The project for Lot B1 of the Saint Denis Confluence urban project is located on the south side of the West Square in front of the RER Saint Denis station. It is one of the first projects to be built in this new district, and is a natural extension of the overarching vision of the coordinating urban planners. Thanks to its location, it is exceptionnaly visible from the front square of the railway station. The building takes full advantage of this location on the square, while masking effects and shadows created by inserting the building between the public space and the sun are minimized in order to ensure the highest possible quality of housing.
Axonometric
Schemas
It is a relatively compact building aligned along the streets, it can be considered from different angles: its urban presence, its multi-functional street level that enlivens the public space, and as the part of a built environment encircling a central interior garden.
A large vertical fault opens a passage out of the north façade, revealing a less massive silhouette from the far end of the square, and allowing the planted, sunny interior of the block to be felt all the way from the station. Light and sun can therefore shine through from the south to the square and diminish the shadows cast by the building. The reflection of light on the interior façades of this passageway add vibrancy and a variable component that changes according to the hour of the day and the season.
Dividing the building in such a way allows for the multiplication of orientations, and maximizes the light and energy provided by the sun. All the landings are naturally lit.
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The interior and city façades are in contrast one to another. On the city side, a strict pattern of openings confirms its urban stature. These facades are finished with a dark material (dark plaster) that is in keeping with the urban surroundings. The interior façades, on the other hand, largely exposed to the sun, are finished with a light-colored paint (light metal paint), which reflects the sunlight all the way to the square. A planted, open-ground garden sits in the center of the block.
Mecanoo has unveiled its design to transform The Soestdijk Estate into Eden Soestdijk, “an experimental garden for a sustainable society and a paradise destination for all” in The Netherlands. In an effort to become an educational tool for environmental awareness, the project aims to make a significant contribution to meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“The world is facing pressure from increasingly larger and more complex problems when it comes to water, food, climate and energy,” said Anton Valk, chairman of the Eden Soestdijk foundation. “Eden Soestdijk wants to tackle these problems and contribute to a more sustainable society by stimulating and inspiring visitors to change their behaviour in a positive way.”
An architectural greenhouse behind the palace gardens will be the centerpiece of the project, and will house an interactive exhibition focusing on topics like circularity, ecological balance, and social aspects of sustainability.
The existing palace and gardens will be restored to their original character. Chambers within the palace will showcase the estate’s history and residents, and will serve as cultural and business event space, as well as an incubator space for entrepreneurial sustainability efforts. Moreover, the wing chambers of the palace will house multimedia, interactive exhibitions.
“The palace gardens will be restored in full glory. Exciting, educative and fairytale-like gardens and landscapes strengthen the experience of nature. They will each connect with the central theme of sustainability while showcasing a unique individual atmosphere.”
A pedestrian and cycling tunnel beneath the Amsterdamse Straatweg will provide public access to the front square, which connects the palace and restaurant in the conservatory.
“The Palace Soestdijk Estate is one of the most fairytale like surroundings of the Netherlands: the ideal canvas for Eden Soestdijk,” noted Francine Houben, Creative Director at Mecanoo. “The royal family has always cherished the relationship with the surrounding landscape. The plan for Eden Soestdijk responds to this in a beautiful manner.”
From 2020 onwards, more than half a million visitors are expected to come to Eden Soestdijk annually, which is projected to feed 57 million euros back into the regional economy each year.
As a response to the redevelopment competition for the Palace organized by the Dutch government, the proposal is a collaboration between the Eden Soestdijk foundation, Mecanoo architecten, Kossmann.dejong and Royal HaskoningDHV. Development of the project additionally is in dialogue with residents, entrepreneurs, and organizations from the region.
From the architect. The project is resolved as a single storey household covered by a three-gable roof that covers the enclosed part and the open exterior spaces including a garage. This seminal decision allowed to reduce the scale of the set by adjusting the height of the facades.
The garage is located by the access limits of the plot, some 50 cm above the ground level of the household and adapts to the original topography, thus reducing the needs for ground preparation and conditioning for vehicle access whilst contributing to the privacy of the more domestic areas.
Ground Floor
The room program is organized around a main living-dining room that can be enlarged by opening completely towards a southeast porch, where the kitchen also opens. Variations in height and the way the relationship between inner spaces is resolved contribute equally to a greater feeling of spaciousness. The outlines featured in the storey plan respond to purpose of finding the best aspect for each room together with views above the valley and the nearby woodland.
The result is a single volume, low, stout and anchored to the ground. From the point of view of the composition, it recalls resources that are usual in traditional buildings (heavy closings with a rugged texture contrasting with the use of wood in panels and carpentry work). From an structural point of view the project is resolved with a simple system of bearing walls and a covering woodwork.
Sections
References to traditional architecture are far from literal as they are rather expressed in solutions meaning a respectful attitude towards both the environment and to former presences in the area.
Daniel Valle Architects has been awarded first prize in the public competition to design a kindergarten and senior welfare center in Seoul, South Korea, with its project, Maebong Daycare Center.
Located in the neighborhood of Oksu-dong, the 700-square-meter Center is designed around the idea of shifting the scale of the building, so that children feel more comfortable. For example, the massing of the space is broken down into five units that utilize various colors, geometries, and materials to emphasize smaller units within the whole.
“Interior spaces are designed considering both the adult and the children size. Classrooms and other spaces are provided with smart storage solutions to maximize the usage of space and flexibility. A ‘thick wall’ will contain most of the items needed in the classroom as well as provide exercise and fun features.”
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
All spaces in the daycare face the central playroom, which features a double-height ceiling and natural lighting, and which will additionally serve as a lobby, circulation space, and learning area. Moreover, for lighting optimization, most of the classrooms and teacher’s rooms are oriented towards south and east, whereas vertical communications and mechanical rooms are located on the north and west sides.
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Courtesy of Daniel Valle Architects
Three playgrounds will occupy a portion of the space at the entrance level—one indoor, one semi-exterior space surrounded by fencing, and one exterior garden.
The Project Nursing Faculty of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia was planned for over 20 years. In 1995 the architect Rogelio Salmona developed a preliminary project. In 2003 a competition for a design was made and in 2008 under the policy of the Regularization and Management Plan (PRM) of the university the project was reborn and finally in 2013 the construction started.
Site Plan
Heritage and Site
The Project is located in the Campus of the Universidad Nacianal following the line of the master plan of Leopoldo Rother, surrounded by a building of historic value, that are on a high level of preservation: The Faculty of Law and Political Science building, the Faculty of Social Science building and the assembly of construction of the veterinary medicine.
The building is placed perpendicular to the core block of the Faculty of Law and Political Science building, organizing and defining the exterior areas draw by the nearest buildings maintaining the visual relation between one and other, while the longest facing is parallel to the main walk that connects two principal highways of Bogotá, the El dorado avenue and N.Q.S. avenue, with the center of the university campus.
The decision of lifting the building from the ground surface and arrange the least number of structural elements enabling the maximum of visual relations and attending the urban connections among the open spaces of campus. This condition is enhanced with the second-floor slabs inclination, avoiding the visual superposition with the Faculty of Law and Political Science building when roaming through the walks designed by Leopoldo Rother
Ground Plan
When approaching, the tilt plane the space compresses near the entrance and opens the sight towards the landscape, upon ascending with the stairway begins a lengthwise roam tensing the visuals to the near and far landscape. In the terrace roof the three open patios instructs an austere and passive atmosphere encouraged by the oriental hills of the city.
The experience of roaming through the project is emphasized by the luminous condition in each floor, which various along the floor and allows transitions between dark and bright spaces. The reflection of light on the ocher concrete creates an environment that transmits warmth and stability in an academic building.
Sketch
Sketch
Corporeity and Technique
The disposition of a constant ventilation system in the classrooms allows a passive way of controlling the air flows with the use of a vertical duct in the central wall, that permits the air renewal in the classrooms and drive out the hot air on the top of the building. this same solution was raised for the office spaces where the central hall is the extraction system that is regulated by the façade ventilation.
The shuttering of the concrete forms leave a wooden texture on the ochre concrete of walls and ceilings maintaining vivid the traditional techniques of construction, and also making a quality and durable building.
Villa Mavi is a private home located in Damavand, Tehran Province, Iran. Completed in 2015, it was designed by White Cube Atelier. Imagine having a passion for yellow, white, grey and black — wouldn’t you want this to see it every day? Apparently that’s what people from White Cube Atelier had to achieve for their clients, a large family of eight from the hasht-behesht town, Damavand- 45km far from Tehran. The..
From the architect. Neil Dusheiko Architects have completed a beautiful and very personal renovation of a Victorian terraced house in Stoke Newington. The house was designed for the architect’s father-in-law, just around the corner from the architect’s own house where he lives with his wife and family.
Neil Dusheiko said: “My wife wanted her father to be closer to us so we could easily pop in and out of each other’s homes. We found a house in the road parallel to ours but it was a bit dark and damp. I wanted to make it into a light and airy home where my father-in-law could live comfortably and easily in a really beautiful space.”
One of the priorities was to make sure that there was plenty of room for to display his collection of art and ceramics. The kitchen wall is lined with bespoke, oak shelving, where ceramics and glassware are displayed. The materials in the kitchen have been carefully chosen for their texture and warmth, complementing the numerous objects d’art. The floor is paved with brick pammets and the worktops are wood, as are the floors in the adjoining sitting room area.
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The kitchen was very important as the client is a keen cook. It is a light filled space with a skylight over the dining table, a large, glass door leading into the garden and a comfortable window seat, the perfect place for visitors to sit and chat to the cook.
In the sitting room there are simple, bespoke wooden cabinets but the design has been kept simple as the walls are filled with the owner’s collection of paintings and prints. Art works also line the walls on the landing and in the bedrooms throughout the rest of the house.
Neil Dusheiko, Director of Neil Dusheiko architects said: “It was important in the design to strike a balance between bringing in light but also creating a private and intimate space that felt very personal. We wanted to modernise the house and make it a more comfortable place to live but retain a feeling of warmth.”
A new loft has been added, which is light and bright with skylights, and large windows through which you can see the spire of the local church in the distance. It is also cosy and private, with wooden cupboards and floors and dusty red walls which complement the client’s kilims and textiles.
Practice Director Neil Dusheiko said: “We wanted the house to feel light and to be comfortable and modern but at the same time to be very personal. By designing the house around all of my father-in-laws beautiful things I hoped to make the move from the old family home a little easier. My wife and I and our daughter are always in and out of the house and every time I visit there’s another picture up or another ceramic dish on the shelves. I’m really enjoying seeing him settle into the house.”
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Product Description. The materials were carefully selected to create a unified palette that would help exude a warm calm atmosphere, tying the contemporary design into the existing historic fabric of the home. Materials work well together due to the inherent relationships between natural and reclaimed materials.
Reclaimed Brick We used reclaimed brick tiles for the new kitchen and dining spaces which provides warmth and texture to the newly created space. We used the same material outside on the patio to create a sense of connection between inside and outside.
Glass A large pivot door and fully glazed roof over the dining rooms maximise light ingress and create a strong connection between the house and the garden. Tall sliding glass panels allow for framed views from the house to the outside.
Oak Joinery Bespoke oak joinery provides lighter textured infill areas for storage and display for the client’s ceramic and glassware collection. The joinery also houses the heating storage containers, handrails and plenty of space for the client’s personal effects collected over his lifetime.
Zinc Cladding We chose black anthracite zinc cladding for the loft structure as we wanted to use cladding in large sheets to give a more monolithic feel to the roof extension. This included creating large panels of solid metal with simple clean openings framing up views from the roof to key local attractions.
As every good design professional knows, the client is at the forefront of every project. Sometimes this can feel like the client plays judge, jury, and executioner to every last revision, and in a field as detailed and complex as architecture, satisfying these demands, as well as the designer’s own creative vision, can be bewildering and aggravating. But in the end, doesn’t adapting to another person’s tastes just push us to be better?
Courtesy of Leewardists
Centuries of civilizations built on structures designed by architects and yet, their voice is lost among the countless stories of rulers and armies and sometimes wondrous monsters.
The Leewardists are rewriting the contemporary history of our civilization through the voice of this elusive being, The Architect.
For more of The Architect Comic Series follow them on Facebook, Instagram or visit their website.
Since we’ve started to branch out into China, the ArchDaily China team has been able to discover the rich layers beyond just these rising Chinese stars. As part of the country’s large-scale urbanization process, last year, we posted some of the large-scale projects designed by China’s (largely unknown) Design & Research institutions such as train stations and cultural centers.
In addition, we’ve also come across a series of smaller, lesser known, younger practices that focuses more on small-scale experimental work. Here are our top ten favorites:
Led by principle Ruan Hao, LYCS is one of the most diverse young design practices in China. Based in Hangzhou, the practice has a team structure of 3 partners and 2 associates to allow the firm to operate at all scales, from Masterplans to their infamous Cat Table.
LYCS are one of the first young architectural practices in China to explore the typology of urban schools with the Roof Track School. The practice claims to be invested in critical issues of design building, urban development, and construction within China.
Duo Xiang Studio
Vanke Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo 2010. Image Courtesy of Dou Xiang Studio
Duo Xiang Studio is a Beijing-based studio which explores everyday objects, focusing on appropriateness. This fresh approach has led to an interesting array of works from the Comb Chair, made out of hundreds of combs, to the Vanke Pavilion as a part of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Public Folly – Water Tower Renovation. Image Courtesy of Department of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
A research-based practice, META-Projects focuses on discovering and responding to the unusual socio/cultural potential of Asian cities. From the ‘Regeneration-by-intervention’ of their own office, (a courtyard house in the Hutong laneways of ancient Beijing), to the research-based projects designed in collaboration with Vanke (one of the largest real estate developers in China). META-Projects has been very demonstrative of the renewed desire of local architects to connect architecture to its social environment.
Huludao Beach Exhibit Center. Image Courtesy of Department of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
He Wei has carved out his architectural approach from his background as a researcher and professor at the Central Academy of Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. With a passion for China’s minorities vernacular architecture and concerns over the future of China’s villages, Hei Wei is seeking to create a dialogue between the past and the potential future of China’s leftover buildings.
ArchStudio first caught the attention of local and international media with their visually seductive and contextually sensitive interventions within historic parts of Beijing. Their breakthrough project, the Hutong Tea House in Beijing uses a ‘curvy corridor’ to physically link and repair the relationship between the past and present while providing the necessary modern day creature comforts.
Zi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art. Image Courtesy of ARCHSTUDIO
More recently, they have extended their approach to renovation of industrial era spaces and striking new structures such as the Tangshan Organic Farm, winner of ArchDaily’s Project Of The Month for November.
Zhu Jingxiang started his career by building a lot and fast, caught up in the fast pace development of mainland China. After designing over 100,000 square meters of buildings in his early career, he took a professor position at the Chinese University in Hong Kong to take a break to research and teach. However, the devastating Sichuan earthquake in 2008 drew him into a crusade of design custom, prefabricated and economically viable buildings for disaster prone zones worldwide.
Dou Pavilion, as a part of the China Pavilion, The 15th Venice Architecture Biennale. Image Courtesy of Department of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
More recently he has extended the scope of his work practically and geographically. Zhu was one of the principle designers/participants in the China pavilion at the Biennale with his Dou Pavilion, while his innovative light-weight system and post-disaster reconstruction projects have extended beyond remote parts of China to Africa.
Dou Pavilion, as a part of the China Pavilion, The 15th Venice Architecture Biennale. Image Courtesy of Department of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Perhaps young is not the most appropriate way to categorize Atelier Deshaus, as both of the partners, Chen Yifeng and Liu Yichun are both seasoned architects who have been through the largely unknown Chinese system of Design Institutes.
However, the refreshing designs of Atelier Deshaus surprise time and time again, ranging from the brutalist beauty of the Long Museum West Bund to their recent art installation Blossom Pavilion.
Based in Shanghai, Archi-Union combines digital technology and craftsmanship through a low-tech, locally sensitive digital fabrication method of ‘Digital Tectonics’.
The use of digital fabrication extends beyond facade treatments and mere aesthetics to the transformation of circulation flows and folding of space itself in projects such as Fab-Union Space on the West Bund.
Songjiang Art Campus. Image Courtesy of Archi-Union Architects
O-Office, unlike most other offices on this list, is located in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Having experienced the Chinese urbanization climax first hand from their local context, the firm now seeks to exploit architectural design as a critical instrument for research on our spatial and economic reality.
The transformation of the top floor of Guangzhou’s oldest beer factory into the Silo-top Studio was one of the studio’s first projects, complete with 38 meter high terraces overlooking the city’s old downtown.
People’s Architecture Office believe architecture is for the masses, in fact, it is the masses that inspire their work. From their Courtyard Plugin’s within which a modular system is integrated into century-old houses to enable them for modern living, it is clear to see that PAO’s architecture is not based on form or pure aesthetics but everyday realities.
Courtyard House Plugin en Masse – Second Phase. Image Courtesy of PAO
BIG are known for unconventional buildings that often raise the question “how were they able to do that?” Such is the case for BIG’s Honeycomb, a luxury eight-story condominium currently under construction in the Bahamas. The project’s hallmark is its hexagonal façade made up of private balconies, each with its own glass-fronted outdoor pool. The façade was also the project’s greatest engineering challenge, with each balcony (including pool water) weighing between 108,000 and 269,000 pounds (48,000-122,000 kilograms) while cantilevering up to 17.5 feet (5.3 meters) from the structure. Tasked with this challenging brief were DeSimone Consulting Engineers, who previously worked with BIG on The Grove. Read on for more detail on the Honeycomb’s innovative engineering.
Central to the Honeycomb’s design of is the use of a specially engineered concrete “superslab” which is able to cantilever over 17 feet without wall brackets below. This was achieved by reducing the slab’s weight while maintaining its strength and stiffness. As explained by Bill O’Donnell, the project lead at DeSimone, “to control deflection and reduce self-weight, 12-inch (300 millimeter) diameter tubes were embedded in a 17-inch (430 millimeter) thick conventionally reinforced roof slab.” These voids hollow out the slab, reducing its weight and increasing the section’s overall efficiency. This step also “eliminated the need for a post-tension slab, further reducing the overall weight and reducing the cost of the project.”
Courtesy of DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Courtesy of DeSimone Consulting Engineers
The balcony decks themselves are constructed from a 13-inch (330 millimeter) thick conventionally reinforced slab. What is especially clever, and what allows the slab to be kept at 13 inches, is that the slabs “fold down at the deepest point of the pool to align with the shear wall of the lower unit” for extra support.
Because of the staggered partition walls and varied façade, these shear walls sometimes connect to a structural column, acting “as a rigid bracket supporting the slab above and below.” At other junctions there is no column – here “the wall is not as stiff in these locations but still carries vertical load back to the column strip.” These 18-inch (450 millimeter) thick concrete shear walls not only increase structural support, but join into the sloped pool floors in order to form the hexagonal honeycomb structure.
Courtesy of DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Courtesy of DeSimone Consulting Engineers
While the depths of the cantilevers allow for plentiful outdoor space, the balcony’s utilities added further challenges. Both the summer kitchen and pool required a host of services, while also needing waterproofing and long-term serviceability. This meant the need for thoughtful detailing, with “nearly a dozen conduits that had to be carefully placed to get across the column strip and emerge on the sloped slab in the proper location”. The concrete shear walls were also once again utilised, with embedded pool drains serving as a path for balcony drainage.
Because of the Honeycomb’s innovative structural system, conventional materials were able to be used, but used carefully. As all the concrete in the building is conventionally reinforced cast-in-place concrete, special attention was paid to the concrete mixture itself. To ensure durability, “limiting initial soluble chlorides, providing a tight water-cement ratio, and additional concrete cover over the reinforcing steel were critical design measures.” Finally, for further protection, an integral waterproofing admixture and surface applied coating were also used.
Courtesy of DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Correction update:This article originally mistakenly named the project lead at DeSimone Consulting Engineers as Bill O’Simmons. His actual name is Bill O’Donnell.
Sig Nordal 