Arch Daily |
- Emiliano RJ / Studio Arthur Casas
- Lucien Cornil Student Residence / A+Architecture
- House in a Garden / RS Sparch
- Lubango Centre / PROMONTORIO
- Cornerstone 1-532 / Leehong Kim Architects
- Beijing Capital Museum / AREP
- Beam House / Hugo Kohno Architect Associates
- House over the Water / Elliott + Elliott Architecture
- See the Progress of Zaha Hadid Architects' World Cup Stadium in Qatar, Set to Open This Year
- Celaya Community Center / SPRB arquitectos
- Rem Koolhaas to Lead OMA's Transformation of the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow
- Late Night Tales / Joaquín Juberías + Víctor Cano Ciborro
- Adjaye Associates' Interactive SPYSCAPE Museum Opens in New York City
- L Residence / LANZA Atelier
- Spotlight: William McDonough
- Why African Vernacular Architecture Is Overdue for a Renaissance
- Pompejus / RO&AD Architecten
- 12 Women in Architecture Photography (Part 2)
- Open Call: Institute of Patent Infringement
| Emiliano RJ / Studio Arthur Casas Posted: 20 Feb 2018 09:00 PM PST  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
 © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Text description provided by the architects. The Emiliano hotel arrives at Rio de Janeiro, and like the one from São Paulo, it bares the signature of Studio Arthur Casas – the preliminary framework of the project has co-authoring of the American architect Chad Oppenheim.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The contemporary architecture of the building, located in front of Copacabana beach, gives priority to natural light, valorizes the view and connects the guests to the Marvelous city. To meet the client's expectations established in their briefing asking for a project that could satisfy the standards of a five-star hotel whose ground floor could be enjoyed by clients who were or were not guests, a bar was installed right at the entrance. Then, the flow of people was redirected in two different ways: one takes to the restaurant or to the business center and the other to reception, with a private area for guests.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The hotel houses a spa as well, located on the 11th floor next to the saunas, special showers and gym, and offers a leisure area located on the rooftop, where an infinite-edge pool and deck were installed. This last floor allows, furthermore, a gorgeous view from Leme until the Copacabana Fort.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Abiding to the law that limits the height and distance of building built near the beach, this building divided in 12 floors among which there are 90 apartments ranging from 42 to 120 m2.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  Typical floor plan  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Studio Arthur Casas created a skin-like surface for the building, a perforated design typical of Brazilian architecture, which breaks through the continuity of the concrete blocks that dot the buildings along the coast. The fiberglass panels of the facade give rise to various visual configurations. Even when the panels are closed, light and the breeze can still flow through, ensuring guests both privacy and a sea view.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  Typical Section The interiors, by Studio Arthur Casas, nod to Brazilian modernism, inspired by the artwork by landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx on display in the hotel lobby. The fabric and textures used for the furniture in the reception area and in the rooms draw on the hues of green in the piece, while the decor includes pieces by major names in Brazilian design of the '50s, such as Rio native Sergio Rodrigues, as well as by contemporary designers, such as Italy native Paola Lenti. The surfaces are also marked by the lighter tones of 100% Brazilian materials, including cane, wood, white Paraná marble, granite, and stone.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Arthur Casas also drew the three-dimensional wooden panels in the elevators. The landscaping appears in the interiors through vertical gardens at the rooftop and the restaurant.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  Scheme The architectural project is, therefore, an homage to the natural beauties of the state capital and an invitation to guests to enjoy in the best way possible the services and environments of Emiliano Rio.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Lucien Cornil Student Residence / A+Architecture Posted: 20 Feb 2018 07:00 PM PST  © Benoit Wehrlé
 © Benoit Wehrlé Text description provided by the architects. In Marseilles, A+Architecture has designed one of the highest wooden buildings in France for the CROUS: the Lucien Cornil hall of residence. This eight-floor student residence is the fruit of a successful environmental and construction period. Its sensitive urban approach makes this 200-room structure a functional building, comfortable and opening out towards the city.  Master Plan Consisting of three wings, the design benefits from a very high ground floor and attics on the top two levels as well as quality shared spaces. The graduation of the building heights of the project will interact with the surrounding buildings and leave them with space to breath despite the density of the area.  © Benoit Wehrlé Most of the rooms are directed towards the enclosed garden, a genuinely relaxing indoor garden, on the street side, the openings are positioned along the less noisy alley. In this constricted urban environment, the choice of wood construction (excluding vertical knots) was obvious. Reduction in disruption caused by the works, an optimised schedule, but also a commitment to the comfort of the residence are what convinced the CROUS to embark on the adventure.  © Benoit Wehrlé  © Benoit Wehrlé Wood is found on all the ceilings and on the walls of the rooms, the latter being sound-proofed. It is also present in the corridors and communal rooms, but not on the facings where its ageing is deemed too visible. Its strong interior presence gives the impression of a warm and relaxing atmosphere with soft acoustics. The wooden shrouds, with cross-laminated assembly, give off a forest scent.  © Benoit Wehrlé The use of solid wood CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) limits energy consumption and provides an excellent carbon footprint. "The entire building has been designed to be very heat and acoustically efficient, while maintaining consistent lines and at a very competitive price", states A+Architecture.  © Benoit Wehrlé The cladding is something else. A perforated curved panel is mixed with large aluminium shingles to mix up the lines, reduce the scale and break-down the volumes. The perforated skin passes in front of a section of wide glazed strips, transforming the building in the evening to a beacon of light in the Marseillaise night  © Benoit Wehrlé The landscaped interior garden, mainly pointing towards the city, is given over to meetings, the large piazza connecting with the rue Saint Pierre entrance highlights the carefully preserved majestic pine tree  First Floor Plan The light is magnified everywhere, sometimes filtered behind the perforations of the cladding's protective cladding sheets or behind the aluminium railings in the upper sections of the communal areas, somewhat generous for the rooms, the blanking is provided by a roller shutter which closes off the entire opening.  © Benoit Wehrlé In a dense area, the location and choice of space occupied have enabled the communal areas, the circulation areas and the views to provide a functional building that opens up onto the city.  © Benoit Wehrlé The wooden structure combined with a sensitive and functional architecture provides a solution very much of its time; innovative and in-tune with the environment.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 06:00 PM PST  © Yiorgis Yerolymbos
 The story: A house in a mystical garden in a dense urban setting. When the client came to the office he talked about a house in a garden for him and his son. We talked about the garden, about the many trees already there. Would it be possible to keep the palm tree? We talked about the house. It would have to be small. But he would need a corner to listen to music, and lots of light coming from all sides.  © Yiorgis Yerolymbos This is a house in a secret garden, a house in its own world, open to nature, even though surrounded by the dense urban fabric of Athens. Hidden behind the trees, the house accepts the garden, it integrates its colors, its shadows, its changing over time. A linear pool accentuates geometries. The garden enters the house through the windows, connects the front to the back. Nature is dominant.  © Yiorgis Yerolymbos The house consists of a concrete base and a white, metal-structure 'beam', a linear projecting 'bridge' that balances on the base, its folded ends open to the view. In a clear distinction between more public and private areas, the base houses the living areas while the white 'bridge' houses the bedrooms. Opening up to both sides the interior allows views of the garden to flood the interior. The program is simple: living room and kitchen on the ground floor, two bedroom-suites on the upper floor that open up to the green roof, and gym, guest room and utilities placed in the basement. A black metal staircase connecting all three levels evolves like a geometric 'flower' and becomes a point of reference. The two main floors are visually connected through a glass floor, while a skylight on top brings natural light in.  Section White walls for the owners' collection of paintings, wooden floors, black aluminum window frames, black metal and transparent glass, a revolving mirror door that separates the livingroom from the kitchen. Reflections, unexpected views of the garden through a horizontal slit on the concrete structure, another one for the kitchen, the view of a tree framed by a square window in the livingroom. Untreated reinforced concrete with visible the marks of the formwork for the main structure, thermal plaster on the white 'beam' of the upper floor and the almost black cube of the kitchen. A galvanized steel door and fence hides the building from the street. The house can now surrender to the garden.   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 04:00 PM PST  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
 © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Text description provided by the architects. The peace and prosperity brought by the end of the Angolan civil war witnessed the beginning of development and urban reconstruction. At first exclusively in Luanda, it has gradually extended to hinterland cities such as Lubango, capital of Huila district. This small town, founded in the early 20th-century, is one of the main references to Portuguese colonial urbanism in Africa. This mixed-use building is set in a consolidated area, next to the main square and surrounded by a few remaining buildings of Portuguese modernist legacy, some of which of remarkable quality, although much dilapidated.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG With 9-storey, the building includes residential, offices and shops served by a common access and underground parking. On the ground floor, a sheltered and cross-ventilated open gallery generates a shaded and fresh space, allowing direct access to the shop fronts, to the residential and offices lobbies, and to a small backyard coffee-shop terrace. Above ground-level, there are, respectively, 4 levels of offices, 3 levels of single-storey apartments and, in the last 2 levels, duplex units, including variants of double-height studios to 3- bedroom units. The roof terrace accommodates residents'storage rooms, laundry services and technical areas.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The construction concept is based on a principle of robustness that should enable this solid and simple building to guarantee comfort, durability and low maintenance. The module of recessed balconies provides the natural shading resulting from its depth, in addition to an accessible and ventilated façade technical compartment. The massiveness of the masonry walls is interrupted by the datum of concrete slabs, which function as a continuous lintel. This tectonic expression is reinforced by the materiality of the brickwork laid in 'soldier-and-stretcher' courses, evocative of the rich textures and colours of African rammed earth and pottery.  Floor Plan 4 Finally, the stratification of this materiality is emphasized by the white paint on concrete lintels and bronze aluminium window frames. Anticipating a long period until the adjacent properties are built, along with the northwest and southeast windowless facades, we have chosen to maintain the same masonry with a brickwork composition similar to the main facade.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Cornerstone 1-532 / Leehong Kim Architects Posted: 20 Feb 2018 02:00 PM PST  © Kyung Sub Shin
 © Kyung Sub Shin Text description provided by the architects. Situated at a transitional node in the midst of scattered new developments with a high-end residential area to the north, commercial area to the south, Cornerstone 1-532 projects the character of the site with a monolithic, continuous, and curved surface along the adjacent streets. The building quietly sits in as a neutral backdrop to the diverse textures of the surroundings. Cornerstone 1-532 is a four-story mixed-use building with individual program per floor stacked vertically; commercial space on the first floor and artist studio/residence on the other floors.  © Kyung Sub Shin  Ground Floor Plan  © Kyung Sub Shin Despite the limited site area of 165 m² with 40% lot coverage ratio, the site bestowed with an advantage of a corner lot. The west and the south side of the site facing the street adopt a single curved facade to minimize the segmentation and to maximize the length of the facade surface. This creates a building mass larger than life, allowing a monolithic visual impact as a whole.  © Kyung Sub Shin The first floor is framed by an extruded geometry of the pentagonal site's corner. This alien geometry on the curved facade represents the shape of the site, and the insertion of this frame to the full-height surface creates an interesting contrast. Different use of materials emphasizes the contrast between the two gestures. The curved surface is an aggregation of bricks, whereas exposed concrete creates the frame with curved glass fit in. This concrete frame also elongates towards the north boundary of the site functioning as canopy along the west side of the site.  West and South Elevations The level difference between the Southeast and the Northwest points of the site by nearly one floor plays another key role to the character of the building. Raising the first floor by half level result in two separate entrance to the first and basement floors. From apart, a single volume shows a monolithic gesture like a stone placed on asphalt street, which represents a calmness to the unanticipated events around and harmonizes the variety. But as approaching, the building speaks up through the transparent glass frame.  © Kyung Sub Shin  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 12:00 PM PST  © D. Boy de la Tour
 © D. Boy de la Tour Text description provided by the architects. Beijing Capital Museum is located on Fu Xing Men Avenue, a major thoroughfare running east-west as a continuation of Xi Chang An Jie Avenue, which runs alongside the Forbidden City and Tien An Men Square. Fu Xing Men Avenue will ultimately be flanked by a series of high-profile cultural amenities including an opera house and a library. The museum was planned as one of the city flagship public building and will participate in the image of Beijing as a worldwide main capital. The museum has a total surface area of 60,000 sqm protected by a rectangular horizontal roof. It stands back from the avenue in order to create a public square that opens out onto the city.  © D. Boy de la Tour  Site Plan  © D. Boy de la Tour Underneath this large roof that cantilevers off above the public square, the museum layout is composed of a Chinese palace. Three pavilions surround a central hall on its 3 sides, while, on the fourth one, the main entrance is conceived as the entrance of the Chinese palaces: the visitors slip into the museum under a stone wall which is an allegory of the zigzag path one has to go through to enter. Each of the three objects has its own volume, indoor space and materials specifically related to the symbolic and functional uses they receive. The first of these objects, the 7,000 sqm "Treasure Gallery", is made of bronze and houses most of the precious objects collection. It forms a cylinder leaning within the main north-facing façade that gives the entire building its signature identity. It is the object that identifies the museum.  © D. Boy de la Tour The second volume, with its wooden fascia on both indoor and outdoor surfaces, forms a sort of "box" which hosts 8,000 m² of a temporary exhibition on the ground floor, 10,000 m² of the permanent collection and an educational area. The third component is the elongated grey stone block closing off the building on the south side and which contains the media library, the research and museology facilities and areas for museum staff. The base, on which the other three volumes are built, contains ancillary museum facilities, including boutiques, restaurants and an auditorium, together with more temporary exhibition space, an underground car park and technical facilities.  Section 1 The climate and acoustical environment of the extensive indoor areas are tightly controlled to offer visitors maximum comfort. Natural light floods into these extensive spaces through the south and east facing façades and through the roof. It is filtered to minimize glare, shaping the various volumes and bouncing off the different materials. The programme echoes Beijing's cultural heritage while simultaneously expressing the city's contemporary, forward-looking ethos. The classical attributes of Chinese buildings are reformulated using a contemporary vocabulary.  © Andrew Yu  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Beam House / Hugo Kohno Architect Associates Posted: 20 Feb 2018 11:00 AM PST  © Seiichi Osawa
 © Seiichi Osawa Text description provided by the architects. Located on a lot with a narrow frontage, this building houses a gallery on the first floor and a residence on the second and third floors. The client requested that the gallery have a glass facade to allow good visibility from the street and be a single open space to ensure flexibility and allow for future changes in use. They also requested a separate entrance to the second-floor residential area, and a design that required no structural walls on the first floor, such as a Rahmen structure.  Structure In typical Japanese wood-frame architecture, load-bearing walls are necessary between the beams, with a particularly large number needed on lower floors. This leads to a partitioning of space. Using a wooden portal-style Rahmen frame toward the front of the building rendered load-bearing walls unnecessary, but the columns also had to be widened, crowding the narrow facade. To allow for narrower columns, the top-to-bottom height of the beams had to be increased, but ordinarily that would close off the space. Our design solution was to create a Rahmen frame using composite beams made of steel trusses and laminated lumber, which allowed for both narrower columns and long lines of site, ultimately creating a greater feeling of openness in the space.  © Seiichi Osawa By inserting open steel-truss frames in the center of the expanded beams, we were able to avoid obstructing the space with thick beams, instead allowing lines of site to easily pass through them. Based on strength requirements and the intended use of each area, we varied the form of the truss frames in multiple ways and altered the height of the ceiling, creating a freer, more open space.  Section Because the steel trusses support only the horizontal load, a fire-resistant covering was not necessary, and it thus became possible to incorporate the truss frames into the design. The steel-wood hybrid structure lightened the building and also lowered costs compared to an all-steel frame. We used many styles for the steel trusses and put them to use as balcony handrails, sun shades, back support for a bench, and openwork elements above doors. The frames are also visible as-is in many parts of the building, defining both the interior space and exterior appearance.  © Seiichi Osawa  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House over the Water / Elliott + Elliott Architecture Posted: 20 Feb 2018 09:00 AM PST  © Trent Bell
 © Trent Bell Text description provided by the architects. This house defines the edge of a precipitous embankment, one that drops steeply down to Blue Hill Bay. The environment, though bold, is extremely fragile and heavily susceptible to erosion. Anchored by a series of piers pinned to ledge beneath the beach, the house is elevated above the ground and flood plain, allowing the terrain to be stabilized below. A series of seawalls define a terrace while providing a means of adjusting the inclination of the bank.  © Trent Bell  Floor Plan  © Trent Bell The volume of the house was governed by zoning regulations which limited the maximum buildable envelope based upon a grandfathered structure that was present on the site and its proximity to the water. This led to a bipartite massing aimed at distributing the majority of the allowable volume to the main living area overlooking the water all while keeping the scale of the structure relatable to the surrounding buildings. In the main space the roof was pitched to the south to capture daylight and filter it deep into the house, simultaneously providing passive ventilation through high clerestory windows. The clerestory, in conjunction with skylights, large operable doors, and windows at the floor level, allows the house to remain cool without air conditioning.  © Trent Bell  North + South Elevations  © Dennis Welsh It was a critical project requirement that the home engage the water both visually and physically. From inside, unobstructed views are achieved through floor to ceiling glass, allowing the expanse of the bay to act as backdrop to the activity inside. At high tide the water comes under the house providing a sense that one is floating above the sea, lending a feeling of tranquility to the space above. A set of stone steps from the terrace below descends to the beach and into the water at high tide, providing immediate immersion into the sea.  © Trent Bell  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| See the Progress of Zaha Hadid Architects' World Cup Stadium in Qatar, Set to Open This Year Posted: 20 Feb 2018 08:00 AM PST Construction of Zaha Hadid Architects' Al Wakrah Stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is marching forward, with an opening date anticipated by the end of 2018. As shown in a video released by the Supreme Committee for Legacy & Delivery, the stadium's concrete lower bowl has been poured and its massive roof pillars have been successfully installed. When complete, the 40,000-person-capacity stadium will feature a retractable roof (able to be closed in less than 30 minutes) and a wide range of community spaces and amenities – including schools, sport courts, restaurants, retail stores and even a wedding hall – that will allow the complex to be used into the future. Learn more about the design of Al Wakrah Stadium, here. The video was released as a full construction update from the Supreme Committee for Legacy & Delivery. Check out the progress of several other upcoming world cup venues, here. News via Supreme Committee for Legacy & Delivery.
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| Celaya Community Center / SPRB arquitectos Posted: 20 Feb 2018 07:00 AM PST  © Lorena Darquea
 © Lorena Darquea Text description provided by the architects. In an area of the city of Celaya, in Mexico, that has an approximate surface of 70 hectares of public land, both the open spaces as well as the facilities and infrastructure, the opportunities and benefits that it represents for its inhabitants draw attention for their exceptionality.  © Lorena Darquea A sector of the city that will have among its spaces and facilities a large urban park formed by three sections, of which two already exist and will be subject to improvements in their infrastructure, and a section currently under construction that will complement the vocation and the character of these public spaces.  Floor Plan The 3rd Section of Xochipilli Park will be a large urban space of new plan that will mainly house cultural and artistic activities, but also making space for recreation. It will be a park open to its urban environment, offering large gardens and wide views towards the interior of the park.  © Lorena Darquea Within the facilities and areas of the park, there is a Community Center with workshops and classrooms. The project is solved by grouping volumes of different dimensions and heights that accommodate the varied requirements of the program: a multipurpose room, a dance hall, a library, doctors' offices, offices, various classrooms for classes and craftsmanship.  Sections This grouping responds to the scale of the houses on the other side of the street, an area of the city with an urban fabric of small grain, a subdivision of modest dimensions. This equipment is for this community, it wants to be part of its identity.  © Lorena Darquea It has been built to last through a simple and solid architecture. The different buildings are linked by relational spaces roofed with a light cover. This is the spirit of the project: a meeting place for learning and sharing the community.  © Onnis Luque  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rem Koolhaas to Lead OMA's Transformation of the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow Posted: 20 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST  © OMA OMA has revealed plans for the renovation of the New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val in Moscow that will increase the accessibility and visibility of the gallery's four sectors. Led by Rem Koolhaas, the scheme will use color and material to create a new visual identity and to establish a new link to the Moscow River.  © OMA The largest museum building in Russia, the New Tretyakov displays one of the world's largest and most significant collections of Russian art, including work from Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Soviet artists such as Aleksandr Deyneka and Vera Mukhina. The original building was designed in 1964 by N.P. Sukoyan and Y.N. Sheverdyaev and completed in 1983, with a total floor area of 61,091 square meters. Since then, it has been altered and added to, leaving grand exhibition spaces awkwardly fragmented by long hallways and clusters of support spaces.  © OMA  © OMA OMA's scheme will reorganize the complex into four sectors: Art Storage, an Education Center, the Collection, and a Festival Hall. Each sector will project its role through an individual identity, linked via a pedestrian circulation path along the Moscow River. Cutouts in the facade will connect interiors with the sky and the city.  © OMA "Our proposal is a reconsideration of the New Tretyakov, focusing on improving its spatial infrastructure and the elimination of dysfunctional parts," said Rem Koolhaas. "We also undo the absolute separation between museum and the House of Artist, and remove a number of walls to make the different components more accessible and visible. Because of its size, it is almost impossible to consider it as a homogeneous entity; modern interventions unaffordable in Soviet times, such as escalators, improve circulation and draw together the different autonomous elements of the museum complex."  © OMA  © OMA The New Tretyakov Gallery represents OMA/AMO's third cultural project in Russia, following a research study for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. News via OMA  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Late Night Tales / Joaquín Juberías + Víctor Cano Ciborro Posted: 20 Feb 2018 05:00 AM PST  © German Cabo
 © German Cabo Text description provided by the architects. The basic conception of housing in architecture tends towards an ideal whose purpose is to provide shelter for one or more inhabitants in a temporal period that extends from the middle to the long term. However, what terms would architecture use when a dwelling must respond to several inhabitants in short periods of time? What tools are available when an excess or superabundance of inhabitants occurs?  House Taken Over - Plan Concept The project presented here, a temporary rental housing, gives rise to these reflections and concerns due to the multiple links that will occur between inhabitants –temporal- and spaces -producers of intensity-. Faced with a situation of anonymous inhabitants and spatial practices closer to summer excess than to routine, a housing project that questions the formality to focus on the world of effects and actions is presented.
Effects produced by the distortion of the mirror or by the sensation of a greenish ceramic space where its brightness floods everything, and actions such as opening doors that almost triple your height, or climbing a light metal staircase that expands our spatial perception. The aforementioned constitutes an architecture that does not seek the function of continuous inhabiting, but of stimulus, surprise and carefree restlessness of the nomad.
 House of Leaves - Plan Concept  © German Cabo If from other disciplines these variations or delusions are assumed as their own, as for example in psychiatry, which embraces the excesses of fantasy, mania, and impulses; or in pathology, which worries about hypertrophies, monstrosities or dermal variations, from architecture, these variations have not yet acquired a meaning of their own. In this context, and linked to an architecture where eroticism and secrecy are inherent to the temporary nature of this home, we are seduced by the idea of linking this construction together with the prefix 'hyper' to call it a stimulating or fruitful function of experiences. In this way, the concept of 'hyper-architecture' is presented through the cartographies and narratives that its inhabitants have left us around it.  © German Cabo  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Adjaye Associates' Interactive SPYSCAPE Museum Opens in New York City Posted: 20 Feb 2018 04:25 AM PST  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE SPYSCAPE, a new interactive spy museum dedicated to immersing visitors into the world of espionage, has opened in New York City. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the 60,000-square-foot museum features a range of interactive exhibitions housed within a moody material palette of glowing lights, smoked glass, fiber cement and corten steel.  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE Located on West 55th Street just two blocks from the Museum of Modern Art, SPYSCAPE begins the experience from the moment you enter, assigning visitors one of 11 spy characters including cryptologist, hacker or intelligence analyst. Inside, interactive exhibits take visitors through spy-themed challenges, where they are taught to learn how to identify lies, complete a surveillance mission or snake their way through a hallway of laser tripwires.  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE In addition to the exhibits, the museum features a cafe, a book store with more than 1,000 rare spy books and a gift shop selling a range of gadgets and souvenirs. Events spaces can also be rented out for private parties of up to 600 guests.  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE "It has been exciting to work with a client as truly innovative as SPYSCAPE," said Lucy Tilley, Associate Director for Adjaye Associates. "Thanks to their forward-thinking vision, we have been able to challenge the traditional museum typology with a design that creates a new model of visitor experience which straddles the physical and digital worlds." Learn more about SPYSCAPE here.  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE  Photograph by Scott Frances. Courtesy of SPYSCAPE
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| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 03:00 AM PST  © Onnis Luque
 © Onnis Luque Text description provided by the architects. The project of L residence derives from the need to create a new connection to the dormitories of an existing dwelling in the Valle de Bravo, in a beautiful natural environment. Until now, the houses were accessed through the other ones, so the owners did not feel comfortable inviting friends since they could not offer them a certain intimacy. The initial project also included a new independent two-floors volume that operated as an apartment with living room, bedroom, bathroom and a small kitchen.  © Onnis Luque  © Onnis Luque We proposed to solve both with a single element. A curve that connected the old house and the new volume forming a new circulation, a path that is compressed and expanded as it is traveled. The intersection of this line with the preexistence provided a lateral access to the residence and, therefore, some internal changes in the disposition of the dormitory and bathroom that were totally reformulated. Here, locally produced materials were used to reformulate them in a contemporary way.  Floor Plan 0 Finally, the autonomous volume was postponed and it was decided to build only the connection. Somehow the project was reduced to a corridor on inclined planes. And that seemed even more interesting.  © Onnis Luque Recall the words attributed to Alejandro de la Sota: the architect always gives hare per cat. In Fabrizio, Spain, there is a saying: "to give a cat for a hare", since during the civil war it was served a boiled cat saying that it was a hare (which, since then, means to deceive someone to give something worse than the person is buying). This phrase, therefore, means just the opposite: giving hare per cat is giving someone something better that is being bought.  © Onnis Luque We reflect on how the new communication needs between environments have been changing, throughout history, the basic design of a house. And in how a program normally undervalued, such as a simple circulation, can become much more, as the stairs of Spain Square in Rome, for example.  © Onnis Luque This new space introduces, on the one hand, a new vanishing point and a new flow logic in the former residence. On the other hand, it is an experience, fundamentally through the light treatment with the use of skylights that value the textures of the brick. This suggests a moment to contemplate the exterior, the garden, from a semi-interior which, being on a slope, opens outwards in different ways.  Section Thus, we create a second facade for the residence that disconnects from the original, with the memory of the first curve drawn, to allow many things to happen between them.  © Onnis Luque  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 02:30 AM PST .jpg?1456012027 "NASA Sustainability Base. Image Courtesy of William McDonough + Partners") NASA Sustainability Base. Image Courtesy of William McDonough + Partners Sometimes referred to as "the leading environmental architect of our time," in his roles as architect, designer, author, educator and social leader, William McDonough (born 20 February 1951) has provided a renewed look at the things that we make and their impact on both our bodies and the world. Through his Cradle to Cradle philosophy, McDonough's buildings are designed to function for a predetermined lifespan, after which they can be broken down into their various parts whose core elements can be used anew to solve a different design problem.  © Marta Chierego – World Economic Forum Upon finishing his architectural education at Dartmouth and Yale, McDonough opened his own firm, now called William McDonough + Partners, in 1981 in New York City. Sustainability became a theme early in his career, with projects including the design of a solar house in Ireland, and in 1985, the commission for the first "green office" in New York for the Environmental Defense Fund. The EDF brief called for strict air quality requirements, prompting McDonough to begin his lifelong investigation into healthy materials. McDonough's design set in motion the trend of green building in the United States and lead to the formation of the US Green Building Council. .jpg?1456012320 "American University School of International Service. Image © Prakash Patel/William McDonough + Partners") American University School of International Service. Image © Prakash Patel/William McDonough + Partners The subsequent decade saw further variations on sustainable design, with projects ranging from Herman Miller's "Greenhouse" Factory and Offices (1995); the Corporate Campus for Gap, Inc. (1997); Nike's European Headquarters (1999); and the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College (2001) as well as McDonough's first treatise on sustainable design, The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability in 1992. In 1994, McDonough moved his practice to Charlottesville, Virginia after being named Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia.  ICEhouse. Image © Bertrand Radelow In 2002, McDonough co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The manifesto proposed to upend the traditional adage of "reduce, reuse, recycle," calling instead for materials to be "upcycled" at the end of their initial useful life span. To design products able to be upcycled, materials should be composed of what McDonough refers to as "technical" and "biological nutrients." Technical nutrients consist of materials that can be reused in a closed-loop industrial system, while biological nutrients refer to materials that can break down to reenter the environment. Cradle to Cradle was quickly disseminated throughout design circles, and has since inspired the non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which empowers and rewards innovation in the practice of sustainable, circular-economy design.  Diagram, NASA Sustainability Base. Image Courtesy of William McDonough + Partners Since that breakthrough, McDonough has continued to focus on environmentally and socially-conscious design, helping to establish criteria for the environmental mission of Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation in their bid to provide architect-designed homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. McDonough himself contributed designs for a sustainable duplex in New Orleans' Ninth Ward known as the "flow house." Recent projects of McDonough's have included ICEhouse (2016), a transportable "wonderframe" that uses any available materials to create shelter; Method Manufacturing Facility (2014), a new factory for sustainable products on a Chicago brownfield site; and the NASA Sustainability Base (2011), a "living laboratory" for the space program that outperforms LEED platinum standards. McDonough is also the subject of Stanford University's first "living archive," where nearly all of the architect's daily moments are recorded in an effort to change the way we as humans remember and record our daily lives. .jpg?1456012312 "American University School of International Service. Image © Prakash Patel/William McDonough + Partners") American University School of International Service. Image © Prakash Patel/William McDonough + Partners Through his successes, McDonough has changed the discourse on architecture's relationship to the environment, a relationship he believes is only sustainable through a symbiotic attitude: "What I'm trying to look at is how do we make humans supportive of the natural world, the way the natural world is supportive of us." See all of William McDonough projects featured on Archdaily via the thumbnails below, and further coverage below those:
Archiculture Interviews: Bill McDonough William McDonough to be Stanford University's First Living Archive  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Why African Vernacular Architecture Is Overdue for a Renaissance Posted: 20 Feb 2018 01:30 AM PST  The Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali. Image © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Djenne_great_mud_mosque.jpg'>Wikimedia user Ruud Zwart</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/nl/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 2.5 NL</a> This article was originally published on Common Edge as "Making a Case for the Renaissance of Traditional African Architecture." Last September, Nigerian Afrobeat musician Wizkid played to a sold-out house at the Royal Albert Hall in London, joining a growing list of illustrious African musicians, such as Selif Kaita, Youssou Ndour, Miriam Makeba and others, that have performed at that prestigious venue. This event affirmed the unfolding cultural renaissance across the continent, but it also signified the rising global influence of African music, movies, fashion, cuisine and the arts. Sadly, traditional African architecture, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, has not profited from this renaissance and has instead steadily lost its appeal across the continent. In spite of its towering influence in the pre-colonial era, it has largely failed to develop beyond the crude earthen walls and thatch roof architecture; for this reason it has remained unattractive to homeowners who often associate it with poverty. Consequently, the neglect of indigenous architecture has resulted in the dearth of skilled craftsmen knowledgeable in the art of traditional building, a reality that has further dimmed hopes for a revival of this architectural style.
Africa has never laid claim to a homogenous indigenous style of architecture; rather, its architectural styles are as varied as the numerous influences that had inspired them. Each traditional tribal state in pre-colonial Africa had its unique architectural morphology, iconography and construction methodology, each one influenced and shaped by its own peculiar socio-cultural narratives. In northern Nigeria, for instance, the traditional Hausa architecture (Tubali) was chiefly inspired by Sudano-Sahelian architecture of the ancient Songhai Empire; while that of the southern tribal states, like ancient Oyo, Benin or Nri Kingdoms in the south, were also shaped by their own peculiar cultural influences. These pieces of indigenous architecture both highlighted the individuality of each of these tribal states and reflected their social structures, cultural heritage, religious and ethnic values, and local customs.  Traditional Benin Architecture. Image Courtesy of Mathias Agbo, Jr Today, there is a near consensus on the continent that colonialism significantly impeded the evolution of traditional African architecture, largely because colonial administrators had failed to acknowledge the pre-existing architectures of the local communities they colonized. And even when they did, they often tried to standardize the indigenous styles, while ignoring the peculiar differences of each sub-ethnic group in the various tribal states. The current renaissance of other spheres of African culture shows the direction indigenous architecture could have taken in the last sixty years, since a gust of national independence first swept across the continent. It's ironic that the early freedom fighters on the continent did little to revive indigenous architecture, post-independence; especially at a time when African nationalistic sentiments were at their peak. Even as they went about dismantling other vestiges of colonial legacies, the freedom fighters who succeeded the colonialists were more than happy to move into the palatial mansions left behind by the colonial administrators, while mouthing heavy anti-western rhetoric. Naturally, the post-independence era ushered in the booming period for colonial architecture, one that became an aspirational item for most of the continent's nouveau riche. As a result, this style was endlessly replicated across the continent, helping to sound the death knell for indigenous architecture. It was eventually abandoned for a strange but ubiquitous international style. It's one without a clearly defined pattern, a potpourri of styles, bearing imprints and elements of Modern, Greco-Roman and even Asian influences, combining elements and iconographies from various styles to create an eccentric anonymous style, a bizarre sort of post-Colonialism. Presently, this cultural neglect is so systemic that most architecture schools on the continent have either completely expunged the history of traditional African architecture from their curriculum, or have simply made it a fleeting discourse. The history of traditional African architecture in most countries, like several other aspects of African history, has often become a casualty of the state-sanctioned censorship on historical narratives across the continent; one dictated by socio-political exigencies and the odd need to preserve intra-ethnic harmony by suppressing or coloring historical narratives. Architectural education on the continent doesn't equip architects-in-training with knowledge of the history of African architecture, nor does it teach them the right skillset to propagate this style. At present only a few design schools in Africa teach traditional architecture as a standalone course and even that hasn't translated into much in terms of brick and mortar. Yet, every design school on the continent teaches its students the history and theory of classical European architecture styles like gothic, baroque and even about modernist styles like Bauhaus. For these schools, emphasis is placed entirely on western architecture and architects. The students extensively study the works of Walter Gropious, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and are often made to see them as infallible idols to be emulated verbatim. No one mentions local designers, such as Demas Nwoko, or even contemporary African designers like Francis Kere, who is currently pushing the boundaries of traditional African architecture by combining traditional craftsmanship, local materials and modern design techniques to create a contemporary African architecture style.  The Benga Riverside Residential Community, in Mozambique. Designed by Diébédo Francis Kéré, the building elegantly fuses traditional and modern elements. Image © Kéré Architecture The dying African architectural heritage is a socio-cultural emergency, as traditional architecture remains an indispensable aspect of our history, our cultural heritage—defining who we are as Africans. While some states like Mali, Sudan and Niger Republic, have done better than most in the preservation and propagation of indigenous architecture, most countries (like Nigeria, my country) have no stated policy towards the protection and promotion of traditional African architecture. The affordability and ease of construction should ordinarily have made this style of architecture the most appropriate for low-income housing and communal buildings like schools, hospitals and markets in suburban communities. Sadly, architects and designers will typically have a hard time obtaining building permits for these kinds of buildings in Nigeria, because the development control units at the city planning departments are mostly ill-equipped to arbitrate over the building permit approval for indigenous architecture, because the existing codes do not cover them. I believe city authorities have the moral obligation to not only write a new category of building codes to cover this indigenous architecture, but must demonstrate faith in it by commissioning some of its public architecture in this style. They must also incentivize local architects, designers and homeowners (especially in low-income communities) to look towards indigenous architecture, as a way to encourage the mass production of it across the continent. Universities must bridge the unacceptable divide between design practice and education to further develop traditional building methods and materials, to make this brand of architecture more acceptable aesthetically and functionally. The recipe for the revival of indigenous African architecture has to start with the compulsory introduction of traditional architecture into architecture school curriculums—its history, design theory and construction methodology. Traditional African architecture will never satisfy every project brief and specification, because of its structural, physical and aesthetic limitations. But new works by contemporary African architects and designers have demonstrated the vast potential of traditional African architecture, when combined with modern design, materials and construction techniques.
Mathias Agbo, Jr. is design researcher and built environment designer. He runs a small design-build consultancy in Abuja, Nigeria and periodically writes on design and architecture. Find him on Twitter @Mathias_AgboJr.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2018 01:00 AM PST  © Katja Effting
 © Katja Effting Text description provided by the architects. Pompejus is a watchtower on Fort de Roovere in Halsteren, West Brabant. The tower looks out over the West Brabant Water Defence Line, the oldest part of the Zuiderwaterlinie running from Bergen op Zoom to Grave. Pompejus is a watchtower, an open-air theatre and an information point for tourists. Pompejus is named after the first commander of the fortress, Pompejus de Roovere.  © Katja Effting History  © Katja Effting Roovere and was the first landscape defensive work in which inundation was deployed as a defence strategy. Inundation is the submersion of the landscape so that armies can no longer pull through the landscape with their equipment. In the course of the centuries the Linie has been under fire several times, among other things against the Austrians, French and Spanish. In the beginning of the 18th century the water line became more and more important and was thoroughly strengthened by the famous fortress builder Menno van Coehoorn. Fortress the Roovere was reinforced and increased and several preliminary works were carried out. The West Brabantse Waterlinie is the only waterline in the Netherlands where ever has been battled, usually successful, sometimes not. In 1747 the line and the City fell under the siege of the French. In the 19th century the line was strategically depreciated. It disappeared in some places, in others the forts were excavated. From 2010 onwards, one has started restoring the line. Forests have been taken from the forts, canals are restored. From that time on, the line is also developed for recreation  Courtesy of RO&AD Architecten Landscape  © Katja Effting Design  Diagram. Image Courtesy of RO&AD Architecten The facade is designed according to the principle of the Voronoi diagram, a mathematical design principle in which we used the triangles of the steel construction in order to make it possible to have windows and openings in the façade. Secondly the facade can be divided into elements to be prefabricated and transported, and add an additional layer to the facade to break the dominance of the triangular steel structure.  © Katja Effting Technology and material  Isometric Social system  © Katja Effting People who want to use the Pompejus and fort the Roovere in the future have been active to help the development. The aim was to make Pompejus 'our tower' and to connect with the residents of the surrounding area. This has been successful not only because the tower has been built, but above all because there is already an entire organisation to program the fort with events and it will be properly programmed and managed in the coming years.  © Katja Effting  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 12 Women in Architecture Photography (Part 2) Posted: 20 Feb 2018 12:00 AM PST  © Ema Peter Is there an aspect, a recurring mark, that reveals a difference in the way that male and female architecture photographers see the world? This is, perhaps, one of those rhetorical questions often used as an argument to shed light on works produced by women and for which there is no precise answer. Without claiming to offer an answer to this question—and in order to follow up on our first article that showcased a selection of women in architecture photography—we present here a new compilation of professionals who deserve attention for the quality of their photographic work. See our list below: Erieta Attali © Erieta Attali Learn more about Erieta Attali here. Kamilla Hanapova © Kamilla Hanapova Learn more about Kamilla Hanapova here. Ema Peter © Ema Peter Learn more about Ema Peter here. Jeanette Hägglund © Jeanette Hägglund. <a href='https://www.instagram.com/p/BWIyaV2FHvJ/?taken-by=etna_11'>Via Instagram</a> Learn more about Jeanette Hägglund here. Brigida González © Brigida González Learn more about Brigida González here. Lara Swimmer © Lara Swimmer Learn more about Lara Swimmer here. Gili Merin © Gili Merin Learn more about Gili Merin here. Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal © Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal Learn more about Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal here. Marie Francoise Plissart © Marie Francoise Plissart Learn more about Francoise Plissart here. Montse Zamorano © Montse Zamorano Learn more about Montse Zamorano here. Patricia Parinejad © Patricia Parinejad Learn more about Patricia Parinejad here. Bebete Viégas © Bebete Viegas Learn more about Bebete Viégas here. Do you know an architecture photographer who is not in either this or our first article? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Open Call: Institute of Patent Infringement Posted: 19 Feb 2018 11:00 PM PST
As part of the extended programme of WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the theme of this year Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, The Institute of Patent Infringement is concerned with the existing legal infrastructure that allows 'Big Tech' a strangle-hold on questions surrounding automation, both today and in the future. As we go through an 'AI spring' we've seen a gold rush to patent radically new forms of automated environments, driven through advances in deep learning and combined with increases in big data, machine-learning algorithms, computer processing power and cloud technology Yet, while companies like Microsoft or Apple tinker with endless patent variations on consumer products, it's Amazon, with their own brands of automated futurism, which seem intent on merging processes of machine learning with principles of spatial organisation. Since 2010, Amazon Technologies Inc. has filed 5,860 patents that range from the seemingly banal to the resolutely absurd. Illustrated by dry line drawings these patents provide a glimpse and representation of the automated future Amazon aim to create. The implications of this are broad. Amazon look set to define future typologies, bypassing the input of traditional professions. To take an example, management modules indicated in Amazon's patents, can now map space more effectively than a surveyor, produce floor layouts to be more efficient than an architect and oversee retail facilities more productively than a retail manager. An obsession with efficiency has further led to the quantifiable worker, seen through countless patents for technology that monitors and evaluate workers. But the scope of the quantified body goes far beyond this, and as patents for human RFID tags suggest, Amazon are equally at home with the technology transferred to the general public. Put another way, Amazon's broad ambitions, seen through their patents, affect us both as practitioners and also as citizens. Open Call The crux of the open call is to emphasise the radical and emancipatory potential inherent in these new technologies assembled by Amazon. To reveal this potential, submissions may chose to challenge: the hyper individualised and consumption based nature of Amazon's wider patent filings; the emphasis on efficiency and quantification through data collection inherent in these new technological regimes; labour, social relations and the role of automation within this; the relationship with nature and the environment; unequal global processes of production and distribution; and the affect of these technologies on everyday life. This may include ideas working at scales from the body to the planetary and from the rural to the urban. Relevant themes may ask: can patents for the wearable monitoring of workers be appropriated to hack and monitor nature? How could Amazon's global distribution network be rethought? Can we think of new ideas to repurpose data centres, potentially merging these with other functions? What might arise from the collective ownership and control of data? Could fully automated warehouses be refunctioned as spaces of infinite leisure? What role does labour play in this new world? Can smart road management systems for automated cars be used for an extensive and sustainable public transport network? How could Amazon's quest for algorithmic efficiency, be used to plan a zero growth, zero carbon economy? And how might these technologies work if bottom up and participatory rather than top-down and monopolised?
Selection Process Patents
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