From the architect. The commission consists of a renovation for a Dental Clinic located in a town located midway between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the tourist resorts to the south of the island.
The opposite facade is used as a code required egress given the size of the premises.
This unique starting condition makes the general space of movement and anticipation the true protagonist of the proposal. Resolved with a broken, polygonal geometry, which distinguishes it from the orthogonal geometry used in technical work areas , there is an unexpected dynamism that may happily distract the patient from the purpose of his visit while touring the clinic.
Floor Plan
Complementary to the specific resolution of the layout, the request should also lay the foundation for “corporate space” applicable to future sites used by this growing company .
Clean surfaces , solid floors , and large panels are used to reduce the number of joints , simple colors according to the different areas of the premises and indirect lighting systems ; all with the intention of creating a friendly space with the necessity of hygiene and precision appropriate to a dental clinic.
Completed in June 2015, Dokk1 is Scandinavia’s largest public library, containing space for a citizen service center, offices and automated parking for up to 1,000 vehicles. Its large staircases and outdoor areas connect the building to its site at the mouth of the Aarhus River, allowing the library to become a meeting point for the exchange of knowledge and opportunities. Dokk1 was an instant hit with the community – within 7 months of opening, the library had already welcomed more than 1 million visitors.
“Dokk1 is a covered urban square – an undulating landscape that facilitates learning, knowledge sharing, innovation and a sense of community,” says Senior Partner Kim Holst Jensen, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. “Our goal has been to create a stimulating and dynamic environment at this unique location that fosters valuable and meaningful relationships between people; a cultural centre that everyone can see themselves in. Architecture, with all its supporting disciplines has served to fulfil this greater ambition and we have been overwhelmed by how the people of Aarhus have embraced Dokk1 since opening day”, says Senior Partner Kim Holst Jensen, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects.”
The jury praised the library for reinvigorating an underused part of the city by creating a building the reacts appropriately to its context on each elevation:
“With its unique and central location in the city, the library has become a key element in the forward-looking strategy for creating more life by the harbour, which used to be a practically deserted area,” the jury commented in a statement. “It is evident that accessibility has been given high priority, not only in the positioning of the library, but also in the many outdoor areas and staircases that provide access to the building from all sides. This is supported by the shape and facade cladding of the building, which has no back, but has been given a primary facade on every side. In both the interior and the exterior, a classical construction element, the staircase, has been used as both a functional necessity and a place for meeting and resting.”
Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen
Additionally, the jury found the building’s chosen material palette to be clean and durable while still feeling inviting:
“The jury also finds great architectural value in the simple and consistent choice of materials throughout the building, which adapts naturally to the harbour environment. Furthermore, the materials are of a high quality without being ostentatious, which makes the building stand out as a place of diversity with room for everybody.”
Pritzker Prize-winning Australian architect Glenn Murcutt has revealed new images of his first mosque in Melbourne, showing a roof covered in rows of dramatic lantern-like skylights (+ slideshow). (more…)
The commission is a house for a couple with four grown children. The plot is located in a countryside neighborhood with access to Route 27 and to the Lujan River, in the town of Tigre in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires.
The project is intended to be a criticism of the type of detached-house or typical villa, which swarms today’s gated communities. The project seeks to close itself off as much as possible to the street and neighbors, and work from a courtyard, open on the ground floor and more closed and private on the first floor, where the main living space is located – (living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom and bathroom). On the ground floor there are located two offices and a recreational space that connects to the garden and pool.
In the patio/atrium three flower-jacarandas have been planted, which provide a significant change of color, and thus feel, to the space with the passing of the seasons.
Section
Section
The house rests on a concrete platform with inverted stiffening beams and is assembled with a mixed structure of reinforced concrete and steel columns that push the momentum of the flexion to its limits with a support system that runs through an prop up that vertically supports of the ends of the beams.
Plane eucalyptus boards of 3’’ (of various lengths) where used for the formwork to mold the beam partitions, and for the ceiling slabs finished multi-laminated phenolic plastic boards were used.
In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus school in 2019, Harvard Art Museums has released an online catalogue of their 32,000-piece Bauhaus Collection, containing rarely seen drawings and photographs from attendees and instructors of the revolutionary German design school.
The collection features work from the likes of Mies van der Rohe, Bertrand Goldberg, Marcel Breuer, and Bauhaus-founder Walter Gropius himself, and can be navigated through a search bar and an easy-to-use set of filters, allowing you to categorize work by topic, medium, date or artist.
Screenshot via Harvard Art Museums
Exploring the tabs at the top of the page will take you to the table of contents, a chronological history of the school and an essay covering the impact of the Bauhaus on the design world; or simply skip to the “Holdings” tab and select “Architecture” to begin explore the vast collection of works. Highlights include early sketches from Mies and drawings and photographs of Gropius and Adolf Meyer’s design for the Chicago Tribune Tower competition.
Screenshot via Harvard Art Museums
If the online catalogue is not enough (which seems unlikely), or you’d like explore examples of Bauhaus design in the real world, the site also contains a map of all the Bauhaus related sites found in the Boston area.
Find the collection at the Harvard Art Museums’ online platform, here.
Sydney designer Trent Jansen referenced the aesthetics of Australia in the 1970s to create this sunlounger for outdoor furniture brand Tait (+ movie). (more…)
The Roman Walls of Lugo, built between the late third century and early fourth century A.D, is the only complete roman fortification that is preserved in the world, and therefore, one of the most important monument of the Iberian Peninsula. The Roman Wall and the Historic Center of the walled enclosure have the highest level of patrimonial protection in Galicia and was declared in November 2000 a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The plot of the intervention is located inside the walls, next to the entrance to the public gardens of the council building. The plot has two main entrances, one from the inner round of the wall [still incomplete] by the West, and the second, through the Romans Lane, which communicates with San Marcos street, on the South. In the target area, the wall has a lower height than in the rest of its route. The Romans Lane, which connects the gardens with San Marcos street, serves the Council buildings and the National Insurance Institute, and has a secondary character in the old town scene. On the street there is already a communications tower of strong vertical component and great height. Also, the views from the street are altered by the distant vision of the party wall of a building located in the outer round. On the east side, from the parapet of the wall and inside the garden of the council, the large sized magnolias existing work as a screen minimizing the visual impact of the new element.
The parapet of the wall had no access that could be considered as accessible. For this reason, and with the aim to promote accessibility for all people, the location of an elevator on the far northeast of the enclosure was deemed necessary. The proposed intervention should provide an adequate response to the concept of quality of life and universal availability demanded by today’s society. The design of the elevator should take into account the protection of the cultural values of the Roman Wall and the Historical Centre of Lugo. The criteria and architectural design solutions used should also be compatible with the protection and conservation regimes established by law for the corresponding categories of protection to these two cultural goods. The new element image, seeking to adequately respond to a current need demanded by society in pursuit of improved quality of life, should also be consistent with the historical moment in which it was projected and, therefore, the architectural culture and modern appearance. At the same time, the design should be eminently respectful and discreet in relation to the presence of the Roman monument, and especially with the views from the parapet of the wall or from the public space of the Outer Ring. They were set as priority criteria to minimize the height of the installation to limit its visual impact on the monument and ensure the structural independence of the elevator to the historic structure except for the landing on the parapet, where the necessary functionality and safety should guide the design of the game. As for the used materials, finishes were chosen seeking an optimal level of quality, by designing and selecting them within a framework of current sustainability criteria that take into account the durability, the natural aging by use and weather conditions, safety and ease utilization. As for the functionality of the facilities it would be considered, on one hand, the possibility of providing the elevator of an ornamental and/or functional lighting to allow its use at night and, on the other hand, remote access control and surveillance of them will enable. The commissioning of the project comes from the Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural, Consellería de Cultura, Educación y Ordenación Universitaria de la Xunta de Galicia through a contest that included project contracting and execution of works in the elevator for a budget of material execution of € 76,153.93. The plot on which would have to locate the elevator was owned of the Provincial Council of Lugo that would transfer to the new facility. Once the work was executed, the installation would be allocated to the Council of Lugo City that
The location chosen for the elevator proves to be the most appropriate to minimize the impact of the new item on the monument by the lower height of the wall on that stretch and the immediate presence of large trees. The new element has two distinct parts. On the one hand, the box houses the elevator device, its guides and equipment and, on the other hand, the gateway leads to the walkway on the upper level. The upper boarding of the elevator faces the wall while the lower boarding is laterally disposed to have a safe and big space to wait. This configuration requires the provision of an elevator with double entrance to 90º. The resulting plan dimensions of the box are 2.40 x 2.40 meters and 7.80 meters height. It is the minimum emerging from the operational requirements of the lifting device. The elevator body adopts the dominant alignment of the buildings inside the walls of the immediate environment. The choice of this alignment is, on one hand, due to reinforce the character [is intended] of independence and respect to the monument and, on the other hand, to facilitate the agreement of slopes between the gateway and the parapet of the wall. The resulting box and gateway connection to the parapet are solved with steel structure. The vertical body is solved internally with folded sheet steel and coated externally with iroko wood strips, which are separated in the stops forming a lattice that allows a glimpse of the outside. The pavement of the gateway connection is made with a folded perforated plate that reinforces the sense of independence between the elevator body and the wall, and solves water drainage and the need for a non-slip surface. It has sought a high degree of prefabrication in the design and layout of each of the structural elements of the project. Over time it is expected that the wood acquires a gray color that fits naturally to the historic masonry wall and its living patina.
In the last decades Lugo City Council has stood by its commitment to accessibility, as evidenced by the Queen Sofia Prize for universal accessibility received in 2007 or his recent selection as the best accessible tourist destination for disabled people, in the second edition of the campaign ‘Accessible Tourism Destination’ driven by ThyssenKrupp Encasa. The elevator of the wall is the result of a long request of the social groups of Lugo, in particular the Auxilia organization, which for years fought to get this infrastructure. This achievement allows to complete an accessibility system that will open the use and enjoyment of the monument to all people. During its first months of existence, the presence of the new element has been accepted by the public as a necessary piece that agree with the openness of the city and the monument [the Great Wall is open to public use for free 24 hours a day]. During this time, the new elevator has not aroused great controversy and we could say its presence has naturally been assumed by the citizens, which, because of the sensitivity of the intervention, we understand as a success of our proposal
Felipe Correa’s latest book “Beyond the City: Resource Extraction Urbanism in South America” takes us to a region that architects and urban designers typically have neglected—the hinterland. The South American hinterland provides a unique subject of analysis as it has typically been urbanized for its natural resources, which are tethered back to the coastal cities where these resources are either consumed or distributed to global markets. Within this context, the hinterland is viewed as a frontier whose wilderness is to be tamed, put to work, and territorialized through infrastructure and urban design. Beyond the City provides an insightful look into these processes and the unique urban experiments that emerged in South America. Organized by five case studies, Beyond the City is tied together by what Correa has termed “resource extraction urbanism,” which he links to “new and experimental urban identities in the context of government-sponsored resource extraction frontiers.” Written as a lucid historical account that anchors the discussion within the political, economic, and social context, as well as within global design discourse, the book is also projective—setting the table for a series of questions on how design can act in these landscapes.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
The first case study focuses on Belo Horizonte, a coffee-producing and iron-mining settlement planned by engineer Aarao Reis in 1893. Seen as a predecessor to Brasília, Belo Horizonte was established as an instant capital with an administrative and commercial center that would anchor the hinterland. Inspired by Enlightenment values, Belo Horizonte consciously deployed a rational plan that acted as a “political and economic staging ground”—ordering movement and privileging hygiene through a city-beautiful homage to L’Enfant among others. Despite its idealized grid geometries that provided order to the landscape, the city remained isolated until rail infrastructure connected it to other settlements in the 1920s, positioning it as a central hub within the continental interior. The rail line also instigated new industries and allowed for the absorption of disaggregated hinterland populations into Belo Horizonte. In fact, the railway serves as a clear reminder that infrastructure is even more critical than idealized urban forms in inciting urban transformations. Extending power from the city to hinterland through planning concepts, the first case study in Beyond the City takes us to the hinterland yet keeps us within the familiarity of the city.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
The next case study transports the reader further into uncharted territory—to the Northern Chilean desert, where a constellation of extraction towns developed around the natural nitrate industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Correa’s unique analysis dives both into the territorial logic of extraction that developed a series of logistical infrastructures (ports, railroads, etc.) and the semi-autonomous logic of the extraction towns, such as Maria Elena. The territorial logic of the constellation was primarily comprised of a series of oficinas salitreras (extraction camps) which were grouped into the geopolitical system of “cantons” and linked to other settlement types—the coastal port city (to distribute goods to global markets), railroad hub town (intermodal transfer), and Andean oasis (water and agriculture)—via rail infrastructure. Each settlement type from the mountain to the ocean had a role within the system, and although the components had a degree of autonomy, they also had interdependencies reminiscent of Geddes’ Valley section that served to domesticate the harsh Atacama Desert landscape. Now largely abandoned, Correa argues for a reinvestment in this region through art, entertainment, and tourism. While these programs (and others) could take advantage of the existing infrastructure within this remote area, it is unclear why these extractive landscapes should continue to be inhabited or how the design of these infrastructures could anticipate and acknowledge potential future industries.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
This tension between resource extraction towns as mechanisms of control that import ideal town plans to the hinterland and the larger territorial extraction practices that organize the landscape based on where resources are located, how they are extracted, and where they are moved to, is best exemplified in the third case study on petro encampments. Ciudad Ojeda was the first formal city to be established by the Venezuelan government in response to the migration associated with the emerging oil industry. Conceived by architect Cipriano Dominguez, the city had an idealized plan of concentric rings wrapping a central square. As new oil deposits were discovered, it was oil derricks that organized the landscape and urbanization around Ojeda, reducing Dominguez’s plan to but a small attempt to import control into a landscape driven by extraction logics. A more extreme case of this is found in Nueva Loja in Ecuador, whose prospecting strips of extraction have now served as the inadvertent framework for a city of over thirty thousand residents. Correa’s powerful analysis—through drawings and text—of the relationship between extraction processes and future productions of urbanism ask the reader to consider outcomes that are not inadvertent but rather planned within the infrastructural deployment of these industries. This quickly becomes a design question to consider future scenarios that leverage these industries as the originating catalyst.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
It becomes exceedingly clear through Correa’s analysis that resource extraction urbanism is not only the territorial deployment of infrastructures related to industrial processes that set up a territorial frame for urbanization, but also a symbolic ordering of the landscape into critical town nodes that civilize the hinterland while creating a canvas for urban and architectural experimentation. Such experimentation was at the center of Ciudad Guyana, which attempted to merge design with social sciences. Designed by the Joint Center for Urban Studies, a research entity between Harvard and MIT, the city uniquely sought to reconcile rapid growth with a longer-term plan for economic development. Designed as a linear city that linked a series of nodes, the town was conceived of as a proactive framework for hinterland evolution rather than the byproduct of the extraction industry.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
The final case study takes us once again to a symbolic ordering of the landscape in the plan of Vila Piloto (1962) along Brazil’s Parana River basin. Part of a TVA-influenced hydroelectric network that merged energy, hydrology, and regional planning into a larger urbanization strategy, Vila Piloto’s distinct circular plan of concentric rings are not as rigid as they first appear. Anticipating a transforming population, the houses of the original settlement were relocated, and slowly this circular framework was infilled by new residents that leveraged the services and amenities inscribed in the city’s plan. In this case study, we already see a critical move towards anticipatory design, and an understanding of the lasting legacy of these towns being their infrastructural arrangement both at the scale of the territory and settlement.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
Today, once again South America is undergoing a process of hinterland urbanization, making Beyond the City a critical and timely guide to navigate potential opportunities within new infrastructural developments. You could argue that the catalyst of the Beyond the City is the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), an agreement by eleven South American nations to deploy ten east-west infrastructural corridors across South America, creating a comprehensive energy, movement, and communication network. Already underway with more than half of the 524 projects under construction, the IIRSA plan once again brings the hinterland to the foreground.
Courtesy of University of Texas Press
The clues that Beyond the City provides are numerous. The historic analysis operates in a transcalar manner—moving between a territorial logic, urban settlements, to construction methodologies and materials—making it exceedingly clear that a holistic design project needs to consider the feedback between the territory and detail, as both are engines to organize place. Further, the case studies shed light on the design of the foreground versus the background. By foreground, I refer to the idealized city plans that are typically in the domain of architects and urban designers. In several cases in Beyond the City these plans are used to provide a symbolic ordering to the landscape and instill a civilization project into and onto the hinterland. Simultaneous to this, Beyond the City also reveals the background—organizational strategies that typically sit outside the domain of designers—such as the deployment of infrastructures and settlements based on extraction principles. Correa’s book suggests the need for design to engage in both the foreground and background in order to holistically link the territory to the settlement but also to more proactively account for the future of these settlements once they’ve exhausted their resources. Finally, Beyond the City reminds us that urbanism is still a site of experimentation. While the neoliberal city has eroded such dialogues in urban design, the remoteness of the hinterland and its instigation typically by a singular entity reawakens an arena for experimentation on systemic integration and holistic design. As the hinterland across the globe continues to urbanize and grow, Beyond the City provides a fascinating new subject for designers along with a captivating historic account that yields a series of experimental questions and templates.
Neeraj Bhatia is founder of design practice The Open Workshop and co-director of The Urban Works Agency at CCA in San Francisco.
