This installation is an embodiment of the phenomenon nudging architecture, and consists of two walls; The Corner and The Threshold. Nudging, or to push, is not to be understood as a physical act, but an empathetic attempt at a sort of leading design; where the body is prompted, but not urged, to move in a certain direction. Architecture is the material and immaterial matter that surrounds us, which is why this installation touches both the body and the mind.

The otherwise logical order of Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s spatial organization, and the linear but limited movement it invokes, is by two small incisions tattered with. The placement of two walls, re-organizes space and re-conducts movement, where the effect of the nudging architecture is a new spatial experience. It raises a questioning awareness of the museum’s stringent layout in relation to the actual showcased art and in turn, the relation between what we perceive and how we behave. As the exhibited art work now relates differently to its surroundings, so will the viewer relate to the art in new ways – and maybe not only in a physical sense.

The nature of people’s instinctive acts, deals with the space in-between, both as a gap and as a link. The installations are, in their physical anonymity, staging what cannot be seen – the space in which we move, and the voids that define Charlottenborg. Simultaneously, the art and the rooms stage the installations in a material manner, and they become part of their physical and cultural context. Their purpose is not to explain nudging architecture, but to create a framework for people to experience.

Kristian Nielsen Kjær, KRADS, Hatch & Bloom

We are proud to announce that “Stöðin – A roadside stop in Iceland” has been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award.  The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, or Mies van der Rohe Award, is a Prize given biennially by the European Union and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, to acknowledge and reward quality architectural production in Europe.   The jury’s review and the three other nominated projects from Iceland can be seen here.

“Stöðin”, a roadside stop in the Icelandic countryside, is a conjoined restaurant, drive-through, convenience store and gas station.  Icelandic culture is in many ways shaped by American influences due to the 65-year long presence of an American army base in the country. Stöðin addresses this cultural relationship by incorporating architectural elements from the American diner that contrast the traditional Icelandic building method of in situ cast concrete. The exposed concrete of the exterior bestows the diner with a permanence unknown by its American counterparts creating a friction between its streamlined aesthetics and the rustic materiality’s gravity. An elongated bar-desk transforms into seating arrangements and characterizes the semicircular restaurant, which offers panoramic views of the scenic fjord Borgarfjörður.

“Stöðin” in Borgarnes will be owned and run by Skeljungur, the Icelandic branch of Shell – with whom we are at the moment working on other road-stops within the same concept along the Icelandic highway.

Interior design is done in collaboration with aok-design.

Photography by Kristinn Magnússon.

Experiments on porosity can be seen at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft from the 16^th of May until the 5th June 2012.

‘Opening the Tower’ presents two sets of experiments exploring different aspects of porosity on two significantly different scales. Built with approximately 1000000 white LEGO bricks – 676 towers on scale 1:1000 and 16 towers on scale 1:100 investigate development of possible new relationships between mass and void in large-scale architecture. The material presented at the exhibition is a result of design studio led by The Why Factory through fall semester 2011/12. The studio was developed and supervised by Prof. Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov and Ania Mo­lenda in collaboration with KRADS and support from LEGO and Arup.

Participants of the Eurohigh design studio:

Jaap de Jong, Marina Ferrando, Alise Jekabsone, Jayson Johnstone, Valerie Krautzer, Qian LAN, Bill Lee, Albert Mark, Ana Melgarejo, Vincent Paar, Marcus Parviainen, Alex Parvu, Pedro Pitarch, Mihaela Radescu, Marie-lahya Simon, Leo Stuckardt, Calvin Tanikaya and Cyrus Wong.

Photography by Frans Parthesius.

Work on  the summerhouse at Langitangi (“The long peninsula”) in Iceland is progressing and at the moment windows and doors are being installed.

The main focus in the design of the summerhouse was to create a careful and functional engagement with the dramatic and beautiful topography of the site.  Partly submerged in the steep terrain of Langitangi, the elongated building’s horizontal figure presents itself in the landscape as a geometrically accentuated topographic contour line. The building’s placement on the peninsula was specifically chosen in order to create a varied dialogue between the structure and it’s context. The rough concrete and the low, cantilevered roof endure the windswept site, while the building thoughtfully shelters in- and outdoor spaces from the barren landscape. Inside, the summerhouse is laid out as a linear sequence of spaces following a path parallel to the sites topography. This design shapes each space as a separate entity, each offering a uniquely framed view of the picturesque nature outside.

Completion of the project is expected in summer 2012.

The results of Eurohigh design studio’s midterm review will be shown in the Oostserre (Tu Delft Faculty of Architecture) for the next three weeks.

During the first two months studio participants searched for aspects and potentials of the ultimate European skyscraper. This research phase resulted in a form-exhausting collection of 676 models in scale 1:1000, which are presented as a grid of 26 linear iterations. This extensive catalogue of possibilities will serve as the first step to a more precise parametrization of the process and a deepened design process on modeling 8 European skyscrapers in scale 1:100.

This second stage will be continued until January 20th, 2012 and later remain at the Oostserre as a second part of the exhibition until February xx.

The Eurohigh studio is led by Winy Maas, Alexander Sverdlov and Ania Molenda from The Why Factory in collaboration with KRADS  and support from Lego and Arup.

Sea Monsters is a collaborative conceptual project by Icelandic designer Katrín Ólina and KRADS.

The project addresses the active environmental problem of algal blooms in the Baltic Sea by fusing technology, science and art in an innovative way. Working with the idea of ancient mythology in a contemporary context, satellite photography is digitally translated to create an artistic vision of an alien creature appearing in public locations in the Baltic region.

The city council of Herning, Denmark, has chosen our proposal for a new car show-room & service center to be the project erected on a site often nicknamed as Hernings “most attractive”.
The geometrically characteristic building will stand as an iconic figure by the main road at the city’s threshold, housing a 2000 m2 showroom and a 2400 m2 service center.
The rhombic volume of the building is divided into two halves by a diagonal cut; a dynamic and lucid showroom facing the main road contrasted by the stable mass of the service center behind.  The showroom is conceived as a continuous spiraling ramp from the sub-street level up to the roof – and is expressed in the showrooms tilting facades.
The diagonal cut between the showroom and the service center creates a visual connection between the shopping center north-west of the building and the green areas to the south-east.
The project is developed for the client Bjarne Nielsen in collaboration with CC Contractor, Finn Balle & B. Moesby Engineers.  Read more about the project on the city councils website.

We recently finished the outline proposal for UGBL Independent School in Ugelbølle, Denmark.  The school is expected to open its doors for 150 students in august 2012.

Laid out as a rotated quadratic grid of volumes and outdoor areas the overall scheme is tailored to allow the school to grow and expand over the coming years.

The first segment, 1700 m2, consists of open workspaces and flexible classrooms organized around a large double-height space where generous flights of steps double as the schools auditorium and meeting point.