Arch Daily

Zalando Beauty Station / Batek Architekten
Spotlight: Sir Christopher Wren
Dental Clinic / Drozdov&Partners
Tree Hugger / 4site Architecture
AD Classics: Empire State Building / Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Folding Settlement F3.stu / Atelier Prospering
Debris House / Wallmakers
The Austin / Edmonds + Lee Architects
Miller Park In Downtown Chattanooga / Spackman Mossop Michaels + Eskew Dumez Ripple
Villa Nature / Saraiva + Asociados
House 3 / Pablo Senmartin
Snøhetta Selected to Design El Paso Children's Museum
Alcázar de Toledo / Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
Microsoft is Looking for Architects to Partner With for the Future of Smart Cities
Clear Rock Ranch / Lemmo Architecture and Design
This Week in Architecture: More than Visual
Henning Larsen's French International School is a "Vibrant Green Oasis" for Hong Kong
Casatru / Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos
What New York's Central Park Could Have Looked Like

Zalando Beauty Station / Batek Architekten

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 10:00 PM PDT

Architects: Batek Architekten
Location: Berlin, Germany
Lead Architects: Patrick Batek, Karen Kröger
Area: 130.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Marcus Wend

Text description provided by the architects. Understated but stringent looks. Inspiring, Insta-worthy backdrops reveal themselves moving through this beauty boutique, proudly designed by Batek Architects.
The space is entirely customisable,

offering dynamic arrangements for product presentations, pop-up events, beauty services and video shoots. Freely placeable stainless steel cubes are perfect for ad-hoc zoning, curated product showcasing and presentations.
A long shelf, crafted by Smile Plastics from recycled plastic cups, draws the eye and serves as the showcase highlight.
Central to the front retail area is an imposing solid concrete wash basin for customer use.

Three floor-to-ceiling shelves made from stainless steel divide the shop floor. These pivot, either dividing the area in two with a secluded back area, or opening up the space completely. They are backed with full length mirrors that visually enlarge the room.

Drawing the eye to the back of the space is the four metre long stainless steel beauty service table, with retractable mirrors. Privacy comes from a movable curtain made from light fabric.

The low-key colour concept of cream, light beige, and grey to nude and natural shades, in harmony with the cement bonded industrial flooring and special, daylight reproducing high colour index lighting, together create a gallery environment ideal for presenting exquisite beauty products.
Suspended accent lights from PSLab sprinkle warm atmosphere throughout.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Spotlight: Sir Christopher Wren

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 09:00 PM PDT

Old Royal Navy College, Greenwich. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickschooley/6758847925'>Flickr user nickschooley</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a>

Sir Christopher Wren (20 October 1632 – 25 February 1723) is one the most significant architects in British history, and was a recognized astronomer, scholar, and physicist-mathematician. Wren was classically trained at the University of Oxford in physics and engineering where he developed his interest in architecture. He is perhaps most famous for designing London's iconic St Paul's Cathedral, however he is credited with the design of dozens of other churches, government buildings, and hospitals in England. Wren was knighted in 1673.

Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Image <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christopher_Wren_by_Godfrey_Kneller_1711.jpg'>via Wikimedia</a> (public domain)

Wren received his first architectural commission in 1663 from his uncle, the Bishop of Ely, to design a new chapel for Pembroke College in Cambridge. After the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the city in 1666, Wren seized the opportunity to redesign the burned areas with a network of wide boulevards. His proposal was rejected, in part due to difficulties in establishing the owners of the land after such a huge disaster, but he succeeded in building 52 churches across the city, including St Paul's. Shortly thereafter, Wren was appointed surveyor of the Royal Works by King Charles II, tasked with supervising all government buildings and royal palaces in Britain.

St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/locosteve/8287719102'>Flickr user locosteve</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a>

His career in architecture quickly took off, receiving contracts to design the Royal Observatory in Greenwich; A hospital for retired soldiers Chelsea and a hospital for sailors in Greenwich; Trinity College Library in Cambridge; and a significant rebuilding project at Hampton Court Palace in London, which was originally constructed during the reign of King Henry VIII. In addition to his work in architecture, Wren was a lecturer at University of Oxford and Gresham College, and a co-founder of the Royal Society, a prestigious organization devoted to the study of science.

The Fountain Court at Hampton Court Palace, London. Image © <a href='https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hampton-Court-E.jpg'>Wikimedia user Michal "Cronwood" Babilas</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a>

Wren is buried in St Paul's cathedral. In Latin, his grave reads: "If you seek his memorial, look about you."

15 Architects Who Have Been Immortalized on Money

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dental Clinic / Drozdov&Partners

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 07:00 PM PDT

Architects: Drozdov&Partners
Location: Járkov, Óblast de Járkov, Ukraine
Lead Architects: Oleg Drozdov, Gleb Antipenko, Kateryna Yolkina, Vitaliy Pravik, Yevhen Nevmyvaka, Andriy Chernohor
Clients: SENSE dental & laser practice
Area: 359.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Andrey Avdeenko Photographers

Text description provided by the architects. A shabby structure built in the soviet times in Kontorska street is transforming into a dental clinic with a training centre. although the building has no historical value, we decided to retain its major formal characteristics and proportions. The rhythmic pattern of the facade is also preserved.

However, those premises that need more daylight have received bigger window openings. The new colors of façade finishing and windows are typical of the authentic built environment of Kharkiv. These are dark gray walls and brownish-red window frames and reveals.

New elements with their distinctive volumes, such as the entrance, the balcony and the engineering structures on top of the roof become new highlights of the building.

The first floor is occupied by treatment rooms, whereas the ground floor contains a room of master-classes. In this way, together with the nearby Kharkiv school of architecture, the new clinic joins the emerging educational cluster in the neighborhood.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Tree Hugger / 4site Architecture

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 04:00 PM PDT

Architects: 4site Architecture
Location: Bengaluru, India
Lead Architects: Chandrakant. Kanthigavi
Team: Rohit Baligidad, Madhusudhan, Veema Haridas, Bhagyashri
Area: 3300.0 ft2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Gokul Rao Kadam

Structural Engineer: Naik Associates, Bengaluru
Civil Engineer: TATYA Infra
Client: P.V. Varghese, Bengaluru

A Single residence in a 40'-0" X 60'-0" plot evolved from a rigorous inquiry into the particulars of location and program. Our client, Mr. P.V.Varghese, is a valued partner, in our collaborative design process. As a response to his design brief, we came up with idea of "Tree hugger House".n"As an architect, one needs to design a built environment, rather than just being a shelter."

With the understanding of our clients background (from Kerala-God's own country), priorities, values and inspirations, likes and dislikes we got to know our challenges. First one was to create a contemporary residence with Values of Kerala architecture and interior spaces that would resonate with the client's personality.

The Essence- Special Features
In a dense urban context, we embraced nature with our built environment to focus on the dichotomy of interior and exteriors. The Palm tree that divides the parking and pedestrian path at lower level, acts as a visual treat from Master Bed and common balcony at first floor with its foliage flowing into the balcony.

The choice of limited colors in the material palette, helps in drawing the focus towards the landscape and the wood used in the interiors. Wood was used as the key element that added "colour and texture" that brought in warmth and richness to the spatial organization. Landscape is the focal element in this project that knits the entire built and un-built together and highlights the liveliness in the neighborhood. The dynamics within the home change with respect to the seasonal changes the landscape elements undergo.

Concept: Tree Hugger
Our Client, is close to nature, and wanted his dream house with a close connection to nature as it reminded him of his home and childhood. So he asked us to "design a House around a Tree." Our challenge was to achieve the same ambience in an urban scenario. The large footprint of a traditional kerala home and its virtues had to be imbibed in a smaller urban footprint.

The concept was conceived as an abstraction of the traditional "Nadumuttam (central courtyard) concept" in most of the houses in Kerala, wherein the homes are composed around a focal landscape feature usually a Tulsi plant.
As a response to his design brief, we came up with idea of a 'house that embraces trees' we call it a ''Tree hugger, a contemporary urban residence with values of Kerala Architecture.''

Materials of Construction:
Structure: Framed RCC structure and Solid Concrete block walls as in-fill.
Fenestrations: Wooden Doors and UPVC windows

Facade:
1. The "Vertical Drops" on the facades (acts as screen ) from neighbours, made of Aluminium boxes and plastered over MS mesh.
2. Sika Crack resistance Material used for exteriors to get smooth finish.
3. High-Pressure Laminate panel as composition.
Interiors: FSC Certified Teak wood was used for doors and windows, wooden steps, wooden flooring and for little furniture.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

AD Classics: Empire State Building / Shreve, Lamb and Harmon

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 03:00 PM PDT

(2005). Image © Wikimedia user robertpaulyoung (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

This article was originally published on December 5, 2016. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section.

Even in Manhattan—a sea of skyscrapers—the Empire State Building towers over its neighbours. Since its completion in 1931 it has been one of the most iconic architectural landmarks in the United States, standing as the tallest structure in the world until the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were constructed in Downtown Manhattan four decades later. Its construction in the early years of the Great Depression, employing thousands of workers and requiring vast material resources, was driven by more than commercial interest: the Empire State Building was to be a monument to the audacity of the United States of America, "a land which reached for the sky with its feet on the ground."[1]

View across Manhattan. Image © Wikimedia user Smithfl (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

The rapid and unchecked development of Manhattan was a matter of serious concern in the early years of the 20th Century. The construction of the Equitable Life Building in 1915, while by no means the starting point of the debate, provided a clear example of what could happen to New York City should building height and form continue unregulated: the Equitable Life Building, which occupied an entire city block in Lower Manhattan, rose forty stories high without any setback from the sidewalk. Fears of New York streets forever cut off from sunlight by man-made canyons of skyscrapers spurred the passing of the 1916 Zoning Regulation, a landmark document which required setbacks for buildings passing heights specified by their location in the city.[2] These regulations would lead to the characteristic stepped forms for which New York skyscrapers—and Art Deco skyscrapers around the world—would come to be known.[3]

Skyscrapers typically rose for one of two purposes: to serve as showcase headquarters for companies, or else as speculative projects by real estate developers.[4] The Empire State Building was the latter, a scheme concocted by former New York City governor Alfred E. Smith in collaboration with his finance partner John Jakob Raskob. Less than a month before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Smith and Raskob called together a meeting of the city's wealthy financiers to discuss their solution to the impending financial disaster: an office tower of unprecedented height. According to Raskob, the massive undertaking would both inspire the American people and help stabilize an economy that was about to fall to pieces. By the meeting's end, Smith and Raskob managed to raise the funds to purchase the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which would be cleared away to make room for their visionary tower.[5]

Image via Wikimedia (Public Domain). ImageLaying of the tower's foundations

Only twenty months passed from the start of concept design in September of 1929 and the building's opening in May of 1931. Those twenty months were a flurry of constant activity: once the designs were drafted, an army of 3,500 workers tore down the Waldorf-Astoria and assembled the Empire State Building at an astonishing rate. At the peak of activity, the tower rose just over one story in a day – a rate of construction which, while still impressive by today's standards, was unheard of in the 1930s.[6]

The material costs of the Empire State Building were every bit as high as those of labor. 210 foundation columns were sunk into the sturdy granite bedrock of Manhattan – a measure necessary to support the 365,000 tons of skyscraper above. 50,000 steel beams were then assembled and clad with glass, brick, and limestone to form a tower 1,250 feet (380 meters) tall. In spite of this, the building was not only completed on time, but a full 45 days ahead of schedule and $5 million (€4,556,016) under budget.[7]

Image via Wikimedia (Public Domain). ImageUnder construction

Its speculative purpose required that the Empire State Building provide as much rentable office space as could be built. The setbacks mandated by the 1916 Zoning Regulation, while still expressed in the new tower's form, were countered by the fact that the lot on which the building was situated was roughly twice that of most of the surrounding structures; therefore, architect William Lamb was able to design a primary tower shaft with ample space for both offices and elevators, a dilemma less satisfiably resolved in the previous tallest building in the world, the Chrysler Building of 1929.[8]

Given that the Chrysler Building had only held the title of "world's tallest building" for approximately a year before conceding to the Empire State Building, it is perhaps inevitable that the two skyscrapers would be subjected to endless comparison. In pure metrics, the latter is the greater building: it is 204 feet (62 meters) taller, and its 2 million square feet (186,000 square meters) of office space was more than double that of the former.[9,10] However, debate over which tower is the more aesthetically accomplished is not so easily settled.

The Empire State Building, despite its Art Deco styling, is significantly more austere in appearance than the more ostentatious Chrysler Building. Devoid of the sunburst windows and Moderne gargoyles that adorn the older tower, the Empire State Building is strikingly subdued. It is not entirely without ornament, however: a pair of sculpted concrete eagles flank the entrance, and shining aluminum extensions reminiscent of wings taper up toward the pinnacle of the tower.[11] The exuberance of the Chrysler Building's metal crown, when contrasted with the quiet dignity of the Empire State Building, can be seen as the changing attitudes of a country before and after the onset of the Great Depression – and it falls to the observer to decide which, if either, is the more appealing.

Despite the optimism with which Smith and Raskob had originally proposed the project, and despite the rapture with which New York had watched its newest landmark grow toward the sky, the Empire State Building could not escape the realities of the deepening Depression. Initially, the building's owners could not find more than a few tenants to occupy their tower, which soon received an unflattering nickname: the "Empty State Building."[12]

The pinnacle of the tower. Image © Wikimedia user David Corby (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

History would come to vindicate the new skyscraper. Those who did not deride the building upon its completion showered it with acclaim, most notably declaring the Empire State Building the 'Eighth Wonder of the World.'[13] Its introduction into the Manhattan skyline would represent the end of the city's competition for the tallest building until the World Trade Center finally dethroned it in 1972. The building itself also became a profitable venture in its own right, hosting over 15,000 workers and countless more visitors hoping to see the city from the observation deck on the 86th floor.[14]

Although the Empire State Building has long since lost its status as the world's tallest building, it has never quite lost the adoration which it engendered in 1931. Just as Smith and Raskob envisioned, it has become an enduring monument to democratic—and more specifically American—perseverance and achievement. Even as skyscrapers continue to grow taller, eclipsing the record once set by the Empire State Building, its particular impact on New York and the idea of the skyscraper as a whole will likely remain. Joe Carbonelli, who worked as a water boy at the construction site during his youth, put it best: "Although there are now numerous buildings that are even taller, this one has remained a symbol for New York and America, and for courage and adventure."[15]

References
[1] Kingwell, Mark. Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. p5.
[2] Dunlap, David W. "Zoning Arrived 100 Years Ago. It Changed New York City Forever." The New York Times, July 25, 2016. [access].
[3] Curtis, William J. R. Modern Architecture since 1900. London: Phaidon, 1996. p219-225.
[4] Tauranac, John. The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark. New York: Scribner, 1995. p38.
[5] Kingwell, p1-5.
[6] Willis, Carol, and Donald Friedman. Building the Empire State. New York: W.W. Norton in Association with the Skyscraper Museum, 1998. p11-12.
[7] Cowan, Henry J., and Trevor Howells. A Guide to the World's Greatest Buildings: Masterpieces of Architecture & Engineering. San Francisco, 2000: Fog City Press. p112-113.
[8] Willis, p17-18.
[9] Cowan and Howells, p111-112.
[10] Willis, p14.
[11] Bayer, Patricia. Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration, and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1992. p92.
[12] Cowan and Howells, p113.
[13] Tauranac, p19.
[14] Cowan and Howells, p113.
[15] Kingwell, p12.

Architects: Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Location: 350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118, United States
Architect In Charge: William F. Lamb
Area: 2248355.0 ft2
Project Year: 1931
Photographs: Wikimedia user robertpaulyoung (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0), Wikimedia user David Corby (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0), Wikimedia user Smithfl (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Folding Settlement F3.stu / Atelier Prospering

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Architects: Atelier Prospering
Location: Haining, Zhejiang, China
Architect In Charge: Hang Yu
Design Team: Gaoqi Fan, Wangshu Xu
Area: 296.9 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Hang Yu

"Folding Settlement" is the working title for Interior design of newly found brand F3.stu. The name came from its spatial characteristic and the source of the operating. The brand F3.stu focus on Leather clothing business and urgently need a new store in concise and sobriety to reach out the contemporary fashion. At the first meeting, the owner suggests an open storefront combining following linear space for attracting the customer into several selling area. In the precondition of area limit, the request indicates the folding of inner space. The Idea was formed on sketch and further developed into realization.

The original frontier triggers. The conflict between upper incline boundary and lower grid invokes a central core figure which contains a small office function. The fitting room integrated with mini storage forms another volume occupied the unfavorable corner with two existing columns in a close range, and further intensify the conflict by extending downward.

The entrance has its importance. The area is at the corner of L-shaped street waits for both wayward attention. The feature condensed into an incline interface merged with the cabinets and develop onward with a gentle curve, forming the entrance with obvious guiding.

The conduction above defines the linear sequence required since the very beginning, giving the inner space a precise characteristic of folding.

Several geometric shapes hang by wire illuminate mildly, simulating the floating intention. The cross-shapes at the outset and destination are NOT any holy instrument, but the "plus" which is the most basic calculation in mathematics. Their participation was for the synesthesia, linking the spatial awareness to mathematical thinking. Also, both "plus" are trying to build up a loop of experience along the sequence with slightly recreational pleasure at both ends, though in physical world within a minor distance.

Circle followed up, with the most famous irrational number and character of tenderness, clarified the entrance area alongside the gentle curve. Then there is the stable triangle, strongly indicating the next direction. Five cubes in row transmit the space in to the square area formed by the office core and service function volume. Any entity here could further deteriorate the access to the physical end nearby. There for, the square and "square" above gives each other freedom, assembling spatial conflict around. In the settlement, performance came along with square. The physical end near the square imitates a stage by a small elevation, with spotlight to the center indicating the "Mise-en-scène".

By looking back at the point, the gentle curve recurs with the "plus" at the end of sequence. The moving intention enchants to the shape, creating a "mathematics in motion" anticipating the circulation. Stair shape awaits, which is the way up, revealing forward progress.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Debris House / Wallmakers

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 01:00 PM PDT

Architects: Wallmakers
Location: Pathanamthitta, India
Lead Architects: Vinu Daniel
Team: Archana Nambiar, Jinsy Ann Rajan, Shobitha Jacob, Melvin Davis, Vijith, Abdul Aseeb, Sagar Kudtarkar, Dawal Dasari, Suhaas, Shekkizar, Srivarshini JM
Area: 194.0 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Anand Jaju, Wallmakers

Masonry Contractors: P.S. Suresh – Shivranjini Constructions, Pondicherry
Fabrication Team: Kunjumon James -J.K steels
Mep: Unni Krishnan Sajith Lal

Text description provided by the architects. Nestled in a quaint township, is this rammed earth residence for a family of six. The site was at a slope with remnants of many demolished buildings. Maximizing the given area the building is set in multiple levels to accommodate the family and to meet the client's dreams in the most feasible way.

There is a lot of potential in dealing with small urban and sub-urban homes for clients who approach architects with limited budgets and elaborate programs. Houses are aspirational investments for many in developing sub-urban landscape of India sometimes demanding a lifetime of savings from the clients. Very different from weekend homes, these houses have become prototypes in themselves and act as pivots for the life of the inhabitants.

This house employs recycled and eco-sensitive materials in its making with much care all the while ensuring that the material limitations are overcome and an expressive architecture is allowed to emerge from the constraints. The Debris wall is built over a discovered foundation and with materials that are recycled from the site. The coconut shell filler slab enables the architect to reduce concrete in the same. While the house uses numerous alternate technologies, there is a certain whimsy and playfulness in its design.

The small court ensures ventilation and the windows made from scrap but with a certain careful detailing. The levels of the site are explored for connections within and the house maintains a scale with sensitivity towards the neighbourhood.

As urban influence spreads in smaller towns, many aspire for homes that often mimic the city with use of glass, concrete, steel and other urban materials that dominate the imagery. By resisting this omnipresent phenomenon and generating an architecture that is modern and yet, responsive to the specific conditions of its context will perhaps enable the towns to find their unique language.

PROJECT TECHNOLOGY:
Considering the local nuances and the economic constraints, the materials were responsibly chosen; the walls rose out from the earth that was dug out within the site, the debris from the earlier building is turned to a curvilinear wall that forms the central courtyard and becomes the central focus of the house which is called the Debris Wall and is also the advent of a new technology.

Recycled wood is used to create the furniture which derives it form from boxes to store lots of books for the client who is a school teacher. Further green initiatives include a rainwater harvesting and recycling system and a responsive passive air circulation achieved through the careful planning of the courtyard and the facades. The windows protected with meter boxes from a local scrapyard create a mural on the rammed earth walls as the day goes by. Coconut shells used as fillers in the concrete roof give a contemporary touch to the structure. The latter half of the house incorporates Ferrocement shell roofs. Looking at the local context, the project strikes out, humbly maintaining its commitment to the society and the environment.

DEBRIS WALL:
Using meshed (22 gauge chicken mesh )casing reinforced with 6mm bars at 2 feet intervals vertically and horizontally, lump sized Debris added with 10% gravel and 5% cement and 5%manufactured sand with water was slightly tamped in 2cm layers to form the set of walls defining the entrance.
INITIAL EMBODIED ENERGY:
Debris walls consume 5 times less energy than a fired brick wall:
Embodied energy of Debris wall = 850 MJ/m3
Country fired brick Wall = 4,501.25 MJ/m3

CARBON FOOTPRINT
Rammed earth walls are polluting 4 times less than country fired brick walls:
Carbon footprint of Rammed earth wall cement = 110.11 Kg of CO2 /m3
Country fired brick wall = 444.12 Kg of CO2 /m3

RAMMED EARTH:-
The other walls of the building are made of rammed earth directly from raw earth with 5% cement stabilization. Not only is the technique highly effective but it is also very strong with dry crushing compressive strength ranging from 6mpa-8mpa.

INITIAL EMBODIED ENERGY:
Rammed earth walls consume 4 times less energy than a fired brick wall:
Embodied energy of Rammed earth wall = 1,112.36 MJ/m3
Country fired brick wall = 4,501.25 MJ/m3

FERROCEMENT SHELLS:
Roof is made of precast ferrocement shells lifted and placed in position manually. These wafer-like structures are steel reinforced arched shells with effective thickness of 1.5cm and they take equal load of respective R.C.C slabs. They effectively reduce the overall cement consumption by 40% and steel consumption by 30%.These replace the R.C.C Slab in roofing as they are as strong as 1200 kg/m2

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Further green initiatives include a rainwater harvesting and recycling system and a responsive passive air circulation achieved through the careful planning of the courtyard and the facades. The windows protected with meter boxes from a local scrapyard create a mural on the rammed earth walls as the day goes by. Coconut shells used as fillers in the concrete roof give a contemporary touch to the structure. The latter half of the house incorporates Ferrocement shell roofs. Looking at the local context, the project strikes out, humbly maintaining its commitment to the society and the environment.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The Austin / Edmonds + Lee Architects

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 12:00 PM PDT

Architects: Edmonds + Lee Architects
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Lead Interior Designers: Edmonds + Lee Architects
Other Participants: BDE
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Matthew Millman

Text description provided by the architects. Built on the site of a one-time auto-body shop at Pine and Polk streets, The Austin is designed to fit into its trendy industrial neighborhood, which features a century-old oyster bar and a new-school barbershop that draw hipsters and old-timers alike. Its white-clad and glass façade lets in sunlight and city views; inside, architects Edmonds + Lee introduced the architectural idea of California Organic Modernism, weaving a carefully responsive interior design throughout the project's architectural bones.

The lobby/ lounge is designed as a space to work and relax, with comfortable seating, music, and a front desk that has a concierge, takes lunch deliveries, and keeps beverages on tap. The space is saturated with rich, enveloping gold tones, accented by slim planks of white oak slats arranged in a quick staccato that disappear into the ceiling, the graceful move enhanced by the gentle glow of cove lighting. Decorative metal surrounding the fireplace brings to mind the automotive history of this particular city parcel, and also reflects the colors of the room back onto itself. The public areas are punctuated by ethereal moments interjected into the everyday: the mail room features cove lighting used to frame the striking matte black mailboxes that follow the walls like a ribbon, the keyholes transformed against that backdrop into a graphic element all their own. Anchored by a soaring soft white ceiling and the subtle texture of oak plank floors, it's both decadent and minimal, bringing a warmth of tone and design to modernism.

The residences offer a graceful and cozy counterpoint to the bold public areas, opening up with a bright color palette and expansive, arresting views. The 100 residences in the building feature an open-plan design, with kitchens made for entertaining and bathrooms with floating vanities. The heavy concrete columns that make up the interior structural support also act as both a visual and spatial element in the homes, hinting at separations in program while drawing all the focus to the expansive city views just past them. A warm, neutral palette here lets the light take center stage as it sweeps across the room throughout the day.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Miller Park In Downtown Chattanooga / Spackman Mossop Michaels + Eskew Dumez Ripple

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 10:00 AM PDT

Architects: Eskew Dumez Ripple, Spackman Mossop Michaels
Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Collaboration: Hefferlin + Kronenberg Architects
Civil, Structural, Mep Engineers: March Adams & Associates
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Spackman Mossop Michaels

Text description provided by the architects. Originally developed in the 1970s, Miller Park spans two acres and is located in the center of the city, next to the Solomon building and one block from City Hall and the Chattanooga Public Library. As the heart of Chattanooga's Innovation District, the design challenge was to completely overhaul the space because its sunken plaza created a barrier and sense of disconnection from the city. "By elevating the sunken plaza and bringing the entire park up to street level, we have made the park both more accessible and more inviting," said Wes Michaels, Principal of Spackman Mossop Michaels.

To break down the barriers between Miller Park and the existing Miller Plaza across the street, SMM/EDR applied a "shared street" approach and reconfigured Martin Luther King Boulevard, connecting the two public spaces as one unified civic space. This involved reducing traffic lanes, removing traditional curbs to bring the road and sidewalk to the same level, and planting a flush median strip with native trees to slow down traffic and encourage more pedestrian activity across the entire park.

A paving pattern marks the transition between the park and the roadway, with this design continuing along the monumental stairs intended for social gatherings. These steps play a leading role in the design of the park, and easily transform into seating for everyday use and special events.

Miller Park provides immense ecological benefits on this small site in a dense urban area. All of SMM's projects are designed with consideration for the social, financial and ecological impact on the immediate community. Sustainable and long-term solutions such as stormwater management and strategically positioned soil cells make up the green infrastructure and play a key role in the subterranean design of Miller Park. More than 75 new trees, all native to the region, were planted. An expansive structural soil cell system was installed in order to allow the tree roots to grow large and wide without disrupting the pavement, as well as cleaning pollution from rainwater. These soil cells provide each tree with a large volume of soil, creating an ideal environment for a long-term urban forest of grand canopy trees. In addition to nurturing the native trees and plants, the soil cells provide excellent stormwater management that reduces the amount of water that enters the combined sewer overflow systems.

While serving as a green oasis in the city center, the park is also designed to accommodate cultural events and technologically-advanced productions. Free high-speed wifi is available throughout the park, and an underground system of internet cables and electricity can support high-tech digital art installations, performances and outdoor movie screenings. The state-of- the-art pavilion designed by EDR, along with the open lawn, serve as an ideal space for events. A digital projector on the Pavilion allows for movie screenings and live performances.

SMM/EDR took steps to involve the community in the design process. Over the course of six months, they held public meetings throughout the city, set up an online platform for collecting the community's input, and conducted in-person surveys in the existing park and surroundings to bring a variety of voices to the table. This intensive community engagement helped inform the open flexible design that characterizes the new Miller Park.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Villa Nature / Saraiva + Asociados

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Architects: Saraiva + Associados
Location: Vilamoura, 8125 Quarteira, Portugal
Area: 8145.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographer: Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Text description provided by the architects. The new Vilamoura residential development aims to bring together the natural and the urban in a green project which is both elegant and sober. The exclusive retreat includes 35 apartments with generously proportioned indoor and outdoor areas.

The design meets the highest standards of environmental responsibility, and the architecture is the result of a fluid approach, which embraces and enhances the natural relationship with the surrounding area.

Throughout their life cycle, from construction to demolition, buildings have a significant environmental impact. In the European Union, for example, they are responsible for around 40% of carbon dioxide emissions and 35% of raw material consumption. In response to this situation, which obliges the entire paradigm underpinning the disciplines of architecture and urban planning to be rethought, our projects implement measures for sustainable design, reflecting our commitment to European goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency and improving the quality and comfort of indoor spaces.

«Villa Nature is a good example of what we aim to implement in the day-to-day work of our company: developed in accordance with BREEAM International New Construction 2016 parameters, it is now awaiting certification through this system. The sustainable solutions adopted in the project include using native species and reducing the need for irrigation, using wood of sustainable origin, and employing efficient lighting supplied by LED light fixtures. The buildings of the future must be sustainable, and we want to form part of that future.»

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

House 3 / Pablo Senmartin

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 07:00 AM PDT

Architects: Pablo Senmartin
Location: Córdoba, Argentina
Design Team: Celi Barioglio, Lauret Ana Laura, Abril Molla
Area: 200.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Gonzalo Viramonte

Construction: Pablo Senmartin
Structure: Alberto Haulet

"Categorical / right angle of the character, / of the spirit, of the heart. / I looked at that character / and I found myself "
The house is located in the western area ofthe city of Córdoba, in an urban neighborhood that has large green areas, such as La Costanera del Río Suquía, the Botanical Garden, the Arroyo El Infiernillo, and several ravines. In a minimum plot of 12.5m x 21m in front of Infiernillo, a 200m2 house was built for a family of young professionals.

The land had a natural slope of one meter ten (1.10m) descending towards the corner, given this characteristic it was decided to work on two levels, one yard (plus 1.50mts) and another access (plus 0.10mts). To give the projected level, the patio was filled with the material extracted from the excavation of the foundations. The house offers a sober image towards the corner, it is a reinforced concrete box, with openings in horizontal slits that in turn are protected by a curtain of poplars that prevents the direct arrival of the sun's rays.

An independent structure of reinforced concrete was used to obtain free plants, 6x10mts by cassette reinforced concrete slabs that are visible in the ground floor. There are two accesses, one pedestrian and one vehicular, each located on different sides of the house. The ground floor offers to the corner, a homogeneous image with a metallic grid that acts as a visual filter, as a security element and as a base, which separates and frees the ground floor of the two upper levels, decreasing the visual impact of the triple height, contains the services and accesses.

The austere and impermeable exterior image gives rise, when entering, to large transparent sliding surfaces that link the garage - barbecue area - games room with the patio, by means of a stairway. Towards the patio the house opens completely. The first floor contains the integrated kitchen and dining room areas. On the second floor there are two bedrooms and a desk, which can be transformed into a third bedroom, the divisions are made with light partitions to allow changes.

All levels are linked with a metal staircase of two sections that also leads to the accessible terrace All rooms have cross ventilation and the possibility of entering sunlight at different times of the day. A rotisserie on the ground floor and a home on the first floor, work as heating in winter through ducts that run through the house. The exit to the roof terrace works as a chimney that extracts the hot air in summer.

Through a game of contrasts, the house becomes, therefore, an urban antihero, where the rough exterior and the fluid and changing interior coexist, with the challenge of reclaiming the urban neighborhood as a facilitator of the development of a contemporary architecture that in turn reinforce the identity of a characteristic area of the city, and of solution to the problems of living that condition us todayThe project 4 corners establishes an exercise of reflection and action of value on the block and the urban corner of a neighborhood located in the periphery of the city of Córdoba, with contemporary problems such as insecurity and diverse architectural expressions.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Snøhetta Selected to Design El Paso Children's Museum

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 06:00 AM PDT

El Paso Children's Museum. Image Courtesy of Snøhetta

Snøhetta has been selected to design the El Paso Children's Museum in the city's Downtown Arts District. The team proposed a vaulted museum lifted of the ground, a design made to preserve public space and an interactive garden below. Snøhetta was one of three finalists alongside Koning Eizenberg Architecture and TEN Arquitectos, each invited to submit concepts for the museum. The Children's Museum aims to welcome and engage children and families from El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, the American southwest, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora.

The museum and El Paso Community Foundation were part of the selection process which included community engagement meetings, presentations, and a public vote with the three firms. The design will support the museum's mission to celebrate the city's multi-cultural community and create an enriching environment for collaboration, STEAM education cooperation, and critical thinking. Elaine Molinar, Partner and Managing Director of Snøhetta, said that, "We are thrilled to be the designers of the new children's museum, to become part of the rich architectural legacy of downtown El Paso, and to contribute to its thriving future. As a native El Pasoan, the opportunity to create something of lasting impact for the city I grew up in is extremely rewarding."

The El Paso Children's Museum will be located at 201 W. Main between the El Paso Museum of History and the El Paso Museum of Art within the Downtown Arts District, an area that attracts more than 1.5 million local, national, and international visitors per year. The Arts District is home to the El Paso Museum of Art, the Museum of History, the only bilingual Holocaust museum in the country, artist lofts, award-winning performing arts venues, a MiLB ballpark, a convention center, public art, festivals, green spaces, and more.

"We are thrilled to be working with Snøhetta, and their exciting concept was the unanimous choice of the public vote, our architectural panel and the board of directors of the El Paso Children's Museum," said Dr. Paul Kortenaar, Founding Director of the El Paso Children's Museum. "We recognize that the concept Snøhetta produced best embodied the innovation and cooperation that the El Paso Children's Museum hopes to inspire."

To manage this project, the City approved the creation of a Local Government Corporation. In 2018, City Council approved additional funds to construct a world-class museum in response to private-sector stakeholders pledging to double their contribution to $20 million. City Council will serve as the board for the corporation and manage the construction of the museum.

The 60 million dollar project is currently under development with construction expected to be completed in late 2021.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Alcázar de Toledo / Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Architects: Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
Location: Palacio Versalles 237, Lomas de Reforma, 11930 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Architectural Project: Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
President: Javier Sordo Madaleno Bringas
Architecture Director: Javier Sordo Madaleno de Haro
Project Director: Fernando Sordo Madaleno de Haro
Design Manager: Alejandro Espejel
Design Team: Miguel Baranda Estrada, Iovany Fuentes Guerrero, David Pazos Tesorero
Area: 5471.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Jaime Navarro, HH Fotografía

Engineering Coordination: Ing. Marcos Hernández
Engineering Team: Ing. Héctor Ruiz Hernández
Construction Coordination: Renan Villareal Moguel
Media And Marketing: Rosalba Rojas, Daniela Cruz, Daniela Rosas
Interior Design: Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
Interior Design Director: Nadia Borrás
Interior Design Team: Pilar Ocejo
Structural Engineering: Jaime Palacios
Electric Engineering: Cien Acres
Engineering A/C: IP Diseños
Systems Engineering And Special Installations: Innovative Designs
Hydrosanitary Engineering: IHS Instalaciones Hidráulicas y Sanitarias
Lighting Consultant: Vicente Laso
Audio & Video Consultant: Innovative Designs
Landscape Consultant: Gabayet Paisajistas
Security Consultant: Innovative Designs
Construction: Terraforma
Program: Residencial
Built Area: 5,471 m2
Site Area: 4,430 m2

Text description provided by the architects. This luxury residential project enjoys a privileged location in Mexico City and peerless natural surroundings. The site has a very rugged topography so it was decided to integrate as far as possible the architecture to these natural formations, with the aim of respecting the environment and exploiting the extraordinary panoramic views of the city that can be seen between the vegetation.

The architectural concept is based on a linear element which folds itself over the topography in a right-angled zigzag shape. Each fold responds to different needs and contains the spaces for the five departments, with large terraces, amenities and parking.

This resulting piece of four levels, as it adapts to the ground, is transformed into a structure element (like a wall or slab) or an open plaza or terrace. A solution that creates an elegant and subtle shape with a clear horizontality between the native vegetation of the context.

The natural slope of the terrain made it necessary to develop the entrance and sequence of the building in a descending fashion. The vehicular access is located at the highest point, with a ramp that descends comfortably 5 meters to a reception area, visually rounded off by a large wooded area. This area is delimited by a large pool of water with fountains, and incorporates 10 parking spaces for visitors and the access ramp to the residents’ parking. The lobby is sited at the center of this plaza in a transparent glass box with access to the vertical circulation nucleus for distribution to the various departments on the four levels below.

Level -1 houses residents’ parking, with 29 parking spaces. On level -2 are departments 1 and 2, each measuring 500 m2. Level -3 contains the amenities, with pool, spa, gym, terrace, dressing rooms and bathrooms. Department 3 is on the same level, with a built area of 700 m2. On level -4, departments 4 and 5, also 500 m2 each, are located.

The distribution and requirements of each department are different. The interior program of departments 1, 2 and 5 features: access hallway, living room, dining room, kitchen, guest bathroom, family room, three bedrooms with dressing room and bathroom, laundry room, maid’s quarters with bathroom, and spacious garden terraces with water features and wooden deck. Given its size, department 3 has additional spaces including a fourth bedroom with bathroom, a library, and wine cellar. Department 4 has only two bedrooms, but also features a wine cellar, playroom, and study.

The project design provides for high ceilings, open- plan common areas and large picture windows that offer spectacular panoramic views and provide natural ventilation and illumination for most spaces. The gardened spaces provide shade while capturing rainwater for storage, treatment and reuse in irrigation. The storage cistern is located below level -4, taking advantage of a redundant space between the terrain and the structure of the building.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Microsoft is Looking for Architects to Partner With for the Future of Smart Cities

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 04:00 AM PDT

Toronto-based WZMH Architects has been recruited into Microsoft's global Internet of Things (IoT) Insiders Labs, a program aimed at "transforming how people, devices, and data interact in every sphere of life." The firm's Intelligent Structural Panel (ISP) offers a "plug and play infrastructure" allowing a wide range of spaces and devices to be adapted, remotely-controlled, and optimized.

WZMH is the first architecture firm to be accepted into the program, which takes applications from organizations developing IoT and/or AI solutions.

Intelligent Structural Panel. Image via WZMH via Canadian Architect

The Insider Labs program seeks out start-up and established firms to work alongside Microsoft experts from three bases in Redmond USA, Shenzhen China, and Munich Germany. Products are developed, prototyped, and tested for market commercialization, steering the course of how citizens will use future urban environments.

WZMH Architects, the firm behind Toronto's CN Tower, have worked in collaboration with Quasar Consulting Group, Stephenson Engineering, and C3PoE in the development of the Intelligent Structural Panel. The installation of the panels throughout a building allows occupants to interact with sensors triggered by touch, sound, or other devices.

Data collected from the panels can be used by building operators to control lighting, heating, ventilation, elevators, shading, smoke alarms, security systems etc. For commercial viability, the team is developing the panel to be prefabricated, modular, cost-effective, and sustainable.

The Intelligent Structural Panel© technology reimagines the traditional approach to the design and build process, taking a critical look at how buildings are built from the inside out. Bringing smart technology directly into the fabric of the structure instead of applying it as an after thought will improve the quality of the building's performance.
-Zenon Radewych, Principal, WZMH

More information about the Microsoft Internet of Things Insiders Labs, including details on how to apply for the program, can be found here.

News via: Canadian Architect

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Clear Rock Ranch / Lemmo Architecture and Design

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 03:00 AM PDT

Architects: Lemmo Architecture and Design
Location: Johnson City, Texas 78636, United States
Architects In Charge: Ryan Lemmo, AIA and Stephanie Lemmo, Assoc. AIA.
Contractor: Ron Reue Construction
Steel Fabrication: Longhorn Welding
Structural Engineers: Arch Consulting Engineers
Area: 450.0 ft2
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Casey Dunn

Text description provided by the architects. Clear Rock Lookout is a raw steel hunting blind, writing studio, and observation deck that celebrates the stunning landscape and wildlife views. The 450sf building is nestled below a limestone cliff edge, and has to be "discovered" when approached from the top of the mesa. This gradual reveal of the building strengthens the unfolding landscape panorama made possible from the unique vantage provided by the structure.

The site was specifically chosen for its views by the owner after years of slowly traversing and mapping the wooded cliff edge. The modern form contrasts with the Hill Country vernacular used on the rest of the 1,000 acre West Texas ranch. Naturally weathering steel was chosen to age with the surroundings and to pay homage to the owner's youth spent welding oil tanks.

Large sheets of glass, a variety of warm woods, and a highly detailed assembly complete the "jewelbox in the landscape" expression of the lookout.

Clear Rock Ranch received a local AIA Austin award in 2017.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

This Week in Architecture: More than Visual

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 02:30 AM PDT

© Beat Widmer. ImageCourtesy of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro

Architecture is a profession deeply dependent on the visual. It's imagined, sold, critiqued and consumed almost entirely on the strength (or lack thereof) of drawings. We pick and prod at images presented at angles we'll never be able see, admiring the architectonic qualities of elements we'll never actually experience.

And yet, when it comes to the experience of architecture (which, lest we forget, is what it's all about) the visual plays only a small part. What stays with us is how a building facilitates its purpose and affects our quality of life. Is it easy to navigate? Is the floor always slippery after it rains? Does light reach into the deepest layer of offices? Are the materials responsible for the headache that simply won't go away?

Architecture is about more than just the visual. But perhaps the visual can also be elevated to meet architecture. This week's stories touched on issues of branding, drawing, and the sense.

Eyes off Design

© 2008 Estate of Madeline Gins, Reproduced with permission of the estate of Madeline Gins. ImageCourtesy of Metropolis Magazine

The term "sensory design" is, more often than not, wielded to contextualise things a bit wacky: a conspicuously unusable fork, a light that adapts to "mood", a chair that makes you sit up a bit straighter. But it can, of course, be so much more - Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Blur Building or Philippe Rahm's Taichung Central Park, for example. In her article originally published on Metropolis, Alice Bucknell walks us through the history design, from the funky early days to the tech-drive approach of today. We may not be able to overthrow the "tyranny of vision", but we can certainly think about it differently.

Taichung Central Park / Philippe Rahm. Image Courtesy of Philippe Rahm

To the Drawing Board

© Li Han, via World Architecture Festival

But that's not to say that visuals can't be elevated to something more than the two dimensions on which it's presented . This year's winner of the World Architecture Drawing Prize, organised in collaboration with Make Architects and Sir John Soane's Museum, illustrated a city changing over time, compressing dramatically different phases of development in a single image. Said jury member Narinder Sagoo of the work by Li Han, "...it tells hundreds of stories over nine years in which architecture, cities and people's lives change. It's important for all architects to consider the life of buildings over the course of time... It's a modern day Archigram drawing but also a step into the future..."

Kaohsiung Performing Arts Center / Mecanoo. Image © Iwan Baan

The future seemed to step a bit closer this week with the completion of Mecanoo's Kaohsiung Performing Arts Center. The building, reported to be the world's largest performing arts center under one roof, welcomed thousands of visitors in its opening day alone - an auspicious sign for the future.

One for the Weekend

Frida Escobedo's 2018 Serpentine Pavilion. Image © Laurian Ghintoiu

Summer is over and the Serpentine pavilion is gone - but not gone forever. Frida Escobedo's 2018 pavilion was recently bought by spa operator Therme Group, prompting Therme Vals 2.0 visions for architects around the world. Nearly all of the pavilions have gone on to new lives after their time in the park, including new uses as party venues, concert halls, and coworking spaces. It's proof that it's never too late for a career change.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Henning Larsen's French International School is a "Vibrant Green Oasis" for Hong Kong

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 02:00 AM PDT

Henning Larsen has completed their new campus for the French International School in Hong Kong, offering a "vibrant green oasis in the dense city." The 1100-capacity school sits behind a kaleidoscopic façade laid across a grid of 727 multicolored tiles, offering a "vibrant sustainable environment supporting a world-class multicultural education."

Located in the city's Tseung Kwan O district, the 19,600-square-meter scheme comprises a series of large open plan spaces called Villas, each with 125 pupils in the same age group. The spaces are arranged around a central Agora, facilitating group activities and collaboration.

The scheme's multi-colored, ceramic tiled façade offers a "material representation of the environment within." The vibrant patterns symbolize the forward-thinking, international outlook of the school, which offers five languages to a student body representing 40 nationalities.

The building form and façade respond to the local climate and conditions, with North or South facing classrooms avoiding the low sun from East and West, while deep brise soleils shading prevents direct sunlight from entering the spaces.

The redesigned campus also includes the planting of 42 trees, multi-story hanging gardens, and a 550-square-meter botanical garden. The vegetation improves air quality in the dense urban setting while fostering a hands-on environment for students to gain experience in the value of the natural world.

Outside of school hours, the campus transforms into a quiet, green oasis for a city of scarce natural space. The gymnasium, exhibition areas, canteen, and playground can be opened to the public, allowing the school to operate as a "beacon of French culture."

We dissolved the traditional classrooms, and we pushed boundaries on how learning spaces can allow teachers and classes to work together in a more collaborative open space […] With its wide array of sustainable measures, ranging from the choice of materials, to the many passive designs to economize energy and ensure great daylight, to the way the school is able to share spaces with the surrounding community, the new campus of FIS offers lessons in sustainable architecture for pupils and local builders.
- Claude Godefroy, Design Director and Partner, Henning Larsen Hong Kong

The French International School was completed in September 2018.

News via: Henning Larsen

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Casatru / Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 01:00 AM PDT

Architects: Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos
Location: Cachagua, Chile
Architect In Charge: Gonzalo Mardones Viviani
Associates: Gonzalo Mardones F., María Jesús Mardones F
Area: 414.5 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Nico Saieh

Construction: Constructora Lagosal
Structural Calculation: Ruiz y Saavedra
Lightning: Paulina Sir

Text description provided by the architects. The CASATRU is located on a steep slope facing the sea of Chile in Beranda, Zapallar.

The access to the house is from above in order to bury the level of children's bedrooms, allowing to leave all the enclosures of the house with sea views.

The house is a rectangle rotated so as to open to the north and west, protecting the expansion areas of the cold winds from the south.

As usual in our work was chosen as main material exposed concrete, This was use in all its facades with incorporation of titanium dioxide. This fulfills the dual purpose of whitening the concrete and absorbing part of the ultraviolet radiation. As well as photosynthesis, transforming carbon dioxide into pure oxygen, thanks to sunlight and chlorophyll, photocatalysis is a chemical process that neutralizes toxic compounds.

The house inside is entirely white, in order to enhance the natural lighting achieved through the use of vertical, horizontal and diagonal light.

The doors and windows are made of cedar wood.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

What New York's Central Park Could Have Looked Like

Posted: 19 Oct 2018 12:45 AM PDT

Courtesy of NeoMam Studios for Budget Direct

New York's iconic Central Park was designed in 1858 by F.L Olmsted and C. Vaux, having been chosen in a competition against 32 other entries. The competition called for the design of a park including a parade ground, fountain, watchtower, skating arena, four cross streets, and room for an exhibition hall.

Of the 32 alternative entries, only one survives to this day. The sole survivor was drawn up park engineer John J. Rink. To give an indication as to how Rink's plan would have aged in the Big Apple, NeoMam Studios and Budget Direct have published a set of visualizations derived from the design. Find out below what one of the world's most iconic green spaces could have looked like if a 160-year-old decision had been different.

Rink's proposal was divided into symmetrical shapes that rose and dipped according to the topography. Described as a "folk-art fantasy of Versailles" in reference to the landscaped French palace, the park's open spaces "disappear beneath Rink's spiraling tree-lined alleys."

Rink's inspiration from French landscaping is also demonstrated through the symmetry and tranquility of space derived from water and reflections. A large reservoir is flanked by the imposing "Cronton Lake" and a parade ground representing the scheme's only open land.