Arch Daily |
- The Sims Lend Aspiring Architects a Hand at World-Building
- Steven Chilton Architects Builds a Forest of White Columns Around Wuxi Taihu Show Theater
- Airports: Examples in Plan & Section
- China's Mega Industrial Regeneration Project has Lessons for the World
- Black House on Nevezis River Slope / Nebrau
- Café Loge / The Cornerz + Kode Architects
- House NO.20; Order in Chaos / White Cube Atelier
- Orchard House / DADA Partners
- KLOEM Hostel / IF (Integrated Field)
- AD Classics: Weissenhof-Siedlung Houses 14 and 15 / Le Corbusier + Pierre Jeanneret
- Medog Meteorological Center / EID Architecture
- Screen House / Warc Studio Architects
- Yuanlu Community Center / Challenge Design
- Project Nymph / Zen Architects
- Monument to the 100th Anniversary of the Alcorta Farmers Revolt / [eCV] estudio Claudio Vekstein_Opera Publica
- 10 Futuristic Homes Unveiled at the 2018 China Open House Exhibition
- House on 72nd Street / Nauzet Rodríguez
- Japanese Robot Capable of Installing Drywall by Itself
- The Residences at Prince / Marvel Architects
- Carlo Ratti Associati Places 30-Foot-High Tree Inside Renovated Italian Farmhouse
| The Sims Lend Aspiring Architects a Hand at World-Building Posted: 04 Oct 2018 10:00 PM PDT  Some gamers work diligently to recreate historically-accurate structures or design their own renditions. Avid gamers and casual observers alike have probably heard of The Sims, a life simulation video game and one of Electronic Arts' (EA) most popular franchises. The Sims, which has undergone multiple iterations and expanded its virtual universe many times over the past decade, allows players to dream and control elaborate stories for their Sims. This "virtual dollhouse," as The Sims creator Will Wright describes, also lends players the ability to endlessly customize and construct their own houses and cities for their Sims–a feature that has allowed many gamers to interact more closely with the real world of architecture.   The Sims player Jason Sterling's virtual rendition of Frank Lloyd Wright's Seth Peterson Cottage. As Dr. Luke Pearson, a lecturer in the University College London's prestigious Bartlett School of Architecture, observes, world-building games such as the Sims are "a way of engaging new audiences into architecture and help engage in processes normally closed off to [non-architects]... [they] teach players how to synthesize architectural space in some fashion" (Metropolis). In other words, gaming platforms such as The Sims allow players interested in design who lack the resources, education or experience to pursue architecture professionally a certain level of autonomy and agency.  Mela Pagayonan's midcentury Modern inspired home in The Sims. You can read more about the growing community of world-building gamers pushing their own architectural agendas in the virtual realm in Metropolis Magazine.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Steven Chilton Architects Builds a Forest of White Columns Around Wuxi Taihu Show Theater Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:30 PM PDT  Wuxi Show Theatre. Image Courtesy of Steven Chilton Architects Steven Chilton Architects has designed a forest of white columns and a latticed metallic roof around the Wuxi Show Theater in China. The screen of angled columns surrounding the circular building was inspired by the Sea of Bamboo, a national park with one of the biggest bamboo forests in the country. Opening in December 2019, the design will provide a permanent home for Belgian theatre director Franco Dragone's show, the House of Dancing Water.  Wuxi Show Theatre. Image Courtesy of Steven Chilton Architects  Wuxi Show Theatre. Image Courtesy of Steven Chilton Architects Located close to Lake Taihu in the Jiangsu province of China, the building's appearance is composed of three primary elements: the columns, the shade canopy and the building envelope. Framing the theater's entrances, the angled columns connect to a canopy of gold anodized aluminium louvers set in the roof above. Conceptually formed as the "leaves" at the top of a bamboo grove, the elegant louver system braces the slender columns tops to transfer the weight to the main building structure. The circular theater is covered in curtain wall glazing that was designed to be fretted with white and gold stripes mirroring the surrounding white columns. At night, the theater will glow and illuminate as light is reflected off the bright surfaces.  Wuxi Show Theatre. Image Courtesy of Steven Chilton Architects The shade canopy wraps around the perimeter of the building at roof level. The canopy's triangular bays are orientated randomly to create an organic quality to the structure and light and shade patterns that fall across the building envelope through the day. Each bay of louvers is also set at different angles to heighten the sense of variation when viewed from different angles. The environmental purpose of the shade canopy and columns are to provide shade over the surface of the façade to passively lower the cooling load on the building.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Airports: Examples in Plan & Section Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:00 PM PDT  © Fabián Dejtiar Airports require architectural solutions that not only respond to the efficiency of their spaces and circulations - both operational and passenger - but also to their connection with other transport systems and terminals. Take a look at 10 airports/terminals and their plans and section below. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport - Terminal 2 / SOM.jpg?1538572918 "© Robert Polidori") © Robert Polidori  via SOM  via SOM Tom Bradley International Terminal / Fentress Architects via Fentress Architects  via Fentress Architects  via Fentress Architects Pulkovo International Airport / Grimshaw Architects + Ramboll + Pascall+Watson via Grimshaw Architects  via Grimshaw Architects  via Grimshaw Architects Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport Extension / WHLC Architecture © Treasure Tolliver  via WHLC Architecture  via WHLC Architecture Madrid-Barajas Airport Terminal 4 / Estudio Lamela & Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners via Estudio Lamela & Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners  via Estudio Lamela & Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners  via Estudio Lamela & Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners La Araucanía Airport / Iglesis Arquitectos © Diego Elgueta .jpg?1538572996 "via Iglesis Arquitectos") via Iglesis Arquitectos .jpg?1538573006 "via Iglesis Arquitectos") via Iglesis Arquitectos Fort McMurray International Airport / office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers © Ema Peter  via office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers .jpg?1538572985 "via office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers") via office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers Narita International Airport Terminal 3 / NIKKEN SEKKEI + Ryohin Keikaku + PARTY © Kenta Hasegawa  via NIKKEN SEKKEI + Ryohin Keikaku + PARTY  via NIKKEN SEKKEI + Ryohin Keikaku + PARTY Zagreb Airport / Kincl + Neidhardt + Institut IGH © Josip Škof  via Kincl + Neidhardt + Institut IGH  via Kincl + Neidhardt + Institut IGH Nuevo Terminal Internacional T2 Aeropuerto Internacional Alfonso Bonilla Aragón / Espacio Colectivo Arquitectos SA + Cuna Arquitectura © Santiago Robayo  via Espacio Colectivo Arquitectos SA + Cuna Arquitectura  via Espacio Colectivo Arquitectos SA + Cuna Arquitectura  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| China's Mega Industrial Regeneration Project has Lessons for the World Posted: 04 Oct 2018 08:30 PM PDT  Courtesy of CCTN Design Across the world, developed cities are rebelling against heavy industry. While some reasons vary depending on local circumstances, a common global drive towards clean energy, and the shifting of developed economies towards financial services, automation, and the gig economy, is leaving a common trace within urban centers. From Beijing to Detroit, vast wastelands of steel and concrete will stand as empty relics to the age of steel and coal. The question of what to do with these wastelands, with defunct furnaces, railways, chimneys, and lakes, may be one of the major urban questions facing generations of architects to come. What can be done when the impracticality of industrial complexes, and the precious land they needlessly occupy, collides with the embodied energy, memories, and histories which few would wish to lose?  Courtesy of CCTN Design In Beijing's Shijingshan District, a major public project is being undertaken which may provide an answer. The Shougang Industrial Regeneration Project, the first of its kind in China, is being overseen by a young Chinese architecture firm determined to realize a vision for industrial regeneration whose value extends far beyond China, serving as a case study for both East and West.  Courtesy of CCTN Design For almost 100 years, the Shougang Corporation (previously the Capital Iron and Steel Corporation) has used the Shougang industrial area as the base for one of China's largest steel companies. As China reformed and opened out to the world during the 20th century, Shougang's growth was exponential, covering steel manufacturing, mining, machinery, electronics, and real estate. Almost one-third of Chinese steel products are associated with Shougang. As Beijing's urban footprint expanded, it enveloped the vast 1.5-square-kilometer industrial site. When the city was chosen to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Shougang site was decommissioned due to concerns over air pollution, the companies operations relocated. The site has lain in dereliction for the past 10 years. As Beijing prepares to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, Chinese planners are working on a project to bring the ruins back to life.  Courtesy of CCTN Design The vision of young Chinese architecture firm CCTN Design, led by Bo Hongtao, the Shougang industrial area will be repurposed as a base for the Winter Olympic operations, as well as a Museum of Regeneration. Seeking to form a "new paradigm for urban development," the scheme walks a careful balance between the retention of collective memories of the site's old function and the reinvigoration of the site in response to contemporary demands. The scheme's centerpiece, the "Museum of Regeneration of Shougang No. 3 Blast Furnace," will be the first regeneration project of blast furnace and ancillary facilities in China, and one of few in the world. The removal of unnecessary buildings allows for an open dialogue between core industrial structures and a surrounding park landscape while showcasing the mammoth blast furnace apparatus as both a homage to Chinese industrial history.  Courtesy of CCTN Design Underneath the blast furnace's ancillary cooling pool, a parking lot will link to an underwater art exhibition hall, where visitors can interact with artwork and contemplate the 100-year history of the site through interaction with the water, and views of the blast furnace structure. More than a museum for collective memory, the 1.5-square kilometer site also serves a valuable contemporary addition to Beijing's urban realm. As well as being a base for the Winter Olympics Service and International community, the scheme will contain extensive public landscape, restaurants, teaching facilities, and artistic exhibition space. As part of the celebration of the Shougang project, the team behind the project have collaborated with an interdisciplinary group of curators, artists, novelists, and musicians to create an installation running in parallel with the 2018 Venice Biennale throughout the month of October, serving to exhibit the historic memories of the Shougang site, and the regeneration scheme to bring it back to life.  Courtesy of CCTN Design Curated by Wang Zigeng and Bo Hongtao, "Steel Home Still" sees a sharp, contemporary, steel pavilion placed inside the neo-classical Santa Caterina Church. Aside from the impressive scale model of the Shougang Blast Furnace, located in a prime position facing the church alter, the installation contains a series of "typical rooms" reminiscent of Shougang's industrial past: the dormitory, the workers club, the drawing room, and the furnace preparation room.  Courtesy of CCTN Design Employing film and stage set decoration, photography, and graphic design, each room uses space, objects, and texts to convey the life of fictional, yet typical workers of the Shougang steel site, brought into existence by novelist Jiang Fangzhou. Through the exhibition, the design team "hope to unveil the microhistories at the level of individuals and families."  Courtesy of CCTN Design More than an exhibition of design and ingenuity, "Steel Home Still" functions as a forum for idea sharing between East and West. This was demonstrated at the opening event, where experts from the fields of architecture, sociology, and urban design from Europe, the Middle East, and China converged to share their perspectives on the importance of industrial regeneration, and how the Shougang project can act as a catalyst for similar schemes around the world.  Courtesy of CCTN Design Common to all participants, including IUAV University professor Alberto Cecchetto and former UNESCO Assistant Director for Culture Francesco Bandarin, was a reflection that industrial regeneration poses a global challenge and opportunity, both for the retention of local and national identity and for the repurposing of vast landscapes which are soon to become redundant.  Courtesy of CCTN Design Citing examples such as the Bagnoli Steel Plant in Napoli by Francesco Cellini, the Renzo Piano masterplan for the Flack Steelworks site in Milan, and the heavy concentration of adaptable industrial heritage structures currently being addressed in the Ruhr Valley, the panel stressed the value of post-industrial sites to enhance quality of life, generate tourism, and improve regional image, through the application of considered, sensitive, adaptive design.  Courtesy of CCTN Design "Steel Home Still" will be on public display at the Santa Caterina Church in Cannaregio, Venice until 31st October 2018. The exhibition was organized by Shougang Group, Beijing Shougang Construction Investment Co. Ltd, CCTN Design, and Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., Ltd.  Courtesy of CCTN Design The Shougang Industrial Regeneration project is expected to be completed in 2019.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Black House on Nevezis River Slope / Nebrau Posted: 04 Oct 2018 08:00 PM PDT  © Norbert Tukaj
 © Norbert Tukaj Text description provided by the architects. The project is situated on the slope of Nevezis river in the forest surrounding. The shape of the plot, with an agile corner at the entrance and forest view on the opposite site, formed two main volumes of living and resting, both connected with main entrance and workplace.  © Norbert Tukaj  Floor Plan  © Norbert Tukaj Black House – brave facade material merges building to surrounding, creating a peaceful synergy with nature.  © Norbert Tukaj  Sections  © Norbert Tukaj  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Café Loge / The Cornerz + Kode Architects Posted: 04 Oct 2018 07:00 PM PDT  © Shin kyung-sub
 © Shin kyung-sub  © Shin kyung-sub Text description provided by the architects. EROM, a company investigating health solutions with uncooked food and various products based on raw materials from nature conducts experiments and makes suggestions from various angles so that modern people exposed to various stresses can become healthy. Café Loge is a café brand newly launched as a part of such suggestions. The core of the project is selling self-developed differentiated natural contents and various food and beverage and promoting a nature-friendly corporate image.  Diagram 01 Café Loge is located on the first floor of a typical office building in a commercial area in East Pangyo, Republic of Korea. The upper part is enveloped with a curtain wall, and the lower part is covered with a dark stone finish, transparent glass, and an exaggerated sign, so it represents a newtown but dry commercial street. Café Loge needed to get out of this existing commercial street, boldly. A boundary of unconventional space was made in the dull city center, using arches that could have firm formal vocabularies based on white mosaic tiles with a solid, strong property instead of transparent material called glass, and through the glass arch, bluish green colored interior space and nature in the raw could be seen from the street.  © Shin kyung-sub The indoor space was designed to be able to provide a feeling as if one was in a little forest. Plant boxes in various shapes were installed here and there in the café, and a variety of flora were planted to enhance the image of a forest. The wall surface was finished, centering around the doors and the part of the beginning of the curved surface of the window arch while the lower part was finished with white color to bring the flora into relief, and the upper part was finished in dark green color to enrich the space. The ceiling was designed in an inverted arch form that would further build up the atmosphere of the forest, visually interrupting the equipment pipes like ducts on the exposed ceiling, while the floor emphasized the feel of the forest, using eco-friendly timber.  © Shin kyung-sub A long rectangular plant box was installed at the place you would first notice, entering the café, and a small garden was created by planting a variety of flora. The tables sticking out from big and small plants and soil would enable users to feel nature directly in the downtown area, and plant boxes and seats were made in a green curved form and placed on both sides around the plant boxes, so that visitors could feel as if they were enjoying a picnic, sitting on an outdoor forest.  Diagram 02 The table integrated with the exterior arches on one wall surface was planned as differentiated seats in which visitors can view the plants planted outside and the street together as privacy would be maintained because of the depth of the arches and behind that, general seats made by putting tables for two together were placed to compose the form of the seats so that they could accommodate various requirements of users.  © Shin kyung-sub For the right wall of the café entrance, a display wall was planned, which could promote EROM's uncooked food ingredient. On the 21 round, bored display spaces, raw materials of various uncooked foods would be displayed, and the exhibits would stand out further through the soft light from the white background and the back side. Plant boxes were installed at the bottom of the display wall, emphasizing the feel of raw materials made in nature and being in harmony with the forest image of the entire space.  Plan The station was planned to be harmonized with the café, designing it with organic linear and green color materials. For the sub-kitchen located on the back side, using a green curtain in the arch opening on the white wall, the design vocabulary used outside was drawn in a unified look. It was designed for psychological connection in spite of visual interruption.  © Shin kyung-sub  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House NO.20; Order in Chaos / White Cube Atelier Posted: 04 Oct 2018 06:00 PM PDT  © Farshid Nasrabadi
 © Farshid Nasrabadi Text description provided by the architects. Getting closer to Maku, where this house is located in, you are faced with a winding road trapped in a narrow valley including a river within and the city view surprisingly appears as you pass a crescent. Bare soaring mountains embrace this historical border city and include one of the most huge and unique roof of climbing crags in Iran. There is a castle close to the wall and the wall is above 100 meters high. Some Buildings have been constructed on the mountain slopes in different historical eras and it seems that contemporary buildings have grown chaotically.  Diagram This mysterious city including forgotten values like city view and architectural aesthetics, is a context where we have been designing and constructing some buildings in the past 5 years. We have tried to influence the city view with aid of modern architecture concepts and using vernacular materials.  © Farshid Nasrabadi  Spatial Diagram  © Farshid Nasrabadi One of the projects is house NO.20 which is located in a chaotic neighbourhood in a 275-square-meter property. 4 floors accommodated in 900 sqm including ground floor allocated to public space and parking, 1st & 2nd floor as a duplex residential and 3rd floor considered as a loft with stretched terraces.  © Farshid Nasrabadi Formation of the concept was the result of a challenge between the client and the architects; The commission was to create a distinctive family residence with the concept of minimalism and simplicity. So we initiated composing some cubes oriented to potential views with the ideas of capturing daylight, allowing natural ventilation and utilizing vernacular materials. We could emphasize shades of subtracted and added volumes by using two materials with high contrast. The concept of façade design was continued in interior spaces that resulted in a variety of open spaces and spatial qualities.  Section The project is not only a house in a distant border city, but also a focal point to improve public taste and to reform the city view  © Farshid Nasrabadi  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2018 05:00 PM PDT  © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India
 © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India Text description provided by the architects. Set in a dense grid of mature mango trees, the project reflects the dichotomy of respecting the territory belonging to the tree trunks and it's foliage along inscribing our own rhythm on the ground plane. While the property is almost an acre in size, the building is firmly set towards the south-west corner. This was to satisfy vastu edicts and to preserving the rest of the orchard as a permanent green. Within this compressed canvas, the seemingly sporadic clumping of mango trees defines the location of the multiple interconnected open courts that would eventually act as a vessel for the trees. The northern front face of the house is uncharacteristically eroded and is instead defined by the tartan grid of the three open courts. The driveway or arrival court occupies the central space, the treed courtyard to the west and the pool court on the east.  © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India A series of stone clad walls are used a design tool to not only spatially define the three courts but also to engage directly with the building. Clad in rough Kurnoor grey sandstone the monochromatic walls scrape just below the tree canopy level and act as a sombre backdrop to the dark, sinuous, mango tree trunks. Viewed from the open courts these walls; as if acting like a folly; manage to extend the built experience and elude any clear understanding of the buildings scale or extent.  © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India Perhaps their primary significance is in establishing multiple thresholds for the visitors. The foremost east-west wall along with another one just to it's south; both punctuated in the centre; pair up to create a narrow labyrinth like open aisle offering a glimpse (and access to) the pool and courtyard on either ends. As one crosses the second wall, it brings the visitor to an intimate entry portico with the front door of the house tucked to the right. The entry lobby opens up unreserved views of the court with tree and the folds of the house beyond. A colonnaded gallery connects to the drawing room and then leads to the family room in the center of the house. Two bedroom suites are located in the more private block west of the central court. Set within the central block, a linear staircase ascends a double height sunlight space and lands at the upper family lounge with views of the tree canopy.  Plan On either side of the central block are the bedroom suites, each with framed views of the landscaped plot.  © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India The two north facing bedrooms terminate in animated terraces that seem to project outwards into the landscape. These are then screened in sleek pivoted wooden louvered panels that provide sense of privacy and help filter the summer sun. A consistent tectonic of steel, timber, glass, and stone, along with grey coloured walls seem nestled within the deep colored trunks and leaves of the orchard.  © Ranjan Sharma / Lightzone India  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| KLOEM Hostel / IF (Integrated Field) Posted: 04 Oct 2018 04:00 PM PDT  © PanoramicStudio
 © PanoramicStudio Text description provided by the architects. The main design approach for this project was to design this space based on as much as possible existing structure and material by focusing on "repairing" and "adding". Firstly, the existing structure was kept as the way it is. Then, all wooden walls were removed to be repaired, polished, and repainted. Even in the details such as the window frames, they were kept the way they were, yet we've added the glass as a new layer to let the natural light in but still able to use air-conditioned system. The space planning was rearranged to suit with the new usage as a hostel.  © PanoramicStudio  Section  © PanoramicStudio For the space management, the bigger building consists of a four-bedded and six-bedded women dormitory with shared toilets / shower space in the back on the ground floor and 2 three-bedded, 1 four-bedded and 1 six-bedded men dormitory on the upper level. The Bed with working table, locker, and shelf for self-decoration is designed for these specific rooms with a soft curtain as a divider for privacy. The smaller building consists of 2 private rooms and 3 bathrooms on the ground floor with 3 more private rooms with recreation deck on the upper level.  © PanoramicStudio  2nd floor plan / Roof plan 1:200  © PanoramicStudio This integration of the new steel structure whose representing the present time with these 2 existing wooden buildings gives KLOEM HOSTEL the right atmosphere and introducing Bangkok to visiting guests like the "good old folks" of the neighborhood would.  © PanoramicStudio  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AD Classics: Weissenhof-Siedlung Houses 14 and 15 / Le Corbusier + Pierre Jeanneret Posted: 04 Oct 2018 03:00 PM PDT  © Hassan Bagheri / hbarchitectural.com This article was originally published on March 26, 2014. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section. Following the First World War, economic circumstances meant that architectural extravagance was no longer realistic. As a response, the Deutscher Werkbund, a German association of artists, designers, and architects, commissioned leading architects such as Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens, and Le Corbusier to showcase a new domestic architecture of Modernity. The completion of the Weissenhof Estate would mark the start of the Die Wohnung (The Home) Exhibition of 1927, allowing patrons to personally experience a new vision of society through architecture based around the ideals of reducing costs, simplifying housekeeping, and improving living conditions. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, who coordinated the development, recognized that an exhibition of Modern architecture would lack credibility without the participation of Le Corbusier, who had become immensely influential as a result of the publication of his ideas in Vers une Architecture and L'Esprit Nouveau. Mies, who contributed four of his own home designs to the development, wrote to Le Corbusier on October 5, 1926 inviting him and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret to design two detached residences for educated, middle-class families.  Axonometric Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, like all other architects involved, were given schematic guidelines for the location, size, budget and program for each house. The Paris-based architects, who were busy preparing their proposal for the League of Nations, spent hardly any time in Stuttgart throughout the design and construction process, eventually sending Alfred Roth, one of their two employees, to the project site as a resident architect. The committee was disappointed by the preliminary design proposals; not only those received from Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, but also those submitted by the other architects. In addition to cost overruns and code violations, proposals were generally more spacious than the committee had intended. Due to budget concerns and the committee's request to reduce the built area of their design by 30-40%, Le Corbusier and Jeanneret proposed to redesign one of their two houses, converting it into two smaller attached dwellings that would occupy the same footprint as the original single home. These two attached dwellings came to be known as Houses 14 and 15. The Deutscher Werkbund appreciated the smaller residences, but, still not satisfied, attempted to convince the architects that only one unit was necessary. Le Corbusier, however, was not willing to negotiate. Less flexible than his German counterparts, Le Corbusier had more power over the committee than the other architects because Mies was worried that Le Corbusier would withdraw from the project if he were excessively constrained.  © Hassan Bagheri / hbarchitectural.com Both structures utilized reinforced concrete to embody the qualities of Le Corbusier's Five-Point manifesto: pilotis (the use of columns to lift the building above the ground plane), the roof garden, the free plan, the long window, and the free façade. A key innovation of the building was the transformable open living space that could be subdivided into multiple sleeping compartments with sliding partitions; similarly, beds would slide out of large built-in closets. For the exhibition, the fact that there were two units with similar plans presented the opportunity to set up one living space for daytime use, and the other living space for nighttime use. Ironically, this intention was forgotten and not included at the opening of Die Wohnung, which Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret were not present for.  Floor Plans Three levels comprise the two-family structure. The layouts of both units are nearly symmetrical and are each serviced by a central extruded staircase. One enters on the lower level, under the piloti-supported mass. Inside is an entrance lobby with cloakroom, furnace room, coal cellar, laundry room, maid's room, and storage. The next level is the primary living story. Here, there is an eating space behind the stairs, and a kitchen and bathroom at the far edge. Filling the majority of the plan is the large, flexible living and sleeping space, utilizing an abundance of daylight from long band of windows along the front façade. The roof level features an outdoor garden and sunbathing terrace. Also noteworthy are the library and study concealed behind the stairs; the location of this room meant that residents could work late into the night without disturbing others on the floor below.  © Hassan Bagheri / hbarchitectural.com Of the 21 structures designed by 17 architects, it was Houses 14 and 15 that drew the most interest, receiving both positive and negative critiques. While the architects managed to create a truly progressive model of domestic living, many critics recognized that there were some impractical details. The notably-narrow 27.5 inch corridor on the living story, for example, was considered awkward and uncomfortable by visitors. In addition, the maid's room was so small that is was deemed unusable, a problem that occurred in many of the other houses. During the exhibition, Erna Meyer, a consultant for home economics and kitchen design felt that the work of Le Corbusier and Jeanneret was the worst of the Estate, disappointedly asking, "is this what he means by engineer's architecture?" Other criticism was more general, suggesting that the large windows were more appropriate for a Mediterranean climate than for Stuttgart. As a result of the Second World War the Weissenhof-Siedlung fell into decay. Today, however, after extensive restoration efforts, the structures are protected as historic monuments. Houses 14 and 15 specifically have become a public museum for visitors to learn about the development and to view the interior as it would have been built. A true "machine for living," Le Corbusier envisioned architecture that was designed with the same precision and logic of automobiles and airplanes. Houses 14 and 15 demonstrate this principle to the extreme, producing what many considered to be efficiency and pragmatism to the point of impracticality. Die Wohnung exhibition was both a valuable learning experience for Modernists and an essential moment in the formalization of the International Style. Built between the 1923 manifesto Vers une Architecture and the 1931 completion of Villa Savoye, his magnum opus, Le Corbusier designed Houses 14 and 15 as an early manifestation of his revolutionary vision for the future of architecture.  © Hassan Bagheri / hbarchitectural.com Reference:
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| Medog Meteorological Center / EID Architecture Posted: 04 Oct 2018 02:00 PM PDT  Facade. Image © CreatAR Image
 Dormitory area. Image © CreatAR Image Text description provided by the architects. The Medog Meteorological Center (MMC) is located along the river bend area of Yarlung Tsangpo River in Nyingchi prefecture of Tibet. Within canyons, surrounded by mountain ranges and dense forests, the project site captures prominent view of the Namcha Barwa in the distance, while integrating with the well-preserved natural surroundings.  © CreatAR Image Design Challenges  © CreatAR Image  Axonometric  The atrium. Image © CreatAR Image As being one of the last counties to be reached by the highway systems in China, Medog is known as a primordial town that is hidden within the southern mountain range of Tibet, isolated from the rest of the world, both socially and culturally. Due to the lack of fully developed transportation and rural location of Medog, the construction processes of the Meteorological Center became significantly challenging, in terms of aspects as undeveloped construction skills and techniques, limited numbers of heavy machinery, small selection of building materials and etc.  © CreatAR Image Remote Intervention  © CreatAR Image "Breathable Architecture"  © CreatAR Image The undulating roof system that mimics the movements of rolling hills, borrows design elements from the natural surroundings, while responding to the climate need of providing drainage system. By maintaining the natural rhythm on the architectural forms, the building blends into the context without drawing attention to itself, establishing a respectful dialogue with the existing, providing a harmonious environment for better serving the community.  © CreatAR Image Elevated ground level that is inherited from the vernacular architecture optimizes the pedestrian experience on the site, while at the same time, facilitating the natural ventilation system of the building. A rhythmic façade is created by carefully placed window elements on the building envelope. As the building is designed to be an integration of living and working space, the use of solid and void volumes optimizes the quality of natural views through responding to the occupants' living-patterns during the day.  Platform. Image © CreatAR Image Reinterpretation of the Vernacular  © CreatAR Image The design and materiality pay tribute to the local ethnic culture, blending traditional Moinba and Lhoba architecture with modern architectural elements, creating a contemporary building sensitive to local culture and tectonic tradition.  © CreatAR Image  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Screen House / Warc Studio Architects Posted: 04 Oct 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Aaron Pocock
 © Aaron Pocock Text description provided by the architects. This project is for modest yet highly detailed alterations and additions to an existing detached weatherboard Edwardian residence with a rear Western aspect in Camberwell, Victoria. As well as the proposed living area additions, the brief called for the upgrading of existing bath rooms, wardrobes, improved internal circulation, the provision of a swimming pool, and landscaped utility areas  © Aaron Pocock  Plan  © Aaron Pocock The design solution focused on the interaction with the garden and outdoor space while managing the potentially harsh Western aspect of the site. Windows, cabinetry, walls and ceilings were also strategically placed to unveil views and openings to the outside. On entering the house, the main corridor provides an immediate view through to the rear garden. As the occupants proceed towards the rear, a series of views unfold: the North garden framed by cabinetry; glimpses of the sky through a strip skylight; views of trees through high level windows; screened views to the Western outdoor areas.  © Aaron Pocock The rear additions are cloaked in timber hardwood screens that mitigate the Northern and Western sunlight while maintaining views and visual surveillance of the pool area. The screens can be opened to maximise the afternoon sun during Winter as well as enabling maintenance to the façade.
Sustainability  © Aaron Pocock  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Yuanlu Community Center / Challenge Design Posted: 04 Oct 2018 12:00 PM PDT  © Prism Images
 © Arch-Exist I Symbiosis  © Arch-Exist As a response to the environment , the architect places three buildings of different sizes side-by-side on the hillside and vertical to the riverside road, looking to achieve the optimum visual effect of riverfront landscape and distant mountains.  © Arch-Exist II Topology  Courtesy of Challenge Design In addition to the interesting correlation between the spaces and sizes, changes in elevation enriches spatial forms, which enable people to experience narrative feelings in the space changed up and down, inside and out, near and far.  © Arch-Exist Courtyards and patios can evoke a sense of territory and the adjacency of inside and outside through covers, showing spatial openness, and a sense of freedom based on spatial relationships.  1F Plan Courtyards and patios can evoke a sense of territory and the adjacency of inside and outside through covers, showing spatial openness, and a sense of freedom based on spatial relationships.  © Arch-Exist III Authenticity  © Arch-Exist Exposed Glulam structures are applied as the crucial visual element for wooden buildings. The order and form similar to the sloping roofs in Chongqing are adopted for expression.  © Prism Images Architects convert varying units into structural components and arrange those components in a certain changing mode, so that the architectural form changes with the space.  © Arch-Exist Wood components are lapped straight and well-structured in elaborate layout, with a strong sense of construction. Smooth lines and a sense of unity make the building space extremely charming. Dynamic balance of components presents architectural features and livens up the space.  © Arch-Exist IV Circumgyration  © Prism Images  © Prism Images V Shadow  © Arch-Exist V Technology  © Prism Images  © Prism Images As architects have reinterpreted modern architectural aesthetics by designing authentic structure and space in an extremely modern way, the integrity and authenticity of the building from inside to outside will make people feel its beauty of morality and integrity. Furthermore, based on the changing structural form, the integration and interaction of functions, spaces, materials and structures with people are gradually unfolded, thus to exhibit the elegance of the building in natural light!  © Prism Images  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Project Nymph / Zen Architects Posted: 04 Oct 2018 10:00 AM PDT  © Derek Swalwell
 © Derek Swalwell Text description provided by the architects. Based upon the concepts of living in a garden and gathering under a roof, Project Nymph required the renovation and extension of a single fronted terrace house located in the Botanic Gardens precinct of inner Melbourne. At the end of the hallway of the original terrace house the new kitchen and dining area open out to the full width of the site with slate paving and full height north facing glazing.  © Derek Swalwell A large timber pergola with roof and seasonal shading extends over both the internal and external areas, connecting the paved garden with the kitchen and dining area as one large courtyard space. Smaller scale rooms have been added at the rear of the site, including wet areas, a lounge room and a first floor principal bedroom with ensuite and adjoining terrace.  © Derek Swalwell  © Derek Swalwell The building features natural materials, both inside and out, bringing the qualities of the nearby gardens into the living areas of the house.  © Derek Swalwell  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2018 09:00 AM PDT  © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris
 © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris Text description provided by the architects. The work celebrates the agrarian rebellion of small rural tenants, mostly Italian and Spanish immigrants, known as "El Grito de Alcorta" (1912). With epicenter in the town of Alcorta, it spread throughout the Santa Fe province and later the country, giving rise to the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA). Working with FAA Assembly through participatory collaboration involving the Alcorta Commune, the Santa Fe Province and the Federal Government, the memorial not only evokes the farmers, their work and struggles, the use and possession of the land, and the cooperativism, but also actualizes them in a daily gathering space for farmers and citizens, overcoming the passive, reverent monuments of the past.  © Federico Cairoli  Site Plan  © Federico Cairoli Only four large exposed concrete foundations were present in the bare 100m. x 75m terrain, built in 1962 for the 50th anniversary as part of a monumental project of sculptural figures in the style of Vera Mukhina's soviet "socialist realism". The current 400m2 building program developed with the FAA unfolds small cultural functions, a Civic Plaza that allows the realization of public celebratory acts of the deed, an Auditorium for 150 people, and a Gallery of permanent and temporary exhibitions or interpretation center where historical objects from the 1912 events were brought from the Provinces.  © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris These interior's intense and intimate scales are housed at the northwest face by an extensive, folded exterior plane structured by large steel rhythmic porticos, inclined frames and modular rugged panels. This screen carries the expressive aesthetic content, while articulating the monumental scale as a classic scenery, a forced perspective for tracks circulating on Route 90 or arriving from the town. The massive relief recalling historic "stockpiles" of burlap or tow corn sacks, as rescued from the FAA photo Archives, materializes through a locally crafted panels' system made out of resin reinforced with fiberglass and crude burlap molded on geometrically pixelated wooden forms. The west pavilion contains FAA offices and public toilets, in a reinforced concrete structure and steel profiles emerging from the plowed earth. Above it, on the descending terraces —accessed by an exterior ramp along the main screen and a staircase following the stepping—, the vast horizon and Pampean splendid sunsets are being contemplated.  © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris  Plans + Sections  © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris Rough textures at different scales recover a textile and tactile grain portraying in a common language the labor engraved by the agrarian workers on the land, their tanned skins rugged as furrows, cracked by the sun —observed in the painting "Manifestación" alluding to the Grito de Alcorta by artist Antonio Berni (1934)— their clothes and the rough bags finally piled up in the stowage. This is reconstructed as a free stacking wall and horizontally extruding porticos that conjugate to form continuous sections. This fluted surface unfolds beyond the building while the lateral sectioning of the sheet metal panels finally reconciles the building with the horizon. The exterior plowed pampas become intimate to the interior, forming plywood furniture, extending the greatest possible exhibition surface by stretching the inner lining, until wrapping the auditorium in furrowed boards, ascending grooves and wheat ears.  © Sergio Gustavo Esmoris  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 10 Futuristic Homes Unveiled at the 2018 China Open House Exhibition Posted: 04 Oct 2018 07:35 AM PDT  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc China House Vision 2018 has opened with 10 futuristic residential designs by architects like Penda, Open Architecture and MAD. Located outside the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing's Olympic Park, House Vision is a cultural research project initiated with the concept of "new life in the future". Together with architects and enterprises, the exhibition aims to build cultural research around the future home at a 1:1 ratio. House Vision features a range of home designs, from a shelter for life on Mars to a Living Garden. Following Japan House Vision, this year's exhibition brings together 10 architecture studios with 10 companies. Coinciding with Beijing Design Week, House Vision includes work by Hara Design Institute, Yang House, Atelier Deshaus, Atelier FCJZ, Crossboundaries, GHAA and BLUE Architecture. The exhibition was hosted by the GWC Great Wall Association and begun with graphic designer and curator Kenya Hara. Having already had editions in Tokyo, the 2018 exhibition is the first one abroad, and showcases 10 diverse living environments that address future living in China, through the cross-collaboration of different disciplines: architecture, design, technology, manufacturing etc. Hara Yoshihiko said: "Design can make people realize the many problems and possibilities in the world in the most understandable form, and this is one of the most important duties of design." Concrete Vessel by Haier, Atelier FCJZ © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc "The device" explores the a theory of human settlements, one where home appliances are no longer the means to complete work in the corner, but a member of the family. "砼", composed of the words "stone, people, work" Originally meant to be artificial stone concrete. It is designed not only with building materials, but also with people and appliances. "What do we need in our lives? It is nature, emotions, appliances, that is, a healthy and natural environment; rich emotions composed of memories, interests, etc.; high-quality home appliances that can meet the needs of life." Green plants form a "green core" that creates a pleasant environment and mediates the microclimate; the central focus is the equipment; the outermost part is the wall where projections can play. The integration of architecture and electrical appliances between the "circles" leads to a dialogue on how to improve quality of life. HouseATO by Atelier Deshaus © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc Designed as a "pictogram", HouseATO draws inspiration from the the design office of Liu Yichun. The inspiration is broken into a roof support and a platform prototype. The idea is that space can be changed. This work is more inclined to artistic expression, to experimenting with how people in space understand the changes that may occur. The glass house introduces the concept of traditional Chinese architecture. The concept of "house" is related to collective and open. The work is not a closed private residence, but a neighborhood. Under the roof of the "亼" shape is a room and a gallery designed with variable furniture. At the same time, a living area is placed on the periphery of the house, trying to push all living spaces to the periphery of life, and redefining the interior and exterior through furniture. This creates the relationship between housing and the environment, others, society, and the city. Green House by Yang Mingjie, YANG DESlGN © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc Green House explores how to use energy more efficiently in the home, including using plants to store energy. Energy is converted into light and water, light and water are stored in plants, and plants are related to people. In the work of Yang Mingjie, a new type of pastoral home may redefine the relationship between energy and home. Set up as an innovative device in the home to showcase energy, the approach focuses on the conversion of light and water to achieve plant cultivation. Yang Mingjie said, "The owner of the family is a busy white-collar worker. When she goes out, she can control the growth of plants through her mobile phone. Parents in another city can help her take care of the vegetable garden in Beijing by mobile phone far away overseas. Her boyfriend can also cultivate a flower for her in her home in Beijing through her mobile phone. On a special anniversary, the flowers bloom and send a blessing." MARS Case by OPEN Architecture, Xiaomi © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc OPEN Architecture in collaboration with Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi have unveiled the minimal housing prototype MARS Case. With MARS Case, OPEN Architecture challenges conventions of living space and proposes new possibilities for the future. The prototype imagines that humanity is forced to settle on Mars. Without reliance on natural resources, inhabitants instead would need to reduce consumption and carry only minimal essentials. Recycling becomes a means of surviving. MARS Case envisions this ideal house, which seamlessly combines technology, product design, and architecture. Domestic appliances in Xiaomi's current product lines can all be connected wirelessly and controlled over smart phones. MARS Case goes a step further to integrate these separate electronic appliances into one synthesized product, The Home. 400 Boxes House by Qingshan Zhou Ping, BLUE Architecture © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc 400 Boxes House is not only a home, but also an outside space. The design ask if it's possible to bring together all the furniture suitable for the street, and display it in the form of architecture. Qingshan Zhou Ping believes that in current Chinese cities, people are not facing homelessness, but "homeless", that is, the feeling that home is becoming more and more homeless. He defined his work as "semi-architectural, semi-furniture", that is, breaking through the boundaries between architecture and furniture, and thinking about the future lifestyle of young people through semi-architectural and semi-furniture movable living boxes. Beijing Hutong is a typical example of semi-public and semi-private living. Inspired by it, the room is shrunk into a "box" that retains the smallest private space, while the outside is shared furniture. The "box" can be produced by a furniture company such as Huari Home. It is equipped with wheels and can be moved. You can freely combine it and turn it into a room with a platform, LOFT and other forms. Zero Boundary by Japan Design Center © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc The design institute of the Japan Design Center has created a program called "Zero Boundary", which explores a new residential pattern. "Sunlight passes through the surrounding skylights and filters through the skylights of the building. The corner windows evenly illuminate the interior space. It feels warm and spacious. Through the glass, the interior can be warm and comfortable, and you can enjoy the outdoor scenery and enjoy the sunshine at home. You can breathe fresh air, drink pure water, eat nutritious and healthy food, and have a high quality healthy sleep." Zero Boundary explores a new residential landscape that removes the inner and outer boundaries of the entire building and provides more possibilities for the home. With the continuous evolution of living spaces. the demand for high efficiency and high quality home life has also increased. In the "zero border" home, the entire room is transparent. MUJI Staff Housing by MUJI, Hasegawa © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc Inspired by the dwellings of the Chinese cave dwellings and the Beijing Siheyuan, Hasegawa and Muji created the concept of "mutual" and "shared" for the Muji single apartment project.Try to make efficient use of space, the design utilizes MUJI's system shelf to provide employees with a comfortable living area. Combined with the advantages of MUJI, the apartment is equipped with storage furniture to make the space look more tidy. The design attempts to complete the new shared residential space through the integration and induction of space.The single apartment project will be a shared form that is not divided by walls. The free storage cabinets can separate the space and create three-dimensional rooms. The work has both a private space and a shared part – the bedroom and common parts are intertwined, and the kitchen reflects a shared philosophy – it will be a new cohabitation area. Infinite Living by TCL, Crossboundaries © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc Using "white" as the theme of the work, Infinite Living returns to the oriental Zen and pays attention to finding the needs of people in a chaotic world. The TV used to be an object isolated from the living room, then the TV has transformed into walls, and the future will see it as part of the home. The work simulates the future home in the space. Among them, the way TV intervenes is full of technology. When it is not needed, TVs will become invisible, disappearing in the home environment. When people are close, the TV can appear. The basic architectural elements of this work are horizontal and vertical planes, and you can have both the ceiling and the wall. The design utilizes TCL's home appliance TV products, not only to meet the needs of smart life, but also to build a virtual reality. Living Garden by Hanergy, MAD Architects © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc 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. 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. ScopeHome by MINI LIVING Urban Cabin, Penda © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc  © HOUSE VISION. Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc "What kind of architecture belongs to this country and belongs to the Chinese?" Sun Dayong proposed the theme of "Reflection" and explored how human beings can achieve a higher quality of life in a space of 15 square meters. "Reflection" is divided into two levels. The first layer is the reflection of the physical level, hoping to have a dialogue with the surrounding environment. The second layer is the memory of the spiritual level, because in the process of rapid development, memory should not be lost. This project is a new interpretation of the courtyard, adding an incredible new window to the basic function of the house. The 15 square meter pavilion consists of a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. It is a combination of opening and closing, showing a multi-faceted composition. When the box is closed, it is a 15 square meter room; when the box is opened, the upper part is open and the house and tree are integrated with nature. China House Vision 2018 will continue to run until November 6, 2018.  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| House on 72nd Street / Nauzet Rodríguez Posted: 04 Oct 2018 07:00 AM PDT  © Manolo R Solís
 © Manolo R Solís  © Manolo R Solís Text description provided by the architects. Although, as a starting point, the house has certain architectural elements of obvious interest, the combination of different styles within the design of the house results in a lack of cohesiveness making it hard to understand. Hence, the rearrangement of both the existing spaces and the overall style of the house have been the cornerstones of the entire intervention. Arches and colonial doors remain in the final project, as well as the coexistence with the natural light through numerous skylights that timidly intuited in the original project of the late 50s.  © Manolo R Solís  Floor Plans  © Manolo R Solís This rearrangement resulted in the appearance of a completely new façade but more in line with the existing door steps and arches, as well as the original heights, spaces and volumes of distinctly colonial reminiscences. The carpentry, also typical of this architectural style, was entirely recovered and rearranged into the new façade. The dividing line between housing and street is blurred by the elimination of the original gate, opening the private property to public space and vice versa. In the façade, a tree replaces 45 m2 of the original roofing.  © Manolo R Solís The floors were changed, walls were relocated, divisions were raised to enable new spaces and a great opening was made to incorporate the house into a garden to which the original project always turned its back. The poor state of preservation of the roofs required demolition and subsequent reconstruction. All the wall plaster was redone incorporating the detail of "exposed socle", stripping the construction stone from the walls to facilitate the release of moisture present in the buildings of the region. The result is a fundamental element for the good conservation of the finishes in addition to a remarkable aesthetic detail that characterizes the whole house.  © Manolo R Solís  © Manolo R Solís At the back of the property, two bedrooms both with bathroom and dressing room are built, separated from the original construction by the garden and swimming pool area. By untying both constructions, we managed to create a marked division between common or public areas and private rooms. These bedrooms present several details of natural lighting in line with the projections developed in the original construction. The transit through the garden to connect spaces and uses, render a holiday home atmosphere strongly linked to the external experience that was pursued from the beginning of the project development. The particular characteristics of the Yucatan climate make the sun, rain and vegetation fundamental elements in the overall understanding of the project.  © Manolo R Solís  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Japanese Robot Capable of Installing Drywall by Itself Posted: 04 Oct 2018 06:00 AM PDT
Japan's Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute have created HRP-5P, a humanoid robot that can perform common construction tasks, including installing drywall. As TechCrunch reports, HRP-5P uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks. The robot may help in Japan's rapidly aging society where declining birth rates meets a lack of skilled construction workers.  HRP-5P Robotic Construction Worker. Image Courtesy of Japan Advanced IST Institute In a video from the Advanced IST Institute we can see the robot install drywall, including drilling it into place. "By utilizing HRP-5P as a development platform of industry-academia collaboration, it is expected that research and development for practical use of humanoid robots in building construction sites and assembly of large structures such as aircraft and ships will be accelerated," write the creators.
The Advanced IST Institute team aims to work with private companies to take the robot design and use it as a development platform for further breakthroughs.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Residences at Prince / Marvel Architects Posted: 04 Oct 2018 05:00 AM PDT  © Aaron Thompson
 © Aaron Thompson Text description provided by the architects. The Residences at Prince, at the corner of Prince Street and Mott Street in Nolita, was once New York's first and oldest parochial school and part of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral Campus. It is uniquely designated as an NYC Individual Landmark, and a Nationally Registered Historic Place. In 2014, the development partnership of Time Equities Inc and Hamlin Ventures tapped leading design firm Marvel Architects to oversee Prince's conversion into modern residential units. The result is a site-sensitive adaptive reuse of the former school, turning it into seven condominiums and two townhouses. The project also maintains a multipurpose space for Old St. Patrick's, a community anchor for 200 years.  © Aaron Thompson The project celebrates the remaining features of the original building and highlights them against the new facades and finishes that were uniquely selected to complement the building's new life. Extraneous additions were removed to bring back the 1820 Federal-style essence. The interior parti, celebrates the historical surfaces by exposing and restoring rather than covering or over-polishing.  © Aaron Thompson Analysis of the building's history revealed an aggregation of various expansions and renovations made over the past 200 years. This analysis guided the project prioritization: Historic layers were peeled back to expose the building's original physicality and new additions were built to respond to, and complement, the historic structure. With the original building's H-shaped footprint restored, the western wing was transformed into a grand 5 story, 8,000sf townhouse, while the eastern wing and the adjoining Mott Street addition became 7 condominium residences with all work being approved by the landmark preservation commission.  © Aaron Thompson The Exterior design maintains the Federal exterior's quiet simplicity, lending a veil of privacy to the residences. By contrast, the inner courtyard façades, are the exact opposite – irregular and playful. A scramble of existing windows on the historic building inspired the artful composition of openings on the condominium's new modern rain screen. Street facing punched double hung windows are complimented by expansive glass-enclosed living/dining spaces facing the courtyard. Top floor dormer windows are beautifully constructed as barrel vaults that punch outward from the room's sloped ceiling provides a source of natural light and character to the building most uniquely rooms. Materials for the new addition are as timeless as the brick walls they abut; including, flatlock zinc cladding, copper roofing and concrete "Taktl" panels; all matching the durability and quality of the 1820 original.  © Aaron Thompson Interior interventions reveal the overarching design intent – to expose history but leave a real dialogue between present and past. Brick walls, Roof timbers, raw and unadorned, are exposed and featured on the interior are clear indicators within the units of the site's history. New elements include exposed steel columns, natural aluminum fronted kitchens, white oak floors, marble bathrooms and blackened steel elements contribute to the blended project. The former flat schoolyard is transformed into a multileveled inner courtyard comprised of private and communal gardens – all overlooked by the residences. All this comes together in the project's seven unique condominiums, a mix of simplex, duplex and triplex residences, range in size from 2,616 SF to 4,778 SF, each having multiple frontages.  © Aaron Thompson  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Carlo Ratti Associati Places 30-Foot-High Tree Inside Renovated Italian Farmhouse Posted: 04 Oct 2018 04:00 AM PDT  Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled the "Greenary," a renovated farmhouse designed around a 10-meter-high tree in the countryside near Parma, Northern Italy. The scheme marks the first step of CRA's winning 2017 masterplan for the Mutti tomato company, driven by a closer integration between nature and the built environment. The 50-year-old Ficus tree, situated within the main living area, is encircled by stepped areas rising to the treetop, creating six domestic spaces. The house will be coupled with a factory developed in close architectural continuity, due to their physical proximity.  Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati Around the perennial tropical plant, six domestic spaces are dedicated to specific activities: practicing yoga, listening to music, reading, eating together, sharing a drink, and the storage of wine and cured ham. Each space is positioned at a different level of the tree, with three above the entrance, and three below it, adopting the dimensional sequence of Adolf Loos' Raumplan principle.  Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati
 Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati Along with a spiritual association with Buddhism and enlightenment, the Ficus tree is ideal for indoor environments due to its preference for stable temperatures. To further aid the tree's health, CRA has redesigned the old farmhouse with a 10-meter-high south-facing glass wall, maximizing natural light.  Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati The renovation of the Greenary will start in the fall of 2018, with completion in late 2019. News of the scheme comes after CRA won a competition for the National Library Tainan in Taiwan, working in collaboration with Bio-Architecture Formosana. News via: Carlo Ratti Associati Carlo Ratti Team: Carlo Ratti, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Saverio Panata, Andrea Cassi (project manager) Francesco Strocchio (project leader), Alberto Benetti, Anna Morani, Gerolamo Gnecchi Ruscone, Giovanni Trogu  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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