Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: Alejandro Aravena’s Reporting from the Front-themed Venice Biennale is filled with good intentions, but can architects ever really be honest about architecture, asks Mimi Zeiger. (more…)
KAAN Architecten has won the commission to design the New Amsterdam Courthouse. The new building will replace the current judicial complex at the intersection of Zuidas and Parnassusweg, which is slated for demolition. The Courthouse of Amsterdam is the largest in the Netherlands and handles 150,000 cases a year with a staff of 200 judges and 800 professionals. KAAN Architecten describes the building’s design as both “stately” and “distinguished,” stating that the intention was to create a facility that understands justice as an open process, and thus incorporates ways for the public to engage with the Courthouse.
In order to foster this sense of openness, the ground floor will be visible through large windows and allow for public access to a variety of spaces including a courtyard. Adding to this sense of engagement, the interior layouts are designed to merge with the street conditions outside, generating a forecourt, central hall with foyers, and waiting areas, that are an extension of the urban fabric. However, the architects clarify that users will also find that the building can be immensely private, with sheltered areas and screened-off routes for judges, clerks, and ministerial representatives.
In total, the building with host 50 courtrooms and council chambers, all with natural light. A large ground floor courtroom will host larger cases that attract more visitors, and will have a dedicated point of access as to not disturb the ongoing proceedings of the other courtrooms.
The Courthouse will also incorporate several gardens and landscapes, including an enclosed space on the ground floor, vertical gardens climbing through building offices, and on the building’s western face, a sunken landscape providing daylight to a basement level.
During the demolition of the existing court structure, workers will be moved to satellite facilities in the neighborhood. The new building is scheduled for completion in 2020.
Yves Behar has partnered with San Francisco startup Juicero to design a home juicer that uses pre-packaged sachets of fruit and vegetables (+ slideshow). (more…)
Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: there are 61 national pavilions exhibiting as part of this year’s Venice Biennale, so it’s nearly impossible to see them all. Dezeen’s architecture editor Amy Frearson has picked out the 10 that are not to be missed. (more…)
From the architect. Dr. Danielle Brassard has long dreamt of opening her own public dermatology clinic in Montréal. To meet the needs of clients who deal with eczema, psoriasis, hives and other skin conditions linked to stress, the future clinic must welcome patients in a comforting atmosphere. Her vision for the space is unlike the model of traditional medical clinics, which are often gloomy places where the comfort and well-being of the patients and professionals are relegated to the sidelines in favor of technical requirements. To turn her vision into reality, she contacted Laurent McComber in September 2014 from the architectural firm L. McComber.
Gloomy to glowing
Light, a critical ingredient of many dermatological treatments, is the starting point from which the project evolves. Despite its large windows facing east onto Avenir Boulevard and south onto the Montmorency metro station parking lot, the former paediatric clinic that occupied this space was dark and uninspiring. The position of the waiting room in the centre, with windowless examination rooms surrounding it, shut clients off from the outside world and its views and natural light. To make the most of the large openings, the entire office was transformed into an open-plan space with translucent elements serving different functions within the clinic, letting the abundant natural light filter in all around. The ceiling, covered wall to wall in acoustic tiles, was exposed to make the area feel more spacious.
Translucent surroundings
The six examination rooms, featuring frosted glass ceilings, form a long white wall punctuated by six high wooden doors. With its imposing opalescent glass wall and lowered ceiling, the relaxation room for the clinic’s professionals looks like a glowing cube. Light therapy machines sit imposingly in the centre, behind reception. The curved translucent glass walls that encapsulate them give away their function, as they emit an entrancing purple light when in operation. A long, solid ash reception desk wraps around this central core, with an entrance on either end: dermatology (main entrance) and light therapy (secondary entrance).
The client as the focal point
Dr. Brassard wants her patients to relax as soon as they enter the clinic. They should feel an uplifting sense of peace and calm during their visit rather than being weighed down by stress and discomfort. At Clinique D, the waiting room offers the most breathtaking view of the entire space: the whole stretch of Avenir Boulevard. People are more patient, more understanding when they are comfortable and well looked after. At the foot of the waiting room chairs, custom-built solid ash coffee tables mirror the look and feel of the reception desk. At the bottom of the hall closet is a wooden shoe rack, inviting patients to take their boots off as soon as they walk in. Further in, an alcove where washrooms are located also has a hot/cold water dispenser for anyone to pour themselves a cup of tea while they wait for their appointment or treatment.
Caring for the care staff
In addition to being a welcoming and comforting place for patients, the clinic must meet the needs of its staff, who spend long hours working inside its walls. It must be efficient in the way it is organized and pleasant in the way it is laid out. To achieve this, the clinic’s professionals must be able to move between the common areas, offices and examination rooms out of sight of the public. By moving the consultation rooms away from the exterior wall, a long service corridor was freed up for staff to move around in. This spatial arrangement, the true backbone of this space, created a bright and lively corridor through which nurses, technicians and physicians can move freely from one room to another, consulting their patients’ computer records, exchanging opinions and information, or even going to their offices and the relaxation room. Computer workstations are mounted on walls for medical staff to consult records before or after seeing their patients, without blocking this strategic passageway. The staff can also enjoy the transparent block within which the relaxation room is enclosed, shielded from the curious glances of the patients.
Customized lighting
To supplement the natural light, hanging Wi-Fi LED bulbs can be programmed to the desired intensity and colour for each zone. Installed 8’-0” high, they offer users maximum energy-efficient brightness, without being too blinding. Strips of recessed LED lights highlight the large wood overhang above the desk and the whole of the waiting room. The same type of recessed lighting lines the reception desk to light up the work surfaces for staff. Lastly, each examination room has light flooding from a variety of LED sources, producing a very expansive but highly efficient spectrum: in panels behind the glass ceiling, in inset linear strips along the same ceiling, and in the form of a built-in light fixture above the exam table and a directional Wi-Fi bulb on an adjustable arm beside the patient. The glass ceiling and doors to the service corridor complete the layout with diffused natural light. The intense brightness of the space lends itself well to greater precision in the visual examination of patients.
Atelier Chinotto’s signature
All of the signage was designed in collaboration with graphic designer Atelier Chinotto. Stylized but universal at the same time, it consists of a mix of custom-designed logos (phone, washrooms, charging stations) and more specific descriptors for each room (1, 2, 3, A, B, C, Dr. Danielle Brassard, lunchroom, etc.). The lettering consists of cut-outs from light grey vinyl against the white background of the walls. For the concrete floor, however, the lettering is painted white right on the grey surface. The font is understated and sleek. The 3D geometry is the pinnacle of the design. It is a 3D parametric extrusion of the 2D logo designed by Atelier Chinotto, where the depth of the grooves varies depending on their width, offering a stunning play of light and shadow.
Clinique D under the spotlight
The Clinique D diaphane project is proof that, with a client’s trust, a dynamic young firm can deliver a complex, specialized architectural project without necessarily having acquired previous expertise in similar ventures. Clinique D is confident that a welcoming and well‑designed care space promotes the well-being of its users and professionals, and indirectly leads to positive care and working conditions. Its exceptional architecture and sustainable construction details will improve the well‑being of many, a real investment for society over the longer term. A care space does not necessarily have to be dominated by technological equipment. It can be inspired by the human warmth of the people that inhabit it and the place that it calls home.
Via v2com.
HarbourLoop is an iconic new pedestrian and cycling network for Hong Kong, proposed by design studio Lead 8. Transforming the perimeter of Victoria Harbour on its Hong Kong and Kowloon sides, HarbourLoop will add 23 kilometers of paths for walking, running, and biking. Lead 8 believes that despite being one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with 6,300 people per square kilometer, Hong Kong’s waterfront is underutilized. HarbourLoop will add social value as it intersects with existing offices, residential and leisure districts, and will encourage new development adjacent to the city’s waterfront, including restaurants, cafes, and community meeting places.
By creating a citywide public space within 10 minutes walk of 1.7 million inhabitants, Lead 8’s intervention will not only provide a scenic vantage on the Harbour, but also become a means of transit. The goal of HarbourLoop is to encourage greater mobility in the city, and in turn, to reduce emissions with less dependence on cars and other vehicles.
“We believe there is a pressing need to invest in more people-focused multimodal networks to complement and connect Hong Kong, and promote a healthy and active means of moving around,” says Simon Blore, Director and co-Founder of Lead 8. “HarbourLoop applies lateral thinking, Hong Kong’s home-grown design and engineering expertise, and an investment in public realm and transport technology that could lead to the creation of an efficient, flexible and world-class network – a first for Hong Kong.”
On the north and south sides of the Harbour, a six meter wide path will be built to accommodate pedestrians, runners, and cyclists, with two different modes of transit to cross the waterway. On the western edge of the city, a cable car will travel 1.5 kilometers from Hong Kong Island’s Central to a new deck overlooking West Kowloon Cultural District. On the east side of Victoria Harbour, a 500 meter pedestrian bridge will link the Museum of Coastal Defence and the Shau Kei Wan waterfront with the village of Lei Yue Mun.
While there is no current timeframe for implementation, BuroHappold Engineering, the firm that worked on The High Line, recently joined the HarbourLoop study team. Current plans are to continue working on the project masterplan, and subsequently present it to developers, contractors, and the Hong Kong Planning Board.
Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: a curving, bright blue structure reminiscent of a boat fills the inside of Serbia’s Biennale pavilion – to symbolise young architects’ difficult crusade to find employment. (more…)
In a site with great leafy trees, the house is defined only by a roof and a floor. A unique space, continuous and deep, opened on its sides to the garden and closed towards the street and the background.
The floor is stone and the ceiling wood. The two front walls are a metal and concrete structure. The boundaries between inside and outside do not exist; spaces interact, generating views arriving always to the gardens and the abundant foliage outside. Services are ordered in closed volumes to indicate the access and configuring various yards.
Floor and roof work as two generous planes which support and protect the space that shelters the family life, incorporating to the house the entire site.
New York‘s Skyscraper Museum has released an online tool that tracks the growing number of skinny towers in the city. (more…)
The design of this functional residence, which emphasized visual connection between living areas, features grand clean modern lines.
The integration of most rooms with the living/entertaining areas, enabled the use of ample glazed doors and window openings over large spans; all framed by spectacular surrounding scenery.
The search for materials that promoted contrasting balance and yet, defined each element in its totality, has driven the architectural finishes palette.
This design fostered large spans and slender beams, which created a structural challenge, given the unrefined capability at the work site. Lengthy meetings with the structural engineer eventually provided the most cost effective solution.
Despite accommodating all mechanical services in dedicated plant rooms, the building facades remained uncompromised, giving prominence to high ceilings and cross ventilation into living areas via automated high-level windows.
The use of skylights permitted efficient natural lighting and ventilation to the ensuites, walk-in robes and bedrooms circulation areas.
