Arch Daily |
- Balkrishna Doshi Named 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate
- The Memorial Hall of Israel’s Fallen at Mount Herzl / Kimmel Eshkolot Architects
- Stijn & Annemie / atelier vens vanbelle
- Residence for Musicians / GEM Architects
- DUO Twin Towers / Büro Ole Scheeren
- Kaohsiung American School Athletic Complex / MAYU architects+
- NHÀ TẰM / Landmak Architecture
- Genesis Skycellar / Superimpose Architecture
- There’s a Gender Pay Gap at Foster + Partners (Unsurprisingly)
- “Doshi”: Documentary Explores the Pritzker Prize-Winning Career of A Modern Indian Architect
- Maria Antônia University Centre / UNA Arquitetos
- Holm Place / OB Architecture
- LEGO Prices Drop After Company Reports “Too Much” Stock in Warehouses and Stores
- 7 Projects You Need to Know by 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner B.V. Doshi
- Who is Balkrishna (B.V.) Doshi? 12 Things to Know About the 2018 Pritzker Laureate
- Am Rossberg / Igual&Guggenheim Architekten
- How Sou Fujimoto Promotes Community By Uniting Seemingly Opposite Elements
- Villa Boscana / OLARQ Osvaldo Luppi Architects
- Aedas Unveil Design for an Undulating Office Complex in Central China
- Lightweight Wooden Deployable Structure Aims for Large Social Impact Without Leaving a Mark
| Balkrishna Doshi Named 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate Posted: 07 Mar 2018 01:55 AM PST  This year's Pritzker jury has selected Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, often known as B.V. Doshi or Doshi, as the 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate. Doshi has been a practitioner of architecture for over 70 years. Previously, he had studied and worked with both Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Doshi's poetic architecture draws upon Eastern influences to create a body of work that "has touched lives of every socio-economic class across a broad spectrum of genres since the 1950s," cites the jury. Doshi is the first Indian architect to receive architecture's highest honor.  Sangath Architects Studio. Courtesy of VSF
Born in Pune, India in 1927, Doshi began his studies in architecture in the year of his country's independence, 1947. After a period in London, he moved to France to work under Le Corbusier, and from there he returned to India in order to oversee work on Le Corbusier's plans for Chandigarh, and on Le Corbusier's projects in Ahmedabad such as the Mill Owner's Association Building (1954) and Shodhan House (1956). Doshi also later worked with Louis Kahn on the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, beginning in 1962.  Life Insurance Corporation Housing. Courtesy of VSF Since founding his practice Vastushilpa (now known as Vastushilpa Consultants) in 1956, Doshi has combined the lessons learned from these two modern masters with a local sensibility. His distinctly Indian form of critical regionalism synthesizes the sculptural concrete and brick forms of his mentors with recognizably Indian architectural layouts and urban morphologies. One of the clearest manifestations of this style is perhaps his own studio, known as Sangath, where striking concrete barrel vaults are combined with gardens, sunken communal spaces, and water features to mitigate the heat. In 1978, Doshi founded the Vastushilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design to develop planning and design approaches suited to the Indian cultural context; today, the foundation serves as a crucial link between the academy and the architectural profession. In over 100 projects completed during his career, Doshi has also worked on a number of low-cost housing developments. After completing his first in the 1950s, he stated that "It seems I should take an oath and remember it for my lifetime: to provide the lowest class with the proper dwelling." The apotheosis of this oath was perhaps the Aranya Low Cost Housing development in Indore. Completed in 1989, this network of houses, courtyards and internal pathways provides housing for over 80,000 people ranging from low- to middle-income families, and won Doshi the 1993-1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.  Amdavad Ni Gufa. Courtesy of VSF Jury CitationIndian architect Balkrishna Doshi has continually exhibited the objectives of the Pritzker Architecture Prize to the highest degree. He has been practicing the art of architecture, demonstrating substantial contributions to humanity, for over 60 years. By granting him the award this year, the Pritzker Prize jury recognizes his exceptional architecture as reflected in over a hundred buildings he has realized, his commitment and his dedication to his country and the communities he has served, his influence as a teacher, and the outstanding example he has set for professionals and students around the world throughout his long career. Doshi, as he is fondly called by all who know him, worked with two masters of the 20th century— Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Without a doubt, Doshi's early works were influenced by these architects as can be seen in the robust forms of concrete which he employed. However, Doshi took the language of his buildings beyond these early models. With an understanding and appreciation of the deep traditions of India's architecture, he united prefabrication and local craft and developed a vocabulary in harmony with the history, culture, local traditions and the changing times of his home country India. Over the years, Balkrishna Doshi has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends. With a deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high quality, authentic architecture, he has created projects for public administrations and utilities, educational and cultural institutions, and residences for private clients, among others. He undertook his first project for low-income housing in the 1950s. Doshi stated in 1954, "It seems I should take an oath and remember it for my lifetime: to provide the lowest class with the proper dwelling." He fulfilled this personal oath in projects such as Aranya Low-cost Housing at Indore, 1989, in central-west India and the Co-Operative Middle Income Housing, Ahmedabad, India of 1982, and many others. Housing as shelter is but one aspect of these projects. The entire planning of the community, the scale, the creation of public, semi-public and private spaces are a testament to his understanding of how cities work and the importance of the urban design. Doshi is acutely aware of the context in which his buildings are located. His solutions take into account the social, environmental and economic dimensions, and therefore his architecture is totally engaged with sustainability. Using patios, courtyards, and covered walkways, as in the case of the School of Architecture (1966, now part of CEPT) or the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board in Jabalpur (1979) or the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (1992), Doshi has created spaces to protect from the sun, catch the breezes and provide comfort and enjoyment in and around the buildings. In the architect's own studio, called Sangath (Ahmedabad, India, 1980), we can see the outstanding qualities of Balkrishna Doshi's approach and understanding of architecture. The Sanskrit word Sangath means to accompany or to move together. As an adjective, it embodies that which is appropriate or relevant. The structures are semi-underground and totally integrated with the natural characteristics of the site. There is an easy flow of terraces, reflecting ponds, mounds, and the curved vaults which are distinguishing formal elements. There is variety and richness in the interior spaces that have different qualities of light, different shapes as well as different uses, while unified through the use of concrete. Doshi has created an equilibrium and peace among all the components—material and immaterial—which result in a whole that is much more than the sum of the parts. Balkrishna Doshi constantly demonstrates that all good architecture and urban planning must not only unite purpose and structure but must take into account climate, site, technique, and craft, along with a deep understanding and appreciation of the context in the broadest sense Projects must go beyond the functional to connect with the human spirit through poetic and philosophical underpinnings For his numerous contributions as an architect, urban planner, teacher, for his steadfast example of integrity and his tireless contributions to India and beyond, the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury selects Balkrishna Doshi as the 2018 Pritzker Laureate.  Balkrishna Doshi. Courtesy of VSF 2018 Pritzker Prize Jury
Who is Balkrishna (B.V.) Doshi? 12 Things to Know About the 2018 Pritzker Laureate 7 Projects You Need to Know by 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner B.V. Doshi "Doshi": Documentary Explores the Pritzker Prize-Winning Career of A Modern Indian Architect Correction update: This article initially included Yung Ho Chang and Kristin Feireiss among this year's jurors. While both served on the jury in 2017, they were not part of the jury for the 2018 Prize. ArchDaily regrets the error.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Memorial Hall of Israel’s Fallen at Mount Herzl / Kimmel Eshkolot Architects Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:00 PM PST  © Amit Geron
 © Amit Geron Text description provided by the architects. Kimmel Eshkolot Architects "Memorial Hall of Israel's Fallen" sits at Mount Herzl, Israel's National Cemetery, and one of the most important sites in the country. The Memorial is a personal and collective structure that commemorates Israel's fallen soldiers with an undulating funnel-shaped formation of bricks that opens the hall to the sky, flooding the void with natural light.  © Amit Geron Commissioned by the Department of Families, Commemoration and Heritage at Israel's Ministry of Defense in 2006, the emotionally impactful memorial winds around a 250-meter long continuous "Wall of Names" that wraps around the central sculptural brick structure. This spiraling wall is comprised of more than 23,000 concrete bricks each individually engraved with the name of a fallen soldier and their date of decease, which becomes illuminated by incandescent lights on each respective anniversary. Inside the tubular structure sits the memorial's central light funnel.  Floor Plan With the intention of creating a serene space for the hall, the design of the memorial is firstly a project of an interior. Excavating the mountain to allow for abundance of daylight in the hall was a primary focus of Kimmel Eshkolot, with the reconstruction of the terrain being secondary. The Memorial Hall of Israel's Fallen is intended to be unimposing from the exterior, and to echo the texture of the adjacent cemetery. In the interior, the light that enters through the oculus is subtly filtered through the funnel. Through this "stone lace," light flickers in the parameter of the hall along the structure's Wall of Names.  © Amit Geron  Sections  © Amit Geron Several 1:1 mockups were constructed at ETH Zurich to test the construction of the funnel. The initial strategy was based on glueing the bricks to one another, aiming at a minimal overlap between the elements. This method was proven to be structurally viable, but was neglected because it could not meet the local building regulations. With these tests, and together with Ackerstein Industries and Merkava, Kimmel Eshkolot developed unique concrete bricks with steel cores that were screwed together at the pre-cut joints. Further calculations of the live loads and the dead loads led to making the bricks from aluminum to reduce weight.  © Amit Geron Set atop the historic Mount Herzl, the resting place of the namesake founder of Zionism and the site of Israel's national cemetery, Kimmel Eshkolot Architects' structure pays respect to the isolation and quiet nature of the site on which it encompasses. Within its exterior, the structure follows the topography of the mountain with curves of light Jerusalem stone, the uniform "dressing" of the Holy City. Visitors can walk directly through the memorial hall towards Mount Herzl Cemetery, or walk down a series of stairs to the entrance of the hall, along a brick wall which in the interior becomes the Wall of Names.  © Amit Geron  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Stijn & Annemie / atelier vens vanbelle Posted: 07 Mar 2018 06:00 PM PST  © Tim Van de Velde
 © Tim Van de Velde Text description provided by the architects. When Stijn and Annemie bought the listed school façade (anno 1908) with the vacant piece of land behind, they were already the fourth owners in a row. The other buyers hadn't found a proper solution to build a contemporary house behind this facade. What do you do with a heritage listed school façade that you have to restore in the original state with the authentic window division etc?  © Tim Van de Velde The façade was beautiful but extremely difficult at the same time, because it does not have the proportions of an ordinary home. The windows are not only very large, they are also quite high in relation to the street.  Section 01 Contact with the street is very important, so it was decided to extrude the windows into spaces. The first 'tube' is a majestic entrance, the middle one is the kitchen, and the third is a desk/office space. This principle was repeated in the rear facade where the niches are storage, sitting and play areas. The living space is situated in between these two white extrusions.  © Tim Van de Velde  Ground Floor Plan  © Tim Van de Velde Everything is designed in relationship with the dimensions of the windows, and the gap between the windows: the kitchen, the desk. The niches between the extruded windows are always served on two sides. These spaces were limited, but still everything fits in nicely. The staircase is hidden between the entrance and the kitchen, as well as a toilet, the entrance to the semi-underground basement, etc. Furthermore, the kitchen, desk, cupboards etc were also fitted in the thicknesses of the walls.  © Tim Van de Velde Because of the high position of the windows in relation to the street, there was room for a handy basement with extra storage space and laundry room under the kitchen and the office. Due to these level differences with the street side, the living space is somewhat lower and more enclosed. This gives a sense of homeliness, but at the same time everything is open and airy.  © Tim Van de Velde The garden is slightly lower than the living space, giving you a wider view towards the back. This creates a broader feeling than the actual surface of the garden, and that is enhanced by the mirrored garden shed. The city garden feels more spacious than it actually is, and the new rear façade was designed in a simple way to give a pleasant atmosphere to the garden.  First Floor Plan The spaces of the extruded windows were kept abstract white, while in the interspace / living space a more cosy atmosphere was created. When choosing the materials in the living space it was very important that it would be a real home and not a school. In addition to the two brick walls, there are the wooden oak floor, the wooden beams of the ceiling and the industrial beam. The ceramic tiles in the entrance hall in two colors are again a conscious nod to the school of yesteryear. Also, the door between the entrance hall and the livingroom follows the original window division of the school façade.  © Tim Van de Velde Due to the choice of materials, the building appears to be spontaneous and lived through, while it actually is a completely new construction behind the facade.  © Tim Van de Velde Every room has in some way contact with the living space, from the desk downstairs to the bedrooms upstairs. At the top of the stairs there is a spacious bathroom with a separate walk-in room with bath and shower. The corridor winds around the void, past the three children's bedrooms up to the master bedroom. From here there is a visual contact with the rest of the house through the one way see-through glass wall.  © Tim Van de Velde The house is built with a logical route in mind: when the inhabitants get up in the morning, they first pass the bathroom, then go downstairs through the stairs in the kitchen for breakfast, etc. The result is an airy and logical house, just like the concept of this new building that forms a harmonious unity with the 19th century façade.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Residence for Musicians / GEM Architects Posted: 07 Mar 2018 04:00 PM PST  © Costas Vergas
 © Costas Vergas Text description provided by the architects. This summer house of 160 m2 is situated in a quiet and elegant neighborhood in the town of Naousa, at the island of Paros. It's a house for a family of musicians. The house's white volumes are structural and remain simple and cubic. They follow the voids and masses of the neighboring buildings, proliferating from the views to the sea and assimilated to the context. They evolve around the swimming pool and the interior "protected" courtyard, the microcosm of the house. Exterior space flows like a spiral from the ground floor courtyard to the top terrace, which has a magnificent view to the sea and the town of Naousa. Next to the pool, the music studio, serves also as a guest room. Materials used are simple and minimalist: concrete floors and roofs, dark grey metal frames, bright white Cycladic walls. The house follows the principles of bioclimatic design. Thermal insulation on the roofs and a new technology thermal insulation system for the walls, protect the interior space from the extreme weather conditions created by the strong Northern winds in this part of the island. The house works in a twofold manner with its main facade on the street becoming a cinema screen during the night where the wind creates a mute choreography of the moving shadows of the plants projected, a silent invitation for music to enter the scene. The house has won the award for best completed project within the year 2017 from the Greek Society of Architects SADAS-PEA.  © Costas Vergas  Ground Floor Plan  © Costas Vergas Concrete coatings: Concrete coatings characterize this building. Easy to maintain, these surfaces are built in the house referring to traditional Cycladic architecture where furniture was part of the building's structure. These surfaces were treated in high contrast in order to exceed their poetic, rural and "primitive" nature.  © Costas Vergas  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| DUO Twin Towers / Büro Ole Scheeren Posted: 07 Mar 2018 02:00 PM PST  © Iwan Baan
 © Iwan Baan Text description provided by the architects. Designed by Ole Scheeren, the DUO twin towers are an act of urban reconciliation. Conceived to knit together a previously disparate part of the city, DUO integrates the surrounding context with its diverse mix of functions around a 24-hour accessible public plaza to form a new civic nexus for the dynamic, prosperous life of Singapore.  Implantation The project is comprised of two expressive sculptural towers that have been dynamically carved to create a series of circular urban spaces. Their curved facades ripple with the delicate texture of a honeycomb shading system. The buildings' slender forms envelope the public spaces, while the resulting geometries complement the angles of the existing architecture and create a landscape of covered and open-air gardens, walkways, cafes and restaurants.  © Iwan Baan Rather than functioning as a piece of individual and self-referential architecture, DUO is a sensitive insertion into Singapore's urban fabric that unites a group of existing buildings through spatial integration and establishes a coherent overall urban figure. It turns a previously neglected neighborhood into a lively center for social interaction.  Urban Spaces DUO represents a historic collaboration between the governments of Malaysia and Singapore. Under guidance of both Prime Ministers and through their respective state investment arms Khazanah and Temasek, the joint-venture development embodies a new era of cooperation between the two Southeast Asian nations.  © Iwan Baan Located on the main route into the city from Singapore's Changi Airport and nestled between the historic Kampong Glam district and vibrant commercial Bugis Junction, DUO integrates living, working and retail with public gardens, cultural installations, and a diverse urban context.  © Iwan Baan While DUO's two towers contain the main functional elements – one tower accommodates 660 residences and the other corporate of ces and a ve-star hotel operated by Andaz – the structures dematerialize as they reach the ground, opening out into a porous public landscape. Here, vibrant commercial spaces weave around the footprint of the towers through a sequence of gardens and walkways that pass in and out of the towers hovering above. Stretched across the skin of the DUO towers is an intricate honeycomb texture that not only hints at the hive-like activity of the surroundings, but also serves as a functional element in the building's environmental strategy.  © Iwan Baan The honeycomb comprises a series of hexagonal sunshades that help protect the towers from the heat and glare of the sun, without interrupting the views out over Singapore's gardens, oceans and skyline. The grid also provides texture to the smooth, concave curves of the towers, as well as accentuating the dramatic cantilevers and setbacks that form the physical body of DUO. The slender edges of each building are marked by a series of thin, vertical lines, designed to emphasize the elegance and re ned expression of the towers.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Kaohsiung American School Athletic Complex / MAYU architects+ Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:00 PM PST  © Yu-Chen Tsao
 © Yu-Chen Tsao Text description provided by the architects. Sports facilities such as gymnasiums and swimming pools are typically stand-alone spaces inserted into school campuses. Their substantial singular volumes contrast with other academic buildings formed by smaller and repetitive learning units. These "black boxes" are difficult to relate to other buildings architecturally because of their size and hermetic character.  © Yu-Chen Tsao  Diagram We align the athletic complex to the height of adjacent elementary school building by lowering the double-height swimming pool space halfway below the grade while we create a layered transparency on grade that horizontally penetrates the lobby, weight room, dance studio, the double-height pool space, student dining hall and the soccer field outside the complex.  © Yu-Chen Tsao  Diagram However, we strive to break free the norm of this building type by creating a "transparent" sports facility so that Kaohsiung American School's educational goal, balanced curriculum, is visually understood as the athletic addition connects to the academic and art buildings already completed in Phase I construction project.  © Yu-Chen Tsao  First Floor The visual linkage of all these spaces not only interconnects them but also invokes a sense of surprise, a paradoxical feeling generated by walking into a normal-height lobby and then immediately having one's visual field expanded through the floor-to-ceiling glass panels and over the double-height pool space.  © Yu-Chen Tsao The V-shaped steel structure supports the gymnasium above the pool space as if floating above it. The tall ribbon windows started from the base at the gym floor also optically join the inside of the gym to the broader soccer field outside, creating a visual panorama unique to the sports building type. The energy of the students playing inside the gymnasium is no longer isolated, but it is seen and coupled with other activities going on in the campus.  © Yu-Chen Tsao The pool space is treated with cool tone color materials such as architectural concrete, glass, glazed tiles and blue paint to be in concert with water in the pool. The ceiling of the swimming pool absorbs the sound while other surfaces reflect, allowing the sound of water to reverberate deliberately inside the space. The tall ribbon windows lining the ceiling introduce the natural light horizontally at the top so that the full sensory range of light to darkness plays out along the cross-section of the pool space.  © Yu-Chen Tsao In contrast, the gymnasium above is treated with warm tone color materials such as unpainted acoustic wood fiber cement boards at both ceiling and walls, maple wood gym flooring and white steel structural components, echoing the body energy and heat generated by the sports activities. The copious acoustic treatment absorbs the staccato sounds of bouncing balls and rubbing shoes, leaving the acoustics crystal clear and direct.  Section 2 The swimming pool is designed with a movable floor platform made of stainless steel framing and fitted with buoyancy packs, completed with a paneled fiberglass top deck. The movable platform is pulled down hydraulically to its desired depth from 0 to 200 centimeters, using a stainless steel cable and pulley system located underneath the pool floor. The soccer field is composed of artificial turf with natural cork infill, replacing more common crumb rubber infill. The athletic complex achieves LEED 2009 for Schools Gold certification.  © Yu-Chen Tsao  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| NHÀ TẰM / Landmak Architecture Posted: 07 Mar 2018 11:00 AM PST  © Trieu Chien
 © Trieu Chien Text description provided by the architects. NHÀ TẰM is one of the residential house projects being redesigned for improvements by Landmak Architecture company. The house is located in the high class Ciputra Hanoi urban area, with the original premises being constructed in bulk approximately 15 years ago. This house model has become out-of-date and obsolete nowadays, whereas the initial ventilation and lighting did not satisfy the utilizing demands for room functions. The house owners have implemented improvement, modification, renovation, decoration, etc., for many times but the house malfunctions have not been thoroughly resolved. Therefore they came to us in 2016 with the determination to bring a "makeover" to the house.  © Trieu Chien  First Floor Plan  © Trieu Chien The functions are extremely important and must be well dealth with, while factors such as Nature, Greeneries, Ventilation, Lighting must be prioritized during design researching. With that actual state, we decided to intervene in the house structure. A lot of partition walls were destroyed, pillars and beams were cut and reinforced at critical positions in order to generate continuities, connectivities for various functions of the house. A part of the original garage roof was taken away so as to create a vertical garden along the wall and a dry garden atop the floor surface. This solution helps us readjust the traffic approaching the house's main hall, cut some more roof for the stair lighting, heighten the back roof so as to make activity rooms (worship room, laundry room, children recreation room) as much convenient and exciting as possible.  © Trieu Chien  © Trieu Chien After nearly 2 years of construction, the house has finally been finished, satisfying initial expectations. Even the factors of greeneries, ventilation, lighting, water surface have managed to bring forth surprising vibes. Greeneries have become available everywhere; natural light, wind, and rain may go inside the house. Borders between Outdoor-Indoor, Above-Below have almost been cleaned out, etc. Wooden raw materials and fine details of Wood and Steel have been cut using the CNC techology so as to bring about special impressions on particular positions, thus, the house space has become very modern and comfortable while preserving the traditional essence of Vietnamese culture.  © Trieu Chien  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Genesis Skycellar / Superimpose Architecture Posted: 07 Mar 2018 09:00 AM PST
Text description provided by the architects. Superimpose designed an exclusive members club and hidden wine cellar for a wine enthusiast. The project is situated at the top floor of one of Beijing's newest and most high-end tower developments, the Genesis Community. Genesis Beijing is a mixed-use development combining a hotel, offices, gardens and a museum by Japanese Architect Tadao Ando. The members club will only be accessible to a private and selected group of members.  Plan The members club is where the client organizes gatherings and stores and consumes his valuable wine and tea collection. The space is divided by a central element creating two distinctive worlds: the client's office space and the private member's club. Members enter through a hidden pivot-door into the exclusive member's club that instantly offers spectacular views over Beijing's embassy and financial districts. The golden stainless steel central element subtly reflects the skyline and naturally forms a backdrop of the entire members club.  © Marc Goodwin A segment of the central divider is constructed with dark mirrored glass which mirrors the skyline and hides the 'Sky Cellar'. This 'Sky Cellar' is a designed to be a reinterpretation of the traditional wine cellar.Members access into the hidden exclusive wine cellar through the automated sliding glass doors. The 25 sqm cellar stores up to 500 bottles of wine from six famous wine regions around the world; Bordeaux, Rhone Valley, Burgundy, Napa, Mosel and Barolo.
During day time, the mirrored glass doors hide the wine cellar and protects the wines from direct sunlight. The mirror doors allow members to admire both the wine and skyline whilst being inside the wine cellar. At sunset and during evening hours, the wine cellar lights up and reveals the 500 wine bottles to the main space.  © Marc Goodwin An abstract representation of the six wine regions is installed underneath a glass floor with automated light. Superimpose designed the maps and constructed them by using concrete ash mud for the topography and stainless steel for the rivers. Within the stainless steel shelves, an acrylic base is being used and designed in such a way that it allows for multiple storing positions of the wine bottles. Bottles can be displayed and stored either stacked or inclined to display the bottle etiquette. At the same time the acrylic base allow for an optimised light distribution inside the wine cellar.  © Marc Goodwin  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| There’s a Gender Pay Gap at Foster + Partners (Unsurprisingly) Posted: 07 Mar 2018 08:00 AM PST  Foster + Partners' London office, Riverside. Image © Marc Goodwin Disparity between men and women in the workplace has long been cause for concern, both within the architectural profession and beyond. To raise awareness of the need for gender pay equality, the British government in 2017 demanded that UK-based organizations with more than 250 staff publish annual reports of the gender pay gap within their offices. As one of the largest architecture firms in the world, and based in Battersea, London, Foster + Partners has released their report into gender pay issues, becoming one of the first architecture firms to do so. The report reveals significant under-representation of women at senior level resulting in a pay gap across the firm, and outlines a commitment to encouraging gender diversity at all levels of management.  Norman Foster founded Foster + Partners in 1967. Image via Norman Foster Foundation The report reveals a median pay gap of 10.5% amongst staff, above the national average of 9.4%, which Foster + Partners attributes to "having more men, with longer service, in senior higher-paid roles within the practice." Indeed the report highlights how the male-female staff ratio becomes profound as one climbs the ladder – from 56% men and 44% women in the lower quartile, to 80% men and 20% women in the top quartile. This structure also accounts for a median bonus gap of 33% between genders.
 Foster + Partners' London office, Riverside. Image © Marc Goodwin To resolve the disparities revealed in the report, Foster + Partners has outlined commitments for achieving "an equal balance between genders". They highlight that over the past five years, they have promoted more women to both Partner and Senior Partner level. As well as establishing engagement forums, mentoring initiatives, and a commitment to enhanced Shared Parental Leave, the firm is also a Partner of the AJ Women in Architecture Forum.
The full report is available to view here.
News via: Foster + Partners  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| “Doshi”: Documentary Explores the Pritzker Prize-Winning Career of A Modern Indian Architect Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:05 AM PST  Cenas do documentário "Doshi" Balkrishna Doshi, despite his vast number of completed projects, is a little-known name in the Western world. Directed by Premjit Ramachandran, the documentary "Doshi" allows the viewer to appreciate the vision of this important Indian architect, probing his thoughts while getting to know a number of his projects. Filmed in a frank style of conversation, the documentary reveals an original and creative human being who, even in old age, remains passionate about architecture as well as life and learning. The film becomes a roundtable with Doshi, his alumni, his contemporaries and even family members, all within the context of his architecture. The camera follows its protagonist through spaces designed by him, while he narrates, recalls and explains his processes of creation. It also reveals how he makes his philosophy an intrinsic part of his own life. Below, you can watch all the movie's chapters as well as a brief summary of each of them. Doshi: Chapter 1 - “Eight Months With Olives and Cheese”The film begins by addressing the influence of Doshi in the creation of the School of Architecture known as the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), one of the best in India. It also shows the project for the Institute of Indology, built in 1961 in Ahmedabad. With this concrete project, Doshi begins to explore bioclimatic strategies, working with the Indian climate. Going back a little in time, Doshi recalls the difficult times early in his career, both in India, with little money, and in France when he went to work for Le Corbusier where, he says, he ate bread with cheese and olives for eight months. Doshi: Chapter 2 - “I'm Not an Architect... For Me Its a Search”Doshi explains that his work is centered on the humility of observing, and eternally searching and learning from situations and memories that are clearly reflected in his works. Doshi: Chapter 3 - “Indian Plan is Not Centric”In this chapter, Doshi portrays the Indian culture as one that possesses an ingenious mind that always looks for more. It is a culture that has many ways of using the same ideas—whether in dress, music, or architecture. Doshi: Chapter 4 - “You Are Representing God”Doshi asks that architects consider all buildings as a temple to God, even a small house. In this way, it is not possible to think of architecture being carried out miserably. After this speech, the film some of his housing projects. Doshi: Chapter 5 - “The End Result Is Not as Exciting as the Process”According to Indian philosophy, the process comes first and not the end result, which will never be as exciting. In this chapter, the ability to invent is portrayed as a challenge. It shows how the final design comes from a long process that is the result of intense research—whether into something new or traditional—in order to reveal new inspirations. Doshi: Chapter 6 - “Architecture is a Matter of Transformation”Here Doshi shows us how Architecture is a matter of transforming ephemeral situations and conditions. It is not about decisions on paper, in the program, in materials or climatic comfort, but about the behavior and attitudes of people and how this is all sewn together. "Architecture serves to open doors, not one, but many." Doshi: Chapter 7 - “Human Being, By Nature, Is a Warm Compassionate Animal”Roots are fundamental, and in this chapter we are allowed to see a more personal side of Doshi through his visit to Kamala House, where the architectural details are confused with the familiar details since both adapt to the time and create a constancy. Doshi: Chapter 8 - “So, What Is Our Heritage?”Humanity has a lot to lose without social and cultural inspiration in public and community bodies. In this chapter, Doshi points out that recognizing our inheritance—what has already been given us through built heritage—allows us to think about the future through the past. New ideas of scale and different approaches are great responsibilities for architects.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Maria Antônia University Centre / UNA Arquitetos Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:00 AM PST  © Nelson Kon
 © Nelson Kon Text description provided by the architects. Maria Antonia Street is a landmark in the history of the University of São Paulo (USP) and a landmark in the cultural and political life of the city. It became a catalyst for academic and social discussions with the installation of the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters at that address in 1949.  © Nelson Kon After the violent invasion of the building by a group of right-wing students, accompanied by the police, in 1968, the Faculty of Philosophy was transferred to the University City. The relevance of these events defined the reason for including the building's main building construction into a heritage list of the city.  Mockup. Image © Bebete Viégas The reform and restoration project seeks to adapt the set (Ed. Rui Barbosa and Joaquin Nabuco) to the new use, a nucleus of contemporary art that agglutinates exhibition spaces, rooms for theoretical and practical courses, the Theater of the University and has as central question to affirm the public character that historically marked this patrimony of USP. The proposal includes the restoration of the main facades and maintains intact the volumetric of the Rui Barbosa and Joaquim Nabuco buildings, but proposes a new relation of the set with the city. The free area between the two buildings gains the dimension of public space, forming a small square. At street level, this square is the natural enlargement of the sidewalk and defines an inviting access to the set. On the lower level, a wooded patio connects the two buildings, creating a place for outdoor performances. To requalify the free spaces, offering a generous connection of the set with the city, is the contribution of the project to the memory of the academic, cultural and political movement that had its headquarters in Maria Antonia Street.  © Nelson Kon  Section - Street  © Nelson Kon The most significant interventions took place in Edifício Rui Barbosa. The project maintains the spatial organization of the building, characterized by a central staircase and three halls of different sizes. The opening of the side porch revealed the original wall of the building's primitive construction, from the first decade of the twentieth century. The largest room, facing the interior of the lot, had no slab, both on the ground floor and on the first floor; its floor was constituted of bars and wood floor, totally compromised by the action of fungi and termites. This structure was replaced by metallic pieces and concrete slab, sized according to its new use, allowing exposure of works with concentrated load. Consequently, the side facade, inexpressive, reveals this intervention and requalifies the plan that goes back to the new public space. The brise-soleil, which occupies much of this façade, is an industrial filter composed of stainless steel wires. The panels were modulated from the factory and screwed into the metal frame.  © Nelson Kon On the ground floor are the exhibition halls, one of them with wide openings to Maria Antonia Street. The lower level is occupied by service spaces, technical reserve, in addition to a cafe and a dance and music room. And on the first floor, three more rooms of exhibition, of different dimensions.  © Bebete Viégas  © Nelson Kon The project reveals the different times of the buildings and the set of transformations that accompanied their different occupations. Remains spaces, lot background, original buildings and new constructions through squares, ramps and a footbridge. The Maria Antonia University Center is not a building, but intertwined fragments, articulated parts of a densely occupied urban center. Used especially by students and by great diversity of people, a striking feature of the center of São Paulo, the Maria Antonia project is a hypothesis about intervening in the consolidated city. A reflection on building from the existing city, with a fragile patrimony in its architectural qualities, its relations with the urban memory and the desirable transformations in the central region of São Paulo.  © Bebete Viégas  Cortesia de IAC - UNA Arquitetos  © Bebete Viégas  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 07 Mar 2018 05:00 AM PST  © Martin Gardner
 © Martin Gardner Text description provided by the architects. Holm Place is a new dwelling in the village of South Warnborough. The 0.12-hectare site is located in the upper garden of Manor Court, a 17th century Grade II listed building in the South Warnborough Conservation Area. The brief was to create an exemplary modern home to accommodate four bedrooms with open-plan living spaces. The design aims to have a direct relationship to the garden, maximizing light and blurring the threshold between inside and outside.  © Martin Gardner The L-shaped plan is pushed to the edges of the site to preserve the green setting around the listed building. The elevational treatment and building materials take their cues from Manor Court, utilizing a simple pallet of brick, timber, off-white render, glass, and zinc. The building is arranged on a 3m structural grid, which is expressed both internally and externally to give clarity and order to the composition.  © Martin Gardner  Ground Floor Plan  © Martin Gardner For the external walls facing north, a solid enclosure was defined using brick and a zinc cladding system above. The zinc references the agricultural buildings in the local area and the leadwork on Manor Court. Timber cladding was employed for the internal courtyard elevations with the vertical proportions matching the panels on Manor Court. The iroko was chosen for its durability and color that will weather down to match the color tone of the existing building.  © Martin Gardner The ground floor accommodation has two distinct zones, the north wing containing an open-plan glazed kitchen, dining, living space and the west wing the bedroom accommodation. Forming a connection between these two areas is the entrance hall, gallery and double-height staircase. The circulation is defined by a minimal column structure that forms a cloister facing the walled garden. The master bedroom suite at first floor is designed with an intimate terrace that takes in the wide views of the countryside.  © Martin Gardner  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| LEGO Prices Drop After Company Reports “Too Much” Stock in Warehouses and Stores Posted: 07 Mar 2018 04:40 AM PST  © Flickr user <a href='http://https://www.flickr.com/photos/curtismchale/16306436574'>curtismchale</a>. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 In its 2017 annual report, the LEGO Group has announced a decline in revenue for the first time in 13 years. But fret not brickheads – this news has already led to a reduction in prices, and may continue to do so moving forward until the company can unload its excess stock. According to LEGO, the poor 2017 performance was a result of the company spreading itself too thin by branching out into movie production and other non-toy products, and not spending enough time promoting its bread and butter products. As a result, "too much" stock has been left in warehouses and on store shelves, which only exasperated sales issues. "There wasn't enough room to get 2017 toys into the stores, and the toy trade is driven by newness," a LEGO spokeswoman told the BBC. LEGO has countered this issue by dropping prices on existing stock, a measure that has helped move product off shelves and get sales back on track, but do little to counter a reduced revenue stream. Currently, 117 products are listed as "on sale" on the company's online store. These deals are likely to continue into early 2018, but will likely return to normal pricing as the market readjusts. "During 2017, revenue in our established markets declined, primarily due to actions we took to clean up inventories. This decline impacted our operating profits. We also simplified and reduced the size of the organisation to meet current business requirements and these difficult actions are now complete. Our balance sheet, cash flow and profitability, remain sound," said Niels B. Christiansen, the LEGO Group CEO. "We started 2018 in better shape and during the coming year we will stabilise the business by continuing to invest in great products, effective global marketing and improved execution. There is no quick-fix and it will take some time to achieve longer-term growth." Read more about the financial report, here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 7 Projects You Need to Know by 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner B.V. Doshi Posted: 07 Mar 2018 04:00 AM PST .jpg?1520365081 "Amdavad ni Gufa. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Amdavad ni Gufa. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu Earlier today, B.V. Doshi was named the winner of the 2018 Pritzker Prize, the profession's highest accolade. For the past 70 years, Doshi has shaped the discourse of architecture and urban design, with a particularly strong influence in his native India, through projects including private residences, schools, banks, theaters, and low-income housing developments. Here are seven examples of this work that exemplifies Doshi's respect for eastern culture and his desire to contribute to his country through authentic designs that enhance people's quality of life. Sangath Sangath. Image Courtesy of VSF Sangath is Doshi's own studio, often considered the building that fully describes encapsulates his approach. It features a series of sunken vaults clad in china mosaic and a terraced amphitheater with flowing water details. Sangath represents the connection between nature and the individual. Life Insurance Corporation Housing Life Insurance Corporation Housing. Image Courtesy of VSF This housing project for the Life Insurance Corporation in Ahmedabad was designed in 1973 and consists of 324 units in a duplex terraced unit scheme. It was designed to introduce a clear sense of order and combine both high density and low-rise: the result being a traditional urban row house of smaller units slotted into larger units. Tagore Memorial HallAn exploration of his interest in Brutalism, the Tagore Memorial Hall is one of Doshi's most notable designs. Completed in 1966, this 700-seat amphitheater features reinforced concrete walls which are broken up by folded plates to create contrasting planes of light and shadow. Amdavad ni Gufa.jpg?1520365060 "Amdavad ni Gufa. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Amdavad ni Gufa. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu One of Doshi's more experimental designs, this cave-like art gallery exhibits the work of artist Maqbool Fida Husain. Much like his Sangath studio, the domed structures that feature the artwork are covered in mosaic tiles. The artworks are applied directly onto the walls on the interior and metal sculptures rest against the irregularly shaped columns. Aranya Low Cost Housing Aranya Low Cost Housing. Image © Aga Khan Award for Architecture <a href='https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/47997'>via MIT Library</a> The recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1996, the Aranya Low Cost Housing Township was designed to establish "a sustainable society" where a mix of economic classes could live together. Situated on a rectilinear site of 86 hectares, this housing complex accommodates over 80,000 people in 6,500 dwellings. CEPT University.jpg?1520367840 "CEPT University. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") CEPT University. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu Completed in 1966, The Center for Environmental Planning and Technology is designed to be an experiment for the perfect balance between humans and nature, with a series of buildings loosely held together by landscaped courtyards. It utilizes a free plan scheme with careful site planning to direct sunlight into the studios. Students were actively involved in designing additions to the campus with the goal to continue to promote collaborative learning across all disciplines. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Image © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IIM-B_016.jpg'>Wikimedia user Sanyam Bahga</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> Completed in 1983, the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore explores the concept of designing both indoor and outdoor classrooms. The IIMB campus was envisioned as a place to be inhabited, as a place to facilitate the course of human interaction and reflects the perfect sense of scale, proportion, and light. Regarding this project, Doshi said "a campus should be meandering and connecting."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Who is Balkrishna (B.V.) Doshi? 12 Things to Know About the 2018 Pritzker Laureate Posted: 07 Mar 2018 03:00 AM PST  Le Corbusier and Balkrishna Doshi. Photo courtesy of Balkrishna Doshi. B.V. Doshi, one of modern Indian architecture's most celebrated practitioners, was born in Pune, India in 1927. Nearly 90 years later, the Pritzker Prize jury chose Doshi as the 2018 Laureate. Get to know about Doshi's history—including his close relationship to the legendary Le Corbusier—in this list of interesting facts.  Sheth Hutheesinh Temple by Kalyan Shah used under CC BY-SA 3.0 1) Doshi's office, Vastu Shilpa, created a list of "must-see" architecture sites in the city of Ahmedabad so that visitors to the office can see the city and understand the context in which Doshi creates his buildings. 2) From 1951 to 1955, B.V. Doshi worked directly for Le Corbusier as an architectural apprentice in his Paris atelier. To this day, at the entrance of his cabin, Doshi keeps a portrait of the Swiss architect next to representations of Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha.  Balkrishna Doshi. Courtesy of VSF 3) Le Corbusier spoke to Doshi in broken English. But the Indian architect later recalled, "When you don't know the language, the conversation becomes more visual and spatial." 4) He got his unpaid job with Le Corbusier based on a non-traditional qualification: his handwriting. Doshi told the India Times in 2017 that he wasn't asked to submit a portfolio, but "an application in my own handwriting." 5) He first visited America on a Graham Foundation scholarship in 1959. 6) Doshi was significantly involved in the design of Chandigarh, the new state capital of Punjab (Chandigarh now serves as a joint state capital for Punjab and Haryana). He was tasked with designing the living spaces for the thousands of humble government servants. This gave way to his continued interest in producing the best, basic and low-cost communal spaces.  Balkrishna V. Doshi with students at School of Architecture, CEPT , Ahmedabad, c . 1970s.. Imagevia India: Modern Architectures in History by Peter Scriver, Amit Srivastava 7) In the 1960s Doshi opened The School of Architecture at Ahmedabad with an alternative curriculum, known from 1972 onwards as the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT). Louis Kahn served as an early adjunct faculty member! .jpg?1520357137 "Amdavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Amdavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu 8) A closer look at the structural aspect of some of Doshi's work reveals a practical and widespread use of bearing walls—these thick walls serve as efficient thermal masses in India's hot climate. 9) From 1967 - 1971 he was a member of the international collective Team 10. 10) Doshi collaborated with Moshe Safdie and Iranian architect Nader Ardalan and Harvard professor Josep Lluis Sert to write Habitat Bill of Rights, submitted by the Government of Iran at the UN Habitat on Human Settlements conference in Vancouver in 1976.  Sangath Architects Studio. Courtesy of VSF 11) The studio he designed in 1979 - 81 shows the progression of Doshi's attempts to meld modern tendencies with traditional Indian methods. For Sangath he employed a local tradition of mosaics made of recycled ceramic tiles. .jpg?1520357118 "Amdavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Amdavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu 12) Doshi served on the Pritzker jury from 2005 to 2009. .jpg?1520357147 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Works Cited Scriver, Peter, and Amit Srivastava. India. Reaktion Books, 2015. Doshi, BV. "Ultimate Design Hero: Le Corbusier." Elle Decor India, Dec. 2017- Jan. 2018. Steele, James, and Balkrishna V. Doshi. The Complete Architecture of Balkrishna Doshi: Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World. Thames and Hudson, 1998. Gehi, Reema. "An Architect By Chance." Mumbai Mirror, 25 Dec. 2017, mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/an-architect-by-chance/articleshow/62227310.cms. Steele, James, and Balkrishna V. Doshi. The Complete Architecture of Balkrishna Doshi: Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World. Thames and Hudson, 1998.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Am Rossberg / Igual&Guggenheim Architekten Posted: 07 Mar 2018 03:00 AM PST  © Beat Bühler
 © Beat Bühler Text description provided by the architects. The building is located in a quiet residential area of Zurich (Switzerland), very close to the lake. It contains five apartments, designed individually to react to different context and provides a broad mix of apartment types. Each flat has its own entrance to offer a maximum of privacy. The volume seems to expand in all directions, generating a complex and sculptural form, which creates interesting interiors. The reason for using different window formats was to correspond to the respective view and perspective from the inside. The big openings in the facade let a lot of daylight in and create an unconventional composition with different positions and proportions. The top floor has additional roof lights to let even more light in.  © Beat Bühler  Floor Plan  © Beat Bühler The living rooms, kitchens and dining rooms are sometimes together to generate a big open space or diagonally connected to create long view outside. Regarding the material, we create a strong contrast between exterior and interior - the building appears as a ``black box`` from the outside in contrast to the light inside, where the walls are white with coloured concrete accents. The comfort of the house is also given by the chromatic and texture of the interior, where the wood floor is combined with coloured windows and doors frames.  © Beat Bühler  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How Sou Fujimoto Promotes Community By Uniting Seemingly Opposite Elements Posted: 07 Mar 2018 01:30 AM PST  Architecture meets the outdoors in Sou Fujimoto's L'arbre Blanc housing tower, under construction in Montpeller, France. Image Courtesy of SFA+NLA+OXO+RSI This article was originally published by Redshift as "Architect Sou Fujimoto Has Radical Ideas for Familiar Communal Spaces." The destruction wrought upon Ishinomaki by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami damaged the city's civic hall and cultural center beyond repair. To rebuild, Ishinomaki City wanted to create a landmark combining these two facilities into a new complex—one that would be like a city unto itself, serving the community. In 2016, design proposals were screened in a process that included public presentations, with many locals participating. In the end, Sou Fujimoto, a leader among the next generation of Japan's architects, was selected for his innovative design.
The planned site, set off from downtown, is surrounded by residential areas and a scenic mountain backdrop. "I wanted to create a new landscape for Ishinomaki that people would find familiar both from near and afar," Fujimoto says.  Fujimoto's vision for the new Ishinomaki City Cultural Center calls for a single structure that evokes the feel of a cluster of buildings. Image Courtesy of SFA Working on projects around the world from his studios in Tokyo and Paris, Fujimoto aims for structural forms that are simple and subtle in nature, yet distinctly otherworldly and playful. He has designed everything from bus stops, public restrooms, and private homes to university facilities and office buildings. Recent works include the Musashino Art University Museum and Library built in 2010, and the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion installation in London's Kensington Gardens—previous winners of the commission include Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. But among his projects that have reverberated through the architectural world, his plans for the Ishinomaki Cultural Complex Center stand out. Construction will begin in fall 2018 and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2021. Rebuilding MemoriesThe Ishinomaki Cultural Complex Center presented particular design challenges. One of the requirements was to include a theater, and so a "fly tower" (an open vertical space above the stage) had to be built to store lights, curtains, and other equipment for performances. "Since the fly tower has to be a certain height, it inevitably takes on a unique shape," says Fujimoto. "How could I soften its imposing form and make it a building dear to the city's people?" This was the inspiration for Fujimoto's concept, in which the civic complex would resemble a series of buildings in a lively town.  Fujimoto's drawings for the new Ishinomaki City Cultural Center are based on familiar "house" shapes. Image Courtesy of SFA Ask a child to draw a house, and she will almost invariably draw a box with a triangle on top to indicate the roof: This shape could be considered a universal symbol for a house. The prototypical "house" shape can be seen in many of Fujimoto's architectural plans, but within this familiar image, his designs play with form and style. The "buildings" of the "town" making up Fujimoto's plan for the Ishinomaki Cultural Complex Center are actually a single connected structure with ceilings of varying heights. The space with the tallest ceiling soars to an impressive 25 meters (82 feet). "The individual 'buildings' are quite simple," says Fujimoto. "I thought that if we took these basic forms already etched into peoples' memories and combined them, we could create a familiar place that could be anywhere, yet does not really exist." Designers commonly submit BIM data to enter international competitions, but Fujimoto has always contracted out BIM model creation after completing his design. However, for this project, since it would be difficult to precisely integrate air conditioning and electrical equipment into the triangular roof design, Fujimoto introduced BIM early in the process, carrying out his design work in Autodesk Revit. Now, fine adjustments are being made in cooperation with the engineering consulting firm Arup.  The L'arbre Blanc housing tower features dramatic terraces that appear to float on air. Image Courtesy of SFA+NLA+OXO+RSI "In addition to the technology we have at our disposal, time-tested design methods, such as building architectural models by hand, are essential to our work," says Fujimoto. "We make the most out of both digital and physical methods. Building a model by hand gives us insight into an idea that can be tested in the digital space before being reflected back into the physical model. Going forward, I would like to continue fully utilizing this back-and-forth between the digital and physical worlds." Drawing Nature InIn stark contrast to the familiar shapes found in the Ishinomaki project, Fujimoto's mixed-use housing tower under construction in Montpellier in southern France is an eye-catching building with a radical design. The tower, named "L'arbre Blanc" (The White Tree) is located between the new and old districts of Montpellier, incorporating plans for common areas, office spaces, a restaurant, and an art gallery. This project was also the impetus for Fujimoto to open his studio in France. Montpellier faces the Mediterranean Sea, and even in the winter the weather is warm enough to enjoy lunch on an outdoor terrace. Fujimoto sought to create a 50-meter (164-foot) tall, 17-story building where residents could enjoy the region's traditional outdoor lifestyle at home. Ultimately, he created a daring design in which long terraces are placed outside every living room and bedroom in the complex. Each unit has multiple living spaces seemingly suspended in the air, with larger terraces reaching six meters (19 feet) wide and eight meters (26 feet) long. "What we came up with was a very unique building," says Fujimoto. "It's like a pinecone, or a head of broccoli, or some kind of tree—its organic complexity is reflected in our natural world. It completely diverges from the blocky, concrete designs prevalent in housing complexes up until now." Fujimoto's design for the project was green-lighted by Montpellier's mayor and city planners. "At first, they were quite surprised," says Fujimoto. "However, I was able to get them to understand how this previously-inconceivable design preserves the scenery and traditions of Montpellier while also paving the way for its future." The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2018, but almost all the units have already been sold. This meeting of nature and architecture, the physical and the digital, the old and the new—what at first glance seem to be elements in opposition are, as Fujimoto says, "coming together in a new age of fusion in the 21st Century." His speech at Autodesk University Japan 2017 shared this vision for the future of making things in architecture, and through Fujimoto's architectural design work, the world is getting a glimpse into that promising future.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Villa Boscana / OLARQ Osvaldo Luppi Architects Posted: 07 Mar 2018 01:00 AM PST .jpg?1520402195 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes
.jpg?1520402104 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes An Icon .jpg?1520402295 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes .jpg?1520401596 "Ground Floor Plan") Ground Floor Plan .jpg?1520402050 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes Context .jpg?1520402021 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes Material .jpg?1520401999 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes Links .jpg?1520402082 "© Mauricio Fuertes") © Mauricio Fuertes  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aedas Unveil Design for an Undulating Office Complex in Central China Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:00 AM PST  Courtesy of Aedas The internationally recognized architecture firm Aedas has unveiled their design for the Zhenghong Property Air Harbour Office Project. The sprawling and interconnected 196 foot-tall three-tower complex is proposed for the city of Zhengzhou, the capital of the Henan Province in central China—one of the regions' largest transportation hubs. Occupying a relatively narrow site, the towers are woven together by a rhythmic glass facade inspired by the formal qualities of the winding Yellow River.  Courtesy of Aedas The porous, organic design offers improved circulation and air movement to transform the large-scale development into an active vertical urban space. These undulating forms are carried through in the surrounding public plazas, green space, and the geometry of the vertical structures themselves. The softened diamond-shaped central tower is flanked by two rectilinear blocks angled at 45 degrees to offer vistas south toward residential developments surrounding the complex and the Zhengzhou Central Park to the north. A curvilinear bridge at the fourth level connects the towers together while connected rooftop terraces provide tiered outdoor spaces accessible to all tenants.  Courtesy of Aedas Once completed the office blocks will house governmental bodies, corporate tenants, and the project's client the Zhengzhou Real Estate Development Co.,Ltd. The new corporate and governmental complex will be easily accessible by public transport and conveniently situated near the Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport.  Courtesy of Aedas The Zhenghong Property Air Harbour Office Project will provide over 900,000 square feet of office space and is slated to be completed in 2022. The firm was recently awarded the prize for Architectural Design of the Year by The American Architecture Prize for the towering Hengqin International Financial Center. Their current projects include a Mountaintop resort in Southern China and a boundary crossing building connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.  Courtesy of Aedas
News via: Aedas.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Lightweight Wooden Deployable Structure Aims for Large Social Impact Without Leaving a Mark Posted: 06 Mar 2018 10:00 PM PST  © Lorenzo Tugnoli Architecture students of the American University of Beirut used an ephemeral design to approach the lack of awareness of marine biodiversity and responsible use of the coast of Tyre. The proposal consists of a lightweight and deployable structure constituting a programmatic point of meeting and information on the sand. The project materialized with wood, metal ties and ropes, approach the possible application of light and temporary systems to generate a large social impact and at the same time minimum physical impact on the site.  © Lorenzo Tugnoli  © Lorenzo Tugnoli From the architects. The Tyre region comprises Lebanon's longest sandy beaches. The coast of Tyres is a popular nesting site for the endangered Loggerhead and Green Sea Turtles, as well as the home of several species of local wildlife, such as the Arabian spiny mouse and the Red fox. The Ras el Ain area contains Phoenician springs, and freshwater estuaries that outflow to the sea, creating a fresh water/sea water interface that is inhabited by a diversity of marine life. As of 1998, the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve declared 380ha along the coast a protected area.  © Lorenzo Tugnoli  © Lorenzo Tugnoli The lack of awareness about the marine biodiversity and the importance of responsible use of the coast among the locals and visitors coming to Tyre is resulting in the severe destruction of habitat, and an increase in the endangered species of marine and coastal wildlife. Local environmental NGO's are facing challenges when it comes to spreading this awareness.  © Lorenzo Tugnoli  © Lorenzo Tugnoli "MARAH" Architecture AUB students from the DI-LAB (Design Impact Laboratory) teamed up with environmental consultants and with the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve and proposed to seize the attention of the users of the coast (both locals and visitors) by introducing a structure that acts as a hub for the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve. This center, located is directly on the beach, highly visible and public. It will be used as a meeting point, an info point, a presentation pavilion, an exhibition space, a training center, among other things.  © Lorenzo Tugnoli  © Lorenzo Tugnoli The structure aims to examine how the possible application of lightweight and temporary systems can have a large social and programmatic impact while having the minimum physical impact on site, be it land or sea. The deployable scissors structure introduces a modularity and mobility to the design, which can be repeated in different endangered sites along the Lebanese coast, becoming an icon of environmental awareness.  Plans  Plans Project Designed By: DI-Lab, Department of Architecture and Design, Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture American University of Beirut  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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