Along with eight other contemporary artists, Mexican artist Gabriel Dawe is exhibiting his installation called ‘Plexus A1’ within the WONDER display at the Renwick Gallery until July 10. WONDER is an exhibition showing nine very different projects within Renwick Gallery, all of which use large-scale and/or unexpected materials. Dawe uses around 100 kilometers of cotton yarn to create a colorful installation that is similar to the light spectrum.
The installation is “basically the superposition of two architectural structures made from the main material in clothes,” says Gabriel Dawe on the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) Youtube channel. “I started working with textiles as a way to challenge the notions of gender identity. I grew up in Mexico City where there is a strong notion of the “macho” culture which forbade me to investigate textiles as a child. Now as an adult, I decided to challenge this continuous culture.”
To mount the thread, Dawe placed four main supports (two on the floor and two on the ceiling) with several hooks each. He then designed a special tool made out of a large stick that acts like a giant needle, weaving the thread from the floor to the ceiling without a problem and as often as necessary. There are thousands of connections between the hooks on the floor and the ceiling, each thread measuring around 100 kilometres. Seen close together the threads appear to be “frozen rays of light.”
Dutch designer Maarten Baas‘ giant Real Time Schiphol timepiece replaces traditional clock hands with a 12-hour-long video performance (+ movie). (more…)
Claremont Residence is a private home located in Claremont, Australia. It was designed by David Barr Architect in 2016. Claremont Residence by David Barr Architect: “This extension to a pre-war suburban house is generated by a series of brick volumes connected by discreet landscaped areas. A clear grid informs the new addition’s planning, with each of the main spaces (dining room, living room, bedroom) located separately. The project extends the..
Netherlands-based Mecanoo Architecten has unveiled its plans for the new Kaohsiung Station, the centerpiece of the massive Kaohsiung Metropolitan Area Underground Railway Project in Taiwan.
The project, which will occupy an 8.5-hectare site, will act as a green connector unifying different modes of transportation and represent Kaohsiung’s vision for its future as a sustainable city.
With its curvilinear landscaped canopy, the transportation hub will integrate train, metro, bus, taxi, bicycle services, and will create green public space for pedestrians and cyclists alike. The canopy will additionally connect a hotel, commercial buildings, shops, restaurants, and other facilities.
Courtesy of Mecanoo
The sprawling green canopy protects the open public plaza underneath from Kaohsiung’s tropical climate like large trees would do. Here people can meet, enjoy a refreshing breeze, or visit events that take place at the station, like a farmers’ market, second-hand market, traditional open-air opera or a mobile library. – Francine Houben, creative director of Mecanoo Architecten
Courtesy of Mecanoo
Courtesy of Mecanoo
Visitors arriving at the station via underground train and metro platforms will pass through the Station’s central hall, a sunken plaza that features a bright ceiling of oval-shaped tiles.
Courtesy of Mecanoo
Work on the project began in 2014 and is expected to be completed in 2024.
From the architect. Balboa is an urban fitness start-up. We designed their first fixed location – Balboa Bar & Gym – in the banking district of Zurich. The design is based on functionality, authenticity, collectivity and openness. The goal was not only to create a new place-to-be, but further to challenge common perception of what “fitness” is about and to open up the Balboa community to grow beyond gym- goers. People and interaction are in the center of the concept.
The concept mixes two uses that normally would not be considered a “match”. The ground floor works as a regular, fully-fledged bar and the gym is located downstairs. This unorthodox mix is celebrated in the architecture. Generous roughly cut openings allow for visual connections between the two floors and their partly differing clientele – and also bring natural light in to the basement. The connecting effect is amplified by lighting. Further ample uncovered windows connect the bar to the outer world. Inside, the long copper bar, wide concrete drinking fountains, a big communal table and the „mixed-zone“ downstairs (housing shared toilets) are designed as places of encounter.
Floor Plan
Balboa Bar & Gym is located in the ground floor and basement of an existing modernistic office building from the 60’s. For functionality the spatial organization was optimized, new connections between the floors were added to make the most out of the available space in all three dimensions. To stay true to urban spirit Balboa’s (and in order to deal with the tight budget) the look and feel was kept functional and authentic. Surfaces were, when possible, left as found or toned to an all- grey palette. The reduced backdrop was then contrasted with black steel, a few splashes of signal red, copper, light beech wood and cognac leather to add graphic accents and warmth.
In this interview, presented in collaboration with PLANE—SITE, Jack Self—co-curator of the British Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale—reveals how the frontline of architecture in Britain today is not just a housing crisis, but “a crisis of the home.” In provocatively presenting “the banal,” Self reveals why the British participation at the 2016 Venice Biennale proposes five new models for domestic life, each curated through time of domestic occupancy, alongside how it seeks to address the ways in which we might live in the future.
Through five distinct periods (hours, days, months, years and decades) [the exhibition] argues that by designing first with time (as opposed to space) we can overturn the functionalist perspective in western architecture and reinstate a rationalist understanding of dwelling. As far as we are aware, it is also the first exhibition on architecture to be curated through time in the home.
Each of these five models addresses a different facet of our “frontline” crisis of living, from how to prevent speculation and exploitation in real estate markets to how sharing can be a form of luxury and not a compromise. Each model has been developed in an intensely pragmatic and totalising way, by harnessing the expertise of diverse advisors and collaborators ranging from developers and financial institutions to engineers, architects, artists, fashion designers, photographers and filmmakers.
Jack Self is an architect and writer. He curated the British Pavilion with Finn Williams and Shumi Bose.Home Economics was commissioned by the British Council.
Curving windows peep above the ground to bring light into this underground car park in South Holland, which is covered in grassy hillocks to replicate a dune landscape (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. LightPathAKL transforms six hundred meters of redundant highway infrastructure into a dynamic cycleway completing a vital link in Auckland’s inner city cycle network.
LightPathAKL was initiated when a study identified the potential of an unused former highway offramp to be repurposed to form the western route of an inner city cycleway and complete Auckland’s inner city cycle network.
Site Plan
Architecturally the project had to work simultaneously at two scales: the macro and the micro – the city and the individual. The project was also primarily conceived equally as a piece of urban art as it was urban design.
At the city scale, the project was just one strand, albeit now unused, of a larger and multiple level confluence of highways that run through Auckland.
To create an impact at this wider city scale a simple yet bold strategy was employed.
The former asphalt highway was given a highly vivid and provocative pink resin and aggregate surfacing. This transformed the space from a disused highway into a highly contemporary urban space used by cyclists and pedestrians.
Section
A dusk and evening dimension was created by placing over 300 LED custom light boxes along the eastern edge of the cycleway to create a light spine.
These were fully programmable and contained sensors to create a digital infrastructure to allow an artist to create an infinite array of experiences. This reinforced the macro realm of the project and created an interactive light sculpture that transformed the new urban space and gave the project its name.
Maori artist Katz Maihi formed a crucial part of the team to imbue the contemporary project with a sense of narrative, place and speak to the user and micro scale.
Aluminium plates, engraved with original Katz artworks were subtly integrated into the western edge of the cycleway barrier. In addition to this, the pink surfacing was concluded at its northern end in another 27 metre long original artwork that morphed the surfacing back to asphalt.
The project is a bold statement in Auckland’s urban realm, illustrating movement, speed and aspiration. The project hurtles through the active highway network – the immersive character and identity of the project varying from one vantage point to another, across the day and night, and around the adjacent precincts.
It takes on the often overused definition of urban connectivity and profoundly redefines it with a persuasive use of colour, materiality and technology. In the process, it contributes to a dispersal of ones perception of what it is to move about a city with an intoxicating cycling, pedestrian and transportation event.
More than 100,000 cycle journeys have been made on #LightPathAKL, cementing its place as a now critical piece of cycling infrastructure in the city.
Residence Clerkenwell Apartment is a private residence designed by APA . It is located in London, England. Residence Clerkenwell Apartment by APA: “Architecture firm APA has transformed a London warehouse space into an apartment for two theatre and film directors, adding a raw steel volume that houses a movie archive and a bathroom. Both Ibelhauptaite and Fletcher were drawn to the apartment’s expansive windows, which – prior to the renovation..
