Arch Daily

Kampono House / RAW Architecture
Yosanyosu House / studio_GAON
Moscow’s New Pathless Park by Diller Scofidio + Renfro Artificially Creates Microclimates
Roberto Burle Marx's Legacy Reveals The Role of Landscape Architects
Lofts at Mayo Park / Snow Kreilich Architects
Innovative Affordable Housing Solutions From Brazil
Centre Le Lac - Cultural and Social Center / Philippe Gibert Architecte
Pop-In, Pop-Out, Pop-Up: Collapsible Street Cinema Uses Film to Reflect on Soviet Russia in Venice
Carbonized Wood: A Traditional Japanese Technique That Has Conquered the World

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 07:00 PM PDT

Architects: RAW Architecture
Location: West Jakarta, Indonesia
Lead Architect: Realrich Sjarief
Project Team: Septrio Effendi, Miftahuddin Nurdayat, Rio Triwardana, Tatyana Kusumo, Alhamdamar Mudafiq, Rofianisa Nurdin, Hardiyanto Agung Nugroho
Area: 500.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Eric Dinardi

General Contractor : Singgih Suryanto
Supervisor In Charge : Sudjatmiko
Construction Manager: Yudi Atang
Structure Engineer : John Djuhaedi and associates
Master Carpenter : Syarifuddin Pudin
Master Steelwelder : Tata las
Mechanical And Electrical Engineer: Bambang Priyono, Andi, Karim and Hamim
Plans And Illustrations : Septrio Effendi, Hadrian Halim, Yuki Fadillah.

From the architect. Located in The Green Precinct, Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang, Kampono House sited on the corner of the complex facing west and south. Its total area is 319 sqm, and having land shaped round. The design use this existing situation to emphasize land potential of scenery and continuous attributes by juxtapositioning axial line and curvature lines, both in interior and exterior part. From outside, the house shows its extrovertness while from inside, neatly put dwelling program kept family activities intact and still private. Land orientation influence design process as opportunity to maximize lighting reception and vistas. Double height window standing still upfront side that facing Southwest, which shaded by 2 existing Albizia Chinensis trees. The design process changes in a flow/continuous manner into final shape following its ground and scenery, as to resemble a dancing house, which were inspired from Mrs. Adhisty profession as ballerina.

Entering the house, an open plan living room welcomed inhabitants and visitors. The ground floor ceiling is extended to maximize its spaciousness by height of 4 meter. On top of the living room, airflow mechanism is consisted in air stacking effect, -a lightwell, with size of 180x180 cm and periphery opening as cross air circulation. Swimming pool is located on second floor to guard user's privacy, this position is achieved by raising the level of ground for about 2 m above, with land cut-and-fill method. Its positioned below curvature roof and having outmost scenery of entire neighborhood.

Roof garden is placed at the rooftop to insulate the building from heat. This space also serves as relaxing place for immediate garden party. Below on the first floor, there are 3 bedroom beside central stair. Two bedroom is designed in 18 sqm for children, adjoining to terrace from curvature component. The master bedroom have bigger area of 30 sqm, with walk-through closet for clothes and powder area, adjoining master study, and facing directly to swimming pool.

The ballete floor is placed on the same floor between master and kids room. This space is also works as second living room for family. The service floor and wet kitchen is located in semi-basement floor, along with utilities as genset and wáter pump.

Material used in the house consisted of local cream Tulungagung marble, solid merbau wood, and steel pipe for handrailing. For handrailing, it is designed vertically placed each in 80 mm distance, put horizontally for kids safety. It used local ceramic for service floor, and coated bare concrete for outdoor finishes.

Kampono House is one example of project which exercise the modification of form and program with open plan circulation, in the tropical climate of Bumi Serpong Damai Tangerang, Indonesia.

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Yosanyosu House / studio_GAON

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 01:00 PM PDT

Architects: studio_GAON
Location: Pyeongchang-dong, South Korea
Architect In Charge: Hyoungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh
Area: 99.36 m2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Youngchae Park

Project Team : Hanmoe Lee, Sungpil Lee, Joowon Moon
Construction : Starsis
Supervision : studio_GAON
Translation : Joowon Moon

From the architect. Lately, we realize regular folks in Korea are becoming more aware of the essential value of house as a family haven, than the economic value as a real estate. Some go out suburb to live close to nature, while some find superb solution in downtown near where they work.

Pyeongchang-dong has two hills facing each other across a street that almost feels like a canyon. While the western side lies on Mt. Bukhansan and has large and luxurious houses, the eastern hills, which are leaning against Mt. Bukaksan and Mt. Inwangsan, have smaller and older houses in every nook and corner.

A young couple came to us to build a house in the neighborhood. They started their newly-married life in a single house in Pyeongchang-dong, and have spent a long time to find a proper site.

The site was on the eastern side of the Pyeong-chang dong. It was in the very inside of the steep region where the design and age of the housings are uneven. It also had a lovely view. The majestic figure of Mt. Bukhansan was partly cut off by the medium-size houses in between. On the site, the remains of the house that had been destroyed and weeds completely covered the ground, making it impossible to see the bare land.

Because of the steep slope and seemingly difficult appearance, nobody wanted to build anything on the site. After looking at the land, we began designing; listening to stories about the houses they wanted to live in.

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Moscow’s New Pathless Park by Diller Scofidio + Renfro Artificially Creates Microclimates

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 09:00 AM PDT

As part of the series of new urban developments sprawling up in Moscow, Zaryadye Park is the latest to open this month in a bid to improve the city's green space. Led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the international consortium has designed this new public space that encourages integration and celebrates the amplitude of regions across Russia by artificially emulating each of their climates: the steppe, the forest, the wetlands and the tundra.

The 35-acre park is located in a historically commercial part of Moscow and is the first of its scale in 50 years. Forming a backdrop to the park, the city's landmarks such as the Kremlin, Red Square, and St. Basil's Cathedral develop a cityscape taken advantage of through the many vista points astutely placed into the billowing landscape. The park was officially opened by a civic ceremony during Moscow's City Day festivities, but full completion is scheduled for Autumn.

A custom paving system pixelates the surface of the park as a combination of green and grey paving stones transform from entirely paved to natural landscape - undefining the edge. By blurring the boundary between landscape and hardscape, free movement throughout the park is promoted for an individualized, unscripted experience. Traditionally, Russia's parks were extremely ordered and symmetrical so a completely pathless space is important for Moscow's urban movement.

Across the park, four microclimates are created through regulating the temperatures, eliminating wind and simulating daylight in progressive zones. The augmented climates allow potential use of the park all year round as the open landscape in winter can become hills for sledding whilst pavilions positioned in the folds of the park provide shelter and green spaces.

It is a park for Russia made from Russia…it samples the natures of Russia and merges them with the city, to become a design that could only happen here. It embodies a wild urbanism, a place where architecture and landscape are one - Charles Renfro.

Plunging out over the adjacent road, 70 meters overlook cantilevers over the Moskva River to offer views across the whole city and along the river, instigated by the natural slope of the site. The park also includes five pavilions, two amphitheaters, and a philharmonic concert hall.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Zaryadye Park is an exhibition as well as an attraction due to the passive climate control strategies and new building technologies it comprises. Residents of Moscow will be able to appreciate the green spaces as a hub for creativity and cultural integration as the city endeavors to become the 'leading' megacity, investing in more large-scale projects.

The international consortium responsible for the design included Diller Scofidio + Renfro (USA), Hargreaves Associates (USA), Citymakers (Russia), Transsolar (Germany), Buro Happold (United Kingdom), Central Park Conservancy (USA), Directional Logic (USA), ARUP (USA), Arteza (Russia), MAHPI (Russia), and Mosinzhproekt (Russia).

News via: Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

A Wilderness in the City: How Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Zaryadye Park Could Help Fix Moscow
In late 2013, Diller Scofidio + Renfro won first prize in the international competition to design Zaryadye Park, Moscow's first new park in 50 years. The project is a headliner in a series of high-profile schemes that aim to improve the city's green space, including the renovation of Gorky Park and the recently revealed plans for the Moscow River.

8 Projects that Exemplify Moscow's Urban Movement
When it comes to urbanism these days, people's attention is increasingly turning to Moscow. The city clearly intends to become one of the world's leading megacities in the near future and is employing all necessary means to achieve its goal, with the city government showing itself to be very willing to invest in important urban developments (though not without some criticism).

Charles Renfro Discusses DS+R's Winning Proposal for Zaryadye Park in Moscow
At last year's Moscow Urban Forum, Charles Renfro discussed Diller Scofidio + Renfro's design for Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Located in the heart of the city, the park employs Wild Urbanist principles, which seek to emulate Russia's diverse landscapes - tundra, steppe, forest, and wetland - against a backdrop of architectural landmarks that includes the Kremlin, Red Square, and St.

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Roberto Burle Marx's Legacy Reveals The Role of Landscape Architects

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 07:00 AM PDT

There wasn’t much in the way of art that Roberto Burle Marx couldn’t do. He was a painter, print-maker, sculptor, stage designer, jeweler, musician, tapestry-maker and one of the leading landscape architects in the 20th century. Marx’s passion for art, in all forms, strengthened his ability to design landscapes.

Born in São Paulo, Marx’s interest in botany was inspired by his Pernambucan mother while he was growing up in Rio de Janeiro. Later, Marx went on to spend time painting in Germany. It was there that Marx became further fascinated by botanical gardens and how they work. Marx would go on to reveal to Brazil a new vision. A vision of what landscaping can be - botanically, socially, and aesthetically.

The common thread between all of the arts that Marx practiced was the artistic process. By learning different artistic forms, Marx was able to learn from the creative process in different ways. He explored new techniques and Brazilian cultural identity. Marx was praised for his technique, mastery, and experimentation.

Vargem Grande Farm. Image © Burle Marx Office Collection

But Marx focused on landscape architecture on an even deeper level. He spent a lot of time with the integrated process known as the Architecture-Landscape-Painting triad. Where drawings and paintings turn into urban design.

Unlike other landscape architects at the time, Marx wasn’t afraid to study strange and unknown Brazilian regions and species. “According to him, everything seems to conspire to keep the man away from the woods” [1]. Marx used the floral species prominently in his work.

Even though Marx experimented in many artistic forms, the main focus of his work was landscape architecture. Often, the elements present in his 2D artwork, including paintings and drawings, are scenic landscapes. However, Marx introduces them to the urban scale with uncommon materiality. [2]

In relation to my life as a plastic artist, the most rigorous disciplinary training for drawing and painting, was the garden...I was interested in applying, to nature itself, the plastic composition foundations, according to the aesthetic feeling of my time. It was, in short, the way I found to organize and compose my drawing and painting using less conventional materials (Marx, 1954).

Here is where art and landscape intersect. Marx’s Cubist-influenced drawings freed scale boundaries. Urban design assumed a compositional role, generating sensorial space at the human scale. The natural topography appropriated as one whole area, with fluidly through vegetal and material scales. “There is no aesthetic difference between the object-painting and constructed object-landscape,” which allows "the topographic nature to change, and human existence to adjust individually and collectively, pragmatically and pleasurably" [3].

As a landscape architect, Marx also played an important role as an environmentalist, by cataloging new species of Brazilian flora and introducing them into his projects. He used them as research. However, it is important to note that in his personal garden Marx concentrated on every new plant and contributed to their studies and recognition around the world.

Marambaia Farm. Image © Burle Marx Office Collection

Every day thousands of people pass through the artist’s works, either conscious of the spatiality or not. But, either way, sensorially perceiving the elements that make up the landscape as a whole. Most of Marx’s work is in the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais. His work also exist in Goiás, Acre, and Pernambuco. While his works vary in scale, they are always marked by sculptural character and the transition of human experience through space. There is approximation between pedestrian and landscape. Among some of his projects are: The Marambaia Farm, 1948 (Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro); The Tacaruna Farm, 1954 (Pedro do Rio, Rio de Janeiro); The Aterro do Flamengo, 1961 (Rio de Janeiro); The Paço Municipal de Santo André, 1965 (Santo André, São Paulo); The sidewalk of Atlântica Avenue, 1971 (Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro); The Vargem Grande Farm, 1979 (Areias, São Paulo); The Biscayne Boulevard, 1991 (Miami).

Marx was the faithful friend and landscaper of many of the works of Oscar Niemeyer, Rino Levi, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

The landscape architect idealized each element that composed his gardens just as a poet chooses each word in a poem. Therefore, the beauty found in his work is potentially punctuated by the proportion of elements that composes them. Anamorphic lines and their variants, together with the use of differing materials and plant species, translates into a fluidity and subtlety of design integration between building and vegetable scale.

In the breadth of Marx’s work, we see the individual projects concern for different scales (territorial, vegetal and human). Despite his notable artistic aesthetic, botanical use or even fluency innovation, Marx stated that he never sought out originality:

This concept, that is, my present thinking, based on a reasonable experience, does not seek any originality, no discovery, above all, because all my work responds for a reason of historical course and a consideration of the natural environment.

[...] As time went by, and my experience with nature and the work destined for it increased, I gradually formed a better awareness of the work I was developing [4].

Through Marx, the world realized how important the role of landscape architects are via their dissemination of previously unknown plant species, cataloging them, and linking the landscape to art.

Notes
[1] (MOTTA, 1984, p.34).
[2] (CAVALCANTI, 2009, p.76):
[3] (MARX, 1954 In: CAVALCANTI, 2009, p.76-77).
[4] (MARX, 1954 In: CAVALCANTI, 2009, p.76-77).

References
CAVALCANTI, Lauro; EL-DAHDAH, Farès. Roberto Burle Marx 100 anos. São Paulo: Rocco, 2009.
MOTTA, Flávio L. Roberto Burle Marx e a nova visão da paisagem. São Paulo: Nobel, 1984.

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Lofts at Mayo Park / Snow Kreilich Architects

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 06:00 AM PDT

Architects: Snow Kreilich Architects
Location: 123 6th Ave SE, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Lead Architects: Matt Kreilich, Mike Heller, Kar-Keat Chong
Area: 52000.0 ft2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Corey Gaffer, Joshua Becker

Structural: Meyer Borgman Johnson
Landscape: Coen+Partners
Civil Engineering: Pierce Pini + Associates
Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire Protection: J-Berd Mechanical Contractors
Electrical: Berd Electric
General Contractor: Welsh Construction

From the architect. Located at the intersection of the Rochester, MN downtown core and a neighborhood of single-family homes, as well as being adjacent to the Zumbro River and Mayo Memorial Park, this multifamily project with 29 apartments and underground parking needed to resolve the varied conditions and scales of its context.

The project is the first building in the neighborhood to embrace the riverfront and thus has two front doors, providing residents access to both the riverfront and residential neighborhood. The hope is for this project to become a catalyst and inspiration for future projects to re-embrace the riverfront.

Each elevation takes a slightly different approach to the contextual response. The neighborhood facade has recessed balconies and private patios at the grade that open up directly to the sidewalk, breaking down the scale of the apartment building and relating directly to the single-family residences. On the river facade, projecting balconies provide panoramic views of the river and downtown while animating the riverfront façade. Gardens, bike storage, and pet wash stations are all accessed off the riverfront creating an inviting presence along the river.

Along the park edge, the partially below-grade lower level acts as a plinth, extending beyond the levels above to create an outdoor patio or "front-porch" with views of the park, river, and downtown. A large setback to the north creates a community stairway and garden, providing the neighborhood direct access to the riverfront.

Another key design element is the planning strategy and the placement of common spaces and entrances. The main entrance and common spaces, including a lobby and an outdoor patio, are placed adjacent to Mayo Memorial Park, providing expansive views of the park, the river, and downtown. Floor-to-ceiling glass in the lobby maximizes this visual connection.

Common residential materials were selected help integrate the project into the surrounding neighborhood of single-family homes. The upper levels are clad in a smooth-finished white stucco, while stained cedar is strategically placed where tenants interact with the building exterior: entries, balconies, and windows. The lower level plinth is clad in a light burnished block.

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Innovative Affordable Housing Solutions From Brazil

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 05:00 AM PDT

Brazil’s Housing Development Company of The Federal District (CODHAB-DF) announced the winners of their National Architecture Design for Affordable Housing Contest. Out of 88 projects submitted across the country, three winners were chosen for each of the following affordable housing categories: single-family housing, duplexes, and apartment buildings.

In addition to the architectural design, requirements for the contest included: well thought-out structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, along with construction implementation, materials, estimated budget and feasibility. The winning proposals, determined by the Judging Committee, demonstrated aesthetic, accessible, functional, low-maintenance and innovative solutions with a feasible timeline and budget.

See the winners of the contest below:

Group 1

FIRST PLACE

Grupo 1 - Primeiro lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Almir Antunes Rocha, Felipe Guimarães, Priscila Coli Rocha and Cauê Capillé
City: Rio de Janeiro / RJ

SECOND PLACE

Grupo 1 - Segundo lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Fabricia Zulin, Alfredo Figueiredo, Andrea Acosta, Adriana Granda, Robinson Cueva, Gabriel Fortenbacher, Nicole Andrade, Christine Van Sluys, Esteban Jaramillo , Claudia Karina Resende and Renata Coradin
City: São Paulo / SP

HONORABLE MENTION

Grupo 1 - Menção Honrosa. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Luciana de Andrade Bento, Rangel Brandão, Jakelyne Martins, Guilherme Andrade, Frederico Rabelo, Bruno Cabral
City: Goiânia / GO

Group 2

FIRST PLACE

Grupo 2 - Primeiro lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Gustavo Panciera Abbad, Rogelio Zanini, Daniel Zanini, Ronald Luis da Cruz Jung, Luzia Olivier Brand, Vinicius Farias, Uilian Marconato, Luara Soares Mayer and Luiz Carlos Barbosa Filho
City: Santa Maria / RS

SECOND PLACE

Grupo 2 - Segundo lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: José Vanildo de Oliveira Júnior, Sizinandes Barros de Lima Neto, Sarah Lima, Rita Gurjão, Diego Montenegro de Lacerda, Liana Correa dos Santos lacerda, Laudelino de Araújo Pedrosa Filho, Thyago Ramon Pereira da Silva, Thálita Zavaski Abreu, Renata Caiaffo, Raphael Albuquerque dos Santos, João Victor de Tatrai Carreiro, Jean Carlo Fechine Tavares, Giuseppe Branquinho, Emmanuel Silva Dantas and Bruna França de Pontes
City: João Pessoa / PB

HONORABLE MENTION

Grupo 2 - Menção Honrosa. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Hector Vigliecca Gani, Luciene Quel, Ronald Werner Fiedler, Neli Yumi Shimizu, Pedro Ichimaru Bedendo, Luiz Marino Kuller, Carolina Passos, Fernanda Trotti, Camila Couto Argento, Luiz Felipe Quel Filho, Juliana Yukie Shiraishi, Paulo Eduardo Fonseca de Campos, Paulo Roberto de Oliveira Mattos and Alexandre Lins dos Santos
City: São Paulo / SP

HONORABLE MENTION

Team: Sérgio Ricardo Palhares, Lorena Nilzete, Cássio Lopes França Lima, Norberto Barbosa Coelho, Liliano Rodrigo Rezende, Fernanda Lacerda and Ana Luísa Lloyd
City: Nova Lima / MG

Group 3

FIRST PLACE

Grupo 3 - Primeiro lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Anamélia Adriano, Rodrigo Reche, Felipe Kaspary and Paula Rabel Dilli
City: Itapema / SC

SECOND PLACE

Grupo 3 - Segundo lugar. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Rogerio Goldfeld Cardeman, Fernando Bonini, Luiza Schreier, Olivier Ferreira Bruno Läuppi, Marcos Blanco de Amorim and Rogerio Goldfeld Cardeman
City: Rio de Janeiro / RJ

HONORABLE MENTION

Grupo 3 - Menção Honrosa. Image Cortesia de CODHAB/DF

Team: Ingrid Okraska Zimermann, Marcio Dambroski Buzzo, Augusto Pimentel Pereira, Rodrigo de Pádua Ribeiro, Frederico Huckembeck Neto and Edson José Busko
City: Curitiba / PR

HONORABLE MENTION

Team: Alex Fernandes, Henrique Balduino, Olívia Nasser, Gabriela Lamounier, Camila Kakazu, Cláudio Sá and Nonato Veloso
City: Brasília / DF

All first and second place winners will receive cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Candidates who received honorable mentions will be awarded special diplomas.

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Centre Le Lac - Cultural and Social Center / Philippe Gibert Architecte

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 02:00 AM PDT

Architects: Philippe Gibert Architecte
Location: Sedan, France
Lead Architects: Philippe Gibert, Clémence Legentil
Area: 1350.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Sergio Grazia

Technical Engineer: TPF-i Reims

Centrality and Visibility
« Le Lac » center offers a new centrality in the area. By its shape and materiality the building stands out from the surrounding buildings straight shapes, and it makes it an identifiable meeting place.

The site is changing, so we chose a sculptural building. The building envelope is made of perforated or solid clothing and this material is also on the roof, « the fifth façade ». Le Lac center regroups different poles, which can also work autonomously.

The hall is visible from the street and is a meeting and animation place, it's a fully clear area, open to the esplanade. It benefits from natural light and high ceiling and distributes every pole.It's an attractive and user-friendly place with several activities (exhibition, information, cafeteria, choir, and cybercafé).

The center has become a central place for local residents, who meet up over a cup of coffee in the hall. Children go there to play on the esplanade, to do some activities in the center or to share an afternoon snack, it's an intergenerational, cultural and educational place.

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Pop-In, Pop-Out, Pop-Up: Collapsible Street Cinema Uses Film to Reflect on Soviet Russia in Venice

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 01:00 AM PDT

Designed for the V-A-C Foundation, Venice-Based Israeli architect Omri Revesz's adjustable Street Cinema rests lightly next to a canal in Venice, Italy, expanding, contracting, opening, and closing as its program changes.

Acting as a social gathering point during the day and an open-air cinema at night, the structure was open for the 74^th Venice Film Festival as part of the V-A-C's Venice Art Biennale 2017 exhibition Space Force Construction – a reflection on the centenary of the Soviet Revolution.

Cinema was a crucial tool for the spread of information during the early stages of the Soviet period, being the most effective way to unite people in a state ravaged by the effects of civil war. The Street Cinema sought to reference the Soviet Agit-train and Agit-cinema and reflect on the powerful influence of visual media on social and political contexts.

The logic of Russian Constructivism inspired the metal elements that hold together the modular wooden structure. These frames could be pulled back and forth, accommodating a range of cultural purposes, from conferences and public discussions to artistic performances and film screenings. The adjustable curtain mechanism furthered the changeable intimacy, dictating the visibility of the activity within from the outside.

The cinema's flexibility allowed a variety of activities, the first being a performance piece by Russian artist Olga Jitlina as part of Space Force Construction. But given the Cinema's inspiration, film was the main focus.

Divided into 8 sections, the film schedule presented pieces aligned with ideas of Battleground, Festival, Exhibition, School, Theater, Press, Factory and Home. Each of these represented "a space of critical importance in early Soviet Russia" and addressed "the social, political, economic and artistic shift that marked the emergence of a new state paradigm and social building."

There is something boat-like about the Street Cinema in the context of Venice, its sail-like skin and mast-like structure pulled in and out along the canal based on the conditions and requirements of the day. It is a clever, elegant design that united the past and present of two very different places through performance, space and film.

Architects: Omri Revesz Design Studio
Lead Architects Designer: Omri Revesz
Location: Fondazione delle Zattere 1401, Venice
Completion Year: 2017
Area: 50 sqm
Design project assistants: Michael Carion, Clara Accebbi
Space Force Construction curators: Katerina Chuchalina (V-A-C Foundatiom) and Matthew Witkovsky (Art Institute of Chicago)
Cinema pavilion curator: Katerina Chuchalina
Film programme curator: Anna Ilchenko
Engineering project: Milan Ingegneria Maurizio Milan
Construction and AV: WeExhibit
Illustrations: Mariana Riobom
Textile system: AF&F
Photography: Nicolò Zanatta

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Carbonized Wood: A Traditional Japanese Technique That Has Conquered the World

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Villa Meijendel / VVKH architecten. Image © Christian van der Kooy

Ancestral, vernacular and minimalist; for many, these three words have come to define the architecture of Japan, a country that has served as a source of cultural and technological inspiration to countless cultures.

In recent decades, popular Japanese techniques have spread throughout the world, not only in the field of technology but also in technical and artistic areas. In architecture, the appropriation and reinvention of different materials and construction techniques, such as the carbonization of wooden facades, has been a continuing theme.

The popular technique, now more than three hundred years old, that is known in Japan as Shou Sugi Ban, was developed on the island of Naoshima to treat wood used in the construction of traditional fishing villages. The treatment was designed to combat the damage to the wood caused by the effects of the sea. Originally, the process entailed burning the outer layer of the wood with the use of fire, however, the method usually now sees the boards charred by a torch. By doing so, the external fibers of the wood are forced to react, leaving the wood behind immune to the attack of termites, fungi, and other natural forces for decades.

Forest Retreat / Uhlik architekti. Image © Jan Kudej

The carbonization process must be carried out by companies or specialists trained in the technique. The procedure consists of four steps. First, the burning of the wood, which can be done either before installation or applied directly to the installed facade. After firing, the wood is brushed with a special grit, removing the top layer of carbon, and giving the wood its new shade. In the last two stages, the wood—already black in tone—receives a special layer of waterproofing with cedar oil to ensure greater resistance, before finally receiving a layer of sealant, to avoid stains being caused by the charred facade.

The Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori appropriated the process of carbonization of wood, previously used only in vernacular projects, and innovated. His work gave notoriety to the technique, so that boards that had been sealed and treated against the effects of time also happened to give singular compositions to his façades.

In Japan, the traditional technique had been replaced by the use and application of other materials such as polymers, stone, and aluminum. However, Fujimori was the one who popularized the technique by showing off its apparent simplicity, spreading it beyond the borders of Japan. The technique's austere and peculiar appearance has caused architects in different parts of the world to appropriate it, reinventing it with new applications and compositions.

RT Residence / Jacobsen Arquitetura. Image © Pedro Kok

Examples such as the Villa Meijendel (2016), designed by the Dutch office VVKH architecten and the Forest Retreat (2013), by Uhlik architekti, look like carved stones in the middle of the woods, subtly punctuating their environments.

In Brazil, Jacobsen Arquitetura has used this popular oriental technique to compose some of their residential and commercial projects.

The office is known, among its peculiarities, for the reinvention of traditional techniques, composing its projects in order to create a new language. In the case of Brazil, for example, ancestral techniques such as the use of mashrabiyas and brise-soleils are reinvented, creating new variations on old precedents.

Among the office's projects that use carbonized wood, the projects that stand out are the RT House (2014), with its two volumes elevated to 1.5 meters off the ground, appearing to float; and the Gilda Midani Store (2013), located at Rua Oscar Freire. Located between an art gallery and the entrance of a village, the building seems to repeat itself with its carbonized vertical elements—sometimes fences, sometimes louvers, that open to reveal the window. Also suited to this list is the BF House (2015), inserted into a terrain of about 4 thousand square meters, which features horizontally-arranged volumes finished in black-toned woods, which provide a counterpoint to the warm tone of the wood in the interiors.

See below for a selection of projects published on ArchDaily that use carbonized wood as a key element in their design.