From the architect. Located in Redhill, the project is a demonstration of heartland rejuvenation and community building, through Masterplanning and the adaptive reuse of Bukit Merah Vocational Institute built in the 1970s. The property was re-purposed as the Enabling Village – an inclusive space that integrates education, work, training, retail and lifestyle, connecting people with disabilities and the society.
Before re-development, the property did not contribute to the neighbourhood. The Masterplan re-imagines the Enabling Village as a park/garden destination, and is designed as an integral part of the neighbourhood’s pedestrian network.
The design scope includes architecture, interior design, signage, lighting, art and landscaping to deliver a holistically integrated environment. The buildings are re-named as “Nest”, “Playground”, “Village Green”, “Hive”, “Hub” and “Academy” – based on their characters and programmes. These are seamlessly connected by ramps, landings and lifts.
The new Nest building is anchored at the main pond and serves as a beacon, drawing pedestrian flow through the new linkways. The architectural expression and finishes are continued at the existing buildings as facade, canopies and surfaces. A timber terrace is laid over the courtyard at the Playground, stepping down as an amphitheatre with integrated ramps. The terrace continues under and past the building as a balcony overlooking activity islands and as a garden trail connecting to the adjacent housing precinct. Pre-cast concrete pipes are inserted below the amphitheatre as resting nooks. The open space between the Village Green and the Hive is reactivated as a garden yard with re-purposed sea containers as bridges, follies and meeting rooms loosely scattered with recycled oil drum planters. ‘Up-cycling’ continues as interior design features in the Art Faculty and Hive.
Wayfinding is developed as a series of touch-points at entries and strategic junctions to assist with orientation and navigation. Each building is identified by a feature wall with coloured graphics. External lighting is designed to give a serene park ambience. Building facades, drop-offs, cabanas and walkways are accentuated as beacons and connectors in the park. Art is integrated into the garden with building-scale murals, incorporating artwork by autistic artists.
Landscaping and water gardens are designed with a variety of native species, scales and colours, complementing the conserved trees to attract biodiversity and support ecosystems. Verandahs and cabanas extend out from passages as outdoor meeting spaces, bringing nature closer to people.
The Enabling Village champions sustainability and sociability by promoting the learning, bonding and healing of people with varying abilities within a biophilic environment. This creates an inclusive space that enables and values everyone.
In 2016 the Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS), a not-for-profit organization focusing on outdoor education, continued their partnership with (name withheld). This second group of 28 students designed and built seven insulated cabins for year-round use. The cabins were intertwined within the same village housing boundaries as the 14 seasonal cabins constructed in 2015; deep within a lodgepole pine forest, 10,000 feet above sea level, and accessible only by a narrow dirt road.
In the spring students were required to conduct a critical architectural inquiry into materiality, structure, light, context, environment, and program to create innovative solutions to prefabricated, accelerated-build, micro housing. Each 200 square foot cabin was required to house one or two residences and be powered by a single electrical circuit. The circuit provides lighting, heating and a series of receptacles with the capacity to charge technology and small appliances (mini refrigerators, tea kettles, coffee pots, etc). A central staff lodge is accessible to the residences for bathing, cooking, and laundry. With an average annual temperature of 35o Fahrenheit, the seven all-season structures were required to meet the standards of the International Energy Conservation Code climate zone 7&8 (the coldest zone in the United States). Inspired by quinzees, a snow shelter made from a hollowed out pile of snow, the students adapted the logic of “snow insulation” for their structures.
The cabins employ structurally insulated panels (SIPs) for the walls and flat roofs. The roofs are designed to hold the snow in the winter, providing an additional R-20 to R-30 of insulation depending on the depth of the snow. A single electrical circuit powers each structure. This is accomplished by the small cabin footprints, LED lighting, and the super insulation of the SIPs combined with the snow’s natural insulation. This efficiency reflects the school’s commitment to the environment. The orientation and articulation of each of the seven cabins react individually to the immediate site conditions present in the landscape. No two cabins are alike. Hot rolled steel cladding provides a low maintenance rain screen for the structure. The cladding and the vertical columns of the moment frame below blend with the pine forest, minimizing the visual impact. Cedar clad front and back porches are carved from the main mass to create entry and private outdoor spaces for the more introverted, permanent COBS staff. The cabin interiors are skinned in birch plywood bringing warmth to the structure and evoking a connection with the trees surrounding the site.
Product Description. Prefabricated structurally insulated panels, manufactured by Big Sky R-Control, served as the primary building enclosure for the cabins. The single panel wall assembly reduced construction time and minimized thermal bridging. This product was combined with 3MVHB glazing tape and Oldcastle Low-E glass to create frameless windows.
In New York City, as in many cities worldwide, residents rely on the subway system to get around. But despite its importance, there are still plenty of locations throughout the city so difficult to get to, it’ll leave you cursing, “Who designed this thing anyway!?”
Now thanks to a new game from engineer Jason Wright, you have a chance to correct the design flaws of the current system – virtually, anyway.
The game, titled “Brand New Subway,” starts with either a blank slate, or with preloaded versions of the present map, the planned 2025 system, or the system depicted in the famous 1972 Massimo Vignelli-designed map. You’re then able to add new stations off of existing MTA lines, or to create a completely new line of your own.
The game will grade you based on your system as you go (the present-day map receives a “B”), based on overall accessibility.
You can also input any other city and create your own system from scratch there, using the traditional New York City designations.
Check out the game for yourself, here.
News via CitiLab.
San Diego – California – USA (by Jill /Blue Moonbeam Studio)
From the architect. The proposal consists of a minimal prototype that occupies the same amount of space than a parking spot for a car: 2.5 x 5.0 meters. It is designed to be built by community members in almost any residual space of a low cost housing project that in Mexico always lack collective services and cultural facilities.
This basic independent module is a cube made of concrete, and can house a reading area and a place of gathering. This prototype can grow combining it with other modules, thereby fostering the appropriation of the exterior space.
The design originated out of the concept of transparency, allowing two main contributions: safe public space, with views onto the surroundings, but also a space sheltered from the weather and always visible from the exterior. Even at night, when it is closed, the module serves as a lamp, exhibiting what is happening on the inside.
The project was undertaken in collaboration with the Infonavit, Mexico’s workers’ housing fund, and the Ministry of Culture (Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Conaculta), which donated one thousand books for each unit. The modules function as meeting and recreational spaces for the community. Some are equipped with bathrooms, computer facilities, and exterior furnishings, depending on the needs of each community.
They can withstand flooding of one meter without suffering any damage and have been built in different climates. Chosen for their durability and availability, all of the materials are chosen for their economy and can be obtained in any common hardware store. 15 prototypes have been built during the last year in 15 states in Mexico and they have really changed the life of the communities.
Cox Architecture has been selected as the winners of an invited competition for the new North Queensland Stadium in Townsville, Australia, beating out finalist proposals from BVN Architecture, Hassell and Populous. With a roof design inspired by the native Pandanus tree, the new stadium will provide seating for 25,000 spectators as the new home to the National Rugby League’s North Queensland Cowboys.
“Our team is excited to have been selected to deliver this transformative project for the North Queensland region,” commented Project Director Richard Coulson. “The stadium design is an expression of tropical Queensland and North Queensland in particular. It combines structural, functional and operational aspects of international modern stadiums with engagement of the environment that is quintessentially Queensland.”
“The stadium provides an identity for the region and an important contribution to the city. Through the development of a ‘fan first’ approach to the design of the stadium and its use to create a sense of place and belonging, we have forged a unique architectural and engineering response that can only be ‘of this place’.”
The evaluation panel for the competition were impressed by Cox’s “elegant design, innovative facility planning and strong local collaboration, including their genuine local input and partnership.”
The $250 million dollar stadium will be integrated into the urban fabric with generous arrival plazas and landscaped greens, as well as an open grassed terrace on the northern edge that will provide views to the downtown and Magnetic Island.
Inside the complex, corporate facilities, amenities, permanent concessions and state-of-the-art IT will create a fan-centric atmosphere. The stadium’s Pandanus-inspired roof will cover 80 percent of the seating, and has been designed to resist cyclonic wind conditions. The stadium has also been designed to accommodate a future expansion to 30,000 seats.
A contractor for the project is expected to be selected in mid 2017, with site work starting later that year. The stadium is hoped to be completed in time for the start of the NRL season in early 2020.
Credits
Local Architect: 9point9 Architects
Mechanical and Electrical: Ashburner Francis
Structural, Civil, Traffic and Transport, Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) specialists, Acoustics: Arup
Hydraulics: Parker Hydraulics
Landscaping and Surveying: RPS
Geotechnical: Douglas Partners
Specialist Wind Engineering: Cyclone Testing Station at James Cook University
Learn more about the project, here.
News via Cox Architecture, Queensland Department of State Development.
