Arch Daily |
- The Pavilion House / Tal Goldsmith Fish Design Studio
- Lycee Schorge Secondary School / Kéré Architecture
- Villa for Older Brother / Next Office–Alireza Taghaboni
- Optical Glass House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP
- Tonghua Science & Cultural Center / CCTN Architectural Design
- Micro-Cosmos Soyul / KYWC Architects
- Hidden Valley House / SU Architects
- 41 Birmingham / SJB
- Winning Team Selected to Curate 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale
- TERRAMERICAS Square / Boyance Arquitectos
- Bjarke Ingels: "Great Buildings Blatantly Express Their True Essence to the World"
- TSJ 01 House / Studio Gabriel Garbin Arquitetura
- Zaha Hadid Architects' Bee’ah Headquarters Tops Out in UAE
- BOCA Fire Station / Taller DIEZ 05
- A Close Look at the Gehl Institute's Free Toolkit for City Planning
- Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU / Steven Holl Architects
- The After-Life Of The Architectural Model: Where Can History's Lost Models Go?
- Imagine Listening To Music At This Ethereal Theatre and Bar In Milan
| The Pavilion House / Tal Goldsmith Fish Design Studio Posted: 19 Dec 2017 09:00 PM PST  © Amit Geron
 © Amit Geron Text description provided by the architects. The main challenge in this project was to fit four floors into a house with plot limitation, that would look like two. By stretching, extending and raising the main box we managed to hide three floors in it, and create a Pavilion looking house. The box was softened with a thin frame of floating concrete floor and a very thin roof rack on top joined together by diagonal side walls.  © Amit Geron  Section A  © Amit Geron The fourth floor was laid on the main box in the form of a complete white cube, with no visible windows or openings. It's lack of ornaments and functional elements contribute to concealing its presence. A vertical slit in the cube creates an inner patio which brings in air and light and is the element which breaks the mass of the cube and softened its geometry.  © Amit Geron Iron louvres were laid along the western facade creating an aisle between them and the exterior walls, giving lightness and airiness to the house. As the western sun enters the aisle, different patterns of shades appear on the walls. The Pavilion stands wrapped in a Dichondra carpet. The staircase connecting the four floors is made of iron and has a decorative screen passing through the floors from top to bottom. That same pattern is repeating itself on the outside fence surrounding the house.  © Amit Geron  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Lycee Schorge Secondary School / Kéré Architecture Posted: 19 Dec 2017 07:00 PM PST  © Iwan Baan
 © Iwan Baan Text description provided by the architects. Located in the third most populated city in Burkina Faso, the Lycée Schorge Secondary School will not only set a new standard for educational excellence in the region, it will also provide a source of inspiration by showcasing locally-sourced building materials in an innovative and modern way.  © Iwan Baan The design for the school consists of 9 modules which accommodate a series of classrooms and administration rooms. One of these modules also houses a dental clinic which will provide a new source of dental care for the students.  © Iwan Baan The walls of these modules are made from locally-harvested laterite stone, which, when first extracted from the earth, can be easily cut and shaped into bricks. When the stone is left exposed to the atmosphere above ground, it begins to harden. The material functions really well as a wall system for the classrooms because of its thermal mass capabilities. This, in combination with the unique wind-catching towers and overhanging roofs, lowers the temperature of the interior spaces exponentially.  Exploded Axonometric Another major factor that helps to naturally ventilate and illuminate the interiors is a massive undulating ceiling. The wave-like pattern of plaster and concrete components are slightly offset from each other, allowing the interior space to breathe and expel hot stagnant air. The off-white color of the ceiling serves to diffuse and spread around indirect daylight, providing ample illumination during the day while keeping the interior learning space protected from direct solar heat gain.  © Iwan Baan  Floor Plan  © Iwan Baan Wrapping around these classrooms like a transparent fabric is a system of wooden screens. This secondary façade is made from a local fast-growing wood and acts as a shading element for the spaces immediately surrounding the classrooms. The screens not only function to protect the earthen classrooms from corroding dust and winds, they also help to create a series of secondary informal gathering spaces for the students as they wait to attend their classes.  Classroom Exploded Axonometric In order to maximize the material transported to the site, the school furniture inside the classrooms is made from local hardwoods and leftover elements from the main building construction such as steel scraps from the roof. In this way, the economy of the building is extended by reducing waste adding additional value to the cost of construction.  © Iwan Baan Creating a sort of autonomous 'village' condition, the radial layout of classroom modules wrap around a central public courtyard. This configuration not only creates privacy from the main public domain, it also shelters and protects the inner courtyard from wind and dust. An ampitheater-like condition at the center of the courtyard will accommodate informal gatherings as well as formal assemblies and celebrations for the school and community as a whole.  © Iwan Baan Overall, one of the most important goals of the design is to serve as a catalyst for inspiration for the students, teaching staff, and surrounding community members. The architecture not only functions as a marker in the landscape, it is also a testament to how local materials, in combination with creativity and team-work, can be transformed into something significant with profound lasting effects.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Villa for Older Brother / Next Office–Alireza Taghaboni Posted: 19 Dec 2017 06:00 PM PST  © Majid Jahangiri
 © Majid Jahangiri Text description provided by the architects. The spatial structure of this project is based on how to combine an umbrella-like roof towering over a pool resembling a bowl. These two elements look roughly alike in plan as well as section.  Diagram A roof covers the public area of the villa which has been intentionally situated on the upper floor. On the lower floor, a terrace bearing resemblance to a deck can be found which provides the residents with an open area.  © Majid Jahangiri Put in other words, the project is a cube that has been inflamed under the influence of events transpiring within itself, and this inflammation which has arisen from functional strategy and planning of the project has typologically put the project on the borderline between pitched-roofed and cube-shaped villas.  © Majid Jahangiri The basement of the construction houses such areas as a parking garage, a janitor's studio, storage rooms, and a wine cellar. The ground floor features the main apartment, a bedroom, and an additional separate apartment, and the first floor includes the living room, a swimming pool (suiting two seasons), and a gym.  Section The main access to the building is through floating stairs positioned outside the construction, with the form of a solid and hollow, and statue-resembling object, connected to the construction with a bridge, which also introduces the principal way to the upper floor (i.e. the public spaces of the villa). It is worth noting that the ground floor as well is separately connected to the open-air space.  © Majid Jahangiri  Section  © Majid Jahangiri From the moment they enter the building, the viewers come across numerous views; from the alleyway with one open side, to the alleyway with two closed sides, from the staircase to the main entrance with a low ceiling, and to the public spaces of the project which progressively get in view, they experience manifold contractions and expansions of spaces.  © Majid Jahangiri  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Optical Glass House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Posted: 19 Dec 2017 04:00 PM PST  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc
 © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc Text description provided by the architects. This house is sited among tall buildings in downtown Hiroshima, overlooking a street with many passing cars and trams. To obtain privacy and tranquility in these surroundings, we placed a garden and optical glass façade on the street side of the house. The garden is visible from all rooms, and the serene soundless scenery of the passing cars and trams imparts richness to life in the house. Sunlight from the east, refracting through the glass, creates beautiful light patterns. Rain striking the water-basin skylight manifests water patterns on the entrance floor. Filtered light through the garden trees flickers on the living room floor, and a super lightweight curtain of sputter-coated metal dances in the wind. Although located downtown in a city, the house enables residents to enjoy the changing light and city moods, as the day passes, and live in awareness of the changing seasons.  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc Optical Glass Façade  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc Waterfall  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc  Section  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc Captions  © Koji Fuji / Nacasa & Partners Inc  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Tonghua Science & Cultural Center / CCTN Architectural Design Posted: 19 Dec 2017 02:00 PM PST  Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design
 Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design Text description provided by the architects. The design shall first create the interaction between man and nature. The building is humble in the shape, and a penholder-like structure with the concaved in the middle and flying in both ends resembles the ridge of Tonghua mountain. The approach of "reckon blank as inked" has made the nature become the protagonist, the mountains become the terminal of the axis, thus allowing the building to harmonize with the nature and history.  Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design The interaction between "man and space" is also the emphasis of the design, presenting a visually enthusiastic interaction. Multi-zigzag building is complete and full of force, while the solid and virtual crystal shapes are just like the exploited jade. The metal facade featured by the cutting paper of the local Manchu in Tonghua affects every visitor with the synaesthesia and el amor shadows.  Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design  Sections  Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design By the space interpretation, the design eventually focuses on the interaction between "man and culture". In the flowing interior space, the spiral slopes are defined as the time tunnel, as the leads to the varied rooms and cultural experience, connecting the standing exhibition halls of nature, history and science. "Nature, passion and discovery" are the essay the building presents to the public concerning the cultural experience.  Courtesy of CCTN Architectural Design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Micro-Cosmos Soyul / KYWC Architects Posted: 19 Dec 2017 12:00 PM PST  © KIM Jaekyung
 © KIM Jaekyung Architecture as a system.  Section Detail Diagram 01 Planning three floors under the height limit of 8.7m, we designed special structural system to secure the maximum ceiling height. The whole second floor is composed of a truss so that the structure members in other floors were minimized. The structural system corresponds to the building program and the proposed urban relationship. The first floor is a social space open to the city and composed of minimum structural system, with three columns and the brace. The office on the second floor, where the truss plays the role as a structure and an interior, is planned as a space without partitions.  © KIM Jaekyung The office on the third floor can be divided as necessary through the regular arrangement of small columns of 5X10cm. The event hall on the basement level is contained within a concrete podium formed into a plot shape. The mezzanine floor made by hanging truss from the ceiling in high event hall can play a multi-purpose role. A small garden and cozy pavilion is built on the roof top where fine view of Namsan (mountain) can be enjoyed. Each of six levels, from basement to the roof garden, has its own spatial characteristics.  © KIM Jaekyung  Section  © KIM Jaekyung The spandrel glass used for external finishing shapes the surface of whole volume and a red structural frame linearly expresses a forceful flow. With a simple outline, its elevation and the indoor space of each floor changes in a various way as each level has a different program and structural order. In micro-cosmos Soyul, I tried to complete a system of construction, program, and city-architecture as one 'architecture'. Most of all, I wanted to put the happy life mixed with work, meeting, and play into this space.  © KIM Jaekyung  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hidden Valley House / SU Architects Posted: 19 Dec 2017 11:00 AM PST  © Yilong Zhao
 © Yilong Zhao Background  © Yilong Zhao Site  Yuxiuyi Axonometric Sketch There's a small space to the south of the original old house. It is the terrace and yard when the owner did the work. It is also the main entrance of the main house. There is a ten-meter tall pine tree on the east side of the terrace. The house, the yard and the pine are the main elements existing in the site of the owner's past life. However, the functions of the site now and in the future have been changed from the functions of the farm life. Therefore, architect considers the interrelationship of the three element of the site.  © Xuguo Tang Garden  © Yilong Zhao An important distribution of the traditional Chinese architectural space is the distribution of courtyards. The courtyards and houses implied the status of the owner. Live the deep house to avoid the world. As people walk through the courtyard, they also feel the order and view in the architectural space.  Jiangnan Garden Print In relatively small and simple space, architect wants to create as many spatial sequences as possible. The original site of the outdoor platform is divided into three parts, forming three different properties of the courtyard. Mountain garden, bamboo garden and pine garden scattered and interspersed around the house.  © Yilong Zhao Mountain garden at the entrance is the first courtyard along the ramp into the site. Here is an open field of vision, you can look the bamboo mountain; the second courtyard is the bamboo garden which located in the north of the long field. The courtyard is surrounded by the hillsides and buildings on the north side, where you can observe the backside bamboo mountain. The third courtyard is the pine garden. There's a ten-meter tall pine tree in the courtyard. Pine, both cedars, is also relaxation. Wind blows, pine leaf whirling.  South Elevation From far to close, stay calm and listen to loose. The three courtyards form a closed-loop path. Hold off before starting up. The starting point of space is also the end of space, and the multi-level spatial sequence in buildings and courtyards is integrated into new places.  © Yilong Zhao Architecture  © Xuguo Tang The original old house has local roof form which is double slope roofs, is the basic form of ancient houses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang province. In the project, there is no other village in the surrounding area. Local policy stipulates that the volume of new buildings cannot exceed the volume of old buildings. The architect disassembles the original building volume into several basic geometric units and combines them into a three-dimensional miniature village. The interior and exterior forms of the building are reconstructed. The roof of the building fluctuates in elevation and echoes with the mountains behind.  Yuxiuyi Section Sketch The house and the yard are scattered, and the pine tree in the terrace before are cleverly preserved. The middle volume of the building like a stretched out hand. The southern facade opens to a large, transparent window to the outside world where you can view bamboo forests in the distance. Renovated roof is also a scene in the mountains, attracting friends come to visit. The main body of the building recedes, hidden in the mountains and forests.  © Yilong Zhao In the external environment, the house presents a vague presence forward and backward, which can not only be vaguely perceived, but also cannot be seen in the whole picture, looming.  © Xuguo Tang The architect opened the ground floor space to form an overhead corridor. The corridor linkeds the courtyards back and front, while the restaurant and living room, reading area and other functions separated from each other.  1F Plan Throughout the village, no matter big or small, are like natural growth, different forms, not stereotypes. The architect hopes that each "household" in the reconstructed "village" will have a different space. Different rooms, different windows; different views, different moods.  © Yilong Zhao Thinking  © Xuguo Tang The "oneness of man and nature" pursued by the ancients is hard to match. Perhaps we may try to let go of the form and not to construct it for architecture. It is only for the place, to interpret a purely natural relationship with nature in a modern language and integrate it into the environment and regard nature as a teacher.  © Xuguo Tang  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 19 Dec 2017 09:00 AM PST  © Felix Forest
 © Brett Boardman Text description provided by the architects. 41 Birmingham aimed to deliver an affordable high-quality residential apartment project into the fine-grained, post-industrial suburb of Alexandria, south of Sydney. The client's ambitions for this project were for an exemplary residential apartment project with an attention to detail comparable to a single bespoke dwelling, albeit within a multi-residential budget and construction program. The building references the historical thread of Alexandria's context while focusing on the future occupiers, to create a sense of place and comfort.  © Felix Forest As the first building delivered within a recently rezoned precinct, the challenge was to deliver a perimeter infill building prior to the presence of any surrounding buildings to infill between. The intent was to ensure that the project relied only on itself, not borrowing from surrounding land, in regards to aspect, outlook or sun access. The building comprises 23 one, two and three bedroom apartments over five levels. All dwellings are northern orientated and each achieves cross ventilation. The 4 rooftop apartments each have access to private roof gardens, complete with spas, barbecues and significant landscaping.  © Felix Forest  Typical Floor Plan  © Felix Forest The residential lobby is announced at street level with a curved wall, tiled with a rich handmade marine blue ceramic. Planning of the building is arranged around a central lift and two open staircases. This arrangement encourages the use of stairs as often as possible. At first glance the rear loaded access balcony may appear a compromise to the privacy of dwellings, but in reality, the careful architectural manipulation of the southern façade and the limited number of dwellings deliver a delightful experience which encourages resident interaction, maintains privacy and amenity and ensures 100% cross ventilation. The exterior material palette of the building is robust and nuanced.  Section The off-form concrete up-stands provide privacy and protection to the dwellings complemented with painted timber 'blinkers' to the lower levels, while externally the layered and poured effect of the concrete speaks to the individual crafting of the building. From the street the pedestrian is engaged in the interiors of the dwellings through the articulation of the ribbed concrete ceilings, at once integrating the buildings structural solution while dispensing of our evil enemy – plasterboard! As the building rises, the balconies subtly step towards the street, creating a concave overhang to the ground level retail while concurrently disguising the two top levels of the building.  © Brett Boardman These upper levels, detailed in steel, are lighter and more playful, with full height glazing and palisade balustrades opening up to take advantage of distant city views. We are perhaps most proud of two elements of this project. The first being the interiors - which we think stand apart from the barrage of 'one size fits all' plasterboard clad multi-unit residential product on the market. And secondly, the site-specific commissioned artwork within the lobby – a poem by Emily Daves, which aims to touch the soul of every future inhabitant of the building. We are passionate about delivering unique and affordable open market multiple housing that is nuanced, personal and delightful.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Winning Team Selected to Curate 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale Posted: 19 Dec 2017 08:00 AM PST .jpg?1513707896 "Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale") Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale The Oslo Architecture Triennale has announced the winner of the open call for Chief Curator of their 2019 event: Architecture and Engineering practice Interrobang (Maria Smith and Matthew Dalziel), with critic Phineas Harper and urban researcher Cecilie Sachs Olsen. The winning team's proposal, entitled Degrowth, seeks to acknowledge and investigate the "need to revise the pace and scale of extraction, production, consumption, development, and building that has driven the growth of industrialized societies and economies throughout the 20th century." .jpg?1513707912 "Clockwise, from top: Maria Smith, Matthew Dalziel, Cecilie Sachs Olsen and Phineas Harper. Image Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale") Clockwise, from top: Maria Smith, Matthew Dalziel, Cecilie Sachs Olsen and Phineas Harper. Image Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale "The proposal addresses a tendency which has been on the rise in the last decade," commented the jury in their citation. "Degrowth is gaining ground in social and economic contexts, and it is time for architectural practice and discourse to position itself and consider the possible consequences for the profession." "With this concept, the Triennale could be a platform to establish an understanding of a potential architecture of degrowth: defining it, questioning it and challenging both architects, architecture commissioners and decision makers to develop new strategies for building, planning, evolving and adapting our built environments based on non-growth development," the jury continued. The jury also lauded the proposal for connecting to both Oslo and the greater world of architecture in an intimate and challenging manner: "The proposal can also be read as a challenge to the city of Oslo, to open itself up to the ideas and ideals of alternative ways of development and to explore its potential ramifications in what may be seen as a collective pursuit towards a more climate conscious local and global future." "The Jury believes the chosen curatorial team also has the potential to question the general relevance and logic of architecture biennials and triennials in the world."  Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale Selected from a shortlist of 5 teams, the winning proposal was generated in response to OAT's open call for curators, which stated: "As a physical manifestation of political systems, culture and social structures, architecture plays an important role in how we understand and shape our societies. In a time where democracy and current systems of power are being challenged and change is an increasingly present and accelerating force in our global and local societies, OAT 2019 wishes to raise a discussion on the role and relevance of architecture in the future." Learn more about the curatorial team and read the full jury statement, here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| TERRAMERICAS Square / Boyance Arquitectos Posted: 19 Dec 2017 07:00 AM PST  © David Cervera Castro
 © David Cervera Castro Text description provided by the architects. The land is located north of the City of Merida, Yucatan, in the Fraccionamiento Las Americas, has a surface area of 10,000.00 m2 in which there was a footprint of 2,000.00m² determined for a gas station. The program was solved in an area of 3,000.00m² of commercial premises.  Ground Floor Plan In the treatment of the premises that are at the bottom of the ground with west facing, it was proposed to use sliding louvre curtains made of aluminium for sun protection. The pedestrian plaza that integrates the existing donation area with the shopping plaza forms a large park as a whole. Materials such as apparent concrete, glass and aluminium were used for the low maintenance of the plaza.  © David Cervera Castro  © David Cervera Castro This project was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2nd Biennial of Young Architects; in the category of Commerce; the contest that is organized by the Federation of Associations of Architects of the Mexican Republic. He was also awarded the Silver Medal at the 1st Biennial of Architecture of the Gulf; in the category Trade, Supply, Transportation Services; the contest that is organized by the Federation of Associations of Architects of the Mexican Republic.  © David Cervera Castro  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bjarke Ingels: "Great Buildings Blatantly Express Their True Essence to the World" Posted: 19 Dec 2017 06:00 AM PST
In this interview from the Louisiana Channel, Bjarke Ingels shares the personal moments of his life that have influenced the graphic, playful and humanistic architectural style for which he is now world renowned. Here Ingels discusses topics ranging from his life as a student (where he spent hours pouring over designs by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas) to how different designing and visualization tools end up impacting the final form of a building. Read the full description here.
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| TSJ 01 House / Studio Gabriel Garbin Arquitetura Posted: 19 Dec 2017 05:00 AM PST  © Rafaela Netto
 © Rafaela Netto Text description provided by the architects. The TSJ 01 a vacation house with 805 square meters was designed for a small family (a couple and two kids) near Itu, State of São Paulo, Brazil. The "L" shape of the house gives privacy inside and creates the distribu-tion axis for all rooms. The visual connection thru spaces is provided by large windows.  © Rafaela Netto The hight point of the social area is the big construction without columns where are located the dining room, living room and TV room all connected by a large balcony with barbecue area.  © Rafaela Netto The bedrooms are located in the end of the corridor, the oposite side of the social área, so privacy is guaran-teed to residents when they receive visits.  Floor Plan The Kitchen and laundry are close to the social area.  © Rafaela Netto Some of Brazilian colonial architecture materials where used in the house, rustic plaster on walls and cement burned all over the floor. The edge of the pool is coated with fulget and inside light blue tile.  © Rafaela Netto The structural project provides inverted beams throughout the house so all spaces are integrated by large floor-to-ceiling vents.  © Rafaela Netto The house is equipped with Rainwater collection system, water heating through solar panels, dimmer lights and a small composting plant for organic waste.  © Rafaela Netto  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Zaha Hadid Architects' Bee’ah Headquarters Tops Out in UAE Posted: 19 Dec 2017 04:00 AM PST  The Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Bee'ah Headquarters has topped out in Sharjah, UAE, as its structural steelwork and centerpiece concrete dome have been put in place. With a design inspired by the form of sand dunes and oriented to optimize prevailing winds, the complex is striving for the highest standards of renewable energy and sustainable future targets, an appropriate goal for the new headquarters of the UAE's leading integrated environmental & waste management company. In addition to a zero waste to landfill goal, the headquarters is designed as a zero net energy consumption building, with integrated photovoltaic panels to provide the entirety of the complex's energy needs. To store the energy, Bee'ah will be outfitted with Tesla's 1,890 kWhs capacity powerpack battery technology. The headquarters is also being constructed using recycled materials, and will incorporate a series of energy and water saving systems, including passive solar and wind powered heating and cooling and native landscaping. At the topping out ceremony, HE Salim Al Owais, chairman of Bee'ah; Patrik Schumacher, principal of Zaha Hadid Architects; and Edmund Mahabir, managing director of Al Futtaim Carillion signed the final concrete panel at the building's highest point, recognizing the achievement. "I believe that we cannot envision the future of being a sustainable city, without advancements in green architecture," said HE Al Owais. "At Bee'ah, as environmental pioneers, we have always driven ourselves to innovate and lead the UAE's journey towards sustainability. Through our HQ project, we have formed partnerships with some of the world's most renowned entities, to examine as to how we can maximise the potential for sustainability in the built environment. "With its ultra-low carbon footprint, minimal water and energy usage and the efficient recycling of construction materials, this project will set a benchmark for all future green construction projects in the Gulf region. It is also a model for a green building system that can be replicated across the UAE, as the nation seeks to transition into a green economy." The project is on track for completion by the end of 2018. Learn more about the Bee'ah Headquarters, below:
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| BOCA Fire Station / Taller DIEZ 05 Posted: 19 Dec 2017 03:00 AM PST  © Luis Gordoa
 © Luis Gordoa Text description provided by the architects. The BOCA fire station arises from the need to reduce response times to land and sea emergencies in the southern zone of the metropolitan city of Veracruz-Boca del Río; starting from the functional requirements of a program where flows and operating times are the basis of design, the architectural scheme takes the idea of the "urban oasis" as a reference within a completely heterogeneous environment due to its scale and use characteristics.  © Luis Gordoa  Exploded Axonometric  © Luis Gordoa Located in an irregularly shaped property, the main strategy of the project is to properly organize the activities so characteristic of a property like this. It practically releases the entire ground floor to allow free access-maneuvering of service vehicles, elevating in a kind of "programming-box" the activities of the station. There is an elevated, open patio, which serves as a lobby and ventilation for the work, rest and waiting areas; considering the weather conditions typical of this region of the gulf, a prefabricated lattice is developed around this high volume nuancing the sun and ventilation conditions so characteristic of the place.  © Luis Gordoa  Upper Floor Plan  © Luis Gordoa In response to the immediate environment, the area of operation and access is covered with a vegetation slope along the entire perimeter, creating a kind of inclined park that seeks to cushion the scale of the building with respect to the activities of the street; also, this allows to free the upper floor of the building, forming a "suspended element", a floating boat, in the middle of this urban sea.  © Luis Gordoa  Facade Detail  © Luis Gordoa  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| A Close Look at the Gehl Institute's Free Toolkit for City Planning Posted: 19 Dec 2017 01:30 AM PST  This article was originally published by Common Edge as "The Gehl Institute's Toolkit for the Creation of Great Urban Spaces." Jane Jacobs was arguably the most important "citizen" planner in the 20th century. If we were setting up a related category for credentialed planners, then the great Danish urbanist Jan Gehl might just top that list; inspired by the ideas of Jacobs, the architect and urban designer has spent nearly a half-century studying and writing about public space. He helped his home city of Copenhagen become a kind of model for walkable urbanism and has consulted for cities all over the world. Two and a half years ago his firm, Gehl, launched a nonprofit arm, Gehl Institute, dedicated to public engagement, and the use and creation of public urban space as a tool of both economic development and political equity. Recently the institute published what it describes as "tools for measuring public space and public life, in the form of free, downloadable worksheets." The toolkit is beautifully executed. Last week I talked to Shin-pei Tsay, executive director of the Gehl Institute, about the tools and what her group hopes to accomplish with them.
Martin C Pedersen: This is extremely well done. It's accessible in both in content and visuals. Tell me about how the toolkit came to be, and some of the ideas behind it. Shin-pei Tsay: The Gehl practice has been evolving these tools for years, in many cities, using them, and helping their clients to use them. There aren't a lot of urban designers who are collecting data about people and public space, and we think that's a fundamental first step. Design too often happens without that information. And even if designers want to use that information, trying to figure out how to gather it themselves is challenging. We wanted to combine those two things: the data and the ways to gather it. There are tools in Jan's book, How to Study Public Life, but because Gehl Institute's mission is about making public life easy to adopt, we wanted to make it even easier for people to access. So that even if you weren't trained in design, you could still better understand the potential. That's why the language was something that we really worked on, and tried to make open and accessible. We removed a lot of jargon. And if there was jargon, or professional terms, we created a couple of animations to explain them. But it's not just measuring. It's using what you collect and applying it as part of a process to achieve something tangible in the public realm. As a result, the stories that we tell are important, because then people can clearly see that the information came from these specific tools, and it led to this decision. That was a missing piece of the story, allowing people to see the direct correlation between the measurement and an outcome. MCP: You've used the word "measurement" a few times. It cost money to measure. It requires expertise. You have to possess some grounding in the scientific method. How do we then make this part of people's process in creating public space? ST: That's a very good question, and it's what's in front of us right now. There are a lot of cities that are using the tools. There was once a perception that the data was just impossible to collect and, therefore, policy could never mandate the use of it. What we're saying with the toolkit is, the data is absolutely possible to capture. Yes, it requires some expertise, but that would be true of any set of collected data. If you think about transportation data, for example, those are mandated metrics about our streets that over the years have become part of practice, because there's been a policy to collect it in order to receive funding. It would great over time to see something similar happen with some of our measurements. MCP: And what would you ultimately like to see as an outcome? ST: We would love to see development plans put people at the center in their consideration of the public realm. It's easy to just forge ahead with a design "vision" and focus on the numbers and the amenities that might be attractive to prospective tenants, but that doesn't get at the fundamentals of what people like to do in public space, and the behaviors they exhibit when a place feels safe and comfortable and beautiful. MCP: How do you quantify that? How do you quantify "quality of life" and "urbanity'? ST: It is a combination of art and science. Having some methodology around it, some standards, so that there are comparables to other places, starts to get at the quantifiability of the metrics. It's often about showing patterns. For example, the city of Seattle used the tools to evaluate a few pilot parklets throughout the city. There had been a preconceived notion that one parklet, which was placed on a street already supported by streetscape and plantings, would be the most popular, especially since this parklet was in a neighborhood that was increasing in income per capita. However, the comparison of this space with other parklets throughout the city showed that parklets in a neighborhood with fewer amenities, a lower per capita income, and greater ethnic diversity actually had much more diverse use. Combining the activity patterns with demographic information, for example, is much more insightful than guessing about amenities. Much of this is relative and contextual, but that doesn't mean it's not measurable.  Gammeltorv in Copenhagen. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/57511216@N04/17547196266/'>Flickr user Daniel</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> MCP: If you could have an ideal audience for the tools, who would you want to really dig into these tools? ST: I would say top of the list are city staff, who have to grapple with competing agendas, trade-offs and investments, where they should allocate resources, how they serve their entire city. I think these tools might help elucidate some of those priorities. I also think there's potential in working with social impact organizations. Because the tools provide a way for neighborhoods to sort of own their own information, rather than being exploited for that information, and having it used by outside organizations to change the neighborhood, without their consent or participation. MCP: I have an ongoing debate with my friend, the writer Alex Marshall, about why we can't building walkable communities from scratch anymore. Alex thinks it's mostly tied to accommodations that we make for cars. I think it's essentially a problem of scale. That fine-grained urbanism that we love just doesn't pencil out in large, brand new developments. What do you think? ST: Both of you are framing the issue around a specific set of development metrics that are actually not human-centered. Transportation planning conventionally looks at vehicle throughput, and now more and more, pedestrian and bicycle throughput, but may not consider how streets are places where people can stay and linger. Development planning is often driven by numerical requirements. Because both approaches rely on models to a certain extent, I feel like our tools start to make the human activities in a neighborhood much more visible. Perhaps one day public life data could be included in those planning models, especially since we are working to create standards for the metrics. MCP: Does Gehl Institute work with developers? ST: Gehl Institute does not but the Gehl practice does consult with developers more and more frequently these days. The institute would be interested in talking to groups like the Urban Land Institute or other organizations that create guidelines for developers, so that we can start thinking about how to insert these ideas into practice on a broader scale. MCP: Can these tools work at large scale? I ask this because I look at Hudson Yards in New York. The scale of those buildings is so big. What can you possibly do at the street level to make that a pleasant experience? ST: The massing of the buildings is enormous; the setbacks are also quite challenging. It seems to me that it was designed with a lot of security considerations, so there are these very large, singular entrances that sort of funnel people into and out of them. The corners of those blocks and the edges are where the opportunities are, in terms of counterbalancing the gigantic, overwhelming aspects of those streets. You have to open them up, make them a bit more permeable. Even with the greenery, the edges are quite hard, too. It's not the kind of place where you would feel free to wander. You can't get close to the buildings, even when you're in the middle of the block. MCP: Well, you know you're in trouble when the art folly is 14-stories high. ST: It's going to be a hard one.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU / Steven Holl Architects Posted: 19 Dec 2017 01:00 AM PST  © Iwan Baan
 © Iwan Baan Text description provided by the architects. The open design of the ICA features dynamic exhibition and programming spaces that can be creatively activated in order to support widely varied forms of contemporary art. The glass walls and windows create continuity between the interior and exterior spaces of the building. On the first floor, a 4,000-square-foot gallery and café, bar, and concept shop radiate from the ICA's central forum and frame an outdoor garden, which Steven Holl describes as the "Thinking Field," that will be used for social gatherings and public programs. The first floor also features a state-of-the-art 240-seat auditorium for film screenings, performances, lectures, and other programs. The second floor includes two forking galleries and an adaptable "learning lab" for interactive engagement. It also includes a publicly accessible terrace, featuring one of four green roofs. The third floor features a gallery with soaring, 33-foot-high walls and houses one of the administrative suites and the boardroom. Additional staff offices are located in the building's lower level, which also includes a lobby for visitors, art storage and preparation facilities, a fabrication workshop, a green room, the catering kitchen, and general storage.  © Iwan Baan "We designed the ICA to be a flexible, forward-looking instrument that will both illuminate and serve as a catalyst for the transformative possibilities of contemporary art," said architect Steven Holl. "Like many contemporary artists working today, the ICA's design does not draw distinctions between the visual and performing arts. The fluidity of the design allows for experimentation, and will encourage new ways to display and present art that will capitalize on the ingenuity and creativity apparent throughout the VCU campus."  © Iwan Baan In keeping with VCU's master sustainability plan, the ICA's design incorporates state-of-the-art technologies and environmentally conscious design elements, and makes use of numerous natural resources. The pre-weathered, satin-finish zinc exterior of the Markel Center, which houses the ICA, includes interspersed clear- and translucent-glass walls and skylights that infuse the building with natural light and lessen the reliance on nonrenewable energy. These include the use of geothermal wells to provide heating and cooling energy for the building, and four green roofs to absorb stormwater, offset carbon emissions, and maximize insulation. Native plantings include wood oats, little bluestem, Pennsylvania sedge, and goldenrod. Building materials include Virginia bluestone and custom glass cavity walls, designed to exhaust heat in the summer and harness it in the winter. The project is designed to meet LEED Gold Certification standards.  © Iwan Baan  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The After-Life Of The Architectural Model: Where Can History's Lost Models Go? Posted: 19 Dec 2017 12:00 AM PST  © Yamil Alvarez / Edición: D The architectural model: a tool, a sculptural artifact, a prized possession, and yet in the digital age of BIM and Virtual Reality, perhaps becoming an enigma, a relic for settling dust. And yet, we are still making them. If you imagine that famous photo of earth from space, of every model ever made in a single image, it raises the question - where are they all? Where does the architectural model go to die? You can envisage a kind of model cemetery, the product of the disenfranchised architect or student - either from a project never realized, or one never started, or the model allowed to collect dust and moved around an office until it’s beyond repair, meeting its end – dramatically and purposefully thrown from a high floor, stripped of its materials for re-use, or placed in the trash pile of a visionary’s lost dreams (or just the actual trash).  © Marleni Primavera / Edición: D But disposing of all that effort, all those tears, all that sweat, and the occasional craft-knife induced blood, is a disheartening process. So what if there was another, more cathartic way? A way for these small and enigmatic worlds to be transformed by the imagination and at the same time transform the lives of others?  © Enrique Llatas / Edición: D Fundación Marte seeks to offer an answer to this question, collecting end-of-cycle models for children to re-use them, giving them new life and continuing the learning cycle. We talked with Enrique Llatas, the representative of this social project, about his plans for the movement and what he hopes for the future of the architectural model. FUNDACIÓN MARTE: models after the presentation
In the year 2015, when I resumed my work as a teacher in Peru, I realized a large number of models that were discarded after fulfilling their work as academic learning and this had a great impact on me. That same year, together with a group of students and volunteers, we began this social movement. 1. Christmas in Villa María del Triunfo, 2015The first donation was approximately 30 models to a human settlement located in the district of Villa Maria del Triunfo-Lima. We celebrated a Christmas campaign with chocolate, but the big surprise was seeing more than 70 children. At that time we decided to host competitions, consisting of games and draws, to deliver the models.  © Yamil Alvarez  © Yamil Alvarez / Edición: D  © Yamil Alvarez / Edición: D
 © Yamil Alvarez / Edición: D 2. Shelters for the Afro-Peruvian Culture Day, 2016The following year, as an academic project in an architecture workshop, a series of cardboard shelters were made, which were then donated for an event celebrating the day of Afro-Peruvian culture. In this event, building on the experiences had in 2015, we decided to directly engage children and teenagers, bringing the shelters in more than 100 pieces to assemble them together on site. In the words of the kids, they were "puzzle houses."  © Elías Díaz  © Elías Díaz / Edición: D 3. Christmas for Children With Autism, 2016The most recent event in which we participated, was the Christmas of 2016 for children with autism. This was organized by the NGO Latin American Community of Autism Spectrum. We managed to deliver 50 models, which were donated by students from the different universities of Lima-Perú. As you can see in the photos, the children were approaching little by little, observing the models and then begin to have playful encounters, adjusting and them positioning them in different ways, using the cardboard figures as small dolls. At the end of the event the children, along with their parents, took the models they wanted home with them. It was a great experience to see the connection between the children and the different models.  © Enrique Llatas  © Enrique Llatas  © Enrique Llatas Marte, a New Beginning
All these beautiful experiences encouraged us to create, what is now, Fundación Marte, born from our office of LLATAS Architecture, as a non-profit project. We are working this year to reach more than 1000 children over two different events. One of them is organized by the NGO Native of Peru in Huaral, and the second by the NGO Ccapac in the AAHH Micaela Bastidas in Lima.  © Enrique Llatas / Edición: D
 © Enrique Llatas / Edición: D We are very grateful for all the support and donations of models we are receiving from different universities, volunteer students, architects and designers in general, who have contacted us to donate.
Union makes the future. Organization: Fundación Marte In times of consumerism, where so many things are purchased without really needing them and others are discarded and can be reused, it is crucial to be aware of sustainability. The students of architecture, creators of these models, all great works, can not only learn in classrooms but also transmit those small scales to the real scale or better yet to a much more macro scale, beyond our material scope, because the imagination of children has no limits. Now that it's the end of the cycle, Christmas is coming... donate your model.  © Yamil Alvarez / Edición: D  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Imagine Listening To Music At This Ethereal Theatre and Bar In Milan Posted: 18 Dec 2017 10:00 PM PST  © Delfino Sisto Legnani Milan based office ZarCola and Francisco Rodriguez were tasked with designing a bar and theatre for a new Milanese music festival. The project site is within the garden of an ancient villa. A baroque trail weaves through the garden's dense foliage, around many fountains and clearings.  © Delfino Sisto Legnani  © Delfino Sisto Legnani In one of the garden's clearings, surrounded by trees, the temporary wooden structures were fabricated. A linear bar, Troppecolonne, and a circular theatre, Troppotondo.  Troppotondo Axonometrics  Module Axonometrics  Troppecolonne Axonometrics  Troppotondo Section and Facade Both designs are a series of frames which, when put together, form permeable space. Permeability allows visitors to connect with the surrounding nature while inside the framework. The structures were designed with standard wood dimensions in mind, for ease of constructibility and waste reduction.  © Delfino Sisto Legnani  © Delfino Sisto Legnani  © Delfino Sisto Legnani  © Delfino Sisto Legnani Architect or Architecture Firm: Studio ZarCola and Francisco Rodriguez  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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