.

2013-11-06T10:00:00.002-08:00

http://osse.ssec.wisc.edu/k12/wise/spark/Volume2/Bumblebees/Bumble_Bees.html

Internet article on colour learning. Flight cages

2013-09-16T04:20:00.002-07:00

_MICROSTATION_

Curve formulation:

- Creating a simple geometry via commands in the 'Curve by Formula' interface
-> Enter -> Curvecalc -> Display [this will bring up the curve by formula interface]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbkUSQWnr2c

2013-09-16T04:06:00.001-07:00

_PHOTOSHOP_

- Making text along a path.
- Masking

- Other shortcuts

Also note:

Filter -> Sketch -> Half tone pattern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK-8ZZHHU78

2013-09-16T04:00:00.003-07:00

_MICROSTATION_

Text Masking

- Useful for marking out contour labels
- Also could be useful for labelling generally without having numbers or words being lost within the lines (can probably set the transparency around the label area to allow some drawing lines to come through)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdlGFZCN6o4

Still by Apollo Architects

2013-03-12T03:49:00.001-07:00

Still by Apollo Architects
& Associates

8 March 2013 | 8 comments

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This house for a surgeon in Chiba, Japan, by Apollo Architects & Associates contains courtyards with elevated wooden walkways and glass walls behind its thick concrete exterior (+ slideshow).

The residence was designed for a busy street in Yotsukaido City, so Apollo Architects & Associates used chunky slabs of reinforced concrete to create a soundproofed barrier around the interior spaces.

"[The client] requested privacy and quietness for his wife and three children to lead healthy lives," explain the architects.

The largest of the three courtyards sits beyond a sheltered driveway and contains a grass lawn and a central tree, while the second is positioned past the entrance and accommodates a pebble surface and a small maple tree.

The smallest court is tucked away at the back to offer a small outdoor area for the main bedroom and bathroom.

"The family can enjoy different atmospheres in these courtyards," say the architects.

Two staircases lead up to the living room and the children's room on the first floor. One is indoors and built from wood, but the second is a series of concrete treads that rise up from the grassy courtyard.

Wooden balconies overlook the courtyards from above and residents can look into different rooms through glass walls.

The house is named Still and was completed in spring 2012.

Tokyo-based Apollo Architects & Associates is led by Satoshi Kurosaki. The studio has designed a number of houses since launching in 2000, including Lift in Sendai with a pointy overhang and Damier in Tokyo which has a chequered facade. See more houses designed by Apollo Architects & Associates.

Photography is by Masao Nishikawa.

Here's some more information from Apollo Architects & Associates:

Still
The client acquired the 330 m2 orthogonal property located along the road in pursuit of a space to rest his body and soul exhausted from his work as a surgeon. He requested privacy and quietness for his wife and three children to lead healthy lives. The building is set back from the frontal street where heavy vehicles pass by regularly. Parking space is secured for three cars. Reinforced concrete structure is chosen for its soundproofing ability. The opening is kept to a small horizontal ribbon window to block the noise and automobile emissions.

The client purchased this property sized over 300 m2 for a purpose of creating courtyards with tall symbolic trees. There is a compact court with a maple tree in front of the entrance. Across the central corridor is the main court. And, toward the back of the site is a narrow bathroom court. The family can enjoy different atmospheres in these courtyards.

The master bedroom and bathroom are located in the quiet area far from the street so that the residents can relax while viewing the garden. Each space offers its unique ambience. For example, in the study adjacent to the bedroom, the residents are able to carry out their professional work, or in the Japanese room facing the entrance court, they could relax and enjoy the space while sitting on the floor.

The family space on the second floor is a single space surrounded by full-height glazing. Across the central corridor, the children's room/study space is located. The space can be separated into individual rooms in the future. The other characteristic of this house is that the residents can experience the circulation space as they cross between inside and outside, thanks to the central corridor and roof balcony connecting the main building and annex. It is the ultimate luxury to lead a slow-paced life and enjoy the changing seasons.

2013-02-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Musashino Art University Library
by Sou Fujimoto Architects

Photographer Edmund Sumner has sent us these photographs of a university library in Tokyo by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto that has an exterior of timber shelves covered by planes of glass.

The massing of the two-storey library at Musashino Art University is composed entirely from the shelves, which will hold the books.

Circulation routes spiral around both ground and first floor between apertures cut-out of the shelving.

The library also includes a closed archive, which is located in the basement.

More architectural photography by Edmund Sumner on Dezeen »

More projects by Sou Fujimoto Architects on Dezeen »
More about Edmund Sumner on Dezeen »

The following information is from Sou Fujimoto:

Musashino Art University Museum and Library
This project is a new library for one of the distinguished art universities in Japan. It involves designing a new library building and refurbishing the existing building into an art gallery, which will ultimately create a new integration of the Library and the Art Gallery.

The project described hereinafter is the plan of the new library which sits within the first phase of the total development.

Acting as a huge ark, a total of 200,000 units, of which 100,000 will be out in an open-archive, while the other half within closed-archive, rests within this double-storey library of 6,500 ㎡ in floor area.

Library made from bookshelves
When I thought of the elements which compose an ultimate library, they became books, bookshelves, light and the place.

I imagined a place encircled by a single bookshelf in the form of a spiral. The domain encased within the infinite spiral itself is the library. Infinite forest of books is created from layering of 9m high walls punctuated by large apertures.

This spiral sequence of the bookshelf continues to eventually wrap the periphery of the site as the external wall, allowing the external appearance of the building to share the same elemental composition of the bookshelf-as-the-library.

One’s encounter with the colossally long bookshelf within the university landscape registers instantaneously as a library, yet astonishing in its dreamlike simplicity.
The library most library-like.
The simplest library.

Investigation and Exploration
Investigation and exploration are two apparent contradictions inherent in the design of libraries.

Investigation is, by definition, a systematic spatial arrangement for the purpose of finding specific books. Even in the age of Google, the experience of searching for books within the library is marked by the order and arrangement of the physical volume of books.

The opposing concept to Investigation is the notion of Exploration. The significance of library experience is also in discoveries the space engender to the users. One encounters the space as constantly renewed and transforming, discovers undefined relationships, and gains inspiration from unfamiliar fields.

To achieve the coexistence of the two concepts, spatial and configuration logics beyond mere systematics is employed.

Here, the two apparent contradictions inherent in libraries are allowed to coexist by the form of spiral possessing two antinomic movements of radial path and rotational movement. The rotational; polar configuration achieves investigation, and the numerous layers through the radial apertures engender the notion of Exploration through an infinite depth of books.

One can faintly recognise the entirety of library and at the same time imagine that there are unknown spaces which are rendered constantly imperceptible.

SOU FUJIMOTO
Musashino Art University Museum & Library
Tokyo, Japan
Design: 2007-09
Construction: 2009-10

Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects-- principal-in-charge; Sou Fujimoto, Koji Aoki, Naganobu Matsumura, Shintaro Homma, Tomoko Kosami, Takahiro Hata, Yoshihiro Nakazono, Masaki Iwata, project team
Client: Musashino Art University
Program: University Library

Click above for larger image
Consultants: Eishi Katsura, adviser;
Jun Sato Structural Engineers--Jun Sato, Masayuki Takada, structural;
Kankyo Engineering--Takafumi Wada, Kazunari Ohishima, Hiroshi Takayama, MEP;
Taku Satoh Design Office--Taku Satoh, Shingo Noma, Kuniaki Demura, Inoue
Industries--Takafumi Inoue, Azusa Jin, Yosuke Goto, Hideki Yamazaki,

Click above for larger image
Furniture & Sign; Sirius Lighting Office--Hirohito Totsune, Koichi Tanaka, lighting;
CAMSA--Katsuyuki Haruki, facade;
STANDARD--Keisou Inami, skylight
General contractor: Taisei Corporation--Tsukasa Sakata
Structural system: steel frame, partly reinforced concrete
Major materials: wood shelf, glass, exterior; wood shelf, tile carpet, polycarbonate plate ceiling, interior

Click above for larger image
Site area: 111,691.93 m2
Built area: 2,883.18 m2
Total floor area: 6,419.17 m2

Click above for larger image

Japan National Stadium and Galaxy Soho by Zaha Hadid Architects

2012-11-16T06:23:00.002-08:00

Zaha Hadid to design
Japan National Stadium

15 November 2012 | 33 comments

News: UK firm Zaha Hadid Architects has been selected to design the new national stadium for Japan.

The new 80,000-seat stadium will replace the existing Kasumigaoka National Stadium in Tokyo and could become the main sporting venue for the 2020 Olympic Games if Japan is successful in its bid to host the event.

The arena is also earmarked to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and will be offered to FIFA as a possible venue for future World Cup football matches.

Zaha Hadid Architects has seen off ten other finalists to win the competition, which was organised by the Japan Sport Council.
The new building is scheduled for completion in 2018.
Also this week, the Zaha Hadid-designed Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum opened to the public at Michigan State University.
See more stories about Zaha Hadid Architects, including the recently completed Galaxy Soho, a 330,000-square-metre retail, office and entertainment complex in Beijing.

Galaxy Soho by Zaha Hadid Architects
photographed by Hufton + Crow

15 November 2012 | 14 comments

When Zaha Hadid Architects’ 330,000-square-metre Galaxy Soho complex opened in Beijing last month our readers were left guessing how it relates to the surrounding neighbourhood. This set of images by photographers Hufton + Crow shows just that (+ slideshow).

Completed last month by Zaha Hadid Architects, the retail, office and entertainment complex comprises four domed structures, which are fused together by bridges and platforms around a series of public courtyards and a large central “canyon”.

The buildings sit within the second-ring business district in the north-east of the city, but are also prominently visible from the narrow alleyways of the densely populated surrounding neighbourhoods.

These ancient passages, named hutongs, have been typical of Beijing’s urban fabric for hundreds of years, but have been in decline since the mid-twentieth century as the city’s development continues to increase.

The architect claims that the buildings respond to and are respectful of China’s historic building typologies, with courtyards and “fluid movement” between spaces.

“The design responds to the varied contextual relationships and dynamic conditions of Beijing,” said Hadid at the time of the opening. “We have created a variety of public spaces that directly engage with the city, reinterpreting the traditional urban fabric and contemporary living patterns into a seamless urban landscape inspired by nature.”

The decline of Beiijing’s hutongs was one of the issues addressed during this year’s Beijing Design Week. The event’s director Aric Chen commented during the festival that contemporary China should “slow down” and look to “craft thinking” to deal with the disparity between the country’s small and large-scale design challenges.

In other recent news, designer Michael Young has tipped China to have a design scene that will rival Japan’s in less than 20 years.

You can see more images of Galaxy Soho in our earlier story, following the opening last month.

Zaha Hadid Architects has also just been selected to design a new national stadium for Japan and completed an art gallery at Michigan State University.

See all our stories about Zaha Hadid Architects »

See all our stories about China »

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

Pont de Singe bridge

2012-11-16T06:22:00.001-08:00

Pont de Singe bridge
by Olivier Grossetête

15 November 2012 | 5 comments

French artist Olivier Grossetête used three enormous helium balloons to float a rope bridge over a lake in Tatton Park, a historic estate in north-west England.

Oliver Grossetête created Pont de Singe, which means “monkey bridge”, for the Tatton Park Biennial, which this year was themed around flight.

Located in the park’s Japanese garden, the structure comprised a long rope bridge made of cedar wood held aloft by three helium-filled balloons. The ends of the bridge were left to trail in the water.

Though visitors weren’t allowed to use the bridge, it would theoretically be strong enough to hold the weight of a person, according to Grossetête.

Replacing the usual foundations and joints of a bridge with three balloons leads us to question our perceptions, the artist explained. ”My artistic work tries to make alive the poetry and dreams within our everyday life,” added Grossetête.

The artist had previously experimented with another floating bridge in his 2007 project Pont Suspendu, where he used a cluster of helium balloons to float a small bridge structure into the air.

Balloons have appeared in a number of projects we’ve featured on Dezeen, including a proposal for a transport network of enormous floating balloons and a bench that appears to be held up by bunches of balloons at each end.

We’ve also featured lots of unusual bridges on Dezeen, such as a wobbling wire bridge designed to span the Seine in Paris and a sunken bridge in a moat that brings the water up to a pedestrian’s eye level.

See all our stories about balloons »
See all our stories about bridges »

Photographs are by Wilf and Duncan Hull.

MICHELANGELO’S WAR

2012-11-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

MICHELANGELO’S WAR

For those interested, see updates on the construction of the Light Pavilion.

(above and below) Michelangelo Buonarotti’s drawings for the fortifications of Florence, made in 1528-9. Courtesy of the Casa Buonarotti, Florence, Italy.

In 1528, when the Papal armies were threatening to attack Florence and restore the Medici family to autocratic power, the Florentine Republic gave Michelangelo Buonarotti the responsibility of strengthening the city’s fortified defenses. By the time the attack came in 1529, he had designed and overseen the construction of a number of ‘bastions’ at crucial junctures in the existing defensive wall around the city. These were so effective that the citizens of Florence were able to repel the superior attacking troops for nearly eleven months, until—through an act of political treachery—the city finally fell in 1530.

The design drawings Michelangelo made for the bastions had to consider their two main functions. First, to provide protected openings for the defenders to fire their muskets at the attackers, each of which covered a relatively narrow field of fire, but together covered the widest possible field of fire. Second, the walls of the bastion had to deflect incoming cannon fire in the form of cannon balls, which were as yet non-explosive. To accomplish both of these purposes, the walls had to be not only thick but relatively short and angled sharply with adjoining walls, creating a ‘corrugation’ that would conceal gun ports and better resist the impact of cannon balls. In his drawings, Michelangelo primarily studied possible variations on this fundamental idea.

For all their practical purpose, these drawings have uncommon aesthetic power. Of course, this is because they are made by one of the greatest sculptors, and a self-taught architect—an “amateur of genius,” as he has been called—but it is also because the bastions required had too short a history as a building type to have ossified into a rigid typology. Michelangelo was relatively free to invent strong new forms and didn’t hesitate to do so. Using straight and curved lines in various combinations, these designs assume—to the contemporary eye—the character of plans for buildings belonging to our era rather than his; or, at the very least, they anticipate expressionistic architecture of the present and last centuries that has been realized because of advances in building technology.

This bit of speculation is not, however, at the heart of the drawings’ emotional and intellectual power. For that, we have to look to a fluidity of invention captured in the drawings. Michelangelo’s mastery of mostly freehand pen and ink drawing (each line is precise and cannot be erased) gave him the freedom to experiment with form. Without this mastery, he would have sought, as any artist would, the safety of more familiar forms. We are struck by the élan of the designs, as much as by their visual coherence. We are moved by the seemingly effortless way they undertake the always risky task of invention. Not least, the fortification drawings inspire us to equip ourselves with the skills necessary to explore daring new possibilities for architecture, ones that engage the daunting challenges we—as Michelangelo—must confront.

Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre (LANDSCAPE)

2012-10-19T03:05:00.002-07:00

Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre
by Heneghan Peng Architects

18 October 2012 | 3 comments

The stone mullions surrounding this visitor centre by Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects imitate the towering basalt columns of the volcanically formed Giant’s Causeway (+ slideshow).

Created around 60 million years ago by the movement of basalt lava, the causeway is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and comprises over 40,000 columns that step down from the foot of the cliff into the sea.

Heneghan Peng Architects won a competition in 2005 to design a visitor centre for the Giant’s Causeway, providing exhibition spaces, a cafe, toilets and a giftshop.

The new building opened this summer and is described by the architects as “two folds into the landscape”. The first fold rises up from the ground to create a building with a sloping grass roof, while the second angles down to form a car park and entrance that meets the level of the approaching road.

“It is a carefully sculpted intervention,” say the architects. ”It is both visible and invisible; invisible from the cliffside yet recognisable from the land side.”

Between each of the stone mullions, vertical windows line the walls and surround a cafe that overlooks the coastline from the far end of the building.

Visitors can climb up over the grassy roof, where skylights let them peer down into the exhibition spaces.

Floors inside the building are staggered to negotiate the sloping site, but ramps connect each level.

Other projects at natural landmarks include the installations along the Norwegian national tourist routes.

Photography is by Hufton+Crow.

Here’s a project description from Heneghan Peng Architects:

The project is located at the ridgeline of the North Antrim coast at the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The proposal for the new visitor facilities can be understood as two folds into the landscape. One folds upwards revealing the building and the second folds down to form the carpark and shield it from view of the approach road and coastal path. Between the two folds, a ramp leads to the coastal ridgeline which is restored at this location.

The visitor’s centre at the Giant’s Causeway is experienced as an event along the route to the Causeway and the coastline. It is a carefully sculpted intervention into this landscape which is both visible and invisible, invisible from the cliffside yet recognisable from the land side.

Internally the building can be understood as a series of stepping floor plates which are linked by a series of ramps.

These floor plates allow the different activities of the building to flow into each other creating a fluid movement through the building for the visitor.

The cafe has been situated close to the main building entrance with a long view to the coastline. The visitor ends the route through the building by exiting onto the access road to the stones.

The folds are precise and geometric yet vanish into the patchwork that forms the tapestries of fields.

The architectural expression of the edges of the folds is singular, stone mullions that echo the columnar landscape of the Causeway site.

The strategy for the building creates a space between the basalt and the folded plane of the grass roof; a space formed within the materials of the site.

The basalt edge is formed as a weave between basalt stone columns and glazing where changes are created in transparency and opacity along the visitor’s route.

What belies this simple façade concept is a carefully engineered solution which evolved around the inherent properties of the locally sourced basalt stone.

The aspirations for this project in every way are of the highest order as befits its location, excellence in architectural and landscape design, excellence in sustainable practices and construction.

The project’s design has received a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.

Client: National Trust
Gross Internal Area: 1800m2
Location: Northern Ireland

Architecture, Landscape Concept and Interiors: heneghan peng architects
Competition: Shih-Fu Peng, Róisín Heneghan (Project Directors) Chris Hillyard, Aideen Lowery, Marcel Piethan
Project Design & Construction Stages: Shih-Fu Peng, Róisín Heneghan (Project Directors), Julia Loughnane (Project Architect), Monika Arczynska, Jorge Taravillo Canete, Chris Hillyard, Kathrin Klaus, Carmel Murray, Padhraic Moneley, Catherine Opdebeeck, Helena del Rio.

Structures: Arup
Building Services: Bennett Robertson
Quantity Surveyor/Project Manager: Edmond Shipway

Facade Engineering: Dewhurst MacFarlane
Planning: Turley Associates
Civils: White Young Green

Landscape: heneghan peng architects (Concept design) Mitchell + Associates (Implementation)
Exhibition Design: Event
Accessibility: Buro Happold
Acoustics: FR Mark

BREEAM: SDS Energy
Fire/Traffic/Environmental: Arup
Specialist Lighting: Bartenbach Lichtlabor
Specification: Davis Langdon
CDM Coordinator: The FCM Partnership

Above: Hexagonal basalts at the Giant’s Causeway
Competition: 2005
Appointment: 2006
Start On-Site: November 2010
Completion: May 2012
Open to public: July 2, 2012
Contractor: Gilbert-Ash
Contract: NEC 3 Option A

Site plan – click above for larger image

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Longitudinal section – click above for larger image

Cross section – click above for larger image

East elevation – click above for larger image

South-east elevation – click above for larger image

South elevation – click above for larger image

Torre Júlia by Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons (HOUSING)

2012-10-19T03:04:00.004-07:00

Torre Júlia by Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons
and Ricard Galiana

18 October 2012 | 2 comments

Bright shades of yellow and green help elderly people find their way around in this 17-storey housing block in Barcelona by Spanish architects Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons and Ricard Galiana (+ slideshow).

“The building is divided into three communities and each community is assigned a different colour to facilitate orientation,” Pons told Dezeen. “We’ve used yellow and two shades of green, one lighter and one darker. These colours are uplifting whilst also calming.”

Located beside a motorway on the edge of the city, the tower contains 77 government-allotted apartments for pensioners.

A shared garden covers the top floor of the building, which Pons hopes will be used by both grandparents and grandchildren.

Corridors and staircases wrap the exterior and lead into double-height communal spaces, which were designed to encourage residents to communicate with their neighbours. ”The hallways were conceived as streets,” explained Pons.

At ground level, the building opens out to a small public square that it shares with a new sports centre and housing development.

See more stories about housing, including an apartment block with a grid of chunky balconies.

Photography is by Adrià Goula.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Torre Júlia. Government-allotted housing for elderly people
This project forms part of the urbanization that is taking place in one of the lots left over after the construction of the Ronda de Barcelona, a bypass road, in 1992.

A sports centre, a residential development and an old people’s home will all share the same space, creating a public area that will stretch from the street to a square giving access into the different facilities.

A prominent feature in the city’s northern quarter, Torre Júlia rises up to a height of 17 floors.

There are three areas in the building. Each community has a larger space assigned, where users carry out most of their collective activities. These spaces, the core of the proposed project, figure plainly on the building’s frontage, which is wrought entirely in concrete and works as a cantilever beam.

Typical floor arrangement - click above for larger image and key
Wide corridors overlooking the city, stairs in all outdoor places, double-spaced areas and sun-shaded terraces configure a building that is intended to give elderly people an opportunity to socialize and engage in community activities.

Site plan
Project team: Pau Vidal, Sergi Pons, Ricard Galiana
Address: Via Favència 348-350, Barcelona
Program: 77 Home Units, Facilities and Parking Space
Construction dates: Building 2009-2011

First floor plan – click above for larger image
Client: Patronat Municipal de l’Habitatge
Collaborators: Gioia Guidazzi, Diana Sajdova
Consultants: Encarna García, BOMA, L3J, 3dLife, Ambar Fotografia, Artkitech, Estel Rosell
Contractor: Acsa

Second floor plan – click above for larger image
Gross floor area: 8.391
Budget: 7.518.419
State: Built

Section – click above for larger image

Daikanyama T-Site by Klein Dytham architecture (T lattice)

2012-10-19T03:04:00.001-07:00

Daikanyama T-Site by
Klein Dytham Architecture

22 September 2012 | 3 comments

The latticed facade of this Tokyo bookstore by Klein Dytham Architecture comprises hundreds of interlocking T-shapes that subtly reference the logo of entertainment retailer Tsutaya (+ slideshow).

“The T idea for the project came to us during the initial briefing session with the CEO of Tsutaya,” architect Mark Dytham told Dezeen. “He was hoping for an iconic building, branded in a non-branded way, without having to rely on signage.”

The little shapes also combine to create larger Ts on the elevations of the three buildings that make up the complex.

The grid created by the shapes lines up with the structural systems, and Dytham explained how this helped them to “determine the general layout” of each building.

This layout was also influenced by the locations of several large trees, which the buildings nestle between.

Louvred steel bridges link up with aisles on the first floor of each block, which the architects refer to as the “magazine street”.

As well as sales areas for books, CDs and DVDs, the store also contains a convenience store, a lounge and cafe.

Other projects we’ve featured by Klein Dytham Architecture include an airport lounge for Virgin Atlantic and a combined home and salon.

See more stories about Klein Dytham Architecture »

Photography is by Nacasa & Partners.

Here’s a project description from Klein Dytham:

T-Site, Daikanyama, Tokyo
Klein Dytham architecture won the T-Site commission in a 2 stage invited competition. 77 architects were invited to submit proposals and KDa made it to the final selection with Kengo Kuma, Atelier Bow Wow, Mikan Gumi and Kumiko Inui, before winning the project in the final round.

KDa’s new Daikanyama T-Site is a campus-like complex for Tsutaya, a giant in Japan’s book, music, and movie retail market.

Located in Daikanyama, an up-market but relaxed, low-rise Tokyo shopping district, it stands alongside the legendary Hillside Terrace buildings designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki.

Slotted between large existing trees on the site, the three pavilions are organized by a “magazine street” that threads through the complex, blurring interior and exterior.

Tailored particularly to over-50 “premium age” customers, Tsutaya’s normal product range is complimented by a series of boutique spaces carrying carefully curated product ranges.

Other facilities include a café, an upscale convenience store, and the Anjin lounge, where visitors can browse a library of classic design magazines and books or peruse artworks for sale as they eat, drink, read, chat, or relax.

Externally, KDa’s characteristic wit emerges in subtle ways – the perforated screens of the façade are formed from the Ts of the Tsutaya logo, and much larger T-shapes are disguised in the building plans and elevations.

Architecture and interior design: Klein Dytham architecture
Art Direction: Tomoko Ikegai
Architectural Consultant: RIA
Structural Engineer: Structured Environment
Main Contractor: Kajima Construction

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Haus am Weinberg

2012-10-18T04:55:00.002-07:00

Haus am Weinberg
by UNStudio

16 October 2012 | 14 comments

The steps of an adjacent vineyard inspired Dutch architects UNStudio to generate the inclining profile of this house in Stuttgart (+ slideshow).

Each floor plate of the three-storey Haus am Weinberg has a different shape and the top level leans out over a double-height glazed dining room at one corner.

Windows fold around all four corners of the building without columns, maximising views towards the vineyard on one side and the city on the other.

A curved staircase twists up through the centre of the house and has oak treads to match the flooring in the living room and bedroom.

The client enjoys hunting as a hobby, so one room of the house is dedicated to “music, masculine conviviality, and the hunt,” according to the architects.

Above: photograph is by Christian Richters
Unlike the rest of the house, this room has little light and features wooden walls plus a collection of hunting trophies.

See more stories about UNStudio, including a scientific research centre with windows like dominoes.

Photography is by Iwan Baan, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information from UNStudio:

The Haus am Weinberg is located in a setting that is at one time rural, yet suburban.

The location of the villa affords pastoral views of the stepped terraces of an ancient hillside vineyard on one side and cityscape vistas on the other.

The inner circulation, organisation of the views and the programme distribution of the house are determined by a single gesture, ‘the twist’. In the Haus am Weinberg the central twist element supports the main staircase as it guides and organises the main flows through the house. The direction of each curve is determined by a set of diagonal movements. Whilst the programme distribution follows the path of the sun, each evolution in the twist leads to moments in which views to the outside become an integral experience of the interior.

This is enabled by the building’s load bearing concrete structure which is reduced to a minimum. Roof and slabs are supported by four elements only: elevator shaft, two pillars and one inner column. Through the large cantilever spans, a space is created which enables all four corners of the house to be glazed and column-free.

A double-height, glazed corner – which houses the dining area – opens up to extensive views towards the North-West and frames the vineyard hill which forms the backdrop to the house.

By means of sliding panes, this corner of the house can fully open up to further blur the boundaries between inside and outside. Views from the living room are extended by means of a fully glazed corner affording open vistas toward the nearby parklands to the South-West. Further views from the twist are encountered on the second level, where the master sleeping and wellness areas are located.

Site plan – click above for larger image
The interior of the Haus am Weinberg is arranged into spaces of varying atmospheres and spatial qualities, with the four glazed and open corners allowing daylight to reach deep into the house. The materialisation of the interior of the house further accentuates the overall atmosphere of light by means of natural oak flooring, natural stone and white clay stucco walls speckled with small fragments of reflective stone.

Concept diagram – click above for larger image
Custom made features and furnishings are also integrated to blend with and accentuate the architecture. In contrast, at the core of this light and flowing structure is a multi-purpose darker room, dedicated to music, masculine conviviality, and the hunt. In this room the ceilings and walls have especially designed acoustic dark wood panels which transform from an articulated relief on the ceiling into a linear pattern as they descend the walls and meet the dark wooden floors.

Layout diagram – click above for larger image
The volume and roofline of the Haus am Weinberg react and respond directly to the sloping landscape of the site, where the scales and inclinations of the slopes which sculpture the vineyard setting are reflected in the volumetric appearance of the house. The design of the garden landscaping extends the organisation of the house, with the garden forming a continuation of the diagonals of the floor plans and each division creating different zones for function and planting.

Sloping lines diagram – click above for larger image

Google offers a glimpse inside

2012-10-18T04:53:00.002-07:00

Google offers a glimpse inside
its data centres

18 October 2012 | Leave a comment

News: Google has shared these previously unseen images of its data centres around the world, which feature primary-coloured pipework, cooling rooms that glow green and bicycles for staff to get around (+ slideshow).

A new website called Where The Internet Lives offers virtual tours of eight Google data centres around the world as well as a Google Street View tour of its North Carolina outpost.

The internet giant uses the buildings to process huge amounts of data, including three billion Google search queries a day and 72 hours of YouTube videos a minute.

Each data centre is carefully located and designed to benefit from its surrounding environment. The data centre in Hamina, Finland, which occupies a machine hall designed by Alvar Aalto, uses sea water to cool the building and reduce energy usage.

Small yellow bicycles known as G-bikes are used by Google staff to get around the huge buildings.

The colourful pipes are painted in Google’s signature bright colours. The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled.

Bright pink pipes transfer water from the green chillers to an outside cooling tower.

The fibre optic networks connecting Google’s sites run along the yellow cable trays near the ceiling and can run at speeds more than 200,000 times faster than a normal home internet connection.

Plastic curtains are hung in the network rooms to act as a barrier, keeping cold air inside to circulate around the machines.

Other Google buildings we’ve featured on Dezeen include the internet giant’s London headquarters and another London office with a seaside theme – see all our stories about Google.

More recently we reported on the Google Web Lab at the Science Museum in London, where visitors can operate robots and play with virtual teleporters.

We previously published photos from inside the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the particle accelerator constructed in a 27km underground tunnel on the border of France and Switzerland.

See all our stories about Google »

OMA’s gallery design blamed

2012-10-18T04:52:00.005-07:00

OMA’s gallery design blamed
for Rotterdam art heist

17 October 2012 | 10 comments

News: the architecture of OMA‘s Kunsthal gallery in Rotterdam has been criticised following the theft of seven major paintings by artists including Picasso, Matisse and Monet.
The heist, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday 16 October, saw thieves break in through the doors of the gallery and escape with millions of pounds worth of paintings.
Security expert Ton Cremers has said that some of the fault lies with the architecture and that this is a recurring problem in Dutch museums. Speaking to Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, he said: ”Once inside the building, thieves could easily walk through the entire museum. There were no extra compartments built for the expensive pieces.”
Cremers explained that the glazed design typical of many modern galleries gives thieves a good view of the paintings from the outside. Despite calling the Kunsthal “a gem of a building” he told De Volkskrant how it is “an awful building to protect,” as it is impossible to move artworks away from the exterior walls.
“Museums should focus more on the security of the buildings,” said Cramer. “They are currently too focused on electronics such as cameras and motion detectors.”
Completed in 1992, the Kunsthal was one of Rem Koolhaas’ first major projects and was praised for providing flexible spaces that can accommodate various exhibitions within three halls and two galleries.
OMA are currently working on designs for a gallery with sliding walls and removable floors in a Moscow park. Find out more in our interview with Rem Koolhaas.

Firma Casa by the Campana brothers

2012-10-18T04:52:00.002-07:00

Firma Casa by the Campana brothers
and SuperLimão Studio

8 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana and architects SuperLimão Studio have covered the facade of a São Paulo furniture showroom with thousands of plant-filled vases.

The faceted aluminium containers hang from a mounted wire grid on the exterior of the two-storey Firma Casa store.

Folding metal doors leading into the ground floor showroom open wide enough for large furniture to fit through.

Concrete covers the floor of this gallery and store, while air conditioning ducts and lighting rails remain exposed on the ceiling.

Staff offices are located upstairs on the first floor.

The Campana brothers also recently completed their first hotel interior – see that story here and see more of their projects here.

Photography is by Maira Acayaba.

Here’s a little more text from SuperLimão Studio:

Firma Casa – Between Design and Art
The Firma Casa project started to be developed in November 2008, when Sonia Diniz Bernardini, owner of Firma Casa, decided to renew her store, established in 1994. She invited the Studio Campana to make the project and they decided together to invite SuperLimão Studio, a young architecture and design studio, to make the project and develop a lot of ideas.
The project consists in a two floor building with 500 square meters divided in a gallery, a retail store and, in the second floor, the offices. All of the steel structure, air conditioning ducts, and a grid of electric rails are showed in the ceiling. The beams can be used with industrial magnets to hang pieces, and pallets shelving can support different pieces with different dimensions. SuperLimão Studio looked to flexibility to develop the project with could be used for a lot of different exhibitions.
A three pieces front door allows entering pieces of big dimension into the gallery and the whole concrete floor can support heavy weight objects, sculptures, etc. In the outdoor area the Elastopave® was used to give the floor the capacity to drain rainwater.
To cover the whole façade, Fernando and Humberto Campana suggested a green wall with Espada-de-São-Jorge (Sansevieria Trifasciata), a plant with African origin and very diffused in Brazilian popular culture because of it’s protective superstition power. In front of this challenge SuperLimão Studio developed a bent aluminum vase, with an origami form to support the plants. There are 3500 vases with 9000 seedlings of Espada-de-São-Jorge.
Project: SuperLimão Studio + Studio Campana
Location: Al. Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 1487, São Paulo, SP Architect: SuperLimão Studio
Landscape: Fernando e Humberto Campana
Landscape Execution: Maria Helena Cruz
Structural Engineers: Statura General Contractor: Sigla Engenharia Design: 2008 – 2011
Construction: 2011 – 2011
Site Area: 952 square meters Building Area: 505,47 square meters Use: Art Gallery -‐ Retail Store Photography: Maira Acayaba

Green Cast by Kengo Kuma

2012-10-18T04:51:00.002-07:00

Green Cast by Kengo Kuma
& Associates

18 June 2012 | 4 comments

Plants sprout through the patchwork aluminium facade of this pharmacy and clinic in Japan by architects Kengo Kuma and Associates (+ slideshow).

Dozens of tiny holes pierce each of the aluminium panels, which were formed against broken-down polystyrene to give them a bumpy texture.

The plants grow out from between the panels with ventilation shafts and rainwater downpipes concealed behind them.

Named Green Cast, the four-storey-high building also contains offices and an apartment.

Stairs lead up from the top-floor residence to a terrace on the roof and there’s a car park in the basement.

Other recent projects by Kengo Kuma & Associates include a museum screened by floating tiles and a Starbucks coffee shop near a Shinto shrine.

See all our stories about Japanese architect Kengo Kuma »

Here’s a little more text from Kengo Kuma & Associates:

Green Cast
The façade of the building is covered with planters made of aluminum die-cast panels, which provides space for facilities.

The 3 (up to 6) aluminum panels, which also form planters, are made in monoblock casting.

Each panel is slanted, and its surface appears to be organic, of which cast comes from decayed styrene foam.

Equipment such as watering hose, air reservoir for ventilation and downpipes are installed behind the panels so that the façade can accommodate a comprehensive system for the building.

Name of Project: Green Cast
Location: Odawara-shi, Kanagawa prefecture
Type of Project: new construction (extension from existing)

Principal Use: shop, clinic, office and private residence
Design and Supervision: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Structure: RC, steel-frame

Number of Stories: 1 underground, 4 stories above
Site area: 424.50sq m
Built area: 207.64sq m
Total area: 1047.80㎡(residence area: 181.61sq m)
Floor area for each story: B１F：288.68sq m　1F：201.65sq m　2F：189.13sq m 3F: 189.13sq m 4F: 181.61sq m
Maximum height: 14.97m

Structure: Makino Structural Design
Utilities, Equipment: P.T. Morimura and Associates
Construction: Takenaka Corporation

Tree Planting: Sugiko
Aluminum Die-Cast: Sanwa Tajima
Construction Period: May 2010 – June 2011

Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry

2012-10-18T04:50:00.001-07:00

Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry
by Chartier-Corbasson Architectes

16 October 2012 | 7 comments

The deep-framed windows of this office building by French studio Chartier-Corbasson Architectes burst through mossy walls and piles of stone beside a 100-year old mansion in Amiens.

Scattered across the green walls, the windows offer glimpses inside the new six-storey building that accommodates the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Picardy.

Chartier-Corbasson’s Olivia Caillou explained that the organisation had first planned to occupy both the new building and the historic Hôtel Bouctôt Vagniez, but eventually “decided to move all their offices into the new construction” and use the old building as a reception space.

Describing the design of the green walls, Caillou said that they drew inspiration from the Japanese-style garden that surrounds the property and that “the choice of our plants was guided by this particular aesthetic”.

Meeting rooms and offices occupy each of the floors, while a 189-seat auditorium is located in the basement.

The rear of the block nestles into a row of buildings on a neighbouring street and is clad with steel panels that were designed to match the colours and patterns of the typical local brickwork.

See more projects with green walls, including a pharmacy and clinic by Kengo Kuma.
Photography is by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre.
Here’s a project description from the architects:

Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Amiens 2012
The Bouctot-Vagniez Town Hall in Amiens is a remarkable building, an architectural testament to the glories of nineteen-twenties Art Nouveau. Our project is concerned with designing an extension to this unique building, which is home to the Picardy Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image
All the essential features of the project are represented in a plinth of living greenery that creates a link between the new wing, the existing premises and the gardens. The offices will be situated above this greenery plinth. They are housed in two separate spaces divided from one another by an atrium that will allow natural light and air to penetrate the heart of the building. Screen-printing technology protects certain perspectives by shading the glazed areas or leaving them clear, according to the needs created by the utilisation of the rooms behind. To the south, on the roadside elevation, a double skin of metal mesh allows for ventilation and creates a sunscreen, creating a secluded atmosphere in the offices.

Second floor plan – click above for larger image
As regards the garden elevation, the design forms part of the existing landscaping as a sort of kink in the boundary wall. The hall opens out as broadly as possible onto the gardens, and the ground floor rises up to embrace a wide panoramic bay window creating a fluid, light-filled space.

Section – click above for larger image
Client: CRCI de Picardie
Architects: Chartier-Corbasson Architectes
Iida Tulkki, Gabriel Guthieriez architectes assistants
Engineering: Betom
HEQ engineering: Cap Terre
Acoustics: JPLamoureux
Stage design: Ducks scéno
Consultant facade: Van Santen et associés
Program: Office building, meeting rooms, reception rooms, 189 seats auditorium, landscape design
Net surface: 1800 sq m
Budget: €56 million
Delivery: June 2012

Think about car parts

2012-09-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

Chinese Pavilion at Venice
Architecture Biennale 2012

4 September 2012 | Leave a comment

Bright lights, prime numbers and a map of the universe are installed amongst the abandoned oil tanks of a former shipbuilding workshop in what’s now the Chinese Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2012.

Textasiða by Snæfríð Thorsteins
and Hildigunnur Gunnarsdottir

16 April 2012 | Leave a comment

Textasiða, a typography exhibition by graphic designers Snæfríð Thorsteins and Hildigunnur Gunnarsdottir, was on show last month at Crymogea as part of DesignMarch 2012 in Rekjavic, Iceland.

The exhibition comprised large wall-mounted tablets with racks of moveable letters like Scrabble tiles.

The letter blocks come in different sizes and allow the user to rearrange them to create messages and sayings.

The variations in the size of each letter block play with light and shadow, changing as the blocks are moved around. The exhibition also included a hand-bound book of Icelandic birds by Benedict Gröndal Sveinbjarnarson.

The images above were taken with the Pentax K-01 camera designed by Marc Newson, which was kindly given to us by Pentax for the trip. You can also see our architecture tour and studio visits from the trip, or watch an interview with Marc Newson talking about the camera on Dezeen Screen.

Pivot by Shay Alkalay

30 January 2008 | 18 comments

These drawers by young Israeli designer Shay Alkalay were launched by Dutch brand Arco at the IMM Cologne furniture fair earlier this month.

Called Pivot, the unit rests against the wall and features drawers that pivot open rather than sliding.

Here’s some text about the piece from Alkalay:
–

Pivot

design by Raw-Edges, Shay Alkalay

This surprising cabinet is ideally suited to storing small items and everyday necessities in order to make sure these are always in the same place. Very useful during morning rush hour at home!

The solid wood cabinet is built on tall legs and features two drawers.

The innovative aspect of this cabinet is the fact that the drawers can hinge, making it possible to open both at the same time, which is impossible with a conventional set of drawers.

Available in: lacquer, solid oak, solid American walnut.

Shay Alkalay is a young Israeli designer. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2006 (MA Design Products, Ron Arad’s Course) he is now designing in his own Raw-Edges Design Studio in London.

Hiedaira House by Thomas Daniell Studio

30 January 2011 | 15 comments

This concrete house in Hiedaira, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, by Kyoto firm Thomas Daniell Studio, is located next door to the house and studio we published on Dezeen last week (se e our earlier story here).

The entire building is made of exposed reinforced concrete, including the gabled roof, which has been treated to make it waterproof.

Built on a sloping piece of land, the house is a single storey at the front and expands into two stories at the rear.

Large windows in the bedroom and living room provide views of the surrounding landscape, which includes a national park.

All our stories featuring Japanese houses »

More residential architecture on Dezeen »

The following information is from the architects:

HOUSE IN HIEIDAIRA
This is a single-family house designed for a lush natural setting a new subdivision in the mountains above Kyoto.

The site slopes away to the north, facing onto a National Park, with a view across a forest toward Mt Hiei (the most sacred mountain in Japanese Buddhism).

In compliance with new building regulations that mandate orthogonal walls and gabled roofs, the house takes the form of a nagaya (traditional row house): a linear sequence of rooms contained in a long, narrow volume aligned perpendicular to the street.

The house expands in section to follow the slope: single-story at the street façade, expanding to two stories at the rear of the site.

This allows the gabled roof shape to define the interior spaces rather than simply sit on top of them. The bedrooms are half buried, whereas the living area is oriented toward the mountains.

The historical nagaya type is a response to the narrow, deep sites in congested inner-city Kyoto, with little or no space between buildings, but in this semi-rural location the lot has been divided in half longitudinally, with building and garden set parallel and having approximately the same width and footprint.

The rooms are arranged as a band running along the western edge of the site, enabling natural light penetration into each room.

The location of the building gives maximum separation from the neighbor to the east, and hence maximum sunlight in the garden area that remains.

The overall nagaya form remains as abstract as possible, made entirely from bare concrete.

The roof has no cladding or surface membrane (an invisible waterproofing compound has been applied to the exposed slab) and there are no projecting eaves, making the house volume akin to something sliced from a block of tofu.

There are no drains, downspouts, or gutters — or more precisely, the entire roof plane has been subtly shaped to become an enormous rainwater channel.

The roof perimeter slopes gently upwards, creating subtle parapets that prevent water from falling down the long walls, channeling it all to the building’s north and south ends where it may fall freely to the ground.

Architect: Thomas Daniell (assistants: Fumihiko Nakamura, Mike Heighway)

Click for larger image
Contractor: Shimizu Corporation
Location: Hieidaira, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Click for larger image
Program: Single family house (2 adults, 2 children)
Area: 136m2 (two stories)

Click for larger image
Construction: September 2008-May 2009
Structure: reinforced concrete

Tour Végétale de Nantes by Edouard François

12 July 2011 | 15 comments

Plants adapted to thrive in rocky crevices will take over the facade of this tower for Nantes by French architect Edouard François.

Plants will grow inside stainless steel tubes on the Tour Végétale de Nantes.

The tubes will take up little space on each host balcony but will provide leafy surroundings for inhabitants while showcasing species collected by the local botanical gardens.

The building will comprise a plinth containing retail and parking, offices enclosed in a black rubber cube and the residential tower with shifting, elliptical balconies.

François is renowned for architecture that incorporates plants, including the Parisian Eden Bio social housing development completed in 2009. More details in our earlier story.

More stories about plants on Dezeen »
The information below is from Edouard François:

This operation situated in the future eco-neighborhoods, Prairie-au-Duc, in Nantes, is unique in particular because of its height. Its main challenge is to (re) create the desire to live in tall buildings, in a remarkable setting in the heart of the town.
This mixed project consists of a base of shops and parking, on which is placed in a black rubber cube of offices and a housing tower of 17 storey (60m).
The tower consists of a main body ringed by elliptic balconies. The balconies vary from floor to floor to form a giant organic silhouette.
The tower is the support for a collection of chasmophites plants coming from the collections of the botanical gardens of Nantes. These plants have been collected by scientists from the whole world and frozen. The building will show the plant collection of the city.
The originality of the plantation is to grow in long stainless steel tubes (diameter: 12cm/length: 4meters ). These tubes recreate the natural conditions of the chasmpophite plants that grow in rocky mountain flaws. A scientific experiment is currently underway for over a year in the botanical gardens of Nantes, to test the viability of the plantation process. The result of this experimentation shows that the growth of plants is exceptional for a very low water consumption.
The impact of the tubes on the balconies is minimal. On the other hand on the facades, they form vertical dynamic lines.
Tour végétale de Nantes
Architect : Edouard François – int. FRIBA
Botanist : Claude Figureau
BET : AIA-SERA
Client : Groupe Giboire
Ilot A2 – Prairie aux Ducs – Ile de Nantes – Nantes
Planning : Concours Déc. 2009 – Livraison 2012
Program 9150 m² :
7500 m2 – appartments 6 240 m² (85 à 90 units)
2000 m2 – office,
350 m² – activity
91 parking places

To be changed. Look at later as if the roof is the wall.

2012-09-17T06:16:00.004-07:00

Theoretical Block by Áron Lõrincz

26 April 2010 | Leave a comment

Visualisation artist, architect and designer Áron Lõrincz has sent us a short movie that takes a real communist-era tower block in Budapest and imagines it extruded beyond our atmosphere.

Common Ground/Different Worlds
by Noero Architects

13 September 2012 | 1 comment

This movie by filmmakers Stretch documents the ongoing work by Cape Town studio Noero Architects to create a cultural centre within the barracks of Port Elizabeth that were once used as a concentration camp.

The barracks were dismantled and reassembled in Red Location Precinct after the Boer War, before becoming the first community of black African families in South Africa during the racial segregation at the start of the twentieth century.

Noero Architects have designed a complex centred around a museum for the centre of the historic settlement, which is under construction and due for completion in 2022.

“We thought, what better place in Port Elizabeth than to use Red Location as the new cultural centre of the city?” explained Jo Noero. “Where you could bring together the histories of the Afrikaner people and the histories of the black African people and show that they both suffered in different ways at different times, under different groups and regimes. In a way it was about talking about a real form of reconciliation.”

The movie was completed after the opening of the exhibition and shows some of the completed buildings of the project and how they fit in amongst the existing urban fabric.

“The best public space in South Africa is the street and the way in which life happens along its edges,” said Noero. “What we did at Red Location was to reinforce the idea of street and where we make bigger spaces we simply created indentations in the buildings which come directly off the street”.

Plan detail – click above for larger image
Noero has also produced a nine-metre-long, hand-drawn plan to illustrate the proposals, which he is presenting at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

When discussing the use of hand drawings, Noero said “there is nothing that the computer can do that can replicate that sense of control that you have by drawing by hand. When you draw by the hand you connect with your mind and your heart, and it is an action that you can control.”

See more stories from the Venice Architecture Biennale »

Here’s a few lines of text about the exhibition:

“South African Architect Jo Noero’s work has always been sensitive to the divided and contested urban conditions of his country’s cities, and his installation here reflects thus through two powerful artworks.

Above: exhibition at the Arsenale Corderie
One is a 9m-long hand drawing, depicting at 1:100 the Red Location Precinct in Port Elizabeth, a project that proposes common ground in a city torn apart by the urbanistic consequences of apartheid. Next to it is the artwork Keiskamma Guernica, a tapestry made by fifty women from the Hamburg Women’s Co-operative from the Eastern Cape.

Above: exhibition at the Arsenale Corderie
These two meticulous, labour-intensive works are contrasting and complementary pieces of evidence of an urban condition where common ground is not easily achieved.”

Pimlico School, John Bancroft

2012-09-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.annastathaki.com/index.php?/root/wallpapercom/

Project facts

Location: London
Country: UK
Year of Completion: 1970
Client: Unknown
Architect: Architects' Department of the Greater London Council John Bancroft
Size: Not known
Pupils: Not known
Construction Sum: Unknown

Overview

Pimlico school was demolished at the start of 2008 amidst an acrimonious debate as to whether this icon of the so called ‘brutalist’ architecture should be saved. The much derided style which is often branded inhumane is disappearing fast and although loved by many architects, public opinion tends to sway towards removing such buildings from the landscape. Pimlico comprehensive school will be re-built as Pimlico Academy in the near future, and it remains to be seen if the school’s new home will be as innovative or controversial as its previous one.
Pimlico school’s appearance was nothing if not striking. Many thought it had a nautical appearance. Part of this aesthetic comes from the elimination of external walls and roofs, which mean a series of planes are folded over to create the building envelope, more akin to naval architecture than land bearing construction. This enabled large areas of glazing to be utilised, creating a light interior. The design of circulation in and around the building was incredibly efficient, with a central internal concourse running the length of the building, reducing the need for meandering lengths of narrow corridors.

Themes

Integrated flexibility for space and learning
The integrated nature of the building form, rather than a series of individual or grouped buildings, enables all of the schools activities to take place under one roof. The main assembly halls, swimming pool and gym are all integral elements in the school building, providing a very compact layout. In order to accommodate all these elements some clever spatial planning was undertaken, with halls being raised up and the pool being sunk into the ground.
Integrated social and physical context
Conceived in the 1960s the building represented a bright new future for architecture and education. The design brought together new construction techniques and conceptual ideas to create a building that acted as a physical symbol of progress, development and learning for the surrounding area.
Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces
There are a number of innovatively designed spaces within the school that merit further investigation;
The in-the-round assembly hall occupies a lofty position at the top of the building, and represents an egalitarian approach to meeting and performance. The library is a beautifully proportioned space, with a double height central space appropriate for a reading hall and lower ceiling around the edges that is more suitable for individual quiet study. A series of greenhouses run along the edge of the building, connecting the building back to the ground and encouraging the production of food by pupils.
Many of the large strips of glazing are canted to face the sky, with a similarly inclined window sill, encouraging every to look up and be aspirational.

Sources

The Twentieth Century Society, The Pimlico Comprehensive School Website

Building Design Online, 7 March 2008, Demolition of Pimlico School Begins Website

http://www.imagineschooldesign.org/detail.html?&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=19&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=5&cHash=e1af9ee0d7

In the first of three movies filmed at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Reinier de Graaf of OMA talks about Pimlico School, a brutalist building in London that was demolished last year and which features in OMA’s Public Works exhibition of “masterpieces by bureaucrats” at the biennale.

Pimlico School was designed by John Bancroft of the Greater London Council’s architecture department and was constructed in the 1960s. Its demolition to make room for a new building followed a long campaign to have it listed. ”The architect campaigned very actively but he wasn’t a star architect,” de Graaf told Dezeen. “They took him to the demolition site and all he could murmur was ‘bloody fools, bloody fools.’”

De Graaf explains that although they weren’t credited by name for their work, architects working in government departments during the 1960 and 1970s created buildings with “enormous vitality and an impressive social mission.”

Seoul Memorial Park

2012-08-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

Seoul Memorial Park
by HAEAHN Architecture

This crematorium in Seoul by Korean firm HAEAHN Architecture folds up from the landscape and curls around a peaceful courtyard and pool of water.

Gardens and ponds run alongside the two-storey building, while grass and plants cover the entire roof.

Visitors enter beneath a sheltered canopy, before following a procession through the building that trails around the courtyard and ends at one of the gardens.

Skylights bring natural light into the building from above and are reflected in the polished marble floors.

We’ve previously featured a few crematoriums, including one with fortress-like walls and dozens of square windows.

Photography is by Park Youngchae.

Here’s some more text from the architects:

Seoul Memorial Park
Secluded by mountain hills from a bustling highway gateway, Seoul Memorial Park rests in a serene valley area of the Woo-Myun Mountain on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. Seoul Memorial Park is a crematorium constructed in harmony with the natural terrain of the site, which previously lent calming scenic views to meditative passing-by hikers, and is now converted to a sanctuary for solemn rituals concluding life’s journeys.

Canvas for Land Art
To overcome the unwelcomed response from the community, this crematorium was sought to be a “non-erected” building. Instead, Seoul Memorial Park emerges as a form of “land art” sculpted into the existing topography with a flowing array of architectural forms and motifs. Concaved at the center of the Park, lies a courtyard encompassed by a series of ritual spaces devoted to separate functions.

Site plan – click above for larger image
These spatial layers bordering the courtyard resonate from a distance with the surrounding mountain trails and ridges. The 2-storey high crematorium facility configured in the curvilinear belt along the courtyard has roof structures linked in the way flower petals pinwheel one another, punctuated by a reflective pool at the very heart of the courtyard.

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image
Comfort in the Final Journey
Families in bereavement take the final journey of parting as they encircle the courtyard along a path reminiscent of spiritual spaces with vaulted ceilings and indirect lighting. Towards the cremation alcove, the ceiling rises drastically as a clearstory above a triforum. Upon completion of the path, a meandering garden comforts the bereft.

East elevation – click above for larger image
As the water from the mountain flows down and gives life to the garden, one might be reminded of the transfiguration of sorrows in praise of the harmony in nature. The garden shimmers with sunlight, whispers with snowfalls, and dances with spring rains. Season by season, tranquility is discovered and the spirit is renewed. Just as nature was dissolved into a building to rest in the valley, Seoul Memorial Park was embodied in a piece of land art to celebrate life and transfigure sorrows.

North elevation – click above for larger image
Date of Completion: 2012
Site Area: 36,000 m2
GFA: 18,000 m2
Client: Seoul Municipal Facilities Management Corporation

West elevation – click above for larger image
2009 winning competition entry and 2012 built project by HAEAHN architecture.

Lighting silhouette of house

2012-07-24T06:38:00.003-07:00

Building Tilelamp at Casa do Lado
by 20.87

21 July 2012 4 comments

Brazilian studio 20.87 has used plastic panels and LED lighting to transform an old house in São Paulo into a giant lamp (+ slideshow).

The translucent corrugated panels were screwed to a wooden frame placed around the building, allowing the lighting mounted around the edges of the facade to diffuse through.

The former house is located beside design store MiCasa and is used as a gallery for design exhibitions.

A previous installation we’ve featured at the building consisted of metal tubing and lamps wrapped around the inside and outside – see it here.

See more projects in Brazil.

Read more details from the designers below:

The project was developed as a request of design store MiCasa. It consists of the scenographic customization of the adjacent building to the store, in order to host an art exhibition in its interior.

After the concept was defined, the construction lasted approximately four weeks. To start with, we decided where the LED tapes would be placed.

Simultaneously, we constructed a wood structure to receive the tile covering.

With the conclusion of the installation of the lighting, the structure was fixated on the walls of the house at a distance of 20 centimeters from the original construction in order to leave a space between the wall and the tiles, making the lighting more subtle and correcting any sort of irregularities that could be present in the surface of the walls.

The tiles were custom made for the project and fixated with screws.

The permanence of the installation is of approximately 6 to 10 months, for a new building will be constructed in the same ground afterwards.

2012-05-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

Chandigarh by Doshi Levien

23 May 2012

Milan 2012: London designers Doshi Levien have designed an armchair and sofa for Italian brand Moroso that’s inspired by Modernist architect Le Corbusier and the Indian city of Chandigarh that he masterplanned in the 1950s.

The sofa consists of large upholstery pieces, covered in leather or fabric, sitting within a delicate steel frame.

Doshi Levien have also designed a Chandigharh-inspired fabric pattern for the sofa as well as a series of coffee tables to compliment the collection.

Their work was displayed at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April.

See all our stories about Milan 2012 here, plus photos on Facebook and Pinterest.

See more by Doshi Levien on Dezeen »
See more about Moroso on Dezeen »

Here’s some more information from Doshi Levien:

Chandigarh Sofas and tables for Moroso.
The city of Chandigarh in India, known for the architecture by Le Corbusier, is the subject and name of the new collection of sofas by Doshi Levien for Moroso.

The principles of modernism, apparently totally unrelated to the city of Chandigarh yet deeply rooted in its identity, have inspired Nipa and Jonathan in the creation of a quintessentially modern seating collection, with a contemporary approach.

“For us the Chandigarh sofa is the coming together of modernity, sensuality, graphics and eccentric qualities”, claim the Anglo-Indian designer couple.

The Chandigarh sofa is soft and comfortable yet at the same time compact, visually slim and lightweight. The seat is in moulded foam and rests on a frame in iron like a precious stone set in a ring.

” The covers are in leather or fabric with a printed pattern designed by Doshi & Levien which pays homage to the memory of the city of Chandigarh.

A series of tables compliment the Chandigarh collection, further enriching the architectural material palette using a combination of glass, terrazzo, polished metal and tubular steel.

Cineteca Matadero by

2012-05-29T04:31:00.002-07:00

Cineteca Matadero by
Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo

28 May 2012

Slideshow: Huge glowing baskets surround the staircases of this former slaughterhouse in Madrid that Spanish architects Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo have converted into a cinema.

First constructed at the start of the twentieth century, the Cineteca Matadero was used as an abattoir and livestock market for around 85 years, but is now renovated to accomodate two cinema screens, a film studio, an archive and a terrace for outdoor screenings.

The illuminated orange structures dominate the three floors of the film archive, which are otherwise dimly lit and lined with dark grey-painted wood.

Woven walls also surround the two auditoriums but are painted black so as not to detract from the screens.

In the studio areas, the existing brick walls of the hundred-year-old building are mostly left exposed, although some are partially covered with wooden panels.

We’ve published a few unusual conversion projects from Spain recently. See our earlier stories about a market hall converted into a children’s centre and a civic centre inside a former prison.

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s a bit more information from Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo:

Cinema Center in Matadero de Legazpi, Madrid
Refurbishment and conversion of an old slaughterhouse into a public cinema center housing a film archive, film and television studio, two cinemas, offices, canteen, and summer film patio.

Memory, memories, even bad memory always twist and fly when we work on architectural past, … yes, make a story, choose the tone, cadence, rhythm, accents, a story that naturally coexist with collective memory of the old slaughterhouse of Madrid, with another early report of new application dedicated to the movies while curled up with the forgetfulness of their own recurrent obsessions…

The magical backlight and contrast of the films, and the childhood fascination of basketry and technical human infinite geometries are the sensory triangle… the rest is to surround in spiral this atmosphere, this feeling, and define it constructively.

The tectonic history of brickland, the powerful rhetoric of the old slaughterhouse is the background, and also figure at the scenes of the story, a story in which a continuous low background, a wooden monomaterial painted in dark gray defines the new program deployed on walls, floors and ceilings, allowing a clear separation between story and History.

Against this dark carpet background, my own memory outputs a floating figures, some huge vibrant baskets that define the main spaces.
The Film Archive Area is covered by a permeable basket, huge, walkable, that filters light and works as a lamp, a huge figure of a modest orange hose knitted infinitely.

The Baskets that define Film rooms are shades of black. In the main room the orange background illuminated make the basket float until the movie begins, the background disappears and only a vibrant black surface stays.

In the small projection room, a basket-banked trough very black on black space fleet almost black wood, only when you open a window dazzles the eye.
Because the eye and limits of perception are ultimately the real protagonists of this history of cinema.

Silent Structure:
There is a constructive and structural battle, a battle to defend silent and hidden history. And to defend it is to disobey the pathology reports that distrust of the History of the factory building, do not understand that the factories of brick and masonry love to be charged… are happier and more cohesive… and that its logic is always a problem of stability and strength.

Relying on these unrepeatable walls of solid brick and lime mortar, the intervention has solved the great spam required by the program. The horizontal structure has been solved with reinforced concrete slabs, whose two-way working with the existing brick walls make a complete set of vertical load-bearing walls, distributing efforts through the generous cloth walls.

The foundations of these walls was reinforced overloading batteries slightly inclined of micropiles penetrating under the vertical projection of stepped masonry foundations.

Background and Baskets:
Upon resolution of the structure, a continuous carpet of grey painted pine flooring covers walls, floors and ceilings defining the new architecture of space.
Against this dark wood background, the monomaterial woven baskets, frames made of bent steel tubing as the guarantors of geometry, and woven with conventional industrial irrigation hoses.

Facilities:
The spaces defined by the tectonics of the preexisting, the dark background of wood and the protagonists of the baskets figures required a deliberate silence on the introduction of the facilities.

The enormous demand of fresh air that require the Plato and the Cinemas need a huge conducts that gets buried under ground most of these easements. The areas without such large ventilation requirements, such as lobbies, offices and circulation areas are solved with underfloor heating / cooling systems.

The lighting is deliberately disordered avoiding the perverse and sad homogeneity to which we are pushed by our regulations. Clusters of bulbs view dances in the walls… stripes of woven LEDs lighten the baskets and the space underneath.

Project name: Cinema Center in Matadero de Legazpi
Location: Matadero de Legazpi, Madrid, Spain

Program: Refurbishment and conversion of an old slaughterhouse into a public cinema center housing a film archive, film and television studio, two cinemas, offices, canteen, and summer film patio

Area: Built-up Area: 2.688 m2
Year: Design: 2009 • Completion: 2011

Cost: 4.104.843 €
Client: Madrid City Council

Project by: churtichaga+quadra salcedo architects
Team: Principal Designer: Josemaria de Churtichaga • Project Design Team: Mauro Doncel Marchán, Natanael López Pérez • Building Design Team: Leticia López de Santiago

Others: Contractor: Edhinor • Quantity Surveyor: Joaquín Riveiro Pita, Martín Bilbao Bergantiños • Structural Surveyor: Euteca • Facilities Surveyor: Úrculo Ingenieros Consultores