From the architect. The house is located on a sloped corner site in the Innovation City, and it’s looking at a distant mountain in the northeast. The site is sitting at an intersection of a mixed-use housing block and a general dispatched housing block. To use the existing slope, the floor of the retail area on the 1st floor is divided from its corner into two in a diagonal direction, and the level of those two floors are set differently in order to maximize spatial flexibility. For the house on the 3rd floor, its access, entrance and living room are designed to offer a view to the mountain in the northeast. The living room is placed on a space where the mass is segmented in two directions so that it can be linked with a deck outside and also take advantage of natural ventilation all the time.
We are living in the era of single households. Yet in Ulsan, decent housings for them are very scarce. For the people who are living in a rented house under the circumstances, the architect wanted to create a quality space. And as single-room or two-room housings don°Øt provide any independent or private space at all, he wanted to give a separate access and a sense of privacy to the residents while proposing a communal space by using a central circulation established on the corner. For the residence of the owner on the 3rd floor, he attempted to place a kitchen, the owner’s most valued element, in a most decent area, and also to introduce an outdoor space which can be accessed from the living room, kitchen and bedroom.
The essence of this project is the experimental and unconventional circulation system. The straight stairs which draws a diagonal line across this corner site is an unacceptable concept for general owners of mixed-use housing because they think it will affect the lease income of the 1st and 2nd floors. However, considering the nature of the site connected with a dispatched housing (2-storey) block, the architect thought it would be better to split the retail area on the 1st floor into two independent leasing spaces. And as the site is touching the streets on both sides, there would be no problem to use the entire retail area as one space. On entering the 3rd floor via this stairs, one always comes to face a scenery of distant mountains and the close one behind the dispatched housing block. The outdoor stairs provide an access to each unit, and in the end, turn out to be an outdoor terrace for them. During this process, space comes to experience contraction and expansion alternatively and ends up stimulating an architectural excitement.
The tight budget was the biggest challenge of this project. The owner couldn’t allow going over the budget, and the architect had to use it very meticulously. As all owners do, it was natural for the owner to desire better and more things within a given budget. So it was very difficult to lead the owner who is possessed by such an idea and set priorities through choice and concentration in accordance with the budget. But during that process, the owner agreed with the architect suggesting to give a top priority to essential elements in order to create a good space, and also he gave full support to ideas proposed by the architect.
Aedas has released new renderings and photos of Lè Architecture as the 18-story building approaches completion. Inspired by the form and striations of river pebbles, the office building will provide a unique work environment along the Jilong River and will mark an important milestone in the revitalization of the Nangang District of Taipei.
Imitating a moss-covered pebble found in a river, the building employs multiple strategies for adding greenery to the facade. On the west face, a series of vertical green belts provide sunshading for the interior office spaces, while the north and south ends feature a series of vegetated outdoor terraces to create “diverse façade layers with unparalleled views.”
“Efficient, interactive and healthy” office spaces have been carefully arranged to provide “an urban living room” centered around communal areas with kitchens, coffee shops, libraries and “brainstorming spaces.”
The design has been conceived with environmental sustainability in mind to aim for a LEED gold certification. The glass facade of the building has been optimized for construction feasibility, while vertical aluminum fins and the green planters on the west facade lower the interior temperature in the summer through sunshading, reducing the need for mechanical cooling.
Project: Lè Architecture
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Architect: Aedas
Client: Earnest Development & Construction Corporation
Gross floor area: 14,169 square metres
Completion year: 2017
Director: Andy Wen
News via Aedas.
Text by ARQ. In October 2011, the Ministry of Public Works opened a competition to rebuild the Malleco Province Hall Building in the city of Angol through a public bid, bringing together eleven public services that were scattered throughout the city.
Our proposal was a building with a simple design and durable materials that would permit the flexible use of its spaces to respond to the variety of the services and activities that would be offered in the coming decades.
Both the building and the esplanade that precedes it are designed to support everyday life and events, using the state investment to create a condenser of citizen activities in Angol.
The strategy consisted in using the length of the terrain, 110 m, to build a continuous façade, a backdrop for the plaza of the Seven Foundations, Angol’s Civic Center.
The volume is set back from the building line to leave a public space along the block.
The setback also generated a narrower building width that optimized natural light and allowed for cross ventilation.
Two existing araucarias defined an access patio that divided the building in two wings, one containing and auditorium and the civil registry and the other with ten public services.
To strengthen the civic character of the building and specify its relationship with the plaza, we connected its pavement and created an esplanade where the pedestrian is the primary user.
The covered walkway along the facade functions as a protected access area as well as a meeting space in a rainy region of the country.
This covered sidewalk also plays the role of connecting the esplanade, the building and the surrounding streets to integrate the new Government of Malleco with the city fabric.
Hufton+Crow have shared with us their latest set of photographs: Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City. Hardly requiring an introduction, the spiky structure has opened in stages since last year to mixed critical response, with new retail spaces lining the central “Oculus” space debuting to the public earlier this month.
Continue on for the British duo’s photographic impressions of the ribbed structure.
Find more images in the gallery below.
Sunset on the rocks by _olasso The biggest rock of course being Snæfellsjökull glacier in the distance 🙂 http://flic.kr/p/4M6B5z
A pavilion designed by the late Zaha Hadid for London’s Serpentine Gallery has been installed in the grounds of a stately home England’s Peak District, ahead of its sale. (more…)
Sig Nordal 