Arch Daily |
- Vita House / Ryan W. Kennihan Architects
- "Freestanding" Exhibition Shows the Power and Poetry of Sigurd Lewerentz’s Architecture
- Ratchut School / Design in Motion
- "Svizzera 240: House Tour": The Swiss Pavilion, Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale 2018
- Farmhouse Renovation / Atelier 56S
- T / Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
- Crystal Laputa / 5+design
- Private Residence No. 07 / FLXBL Design Consultancy
- Ramen Musashi / Golucci Interior Architects
- Number 7 Subway Line Extension & 34 Street Hudson Yards Station / Dattner Architects
- Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners' 3 World Trade Center Opens in New York City
- Shepherds House / Linha de Terra Architecture
- Round-Up: The Serpentine Pavilion Through the Years
- Aspen Residence / Aidlin Darling Design
- Schmidt Hammer Lassen Design Zero-Carbon Headquarters for Global Chemical Company in Brussels
- Garage Museum Headquarters / FORM
- Frida Escobedo's 2018 Serpentine Pavilion Opens in London
- The Top Apps for Architects
- Newman House / Nicolás Pinto da Mota, Victoria Maria Falcon
- How to Design and Calculate a Ramp?
| Vita House / Ryan W. Kennihan Architects Posted: 11 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT  © Alice Clancy
 © Alice Clancy Text description provided by the architects. The building is an extension and renovation of a detached townhouse on Abbey Street in Roscommon town. It provides counseling rooms and a large meeting hall for the holistic counseling center called Vita House and the broader community.  © Alice Clancy The site is highly sensitive as it overlooks the town's primary church, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, while the existing building is part of an architectural conservation area. The design arises from the client's desire to create a peaceful welcoming place which can be a central part of community life.  © Alice Clancy The design, therefore, seeks to be a 'good neighbor', inspired in part by the simple pitched roofs and rectangular windows on the road as well as by 18th-century buildings like the City Assembly House in Dublin which contain a variety of unexpected spaces behind modest exteriors.  © Alice Clancy The reserved exterior allows the church to continue to dominate the surroundings and relies on subtle tectonic details and asymmetries for richness. The simple volume belies the various rooms within including a large meeting space whose domed ceiling and serene atmosphere allude to the religious associations of the client organization and the neighboring parish church.  © Alice Clancy  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| "Freestanding" Exhibition Shows the Power and Poetry of Sigurd Lewerentz’s Architecture Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT  © Laurian Ghinitoiu As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present Freestanding, an exhibition in the Biennale's Central Pavilion. Below, the curatorial team describes their contribution in their own words. Sigurd Lewerentz's (1885-1975) chapels are marked by an extraordinary imaginative synthesis of northern aesthetic traditions and burial practices in the context of a modernising world. He wrote and spoke little but, in recent years, his work has gripped the imaginations of a generation of architects who look to it for its power, symbolic range, and its poetic, experiential qualities.  Courtesy of Sigurd Lewerentz Collection, ArkDes Through archival drawings, new photography, and large-scale interpretative models, Freestanding in FREESPACE unfolds the spatial power of three freestanding canopies from three of Lewerentz's best known sacred spaces in the form of a three-act play: an inhabitable, sectional scenography and a fabric of experiences that suggest ways in which extra spatial gifts can form the heart of the experience of a place, a ritual, and a landscape. _%E2%94%AC%C2%AEMikaelOlsson.jpg?1528751395 "© Mikael Olsson") © Mikael Olsson Freestanding presents and re-presents the canopies of the Chapel of the Resurrection at the Woodland Cemetery (1925), Stockholm, the Chapels of St. Knut and St. Gertrude at the Eastern Cemetery, Malmö (1943), and St. Mark's Church at Björkhagen, Stockholm (1960). Simple in form, they are central to the ritual meaning of the buildings they correspond to, contributing significantly to the visual image of the churches they accompany. The three extraneous structures were completed across the span of Lewerentz's career, and each designed in a different architectural style to one another. Despite this stylistic diversity, they all, in different ways, create places for public life between the scales of the landscape and the interior.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Swedish architect Petra Gipp has created three large-scale sectional models which allow for a unique reading of the canopies – how they make a place for people between the breadth of a landscape and the massiveness of a building. Gipp's models are abstractions, suppressing scale and material in favour of spatial effects.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu New photographs taken by Swedish artist Mikael Olsson show the three projects as living, contemporary scenographies. In dissecting and rearranging the structures and their surroundings, the photographs reveal new perspectives on their design. The pictures evoke movement and help to reveal how we perceive distance and intimacy through architectural gestures. _%E2%94%AC%C2%AEMikaelOlsson.jpg?1528751364 "© Mikael Olsson") © Mikael Olsson A selection of drawings made by the office of Sigurd Lewerentz have never before been shown together. As a sequence, they help to establish the spatial narratives of the canopies, collectively and alone: unique perspectives that show how they mediate their respective landscapes and interiors, alongside plans, elevations and detail drawings that show the diagrammatic composition of these outdoor spaces and their relationship to the main body of the buildings.  Courtesy of Sigurd Lewerentz Collection, ArkDes Freestanding, a project by Kieran Long, director of ArkDes, Johan Örn, curator of collections at ArkDes, Petra Gipp, architect, Mikael Olsson, artist, James Taylor-Foster, curator contemporary architecture and design ArkDes, is exhibited as part of FREESPACE in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini della Biennale. In 2020, ArkDes will stage the first major exhibition on Sigurd Lewerentz since the 1980s, presenting an in-depth view of the architect's most well-known buildings while shedding light on projects that have hitherto been overlooked.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Ratchut School / Design in Motion Posted: 11 Jun 2018 08:00 PM PDT  © Ketsiree Wongwan
 © Ketsiree Wongwan Text description provided by the architects. The project design reflects the 'Montessori' ideal learning environment, where a learning space should resemble a home more than a typical classroom. Therefore, the learning area is split into multiple small-sized "rooms", where all the children could feel more like home when they come to school. The layout of these "rooms" has been designed to correlate with each of children's activities.  © Ketsiree Wongwan  Site Plan  © Ketsiree Wongwan The best learning environment for children this age is nature, that why the building layout has been carefully planned to support children's self-learning and integrated both indoors and outdoors spaces, architecture, and landscape to provide different learning activities. This layout consists of different "nature" elements, each suitable for different stages of child's development. The selected natural elements that have been used to create an ideal learning environment for this project include caves, sand, mounds, and trees.  © Ketsiree Wongwan 1. The "cave" concept has been transformed into wooden layers at the entrance. The spaces in between cascaded layers allow the natural light to pass through making them dominant, interesting and creating a gently fresh atmosphere for the kids.  © Ketsiree Wongwan This project also includes one building for parents, and two buildings for classrooms, where the buildings are interconnected with roofed corridors. All the building was painted in grey tones alternating with wooden slat to create a smooth, yet warm feeling to the eyes of the outsiders. The architecture is designed to be simple, which allow children to easily understand the layout of the project. Also, wooden slat helps filter out sunlight from outside, so that children are exposed to just enough sunlight that's optimal for their visions and learning.  © Ketsiree Wongwan Additionally, this wooden slat will limit children's view of the outside, which can help decreasing distractions from outside the classrooms and help children to focus better on their current tasks. The classroom buildings also consist of multiple smaller rooms that serve different activities. This planning was inspired by a child's home, wherein each 'room' they could play, learn and develop different skills and knowledge. Thus, a 'smaller room' is more suitable and more stimulating for children in learning than a big regular open room.  © Ketsiree Wongwan  Sections  © Ketsiree Wongwan  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Jun 2018 07:30 PM PDT  Project team for the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May 2018. Left to right, Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara. Image © Christian Beutler / KEYSTONE As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Swiss Pavilion. To read the initial proposal, refer to our previously published post, "Swiss Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale Celebrates Peculiar Form of Architectural Representation." Honored by this year's jury as the winner of the Golden Lion for best national participation, the Swiss Pavilion actively defies conventional representation while exploring a specific point of contact between architecture and society: the house tour.  Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Image © Wilson Wootton Curated by a team of Swiss architects including Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara, the installation is called Svizzera 240: House Tour and draws inspiration from interior photographs of unfinished apartments. Visitors circulate through a series of spaces that at first offer constructed views that make each new encounter look like a typical photograph of a brand new living space. But, as the visitor enters each new room—piercing the momentary illusion of the staged perspective and suddenly participating in the space rather than experiencing it merely as a visual composition—it quickly becomes apparent that the rooms and fittings are rendered at unexpected scale; the doors, windows and power outlets might be much larger or significantly smaller than expected given the lack of visual context.  Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Image © Christian Beutler / KEYSTONE "We embraced the image's inability to show scale, dimension, depth and spatial adjacency, so what we end up with is a continuous landscape that shifts in scale" said Matthew van der Ploeg in a video explaining the project, which shows visitors ducking through tiny doors or gazing up at shoulder-high countertops.  Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Image © Christian Beutler / KEYSTONE  Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Image © Christian Beutler / KEYSTONE
 Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Image © Wilson Wootton  Installation view of "Svizzera 240: House Tour" at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia © Wilson Wootton, Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg und Ani Vihervaara. Image © Wilson Wootton  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Farmhouse Renovation / Atelier 56S Posted: 11 Jun 2018 07:00 PM PDT  © Jeremias Gonzalez
 © Jeremias Gonzalez Text description provided by the architects. The project consists of renovating an old farmhouse. In addition to the classic program of a house, the clients wanted a music room and a studio.  © Jeremias Gonzalez  © Jeremias Gonzalez We propose to preserve the original aspect of the farmhouse and to give it back its unity lost after several interventions in time. Openings are created to illuminate interior spaces. The living spaces and the music room are on the ground floor, along with the master bedroom. The guest rooms and the studio are on the first level, we detached the entire floor from the peripheral walls creating a wooden box aspect. This allows double heights in the living spaces.  © Jeremias Gonzalez  Ground plan  © Jeremias Gonzalez  First floor plan The stone wall is visible from the outside and in the interior is coated with earth to benefit from the thermal inertia of the earth. Finally, window frames are made of concrete to keep the mineral aspect of the exterior.  © Jeremias Gonzalez  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| T / Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates Posted: 11 Jun 2018 05:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
 Courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates Text description provided by the architects. Both the name of the room (function) and the cenesthesia (volume) affect residential architectures. Some are rational but leave the space and living in the rigid and inconvenient relationship. I would like to create the place where the sense of embracement and the laid-back breadth provided by the scale can coexist. For this plan, I decomposed the length, breadth and height that make up three-dimensional shapes, and designed the "width" of the room from the human perspective to give the embracing comfort, and the "length and height" from the landscape perspective in light of the streetscape and the premise. I used 1.55m as the smallest common denominator and the effective dimension for the width of rooms after the numerous simulation of housing lives. Two cubic capacities of 1.55m in width, 13.5m in depth and 8m in height sit next to each other over the T-shaped structure with the joint pillar/beam.  Courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates Simultaneously feeling the close proximity the small width gives and the sense of sharing the same space even when the dwellers actually are in separate rooms. The scale of the place indefinitely expanding and contracting to accommodate the movement of people and their feeling of distance. The richness brought in the rationality by the unrestricted movement of people, light and wind inside the reiterating structure. The new scale has brought about the new freedom that can be taken two ways.  Floor plans The rooms on the upper floor are laid out in a spiral manner along the staircase, each at slightly shifted positions. As the rooms are narrow, the floor does not need the beam and is supported by 50mm boards. And the upper and lower floors are loosely connected by that. While I used the Japanese standard of 910mm module when spacing the pillars, I also used the new scale of 55mm in width and 700mm in depth for the structure to create the new living experience in the traditional dimensional system. The natural light coming in from the gap at the top of the structure reflects several times to embrace the inside with the soft ambience on some occasions, and the morning or evening sun shine in sharply on other occasions. The main structure supports the "scenery created by the natural light and the scale".  Courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates  Sections  Courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates Additionally, the deliberately limited width of the architecture gives the comfortable margin between the living section and the office. The design at the scale that can easily induce activities around the house allows the everyday life and work, as the daily bustle, to connect to the atmosphere of the city. Here, the use of the residential architecture is expanded - a gallery, market and private lodging for interns from overseas. My intention is to make a private residence connected to the world beyond its original purposes.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Jun 2018 03:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of 5+design
 Courtesy of 5+design Text description provided by the architects. Crystal Laputa is a vertical community located in Chengdu that aims to redefine the standards of modern high-rise dwelling by restoring the inhabitants' connection to the environment and to each other.  Courtesy of 5+design  Master Plan  Courtesy of 5+design The 150,000 square meter project consists of two high-rise towers and one mid-rise building, nestled in in a park-like setting along the water's edge.  Concept Section Designed to evoke a floating neighborhood in the sky, the towers hover over an expansive lake, interconnected by elevated walkways and land bridges.  Courtesy of 5+design These bridges link and unify three different modes of transit: pedestrian walkways, a vehicle roadway, and docks for the project's onsite fleet of water taxis. A generous third-floor sky park connects all three towers and contains recreational spaces to engage the community in outdoor activities. At the grade level, paths and walkways are peppered with play areas and running trails to reinforce the project's connection to the environment and to maximize social engagement.  Courtesy of 5+design The project's surrounding lake is a modern reflection of the canals and waterways that once naturally flowed through the site. It also serves as a key environmental asset, providing a natural habitat for migrating wildlife and as a resource for surrounding vegetation.  Courtesy of 5+design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Private Residence No. 07 / FLXBL Design Consultancy Posted: 11 Jun 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon
 © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon Text description provided by the architects. The house, dubbed as the Private Residence No. 7 is located in the middle of a neo-posh locality of the city. The exposed-concrete residence shows how architecture can be used as a tool to give expression to human mind through a clever play of open and closed spaces. The house is crafted for the family of four keeping with their love for nature and the keen desire for accommodating immense greens in the spaces such that it mingles with the daily life of the family through elevated garden and rooftop courtyard.  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon  Ground Floor Plan  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon The residence demonstrates programmatic and experiential continuity through a complex interlinking between the solid and the void. Its interior spaces adorned with a mix of wood and other urban fabric create an interesting contrast with the concrete exterior enhancing the exterior views.  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon The building responds to the local climate which is typically hot for a major part of the year while it brings in plenty of natural light and ventilation in every room. The openings are oriented to pull in more light from the north and east facades and to significantly reduce heat gain from the south and west.  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon The interior voids, facade openings, rooftop courtyard, elevated garden and extended walls work together with light, shadow and the landscape to create a powerful influence of nature while keeping the identity of that of the monolith intact. The ground floor houses a large living room extending towards the dining area at the south, a family room at the west and the entrance at the east, all of which look onto peripheral gardens.  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon The living room is oriented on a north-south axis to attract northern light inside the residence, and the kitchen and dining spaces extend into southern dining patio and raised garden. The approach way to the entrance provides one with a view of the rooftop garden and a hint of a secret tree court. The bedrooms and entertainment room at the first level extend along the eastern side of the rooftop courtyard capturing a cinemascope view of the green spaces and a skyline of the trees and screening landscapes.  © Harsh Pandya / Panchkon  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Ramen Musashi / Golucci Interior Architects Posted: 11 Jun 2018 12:00 PM PDT  © Luluxi
 © Luluxi Text description provided by the architects. Menya Musashi is one of famous Ramen brand from Tokyo Japan. As the top-level of Japanese ramen, designer utilized simple lines to represent the eaves of the Japanese building, and then divide and recombined the space, tried to bring the scene of japanese old town street which full of lanterns at sunset into dining space.  © Luluxi  Exploded view Go into the dining space, a great quantity of gratings and colour assortment(wood and white) has brought a strong impact of Japanese style. There is a ring bar in the middle of space which is a micro landscape with innumerable mountains and valleys by using moss and stone. Among this area, we are not only decorate space lively, but also make people and food, people and space to interflow on their feeling and mood.  © Luluxi As same as most Japanese ramen restaurant, open kitchen was also used in Menya Musashi. But there are some differences, when customers look through the open kitchen, they can also see the kitchen, partly hidden and partly visible. It not only shows consummate skills of cook, but also make customers and cooks feel delighted and wonderful.  © Luluxi  Floor plan  © Luluxi Idea is from TV drama, Shinya Shokudo, people who have their own stories sat around the fire, but because of a delicacy they gathered here to enjoy the warm of this ramen ender the same eaves.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Number 7 Subway Line Extension & 34 Street Hudson Yards Station / Dattner Architects Posted: 11 Jun 2018 10:00 AM PDT  © David Sundberg
 © David Sundberg Text description provided by the architects. The Number 7 Line Subway Extension is an integral part of the New York City Department of City Planning's redevelopment plan for the far west side of Manhattan and the creation of the Hudson Yards Special District, a critical part of the MTA's Value Capture plan for the development right for the rail yards. The project extends the Number 7 Subway line from its present terminus at Times Square along 41st Street and then south along Eleventh Avenue.  Context Plan  Canopy Design by Toshiko Mori Architect . Image © David Sundberg  Perspective Section  © David Sundberg  Axonometric  © David Sundberg The project was designed with extensive outreach to and coordination with the Department of City Planning, Hudson Yards Development Corporation, NYC EDC, and the Development Community. The design for this deep station addresses 21st century passenger safety, comfort, and convenience, as well as the technical system challenges such as egress, power, and ventilation. Inclined elevators are being used for ADA access, their first application in the New York City area. The extension provides a new station at 34th Street, a new station entrance onto a public plaza, and four supporting systems buildings that provide power, ventilation, and egress for the station and the running tunnel portions of the line extension. This major infrastructure upgrade was the catalyst for the development of new commercial, cultural, and residential construction in a once under-developed neighborhood. This project exemplifies how modern transit facilities can be functional, aesthetically pleasing, and integrated Transit Oriented Development.  © David Sundberg  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners' 3 World Trade Center Opens in New York City Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:00 AM PDT  via World Trade Center 3 World Trade Center, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, has opened for business in Lower Manhattan, New York City. At 1079 feet tall, and 80 floors, the scheme is the fifth-highest in New York, and the penultimate tower to be opened on the World Trade Center site. Construction of the tower saw over 4,000 union workers apply millions of hours. The scheme forms part of a larger development of the World Trade Center site, including SOM's One World Trade Center, BIG's 2 World Trade Center, and a Transportation Hub by Santiago Calatrava. _(003).jpg?1528735177 "© Joe Woolhead") © Joe Woolhead  via World Trade Center A ribbon-cutting ceremony in the tower's lobby marked the scheme's opening, led by developer Larry Silverstein of Silverstein Properties, and attended by government leaders such as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo. In its first year, 3 WTC will welcome over 6000 employees from tenants including GroupM, McKinsey, and IEX.  via World Trade Center  via World Trade Center
.jpg?1528735117 "© Joe Woolhead") © Joe Woolhead With an address at 175 Greenwich Street, the scheme contains 2.5 million square feet of office space, broken down into 30,000 to 70,000 square foot floors. A structural system of reinforced concrete encased in steel is defined by a load-sharing system of K-shaped bracing, allowing for column-free floor plates and floor-to-ceiling glass. News via: World Trade Center  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shepherds House / Linha de Terra Architecture Posted: 11 Jun 2018 08:00 AM PDT  © emontenegro / architectural photography
 © emontenegro / architectural photography Text description provided by the architects. The project responds to the need to create a multipurpose space, compartmentalized, with the intent of gathering people to learn, discuss, listen to different themes and religious teachings. Four white walls were built on which lay a heavy, massive concrete roof. The interior is supported by wood lightweight structures and panels.  © emontenegro / architectural photography  Ground Floor Plan  © emontenegro / architectural photography From the confrontation between the different materiality, different spaces, perceptions and experiences are created. On the ground floor, the light entering through the white walls floods each space, enhancing the honey tone of the wood and the Osb of the finishing panels. The smell is so unique and the ambience created is a contrast to the coldness of the outside. It is a comfortable and dynamic space in its use for the day to day.  Sketches When we ascend to the upper level, lightness is expected, but we find an austere and raw concrete structure, pierced by four lanterns that allow the light to construct the limits of that sober space. It is intended that there be a cut with the outside, which is a reserved place, of introspection. That all the activities that take place there, from the most common to the most sacred, are not interrupted by the external reality.  © emontenegro / architectural photography  Upper Floor Plan  © emontenegro / architectural photography A plural space was built, which allows children to assimilate new learning, but also wiser individuals to share their knowledge and life experiences. A building that allows different sensations and perceptions of light, gravity, color, and senses.  © emontenegro / architectural photography  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Round-Up: The Serpentine Pavilion Through the Years Posted: 11 Jun 2018 07:00 AM PDT  Lasting for close to two decades now, the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion Exhibition has become one of the most anticipated architectural events in London and for the global architecture community. Each of the previous eighteen pavilions have been thought-provoking, leaving an indelible mark and strong message to the architectural community. And even though each of the past pavilions are removed from the site after their short summer stints to occupy far-flung private estates, they continue to be shared through photographs, and in architectural lectures. With the launch of the 18th Pavilion, we take a look back at all the previous pavilions and their significance to the architecturally-minded public. The premise behind the creation of the pavilions is simple: an architect who has not built in the UK is given the opportunity to showcase their talents and hopefully gain exposure. They are invited to build a temporary pavilion on the grounds of the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park London, England. Each invited architect is given six months, within receiving the commission, to construct the pavilion, then the exhibit is opened for the public's exploration for the remainder of the summer. The program's short timeline and limited scope creates the perfect environment for experimentation—safely distanced from pragmatic functions, this is architecture for the sake of architecture. For 19 years, the Serpentine Gallery has provided a significant platform from which to publicize architectural experimentation and avant-gardism, an arrangement from which the designers and the public benefit. 2000: Zaha Hadid Serpentine Pavilion 2000. Image © Helene Binet Perhaps there is no architect more perfect than the late Zaha Hadid to set the tone for the Pavilion program. Simultaneously praised and dismissed by many in her early career as a "paper architect," Hadid is well-known for wild geometries and highly experimental designs. For her first built project in her home country, the now world-famous architect created a tent-like structure that was supported by a triangulated framework. 2001: Daniel Libeskind with Cecil Balmond Serpentine Pavilion 2001. Image © Helene Binet Entitled "Eighteen Turns," Libeskind's Serpentine pavilion was created from sheer metallic planes that were assembled in a dynamic sequence—the same origami-like operations and rigid metal facade that we see in a more significant project: The Berlin Jewish Museum. Having been launched within the same year, it begs to be asked whether the pavilion was simply inspired by the design of the museum, or whether the pavilion was deliberately designed to serve as a teaser for a highly-anticipated, larger and more permanent project to come. 2002: Toyo Ito with Cecil Balmond Serpentine Pavilion 2002. Image © Sylvain Deleu  Serpentine Pavilion 2002. Image © Sylvain Deleu Though it appears to comprise of random triangular and trapezoidal shapes, the facade of the Ito's Pavilion was in fact based on an algorithm derived from a cube which expands as it rotates. The interplay between light, dark, transparent, translucent and solid created an interesting spatial condition in the interior. 2003: Oscar Niemeyer Serpentine Pavilion 2003. Image © Sylvain Deleu Oscar Niemeyer's Pavilion took us back to the golden age of Modernism. Built in concrete, painted in white and accessed by a ramp, the designer seemingly created an exhibit of the very elements of his notable mid-century buildings. The famous Brazilian architect, whose sketches are widely published, held the principle that every project must be simple enough to be summarized in a simple illustration and that is certainly applicable in this exhibit. 2004: MVRDV (unbuilt) Serpentine Pavilion 2004 (unbuilt). Image Courtesy of MVRDV Due to time and budgetary constraints, MVRDV was unable to realize their plan of building a mountainous structure. 2005: Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura Serpentine Pavilion 2005. Image © Sylvain Deleu This duo sought to pay homage to the Serpentine Gallery's permanent neo-classical building and the hilly landscape of the site. The resulting design was achieved through a rectangular grid which has been distorted to created curvaceous forms. 2006: Rem Koolhaas Serpentine Pavilion 2006. Image © John Offenbach Koolhaas, in partnership with Cecil Balmond, created a single-level circular pavilion which was protected from the elements by an "ovoid-shaped" inflatable canopy that would be lowered, or floated above the pavilion as a way to temper the effects of the daily weather. With a longer run than the preceding pavilions, Koolhaas envisioned a busy program for the pavilion, including 24-hour interviews. The architect made a case for the pavilion as a venue for attraction rather than just being the attraction itself. 2007: Olaffur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen Serpentine Pavilion 2007. Image © Luke Hayes The artist-architect collaboration between Eliasson and Thorsen of Snøhetta created another program-filled pavilion—causing the structure to be late for the Serpentine's annual Summer Party which coincides with the pavilions' launch. The timber clad multi-story pavilion, which was shaped like a spinning top, was the the most elaborate of all the pavilions up to this point and contained weekly public "experiments" lead by artists, scientists and practitioners. 2008: Frank Gehry Serpentine Pavilion 2008. Image © John Offenbach Though Gehry's Pavilion could easily be dismissed as just another iteration of his "wild" architecture he does find ways to challenge his work. While his pre-existing projects could be interpreted as an "explosion" of forms, Gehry's pavilion was an inversion of that idea. The glass canopies of the Pavilion seemingly "implode" within a well-articulated framework. Collaborating for the first time with his son Samuel, the resulting structure was imagined to be a hybrid between an urban street leading to the Serpentine gallery and an amphitheater hosting a suite of talks and events. 2009: SANAA Serpentine Pavilion 2009. Image © Claire Byrne Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa's design was perhaps the most straight-forward and structurally simple: a flat piece of highly-reflective aluminum supported by delicate columns. But in its simplicity their structure appears to "soar like smoke, melt like a sheet of metal, drift like a cloud, or flow like water." Seen in plan view, they also incorporated a recurring form in their work: a conglomeration of curvilinear blob-like shapes. 2010: Jean Nouvel Serpentine Pavilion 2010. Image © John Offenbach Striking in red is Jean Nouvel's pavilion for 2010 which coincided with the Serpentine Gallery's 40th anniversary. The pavilion, which contained an auditorium, a cafe, and general public spaces reads the most as a "regular" building, though in the context of the Serpentine Pavilions that isn't saying much. The vividly-colored polycarbonate and fabric structure embodied a playful spirit and contrasts with the green lawn throughout Kensington Garden similar to Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la Villette. 2011: Peter Zumthor Serpentine Pavilion 2011. Image © John Offenbach Zumthor continued his play on solids and voids during his turn at the Serpentine Pavilion. Much like his previous work such as in the Therme Vals, the interplay became a means of creating various effects and setting contemplative or visceral moments within his buildings. Zumthor ultimately set out to realize a hortus conclusus: an enclosed garden meant to act as an intimate space that was designed by Dutch garden designer, Piet Oudolf. 2012: Ai WeiWei and Herzog & De Meuron Serpentine Pavilion 2012. Image © Iwan Baan Given the huge success of the previous collaboration between the Chinese artist and the Swiss architects during the Beijing Olympic Games, the launch of their first collaborative work in the UK was much-anticipated, as it also coincided with the London 2012 Games. With more than 10 predecessors on the Pavilion Program, the team took an archaeological approach. Digging a little over 5-feet below grade, a reflective floating platform was erected over 12 uniquely designed columns that pay homage to the 11 previous pavilions at Serpentine and one to represent itself. The pavilion read as an archaeological dig-site, encouraging the spectators to reflect about the Serpentine's past. 2013: Sou Fujimoto Serpentine Pavilion 2013. Image © Iwan Baan Aptly nicknamed "the cloud," Fujimoto's Pavilion was an irregularly-shaped semi-transparent blob composed of light grid modules. The design built on a common theme of the architect's work which often interrogates the relationship of architecture and nature. In other ways, the pavilion was strongly reminiscent of his most recent successful project at the time: House NA. 2014: Smiljan Radic Serpentine Pavilion 2014. Image © George Rex  Serpentine Pavilion 2014. Image © George Rex Of all the chosen architects, Chilean Smiljan Radic was the least-known before receiving the Serpentine commission, and from the least-known came arguably the most out-of-this-world. In an article by The Guardian, Radic's design was likened to "a bulbous white cocoon, still sticky with the excretions of whatever creature made it," but the "weird" structure had more thoughtful underpinnings. Responding to the thick and layered assemblies of buildings in the UK, Radic wanted to create an extremely thin building envelope. With a fiberglass skin of just 10 mm thick, the donut-shaped structure was juxtaposed with boulders scattered throughout the site. 2015: SelgasCano Serpentine Pavilion 2015. Image © NAARO  Serpentine Pavilion 2015. Image © Iwan Baan Following the weirdest but most critically-acclaimed pavilion was perhaps the most critiqued. José Selgas and Lucía Cano of the Spain-based studio SelgasCano were commissioned for the Pavilion Program's crystal anniversary. The pair envisioned a polyamorphous polygonal structure consisting of panels of woven translucent or multi-colored ETFE. Like a human-sized cat's tube toy, the structure had multiple points of entry and exit and consisted of a number of different corridors. Hinging on the concept of pure visitor experience, the duo set out to build the structure in the most simple and elemental of manners: structure, light, transparency, shadows, change, and surprise. 2016: Bjarke Ingels.jpg?1466703070 "Serpentine Pavilion 2016. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Serpentine Pavilion 2016. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu BIG's 2016 commission plays with space and dimension, transforming from a single line of tubular "bricks" at its top to an expansive space containing a cafe and public space below. The pavilion is also accompanied by four "summer houses" that have each been designed by an architect who has yet to build a permanent building in England, respectively being Kunlé Adeyemi, Barkow Leibinger, Yona Friedman, and Asif Khan. 2017: Diébédo Francis Kéré Serpentine Pavilion 2017. Image © Iwan Baan Conceived as a micro cosmos—"a community structure within Kensington Gardens"—the pavilion has been designed to consciously fuse cultural references from Kéré's home town of Gando in Burkino Faso, with "experimental construction techniques." The architect hopes that the pavilion, as a social condenser, "will become a beacon of light, a symbol of storytelling and togetherness." 2018: Frida Escobedo Serpentine Pavilion 2018. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu Escobedo's design, which fuses elements typical to Mexican architecture with local London references, features a courtyard enclosed by two rectangular volumes constructed from cement roof tiles. These tiles are stacked to form a celosia, a type of wall common to Mexican architecture which is permeable, allowing ventilation and views to the other side.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Aspen Residence / Aidlin Darling Design Posted: 11 Jun 2018 06:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design
 Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design Text description provided by the architects. Anchored on the steep slopes of Red Mountain with panoramic views, this project is unique in the sense that it offers a new prototype for a speculative real estate in Aspen Colorado. The site, while surrounded by much larger awkwardly situated homes, affords stunning views over Aspen to the west and virtually undeveloped views to the south.  Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design The client, a developer with an earnest desire to change the real estate paradigm in Aspen, desired a more sustainable, site sensitive, and modern alternative to the usual developments. The design challenges conventional notions of interior and exterior, absorbing the surrounding landscape. Long-stone walls anchor space into the hillside, creating "rooms" both inside and outside, negotiating desirable and undesirable views on the severely constrained site.  Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design A panoramic view to the west is enhanced by a vast reflecting pool/roof which eclipses one's view of nearby homes, giving a sense of having the mountain to one's self. Arriving on the upper level, one enters a two-story mezzanine gallery and is greeted with spectacular views.  North Elevation  Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design Adjacent to the gallery is an aspen studded courtyard, which acts as an extension of the indoor spaces below. The home's north-south axis affords maximum view and privacy while taking maximum advantage of the sun. In addition to solar photovoltaic power, the home's configuration takes advantage of the passive solar heat. Through restraint and the use of local materials, the design offers a more sensitive alternative for future development in Aspen.  Courtesy of Aidlin Darling Design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Schmidt Hammer Lassen Design Zero-Carbon Headquarters for Global Chemical Company in Brussels Posted: 11 Jun 2018 05:00 AM PDT  Quad campus. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Schmidt Hammer Lassen has released images and details of its competition-winning design for the headquarters of Solvay, an advanced materials and chemicals company, to be located in Brussels, Belgium. Working in collaboration with Modulo Architects and VK Engineers, the Danish firm has prioritized sustainability and resilience in the zero-carbon, near-zero-energy building. The winning team was chosen from a competitive international field including OMA, Valode & Pistre, Wilmotte & Associés, and Henning Larsen.  Night view. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen  Facade. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen The scheme is located on a 22-hectare site in the Belgian capital which has hosted many of Solvay's activities since 1953. The design team sought to reach beyond the typology of a typical corporate office, instead offering a fluid, collaborative space dedicated to interaction and innovation.
 Amphitheater. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen  Interior roof park. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen The Solvay Headquarters sets ambitious environmental targets, aiming to be a zero-carbon footprint, near-zero-energy building. The scheme is set within a "green campus" with visitors welcomed by a formal "urban carpet" of benches, trees, and reflective pools. Above, a large green roof offers unobstructed views across the landscape, while skylights and sunken gardens maximize the connection between interior and exterior.  Winter view. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen  Entrance. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen An existing park to the west will be forested, with the reinstatement of an 18th-century stream linked to the Senne. Across the campus, rainwater will be harvested and reused, with the stream amplifying natural rainwater ponds to enhance biodiversity. To the north, an open-air amphitheater is shaped with consideration for existing trees and to take advantage of the naturally-sloping landscape.  Lobby. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen  Office space. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen These outdoor spaces guide visitors to a glazed, naturally-lit, inviting entrance lobby of the main building, flanked by a café and Experience Centre. Lined with informal workspaces such a large social staircase, the atrium also serves as a visual connection to the formal workspaces above. The first two floors of the building contain laboratories and workshops, with four upper floors dedicated to offices. These two blocks are linked by the Meeting Centre, offering space for employees to relax, and providing a connection to panoramic terraces.  Conceptual sketch. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen  Conceptual sketch. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Expected to be certified as BREEAM Excellent, the scheme integrates a broad range of environmentally-conscious features including geothermal energy, solar cells, and natural ventilation, while Solvay has committed to minimizing the impact of its manufacturing and industrial waste processes on surrounding air, water, and soil.  Model. Image Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen News of the scheme follows on from another environmentally-conscious corporate campus designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, with plans for the new campus of Norway's largest geotechnical specialist community announced earlier this year. News via: Schmidt Hammer Lassen
 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Garage Museum Headquarters / FORM Posted: 11 Jun 2018 04:00 AM PDT  © Yuri Palmin
 © Yuri Palmin The Garage Museum was moved from its original location at the Bahmetyevsky Bus Depot to Gorky Park in 2012. Its headquarters were relocated to a seemingly anonymous building partly occupied by the park administration. Research into the history of the site revealed an architectural palimpsest, a building with many lives that was marked by crucial events in Moscow's history.  © Yuri Palmin  Garage Axonometries  © Yuri Palmin Built at the end of the 19th century as a shipyard, the building was reinvented several times, becoming a pavilion at the first All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, a cinema, a WWII trophy gallery, a bathhouse, and a shop of sanitary equipment and ceramics. Several prominent architects were involved in its reconstructions, including Sergey Sherwood, Alexey Shchusev, El Lissitzky, Vasiliy Voinov, Rodrigo da Costa.  © Yuri Palmin  First Floor Plan  © Yuri Palmin By the 1990s, like many historic houses in the city center, the building was taken over by small businesses and segmented into a labyrinth of cluttered offices. The project focused on opening up the space and stripping it of recent layers to reveal its historic core. The plan of the cinema was adapted to the needs of the Garage Museum headquarters. The brickwork was exposed and revealed a patchwork of decades; arches of the shipyard, walls of the cinema, patches of clinker tile from ad hoc repairs. Original porthole windows and exits into the park were opened up, which brought the facade back to its rhythm of the 1930s.  © Yuri Palmin The layering can be felt in the new interior; the historic shell envelopes several new functional volumes varied in form and finish. The rough shipyard walls become a backdrop for clean lines and textures of the new furnishings. The various departments of the office are divided among 4 stories, with each given a distinct space, while maintaining a visual connection with one another. The space can be observed in its entirety from the open circulation spaces. e director's office acts as an observation room suspended to the side of the other work areas. A panoramic window was installed to light the topmost mezzanine, revealing the ruined cinema and the city skyline with monuments of the Luzhkov era.  © Yuri Palmin  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Frida Escobedo's 2018 Serpentine Pavilion Opens in London Posted: 11 Jun 2018 02:35 AM PDT  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The 2018 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, designed by Frida Escobedo, was unveiled today in London's Hyde Park. Escobedo's design, which fuses elements typical to Mexican architecture with local London references, features a courtyard enclosed by two rectangular volumes constructed from cement roof tiles. These tiles are stacked to form a celosia, a type of wall common to Mexican architecture which is permeable, allowing ventilation and views to the other side.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The courtyard of the pavilion is oriented exactly along the North-South, a reference to the Prime Meridian, which runs through Greenwich a number of miles to the East of the pavilion. Inside the courtyard, a shallow water pool and the curving, mirrored roof element reflect light, emphasizing the changes in light and shadow throughout the day.  © Iwan Baan "My design for the Serpentine Pavilion 2018 is a meeting of material and historical inspirations inseparable from the city of London itself and an idea which has been central to our practice from the beginning: the expression of time in architecture through inventive use of everyday materials and simple forms," explained Escobedo. "For the Pavilion, we have added the materials of light and shadow, reflection and refraction, turning the building into a timepiece that charts the passage of the day."  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director described the design as "a living timepiece in the park, powered by light and the Prime Meridian line." He added "in its beautiful harmony of Mexican and British influences, it promises to be a space of reflection and encounter."  © Iwan Baan Escobedo is the youngest architect yet to participate in the Serpentine Pavilion commission, which has been hosted every year since 2000. Recent designers of the pavilion include Diébédo Francis Kéré, Bjarke Ingels, SelgasCano, and Smiljan Radic.  Frida Escobedo in her 2018 Serpentine Pavilion. Image © Vanessa Vielma  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Jun 2018 02:30 AM PDT  Morpholio Trace. Work displayed by Sean Gallagher of Diller Scofidio + Renfro. We all know the common refrain recited by architecture's more experienced practitioners when it comes to technology: "Times were a lot harder for us," they'll tell you. "We used to draw everything by hand and making a mistake meant repeating everything from scratch. Your generation is spoiled." "Spoiled" is perhaps a matter of opinion. But it is true that working in the architecture field nowadays is drastically different to what was like decades ago. Software developers (or as we like to call them, life-savers) have created programs and applications that have allowed us to step up our architecture game. But with such a vast number of apps out there, it can be difficult to keep up with what's available. To help you out, here's a list of the top architecture apps on the market at the moment. A360 (iOS/Android) A360 Remember how you used to have to wait until you were in front of a computer, with a CAD file open, because these drawings were not accessible on your phone? Autodesk has created the perfect solution to this dilemma by developing the Autodesk A360 app. What's so great about A360? You can view and upload 2D and 3D drawings regardless of what software you used to create them, navigate large-scale models, review and markup the designs, measure dimensions and areas, and track the project status anytime, anywhere. Autodesk Sketchbook (iOS/Android) Autodesk Sketchbook The people at Autodesk believe creativity starts with an idea, and sometimes you never know when this idea might strike. It could be when you're riding the bus, daydreaming in meetings or lectures, or in the infamous epiphany-generating bathroom. To make sure ideas are not forgotten, Autodesk developed a "superior drawing experience" with innovative tools that help you draft like a pro. Other than the pencils, markers, and over 190 customizable brushes, the application has a 16-sector Radial Symmetry and Predictive Stroke that smooths lines and corrects shapes. BIMx (iOS/Android) BIMx The award-winning BIMx possesses a unique technology which integrates 2D and 3D building project navigation. Its Hyper-model feature helps its users bridge the gap between the design studio and work on the construction site. Clients, architects, and construction builders can virtually walk through and make measurement adjustments in the 3D model without the need for installing a CAD software beforehand. Talk about on-the-spot problem-solving! Concepts (iOS) Concepts Concepts app is basically a digital sketching paper, but on steroids. With its 64-bit precision and multi-threaded rendering, the app is a flexible, accurate, and extremely responsive. The award-winning app is perfect for architects, illustrators, product designers, and visual thinkers who like to explore their creativity and sketch whatever comes to mind, without forgoing the details. Morpholio Trace (iOS) Morpholio Trace A veteran in the Archdaily "best apps" lists, Morpholio is a dream software for architects and designers. The application is a unique drawing tool which allows its user to work fluidly through all the design process. Other than having the ability to sketch, draw, and develop ideas with precision, the app allows markups on pdf files and images and is continuously adding new features to make the design process a lot easier—including a recent addition that adds augmented reality to its repertoire. Scala Architectural Scale (iOS) Scala Architecture Scale A limitless measuring app, Scala Architectural and Engineering Scale provides you with accurate measurements to a printed drawing of any scale. The simple, easy-to-use app includes architectural, engineering, and metric scales, and can provide dimensions, even if the scale is unknown. Sunseeker (iOS/Android) Sunseeker The name says it all. The Sunseeker application provides an augmented reality camera with a flat view compass to track the solar path, its hour intervals, rise-set times, and winter and summer solstice paths. Among its many features, the app uses GPS and magnetometer to find the correct solar position and path for your current location, ability to choose location on Earth, and details including the maximum sun elevation. The application is not only ideal for architects, but is also suitable for photographers, real estate buyers, solar panel buyers, gardeners, and sun lovers (taking tanning to a whole new level!).  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Newman House / Nicolás Pinto da Mota, Victoria Maria Falcon Posted: 11 Jun 2018 02:00 AM PDT  © Fernando Schapochnik
 © Fernando Schapochnik Text description provided by the architects. The house is located in the outsides of Buenos Aires, inside a private neighbourhood. The most defined quality is its consolidated vegetation. This feature and the plots specific conditions gave as our first approximation. This was to create a special configuration that capture and live with the landscape that surrounded the house.  © Fernando Schapochnik  First floor plan  © Fernando Schapochnik To do this we developed a system of courtyards, galleries and logias that make the relationship between exterior and interior occur in a continuous way. This special organization, without great hierarchies, give as a result a continuous and sinuous space defined by the relation of full and empty inside the composition. This intermittency identifies the scales of the typical domestic uses.  © Fernando Schapochnik  Cross Section  © Fernando Schapochnik The brick sum up the entire volume and it incorporates naturally to the environment of the neighbourhood. We chose brick as a material, for its geometrical clarity, and the special continuity it allows. In this sense, the priority is not what we build but is the space that, through this construction, we define and configure.  © Fernando Schapochnik  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How to Design and Calculate a Ramp? Posted: 11 Jun 2018 01:00 AM PDT  © Fabián Dejtiar We already know that the ramp, aside from its different design possibilities, allows—without forgetting the notion of promenade architecturale—its users to overcome physical barriers in the urban and architectural context. Although it basically consists of a continuous surface with a particular angle of slope, it is necessary to point out the many constructive specifications, which of course may vary due based on the standards of different governing bodies. The following clarifications are intended to assist and determine the appropriate dimensions for comfortable and efficient ramps for all, based on the concept of universal accessibility. To what extent can the slope of a ramp be modified? How can we determine its width and the space needed for maneuvering? What considerations exist regarding the handrails? Here we review some calculations and design examples for different ramps, below. How is the Slope of a Ramp Calculated?The slope can be expressed as a percentage that results from the ratio between the height to be overcome (h) and the length of the horizontal plane (d), multiplied by 100.  © Fabián Dejtiar Slope expressed as a percentage = (h/d) x 100From this expression, we can solve for the unknown values of each term. An existing ramp of 1 meter in height with a horizontal distance of 10 meters, will have a slope of 10%.  © Fabián Dejtiar Accordingly, knowing the height to overcome on a project allows us to review recommendations for a slope consistent with the required needs. + How to design and calculate a staircase? A Schematic Example for an Outdoor RampThe recommended maximum slope for outdoor ramps can be established in relation to the height to be overcome and depends on the length of the plane. Based on averages and considerations from different countries -both regulatory and from manuals from Latin America—a slope of between 12-10% can, for example, be used only for very small heights, such as a step of up to 20 centimeters. As the heights require greater efforts, the slopes begin to reduce to reach recommendable values of 8% for heights of up to 50 centimeters; 6% for heights of up to 100 centimeters; 5% for heights of up to 150 centimeters; and 4% for ramps being used by the elderly. In relation to the length of the ramp, for short distances—up to 1.5 meters—the slope should be less than 12%. For distances of up to 3 meters it must be less than 10%, and for distances of up to 9 meters, it should be less than 8%, always taking the above considerations regarding height into account. The ramps should not have an excessive length without breaks—a maximum length of 9 meters—due to the efforts required to ascend without help in a wheelchair, or the force needed to transport heavy cargo.  © Fabián Dejtiar An Example of the Calculated Distance Required (d)As an example, to overcome a height of 54 centimeters, we will use a slope of 6%, which results in a horizontal plane of 9 meters. 6 = (0.54m / d) x 100 d = 9 meters A Schematic Example for an Indoor RampLikewise, the percentages for the slopes of interior ramps allow for a 10% slope only to overcome very small heights, such as a step of up to 30 centimeters. Again, as the heights require greater efforts, the slopes are reduced to reach, for example, 8% for heights that go up to 75 centimeters; 6% for up to 150 centimeters; and 5% for the elderly. Regarding the length of the ramps, for short distances—up to 3 meters—the slope should be less than 10%. For medium distances—between 3 and 6 meters—the slope should be less than 8%, and for distances between 6 and 9 meters, the slope must be less than 6% (also taking into account the previous recommendations regarding height).  © Fabián Dejtiar Example of Calculated Distance Required (d)To overcome a height of 90 centimeters, we will use a slope of 6%, which results in a 15 meter horizontal length. 6 = (0.9m / d) x 100 d = 15 meters Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat shape/form must the ramp have?The lengths of ramps must always be straight, as curved ramps make it difficult for the movement of a person in a wheelchair; in reference to this, the transverse slope of a ramp should also not exceed 2%, thereby avoiding any lateral slippage. In addition, it must be taken into account that with each change of direction, there must be a horizontal plane of at least 150 cm in diameter—a measurement that allows the 360 ° rotation of a wheelchair. At their ends, ramps must have another horizontal plane of a minimum of 150 cm in diameter, free of obstacles and not impeded by the opening of doors. A person in a wheelchair cannot perform the opening maneuvers while sitting on the slope of the ramp.  © Fabián Dejtiar What considerations exist for handrails?Ramps must have continuous handrails—without interruptions—along their entire length, on both sides, and with different heights, ideally one between 65-75 cm and another between 90-100 cm. In addition, it is necessary that the handrails extend at their ends more than 30 centimeters so that anyone can reach it from the horizontal plane. They must be built in a fixed position and with smooth materials that don't change with temperature variations (imagine a handrail exposed to the sun throughout the day or in areas that experience freezing temperatures). Leaving aside handrails, we can't forget that there is also a protective element on the perimeter of the ramp that exists to avoid any accidents on the clear edges, both by the sliding of wheelchairs, baby carriages, canes, or to warn people with reduced visual capacity. How do we determine the width of a ramp?Depending on local regulations, we find recommendations that range from a clearance width between handrails of at least 120 centimeters, as it comfortably allows the passage of a wheelchair and enables anyone to hold on both sides and a minimum clearance width of 180 centimeters for public spaces. In cases where a ramp width exceeding 180 centimeters is required, it would be appropriate to place an intermediate handrail that meets the above requirements. When determining the width of a ramp, it is important to consider the maneuvering space of both a person with a wheelchair and a person with a baby carriage, mainly as a function of the intermediate breaks. What materials can be used to construct a ramp?Outside of any material used for the structure, the finishing materials of the ramp should use those that result in a hard non-slip surface that can be used in dry or wet conditions. In addition, at the beginning and end of the ramp the horizontal surface there should be a tactile pavement, with different colors extending along the entire width of the ramp, to serve as a warning for people with reduced visual capacity. This same type of prevention should highlight the perimeter where the ramp opens, up to at least two meters clear of the passage. We want to clarify that what is presented in this article is auxiliary information for the design of a ramp. All considerations for the construction of a ramp should always consider the specific characteristics of each project and should be prepared after evaluating the local regulations and according to the decisions taken by architects and/or professionals in the area.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| You are subscribed to email updates from ArchDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar