Rather than building a wall along Mexico’s border as suggested by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, Mexican firm Legorreta has created a terminal and bridge that make the crossing quicker. Read more
Architecture office Carlo Ratti Associati has used submarine technologies to design a buoyant public space off the coast of West Palm Beach’s Currie Park. Read more
Haworth white papers: the right office design can increase the happiness of employees, whereas ping-pong tables, slides and even pay rises can’t, according to new research by Haworth. Read more
This house is located in the area of San Andres, on the north hillside of Ranco Lake, which leads us to the first condition that we must respond to in the project: views to the south and natural light from the north, for which we propose public areas plus bedrooms overlooking the lake and living room located towards the hills of Futrono.
The site where the house is located spans from a valley of the condominium to the highest hillside overlooking the lake, thus ut is located at the top, which generates its form, a resounding parallelepiped anchored on stilts over the ground.
The house, a second home, proposes integrated common areas to become meeting places, besides being able to join each other generating flexibility in their use depending on the time of year and number of people
The materials we proposed were black Fibrocement to give it a warehouse look, and a contrast with the interior which was designed in local wood painted white, so that it was warm and noble like the floors and doors.
As a way to obtain a sample of participatory architecture from all over Mexico, last October, the Mexican Fine Arts Institute (INBA) published an open call for entries. Works by 31 teams—out of more than 200 registered—were selected to be part of Mexico’s Pavilion in the Venice Biennale, which was curated by Pablo Landa.
Among the teams selected are Arquitectos Artesanos and RootStudio, both based in the city of Oaxaca. Works by these offices stand out because they recover and adapt traditional building techniques for new contexts, and because they are often realized through the collaboration of architects and organized communities.
The featured project by Arquitectos Artesanos is Clay Women (“Mujeres de Arcilla”). A decade ago, a group of catechist women visited the parish house in the city of Huajuapan, Oaxaca. Surprised by the spatial and visual qualities of this house, the women approached its architect—Juan José Santibáñez—to ask him for help in the design of their own houses in nearby rural communities.
They started working soon after: women learned how to make adobe bricks and put them together into elaborate structures. Together, they erected sixteen houses after a design by Santibáñez. Mexico’s pavilion in Venice includes isometric drawings of this design and photographs by Marcela Taboada.
As part of the same project, María Santibáñez started producing a self-building manual that would allow for the construction of more houses. As her work progressed, however, the manual became a short story illustrated with engravings that shows what can hardly be captured by manuals: the spiritual dimension of the house among the people of the Mixtec highlands. The book Voz de Sol – La Casa Viva, the result of María Santibáñez’s work in collaboration with Dánae Cházaro, is also featured in Mexico’s pavilion.
The second team from Oaxaca whose work is on view in Venice is RootStudio, an office that recovers and adapts vernacular typologies and building techniques. Often, this firm designs and builds simultaneously; architects work alongside a structure’s future users.
The form has done a number of works in San Pedro Apóstol, a small town in Oaxaca state. A decade ago, members of the indigenous council in this community began an environmental management project. They built small dams, planted trees, and reintroduced endangered native animals. Later, they started building common spaces; at this stage, they invited RootStudio to collaborate with them. The firm built a sports center in rammed earth and bamboo, and a community-owned house for events and retreats. These buildings have contributed to the re-evaluation of vernacular building techniques and have reactivated traditional community work.
RootStudio has started the construction of a daycare center in Atzompa, a suburb of the city of Oaxaca, through a collaborative process with local families and OIDHO, an organization that defends the human rights of indigenous communities. The daycare will be built over the course of the Biennale, and will be the site of workshops and conversations among different people participating in this event. This work seeks to further conversations on the social dimensions of architecture and its potential to generate benefits for local communities.
Similarly, the book Voz de Sol – La Casa Viva—the second edition of which was produced as part of the preparatory work for Mexico’s Pavilion—will be presented in different locations in Oaxaca and other Mexican cities. The dissemination of this book and the works of architecture it describes will activate conversations on the potential contributions of vernacular architecture to works by other offices and to housing policies and regulations in Mexico.
Interiors is an Online Publication about the space between Architecture and Film, published by Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian. Interiors runs an exclusive column for ArchDaily that analyzes and diagrams films in terms of space.
Kanye West followed up his demented masterpiece Yeezus with an art project—an album never officially released, never officially completed, and one that is continuously being revised and restructured. It’s a continuous work in progress, a painting that’s never finished, which has evolved before our eyes (known by many titles including So Help Me God, Swish, Waves, until finally settling on the anachronistic The Life of Pablo).
It’s no wonder then that The Saint Pablo Tour, which kicked off in Indianapolis on August 25th, 2016 and is tentatively scheduled to end in Brooklyn on December 31st, 2016, feels unlike anything Kanye West has done before, while staying true to his creative vision. If 2013’s Yeezus Tour was an operatic experience that was more about the performance aspect, 2016’s Saint Pablo Tour is an active experience that is more about creating a Disneyesque attraction.
The planning process, which Kanye West has said lasted at least eight months, began with his team traveling around the world, meeting with top stage designers. In addition, Kanye West worked with his longtime collaborators and fellow visionaries, such as Elon Rutberg and Virgil Abloh (who has an accomplished background in Architecture). The intention was to create a new idea in touring, something that goes beyond the idea that it’s about idly watching the artist. The result is that people actually become part of the experience, taking the concept of a concert to another level. In this sense, audience members are singing, dancing and engaging with Kanye West. It is the first concert in recent memory that actively uses the crowd as part of the experience of the show.
The design of the tour is broken down into two stage components, its Main Stage and Secondary Stage (or “Spaceship” Stage as it has been named by many). These stages feature an elaborate pulley and track system. The open web steel joists compose the elaborate framing system that attaches to the structure of each arena.
The Main Stage is roughly a 30 by 20-foot (9 by 6 meter) rectangular steel platform that is less than two feet thick. Kanye West is attached to the center of the platform with a type of carabiner and wire. This stage is attached to two parallel steel joists that span roughly 75 feet (23 meters). These parallel steel joists allow the main stage to travel left and right, forward and backward through a type of motorized track system. It’s also able to tilt along its long axis with a pulley system, with the ability to also drop and move closer to the crowd.
These parallel steel joists are connected to a larger steel frame system—a second pair of parallel steel joists—that span almost the entire length of the arena, which is at least 200 feet (60 meters). The Main Stage has roughly 36 spotlights surrounding the edges of the platform and roughly 28 spotlights lining the bottom of the platform surface (which shine directly onto the crowd during certain moments of the show).
The Secondary Stage is roughly a 200 by 45-foot (60 by 14 meter) rectangular steel platform, also less than two feet thick. This stage has roughly 172 spotlights surrounding the edges and over 1,000 spotlights lining the bottom of the platform surface, which provide different light cues throughout the show and change color and brightness depending on the song that is being performed. In addition, parts of this stage are able to detach from the rest. There are four rectangular forms (each roughly 65 by 10, or 20 by 3 meters) that can move independently from one another, which allows for different designs during songs like “Heartless” and “Wolves.”
The Saint Pablo Tour is divided into three sections with two transitions. The first section of the show consists of Kanye West entering on the main stage during “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1”—at first, only the spotlights on the edges of the platform are on for the first group of songs, with lighting cues that represent Kanye West’s arrival, gradually building energy and momentum for the show. The second section includes additional lighting cues with Kanye West traveling closer to the opposite end of the arena. The third section sees parts of the stage transforming with more lighting cues and effects from the Secondary Stage and ultimately concluding with Kanye West traveling back to a bright spotlight in the center of the stage during “Ultralight Beam.”
Interiors has created two diagrams for The Saint Pablo Tour, which includes two elevation drawings showing each side of the show. The short elevation depicts the show during “Freestyle 4” where a large crowd is directly below the Main Stage. The long elevation depicts the show during “Wolves” where the Secondary Stage breaks apart, rotates, and shines onto the crowd.
The Saint Pablo Tour draws heavy inspiration from a variety of sources (most notably the films of Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick). The shows consist of two intermissions where the Secondary Stage rotates along its short axis, bearing a striking resemblance to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). The show even takes on a Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) feel with Kanye West’s time on the Main Stage with the crowd directly under him.
There are few artists, if any, who do as much for the sake of art as Kanye West. This is an artist who has continuously combined Film, Architecture, and Fashion into his work, creating concerts that feel like theatrical experiences—even going so far as to redefine our understanding of tour merchandise, making tour shirts feel like their own in-demand clothing line. Kanye West has transformed Stage Design and Performance Architecture, with each live performance now redefining the way we envision and experience the medium, much in the same way his idols, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, transformed their respective fields.
The Yeezus Tour was a feat in terms of design and production, but the Saint Pablo Tour is a feat in terms of engineering—and few artists can say they’ve created a transcendent experience that goes beyond what is expected of a “concert.”
These diagrams, along with others, are available for purchase in our Official Store.
Architectural Drawings and Graphics were created by Interiors (www.INTJournal.com)
Interiors is an Online Publication about the space between Architecture and Film. It is run by Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian. Check out their Website and Official Store and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Rooiels Beach House is a residential project completed by Elphick Proome Architects. The 10,225-square-foot home is located in Cape Town, South Africa. Rooiels Beach House by Elphick Proome Architects: “Elevated above dune fynbos on a rugged ocean peninsula, this vacation beach house is a steel framed structure able to be opened to connect with its extraordinary site on all sides. The exo-façade is a bespoke top hinged timber slated screen..
London-based firm Nex—Architecture has unveiled its plans for a new Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum as a part of the RAF’s 2018 Centenary Program. The new project will revitalize an existing RAF museum in North London that was created in 1972, transforming it into a visitor facility and promoting the airfield heritage of the museum’s location.
The new scheme will put emphasis on improving visitor experience by “establishing a clear route through the exhibition spaces.” A prominent new 40-meter-long entrance and visitor center will be placed inside the Hangar 1 building, acting as a welcome and orientation point.
Inside, the hangar will be reconfigured to incorporate a new central hub providing a café, shop, members’ room, public viewing galleries and flexible use spaces. Clad in extruded aluminum fins and inspired by the overlapping blades of a jet turbine engine, this new element plays with visitors’ perceptions of transparency and solidity as they move around the building stated the architect in a press release.
The inside of the 5,200-square-meter space will additionally be finished in dark tones in order to compliment and provide a muted backdrop for the Sunderland bomber aircraft housed inside. Because this aircraft is too fragile to be moved, construction will be carried out around it. A new industrial door will be installed for access to other large aircrafts.
In addition to renovating Hangar 1, the project includes a new restaurant converted from a former officers’ mess dating from the 1930s. In this space, original brick walls and steel roof trussing will be complimented and contrasted with new ash paneling, display cabinets, and stained oak flooring.
The new buildings and masterplan will bring a much-needed coherence to the site, and will offer new spaces that enhance visitor experience and better communicate the story of RAF people and technology for its centenary year and beyond described the architect.
Work on the project will begin in January 2017, with completion expected in the Spring of 2018 to coincide with the RAF Centenary.
Learn more about the project here.
News via Nex—.
An existing semi-detached house nearby the city Centre Leuven (Belgium) was extended to a vivid and sunny home for a couple with a passion for sports, travel and books.
The difference in level between the street and the garden as well as the orientation of the façade was used as a reason for architect Rob Mols to design an extension that pulls the light all the way through the house. The patio situated in de middle of the home intensifies this element of light and creates an intimate space between the gym and the living room. The expansion includes a timber construction in which columns, beams and finishing panels are left exposed.
studio k replied to the expansions existing contrasts with a design for the interior and exterior space. The various rooms throughout the house are a variety of intimate, dark atmospheres opposite to bright, open atmospheres. To establish the link between the several areas, materials and colors where reused. The customer had a specific demand to provide plenty of space for storage purposes to exhibit books and paintings together with creating different reading and leisure areas each with their own function and atmosphere.
The library is located next to the entrance area on street level. The Wengé colored stained oak floor and dark stained oak veneer bookcases causes an intimate reading atmosphere. The large window opens onto the gently sloping roof terrace illuminating the spacious room. A green roof with ornamental grasses and flowers causes a green oasis that fades away into the underlying garden and trees. The large dining table can be used to give intimate dinners, as a workplace or to exhibit books.
Through a floating open staircase finished in a massive oak Wengé colored and a white painted frame you reach the garden level. A bright polished concrete floor extends to the outside garden and patio to enhance a continuity and coherence throughout this home. The furniture consists of vintage and new pieces that blend beautifully with the current white walls, large windows and visible wooden structure.
The kitchen can be closed off by large white sliding doors to extract the kitchen from its view. The same ambience has been created as upstairs in the library. You can alter the space into a closed or open, calm harmonious or warm intimate atmosphere. A movable cupboard unit can be used as an extra worktop or dresser. The cabinet wall in the kitchen also hides the access door to the bedroom. The gym is housed on the other side of the patio.
In the bedroom the wooden beams and ceiling are left visible. The orbicular shower creates a little intimate spa retreat. A simple freestanding white block separates the bedroom from the bathroom. The old cellars, situated behind the sleeping area, where rearranged as sauna, laundry, toilet and storage space. On the first floor are a reading corner, second bathroom and office located. A new staircase was put up to the attic to serve as a guest and movie room.
The Forest is a residential project completed by GRUPOURBAN Arq. The home is located in Sendero del Bosque, Villa Allende, Córdoba, Argentina. Photos by: Gonzalo Viramonte
Sig Nordal 