© Sónia Arrepia

• Architects: Paul de Ruiter Architects
• Location: Archangelweg 4, 1013 ZZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Architect In Charge: Paul de Ruiter, Noud Paes
• Area: 8577.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Sónia Arrepia

• Client: City of Amsterdam

• User: Esprit Scholengroep/ The 4th Gymnasium

• Project Team: Richard Buijs, Lionel Nascimento Gomes, Raymond van Sabben, Marieke Sijm, Bobby de Graaf, Laura van de Pol, Willem Jan Landman

• Engineer: Van Rossum
• Installations : Ingenieursburo Linssen
• Building Physics: LBP sight
• Construction Costs: bbn adviseurs
• Project Management: PMB gemeente Amsterdam
• Contractor: Dura Vermeer
• W Installations: Wolter en Dros
• E Installations: Croon

© Sónia Arrepia

From the architect. In the first climate-neutral district of Amsterdam, the Houthavens, Paul de Ruiter Architects designed the 4th Gymnasium. An energy neutral high school that accommodates about 800 students. With its colorful appearance and societal function, the school building serves as a herald for the further developments of this area. The architecture of the building is in line with the scale and size of the buildings in the area, to make sure the school is part of the ‘community’ in the Houthavens. 

© Sónia Arrepia

Cultural Focus in the Design
The 4th Gymnasium meets all the qualities a modern school should meet. The curriculum emphasizes on culture and arts. Disciplines like film, drama, painting and drawing can be followed next to the regular curriculum. To enable these courses, we designed a studio, a cinema, a theatre and a laboratory alongside the regular classrooms. 

Section

Section

Vibrant Appearance by a Playful Composition
The façade of the 4th Gymnasium has a vertical layering and is made up of several yellow, orange and red colored surfaces. These surfaces, each different in height, width and depth, consist of both transparent and colored enameled glass, and are surrounded by a wooden frame that works as a solar screen. The building is divided into three horizontal zones. In the plinth we placed the entrance and public programs. The classrooms and workspaces are divided over the first and second floor, and the top floor accommodates two gyms and a large rooftop terrace. This top floor is recognizable by its aluminium façade and is used after school-hours by sports clubs and the neighborhood via a separate entrance. 

© Sónia Arrepia

Next to this entry, the school has two other entrances. The south side provides an entrance to the semi-underground bicycle shed. On the west side, near the schoolyard, is the main entrance. This entrance brings you to the heart of the building. It’s the place where students meet during lunch, but it can also easily be converted into a theatre. 

© Sónia Arrepia

Learning Squares
We designed a diagonal optical axis from the main entrance to the outdoor rooftop terrace. In the atrium we ‘hung’ different learning squares – where students can work independently – and balconies that act as lounge areas. The learning squares are connected to the class rooms via corridors; by opening a sliding door the classrooms can be expanded combined with the learning square into a study landscape.

© Sónia Arrepia

First Floor Plan

© Sónia Arrepia

In order to achieve energy-neutrality we connected the school to the district heating of the Houthavens. In addition, concrete core conditioning is applied. The complex is isolated with high quality triple glazing and the required electricity is generated on the roof by means of solar panels. The 4th Gymnasium is a Clean Air School (Class B), which guarantees an optimal indoor climate. This has a positive impact on the health and academic performance of the pupils and the staff.

© Sónia Arrepia

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© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

• Architects: Bearth & Deplazes Architekten
• Location: Gorner Glacier, 3920, Switzerland
• Architects In Charge: Valentin Bearth, Andrea Deplazes, Daniel Ladner
• Area: 255.0 m2
• Project Year: 2009
• Photographs: Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

• Project Leaders: Marcel Baumgartner (project head) / Kai Hellat
• Project Partner: ETH Zürich/Schweizer Alpenclub SAC
• Project Manager: Marcel Baumgartner
• Site Manager: Architektur & Design GmbH, Zermatt
• Civil Manager: WGG hnetzer Puskas Ingenieure, Basel
• Timber Frame Engineer: Holzbaubüro Reusser, Winterthur / SJB Kempter Fitze AG, Herisau
• Building Technology: Lauber Iwisa, Naters
• Digital Fabrication: Professur für Architektur und Digitale Fabrikation, ETH Zürich Timber Engineering Firm: Holzbau AG, Mörel
• Client: SAC, Sektion Monte Rosa

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

From the architect. Contemporary version of a medieval donjon: Five-story wood construction made from prefabricated frame elements. The isolated mountain location mandates the greatest possible self-sufficiency.
The ambivalence between a sense of security and being exposed defines the building’s structure: below are the communal areas with surrounding ribbon glazing, above the closed sleeping quarters. The cascading spiral stairway opens panorama views when ascending, follows the course of the sun, captures the solar irradiation, and distributes the warmth of the sun throughout the entire house. 

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

Ground Floor

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

Section

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

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© Zhi Cheng

• Architects: OEU-ChaO
• Location: Beijing, China
• Architect In Charge: Zhi Cheng
• Area: 32.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Zhi Cheng

© Zhi Cheng

The image of the urban area nearby Xirongxian Hutong seems like other places in second ring road of Beijing City. It is like a collection of typologies: towers; multistories residential districts; monumental buildings near Changan avenue; and also reserved hutongs and courtyards.

Before. Image © Zhi Cheng

Before. Image © Zhi Cheng

At the city scale, it is difficult to tell the logic and relationships between those different urban landscapes. For the local people, they seem not worry about the vanishing of past experience or the relationship between daily life and memory. They also pay little attention to the public spaces outside buildings by the street, and to what the relationship is between public and private. “Isolation”, this is also happening on the building scale.

© Zhi Cheng

Diagram

Interior. Image © Zhi Cheng

This house is about 30 square meters, and sandwiched between 5 nearby houses. Most of the exterior walls become interior walls in between the different houses. The only door and window openings are on the south wall, where there is hardly any light or fresh air in the room. The place is isolated from outside world, this condition is bad especially for a such a tiny space.

Interior. Image © Zhi Cheng

In the yard, a small building belonging to another neighboring family is located at the center, by the tree. Other things litter the places in the yard as well. Before the renovation, we can hardly tell that this is a yard and not a pathway.

Diagram

Diagram

This 30 meter site with a small “yard” will be occupied by a young couple and their 6 year old boy.

In order to respond to the “Isolation”, a series of independent and easy to build units were introduced and cooperate with the original building system. They construct a gradation between public and private, outside and inside, build a path for light, wind, events and people’s movement. Also, the cooperation between new elements and original building structures establish the connection between past and present.

© Zhi Cheng

The first building unit is the porch, with a solar roof in the yard. The position of room door moved correspondingly. Places were created on the path where people would be going home from the outer street. An open lobby for changing clothes, a porch facing the tree for outside events in good weather. A transition space between house and yard.

Plan

The second building unit is the double-slope roof gallery. It can also be defined as the enlarged building facade. First, it maximize the lighting area. Beside it the chimney and air system are also introduced on the gallary roof. This prevents unexpected damage to the original structure and roof system.

© Zhi Cheng

The most importantly, The new spaces created are the two long tables constructed based on the window from the outside to inside. When the window is opened, people might sitting around the table in good weather, events might happen here. Since there is limited area in the room, the table places some daily events out in the yard.

© Zhi Cheng

The third building unit is children room. It includes small flats on second floor, a ladder, and a lighting roof. The flats divided the space into two independent rooms: one for the parents, one for the child.

© Zhi Cheng

The sunroof window faces the north to improve the air and lighting conditions. It establishes a route for wind going though from south to north. The height of space is raised allowing for the new structure to grow through the original roof.

© Zhi Cheng

The three new building units all worked well within the old structure. At the same time, the differences between new and old are obvious. Wood and steel, heavy and light, dark and bright colors, no unnecessary additional structure.

Model

The principle of the plan arrangement is to place all assistant spaces and furnitures on the perimeter in order to maximize the size of the central open plan.

Interior. Image © Zhi Cheng

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© Stirling Elmendorf

• Architects: KTX archiLAB
• Location: Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
• Architect In Charge: Tetsuya Matsumoto
• Area: 150.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Stirling Elmendorf

• Client: Eri Matsuura Himeji daiichi hospital

© Stirling Elmendorf

In Japan, two major types of pharmacies can be found. The first is the drug store, or what can be described as retail pharmacies. This type offers services related to basic medicines as well as parapharmaceutical products. The second type is the dispensing pharmacies, usually related to a nearby clinic or hospital. In this type of pharmacies, the products are prepared in the backyard after the customer presents prescription issued by his doctor. Once prepared, the pharmacist has to explain to the customer about the prescription.

© Stirling Elmendorf

This dispensing pharmacy is located nearby a general hospital and owned by its president. The Idea behind this pharmacy is to promote the hospital by giving it a new image as it is subject to a strong competitiveness.

© Stirling Elmendorf

The starting point of this design was to question the criteria that customers use to select a pharmacy, beside the geographical location. What would make a pharmacy better than another one? The purpose of visiting a pharmacy is the same, purchasing medicines and seeking healing.

© Stirling Elmendorf

The keyword for medical related design is healing, commonly associated with peaceful nature. Subsequently, this type of design traditionally tries to incorporate natural elements like trees, green walls and flowers.

Floor Plan

Nature is undoubtedly a source of healing, nonetheless, the simple fact of coming to a medical institution lays on the trust that the patient puts on modern medicine. The more advanced medicine is the more trustworthy it becomes; true peace of mind is reached when the medical care is at its “Cutting Edge”.

© Stirling Elmendorf

The pharmacy is situated along one of the most important streets in the region. The façade is totally glazed and contoured by protracted sharp edges. The edges are also projected into the minimalist white interior demarcated by a black cross. The vertical line of the cross is the gate towards the backyard where the prescriptions are prepared. The horizontal line is a console for exhibiting key products. The entrance is on the left side of the building in the direction of the hospital liberating the glazed façade from unnecessary additional lines. This minimalistic space designed in clean straight lines and enhanced with indirect lighting slits creates the High-Tech sharp image that the patient expects from an advanced medical care.

© Stirling Elmendorf

Additionally to the appearance, the quality of service is a major criterion for selecting a dispensing pharmacy, and this is not without affecting the design. Traditionally, the patient handles his prescription at the reception counter; the pharmacist will then prepare the medicines in the backyard whilst the patient is sitting in the waiting space. Once done, the patient will be called again to the counter to get explanations about the prescription. This pharmacy differs in that the patient will not be called to the counter again. Instead, the pharmacist will meet him at his waiting space furnished in chairs and tables. These small attentions can make a big difference by providing an image of High Quality services inducing the process of healing.

© Stirling Elmendorf

Product Description.  While selecting the materials, we were focused on the sharp image we wanted to give to the building. The choice of Takiron metallic panels helped much for creating this image; these seamless and thin panels are also mat, a reflective panel would make the joints easily recognized, while a mat one seems more integrated.

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