petak, 16. studenoga 2018.

Arch Daily

Arch Daily


Treasuring History: Photographs of Tadao Ando's First European Villa Restoration

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 08:00 PM PST

Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA

Inducing a surreal physical experience through minimal maneuvers, buildings with smooth concrete panels and simple geometric volumes instinctively hint at the work of Japanese architect Tadao Ando. At an ongoing exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, photographs of the headquarters of Fabrica, Ando's first European commission in 1992, are showcased. Located near the city of Treviso, the building was an old villa restored to become a thriving creative research center.

Villa Pastega Manera, built on an area of 51,000 square meters, went through a rigorous study of traditional construction techniques and material sampling to commence the redesign. The photographs feature the harmonious integration between the historical structure and seamless renovations. 

Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA

Surrounding an elliptical porticoed square, the various programs such as the laboratories, offices, and the helicoidal library can be accessed by a broad staircase. Originally porticoed extensions of the Veneto villa, the "barchessa" wings of the building are repurposed as laboratories and an auditorium while utilizing the same materials and existing Palladian-style construction techniques. A line of monolithic twelve-meter high columns stands opposite the structure, emphasizing the trope of the traditional villa.

Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA
Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA

To preserve the dichotomy between the memory of the seventeenth-century villa and the necessity of the contemporary laboratories and offices, Ando planned most of the new installation ten meters below the natural ground level. A visual dance, the rectilinear building intersects with the ellipse's curve and creates paths for the series of free-standing columns leading to the barchessa. These views are accentuated through the sunken piazza with its floor-to-ceiling windows that are also illuminated from above. 

Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA
Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA

People involved in building should have a vision of the overall plan, not just of their individual job, if the best results are to be achieved. When I saw the people working on the Fabrica construction site I was highly stimulated; their passion for "building" in the broadest sense of the word, particularly impressed me. When I talked to them I realized that they had understood my, and the client's, vision and that they could visualize both the overall project and the role of each individual. They are proud of what they build, therefore they put passion into their work.
-Tadao Ando

Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA
Courtesy of FABRICA Courtesy of FABRICA

By respecting the character of the existing structure, Ando highlights the delicate malleability of history. The new additions do not have to be contrasting nor identical, but rather respond to the prior history in a unique manner and accentuate the beauty of the landscape. 

News via FABRICA

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MaisonP / PietriArchitectes

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 07:00 PM PST

© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto
  • Architects: PietriArchitectes
  • Location: Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France
  • Lead Architects: PietriArchitectes
  • Area: 296.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2017
  • Photographs: Philippe Biolatto
  • Inspection Engineers: APAVE SUD EUROPE
  • Structural Engineering Consultants: OGC
  • Client: Praximmo
© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto

Text description provided by the architects. Located in a village, MaisonP nestles in a cosy space boasting dense vegetation on a hillside parcel offering a panoramic view over the Alps.

© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto

The simple volumes of the house were designed to marry with the orientation of the land. Changes to the natural slope of the hill are thus kept to a minimum and its wild character preserved.

© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto

The project is composed of two distinct parts: the main house and a drystone outbuilding. The house, with a floor area of 296 sqm, is built on one and the same level but divided into several units. The ground floor comprises three separate same height volumes: the 74 sq m. garage, the entrance/kitchen area and the bedroom/living room area, the latter containing 4 bedrooms including the master bedroom. The outbuilding, with a floor area of 95 sq m, is slightly higher than the house, and lies on the north-west part of the land.

© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto

The project is divided into two, along a plant-lined canal, transparency enhancing its perspective along the full length of the house. The entry proceeds around a pond.

Plan Plan

MaisonP is not a monolith but an architectural composition, structured around empty spaces, in reminiscence of the bioclimatic architecture of Provence.

© Philippe Biolatto © Philippe Biolatto

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Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology / Herzog & de Meuron

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 06:30 PM PST

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan
  • Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
  • Location: Ulitsa Nobelya, 3, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Stefan Marbach (Partner in Charge)
  • Associates, Project Directors: Tomislav Dushanov, Tobias Winkelmann
  • Associate, Project Manager: Olga Bolshanina
  • Project Manager: Ilia Tsachev
  • Client: LLC UDPC Skolkovo, Moscow, Russia
  • Area: 133979.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Iwan Baan
  • Client Representative: Alexey Savchenko
  • Project Team: Alexandria Algard, Florian Becker, Marcelo Bernardi, Mathieu Bujnowskyj, Ignacio Cabezas, Delphine Camus, Sergio Cobos Alvarez, Blazej Piotr Czuba, Inga Federe, Diogo Figueiredo, Argel Padilla Figueroa, Stefan Goeddertz (Associate), Beatriz Pérez Pérez de Iriarte, Volker Jacob, Artem Kitaev, Petr Khraptovich, Osma Lindroos, Frank Loer, Maria Vega Lopez, Udayan Mazumdar, David Goncalves Monteiro, Martina Palocci, Svetlin Peev, Pedro Polónia, Martin Raub, Mònica Ors Romagosa, Elias Sanez, Harald Schmidt, Leonid Slonimskiy, Jan Skuratowski, Alexander Stern, Ida Sze, Raha Talebi, Miruna Tutoveanu, Toru Wada, Liang Wang, Jean-Paul Willemse, Zeng Zhibin,Farhad Ahmad (Visualisations), Massimo Corradi (Digital Technologies), Vasilis Kalisperakis (Visualisations), Christina Liao (Digital Technologies), Áron Lőrincz (Visualisations), Raúl Torres Martín (Visualisations), Bruno de Ameida Martins (Visualisations), Felipe Pecegueiro (Digital Technologies), Kai Strehlke (Digital Technologies)
  • Design Consultant: Herzog & de Meuron
  • Executive Architect: Ove Arup & Partners International
  • General Designer: Ove Arup & Partners International
  • Landscape Design: Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten
© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

Master Plan

Skolkovo is the Russian government initiative for a new urban community at the 3rd ring of Moscow, 17 km west from the Kremlin. Built ex nihilo, the aim of Skolkovo is to create a globally reputed centre for innovative 21st century technology, embracing research and production, with administrative headquarters for both established and emerging companies, schools, institutes, and a new university. The Skoltech University, as a newly founded institution, rises together with the rest of Skolkovo, and aims to be a distinguished educational and research centre for Moscow, Russia and the whole world.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

The original master plan for Skolkovo aims to create urban quality through a vibrant mix of civic activities – living, studying, working, journeying, shopping, relaxing. Unlike the Soviet-era closed satellite towns, Skolkovo forms a distinct epicentre within the radial grid of Moscow, integrated with its infrastructure, included in its cultural life, and visually connected with the State University tower.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

The urban scheme develops around the idea of five individual Districts, like urban islands, inserted in the picturesque landscape. Each of the five Districts has a singular shape, a specific program mix and is designed by a different architect, giving it a specific character and atmosphere.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

Herzog & de Meuron designed the conceptual master plan of District 3 with the University as its centrepiece. Comprised of three circular shapes and phases – the East Ring, the Agora and the West Ring – the emerging Skoltech University is envisioned as a nucleus, a distinctive core of the District, and a founding stone of Skolkovo.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

Program and typology

The University East Ring has a simple form and organization of interlocked circular rings and rectangular blocks, which directly reflect its programmatic content and diversity.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

An outer ring of 280 metres diameter and two smaller inner rings host all the shared academic facilities and public spaces. The curved shapes connect all zones in a single loop. The outer ring accommodates the faculty offices, administration and meeting spaces, while the inner rings house the teaching and learning spaces, with the main auditorium at the central crossing point.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

A rational grid of rectangular and repetitive blocks is laid out in a checkerboard pattern to house laboratories and workshops related to the academic research activities. To optimize daylight the blocks are oriented east-west. The lab blocks are based on a 7 by 7 metre planning and structural grid, and have uniform widths of 21 or 28 metres, with varying lengths. These repetitive orthogonal shapes offer the efficiency and simplicity of rational modular layouts, combined with the flexibility and adaptability generally required for laboratory and workshop spaces. Additional research facilities, loading, logistics, and technical areas are located in the continuous basement floor beneath the entire building. The laboratories and workshops complete the University's academic area, forming a platform for interconnected departments and shared facilities.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

The overlay and interaction between the blocks and rings create an interesting architectural quality. The three rings circumscribe and penetrate the blocks and connect the compound together into a distinctive sculptural form, which shapes the Boulevard at the outside and creates a network of connected courtyards inside. Despite its monolithic appearance, the building is porous at street level and all its courtyards are open and accessible to the public. The largest of the courtyards – the Central Yard – is visible from all the rings and most of the blocks, and is a main destination for formal ceremonies and everyday relaxation. The courtyards have diverse sizes and are connected via similarly varied passages, which either pass under the rings or carve through the corners of the blocks, offering a multitude of paths through the University, and accommodating all public entrances into the building. The uniform planting of the courtyards and around the East Ring, will become an essential element of the experience of Skoltech as it matures, and will integrate the University landscape with the natural forests around Moscow.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

Materiality

The University rings and blocks are clad with fins that control the daylight and unify the facades, giving them overall texture and depth. Finish materials distinguish the rings and blocks on the inside and outside. The rings have natural oak floor and wall systems in the interior, and Siberian larch fins on the exterior, while the blocks have industrial vinyl floor and aluminum wall systems in the labs, and white aluminum fins on the exterior. The building envelope is unified by a continuous concrete bench at the base and by connected sloping roofs at the top which, along with the overall façade, bring together all the elements into one integrated whole and set the University apart from the other buildings in the master plan. The scheme nonetheless remains fully integrated with its surroundings.

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

Skoltech is integrated, permeable and monumental at the same time, by virtue of its low-rise architecture, numerous openings, and views on the interior, the series of publically accessible courtyards, and traditional materials, Herzog & de Meuron 2017

© Iwan Baan © Iwan Baan

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Bayes Centre / Bennetts Associates

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 06:00 PM PST

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter
  • Architects: Bennetts Associates
  • Location: 47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT, United Kingdom
  • Lead Architects: Rab Bennetts, Sally Mackay, Andy Kirk, Alasdair Gordon, Tom Rainey, Joanne Dunwell
  • Area: 9500.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Keith Hunter
  • Structural Engineer: Buro Happold
  • M&E Consultant: Buro Happold
  • Quantity Surveyor: Turner and Townsend
  • Fire Consultant: Atelier Ten
  • Breeam Advisor: RSP
  • Landscape Consultant: Ironside Farrar
  • Acoustic Consultant: New Acoustics
  • Project Manager: Faithful+Gould
  • Cdm Coordinator: Faithful+Gould
  • Main Contractor: McLaughlin & Harvey
  • Client: University of Edinburgh
© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

Text description provided by the architects. The Bayes Centre is a pivotal piece of the University of Edinburgh's estate set to transform Edinburgh city center into one of UK's most dynamic places for tech, attracting the highest caliber of international experts in data science and artificial intelligence. The 9,500sq m building is part of the University's investment into world-class facilities on its Potterrow campus, following the much-lauded Informatics Forum and Dugald Stewart Buildings designed and delivered by the practice's Edinburgh studio in 2008.

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

Bayes brings together 600 expert thinkers from across the spectrum: Ph.D. students, academic researchers and university staff working alongside tech-focused businesses, start-ups and 'spin-out' initiatives. It offers world-class robotics labs, open-plan and flexible working office spaces based on the practice's research into 'synergetic' design, to boost research and collaboration. Alongside this sit more traditional lecture theatres, studios, and workshop facilities. 

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter
Section (Color) Section (Color)
© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

The University's vision for Bayes was to use data science and artificial intelligence to shape a better future. This demanded a very specific brief for intellectual interaction and the cross-fertilization of ideas between employees and researchers who would traditionally operate discreetly from each other. The Bayes Centre links to the existing buildings on the campus through a series of interlocking connections across multiple levels.  The large, central atrium promotes a visual 'transparency' between groups housed in the building. The staircases within the atrium provide access across floors bookended by breakout spaces to encourage serendipitous encounters between businesses and groups.

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter
Third Floor Plan (Color) Third Floor Plan (Color)
© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

Echoing the original city street which ran through the site until the 1960s, Bennetts Associates cut through a series of entrances and pedestrian routes to create a courtyard and retain easy-access public spaces. At ground level, floor-to-ceiling windows encourage public visibility directly into the labs. Here too, facilities and events rooms are available for the public and students of other disciplines while the ground floor café straddles the atrium and the courtyard, affording a centralized point for socialization. Further outdoor green space available to the building's residents via large roof gardens affords stunning views towards Arthur's Seat.

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

"Bayes Centre is the final phase of University of Edinburgh's Potterrow development, which we began in 2003 following an architectural competition. It has been a privilege to observe the development taking its place at the center of University life and playing a pivotal role in the evolution of Edinburgh's highly successful 'tech' sector, something that now extends well beyond the University itself." - Rab Bennetts, Founding Director, Bennetts Associates
"We look forward to bringing together experts from research and industry in this collaborative space, to apply data science and AI to some of society's most interesting challenges and opportunities." – Dr. Michael Rovatsos, Director, Bayes Centre. 

© Keith Hunter © Keith Hunter

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West Kowloon HSR Station Photographed Through the Lens of Kris Provoost

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 05:30 PM PST

West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost

Architect and photographer Kris Provoost recently captured new photos of Aedas and Andrew Bromberg's West Kowloon HSR Station in Hong Kong. Provoost lives and works in Shanghai, and his new series of photographs show how visitors are brought into the heart of Hong Kong as the majestic structure overlooks Victoria Harbor. Integrating abundant green space and different viewing platforms, the project creates an urban park in the midst of Hong Kong's city center.

West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost
West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost

Located in West Kowloon District, the station caters for the first high speed rail connecting Hong Kong with the mainland of China. Sitting adjacent to West Kowloon Cultural District, the HSR is surrounded by interesting neighbors. The nearly complete Xiqu Theatre by Revery Architecture, the under construction M+ museum by Herzog & de Meuron, as well as the Lyric Theatre by UNStudio. Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Commerce Center by KPF, overshadows the station.

West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost
West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost
West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost

From certain angles the station looks large, but from others, the station blends completely into its surrounding. A series of diverging lines creates a network of ramps and stairs leading up the building. Inside, the diverging lines allow for enough daylight to penetrate into the deepest of spaces. Largely dug into the ground, an impressive departure and arrival hall is created by a set of nontraditional columns. Elements of the station fills the gap that was present for too long connecting the busy Canton Road shopping Boulevard with the Elements mall. This station uplifts what Hong Kong is famous for; a hyper efficient interconnected above and below ground space and public transport networks.

West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost
West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost
West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost West Kowloon Station - Hong Kong. Image © Kris Provoost

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Kamyaran House / Rashed Azizi, Mohammad Kazerani + Gozar Architectural Design Studio

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 05:00 PM PST

© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan
  • Structural Engineer: Behrouz Moradi
  • Presentation: Alireza Zamani
  • Cheekh Maker: Nasrin Akhzari Workshop
  • Client: Hoshmat Ghaysvandi
  • Budget: 50.000 $
© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan

Text description provided by the architects. The fundamental challenge of the peoples of small towns with agricultural careers is the dichotomy between urban and rural life.
The Majority of these people have some kind of service job in the city and practice their ancestors' occupations at the same time. They tend to use the possibilities the progress associated with urban life, and at the same time, dream for the nostalgia of living in the countryside. In the "Kamyaran House" project, the bipolarity of life [and, in fact, the wishes of the employer] has been the foundation of the design process.

© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan

By examining the employer's dwelling houses in the village, four basic physical-spatial patterns that were linked to rural life were identified: First, the model of the verandah, whose presence as a middle space, faces the main courtyard of the house, is very important for gathering family members in the warm seasons during the day. Then the pattern of the sanitary lay-out seems important because people in the area insist that the toilet should be outside the residential area and in the corner of the yard.

Diagram Diagram

Even in many modern apartments in the city of Kamyaran, the toilet door opens to the communal corridor between units! On the other hand, the pattern of the yard, which was considered a great space for children's play, ritual ceremonies and ancient celebrations such as Last Wednesday of the year (Charshanbeh-souri) and the night of Nowruz, religious ceremonies such as the singing carols could not be ignored. Finally, regarding the occupation of the employer's father, who was a carpet retailer, the pattern of the closet and the place of recluse for the father, which was a large private room with a colossal cupboard on a corner facing a vast view of the agricultural lands and covered with colorful carpets and rugs, the last loop of the project was completed.

© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan
Plans Plans
© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan

The Bayezprneh River runs along the north-south axis of Kamyaran City. The project area is situated on the broadest part of the river ("Lake of the City") so that its western part is parallel to the river. Based on the location of the land and its small dimensions, we arranged four patterns of rural house levels in the urban housing section.

Section Section

We use second grade cut-broken stones which was more similar to the untreated rocks used for the village houses. And for shaders, we used Cheekh, a native shading. Colored and shaded glasses along with Cheekh show different behaviors with changing seasons and hours.

© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan

Cheekh is originally a kind of native roof-cover woven with goat's hair. It is water proof and has a long-term resistance to direct sunlight. Goat's hair also has interesting properties: it is loose in the warm season and the straws are spaced apart allowing the air to flow inside, and it contracts in the cold season pulling the straws together blocking airflow. It acts as an insulator against falling autumn rains and cold winter weather influences. Also, the presence of cheekh causes the sun's radiation to be controlled.

© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan
Diagram 02 Diagram 02
© Aram Alkanaan © Aram Alkanaan

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Nanchang Shimao Water City Cloud Office Center / Dplus-Studio

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 04:00 PM PST

Cover. Image © Fangfang Tia Cover. Image © Fangfang Tia
  • Architects: Dplus-Studio
  • Location: Honggutan District, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
  • Lead Architects: Shou Li
  • Design Team: Jia Li, Jiangfan Yu, Xuefeng Zhou, Mingming Fan, Dandan Tu, Danyang Geng, Zhichao Zhu
  • Area: 2100.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2017
  • Photographs: Fangfang Tia, Shengliang Su, Jinhang Li
  • Client: Nanchang Shimao new development real estate Co. Ltd.
  • Cooperative Design Team: Shanghai United Design Group Co. Ltd. 
  • Interior Designer: Xiaohong Qi
  • Curtain Wall Design: Australia BG&E Curtain Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai
Night View Bird View. Image © Shengliang Su Night View Bird View. Image © Shengliang Su

[Context of the City]
Honggutan New District is a newborn city area of Nanchang on the west bank of the Ganjiang River. Like all the other China's burgeoning urban new districts, it is focused on building efficiency among a one-time, large-scale construction wave.

Night View Aerial Photography. Image © Fangfang Tia Night View Aerial Photography. Image © Fangfang Tia

The cloud center is located in the geometric center of a newly built office industrial park. The surrounding hardware facilities are fully mature. On the south side is a block of business, on the west side is a youth apartment, and on the east side is a low-rise office. The north side is a landscaped square.

North Elevation. Image © Fangfang Tia North Elevation. Image © Fangfang Tia
North Ramp. Image © Fangfang Tia North Ramp. Image © Fangfang Tia

High-speed urban construction has only completed the functional level of demand. For such an emerging park far from the city center, it takes a long time to develop the community spirit and establish more complete public activities. So we also formed the original intention of our design: let the young people who are new to the park, in addition to work and life, can also "play" here.

North Ramp Entrance. Image © Shengliang Su North Ramp Entrance. Image © Shengliang Su

[Status of the Existing Situation]
When we accepted this design commission, the entire basement of the park had been completed and the column network could not be adjusted.Its function requires a showroom and supporting business on the first floor, a conference room and open office on the second floor. On the basis of seemingly capacity, column nets, and boundaries that have been"qualified", the owner's expectation is to design a facade design with a"value" feel.

Site Relationship Site Relationship
Macro Circulation Macro Circulation

[ Strategy of Concept Design]
We try to break the limitations of the original site column network to the maximum extent, based on the requirements of materialization level such as façade and vision, to stimulatethe flow of people in the office community with a more active attitude, and to realize the new city community in the interaction with the environment. The cultivation of the atmosphere. So we built a climbing path for a pure outdoor surround building thatis completely open to the area.

East-North Perspective. Image © Fangfang Tia East-North Perspective. Image © Fangfang Tia
North Elevation. Image © Shengliang Su North Elevation. Image © Shengliang Su

The starting point of this path faces the green square on the first floor, and through a formal entrance you can climb to the second floor and then to the roof. On the other side of the roof, a ramp is designed to connect directly to the second-floor outdoor commercial line in the South. At the same time, a layer of overhead is set for the effective connection between the Southern District Commercial and the North Plaza, and a path to the basement is opened in the overhead layer.

Circulation Analysis Circulation Analysis

The formation of this path not only entangled the building, but also connected the functional flow lines of the Southern District Commercial and the North Square, the underground garage and the roof garden.Jan Gale divides activities into three categories: essential activities, spontaneous activities, and social activities.

2F Ramp. Image © Shengliang Su 2F Ramp. Image © Shengliang Su
2F Ramp. Image 2F Ramp. Image

The path is not only the channel of behavior, but also the connection between space, the collision container of necessary and non-essential activities in life. Inside and outside the building, and between the cities, the placement of the path will stimulate activities to enhance the vitality of the community, promote interpersonal communication, interaction, communication, and promote dialogue between people and the environment.

Connection between 2F Platform and Roof Ramp. Image © Shengliang Su Connection between 2F Platform and Roof Ramp. Image © Shengliang Su

[Sharing of Roof Space]
The designer's job is to design a path in such a building, but the stories that can occur on this path are edited by the user. Among the roof design, we only recommend two areas for greening and hardening. On the back side of the use, a badminton court was arranged. One side was directly planted with corn and vegetables.

2F Platform. Image © Fangfang Tia 2F Platform. Image © Fangfang Tia

Although it could not be regarded as a landscape design from the perspective of completion, the community spirit reflected by him has already begun to emerge. This climbing trail is relatively independent of the internal streamlines of the building itself, but at the same time the people working indoors can walk out of the office and integrate the shared space of the roof to rest on a fully open platform overlooking the park. The building itself has been defined between very clear functions and externally attached random behavior, as the formation of this path will become more tacit and positive. 

North Roof and Exterior Ramp. Image © Fangfang Tia North Roof and Exterior Ramp. Image © Fangfang Tia

[Order of the Space]
The result of formal operations is the possibility of bringing functional interaction to the interior space. The relatively independent exhibition halls, book bars, and conference rooms, because of the entrance to the basement, make the book bar a large step that can connect the exhibition hall and the conference room, so that the outdoor dynamic relationship is brought into the room.

View to the Exhibition Area From the library. Image © Shengliang Su View to the Exhibition Area From the library. Image © Shengliang Su
Perspective Section Perspective Section
Steps Library. Image © Fangfang Tia Steps Library. Image © Fangfang Tia

A coherent path is not an end, an open platform is not unique, and the exaggeration of design operations is not a slogan of personal tags or even a free imagination of a homogenous community.

North Plaza. Image © Shengliang Su North Plaza. Image © Shengliang Su

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IIM-B New Classroom Complex / Mindspace Architects

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 03:00 PM PST

© PHX India © PHX India
  • Architects: Mindspace Architects
  • Location: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Lead Architects: Ar. Sanjay Mohe, Ar. Chelliah Sudalaimuthu, Er.Uday Kumar
  • Structural Consultants: M/S Krishna Hegde ,Maya
  • Electrical Cunsultants: M/S Akash Enterprises
  • Plumbing Consultants: M/S Maplehydraulics Consultants
  • Civil Contractor: URC
  • Client: Indian Institute Of Management, Bangalore
  • Area: 6500.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2014
  • Photographs: PHX India
© PHX India © PHX India

Text description provided by the architects. IIM-B New Classroom Complex

The classroom block is proposed above an existing building along the main movement axis of the campus. The primary design intent of the classroom block was to strike a chord with the existing campus. The existing columns were strengthened and some new columns were added along the periphery of the proposed building without obstructing the existing building.

© PHX India © PHX India

The program for the new classroom block was 8 classrooms, discussion rooms and its ancillaries. A wide flight of steps perpendicular to the central spine became the main axis of the classroom block with a court yard as the focal point at the end of the axis. The classrooms flank the wide flight of steps. The ground floor is conceived as an extension of common areas of the campus and therefore is kept barrier free. The ground floor columns are cladded with stone to bind it with the existing campus. The upper levels have exposed concrete surfaces. Importance is given to informal interaction area s which is centred around the belief that these break out spaces will spawn many a novel idea amongst the students.

© PHX India © PHX India

Another set of wide steps is proposed at the rear end of the classroom block which is in close proximity to the hostel and dining block. These steps double up as amphitheatre and gathering space to hold small events.

© PHX India © PHX India

The classroom block is made disable friendly by providing ramps and lifts to access all the levels. The classrooms are also disabled friendly by keeping the first row of seats at the same level of corridors. The layout of classrooms and the location of openings are aimed at improving natural air circulation across .The openings are designed with three layered screens which can adapt to all following methods of teaching like lecture, projection, lecture with AC and projection with AC.

1st Floor Plan 1st Floor Plan

On the whole with its unique architecture ,the classroom block connects and communicates with the students in a way which will create a lasting impression in their journey of life.

© PHX India © PHX India

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Garage Hall House / Tsukagoshi Miyashita Sekkei

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 01:00 PM PST

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa
© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

Text description provided by the architects. This house is located in a residential area in Tokyo and designed for a married couple with 2 children and their 2 cars.

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa
Section Section
© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

Though this residential area is located in dense city center, most of the residents have a built-in car garage with a shutter.

Since houses in this area built in a small and narrow plot, the typical house with built-in garage has their living space back of the garage where lighting and ventilation condition is inadequate.

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

This project aimed to redefine the typology, which is repeatedly built in this area, to show possibility to improve living condition.

This house has a hall of 2 stories height on the roadside and 3 stories living space on the backside.

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

The hall has a wide opening, openable top lights, a large highside light and a double sliding window. This hall is mainly used as a garage, but it also improve lighting and ventilation condition of the living space and provides expanse of space to them. What is more, the hall works as a buffer zone between the living space and the street.

Plan Plan

By designing the ceiling with exposed wood beams and the dirt floor with tile-like joint, and by using chandelier-like pendant light in the hall, it is tried to be perceived the hall as a part of the living space.

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

A garage, which is usually considered as a negative element in a small house, is enlarged and designed as a hall to improve the living condition in this project. And it is tried to expand the possibilities of how the residents live in this area.

In fact, the client displayed paintings in the hall and it has also started to work as a gallery.

© Kenta Hasegawa © Kenta Hasegawa

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P 1113-4 / AEA_Atelier Espace Architects

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 12:00 PM PST

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan
  • Architects: AEA_Atelier Espace Architects
  • Location: 11-13 Pyeonggeo-dong, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
  • Lead Architects: Sungyoung YUN, Saesbyeol KIM
  • Area: 640.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Kim Yong Kwan
© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

Text description provided by the architects. The site is located between a 25 m wide road to the north and a 12 m road to the south. In addition, the site is located in the newly built new city.The 25-meter wide road centered on the vehicle is a psychological boundary between the new city and the residential neighborhood of the northern suburbs.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

We tried to superimpose and transform the volumes and connect the two roads of different character. We also wanted to create an "interstice in the city" in a dense street. The five divided volumes move horizontally relative to each other.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan
Section A Section A
© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

The empty space created between the volumes is converted into the "gap" space. On the first floor, the gap is an open passage connecting the north and south roads to the open space reserved for pedestrians.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

The gap between the upper and lower floors in the east and west provides users with external storage space. On the road, a porous space formed by the volume decreases the visual density of the city. The southern and northern interstices embrace nature and provide a space for communication with the outdoors from inside the building. The patio vertically penetrates horizontally offset volumes and plays a central role in the weaving of volumes.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

The patio is located near the road to the south with a high density of pedestrians and becomes an open space where natural elements can be shared with pedestrians. In addition, the wall added to the south has a thickness of space between the outside and inside and is a vertical space different from the patio.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

This wall adequately blocks the eyes of the pedestrian and that of the user on the other side of the building, thus preserving the intimacy of the interior. It relaxes the direct relationship between inner and outer look and creates a gap in the relationship.

© Kim Yong Kwan © Kim Yong Kwan

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Dadad Market / Bangkok Tokyo Architecture + OPH

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 11:00 AM PST

Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH
  • Architects: Bangkok Tokyo Architecture, OPH
  • Location: Nai Mueang, Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
  • Lead Architects: Takahiro Kume, Wtanya Chanvitan, Pilin Hongwittayakorn
  • Area: 342.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2017
  • Structural Engineer: Chaiyaphum Siphueat
  • General Contractor: Nuttapat Construction
Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH

Text description provided by the architects. Situated in front of a local mall in Nakorn Ratchasima, some 250 km northeast of Bangkok and gateway to the Northeastern provinces of Thailand, the market offers a diverse array of goods. The name "Dadad" meaning "various or plentiful " in Northeastern slang best captures the essence of this temporary market, serving as a gathering spot for locals and youngsters alike. 

Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH
Concept Diagram Concept Diagram
Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH

In Thailand's hot climate, after the sun falls and heat fades, the streets come alive with the colorfully lit tents and food stalls of local merchants. The project celebrates this spontaneous phenomenon, creating floating structures of light in the night-time cityscape. 

Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH
Axonometry Axonometry
Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH

While signaling and attracting customers from a distance, the floating light-boxes also showcase the eclectic merchandise and movement underneath it. The structure itself can be easily dismantled and re-assembled. It consists of repetitive pipe members and clamps similar to those of typical scaffolding system. Simple frames in a check-board layout create a microcosm of little plazas and alleyways accessible from many directions.

Courtesy of OPH Courtesy of OPH

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Sydney Street House / Fouché Architects

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 09:00 AM PST

© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy
  • Architects: Fouché Architects
  • Location: Brisbane, Australia
  • Lead Architects: Larissa Fouché, Rayne Fouché
  • Area: 368.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Cieran Murphy
  • Builder: Rod Mahoney
  • Styling: Coco Republic
  • Private Certifier: Bartley Burns
  • Quantity Surveyor: Price A Plan
  • Planner: Urban Strategies
© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy

Text description provided by the architects. The original pre-1946 house that occupied the site had previously been used as a boarding house. It had been raised and all verandahs were enclosed. The living spaces were internalised and segregated and there was little connection between outside and inside.

© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy
Ground floor plan Ground floor plan
© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy

The renovation works sought to bring light, tactility and connectivity to an otherwise dreary and rundown house. Objectives included the removal of internal floor space in lieu of additional floor space; to create spaces that are tactile, voluminous and light-filled; and to strengthen connections between spaces both internally and externally.

© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy

Walls were removed from the front of the house in order to return the verandah to its original state and create private outdoor space for the upper level. This intervention helped to return the façade to its original state. Once the project brief was integrated into the original building footprint the leftover space was converted into a double height void space.

© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy

The rear extension is operationally external but has a strong connection to the internal living spaces and feels like it's part of the internal space. The material palette is robust. Brick and spotted gum hardwood dominate the lantern-like structure to create shelter and privacy. The brick and timber then extend into the ground level floor plate to further strengthen the relationship between inside and out. The living spaces are cohesive and communicate via strategic positioning of built elements as well as materiality.

© Cieran Murphy © Cieran Murphy

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Blind Trust / Gensler

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 08:00 AM PST

© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan
  • Architects: Gensler
  • Location: Occidental Square, 117 S Washington St, Seattle, WA 98104, United States
  • Lead Architect: Andy Su
  • Team Members: Amber Fulgham, Daichi Yamaguchi, Dustin Rowland, Erin Osberg, Hong Joon Yang, Kaikang Shen, Keli Dean, Kim Le, Nate Williams, Sebastian Hernandez, Troy Charlesworth
  • Area: 100.0 ft2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Heywood Chan
  • Partners: Mortenson Construction, CPL Engineering, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Corona Steel Inc, Precision Iron Works, Inc.
  • Budget: $4,750
© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan

Text description provided by the architects. Gensler Seattle recently unveiled 'Blind Trust', an interactive exhibit created for the 2018 Seattle Design in Public Festival. Blind Trust challenges visitors to use touch, rather than sight, as their primary means of navigation and interaction with the installation.

Sketch 1 Sketch 1
© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan

Visitors move through three concentric, rectangular extrusions formed by a rope stretched vertically between frames.  While these tightly knit rope 'walls' appear impenetrable and visually homogenous, many of the ropes are actually elastic, allowing a participant to create an opening.

© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan

In order to pass through each successive layer, visitors use their sense of touch to find possible paths.  In the center of the rope forest is a clearing, open to the sky.  This is intended as a moment of reflection for the participant, still visible to the street, but obfuscated by the layers of ropes.

© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan
Sketch 2 Sketch 2
© Heywood Chan © Heywood Chan

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Guateque Office / Estudio Atemporal

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 06:00 AM PST

© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio
  • Architects: Estudio Atemporal
  • Location: Lago Xochimilco 135, Anáhuac I Secc, 11320 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
  • Architects In Charge: Luciana de la garza, Paul Curuchet
  • Construction: Estudio Atemporal
  • Area: 722.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2016
  • Photographs: Luis Gallardo LGM Studio
© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio

Text description provided by the architects. Located in the Anáhuac neighborhood of Mexico City in a space that years ago served as a Factory.

The space consists of two large areas: a warehouse with a structure based on columns and a saw-tooth roof; and a three-level building with an institutional characteristic.

© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio
Ground floor plan Ground floor plan
© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio

On one hand, the first section, the warehouse, becomes a kind of workshop that is modulated through two large iron frameworks that divide the space into three; two offices and a central area used for leisure activities or general meetings, the three of them articulated by a mezzanine that allows to create private spaces both on the upper floor and on the ground floor.

© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio

Thanks to these few elements, the structure of the original building become protagonist ; concrete columns and exposed cinder block walls make the contrast with all the furniture that was specially designed for each space.

© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio

The architectural posture reconsiders the use of this type of offices as completely private and isolated spaces; it suggests movement and interaction with other people in order to enrich the work of everyone.

.

© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio
Sections Sections
© Luis Gallardo LGM Studio © Luis Gallardo LGM Studio

.

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MVRDV's First US Project Breaks Ground in New York City

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 05:00 AM PST

Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV

Dutch practice MVRDV has broken ground on Radio Tower & Hotel, a 21,800-square-meter mixed-use high rise located in the Washington Heights area in northern Manhattan. The 22-storey building is MVRDV's first major project in the United States and combines hotel, retail, and office functions in vibrantly stacked blocks. The project was designed to reflecte the vivacious character of the neighborhood and set a direction for future development.

Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV

Designed for developer Youngwoo & Associates, Radio Tower & Hotel will occupy an underutilized lot where Amsterdam Avenue meets the Washington Bridge that connects Manhattan to the Bronx. The site is just one block away from the I-95 highway, one of the major links between Manhattan and New Jersey. The distinctive massing of the building resolves the project's main challenge of accommodating a large volume of program while remaining contextual.

Radio Tower & Hotel takes the typical composition of a small block in Washington Heights, pulls it apart and then reassembles it into an asymmetrical stack of boxes with openings and roof terraces. These boxes are designed to appear like separate buildings: each is roughly the same size as others in the neighborhood and features its own specific window pattern inspired by the nearby buildings. The boxes also take inspiration from the vibrant colors of the shopfronts in the majority-Hispanic neighborhood, with each part of the building being finished in a different color of ceramic bricks. Combined, the elements of the building's external appearance form a condensation of the characteristics of Washington Heights' existing urban fabric.

Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV

"Radio Tower & Hotel, located at the thinnest part of Manhattan Island between the Hudson and the Harlem River, is a colorful new building which will strengthen an already wonderfully mixed and vibrant neighborhood", explains Winy Maas, principal and co-founder of MVRDV. "The building forms a 'vertical village' with blocks that are the same size as the surrounding buildings, thus avoiding the common drawback of large developments in which new skyscrapers overwhelm the existing character of the city. It will be a colorful, welcoming beacon for people entering Manhattan."

Inside, Radio Tower & Hotel provides an answer to the area's need for a diverse range of hotel rooms, work spaces, event spaces and retail units. Washington Heights is the 5th largest neighborhood in New York with a population of over 150,000 people, but it is currently served by just two 50-room hotels. The Hotel will therefore be an important hub for those traveling for conferences hosted by the Yeshiva University and the New York Presbyterian Hospital, both of which are located nearby. Meanwhile, the event space located in the building's blue volume will add a facility that did not previously exist in the neighborhood, offering locals a space to host weddings and other parties with spectacular views from the adjacent rooftop terrace.

Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV Radio Tower & Hotel. Image Courtesy of MVRDV

At the ground floor, functions are positioned to support an active street level and are well connected to the retail of 181st Street and bustling Amsterdam Avenue. The hotel entry leads to a ground level courtyard space open to both users of the building and residents of the neighborhood, which will include a coffee bar and a community garden for use by the locals. Several roof terraces provide space for outdoor events and boast views of Washington Heights, Manhattan, and beyond. Washington Heights is an area that is already going through significant development, and is likely to see even more dramatic changes in the near future. As one of the neighborhood's most significant developments to date, Radio Tower & Hotel attempts to show how such changes can respect and enhance the existing character of the area.

MVRDV is collaborating with executive architect Stonehill & Taylor and a team of experts including Workshop APD for interiors, Cosentini Associates for building systems, GACE for structural consultation, CANY Technical Services for façade engineering and Filament Hospitality. The planned completion date for the building is in 2021.

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Rutgers University-Camden: Nursing and Science Building / Perkins Eastman

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 04:00 AM PST

© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman
  • Architect Of Record: NELSON Architects
  • Civil Engineer: Langan Engineering
  • Mep Engineer: Vanderweil
  • Structural Engineer: O'Donnell & Naccarato
  • General Contractor: Hunter Roberts Construction Group
  • Owner's Representative: Greyhawk
  • Exterior Wall Consultant: Atelier 10
  • Roof Consultant: Roof Maintenance Systems
© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman

Text description provided by the architects. After several decades of disinvestment and decline, the City of Camden, New Jersey, has recently shown a commitment to revitalization and community-building. This commitment is realized in the new Rutgers University-Camden: Nursing and Science Building. The building announces the seriousness of purpose about the revitalization efforts underway that are positioning Camden as a major player in "eds and meds."

© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman

Located adjacent to City Hall, abutting the heavily trafficked Light Rail station, the building significantly improves Camden's urban context; it captures at once the inherent value of access to transportation, a waterfront, historic building stock, and an activated pedestrian realm. Located on a triangular site on the edge of City Hall Plaza between the Rutgers-Camden campus and the Cooper Medical Center—the first university academic building located off Rutgers-Camden's traditional campus boundaries—the building is described as the first step in an effort to help revitalize Camden, by building a corridor connecting Camden's university district with the Cooper University Hospital and Cooper Medical School of Rowan.

© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman

The location for this revitalization is meaningful: The bold building is located on a swath of streetscape left vacant for decades. To this end, the building includes three storefronts to activate the street and provides a connection to the activity generated from the Light Rail. Instead of shying from this challenging context, the design embraces it through its expressive, multidimensional facades that showcase the activity within.

© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman

The building establishes a contextual architectural response to its street condition while its dynamic shape, expressive detailing, and animated glazing systems provide a signature expression for the University in its off-campus setting. By utilizing a punched-window aesthetic with pedestrian level storefront and a masonry-toned, ultra-high strength concrete cladding, the building makes a contextual statement to the north and east. To the southwest, a four-story glass façade along the building's diagonal overlooks south Camden. By virtue of this monumental "super-window," the facility's internal academic functions are "on display" to the city, and its occupants are constantly connected back to the urban context while going about their day.

© Jeff Goldberg-ESTO © Jeff Goldberg-ESTO

As the new single facility serving the entire Nursing academic community, the building's off-campus location posed a challenge. With a lack of dedicated exterior space, the building needed to accommodate a nursing student population that would largely remain in this single facility throughout their academic careers. This demanded the crafting of a dynamic, varied, and flexible interior environment that could satisfy the learning, socializing, collaboration, and study habits of students as they move through the four-year program—essentially, the building becomes a campus in itself.

Section A-A Section A-A
Section B-B Section B-B

While the building siting establishes an important street edge, its position uniquely isolates it from the surrounding architectural context, allowing the building also to be understood as a three-dimensional sculptural object in the heart of Camden's downtown.

© Jeff Goldberg-ESTO © Jeff Goldberg-ESTO

The exterior design was developed, therefore, to function compositionally at different scales, while it and the interior palette—in keeping with the building's use for nursing and science inquiry and training— take cue from the seemingly random patterns of DNA genotyping.

© Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman © Sarah Mechling-Perkins Eastman

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6 Radical Experiments in Social Housing Exhibited by the RIBA and V&A

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 03:00 AM PST

© Martin Charles RIBA Collections © Martin Charles RIBA Collections

The RIBA and Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) have joined forces to display six pioneering experiments in social housing from their archives. "A Home for All" features designs "from a tower block that up-ended the terraced street, to a DIY kit that encouraged residents to design their own homes."

The six projects, all commissioned by public authorities, demonstrate both the crucial role played by the state in providing housing, and the role of the architect in creating high-quality housing through personal philosophy, new ideas, integration of best practice, and lessons from previous mistakes.

The exhibition, free to the public at the V&A + RIBA Gallery on Cromwell Road, London, is freely open to the public seven days per week. On display are original architectural drawings, photographs, site plans, and building models. It will also contain archival poster and protest material, uncovering the rift in public opinion towards social housing policies.

Below, we have rounded up the six projects on display, complete with a description courtesy of the RIBA and V&A. For more information, visit the official website of the exhibition here.

Spa Green / Tecton

© RIBA Collections © RIBA Collections

Constructed 1946-49, London

RIBA and V&A: This estate was one of the first examples in England of Modernist architecture used for social housing, conceived using principles of health and hygiene. The 126 flats span the width of each block, providing sunlight, air and views on both sides. Bedrooms overlook a quiet courtyard while the living spaces are situated on the street side. An innovative aerofoil-shaped roof was designed to accelerate wind-flow for drying laundry. It was radically generous social housing for its time.

Keeling House / Denys Lasdun & Partners

© Lasdun Archive RIBA Collections © Lasdun Archive RIBA Collections

Constructed 1954-59, London

RIBA and V&A: Keeling House was an early experiment in 'cluster block' housing. This innovative form placed four 16 storey blocks around a free-standing services tower. The linked blocks were designed to balance the existing community of the street with a sense of seclusion. Privacy was achieved with short access balconies that serve only two flats and face each other at oblique angles. The shared central platforms provided the communal services such as laundry.

Alexandra Road Estate / Neave Brown,

© Eric Firley RIBA Collections © Eric Firley RIBA Collections

Constructed 1968-78, London 

RIBA and V&A: The Alexandra Road Estate is a pioneering example of high-density, low-rise housing. Neave Brown was vehemently opposed to high-rise residential towers and instead proposed a 'social street' for this awkward site alongside a railway line. This shared street encourages a convivial sense of community neighborliness and belonging.

Byker Estate /Ralph Erskine Arkitektkontor

Constructed 1969-82, Newcastle

RIBA and V&A: The Byker Estate is an ambitious example of participatory design that involved extensive consultation with existing residents. The architect set up his office on site, where future residents could drop in to examine the plans and discuss the project. The estate replaced a neighborhood of terraces, which were demolished and replaced in stages to enable neighbors and families to be re-housed together. The estate was a clear break from concrete modernism that had come to define post-war social housing and remains a striking example of an estate embodying the complexity of a community.

Primary Support Structure and Housing Assembly Kits (PSSHAK) / Greater London Council Architects' Department

Constructed 1971-79, London 

RIBA and V&A: PSSHAK began as a student project at the Architectural Association in the late 1960s. The architects developed a flexible design process which enabled occupants to play an active part in the design of their homes. Each block was a shell that could be sub-divided to contain different combinations of individual dwellings. Each tenant was invited to design their layout with help from the architects and an instruction manual.

Lions Green Road / Mary Duggan Architects

© Mary Duggan Architects © Mary Duggan Architects

2017- ongoing, London

RIBA and V&A: This project was commissioned by Croydon Council's development company, Brick by Brick, and represents both a renaissance and a new direction in council-led social housing provision. The design imagines residential blocks as sculptural pavilions within a natural landscape -offering access to views, air and light. Each block has a mixed tenure of private and social residents with the landscape given over to communal activities, blurring boundaries between private residence, shared space and publicly accessible parkland.

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Outlier Lofts / French 2D

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 02:00 AM PST

© John Horner © John Horner
  • Architects: French 2D
  • Location: Boston, Massachusetts United States
  • Area: 1600.0 ft2
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: John Horner
© John Horner © John Horner

Text description provided by the architects. Outlier Lofts, designed by Boston-based architecture firm French 2D, is a renovation that addresses the site's many historical layers. Sited on an urban corner in the neighborhood of Charlestown, the existing structure underwent a series of re-orientations, a history that French 2D threads into the new design, considering the way its three sides operate as both 'backs' and 'fronts' of the building.

© John Horner © John Horner

The building was originally constructed in the 19th century as a pair of connected townhouses with entrances facing a wide canal and a sea of potato sheds along a trainline. Following a fire in the 1960s that destroyed the third floor, the building was reoriented, with its main entrance shifted to an abutting side street, eventually becoming a bar. The current renovation maintains the bar's side entrance and creates three loft-style flats, entered from the short side of the building. Each loft measures 1,529 square feet with two bedrooms and two baths. The ghosts of previous entrances are maintained along the building's original frontage with the new window arrangements that echo the townhouse rhythm. The architects re-introduced the lost third floor, incorporating a new saw-tooth roof that creates a "mohawk-like" profile facing the elevated highway and roads beyond. The short side of the building maintains a straight-faced integration among its more traditional neighbors. "Like a friendly nod to those entering Boston from the highway, the reimagined building addresses the city as a new front face for a neighborhood that might otherwise be seen as inward-looking," notes cofounding partner Jenny French.

Site Plan Site Plan

For the new design, French 2D engaged in a deep interest in the imagined inner life of the building, and in creating a surface tension that accommodates it's many historical iterations. With no signage but high political visibility (via a historically political clientele), the bar that previously inhabited the building  – 'Old Sully's' – was one of the most invisible yet visible buildings in Charlestown. It also served as a location in Ben Affleck's recent film The Town. French 2D worked through these narratives, as well as that of the original townhouses with an industrial edge, to arrive at a contemporary dwelling that allows multiple histories to be read through a single structure.

© John Horner © John Horner
Folded Drawing Folded Drawing
© John Horner © John Horner

French 2D's interest in imagined lives and layered history is explored beyond the architecture in an experimental staging project to create the interior images of the lofts. Says co-founding partner Anda French, "This project speculates on architectural production by misusing representational tools like virtual staging, a rendering technique popular in the real estate industry to sell empty homes, and by using orthographic drawings to conjure ghosts.  Plans and elevations collapse multiple realities, while final photographs are inhabited by a cast of the structure's past and future furniture residents."

© John Horner © John Horner

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What Burning Man can Teach Architecture about Participatory Design

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 01:30 AM PST

© Laurian Ghinitoiu © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Architecture as a profession today struggles with questions of relevance, with core questions surrounding the issue of whether it can create cultural vibrancy and meaning for the diverse world it serves. Within our own design community, we tend to give a lot of sway to an "exclusive tier" of architects who provide leadership and vision. While this leadership is critically important to the profession, it only corresponds to 2% of what gets built. Take it from Frank Gehry, whose 2014 comment still rings in our ears: "98% of everything that is built and designed today is pure sh*t. There is no sense of design, no respect for humanity."

If we embrace the importance and unique value of all things built on a wider range, we need to ask ourselves: how have we served and rewarded our peers responsible for creating this other 98%?  Where should we set the bar for the emotional-artistic qualities of mainstream architecture?

"As architects, we often strive to create buildings and cities that have a high degree of cultural activity, authenticity, and a strong sense of community. We desire an engaged population that not only loves their environment, but also participates in its creation, and in its ongoing evolution. The extension of which means they feel responsible for, its maintenance, its improvement, and are inspired and empowered to infuse it with their cultural and artistic energy. Ideally, this vibrancy extends across the full range of socio-economic strata, so that everyone participates and enjoys these benefits. If they are successful, they will extend this caring sense of community beyond the physical environment, towards caring for each other's well-being, because they sense how each of us contributes to the success of our communities." 

We currently (and rightfully) set the bar high on issues of sustainability, accessibility, material science, and physical comfort. These more technical aspects are a major part of how the profession serves the public - but they are not the whole picture. 

Burning Man, the yearly event in the Black Rock Desert, represents a unique opportunity to explore issues of cultural vibrancy on a grand but temporal basis. At one level, it is a "social experiment" gone viral. In part, this comes from the way it challenges various social norms and rebalances the relationship between intellect and emotion. Burning Man sets a stage to see what happens when it encourages 70,000 people to celebrate "self-expression,", embedding art in their lives and encouraging them to participate rather than merely observe. With some lateral and creative thinking, this is an opportunity for architects to understand what a culture of engagement could truly be and how it can change the way we relate to the people we design for.

© Laurian Ghinitoiu © Laurian Ghinitoiu

If you haven't been to Burning Man before, you might be tempted to label this feast of "self-expression" as a bacchanal of "self-indulgence." But before you fall victim to these common preconceptions, imagine it within a context of architecture and urbanism: 70,000 people gathered to contribute their gifts to a community, each determining for themselves how they choose to interact with their surroundings. The event itself takes the form of 400+ placed art installations, 600+ Art Cars, and 1,000+ themed camps, all offering an opportunity to alter your sense of what the world is and what it can be. Surely this sense of optimism is what designers today should be aiming for, regardless of context or program.

Case Studies for The Range of Cultural Inclusion

This year, a part of the story might be best told as "A Tale of Two Orbs." This is a tale of one of the most fundamental aspects of Burning Man: the existence of a "Range of Cultural Inclusion." For a community to feel profoundly engaged, there must be both an openness and an explicit invitation, without judgment, to freely express your artistic spirit.

In many modern cultures, there is a division (perceived or overt) between an "elite" and the "ordinary," where a lack of cultural credentials push the ordinary to a place of lower value. At Burning Man, the lack of this division has unlocked extraordinary art from so-called marginalized places. It turns out that, once you cross that line in the dust, there is an almost limitless spirit of creativity in us all.

© Laurian Ghinitoiu © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Within the culture of Burning Man, all contributions to the creative spirit are valued, because it came from a place of creative intention and social gifting. People know the difference between "museum grade art" and a bedazzled unicorn doll, but in the context of Burning Man it is all equally appreciated. The lack of judgment invites and enables everyone to actively and freely participate. The sense of community this creates is, at first, overwhelming. But what it also does is create a deeper appreciation for art across the entire spectrum.

This year's museum-grade offering came courtesy of Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange, whose Orb project gained widespread public attention and support following a crowdfunding campaign. The final piece (and the 200-person build crew) cost well over $1,000,000. When the Orb finally inflated, delayed by the Black Rock Desert's notoriously high winds, the results were spectacular.

The 100 feet high, 30 ton, hovering mirrored sphere gave the Playa an ethereal landmark.  It stood as one of the Playa's great "absurdist objects", creating a sense of genuine awe. At the base was a seating platform which transformed the Orb a shade structure and event space.

Popular criticism has widely condemned the Orb for failing to live up to its rendered reputation, as for only a few still moments did the surface crisply reflect the massive scale of the Playa. It was quickly consumed by the dust, thus becoming part of the desert. In any other context this might have been seen as its ruin, but at Burning Man this only accentuated its poetic allure.

On the other end of this cultural range was a more modest project. One woman, Lekha Washington, created a faux moon entitled, "This too shall pass-Moondancer." Washington crafted the piece in Mumbai and, with the help of three people in her studio, brought it to the desert in only checked baggage.

Relative to the Orb this was a small piece, unpretentious in its undertaking - but its impact was no less breathtaking than its well-funded neighbor. When you were young the moon seemed to follow you everywhere; Washington's artwork captures this sense of wide-eyed innocence and play. Where the Orb was (due to its sheer scale) a wayfinding point, Washington's Moon was disorienting. It seemed to be both everywhere and nowhere, and yet with each new venue, it brought with it a sense of romance. This made it particularly successful, given reorienting yourself and challenging your notions of normality are the underlying themes of Burning Man. You couldn't help but fall in love with this moon.

The Challenge Ahead

Can Burning Man's participatory nature help inspire a more profound sense of belonging to and ownership of places? And are there elements of the event that can be incorporated in community involvement with the architectural process? 

A challenge for Burning Man, now that the event has gained considerable international focus, is that artists and architects will create art as promotional pieces rather than as thoughtful contributions to a unique community of culture. Currently, this culture of generosity is very strong and deeply felt. If you visit, be ready to participate, to bring a gift (no matter how small). The creative community the event forms in the desert- and your genuine and heartfelt contribution to it - is what matters. It's a lesson for urbanism regardless of context.

© Laurian Ghinitoiu © Laurian Ghinitoiu

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Aarhus School of Architecture's Revolutionary Robotic Formwork Method Cuts Concrete Use by 70%

Posted: 15 Nov 2018 01:00 AM PST

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

The Aarhus School of Architecture working with Asbjørn Søndergaard of Odico Formwork Robotics, has unveiled a high-performance structure deployed using a revolutionary robotic manufacturing method. "Experiment R" seeks to disrupt current concrete manufacturing by cutting the cost of concrete formwork production by 50%.

The abrasive wire-cutting method can accelerate the production time of conventional formwork by a factor of 126, while reducing the amount of concrete used by up to 70%. Despite these impressive stats, the technology has been developed to preserve and enhance design freedom.

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

The concrete form is generated using an electrically-driven abrasive wire, rotating at high speed around a carbon-fiber frame mounted on an industrial robot. An Expanded Polystyrene formwork was used during the experiment, due to its low cost, and popularity in construction insulation.

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

The software and hardware advancements made during the project culminated in the first topology-optimized structural design in Ultra-High-Performance Concrete. While topology optimization is a common consideration in aeronautical and automotive industries, the Aarhus experiment represents the first example of the technology's practical, economic, and complex geometric properties being engaged with by architects.

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

The example set by Aarhus could now pave the way for a large-scale adaption of the topology optimization and robotic abrasive wire-cutting methods, "enabling a revisiting of global concrete construction." The technology is currently in the advanced stages of commercialization, with plans to package the technology into a shipping container to create a mobile pop-up manufacturing plant called "Factory on the Fly". The scheme aims to be commercially operational by July 2019.

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

What excites me, in particular, is the radical design potential of this approach. We are used to thinking of environmental concerns as something that constrains design quality. But here the opposite is true – using less material we get more evocative structures, rendering their forces visible to the observer through their articulation.
-Torben Nielsen, Dean of Aarhus School of Architecture

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

The consortium behind the development of Experiment R is led by Aarhus School of Architecture, Odico Formwork Robotics, Aarhus Tech, concrete manufacturer Hi-con, and Søren Jensen Consulting Engineers.

Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics Courtesy of Odico Formwork Robotics

News via: Odico Formwork Robotics

Project lead: Aarhus School of Architecture
Technology lead & robotic formwork production: Odico Formwork Robotics
Structural Engineering: Søren Jensen Consulting Engineers A/S
Concrete production: Hi-con A/S
Optimization consultants: Altair Engineering
Formwork scaffolding: Brunsgaard A/S
Formwork assembly and foundation prefabrication: Aarhus Tech
Formwork timber frame manufacturing: Ispal SRL
Timber framework engineering: Inginerie Creativa SRL
Specialist consultants: UBE Design; Arkitek; Tegnestuen FEM
Foundation works: Aarsleff A/S
Sponsors: A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal, Dreyers Fond; Statens Kunstfond

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