💙 untitled on 500px by Dmitry Winter, Russia☀ Canon EOS… http://ift.tt/2a3BZTn
💙 untitled on 500px by Dmitry Winter, Russia☀ Canon EOS……
Author: signordal
AD Classics: University of Virginia / Thomas Jefferson
© Larry Harris
The end of the War of 1812 left the young United States of America awash with nationalist fervor. In the following years, the world’s first modern republic experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity; it was not without reason that the period came to be known as the “Era of Good Feelings.”[1] It was into this epoch of unbridled national pride that Thomas Jefferson, one of the country’s founding fathers and its third President, introduced his master plan for the University of Virginia: an architectural manifestation of the Enlightenment and republican ideals he had helped cultivate.
© Larry Harris
Although he was first and foremost a statesman, Thomas Jefferson was also a capable self-trained, if purely avocational, architect. Fittingly for a man who had helped to engineer a revolt against the United Kingdom’s colonial rule, Jefferson largely eschewed English architectural influences preferring instead the works of Andrea Palladio and the ruins of Ancient Rome. His first design project, begun before the War of Independence, was his own home: Monticello, a Neoclassical mansion with French and Palladian influences set at the peak of a small mountain. Jefferson was also responsible for the Virginia State Capitol, which he modeled upon the Maison Carrée, a former Roman temple in Nimes, France.[2]
Courtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
The University of Virginia had been under Jefferson’s consideration for decades by the time he actually began its design. As early as 1782, he affirmed his belief that architecture, being one of the fine arts, ought to be taught at the university; when given the task of planning the institution’s curriculum in 1814, he made certain to include it.[3] He also began to formulate his concept for the school’s design long before the Virginia State Legislature approved its creation. Rather than attempting to fit every program element within a single monumental building, Jefferson envisioned a grouping of smaller, separate houses for professors, each with a ground level hall for instruction and living chambers above. Organized around a grass square and connected by student housing, this was to become what Jefferson called an “academical village.”[4]
Once the university’s founding was formally approved, Jefferson began refining his concept into a functioning master plan. Rather than attempt to take on the task alone, he sought out the advice of professional architects William Thornton and Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Using the two architects as a sounding board, Jefferson made a number of alterations to his initial plan: at the urging of both, he expanded the living spaces intended for the professors and placed a library at the focal point of the Academical Village’s U-shaped layout. Thornton provided a number of sketches for the pavilions that lined either end of the central square, while Latrobe suggested the dome which eventually crowned the library.[5]
This section of Pavilion IX hints at the stratification found in every one of the University’s pavilions: residences above, instruction spaces below. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Courtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
The center of Jefferson’s final design scheme was that of an elongated U, the center of which was occupied by the grass plaza he had always envisioned. Ten academic pavilions lined either end of the square, each containing a separate department of the university and the living spaces of their respective professors. These pavilions, in addition to being connected by rows of student dormitories, were linked by covered colonnades; the sheltered walkways would, according to Jefferson, allow students to exercise even in inclement weather. The 200 meter (656 foot) avenue, left open to the picturesque Virginia landscape at one end, was enclosed at the other by the library Thornton and Latrobe had recommended.[6]
In 1817, Jefferson stated to Thornton that “[the academic] pavilions […] shall be models of taste and good architecture, and a variety of appearance, no two alike, so as to serve as specimens for the architectural lectures.”[7] As a result of Jefferson’s didactic approach, each of the ten pavilions followed a different, nuanced classical style. Most design elements were taken from examples in the various architectural texts in Jefferson’s library: Pavilion I featured a Doric pediment inspired by the Baths of Diocletian, while Pavilion V’s Ionic details were taken directly from Palladio. The colonnades between the pavilions utilized the simple Tuscan order, while only Pavilion X and the library featured Corinthian columns.[7]
This elevation of Pavilion IX showcases its radically different style from its neighbor below; only the uniform use of red brick and painted white wood tied the campus together aesthetically. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Pavilion X was the only pavilion of the ten to feature Corinthian design elements. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Corinthian capitals were only one of the features that set the library apart from its surroundings. Situated on the center of the university’s main axis, the library was also the only structure on the campus to feature circular geometry. Just as he had imitated the Maison Carrée for the Virginia State Capitol, Jefferson now chose to echo the Roman Pantheon; the library, which would later be named the Rotunda, is built to one-half the scale of its antecedent. Although Jefferson admired the Pantheon as the height of spherical architecture, he could not emulate its cavernous interior in Virginia. Instead, the Rotunda is divided into three floors: the lower two contained classrooms and lecture halls, while the third served as the university library. This space, ringed by columns and crowned by a domed ceiling, was the greatest built expression of Jefferson’s rational, Neoclassical ideals.[8]
The plan of the Pantheon on the left can be compared to the ground and third floor plans of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia; differences in scale and material required the reduction of the number of columns supporting the front pediment. ImageCourtesy of Wikimedia user Ibn Battuta (Public Domain)
As construction proceeded, Jefferson had to make a number of revisions to his master plan. In 1819, he expanded the initial U-scheme to include two additional rows of housing, known as the Ranges, separated from the original pavilions by a series of gardens with serpentine walls formed of the same red brick as the rest of the campus buildings. The gardens themselves were later divided into halves, allowing residents and guests in the Ranges greater privacy outdoors. After Jefferson’s death on July 4, 1826 and the completion of construction the following September, the Village and the Ranges were left practically unaltered; the Rotunda, which caught fire in 1895, was the only structure to be significantly remodeled.[9]
An elevation of Hotel C, one of the buildings set in the Ranges; it’s covered arcade was inspired by Thornton’s suggestion. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Although the countryside around it has radically transformed since the early 19th Century, the Academical Village at the University of Virginia continues to serve its original function. The Rotunda was restored to its original Jeffersonian design in the 1970s, allowing its creator’s vision to live on after two full centuries.[10] Time may have weathered the bricks of the University of Virginia, but its unique blend of European historical reference and early American rationalism remains as potent a symbol as it ever was. Thomas Jefferson did not choose to note his time served as President of the United States on his tombstone; instead, he elected to be remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, the creator of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the Father of the University of Virginia.[11]
© Larry Harris
References
[1] Richard R. Beeman et al. “The United States from 1816 to 1850.” Encyclopedia Britannica. November 9, 2016. [access].
[2] Roth, Leland M., and Amanda Clark. American Architecture: A History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001. p4-33 – 4-37.
[3] Lay, K. Edward. The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000. p281.
[4] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 2.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 25, 2016. [access].
[5] Brant, Lydia Mattice. “The Architecture of the University of Virginia.” Encylopedia Virginia. April 21, 2016. [access].
[6] Edwards, Brian. University Architecture. London: Spon Press, 2000. p15-16.
[7] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 3.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 25, 2016. [access].
[8] Brant.
[9] Brant.
[10] “Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed November 26, 2016. [access].
[11] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 3.”
- Architects: Thomas Jefferson
- Location: 1826 University Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22904, United States of America
- Architect: Thomas Jefferson
- Consulting Architect: Benjamin Henry Latrobe
- Project Year: 1825
- Photographs: Larry Harris, Courtesy of Wikimedia user Fæ, Courtesy of US Library of Congress, Courtesy of Wikimedia user Ibn Battuta
Robert M. Gurney Designs a Colorful Apartment in Washington D.C.
Metropole 708 is a private home located in Washington D.C., USA. It was designed by Robert M. Gurney in 2016 and covers an area of 2,500 square feet. Photos by: Anice Hoachlander
Kindergarten Valdaora di Sotto / feld72
© Hertha Hurnaus
- Architects: feld72
- Location: 39030 Olang, Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, Italy
- Area: 950.0 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Hertha Hurnaus
- Collaborators: Marino Fei, Carl Friedrich, David Kovařík, Therese Leick, Gerhard Mair, Edoardo Nobili
- Engineering Consultancy: Ingenieurteam Bergmeister
© Hertha Hurnaus
From the architect. Nestling within the village structure of Valdaora di Sotto in South Tyrol, the kindergarten building communicates the interplay between tradition, contemporary life and nature. The third kindergarten made by feld72 aligns itself within its tranquil background without being subordinate to it. Self-evident and uncontrived. Embedded sensuously in its location, the building responds to the dominant aura of the parish church with the cemetery chapel and the elementary school in the centre of Valdaora di Sotto. The timber building sits as though in an encasement within the massive surrounding wall, lending security.
© Hertha Hurnaus
Boundaries and fences determine the village structure. The clear spatial margins divide the village into private and public spaces. Meanwhile, the architectural intervention of the kindergarten alludes to the theme of different boundary intensities and continues it further as a multi-layered circumferential wall. There is a successful contextual interweaving of elements that are typical of the location.
© Hertha Hurnaus
Section
© Hertha Hurnaus
Because of the surrounding boundary wall, the kindergarten articulates clear spatial margins in the village ensemble. The unity of building and kindergarten yard is embedded in the traditional context and imparts to the kindergarten the architectural conditions for nest security, as well as for freedom. As a compact edifice this is located on the northern boundary of the property, endowing space for a sunny garden. The free space for children is optically and functionally separated from the road by the surrounding building structure.
© Hertha Hurnaus
The wall alternates between concepts of materiality and volume, thus it changes from garden fence to boundary wall for the building, just as much an interpretation of what already exists as it is a further elaboration of the existing stock. The wall on the kindergarten yard side is completely of wood and in a friendly gesture embraces the children’s garden. Roofed, weather-protected areas are set up as you pass over to the building. A playful way of handling the element of the wall unfolds. Architecture and playground fuse. The traditional element of fencing-in a property gains in complexity and in quality as somewhere to linger – it shelters, frames, hides, invites everyone to play and presents views not only towards the outside world but also inside. The building itself remains clearly modelled and yet has a multi-stratified effect.
Floor plan
Uniform materiality conveys simplicity. Rendered masonry and wood in the innards of the kindergarten create feelings of identity and belonging. A subtle and warm atmosphere is generated within the interiors thanks to the subtly complex treatment of local timber.
© Hertha Hurnaus
For the children, the group rooms represent the starting point of their daily explorations. The rooms are designed to be unpretentious and modest, providing scope for individual changes. Small areas for retreat are offered by the large window recesses and accessible partition furniture leading to the cloakroom. The assembly room and multi-function rooms can be adapted as connecting room structures or, if required, used singly. The suggested spatial concept thus enables attractive variations on both levels in realising the educational scenario.
© Hertha Hurnaus
A house for children and the village takes shape as intermediary between tradition and modernity. The familiar and the unusual simultaneously find a home in Valdaora di Sotto.
Houses in Wygärtli / Beck + Oser Architekten
© Börje Müller
- Architects: Beck + Oser Architekten
- Location: 8354 Hofstetten, Switzerland
- Architects In Charge: Martin Beck, Roger Oser, Niklaus Stöcklin
- Area: 200.0 m2
- Project Year: 2013
- Photographs: Börje Müller
© Börje Müller
From the architect. The two houses “Im Wygärtli” are located in a villa garden on the southern hillside of Hofstetten. The buildings are situated across the slope and are accessed from the north on the upper floor level, which offers a beautiful view towards the first hills of the Jura Mountains. The curved shape of the roof creates its own topography, which connects the two floors and turns the location on a slope into a part of the design concept. On the inside, a single-flight staircase provides the spatial connection between the entrance hall on the upper living floor and the sleeping floor below. The dynamic and open staircase creates a strong reference between the two floors. It also allows daylight into the translucent bathroom cubes – which are built out of glass blocks and divide and structure the lower floor.
© Börje Müller
Section
© Börje Müller
The effect of the curved ceilings in the interior is enhanced by the reduced and honest choice of materials; concrete ceilings, dyed concrete floors and white plaster walls. Also on the outside, the facades were developed to support the volumetric concept. The curved ceilings are indicated with hard concrete bands – the light filling in between is composed of ceiling-high windows and curtain walls covered with translucent polycarbonate panels. An economical and considerate use of housing space contributes to sustainability, as well as the use of uncoated materials and efficient building services with heat pump, thermal solar panels and comfort ventilation.
Floor Plan
Floor Plan
The project is an example of a modest densification of villa plots in rural living areas. The relation between the new buildings, the existing villa and the landscaped grounds were essential. The design of the two houses, inspired by the topographic particularities of the site, allows optimal integration into the existing estate and leaves enough presence, space and views for the villa.
© Börje Müller
Product Description. The lightwave polycarbonate boards are the filling between the ceiling foreheads of concrete. This supports the volumetric concept of waves and curved forms as a reaction to the slope of the plot.
© Börje Müller
How to Stop being Scared of Success
You’re reading How to Stop being Scared of Success, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Wherever you live in the world, you’re in a pursuit. Some of your pursuits are dear to you. Long-term hopes and fantasies that make you dream with starry eyes.
“Functionally, a man is somewhat like a bicycle. A bicycle maintains its poise and equilibrium only so long as it’s moving forward toward something.” – Maxwell Maltz.
But maybe the prospect of achieving your goals, also makes you feel slightly uncertain. Other desires you have are a little emptier, perhaps more materialistic. They’re easier to have in the immediate future. Think of the new Macbook, the designer handbag or the new Fitbit.
Are you focusing on these items more than you need to (at the exclusion of your real goals)?
The visions that make you uncertain take the most work. But they’re also the ones worth most going for. They require some level of sacrifice that’s not just financial.
Examples include:
• Writing that book you’ve been dreaming about for years
• Participating in that talent show
• Getting out there and meeting the love of your life
• Finally getting that PhD
• Travelling the World
(Note: We can lose sight of our big picture goals easily. So, I have a special bonus. Read all the way to the end to get it.)
• The Obstacle you will Face
If you choose to step into your grandest ideas, you’re going to face your fear. It will snatch you from the bottom of your soul, and throw you into a cascading series of emotions. It will test you to see if you’re deserving of what you’re going after. You’re going to feel like you’re about to lose something.
It may be pride, ego money, or hope – or all of it. Some of us will undoubtedly run away at first sight of fear. Some of us will hide. Some of us might have to warm up to it before it warms up to us.
Fear is psychological pain, and it is that which makes it so irresistible to refute. It can make us freeze, or shake in our knees. It can make us shiver and cry… Fear, since the dawn of humanity, has been responsible for deterring some of the noblest dreams.
But it’s only by facing it, that we’re able to overcome it.
• What is Success?
Success has been connoted as anything from having a nice house to being content with living a minimal life. But the underlying similarity that lies between all definitions of success is: growth and contentment. Two seemingly paradoxical ideas. But they can work together.
If you’re not growing, in some way, you’re dying a little. If you’re not content, in some way, then you’ll feel unfulfilled.
Your success might make someone feel bad. The fact that you shine, might shine leave them to inspect their faults more closely. On the other side, thousands of people might be inspired by your light. If you experience growth, then by definition, you are successful. Success does not need to be this glittery self-aggrandizing event that makes others see how “special” you are.
The word ‘success’ is probably what made you click on this click-bait headline. And I’m glad it did, because you might now finally get closer to what you should be really pursuing.
Let me explain.
If you start to see your own sense of self-worth through the eyes of others, then you’ve fallen into a fake mirage of “success”. One that will paradoxically take you away from ‘self-contentment and growth’ – the two qualities are intrinsic to being successful.
You need to stop believing in this idea of becoming successful – it implies a destination. But being successful implies that you always have the choice each day. Do you choose to push yourself a little more in your craft? Do you focus your attention on what matters most? Do you prioritize your work?
Success means living true to yourself. Sure, you might receive the glittery things that come with serving the world with your gift i.e. the house, the fancy car, the trips. But realize that the new possessions you may have, the higher income, the new relationships – are not success.
They are the consequence of choosing to be successful, which means focusing on being true to yourself, and serving the world in the best way you can with that in mind.
• Ask yourself: How Would you Live if you only had Six months Left to Live?
Asking yourself this question puts your excuses to the side, till they no longer fit into your view. With no awareness of our death, your vision can become hazy – uncertainty creeps in. Facing it however, all your potential choices are more carefully inspected.
Your wishes and possibilities are examined under the stethoscope of life.
Clarity starts to seep into the edges of our reality until every right choice becomes more self-evident. Your feelings become secondary. You observe them with the awareness that like anything, they will pass with time. But let’s be real. Taking the risks needed to achieve your desires might not work out. You might get rejected; you might fall flat on our face, repeatedly
But the self-confidence you experience, due to having made a choice to step out of your comfort-zone, is what matters.
So ask yourself, what choices would you make, if you were going to die in the six months from this very date? Would you take the chance and move abroad? Even if you’re not too sure if it’s going to work out?
Would you take that trip you’ve been dreaming about? Even though you don’t know how it will pass?
You need to be okay with a little uncertainty. In fact, you should embrace it. Because if everything was predictable, then the magic of life would be lost.
I’m not saying you don’t need to do some thinking before making a leap. But asking yourself how you would live if you only had six months to live, might be the only way that you can avoid paralysis by analysis.
It might be the only way you’ll stop making excuses and thinking too much. The more often you’re able to stand on the edge of that cliff of uncertainty, and take that leap of faith, the more you will live your adulthood life to its fullest.
Takeaway: Accepting your uncertainties is paradoxically the only way you’ll become sure in your life.
• Inspect this thought: Who am I to deserve this success?
Our childhood has a profound impact on the way we see ourselves. Many of us have had poor upbringings, removing the glow of our inherent, positive self-image. So, as a consequence, some of us see ourselves as of lower value to other human beings. I know I used to at least, and I still suffer from this to a certain degree.
In the light of low self-confidence, any potential success feels misaligned. It goes against years of conditioning. And even the mere idea of it naturally makes us feel like impostors. Even me writing this article, it’s easy for me to tell myself… “who am I to write this?” But really, the question I should be asking is… “who I am to NOT write this article?”.
We all have the same intrinsic worth. No one is better than you, and you are not better than anyone. You are simply what you make of yourself. I am what I make of myself. While people do have different abilities, and virtues, at everyone’s base level, we all have the same human worth.
Recognizing that someone’s intrinsic value is interdependent of their career, status, or fame paradoxically frees us to attach our self-worth to what’s deep inside us, not what’s seen as “valuable” by the world.
So whenever you envision what you want to achieve, and you crackle under the thought of… am I good enough? Can do I do it? Realize that what you’re really asking yourself, is if you deserve this success. Whenever you notice the slightest inkling of self-doubt creep into your mind, change your thought pattern to something that serves you.
Takeaway: You deserve going after what you want.
“You can get everything you want in life, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar.
So that’s it! Those are some of the important mindsets you need to instill if you want to slowly break away from the fear of success (change never happens instantaneously). If you’re interested in learning more about what you can do to increase your odds of growing and increasing your contentment levels, I’m going to give you a Free Bonus to help.
- First, I’ve put together a list of the best morning routines, so that you can feel at ease each day, so you’ll approach your work already feeling productive.
- Second, I’ve included a methodology on how to split up your day into 4 chunks, so you’ll know exactly when to indulge yourself guilt-free.
- Third, I’ll show you how to consistently celebrate your small wins, so that you feel more creative and enthusiastic about work.
If you’d like to learn how to implement all of my strategies, click below to access my eBook (9 mins read). I’ll show you the behind the scenes to every detail of the system you need to be insanely productive. (Access here).
About the Author: Samy Felice is a writer who is passionate about ideas related to living a meaningful life. His Free Book explores ways people can make success easier.
You’ve read How to Stop being Scared of Success, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
NIO Brand Creative Studio Shanghai / Linehouse
© Dirk Weiblen
- Architects: Linehouse
- Location: Shanghai，China
- Area: 250.0 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Dirk Weiblen
© Dirk Weiblen
Linehouse was commissioned to create the Brand Creative Studio for electric car company NextEV in Xintiandi, Shanghai. NextEV sought a design to reflect its NIO brand in a space that enabled collaboration and creative development by a wide range of design disciplines.
© Dirk Weiblen
Floor Plan
© Dirk Weiblen
Linehouse inserted an inhabitable wall into the centre of the space. This oak wood structure fluidly shifts to create different pockets that can be occupied. The central enclosure forms the studio’s primary working area. The surrounding negative space can be inhabited as meeting rooms and for social engagement. This wood apparatus operates as desks, shelving, and a screening mechanism, offering privacy and transparency between the private and public areas of the studio.
© Dirk Weiblen
A glass skin is layered on the timber shell, the location of the skin shifts from the interior to the exterior of the structure, allowing the occupiable side of the wall also to alternate. The glass is etched with a white vertical gradient from opaque to translucent, this creates a weightlessness that reflects the brands promise, Blue Sky Coming. The gradient also offers privacy for users, occupying the lower half at desk level, and clear sightlines at higher level. The glass screen provides an ephemeral quality to the office allowing light to filter through, and shifting perspectives throughout.
© Dirk Weiblen
Brighton, Englandphoto via elegant
Photos from Canada
Stunning Mount Assiniboine In British-Columbia standing through clouds ☁️️🏔 📸: @dolfvermeulen
Share more with us use #travelcanada or tag @travelcanada_ to get a chance to be featured !
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#explorebc #canada #explorecanada #britishcolumbia #mountassiniboineprovincialpark #explorebritishcolumbia #bc #mountain #snow #winter #clouds #high #beautiful #nature #landscape #wanderlust #adventure #destination #canadiandestinations #photographer #photography #instagood #instadaily #viewsaddict #camerasnipers (at Mount Assiniboine)
Platform-L Contemporary Art Center / JOHO Architecture
© Sun Namgoong
- Architects: JOHO Architecture
- Location: Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
- Architect In Charge: Jeonghoon Lee
- Design Team: Gaehee Cho, Il-Sang Yoon, Bong-gwi Hong, Junhee Cho, Moonyoung Jeong
- Area: 2173.6 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Sun Namgoong
- Structure : PRIME ENC
- Engineering : ACE Engineering
- Lighting : ALTO
- Landscape : Garden In Forest
- Construction : JEHYO Construction & Engineering
- Exterior Finish : Mohse, THE ONE PLANT
- Client : TAEJIN International (Yongjun Jeon)
© Sun Namgoong
From the architect. Platform-L Contemporary Art Center is located in a residential area of the Gangnam district in Seoul, South Korea. The sites irregular geometry – an irregular trapezoid – and being surrounded on three sides by street presented was a unique design challenge. The Laws of Architecture on the proposed site limiting building ratio to be no more than 60% of the total site area was a key focus to the design of Platform-L. This restriction typically leads to most projects designating parking to be on grade with a large mass covering the rest of the site. Platform-L situating the parking to be underground allows for a voided space on grade. The design of two independent masses with a central courtyard opening to the west proved to be the most efficient use of space. The north end mass is comprised of the museums entrance, two exhibition spaces, VIP lounge, as well as featuring a roof terrace looking out towards the cityscape. On the south end of the site a cafe / restaurant and office spaces are located. The exterior façade design inspiration came from Louis Quatorze fashion design company. This company is the sponsor for Platform-L and ideology is based on Louis XIV. The use of basic geometries of Louis XIV was reinterpreted to become the design for the façade of Platform-L. This design stands as a new symbol for the company and its high regard for fashion and culture.
© Sun Namgoong
Platform-L Contemporary Art Center in Seoul is situated in a secluded area near the Segwan Seoul Customs intersection in the Nonhyeon-dong neighborhood of Gangnam District. Its uniquely shaped footprint—an irregular trapezoid—necessitated utilizing innovative design elements in response to the unique challenges presented by its unconventional dimensions. Although urban planning in Gangnam generally adheres to a grid system, Platform-L enjoys street access on three sides, a distinguishing feature of the site and one of its many assets. The site is also classified within a general residential zone rather than a commercial zone, subjecting it to increased restrictions concerning building coverage rate and floor area ratio. With these considerations in mind, a more compact plan for the building was prioritized.
Diagram
This geometry implies Louis XIV’s wishes to be recognized as an absolute royal entity rather than a mediator between god and man. The circle, square and octagon were utilized extensively in the geometric plan of the famed Gardens of Versailles executed during Louis XIV’s reign. These symbols served as physical embodiments of heaven, earth and the authority of the king, respectively. The exterior façade of Platform-L reinterprets the historical notion of absolute authority, particularly with regard to the site’s unconventional plan and its surrounding roads on three sides. The application of this concept is the transformation of the octagon into widened lattices which highlight the building’s horizontality and imply infinite expansion toward the horizon. The appropriation of this geometry within the context of local culture is realized through the use of tenon joints to bind materials, a practice typically seen in traditional Korean windows. In total, three separate louvers were fitted together to form Platform-L’s lattice of intersecting sight lines and create building’s striking exterior.
© Sun Namgoong
Section
© Sun Namgoong
Courtyard
One of the foremost aims of the project was that it retain a sense of outdoor space throughout; this concept guided the formulation of a design which addresses Korean construction regulations in an unexpected way. Platform-L achieves this by interpreting the outdoors as a mediating space and platform serving to extend and link the various functions of the building, including programs in the galleries and events in the Live Hall as well as visitor experiences in the art shop and cafe. A void space in the form of a courtyard set in the center of the building visually resembles a Western courtyard, though from a functional standpoint it operates more like a traditional Korean courtyard—namely, as a buffer zone and resting place. This space performs a key role in the overall design of Platform-L, connecting the building’s two separate wings and providing a shared free space.
© Sun Namgoong
Live Hall
The Live Hall is an underground multipurpose venue which can accommodate diverse programming for larger audiences. Utilizing basement levels in the design of Platform-L was essential in order to overcome floor area ratio limitations and make use of all available space as efficiently as possible. This spacious setting features eight-meter ceilings and is equipped with full A/V capabilities as well as reconfigurable seating which increases its versatility in facilitating various performances and events. Its interior is also finished as a white cube space in order to offer additional gallery space as needed to complement the building’s upstairs galleries. A moving wall system further enhances the space’s compatibility and allows it to be configured as a box theater, cinema or auditorium. Its removable seating and adjustable stage structure also provide additional opportunities for events such as fashion shows, weddings and other ceremonies.
© Sun Namgoong
Product Description. Its façade covered with anodized aluminum panels helps to create an unique atmosphere responded to urban context. Due to the materials feature, Platform-L’s façade reveals the mischievously dual nature of aluminum, with its uncanny mass-to-volume ratio.
© Sun Namgoong
