Arch Daily |
- ENSAE PARISTECH Campus Paris-Saclay / CAB Architectes
- Altruistic House / Massive Order
- 204 House / MW archstudio
- Hangzhou Gudun Road Primary School / GLA
- The Modern Village Office / Ho Khue Architects
- 101 café / FAR OFFICE
- Yellow Door House / NiHu Arquitectos
- World's Largest Air Purifier Completes Successful Trial Run in Xi'an, China
- Vigilance Pavilions for Heritage of Cultural Interest in Castile and León / Gaztelu Jerez Arquitectos
- 10 Architects to Design Chapels for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale
- La Toscana Residential Building / AE Arquitectos
- These Japanese Memo Pads Reveal Architectural Sites As Each Sheet is Removed
- Lar Residencial / M-arquitectos
- Was the AIA's Failure to Give its Twenty-Five Year Award In 2018 a Snub to Postmodernism?
- House MD / Lucas y Hernández – Gil
- Demolition Begins on Lobby of Philip Johnson's AT&T Building
- Architects Challenged to Rethink Schools in Scuole Innovative Design Competition
- Portuguese Football National Team Headquarters / Risco
- Art Prison: Call for Entries
| ENSAE PARISTECH Campus Paris-Saclay / CAB Architectes Posted: 16 Jan 2018 07:00 PM PST  © Aldo Amoretti
 © Aldo Amoretti Text description provided by the architects. When we discovered the immense sky and the plateau devoid of physical constraints we sought to capture the landscape by a simple form and by an abstract architectural language. The proximity of the site to the edge of the woodland led us intuitively to the primary material as it seemed necessary in this country-side site to place the building lightly on the ground. To achieve this we chose to define the project by a steel exoskeleton.  © Aldo Amoretti  South Section  © Aldo Amoretti Inscribed within an 80 x 80-metre square, the building is both open, welcoming and urban, yet borrows from the language of a cloister to create an intimacy of an interior landscape. The grid of 3.05m x 2.10m sections made of 24x24 cm H-Beams weave together the entire project and outline the architecture. With no intermediate support points, steel structural beams with a span of 15 metres link one facade to the other. They are connected to the exostructure by steel connectors of 15x15cm, reduced in size to limit their impact.  © Aldo Amoretti  Axonometric  © Aldo Amoretti The structural grid is mounted like a giant Meccano set. Inside the building the structure remains visible, recalling if needed, that the expression of the construction sets both the rule and the meaning.  © Aldo Amoretti  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Altruistic House / Massive Order Posted: 16 Jan 2018 06:00 PM PST  © Nelson Garrido
 © Nelson Garrido Text description provided by the architects. The main design feature for Altruistic Residence centres on the fact that the lot sits on a narrow short street, the question was: how can a building on this street help make it feel better and bigger? The answer came in two folds. First, the form has to be stripped with horizontal lines to visually elongate the street and give a visual resting point amongst the neighbouring architecturally busy elevations; hence, the elevation was cladded with a pattern of wide frames. Second, the form ought to be abstracted.  © Nelson Garrido  Outdoor Space Diagram In order to abstract the main facade, all familiar building elements such as a main door and repetition of windows were replaced with openings that follow carefully composed frames. The language of frames is then echoed in the interior through the treatment of the false ceiling, which resulted in frames of light. Similarly, the colour palette extends from the external cladding into the interior spaces. The colours range from creamy to sandy tones, reflecting the desert nature of the site.  © Nelson Garrido Each floor in his three stories structure houses an apartment containing a living space, three bedrooms, and a service quarter. The vertical circulation core is split into two access points; one through the elevator acting as the main mode of circulation, and the other one is the service staircase. In addition, each unit has its own outdoor space. These outdoor spaces expand the users' views and give a personal breathable exterior place in an otherwise compact neighbourhood.  © Nelson Garrido  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Jan 2018 04:00 PM PST  © Hiroyuki Oki
 © Hiroyuki Oki Text description provided by the architects. The house locates in Nha Trang City–southern part of Central Vietnam. "204 House" is an Individual House project with site area is 117sqm, wide facade is 6m. The house is close to a noisy environment, densely populated area and many polluted emissions from motor vehicles with very large volumes in Nha Trang city-a typical environment existing in urban areas of Vietnam. There is much narrow house in this area, or in this city in particular and in Vietnam in general, always lack natural light, use a lot of lighting and air conditioning systems. Hence, those projects have created a consequence of consumption of electricity; heat radiation and energy sources discharged into the environment are enormous.  © Hiroyuki Oki Therefore, the house is designed in such a way that it makes use of natural wind, light so it does not need artificial lighting during the daytime, as well as air-conditioning. At night, it is lighted using Led bulbs, which are economical in electricity. It also takes advantage of clean wastewater and recycled rainwater to water the green plants. Thus, the house minimizes to a great extent its waste to the environment. It economizes and takes advantage of natural energy to the fullest. In Vietnam, people maximize the usage of the front to generate some income for the family via opening family own shops or renting out space so the city becomes suffocated; the roads lose its angle of view of the sky, green spaces.  © Hiroyuki Oki With solutions of stepping backwards in the front in order to create a buffer for the house filling with green spaces, the house has given back the green to the urban. The house while taking up natural land would pay back green spaces to nature. The green plants in the structure are vegetables or herbs, good for health and easy to be processed. The plants are easy to find locally. Apart from being used for the house dwellers, the plants also contribute to improving the micro-weather. And on that basis, this creates a balance and sustainability in the relationship between human, the architectural structure and the surrounding environment.  © Hiroyuki Oki  Section B  © Hiroyuki Oki The living spaces, the openings with lots of natural lighting between floors, the wind and the green trees are arranged smoothly spreading inside the house (all rooms have 2 openings between floors, green trees on both sides), together with glassed sliding door system The space is connected tightly together, but still can provide full privacy when necessary. The house has been constructed using local basic materials, easy to find and cheap to buy. Compared with other houses of the same scale, the house costs much less, but the utility and benefits with which it provides the dwellers and the surrounding environment are considerable. It contributes to enhancing the beauty and efficiency of the urban area.  © Hiroyuki Oki  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hangzhou Gudun Road Primary School / GLA Posted: 16 Jan 2018 02:00 PM PST  © Su Shengliang
 © Su Shengliang Intervention  © Su Shengliang  Isometric  © Su Shengliang Slope Repair  © Su Shengliang Inside the campus, micro-topography such as green slope uplift is used to pile up a 1.5 meters high grass slope on the north-west side of the campus with earthwork of the underground garage under the track and field. While balancing the project earthwork, it also makes the main buildings on the campus into floating compounds on the ecological green slope, defining the spatial attributes of teaching area and sports area.  © Su Shengliang The elevated buildings form the overlooking relation to the open space such as track and field on the vertical direction, which creates a good visual condition for teachers and students to observe the track and field during class.  © Su Shengliang Staggered  © Su Shengliang The campus, teaching building, office building, library, cafeteria, wind and rain corridor and different function spaces are quite distinct from each other in traditional sense, but here, the staggered building shapes fuzz the boundaries between the buildings, and at the same time fuzz the boundaries between the interior, the walkway, the corridor, the roof platform, and the new space opportunities emerge.  Ground Floor Plan A series of different scales of platforms and gray spaces provide the teachers and students with wind and rain traffic and also provide abundant possibility for the space usage patterns for school teaching and the students' extracurricular activities.  © Su Shengliang Penetration  © Su Shengliang The space practice of this school has adjusted the traditional teaching space, walkway space, corridor space and platform space scale, strengthened the size of the walkway, raised it to 3.6 meters, and enhanced its close connection with the indoor teaching space. A lot of gray spaces with easy accessibility and the classroom are closely connected and encourage children to explore and creatively use spontaneously a variety of easy to use expanded spaces.  © Su Shengliang Facade  © Su Shengliang In the white tone of the campus, the warm active color of the same color system is embedded and changes layer by layer with the rise of the floor. The involvement of a wide range of active colors is intended to break the stereotype of common plain campus to the public and children, and try to create a more relaxed and lively campus atmosphere, creating a non-daily childhood memory for the children who attend school here.  © Su Shengliang Oasis  © Su Shengliang  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Modern Village Office / Ho Khue Architects Posted: 16 Jan 2018 12:00 PM PST  © Hiroyuki Oki
 © Hiroyuki Oki Text description provided by the architects. Children from centuries in the past until now were born and raised in the countryside without many amenities and little money. These are now successful city dwellers. They are now modern but have not forgotten the images and feeling of cement rooves, the low brick walls, and the bamboo that permeates the village.  © Hiroyuki Oki This scene has nurtured so many of today's generation of successful people. As the country develops and they flock to urban settings surrounded by glass, air conditioning and monotonous designs. They become bored with the surroundings that lack emotions and feel a robotic sense of detachment. The Office has feeling and is environmentally sustainable, as were the villages of the past.  © Hiroyuki Oki  Section  © Hiroyuki Oki Originally the large lot contained some old houses, white pampas grass, native bamboo shrubs, and plants that survived on the ambient conditions with little input from people. Ho Khue Architects (ALPES) design concept was to evoke the old feeling of the village in our state of the art modern office as being part of nature. Today's appearance is soothing, natural, and contains many of the surrounding native plants in the structure.  © Hiroyuki Oki Banana Trees, yellow bushes and native plants were transplanted to the first floor of the office. There is also a water feature with slat steps at the front door with harvested plants. The southwest exposure is built with decorative concrete with slats to keep out the hot sun and allow air flow from the ocean breezes.  Diagram 01 The rooftop is densely planted with the grasses and other plants to cool the lower floors. This floor houses the executive office, meeting room, and large open sided lunch room with a complete kitchen. Vining flowering plants surround the open areas to create shade and beauty. It is a professional place with natural ventilation, pleasing plantings, and comfortable environment for clients and workers.  © Hiroyuki Oki In order to recreate the ambience of a countryside home we used bricks that were not burnt by the kiln. The floor is made of decorative concrete tiles with a ground light grey finish. The cement roofs appear as scaffolding as was the method of construction in the countryside. This gives depth because of its 3 dimensional structure. A modern building with an ageless feeling.  © Hiroyuki Oki Working in this modern office evokes feelings reminiscent of childhood and a time when life was simpler. The air flow is fresh from the sea leading to comfortable temperature without being cold. Today's younger generation may have had little or no time in the countryside. This office has brought the spirit and the heart of the rural areas to the workplace.  © Hiroyuki Oki  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Jan 2018 11:00 AM PST  © Feilin Wang
 © Feilin Wang Text description provided by the architects. The aim was to create an elegant and welcoming space, introducing a personal western/eastern fusion style, combining features from the Southern Italy's Masseria and South East Asian Countries interiors. The design is tailored on the owner personality, a tasteful lady with the hobby of traveling and the love of coffee.  © Feilin Wang  © Feilin Wang The original layout is narrow and mostly developed in length, with a considerably lack of natural illumination in the bottom area. This was a challenge when it came to arrange the space properly. We decided to locate a living room at the bottom of the plot, in the darkest area. We introduced plenty of pendant lamps, dropping from a square bamboo ceiling as the space centerpiece. As result, we changed the weakest point of the plot into the spotlight. That leads customers to sit and find a comfortable place in the otherwise dead area.  © Feilin Wang  Courtesy of FAR OFFICE  © Feilin Wang The same living room arrangement is displayed from the big glass window of the side room, to the outside. The intent here is to live-stream the "Cafe' lifestyle" to people passing by. In this part of China, where coffee drinking is still considered not a familiar habit, this works as an effective "shopping window". It both educates people to the Coffee Culture and invites them to walk inside for a cup of Coffee.  © Feilin Wang  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Yellow Door House / NiHu Arquitectos Posted: 16 Jan 2018 09:00 AM PST  © Andres Garcia Lachner
 © Andres Garcia Lachner Text description provided by the architects. This project was designed as a beach house for tourists to rest and surf, it is a place that tries to blend the restrictions of a built space with the freedom of the outdoor activities they are experiencing.  © Andres Garcia Lachner It is located in Guiones, Guanacaste, within a development that used to be a rice plantation. The surrounding geography is very flat and distant, this allows for those exterior landscaping and views to be framed and pulled into the interior spaces as works of art.  Exploded Axonometric Exterior and interior blend in perfectly. As a result of the location of the house it is divided into two blocks that offset from one another, this allows for different areas to be framed. This offset also helps separate private from social spaces.  © Andres Garcia Lachner  Architectonic Program  © Andres Garcia Lachner This structure is not only well adapted to its location but also keeps in mind the user, for which it creates a third space between the blocks geared towards the related activities that a surfer would require.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The result is a patio that runs thru the house allowing for spaces that are easily accessible for the guests. These journeys will provide the guests with experiences and will transform into new ways to utilize the spaces.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The lobby is an articulation of the house where the user is the protagonist of the project.  © Andres Garcia Lachner As a result there are storage racks for surf boards in the living room, storage tables for equipment in the bar area and therefore the user is not limited to being outside for those activities.  Section  Cross Section A seamless transition is created between exterior and interior spaces.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The design of this house was thought of thoroughly, from the exterior shell to the window system mechanisms, trying to be as honest as possible about the materials utilized.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The main structure of the house is very straight forward in the sense that prefab concrete was used and this allows for the structure to be easily read and understood.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The windows where built in place by an artisan and this allowed us to personalize window mechanisms as well as flow of light and air at different locations and scales.  © Andres Garcia Lachner The fixed pieces of furniture where designed to flow and follow the same design philosophies of the entire structure of the house.  © Andres Garcia Lachner As an example exposed concrete slabs supported on metal beams are the bathroom countertops.  © Andres Garcia Lachner  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| World's Largest Air Purifier Completes Successful Trial Run in Xi'an, China Posted: 16 Jan 2018 08:00 AM PST  The 100-meter-tall air purification tower in Xi'an, China – believed to be the world's largest air purifier. Image via South China Morning Post A 100-meter-tall air purification tower in Xi'an, China – believed to be the world's largest air purifier – has significantly improved city air quality, results from its preliminary run suggest. According to researchers from the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the tower has managed to produce more than 10 million cubic metres (353 million cubic feet) of clean air per day since it was launched a few months ago. In the 10-square-kilometer (3.86-square-mile) observed area of the city, smog ratings have been reduced to moderate levels even on severely polluted days, an improvement over the city's previous hazardous conditions. To clean the air, polluted smog is drawn in through a series of greenhouses surrounding the base of the tower and heated by solar energy. This newly hot air then rises up the tower through multiple scrubbing filters before it is released back into the atmosphere. This method allows the air to be cleaned using relatively minimal electric power, which in China is provided mainly by coal-powered plants.  The full-sized tower would measure 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall and 200 meters (656 feet) in diameter, with greenhouses covering nearly 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles). Image via South China Morning Post The Xi'an smog tower project was launched in 2015 as a trial version of a much larger system the research team hopes will be implemented in other Chinese cities in the near future. The full-sized tower would measure 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall and 200 meters (656 feet) in diameter, with greenhouses covering nearly 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles). This system is hoped to be powerful enough to purify the majority of the air within a small city. Learn more about the project, here. News via South China Morning Post  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 16 Jan 2018 07:00 AM PST  © Javier Bravo Jabato
 © Javier Bravo Jabato Text description provided by the architects. Castile and León (Spain) is one of the regions with more cultural and natural heritage in the world, thanks to its history and its big area. Many of its Heritage of Cultural Interest (Bienes de Interés Cultural - BIC) are in natural and rural environments. Therefore, they need vigilance, as well as attention for their visitors. Lately, the Regional Government of Castile and León is becoming aware of the need to replace the current stalls located next to these BIC, with the aim of dignifying them according to those monuments and places.  Exploded Axonometric These 2 pavilions are a pilot programme which could be easily exportable to other BIC in the same region. The first one is located next to the Visigothic hermitage in Quintanilla de las Viñas (Burgos), one of the few buildings of its kind existing in the Iberian Peninsula, and which was designated as a National Monument in 1929. The second one is located at the archaeological site in Arrabalde (Zamora), a place which in the past was a pre-roman hill-fort, designated as a BIC in 2006. When we revisited the Zamora Museum, a building by Tuñón and Mansilla that we admire so much, we discovered to our surprise that among its more valuable exhibits it contains the "Arrabalde's Treasure", for which the architects expressly designed a showcase, that is simultaneously a jewel case, inside the big jewel case that is the building itself.  © Javier Bravo Jabato The pavilions could be defined as a wooden box slightly elevated from the floor and placed under a horizontal steel plane. They are very compact to reduce their presence and increase their efficiency, and they protect the guards from the inclemency of the weather, whereas they make possible a visual connection with the exterior landscape. Like a piece of furniture, they are built just with wood and steel, in an industrialized and easily reproducible way. In this conditions, building in a factory with only 2 trades (carpenter and blacksmith) reduce the cost considerably, which has been one of our main targets. The pavilions are open or closed depending on the needs. When they are in their "latency period", they look like a totally closed and protected jewel case. The external building covering is made of vertical black timber, whereas on the inside you can see the cross-laminated timber structure, which provides a warmer sensation.  © Javier Bravo Jabato Economy, sustainability and reversibility have been 3 basic principles to design these small buildings, which try not to leave any trace in those places where they will be located. The foundations are superficial and made of timber. The timber from the façade is protected by Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional Japanese technique based on charring. The roof is made of steel, and its slope protects the building from the rain and the sun. These are low-energy buildings thanks to a great insulation made of timber fibres and the use of traditional, recyclable and clean energies: a small wood heater, a pedal washbasin and a dry and eco-friendly toilet that guarantees a closed cycle.  © Koldo Fdez. Gaztelu To summarize, we have looked for a natural, laconic and sensible intervention according to the needs. An essential, logic and sober intervention. Without anything accessory or whimsical. Eloquent, but not talkative. Respectful with the pre-existence, the landscape and the environment. Thanks to its small size and its lightness, the pavilions will we totally built in a factory and then carried to the site.  © Javier Bravo Jabato  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 10 Architects to Design Chapels for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale Posted: 16 Jan 2018 06:00 AM PST ![© <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5115399433/'>Dennis Jarvis [Flickr]</a>, bajo licencia <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a>. ImageBasílica papal de San Pedro, El Vaticano](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5a5d/f7e8/f197/cc2b/ba00/007e/medium_jpg/5115399433_ba76497051_o.jpg?1516107736 "© <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5115399433/'>Dennis Jarvis [Flickr]</a>, bajo licencia <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a>. ImageBasílica papal de San Pedro, El Vaticano") © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5115399433/'>Dennis Jarvis [Flickr]</a>, bajo licencia <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a>. ImageBasílica papal de San Pedro, El Vaticano In 2018 the Vatican will participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale for the first time. Ten international architects will construct 10 different chapels as part of the representation of the city-state in the Italian architecture event. The news was confirmed by Paraguayan media outlets ABC y Última Hora, who revealed that one of the participants was local architect Javier Corvalán. The elite group of architects was selected by Francesco Dal Co, an Italian architecture historian and curator. The designers have been instructed that their chapels must be able to be relocated so that they can be deployed around the world, in places that are in need of these spaces of worship. The architects who will build chapels in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale:
In an interview with ABC, Corvalán explained his proposal:
News via ABC y Última Hora.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| La Toscana Residential Building / AE Arquitectos Posted: 16 Jan 2018 05:00 AM PST  © Lorena Darquea
 © Lorena Darquea Text description provided by the architects. La Toscana is a residential building complex located in the northeast of Guadalajara. It consists of 108 units surrounded by a peaceful environment and plenty of services. Initially, it was designed as one-tower but due to regulations, the project changed into two-towers with 12-story residential development.  © Lorena Darquea  Third Level Plan  © Lorena Darquea Both towers are connected by a base with an L shaped structure, that holds a series of amenities in the lobby as a gym, swimming pool, multipurpose spaces, and green areas. The base that connects the two towers hosts a gym and a roof garden on the third floor as well as green areas for gardening. In order to make the most of La Toscana's privileged orientation from north to south large windows were installed.  © Lorena Darquea Materials as marble, granite and wood were used for furbishing interiors and exteriors. These materials and its textures added solidity and consistency to the visual aspects of the project. La Toscana's great achievement was to integrate different personal and social activities into one structure. The façade winds up and down as a pleasing final touch which gives birth towers a distinction in Guadalajara's cityscape.  © Lorena Darquea  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| These Japanese Memo Pads Reveal Architectural Sites As Each Sheet is Removed Posted: 16 Jan 2018 04:10 AM PST  © Triad. via My Modern Met Architecture lovers and amateur archaeologists take note – or rather, get ready to take notes. Japanese model making company Triad has released a new series of notepads called the Omoshiro Block (loosely translated to "fun block") that slowly reveal intricate architectural sites as they are used. Appearing at first as a regular square of paper note cards, each block is specifically laser cut to produce a 3-dimensional model of some of Japan's most recognizable buildings, such as Kyoto's Kiyomizudera Temple, Tokyo's Asakusa Temple and Tokyo Tower.  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met Each block contains more than 100 sheets of paper, each featuring its own unique cutouts. For now, getting an Omoshiro Block of your own will be a difficult task, as they are currently both out of stock and sold only at Tokyu Hands Osaka location. In the meantime, you can keep up with the company on their official Instagram page, here.  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met  © Triad. via My Modern Met News via Spoon & Tamago. H/T My Modern Met.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Lar Residencial / M-arquitectos Posted: 16 Jan 2018 03:00 AM PST  © Paulo Goulart
 © Paulo Goulart Text description provided by the architects. This brand new building was recently open in 2016, in the Azores Islands, Portugal. Situated over an empty square, on a residential neighborhood, the building takes advantage of its location. Therefore the building's solid shape naturally arises from the topography that limits and defines the open space, which organizes the entire plot.  © Paulo Goulart At the other hand, its interior corridors or halls dematerializes the idea of massive block. Its interior spatial planning was designed to offer an emotional and affecting experience for people with disability that live temporarily or permanently on the site.  © Paulo Goulart  Plan  © Paulo Goulart The ground floor, on which the day rooms and social areas are located, were designed for the greatest possible solar exposure to provide a direct extension to the exterior, for technical reasons as well as to emphasize the views of those who lives there. There's also a cellar for technical areas. After all, we proposed a building that seeks to decrease the distance between the disbelief from hope for their users.  © Paulo Goulart  Section 4  © Paulo Goulart  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Was the AIA's Failure to Give its Twenty-Five Year Award In 2018 a Snub to Postmodernism? Posted: 16 Jan 2018 01:30 AM PST  Michael Graves' Team Disney Building. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/3600380204'>Flickr user lorenjavier</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/'>CC BY-ND 2.0</a> This article was originally published by Common Edge as "Did the AIA Take a Pass on Postmodernism?" People perceive architecture in different ways. "Style" is often an easy classification, traditional or modern. Popular residential work is often categorized dismissively by architects as "vernacular." The branding of the product of the profession, an oeuvre of work embodied in buildings and their meaning in our culture as celebrated by the American Institute of Architects, has many levels of recognition, from local AIA Chapter Awards, to national Awards. No AIA Award has more meaning or lustre inside the profession than the "Twenty-five Year Award" for buildings that have "stood the test of time." The award has been given continuously for the last 56 years. This year, the Design Jury chosen to select a seminal building has opted not to give an award to anything, any building 25-35 years old.
To quote the AIA: "The jury felt that there were submissions that appeal to architects and there were those that appeal to the public. The consensus was that the Twenty-five Year Award should appeal to both. Unfortunately, this year the jury did not find a submission that it felt achieved twenty-five years of exceptional aesthetic and cultural relevance while also representing the timelessness and positive impact the profession aspires to achieve." What does this step back mean? Great buildings were most assuredly built from 1982 to 1992, during this period when Postmodernism was spawning buildings viewed as trivializing affronts to architectural purity. But surely there were potential backups: High Modernist works that eschewed any vernacular commentary or reference. They couldn't find one? Or more probably are we, as a culture, as a profession, in a place where the vagaries of what-means-what are simply too unsettled that any judgment to laud any building is indefensible. The citation of two worlds, "us" (architects) and "them" (the public), as distinct entities is telling. The idea that there are camps when we're all humans, who all see and use the same buildings, is Balkanizing. This lack of common ground as seen by a room of architects bespeaks a polarization of criteria that demeans both the designers and those they design for. What a shame. Part of the intrinsic value of architectural design is that it impacts everyone. Buildings are as essential as the air we breath: their shelter, cultural expression, and aesthetic exploration are as nourishing as any food group. According to this jury, the 1982-1992 period was an architectural food desert. In that decade, when Stirling, Bohlen, Moore, Roche, and others were producing full speed, no project was worthy of the award. Really? Sometimes the way we laud architecture means more than what is lauded. Recent competition winners are great sculptures, but have no budgetary feasibility or usefulness. Great commissions often go to "safe" designers doing established product. Ninety-five-percent of American homes have been built before and are constructed to sell, like any other product. But architects love to love each other: the choir is always on key when they sing for each other. Unless there is no sheet music. Maybe we just do not know if those transitional buildings—from tumultuous PoMo to Established Parametrics—have the impact and value that jury had come to expect. Maybe it's because architecture is not so sure of what to expect of itself. Maybe you cannot celebrate the past now if you are unsure of where you are going in the future. Duo Dickinson has been an architect for more than 30 years. The author of eight books, he is the architecture critic for the New Haven Register, writes on design and culture for the Hartford Courant, and is on the faculty at the Building Beauty Program at UniSOB in Naples, Italy.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House MD / Lucas y Hernández – Gil Posted: 16 Jan 2018 01:00 AM PST  © José Hevia
.jpg?1515371498 "© José Hevia") © José Hevia Text description provided by the architects. House MD is an extension and refurbishment project on a single-family home from the 1980s in the neighbourhood of Chamartin in Madrid. The firm`s project emerged from the respect to the unusual and special brick volume of the original house. We took this key aspect to establish the dialogue between the original and the extended.  © José Hevia  Axonometric View  © José Hevia Our design visually connects the different spaces of the house both with a trellis or big sliding doors. A central staircase connects all the levels and becomes the focus of the project. A glass prism extended to the garden and a sunken courtyard are also two of the important interventions of our work.  © José Hevia  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Demolition Begins on Lobby of Philip Johnson's AT&T Building Posted: 16 Jan 2018 12:00 AM PST .jpg?1516086194 "Demolition is now underway on the lobby interiors. Image © DBOX") Demolition is now underway on the lobby interiors. Image © DBOX While the exterior of Philip Johnson's iconic AT&T awaits its fate in an upcoming New York City landmarks designation hearing, demolition of its granite-clad interior lobby has already begun. Citing the fact that the lobby had already been altered in the 1990s – including the removal of the "Golden Boy" statue – when the building switched tenants from AT&T to the Sony Corporation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission decided last month that the interiors were not deserving of landmark status. Interior landmark designations are awarded much less frequently than exterior designation in New York. The city currently contains 1,405 individual landmarks, but just 120 interiors. "In our evaluation the lobby does not hold the same level of broad significance," explained LPC Director of Research Kate Lemos McHale in a letter from the LPC to preservation advocate Thomas Collins. "[With] the removal of 'Golden Boy' as a focal point, alterations within the lobby itself, and its diminished relationship to the overall design of the base, we have determined that it does not rise to the level of an interior landmark." Learn more about the battle between developer and preservationists, here and find our earlier coverage of the plans below.
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| Architects Challenged to Rethink Schools in Scuole Innovative Design Competition Posted: 15 Jan 2018 10:00 PM PST  Courtesy of Michelangelo Galeota The Italian government has allocated 350 million euro for the construction of 52 new schools. In order to gather ideas for these future schools, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) hosted the Scuole Innovative Design Competition. Architect and engineer participants were critiqued on: architectural response to teaching needs, urban site integration, accessibility, flexibility, safety, materials, ease of maintenance, economic and environmental sustainability.  Courtesy of Michelangelo Galeota Italian architect Francesco Fiotti and his design team proposed a simultaneously protective and open learning environment for the competition. The scheme features a teaching courtyard encircled by classrooms, to create interaction between interior and exterior spaces. A variety of energy-saving techniques were used including: a double roof slab, a solar shielding system, solar panels, underfloor heating and rainwater harvesting.  Courtesy of Michelangelo Galeota  Courtesy of Michelangelo Galeota Three competition winners were chosen for each of the 52 municipalities and awarded 25,000, 10,000 and 5,000 euro, respectively. The complete list of winners can be found on the competition website, here.  Courtesy of Francesco Fiotti
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| Portuguese Football National Team Headquarters / Risco Posted: 15 Jan 2018 09:00 PM PST  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
 © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Text description provided by the architects. The new premises for the Portuguese Football Federation, called Cidade do Futebol (Football City), result from a decision to join all of the institution's activities in a single facility, namely, its headquarters, logistics centre and the new football technical centre, aimed to accommodate the seventeen national team's training camps and work. The Cidade do Futebol is located in the Jamor National Sports Complex, west of the National Stadium, on a plot measuring approximately 7 hectares, surrounded by primary access roads to the city of Lisbon. The land measures approximately 370m long (extending north / south) and 220m wide (extending east /west) and there is a substantial gradient between the outermost edges (about 20m), which complicated the placement of the playing fields.  © Daniel Malhão The tender launched by the Portuguese Football Federation foresaw the construction of three football pitches and a goalkeeping training field, and also included the construction of three independent buildings – headquarters, football technical centre and logistics centre – connected by a fourth building referred to as the Central Hub. Rather than proposing four autonomous buildings, we designed a compact solution that enabled us to resolve, simultaneously, the organisation of the program, the different accesses and the segregation of outdoor spaces. Furthermore, our proposal distinguishes the various parts of the complex, giving precedence to the Portuguese Football Federation's headquarters.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG This solution, which we describe as "compact" due to having less facades, less corridors, less electrical and mechanical equipment, made it possible to reduce the complex's construction and operating costs, freeing up more outdoor space, maximising the building's proximity and expressing the institution's representative character. The building's footprint is T-shaped, set out in two "squares": the first is public and close to the entrance, in the lower part (60.00); the second, for work, is located at the unit's northern edge, level with the main training field (64.00), and reserved for players and staff. Visually, the building stands out due to the contrast between the lower floors (0 & 1) and the upper floors (2 & 3).  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  Ground Floor Plan  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  First Floor Plan  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The lower floors were conceived as an extension of the stone walls that terrace the land, while the upper floors were designed in a more conventional manner, using glass and ceramic panels interspersed with horizontal elements in exposed concrete. Two key elements were kept in mind when developing the project: to design a workplace where players, technical personnel, collaborators and managers can prepare their demanding missions intensely; to organise a facility where journalists, fans and VIPs can engage with the national teams and players in specific locations and only when the national team manager and technical staff see fit.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 15 Jan 2018 09:00 PM PST  YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and the Municipality of Favignana, in cooperation with the Italian Government, launch "Art Prison", an architectural competition to refurbish a breathtaking fortress on a scattered island in southern Sicily. A cash prize of € 20,000 will be awarded to the winners selected by an internationally-renowned featuring Daniel Libeskind (Studio Libeskind), Manuel Aires Mateus (Aires Mateus), Felix Perasso (Snøhetta), João Luís Carrilho da Graça (Carrilho da Graça Arquitectos). Solitude has always been highly fascinating for human beings. Hermitages, fortresses, shelters. Since the dawn of time, human beings have been looking for a solitary condition, avoiding their counterparts as if they wanted to rediscover a feeling of purity, reconciliation with their self and union with nature. The fortress of Santa Caterina stands over the peak of Favignana, an isle set at the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. It appears as a real jewel of solitude. It is a place imbued with an imposing and moving beauty. In such place, the embrace of nature is so intimate that creates the sweet and yearned for oblivion that fills the heart of those who had the bravery to leave civilization to listen to silence. For more than a century, the fortress has been an abandoned prison. From the peak of the promontory, it solitary witnesses the continuous rise and setting of the sun in the crystal waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The latter has always been vigilant on the events of the island. Over time, the industrious fishermen village has become a booming destination for international tourism. In the wake of such transformations, Yac launches Art Prison. This is a competition in collaboration with the Municipality of Favignana aiming at making the most of a remarkable context in order to transform Santa Caterina Fortress into one of the most suggestive centers of contemporary art of the Mediterranean. It will have to be a sublime place of encounter, culture and creative research where artists will have the opportunity to relax and enjoy in an untouched place. The latter will be the perfect context to inspire artists' imagination and make them express the real essence of their inner self. How to transform an ancient prison into a treasure chest containing works of art and the creative action of internationally renowned artists and intellectuals? How to transform an ancient fishermen isle into an open-air contemporary art museum? This is the fascinating challenge of Art Prison. This competition invites designers to get involved with the lure of solitude. By doing so, they will create a mystic architecture able to whisper to the heart of visitors. The isle will become a "sacred" place, a shelter for artists, creative talents and curious people who wish to stay to mentally and spiritually regain their forces. They will have the chance to enjoy the most amazing artistic innovations, brushed by the monumental and eternal fascination of an ancient fortress and a Mediterranean isle. Jury:
Prizes:
Calendar:
More information on: www.youngarchitectscompetitions.com
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