This 120-year-old Kyoto townhouse was once used as a seed plantation, but has been carefully restored to create a guesthouse that celebrates Japanese interior design traditions (+ slideshow). (more…)
The house is called a coconut house due to its solid grey stone exterior, while its interior is white and sweet. It is for a family consisting of a couple and two children.
Privacy from neighbouring properties was a key concern for the clients. The contrast between the exterior and interior materials and colors was chosen to heighten the safety of the house in a dense residential district. The building is packed into a plot between existing neighboring properties. Its plan was created to provide a variety of spaces across the two floors, and also to ensure the main spaces are oriented towards the sun’s path.
At street level, a concrete-finished wall and grey stones shield the lower story from view. It also incorporates a black swinging door and entrance that opens onto a grey stone courtyard. A large volume of glazing towards this courtyard is used throughout the house to ensure the interior receives plenty of natural light, despite its cramped site. The master bedroom, situated in the more private front end of the second floor, contains a library, a walk-in closet, an en-suite bathroom, and a door to a terrace garden.
US studio Abramson Teiger has created a rural Wyoming home that consists of low-lying volumes made of glass, concrete and weathering steel (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. Located in the heart of Erskineville, one of Sydney’s true urban villages, EVE is situated only 4.5kms from the Sydney CBD. Erskineville is an area rapidly growing in popularity with buyers who want affordability within close proximity to the city, together with the existing infrastructure of transport, schools, hospitals and lifestyle offerings.
Eve Apartments are modern, sculptural and organic in design – a new statement in urban luxury with sleek confidence and sweeping curves.
Across all of the one, two and three bedroom apartments, intelligent and efficient design has ensured each apartment is incredibly light and spacious.
Flexible layouts and open plan living create flowing spaces from the designer kitchen to the living area to the full height windows and stunning views.
EVE gives Fridcorp the opportunity to bring its reputation for designer apartments at affordable prices to Sydney residents.
Designer and architect Neri Oxman and the Mediated Matter group have announced their latest design project: the Synthetic Apiary. Aimed at combating the massive bee colony losses that have occurred in recent years, the Synthetic Apiary explores the possibility of constructing controlled, indoor environments that would allow honeybee populations to thrive year-round.
On Friday, September 30, 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service added seven species of bees to the Federal Endangered Species list, after a UN-sponsored report released in February found that nearly 40 percent of invertebrate pollinator species (which includes bees and butterflies) are now facing extinction. Bees play a vital role in the reproductive cycle of many plants, including those used for human food production, and according Mediated Matter, losses continuing at these rates could have dire impacts for both human and environmental well-being.
“It is time that the inclusion of apiaries—natural or synthetic—for this “keystone species” be considered a basic requirement of any sustainability program,” says Oxman.
In developing the Synthetic Apiary, Mediated Matter studied the habits and needs of honeybees, determining the precise amounts of light, humidity and temperature required to simulate a perpetual spring environment. They then engineered an undisturbed space where bees are provided with synthetic pollen and sugared water and could be evaluated regularly for health.
In the initial experiment, the honeybees’ natural cycle proved to adapt to the new environment, as the Queen was able to successfully lay eggs in the apiary. The bees showed the ability to function normally in the environment, suggesting that natural cultivation in artificial spaces may be possible across scales, “from organism- to building-scale.”
“At the core of this project is the creation of an entirely synthetic environment enabling controlled, large-scale investigations of hives,” explain the designers.
“As shown in the video at time 2:33, eggs are laid in the apiary, indicating a successful combination of temperature, humidity, light, and nutrition for queens. This proves the ability to shift the entire cycle of bee behavior, out of winter mode and into spring mode, and is a first demonstration of sustainable life in a completely synthetic apiary. The long-term goal is to integrate biology into a new kind of architectural environment, and thereby the city, for the benefit of humans and eusocial organisms.”
Mediated Matter chose to research into honeybees not just because of their recent loss of habitat, but also because of their ability to work together to create their own architecture, a topic the group has explored in their ongoing research on biologically augmented digital fabrication, including employing silkworms to create objects and environments at product, architectural, and possibly urban, scales.
“The Synthetic Apiary bridges the organism- and building-scale by exploring a “keystone species”: bees. Many insect communities present collective behavior known as “swarming,” prioritizing group over individual survival, while constantly working to achieve common goals. Often, groups of these eusocial organisms leverage collaborative behavior for relatively large-scale construction. For example, ants create extremely complex networks by tunneling, wasps generate intricate paper nests with materials sourced from local areas, and bees deposit wax to build intricate hive structures.”
“Honeybees are ideal model organisms because of the historical interplay between their communities and humans.”
With the success of the initial Synthetic Apiary program, Mediated Matter hopes that biological environments will begin to be regularly integrated into architectural and urban settings, for the benefit of both humans and eusocial organisms such as bees.
Credits
Research and Design: Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab
Lead researchers: Markus Kayser, Sunanda Sharma, Jorge Duro-Royo, Christoph Bader, Dominik Kolb, and Prof. Neri Oxman (Group Director)
Collaborators: The Best Bees Company: Dr. Noah Wilson-Rich, Philip Norwood, Jessica O’Keefe, Rachel Diaz-Granados; Dr. James Weaver (Wyss Institute); Dr. Anne Madden (North Carolina State University); Space Managers Andy and Susan Magdanz; and Daniel Maher
Videographers: James Day and the Mediated Matter group
Media Lab Facilities: Jessica Tsymbal and Kevin Davis
MIT EHS: Lorena Altamirano
The Synthetic Apiary team wishes to convey gratitude to Mori Building Company for their generous sponsorship of this project, as well as acknowledge the Mori Art Museum and Loftworks for their support.
News via Neri Oxman and Mediated Matter.
Google has upgraded its thrifty cardboard VR headset with a fabric version named Daydream View, which is designed to work with the company’s first own-brand smartphone (+ movie). (more…)
Forme Publique inaugurates its 3rd edition of the Public Furniture Biennale located in the Parisian business district La Défense.
The original call for proposals brought together projects which addressed the general theme of “Global Village”, inviting designers to address one of three concepts: the protective shelter, work outside the scope (between hyper-connection and disconnection), and “mobile stations” for pedestrians.
“La Rue des Utopies” by the Geneva-based designers Florian López and Constantinos Hoursoglou from the agency COMPAGNIE DES RUES, was subsequently selected as one of four winning projects to be realised.
Located in the middle of La Défense business district in Paris, “La rue des Utopies” offers a moment of seclusion and contemplation. Climbing along the elevated walk visitors find themselves nestled amongst the grove of existing lime trees. The concept here was simple: to offer a completely new experience of the city only a few meters above the familiar ground plane. Users of the business district accustomed to the ubiquitous grey color scale, strict lines and hard angles are invited to err for a moment and rediscover their surroundings. The elevation enables them to leave this world behind and wander through the crown of the trees; enjoying their shady foliage and awakening their senses.
Traversing some sixty metres, the wooden promenade also invites the eye to open up to new perspectives and offers a well-deserved break from hectic schedules. The elevated view of the esplanade reveals the monumentality of the Grande Arche from another angle, whilst further along the path two shelters invite opportunities for solitary contemplation or group discussions. The intentionally human scale of the installation allows the users to make the transition from global to local: stealing away from the hypercity to a more natural habitat.
2016 New York State Firm of the Year WXY Architecture + Urban Design has been commissioned to masterplan and develop a 130-acre former shipyard into a modern “innovation district” featuring flexible workspaces and a modern maker hub at Kearny Point, New Jersey. Working with owner Hugo Neu, WXY’s plan calls for the adaptive reuse of several former maritime industry buildings that once served as factories for warships.
Phase one of the project transforms Building 78, a 210,000 square foot former federal shipbuilding facility, into innovative multi-tenant workspaces for next-generation manufacturing companies. WXY’s design includes façade strategies, lighting, interior finishes and layout.
Future phases will include the adaptive reuse of the 280,000 square foot Building 54, which already features large, column-free spaces, into open-plan offices for larger tenants and a wholesale marketplace, where companies can sell their wares on site.
“The adaptive reuse of Kearny Point’s former maritime industry buildings into “multi-tenant artisanal manufacturing hubs” includes building designs by WXY as well as façade and lighting, interior finishes, layout consulting, and final master plans. WXY and Hugo Neu believe the transformed New Jersey site — with its convenient location, rich industrial legacy, and a design mixing original brick with modern glass and steel — will be highly attractive to new tenants,” explain the architects.
Special care will be taken to preserve the historic elements of the site while optimizing building efficiency. WXY’s masterplan is aimed at addressing “public interface” elements, which include building layout, pedestrian circulation, vehicular and logistic pathways, and waterfront access, as well as the facilities’ relationship to its context. “Green” building features will also be implemented to reduce the complex’s environmental impact.
News via WXY Architecture + Design.
It may look like a minimal speaker, but this new product from Google promises to harness the search giant’s data troves to provide all-knowing assistance in the home (+ movie). (more…)
From the architect. Located in a suburb of Boston, this house serves as a gathering point for a couple’s children and many grandchildren. The addition and pool house develop a dialogue with the existing gardens, allowing the owners to engage the outdoors all year, and creating a series of filters and frames through which the landscape is viewed.
Product Description:
The Newton House living and pool pavilions frame the landscape surrounding the house and enhance the inhabitants’ relationship with the natural landscape of the backyard. Located within the Living Pavilion, a polished stainless steel hood at the center of an open kitchen reflects its context, effectively de-materializing itself, as it absorbs the various views within its facets. At once a significant mechanical presence, and at the same time an optical ruse, the two come together in an unexpected alliance.
Sig Nordal 