With the London Design Festival upon us, we’ve selected the best contemporary examples of British design and pinned them to a new Pinterest board.
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Baldasso Cortese were recently commissioned to design the new Police Complex in Somerville. The brief called for a new facility to accommodate approximately 150 staff, 83 relocated from existing police stations and 67 new staff to meet the operational needs of Victoria Police, the growing local community and greater regional area.
Located at a key road intersection in the semi-rural landscape and bounded by natural flora and residential homes, the conceptual design for Somerville Police Station gives consideration to context and local character whilst providing Victoria Police an established civic presence.
Following the natural contour of the land, the building is ground hugging and sits within the site in a manner that conserves pre-existing native vegetation.
The architectural form is divided into a ground floor precast concrete plinth and an upper level Corten steel façade. Grounding the building on the site, the precast concrete base provides a solid sanctuary for those in need of assistance and protection.
The upper level Corten cladding is folded to represent the five points of the star that are found on the Victoria Police badge. The points of the star metaphorically represent Victoria Police reaching out into the community and the core values of integrity, leadership, flexibility, respect, support and professionalism. While enhancing the architectural form, the use of Corten steel, which is a rusted metal cladding, was a response to regional flora, alluding to the rusty hue of pine needles and cones of the conifer trees that grow adjacent to the site.
Internally, this connection with the landscape is continued through the use of spotted gum timber panels. These warm and textural timber elements, accentuated by the neutral materials palette, span both levels and terminates at wide glazed windows that provide tree top views. This glazing also affords a diffused light that streams down on the office spaces, alluding to the effect of light filtering through a tree canopy.
Kaldor Public Art Projects, in collaboration with artist Jonathan Jones, has created barrangal dyara (skin and bones), the first Kaldor Public Art project to be produced together with an Aboriginal artist in the Royal Botanic Garden of Sydney, Australia. Inspired by the history of the 19th century Garden Palace building, which originally stood in the Royal Botanic Garden from 1879 to 1882 before burning to the ground, the artwork marks the original footprint of the building with a sculptural installation of 15,000 white shields spanning 20,000 square meters.
Where the Garden Palace’s dome once crowned the city, a dynamic meadow of kangaroo grass now disrupts the garden’s formal European design.
Eight Aboriginal language soundscapes, which were developed with communities throughout south-east Australia, are installed throughout the site.
barrangal dyara is a response to the immense loss felt throughout Australia due to the destruction of countless culturally significant Aboriginal objects when the Palace was razed by fire on 22 September 1882. It represents an effort to commence a healing process and a celebration of the survival of the world’s oldest living culture despite this traumatic event, said artist Jonathan Jones.
The thousands of shields laid across the Garden echo the masses of rubble left over after the fire, raising the bones of the Garden Palace for a contemporary audience. Each shield takes its shape from one of four typical shield designs from the south-east of Australia and speak to not only the significant number of cultural objects lost in the Garden Palace fire, but also the presence of objects on this site, used in ceremonies over countless generations.
Visitors will be able to enhance their experience by downloading the free Project 32 app, which provides insights from cultural leaders, historians, theorists, artists, writers, and cultural practitioners.
News via Kaldor Public Art Projects.
Cross-continental architecture practice KOSMOS Architects have revealed the full design intent for their HelloWood 2016 installation. The wooden structure, dubbed “Thread,” subverts the conventional notion of the wall as a divider of space, reinventing it as a new zone of inclusivism and human engagement. Their entire design and construction process was guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, leading to a structure that brings people together and fulfills them in different ways, level by level.
The KOSMOS office is unconventionally structured, with partners in Moscow, New York, and Switzerland collaborating online with students based across the world. Their exploration of the concept of unity is particularly pertinent, as the installation drew members of their practice together for a week to construct Thread in the fields of Hungary, where the HelloWood project village was based.
During this week, the construction process adhered to the following sequential principles: Day 1/Level 1: physiological (a ground level bar was opened for socializing between the students); Day 2/Level 2: safety; Day 3/Level 3: Love; Day 4/Level 4: Esteem; Day 5/Level 5: Self-actualization.
Alongside the exercise in conceptual and interpersonal engagement, the project also gave the team an important testing ground to practice their construction knowledge. Together, they undertook experiments with wooden joints and cheap infill materials and raised critical structural and tectonic questions.
In the world of communication and global exchange of cultures, walls should unite people and not divide them. As such this project is a wall but a new kind of wall – it attracts rather than separates. It questions physical borders and proposes transforming the typology of a wall from a space-divider into a functional infrastructural space itself which can provide shelter as well as provide for communal, commercial and cultural activities.The structure is built in layers according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The ground floor provides shelter for basic human necessities such as sleeping and the top floor offers space for spiritual necessities such as the need for self-expression. The team built one layer per day, each marked by a ritual of one activity: from sleeping and eating on first days to love and self-actualization on the last days.
For a comprehensive understanding of the depth and variety of KOSMOS’s work, check out their online portfolio and follow their Facebook page for updates.
You can see the full spread of projects at the HelloWood festival in our recent round-up.
News via KOSMOS Architects.
Conceived as a sustainable reinterpretation of a monolithic gable roof house, the Palatine Passive House integrates modern residential form with innovative building technologies. The certified passive house was designed and built by the architect. Apart from an abundantly glazed entrance gesture, the distinctive façade is windowless in order to meet passive house certification standards.
The unique façade is composed of hand-charred cedar in a herringbone pattern, adding a twist to a classic Northwest American building material. The dark patina complements the lush, tree-lined neighborhood streets, while the shou sugi ban treatment naturally seals the cedar, eliminating the need for regular maintenance in a rainy Seattle climate. Once inside, the large windows and white, minimal interior maximize natural daylight to create a light filled space that is private from the street.
The first level is a large open volume that spills out to the back yard for the social functions of the residential program. High ceilings on the second floor allow for a mix of private and loft spaces. An open double height circulation area joins the two levels and connects the public and private functions of the house.
In pursuing PHIUS certification, innovative building technologies and construction methods emerged in the envelope assembly, cladding fabrication, and energy management systems. Due to an airtight envelope, continuous high-performance insulation, and managed solar gain, the Palatine Passive House uses 90% less energy than required by local building code. The house employs a continuously filtered heat and moisture recovery ventilation system, resulting in excellent air quality and temperature control for a healthy, comfortable living environment. A home management & control system, monitors all major energy components, optimizes efficiency, and allows residents to manage lighting, cooling, heating, and ventilation from a phone app. In a testament to the progressive design, engineers used the Palatine Passive House as testing ground for the system.
Stuttgart architecture studio Metaraum has completed a bus station in the German city of Pforzheim, featuring curving canopies that swoop up and over waiting areas (+ slideshow). (more…)
Danish firm COBE have lead a team comprised of Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Sted, and Rambøll in the design of a brand new island in Copenhagen’s harbor. Situated in the Kronløb water basin in Nordhavn, the monolithic presence of the Kronløb Island references the geological processes by which the topography of Denmark was formed. The floating new district will include parking facilities, housing, and public spaces.
The introduction of the island into the harbor will break up the expanse of water, providing a median point between two burgeoning city districts. Its presence will also facilitate a series of intimate canals that wind between the built areas.
Kronløb Island will include the area’s biggest parking facility – a three-story underwater car park – as well as two new urban spaces in direct contact with the water, three new bridges and a monolithic housing volume with unique and varied housing qualities surrounding an intimate green heart.
The island has been conceived as a geographic formation similar to the Danish landscape and naturally occurring islands. This is expressed not only by its volumetric weight, but also through the chosen material of stone and the striated arrangement of the facades. COBE described the island as “a monolith carved from one stone”.
News via COBE.
Gustaf Holtenäs based his animated video for Russian musician Mitya’s track Fabula Spatium on surreal sci-fi art from the 1970s (+ movie). (more…)
Sig Nordal 