Arch Daily |
- A Virtual Look Inside Case Study House #4, Ralph Rapson’s "Greenbelt House"
- What’s Your ArchDaily Story?
- RIBA Awards 2018 Royal Gold Medal to Innovative Housing Architect Neave Brown
- Smart Every Nighttime Design Aims to Use Light as a Means to Build Better Communities
- Mr Plocq's Caballon / Aurélie Poirrier + Igor-Vassili Pouchkarevtch-Dragoche + Vincent O’Connor
- Two Holiday Houses in Firostefani / Kapsimalis Architects
- Herman Teirlinck Building / Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects
- BDHOUSE / 7A Architecture Studio
- Shoei House / Hearth Architects
- F75 Bar / AHL architects
- Aurelia - House Under a Pool / SHROFFLEoN
- Asahi Kindergarten Phase I & Phase II / Tezuka Architect
- wHY Unveils $90 Million San Francisco Asian Art Museum Addition
- Mirante House / FGMF Arquitetos
- Shipping Container Home by Whitaker Studio Blooms Like a Desert Flower from Rocky Joshua Tree Site
- Hyatt Regency Hotel Amsterdam / van Dongen-Koschuch
- UAE Announces $140 Million BIG-Designed Mars Science City
- Bellport House / Toshihiro Oki architect
- 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial's "Labyrinth" Demonstrates Novel Approaches to Design and Cities
- Are Smart Cities Doomed to Promote Inequality?
| A Virtual Look Inside Case Study House #4, Ralph Rapson’s "Greenbelt House" Posted: 28 Sep 2017 12:00 AM PDT The fourth house in Arts & Architecture's Case Study program departed from the trend with a noticeably more introverted design. Intended for a modestly sized urban lot, rather than the dramatic and expansive canyon or forest locations of so many other Case Study homes, it couldn't borrow drama from the landscape, nor would the residents welcome curious glances from their close neighbors—so the house looks entirely inward. Rapson called his design the "Greenbelt House" for the glass-covered atrium that divides the living and sleeping areas. In his original drawings and model, as in Archilogic's 3D model shown here, this strip is shown filled with plant beds in a striking geometric pattern. However, Rapson imagined that it could be put to many uses, according to the residents' tastes: a croquet court or even a swimming pool could find their place here. This "brings the outdoors indoors" rather more literally than, for instance, Richard Neutra's expansive, open-door designs. It also provided almost the only daylight and "outdoor" views for the sleeping quarters. Certainly, the main bedroom, as drawn, has no direct line of sight to the outside world—only some sunshine from the very high, shallow windows right under the eaves, and dim light filtered through opaque glass panels over the bed. Privacy has been achieved at the cost of increased claustrophobia, and reliance on an internal view fully open to the kitchen and living quarters, as well as the greenbelt.  Courtesy of Archilogic However, there's scope to vary that. The walls comprise grids of panels that could be fixed or moving, solid or opaque or clear glass. And Rapson specified that furniture should be designed by the architect, but "light and mobile," even the built-in units. So although his own model shows the outside walls largely blocked by storage, that could be changed, and windows introduced (by replacing opaque with clear glass, or perhaps by opening movable panes). At the same time, the folding doors to the atrium could be closed to provide internal privacy.  Courtesy of Archilogic Rapson's design is aesthetically striking and self-consciously modern, with the roof dipping gently inward toward the greenbelt (rather than conventionally peaking at the center) and the wall grid with occasional bright-painted panels suggesting a Mondrian painting. Floors were to be grey concrete, ceilings off-white or—in the bathrooms—frosted glass over fluorescent lighting, turning the entire ceiling into the light source. The wall grids were also to be painted grey, and the kitchen surfaces stainless steel, with only upper cabinets fronted in wood. Again, this stands in marked contrast to the prevailing use of natural materials in other Case Study Houses. Although this concept seems more adaptable than many of its more outdoorsy siblings in the programme, it was never built. Explore the 3D model to see how a different furniture arrangement might change the effect. Do you find this layout constraining or exciting? Don't miss Archilogic's other models of Case Study Houses and seminal projects shared on ArchDaily—click here to see them all!  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2017 12:15 AM PDT  Members of the ArchDaily Editorial Team . Image © Daniela Galdames In the entryway of ArchDaily's Headquarters, there is a framed, handwritten note from a student in Australia, Alice McLeod. This is something that we have cherished as a company with a very specific mission. She writes,
Every ArchDaily editor is motivated by the idea that information about architecture should be easily accessible, precisely because we are passionate about positive changes: changes that range from impacting one person's education to kickstarting larger urban transformations. In order to make sure we are achieving our lofty goals, we wanted to reach out to you, our dedicated readers, and ask you how ArchDaily has changed or impacted your education, your career, or a particular project. We also want you to keep us honest, and we welcome feedback as to how we can improve.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| RIBA Awards 2018 Royal Gold Medal to Innovative Housing Architect Neave Brown Posted: 27 Sep 2017 11:10 PM PDT  Designed in 1968 by Neave Brown of Camden Council's Architects Department, this multi-family, 8-storey council housing estate, properly known as the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate, was built between 1972 and 1979. Image © Martin Charles / RIBA Collections The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded its 2018 Royal Gold Medal to London-based artist and architect Neave Brown, a revered Modernist architect best known for his visionary Alexandra Road housing estate. Built by London's Camden Council in the 1970s the 500-home estate is, in Brown's own words, a "piece of city" containing shops, workshops, a community centre, a special needs school and children's centre, a care home for young people with learning difficulties, and a 16,000sqm public park. The medal is awarded in recognition of a lifetime's work and is approved personally by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It is given to a person, or group of people, who have had a significant influence "either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture." The medal is being presented earlier than usual—in 2017 rather than 2018—owing to Brown's poor health.  Neave Brown (2017). Image © Garath Gardner  Designed in 1968 by Neave Brown of Camden Council's Architects Department, this multi-family, 8-storey council housing estate, properly known as the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate, was built between 1972 and 1979. Image © Eric Firley / RIBA Collections Widely seen as the apotheosis of an exceptional architectural career, Alexandra Road has become a seminal housing project for students and contemporary practicing architects alike. Brown's approach to the design of homes and their placement in urban fabric is also a source of inspiration. His belief centers around the idea that "every home should have its own front door opening directly onto a network of routes and streets that make up a city, as well as its own private external space, open to the sky, in the form of a roof garden or terrace." In response to the announcement, Brown said:
Other significant projects in the architect's oeuvre include 22-32 Winscombe Street in Dartmouth Park, London (1965) – is a row of five terraced homes designed as a private co-housing project for Brown and his friends. According to the RIBA, "these hugely influential 'upside-down' houses placed the living space upstairs to maximise light, with self-contained, flexible rooms on the ground floor with direct access to private gardens." Brown lived in Winscombe Street for 40 years before moving to Dunboyne Road Estate (Fleet Road), another of his schemes built in London in 1975. This was the UK's first high-density low-rise scheme; here, the RIBA state, "Brown reinvented the traditional Victorian London terrace as two and three-storey blocks that run in parallel rows with a central pedestrian walkway. Care was taken to preserve its scale and intimacy, and to create light-filled homes, each with their own private terrace and a shared garden."  Designed in 1968 by Neave Brown of Camden Council's Architects Department, this multi-family, 8-storey council housing estate, properly known as the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate, was built between 1972 and 1979. Image © RIBA Collections  Designed in 1968 by Neave Brown of Camden Council's Architects Department, this multi-family, 8-storey council housing estate, properly known as the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate, was built between 1972 and 1979. Image © Martin Charles / RIBA Collections  © Martin Charles / RIBA Collections Ben Derbyshire, RIBA President and Chair of the selection committee, argues that Brown's "contribution to the development of modern British housing is profound. [...] His pioneering ideas firmly placed the community at the heart of each of his developments, giving residents shared gardens, their own front door, innovative flexible living spaces and private outside space for every home." He continued:
Neave Brown will be presented with the 2018 Royal Gold Medal at a private ceremony on Monday October 2nd, 2017.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Smart Every Nighttime Design Aims to Use Light as a Means to Build Better Communities Posted: 27 Sep 2017 11:00 PM PDT Working out of a UNESCO world heritage site in Cartagena, Colombia, Smart Every Nighttime Design is a research project that aims to use light as a means to build better communities. The project, led by Arup's lighting team, seeks to address night time activation of Getsemaní's streets and public spaces in a bid to improve safety, stimulate the night time economy and engage with the local communities and events. This documentary, produced by PLANE-SIGHT, presents the project's findings and explains the research process and the resulting prototype. The team had two main ambitions: .jpg?1506417220 "© Don Slater") © Don Slater
Getsemaní is facing a number of urban development issues, including gentrification, displacement and the visible changes to the architectural fabric of the area, leading to a more noticeable difference between rich and poor. A critical aspect of the project was intensive collaboration and community involvement. The process began with information gathering and research around the dynamics of the space, including the colors, the activities, and the existing lighting options.  © Don Slater Key differences were noted between the public squares, the side streets running off them and the residential streets, with lighting acting as the catalyst for activity. The use of traditional lanterns became the foundation for the project going forward and work sessions with the community and community stakeholders.  © Don Slater The resulting prototype is a colorful, bright and context-driven space, brought to life at night and evoking a sense of ownership among the locals. It is hoped that project and its process can act as a blueprint for collaborative and innovative nighttime design around the world.  New via: Arup.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mr Plocq's Caballon / Aurélie Poirrier + Igor-Vassili Pouchkarevtch-Dragoche + Vincent O’Connor Posted: 27 Sep 2017 10:00 PM PDT  © Corentin Schieb
 © Corentin Schieb From the architect. Mr. Plocq's Caballon gives the opportunity to rediscover an almost-forgotten side of the Loire river estuary: that of the naturalists, those adventurous explorers from another time whose rich and unbelievable stories blend the taste of faraway travels to the land's memory. The project is inspired by real-life Émile Plocq, aka the bird charmer, a local from the Vendée region who supposedly built a ship meant to perform expeditions to the shores of Africa with the help of migrating birds.  © Corentin Schieb
 © Corentin Schieb It was invented for the "Imaginary Nights" event, a short-time out-of-the-ordinary movable housing concept created by Loirestua. Ever since 2013, this idea allows unique nightly sojourns in an amazing place — different every year — along with the Loire estuary in the west of France.  © Corentin Schieb Each summer season, from May to October, guests can immerse themselves in the bird charmer's universe while enjoying his expedition vessel for a night. They will find a structure birthed from the alliance of naval carpentry and airship craft — the first one providing the ship with a wooden hull and the optimization of space, the second one offering a light textile envelop and generous space.  Section A One 15m² room — measuring 6.5m long, 3.8m large, and 3.3m high — possessing various subspaces is given for use. Access is made through a horizontal double-swing door whose lower part possesses steps and leads to the entrance deck. The cockpit, separated from the rest of the ship through a wood clad dashboard, makes it possible for the temporary tenants to both sleep under a starry sky and wake up observing the sunrise.  © Aurélie Poirrier On the opposite part, a hollow barrel-shaped 360° rotating door opens on a hidden bathroom in which are located a sink and a dry toilet. This door is named the "shower airlock" allowing the residents to wash intimately if turned towards the bathroom or more openly if turned towards the cockpit facing the surrounding landscape.  © Corentin Schieb Storage spaces are sheltered inside the double-wall separating the cockpit from the bathroom, while the dashboard — which also serves as the head for the bed — encloses the ship's commands. When night falls, a gentle low angle light brushes the curved sides of the Caballon in order to enhance the existing architectural features.  Axonometric In reality, once the season is over, the structure will be stored until next year. However in fiction, our story will run its course: when the sunny days make way for winter, the Caballon inevitably returns abroad along with the birds performing their annual migration. It'll land back in the estuary the following summer, presenting not just a new settlement configuration but first and foremost a whole new fantasy to tell.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Two Holiday Houses in Firostefani / Kapsimalis Architects Posted: 27 Sep 2017 08:00 PM PDT  © Yiorgos Kordakis
 © Yiorgos Kordakis From the architect. The holiday houses are located in the traditional village of Firostefani on the island of Santorini. Two old existing cave houses, next to each other, dug into the volcanic soil, are reconstructed and used as residences for travelers.  © Yiorgos Kordakis A small extension is built in front of the façade of the second house. In front of the two houses there is a yard with two pools, that is higher than the pedestrian level and their entrances.  Ground Floor Plan The yard can be used as one, or can be divided into two private parts, through a sliding door that runs all the width of it.  © Yiorgos Kordakis  © Yiorgos Kordakis The house on the left side is about 110sq.m. and it consists of a sitting area, a kitchen with a dining area, a small bedroom with a bathroom, the main bedroom with its bathroom, a 'shower' area, a sauna, a hammam and a space for massage and relaxation.  © Yiorgos Kordakis In the second house on the right side, there are a kitchen with a dining area in the front, a sitting area, the main bedroom and the wardrobes as an open space and a bathroom on the back of it, approximately 70sq.m.  © Yiorgos Kordakis  © Yiorgos Kordakis The intention of the project was to create two totally different cave houses, that are almost opposing to each other. The longer cave house on the left side has been designed as a primitive, minimal and sculptural space.  © Yiorgos Kordakis Sharp lines and volumes are contrasting with the smooth curves of the cave house, creating an odd sense of the space. These tectonic volumes could be the leftovers of the soil removal from the cave in a more dynamic way shaping a kind of ''labyrinth''. The use of similar color palette and materiality onto the floor and the walls forms a continuity of the interior space bringing out the curves and the random forms of the cave. The earth colors that are chosen, become darker and darker from space to space until the last room, that ends with a dark grey color.  Section The curved walls in some parts are like thin layers of ''skin'' that can be illuminated with a wide range of colors. Most of the furniture are built, in order to become part of that 'cocoon'.  © Yiorgos Kordakis The sensuous and mystical space is completed with some pieces of furniture by marble and wood, with diverse proportions and primary shapes. The house has a view to the volcano and to the bright scape of caldera, creating an antithesis between the darker interior space and the intense feeling of light of the yard.  © Yiorgos Kordakis The second house has a different approach. Main idea of the design was to convert the old cave into a futuristic, innovative space, attempting to push the limits of the space to a breaking point. The marks of the cave are obvious, as the soil of the earth, as appeared through the excavation, is maintained. A construction of shady mirror, covers two of the sides of the main space, offering a different perspective to the space. Light and color effects inside the mirror create optical illusions, and luminous circular and rectangular holes that don't exist in reality. A hidden video screen inside the mirror produces sounds and motion. The wardrobes and the door of the bathroom is placed out of view, behind the mirror. The floor is made by rough, light grey marble, that strengthens the materiality and the texture of the old part of the cave.  © Yiorgos Kordakis The extension of the house is a white box, that brings on its top a small pool. A rectangular hole on the ceiling reveals the existence of the water, giving a visual moving effect. In the main space of the house, the bed is placed in the center, under the big vault, looking to the volcano view. Behind the bed a deep red furniture is used as a desk for preparing yourself.  © Yiorgos Kordakis Marble, lacquered wood, metal and grey fabrics complete the palette of the materials. The openings of the two houses, made by wood, cover almost the whole façade of the building in order to bring the light and the view inside the space. At the same time the exterior summer life becomes a part of the interior space.  © Yiorgos Kordakis The design of the holiday houses is totally integrated in the volcanic landscape and the cubistic architecture of Santorini in a more contemporary twist.  © Yiorgos Kordakis © Yiorgos Kordakis  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Herman Teirlinck Building / Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects Posted: 27 Sep 2017 07:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects
 Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects From the architect. The Herman Teirlinck building is located along the canal on the Tour & Taxis site, one of the last large-scale development locations in the heart of Brussels. This 30-acre site, with a 9-acre park, vibrant urbanism and historic charm, will grow into a new high-quality green city district with mixed features in the coming years.  Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects  Section  Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects The sinuous shape of the building creates a varied building volume that blends into the urban blocks along the Haven Avenue in an obvious way. The design deliberately chooses a sustainable low-rise building of only six layers with large horizontal floor fields on a human scale. A modest height up to 60 meters in the second line gives the project a recognizable element in the skyline of Brussels.  Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects The Herman Teirlinck building is organised around an internal street in the longitudinal axis of the building. All public functions, such as the restaurant, reception rooms, auditoriums, exhibition space and meeting centres have can be found on this internal street with two public gardens and integrated works of art. On the higher levels, the office floors are situated around two large greenhouses. This creates a compact and bright building with plenty of natural light. The building has therefore achieved the highest sustainability scores in Belgium.  Courtesy of Neutelings Riedijk Architects + CONIX RDBM Architects  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| BDHOUSE / 7A Architecture Studio Posted: 27 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT  © Hoang Dung Nguyen
 © Hoang Dung Nguyen From the architect. BDHOUSE is a project in Lai Thieu Ward, Binh Duong Province. As many other industrial zones in Vietnam, Binh Duong Province is under great pressure of housing demand for low and medium income workers. With the traditional way of building, a normal worker would have to save money for many years in order to cover the cost of his home, which leads to life-long financial burdens.  © Hoang Dung Nguyen The land is located in a low-rise residential zone with messy construction and incomplete infrastructure currently. This land is nearly hidden all four sides. People around this area mainly work in factories and live in small rented rooms lacking in space. The purpose of building this house is to serve the living needs of a small family of two adults and two children, with a construction cost of about $20,000USD.  Diagram The architect and the house owner have been agreed with the solution for the home with simplified decorative details and utilized natural surface of materials, along with reasonable consideration for just sufficient area of each small space in the house. The main bearing structure of the house is reinforced concrete. Formwork of the concrete floor is reused to make roofing sheet. Un-fired bricks are used to cover the building, which contributes to reducing radiation from the Sun during the day, helping to make the house cooler.  © Hoang Dung Nguyen The house is designed and built to serve the family well within 15 to 20 years before their children grow up and their needs change. The biggest difficulty encountered when building this house is the waterproofing treatment for the cover in the rough form of the house. So that it can withstand hot and humid weather in Vietnam. At the same time, new construction methods also make it difficult for local workers who are familiar with traditional construction methods. This leads to longer project completion time than expected.  © Hoang Dung Nguyen  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shoei House / Hearth Architects Posted: 27 Sep 2017 03:00 PM PDT  © Yuta Yamada
 © Yuta Yamada From the architect. This house was planned in ground which is 5.5 meters in width stretching east to west and which is 32 meters in depth. It is just like a "bedding of an eel" which is known for traditional house style in Kyoto. Although we call the style "Unagi no Nedoko" in Japan.  © Yuta Yamada It is difficult to let in fresh air and sun light in north and south because enclose in with a building in that direction. So, I arranged main rooms in second floor. Moreover, I made piloti and traffic lines in the front and the back.  © Yuta Yamada  1st/2nd Floor Plan  © Yuta Yamada There aren't useless spaces in this house, alternatively I arranged trees and plants inside and outside the house. So, you can feel the nature and enjoy the change of the seasons and time in the space. The clients enjoy the artistic change of the seasons in the simple and peaceful Japanese style space.  © Yuta Yamada  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2017 01:00 PM PDT  © HoangLe Photography
 © HoangLe Photography From the architect. This is the first-ever brief AHL received to design a non-residential space. It was a challenge but also a project full of excitement, with over a year of project implementation.  Location Sketch We approached Hue Imperial City with our own view of it, a place where the inner intrinsic energy encapsulates more potential than its external manifestation.  © HoangLe Photography  Sketch  © HoangLe Photography We aimed to present to Hue a building with a simple exterior encasing a sophisticated combination of corten steel, concrete and brick within its interior space.  © HoangLe Photography  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aurelia - House Under a Pool / SHROFFLEoN Posted: 27 Sep 2017 12:00 PM PDT  © Photographix
 © Photographix From the architect. Alibagh often referred to as the Hamptons of Mumbai, is the location of choice for the Second Homes of Mumbai's many. It is here, in the hilly village of Katalpada set amidst an exceptionally beautiful context of rolling undulated landscape, boasting of instagrammable views and surrounded by several picturesque hills, earmarked to be forest lands, does Aurelia find itself situated.  © Photographix The city-based clients wished for their weekend home to offer an experience that is a near impossibility in an urban context such as Mumbai – luxurious larger than life outdoor living, and a feeling of being one with nature. Programmatically, the brief given was clear – an annex to their existing structure in the form of a standalone two bedroom home, having a spectacular pool - a pool that utilizes the landscape as the primary design element, overshadowing the program of the old and the new and becoming the glue that ties together the home.  © Photographix Being perched on the top of a hill, our design takes advantage of the existing sloped terrain, by orienting the aquamarine infinity pool in the direction of the landscape and the views beyond. Space then created under the pool houses an independent two bedroom home – a glass house, that by its sheer siting, blurs spaces within into the landscape beyond. The pool being infinity on all sides overspills into a smaller waterbody under, which then forms a cascading waterfall, becoming the backdrop to the primary seating in the living room of the glass house.
Perpendicular to the feature white infinity pool, the home has a black 8" deep lounging water body, that allows for unrestricted views and overspills with a gurgling ambient sound, over a textured treated random rubble stone wall into a larger black water body under, with a white Vetro clad Jacuzzi positioned between the two. These waterbodies have embedded within them 1500 fiber optic lights, that change in color, enhancing the atmosphere of luxury post-sundown.  © Photographix The two bedrooms overlook on opposite sides, with the forest suite turning its back on the property, enjoying an outdoor patio with views of the hills across, and the master suite opening up on both ends, with a view to the forest, as well as the dressed random rubble waterfall.  © Photographix The open space around the infinity pool, the main entertainment area of the home has two free-flowing organic grass pods forming informal gathering spaces and houses an eco-mesh barbeque pavilion – a structure to be overtaken by nature in time, to form a folly of flowers. The landscape within the proposal plays a vital role in the making of place, as that is there that the client will spend most of their time being enveloped within nature.  © Photographix  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Asahi Kindergarten Phase I & Phase II / Tezuka Architect Posted: 27 Sep 2017 10:00 AM PDT  © Tezuka Architects
 © Tezuka Architects From the architect. The original Asahi Kindergarten was lost in the Tohoku earthquake on 11 March 2011. Tezuka Architects, funded by Japan Committee for UNICEF, designed and reconstructed the Asahi Kindergarten on a highland area by using the huge trees that killed by the salt water of 2011 tsunami. These trees have meaningful symbols for the local villagers as they were planted along the approach to Daioji Temple, the main temple on the hill which its height is just enough to elude tsunamis in the long history. Many villagers survived because the priest of the temple used to teach them to escape to the temple.  © Tezuka Architects Our aim for the project was to express that the tree was not only the building materials used to construct the school but it is where it is home to the spirit of the town people. Reusing the killed trees to create a new kindergarten for the next generation of the town reaffirms hope held by everyone in Tohoku or Japan.  Site Plan  Section Every piece of the building including structure, floor and handrail, was curved out from these trees which planted after tsunami in 1611, exactly 400 years before the tsunami in 2011. Traditional joinery and wedges without any metal joints were used, because these old techniques have made Japanese traditional architecture survive more than 1300 years. There is a massive column with sectional dimension of 600mm x 600mm erected on the building as how it originally stood on the ground. The project bears a message for those children who will likely encounter a tsunami in the next 400 years.  © Tezuka Architects Phase II Five years have already passed since the earthquake, more children have returned to Minamisanriku Town. The first phase building became insufficient and the kindergarten decided to carry out the second phase of construction in a hurry.  Structural Composition Phase I Unfortunately, the area around the site is now completely transformed. There are hasty large-scale development accompanying earthquake recovery. The lush landscape has been losing. The hill is greatly scraped, only the surrounded garden area remains its original altitude. The site became a landscape like a castle tower built in a flat residential area.  © Tezuka Architects The second phase construction is very much like a temple complex with a pagoda on the slope of the mountain. It is the result of being conscious of the Daiouji temple which is the mother of this kindergarten. There are now three additional buildings with deep eave, and a long staircase is connecting these buildings together. The garden of the first phase building stays on top of the hill.  Detail Since the big promenade trees have been used up, large sectional column cannot be made anymore. It was decided to construct economically with rational sized materials. However, the message to children after 400 years has to be kept. All joints are still designed as traditional interlocking so it stands over a long period of time.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| wHY Unveils $90 Million San Francisco Asian Art Museum Addition Posted: 27 Sep 2017 09:30 AM PDT  © wHY San Francisco's Asian Art Museum has unveiled plans for a $90 million renovation and addition project that will transform the institution's exhibition and educational programs while reconnecting the building to its Civic Center location. Designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY, the project consists of a new 13,000-square-foot exhibition Pavilion and Art Terrace clad in a rusticated gray terracotta facade that echoes the design language of the original beaux arts building.  © wHY The new Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang Pavilion will offer 8,500 square feet of continuous gallery space that will allow for flexible exhibition designs, including industry-standard specifications for the display of large-scale works. On the roof, the 7,200-square-foot Art Terrace will house contemporary sculpture and museum-commissioned pieces that will interact with a series of live performances and other events. "The goal of the transformation is to tell the vital story of Asian art, from prehistory to the present, as an evolving, globally relevant tradition," says Jay Xu, director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum. "Museum visitors will discover fresh connections between Asian art and the world around them, engaging with the topics and issues that inspire artists working today."  © wHY  © wHY Other elements of the project include new contemporary art galleries, an exhibition redesign for the display of the collection's masterpieces, and a new education center, as well as upgraded digital technologies throughout the building including tablets, projections, photo murals and other didactic materials.  © wHY  © wHY "This project has critical potential for culture in our time," design architect Kulapat Yantrasast says of the Asian Art Museum expansion. "As an immigrant who came to America 12 years ago after living in many Asian cities, I absolutely believe in the power of culture to connect people." "By respecting yet enhancing the unique character of the historic building, I envision a completely transformed experience of the Asian Art Museum, even before people set foot in the galleries," Yantrasast says. "We want to release the power of art objects to inspire visitors, but also deepen and widen those artful encounters into understanding and empathy."  © wHY  © wHY Fundraising for the project is led by Akiko Yamazaki, chair of the museum's dual governing boards, the Asian Art Commission and the Asian Art Museum Foundation. She and her husband, former CEO and co-founder of Yahoo! Jerry Yang, have pledged a gift of $25 million to the campaign. So far, more than $60.5 million have been raised. The Pavilion is scheduled to be completed by summer 2019. Read more about the project, here.  © wHY  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mirante House / FGMF Arquitetos Posted: 27 Sep 2017 08:00 AM PDT  © Rafaela Netto
 © Rafaela Netto From the architect. Since first studies, the site determined the residence's conception logic. Some site characteristics are especially remarkable: wide lot with slightly variable width and sharp slope. In its north end, there's a beautiful view of the artificial lake. The neighbors' houses provoke shade and a feeling of lack of privacy on both sides of the site's highest area.  © Rafaela Netto There was a desire that the social and interaction spaces were lake-oriented (north-oriented), at the same time that there was the great need to avoid the pressure from the adjacent buildings. From these driver factors, we allocated the residence in the middle of the site, in a privileged position regarding the existent houses and ensuring to the social spaces the interesting view. Since the residence would have a long length, we chose to create semi-internal patios, responsible for ventilating and illuminating the house, in addition to providing a larger relation with nature, as desired by the owners.  © Rafaela Netto With these assumptions, we designed a simple metallic structure that overcomes variable spans of approximately 11 meters. This structure would be the space's organizing core and would be allocated exactly on the permitted site limit, in addition to being a remarkable item of the building aesthetics. The residence would arise indeed through the trimmed slabs, supported by this primary structure. And most of the fences would be in tempered glass, resting in the slabs borders, maximizing the structure's importance.  © Rafaela Netto The building's spatiality, derived from this slab trimming conception, almost organic, provided natural illumination and a close relation to nature. The upper level floor, intimate, is designed as an irregular block supported by this structure and it holds more fences than the other floors. The residual spaces upon the social block ceiling become uncovered garden terraces to the superior floor.  Ground Floor Plan  Upper Floor Plan On structure's both sides we implemented vertical brises with variable spacing (calculated based on the indoor spaces, views and neighbors), supported by the primary structure. These brises project themselves in both edges and function as a filter between the indoors and the outdoors.  © Rafaela Netto The project aims to broaden the office's experiments by creating a balance between the perception of the internal and external spaces, through a game between the structure limit, the fences positioning, building gaps, external brises and vegetation. The result is a highlighting the side spaces (on the permitted site limits) – usually relegated – to a position of the protagonist of the building's daily life.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shipping Container Home by Whitaker Studio Blooms Like a Desert Flower from Rocky Joshua Tree Site Posted: 27 Sep 2017 07:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio Blossoming from the rugged terrain of the California desert, Whitaker Studio's Joshua Tree Residence is taking shipping container architecture to the next level. Set to begin construction in 2018, the home is laid out in a starburst of containers, each oriented to maximize views, provide abundant natural light or to create privacy dependent on their location and use.  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio Situated on a 90-acre plot owned a Los Angeles-based film producer, the house is a reconfiguration of an earlier concept by Whitaker Studio for an office building in Germany that was never realized – a project recalled by a friend of the client's during a recent trip to the site. "Earlier this year my client in LA had some friends visiting and, having a little time to spare, they all went on a road trip to visit the client's plot of land in Joshua Tree," explains studio founder James Whitaker. "Whilst there, amongst the arid landscape and jutting rocks, one of the friends said, 'you know what would look great here?', before opening her laptop to show everyone a picture she'd seen on the internet. "The picture was of an office that I'd designed several years ago but had never been built. And so it came to pass that next time the client was in London he got in touch and asked to meet up."  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio That concept was then transposed to the desert site, atop a rocky outcropping where a small gully had been created by rushing stormwater. The shipping container "exoskeleton" will be raised on concrete pilotis, allowing water to continue to pass underneath. Inside, the 2,150-square-foot (200-square-meter) home will contain a kitchen, living room, dining area and three bedrooms, each filled with natural light from the angled container light monitors and furnished with pieces from designer/architect Ron Arad, Whitaker's former employer. Off the back, two containers extend to meet the natural topography, creating a shielded outdoor area with a wooden deck and hot tub.  Floor plan. Image Courtesy of Whitaker Studio  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio Exterior and interior surfaces will be painted a bright white to reflect light from the hot desert sun. A nearby garage will be clad in solar panels, providing all the power needed for the house. To make the house a reality, engineer Albert Taylor from AKT II provided structural consulting during concept development.  Model of Hechingen Studio. Photograph by Andrew Frolows/Australian National Maritime Museum. The model was made by Make Models, Marrickville, New South Wales Construction on the project begins next year. In the meantime, the original office building design will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum of Australia beginning October 26. Learn more about the event, here.  Courtesy of Whitaker Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hyatt Regency Hotel Amsterdam / van Dongen-Koschuch Posted: 27 Sep 2017 06:00 AM PDT  © Bart van Hoek
 © Bart van Hoek From the architect. Situated on the site of a former children's hospital on the Sarphatistraat in Amsterdam, the 5 star Hyatt Regency hotel, will be the first of its kind in the Netherlands. The historic hospital building is transformed as part of a new 211 room hotel. In addition, the building contains all the amenities that one can expect from an international 5-star hotel, with a conference centre, bars, a restaurant with terrace, and accessible spa and fitness facilities.  © Bart van Hoek  Elevations / Section  © Bart van Hoek The main challenge in designing the new hotel was developing an architectural language that does justice to the layers of history within this complex context. This has been achieved in an architectural sense through the conservation of three historic façades, transforming each in their own unique manner to fit into the new structure of the building. The new addition represents a transition from the small scale plot sizes that you can find in surrounding buildings to a larger scale through the building's volume, the design of the façade and material use. The latter refers to the large scale barrack buildings further along the Sarphatistraat.  © Bart van Hoek The building is as transparent as possible on street level where public or urban programme is situated. The site itself dictated a compact volume that maximizes the efficient use of the plot and internal programmatic relations. The building design has been awarded a BREEAM Excellent certificate due to its sustainable design. The building will use 20% less energy than conventional building and a reduction of 20% in CO2 emissions. All the sustainable features considered the Hyatt Regency Spinoza Hotel is the most sustainable hotel in The Netherlands.  © Bart van Hoek  Axonometric  © Bart van Hoek  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| UAE Announces $140 Million BIG-Designed Mars Science City Posted: 27 Sep 2017 04:30 AM PDT  Courtesy of Dubai Media Office The government of the United Arab Emirates has announced the launch of the Mars Science City project, a $140 Million USD (AED 500 million) research city that will serve as a "viable and realistic model" for the simulation of human occupation of the martian landscape. Designed by a team of Emirati scientists, engineers and designers from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in partnership with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the 1.9 million-square-foot domed structure will become the largest space simulation city ever constructed.  Courtesy of Dubai Media Office Mars Science City will house a variety of program pieces for both researchers and visitors, including laboratories for the study of food, energy and water; landscapes for agricultural testing and food security studies; and a museum celebrating humanity's greatest space achievements and educating visitors on the city's research. Utilizing one of the techniques currently considered for Mars habitat construction, the walls of the museum will be 3D printed using sand from the Emirati desert. Laboratory spaces will be outfitted with advanced technologies allowing researchers to test construction and living strategies under specific Martian heat and radiation levels. Plans for the city include an experimental living scenario in which a team will attempt to live within the constructed environment for a full year.  Courtesy of Dubai Media Office  Courtesy of Dubai Media Office "The UAE is a great country with vision and understanding of the challenges we face and the rapid changes our world is experiencing," said Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. "We believe in the potential of space exploration, and in collaborating with global partners and leaders in order to harness the findings of this research and movement that seeks to meet people's needs and improve quality of life on earth." News via Dubai Media Office  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bellport House / Toshihiro Oki architect Posted: 27 Sep 2017 04:00 AM PDT  © Dean Kaufman
 © Dean Kaufman From the architect. This weekend home, built on the south shore of Long Island, is envisioned as a social platform for the owner, his family and many friends and guests who come to visit and enjoy themselves outside of New York City. The Entry, Living, Dining and Kitchen are the central core where the social activity mixes. Large sliding glass doors open these areas out to the exterior, allowing people to flow easily between inside and outside. The pool, waterfront and various landscapes and courtyards around the house provide multiple settings for various activities. People can meander as the daylight shifts throughout and around the house over the course of the day, feeling the distinct presence and syncopation of morning, afternoon, sunset and evening.  © Dean Kaufman  Ground Floor Plan  © Dean Kaufman There are five bedrooms each with their own bathroom, so guests can retreat and have their privacy when desired. The second floor bedroom also has a roof deck and views that provide a different perspective of the property and house from above. Expansive glass from floor to ceiling with glass doors provides uninterrupted views and access to outside from all the bedrooms. And each bedroom has its own unique view and experience of the landscape around the house.  © Dean Kaufman  © Dean Kaufman The exterior walls are built with clay bricks that are robust against the salty ocean air and the freeze/thaw cycles of the cold damp Long Island winters. It also provides a thermal mass for more efficient heating and cooling. The bricks are stacked in a random pattern to break its rigidity and give a more fluid feel to its clay materiality. The floors are open vein-cut travertine slabs with radiant heating for thermal comfort. Even with all the glass, the radiant floors provide even and efficient heating throughout the Fall and Winter. The open veins of the travertine give a refined roughness that reminds you of the geological process that creates natural stone within the earth.  © Dean Kaufman The house faces South and overlooks the water. As people pass by in boats, or birds fly by and the tide changes, the activity of the waterway is on full display from the house. Conversely as you walk to the water front and look back at the house, you see the full activity inside and around the house in full display. When on the water with a boat, the house acts as a landmark as it punctuates the tree line with a low slung orthogonal volume of brick and glass. When evening comes, the reflections on the glass give way to transparency into the house that acts like a lantern. A dialog between waterfront and house seems to be constant motion.  © Dean Kaufman Around the house is a property of over 8,000 sqm that ranges from manicured grass, vegetable gardens, wild landscape, tall old growth trees and varied species of forest under growth. The house is punctuated with glass sliding door breezeways that act as a connector from one landscape to the next in only a few steps, as if passing from one scene to the next in a film. Everyone is free to make their own story as they pass back and forth to their own rhythm. Or they can sit still and just watch the landscape and activity unfold before them.  © Dean Kaufman  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial's "Labyrinth" Demonstrates Novel Approaches to Design and Cities Posted: 27 Sep 2017 03:20 AM PDT On the ground floor of the Chicago Cultural Center, Labyrinth—a cluster of installations and exhibitions occupying a warren of rooms as part the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial—serves as the visitor's introduction to participants' responses to the theme, Make New History. In this short film, architects including Jürgen Mayer H., Freek Persyn (51N4E) and Philip F. Huan (Archi-Union) present their projects and reflect on their work, process, and involvement in North America's largest architectural event. This film was created by PLANE—SITE and Spirit of Space in collaboration with ArchDaily and Hunter Douglas. You can view our ongoing coverage of the event, here.
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| Are Smart Cities Doomed to Promote Inequality? Posted: 27 Sep 2017 02:30 AM PDT  As the former Chief Urban Designer of New York City, Alexandros Washburn had to carefully consider whether technological developments were right for the city's residents. Image © <a href='https://www.pexels.com/photo/bridge-brooklyn-bridge-buildings-city-534757/'>Pexels user Kai Pilger</a> licensed under CC0 This article was originally published by Common Edge as "Can the Wired City Also Be the Equitable One?" A city is smart when it makes better decisions, and there are only two types of decision: strategic and tactical. Strategic decisions determine the right thing to do. Tactical decisions choose the right way to do it. SMART technology is not smart technology if it causes us as citizens to confuse strategy with tactics. In other words, there are many decisions about the operation of a city that we may delegate happily to technology. But there are questions of governance, of determining our fate, of deciding what is the right thing to do as populace, that if we delegate—we abdicate. "To govern is to choose," John F. Kennedy once said. If I were to have believed the many consultants and emissaries of large technology companies that came to see me when I was the Chief Urban Designer of New York City, the SMART city they promised me was a place where the traffic lights always turned green and the elevator doors always awaited our arrival. They promised a city that would anticipate our needs at every turn, given tantalizing form in the recent present of our connected personal devices and the apps that seem to know us better than we know ourselves. Now, with the advent of the internet of things on the near horizon, we are set to make SMART cities a reality. Imagine the awesome power of an entire city synchronized to our taste and movement! Seems too good to be true. I have a feeling that our SMART city is predicated on a lie—perhaps, less judgmentally—on a mistake in grammar, a confusion of pronouns. In talking about the anticipational SMART wonders of "our city," we really mean "my city." We confuse the collective with the personal. This is directly related to our relation with "personal" technology. We have marketed ourselves to believe that technology serves "us," meaning the individual, "me." We have conflated the selfie with a portrait of humanity. Which is all perfectly harmless on the pixels of Facebook. But as someone who builds cities for a living; I would like to warn of the dangers to both self and community of the delusion that what you want personally is what everybody wants. "I" is not "we." A city is a communal creation, and a city cannot perform from everyone's perspective as if they were the only one that mattered. The light cannot turn green in both directions. The elevator cannot be waiting at every floor. Decisions have to be made about which direction and which floor, and those decisions, even in small ways, effectively create winners and losers. Perhaps it doesn't matter much if I have to wait at a light while somebody else passes. In fact, given the collective increase in traffic efficiency and safety, I willingly delegate traffic control to a dumb device like a timed turn signal, and I eagerly anticipate the advent of a SMART device like a sensored intersection, so I don't have to wait if nobody else is coming. This is all tactics. And I have even begun to use the Waze app for all my car travel, coming to realize that it really does direct me faster from A to B. I swallow my urban designer's pride in knowing the street network, and I accept that a routing algorithm with real-time data from multiple sources and users is better than me at wayfinding. So far, the more I delegate to technology, the faster I go. It is a win-win. I am at home with our tech-crazy society; I am loving it. And there seems no end to how much better everything will become if only I continue delegating and algorithms keep optimizing. The light truly is turning green!  Songdo in South Korea is one of the most fully developed incarnations of the "smart city" concept in the world. Image © <a href='https://pixabay.com/en/songdo-incheon-kor'>Pixabay user alfonsojung</a> licensed under CC0 But there is a limit to optimization, and the financial industry has found it. My office at the Stevens Institute of Technology is next door to the Financial Engineering Program, where they apply the highest technology to understand financial patterns. I see my colleagues parse the algorithms of high-speed trading; I converse with them on the technical hurdles of identifying insider trading. I am in awe of their instincts as well as their analytics. They are seeing the future of trading in real time and it's a place where there is remarkably little room for decision-making. Algorithms are fighting algorithms. Human traders are more and more loathe to go against the recommendations of their programs. The next generation of traders seem to be quants. They don't pick stocks. They pick code. The code makes an algorithm, and the algorithm makes a trade. But the algorithms have gone beyond tactical decision-making—of how best to execute a trade—and entered strategic decision-making: how to defeat an opponent. Their algorithms are sensing data. They're also creating data to spoof the sensors of other algorithms. They place trades and cancel them in nanoseconds, leaving the responder's price naked. Technology is too fast for regulation in the SMART world of finance. The only premise is that on the other side of every successful trade is a loser. It is a zero-sum game. It's no surprise that trading creates winners and losers. What is surprising is the degree to which those winners and losers are decided by algorithm. As such, I think it gives us a glimpse of a harsher civic future than SMART city advocates would paint. Yes, the immediate application of SMART technology will weed out tremendous inefficiencies, and everyone should benefit. But eventually, those collective inefficiencies will be overcome, and individual gains will require others to bear individual losses. The early aggressive adoption of sensors and algorithms by the financial world in effect made the financial world SMART. The same justifications for the collective good were invoked at the beginning by those who built, sold and applied the technology: increased liquidity through broader participation. Increased transparency through data collection. And where did it go? The technology is meeting the asymptote. The curve is flattening out. As the collective gains slacken, the zero-sum future becomes clearer. The algorithm versus algorithm, data versus data battles of a SMART financial world give us a glimpse of the future in our cities, where we realize we may have gone too far in delegating to technology. Imagine that roads have reached capacity in a mega-city. Our Waze app has hit the asymptote of optimization. You won't go any faster from A to B whether you go this way or that. Traffic has become a zero-sum game. To go faster in a zero-sum city, each of us needs a WazeMe app to compete against other drivers. If I arrive sooner, it will mean someone else arrives later. Imagine if driving across town was a contest between competing algorithms. These algorithms would use existing data but they would also create synthetic data to spoof the data of a competitor. When we have optimized the collective, someone begins to win and someone begins to lose. We have crossed the line from tactics to strategy. I don't have to enter the financial world of trading stocks, but I do have to enter the real world of city streets. Public roads are public goods, and I, as a citizen, will fight for my right to equal access and equal enjoyment of the public good. If a city were to become as SMART as the financial world, and the people with the best car algorithms went through green lights, while I waited at a red, I would be fighting mad. The inequality of algorithms already exists, between those with a SMART phone and data plan, and those without. Is that fair? What cost does such an inequality impose on a city? Is the cost a corrosion of the social cohesion based on equal citizenship? While my research is based in the technology of hydrodynamics and urban design in an effort to make cities resilient to climate change, I have found that far more than any sort of complex computational modeling, social cohesion is the mainstay of a city's resilience. Certainly a city that decreases social cohesion through technology cannot be called SMART. Social cohesion is a function of participation and is based on respect. We demonstrate respect by how we behave in public space. The other side of the social contract is that public space has to be a common good with no barrier to entry. Public space builds public trust if and only if everyone can go everywhere. Jane Jacobs defines public participation likewise: "Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody." To find a balance between delegating operational decisions while increasing participation in governance is very hard to do. There is a biological analogy in the development of the separation of functions between our conscious and autonomic nervous systems. The conscious system in our brain resists delegating strategic decisions to the autonomic system in our gut. We make a conscious decision of what to eat, but we delegate how to digest it to the autonomic system controlling the thousands of sequenced contractions required to move the food through our system. It took evolutionary time and the trial and error of natural selection to create the proper balance between the conscious and the autonomic nervous systems. We don't have evolutionary time to figure this one out, and the consequences of delegating too much—abdicating our social responsibilities to make civic decisions—could be fatal. Smart cities make better decisions. But cities that are both smart and democratic make the best decisions by allowing citizens to vigorously debate the right course of action, and then letting technology do it right. Alexandros Washburn is the former Chief Urban Designer of New York City and is the Industry Professor of Design at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He is the author of the book The Nature of Urban Design: A New York Perspective on Resilience.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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