This week’s roundup in our series on residential architecture from different US states brings us to Arkansas, home to a prefabricated cantilevered dwelling designed by students and a pool house with an overhanging sleeping loft (+ slideshow). (more…)
The Metropole is a sleek, new, urban condo development positioned on a prominent corner in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. The seven-story building comprises 90 residences.
The starting point for this project is a corner unit penthouse with walls of windows along a southern and western exposure. The space as inherited was raw and included a large double height space, anchored at the corner with expansive two-story walls of glass. These windows afford generous city views, including a defined view toward the Washington Monument.
The design strategy employs part of the two story space to be used for a bedroom and bathroom while providing access to two rooftop spaces. These spaces are located away from the double height window wall. A large pocketing door in the bedroom provides views through the space below and south toward the Washington Monument. As designed, the stair location and arrangement of spaces allow public access to the larger rooftop terrace, while the smaller terrace becomes privately accessible from the bedroom.
This project is organized around the two story corner window walls. A fireplace is suspended from the ceiling and floats in the space. A cantilevered glass platform extends from the bedroom and extends into the volume. Light fixtures that change color animate the space. The goal was to provide a dynamic space that anchored the unit while not distracting from the city views beyond.
Jeremy Corbyn debates Owen Smith on BBC Question Time’s Labour leadership hustings
9.42pm BST
Q: One of you wants to scrap Trident, the other says we should have talks with Isis, so why should we trust either of you on security?
Smith says he never said we should negotiate with Isis.
9.39pm BST
A young woman asks what they would say to young people who were not allowed to vote in the referendum.
Smith says he thinks 16 and 17-year-olds should have been allowed to vote.
9.34pm BST
Corbyn says EU nationals in the UK work hard and support public services.
He says he wanted free movement, but was concerned about the undercutting of wages.
9.30pm BST
A woman in the audience accuses Corbyn of not doing enough for the remain cause. Remain could have won if Corbyn had campaigned more effectively, she says.
Corbyn says he did campaign hard for remain.
9.28pm BST
Smith says we do not know what Brexit means.
Labour has to stand up to the Tories, he says.
9.24pm BST
Q: And what is your view on controlling immigration?
Corbyn says non-EU immigration is already controlled. He supported signing the posting of workers directive to stop workers having their wages undercut by migrants. And he backed the return of the migrant impact fund, abolished by the Tories.
9.22pm BST
Q: Should there be a second referendum on leaving the EU or the terms of Brexit?
Corbyn says we have to recognise the results, regrettable as it is. But Britain has to protect workers’ rights.
9.21pm BST
A member of the audience asks Smith to identify a Labour policy he supports that Corbyn doesn’t.
Smith says he supports remaining in the EU, and remaining in the single market.
9.20pm BST
Smith says he saw Corbyn asked five times if he wanted to be PM. He did not answer.
In the shadow cabinet Corbyn offered “scant leadership”, he says.
9.19pm BST
Q: Will there be a split if Corbyn wins?
Smith says he will not serve in the shadow cabinet under Corbyn. He could not do so with integrity. But he would not leave Labour, he says. He will vote Labour he says.
9.15pm BST
A man asks why Labour got annihilated in Scotland.
A young woman in the audience says she has been on her CLP committee. The discourse has been divisive. We have heard it tonight, with the booing. It is coming from both sides, but more from Corbyn’s. What is happening generally id disgraceful.
9.10pm BST
Q: Wasn’t Labour ahead in the polls before the leadership challenge?
No, says Smith. There were 89 polls under Corbyn’s leadership. Labour was behind in 85, and level pegging in the others.
9.09pm BST
The questioner says both men look unelectable. Someone else should take over – maybe Harriet Harman.
That prompts booing.
9.05pm BST
Smith says he is very pleased most MPs support him. And he won in the only ballot conducted so far – of GMB members, he says.
He wants to lead Labour back to power.
9.04pm BST
Q: Corbyn has no support from his MPs, and Smith has no support from his party. Shouldn’t they both stand aside to unite the party?
Corbyn says there is huge support in the party for opposing austerity. Some MPs support him. A large number don’t. He fully understands that, he says. But he hopes the party will come together afterwards to take on the Tories.
9.01pm BST
David Dimbleby, of course, is presenting.
He is introducing Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith now.
9.00pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn has been tweeting ahead of the programme.
Getting ready for @bbcquestiontime‘s #LabourLeadership hustings with David Dimbleby #bbcqt http://pic.twitter.com/iJiSqsFSnS
8.58pm BST
According to the BBC there will be around 150 people in the audience tonight and around half of them are Labour supporters, split equally between Corbyn backers and Smith backers. The rest of the people in the audience support a mixture of other parties.
8.57pm BST
Huffington Post is running a clickbaity story ahead of the hustings, based on a handful of tweets, about Corbyn supporters thinking tonight’s programme will be rigged against Corbyn.
The story does not mention the fact that the YouGov poll of people voting in the Labour leadership contest showed that Corbyn’s supporters (97%) really are much more likely than Smith’s supporters (44%) to think the media is biased against Corbyn. But the Smith supporters are less likely than the public at large (51%) to think the media is biased against Corbyn.
The overwhelming majority of Corbyn supporters believe that the mainstream media is biased against Corbyn (97%) and that PR agencies helped orchestrate the ‘chicken coup’ (90%), and more than half believe that the intelligence services are working to undermine Corbyn (55%).
Smith supporters are far more sceptical of such claims, with 44%, 24% and 11% believing them respectively. Belief in these theories is more prevalent among Labour voters in general, however, as well as among the general public at large.
8.47pm BST
Sources in Jeremy Corbyn camp have today released some figures from their own canvassing showing that Corbyn is well ahead of Owen Smith – in Smith’s own constituency. According to their figures, based on 56% of Labour members contacted in Pontypridd in south Wales, 64% are backing Corbyn and just 29% are backing Smith.
8.35pm BST
Comradely is not the word that springs to mind. Whereas last year’s Labour leadership contest was relatively good-natured, this year’s has been much spikier. The contest was triggered because 75% of Labour MPs voted for a motion saying they had no confidence in Corbyn but Corbyn refused to resign. Corbyn’s allies saw this as a coup mounted by 172 MPs prepared to defy the will of more than 400,000 members and supporters who voted in the leadership contest last year. The first hustings between Jeremy Corbyn and the challenger, Owen Smith, in Cardiff at the start of August, was frosty. Since then it’s got worse.
Tonight’s hustings may be the most high-profile yet, although its impact on the result could be limited because many members will have already cast their vote. Corbyn and Smith are on a Question Time special. According to Wikipedia (I did try the BBC press office, but they would not say) a normal Question Time gets seen by almost 3m people. But this one is going out at 9pm, an hour and a half earlier than when the programme usually airs.
Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2cawwdv
REX has released images of the future Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center (The Perelman Center), located on the World Trade Center site in New York City. Located between the gleaming glass tower of One World Trade and the future Two World Trade Center, the Perelman Center takes on a solid, pure form as it is set to become a new home for theater, dance, music, film, opera, and multidisciplinary works for visitors and residents of Lower Manhattan.
Set into the complex campus, the 90,000 square foot building has been rotated to fit within below-ground constraints, as well as address the 9/11 museum and transportation hub. To complement the building’s overall stoic demeanor, a slice has been cut out of the cube to provide seating that opens onto the new public plaza outside.
The structure is wrapped in translucent, veined marble (“from the same Vermont quarry as the U.S. Supreme Court building and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial”) and then laminated within insulated glass – giving the building an elegant, book-matched stone appearance by day, while the thinness of the material creates a dematerialized, glowing appearance at night that displays silhouettes of activity within.
Designed for high-levels of flexibility, the Perelman Center will contain three performances halls seating 499, 250 and 99 people, as well as a rehearsal room capable of adapting for alternative performance configurations.
“While the building’s elegant exterior befits the site, its muscular, utilitarian interior expresses the workhorse quality necessary for the changing nature of The Perelman Center’s artistic needs, through ruggedly beautiful materials that encourage the frequent transformation of scenery and stage-audience configurations,” explain the architects in a press release.
“The Perelman Center is an immensely flexible canvas on which directors can script the patrons’ entire experience from their very entrance into the building,” said Joshua Prince-Ramus, Principal of REX. “It is a ‘mystery box,’ a constant source of surprise for theatergoers and the community. We are honored to be involved with such an important project on such an important site.”
The Perelman Center is expected to open to the public in 2020. Construction costs for the project are currently estimated at $243 million.
A translucent marble cube by Rex Architecture that will contain the Perelman Performing Arts Center has been unveiled as the “keystone” for the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan (+ slideshow). (more…)
London Design Biennale 2016: a Lebanese street market and an archive of “forgotten” Soviet designs are among the winners of the first London Design Biennale medals. (more…)
From the architect. VIΛ 57 West, designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group for the Durst Organization, introduces a new typology to New York City: the Courtscraper. The 830 000 sq ft highrise combines the density of the American skyscraper with the communal space of the European courtyard, offering 709 residential units with a lush 22 000 sq ft garden at the heart of the building.
VIΛ occupies nearly a full city block at the corner of West 57th Street and the West Side Highway, with uninterrupted views towards the Hudson River Park and the waterfront. The Durst Organization commissioned BIG to design a building for the site in the spring of 2010, and construction commenced in 2011. The 32-story building has welcomed residents since May 2016 with the construction completing this Fall. Earlier this year, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) named VIΛ the Best Tall Building in the Americas as part of its 2016 Tall Buildings Award.
“We are very excited about the building, and the activity has exceeded our expectations in terms of velocity and the rents. We always were thrilled with the building but even more so now.” Douglas Durst, The Durst Organization
The VIΛ Courtscraper is a hybrid between the European perimeter block and the traditional American highrise. The building peaks at 450 feet at its north-east corner, thereby maximizing the number of apartments and graciously preserving the adjacent Helena Tower’s views of the river. VIΛ’s volume changes depending on the viewer’s vantage point. From the west, it is a hyperbolic paraboloid or a warped pyramid. From the east, the Courtscraper appears to be a slender spire.
The shared green space at the heart of the block is derived from the classic Copenhagen ‘urban oasis’. The courtyard has the exact same proportions as Olmsted’s park, just 13,000 times smaller – a bonsai Central Park. In a similar accumulation of natural landscapes, the courtyard transforms from a shaded forest in the east, to a sunny meadow in the west. Designed by landscape architecture firm Starr Whitehouse, it features 80 newly planted trees and lawns, and 47 species of native plant material.
“In recent decades, some of the most interesting urban developments have come in the form of nature and public space, reinserting themselves back into the postindustrial pockets, freeing up around the city; the pedestrianization of Broadway & Times Square; the bicycle lanes, the High Line and the industrial piers turning into parks. Located at the northern tip of the Hudson River Park, VIΛ continues this process of greenification allowing open space to invade the urban fabric of the Manhattan city grid. In an unlikely fusion of what seems to be two mutually exclusive typologies – the courtyard and the skyscraper, the Courtscraper is the most recent addition to the Manhattan skyline.” Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.
By keeping three corners of the block low and lifting the north-east portion of the building, the courtyard opens views towards the Hudson River and brings the low western sun deep into the block. While the courtyard is a private space and a sanctuary for residents, it can still be seen from the outside, creating a visual connection to the greenery of the Hudson River Park.
The building is predominantly residential units of different sizes with cultural and commercial program at the street level and the second floor. The lower levels of VIΛ have a strong relationship to the courtyard. The lobby is connected directly to the courtyard via a grand stair which invites residents into the courtyard space. The generous amenities at VIΛ include lounges and events spaces, a golf simulator, movie screening room, a pool, a basketball court, gym and exercise studios, and game rooms for poker, ping pong, billiards and shuffle board, and are all constructed around the courtyard to create a strong physical and visual connection between the interior and exterior communal spaces.
At the upper levels, the apartments are organized on a fishbone layout, orienting the homes towards the view of the water. Large terraces are carved into the warped façade to maximize views and light into the apartments, while ensuring privacy between the residents.
The material concept for the interior design of the project is “Scandimerican”, another layer of the European-American hybridity. They blend classic modern Scandinavian material sensibility blended with local New York materials. The primary materials of the apartments are oak wood floors and cabinets, and white porcelain tiles in the bathrooms.
As an ultimate union of Scandimerican design, the event spaces feature the Via57 chair, designed in collaboration with BIG and KiBiSi for Danish heritage brand, Republic of Fritz Hansen. The design translates the distinct tetrahedronal shape of the building into a multi-functional piece of furniture, bringing a piece of the Manhattan skyline into shared spaces for VIΛ residents.
The building also features a complementing eight-story sculpture by Stephen Glassman entitled “Flows Two Ways,” anchored on the façade of the adjacent Helena tower. Once completed, the ground floor commercial space will host such public amenities as a restaurant from the Livanos Restaurant Group, a Landmark Theatres movie cinema and the first U.S. retail store for the American Kennel Club.
Comments update: has Apple lost its touch? This special edition of our regular comments update focuses on reader reactions to the tech giant’s latest product announcements, including criticisms of its new wireless headphones (pictured) and the eagerly anticipated iPhone 7. (more…)
Sig Nordal 