Advertising agency BETC has taken a huge derelict flour and grain warehouse on the banks of the Canal de l’Ourcq in Paris and transformed it into offices boasting a large roof garden and plant-filled courtyards (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. The new Visual Arts facility for the University of Iowa’s School of Art and Art History provides 126,000 sf of loft- like space for all visual arts media, from ancient metalsmithing techniques to the most advanced virtual reality technologies, including Ceramics, 3D Design, Metal Arts & Jewelry, Sculpture, Printmaking, Painting & Drawing, Graphic Design, Intermedia, Video Art, and Photography. Also housed are galleries, faculty offices, an outdoor rooftop studio, and teaching spaces for Art History.
The Visual Arts Building replaces an original arts building from 1936, which was heavily damaged during a flood of the University of Iowa campus in June 2008. The new building forms an Arts Quad with Art Building West, which was designed by Steven Holl Architects and has drawn students from all over campus to its social spaces and library since opening in 2006. Together they form a visual arts campus for theorizing, teaching and making art.
While the 2006 Arts Building West is horizontally porous and of planar composition, the new building is vertically porous and volumetrically composed. The aim of maximum interaction between all departments of the school takes shape in social circulation spaces.
1. Interconnection: Horizontal Programs, Vertical Porosity
In a school of the arts today, interconnection and crossover, made increasingly possible through digital techniques, are of fundamental importance. Interdisciplinary collaboration between the School’s various art departments is facilitated in the vertical carving out of large open floor plates. Students can see activities ongoing across these openings and be encouraged to interact and meet. Further interconnection is facilitated by glass partitions along the studio walls adjacent to internal circulation.
2. Multiple Centers of Light
Natural light and ventilation reach into the core of the building via “centers of light.” The seven vertical cutouts are characterized by a language of shifted layers, where one floor plate slides past another. This geometry creates multiple balconies, providing outdoor meeting spaces and informal exterior working space, further encouraging interaction between the building’s four levels.
3. Stairs as Vertical Social Condensers: Corridors as Horizontal Meeting Spaces
Stairs are shaped to enable informal meeting, interaction and discussion. Some stairs stop at generous landings with tables and chairs, others open onto lounge spaces with sofas, for informal collaborative work.
4. Campus Space Definition/Porosity
The original grid of the campus breaks up at the Iowa River, becoming organic as it hits the limestone bluff. The Arts West building reflects this irregular geometry in fuzzy edges. The new building picks up the campus grid again in its simple plan, defining the new campus space of the “arts meadow.”
5. Material Resonance, Ecological Innovation
Natural ventilation is achieved via operable windows and skylights. A punched concrete frame structure provides thermal mass at the exterior while “bubble” slabs provide radiant cooling and heating. A Rheinzink skin in weathering
From the architect. Constructed on a triangular parcel of land in Downtown Amherst, Kendrick Place is the latest infill mixed use project from Archipelago Investments. Designed by Holst Architecture from Portland, Oregon, and constructed by Cutler Associates Inc., the project includes 36 modern apartments with ground floor tech space, and ZipCar car share. LEED Gold certified with highest efficiency HVAC, lighting, and appliances. Bright, modern interiors with exposure on all sides. A modern New England classic.
FXFOWLE has unveiled their design for a new Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island in the New York Harbor. Set into a new landscape and lighting plan, the 26,000 square foot (2,415 square meter) museum will feature an exhibition experience by ESI Design, giving the island’s 4.3 million yearly visitors an opportunity “to learn about and honor the Statue’s history, influence, and legacy in the world.”
The new museum will be completely integrated into its surroundings, featuring a green roofscape and bird-safe glass exteriors. Both interior and exterior surfaces will be built using materials either native to Liberty Island or used in the construction of the statue, including granite, bronze, plaster and native vegetation. In accordance with the new FEMA Executive Order on floodplain management and resiliency, the museum will sit above 500‐year flood levels and will be capable of withstanding hurricane force winds.
“From the start, the design of the Statue of Liberty Museum was conceived as an extension of the park,” said Nicholas Garrison, Partner and Project Designer, FXFOWLE. “The goal was to engage with the park’s formal, axial plan and respond to its spectacular setting. The island’s landscape is lifted and merged with the architecture to create space for the Museum in a new geology. The building’s angular forms and spaces are shaped by its views and the irregularity of the water’s edge, celebrating liberty.”
“Rising upwards, and in a nod to the island’s classical master plan, monumental steps are arranged to engage and activate this formal, circular flag plaza,” said Garrison at the unveiling and groundbreaking ceremony. “They will provide sitting, climbing and viewing spaces towards the Statue and activities in the plaza. Visitors can meet here to rest or eat, and we imagine Park Rangers using the steps for educational talks. They will also work as a stage, where performers can be seen by spectators assembled in the plaza below.”
“At the top, a large observation terrace was created to echo the Promenade experience atop Fort Wood. From there one will enjoy sweeping views of the island, the harbor, the city, and of course, of Lady Liberty herself.”
The current museum, located inside the Statue of Liberty, underwent massive safety upgrades following the events of September 11, 2001 which significantly reduced the museum’s occupancy and programming. Inside the new structure, FXFOWLE and ESI’s design will allow for an expanded display of artifacts and exhibits on the history of Liberty, her original concept, design, construction, and her 1986 centennial restoration while exploring the philosophical concept of liberty. Highlights of the exhibition experience will include a virtual flythrough of the monument and immersive storytelling from the statue’s history.
“Our goal is for visitors to take away a richer picture of what the Statue of Liberty has meant to people throughout her history – not only in this nation but around the world – and to see themselves as part of the amazing story of liberty’s future,” said Edwin Schlossberg, President and Principal Designer of ESI Design.
At the museum entrance, a mural envisioned by fashion designer and museum fundraising chair Diane von Furstenberg will be constructed from Gustave Eiffel’s original hand‐forged iron bars, which supported the Statue of Liberty for 100 years and were removed and preserved during her 1986 centennial restoration.
Access to the museum will be included in the purchase of a ferry ticket to visit Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Liberty Island will continue to be open to visitors throughout construction of the new museum. The museum is expected to open to the public in 2019.
For more information on the Statue of Liberty Museum, visit the foundation website, here.
News via FXFOWLE.
Following an international competition to design the main Samsung showcase at the Olympic Park Pavilion, UNStudio was engaged to develop a design that builds on the brand’s history with the Olympic Games.
Samsung Electronics has been a Worldwide Olympic Sponsor in the Wireless Communications Equipment category since the Nagano 1988 Olympics. The design goal for the Samsumg Galaxy Studio was to develop an immersive visitor experience that incorporates pivotal design elements from the Samsung Galaxy brand philosophy.
The Galaxy Studio was specifically designed to help visitors embrace the excitement of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and celebrate the Olympic spirit, enabling them to create, capture and share their own experiences.
“The showcase exemplifies the theatre of multi-sensorial experiences that become possible when culture meets commerce. Providing an immersive retail experience that shifts from transaction to entertainment, the Samsung studio invites the visitor to experience the brand through storytelling and the simulation of real-world experiences. At once a theatre and a gallery, the pavilion demonstrates what we can look forward to in the future of retail.”
The creative guidelines from Samsung Electronics called for a design that is clean and that uses simple lines, taking visual cues from the contemporary product lineup. As a result UNStudio developed a series of interpretative designs that aligned with the brand’s vision in 2016.
“The aspiration for the architecture was to facilitate a canvas for imbedded technology, interaction and memorable sensorial experiences for the visitors.” – Ben van Berkel
Unpacking Samsung
‘Unpacking Samsung’ was the thematic idea that influenced the simple articulation of the façade, with a subtle tilt in the framing of the entrance as a start to the visitor experience.
The shape of the exterior took this cue of ‘unpacking’ as a singular gesture that could allow for both a digital display which exemplified the digital environment within, in tandem with the composition of a reflective surface (through the use of obsidian glass) to mirror the famous colours of the Rio context.
The façade duality is a play of two realities in tandem, as well as one of inversion from day and night: the reflective surfaces from the day become transparent in the evening, allowing for clear visibility of the activities within.
With attendance at the Olympic Park anticipated to be near 70,000 during peak hours, the Samsung Galaxy Studio at Olympic Park was designed to facilitate 1000 visitors an hour during the height of the games.
Visitors to the showcase are concentrated through a more intimate entryway that opens up to a set of distinctly immersive experiences, organised around a prominent Gear VR 4D Experience that enables attendees to be absorbed into the distinctive virtual content created for this milestone event.
Six individual areas are devoted to various elements designed to deliver fun, unique and premium experiences, including a music zone, wearables zone, and a photography installation, amongst others.
The showcase is designed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as intended to have a purpose after the games, with considerations for both reusability and repurposing of building elements. To this end, the main shell of the building was designed to be disassembled for repurposing or recycling.
The plan for this 5,500 square foot private residence located along the Intracoastal Waterway is influenced from by the views, the irregular pie-shaped lot, the requirement that garages cannot face the street and the need to locate a septic field on the property.
All of these criteria influenced the plan and geometry of the home, and one of the most prominent features is the cantilevered second floor at the front façade.
On the site, there is a very clear distinction between public and private spaces. From the street the front entry is concealed behind a wood fence which provides privacy from the street.
There is an intimate fire pit area tucked off of the entryway. Once inside the house, all of the common areas all have a view of the pool, which has a continuous negative edge around the entire perimeter and the Intracoastal Waterway beyond. The master bedroom on the second floor has a large private balcony facing the water. The guest bedrooms on the second level are separated by the main staircase which is enclosed by a skylight and horizontal louvers above. All of the guest bedrooms face north and open onto a shared balcony.
The entire building is clad with a white limestone, which the same material is used throughout for the interior and exterior flooring.
All of the louvers and trellises are in response to the home’s orientation, to provide shade to the large glass openings.
For centuries before the invention of screws and fasteners, Japanese craftsmen used complex, interlocking joints to connect pieces of wood for structures and beams, helping to create a uniquely Japanese wood aesthetic that can still be seen in the works of modern masters like Shigeru Ban.
Up until recent times, however, these techniques were often the carefully guarded secrets of family carpentry guilds and unavailable for public knowledge. Even as the joints began to be documented in books and magazines, their 2-dimensional depictions remained difficult to visualize and not found in any one comprehensive source.
That is, until a few years ago, when a young Japanese man working in automobile marketing began compiling all the wood joinery books he could get his hands on and using them to creating his own 3-dimensional, animated illustrations of their contents.
四方枘継ぎ Shihou-hozo-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/vEbvfEek98
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) October 5, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Using the mechanical design software Fusion360 and employing self-taught woodworking skills, he began creating animations of the joinery and posting them to a twitter account.
The account now features 80 posts of various joinery techniques, some self-locking, some best used for turning-corners, some for creating beams. The complex cuts in the wood maximize the amount of surface area shared by the connecting wood elements, helping to create a snug fit held together by friction.
四枚鎌継ぎ Yonmai-kama-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/1LApi4GlQu
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) October 1, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
In modern times, the complex cuts necessary to create these joints have simply become too expensive to warrant to their use in standard architecture. But with the rise of CNC milling and 3D-printing fabrication techniques, it is not difficult to imagine a future where these techniques are not only affordable, but also the most reliable.
通し違い枘差し枘鼻栓仕口 Toshi-chigai-hozo-sashi-hanasen-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/1ToumLNXMM
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 30, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
隅二方鎌継ぎ Sumi-nihou-kama-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/Xc8Vik1W0t
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 17, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
貝の口継ぎ Kai-no-kuchi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/dj9N8ZftqS
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 13, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
半いすか竿車知継ぎ Han-isuka-sao-shachi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/AaGICBbcVp
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 5, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
渡り顎二重枘仕口 Watari-ago-niju-hozo-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/4U3hrvFMGt
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 1, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱相欠き車知栓仕口 Hako-aikaki-shachi-sen-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/FKRVB8uDVt
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) July 6, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱車知栓継ぎ Hako-shachisen-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/NOhU3ktifp
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) June 3, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱隠し継ぎ Hako-kakushi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/1pXO6v1RhE
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 31, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
捻れ組み継ぎ Nejire-kumi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/nyrJCko6Gb
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 21, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
河合継手 Kawai-tsugite http://pic.twitter.com/WQwxeZ7t4M
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 17, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
篠差し蟻仕口 Shinozashi-ari-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/3AcAt5WU6B
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 4, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
三方組仕口 Sampo-gumi-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/OdgpaTBvcs
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 3, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
大阪城追手門控柱継手 Osaka-jo-otemon-hikae-bashira-tsugite http://pic.twitter.com/R6SN8y2fg0
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 10, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
See the full list of animated joinery techniques at @TheJoinery_jp.
News via Spoon & Tamago.
For centuries before the invention of screws and fasteners, Japanese craftsmen used complex, interlocking joints to connect pieces of wood for structures and beams, helping to create a uniquely Japanese wood aesthetic that can still be seen in the works of modern masters like Shigeru Ban.
Up until recent times, however, these techniques were often the carefully guarded secrets of family carpentry guilds and unavailable for public knowledge. Even as the joints began to be documented in books and magazines, their 2-dimensional depictions remained difficult to visualize and not found in any one comprehensive source.
That is, until a few years ago, when a young Japanese man working in automobile marketing began compiling all the wood joinery books he could get his hands on and using them to creating his own 3-dimensional, animated illustrations of their contents.
四方枘継ぎ Shihou-hozo-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/vEbvfEek98
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) October 5, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Using the mechanical design software Fusion360 and employing self-taught woodworking skills, he began creating animations of the joinery and posting them to a twitter account.
The account now features 80 posts of various joinery techniques, some self-locking, some best used for turning-corners, some for creating beams. The complex cuts in the wood maximize the amount of surface area shared by the connecting wood elements, helping to create a snug fit held together by friction.
四枚鎌継ぎ Yonmai-kama-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/1LApi4GlQu
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) October 1, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
In modern times, the complex cuts necessary to create these joints have simply become too expensive to warrant to their use in standard architecture. But with the rise of CNC milling and 3D-printing fabrication techniques, it is not difficult to imagine a future where these techniques are not only affordable, but also the most reliable.
通し違い枘差し枘鼻栓仕口 Toshi-chigai-hozo-sashi-hanasen-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/1ToumLNXMM
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 30, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
隅二方鎌継ぎ Sumi-nihou-kama-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/Xc8Vik1W0t
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 17, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
貝の口継ぎ Kai-no-kuchi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/dj9N8ZftqS
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 13, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
半いすか竿車知継ぎ Han-isuka-sao-shachi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/AaGICBbcVp
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 5, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
渡り顎二重枘仕口 Watari-ago-niju-hozo-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/4U3hrvFMGt
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) September 1, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱相欠き車知栓仕口 Hako-aikaki-shachi-sen-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/FKRVB8uDVt
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) July 6, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱車知栓継ぎ Hako-shachisen-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/NOhU3ktifp
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) June 3, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
箱隠し継ぎ Hako-kakushi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/1pXO6v1RhE
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 31, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
捻れ組み継ぎ Nejire-kumi-tsugi http://pic.twitter.com/nyrJCko6Gb
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 21, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
河合継手 Kawai-tsugite http://pic.twitter.com/WQwxeZ7t4M
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 17, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
篠差し蟻仕口 Shinozashi-ari-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/3AcAt5WU6B
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 4, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
三方組仕口 Sampo-gumi-shikuchi http://pic.twitter.com/OdgpaTBvcs
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 3, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
大阪城追手門控柱継手 Osaka-jo-otemon-hikae-bashira-tsugite http://pic.twitter.com/R6SN8y2fg0
— The Joinery (@TheJoinery_jp) May 10, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
See the full list of animated joinery techniques at @TheJoinery_jp.
News via Spoon & Tamago.
From the architect. MAAT is an outward-looking museum located on the banks of the Tagus in Belém, the district from where the Portuguese great explorers set off. Proposing a new relationship with the river and the wider world, the kunsthalle is a powerful yet sensitive and low-slung building that explores the convergence of contemporary art, architecture and technology.
The new building is the centrepiece of EDP Foundation’s masterplan for an art campus that includes the repurposed Central Tejo power station.
Blending structure into landscape, the kunsthalle is designed to allow visitors to walk over, under and through the building that sits beneath a gently expressed arch – one of the oldest forms in western architecture.
The roof becomes an outdoor room, a physical and conceptual reconnection of the river to the city’s heart – where visitors can turn away from the river and enjoy the vista of the cityscape, and at night, watch a film with Lisbon as a backdrop.
Below, the exhibition spaces are extensions of the public realm, with flowing interconnected places for experiences and interactions at the intersection of the three disciplines. These spaces complement the galleries of the converted Central Tejo building.
Building on Portugal’s rich tradition of craft and ceramics, three-dimensional crackle glazed tiles articulate the façade and produce a complex surface that gives mutable readings of water, light and shadow. The overhanging roof that creates welcome shade is used to bounce sunlight off the water and into the building.
BIG’s planned residential complex along the High Line in New York has gone through multiple iterations since its unveiling last November. Now, in its latest form of two twisting towers rising from a split podium, the project is receiving a new name and key program piece.
Taking its cue from its location at 76 Eleventh Avenue and West 17th Street in West Chelsea, adjacent to projects by Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Jean Nouvel, the development will officially be known as “The Eleventh.” Also announced was a new partnership between developer HFZ Capital and international spa resort brand Six Senses, which will bring the company’s first resort in the United States to the complex.
Adding to the building’s planned 240 luxury condominium units, the full-block development will now also contain a 137-room hotel and luxury spa. The project’s two towers, reaching approximately 300 and 400 feet, will be the tallest in the neighborhood. The new spa will be located in the eastern tower, which leaves the best views of the Hudson River to the condo owners in the western tower.
The building will feature stone and metal as key materials and glass skybridges to connect the two halves of the podium and allow for vehicles to enter the complex below. HFZ also announced it will be teaming up with Friends of the High Line to create their own pedestrian promenade for the development that will run adjacent to the popular park.
The project is expected to open in 2019.
Sig Nordal 