Arch Daily |
- The Sixteen-Oak Barn / HilberinkBosch architects
- Beauty Matters at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2019 as Curators are Announced
- Ilot A3, Tour de Logements / Herzog & de Meuron
- Family House Neveklov / ATELIER KUNC architects
- Bamboo Craft Village / Archi-Union Architects
- Astronomical Park of Zhenze High School / Specific Architects + Unit Architects
- SALA Canal / Volume Matrix Studio
- JOY BOX / Pures Design
- Korokoro Bush House / Parsonson Architects
- NYDG Integral Health & Wellness / Brandon Haw Architecture
- Jan Boelen and Deniz Ova, Curators of the 2018 Istanbul Design Biennial, Discuss the Future of Design Education
- Lake Cottage / artek
- BBC Investigation Finds Grenfell Tower Insulation "Never Passed Fire Safety Test"
- Social Housing in Bairro Padre Cruz / Alexandre Dias + Bruno Silvestre + Luís Spranger
- 7 Sites in Havana That Tell the Story of Cuba’s Rich Architectural History
- Gable House / Edmonds + Lee Architects
- Final Winning Design Concepts Released for Resilience by Design's Bay Area Challenge
- Meet NINO, the Edgy, Brutalist Gnome
| The Sixteen-Oak Barn / HilberinkBosch architects Posted: 23 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT  © René de Wit
 © René de Wit Text description provided by the architects. Traditionally, most farmhouses in the Meierij of 's Hertogenbosch, a former administrative realm or bailiwick, have their separate parts such as living quarters, storage space and cowsheds integrated into a single building. Over time, however, these compact buildings frequently became too cramped to house all of these functions and a separate barn was added. These were usually built from locally available materials and largely followed the structural pattern of the farmhouses themselves.  © René de Wit In 2017 we were told that seven of the century-old oak trees in our yard were in bad shape. They had to be cut down. Instead of following the usual path and selling the trees to the paper industry, we decided to reinstate an ancient tradition. And so, by replacing a collage of obsolete shelters and sheds, we would, in line with our farm's monumental character, build a new barn with locally harvested materials employing traditional techniques. Besides a couple of oak tree trunks we obtained from the nearby Wamberg estate, there would be enough timber to construct the new barn from the trees we had to cut down.  © René de Wit Our new transverse barn is constructed with four tie-bar couple trusses that are connected by longitudinal stringers topped by a roof supported by rafters. The roof has an asymmetrical geometry with a steep and a low pitched side. There are three spaces inside the barn: a carport, a storage room and a workshop/meeting room for office use. The loft above the storage room is open to the workshop.  © René de Wit  Diagram  © René de Wit A mobile sawmill was brought to the yard and used to cut the fresh tree trunks into structural timber for the frames and roof as well as planks for the façades. For this we used the best quality wood from the trees' core sections and went in search of suitable uses for the remaining, less durable parts. Stanchions with bark were employed as slats to shield the glazing in the workshop and carport. Bark was mixed with concrete to construct the end walls so they would blend in with the wooded environment. Soft sapwood planks were used for concrete formwork to mould the imprint of fresh wood. Short lengths were cleaved and used as roofing shingles. The roughness of this cleaved timber ensures that this untreated roofing will last for decades. And finally, the rest was chopped and stacked for firewood in the barn's recessed north façade.  © René de Wit Untreated timber, concrete and glass have been intermingled in various ways. The irregular dimensions of the wood used to build the formwork resulted in far from perfect concrete surfaces. Remnants of the sapwood formwork became embedded in the concrete and tannic acid from the fresh timber left discolorations. Iron and steel inclusions in the trees, such as barbed wire and shrapnel, presumably dating from 1944, brought imperfections to the timber. These additional circumstances created an unexpected layer of traces in wood and concrete.  Construction Diagram The barn's esthetics have been strongly influenced by coincidence. It lends this contemporary building a vital expression that merges old and new in a wonderful and extraordinary way.  © René de Wit  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Beauty Matters at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2019 as Curators are Announced Posted: 23 May 2018 09:00 PM PDT  2019 TAB Curators. Image Courtesy of Estonian Centre for Architecture Dr. Yael Reisner of Yael Reisner Studio, London, was selected as head curator for the 2019 Tallinn Architecture Biennale titled: "Beauty Matter: The Resurgence of Beauty." The architect's winning proposal rejuvenates the importance of beauty, reflecting on how after almost 8 years of beauty being a tabooed subject, a cultural shift has changed its perception. The selected assistant curator will be Johanna Jõekalda, who has previously advised on the Estonian architectural scene and its socio-political-cultural features. The Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) which will take place in September and October 2019, will bring the status of beauty into discussion, discovering it through the lens of new environments. The exhibition will tackle two important issues in the architecture: "society in response to alienating built environments and the ecologically unfit."  Courtesy of Estonian Centre for Architecture
The team includes two more assistant curators, architects Barnaby Gunning and Artur Staškevitš, residing in London and Tallinn respectively. News Via: Tallinn Architecture Biennale.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Ilot A3, Tour de Logements / Herzog & de Meuron Posted: 23 May 2018 08:00 PM PDT  © Julien Lanoo
 © George Dupin Text description provided by the architects. H&deM designed the master plan of Confluence for the Rhone river side (ZAC II) between 2009 and 2011 and has being supervising the urban development since then. The project proposes 14 "îlots" of approximately 100 buildings mixing uses and typologies. Îlot A3 is the first "îlot" in the new Confluence district "Quartier du Marché" to be developed as a pioneer for the entire area. H&deM acted as "Architecte en Chef d'Îlot" for the translation of urban guidelines into architecture.  © Jonathan Letoublon  Axonometry  © Julien Lanoo  Typologies  © Maxime Delvaux Ilot A3 consists on an open bloc of 8 buildings with housing, offices and retail designed by 6 offices including AFAA, Tatiana Bilbao, Manuel Herz, Christian Kerez, H&deM and Michel Desvigne as landscape architect. In the center of the bloc there is a courtyard with a day care. The introduction of 16 floor high towers in the master plan offers simultaneously the possibility to keep a relative high density as well as having small-scale buildings of 3 stories. Thus, it provides a variation of urban scales within the same bloc.  © Maxime Delvaux  © George Dupin The residential tower on Îlot A3 is designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The volume is a simple extrusion defined by rounded loggias in the corners. The curved mineral facade has single and repetitive square openings. Its appearance relates to the very structured and homogenous facades of the buildings in the old town of Lyon. As opposed to the curves of the concrete, windows and sunshades are combined in a polygonal metallic frame specifically developed for the project. Their position follows the rectilinear grid of the floorplan. The geometry of the metallic window frames offers the possibility to use the shading system when the tilting window is open.  © Julien Lanoo  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Family House Neveklov / ATELIER KUNC architects Posted: 23 May 2018 07:00 PM PDT  © Jan Vrabec
 © Jan Vrabec Text description provided by the architects. The House in Neveklov works with the basic, archetypal form of a family house with a saddle roof. From the perspective of the composition, these are two buildings with the same roof pitch and different heights, slightly jutting out and connected by a glass neck. The main motive of our concept is to link the interior with the exterior through large windows and terraces, the house is very airy, it is open to the roof in two places and offers a number of look-outs into the large garden.  © Jan Vrabec  Ground floor plan  © Jan Vrabec Colours are minimalist – the house is black form the outside and the interior is predominantly white – based on our long-standing inspiration by Scandinavia. The details and the furniture bring colour accents to the interior, the atmosphere is created by a fireplace and a number of accessories. The house is standing in a formal orchard, and the building is thus designed to integrate into the garden throughout the time. When designing, we deliberately incorporated the beauty of imperfection – we expect the facade to get patina, the colour to go grey, the wooden terraces go silver, the grass and the meadow flowers to grow a little wild and all that will blend into an organic whole.  © Jan Vrabec  © Jan Vrabec Construction-wise, the house is a wooden, skeletal system with an installation front wall. The facades, including the sloping roof are made by the Japanese technique, they were covered by hand charred larch planks. In order to highlight the minimalist look of the house, we designed a concealed gutter. There are white planks used in the interior peripheral construction, the internal partitions are plasterboard, the floor is cast cementitious screed, in the bathrooms there is a cement surface on the walls and in one of the bathrooms there is a black and white tiling.  © Jan Vrabec  © Jan Vrabec We designed all the furniture as a built-in interior: It is a combination of white lacquered MDFs and natural oiled oak. Tiny contrasting details are black. There are matt black accessories in the bathroom as well.  © Jan Vrabec  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bamboo Craft Village / Archi-Union Architects Posted: 23 May 2018 05:00 PM PDT  © Bian Lin
 © Huapeng Chu Text description provided by the architects. The Bamboo Craft Village is located in Daoming County, Chongzhou City, Sichuan Province, more than 50 kilometers away from the urban area. The village, with a strong atmosphere of rural life and close neighborhoods, is a typical representative of local living environment – Lin Pan, along with vernacular intangible cultural heritage – Bamboo Weaving. After looking into the current situation and needs in person, the designer of the village, Philip F. Yuan, attempts to create a rural infrastructure space integrated with culture industry system sensitive to the ecology, culture, industry and lifestyle of the village.  © Bian Lin InBambooActually the Bamboo Craft Village is a positive result of InBamboo project, which was origin from a traditional Chinese poem, describing the ideal relationship between a house and its rural bamboo forest surroundings. In the wild naturalness of the village fields is a spiraling tiled house. The overlapping roof is supported by a system of light steel and wood construction, 70% of which was completed by means of an optimized pre-fabrication process. Making use of prefabrication allowed for the architecture, interior and landscape to be completed in the short time of 52 days. The overlapping serpentine roof naturally defines two interior yards, providing a rich interior experience between what is inside and what is outside; between what is landscape and what is architecture. The various functions of the building are gathered into a continuum under this inter-weaving roof.  © Li Han The project demonstrates a new definition for how architecture can interact with tradition. It provides a means for re-examining the dichotomy between the village and the city. With a new rural architecture industry, pre-fabrication and construction will establish the foundation for a new definition for rural architecture. It will not only help preserve construction traditions found in the rural countryside but will also help advance village industry overall. In Bamboo used two months' time to pre-fabricate the wood structure and only 52 days for on-site construction is a rural industrialization experiment. Once the equipped countryside industrialization factories combine advanced fabrication approaches, like robotic fabrication with the village architecture industry, a new meaningful industrial development upgrade will take place in the near future.  © Hua Chai As the first name card of Bamboo Craft Village, InBamboo is not limited to looking back towards convention, but also shows an open attitude towards the futures. It has attracted more and more artists, let's say new villagers, who are willing to return to the countryside for artistic creation and reconstruction together with aboriginals, inheriting and carrying forward the characteristics of local humanities, thus create more, better and more diversified upgrading business. And also because of InBamboo, the government has full confidence in handing over the transformation and upgrading of the entire village to Philip F. Yuan and his team.  © Bian Lin This time, the vision is no longer confined to an abandoned farmhouse base, but a village full of vitality. In the meantime of meeting the perfect fantasy of the paradise described in traditional literature and fine arts, Bamboo Craft Village provides an opportunity for the industry-driven upgrade experiments under this era.  © Bian Lin Taking InBamboo as a prototype, Philip F. Yuan uses a topological shape-finding technique, combines different functional requirements of each building to form a variable cross-section tile roof, and then determines the underlying steel-wood support structure for factory prefabrication. Bamboo Craft Village magnifies and maximizes the design-construction integration industry system. The newly built houses are blended into the environment, while so different in terms of experience. They are utopias in the real world, as well as a romantic presentation after all the rigorous procedures of science and engineering.  © Philip F. Yuan As a featured village named after the local "bamboo weaving" craft, the village will periodically carry out special events (Arts Festival, construction festivals, etc.), where bamboo weaving, processing, and consumption are fully displayed and taught. Roads are re-organized into a clear system, waterways are sorted into a purification system, as well as a countryside landscape. Ecological agriculture was integrated with landscape and catering. Multi-level public buildings and spaces are taken into consideration. Also a village guide rule with consideration and sensitivity to the local character is made to take the overall control.  © Wei Zang Dingzhizhu Bamboo Weaving Culture CenterDingzhizhu Bamboo Weaving Culture Center, located at the village entrance at the mountain foot, is at the first sight of coming tourists, and plays a role of guidance. Two small farm houses that originally existed on the site were integrated into a unified streamlined building space. Under this open and flowing linear roof, there is a mezzanine living space, a high-pass display space and a semi-outdoor tearoom space. Visitors can enjoy the production, teaching and display of the bamboo weaving process in the shuttle flow both inside and outside. The building is finished with local grey tile roof and bamboo weaving façade, with support of timber structure. The fifth SpaceAs the village service center, the fifth space is located in the center of the village, with forest trays and canals in the back, facing the public square and rape field, and equipped with a small parking lot. It includes toilet, teahouse, public chairs, delivery point, ATM, and play areas for kids. The "X" shaped plan stretches into the site, providing a bridge for rest and repose, viewing the flowering fields and village roads below. The building incorporating with the village's unified architectural language - a curvilinear cross-section roof- is completed with a steel-wood hybrid structure, with the use of bamboo-molded concrete walls and local traditional grey tile roofs.  © Huapeng Chu Tourist CenterThe tourist center is close to the most beautiful country road - "Chongqing Road". As the gateway to the Village, it is equipped with bus drop-off points and small parking lots. Situated in the natural, wild rural phenomena, the visitor center located here surrounds the central public square with its surrounding functional space and is open to the rape fields. The building is finished with a mixture of brick walls and wooden structure roofs, and the silky ridge line covers the space. Open-ended public spaces such as an integrated service hall, shops, and exhibition halls are on the first floor, and the second floor is a relatively private working space.  © Huapeng Chu Teenagers CampgroundsThe campgrounds facing the mountain ravine, provide continuous public activity spaces and scattered individual dwelling unit in the wild mountainous surroundings for every culture experience team, gradually dissolves and extends into nature. The public activity area is formed by several blocks of continuous diagonal connections, including multi-functional classrooms, restaurants, and equipment rooms, etc. The accommodation units are scattered among the forests, erected from the ground, and connected by the plank road. The building is completed with a prefabricated balsa structure. The building facade consists of weather-resistant steel panels and highly reflective glass. All viewing facades are framed with high-reflective glass floor to provide a wide view of forest, while hiding the building in the environment. Zhuyi Bed and Breakfast (B&B)Zhuyi Bed and Breakfast (B&B) is a demonstration project for the Baita Lake Tourist Resort and is a key step in Chongzhou's construction of a Chinese featured town. The design strives to make full use of the natural advantages of the site to create an architectural space that is in harmony with the natural world, the functional theme, and the structural materials.  © Huapeng Chu The guest rooms are located in the former dormitories of Academy of Fine Arts on the hillside behind InBamboo. They are laid out along the east-west direction facing the village. In combination with the site environment, 8 individual single-level rooms are compactly scattered in the forest and touch the ground. Visitors can take a battery car to get to the mountain top and walk inside the houses. The design respects the original appearance of the base and preserves the rustic charm. The construction process minimizes damages to the existing vegetation. The rooms are modeled after traditional buildings, and the dexterous double-curvature roofs are generated from a circular planar topology echoing the lobby. The two round plans are interlocked with one another. One side is a living room, and the other side is both a recreational and a living function. It includes a dressing area, a small bar table, a wardrobe, a sofa, a writing desk, and a TV. Combined with the dimensions of the flats, functional spaces such as showers and toilets are placed on both ends of the circular plan. An independent outdoor courtyard is formed in the overlapping area of the two circles. Expanding the room activity space, people can fully feel the freshness and beauty of nature. It not only provides space for the reservation of large trees on site, but also meets the need of internal lighting. The construction was completed with steel nail piles and wood structures. Local traditional grey tile roofs and bamboo-fabricated facades were used in conjunction with the site environment of Linpan.  © Huapeng Chu  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Astronomical Park of Zhenze High School / Specific Architects + Unit Architects Posted: 23 May 2018 03:00 PM PDT  Daliy use of the Astronomical Park. Image © Hengzhong LYU
 Interior of the Astronomy Pavilion. Image © Hengzhong LYU Text description provided by the architects. Astronomical Park is an important part in the astronomical cultural construction of Zhenze High School. The Architects put forward the idea of constructing astronomical projects in the form of parks, combination of the astronomical theme with the campus environment, and having them become links between the original relatively independent functional areas. Astronomical stadiums and sites are transformed into circular elements, and anchor each other with the slopes.  Daliy use of the Astronomical Park. Image © Hengzhong LYU  Section  Night view inside the empty courtyard. Image © Hengzhong LYU The architects set up the empty courtyard in the Astronomy Pavilion. The upper part of the empty courtyard folds inward, thus eliminating the interference of the surrounding environment. The pure sky mutually echoes with the courtyard floor laid with white stones, thus forming a closed geometric space.  Spiral stairs. Image © Hengzhong LYU The periphery of the empty courtyard is designed with the intervention of a series of circles tangent with the inner and outer circles, and the reconstruction of the center of the circles, the different spaces for use are subdivided by the arc wall, among which the largest space is a place for exhibition and reading.  Aerial view. Image © Hengzhong LYU  Plan  Exterior view of the Planetarium Pavilion. Image © Hengzhong LYU The two staircases, which are set in the tangential circle, connect the continuous indoor and outdoor space with the observation site on the roof smoothly. The infinite spiral, continuous and dynamic organization means enables the astronomical theme to be further presented.  Night view of the Planetarium Pavilion. Image © Hengzhong LYU The Planetarium Pavilion is located on the north side of the Astronomical Park. The architects made it an open landscape pavilion integrated into the environment. The Planetarium Pavilion is designed with a dome-shaped screen. The setting of a metal shading and sound absorption window ensures that the presentation of the astronomical phenomena can be achieved at any time. The Planetarium Pavilion is shaped like an inverted round platform, the tiles on the top of which add the finishing touch to the building in appearance. The practice of the hollowing-out technique also makes the lighting of the campus at night more special.  Interior of the Planetarium Pavilion. Image © Hengzhong LYU  Section  The Astronomy Pavilion and the Planetarium Pavilion. Image © Hengzhong LYU The park-style design remolds the space and the genius loci of the campus. Now, the Astronomical Park has been well integrated into the daily campus life, where students rest, read... Due to the construction of the Astronomical Park, the campus has become more special and energetic. Besides, it also provides the students with indelible memory of the campus life.  Aerial view of school. Image © Hengzhong LYU  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| SALA Canal / Volume Matrix Studio Posted: 23 May 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Spaceshift studio
 © Spaceshift studio Text description provided by the architects. Sala Canal House is located alongside of an old canal surrounded by a garden with various local grown fruits in Bangkok, Thailand. Not far from this site, there is an old floating water market open daily, where the local residents come shopping for fresh food. You can still feel, smell, and experience the traditional Thai way of living around this area.  © Spaceshift studio Sala (ศาลา), is a Thai language which means, "building or open pavilion used as a meeting and relaxing place for people". You can find Sala in any parts of Thailand such as, schools, temples, old villages. This house was built with the concept of the shades of Sala. We wanted a place for the owner and their family and friends to absorb the local atmosphere by feeling the canal breeze, watching the traditional boats passing by, chatting and relaxing in a calm peaceful mind.  © Spaceshift studio The main requirement from the owner was to design a house for two generations, but to maintain a privacy for both family. We have designed complex for each family on a different level, connected by a terrace. The two structure looks like a one big house visually but actually are separate and have absolute seclusion. All the rooms have the canal view. Some functions and facility such as the kitchen, main terrace and the swimming pool are shared by both families.  © Spaceshift studio The Kitchen area, which is in between the two complex and under the connecting terrace, acts like a Sala and is the key area for this project. The ceiling are double floor height and spaciously designed. The two family enjoys cooking together, so it functions as a place for gathering and having conversations with a view of the canal.  Plan This house is also made to adapt to the tropical humid weather of Thailand. By lifting the first floor up, it allows wind to flow in from many directions easily like a natural ventilation system. It is how the traditional Thai houses are made when there were no air-conditioning. Also, we placed a long cantilever shading to protect the excessive sunlight since the house was facing south, which usually is a direction avoided in Thai buildings because of the extreme heat.  © Spaceshift studio As for the material, we used simple material such as teak wood and concreate and steel, which is easy to construct and maintain in the humid area. It is locally available and cheaper than imported products.  © Spaceshift studio Sala Canal House belongs uniquely to this specific site and has used the wisdom of the old Thai technique to establish harmony with the modern way of building a house.  © Spaceshift studio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 May 2018 12:00 PM PDT  © Xiaokai Zhang
 © Xiaokai Zhang Text description provided by the architects. JOY BOX Restaurant is located on the first floor of Wuhan Tiandi Horizon Shopping Mall. The total area is 70 square meters. The south and north sides of the site are displayed façades, and the street façade is 5-meter high glass wall. Pure Design was tasked with extending the existed branding elements, retaining the sense of transparency and layering of the space, and attracting costumer's attention continuously.  © Xiaokai Zhang
 © Xiaokai Zhang In the original site, the street entrance and mall entrance are located at the south and north sides. This separation creates a straight passageway within the space. The staff entrance is located at the corner. According to the business requirements, the food preparation area could only occupy one side of the staff entrance. Following the regular strategy, designers could use the straight passageway directly, then divide the space into a dining area and a food preparation area.  © Xiaokai Zhang However, we chose to rotate the whole layout anticlockwise 23.7 degrees. Therefore, the customer circulation in front of the bar area becomes a right angle. This specific design gathers more customer into the bar area, in addition to enlarging the dining area and customer capacity.  © Xiaokai Zhang  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Korokoro Bush House / Parsonson Architects Posted: 23 May 2018 10:00 AM PDT  © Paul McCredie
 © Paul McCredie Text description provided by the architects. The house sits at the end of a narrow road,perched on a steep hillside, looking down a bush-clad valley to the Korokoro Stream with views out to Wellington Harbour through a V in the hills. It is two storied with bedrooms upstairs and livings spaces below.  © Paul McCredie  Ground floor plan  © Paul McCredie A covered walkway steps down beside the garage leading to the front door with diagonal views out to the north facing deck, lawn and hill views. From the entry, passage through the house follows the line of the hillside in a procession of gentle steps down to the main living spaces, that look over the valley and wrap around a private north facing deck.  © Paul McCredie The house is designed as a private and peaceful retreat with colouring and materials that comfortably sit amongst the verdant surroundings. In contrast the garage door becomes like a lantern lighting up at night.  © Paul McCredie  Section A  © Paul McCredie  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| NYDG Integral Health & Wellness / Brandon Haw Architecture Posted: 23 May 2018 08:00 AM PDT  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO
 © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO Text description provided by the architects. The new flagship facility for the world-renowned New York Dermatology Group occupies the second floor of a classic Fifth Avenue landmark building situated on the Northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and East 19th Street. The project comprises 7,000 sq ft of new wellness and treatment facilities and a new, discreet VIP entrance from East 19th Street. The design accommodates 8 new treatment rooms, blood infusion facility, nutrition center and 2 new cryotherapy treatment facilities, each with their associated support spaces, reception and retail product area. The distinct characteristics of the NYDG's practice -- deeply personal, calm and care-focused approach coupled with the use of latest technological procedures -- are reflected by a subtle and sensuous yet controlled and classic palette of materials that communicate a sense of timeless luxury, warmth and professional exactitude within this new dermatology and wellness center.  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO To preserve the integrity of the original, light-filled loft space, BHA created a simple refined object that sits within the larger volume, set apart from the surrounding walls, containing the treatment rooms. Measuring approximately 20 ft wide x 92 ftlong and clad in a custom made interlocking fiberglass panel system, reminiscent of a curtainfrozen in time, its curvilinear and sinuous profile is deliberately separated from the dark industrial wooden floor, stopping short of the ceiling to accentuate its object-like quality. With its delicate opalescent ivory color and bronze finish detailing, the doors, trims and reception areas are integrated into one holistic system that conveys timeless quality and attention to detail. The separation of the treatment rooms to the external façade organizes the principal circulation along the edge of the space for all visitors and staff to enjoy, maintaining the quality of light of the original space. The use of reclaimed industrial stained oak flooring from Germany sets the ground plane, above which white polished plastered walls with bronze baseboards and door trims create the backdrop for the treatment rooms.  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO Working alongside the fabrication and installation team led by Paolo Cassina Custom Interiors, in association with Sailing, a second-generation bespoke yacht interior fabricator from Pesaro, Italy, BHA created a solid stained wooden baffle system that would screen out the services above and integrate the lighting that has been developed in collaboration with Fisher Marantz Stone. Within the treatment rooms, solid ground quartz flooring creates an easily maintained seamless surface essential for procedural spaces. The ceilings are defined by a simple, evenly lit panel that can be dimmed to a comfortable level upon entering or to a brighter level when any procedure is in progress; this light is augmented by specific task lighting integrated into the ceiling zone. Custom-made cabinetry and countertops integrate each operational requirement. Hand built by Sailing in Italy under the auspices of Paolo Cassina Custom Interiors, the same bronze trims create the continuity of detailing throughout the facility.  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO  Scheme  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO The design of the space is complemented with a new custom furniture range developed by Brandon Haw Design and fabricated by Paolo Cassina.  © Albert Vecerka/ ESTO  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 23 May 2018 07:00 AM PDT  Yapi Kredi Kultur Yayincilik, Biennial Venue. Image © Koray Senturk via IKSV "Today, design has become a form of inquiry, power, and agency," say Jan Boelen and Deniz Ova, curator and director of the 2018 Istanbul Design Biennial. "It has become vaster than the world itself, permeating all layers of everyday life." Their curatorial statement for the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, which opens later this year themed with the title "A School of Schools," seeks to explore how design education, and education in general, can evolve and adapt in a new age of artificial intelligence. The team is determined that the Biennial should not read as a two-year scheduled event, but should "reinvent itself and become a productive, process-orientated platform for education and design to research, experiment, and learn in." The team is undoubtedly well equipped for the challenge. Boelen is director of Z33 House of Contemporary Art in Belguim which fashions projects and exhibitions which encourage visitors to look at everyday objects in a novel manner. Meanwhile, Ova's experience with international exhibitions includes over a decade working with the International Projects department at IKSV, coordinator for the Turkish Pavillion at the Venice Biennale, and managing the participation of Turkey in the London Design Biennial. In this exclusive interview with ArchDaily, the curators discuss their intentions to explore design education, share their views on the future of the Biennial, and describe how they intend to use the Biennial as a platform not just to critique existing education models, but to actively explore new methodologies in a format which stretches into a "flexible year-long program within which to respond to global acceleration, generating alternative methodologies, outputs, and forms of design and education."  Manufacturer 3.0 installation view at Z33 2016. Image courtesy of Kerim Bayer Archive, via IKSV ArchDaily: What was it that inspired you to look at education? Did it pertain to your own research, was it a long-standing interest? What guided your design of the Biennial? Jan Boelen: Education in itself is a long-term interest for me. I am interested in what architecture and design are doing in our everyday lives, how we are affected by it, and how it is having an impact on us. Going further, I am interested in how architecture and design are evolving and expanding. Architecture is becoming more open. It is not just about finding a pragmatic solution anymore but also encompasses speculation, critical architecture and design, and also relational design and architecture. These are becoming new directions in architecture itself. I do not believe that education is following these new developments, so as we approach the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, perhaps it is an appropriate time to reflect on where the profession is going, and how we can design the architecture of education. Deniz Ova: Education was interesting to examine in the confines of the Biennial because as a cultural institution the Biennial always has an educational and investigational role, no matter how slight. We were excited by the idea rethinking the Biennial as a platform for learning experiences of a different kind, and to further explore what the Biennial could be. Jan Boelen: It also explores the format of the Biennial, asking if the Biennial is still needed or if it still plays an important role in positioning design as a cultural practice. We want the event to serve as a connector of local and global in the Turkish design world, asking how the Biennial can become more than just a two-year event. I actually believe it already is more than that, but it needs to be more explicit.  Manufacturer 3.0 installation view at Z33 2016. Image courtesy of Kerim Bayer Archive, via IKSV AD: Reading the curator statement, you say "chalk and talk and reciting multiplication tables has no chance against the animated distractions in our pockets. Meanwhile, the machines themselves have started learning." There is a sense of urgency, that the education system today is training humans to perform tasks they either no longer need to, or will no longer be applicable in industries increasingly moving to automation. Is that an overstated interpretation? JB: We still do believe in traditional approaches to education, and we are not just engaging in protest. That would be too easy. We are instead looking for new models and new strategies. We should reflect on this age of artificial intelligence and ask if it gives us the opportunity to develop new ways of exchanging knowledge. We ask if learning an "attitude" is more important, if we could become more human by allowing our emotion and intuition to form more of a part of our education system. So this is the opportunity of the future that technology can give us - we need to rethink how future systems can respond to that.
DO: We are also looking into a future which is not really defined. So with the learnings and findings of the Biennial, we ask what will the future of these institutions be, how will we work with the topic, and what can we create? That is what we are trying to understand in this conversation that is the Biennial.  Istanbul Map Blueprint 1901. Image courtesy of Kerim Bayer Archive, via IKSV AD: You mention the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College as initiatives which helped design evolve, and pushed the boundaries of education and learning. Reflecting on today, do architects and designers still exhibit that drive to go beyond the design of space, and engage with the design of systems, and does the Biennial remain as a valuable tool to support this? JB: I hope that traditional places of learning don't become the only places of learning, that architects and designers open their practices to develop educational studios, and that education doesn't always have to be as confined to a traditional academic university. Learning by doing and by action can be more beneficial, rather than by learning by listening and reproducing. Throughout the last seven or eight months, we discovered that using the Biennial as a place of both exhibition and production can give architects and designers the agency to engage with systems. It is a place between studio and school or university, a playground where you can develop new theories. It is a testing ground, rather than a full operating organization. DO: The Biennial serves as that avenue for experimentation, for new ideas to thrive. Designers can operate with a confidence that "if it fails, it fails". But if we were working in a professional world, there is perhaps more pressure to deliver results, and less room to investigate and interrogate. JB: Now you have your title: Learning to Fail!  Map of Antarctica, American Geographical Society 1956. Image courtesy of Kerim Bayer Archive, via IKSV AD: You have pursued a very complex and ambitious goal: to "create new knowledge, search for alternatives, and push the boundaries of the design discipline." I note you have received more than 700 applications from 41 countries, in an open call to "architects, scientists, engineers, chefs, craftspeople, activists, and everyone else." How are you responding to that challenge of directing and curating such a rich and diverse influx of ideas? JB: When we got these applications, we took one step back. We thought "why are we doing this? What is the need?" and then we produced the expanded notion of design and architecture encompassing other methodologies. So we looked not only at traditional pragmatic solutions of objects and so on, but also speculation, critical, and relational approaches. We asked how they related to design education. We brought together Different players from different disciplines, so not just architects but also scientists, artists, people who are simply interested in the topic. We then try to create a catalyst where these broad disciplines engage in a "school of schools" where everyone has their own way of dealing with topics, all of which are valid. This new direction of design has the power to renew the profession itself, from speculation to the solution of a pragmatic product that helps us in everyday life. From the critique that we formulate to the political consequences that everyday objects have, if we redefine these notions of design and architecture, then we hope it will influence the traditional approach. That is the main research question, you could say. It is not a conviction, it is open to discussion.
 Map of the geographical distribution of the most important plants yielding food, Keith Johnston, 1858. Image courtesy of Kerim Bayer Archive, via IKSV AD: The Biennial has historically acted as a geographical anchor, allowing for people from across the world to convene in an exchange of ideas. But the challenge arises of translating that energy, enthusiasm, and results in a digital media so they can reach a larger audience. Do you have intentions of replicating or sharing this year's Biennial online? JB: This Biennial is process-orientated. Even right at this moment, graphic designers are working with other designers in workshop groups to develop parts of the identity that the Biennial needs. The Biennial itself also functions as a school, so within that, you hope that it will also have a legacy, that groups will continue engaging. The website itself will be a platform not just for participants, but also for others who will publish and write about design, and design education. DO: One of the flaws in the Biennial model is that only the people who attend can experience it, so it is very important to extend the experience and discussion over a longer period and to have it last longer than the Biennial itself. This is why we are trying share as much of the process as possible, through articles, through media, through websites. And after the Biennial closes, we will try to keep it is active as possible, so that the conversations can continue.  Pera Muzesi, Biennial Venue. Image via IKSV  Galata Salt, Biennial Venue. Image © Mustafa Hazneci via IKSV AD: The Biennial itself could be regarded as a school, as a place of education: do you still believe in the power of the Biennial to effectively contribute to experimentation and new knowledge, or does this avenue also need a "redesign" for the digital age? DO: This Biennial is quite young compared to other events, so we try to stretch the idea of the Biennial each time. We are always open to changing the format, to allow it to transform into something completely different. We believe the Biennial should be anchored more in how we work day by day, rather than being a classical exhibition event once every two years. With a Biennial, everything operates on a two-year schedule, so we have been trying to change this, to use this event as an opportunity to ask what a Biennial can be, and how it could look in the future. And of course, every Biennial can mean something different, being anchored in different locations, to the identity of its city and country. The important factors for us is what does it mean for Istanbul, and to the network that we could create nationally and internationally.
JB: I sometimes ask myself is Biennials are still needed. But it was because I could formulate a need that I accepted the invitation to become involved in this event because otherwise, you should not do it! There is an inflation of Design Biennials, festivals, parties and so on, but as we discussed before, one reason to completely engage with this event is that it starts from a cultural perspective. Many other events cover a mixture of culture and communication, where the party can become more important than the content that is being produced. AD: Before we finish, do you have any final reflections? JB: Let's talk again in exactly one year. It is very important to continually make evaluations and re-evaluations, and we can see if the discussion we have started having an impact. I do not know yet what the indicators are which can measure this impact, but the most important aspect for us is to build something which is sustainable, and which has an after-effect.  Jan Boelen, Deniz Ova. Image © Ilgin Erarslan Yanmaz via IKSV About the CuratorsJan Boelen Jan Boelen is artistic director of Z33 House for Contemporary Art in Hasselt, Belgium, and artistic director of atelier LUMA, an experimental laboratory for design in Arles, France. He also holds the position of the head of the Master department Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Since the opening, Z33 House for Contemporary Art has been fashioning projects and exhibitions that encourage the visitor to look at everyday objects in a novel manner. It is a unique laboratory for experiment and innovation and a meeting place with cutting-edge exhibitions of contemporary art and design. With Z33 Research, design and art research studios established in 2013, Boelen is transforming Z33 from exhibition-based to a research-based institution. At the initiative of Z33 and the Province of Limburg, Manifesta 9 took place in Belgium in 2012. As part of his role at Z33, Boelen curated the 24th Biennial of Design in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2014. Boelen also serves on various boards and committees including the advisory board of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee in the UK and Creative Industries Fund in the Netherlands. Boelen holds a degree in product design from the Media and Design Academy (now the LUCA School of Arts) in Genk, Belgium. Deniz Ova Deniz Ova is Director of Istanbul Design Biennial at Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), since 2013. Ova started to work at İKSV in 2007 as the project leader for the International Projects department, where she developed and organized the festivals and events of the foundation in different European cities, carrying on as the director of the department from 2010 to 2013. Besides the festivals, she has been coordinating the Pavilion of Turkey at the International Art Exhibition, la Biennial di Venezia, the artist residency studio "Turquie" at Cité Internationale des Arts, and recently managed the participation of Turkey in the London Design Biennial. Since 2014, she is an advisor to the Pavilion of Turkey at the International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennial di Venezia, and has currently been appointed as a jury member for the artist residency studio "Turquie". In 2009, Deniz Ova was assigned to write with General Director of İKSV, Görgün Taner, and academician Deniz Ünsal a critical report on the arts and culture scene in Amsterdam following the nomination of Taner as Art Advisor for the Amsterdam City Council. Before her posts at İKSV, Ova worked as assistant director in several theatre productions at the Stuttgart State and City Theatre and managed festival events in Stuttgart. Deniz Ova graduated from the University of Stuttgart in Political Science and Linguistics. She is fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar and Stiftung Mercator "Turkey Europe Future Forum".  Bulent Eczacibasi, Jan Boelen, Deniz Ova, Gorgun Taner. Image © Ilgin Erarslan Yanmaz via IKSV Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and sponsored by VitrA, the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial runs from 22 September – 4 November 2018.
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| Posted: 23 May 2018 06:00 AM PDT  © Sergio Gomez
 © Sergio Gomez  Elevation Text description provided by the architects. The spirit of this house seeks to elevate the technical nature of its construction to the essence of the architecture of its time, each compositional element is the result of an amalgam of technical solutions and search for art, addressing the problems of architecture in its condition of Topos, Typos, and Tekton, that is to say to the form defined by the place, the function, and the technique, supplying its universal purpose that is to serve life.  © Sergio Gomez  Upper Floor Plan  © Sergio Gomez The plot (topos) corresponds to a slope that faces the Guatape reservoir, an anthropic landscape of fjords, peninsulas, and islands contrasted with tree-lined hillsides. The slope is molded to unfold flat portions from platforms, leaving all the existing trees. The house (Typos) as an oxymoron is a case and a lookout seeks to contain and expand, is a pavilion embedded in the slope, allowing all the noble spaces to extend to the landscape.  Longitudinal Section The composition of the construction elements (Tekton) are arranged in an ideal order, the stereotomic constraints make up the platforms, the interior walls are emptied monolithic concrete with EPS soul that allow achieving the asymmetric trapezoidal silhouettes in a rhythm of full and empty Hold the cover. This as a cloak protects the house from the "natural antagonist phenomenon". The wood was compressed releasing the inclined planes of transversal reinforcements, the steep slope leads the water towards gargoyle that evacuates the water to a later channel.  © Sergio Gomez  © Sergio Gomez  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| BBC Investigation Finds Grenfell Tower Insulation "Never Passed Fire Safety Test" Posted: 23 May 2018 05:00 AM PDT  Grenfell Tower. Image © Flickr user paulhird. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 A BBC investigation has alleged that the insulation used in the refurbishment of London's Grenfell Tower, which was tragically destroyed by fire in June 2017 with the loss of 72 people, never passed a fire safety test, and was unfit for use. The BBC Panorama program, which aired on Monday night, concluded that the manufacturer Celotex "used extra fire retardant in the product that qualified for the safety certificate," with the more flammable produce then sold for public use. According to the BBC, Celotex is yet to deny the program's allegations. The investigation centers on the use of RS5000 insulation in Grenfell's refurbishment, which gives off toxic fumes when burning. Panorama contends that the specific insulation used had not passed a safety test, and was instead a more flammable version of a previously-tested insulation. This detail could be crucial, as the BBC believe that almost all of the tragedy's victims were killed by smoke. Panorama also reported that fire tests only showed the RS5000 insulation to be safe for use when combined with specific fire-proof cladding panels in new build projects. The program claims that Celotex targeted the contractors working on Grenfell's refurbishment to offer the insulation, despite being aware it would be combined with combustible cladding. The BBC claim that Celotex "knowingly misled buyers about RS5000. Its marketing suggested the insulation was suitable for use with other cladding panels and for tower block refurbishment projects like Grenfell [when] neither was true." Celotex released a statement yesterday, May 22nd, responding to the allegations contained in the BBC Panorama program. They point out that "the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Police investigation are on-going," and that they "will continue to fully co-operate with these official processes."
The BBC Panorama program is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer here. News via: BBC.
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| Social Housing in Bairro Padre Cruz / Alexandre Dias + Bruno Silvestre + Luís Spranger Posted: 23 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT  © do mal o menos
 © do mal o menos Text description provided by the architects. Bairro Padre Cruz is a large social housing neighborhood on the northern fringes of Lisbon. It was originally built by Lisbon Municipality (Câmara Municipal de Lisboa) in the 1960s to accommodate council employees and their families. Our project is part of a wider regeneration programme for the entire neighborhood that consists of replacing the original single-story housing in an advanced state of decay.  Ground Floor Plan  First Floor Plan The project brief for the project consists of 20 homes ranging from one to four bedroom units with individually allocated allotments. The plot is a south-facing slope on the north-west edge of the existing urban grid of single-story housing. Across the bottom of the slope, the plot is bordered by Rua do Rio Douro, whereas at the top of the slope the plot is neighboured by a recently built sports field.  © do mal o menos The proposal consists of a series of two, three and four story volumes, placed perpendicularly to the lower street (Rua do Rio Douro), and consequently aligning with the geometry of the more recent housing development to the west of our site.  © do mal o menos © do mal o menos The volumetric fragmentation generates an array of small-scale urban plazas at both lower (street) and upper level (pedestrian path) that will accommodate the allotments and access to all units, promoting sustainable urban living whilst enabling social engagement amongst the residents. These external spaces function as a threshold that mediates between the urban scale of the city and the domestic scale of the residences. Each unit has its own front door from these small urban spaces.  South Elevation and Section An urban stair through the center of the plot connects the street at the lower level with a pedestrian path at the upper level. This path evokes the stairs of Lisbon historic center, where the experience of the urban space is largely characterized by the dramatic topography of the city.  © do mal o menos  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 7 Sites in Havana That Tell the Story of Cuba’s Rich Architectural History Posted: 23 May 2018 02:30 AM PDT  © Evan Chakroff Havana is often referred to as a time machine that transports visitors to a particular moment in history, seemingly frozen in time. While it is a city that boasts an exhaustive timeline of imported styles, Havana in the present day is not defined by a singular historical era—either in its political climate or in its architectural zeitgeist. Over the decades, the Cuban Revolution has had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it transformed Cuba's relationship with the United States. But efforts to improve diplomatic relations have gained momentum in recent years, with the teetering lift of the embargo that exacerbated a David and Goliath situation and left a lasting economic impact on the Cuban people. Havana's skyline has hardly altered since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the city became shut off from the rest of the world, having to rely heavily on its own resources. Today, the government in Havana occupies the gap between the last stance of post-Cold War communism, and the looming influence of Capitalism, a situation which reveals itself in the variety of distinct architectural styles. These seven sites in the island nation's capital best explain the story about where Havana has been, and offer a prediction as to where it may head next. National Arts School © Evan Chakroff The Cuban National Schools of Arts, imagined by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and designed by Rocco Porro, are perhaps the most outstanding architectural achievements of the Cuban Revolution. The visual arts building, arguably the most provocative, was also a metaphor for Cuba's past, present, and future. As you walk down the curved corridors, it's impossible to see what lies beyond. The loss of time and direction became a metaphor for this new chapter in Cuban history. This building embodied both the excitement and apprehension within this new revolution with its idiosyncratic structures. This school was a true product of the revolution for another reason—the all-brick structures were influenced by the US embargo which caused Cuba to experience a shortage of steel. Unfortunately, Castro's dream was quickly abandoned and the schools lost funding. They were deserted while under construction and still stand in ruins to this day. Russian Embassy © Evan Chakroff Known by locals as "La Espada de Rusia," meaning "the Russian sword," the Soviet-era embassy is a looming reminder of Cuba's relationship with the former USSR. Although the constructivist tower and surrounding compound now belong to Russian diplomats and represent a progressive political change, "The Russian Sword" still heavily dominates the city skyline. Christopher Columbus Cemetery © Evan Chakroff Established in 1876, the Cementerio de Cristobal Colón was designed around a central cathedral, inspired by the Florence Cathedral. The cemetery is organized by a grid of central avenues and smaller side streets which arranges the space according to rank and social status. The wealthy and notable graves occupy prominent streets, and the lower class is regulated to the outskirts of the site. Walking through Colón Cemetery is like walking right through chapters of Cuban history, with more than 500 major mausoleums and family vaults built in styles ranging from renaissance, to neoclassical, and even art deco. More than 800,000 people are buried there, and because the real estate is hard to come by, after three years, bodies are exhumed and put into storage to make room for more interments. Old Havana © Evan Chakroff Old Havana, the place where Camila Cabello famously left half her heart, is located in the city center where specific moments of architectural history and a hesitation towards modern progress are perhaps the most evident. Layers of the diverse imported styles make it a museum of sorts, and reveal brightly colored art nouveau, art deco, neoclassical, Spanish baroque, and Moorish buildings that line the narrow streets and open up into heavily used public plazas. This area is perhaps the most picturesque and well-known representation of Cuban architecture and culture. Coppelia © Evan Chakroff Coppelia is another mark Castro left on Cuba, representing his interest in the modernist style and his love for ice cream. Built on the site of a former hospital, the building itself is one of the world's largest ice cream parlors and features five massive white granite discs annexed to one great helicoidal staircase. The space is contained under one large roof with colored glass and wooden panels to divide up seating areas. This state-run parlor looks like a spaceship that crashed into a forest of palm trees, and serves 35,000 customers each day. Hotel Habana Libre © Evan Chakroff The Hilton Hotel, which opened in 1958, was once a symbol of capitalism. It was a place where Americans could escape to a foreign land, while still being afforded the luxury of a cheeseburger, or an air-conditioned suite. It represented a shift in Cuba's alliances and a place where international investors were invited with open arms. However, after being open for only six months, Castro closed down this symbol of American influence, converted it into his provisional headquarters, and invited other Latin American leaders to hold posts there as well. His office was set up in room 2324 and was where he filmed press conferences and announcements. Now, the hotel has been returned to its original use, and is currently called the Habana Libre. Revolution Square © Evan Chakroff Revolution Square, the city's civic center which now sits as a large parking lot, is another reminder of the Cuban Revolution. The site features landmarks including the famous Jose Marti Memorial, a place where Castro once stood and addressed his people. The edge of the site is held by other Soviet-era buildings which have been transformed into monuments through welded artwork depicting Che Guevara and Castro's confidant, Camilo Cienfuegos.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Gable House / Edmonds + Lee Architects Posted: 23 May 2018 02:00 AM PDT  © Joe Fletcher
 © Joe Fletcher Text description provided by the architects. A creative collaboration between Edmonds + Lee Architects and a designer client leads to a surprising, light renovation of an old San Francisco Victorian. An emphasis on the procession of rooms (rather than the more typical open floorplan) and a celebration of the pitched roof (rather than the flat ceiling implemented in most renovations) results in an airy space that serves as a backdrop for a well-designed life.  © Joe Fletcher The Gable House, a 3,000 sqft renovation and expansion is a seamless homage to modern Scandinavian aesthetics. Sourcing not only aesthetically from the region but also literally, the Dinesen Douglas Fir that the flooring a stunning highlight of the home was shipped in from Denmark, special ordered as extra long planks to maintain an utterly seamless living room. The architects call the individual spaces "stages," each room made to showcase the client's favorite objects: works by Arne Jacobsen, Carl Hansen, and B&B Italia.  © Joe Fletcher  Ground + First Floor Plans  © Joe Fletcher Sharing a design sensibility with the client gave the architects a platform from which to depart from the aesthetic and spatial norms for Victorian renovations in SF, where clients often want to disrupt any divisions between kitchen/ dining/ living room areas to make one big, grand, open space. Instead, ELA opted for a series of carefully choreographed rooms that simply draw visitors through the house, with each room offering a different experience. These rooms are anchored by only the lightest of moments— what the architects call a "hearth cube," tethered on the ground floor by the fireplace in the living room and pulled through the house by the staircase, tying the floors together with a delicate glass wall that winds its way through the house alongside the staircase.  © Joe Fletcher  Second + Third Floor Plans  © Joe Fletcher At the top of this procession is a celebration of the original architecture of the building: a moment of jubilance that sets the home apart from the flat ceiling typical of modern renovations. The attic of the Gable House instead reflects and honors its pitched roof, featuring skylights and a playful approach to cove lighting. The end result is a house airy with effortless, timeless, tactile minimalism.  © Joe Fletcher  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Final Winning Design Concepts Released for Resilience by Design's Bay Area Challenge Posted: 23 May 2018 01:00 AM PDT  One year after the launch of Resilient by Design's Bay Area Challenge, the final nine design concepts have been selected. The Bay Area Challenge launched with a call to action to "bring together local residents, community organizations, public officials and local, national, and international experts to develop innovative solutions that will strengthen our region's resilience to sea level rise, severe storms, flooding, and earthquakes." The idea formulated as a "blueprint for resilience" that can be replicated and utilized locally and globally. Other urban challenges will also be addressed, including housing, transport, health and economic disparity as a means of not just protecting the current regions, but strengthening them. The elite, collaborative teams include world-renowned designers like BIG, Mithun and HASSEL+. Read on for more about each of the final design concepts.  The Estuary Commons: People, Place, and Path Forward - All Bay Collective. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design The Estuary Commons: People, Place, and Path Forward All Bay Collective San Leandro Bay From the architects - To protect local neighborhoods and restore native habitats, All Bay Collective reimagines the shoreline of San Leandro Bay with the creation of Estuary Commons. Through the construction of ponds, landforms, and expanded streams, the communities of Deep East Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro will not only be able to adapt to sea-level rise and groundwater flooding, but will also have a network of flourishing greenways to enjoy for generations to come. The All Bay Collective worked closely with eight community organizations to move community groups from the margins to the center of the design and planning process.  Islais-Creek - Hyper Creek - BIG + ONE + Sherwood. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design Islais-Creek - Hyper Creek BIG + ONE + Sherwood City of San Francisco: Bayview-Hunters Point, Dogpatch, and Potrero Hill From the architects - Islais Creek - Hyper-Creek is a vision for the area where ecology and industry co-exist in harmony. The BIG + ONE + Sherwood unveiled six proposed pilot projects, developed together with stakeholders and local communities, to kickstart a long-term process toward realizing the overall vision. At the center of their proposal is a large park with a restored tidal creek system and soft shoreline shares the area with maritime functions, light manufacturing, and logistics that have formed the area's economic backbone for decades. The park plays an important role in building physical and social resilience: it retains, conveys and cleans water, protecting the surrounding neighborhoods while providing amenities and benefits to the community.  Elevate San Rafael - BionicTeam. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design Elevate San Rafael BionicTeam San Rafael, Marin County From the architects - Elevate San Rafael is a new paradigm for responding to complex environmental change and simply what needs to be done: occupy higher elevations and raise the quality of life and social connection for everyone. It proposes evolving the city by combining time-tested approaches to coastal adaptation with a moral, financial, and infrastructural agenda for large-scale preparation.  The Grand Bayway - Common Ground. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design The Grand Bayway Common Ground San Pablo Bay, Sonoma & Napa County From the architects - State Highway 37, a low-lying commute route that skirts the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, is both traffic-choked and increasingly flooded due to sea level rise. Sitting atop a precarious levee that confines an immense but compromised marsh complex, Fraser Shilling has observed, "the highway has the dubious distinction of constricting both traffic and tidal flows". The project considers a new future for this highway as an elevated scenic byway, creating an iconic "front door" to a vast ecological open space previously known to few. Accessible to bikes, runners, kayaks, campers, and fishermen, the Grand Bayway will become a Central Park for more 21st century sensibilities in rapidly expanding North Bay communities.  Collect & Connect - Resilient South City - HASSELL+. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design Collect & Connect - Resilient South City South San Francisco, San Mateo County From the architects - Collect & Connect - Resilient South City is a proposal to create more public green space and continuous public access along South San Francisco's Colma Creek, aiming to reduce the impacts of flooding, mitigate against sea-level rise vulnerability, restore native flora and fauna, and create more amenity and healthy lifestyle opportunities by connecting a continuous public corridor from the Orange Memorial Park to a new public park at the shoreline. .jpg?1526937567 "Designing Our Own Solutions - P+SET. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design") Designing Our Own Solutions - P+SET. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design Designing Our Own Solutions P+SET (Permaculture and Social Equity Team) Marin City, Marin County From the architects - The Permaculture and Social Equity Team proposed a social design process to build community capacity in leading the challenges of coastal adaptation and resiliency planning. The team was invited to implement their process in Marin City by Shore Up Marin, an environmental justice, and resiliency planning organization. Out of the process grew a capacity building program, resulting in an inspiring People's Plan to authentically reflect the aspirations and intentions of the resident community. An intergenerational cohort expanded existing knowledge for assessing and addressing risks, developing near and long-term strategies with a prioritized set of projects to be partially implemented as early as this summer.  Unlock Alameda Creek - Public Sediment. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design Unlock Alameda Creek Public Sediment Alameda Creek, Alameda County From the architects - Unlock Alameda Creek is an implementable project that links Alameda Creek with its historic baylands. By reconnecting sediment flows from Alameda Creek to the marshes and mudflats at the Bay's edge, the proposal creates protective ecological infrastructure that adapts to sea level rise. It provides a sustainable supply of sediment to bay marshes and mudflats for sea level rise adaptation, reconnects migratory fish with their historic spawning grounds, and introduces a network of community spaces that reclaim the creek as a place for people, building an ethos and awareness around our public sediment resources.  ouR-HOME - The Home Team - Mithun. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design ouR-HOME The Home Team - Mithun Richmond, California From the architects - The ouR-HOME sea level rise response projects are linked to the health and financial well-being of residents that have been traditionally shut out of opportunities to improve health and family wealth. Small lot housing, a community land trust, social impact bonds and community infrastructure combine to lower the cost of entry to home ownership. Green infrastructure proposals to bring the 'marsh to Main Street' with a horizontal levee, and plant 20,000 trees to filter air and water, are strategies that can be implemented through existing local job and career programs – benefiting the people in North Richmond.  South Bay Sponge - The Field Operations Team. Image Courtesy of Resilient by Design South Bay Sponge The Field Operations Team San Mateo and Santa Clara County From the architects - The "Sponge" is a concept for using nature and natural systems as a primary tool for climate adaptation and resiliency in the South Bay, inspired by both the historic function of the region's inter-tidal marshlands as flood protection, as well as by the remarkable efforts to restore the South Bay Salt Ponds. The potential of a large-scale assemblage of remnant marshlands, newly restored salt ponds and newly constructed wetlands as the core component of a regional flood protection strategy is at once radically innovative, but also resonant with the South Bay landscape today. In addition to addressing climate adaptation, the South Bay Sponge can give the landscapes of the South Bay a powerful and legible identity. Project descriptions and News via: Resiliency by Design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Meet NINO, the Edgy, Brutalist Gnome Posted: 22 May 2018 11:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Plato Design If you think you've seen this handsome fella before, you have; except he was wearing a flashy red hat and an old blue robe, attempting to protect your house from thieves. Luckily, gnomes have gotten quite the modern makeover. Thanks to the collaboration between Plato Design and designer Pellegrino Cucciniello, you can finally get rid of the kitschy little guy, and replace him with NINO, the modern, brutalist gnome.  Courtesy of Plato Design NINO Gnomes are a collection of cement-made geometric abstractions, suitable for both outdoors and indoors. NINO's refined material and detailed geometric design (available in grey, white, and pink) can easily secure a place on the living room shelf, next to the frames and vases.  Courtesy of Plato Design The designers behind the new gnomes explain that NINO is an experiment in changing people's perception. "The challenge set out by the NINO project is that of overturning the perception of an object by working solely on language and imagery, not on its function," they wrote in a design statement. While we're not sure what a gnome's function is... we do know that we have a new member in our house and garden, and his name is NINO.  Courtesy of Plato Design News via: Plato Design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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