Arch Daily |
- KS Cracovia 1906 Centennial Hall and Sports Center for the Disabled / Biuro Projektow Lewicki Latak
- Breadway Bakery / Lera Brumin + Artem Trigubchak
- Block+Void House / Bundschuh Architekten
- Tetris House / Massive Order
- Shita-machi Brewery HIKOBE / SUGAWARADAISUKE
- Senior-Citizen University of Fengxian / Atelier GOM
- Star Engineers, Administrative Building and Factory / Studio VDGA
- Venue B of Shanghai Westbund World Artificial Intelligence Conference / Archi-Union Architecture
- Nakamata / Schemata Architects
- Alibaba - Ali Centre in Shanghai / Benoy
- adidas NYC / Gensler
- Studio Gang, BIG, Calatrava and SOM Among Teams Competing For $8 Billion Chicago O’Hare Contract
- SLO Architecture Builds Floating Harvest Dome in Grand Rapids
- Community Library in La Molina / Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura
- Sydney Opera House Becomes Carbon Neutral
- Living Garden / MAD Architects
- Oppenheim Architecture's Vast Star Metal Project Begins Construction in Atlanta, Georgia
- Rio Vista Residence / Buchanan Architecture
- “We Learn From the Ordinary as Well as From the Extraordinary”: Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown
- Haus am See 2 / mvm+starke architekten
| KS Cracovia 1906 Centennial Hall and Sports Center for the Disabled / Biuro Projektow Lewicki Latak Posted: 24 Sep 2018 10:00 PM PDT  © Wojciech Kryński
 © Maciej Lulko Text description provided by the architects. The requirements of the precious site encouraged us to treat the planned hall as part of the existing landscape with all its distinctive features. The view from Focha Avenue – across the hall and towards Salwator Hill and the Church of the Holy Saviour – suggested to us the form of the northern facade of the building. The panoramic views of the nearby hill with Kościuszko Mound are visible from the building's interior through the west elevation. The entrance lobby, lifted a meter higher than the pavement level of the adjacent Focha Avenue, looks out towards the Błonia meadow, above the passing car traffic. The hall forms part of this landscape, emerging right out the layered terrain. It connects the levels of the pavement along Focha Avenue and the path atop the Rudawa river dike with the ground floor and the rooftop terrace. It is on those multiple surfaces – horizontal and inclined, external and internal – where we realized the given functional brief.  © Wojciech Kryński The limits on the permitted building height necessitated digging down and submerging the building into the terrain. We achieved this sculpted landscape bas-relief in complex soil conditions. The designed form is created by surfaces of corten steel as well as concrete painted in a rusty color. On the top of the hall we established an accessible terrace and a green roof using extensive sedum.  © Wojciech Kryński We decided to use mixed construction: we chose reinforced concrete in the eastern part, where the building has an enclosed character, whereas on the southern and western parts – where the hall opens up towards Salwator Hill and Kościuszko Mound – we used a steel structure. Looking at the landscape from behind the glazing, the horizontal and slanting transoms are seen in dialogue with the line of the earthbank and path leading up to the hall roof, the shape of the Rudawa river dike and the contours of the nearby hill.  A-A Section The hall facades are clad in corten steel: we made this choice all the way back in 2008 during the original design competition. We felt that the rusty steel would sit best in the open landscape of this part of the city of Kraków.  © Wojciech Kryński  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Breadway Bakery / Lera Brumin + Artem Trigubchak Posted: 24 Sep 2018 08:00 PM PDT  © Mikhail Loskutov
 © Mikhail Loskutov Text description provided by the architects. The Breadway bakery and café located in the center of Odessa, Ukraine is a mix of a café which serves breakfasts and lunches as well as a takeaway spot where is possible to buy bakery products to go.  © Mikhail Loskutov The architects of the projects Lera Brumina and Artem Trigubchak were tasked with creating an inviting, memorable space. It was decided to use a palette of contrasting bright colors and textures.  © Mikhail Loskutov Lera worked on the concept of the interior and its technical part and Artem, who was in the beginning of the project a co-owner of a S&T architects studio which doesn't exist anymore and who works as an independent designer now, worked on the realization of the interior.  © Mikhail Loskutov  Floor plan  © Mikhail Loskutov Space is divided into three parts according to their function. A deep-blue take-away zone, a waiting zone which is located in the center of space in a pink box designed specially for this task, and light-grey zone, where you can stay for a croissant with a cup of cappuccino.  © Mikhail Loskutov The 85 square meter bakery features high ceilings and large windows. To emphasize the amount of light it was used glossy tiles by Ceramica Bardelli, and to emphasize the height of ceilings, were designed custom-made chandeliers. Built-in furniture, tables, and sofas were also designed specially for this project.  © Mikhail Loskutov  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Block+Void House / Bundschuh Architekten Posted: 24 Sep 2018 07:00 PM PDT  © Laurian Ghinitoiu
 © Laurian Ghinitoiu Text description provided by the architects. The project is located in Berlin on a site bombed during the war, subsequently used as a storage site for segments of the Berlin Wall. It consists of two buildings, one housing the residence and exhibition spaces of an art collector, the other 6 loft apartments. It was organized in the form of a "Baugruppe", a collective Building project.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The building concept is driven by our ongoing research into typologies of residential design. The complex has characteristics of free-standing suburban buildings and the typical Berlin tenement blocks, but references as well the French "hotel particulier". All are translated and compressed into a dense urban context, where they explore the boundaries between the public and the private, the social and the intimate.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Breaking with the Berlin tradition of closed blocks with continuous roof lines, the ensemble consists of two buildings grouped around a public courtyard. Public space expands onto the plot; a large light installation entices passers-by into the courtyard where changing installations from the owner's art collection provide unexpected encounters.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The stair tower acts as a vertical continuation of the horizontal public space on the ground level. As a semi-private communal area, it extends up to the individual front doors of the apartment units. By crossing a noticeable gap, the concept of the individual threshold is emphasized with a seamless continuity between the urban scale and the detail scale.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu Each loft unit has three open exposures, connecting the living spaces to the streetscape through large, floor-to ceiling fixed glazing. "Tapestry doors" provide both ventilation and emergency egress openings.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The spatial concept evolves naturally out of an analysis of views the site offers. As a continuation of landscape concepts, these views are translated into the urban and architectural scale. On the urban scale, they reference and focus on the neighboring industrial chimneys and power plant structures. The spatial borders of the living spaces are shifted into the extended urban sphere, in a reference to the concept of the "borrowed landscape" found in English and Chinese landscape gardens.  Section On the architectural scale, the views define an interconnectivity between all spaces inside both the collectors house and the adjoining apartment units, thus creating a strong sense of closeness and neighborhood, of community and proximity.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The concept of "entre court et jardin", originally used to describe the complex relationships of public and private spaces in French "hotels particuliers", is referenced again in the spatial arrangement of the collector's house: The counterpart of the public "court" on the street level is the private garden located on the roof, with the living spaces found in between. From the living spaces, directed views connect to both formal and informal outdoor spaces with different degrees of privacy.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  © Laurian Ghinitoiu The project, though seemingly minimalistic and abstract, thus functions at some complexity on many levels of urban and historic contextuality.  © Laurian Ghinitoiu  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Sep 2018 06:00 PM PDT  © Nelson Garrido
 © Nelson Garrido Text description provided by the architects. Tetris House sits on a 500 square meter lot with a 25 meters street front. The form is composed of three main painted masses carefully veiled by two cladded walls. Two of the masses are separated by the horizontal circulation path that is perpendicular to the third tall mass which houses the vertical circulation.  © Nelson Garrido  Ground Floor Plan  © Nelson Garrido The walls hover on the front façade with cutaways revealing certain openings and hiding others. A prominent element on the façade is the main door. The 4 by 4-meter wood composition are made of two disparate doors. One is low and wide for the daily entrance and the other is high and narrow for the guest entrance.  © Nelson Garrido  Diagram For the purpose of acquiring natural daylighting while maintaining the resident's privacy, the windows are hidden and revealed by the outer layer of the house at varying degrees depending on their location on the elevation. Therefore the windows on the side elevation away from the main street tend to be larger and more exposed, while the ones on the main street remain hidden and tucked away.  © Nelson Garrido Natural elements were introduced to the interior spaces such as fountains, stones and plants and the material selection cover earthy tones and textures which gave the home a sense of serenity and warmth. For instance, the ground floor interior fountain was introduced to the reception space to behave as a sound and visual buffer between the reception area and the Living room therefor separating the public and semipublic spaces from one another.  © Nelson Garrido  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Shita-machi Brewery HIKOBE / SUGAWARADAISUKE Posted: 24 Sep 2018 05:00 PM PDT  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo
 © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo Text description provided by the architects. This is new Regional hub of Gojyome, Akita prefecture by Sake Brewery established in 1688. We designed micro expansion with Big doors and Triangular canopies to rearrange structural stability, thermal condition and new functions, after demolishing existing expansion parts. Intermediate space by micro expansion converted backyard parking to main event space with creating new regional network through the main car street →inside space → sake brewery →market street.  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo  Site plan - extension  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo Inside space is composed with existing elements and materials to create future history and new communications between townspeople and visitors with integrating new and old scenery.  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo  Section  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo "Micro public network" can reconstruct local community and economy.  © Photo Office-K / Daisuke Kondo  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Senior-Citizen University of Fengxian / Atelier GOM Posted: 24 Sep 2018 04:00 PM PDT  © CreatAR
 © CreatAR Text description provided by the architects. It is rare and commendable that a civil project could be in a terrific place of Fengxian District in Shanghai. The site on Jianghai Road, which was Fengxian Chinese Medicine Hospital before, is in the center of Nanqiao Town where Fengxian District Government is located. Therefore, the most significant challenge is the shortage of urban land.  © Wei He However, high-rise tower is absolutely not the best form of senior-citizen universities. Our team designed flat level standard floors according to the unique landscape orientation of site. We also tried to keep a row of large camphor trees that have grown on the site for decades.  © CreatAR As a response to this character of the site, the main building is divided into east building and west building connected by an atrium. Two corridors across the atrium ensure the circulation system to be continuous. The preserved camphor trees as well as atrium covered by aluminum perforated plates remain at variance with the elegance of east and west buildings.  Axon Section The schematic design of plans includes eight flat stories with no concave-convex like form, achieving an overall steady and mild effect. The building is composed of east building and west building, connected by small internal patios every two floors as an elevator hall with cantilevered structure.  © CreatAR In addition to ordinary classrooms, numbers of large column-free spaces are needed in the senior-citizen university such as ballroom, theatres, bookstore, lecture halls, large conference rooms, gymnasiums, etc.  Ground Floor Plan On the premise of ensuring reasonable structural module and circulation system, the rule of the plan is "large-space classrooms are surrounded by small-space ones". Also, the rule of structure layout is "small spaces with complete outer structural frame " as well as "large space with inner reduced columns".  © CreatAR  Perspective Section  © CreatAR The appearance of the building is elegant Art Deco style. Arch windows of the west façade, corner chamfered balconies of the south façade, arches of the veranda, north façade, and deep window openings on both sides of the atrium, the designing of all these elements is trying to avoid Modernism which is popular but "cold".  © CreatAR Elegance is always appropriate when designing architectures for senior people. The exterior façade was intended to be decorated with rough tiles, but the tiles have almost been "blacklisted" of the exterior thermal insulating surface construction.  © CreatAR The appearance of imitating brick is the result of nearly twenty times of natural stone coating sample testing. The atrium is constructed of steel structure and metal corrugated perforated plate.  © CreatAR It is the opposite side of the elegant Art Deco style, while reflecting the order of classic and balance at the same time. The only places where reveals the audacity of Modernism, are the over six meters high cantilever structures of east and west entrance. Even so, the architect still carefully pays respect to Louis Kahn by the decorations on the top of cantilevered canopy.  © Wei He  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Star Engineers, Administrative Building and Factory / Studio VDGA Posted: 24 Sep 2018 03:00 PM PDT  © Hiroyuki Oki
 © Hiroyuki Oki Text description provided by the architects. A 40,000 sq ft. (Phase-1) Corporate office cum factory set-out in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam, explores the rustic and discreet material palette aligning the client requirements to the site context. Being a corporate office and factory setup within the same campus (in fact adjoining each other), spaces were planned introvert. A series of courts interwoven in the work zones breathe freshness in the ambience. A gaze across the office presents one with the pleasing view of landscape and water instead of the blind partitions and decorative interiors.  © Hiroyuki Oki The whole building is divided into front and back bays. The front bay of the building adjoins the factory floor beyond, separated from it by a long brick wall. The reception area is a bold statement in itself. The brick wall as the backdrop of the wooden reception desk is distinct. The court basks in brilliant shadows casted by the vertical brick offsets in the plain unobtrusive brick walls. As one traverses through the passage, a series of courts are encountered along. The partition walls for all the cubicles and workspaces give way to transparent glass. Hence the spaces seem interwoven into each other looking into all the intermediate courts. The mass is a simple form-finished concrete envelope with long colorful perforated metal screen adorned with landscape. Grid planning while carving out the quintessential courtyards is the strength of design.  © Hiroyuki Oki  Axonometric  © Hiroyuki Oki Hanoi experiences a warm humid sub-tropical climate with enough rainfall while winters are dull and hazy. Hence the effort was to create an ambience which would do justice to the interior spaces both in summers as well as winters. Series of 'internal courts' as many as eight keep the office areas fresh by bringing in enough natural light even when the sky is dull. A long perforated panel's screen (the breathing wall, as we call it) adorned with landscape in and out on the front facade cuts off the glare in the summer months. This screen also negates the use of blinds/curtains in the front façade. The panels painted in different hues stand-out in the otherwise restrained concrete façade.  © Hiroyuki Oki  Plan  © Hiroyuki Oki Demand for understated interiors in the tropical-temperate climatic zone of Vietnam, allowed us to fully utilize the beauty of earthy materials. The strong sunlight beautifully enhances the material palette. Be it the vacuum dewatered floor, the brick wall or the raw metal, light reflects brilliantly through them. Brick is the main element of interior design in this office space. Various forms and hues of brick make for a unique element in the interior spaces. The twisted brick wall forms the reception backdrop and it drew inspiration from a visit to a local brick kiln in Hanoi. The building envelope in form finished concrete offers a subtle contrast to the fierce red of the brick. The floating MS staircase imparts the lightness to the circulating areas. Customized stretched metal ropes in place of staircase railing offer the transparency.  © Hiroyuki Oki There has been no use of boastful materials and whole palette is locally sourced while fully exploiting the abundantly available resources and local labor. Usual interior elements such as cladding, carpentry, POP false ceiling, painting and flooring work have no role to play in this project & are completely eliminated.  © Hiroyuki Oki  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Venue B of Shanghai Westbund World Artificial Intelligence Conference / Archi-Union Architecture Posted: 24 Sep 2018 02:00 PM PDT  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian
 B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian Text description provided by the architects. The leading development for future urban architecture, Shanghai West Bund Construction has taken on a new challenge this year - the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) will be held here between September 17-19, 2018. As one of the main venues for the 2018 World AI Conference, the design for Venue B was initiated in April 2018, followed by compact construction in June. Finally the whole 8885 ㎡ space was successfully realized in September.  Courtesy of Archi-Union Architecture Through algorithmic technologies such as the Internet, virtual reality, and robotic intelligence, AI has been rapidly refreshing our perceptions about the world. How can we present an urban public exhibition space, which carries the essence of AI technology in 100 days? When AI era has arrived, can this design process respond to the conceptual and technological potentials of our future construction industry?  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian The Building is located next to the vibrant waterfront of Xuhui Riverside in the heart of Shanghai. It is adjacent to the West Bund Art Center (Building A) and many other art spaces such as the West Bund Art Museum, the Tank Shanghai Art Parkand the Longhua Heliport. Along with the gathering of artificial intelligence conference and technology industries, the integration of art and technology has become a new topic of riverside urbanizations at the West Bund. Through simple form, pragmatic construction, cyborg ingenuity (man-machine cooperation) and fully prefabricated structure system, we are able to quickly realize the green, industrialized and intelligent architecture, and fully present the systematic solution for digital construction.  The Elytra Filament Pavilion. Image © Fangfang Tian WHITE: Simple Geometry Within Green West Bund  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian From the West Bund Art Museum by David Chipperfiled to SANNA's brand new office space, every piece of architecture is trying to respond to the spatial planning of the West Bund Riverside network and closed neighborhood through pure geometric forms. The massing of Venue B fully responds to the urban fabric of the riverside at West Bund. According to the functions of future exhibitions, summits, and forums, the design is organically divided into three main parts, and the plane also formes a simple integrity. The natural twist of the geometry echoes the texture of the city streets and surrounding buildings. The main volume of Venue B employs the most simple construction language — sloping roof, which suits well into rapid construction and can also be adopted by different uses in future.  City Relationship INTERVAL: Shared Gardens In Between Buildings  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian After considering functional positioning, usage analysis, maintenance, security management, and different usages in the future for the three main functional spaces, the two public parks express two major scenarios. When they are fully opened, they become a pocket park within the city fabric and when they are semi-opened, they indicates the circulation and stitches together the three main volumes.While they serve as rest stations in between the summits, they are also buffering the internal traffic.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian In addition, we designed a 120 ㎡ translucent 3D printed coffee pavilion within the larger garden and nearly 50 seats to form a space for rest, communication and tea breaks during the summit. While enhancing the functionality of the space, the pavilion also adds in a new level of spatial personality and feature.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian COVERAGE: Warm Parametric Timber Structure  Plan  1-1 Section Through algorithms, the form is slightly arched and the force is evenly distributed. The overall arch is balanced by the lateral arrangement of the steel trusses and is further reinforced at the three corners. The inner timber arches are optimized to the double-hollow superimposed beams, and the geometrical dimensions of all the beams are further refined by digital form-finding, so that every single beam can be optimally materialized during gluing. The installation process only requires 3-4 labors, which has significantly improved the construction efficiency on site. All beam heads are optimized in a parametric manner and such data is then used to guide the digital fabrication for milling and boring. The joints feature a standardized hollow aluminum structure that further reduces roof weight while facilitating prefabrication and on-site construction.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian On-site construction for the 2000 square meter timber shell only took 29 days. From the side, the ceiling is slightly above the main conference space, which results a better ventilation on ground level. The top is covered by polycarbonate corrugated board. Light is filtered through several layers and sprinkled in the gardens.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian CYBORG: 3D Robotic Printed Pavilion  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian The pavilion uses a series of structural optimization technology, which includes algorithm for structural topology analysis to simulate the structural performance of the original shape. Meanwhile, the space printing process of modified plastic is also realized through the algorithm of robotic technology. Waste plastics are recycled and specially modified to form a lightweight and high-strength structure.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian The large-span and lightweight structure of the 3D pavilion is realized through robotic space printing techniques. The entire process from design to construction celebrates the cooperation of man-machine intelligence, which is also the reason for such rapid construction. In total, digital design and fabrication technologies have helped to achieve 200 m² printed building areas, 40 printed chairs and 12 tables within 25 days.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian MATERIALITY: The Elytra Filament Pavilion  The Elytra Filament Pavilion. Image © Fangfang Tian The 200m² pavilion structure is inspired by lightweight construction principlesfound in nature – the fibrous structures of the forewing shells of flying beetles known as elytra.The canopy is made up of 40 hexagonal component cells and each is made of resin-soaked glass and carbon fibers. The transparent glass fibers form a spatial scaffold onto which the primarily structural black carbon fibers are applied, as they offer significantly higher stiffness and strength than the glass fibers. While adopting high structural performance, the pavilion also expresses exceptionally lightweight structure.  The Elytra Filament Pavilion. Image © Fangfang Tian INTELLIGENCE: Fully Prefabricated Modular System  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian The main space uses prefabricated light aluminum truss system, which is a mature system and allows for accurate construction. It is also the building system with the lightest unit weight from all the known materials. Considering the need of rapid construction, the building model and façades treatments are trying to employ conventional products. At the same time, in order to improve the urban integrity of the main façade, a refined cross-steel keel system and a semi-concealed polycarbonate curtain wall are added into the design. The keel treatment creates a translucent spatial texture, elegantly transforming and filtering the urban space into the exhibition space. The main entrance is slightly retracted, and the extension of the roof is used to form a gateway for the entrance gallery, indicating the openings of the main façade.The scale however, does not show an encouragement for people to stay too long at the entrance and thus is able to manage the traffic along the street.  B Pavillion. Image © Fangfang Tian The interfaces on each side are modified according to the needs of operation. For instance, the facade to the main street is closed as much as possible to avoid noise and interruptions to the summits. The façade conneting to gardens however, is widely opened up to allow relaxation within light and nature in between conferences. A mature multi-layer composite roofing system is used to enhance the energy performance of the entire project while meeting the acoustic characteristics.  Wood Construction. Image © Fangfang Tian  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nakamata / Schemata Architects Posted: 24 Sep 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Shinya Kigure
 © Shinya Kigure Text description provided by the architects. We designed a newly opened Japanese confectionary store "Nakamata" along the Chuo-dori shopping street in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture. Originally, a two-story shoe store and residence fully occupied this site. The building, flanked by buildings on both sides and sandwiched between the arcade and pavement at the top and bottom, had only one facade visible to the street and one could perceive the depth of the building only in the interior.  © Shinya Kigure We demolished the existing buildings to build a new store. The building on the left is a pasta restaurant designed by architect Ryuji Nakamura, and a new tonkatsu (Japanese pork cutlet) restaurant designed by architect Fumiko Takahama will be built on the right soon.  © Shinya Kigure  Situation / Ground floor plan  © Shinya Kigure This shopping street, like other shopping streets in regional cities throughout Japan, was facing the danger of becoming a "shutter street" where most storefronts are closed for business. There are few passers-by even during the day and vacant lots are spotted here and there. Driven by a strong desire to stop the decline of the shopping street, entrepreneur Jin Tanaka, who was born in Maebashi, facilitated the establishment of "Maebashi Machinaka Agency", an organization promoting networking of people and things in Maebashi, and several projects, including the Nakamata project we worked on, were launched at the same time. However, the "shutter-street" issue is very serious and "shuttered" stores seem to be still increasing two years after the project started.  © Shinya Kigure Because a Japanese confectionary store does not need an eating area for customers, the required floor area of the store was very small in proportion to the site area, which means we have a large excess volume on the site. The key to designing this project would be how to use the "excess volume" in order to give back to the city.  © Shinya Kigure  Section  © Shinya Kigure Considering the future of this city, it is not realistic to look back to the past and try to restore a lively and bustling atmosphere on this shopping street–– like the streetscapes during the economic miracle in the Showa period of Japan as shown in the movie "Always: Sunset on Third Street"––in our depopulating society. We needed to come up with a new "shopping street-scape" for the coming era. For a start, we went to observe a suburban shopping mall attracting many customers ––one of the major causes of the decline of shopping streets––and speculated what kind of customer discontent might arise there in near future. A shopping mall is equivalent to the internet world where "expected" things exist in an "easy-to-understand" way. Such a "prescribed" way of shopping at a shopping mall has and an advantage of offering customers opportunities to see and try actual products they want, but the internet shopping is superior in terms of the amount of stocks, speed, and wide range of distribution area. In addition, the automobile society is going through drastic changes. The automobile navigation system can take you anywhere and it is easy to spot a place to park a car due to increasing vacant lots in the city. Today each internet user can re-edit his/her experiences by re-editing information on the interface, which means that the actual experience at a shopping mall may not be so advantageous. I thought that this small building would be able to show a way to welcome people unsatisfied with such "prescribed" experiences and offer unique experiences in the city––even if it may sound too grand for a small store––and we explored the best way as we designed.  © Shinya Kigure Different historic layers exist parallel to the shopping street, and we created a path extending perpendicular to these layers to add a sense of depth in the city and enhance customers' expectations by increasing the surface area of the building. In other words, we decided to use the "reduced" building volume to create the spatial depth. Our challenge of designing a "reduction" on this site shows potential of a vacant lot along the shopping street and may give hope to those who are interested in opening small stores here.  Elevation The design code established by Maebashi Machinaka Agency required the use of bricks on the building exterior. The interesting part of this project was that we were able to design while checking the progress of the projects on both sides. We imagined how they would stack bricks on both sides and studied how to stack our bricks in various patterns––making a large stack like them, dividing it in two, and reducing each volume––in relation to the neighboring buildings, while paying attention to enhancing "void" spaces between the brick stacks. This project was about designing a new store, yet we could say it was also about designing "reduction" on the shopping street. While this building comprises part of a visual sequence of the shopping street, it creates spatial depth perpendicular to the street not only in the interior and but also the exterior. We intended to create a place enhancing customers' expectations by expanding the shopping street three dimensionally.  © Shinya Kigure  © Shinya Kigure Another design code requirement is to plant trees on the site. We planted three small trees in the "void" space and designed in such a way that bricks around the trees will be removed along with the growth of each tree and the soil area will gradually increase. Considering such unique details, we did not fill in brick joints with mortar and left them as deep grooves to emphasize the solidity of bricks and highlight the contrast between light and shadow. We used this joint detail not only on the floor but also on vertical stacks to create a distinct brick appearance.  © Shinya Kigure  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Alibaba - Ali Centre in Shanghai / Benoy Posted: 24 Sep 2018 12:00 PM PDT  © Wenxi Zhang
 © Wenxi Zhang Text description provided by the architects. Located in the business district of Hongqiao, Shanghai, the new Ali Centre covers three plots and includes retail, commercial offices and two central squares. The development consists of four buildings covering a gross floor area of over 140,000m2. The lower floors of each will house new online and offline retail businesses which will be accessible to the public, while the upper floors are given to international Grade-A office spaces.  © Wenxi Zhang The design philosophy behind the Ali Centre was to create an open and interconnected complex conscious of innovation and reflecting the characteristics of mid-to-high-end commercial needs. The overall concept looks at space maximisation, comfortable pedestrian flow and open-air spaces. As the Interior Designer, Benoy brought together simple elegance with science and technology to inform the interior style across each of the buildings. Through the logical division of indoor space, material use, lighting effects, colour application and furniture selection, Benoy's team reflects a subtle, harmonious, comfortable and modern interior environment in line with Alibaba's brand. Benoy also worked closely with Alibaba to ensure the retail and commercial office spaces would have their own identity and visibility yet still be united within the Ali Centre development.  © Wenxi Zhang “Creating a sense of belonging from the outset was critical to our design approach. We wanted to reflect the Alibaba brand as a destination through colour and identifiable design elements from the moment a visitor, guest or worker enters the development,” said Simon Wong, Director at Benoy.  © Wenxi Zhang Adhering to the design requirements outlined by Alibaba, Benoy created a strong arrival experience across the building's lobbies – ensuring consistency for the e-commerce brand. The 'Ali orange' has been integrated throughout Benoy's design, with the signature colour applied throughout the reception areas, information desks and elevator halls.  © Wenxi Zhang Benoy has also introduced playful and eye-catching environmental graphics throughout the development. Such highlights include the oversized building numbering which can be found on the lobby glass curtain walls, the outdoor structural columns as well as the building entrances. The outdoor spatial design has also benefited from Benoy’s applications with the concept of the ‘Orange Ribbon’ applied to the two sunken courtyards which form focal points within the scheme. Extending from the first basement level to the fourth floor, the design connects across the series of interior and exterior spaces, and plays on the notion of brand consistency and visual connection.  © Wenxi Zhang The Ali Centre in Hongqiao is the first project to be completed by Benoy for Alibaba and sets the foundation for future successful collaborations for the two companies. With the vision to attract top talent and develop an 'intelligent business district' within the Greater Hongqiao region, Ali Centre is set to establish itself as an engine for economic and commercial development for this growing area of Shanghai.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Sep 2018 10:00 AM PDT  © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas
 © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas Text description provided by the architects. The adidas NYC Flagship is the largest adidas store in the world and debuts the stadium concept—the purest physical manifestation of the brand. The design sets the mark for a completely new retail direction that aligns with their invigorated brand strategy of focusing on their target consumers; this is a space made by creators, for creators.  © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas Armed with adidas's conceptual direction of "stadium," Gensler developed a design with the athlete's journey in mind. By treating New York City as the metaphorical "field of play," the stadium Flagship provides everything needed to equip the athlete behind the scenes. The design exposes the existing concrete floors and CMU walls, cast-in-place concrete ceilings, and board-formed tunnel and elevator enclosure which highlight the space's raw NYC character. This, combined with the bold architectural moves, gives power to the concept and evokes an emotional response from the consumer.  Ground floor plan / Launch zone  Cellar floor plan / Mens  Second floor plan / womens  Third floor plans / Originals The athlete's journey with adidas begins as the consumer leaves the field of play, and enters the store through the stadium tunnel. The tunnel entrance is flanked by a two-tiered stadium stand assembly that faces out to Fifth Avenue. The stands encourage gathering, watching live broadcasts of games, viewing demonstrations and lectures by the pros, sharing product innovations, and socializing. Whether the consumer moves up or down, they'll encounter open areas to try on and test shoes and apparel. A print shop in the cellar and miadidas on the third level invites consumers to be creators through customization.  © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas The areas under the stands on either side of the central entry contain the in-store only product, a nutrition bar, and a city map highlighting other must-see spots. Additional elements that tell the story of the stadium concept include the overhead concourse metal-mesh ceiling element that orients shoppers on each floor and ticket booth cash desks with fixed queueing stanchions and large overhead canopies. Adjacent to the fitting rooms are the athlete lounges furnished with locally-sourced vintage pieces and decorative elements that tie back to NYC. Even the restrooms take notes from the local NYC fabric using a combination of CMU block, white subway tile, and red blaze quarry tile for the floors. The spaces are nods to both the high school restroom and the gritty texture of NYC streets.  © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas The flagship design achieves a tangible expression of a creator space and presents a raw manifestation of a high school stadium. Every element within the space has been rigorously challenged to conform to this aesthetic vision, and the culmination of this approach results in a soulful and honest reflection of sport, authentically connecting to the target consumer. Creativity is the primary message that resonates throughout the space, presenting adidas as the facilitator to enable the athlete to create and achieve whatever they put their mind to.  © Dirk Tacke, Courtesy of adidas  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Studio Gang, BIG, Calatrava and SOM Among Teams Competing For $8 Billion Chicago O’Hare Contract Posted: 24 Sep 2018 09:05 AM PDT  © Shutterstock Studio Gang, BIG, Calatrava and SOM are among twelve leading architecture teams vying to work on the Chicago O'Hare International Airport expansion. The city's request for qualifications calls for demolishing O'Hare's Terminal 2 to replace it with a global concourse and terminal for both domestic and international flights from United and American Airlines. The city's Department of Procurement Services estimates the expansion will cost $8.7 billion. Known as O'Hare 21, the project represents O'Hare's first major overhaul in 25 years.  Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Image © Creative Commons As Chicago Tribune critic Blair Kamin reports, an impressive list of firms is competing on the expansion, including American architect Curtis Fentress, who designed the Denver International Airport, Jahn, Perkins+Will, Gensler, HOK, and Studio Fuksas. Foster + Partners has teamed up with local firms JGMA and Epstein on the bid. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that selecting an architect for the project is a key priority before he leaves office next May.  Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Image © Creative Commons  Chicago O'Hare International Airport Expansion. Image © O'Hare 21 The project calls for two satellite concourses to be built as part of the expansion. As Curbed Chicago reports, an evaluation committee will review the qualifications submitted by the firms and recommend a short list of up to five finalists to the city's Department of Aviation. Two design contracts will be awarded after the finalists are judged, and the winning team will design the global terminal and concourse. The second-place team is expected to design the satellite concourses. In turn, Terminal 5 will be expanded and Terminals 1 and 3 will be renovated. The airport's total terminal area would grow from 5.5 million to 8.9 million square feet. Officials hope to complete the multi-phase O'Hare 21 project by 2026.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| SLO Architecture Builds Floating Harvest Dome in Grand Rapids Posted: 24 Sep 2018 09:00 AM PDT  Harvest Dome 3.0. Image © SLO Architecture SLO Architecture has built Harvest Dome 3.0, a floating dome project made to celebrate the riparian heritage of Grand Rapids. Made with local materials harvested from the Grand River industry, the 20-foot-diameter orb would be constructed from brightly colored surplus seat-belts and studded with rearview mirrors, set atop a ring of 128 repurposed two-liter soda bottles. The project explores the city's legacy of manufacturing and a history of production.  Harvest Dome 3.0. Image © SLO Architecture  Harvest Dome 3.0. Image © SLO Architecture The new Harvest Dome builds off of lessons learned from version 2.0, funded by a MCAF grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. The original 24-foot diameter cupola was made from over 450 reclaimed umbrellas that would float on 128 empty two-liter soda bottles through the New York City waterways. Its purpose was to reveal a circadian cycle of tides at the northern tip of Manhattan, home to one of the islands last remaining salt marshes.  Harvest Dome 3.0. Image © SLO Architecture  Harvest Dome 3.0. Image © SLO Architecture Now Harvest Dome 3.0 was made to bring attention to the Grand River waterway. While the river's energy propelled Grand Rapids to become a center for logging, furniture fabrication, and automotive industries, the possibility of the river also engendered changes to landscape ecology, leading to flooding and contamination. The transcendent abstract form of Harvest Dome 3.0 emerges from a flotsam of accumulated materials, its bright blue seatbelt lines and sky-and-water-reflecting rearview mirrors shimmering like a bubble coming up from the surging rapids, transfiguring the river's power and possibility.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Community Library in La Molina / Gonzalez Moix Arquitectura Posted: 24 Sep 2018 08:00 AM PDT  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía
 © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía Background  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía  First Floor Plan  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía Implantation  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía The project is placed parallel to the main park and, in conjunction with two adjoining schools along with various residential constructions that surround it, completes a cultural cloister keeping the park as its center. We decided to implant a strong, formal and functional image but with a very simple architectonic presence, one that is conceptually inclusive and dignified. A contemporary and timeless architecture that will serve as a social reference for the community, a place of communion and coexistence of daily endeavors. Another characteristic of the location is the fact that cars can be parked on a parking lot zone, leaving the park, library, and environment as a pedestrian area, creating a different experience in the city,  Section 1  Section 2 Concept  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía Both longitudinal façades are sewn against each other with beams of exposed concrete, defining a flexible and open interior specialty. An interior that responds successfully to structuring and use, valuing the natural light entering through the vertical windows as raw material, generating various sensations throughout the day. It was vital for us to think about the project through its interiors, using the action of sitting to read a book as our starting point and transitioning the exterior landscape towards the interior, and vice versa. A landscape that is defined by two realities; on one side, the pacific nature of the park, and on the other hand, the residential buildings loaded with local identity. The project manages to overlap and connect both realities, offering an inclusive environment, creating a sense of relevance for its users.  © Ramiro Del Carpio Fotografía Color and Materiality  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Sydney Opera House Becomes Carbon Neutral Posted: 24 Sep 2018 07:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is celebrating a significant environmental milestone, having become carbon neutral five years ahead of schedule. For reducing its carbon dioxide emissions through efficiencies in waste and energy management, the Opera House was awarded certification from the Australian Government's National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS). The sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated green on the night of Monday 24th September to celebrate the carbon neutral certification. _Prudence_Upton.jpg?1537804562 "© Prudence Upton") © Prudence Upton To reduce electricity use by 14%, the Concert Hall's incandescent bulbs where replaced with custom LED lights to achieve a 75% reduction in electrical consumption, while a new building management control system was installed to monitor energy and water use. Chiller units connected to the Opera House's pioneering seawater cooling system were also replaced to achieve a 9% energy reduction. To increase recycling rates from 25% to 60%, the Opera House implemented a new waste management system, including the transfer of food waste to an organics facility to be turned into energy, rather than directing it to a landfill. In addition, an education program on waste management was rolled out for onboarding staff and contractors.  Courtesy of Sydney Opera House With the help of major partner EnergyAustralia, the Opera House offset remaining emissions by investing in NCOS-certified international emissions reduction projects. The commitment included supporting SouthPole's project "EcoAustralia" which combines biodiversity conservation in the Annya State Forest in Victoria, Australia with international emissions reduction.
_Hamilton_Lund_2017251.jpg?1537804531 "© Hamilton Lund") © Hamilton Lund The next step in the Opera House's Environmental Sustainability Plan will be to reduce energy use by 20%, achieve 85% recycling on operational waste, and to maintain its carbon neutral status in time for its 50th anniversary in 2023. News via: Sydney Opera House  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Living Garden / MAD Architects Posted: 24 Sep 2018 06:00 AM PDT  © Chunhui Zhao
 © Chunhui Zhao Text description provided by the architects. MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, presents its model for the "home of the future" on the occasion of the 2018 China House Vision Exhibition. "Living Garden", conceived in partnership with Hanergy, breaks down the boundaries between interior and exterior, giving inhabitants the feeling that they are living in nature.  © Fangfang Tian   © Fangfang Tian Defying notions of the traditional home, where walls and roofs form boundaries, MAD's design envisions an "en-plein-air" atmosphere. A curved, floating roof slopes downwards. Its grid-like structure is layered with translucent, waterproof glass that while protecting the 'interior' from the rain, also provides natural ventilation, and allows sunlight to flood inside. Hanergy solar panels are strategically placed above. The angle of each is such that it harnesses maximum amounts of sunlight to provide power throughout the home. Collectively, they generate enough electric energy to power the daily consumption of a family of three. Maintaining an openness towards the sky and its surroundings, "Living Garden" sees life, (solar) energy, and nature coincide, seamlessly blending together to create an architectural 'living' landscape – one that emphasizes humanity's emotional connection with nature.  © Fangfang Tian The 2018 China House Vision Exhibition teams 10 international architecture firms with 10 innovative companies to create their ideal 'home of the future' in the form of a 1:1 scale pavilion. Initiated by Japanese graphic designer and curator Kenya Hara, House Vision is a cultural research project that seeks to use the "home" as a medium to consider the possibilities of future living. Having already had editions in Tokyo, the 2018 exhibition is the first one abroad, and showcases10 diverse living environments that address future living in China, through the cross-collaboration of different disciplines: architecture, design, technology, manufacturing etc.  © Dongdong Zhou  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Oppenheim Architecture's Vast Star Metal Project Begins Construction in Atlanta, Georgia Posted: 24 Sep 2018 05:00 AM PDT  Aerial view of Star Metals Offices and Residences. Image © Luxigon Oppenheim Architecture has released an update of their proposed Star Metals development in Atlanta, Georgia. Spread over two schemes, the project seeks to "shift the paradigm of what's possible for new urban environments" through a 1.36 million-square-foot masterplan. The Oppenheim scheme consists of a 14-story "Star Metals Offices" building, accommodating offices, terraces, parking, and retail, and a nine-story "Star Metals Residences" building with over 400 residential units.  Street view of Star Metals Offices and Residences. Image © Luxigon The 14-story Star Metals Office building contains mixed-use office and retail facilities within a concrete frame structure, and metal panel / curtainwall glazed façades. A total of 225,000 square feet of offices and 23,000 square feet of retail are contained within the 1.8 acre site, with tenants availing of communal outdoor terraces, and a rooftop restaurant with sweeping views across Atlanta.  Street view of Star Metals Offices and Residences. Image © Taller De Escalas The design concept was heavily inspired by the site's historical context, as well as the existing industrial, agricultural, and warehouse structures. The low cost, easily maintained, long-lasting materiality of the existing structures is translated into a simple, honest palette for the Star Metals Office building, with concrete, steel, and glass arranged in a variety of repetitive patterns.  Rooftop view of Star Metals Offices. Image © Luxigon Responding to the project's substantial program, the elevations of individual floors are uniquely articulated to create moment and shadow, hence reducing the perceived scale of the overall volume. This "stratified" approach serves to reflect the varying uses of the building, while also offering a unique, fresh narrative in a historically-conscious manner.  Terrace view of Star Metals Offices. Image © Luxigon
 Retail interior view of Star Metals Offices. Image © Taller De Escalas Meanwhile, the corrugated-metal-clad Star Metals Residences building responds to the momentum of a rapidly evolving, vibrant neighborhood. The 9-story scheme seeks to capture the youthful energy of its surroundings though a series of "socially-targeted amenities" including a rooftop pool and terrace, library, and theater. A retail-focused ground floor will provide residents access to additional future amenities, while a 600-space parking garage will include electric-car charging stations and bike storage.  Street view of Star Metals Residences. Image © Luxigon
 Street view of Star Metals Residences. Image © Luxigon Construction is expected to be completed by 2020. More information regarding the Star Metals development is available on the official website here. News via: Oppenheim Architecture
 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rio Vista Residence / Buchanan Architecture Posted: 24 Sep 2018 04:00 AM PDT  © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA
 © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA Text description provided by the architects. The Rio Vista Residence is a 2,160 square foot single-family residence located on a cliff overlooking the Trinity River and downtown Dallas. The site is situated on a cul-de-sac in an established neighborhood and has panoramic views to the north. The existing topography forms a natural clearing for the building in the center of the site with native trees to the south, east, and west.  © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA  Site plan  © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA Passive solar orientation for the residence is along an east/west axis with views and natural light to the north, morning light from the east, shaded breezes from the south, and minimal exposure to the west. Energy efficient building systems are paired with sustainable materials to create a high-performance, durable, low-maintenance home.  © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA The residence is composed of three rectilinear masses varying in size and tone; each clad in a distinct corrugated metal siding with a subtle change of finish. From the street the residence appears to rest on an island which is accessed only by a bridge. The massing of the building stretches the entire width of the site, limiting any views of the skyline beyond. Once inside, the building reveals itself as a series of light-filled spaces with panoramic views of the city. The three rectilinear masses are seen again as interior volumes designed with varying ceiling heights or materials to distinguish entry foyer, living rooms, and outdoor patio spaces. Simple and sculptural, the overall form nestles within the landscape as a composition of solids and voids. Interior spaces are finished in a neutral palette to compliment furnishings and artwork.  © Charles Davis Smith, FAIA  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Sep 2018 02:30 AM PDT .jpg?1537702346 "Best Products Showroom, Langhorne, Pennsylvania (1978). Image © Tom Bernard") Best Products Showroom, Langhorne, Pennsylvania (1978). Image © Tom Bernard There are so many complexities and contradictions in life in general and architecture in particular. I am writing this intro to an interview I held in 2004 with Robert Venturi and his life-and-architecture partner Denise Scott Brown, while visiting Beijing's Tsinghua University where I was invited to teach this fall. Was it simply a coincidence when, at the last moment before leaving my New York City apartment I would, almost by chance, grab a 2001 issue of Architecture magazine with Venturi on its cover and his contradictory quote, "I am not now and never have been a postmodernist." I learned of Venturi's passing last week on my first day of teaching at Tsinghua; the news arrived as I and the students discussed their proposals to improve their campus. In yet another strange coincidence, Venturi and Scott Brown had, just prior to our interview, been working on their own proposal for the very same campus. It was a pleasant and bittersweet surprise then to hear my students speak of freeing up the campus in much the same ways as Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture attacked then domineering architecture of minimalism and abstraction over 50 years ago. His and Scott Brown's ideas for this campus did not materialize but their analytical and often rebellious thinking greatly influenced how students here and architects all over the world approach architecture. It was Venturi who freed our discipline, it was him who set us all free and encouraged to ask our own questions, to get away from all kinds of dogmas and to provoke ideas of hybridization. What follows is an excerpt from my conversation with the architects at their office in Philadelphia 14 years ago. VB: You just came back from China where you are working on a campus plan for Tsinghua University in Beijing and two 45-story office buildings in Shanghai. You don't think there is a contradiction in inviting an architect from another part of the world to do a local project? Robert Venturi: Not in this era. Denise Scott Brown: In Beijing the client specifically wanted us because of our American know-how. They wanted to hear about American cultural values about education, though it doesn't mean they'll accept those values. They want to broaden their view; they are looking for people who can get into their shoes and see their point of view, but who have another experience and know other points of view. This is a society that has done 5,000 years of thinking and Bob and I have each done 70-some years of thinking. There's a lot we can share. RV: One reason that we like working on the project in Shanghai is the essential multiculturalism that this city represents, the coming together of Eastern and Western cultures that has been happening in Shanghai in the last century and a half. Multiculturalism – that is, the juxtaposition of universal culture and local-ethnic cultures – is now inevitable, dynamic, enriching, and healthy. Shanghai has been and is a great example of this phenomenon. DSB: Bob and I come from multicultural backgrounds. My grandparents came from Latvia and Lithuania and, through them, I have an under-memory of Eastern Europe in my background – along with their 19th century views of the world. But I was born in Zambia and grew up in South Africa. Our son recently visited Latvia and Lithuania and he says the people there look familiar. Bob's family is Italian-American. We both lived in Italy. We are both interested in other cultures. Bob and I speak some Italian and French. I also speak a little German and Afrikaans, and a very small bit of an African language. That is the cultural matrix we live in and enjoy, and it has helped to prepare us for working in other cultures.  VB: You have done a lot of traveling and experienced many different forms of architecture. Can you name one building or a project that you learned from the most and why? RV: I have learned most from the architecture of Michelangelo. For me his Porta Pia in Rome is the most inspiring single building. I think of Michelangelo's and also Palladio's architecture as Mannerist. I've been learning and writing about Mannerism for many years. I learned a great deal from Michelangelo's buildings in Rome and Florence, and Palladio's churches in Venice. This is an architecture that inspired me the most and that is because of the idea of the Mannerists to accept and acknowledge convention and then divert from it – making exceptions and creating appropriate ambiguities. These are the ideas that I explored in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. And then of course, we apply these ideas not only to form in architecture, but also to symbolism, which we learned from Las Vegas and American Pop culture. DSB: Learning from one building is less interesting to me than learning from a spectrum of places. We learn different things from different cultures and cities. Sometimes we visit a great building and we adore it, but we also find that its context is as inspiring as the building itself. The lessons we learn from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Rome, and Tokyo are as intense, maybe even more intense, than those we learn from single great buildings. RV: And we learn from the ordinary as well as from the extraordinary. .jpg?1537701733) VB: You both knew Louis Kahn very well. What did you learn from him? RV: I met Kahn in 1947, before he became well known. He is now very much in fashion and he never went out of fashion. I have mixed feelings about Lou. He was a great architect and I learned a lot from him, but he was not a godlike architect, and I'm also bitter about him. The reason I'm bitter is that he also learned from me, and other young people around him, and he never admitted that, which is very unfair. VB: What did Louis Kahn learn from you? RV: He learned from me about the elements of layering; about windows as holes in walls rather than absence of walls; about breaking the order of architecture, and about the use of inflection, which is the idea that a building can inflect beyond itself toward something else. Also Kahn was influenced by my use of historical analogy as part of the analytical process of design, which derived in turn from my professors at Princeton University, Jean Labatut and Donald Drew Egbert. DSB: In 1984 I wrote an article, A Worm's eye view of recent architectural history. The worm was I. During a long life, I have seen a lot of architectural history, but I find that history is sometimes written 180 degrees wrong, by historians who were not there. I'm not an historian, but I can write the minutes of the meetings, so to speak. I witnessed many exchanges between Bob and Lou. All of us learned from Lou – that's admitted. But the lessons went both ways; Lou should have attributed some of "his" ideas to Bob, and a couple to me. RV: We are actually old enough to know some history, not only from books, but through our own experience and we know that history is not always correct. VB: History has its footprints not only in books, but also in places such as Rome. What is it about Rome that makes it such a special place for you? RV: Last year we celebrated the 55th anniversary of my first day in Rome. The first time I went to Rome was when I was 23. Rome was always a very important place to me. From before I can remember, I knew that I wanted to be an architect. My father and mother were both devotees of architecture. As an American, what fascinated me then about Rome was the fact that the city was made essentially to accommodate the pedestrian, not the vehicle, and there was also the combination of narrow streets and wide piazzas. Particularly I'm fascinated by spatially complex baroque architecture. Also there is a very special aura of Rome and its colors – yellow and orange. I have written a lot about Rome. That first trip was a very emotional, as well as rational, experience for me. DSB: The city defines the Western canon of architecture. Even for Modernists it is the basis of architecture. For a long time I delayed visiting Rome. People asked: "How can you study architecture and not go to Rome?" Then after graduation, I did go to Italy for six months and lived and worked briefly in Rome. The experience in Rome helped me to prepare for what I've done since, and the friendships I formed then have lasted until now. RV: I was privileged to be in Rome as a Fellow of the American Academy. I learned from Baroque Rome more than from Classical Rome, and also from early Christian basilicas, adorned by iconographic surfaces. We find that iconography is very important. We recently finished a book Architecture as Signs and Systems for a Mannerist Time. The structures we are designing in Shanghai now are essentially Mies van der Rohe-like buildings with LED ornament on the facades. These towers are very symbolic and they support the idea of architecture as sign, which is very different from the dramatic, baroque form of today's popular high-rise buildings. Much of architecture in the 20th century was based on the aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism. But there was always symbolic reference in architecture of the past – in Egyptian temples, Greek pediments, mosaics of early Christian churches, or stained glass windows in great European cathedrals. These represent narratives through which these buildings try to "sell" you something – Catholicism, Protestantism or whatever. In our own time, iconography can be applied to buildings whether it is signage, ornament, or electronics. For example, American commercial architecture "sells" products through displayed iconography. All of these things interest us and we expressed these ideas in another book that was published a few years ago, called Iconography and Electronics upon a Generic Architecture. VB: Is your architecture more about communication than about space? RV: Yes, that is exactly it. VB: Then how is architecture different from other disciplines such as art or music?  RV: I think all the visual arts are essentially saying something, employing narrative, symbolism, and representation. DSB: Architecture has a role that art and music do not have. It houses things, including people. Architecture provides both shelter and communication – a shed and decoration. When we said that most buildings should be designed as decorated sheds, this was an extreme statement. But it was intended to help us get away from the notion that space is all that architecture is about. Space is just one of many components of architecture. VB: When clients ask you to do a project, what do you think they really want you to do for them? DSB: Different clients want different things. Our clients in Beijing, for example, heard Bob talking about campus planning in a way that interested them. They didn't say: "Let's hire a famous architect and use his name to raise money." They felt there was a meeting of minds between us and that we had an experience and a methodology that could help them in their aim to produce a wonderful environment for the future. _(Timothy_Soar).jpg?1537702377 "Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery, London (1991). Image © Timothy Soar") Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery, London (1991). Image © Timothy Soar .jpg?1537701747) RV: There is a notion right now that in order to do great architecture the architect has to be imported from abroad. European architects are redesigning many American museums and a lot of American architects are working all over the world. DSB: Art museums, in particular, flock to hire the latest architectural "star," who will design "signature architecture." They want to be seen as nonconformists – to join the crowd of nonconformists who are hiring that architect. There's an irony here. _01.jpg?1537701795) VB: Some critics say that Vanna Venturi House is the most significant house of the second half of the 20th century; others say it is the first postmodernist house. What do you think? RV: I think it is the first modern house that employs symbolic references. It says, "I'm a house; I'm a shelter." Modernists would never do that. On the other hand I love the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier and I learned a lot from it. It also employs symbolism, but industrial symbolism, within, ironically, its abstract aesthetic. DSB: I think the Vanna Venturi House did influence what architects call postmodernism. But architects misunderstood its direction, what it stood for. For me, it has in it, in embryo, almost everything we have done since. If you look at our later projects, such as the Sainsbury Wing in London, you can find Vanna Venturi House in there. So its roots are important for our own subsequent work. And since it was built, it has served as a touchstone for the ideas of successive generations of architects. This is more important than its temporary distortion by postmodernists.  VB: A teacher wants to educate his students, a doctor wants to cure his patients, and a writer wants to share a story with his readers. What do you think an architect should want? RV: I think an architect should want to enrich life and a particular context and often that means being recessive. Not all buildings should scream and yell, "Hey look, I'm a building! I'm here and I impose myself – my ego – on all of you!" Sometimes it is appropriate, but in general, architecture should be a background for life and living. I love Beethoven, but you can't listen to his symphonies constantly. DSB: Doctors have a precept – first, do no harm. We should want that, too. Architects have to realize that they can't make better people by giving them beautiful spaces. All the arts give pleasure. Beautiful spaces also give pleasure. But what I love about architecture is that its problems – the project briefs or programs – challenge both my intellect and my creativity to find the right resolution, one that could last 300 years or more. Yet at the same time, I love to make the results beautiful. When we visit our buildings and see that they are used as we intended them to be – that people have discovered what we put there for them – when we see something out there in front of us which was once just an idea in our minds and when we find it beautiful – this gives us a very deep pleasure. I don't know which other arts can bring that marvelous combination of feelings.  VLADIMIR BELOGOLOVSKY is the founder of the New York-based non-profit Curatorial Project. Trained as an architect at Cooper Union in New York, he has written five books, including Conversations with Architects in the Age of Celebrity (DOM, 2015), Harry Seidler: LIFEWORK (Rizzoli, 2014), and Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985(TATLIN, 2010). Among his numerous exhibitions: Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes at Casa Curutchet, La Plata, Argentina (2015); Colombia: Transformed (American Tour, 2013-15); Harry Seidler: Painting Toward Architecture (world tour since 2012); and Chess Game for Russian Pavilion at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale (2008). Belogolovsky is the American correspondent for Berlin-based architectural journal SPEECH and he has lectured at universities and museums in more than 20 countries. Belogolovsky's column, City of Ideas, introduces ArchDaily's readers to his latest and ongoing conversations with the most innovative architects from around the world. These intimate discussions are a part of the curator's upcoming exhibition with the same title which originally premiered at the University of Sydney in June 2016. The City of Ideas exhibition will travel to venues around the world to explore ever-evolving content and design.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Haus am See 2 / mvm+starke architekten Posted: 24 Sep 2018 02:00 AM PDT  © Bernd Nörig
 © Bernd Nörig Text description provided by the architects. The views of Lake Heimbach and the Meuchelberg, a nature reserve on the opposite side of the lake, the oak forest and the steep northern slope are the first impressions to take into account for the "weekend house". The latter is supposed to be the special, almost insoluble challenge. It is reasonable to assume that the house and its future occupants will benefit little from the sun. On closer inspection, however, it can be seen that especially in winter and the transition periods, the sun finds its way across the mountain through the light trees to the property due to the lack of leaves on the trees. This is an essential design idea and ultimately the form of the house. If the external observer believes that the house is positioned the wrong way round, since the house with the high, transparent facade does not face the lake, one can experience the effect of how the house captures the sunlight shining over the mountain, even in summer months and even more so in winter.  © Bernd Nörig So that the entire living space of the small house profits from this effect, there is much transparency and transparency, quasi the visual impression of a one-room house. Another positive side effect is that both qualities of the surroundings, oak forest view and lake view, can be experienced from all rooms. The slope and the funnel shape almost naturally give rise to the inner organization. The ground floor is structured via a split-level division and divided into two areas of use: the living-cooking/dining area and the bathroom/guest work area. The resident reaches the upper floor via a staircase with an unexpected view of the oak forest. Here there is an additional wet room as well as the bedroom, which is only separated by a large glass pane and in direct visual contact with the rest of the living space.  © Bernd Nörig The structure, resulting from the hillside location and the focus on the lake and oak forest, is understood as a single room. Like a tube, it connects both impressions at the same time in the interior and thus becomes a "through-living space", which manifests itself in the exterior appearance through the larch cladding on the roof and the clearly separated wooden glass elements. The entrance door and two window slits to the east and west break the principle and can also be experienced in the interior as a conscious disturbance of the basic orientation of the building and become special elements without questioning the principle.  Ground Floor Plan  © Bernd Nörig  Section A  © Bernd Nörig  First Floor Plan The floor slab and exterior walls are made of reinforced concrete. The roof, the interior, the ceiling over the ground floor, the windows, the stairs and the floor covering are wooden constructions. The building is naturally ventilated and heated on the ground floor by underfloor heating. A wood pellet boiler is installed for heating and hot water supply. In addition, the ground floor can be heated with a fireplace. The drinking water supply is ensured by a 60m deep well.  © Bernd Nörig  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