedroom and greenhouse. Considering the efficiency of housekeeping, the bathroom, laundry, utility rooms revolve around the entrance. By lowering the living room floor level than the dining room, the space becomes more stereoscopic. The children can hide, roll, lie, and wave their feet while reading books in the bookcase between the landing spaces.  Section 01 On the second floor, we designed a spacious bedroom which will split as the children grow up. Making the best use of gable roof, the rooms are formed with various triangular sections. Playful spaces are everywhere in the house for the children; they can even reach the first floor roof attic from the second floor level.  © Youngchae Park The house becomes a playground and a shelter for the family to gather, listen to music and paint pictures. We pondered over the meaning of family while designing the house for the parents and children, a family unit becoming rare these days. A house is a peaceful cover for the family to be protected from the wild world outside. Of course, this will not be a house to be handed down from parents to children. Still it will be a house to be remembered by the children, connected to their memory of their parents.  © Youngchae Park  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shanghai Chess Academy / Tongji Architectural Design Posted: 01 Aug 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © ZYStudio
 © ZYStudio Noisy / Peaceful Situated at the bustling West Nanjing Road in Shanghai, the building site of Shanghai Chess Academy is long and narrow. It's 140 meters long from north to south and 40 meters wide from east to west.  Axonomteric The essence of Chinese traditional architecture is presented by fusing gardens and walls and recreate traditional space with modern approach. The existence of gardens fills the whole building with Chinese implication while creating an integral form. Presenting itself quietly and peacefully at the busy West Nanjing Road with heavy commercial flavor, it segregates itself from the surrounding buildings and highlight its own cultural image.  Concept Open / Introverted The "pocket" site of Shanghai Chess Academy is long and narrow. It's 140 meters long from north to south and 40 meters wide from east to west. The space closed to commercial street is open, but the inside space of "pocket" is introverted.  © ZYStudio In width direction, the void and real spaces are staggered together from the inside to the outside. Gardens are separated by the walls, while breaching the walls at the same time, striving for the exterior space within the limited sit. The "checkerboard" walls, like a light sieve, its void ratio following the internal space.  © ZYStudio The layouts of programs follow the features of the site, along the long direction. As people go inside, the characters of space transfer from dynamic to serenity, from extroversion to introversion. A sequence of programs is arranged correspondingly, which are the open lobby, the public game hall and the exhibition rooms.  © ZYStudio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Stag's Leap Wine Cellar Winery Visitor Center / BC Estudio Architects Posted: 01 Aug 2017 10:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of BC Estudio Architects
 Courtesy of BC Estudio Architects From the architect. Located a short walk from The Arcade (first project of BC for this winery), the building with a series of spaces that bring the world of wine closer to visitors. You can access it across a square, and going through a large doorway, a lobby allows you to view the various activities carried out: the private and groups tastings rooms and on the back, the areas of service, which support the events organization. But certainly it highlights the great tasting room, with a bar that has as its backdrop the magnificent landscape of the vast fields of vineyards and mountains, allowing the visitor to taste the wine with this stimulating and panoramic view.  Courtesy of BC Estudio Architects  Ground Floor Plan  Courtesy of BC Estudio Architects This indoor-outdoor feeling is enhanced in architectural terms by the actual amount of space, defined by thick stone walls, wooden ceiling, and the carpentry with large windows from floor to ceiling. The building is an iconic in the middle of the vineyards with a strong volume in which the large windows contrast and complement the four sturdy walls of dark stone. Outside, terraces, and a pond were designed and the surrounding terrain are treated with rockery and native vegetation.  Courtesy of BC Estudio Architects  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| World's Longest Pedestrian Suspension Bridge Opens in the Swiss Alps Posted: 01 Aug 2017 09:00 AM PDT  © Europaweg The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge has opened to the public in Switzerland, offering adrenaline seekers unprecedented views of Europe's most famous mountain, the Matterhorn. Spanning 494 meters (1620 feet), the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge cuts the 2-day travel distance between the towns of Zermatt and Grächen by nearly 3 hours. The bridge spans the country's "deepest cut valley," reaching a height of 85 meters (279 feet) above the ground at its highest point. The bridge, which was constructed by swissrope / Lauber Seilbahnen AG, replaces a much shorter bridge that had been damaged by falling rocks. Learn more about the project, here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Adria Goula
PI House Is a residence for a couple who intend to build a house with minimal emission of CO₂ , with maximum comfort and natural materials. He became a bioclimatic house, with very little need for energy intake  © Adria Goula The morphology of the house responds to the different inputs of the site: 01 Acoustic Wall The premise of the project is to create an acoustic barrier to minoritized acoustic impact that provides urban road next to the house. It maintains the facade looks introverted with the street and the house opens only to the south.  © Adria Goula 02 Mediterranean Architecture The house used to construct from the characteristic features and the Mediterranean house. Bearing walls, small openings, porch to south facade coating of lime, stone walls and pitched roofs with tile Mother and Arabic.  © Adria Goula 03 Patios The creation of patios helps us maintain privacy locking interior views veïns Al being a house of urbanization, acoustic and visual barriers between neighbors are very important in terms of life outside the house.  Elevation / Isometric 04 Low-impact Eco-friendly Materials Another starting point is the use of materials with low impact to nature and avoid building elements harmful to human beings, and therefore try to avoid the use of concrete as insulation portlant artificial walls are replaced by block ceramic and natural cork insulation.  © Adria Goula  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aperture-Style Retractable Roof at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium Closes for the First Time Posted: 01 Aug 2017 06:30 AM PDT Atlanta's Mercedes Benz Stadium has released a new video showing the structure's unique aperture-style retractable roof closing for the very first time. Designed by 360 Architecture (now a part of HOK), the eight ETFE-clad roof "petals" slide along tracks on the stadium roof to come together at a central point, much like how a camera operates. When fully operational, the roof will be able to open and close in less than eight minutes. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, despite the mechanics being in place, the roof will remain in the closed position during the stadium's debut for an exhibition game between the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals on August 26th, as the automation for the system has not yet been programmed. First announced in early 2015, the 2-million-square-foot stadium is designed to host a wide range of events from the Super Bowl to concerts to the NCAA Final Four. The project is estimated to have cost approximately $1.5 billion. Check out a construction timelapse and drone footage of the stadium, below: News via AJC, Mercedes Benz Stadium.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Benoit Bost
 © Benoit Bost From the architect. Like its name suggests, Triptyk offers three scales of building, three ways of life, on this plot that meanders from the street to the gardens.  Axonometric The project is a part of the process of requalification of this neighborhood. The goal was to improve and restructure the entire block to create social urban housing with residential qualities in a nice environment. Triptyk and its new interior arrangements also take a part in improving the surrounding buildings quality thanks to the openings it creates, allowing light to flow through, and bringing greenery to the city gardens. The program includes « voids » that let the sun flood in, basking the facades and the interior courts.  Plans 01  Plans 02 It is noteworthy that some of the neighbours took advantage of the new situation to pierce windows, opening on the project.  © Benoit Bost The Houses In the back of the plot, settled in the calm and green setting of the garden, three individual houses with private gardens form the « power core » of the project, that allow the other components to function. Those houses, constructed with timber floors et walls, have different architectural expressions, encouraging families appropriation. The first house has its facades made of terra-cotta, another has a vertical timber sidings and the third is covered with bright yellow metal.  © Benoit Bost  © Benoit Bost The In-between Habitat A building of semi-collective housing planted in the middle of the plot reuses the language of city terrace houses. It is also cladded in metal, but with a different aspect and color: dark grey reflecting the trees and the sky.  Diagram  Section The Multiple-unit Dwellings On the street, a building shows its vertical wooden structure. A study on filled and void spaces on the street put to light the importance of the tripartition of the facade: two lateral parts surrounding a central void made of the circulations.  © Benoit Bost The narrowness of the street, its orientation and the morning sunlight influenced the design of the facade with a vertical language.Major openings write a dialogue with the wide openings of the neighboring facades, catching up with their heights, thanks to their light grey frames. The other openings in natural wood are inserted in the vertical timber structure.  © Benoit Bost This project initiates the rebirth of this neighborhood, demonstrating the possibilities of new buildings, comfortable and affordable, closed to work and leisure activities, with a great carbon footprint.  © Benoit Bost  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Ezio Barberini
 © Ezio Barberini From the architect. Progetto CMR, international integrated design firm, designs the concept for the new interior design of the first Flagship bar "Caffe' Vero", one of the most famous brands of Coffe Company spa, leading entrepreneurship in Italy for the roasting process of row coffee beans and for the production of hot drinks. The pilot project in Vicenza is the first one of a long chain that it is going to be developed around all national territory with the future prospective to bring the Italian coffee tradition abroad.  © Ezio Barberini The first "Caffe Vero" is set to become a new point meeting, an inspiring space in which guests can discover authentic flavors enveloped in a contemporary style, proposed by the new project.  Ground floor plan The bar surface covers 420 square meters and it is developed on two levels, located in a new modern steel and glass structure, connected directly to the Coffee Company manufacturing plant.  © Ezio Barberini Everything revolves around a refined simplicity and essentiality of the materials used, intertwined in a sophisticated way to the structural elements of the building: a warm and cosy atmosphere that plays on the contrast of light and shadow in a scenic case, given by the transparency of the main facade of the building. The natural light floods the space and guides in the double-height lounge that welcomes guests in an atmosphere of New York style.  © Ezio Barberini The project encourages the pursuit of an airy internal space privileging the ground floor service and welcoming functions: a long bar counter, located in central position, dominates the scene, while a set of cages and brackets descends from the ceiling, characterizing the back stage.  © Ezio Barberini The tables were arranged all around, so as to leave broad space to a bright area that makes the bar extremely pleasant and enjoyable.  Skech The cornerstone of the project is the big bend wall clad in wood, which following the evolution of the architectural structure, surrounds/encompasses the environment from the bottom up falling on the cantilevered first floor, where there is a zone mainly designed for the purchase and tasting of Caffe Vero products  © Ezio Barberini The two main materials, olive ash and black wax iron, determine the color palette of all furnishings and structural elements: columns, false ceilings and furniture, supervised down to fine details, follow one another in this play of burnished textures and dark leather coverings.  © Ezio Barberini In an environment that all over remains linear and tradionalist thanks to the combination of the two materials, the only exception is represented by the lounge. In this place, more intimate and welcoming, they evoke the ancient atmosphere of the traditional clubs and cigar rooms, reinterpreted in a contemporary way with wall units, enchanting armchairs and upholstery in warm colors ranging from rust tones, light blue, dark blue, gray - anthracite to gray sand.  Section  Section 02 Each element, from the arrangement of the bar counter to the choice of seating, and each lighting fixture, is the result of extensive studies, designed to create an experience more than a simple space. The design draws inspiration from the coffee shades, creating a unique place, example of the Italian artisan tradition.  © Ezio Barberini  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| wHY-led Team Wins Competition for Edinburgh's Ross Pavilion Posted: 01 Aug 2017 03:20 AM PDT  © wHY The team led by US-based architects wHY has been selected as the winner of the Ross Pavilion International Design Competition, beating out proposals from Adjaye Associates, BIG, Flanagan Lawrence, Page\Park Architects, Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter and William Matthews Associates + Sou Fujimoto Architects. Featuring an international collaboration of architects, engineers and creative agencies – including Edinburgh-based design studio GRAS, Groves-Raines Architects, Arup, Studio Yann Kersalé, O Street, Stuco, Creative Concern, Noel Kingsbury, Atelier Ten and Lawrence Barth – the team envisioned a rolling terrain for the West Princes Street Gardens site that the jury lauded as both exciting and respectful of its historic setting.  © wHY "[wHY] demonstrated an impressive collaboration which respects and enhances the historical context and backdrop of the Castle and the City, whilst creating new heritage and increasing the green space within the Gardens. All of which were key aspects for us all and respected the importance of the space within a World Heritage Site," said Norman Springford, Competition Jury Chair.  © wHY  © wHY The scheme drew inspiration for the geology and history of the gardens, embedding the sculptural seating bowl into the earth and allowing the historic Edinburgh Castle to persist as the main focal point of the site. According to the architects, the proposal revolves around "human scale with moments of drama... activating four layers of meaning within the Gardens: botanical, civic, commemorative and cultural."  © wHY  © wHY "wHY is built around an ecology of disciplines, the convergence of ideas, experience, nature and people. The Ross Pavilion and West Princes Street Gardens represent this convergence and this was the perfect ground to further our approach to design," said Kulapat Yantrasast, Founder and Creative Director of wHY. "To be selected from so many extraordinary thinkers is an honour. We felt a personal connection to the Gardens and believe our design embodies how important collaboration and people are to making a place remarkable."  © wHY A special commendation was also awarded to the team led by William Matthews Associates and Sou Fujimoto Architects for their "memorable and delicate design that opened up unexpected views, particularly those to the Castle." Construction on the winning project is expected to begin in 2018. More information about the competition, organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, can be found here. News via Malcolm Reading Consultants.
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| Massive River Development Plan Hopes to Rejuvenate India's Relationship to the Ganges Posted: 01 Aug 2017 02:30 AM PDT  View of the Ghats. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis Delhi-based firm Morphogenesis has recently completed a proposal for a project that will rehabilitate and develop the ghats (a flight of steps leading down to a river) and crematoriums along a 210-kilometer stretch of the Ganges, India's longest river. The project, titled "A River in Need," is part of the larger National Mission of Clean Ganga (NMCG), an undertaking of the Indian Government's Ministry of Water Resources which was formed in 2011 with twin objectives: to ensure effective abatement of the river's pollution and to conserve and rejuvenate it.  View of the Ghats. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis The Ganges is venerated as a living goddess by India's 966 million Hindus who strongly believe in the river's self-healing properties; to have one's ashes scattered in the river is symbolic of achieving eternal liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. But the hard reality of dumping tons of incompletely cremated bodies, not to mention gallons of industrial effluents and raw sewage, has caused India's national river to become the world's most polluted. While the Ganges sustains a tenth of the world's population, it also causes an estimated 600,000 deaths annually on account of water-borne diseases. With increasing densification of Indian cities—two cities from the country already feature in the top eight of UN Habitat's recent list of world's densest cities—there also exists an urgent need to provide spaces for community building and public engagement.  Typical Ghat on Low Water Level. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis Morphogenesis' urban intervention, in an effort to address these pressing issues, aims to sustainably redesign India's historic interface between the river and human habitation, while simultaneously turning the city inside out to provide riverside civic spaces.  Ganges and the Hindu Tradition. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis Hindu tradition dictates that its followers connect with the Ganges at several significant stages of their life, whether it's the anointment of a newborn with the river's holy water, the initiation into the faith through the Janeu (sacred thread) ritual, an individual's wedding ceremony, or their eventual cremation at its banks. Morphogenesis recognized that in order to deliver a culturally contextual solution, they would first need to study and understand this ritualistic cycle: "where people will gather, where they will wait, where they will be mourning, where there will be celebration." The firm developed their design with the ultimate goal of becoming one with the river—closing the circle of life around the Ganges through the sensitive coexistence of a varied program.  Intervention Zones. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis Morphogenesis worked on a total of 33 ghats and 20 crematoria along the stretch of the river between the holy cities of Allahabad and Varanasi. While looking at the rejuvenation of the river, prime design concerns included the erosion of the river bank and flooding. The firm noted how deforestation along the river-bank, resulting from the need for wood for traditional pyre cremations, had scoured the land-water edge and reduced it to a "silted quagmire."  Hydrological Issues. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis This directed Morphogenesis to propose hume pipes to stabilize the bank, while they redesigned the crematoria—and the pyres themselves—to reduce the amount of wood needed to just thirty percent of the traditional requirement. This provided the added social benefit of lowering the cost of cremation, which the firm found was often higher than the annual income of a household.  View of the Crematorium. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis The firm turned to a study of the vernacular in an effort to find ways to treat the riverfront: Ghats were the natural answer since they lend themselves to stabilizing the river-edge while providing an interface for human engagement with the river. Morphogenesis' design of the ghats combined the use of several typologies of platform to account for diverse functions: extended ones to access water-transport at all levels, smaller ones for daily rituals, and large performance stages for events.  Typical Ghat on Normal Water Level. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis The provision is such that all activities use water in a controlled way, hence leading to reduced pollution: Platforms were designed to be supported by colonnades to make sure that the river flow remains uninterrupted. In addition, changing quarters were provided close to the ritual bathing pond.  Colonnades for Uninterrupted Water Flow. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis The ghats' varied program is organized sectionally—different levels cater to different activities. This segregation is based on flood-levels: While bathing spaces occupy the lowest rung, public gathering spaces and amenities are conceptualized at safe higher levels, with ritual spaces sandwiched in between. The firm reintroduced the historic Chaupal seating structure—gurus would deliver lectures to their pupils under the shade of a tree—to provide for places of community interaction; reforestation employed resilient plants that worked with the varying levels. The design also incorporates informal and pop-up temporary retail to make sure that ghats remain active through the day and the year.  Sectional Organization of Program. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis In an attempt to add to the ghats' traditional religious function, Morphogenesis designed the new developments to be wifi-enabled; the firm envisions the ghats as important urban spaces for discourse and dissemination of knowledge. The ghats will also run almost entirely on solar power: Solar panels are installed atop "Smart Columns," which act as shading devices while simultaneously fulfilling the essential functions of providing drinking water and internet connectivity. Furthermore, locally-available and low-maintenance materials were used to reduce ecological impact: the flooring will utilize porous stone to enable water to percolate through, while the structures will be predominantly built in brick.  Smart Columns to Create Shaded Space. Image Courtesy of Morphogenesis  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 01 Aug 2017 02:00 AM PDT  © Andres Garcia Lachner
From the architect. The house is formed from two basic volumes which separate the private space from the social, these are divided by means of the garden and are connected by the main access.  © Andres Garcia Lachner  Plans  © Andres Garcia Lachner From the street you can see part of the interior, this allows to generate several levels of reading, generates a perception of amplitude and permeability. When you enter the lobby, you will find a double layer of glass that gives a transverse view to the bottom of the garden, playing with depth.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The volume of concrete contains an open floor plan with varying heights, distributing the common area (Kitchen, dining room, Living room), and in the mezzanine the studio and a dark room of photography. To generate privacy between rooms, these were placed at the ends of the volume of zinc separated by the wet block (bathrooms, and laundry).  Isometric It used the route of the sun to create shadows and change the spaces according to the hours of the day and the use of spaces. Light becomes one of the main elements, behaving like a texture that generates changing atmospheres.  © Andres Garcia Lachner A range of colors (white, black and gray) was chosen to delimit and frame the spaces. The textures of concrete and zinc reinforce the pure lines of the house. Basic materials such as concrete and zinc were sought to accentuate the simplicity of the project. The stones used in the gardens, are the only mineral elements chosen also with a gray tone to maintain the sobriety of the whole.  © Andres Garcia Lachner  Section 01  © Andres Garcia Lachner The gardens function as patios, contemplative spaces of the house producing a sense of silence and tranquility that bounces back inside.  © Andres Garcia Lachner  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Kobi Karp’s Pair of Mixed-Use Developments to Celebrate Wynwood's Culture of Creativity in Miami Posted: 01 Aug 2017 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Kobi Karp Architecture & Levy Public Relations Miami's growing art district of Wynwood is set for further development in the form of two projects designed by renowned local architect Kobi Karp – Wynwood 25 and Gateway at Wynwood. The first is a $100 million unique mixed-use residential opportunity in the neighborhood, co-developed by the Related Group in Miami and the New York based East End Capital, while the second is an upcoming 12-story tower responding to the increasing demand for office rental space. "Wynwood's artistic spirit and modern vibe are elements that inspired our designs for Wynwood 25 and Gateway at Wynwood," explained Kobi Karp, Founder, and Principal of Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design, Inc. "This forward-thinking, vibrant area is gaining so much momentum and we wanted this to translate into our designs. It's an exciting time to be a part of Wynwood's growth and we aim to create unique designs that merge seamlessly with the area's culture and unique energy."  Courtesy of Kobi Karp Architecture & Levy Public Relations  Courtesy of Kobi Karp Architecture & Levy Public Relations Breaking ground last week, Wynwood 25 encompasses 400,000 square feet and occupies 2.3 acres. This includes 289 rental apartments, 31,000 square feet of retail space, as well as 340 rental spots. Keeping in line with the neighborhood's modern vibe and young demographic, amenities include a fitness center, a yoga studio, home office spaces, dog wash facilities as well as 12,000 square feet of green space in the courtyard. A public competition was also held last month for the renaming of the building, with prizes including three months of free rent once the project is complete.  Courtesy of Kobi Karp Architecture & Levy Public Relations  Courtesy of Kobi Karp Architecture & Levy Public Relations Gateway at Wynwood the first of a number of new towers planned for the area and will be "an iconic glass masterpiece tower" that celebrates Wynwood's creative energy. Located south of a major shopping mall in the city, the 464,700 square foot building includes 184,000 square feet of office space, 34,000 square feet of retail at the street level and 574 parking spaces. This is topped with a rooftop garden and amenity deck. Both projects will add to Kobi Karp Architecture's growing portfolio of Miami based projects, which include Surfside, Miami Beach and the Four Seasons Hotel. News via: Kobi Karp Architecture and Curbed Miami
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| AD Classics: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library / Gordon Bunshaft (SOM) Posted: 01 Aug 2017 12:00 AM PDT  © <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beinecke_Rare_Book_%26_Manuscript_Library#/media/File:Beinecke-Rare-Book-Manuscript-Library-Yale-University-Hewitt-Quadrangle-New-Haven-Connecticut-Apr-2014-a.jpg">Wikimedia Commons user Gunnar Klack</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>. Image Courtesy of Gunnar Klack Cloistered by a protective shell of stone, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is one of the world's foremost collections of rare manuscripts. Opened in 1963, the library is renowned for its translucent marble façade and the world-renowned glass book tower sheltered within – a dramatic arrangement resulting from the particular requirements of a repository for literary artifacts. This unique design, very much in the Modernist lineage but in contrast to the revivalist styles of the rest of Yale's campus, has only become appreciated thanks to the passage of time; the same bold choices which are now celebrated were once seen as a cause for contempt and outrage.  © Ezra Stoller/Esto Yale's collection of rare manuscripts began in 1701, when ten ministers met to found a college in Connecticut Colony. The books they donated were the first of many gifts to follow over the next three centuries, including the cryptic Voynich Manuscript and one of the twenty one original Gutenberg Bibles known to exist, which was given to the university in 1926.[1] Originally, the rare books collection was stored on special shelving in Dwight Hall, which served as a library until the late 19th Century; in the 1930's, it was moved to the Rare Book Room in the Sterling Library. A gift from Frederick and Edwin Beinecke, a pair of Yale alumni, allowed the university to construct a purpose-built library building for its growing collection in the 1960's.[2,3]  © Ezra Stoller/Esto Paul Rudolph, the then Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, decided to hold a competition between four firms for the privilege to design the Beinecke Library. One of the architects he invited to participate was Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), who refused. His reasoning, as he explained to Yale's provost, convinced the university to award him the job:
A primary concern in the design of the library was the control of light. Sufficient ambient lighting was required to enable the building to serve as a place for study and reading; however, exposure to sunlight could damage the carefully-preserved texts of the collection. Bunshaft's compromise was to construct the façade of panes of marble which, at a thickness of only 1¼" (roughly 3 cm), allow for some light to diffuse into the interior without damaging the collection.[5] From the outside, the gray-veined white marble appears cold and impenetrable, but from within, the sunlight causes the stone to glow with a surprising level of warmth.[6]  © Ezra Stoller/Esto The marble panels are placed into a gridded frame of light gray Vermont granite. A system of prefabricated steel trusses is hidden within the granite, transferring the weight of the façade to the four enormous concrete piers that stand at each of its four corners. This structural system allows for the ground floor lobby to be almost entirely glazed, giving those in the plaza before the library a glimpse of the treasure trove hidden within the box.[7] Visitors to the Beinecke Library enter by means of a revolving glass door at ground level. Two stairways to either side lead to the mezzanine level; directly ahead, meanwhile, stands the hidden heart of the library. Ensconced safely within the marble shell is a glass tower six stories tall, filled with stacks of rare books. Bound in leather and, in some cases, even gilded, there are roughly 180,000 tomes within the glass shaft, set proudly on display even despite only being accessible to library staff.[8,9] Underneath the library's plaza are two additional floors containing the rest of the collection, which comprises 320,000 volumes and several million manuscripts. These subterranean levels also house the working areas of the library, including a reading room, offices, and classrooms. Natural light enters the basement levels through a sunken court reminiscent of a cloister scriptorium. The courtyard features a sculpture garden designed by sculptor Isami Noguchi, who exclusively used white marble in deference to the geometry of the library itself. Three sculpted forms occupy the plantless garden: a pyramid representing the geometry of the earth and past, a disc representing the sun, and a cube resembling chance via the rolling of dice.[10]  Plan. Image © Ezra Stoller/Esto  Plan. Image © Ezra Stoller/Esto Upon its completion in 1963, the Beinecke Library received open scorn from Yale's librarians. Against the backdrop of existing Neoclassical and Collegiate Gothic buildings, the imposingly Modernist box was unflatteringly deemed a "floating folly." Assistant Librarian Donald Wing called it "an architect's dream and our future nightmare"; the library's director, meanwhile, marked up postcards of the building to point out its design flaws. In the fifty years since the library's opening, however, these protests have largely faded away, and the Beinecke Library has become a celebrated element of Yale's campus.[11] References [1] Rierden, Andi. "Modern Pantheon Saves History's Words." The New York Times, July 29, 1990. [access].
Images in this article were provided by Esto Photographics as part of a partnership between the photo agency and ArchDaily. They are all, unless otherwise stated, under the protection of copyright.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 5x5 Exhibition Features 25 Provocative Models by Young Architects Posted: 31 Jul 2017 11:00 PM PDT  © Robert Prochaska Architecture Exhibition 5x5 Participatory Provocations opened its doors at the New York Center for Architecture on July 11, featuring 25 models by 25 young American architecture firms. The exhibition engages its participants to take clear stances on a series of provocative issues facing architecture today, with their models "producing a physical expression or provocation that is then made available to the public." Curated by Kevin Erickson, Julia van den Hout, and Kyle May, the exhibition argues for "participatory criticism" covering growing income gaps, immigration, globalization, technology's impact on our lives, surveillance, and power.
 © Robert Prochaska Each team of architects participating in the exhibition responds to one of the five prompts using their models: contemplating the future of drone deliveries, the consequences of the construction of extreme luxury high-rises as financial investments, luxury tourism on the moon, the fictional development of NSA community branches, and the potential construction of an anti-immigration wall on the border between the United States and Mexico. Read on for the 25 entries below: I'M IN / ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS New York, NY Team: Emily Abruzzo, Gerald Bodziak, Grace Jeong  ABRUZZO BODZIAK ARCHITECTS "Just beyond the surface of all built space is a vast network that is pervasive and continuous. Most of us have an intimate connection to this space, a tool that keeps us connected but in turn supports that network and locates us within it. Here, the mobile device's camera allows privileged back-door views into the virtual continuity that overlays and pierces the physical spaces where we work, live, shop, and pray. The space of the network is larger than any building envelope, paradoxically contained within while it extends ad infinitum." ARCHIVE OF AFFINITIES / ANDREW KOVACS Los Angeles, CA Team: Andrew Kovacs, Yessenia Juarez  ANDREW KOVACS | ARCHIVE OF AFFINITIES "This tower of investment is the result of making architecture from architecture. The Tower is generated from mining existing aerial images of architecture. These architectural images are transformed into a new image, or design that is easily scaled. Because of the nimbleness in its creation the Tower is an ideal architectural investment - at a small size it is an object to either to be collected, scale it up a bit and the tower is an ideal investment for a functional water catch basin, scale it up even further and the tower will perform as a flexible space dedicated to living, work, or leisure. If the investment starts to fail simply create a new image." SECOND MEASURE(S) / ANTHONY TITUS STUDIO New York, NY Team: Anthony Titus, Jacob Wigton  ANTHONY TITUS STUDIO "In anticipation of near-future civilian space travel, Second Measure(s) is a lunar resort that proposes an experience of extreme environmental otherness. Capitalizing on the distinct gravitational and atmospheric qualities of the Moon, the architecture of this resort is conceived as a place where inhabitants may actively experience the particularities of the lunar surface and sky. The project is defined as a dynamic and sculpted ground, echoes by floating clusters of space above. While the ground is defined as a sharply carved surface, the spaces above consist of interwoven zones of opacity, transparency and translucency, offering unique opportunities to dwell within an environment of unfamiliarity and the unknown." DOMAIN / BRILLHART ARCHITECTURE Miami, FL Team: Jacob Brillhart, Melissa Brillhart, Andrew Aquart, Jean François Lejeune, Sophie Juneau, Tom Makowski, Stefani Fachini  BRILLHART ARCHITECTURE "The advent of commercial and recreational drones is opening up a work of possibilities — but it is also raising privacy and safety issues, noise and nuisance complains, policing challenges, and legal questions regarding property law. DOMAIN explores the notion of individual property rights in the x-y-z axes. It not only forces us to contemplate the air space we own; but also reminds us of the rights zoning authorities exercise on our private property; the permanent rights (easements) we grant others to access our land; and our subterranean boundaries below." NSA AT THE CORNER OF MAIN AND ELM / CARL LOSTRITTO Providence, RI Team: Carl Lostritto (designer), Jihoon Oh (Project Assistant)  CARL LOSTRITTO "...the NSA (now called "YourNSA") can occupy comparatively smaller existing buildings by injecting reflective glass mass into the space. The mass extrudes outward just beyond the limits of local building codes to ensure figural registration. The entire building becomes poche — the space of the pocket, potentially occupiable but perceived from the outside as solid. YourNSA focuses on human-centered information. They turn human suspicion, concern, and bias into data. Two architectural problems then arise. First, how to contend with the contradiction of being optimally visible, but secret. (People are more likely to report of their fellow citizens if they can do so privately.) Secondly, as much as the NSA wants to bring people "in" to a space of voluntary interrogation, they don't want anyone to actually penetrate their facility. The result is a spatial experience that is equally and simultaneously in and invisible; interior and exterior." IF THE TOWER STANDS, THE NEXT PLAYER IS UP / CLUB CLUB Chicago, IL and New York, NY Team: Cyril Marsollier-Desir + Wallo Villacorta  CLUB CLUB "Development decisions are made independently from the architect. The city slips from our grasps as it is built before our eyes; urban forms are physical manifestations of investment strategies often tied to economic and political conditions. Developments spawn from aligning secured funds and manipulating urban ordinances. When real-estate speculations are heightened to new levels, city making becomes a competitive game to win. As one removes blocks to position them atop one another, the tower raises and simultaneously weakens its base, revealing the space between risk-taking and free will." 2046: An Invisible Odyssey / DAVID EMMONS Team: David Emmons, Yang Yu  DAVID EMMONS "Although the National Security Agency (NSA) first developed in 1952, it took more than thirty years to design and dedicate a series of structures to house the nation's premier covert intelligence organization. Coincidentally, 2016 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the headquarters' completion in Fort Meade, MD. If we were to speculate in thirty-year increments, what might the sixtieth anniversary be like? Imagine, the year 2046 — the NSA has built invisible nodes in nearly every major metropolitan area, confirming the original headquarters building to be obsolete. Development has latticed across the nation, creating an intelligence infrastructure that is unseen to the general public, yet cherished and beloved for its proximity and consistency." WALL OVER / FORMLESSFINDER New York, NY Team: Garrett Ricciardi, Julian Rose  FORMLESSFINDER "It's been said (…perhaps by Bill Clinton) that the fingerprint of a Presidency is more easily erased than it's ever imagined to be. It's not always the case, but the sands of our political landscape tend to shift over decades and not terms. Of course, there are bad ideas along the way (many of them), and with some frequency political decisions have had the upper hand in erasing architecture and not the other way around. Perhaps it's because architecture is often too complex for it's own good. This project offers a simple intervention aimed at a 'political solution', where the flow of immigration might be far less clear than any campaign promises made it out to be." DRAPE WALL / FUTURE EXPANSION New York, NY Team: Deirdre McDermott, Nicholas McDermott, Gabriel Jewell-Vitale, Michael Filomeno, Mel Loyola Agosto  FUTURE EXPANSION "When Donald Trump first approached us to design a border wall, we were skeptical. But then we realized that the border exists; we wouldn't be creating a barrier, just decorating an existing one. Inspired by Lady Liberty's flowing gown, we decided that the statue, iconic but almost completely hollow, needed substance. So we set about shaping desert sand, intent on building real mass and giving the statue new life. Drape Wall is an icon with an inside. What appears to be a monumental fence turns out to be a gathering place, a linear oasis, a Tex-Mex paradise, a little shade from the sun." INFINITY EDGE / GELPI PROJECTS Miami, FL Team: Nick Gelpi, Dean McMurry, Julia Sarduy, Jorge Rodriquez, Alvaro Membreno  GELPI PROJECTS "Gazing over an edge, the world appears flattened against an infinitely thin boundary. This juxtaposition is both deep in cosmic associations, as well as shallow in the context of luxury real estate. The familiar forms of Frank Lloyd Wright's dendriform columns hover over the lunar landscape, merging at the top into a canopy of organic interlocking edges. The thinness of the structure becomes exaggerated in response to the reduction of gravity, having to only support 1/6th of the load that the same quantity of material would exert on earth. Our lunar resort is steeped in luxury, at once rooted in materiality yet straddling the edge of impossible realities." AUTO CORRECT / IS-OFFICE Los Angeles, CA Team: Kyle Reynolds, Jeff Mikolajewski, Anna Doran  IS-OFFICE "Architecture can't live in the cloud. It's too heavy and conceptually burdened by the weight of its own history to be the next big thing. Rather than putting architecture into the cloud we can put the cloud into architecture - curating assemblages of everyday objects into buildings - delivering architecture to your front door. Auto Correct is a shifting arrangement of things that reduces, or elevates, architecture into a thin film. It's architecture of display and protection; a cross between a plastic slipcover and a formfitting vitrine; encasing consumer goods that are piled up into totems of domestic display. This is Mies and Johnson on autopilot – a drone's view of the home." LUXUS ABSENTIA / JKURTZ Cleveland, OH  JKURTZ ...A resort of material, PATENT NO. 9925113 / KNE STUDIO New York, NY  KNE studio "The urban environment is full of objects, large and small, fixed and moving. As drones begin to occupy the 200 feet of airspace overhead, reaching individuals within the cacophony of an already crowded streetscape will be nearly impossible. Fortunately, most buildings share one thing in common–rooftop access. Patent No. 9925113, is a 'droneport doggy door' added to existing rooftop stairwells, allowing drones to travel into buildings, delivering packages door side. However, the real value in this new infrastructure will not be how much we consume but what the drones can take away." THE TRUMP DMZ / KYLE MAY, ARCHITECT  KYLE MAY, ARCHITECT New York, NY "The easiest way to manage a border is to not have a border. Twenty-five feet on each side of the US and Mexico border is sold to a new country, the Trump DMZ, for one dollar and seventeen pesos, respectively. In return, both the United States and Mexico are freed from border protection duties. The new 50-foot wide country becomes a development zone for the rich and famous - accessed only by air. The independent country only allows well-vetted millionaires to become citizens, claims the highest income per capita, and the highest real estate values in the world." A GROUNDBREAKING PARTNERSHIP / MICHAEL ABRAHAMSON Ann Arbor, MI  MICHAEL ABRAHAMSON "The National Security Agency is pleased to announce our new public-private partnership—PRIAM Wireless©—providing a three-tier mobile phone service. Lifeline access is available to citizens and resident aliens free of charge! With an affordable upgrade to Premium access, customers can view their NSA Profile and receive consultation about their personal conduct from local, on-site agents. Top-tier Executive access allows customers to view their personal data in our specially designed Faraday Vaults™. Sustainably designed sales branches are now open in major markets, and are coming soon to towns across the country. Visit your community branch or nsa.gov to sign up." RURAL DRONEPORT / NORDEN Urbana, IL Team: Johann Rischau, Anna Gutsch, Aaron Sachs  Courtesy of 5x5 "The year 2026—droneports as public utility have been successfully integrated into daily life and are now located in every remote community. This federal distribution network replaces the labor intensive mail delivery service. With the Equal Infrastructure Improvement Act in 2019, congress recognized drones as solutions to the countries growing dependency on oil and labor to guarantee affordable access to goods across the rural United States. The USDS (formerly known USPS) droneports are based on mechanical principles found in gumball machines. While it seemed counter intuitive initially to use spherical packages, it turned out to be cost and resource efficient." LUNAR RESORT / PLATFORM FOR ARCHITECTURE + RESEARCH Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY Team: Jennifer Marmon, Partner; Luke Fiederer, Malcolm Galang, Darrell Ibanez  PLATFORM FOR ARCHITECTURE + RESEARCH "Sited at the lunar south pole, with a horizon of near perpetual sunlight and proximity to ice water, the lunar resort is comprised of inflatable polyhedron modules that can be transported by space rocket, assembled onsite and reinforced with protective shells of rover printed, radiated regolith. The resort is organized as a gathering of soft volumes of varying sizes and undulating orientations that reflect programmatic uses while creating a porous geometry that allows both sunlight and views to permeate the structure. The volumes lightly intersect with one another leading to a collection of spaces for lunar exploration, leisure and sleeping." BLIND SPOTS / PATH + Price Studio San Francisco, CA Team: Matt Hutchinson, Brian Price  PATH + Price Studio "When surveillance and social media sharing become indistinguishable, the NSA can be understood not as an adversary, but as a public utility. The NSA branch offices provide privacy and voyeurism in a state-sanctioned space outside of the NSA's ubiquitous surveillance coverage. A double-sided wall, a border, frames a void in the city that absorbs light and spatial definition. Within this 'blind spot' one has direct access to an underground server containing the NSA's vast repository of data. The branch offices are an empty monument to the social contract: in exchange for access one becomes complicit with the NSA, making material our dilemma of security and narcissism." TDR TOWER / P.R.O. - PETERSON RICH OFFICE & QUARRA STONE COMPANY New York, NY & Madison, WI Team: Miriam Peterson, Nathan Rich, Peter DePasquale, Wade Cotton, Shengning Zhang, Evan Desmond Yee  Courtesy of 5x5 "In light of falling confidence in world markets and near 0% interest on government bonds, New York City real estate has become a financial safe haven. With ground level sites almost entirely occupied, developers have turned their interests skyward. Under pressure to create new investment opportunities, the City Planning Commission has eliminated height restrictions across the city, inadvertently spurring an entirely new building typology: site-less towers. These slender forms, tapered to the sky exposure plane, touch terra firma in the most minimal way. Cores and basic structure anchor into micro-sites, alleys, and rear yards. The stilted towers straddle ground level buildings and site boundaries on Manhattan Island, unlocking the full potential of the air above." UNEARTH / SEAN GAFFNEY & CHRISTINA NGUYEN New York, NY  SEAN GAFFNEY | CHRISTINA NGUYEN "The blanket statements made by Trump disregard virtually all aspects of this complex issue other than materiality. The imprint left here is an artifact of the varying landforms such a panoptic wall would encase; 1,954 miles of vast deserts, mountains, cities, canyons and lakes are compressed into a single monolith." IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM (FOR ICE CREAM) / SNARKITECTURE New York, NY  SNARKITECTURE "Freeze-dried ice cream is the ultimate symbol of man conquering space: a luxury item in an otherwise spartan environment. First developed upon request by astronauts for the Apollo missions, it has come to represent the possibility of space settlement for a wider audience—offering some hope that life in space may not be so different from life on earth after all. Ultimately, this vacuum-packed delicacy was discontinued because of its tendency to crumble, making it too dangerous for humans and equipment in space. A reminder that maybe we will only ever be visitors in space." SWARM / SOFTlab New York, NY  PATH + Price Studio "We see the droneport as a modern day pigeon coop, a kind of cell phone tower that sends out bits of data that are actually physical things. We chose for our site the place where we work, Manhattan. In this context we think the droneport will be one of the many pieces of infrastructure that populate the tops of buildings. Simply a place for drones, to charge, organize, exchange information, handoff deliveries, etc. We see drones very much like flying ants, a networked swarm that come together for bigger tasks or relay deliveries from one another to save energy." DIPLOMAT'S TOWER / SPACECUTTER New York, NY  SPACECUTTER "Located at the southeast corner of New York City's Central Park, the Diplomat's Tower offers unique amenities for its international owners. Developed under a partnership between the federal government, local agencies and private investors; the tower sits on a newly created special international district offering owner's full diplomatic immunity while on and off the premises. The tower's base spans 2 city blocks with a private floating lobby on 57th street and public entrance through The Plaza Hotel on Central Park South. All units offer an exceptional view of Central Park with panoramic windows up to 120 feet wide and 25 feet tall. Additional amenities include: helicopter shuttle to and from regional airports, art acquisitions concierge, private elevators, health club, restaurants, cinema and room service from the attached Plaza Hotel and Residences." OPEN WALL / STUDIO CADENA New York, NY  SNARKITECTURE "Rather than a tool for division and discord, we imagine an optimistic intervention that offers refuge, life, and growth—a habitable wall. Envisioned as a shelterbelt and way-station to those crossing, over time, its open framework provides the scaffolding for future life. An unmistakable figure in the desert landscape, the wall welcomes an approach to a linear oasis in a otherwise barren no man's land. The wall will be there before being something, it will be there after, relentlessly subverting its own purpose to become a destination rather than an arbitrary line - an architectural refuge that helps bind rather than divide." SPEKULATIUS / ULTRAMODERNE Providence, RI  ULTRAMODERNE "Spekulatius is a solid timber tower in which the volume is subdivided into condo shares that double as carbon offsets. In contrast to the gleaming steel and glass constructions that we are accustomed to seeing, this tower functions as a carbon sink by virtue of the carbon dioxide absorbed by the trees that supply its structure. As long as the condos remain uninhabited (that is to say, solid), their status as investment vehicle remains intact. Three observatory levels are cut through the tower and interconnected by a double promenade of circulation cores through the solid mass, creating new urban public spaces that operate as twenty-first-century plazas: zones of relief from the economic determinism of the contemporary metropolis." Prior to New York, 5x5 Participatory Provocations first opened at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in February 2016, and has since been exhibited at the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the OMI International Arts Center in Ghent, NY. The show is on until 31 October. Project Descriptions and Information via 5x5.
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