Arch Daily |
- Canteen and Locker Room of Sarmad Iron and Steel Co. / Makanpaydar Consulting Company
- White Cliff House / RDMA
- AD Classics: Prentice Women's Hospital / Bertrand Goldberg
- SkyPlay: North Perth School of Learning / Tom Godden Architects & Matthew Crawford Architects
- Bessborough Residence / Nature Humaine
- AD Classics: Master Plan for Chandigarh / Le Corbusier
- First Stone: Three Documentaries That Explore How Architects Use Portuguese Stone
- House El Cielo / Andrés Burguete
- Color, Form, and Material: Andres Gallardo Spotlights Berlin's Post-War Modernist Charm
- Roy Lichtenstein Temporary Museum / Diogo Aguiar Studio + João Jesus Arquitectos
- Oscar Niemeyer's Unfinished Architecture in Lebanon May Become a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Kengo Kuma Creates Starbucks Store in Taiwan From 29 Shipping Containers
- Spotlight: Le Corbusier
- Habitation GOVI / Crahay & Jamaigne
| Canteen and Locker Room of Sarmad Iron and Steel Co. / Makanpaydar Consulting Company Posted: 06 Oct 2018 07:00 PM PDT  © Hamidreza Bani
 © Hamidreza Bani Text description provided by the architects. Canteen, locker and shower buildings of Sarmad (Abarkooh) Iron and Steel Industries Company, with a total built area of 1,650m2, is located in Abarkooh, in a distance of 150km from Yazd. In the master plan of the company site, these two buildings were located next to the office building, which was designed and built earlier, to make the service complex. Therefore the new buildings were designed based on the existing office building in order to maintain the harmony of colors, forms, and materials in the complex.  © Hamidreza Bani The principles of Iranian architecture and use of the local ornaments and motifs are taken into consideration in the design of this building. In the dining building, the entrance, as an iconic element, is designed like an incomplete cylinder corresponding to the cylindrical form of the office building, located in the opposite side. This form also conveys an inviting sense to the audience. The hierarchy, as a principle of Iranian architecture, is developed from the entrance to the main hall, consisting of 7 stages as follows: 1- Stairs (Porch)  © Hamidreza Bani Considering the function of the building, the entrance shower and locker area are designed in a way that in addition to maintaining the harmony with the adjacent buildings, allows no direct sight to the locker area. Accordingly, a complete cylindrical form and an incomplete one are used inversely in the design. Hierarchy is also observed as a distinguished principle and a core design idea in this building. In the design of the parts facing the main square, connective corridors, with a climatic function, are used as a semi-closed area. Design of these corridors is inspired by the brick ornaments of the Jame Mosque of Yazd. These ornaments are developed in form of dry-stone walls framed by modular brick elements.  © Hamidreza Bani  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2018 04:00 PM PDT  © Nilaiasia
 © Nilaiasia Text description provided by the architects. On a sloppy narrow land measuring 6,5 x 25 meter, 3 programs were built within steps and planter boxes arranged naturally as a hardscape stretched from the lowest to the highest point of the land. They are 2 lofts serves as guest houses and a 2 story house for the property owner at the top. The unfriendly 30 degrees contour created more than 10 meter height differences between facades that emerged from the two roads attached at both ends of the stretch, and it was in fact treated as the site power which brought up into the site planning as the major theme of how the building masses should perform and interact within each other.  © Nilaiasia  Floor Plans  © Nilaiasia By applying terracing strategy, building masses were arranged in a way that each of the roofs can also function as a balcony for the floor above. Every floor has their own private balcony. The owner wished a vacation cottage that suits not only for private use but also serves as a Bed and Breakfast property in a separate two guest units below using the lower road as their entrance. Serving the requested function was then rather complementary whereas creating differentiation among other earlier rental property in the area felt more mandatory considering the unexplored contour by if not all, most of the property. Here, the contour is the main attraction.  © Nilaiasia Built inside a residential complex partially surrounded by densely populated settlements where they stand also on sloppy land with its unique character on circulation between alleys, then it may become interesting if the similar quality of space experience adopted into the site plan thus creates a certain sensation when moving inside from one end to another within the landscape. Typically a property on a narrow plot is built by maximizing claim on its programmatic space against the land. Here, though the land width is only 6,5 meter, site planning is, on the contrary, minimizing it and replaces it with an outdoor circulation which connects the 3 dwellings that are inter-dependent with each other in a form of alleyways along with its outdoor properties.  © Nilaiasia This results in a unique interaction throughout the movement into the cottages. The same interaction that happens inside the alleys of the dense settlement at the surrounding area or at any other typical steep habitation in Bandung. However, this one happens in a small 200 m2 plot. Bringing in the outdoor qualities within the masses has in-fact not only enriches the space experience inside, but it also seems to enlarge the narrow width of the plot which is likely because such potential on the availability of alleyways and landscaping should usually happen on a large plot area.  © Nilaiasia  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AD Classics: Prentice Women's Hospital / Bertrand Goldberg Posted: 06 Oct 2018 03:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Landmark Illinois This article was originally published on September 28, 2013. To read the stories behind other celebrated architecture projects, visit our AD Classics section. Read on for more about this masterwork of humanist brutalism...  © C. William Brubaker via Flickr user UIC Digital Collections Goldberg's approach was to let the interior requirements of the building define the exterior form, which gave rise to the peculiar plinth-and-tower form of his hospitals. The lower floors contained surgical suites, research laboratories, dining facilities and maintenance areas. Because future developments in medical technology may require spaces to be changed dramatically, Goldberg chose the form of a rectilinear plinth, which provides the greatest possible flexibility. On the other hand, since the role of a hospital (accommodating and caring for patients) was unlikely to change, Goldberg felt the building's tower need not be flexible. Here, Goldberg was inspired by anthropologists such as Edward T Hall, who were developing theories of human interaction in different spatial orientations.  Courtesy of Landmark Illinois The 'four leaf clover' plan of this tower splits each floor into four tiny communities, fostering greater social ties between the neighboring occupants. The radial arrangement creates a large number of criss-crossing routes around each floor, meaning there is more chance for incidental social encounters than in a typical hospital with rooms arranged along a corridor. It also places all patients roughly equidistant from the centrally-located nurses' station, allowing for efficient care.  Courtesy of Landmark Illinois With the exterior form determined by this interior layout, and requiring external load bearing walls, most structural solutions of the time would have required columns supporting the structure. However, by taking the radical approach of employing software developed by the aeronautics industry (some 20 years before Frank Gehry made this tactic famous), it was possible to cantilever these structural walls from the central core of the building. This is a structural solution which, according to Goldberg's son Geoffrey Goldberg, is not found anywhere else in the world.  © Flickr user the justified sinner With its focus on human relationships and building community, its striking concrete form, and its use of the most modern structural solution available at the time, the Prentice Women's Hospital (as well as Bertrand Goldberg's work as a whole) brings together a number of streams of architecture from the early 70s, touching on Brutalism, the humanism of architects such as Aldo Van Eyck, and the Metabolist movement dominated by Japanese architects such as Kenzo Tange and Fumihiko Maki.  © Flickr user seanbirm Sadly, the importance of this building and its singular combination of architectural influences was not enough to guarantee its place in the ever-changing streets of Chicago. Despite efforts of dozens of architects, and even a last-ditch proposal from Jeanne Gang and The New York Times' Michael Kimmelman, the owners, Northwestern University, demolished the building in the summer of 2013, claiming the building could not meet the needs for a cutting-edge biomedical research facility they have planned for the site.
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| SkyPlay: North Perth School of Learning / Tom Godden Architects & Matthew Crawford Architects Posted: 06 Oct 2018 01:00 PM PDT  © Peter Bennetts
 © Peter Bennetts Text description provided by the architects. The demand for childcare centres in inner-city areas continues to rise and facilities that ignore design, now do so at their own peril.  © Peter Bennetts Western Australia's Schools of Early Learning is acutely aware of the need to differentiate themselves from other childcare centres in the area. The family-owned operator has recently completed their new 114 child, high-rise Skyplay North Perth School of Early Learning – one of the few of its kind in the country. Tom Godden Architects and Matthew Crawford Architects wanted to design a sophisticated building for children, unlike others they'd so frequently come across.  © Peter Bennetts Typical bright painted walls are replaced with natural materials that are hardwearing yet beautiful. Off-form concrete and plywood panels act as a backdrop for the vibrancy that fills the space – laughing children, colourful toys and playful furniture. A connection to nature is prominent in the design with several trees sensitively incorporated into the building.  © Peter Bennetts The architects' Skyplay concept is just that – a place where children have the best of both worlds. The opportunity to play in the 'sky' as well as on ground level.  Section AA Indoor spaces are directly adjacent to outdoor play areas, reducing travel for children and enabling staff to supervise all children seamlessly. Permanently-undercover outdoor areas allow children to play comfortably all year round.  © Peter Bennetts A double-height 'studio' sits at the heart of the building and acts as a home for whole-of-centre performances and gatherings.  © Peter Bennetts The use of large glass windows internally encourages children to interact with, and learn from, other age groups on different levels.  Ground Floor plan The compact suburban site demanded a different design approach to other childcare centres. Where other facilities retrofit existing homes, the Skyplay North Perth School of Early Learning is a bespoke building designed solely for its purpose.  © Peter Bennetts Externally, the building design is a deceptively simple three-storey form that sits alongside an existing 1907 heritage-listed Police Station. Tom Godden Architects and Matthew Crawford Architects carefully created a contemporary design respectful of the historic station.  © Peter Bennetts The Skyplay North Perth School of Early Learning is the fifth centre opened by the operator. The project is a key component of the Schools of Early Learning's continued development of children following the progressive philosophies of the Municipal Schools of Reggio Emilia, Rudolf Steiner, Maria Montessori and the International Baccalaureate.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bessborough Residence / Nature Humaine Posted: 06 Oct 2018 11:00 AM PDT  © Adrien Williams
 © Adrien Williams Text description provided by the architects. The Bessborough residence is located in the district of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal. The project consists of the complete renovation of the ground floor of a duplex dating back from the 1950s. The challenge was to open this 900-ft2 space by maximizing living spaces while keeping a certain sense of spatial division. The architectural concept is build around three "blocks". These volumes articulate the space while playing on the notion of wall.  © Adrien Williams  Plan  © Adrien Williams In the center, the black volume defines the circulation and acts as a filter between the various functions. This volume, introducing a new staircase, play on its transparency by using a rhythm between full and empty using variations of glass, steel rods and Mdf panels. The wooden volume brings a warm aspect in the whole space. It contains on one hand, a library and of the other one, a walk-in adjacent to the master bedroom. The grey volume, simple and sleek, allows hiding diverse functions of service as well as the bathroom.  © Adrien Williams Reinforcing the degree of abstraction of the project, the choice of minimalist furniture and lamps echoes the palette of textures composed of concrete, wood and steel.  © Adrien Williams  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AD Classics: Master Plan for Chandigarh / Le Corbusier Posted: 06 Oct 2018 09:30 AM PDT .jpg?1487999073 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu On August 15, 1947, on the eve of India's independence from the United Kingdom, came a directive which would transform the subcontinent for the next six decades. In order to safeguard the country's Muslim population from the Hindu majority, the departing colonial leaders set aside the northwestern and eastern portions of the territory for their use. Many of the approximately 100 million Muslims living scattered throughout India were given little more than 73 days to relocate to these territories, the modern-day nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh. As the borders for the new countries were drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe (an Englishman whose ignorance of Indian history and culture was perceived, by the colonial government, as an assurance of his impartiality), the state of Punjab was bisected between India and Pakistan, the latter of which retained ownership of the state capital of Lahore.[1] It was in the wake of this loss that Punjab would found a new state capital: one which would not only serve the logistical requirements of the state, but make an unequivocal statement to the entire world that a new India—modernized, prosperous, and independent—had arrived.  Although Le Corbusier's original plan still survives at the heart of Chandigarh, the city's current population—three times its planned occupancy—means the city has expanded beyond its planned boundaries. ImageCourtesy of Mapin Bereft of Lahore, the Punjabi government elected to build a new capital city in a plain situated along an existing railroad track 270 kilometers (167.8 miles) north of New Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was determined that this new city should project an image of modernity and progress, a mandate which was put to the American architect Albert Mayer and his collaborator Matthew Nowicki. Over the next year, the pair began to develop a plan based on the Garden City model but, when Nowicki died unexpectedly in an accident in August 1950, Mayer withdrew from the project.[2] .jpg?1487999390 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu With the initial design team gone, the directors of the Chandigarh Capital Project journeyed to Europe to search for a replacement. They were referred to the French architect Le Corbusier who agreed on the grounds that his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, be hired as the site architect. Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, the English couple and architectural team who had suggested Le Corbusier for the project, also agreed to work on the housing for the project; Le Corbusier would be in charge of further developing and detailing the preliminary plan already laid out by Mayer and Nowicki.[3] .jpg?1487999219 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Rather than simply fill in the gaps of the incomplete master plan, Le Corbusier embarked on a decisive mission to tailor it to his own design rationale. The curvature of Mayer's fan-shaped concept, with roads conforming to the terrain of the site, was reworked into a grid with curves so shallow as to nearly be orthogonal. The new roads were assigned a hierarchy, ranging from "V1" arterials that connected cities to "V7" pedestrian paths and "V8" bicycle paths.The grid of roadways bounded large Sectors (originally referred to as "Urban Villages" in the Mayer scheme), each of which featured a strip of greenspace along the north-south axis crossed with a commercial road running from east to west. The new layout compressed Mayer's 6,908 acres down to 5,380 acres, increasing the density of the city by 20% while still essentially respecting the principles of the Garden City Movement.[4]  Although Le Corbusier's original plan still survives at the heart of Chandigarh, the city's current population—three times its planned occupancy—means the city has expanded beyond its planned boundaries. ImageCourtesy of Mapin The inspiration for Le Corbusier's master plan has been credited to a number of sources. Its emphasis on ample green space between its roads and buildings drew not only from the Garden City principles requested by the local government but from the architect's own concept of the Ville Radieuse – albeit with the towering glass skyscrapers replaced by sculptures reflecting Chandigarh's governmental purpose. Rather than razing one of the cities in his native Europe to craft his perfectly ordered urban paradise, Le Corbusier had the opportunity to utilize those same principles on the untouched Punjabi countryside.[5] .jpg?1487999153 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu .jpg?1487999397 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Curiously, Chandigarh's system of grand boulevards with key focal points appears to have been derived from that of Paris, the metropolis which so disgusted Le Corbusier that he wished to demolish it in favor of his preferred urban scheme (itself Haussmanian in its vision). It is also likely that inspiration for these qualities came from the earlier plan for New Delhi, a more local example of comprehensive city planning aimed at the glorification of the state. The overall rectilinear format of Chandigarh has also been compared to the squared layout of medieval Beijing; the new city was therefore based on at least three auspicious national capitals.[6]  Although the rest of the project team accepted it as an inevitability, Le Corbusier was never pleased with the categorization of housing into income levels and, in his disgust, withdrew from much of the project. ImageCourtesy of Mapin While the Master Plan took form as Le Corbusier envisioned, he was never pleased with the housing that rose alongside his cherished grid. From the moment he took on the project, the architect intended to apply his Unité d'Habitation concept to Chandigarh, inserting residential highrises for the city's government employees into the otherwise low-lying city; despite his efforts, however, the local government demurred, and the design of the residential units became the sole responsibility of Jeanneret, Fry, and Drew.[7]  Drawings for the lowest level of housing, Type 13D. ImageCourtesy of Mapin  Drawings for Type 5J Housing, intended for mid-level civil servants. ImageCourtesy of Mapin These residences fell into thirteen categories based on the rank and incomes of the government officials who would inhabit them. Each category was assigned both a number denoting its rank in this financial scheme and a letter indicating its designer; however, all were unified in their modern, geometric simplicity. The primary visual interest in the otherwise monolithically rectangular buildings came from the deep overhangs and recesses employed for the purpose of shading, along with perforated screens and, in some cases, verandahs.[8] .jpg?1487999481 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Disappointed and insulted that his vision for a collection of towers in parks had been overruled, Le Corbusier effectively washed his hands of the city – an attitude reflected in the way he developed the Capitol complex. His original concepts designated the complex as the head of the Master Plan, with drawings from late 1951 depicting the Secretariat on a clear line of sight with the rest of the city and framed by the Himalayas in the background. After what he considered the "betrayal" of his team, however, Le Corbusier altered his plans significantly, placing artificial hills between the Capitol complex and the rest of Chandigarh, breaking the line of sight between the two. This was not accidental: not only did Corbusier draw a series of sections to verify that pedestrians could not see one from the other, he ordered workmen to remove a path over the top of the hills on the grounds that "The city must never be seen."[9] .jpg?1487999084 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu Now isolated from its urban context, the Capitol complex took on a distinct aesthetic and spatial vocabulary. The Governor's Palace was to be placed at its head, with the High Court and Palace of the Assembly opposite each other nearby and the Secretariat off to the side, subordinated by virtue of its unceremonious location. For the forms of the buildings themselves, Le Corbusier applied a combination of traditional Classical features and Indian design innovations, all simplified and realized in concrete.[10] .jpg?1487999316 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu The Palace of the Assembly took the form of a large box into which the distinct forms of the Senate and Assembly chambers appeared to have been inserted. Its main façade, which faced the High Court building, featured a portico with an upturned curve, through which one entered a cavernous, shadowy interior with a grid of slender columns rising to the darkened ceiling. Across the central plaza stood the High Court, an open-sided box which was also topped by a portico composed of inverted curves. Here, however, the axis of the curvature was perpendicular to the main façade, the sunlight shining between the arches and the roof of the habitable space of the building. The windows lining the front of the Court stood behind a grille of brises-soleil, while a gaping opening to one end of the structure, punctuated by three brightly-colored columns, marked the primary entrance.[11]  A section through the Court House, or Palace of Justice, shows the aerofoil form of the roof, which curved down in a series of shallow arches to meet the box that formed the enclosed spaces of the building. ImageCourtesy of Mapin The Governor's Palace, the intended centerpiece of the Capitol complex, was ultimately deemed "undemocratic" by Nehru and removed from the scope of the project. In its place stands a lone sculpture of an enormous hand seemingly melded with a dove. The sculpture, almost PIcasso-esque in its stylization, was so important to Le Corbusier that he repeatedly urged Nehru to approve its construction despite the latter's admonition that India could not afford the expense. Of its symbolism, he stated: "It was not a political emblem…[but] an architect's creation… Open to receive the wealth that the world has created, to distribute to the peoples of the world… It ought to be the symbol of our age."[12,13] .jpg?1487999258 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu") © Laurian Ghinitoiu From the moment it was built, Chandigarh enjoyed a position of prominence in both the Indian and global architectural fields. The spirit of exuberant hope that arose in the early days of Indian independence survives in many of its citizens, even if the fabric of the city has been changed by time. Far beyond its intended population of 500,000, Chandigarh and the surrounding area is now home to three times that number – a population boom which has necessitated a series of controversial suburban developments over the years. Despite the inevitable growth of the city beyond its original rectangular borders, Chandigarh continues to hold the admiration and affection of locals and the international architectural community; long after both his and Le Corbusier's deaths, the Punjabi capital continues to serve as, in Nehru's words, "an expression of the nation's faith in the future."[14] References
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| First Stone: Three Documentaries That Explore How Architects Use Portuguese Stone Posted: 06 Oct 2018 06:30 AM PDT  via experimentadesign The mastery of stone is one of the most impressive features of Portuguese architecture. From the precise cut in fittings to beautiful floor designs, Portuguese architecture carries in its womb an almost born talent to manipulate one of -- if not the oldest material used in the history of construction. In celebration of this material, experimentadesign, a research project focused on design and architecture founded in Lisbon, developed Primeira Pedra, or First Stone. This multimedia platform explores the characteristics and qualities of Portuguese stone. Presented as an online platform, the program began in 2016 and has produced eight exhibitions in New York, São Paulo, and Venice. As well as three documentaries that examine Portuguese stone from different perspectives: Resistance, Still Motion, and Common Sense. In partnership with the Portuguese network RTP, the documentaries brought together the work of 23 leading architectural, graphic, and product design professionals. Resistance brought together ten architecture ateliers and was presented during the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein during Art Basel 2017. The architects and offices featured were Álvaro Siza, Amanda Levete, Bijoy Jain, Eduardo Souto de Moura, ELEMENTAL, João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Mia Hägg, Paulo David, Studio mk27, and Vladimir Djurovic. Still Motion included six graphic design studios at Milan's Triennale exhibition during MIART and the Salone del Mobile di Milano in 2017. Ian Anderson, Jonathan Barnbrook, Jorge Silva, Pedro Falcão, Peter Saville, and Sagmeister, and Walsh participated in the documentary. Common Sense presented the work of eight product design studios at two exhibitions in São Paulo: one at Lina Bo Bardi's Glass House and another at MADE at the São Paulo Biennial Pavilion in 2017. The film highlighted the work of Claudia Moreira Salles, Studio Campana, Fernando Brízio, Jasper Morrison, Michael Anastassiades, Miguel Vieira Baptista, and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. If located in Portugal, you can watch the films on RTP on Saturday, October 6th, 13th, and 20th at 8:20 am (Lisbon time).*  via experimentadesign *Availability of online transmission may vary by location. News via experimentadesign  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| House El Cielo / Andrés Burguete Posted: 06 Oct 2018 06:00 AM PDT  © César Bejar
 © César Bejar Text description provided by the architects. The House El Cielo takes shape and life through three different volumes. Like a carved rock or a cut valley in which the earth’s layers became unveiled, the three boxes that make up the house are sculptured to discover the inner space and its adequacy. Light cuts across the three layers, creating an ethereal sensation in time and space.
Three volumes are sculptured to obtain an intimate and introvert space, it lets itself be read from the outside, but it can only be understood from the inside. Its solid and heavy form it’s like a carved sculpture, while the perfectly modulated partition creates reliefs and vacuums thanks to the strategically placed windows.  © César Bejar The materiality of the House ages gracefully, expressing its true nature, which brings out a timeless character to the space. The castles are hidden in the partition but the partition isn’t hidden at all making the space warm and cozy.  Section 02 The only walls are structural so, by not having a single wall without a constructive function, the continuity prevails in both levels with a clean and honest system.  © César Bejar The three boxes have different dimensions but same proportions, and each one contributes at generating experiences throughout the space. The most important box, the central one, fragments the program. This box is the only one pierced through from top to bottom creating an empty space that, depending on the eye of the beholder, it can be a patio from the exterior or a portico from the inside of the House.  © César Bejar The House El Cielo is oriented to the South in order to let the tree’s shadows be projected to the inside through the boxes’ perforations, making them part of the material palette.  © César Bejar The program unfolds from the center to the sides. The common area in the ground floor is in the central zone, while the complementary areas are located to the sides. On the top floor each volume has a private bedroom. The transition from one space to the other is through the separation of the boxes tensed one within the next, which act like peepholes and pauses.  Section 01 The connection between upstairs bedrooms is through a hallway that leads to the patio with a low window and that controls the privacy of the adjoining areas.  © César Bejar The complexity of the land is in its corner location and in the constraints of having three faces. In consequence we have a vegetable cushion in the front, a slope that restricts the sight of those who habit and those passing by.  © César Bejar  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Color, Form, and Material: Andres Gallardo Spotlights Berlin's Post-War Modernist Charm Posted: 06 Oct 2018 05:00 AM PDT  © Andres Gallardo In the next chapter of his ongoing Urban Geometry project, self-taught Spanish photographer Andres Gallardo captures the elements of color, form, and materiality of post-war architecture in Berlin. This photo series, with installments featuring the modern marvels of Beijing, Seoul, Copenhagen, and Tallinn, among other cities, has become representative of Gallardo's personal growth from his humble start in his career as a professional photographer.  © Andres Gallardo This collection gracefully accentuates the striated surfaces from the superimposed banal grid, an architectural trope of sorts, as well as the dialectical relationship between the rounded edge and the sharp corner. Featuring the classic iconic buildings of Le Corbusier and Daniel Libeskind, such as the Unité d'Habitation and the Jewish Museum respectively, the photographs encapsulate the facets of such a historically relevant city.  © Andres Gallardo  © Andres Gallardo  © Andres Gallardo  © Andres Gallardo News via Andres Gallardo  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Roy Lichtenstein Temporary Museum / Diogo Aguiar Studio + João Jesus Arquitectos Posted: 06 Oct 2018 02:00 AM PDT  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
 © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Text description provided by the architects. As part of an initiative that seeks to bring art closer to people, Diogo Aguiar Studio and João Jesus Arquitectos have come up with a Temporary Museum to receive works by American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) within a commercial space in Lisbon.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  Plan © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Taking advantage of the opportunity to create a less conventional exhibition space, away from the logic of the white and abstract cube, the architects sought to explore a greater relationship between container and content, believing that it could contribute to greater public involvement and a better understanding of the exposed works.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Three planes define the exhibition space, which is accessible from three points, in a fluid continuity. The artworks are exposed in curved walls of corrugated and perforated black metal sheet, which assume as transparent as a longer distance, but that can define space and reveal some opacity at a shorter proximity.  Axonometric If, on the one hand, the perforation on the metal sheet refers to the artist's image (and even some of his creations within sculpture), on the other hand, it’s dark tonality places the artistic works in greater evidence, by the strong chromatic contrast. Taking as a reference the colors used by the artist in his artworks, the linoleum floor, and the articulated luminaires assume the lemon-yellow color, contributing to give a Pop aesthetic to the temporary exhibition space.  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Oscar Niemeyer's Unfinished Architecture in Lebanon May Become a UNESCO World Heritage Site Posted: 06 Oct 2018 01:00 AM PDT  Tripoli International Fair. Image © Anthony Saroufim The unfinished Tripoli International Fair, designed by Oscar Niemeyer for the Lebanese capital, could become a UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Conceived in the 1960s at the request of the then President Fouad Chéhab, the fair remained a symbol of projected modernity for the country. The goal, however, was never achieved. The project, which began in the early 1960s, was scheduled for completion in 1966 or, in the worst case, 1967, but a succession of setbacks led to an unfinished design. Technical problems, incoherent budgets, construction delays and corruption in the construction sector led up to the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, resulting in the death of the project - which at the time was almost complete.  Open Theater. Image © Anthony Saroufim The signature design of the concrete structure makes its author easy to deduce. The garden, where the fair is located, is by another master of Brazilian modernism, landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. On the 10,000-hectare garden, other buildings make up Tripoli's complex: an outdoor theater, a concert hall, a heliport and lodgings.  Tripoli International Fair. Image © Anthony Saroufim Before the Civil War, the project was meant to symbolize cultural and social advancement, however, later served as a military base. With the end of the war and the withdrawal of the army, the complex became a large residual space - abandoned to the threat of depredation and illegal occupation.  Concert Hall. Image © Anthony Saroufim The Fair was included on the list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World by the World Monument Fund (WMF) foundation. Shortly after, it returned to the discussion with the recent opening of the exhibition "Cycles of Progress in Collapse," co-organized by the Beirut Art Museum and of Studiocur / art, sponsored by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, UNESCO, and the Mikati Foundation of Tripoli.  © Anthony Saroufim  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Kengo Kuma Creates Starbucks Store in Taiwan From 29 Shipping Containers Posted: 05 Oct 2018 11:00 PM PDT  Courtesy of Starbucks Hot on the heels of its lavish breakthrough Milan store, Starbucks has opened yet another striking and innovatively-designed coffee house. However, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma's design associates an entirely different mood with the company's coffee beverages. Starbucks Taiwan the company's first location in the Asia Pacific, consists of 29 white shipping containers, shifted and stacked in a grid-like formation. Within the containers' 3,444 sqft (320 sqm) of space are a variety of intimate and comfortable spaces. A drive-thru is also incorporated into the design to maximize the store's convenience to its customers.  Courtesy of Starbucks Kengo Kuma's vision follows a current trend in Starbucks' store designs as the company has opened over 40 coffee locations in structures that utilize a shipping container as a fundamental building block.  Courtesy of Starbucks At a glance, the container structure looks impenetrable, but Kuma's design utilizes a series of skylights and single pane windows to allow natural light into the structure, transforming the density and darkness of a shipping container into a pleasant habitable space to enjoy a Starbucks beverage.  Courtesy of Starbucks The distinct placement of the containers for the Kuma design was inspired by the Chinese bucket arch and the leaves and branches of a coffee tree. The bucket arch represents a highly organized architecture structure of stacked beams, while the coffee tree represents the natural order of organic foliage. Kuma also designed Japan's Fukuoka Starbucks store and the highly anticipated Starbucks Reserve Roastery opening soon in Tokyo.  Courtesy of Starbucks Utilizing shipping containers has become a common architectural trend, typically used as a statement to highlight the importance of reducing and reusing industrial waste and materials. This project is no different. As part of Starbucks' renewed commitment to sustainable building, the storage container designs can occupy sites that may not be able to accommodate a traditional building due to the terrain or spatial limitations. Weigh up the pros and cons of shipping container architecture from our previous coverage of the typology here. News via: Starbucks  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 05 Oct 2018 10:30 PM PDT  Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp. Image © <a href='www.flickr.com/photos/9160678@N06/2089042156'>Flickr user scarletgreen</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/'>CC BY 2.0</a> Born in the small Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris—better known by his pseudonym Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965)—is widely regarded as the most important architect of the 20th century. As a gifted architect, provocative writer, divisive urban planner, talented painter, and unparalleled polemicist, Le Corbusier was able to influence some of the world's most powerful figures, leaving an indelible mark on architecture that can be seen in almost any city worldwide.  © Willy Rizzo After studying architecture in his hometown the young Jeanneret rejected the provincial atmosphere of Chaux-de-Fonds, traveling to Italy then on to Budapest and Vienna. He finally came to Paris, where he spent time working for August Perret, then learned German in order to work in the Berlin office of Peter Behrens, the proto-modernist who is often cited as the first ever industrial designer thanks to his work for AEG.  Weissenhof-Siedlung Houses 14 and 15 / Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Image © Hassan Bagheri / hbarchitectural.com After a further period of travel around the Balkans and Greece, Jeanneret returned to Chaux-de-Fonds to teach and remained there throughout the First World War. In 1914–15 he developed his first major theoretical work, the Dom-Ino house: a reinforced concrete frame which he posited as a mass production system for free-plan housing.  Villa Savoye. Image © Flavio Bragaia After the war, Jeanneret returned to Paris, where he began an architectural practice with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, with whom he would continue to collaborate for most of his career. He also met Amédée Ozenfant, a French cubist painter with whom he developed the manifesto of "Purism," and the pair went on to publish the journal L'Esprit Nouveau from 1920. It was in L'Esprit Nouveau that Jeanneret first adopted the pseudonym of Le Corbusier, following the fashion among Parisian artists of the time. It was also in L'Esprit Nouveau that Le Corbusier first developed his famous "five points of architecture," which can be briefly summarized as follows:
 Swiss Pavilion. Image © Samuel Ludwig In 1923, Le Corbusier published his seminal book Vers une architecture, commonly translated into English as "Towards a New Architecture." In this book he elucidated his vision for architecture inspired by the emerging modern era, applying the principles of cars, planes, and ships to buildings. It was here that he proclaimed the house as a "machine for living in," summarizing his early approach to design and defining the fundamental attitude of Modernist architecture.  Villa Savoye. Image © Flavio Bragaia Of the many structures completed by Le Corbusier in his early period, none is more successful in demonstrating his five points of architecture than the Villa Savoye, completed in 1931. Raising the main living spaces off the ground, the lowest floor features a swooping curve designed to accommodate the turning circle of a car, while the roof can be accessed by a ramp. However, while the Villa Savoye marks the high point of Le Corbusier's early ideals, it also marked the end of that period of his work. In his book Modern Architecture: A Critical History, Kenneth Frampton separates Le Corbusier's body of work into two chapters, leading up to 1930 and from 1930-1960. Frampton argues that in the Weekend House completed in the suburbs of Paris in 1935, "the vernacular was being consciously embraced for its material articulation, for its capacity to enrich the abstract and reductive nature of the purist style... From now on the juxtaposition of contrasting materials became an essential aspect of Le Corbusier's style, not only as an expressive 'pallette' but also as a means of building." [1]  Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/roryrory/2501817294'>Flickr user roryrory</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a> During the 1930s and the Second World War, Le Corbusier completed fewer buildings than in his fertile early years, but the end of the war saw an explosion in commissions. By now, however, he was working in a very different style to the smooth, machine-like modernism of the 1920s, favoring exposed concrete and monumental scale. Widely adopted and adapted by Le Corbusier's many followers, the style came to be known as "Brutalism," so named for the French Béton Brut meaning raw concrete.  Convent of La Tourette. Image © Samuel Ludwig It was during this period of around 15 years that Le Corbusier completed many of his most admired works, including the Unité d'habition in Marseille (as well as similar designs in Nantes-Rezé, Berlin, Briey and Firminy), the chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, the convent of La Tourette and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, his only building in the United States.  Unité d'Habitation in Marseille. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/wojtekgurak/4100368638'>Flickr user wojtekgurak</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/'>CC BY-NC 2.0</a> Throughout his career, alongside his architectural work Le Corbusier was a fierce and radical campaigner for new visions of modernist urban planning. Like his early architectural work, Le Corbusier's urban designs were focused on purely functional design and gave great primacy to the automobile. His first plan, the "Ville Contemporaine" was designed in 1922, and in 1925 he designed the "Plan Voisin," which proposed to destroy a large area of central Paris to be replaced with a grid of modernist towers, set in a park and connected by a network of raised highways. Ten years later, Le Corbusier expanded this design into the hypothetical "Ville Radieuse," and these proposals would go on to influence the design of his "Unités" as self-contained villages for entire communities.  Convent of La Tourette. Image © Samuel Ludwig Le Corbusier's urban planning forms the basis for much of the criticism of his work and his life. Using his power as a key member of the Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM), Le Corbusier presented his principles for the functional city in his Athens Charter, so named after the group's destination for their fourth meeting in 1933. The Athens Charter became a foundational document for modern city planning, and in Le Corbusier's name cities all over the world were modernized—replacing traditional, organic and often impoverished neighborhoods with high-rise modernist social housing blocks, to varying degrees of success. Le Corbusier has also been widely criticized for the political connections he kept in his attempts to realize his plans, working alongside the Vichy government of France and accepting an invitation to lecture in Rome from Benito Mussolini. .jpg?1507259366 "Chandigarh. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu") Chandigarh. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu In the 1950s, Le Corbusier was finally able to realize a synthesis of his architectural and urban planning visions when he was invited to complete the design of Chandigarh, the new capital of the state of Punjab in India. Le Corbusier designed a functional city layout, and for the city's Capitol he designed three buildings himself: the Secretariat Building, the Palace of the Assembly, and the High Court.  Palace of the Assembly at Chandigarh. Image © <a href='https://www.flickr.com/photos/70608042@N00/1321525329'>Flickr user chiara_facchetti</a> licensed under <a href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/'>CC BY-SA 2.0</a> Le Corbusier's influence on contemporary architecture is immeasurable. He helped form the basis of almost all modernist architecture and urban planning, with almost all contemporary theory essentially acting as a continuation of, or a rejection of, his ideals. Beyond that, he established the very way in which architecture is now practiced: writer Hal Foster refers to Le Corbusier as an "architect-polemicist" who helped lay the groundwork for current figures such as Rem Koolhaas to emerge. [2] As a result Alan Plattus, in his introduction to Deborah Gans' book The Le Corbusier Guide proclaims:
Find out more about Le Corbusier's works via the thumbnails below, and more about his influence on architecture via the links below those: 50 Things You Didn't Know About Le Corbusier CIAM 4 and the "Unanimous" Origins of Modernist Urban Planning VIDEO: Villa Savoye, The Five Points of a New Architecture Infographic: The Life of Le Corbusier by Vincent Mahé 99 Dom-Ino: How Le Corbusier Redefined Domestic Italian Architecture North America's Radiant City: Le Corbusier's Impact on New York When Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier Had a Public Argument in The New York Times Light Matters: Le Corbusier and the Trinity of Light Drawing on the Road: The Story of a Young Le Corbusier's Travels Through Europe 7 Documentaries to Deepen Your Understanding of Le Corbusier Material Masters: Le Corbusier's Love for Concrete Rare Footage of Le Corbusier Discussing his Work, Poetry & the "Ideal City" See Le Corbusier's Convent de la Tourette Come to Life in this New Video Explore Le Corbusier's Only South American Project, the Casa Curutchet, With a Virtual Walkthrough References
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| Habitation GOVI / Crahay & Jamaigne Posted: 05 Oct 2018 10:00 PM PDT  © Laurent Brandajs
 © Laurent Brandajs Text description provided by the architects. The project is divided into two parts, the fisrt one, massive, anchored to the site and materialized by a cubic white volume, and a second one covered of wood, with a lighter visual, is placed on the side of the site to form a long fence as visual protection on the road side. The living spaces are on the valley side, situated slightly higher than the natural ground, completely open on the valley. The tree protect it of overheating in the summer. A long covered "balcony terrace" follow the living spaces by projecting the space towards the view.  © Laurent Brandajs  Ground floor plan  © Laurent Brandajs All the necessary functions for the life of a couple are found on the ground floor. A guest room and its sanitary space complete the program of this level. A pottery workshop is accessible from the entrance hall and overlooks the whole, like an watchtower, to enjoys a totally unobstructed view.  © Laurent Brandajs  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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