Arch Daily |
- "Mind-Building": The Finnish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale
- Regional House Edeghem / BC architects
- Casa K / Alessandro Bulletti Architetti
- Spotlight: Antoni Gaudí
- Shangqiu Museum / Atelier Li Xinggang
- One-Room Residence of 5 Layers / Matsuyama Architect and Associates
- Nikola Olic's Playful Facade Photos 'Reimagine' Their Subjects
- STLArchitects Reveal Competition Design Entry on Former Chicago Spire Site
- The Most Innovative Parking Structures From Around the World
- The Tree House / AS Arquitectura
- How to Make a Facade with Recycled Materials: 16 Notable Examples
- Opinion: The Chilean Pavilion Offers the 2018 Venice Biennale's Most Powerful Architectural Statement
- Victorian Townhouse / LLI Design
- A Different Kind of Architectural Drawing: Léon Krier's Sketches
- Spotlight: Benedetta Tagliabue
| "Mind-Building": The Finnish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale Posted: 24 Jun 2018 09:00 PM PDT  © Alexander Mayes and Archinfo Finland As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Finnish Pavilion. To read the initial proposal, refer to our previously published post, "Finnish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale to Examine the Future of Libraries." Conceived by Commissioner Hanna Harris, Director of Archinfo Finland, and Curator Dr Anni Vartola, the Finnish Pavilion presents Mind-Building at the 2018 Venice Biennale, an exhibition that explores the importance of the public library in Finnish culture. With exhibition design by Tuomas Siitonen and graphic design by Johannes Nieminen, it showcases Finnish libraries through a thematic selection of architectural designs, objects and specially commissioned sound and video work.  With showcased examples from the Rikhardinkatu public library of 1881 to the upcoming Helsinki Central Library, the exhibition documents the historical and cultural significance of the library as a space for all. It also considers the potential of the library in the 21st century to become a "popular monument," what the curators describe as a "noncommercial, public space which is open for everyone, free for everyone, belonging to everyone and used for everyone's benefit."  © Ugo Carmeni and Archinfo Finland  © Alexander Mayes and Archinfo Finland  © Alexander Mayes and Archinfo Finland  © Alexander Mayes and Archinfo Finland  © Alexander Mayes and Archinfo Finland  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Regional House Edeghem / BC architects Posted: 24 Jun 2018 08:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of BC architects
 Courtesy of Thomas Noceto Text description provided by the architects. This project is framed within a wider masterplan for the Fort V site, aiming to strengthen the current function of public park. The 'bioclass' is known to locals, but needs a new infrastructure. It is conceived as a new reception centre for education of nature and ecology for the region.  Courtesy of Thomas Noceto  Plan  Courtesy of Thomas Noceto The design interprets the existing warehouse as a Hortus Conclusus, in which the existing walls are considered as garden walls. The warehouse will be opened up in certain area's to allow vegetation to grow in a controlled way. Zones will be installed which house rare plant species, a swamp, or a summer bar reception area. The hall is the first place to start excursions for fauna and flora, which can extend into the park of Fort V.  Courtesy of Thomas Noceto The Regional House itself reflects this educative and ecological approach through a radically sustainable and participative architecture. Structurally arched walls, inspired by the arch masonry of the fort, are made of compressed earth blocks from local clays. An insulation façade and roof of hempcrete is left apparent as finishing and makes this building CO2-negative. Only two construction techniques make the superstructure of this building honest, minimalistic and educational.  Courtesy of Thomas Noceto  Courtesy of BC architects  Courtesy of BC architects 19000 blocks were produced in a 3 week workshop, and 312 m2 of hempcrete was installed in a 2 week workshop: together, more than 150 volunteers worked on and learned with this project.  Axonometric  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Casa K / Alessandro Bulletti Architetti Posted: 24 Jun 2018 07:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti
 © Alessandra Chemollo Text description provided by the architects. The house is located on a hillside characterized by the presence of numerous secular olive trees and a magnificent view to the south, in the direction of the city of Perugia. The building is organized on two levels: the upper floor dedicated to daytime activities functions, while the lower floor contains the bedrooms and all the service areas.  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti The two floors of the house solve the existing height difference between the private access road and the large lower lawn, the only horizontal area in the property. Uphill, the house looks like a low volume and thus establishes a better relationship with the small scale of the place, characterized by the presence of the small existing agricultural building, considered an element of great importance also in the new settlement layout.  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti  Floor Plans  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti Downhill, however, the house is manifested by the double height loggia open on the big lawn toward the swimming pool located at the southern end of the property. The entrance to the house takes place through the small loggia, defined by the long pitched copper roof which is lowered in the vicinity of the pedestrian access road being inserted between two existing olive trees, without altering the scale of the place.  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti  © Alessandra Chemollo The house, completely covered in local sandstone, is mostly closed to the north against the wind and opens to the south with large windows through which you establish relationships with the most significant aspects of the landscape near and far. The large loggia, like a deep frame, selects a precise portion of unique landscape unchanged over time. This image, which shows the profile of the historic city, in a magical balance between built environment and countryside, represents the fixed scene but always changing of domestic life.  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti  Sections A and B  Courtesy of Alessandro Bulletti  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2018 06:00 PM PDT  La Sagrada Familia's passion facade. Image © Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Família When Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) graduated from the Barcelona Architecture School in 1878, the director of the school Elies Rogent reportedly declared: "Gentlemen, we are here today either in the presence of a genius or a madman!" [1] Well over a century later, this tension is still evident in Gaudí's work; though he is widely regarded as a genius architect, his distinctive style stands as a singularity in architectural history—simultaneously awe-inspiring and bizarre, never fitting into any stylistic movement, and never adapted or emulated, except by those still working to complete his magnum opus, Barcelona's famous Sagrada Família.  Gaudí in 1878. Public Domain image taken by Pau Audouard Born in the Catalan village of either Riudoms or Reus (the records conflict), from a young age Gaudí was fascinated by nature. Between 1875 and 1878, Gaudí was conscripted for compulsory military service, but due to ill health - which he struggled with all his life—he was able to spend much of his time studying at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture.  Casa Milà. Image © Samuel Ludwig Guadí's fantastical style was informed by a number of influences, and was very much a result of the context of late 19th century architecture, when the requirement to follow strict historical styles was beginning to fall out of favor. As such, Gaudí was able to take inspiration from Oriental styles, and was heavily influenced by the Revival Gothic architecture of the time, most notably encapsulated in the work of French architect Viollet-le-Duc. However, he believed that Gothic architecture was "imperfect," and began to infuse his work with a variety of motifs drawn from nature.  Casa Batlló. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/srboisvert/306517767'>Flickr user srboisvert</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> However, as much as his works of architectural decoration are striking, Gaudí is equally notable for his advanced understanding of structures. Having studied geometry in his youth, Gaudí followed advances in engineering and his work regularly features catenary curves, hyperbolic paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, shapes which he used to create efficient (but more importantly dynamic and organic) structures.  La Sagrada Familia interior. Image © Renate Dodell Gaudí gained recognition very early in his career with designs such as the Casa Vicens, and in 1883, aged just 31, he was appointed to the Sagrada Família project. Over the following three decades, the work of Gaudí became almost synonymous with Barcelona, as he changed the face of the city and its surrounding regions with projects such as the Parc Güell, Colònia Güell and Casa Milà.  Colònia Güell. Image © Samuel Ludwig However, in 1915 Gaudí ceased all other projects in order to focus exclusively on the Sagrada Família. He worked on the building for the next 11 years, until he was hit by a tram and died in 1926. See all the works of Antoni Gaudí featured on ArchDaily via the thumbnails below, and further coverage below those: Video: What the Sagrada Familia Will Look Like in 2026 Video: The Six Towers that will Crown the Sagrada Família Gaudí's Sagrada Família to Become Tallest Church in Europe by 2026 Trouble Hits the Final Stages of Gaudí's La Sagrada Familia 8 Architects Whose Names Became Architectural Styles Never Built New York: Projects From Gaudí, Gehry and Wright that Didn't Make it in Manhattan Chile to (Finally) Build Gaudí's Only Project Outside of Spain Gaudí's First-Ever House to Open as a Museum Following Major Restoration References:
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| Shangqiu Museum / Atelier Li Xinggang Posted: 24 Jun 2018 05:00 PM PDT  South East Aerial View. Image © Zhi Xia
 South Elevation. Image © Zhi Xia Text description provided by the architects. Located in the new district in the southwest of the city, Shangqiu Museum is designed for the collection, display and exhibition of the local historical relics, the urban evolution and the cultural history of Shang Dynasty.The overall layout and the spatial sequence of the museum are the coherence and recreation of the typical forms and characters of Guide which represents ancient city of Huangfan.  Entrance Bridge. Image © Zhi Xia The museum is like a miniature of an ancient city with stacked main bodies of the architecture, suggesting the "city on city"-type archaeological structure of the buried layers and the display and layout of the transition of location from the bottom to the top as well as the transition of history from the ancient to the present.  Axon Diagram. Image Courtesy of Atelier Li Xinggang The main body of the museum consists of three stacked exhibition halls surrounded by water and courtyard of which on the outside lies tiered terrace and peripheral high dam (with outdoor exhibition corridors below). Buildings for relics, business and office form L-shaped volume locating on the northwest corner of the dam. Four gates are set for different directions with main entrance on the south gate and the other three ones serving for VIP, temporary exhibition and office respectively.  Main Entrance. Image © Zhi Xia  Section  Autrium. Image © Zhi Xia After climbing the dam through major steps and ramps facing yanbo road, visitors enters the "city" from the preface hall along the south approach bridge above water and then visit each exhibition hall along the ramps of the central crossed hall (indicating the center crossed street). When reaching the roof platform, visitors will have a visual connection with different famous sites: Yanbotai, Guide ancient city, the site of Sui and Tang Grand Canal Pier in different gazebos at each corner of the architecture, recalling the history and rethinking the present.  Xuyan Hall Entrance. Image © Zhi Xia  Xuyan Hall. Image © Zhi Xia A series of elaborately organized elements of architecture and landscape form a sequence of narrative spaces of up and down, inside and outside, near and far, and the reciprocating change, so that the whole experience of traveling this miniature city and its extension of the ancient history can be achieved.  Landscape. Image © Zhi Xia The museum adopts a large quantity of cheap Shandong grey stones as the main interface material of the internal and external spaces, whereas inspired by the collections of the Han Dynasty's images and the stones, each stone was treated with surface grinding and internal singeing, and the staggered joints make the details elegant. Unified the specifications with the stones, the resin solid wood panels was joined to enhance the warmth and comfort of the indoor space.  North Aerial View. Image © Zhi Xia  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| One-Room Residence of 5 Layers / Matsuyama Architect and Associates Posted: 24 Jun 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Toshihisa Ishii
 © Toshihisa Ishii Text description provided by the architects. This residential building that is for a family of 4, locates in Munakata-city, Fukuoka. While the area around the site used to be a tranquil country side, it was gradually urbanized during recent development. Old and new residential buildings create mixed townscape. The site, however, had been left undeveloped as it was a part of steep land.  © Toshihisa Ishii The challenges were, firstly, how to tackle 4m level difference from one side to the other. Secondly, it was a relatively limited budget. We intended to resolve these architectural issues by turning the difficulties into positive character of this project. We aimed that the building to exist as if it has been there for long time as a part of the land.  © Toshihisa Ishii  Plan  © Toshihisa Ishii The pitched roof, which was emerged from the topography of the site, contribute to reduce the impact of the volume and to harmonize with the surrounding environment. The client requested a space that they can feel the sense of togetherness with modest privacy at the same time.  Section Internal space consists of 5 split levels as follow the land and each floor has specific functions. These floors are visually separated but physically connected as you can hear the voice, you can smell. These level difference can create space that contain gentle separation and togetherness.  © Toshihisa Ishii  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nikola Olic's Playful Facade Photos 'Reimagine' Their Subjects Posted: 24 Jun 2018 12:00 PM PDT  © Nikola Olic In his ongoing study, Nikola Olic - a Serbian photographer based in Dallas, Texas - focuses on "architectural photography and abstract structural quotes that reimagine their subjects in playful, dimensionless and disorienting ways." Often isolating elements of a facade, which obscures the viewer's sense of scale and perspective, Olic provides short descriptions of each image, acting as a "demystifying tool" and reminding us of the everyday nature of his subject matter. In the third collection shared with ArchDaily, the photographs are taken in Dallas, Fort Worth, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Hong Kong. Descriptions from Nikola Olic. Architectural Compilation / Las Vegas, Nevada  © Nikola Olic Clash of architectural styles, materials and angles, combining different buildings and different city blocks into a single architectural compilation, a saturated and playfully disorienting visual space appropriate for a city that can be described in similar ways. Vortex Building / Las Vegas, Nevada  © Nikola Olic In a city known for fast luck, bright lights and high stakes, architecture can both match it and contrast it with this cold soothing visual vortex that appeared on the side of a building. Chocolate Building / Las Vegas, Nevada  © Nikola Olic The completely saturated visual space of two buildings of the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas clashing against each other into a stable central column reminds of a half-melted chocolate bar offering a tasty break from high-stakes stress in the gambling capital of the world. Square Pegs / New York City  © Nikola Olic Picking and choosing the exact square pegs and round wholes of architecture, space and materials, isolating and focusing on two parts of the same building. United Chrysler Nations / New York City  © Nikola Olic The Chrysler Building and the United Nations building are about half a mile apart, connected by New York City's 42nd Street, and also by a zoom lens from western edge of Queens. Straight Up / Chicago, Illinois  © Nikola Olic Chicago invented the skyscraper, so things that go up -- buildings, windows, curtains -- fit right in. this view is from the art institute of Chicago, a place full of interesting designs and visuals both inside and outside. Flow / Hong Kong, China  © Nikola Olic The Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong gives another reminder of how a bustling city of 7 million people can become tranquil and mute within seconds of walking inside a temple, with its gray walls and tiles effortlessly blending with surround high-rises, posing the question how millions of people quickly flow in and out of these giant monotone structures. Museum Triangle / Dallas, Texas  © Nikola Olic The museum tower in downtown Dallas was a crucial architectural addition intended to solidify the urban core of the city in proximity to a strong arts community, placing the tower close to both the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Klyde Warren Park, whose reflective stage covering provided an interesting geometric and colorful addition to the elegant facade of the museum tower a few blocks behind. High Five with Nature / Dallas, Texas  © Nikola Olic Texas hospitality meets Texas sun, as the shadow from an art deco figure at fair park in Dallas appears to high five a neighboring bush. Building with Steps / Fort Worth, Texas  © Nikola Olic The tallest building in Fort Worth, Texas, this simple brutalist architectural design is a unique addition to the vibrant and growing downtown landscape, with a strong, repetitive pattern of windows being interrupted by meticulous, powerful vertical lines. it is the first and the last building you see when driving past this charming Texas town. It also serves as a prominent symbol of both economic and urban activity in the surrounding downtown area, with the interesting Jonathan Borofsky aluminum sculpture placed near. Ground Zero Balance / New York City  © Nikola Olic Massive white wings of Santiago Calatrava's oculus structure play a part in the somber balance of light and shadow, sky and structure, old and new, heavy and light, at the ground zero memorial in NYC. Building with Slices / New York City  © Nikola Olic An important part of the beautiful west-side view of New York City is Frank Gehry's glass-heavy IAC building. It is his first design completely covered in glass, using a method that cleverly obscures the divisions between floors, with 1349 unique panels imported from Italy. Lined up behind it across 19th street which separates the two buildings is another glass-heavy building perfectly complementing the saturated visual space of the two structures as viewed from the narrow sidewalk alongside the busy and loud 11th avenue. the Cross / Los Angeles, California  © Nikola Olic Getty Museum is at once a part of Los Angeles, but also completely separate from it. That is not by accident, visitors are given a slow trolley ride up a hill, never hinting at the museum details that await. The slow ride is worth the wait and the anticipation. Once on top of the hill, the Getty Museum reveals to be many museums in one, combined by an earth-inspired architecture and facade that give the museum a solid and permanent feeling. it looks over Los Angeles, competing for attention with famous letters on that other Hollywood Hill. Pipe Dream / New York City  © Nikola Olic Crucial part of the new roof over the Arthur Ashe stadium at flushing meadows are wide, long and bright blue support beams, intertwined through the upper section of the stadium. Tree Facade / Long Beach, California  © Nikola Olic A lucky combination of a tall and narrow palm tree and a tall and narrow seaside building in long beach, California. Subway Curves / New York City  © Nikola Olic Subway stop ceiling at a station in lower Manhattan, offering a welcome surprise and a great start for eager passengers and tourists walking up to the New York City surface. Old Belo Building / Dallas, Texas  © Nikola Olic An unusually angled roof on a corporate building in downtown Dallas is completely flattened into an unexpected shape when standing in one precise location in the park across the street. the Curtain Building / Dallas, Texas  © Nikola Olic The revitalized downtown area in Dallas is centered around the inventive Klyde Warren Park and the surrounding buildings. Many, like this corporate building for hunt oil, feature attractive lighting and video capabilities, which are used to display messages and images on its facade. The best part, however, might be on the side of the building, where a curious change in geometry and angle changes the very nature of the building, into something unexpected and, at times, hard to visually accept when casually passing by. Constructed Sky / Chicago, Illinois Crisp blue summer Chicago sky was replaced with a crisp blue facade of a modern high-rise a few blocks west of millennium park, giving a pause and a delayed pleasure in studying their combination. Fire Facade / Los Angeles, California  © Nikola Olic Viewing architecture from inside other architecture creates new visual opportunities, even while turning your back to the new Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which in itself is worth studying and exploring, its red flowing streaks adding even more fire to the vibrant cultural neighborhood. Satellite Dishes / Los Angeles, California  © Nikola Olic The colorful Los Angeles downtown space is symbolically represented by a city hall building that stands out from its surroundings and its city, offering a nondescript visual grid as a well defined storage space in which the city keeps its satellite dishes and antennas, neatly aligned in the very middle. See more of the series here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| STLArchitects Reveal Competition Design Entry on Former Chicago Spire Site Posted: 24 Jun 2018 09:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of STLarchitects Chicago-based STLarchitects revealed their design for the former Chicago Spire site. The competition brief called for two towers: one supporting a mixture of apartments and condominiums and the other strictly for condominium use. Their design focused on "Chicago's architectural character and essential virtues... thus iconic, innovative, and flexible.  Courtesy of STLarchitects The site, located between the Chicago River and the Ogden Slip at the mouth of Lake Michigan, would feature two slim towers that taper towards the top. The separated towers would frame views of the city while also being identified as one, unified project contributing to the skyline. The size of the building relative to the constraints of the site called for an innovative structural engineering solution that "takes advantage of viscous damper technology eliminating the need for tuned mass damping." Not only does this help reduce costs of the towers, but it also gives a greater structural stability which returns valuable real estate space at the top of the programs.  Courtesy of STLarchitects STLarchitects also considered the geometry of the floor plates to allow for a variety of unit typologies within each residential level. The façade is adaptable to this as well and enables different patterns and expressions of windows including framed, full glass window walls, or even a combination of both. News via: STLarchitects  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Most Innovative Parking Structures From Around the World Posted: 24 Jun 2018 07:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of looking4.com The parking garage: a loveless structure as necessary as it is unpopular. It can be easy for the architecture to reflect the unfancied nature, but sometimes, amidst all the mediocrity, beautiful design shines through. Project descriptions via looking4.com: Brisbane Airport Kinetic Parking (Australia)  Courtesy of looking4.com Designed by American artist Ned Kahn, this eight-story car park's exterior is made up of 118,000 suspended aluminum panels which appear to ripple as the wind hits it. The innovative design also provides natural ventilation for the interior. Victoria Gate Multi Storey (Leeds, UK)  Courtesy of looking4.com The vibrant, urban multi-story car park is found at Leeds' £165m Victoria Gate shopping center and takes architectural inspiration from the city's history. The twisted aluminum fin cladding creates a diagrid pattern emphasized by the shadows generated. Garagenatelier Car Park (Herdern, Switzerland) Courtesy of looking4.com This exclusive car park, designed by Swiss company Peter Kunz Architects, only has enough space for just eight vehicles. The beton cubes are embedded into the sloping mountainside, creating a juxtaposition of nature and the geometric concrete structures. Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc (Belgium)  © Lieven Van Landschoot Made from natural materials the car park is designed to be as welcoming as possible for visitors to the nearby hospital. The 'canyon-wall' provides an abundance of light, even on the underground floors plus natural ventilation for its 985 cars. AZ Sint-Lucas Car Park (Ghent, Belgium)  © Dennis de Smet This open-design car park is distributed over the space of two buildings, each surrounded in white metal balustrades with thousands of small geometric perforations. Exclusively native flowers on different levels help to brighten the space. Quick Parking Morelli Car Park (Naples, Italy)  Courtesy of gruppomade.com Located in the center of Naples, close to the main tourist attractions, the car park built inside an existing cave with a historic tunnel that connects 2 different parts of the city. The car park is built across seven levels and accessed via three tunnels. 2KM3 at Saint Gervais (Mont Blanc, France) _Jean_Yves_Raffort_(1).jpg?1529242420 "© jean yves raffort") © jean yves raffort An underground car park with an eye-catching difference, 2KM3 is dedicated to urban contemporary art. Its name acts as an abbreviation of the measurement of wall/ceiling space given to a dozen international artists to decorate in their own unique styles (2,000m³). Sinking Ship Multi Storey (Seattle, USA) .jpg?1529242378 "Courtesy of looking4.com") Courtesy of looking4.com The unique shape of this multi-story car park, with decks sloping in the opposite direction to the hill, gives it the name 'Sinking Ship'. The four-floor garage was part of a neighborhood redesign in the '60s, standing in front of the Smith Tower and former Seattle Hotel. RAI Convention Centre (Amsterdam)  © Jannes Linder With a capacity of 1,000 cars, the building also doubles as a flexible space for conventions and exhibitions. A pair of 30-meter spiraling ramps with blue LEDs around the curved edges light up the building with an eye-catching, helix-shaped entrance and exit. Al Jahra Court Automatic Parking (Kuwait)  Courtesy of looking4.com With 2,314 spaces, this car park holds a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Automated Parking Facility'. The bays designed by Robotic Parking Systems Inc. save over 3 times the space of a normal car park, with a car retrieval time of approx 177 seconds.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Tree House / AS Arquitectura Posted: 24 Jun 2018 06:00 AM PDT  © Onnis Luque
 © Onnis Luque Text description provided by the architects. The project is a 391 m2 detached house, located in the Xcumpich prefecture where, in the past, there was a henequen plantation and, as the city grew, it became a residential area. The area is of low density and is characterized by its urban context with trees with large foliage and the park of the town.  Floor Plan The people of this area, usually in the afternoon sit under the trees shadows to greet their neighbors, children play in the streets and neighborhood meetings are continually held at the corners of the block, so to generate more security, more coexistence and more city, we do not require the use of fences; The solutions come through the intelligent use of levels and low vegetation, the house enjoys the external context and living with it, while at the same time creating privacy; and the public external context, enjoys the interior vegetation of the land without disturbing the users.  © Onnis Luque  Sections 1 - C  © Onnis Luque The protagonist of the project is an 80-year-old "Pich" tree. The house is design around the tree, through the use of an "L" scheme, geometrizing the land, an opening gesture is achieved towards the tree. In this way, all the interior spaces of the house have a view to it, with the exception of the main bedroom, which has an opening to an exclusive patio.  © Onnis Luque  Diagram - Generating City  © Onnis Luque The house is placed at the end of the site to donate a green space to the city and neighbors can continue to enjoy the shadows and trees that are in the field. People still enjoy the view of the tree as is the protagonist of the project when passing through the site, since the design of the house does not privatize, but rather shares. The project starts from a rotated axis to generate the access of the house, framing the "Pich" and vestibulating the public space of the private spaces of the house. Through this axis two auctions are generated both when entering, and when leaving the house. This architecture achieves that the main protagonist of the project is the vegetation and that altogether it blends perfectly with the context, both urban and social.  © Onnis Luque  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How to Make a Facade with Recycled Materials: 16 Notable Examples Posted: 24 Jun 2018 05:00 AM PDT  © Ben Hosking With the aim of supporting architects to become active agents of sustainable design, this week we present a selection of facades that incorporate different recycled materials. Beyond the typical uses of plastic and glass, in this article, you will find innovative materials such as mattress springs, ice cream containers, plastic chairs, and recycled waste from agricultural and industrial products. A look at 16 remarkable projects using recycled materials to create an attractive facade. Gallery of Furniture / CHYBIK+KRISTOFRecycled plastic seats  © Lukas Pelech  © Lukas Pelech Ningbo Historic Museum / Wang Shu, Amateur Architecture StudioRecycled tiles  © Iwan Baan  Cortesía de Wang Shu, Amateur Architecture Studio Naju Art Museum / Hyunje JooRecycled semi-transparent plastic baskets  Cortesía de MAP  Cortesía de MAP Capilla San Bernardo / Nicolás CampodonicoRecycled bricks from a rural house  Cortesía de Nicolás Campodónico  Cortesía de Nicolás Campodónico Bima Microlibrary / SHAU BandungRecycled plastic ice cream containers  © Sanrok Studio  © Sanrok Studio Backyard Cabin / Emerging ObjectsRecycled agricultural and industrial waste products  © Matthew Millman  © Matthew Millman PET pavilion / Project.DWG + LOOS.FMRecycled plastic bottles  Cortesía de Project.DWG + LOOS.FM  Cortesía de Project.DWG + LOOS.FM Properly Breathing House / H&P ArchitectsRecycled ceramic bricks  © Nguyen Tien Thanh  © Nguyen Tien Thanh Vegan House / Block ArchitectsRecycled windows  © Quang Tran  © Quang Tran China Academy of Arts’ Folk Art Museum / Kengo Kuma & AssociatesRecycled tiles from local houses  © Eiichi Kano  © Eiichi Kano Kamikatz Public House / Hiroshi Nakamura & NAPRecycled windows from abandoned houses  © Nacasa and Partners Inc  © Nacasa and Partners Inc Luxury Pavilion / Fahed + ArchitectsRecycled bedsprings  Cortesía de Fahed + Architects  Cortesía de Fahed + Architects Head in the Clouds Pavilion / STUDIOKCARecycled plastic bottles  © Lesley Chang  © Lesley Chang Carroll House / LOT-EKRecycled shipping containers  © Danny Bright  © Danny Bright Collage House / S+PS ArchitectsRecycled windows and doors of demolished houses  Cortesía de S+PS Architects  Cortesía de S+PS Architects The Beehive / Luigi Rosselli + Raffaello RosselliRecycled terracotta roof tiles  © Ben Hosking  © Ben Hosking  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2018 02:30 AM PDT  © Laurian Ghinitoiu This article was originally published by Common Edge as "STADIUM: the Venice Biennale's Most Powerful Architectural Statement." The opening of the Venice Biennale has about it a general sense of raucousness and aesthetic cacophony. The entire scene is lush, almost overwhelmingly rich. There are thousands of places for eyes to land. There are outfits: the salty, wet Venice air manages to get at least a few architects to ditch the all-black outfit for its all-white summer counterpart, often cut through with brightly colored, geometric jewelry. There are events: at any given moment, at any point throughout the weekend, there's a dozen or so architects gathered on a panel to talk about a topic relevant to a pavilion theme, or the edition theme, or to architecture generally. There are parties, picnics along canals, Aperol spritzes that glow bright orange, and designed-to-death tote bags that run out so quickly just carrying them is a sign that you were there, part of the early crowd, in the mix. It's all swirling and chaotic and bright and somehow you have to manage to pay attention to serious ideas about architecture while attempting to figure out how it's possible that you're still sweating even though it's 4PM.
 © Laurian Ghinitoiu Even without the avalanche of architects, designers and their ilk that descend on it simultaneously for a week every two years, Venice itself—island city and pseudo-maze—always gives way to the unexpected. It's within this vibrant context that Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara curated and staged this year's edition, themed "Freespace." All of those potential distractions combine with more specific factors to complicate the task of Biennale curators. Among other things, curators contend with the actual architecture of the pavilion they're working in, a task easier for some nations than for others. The pavilions that line the main drags of the sprawling Giardini—among them Switzerland, Spain, France, Great Britain—have ample rooms, high ceilings, and spatial sequences designed specially for exhibiting architecture. Meanwhile, countries whose pavilions are more recent additions to the Biennale line-up—like Bahrain, Perú, Thailand—are tucked away into small single rooms inside Arsenale, the darker and significantly less monumental of the two Biennale venues.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Biennale curators generally use one of two strategies to bring visitors' attention away from the hubbub and into focus on their exhibits. The first is to try to beat Venice and the Biennale at their own game, to out-excess the excess. This year, the Spanish pavilion best exemplified this strategy by showcasing 143 projects submitted by architects from across Spain and selected by curator Atxu Amann Alcocer, all under the theme of "Becoming." The project images—each rendered in disparate graphic styles and scales—cover the walls and ceilings, and the space of the pavilion becomes a small universe. Momoyo Kaijima, Laurent Stalder and Yu Iseki, curators of the Japanese pavilion, went a similar route, filling the pavilion (though not quite to the same extent) with 42 drawings by 42 different architects and groups of architects. Instead of wall labels, the curators provided a plastic magnifying lens, meant to help viewers see the fine detail in the smaller-scale drawings, set in the middle of a large cardboard ring printed with diagrams of the exhibit and the title of each piece. Other national pavilions—France, United States of America, Germany—use the go-big strategy to different degrees. To some extent, it works: stepping into these spaces feels like stepping into an alternate world where someone else is making the rules of engagement, and you have to follow them. At best, it's momentarily freeing, and at worst, it's stiflingly overwhelming. The second strategy employed by Biennale curators is to try to cut through the maximalism of the whole show with a sharp, pithy theme executed in a minimal way. Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara, curators of this year's Golden Lion winner, did exactly that by turning the Swiss pavilion into a series of generic interiors differentiated only by variations in scale. White-washed orthogonal walls homogenize the space as stainless steel fixtures and white plastic outlet covers hint at the scalar game at play. Moments of perspectival tricks punctuate the overall monotony of the pavilion, designed to be walked through in no less than five minutes but no more than ten, and to perhaps never be re-visited.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu This edition's strictest exercise in minimalism might be found in the British pavilion, themed "Island" by curators Adam Caruso, Peter St John and Marcus Taylor. The pavilion's interiors are entirely emptied, marked only by traces of past exhibits—dried-up pieces of double-sided tape, ghosts of wall text that wouldn't quite scrape up, the odd nail hole here and there. Outside, a massive scaffolding surrounds the pavilion with stairs leading up to a deck crowning the building's dome, turning it into an island surrounded by a plywood sea, or maybe it's the plywood sea that is the island in the vast ocean of the Venice Biennale. In any case, the strategy works, at least momentarily: it surprises visitors and gives them fodder for thought without necessarily challenging them, and the many interpretations of such open themes make for practically endless, if circular, topical conversations. Both of these strategies, the maximal and the minimal, play a curatorial game of image-making that's seemingly necessary to compete for attention with possibly literally thousands of other things. But the game ultimately fails at producing pavilions whose messages stick with visitors in a meaningful way. In both cases, the issue comes down to the difficulty of gleaning a substantial and coherent message—either from a deluge of things, or from almost nothing at all.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Of course, there are curators who choose neither route, and from among the group of pavilions in this year's edition that fall into neither the maximal nor the minimal archetype, one stood out. Even within a context that's seemingly constantly batting against substantial content, the Chilean pavilion, curated by Alejandra Celedón and themed "STADIUM," put forth an exhibit that was at once laser-focused and complex. The theme of the pavilion hinges on a single historical event: the transformation of the National Stadium in Santiago into a giant bureaucratic center on September 29, 1979, when 37,000 property titles were given to pobladores, or makeshift land-dwellers, in an attempt to resolve Chile's housing crisis. On first approach, the pavilion is deceptively simple. In the entrance vestibule, a black wall shows a short explanatory text and a subdivided plan of the stadium infilled with what looks like a plan of the city. Reading the text reveals the history informing the plan: prior to the September 29th event, Santiago's geopolitical limits, subdivided first into 17 communes and then into more than 60 neighborhoods, were each assigned to a sector of the stadium with a unique access door. This code, connecting the geography of the city to the architecture of the stadium, was then used to summon recipients of property titles to a specific stadium sector. Moving past the vestibule, visitors enter a dark room—too dark to take good phone photographs in—occupied by a giant, waist-height, rammed-earth relief model of the stadium/neighborhood plan. Two rows of screens line the edges of the space: one high above eye-level plays video of different events that have taken place at the National Stadium while another close to the floor shows footage of interviews with Santiago residents who've come into contact with the stadium through one of its many uses. As Pope John Paul II delivers a speech on one screen, Augusto Pinochet shows up on the one next to it. A few minutes later, Salvador Allende appears where Pinochet once was. Chile's complex history begins to come into focus, with the National Stadium as the lynchpin.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The exhibit is accompanied by a catalog that delves deeper into the complexities housed in the history of the Stadium—the rise of authoritarian power hand-in-hand with the liberalization of the economy, the prioritization of private land ownership as a source of stability and happiness, the use of the Stadium as an extermination camp during Pinochet's dictatorship—and by an informational website. It's a self-aware project, but not anxiously so: the pavilion shows the truth of a painful and tangled history without simplifying it and without overbearingly reminding visitors of its own complexity. Visitors can spend a minute or an hour inside the pavilion and walk away with something substantial into which to sink their teeth. The Chilean pavilion is a welcome moment of clarity within a landscape full of distractions, and distractions from distractions. It does more than invite visitors to consider the question of architecture's entanglement with structures of power, it suggests answers to it. It frames architecture as having an essential role in history and politics, even if architects themselves have little say in how this role plays out. Sometimes, buildings are the theater within which events simply unfold; other times, they are a tool used expressly for political means. But, always, architecture plays a key part. Marianela D'Aprile is an architectural worker, writer, and educator based in Chicago. Her work addresses the intersection of politics and architecture, with a focus on Latin America, Left movements, state violence, and public spaces.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Victorian Townhouse / LLI Design Posted: 24 Jun 2018 02:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of LLI Design
 Courtesy of LLI Design Text description provided by the architects. LLI Design have recently completed a total refurbishment of a 3 storey Victorian townhouse on a leafy residential road in Highgate, a desirable residential area of North London.  Ground floor plan Our clients wanted to create a warm, comfortable home with modern touches. Although the house was in reasonable condition, the joinery and fittings throughout the house were dated, had been well used and looked tired. Many of the period features had been stripped out and those that remained had not been maximised. The house lacked character and personality although it benefited from 'good bones', nicely proportioned rooms, a delightful garden and a handsome exterior.  Courtesy of LLI Design LLI Design felt that more could be made of the period features, enhancing some and reinstating others to bring out more of the Victorian feel of the property. The brief was to create a warm, comfortable and welcoming home referencing and emphasising the house's Victorian past as well as adding more contemporary elements to the scheme.  First floor plan  Second floor plan By subtle changes to the spaces and by adding texture, color and interesting material choices we were able to create a warm, comfortable and welcoming family home. We have achieved a harmonious and calm aesthetic throughout with modern touches within a timeless design.  Courtesy of LLI Design As with the majority of LLI Design's projects, the construction, joinery, home automation and landscaping were carried out by our in-house vertically integrated teams - Pegasus Property & Pegasus Automation.  Courtesy of LLI Design  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| A Different Kind of Architectural Drawing: Léon Krier's Sketches Posted: 24 Jun 2018 01:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of MIT Press When Louis Sullivan rang in the era of the skyscraper at the turn of the 20th century, the vertically soaring building—with its views and elevators—was unthinkably cutting edge. By the fifties, the dense downtown had experienced its moment in the sun and endless suburban sprawl began to surround the city. As early as the eighties, both the suburbs and the skyscraper felt oppressive in their own ways. Enter "New Urbanism." Propagated vigorously by architect Léon Krier, the ideology entailed a return to the traditional European city, in turn conjuring images of romantically dense, small-scale architecture and walkable streets. The fruits of the New Urbanists' efforts are visible at a number of neo-traditionalist planned communities around the world, most notably, Truman Show-esque Seaside, Florida in the U.S. and Poundbury, Dorset in England, designed with the help of Prince Charles.  Courtesy of MIT Press The above description is, of course, a criminal reduction of the past century of urban history. What about the racism that drove many white Americans to the suburbs? Or the overcrowding that necessitated we build higher? Leaving out messy politics and bureaucratic zoning restrictions, this account of the life of the city is an oversimplification. But as a result, this version of 20th-century urbanism is much easier to understand than the difficult reality of the city. In many ways, this is what Léon Krier's drawings do, too.  Courtesy of MIT Press Simple depictions in black and white take dense volumes of urban history and architectural theory and make them swiftly comprehensible. Usually, Krier's drawings appear in his books, elucidating visually what words fail to articulate. As James Howard Kunstler notes, Krier's drawings are "particularly thorough and eloquent on the discipline of typology." That is, they do the work of categorizing a sometimes overwhelming body of architectural knowledge. Despite its utilitarianism, architecture is hard to explain; Krier's drawings help simplify things, lucidly laying on paper the dichotomies and musings that inhabit many an architectural mind (or notebook margin).  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press Other times, though, his drawings mimic the reductionist threads of New Urbanism, stripping the realities of the city down to a utopian vision. The pages seem to shout: "Skyscrapers are inhumane! Zoning is absurd! Starchitects only care about fame!"  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press If Krier's drawings are difficult to generalize, it's because the architect is, too. He's adamant that cities be walkable—a trope we might type as progressive—but his New Urbanist developments have often been criticized as exclusionary. Cayala, a gated community that Krier designed in Guatemala, self-advertises as a place "where the rich can escape crime." Perhaps most egregiously, Krier has continually defended the work of Nazi architect Albert Speer.  Courtesy of MIT Press To evaluate Léon Krier's drawings on your own terms, take a look at the selection below. All images are from Krier's Drawing for Architecture anthology, graciously provided by The MIT Press.  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  Courtesy of MIT Press  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Spotlight: Benedetta Tagliabue Posted: 23 Jun 2018 10:30 PM PDT  Santa Caterina Market. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/ligthelm/8271776325'>Flickr user ligthelm</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> Benedetta Tagliabue (born 24 June 1963) is an Italian architect known for designs which are sensitive to their context and yet still experimental in their approach to forms and materials. Her diverse and complex works have marked her Barcelona-based firm EMBT as one of the most respected Spanish practices of the 21st century.  Courtesy of RIBA  Santa Caterina Market. Image © Ceramica Cumella Born in Milan, Tagliabue graduated from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia in 1989. In the early 1990s, she married Spanish architect Enric Miralles and the pair founded their studio Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. Together, Miralles and Tagliabue designed some of the practice's most notable works, including the renovation of the Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona and the enormous edifice of the Scottish Parliament Building—a building which critic Charles Jencks described as "a kind of small city," reflecting the complexity and intricacy of the Edinburgh streets which it responds to.  Scottish Parliament Building. Image © Dave Morris Following Enric Miralles' tragically premature death in 2000, Tagliabue took over the firm as a sole director, completing the Santa Caterina market, Edinburgh Parliament and a string of other projects besides. In recent years, the firm's most striking work has perhaps been the Spanish Pavilion completed for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, a design which epitomizes their philosophy of continuing curiosity and material experimentation.  Diagonal Mar Park. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/oh-barcelona/6815735718'>Flickr user oh-barcelona</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> To this day, Tagliabue refers to her late husband as one of her greatest influences, and in 2011 she founded the Foundation Enric Miralles, with the mission of promoting and teaching the philosophies of inquiry and experiment that are fundamental to his legacy.  The Spanish Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. See all the works of EMBT featured on ArchDaily via the thumbnails below, and more coverage of Benedetta Tagliabue below that: Benedetta Tagliabue to Recieve 2013 RIBA Jencks Award Benedetta Tagliabue Appointed as Newest Pritzker Prize Jury Member  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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