Arch Daily |
- Japanese Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale, to Address Accessibility to Resources
- RPFV House / NoArq
- Pingtian Village Center / DnA
- How 3D Renders Helped Trigger Life-Changing Development for an Indigenous Surinamese Community
- Step House / WORKLOUNGE 03
- House 13 / INSADA
- Mega Foodwalk / FOS
- The Pair House / LOOK Architects
- JR’s Hut at Kimo Estate / Anthony Hunt Design + Luke Stanley Architects
- PRO.CRE.AR PERROUD House / AToT - Arquitectos Todo Terreno
- UN Studio Triumphs in Competition for New Budapest Bridge Over the River Danube
- Media Headquarters / Olson Kundig
- RIBA Announces Winners of 2018 Awards for International Excellence
- Las Bóvedas / - = + x -
- Spotlight: Gordon Bunshaft
- Atelier Deshaus: "The Idea Is Not to Create an Object But to Construct a Path"
- Heavenly Bodies / Diller Scofidio + Renfro
- Moleskine Celebrates Creative Process with New Line of Luxury Notebooks
- Austrian Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale to Focus on the Importance of "Free Space" in Urban Spaces
| Japanese Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale, to Address Accessibility to Resources Posted: 09 May 2018 09:00 PM PDT  A Drawing from A Little Bit of Beijing: 798 As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage we present the proposal for the Japan Pavilion. Below, the participants describe their contribution in their own words. In the 20th century, the industrialization of society raised productivity and brought us convenient life with economic growth. However, the change has made us adapt our lives into an industrial network and created the barrier between people and environmental resources. One of the main roles of the 21st-century architecture is to break the barrier and to realize higher accessibility to resources.  A Drawing from Coupe!  A Drawing from The Building of the Queensland House: A Carpenter's Handbook and Owner's Manual We set a point of view on people, not industry, in order to understand livelihood ecologically and architecturally. This is called the Architectural Ethnography, and guidebooks are the social common tool. In guidebooks, an old but new, unique architecture (not ones dominantly defined by an 'architect as a creator') have been reported, from hybrid buildings within high density of city life to the space used for urban-rural exchange, fitted into their local contexts in Tokyo and throughout the world.  W HouseーEntrance Side Based on these researches some projects to increase accessibility to resources around us are suggested. The purpose of this exhibition is to build platforms for active discussion of ecological issues in architectural and urban theory, and visualization of the 21st-century architecture.  Courtesy of GSA Unit 14 / University of Johannesburg The exhibition has 4 parts: 1. collecting guidebooks and mapping them, 2. analyzing and presenting the expansion of guidebooks (from Tokyo to other cities, from city to country, from survey to action), and interviews with producers of guidebooks, 3. reporting projects derived from guidebooks with miniature models, and videos, 4. creating "Yokocho" (bar and cafe alley), and keeping and posting regular reports on managing the Yokocho as a discussion platform for developing architectural and urban theory.  Exhibition Design Drawing  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 08:00 PM PDT  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
 © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The proposal was made for a plot of land with 1697 m², where 112 m² were covered area that corresponded to a demolished two-floor house and attic that had a total floor area of around 300 m². Out of the 1697 m² of land, only 600 m² could be built on, as the rest of the land is part of the Agricultural Reserve.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The land is on a steep west-east slope divided into two terraces with a nine-metre total difference in elevation. The constructive area was isolated from the street and surrounded by the Agricultural Reserve, below street level.  Sketch The construction was composed of a house, a threshing floor in the south and a granary; the house was built with thick schist walls, the upper floor and threshing floor were covered in slate. We demolished the upper floor, keeping the lower floor and the threshing floor slate slabs.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Just like the old house, the new one merges into the morphology of the land, doing without the urban frontage, encouraging dialogue with the beautiful farmland that stretches away on the side opposite the street.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The house has a gross area of 643.20 m² over three floors.  Floor Plans The access from the street has some steps and an open corridor to the heart of the house, the patio where the entrance is found.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Floor 0 (level -2, under street level) was rehabilitated and expanded. It houses the social functions and patio support. To the north, the interior of this floor is ventilated and illuminated by a patio that used to be a cellar. The new co-exists with the old.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Floor 1 (mezzanine) is organised around the larger patio (clipped by the floor 0 patio) and is used for the family’s daily life. To the north, the entrance to the covered parking, leads the inhabitants to the kitchen through a corridor. The rooms overlook the patio to the south.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Floor 2, visible from the street, is used for relaxation. It partially overlaps the first-floor volume, it shelters the entrance space and the patio. It is divided into three bedrooms and respective toilets. The roofs are flat.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The floor-1 roof, which is at street level, has an esplanade facing the horizon.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG The new construction, (completely made or reinforced concrete) is a dark mass of slate sitting on the lower walls of the old house made of schist blocks against the old terraces of granite and schist.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 07:00 PM PDT  Interior. Image © Ziling Wang
 © Ziling Wang Text description provided by the architects. The village of Pingtian is situated on a mountain ridge and consists mostly of rammed earth structures with traditional wood construction on the inside. The houses are grouped organically along the topography and can be accessed on foot by means of stairs and very narrow alleys.  Pingtian For the programme of an exhibition about traditional agricultural equipment and a handcraft center, the architect Xu Tiantian proposed repairing parts of one group of buildings and organizing other parts so that the old building substance satisfies contemporary requirements through gaining new amenities. The L-shaped exhibition spaces for agricultural equipment on the bottom level can be accessed from two sides.  © Ziling Wang  Plan  © Ziling Wang The exhibition space situated on the upper storey can be accessed from the higher-lying alley at the back and is also connected with the building situated next to it, which young designers use as a workshop for indigo dye.  Guestroom. Image © Ziling Wang  Section  © Ziling Wang The workshop building was created from two identical houses standing close together, which are now connected by means of a newly installed skylight. Two space units available for rent were created on the top storey, form where the eye can wander over the village and landscape.  © Ziling Wang The handling of existing structures, which was new for the local craftspeople, provoked resistance that had to be overcome in arduous discourse. In many cases, expectations in the village with respect to new materials and new forms of expression — frequently from the urban context — have resulted in the destruction of the historically matured culture of form and material.  © Ziling Wang In the case of this example in Pingtian, the architect succeeded in persuading the local population that, using local means, it is possible to come up with a contemporary solution that both takes their needs into account and preserves the identity of the village as well.  © Dan Han  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How 3D Renders Helped Trigger Life-Changing Development for an Indigenous Surinamese Community Posted: 09 May 2018 06:00 PM PDT  Treehouse rendered in Lumion for the indigenous community of Apetina in the Sipaliwini District of South of Suriname. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer Since 2015, the tribal community of Apetina in the south Suriname jungle have added a women's center and seven chicken coops to their village, and there are plans underway to realize a high school, elevated treehouses for ecotourism, a visitor center, housing projects, chicken coops, and more. Paul Spaltman is the one-man operation behind the designs of these structures, but "everything started with these nice renders made in Lumion," he explains. "It wasn't enough to show 2D drawings or simply tell them what the project was going to be. When they saw the actual 3D renders, it helped them believe the project was possible. They already had the design. They could see the construction and that the entire project was, more or less, thought out. They could see that the project wasn't just a dream, but one step further." Apetina is a small indigenous village located in dense rainforest with only a few ways to and from the area. Through the village's rustic airstrip, you can arrive via a 1-hour-and-20-minute flight from Suriname's capital, Paramaribo. The other method is a three-day trip by boat. There are no roads, and getting essential things such as gasoline and teachers is expensive and slow. So how did Paul Spaltman, who opened his firm Architectenbureau Spaltman in the Netherlands in 2015, become such an instrumental player in the Wayana territory?  Carpenters and architect Paul Spaltman (center) listening to a translator in a lodge of the Kuluwayak foundation. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer With regards to the treehouses, the community will participate on many levels. They will select and chop down the trees, cut them to the right dimensions, and build the structures. "The key was encouraging the locals to make these projects their own," Spaltman said. "For instance, I designed a chicken coop with a shingled roof but they used palm trees instead. Planks of locally sourced wood were tied together with ropes and natural materials, not nails. In most cases, the design and layout were relatively the same, but the people there had complete freedom to fill in the structures as they saw fit."  2D plans and 3D renders for the treehouse project. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer Brownheart (Vouacapoua Americana) wood is the main wood species for the treehouses. The roof shingles will be made from Walaba or similar wood, while the balusters will be made from bamboo poles. The wall cladding will likely include species of wood found in the immediate surroundings of each lodge, limiting the necessity of gasoline for transport. There are many usable species of tropical wood in the dense forest, so these small-scale logging activities have no impact on the ecosystem.  Render of a treehouse made in Lumion. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer "The indigenous Wayana people want progress. They want a secure source of food, education for their children, and normal houses to live in," explains Spaltman. "So, with the portable sawmill gifted by the Suriname president himself, a group of locals will head into the jungle for a couple days, possibly a week, gathering wood and other materials. When they return, volunteers get together to build their own structures. It's not too expensive, and this way, the structures are connected to their heritage and way of life."  Surrounding landscape as seen from the Tebutop. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer The inspiration for many of Paul's designs came from meeting many of the local people there, as well as the breathtaking landscape. "Nobody is paid. When building the women's center, their salary was an evening plate of rice with some chicken." (Another incentive: after finishing the center the workers can use the sawmill and they will get materials and equipment for their own houses, and on top of that: pride and respect.)  Progress being made on the Apetina Woman center. In this image, the local construction crew is installing the floors. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer In addition to working directly with the local tribes and family clans, Paul maintains close collaboration with the Kuluwayak Foundation. Additionally, he works with the government, NGOs such as Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund and Amazon Conservation Team, and even some oil and mining companies.  Wood is already collected and will be used for the construction of several houses and guest houses after the Woman Center is finished. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer With the women's center and the chicken coops completed, Paul is focusing on getting the high school and the treehouses finished, as well as a housing project and several other structures. The current problem with the high school isn't so much the design, materials, or supplies, but instead, it's getting teachers. For the treehouses, Paul hopes that they will serve eco-tourists and help drive revenue into town. With the initial successes in Apetina, Spaltman has been asked to reproduce his methods designing a bridge and a school in the Tiriyó territories of southwestern Suriname.  Render of an Apetina guesthouse. Image © Paul Spaltman and Dan Newcomer According to Spaltman, "Having high-quality visualizations from Lumion has made all of the difference. Remember, this area is full of big ideas. Eco-tourist this, eco-resort that. With the renders, I was able to communicate with the local people and they were promptly off in the forest gathering materials. Sometimes the projects go slow, but in the last two years, they've shown a lot of progress and it seems as if everything is moving faster."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 05:00 PM PDT  © Hiroyuki Oki
 © Hiroyuki Oki Text description provided by the architects. The site is in Vinh Phuc city, far from Hanoi, Vietnam for 1 half hours by car. Client hoped he would spend the weekend with family and friends here with clean air. Vietnam in South East Asia is in a hot and humid area. Especially north of Vietnam is so humid. In spite of that, most Vietnamese house and building doesn't have suitable ventilation and consideration for strong solar radiation.  © Hiroyuki Oki  Section A  © Hiroyuki Oki This project has aimed at suitable house building in a hot and humid area. We use the few vanishing traditional wooden work roof and door system for keeping the good ventilation and prevention of solar radiation. This site is the developed land for resort faced to Bac Lake on the east side, and faced to the road on both south and east side.  © Hiroyuki Oki We place full-open door and balcony on the 1-3rd floor at south and east side for getting the window through on the lake and view to the lake. And we place the original block material at the south-west side for keeping privacy and exhaust from the south-east. Each floor is slipped and make balcony at south-east side. The upper floor is eaves for the lower floor at the north-west side and prevents to raise the temperature of this RC structure.  © Hiroyuki Oki For preventing the temperature rise, we analyzed some option of the plan and calculate the optimum solution for it. The roof is wooden sloped by ceramic roof tile with elevation exhaust window on top. This exhaust window is expected to have the ventilation effect from 2nd and 3rd floor to top. We discussed the structure of this roof with Vietnamese carpenter often and decided the design for it. We use a modern method like computer analyzation. On the other hand, I am trying to keep Vietnamese traditional technology and technic is available for Vietnamese climate and culture.  © Hiroyuki Oki  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 03:00 PM PDT  © INSADA Design Team
 © INSADA Design Team Text description provided by the architects. Located in West Jakarta, House 13 aims to accommodate a comfortable residential living by utilizing the simple lines of modern architecture. With the client not wanting to be constantly dependent on air-conditioning, Insada designed House 13 to have a working cross ventilation so that natural breezes are able to cool the main living spaces.  © INSADA Design Team  Section 3  © INSADA Design Team House 13 is oriented in the north-south direction with 3 sides blocked by neighboring houses. With only one south-facing façade to work with, the façade needed to be designed to be able to bring ample amount of light, as well as opening up to allow fresh air to come in. The main façade is made out of low-e glass curtain wall with operable module on each end comprised of aluminum extrusions, perforated metal sheet, and sliding glass door. Sliding door allows the breeze to come in, perforated metal sheet acts as an insect screen and aluminum extrusions is there for additional security purposes. On the opposite end, to allow air out is a three-story space with skylight and equipped with ventilation bricks. With this configuration, first and second floor of the house is constantly cooled passively.  © INSADA Design Team On the ground floor, the house accommodates a flexible space for play or work and maid's quarters. Maid's quarters' massing is set independently, creating access in between the ceiling and the mass for fresh air to run through the long axis of the house. The second floor hosts an open plan of kitchen, living, and dining space that allows cross ventilation to work. The sleeping quarters located in the third floor are the only spaces that are able to be fully sealed for air conditioning purposes.  © INSADA Design Team  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Rungkit Charoenwat
 © Rungkit Charoenwat 'Reconnecting Urban Life with Nature Through A Flowing Shopping Experience' The sheer size of Megabangna shopping complex is as large as a small town. Its central building is perceived as a downtown, whereas Foodwalk zone on the east wing is portrayed as countryside with more green areas and canals. The new extension of retail zone located on the eastern periphery beyond the existing zone could then be conceptualized as a 'Valley', one of the most pleasant natural topography in which its intimate central space is enclosed by continuous frontage of lushly mountains.  © Rungkit Charoenwat The architectural concept of the new extension, 'The Valley', therefore derives from the geographic character of its metaphor. To create similar atmosphere to a natural valley, the layout of the new open-air mall is composed around a central courtyard space, in which a sunken plaza with an amphitheatre down below acts as a customers' main social space for gathering and holding all kinds of events.  Diagram Continuing from the sunken plaza on the bottom level, the sloping green area in the middle of the layout, called 'the Hill', gently ascends to connect smoothly with the existing Mega Plaza on level 1. The Hill is intended to be a relaxing space where people can fully immerse themselves into the lush landscape with water features and outdoor furniture. By embedding a lush greenery into the open-air courtyard and throughout the building, the project becomes a hybrid of a market place and a public park where social interactions are more encouraged among people.  © Rungkit Charoenwat Simultaneously, network of walkways along shopfronts on every level is connected to the existing corridor and a new car parking building via link bridges and covered walkway in order to complete a seamless circulation system between the two phases without dead end.  Zone design strategies Moreover, the idea of transforming natural environment into a unique shopping experience is synthesized through its spatial organization and various architectural elements. A series of minimum 1:15 sloping walkways are positioned continuously, descending gently down from upper to lower levels, to create a similar experience of 'hill walk'. It effectively results in not only increased salable areas on the lower floor but also an infinite loop of spiral circulation, circling endlessly on all four levels.  © Rungkit Charoenwat  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Pair House / LOOK Architects Posted: 09 May 2018 12:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of LOOK Architects
 Courtesy of LOOK Architects Text description provided by the architects. The project is located on a corner plot facing a busy road junction within a mature, nondescript neighborhood and consists of two equal and identical houses set within a relatively compact site with a shared driveway and green space. The houses were designed to serve as two family homes for a growing multigenerational family.  Courtesy of LOOK Architects The simple and restrained design of the houses provides a backdrop for a quiet family life and reflects a desire for comfort, serenity and peace of mind. The private living spaces are articulated as two parallel metal clad volumes that cantilever over a timber lined box containing the communal living spaces below. The compact form and clarity of the composition responds to the setting of the building and provides a dignified corner expression that marks the corner of the busy road.  Courtesy of LOOK Architects The spaces within the houses are organized in a rational and considered manner, with well- proportioned and comfortable living spaces doubly oriented to maximize natural lighting and ventilation through the house. Extensive timber screens further help to modulate the ambient environment, providing shading and additional privacy as well as screening the noise and dust from the heavily traffic along the main road.  Section 01  Section 02 Material selection enhances the formal expression of the house, with the aluminum cladding and off- form concrete offset by the generous use of timber which adds warmth and a domestic quality. The choice of timber cladding and off-form concrete also reflects the desire for the building to age well and will mark the passage of time – a house that can be well looked after for generations to come.  Courtesy of LOOK Architects We worked closely with the client throughout the course of the project. Detailing and choice of materials were carefully developed to imbue the practical requirements of day-to-day living with an aesthetic sensibility. A special lightning protection system has also been used in the building, with the aluminum cladding doubling as a faraday cage for lightning protection, therefore omitting the need for unsightly lightning rods on the aluminum cladding.  Courtesy of LOOK Architects  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| JR’s Hut at Kimo Estate / Anthony Hunt Design + Luke Stanley Architects Posted: 09 May 2018 10:00 AM PDT  © Hilary Bradford
 © Hilary Bradford Text description provided by the architects. The Kimo Hut stands alone on a hill outside Gundagai in rural New South Wales. It is the latest addition to Kimo Estate, a second generation farm which has diversified to host weddings and provide accommodation showcasing the areas natural beauty. It is a place to switch off, quite literally, and forget about the distractions of modern life.  © Hilary Bradford  Elevations  © Hilary Bradford Sustainable Australian hardwoods were the obvious choice given the huts 'eco' brief and remote location. Materials needed to be easily sourced and handled on site by a two person owner-builder team.  © Hilary Bradford The huts form was inspired by a classic 'A' frame tent, which simultaneously provides both refuge from, and connection with, the natural environment. An expressed hardwood structure anchors the building, defining the interior spaces and framing views of the surrounding farmlands. Timber features throughout the hut, with hand crafted details recalling the character of agricultural buildings found on the property.  © Hilary Bradford  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| PRO.CRE.AR PERROUD House / AToT - Arquitectos Todo Terreno Posted: 09 May 2018 08:00 AM PDT  © Joaquin Portela
 © Joaquin Portela PRO.CRE.AR PERROUD The search for design spaces that characterize the residence is marked in the belief of time as a design pattern, which takes different logical structures depending on their specific characteristics in relation to what surrounds them. In this sense, the PRO.CRE.AR House adopts as premise two instances: the first in relation to social structures and the second in relation to technology and costs. Such social structures take form from flexibility as "dynamic space" where the rationalization of it creates, in an empirically way, the spatial experience. Thus, the residence is built for a growing family, that is, for an hour it is a couple with a daughter, but taking a priori the logic of mutability and spatial flexibility, it is allowed that the house is inhabited by different modes.  Axonometric Context The PROCREAR EP house, is held in the context of a national government initiative to promote the construction, expansion and reform of single homes through a mortgage loan of no more than $ 500,000 (Argentine money). During its launch in 2012, many families resorted to it, and as a consequence, the demand in the design and construction of homes increased. In this sense, the residence dialogues with the first illusions and aspirations of a growing family that has a credit and some savings of the same value to make this house a visible space, a home. The residence is found on the outskirts of the city, in a suburban neighborhood where the urban fabric is still low density, but even so, nature is scarcely present because of man's intervention within a medium density without large spaces of vegetation and little use of the possible views.  © Joaquin Portela Raw Material Architectural specificity reduces to the use of a single material, a single technology that defines spatial modes and instances. The concrete block feature allows you to create filters, bellows, held spaces, walls and even sidewalks. In addition, throughout its useful life it can be changed or replaced.  © Joaquin Portela  © Joaquin Portela The time recreates various atmospheres and uses, which is why, spaces are figured out in terms of design as fixed and flexible, as a contemporary reflection of the Kahn spaces of service and served spaces, where the fixed is composed only by what it could not move technologically or, more than that, by a dynamic that always articulates the flexible program. Meanwhile, the flexible itself, which are the bedrooms, the living room, the mezzanine, the gallery and the balcony, can vary their growth and their adaptability over time.  © Joaquin Portela  Floor Plans  © Joaquin Portela Connections The proposal for a credit viability, is specifically based on the costs reduction and the possibility of a residence with identity and protagonism that is not underestimated a priori by its raison d'être. That is why we define a logical and very marked consequence of the dominant aspects: mutability, identity and costs.  © Joaquin Portela The notions of place are rationalized in the work itself, but in this case, the residence that is of permanent use, receives new logics that make of time an instance of growth, wisdom, nature and poetics. The gallery and its inner courtyards articulate these logics, shows nature in a rational way with the will to be transcendental.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| UN Studio Triumphs in Competition for New Budapest Bridge Over the River Danube Posted: 09 May 2018 07:00 AM PDT  © VA Render UN Studio, in collaboration with Buro Happold Engineering, has won an international competition for the design of a new bridge spanning the River Danube in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Their scheme will serve as a blueprint for the "Galvani Bridge" connecting South Buda and Csepel, balancing graceful aesthetics with strong performance. The competition for the bridge was conceived with the goal of decreasing the 600,000-strong daily traffic load on existing bridges across the Danube by 40,000. As well as easing traffic congestion, the bridge is intended to embody a liveable, loveable, healthy image of 21st-century Budapest.  © VA Render  © VA Render The UN Studio scheme comprises a 1640-foot-long (500-meter-long) two-pylon stayed girder bridge, combining a road, tram, pedestrian and cycle crossing. The proposal seeks to act as a gateway to the city, while not impinging on its environment. By avoiding overpass structures on the off-ramp, and the fixture of lighting along gates and piers, the scheme sits elegantly in the landscape while maintaining a human-friendly scale.
 © VA Render  © VA Render The scheme's pylons are crafted from steel and finished in a white sheen, creating a blank canvas activated by the ever-changing hues and colors of the natural surroundings. A 720 foot (220 meter) main-span cable system offers unobstructed views across the urban landscape while also introducing a new structural typology to the city.  West section. Image Courtesy of UN Studio  East elevation. Image Courtesy of UN Studio Out of 17 submitted entries, a joint-second place prize was awarded to a consortium of Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner, Zaha Hadid Architects, Werner Consult and Smoltzcyk & Partner, and the consortium of Lavigne & Chéron Architects, Bureau d'Etude Greisch, Közlekedés Consulting Engineers and Geovil. While the consortium containing Zaha Hadid Architects is responsible for the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, the Lavigne & Chéron Architects consortium is known for their Terenez Bridge in France. News via: UN Studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Media Headquarters / Olson Kundig Posted: 09 May 2018 06:00 AM PDT  © Kevin Scott
 © Kevin Scott Text description provided by the architects. The design of this media headquarters reflects the company's core values of egalitarianism, transparency and provocative journalism while supporting their dynamic daily operation with both individual work studios as well as collaborative social spaces.  © Kevin Scott Housed within an historic 120-year-old Union Square Building, the two-story 43,000 square foot space is located in what was once New York's epicenter of fashion retail, the so-called "Ladies' Mile." A physical extension of client's desire for transparency, the design of the space reveals the building's original steel structure and brick walls, preserving its historic materiality. New architectural insertions, including interior walls and building systems as well as finishes and fixtures, integrate with original building elements, a juxtapose of past and present. A high contrast palette of soft white, day-lit "working salons" surrounded by a dark spine of blackened steel stairs, warm inktones and dark woods create a framework for flexible use and transformation of the space from day to night.  © Kevin Scott In contrast with the client's previous open-office environment, the shared working salons are organized around large perimeter windows that draw natural daylight deep into the space. Salons are scaled to allow for small-team collaborations as well as the individualization of workspaces and environmental control by zone to encourage a quiet yet collaborative, headset-free environment.  © Kevin Scott  © Kevin Scott The central stair, which also acts as a gathering space and theater, provides a strong connection between the two floors. This space, along with the adjacent reading room, conservatory and lounge, offers flexible areas for writers, designers, and sales and technology workers to meet in groups or work independently. In the evening, projection screens, large pivoting and sliding doors, and theatrical curtains transform the workplace into a hub for parties, films, lectures and cultural convening.  © Kevin Scott  Axonometric  © Kevin Scott  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| RIBA Announces Winners of 2018 Awards for International Excellence Posted: 09 May 2018 05:38 AM PDT .jpg?1525882733 "A selection of the 2018 winners. Image © RIBA") A selection of the 2018 winners. Image © RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners for its 2018 Awards for International Excellence, and the 2018 International Emerging Architect. The 20 schemes were chosen from the entries for the RIBA International Prize, the winner of which will be announced in November 2018. The 20 winners of the Awards for International Excellence hail from 16 countries, ranging from large urban infrastructure schemes, cultural destinations and educational buildings to civic spaces, private homes, and places of worship. The schemes also form a longlist for the RIBA International Prize 2018, which will be narrowed to four buildings in September 2018, and ultimately a winner in November. The winning scheme will "exemplify design excellence, architectural ambition and deliver meaningful social impact." The inaugural RIBA International Prize was awarded to Grafton Architects in 2016, who are currently curating the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. Meanwhile, the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2018 has been awarded to Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes, founders of Brazilian firm Aleph Zero. Their "Children Village" scheme in Formoso do Araguaia, which they designed in collaboration with Rosenbaum, features on the longlist for the 2018 International Prize, providing accommodation for 540 disadvantaged senior school children. Constructed from prefabricated and reforested wood, the scheme demonstrated the value of community, and the importance of using natural resources in an informed, sustainable way.  Children Village. Image © Leonardo Finotti  Children Village. Image © Leonardo Finotti
The 20 winning schemes announced by the RIBA can be found below, complete with a jury description of their ambition and value, and a link to our previous coverage. WinnersThe Ancient Church of Vilanova de le Barca / AleaOlea Architecture & Landscape  The Ancient Church of Vilanova. Image © ADRI GOULA Audain Art Museum / Patkau Architects  Audain Art Museum. Image © James Dow BBVA Bancomer Tower / LegoRogers (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Legorreta + Legorreta)  BBVA Bancomer Tower. Image © Dolores Robles Buendner Kunstmuseum Chur / Barozzi Veiga  Buendner Kunstmuseum. Image © Simon Menges Captain Kelly's Cottage / John Wardle Architects  Captain Kelly's Cottage. Image © Trevor Mein Central European University Phase 1 / O'Donnell + Tuomey  Central European University. Image © Tamás Bujnovszky Children Village / Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero  Children Village. Image © Leonardo Finotti Lanka Learning Center / Feat Collective  Lanka Learning Centre. Image © feat.collective  M4 Metro Line Budapest. Image © Tamás Bujnovszky  Mount Herzl Memorial. Image © Amit Geron Musee d'arts de Nantes / Stanton Williams  Musee d'arts de Nantes. Image © Nick Hufton Museum Voorlinden / Kraaijvanger Architects  Museum Voorlinden. Image © Christian Richters Sancaklar Mosque / EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture  Sancaklar Mosque. Image © Cemal Emden Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center / Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Betaplan  Stavros Niarchos Fou. Image © Michel Denancé Studio Dwelling at Rajagiriya / Palinda Kannangara Architects  Studio Dwelling at Rajagiriya. Image © Sebastian Posingis Tatsumi Apartment House / Hiroyuki Ito Architects  Tatsumi Apartment House. Image © Makoto Yhoshida Toho Gakuen School of Music / Nikken Sekkei  Toko Gakuen School. Image © Harunori Noda University of Amsterdam / Allford Hall Monaghan Morris  University of Amsterdam. Image © Tim Soar Vertical Forest / Boeri Studio (Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra)  Vertical Forest. Image © Paolo Rosselli Xiao Jing Wan University / Foster + Partners  Xiao Jing Wan University. Image © Nigel Young News via: RIBA  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT  © Alejandro Patiño
.jpg?1525783195 "© Leonardo Méndez") © Leonardo Méndez Text description provided by the architects. The project is set in a semi-rural area, in the limit of Luque and Asuncion, which are part of a cluster of cities called Gran Asuncion. It is near Ñu Guazú park (a green area of 25 ha.) and the airport. It is situated on high territories which allows cool temperatures and more wind breeze than in urban areas.  Cortesía de - = + x - Both paired houses lie on a 12m x 36m ground, opening all spaces to the east and west orientation. .jpg?1525783217 "© Leonardo Méndez") © Leonardo Méndez  Facade Elevation, First floor Plan and Transversal Section .jpg?1525782825 "© Leonardo Méndez") © Leonardo Méndez On the lower stage, service spaces are situated in the front, leaving more open space for the social areas, connecting to a yard, under a brick vaulted roof that unifies all spaces of the house in double height. The warmth of the brick texture is enhanced by a brick sky light that hangs from the vault, and acts as a heat chimney. .jpg?1525783127 "© Leonardo Méndez") © Leonardo Méndez On the higher floor there are two volumes, one in the front and one in the back, connected by a light bridge in which the bedrooms are placed, leaving a central space in double height. .jpg?1525783180 "© Leonardo Méndez") © Leonardo Méndez The Project is synthetized by two ceramic vaults on a concrete structure which act as water gutters on the ground limits.  Cortesía de - = + x -  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 09 May 2018 03:30 AM PDT  AD Classics: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Image © <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beinecke_Rare_Book_%26_Manuscript_Library#/media/File:Beinecke-Rare-Book-Manuscript-Library-Yale-University-Hewitt-Quadrangle-New-Haven-Connecticut-Apr-2014-a.jpg'>Wikimedia Commons user Gunnar Klack</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'>CC BY-SA 4.0</a> As lead designer of the Lever House and many of America's most historically prominent buildings, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft (9 May 1909 – 6 August 1990) is credited with ushering in a new era of Modernist skyscraper design and corporate architecture. A stern figure and a loyal advocate of the International Style, Bunshaft spent the majority of his career as partner and lead designer for SOM, who have referred to him as "a titan of industry, a decisive army general, an architectural John Wayne."  Gordon Bunshaft outside the Beinecke Rare Book Library. Image Courtesy of SOM / © Alburtus – Yale News Bureau Born in Buffalo, New York to a Russian Jewish immigrant family, Bunshaft studied architecture at MIT, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1933 and 1935, respectively. Upon graduation, he spent two years traveling in Europe through fellowships earned at school, and then moved to New York to work with Edward Durell Stone. After a short stint with Stone, he joined Louis Skidmore of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to work on projects for the 1939 New York World Fair. After a hiatus to serve in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, Bunshaft returned to SOM, where he was named lead designer of the Lever House.  Lever House. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/gaf/15726775064'>Flickr user gaf</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a> The Lever House (1952) is noted as one of the first and the most influential of International Style skyscrapers in the United States, featuring a sleek, blue-green glass tower rising from a raised podium, and a roof garden that returned greenery to the dense urban fabric of New York City. After the success of the Lever House, Bunshaft's designs continued to feature smooth, glass facades, expressed steel structure and corporate clients, such as the Manufacturer's Trust Company Building (1954) and the Chase Manhattan Bank Building (1951), both in New York City.  Manufacturer's Trust Building. Image © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manufacturers_Trust_Company_Building_510_Fifth_Avenue.jpg'>Wikimedia user Beyond My Ken</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/'>CC BY-SA 4.0</a> In the early 1960s, Bunshaft started receiving commissions from cultural and educational institutions. His addition to the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York (1961) featured a glassy black box floating over a stone podium, and for the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University (1963), he used thin panels of Vermont marble to allow filtered light to pass into the main space, a large volume housing a mountain of bookstacks. He also designed his own house, called the Travertine House, in the Hamptons in 1962, and the Johnson Presidential Library in 1971.  Beinecke Rare Book Library. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/joevare/5524134719'>Flickr user joevare</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/'>CC BY-ND 2.0</a> In the 1970s, Bunshaft began employing curves in his architecture, such as in the Solow Building and W.R. Grace Building in New York (1974) and the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum (1974) in Washington, DC (for which plans for an unusual addition by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro were recently scrapped).  Hirshhorn Museum. Image © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hirshhorn_Museum.jpg'>Wikimedia user postdlf</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a> The final stage of Bunshaft's career took place in Saudi Arabia, where he designed the 2010 AIA Twenty-five Year Award winning Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah (1983), utilizing a grid of tensile tent structures to provide shade both indoors and outdoors to combat the brutally hot climate. Bunshaft's final project was the National Commercial Bank Headquarters in Jeddah, completed in 1983, that features loggias at three different levels that Bunshaft referred to as "gardens in the air." Leaving on a high note, Bunshaft claimed, "I think this is one of my best and most unique projects."  Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport, Jeddah. Image © SOM - Jay Langlois | Owens-Corning See some of the work completed by SOM during Gordon Bunshaft's tenure via the thumbnails below, and further coverage below those: SOM's Iconic 270 Park Avenue At Risk of Becoming the Tallest Building Ever to Be Demolished Docomomo Pens Letter In Response to the Planned Demolition of New York's Union Carbide Building Walter Netsch: The "Radical Mind" That Designed SOM's Air Force Academy Chapel  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Atelier Deshaus: "The Idea Is Not to Create an Object But to Construct a Path" Posted: 09 May 2018 02:30 AM PDT  Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2014. Image © Su Shengliang In China's newly emerging constellation of famed architects, few firms elicit the sense of surprise caused by the work of Atelier Deshaus. With projects ranging from awe-inspiring to humble, their work does not adhere to any stylistic rules, but all of their projects exude an enigmatic aura. In this interview, the latest in Vladimir Belogolovsky's "City of Ideas" series, principals Liu Yichun and Chen Yifeng discuss the role of identity in their work and how they try to connect their buildings to the landscape. Vladimir Belogolovsky: Is it true that you each design different projects in the studio? Why is that? Liu Yichun: This has been true since 2010. Before that we always designed everything together. We used to have endless discussions and too many disagreements and arguments. That's why we decided to pursue two parallel paths. This approach led to greater efficiency and it helped us to formulate clearer ideas of our independent views of architecture. It also helps us to diversify our work and to avoid forming one recognizable style. Chen Yifeng: It is important for us to express our solutions differently, even though, fundamentally, we are working in one direction and pursuing one family of ideas.  Kindergarten of Jiading New Town, Shanghai, 2008. Image © Su Shengliang VB: How would you describe the intentions of your work? LYC: We try to go beyond a particular program. We work on integrating the manmade with the landscape and focus on what we call "objecthood" and "situatedness." In other words, we don't just see architecture as a pure sculptural expression but as a direct response to a complex juxtaposition of many layers of specific conditions such as the site, program, culture, and other meanings. CYF: We concentrate on doing public architecture rather than commercial architecture by focusing on two main categories: exhibition spaces such as museums, and educational projects, mainly schools and kindergartens. We avoid working for commercial developers on such projects as offices or residential, as they are mainly about the market and maximizing profits. We are not interested in that.  Huaxin Wisdom Hub, Shanghai, 2015. Image © Chen Hao VB: You seem to avoid composing your buildings into freestanding, clearly defined objects. Your architecture seems to refuse to be defined by clearly perceivable edges. LYC: The idea is not to create an object but to construct a path. Our projects are not about proposing new forms but about how they are explored and experienced. They are about space and movement around, inside, on top, and through it, without any particular sequence. And often it is not clear where the entrance is; you need to discover it. A building is a path. You encounter and experience it before you realize that you are already inside of it. A building turns into a landscape and landscape turns into a building.  Kindergarten of Jiading New Town, Shanghai, 2008. Image © Shu He VB: Speaking of perpetually evolving urbanization in China you said, "We are confronted with the process of drastic urbanization; the surroundings are always unknown. Even if there is planning, it is always subject to unpredictable and constant change. Eventually, we have to resort to our own totality." You just compared your buildings to landscapes, but these landscapes seem to be quite autonomous; they float independently of the context around them and they establish their own context, right? LYC: We try not to tie our projects directly to the context since, as you said, it is typically in flux. But we always engage with the outside and try to create many opportunities for observing outside or engaging from inside and we are interested in these dialogs that often evolve beyond our control. We use our architecture to express and embrace this uncertainty, not to escape from it. CYF: Many of our projects are built in suburban areas with no context and we are often forced not to respond to the context but to create it. Sometimes we decide to isolate our buildings by creating a boundary to protect them from the constantly changing environment.  Spiral Gallery II, Shanghai, 2011. Image © Shu He VB: In one of your texts you said, that you "believe that pragmatic solutions related to contemporary architecture in China require a rational approach that is linked to a personal touch." Let's talk about this "personal touch" in more detail. What do you think differentiates your work from other architects? CYF: Our work has many uncertainties but they are our uncertainties. LYC: We don't focus on creating our own identity. We simply work on projects, hoping that our identity will come through. Architecture for me should manage three things: first, it is designed to be used. Then, it should be suitable for the site. Lastly, it must be emotionally touching. The solution might be varied for each project, but each one reflects its time, place, and use by people.  Spiral Gallery I & II, Shanghai. Image © Yao Li VB: You said something quite interesting, "Constructing a new place and experience is a task that every good architect should complete." Would it be accurate to say that in each of your works you intend to provide a unique experience? Could you talk about your process? What are some of the questions that you ask? CYF: We focus on pragmatics and specifics. We work on creating experiences, particular views, and so on. Our focus is not on newness, but on being suitable and specific. For example, in the Spiral Gallery project, the question we tried to answer is how to see the outside. So, we came up with this up-down route for the users to have a closed-open-closed experience along the way, as a better way to visually connect with their surroundings. The Huaxin Wisdom Hub is another story. The environment is not exactly pleasant at the moment, so we created a wall to separate our building from it. But the wall is not completely closed, rather it is somewhat "floating" above the ground, contributing to the resultant state of ambiguity and uncertainty. LYC: There are two things we care about most. One is how a building assumes its relationship with its own site, whether it is cultural, contextual, or visual. The other one is more relevant to modernity, issues that are global and shared by all people.  Huaxin Wisdom Hub, Shanghai, 2015. Image © Chen Hao VB: Being one of the most original architecture offices in the country it is hard to believe that you are not focused on newness. You seem to downplay your role as creative authors. But let me assure you that your Long Museum and many other of your projects propose something I haven't seen before and that is probably because you set that as your goal. You are pursuing architecture without relying on any established rules. You are setting rules up yourselves. Your buildings are like nothing I have ever seen before. How can that be achieved simply by trying to solve things pragmatically? LYC: You are right, our architecture is about newness. But the new is the result, not the starting point. Primarily, we focus on context and program. The new is a subtext. But sure, it is there. It is the focus on the specifics that leads to something new, not the other way around. CYF: What leads to a unique solution is our recognition of something particular and unusual in the site or program. Unique conditions lead to unique solutions. We are aiming to create unique atmospheres in each project. These atmospheres have to have memories of the past and look into the future at the same time.  Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2014. Image © Xia Zhe VB: Your Long Museum is based on a pattern of repeated forms that you call "vault-umbrellas" or umbrella columns that mimic an existing ruin on the site. Since the Long Museum is an art institution its program is not very precise, as far as spatial requirements. Would you say that you designed this building as a ruin, somewhat independently of its function, imagining how the structure may look in the afterlife of the museum? LYC: Absolutely. The goal there was to achieve a certain freedom, a sense of eternity. I think a ruin is a kind of space that offers freedom and is associated with eternity. The project was more about the space itself, not simply a response to the museum's particular need. VB: Do you think architecture is art? LYC: Sure. Architecture should be thought of as art. Finally! CYF: Of course, architecture as art is our goal. If it is not art then it cannot be called architecture.  Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2014. Image © Su Shengliang VB: If you were to describe your architecture in single words what would they be? LYC: Structuring with landscape, mindscape. CYF: Poetic, contextual, usability. VB: Is there one particular building in Shanghai built in recent years that you enjoy most? LYC: Our Long Museum! [Laughs.] Well, for us it is very important and enjoyable. In a way, it has become our starting point, as it incorporates many of the ideas and interests that we experimented with in various projects but never so holistically.  Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2014. Image © Su Shengliang VB: If you could meet any one person in history who would that be? LYC: Alberti. CYF: Kahn. VB: And what would you ask them? LYC: We always ask the same question—what is architecture? We think it is important to ask this question continuously. CYF: And we don't want to come up with the same answer every time. Every situation and every moment in time requires different solutions.  Qingpu Youth Center, Shanghai, 2009. Image © Yao Li VLADIMIR BELOGOLOVSKY is the founder of the New York-based non-profit Curatorial Project. Trained as an architect at Cooper Union in New York, he has written five books, including Conversations with Architects in the Age of Celebrity (DOM, 2015), Harry Seidler: LIFEWORK (Rizzoli, 2014), and Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985 (TATLIN, 2010). Among his numerous exhibitions: Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes at Casa Curutchet, La Plata, Argentina (2015); Colombia: Transformed (American Tour, 2013-15); Harry Seidler: Painting Toward Architecture (world tour since 2012); and Chess Game for Russian Pavilion at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale (2008). Belogolovsky is the American correspondent for Berlin-based architectural journal SPEECH and he has lectured at universities and museums in more than 20 countries. Belogolovsky's column, City of Ideas, introduces ArchDaily's readers to his latest and ongoing conversations with the most innovative architects from around the world. These intimate discussions are a part of the curator's upcoming exhibition with the same title which premiered at the University of Sydney in June 2016. The City of Ideas exhibition will travel to venues around the world to explore ever-evolving content and design.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Heavenly Bodies / Diller Scofidio + Renfro Posted: 09 May 2018 02:00 AM PDT  © Floto + Warner
 © Floto + Warner Text description provided by the architects. The Costume Institute's spring 2018 exhibition features Papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy (many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican) and fashions from the early twentieth century to the present, shown in the Byzantine and medieval galleries and at The Met Cloisters. DS+R's approach to this project examines the notion of 'Catholic space' to enable a dialogue between Fashion and medieval Christian art, the exhibit's inceptive curatorial gesture.  © Brett Beyer Catholic space is an intricate mise-en-scene. The Catholic imagination invoked by the show's title suggests a constellation of images, a world of immanence in which the spiritual is accessible via the sensual. Church liturgy is an immersive interweaving of diverse art forms. Scripture, music, architecture, art, and decorative arts work in concert to engender collectivity, ritual, and devotion. More than a stage or a container, Catholic space is the holistic integration of a multisensory aesthetic experience.  © Floto + Warner Fashion is a natural extension of this model, sculpting ineffable fantasies into a discourse on cultural inheritance—Catholicism included. Contemporary designers often draw on the same pool of timeless Christian imagery as the Byzantine and medieval artists represented in The Met's collection, creating potential for powerful resonances between modern garments and historic artworks. To facilitate this exchange, DS+R conjures the integrative and immersive framework of Catholic space.  © Floto + Warner Visitors will discover the garments and accessories as a series of discrete interventions across 27 galleries spread over two locations. A custom display system stitches the many galleries together. The displays respond to the specificities of both the art they display as well as the diverse conditions of the gallery sites. They translate dimensional and material qualities into a family of objects (e.g. pedestal, platform, vitrine, etc.) with a coherent architectural language that lets them stand out from their context. Each display in the sequence draws the historic art and architecture into dialogue with the fashions to create a durational experience with an emphasis on rhythm, narrative, and atmosphere.  © Floto + Warner The installation plays on the preeminence of light within Catholic space. Natural light is one of the most moving dimensions of medieval churches. It imparts a sense of time and a deep exteriority. Within the exhibition, the marching rhythm of the garments is periodically punctuated with projections of 'supernatural daylight'. As if by providence, key works are revealed within window-shaped frames of cool crisp light. Isolated from their neighbors, they are brought into a direct relationship with their architectural environment and the sky implied beyond. As an interruption of the codes of museum experience, this creates an affective bridge to another, perhaps more spiritual, world.  © Floto + Warner While the modern and contemporary fashion objects are enlivened by their proximity to their sources of reference (and inspiration), the papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy are presented in an abstract setting, in display furnitures that respond to the qualities of each object. This visual 'decontextualization' gives precedence to their magnificent physicality and otherworldly craftsmanship.  © Brett Beyer The exhibition design strikes a balance between an experience which feels elevated, and one which allows for the requisite level of criticality within a broader material culture. On the one hand, religion is sacred and inviolate, but on the other, it has always engaged with art and design. The tension this exhibition explores is how that relationship, and the values it expresses, change over time.  © Brett Beyer  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Moleskine Celebrates Creative Process with New Line of Luxury Notebooks Posted: 09 May 2018 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Moleskine Moleskine, the go-to brand of sketchbook lovers have expanded their luxury notebook line, The Art Collection. The Italian paper-manufacturing brand and architects' favorite (we know we are!) dedicates this new collection to those who value the creative process just as much as the final result and want to translate their stories and ideas onto papers. Whether it's drawing, doodling, painting, sketching, or composing, the Art Collection meets the diverse needs of its users who "simply need get lost in their colors and visions without fear of losing the spirit of their work." The collection consists of several notebook types and is available in both soft and hardcovers. The Sketchbooks come in various shapes, weights and functions, and can be transformed from a traditional sketching notebook to a reporter style pad, or a Concertina-style album, all ideal for dry media (pencils, charcoal, pastels…).  Courtesy of Moleskine  Courtesy of Moleskine The Watercolor Album notebooks are designed specifically to bear heavy and damp strokes on both sides of the papers, keeping the content intact. The Storyboard notebook is dedicated to film writers and comic fanatics, where each paper is divided into four frames per page. Lastly, the Manuscript notebook created for composers and lyricists consists of plain pages on the left side opposed by manuscripts on the right.  Courtesy of Moleskine  Courtesy of Moleskine The launch follows their recent debut of Pen + Ellipse (the new smartpen) and is added to the brand's existing rich list of high-end design and paper products. The Art Collection notebooks by Moleskine celebrates artistry in all its forms proving once again that regardless of how dominant technology is becoming, paper will always hold a special place for artists, architects, musicians, story-tellers...  Courtesy of Moleskine News via: Moleskine.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Austrian Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale to Focus on the Importance of "Free Space" in Urban Spaces Posted: 08 May 2018 11:00 PM PDT  © Nico Saieh As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage we present the proposal for the Austrian Pavilion. Below, the participants describe their contribution in their own words. Cities are largely defined by their public spaces. It is here that a range of user expectations come together. The aim of urban design is to find a balance, to act with an eye to the future and cities are largely defined by their public spaces. It is here that a range of user expectations come together. The aim of urban design is to find a balance, to act with an eye to the future and to increase the attention given to public space. Public space is social space. And this is precisely why design is so important. In terms of architectural language, the quality of public space is defined by the balance between space and place, by convincing materials and by major urban design signals as much as by spontaneous and informal gestures. And, always, by high aesthetic aspirations. The three invited teams – LAAC, Henke Schreieck and Sagmeister & Walsh – address urban spaces and architecture as built landscape. And they do this with great consistency, with self-assurance, with the highest qualitative aspirations and with a great respect for cooperation and interdisciplinarity. A common feature of their work is that their interventions – whether these are architectural, urban or emerge from the logic of the design – are built not in the city but as extensions of it. This approach also enables the notion of the common good to emerge in the shape of a focus on the public interest that is playing an increasingly important role in the current architectural debate. For the Austrian Contribution to the Biennale Architettura the three conceptual teams will develop an interdependent spatial installation in three parts. In doing this we will refer directly to the theme "Freespace" and address the significance of free spaces for urban contexts. While not alluding to real architectures, we will be working with real spaces – spaces which should enable us to recognise the qualities that these architects and designers are seeking to create with their work: the convergence of outside and inside, vertical and horizontal connections, the historic pavilion and the language of contemporary architecture and design. "Freespace", the title given by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara to the Biennale Architettura 2018, describes "generosity of spirit" and humanity as the central aspects of an architectural agenda that concentrates on the quality of space. It also places a focus on mutual exchange and influence between architecture, the users of architecture, nature and natural resources. Their exhibition in Venice will present built and unbuilt spaces that will essentially employ socio-political questions as the starting point for addressing the issues of spatial quality and architectural beauty. This should make it possible to understand architecture better, to encourage the discussion of architectural core values and to turn the spotlight back onto architecture's proven and sustainable contribution to humanity.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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