Courtesy of River Beech Tower

As part of a masterplan along the Chicago River, the River Beech Tower is a residential high-rise which, if built, would be taller than any existing timber building. The collaborative team behind River Beech consists of architects Perkins+Will, engineers Thornton Tomasetti and the University of Cambridge. Currently a conceptual academic and professional undertaking, the team state that it could potentially be realized by the time of the masterplan’s final phases.

Exterior Balconies. Image Courtesy of River Beech Tower

The team believes that they will be able to “reach far greater heights than any existing timber building” using only “real, commercially available timber materials.” Existing timber skyscraper proposals come in at around 30-40 stories, such as C.F. Møller and DinellJohnasson’s 34-story residential building in Stockholm, set to be completed in 2023. SOM have also developed a system that shows the possibility of a 42-story building as part of their Timber Tower Research Project. Completed or soon-to-be complete timber buildings stand a little shorter, with Acton Ostry Architects’ 18-story student residence currently under construction in Vancouver and the 10-story Forte apartment building in Melbourne.

Atrium. Image Courtesy of River Beech Tower

Structurally, these existing buildings make use of a hybrid system of engineered timber (cross-laminated and glulam) and concrete (often in the core), to achieve their heights. Slightly different to these systems is Michael Green’s “Finding the Forest Through the Trees” (FFTT) construction model, which has a wooden core and wooden floor slabs, with steel beams to provide ductility–essentially, as steel is able to stretch more than wood, these beams hold the structure together under extreme lateral loads such as in an earthquake or high winds.

Unit Elevation. Image Courtesy of River Beech Tower

The River Beech team however, use a different system entirely, and credit this innovation as their key to new wooden heights. The system engages an exterior diagrid system, taking advantage of the natural axial strength of timber. The building’s vertical and lateral loads are resisted by connecting the outer diagrids with the internal cross bracing that skirts the central atrium, allowing for efficient load distribution across all timber elements.

Courtesy of River Beech Tower

At 80 stories tall, the conceptual brief caters for 300 duplex units and multi-story penetrations that form communal spaces. The play between private and public within a carbon-neutral structure ties together the team’s vision of their “social and sustainable adaptation to high-rise development.”

Design Credits:

Courtesy of River Beech Tower

Perkins+Will Project Team: Ralph Johnson, Todd Snapp, Jeff Sanner, Rachael Bennett, Gilroy Song, Timothy Wong
Thornton Tomasetti Project Team: David Weihing, Edward Peck, Alejandro Fernandez, Mark Chiu
University of Cambridge Project Team: Michael Ramage, Rob Foster

Courtesy of River Beech Tower

http://ift.tt/2dOtEJl

© Daniel Shearing

• Architects: Grimshaw
• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Daniel Shearing

© Daniel Shearing

From the architect. The Laboratory at Dulwich College is a state-of-the-art science building located in the heart of the school’s historic campus in south London. The £14 million Grimshaw-designed scheme was officially opened earlier this month and is the first completed school project in the practice’s education portfolio. Within the building, science laboratories for the Lower and Junior Schools surround a 240-capacity multi-purpose auditorium designed for the use of the College and the wider community.

Sketch

The Laboratory provides generous teaching accommodation, a three-storey atrium, an outdoor piazza for recreation and performance, and five ‘Informatics’ suites enabling teaching with the latest IT and creating spaces for truly collaborative learning. The scheme also includes Middle and Upper School laboratories linked by the James Caird Hall containing Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lifeboat of that name.

© Daniel Shearing

Reflecting Dulwich College’s approach of cross-discipline learning and collaboration, the building has been designed with a balance of formal and informal learning spaces. Biology, physics and chemistry departments each have their own dedicated floor, with the option of adjusting the individual labs to create ‘science studio’ environments. Communal spaces are open and inviting and provide the opportunity to share ideas and discoveries in a relaxed setting.

© Daniel Shearing

The building itself is physically open, designed in an ‘S’ shape, with large windows linking students with the outside world. To prepare for the teaching needs of the future, individual science labs are open and flexible in their configuration with furniture that can easily be rearranged as required. The exterior of the building is both contemporary and sympathetic to a context that includes the adjacent Italianate building by Charles Barry Jr. Embracing pattern, colour, texture and proportion the Grimshaw design team developed a composition of materials that ensured the new building sits in harmony with its surrounding historical neighbours. Materials in the façade include terracotta, bronze anodised aluminium, and pre-cast concrete panels. Grimshaw collaborated with the sculptor, Peter Randall-Page RA, to design a façade that contains an elegant pattern based on the Lindenmeyer algorithm which replicates the growth processes of plants and is found in all branches of science. Colour is also used to differentiate the formal, public facing sides of the building from the informal school-facing sides, with a cream colour palette for the former and terracotta for the latter.

South Elevation

The Laboratory houses a newly commissioned sculpture by Conrad Shawcross RA, developed in conjunction with art scholars at Dulwich and is also home to exhibitions by pupils. Displays of scientific and historic artefacts give a sense of discovery, with Shackleton’s lifeboat taking pride of place in the James Caird Hall.

© Daniel Shearing

http://ift.tt/2dx6ZxQ

Courtesy of OMA

OMA has released new images of their design for Axel Springer’s business and digital division, in Berlin, Germany. One of the largest digital publishing houses in Europe, Axel Springer officially launched the project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company’s publishing building.

OMA’s proposal was selected in a 2014 international design competition, beating out finalist entries from BIG and Büro Ole Scheeren. The brief called for a new modern work environment to house Axel Springer’s growing business and digital divisions.

Courtesy of OMA

“With our new building, we wish to bring the Axel Springer family in Berlin closer together while at the same time shaping the future of working in the digital world through architecture. It is about a symbolically powerful home, yet above all about a cultural transformation through radically modern workspaces,” said Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer.

Located opposite the company’s existing headquarters on Zimmerstrasse and on the site of the former Linden park, the new structure will feature a 30 meter tall atrium with 3D curtain wall elements that will cut through the center of the building volume. A publicly-accessible park will be built on the roof to replace the original parkspace. When complete, the building will be able to accommodate 3500 employees.

Courtesy of OMA

“Over the years, Berlin has been a profound source of inspiration, and with Axel Springer we are thrilled to continue our long engagement with this city,” said Rem Koolhaas.

“We are lucky to have a client who views architecture as an instrument of change, and with this building, we hope to address a central dilemma of the contemporary office: as computer-based work has become largely intangible and silent, how can people effectively communicate in a workspace which fosters both concentration and vigorous interaction?”

Courtesy of OMA

The project is being led by Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn, and Katrin Betschinger.

See the original renderings of the design, here.

News via OMA.

http://ift.tt/2dv8Vrv

© JCJ Architecture | Leong Leong

JCJ Architecture and Leong Leong have unveiled their design for the Center for Community and Entrepreneurship, a new mixed-use community building for the non-profit organization, Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), which will be located in Flushing, Queens, New York. Upon completion, the building will span 90,000 square feet over seven stories at the corner of College Point Boulevard and 39^th Avenue. 

Inspired by AAFE’s mission to enrich the lives of Asian Americans and others in need throughout New York City, the design is modeled using a progressive building form after “the concept of holding hands in interweaving fingers—a physical presence to match the social symbol for community empowerment.”

Four interlocking structures with outdoor terraces give the building its form. “This form is articulated by a gradient of vertical transparencies that emphasize its distinct silhouette. The more transparent lower two floors contain the most public programs and support direct engagement with the neighborhood at street level.  As the programs become more private on the upper floors, the exterior becomes more opaque while still internally supporting views of the city and the Flushing Creek waterfront” – described the architects. 

© JCJ Architecture | Leong Leong

The goal of this project was unique from the start: to create a vertically integrated community for Flushing that seamlessly links work, events, and the public, said Chris Leong, partner at Leong Leong, who serves as the Designer on the project. The informal spaces of circulation become primary spaces for interaction and exchange – we turned the architectural promenade into an vertical interface that blends public space and work space.

© JCJ Architecture | Leong Leong

On the ground level, a sweeping outdoor plaza, as an interface to the surrounding neighborhood, will connect a 5,000-square-foot public market to the street.

The second floor of the building will feature flexible community space, while the third floor will house Flushing’s first business incubator, a co-working space for local small businesses and start-ups to collaborate. AAFE’s Flushing program offices will occupy the fourth floor, and floors five through seven will be open for use by established businesses—potentially those from the incubator.

© JCJ Architecture | Leong Leong

Moreover, a three-story open staircase will serve as a vertical interface between floors, thereby encouraging collaboration. On the ground floor, this staircase will provide seating space for the public market, and on the second and third floors, the staircase can transform into event or performance space.

© JCJ Architecture | Leong Leong

The Center is expected to complete construction in 2018.

News via Leong Leong.

http://ift.tt/2dv0AEt