The Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation announces its move to a newly design space by Selldorf Architects, a 100,000 square foot museum in Miami’s Allapattah District that will open in December 2018.With 40 exhibition galleries, a research library, lecture hall, event space, sculpture garden, and restaurant, the Rubell Family will be able to expand their programming and showcase a large proportion of their collection.
Principal of Selldorf Architects, Annabelle Selldorf, stated, our collective goal in the design was to define a space in which proportion and circulation are paramount to the essence of viewing and experiencing art. We strived to create rooms where our collective memory allowed us to say that these are great rooms to view art.
Established in 1964 in New York City, the Rubell Family Collection (RFC) was founded by Donald and Mera Rubell. Their possessions are now one of the largest, privately owned contemporary art collections, which includes the likes of works by Basquiat, Koons, and Kusama. Using a 40,000 square foot repurposed Drug Enforcement Agency to currently exhibit their work in Miami, the owners are making a huge leap to a larger space.
Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection
Their current location has transformed the surrounding neighborhood into a culturally vibrant area — one which was previously factories and warehouses. Plans to move to a new district maintain the Rubell Family’s same intention. Mera Rubell poses that the museum will serve as a beacon for cultural, fashion, and culinary arts in the neighborhood.
Mera Rubell stated, it is time for us to reimagine our Foundation in a very exciting emerging neighborhood. We’ve purchased the new property, completed plans, and will begin construction shortly, with the goal of opening in time for Art Basel in Miami Beach 2018.
From Wednesday, November 30th through Sunday, December 4th, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., a scale model of the new museum will be on display in the RFC.
i+R Group Corporate Headquarters was designed to unify the company under one roof, placing focus on work environment, construction methodology, and integration into the urban context.
Serving as an example of both the company philosophy (“We build the future”) and construction know-how of the 110-year-old family-owned construction firm, the headquarters strove to achieve innovative energy solutions, high building standards, and an attention to architectural detail and personal comfort. It was the first office complex in Vorarlberg to receive the internationally accredited LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, thus meeting the highest standards for green and sustainable building. Its modular design allows for the four stories of the building to be arranged in a variety of layouts to maximize its 3300 square meters of space for the approximately 130 staff members. The building is connected vertically by two atriums which serve as the cores of the building, and allow for daylight as well as egress.
The building′s climate is regulated using geothermal energy, with the heat pump′s power provided by a photovoltaic array which also meets seventy percent of the building′s energy needs. The southern side of the building is covered in a unique solar shade to avoid harsh summer sunlight, while still contributing to natural daylight throughout the building, reducing energy needs related to lighting by seventy percent. The construction methodology exemplifies the i+R Group′s building skill, using mostly renewable, regionally sourced material, recyclable resources (e.g. old fishing nets used as flooring), and products manufactured by the company – concrete (structural parts), wood (infill) and wooden windows.
Vishnya Apartment is a residential project designed by Sergey Makhno Architects in 2015. It is located in Kiev, Ukraine. Vishnya Apartment by Sergey Makhno Architects: “Our goal was to make the space consonant with owners – modern and independent. The apartment is not tied to a particular style or even era. Things with a history live side by side with innovations. The interior was built of Ukrainian things. A sofa,..
Courtesy of Wikimedia user Rattlhed (Public Domain)
The opening of the Century 21 Exposition on April 21, 1962 transformed the image of Seattle and the American Northwest in the eyes of the world. The region, which had been known until that point more for its natural resources than as a cultural capital, established a new reputation as a center of emergent technologies and aerospace design. This new identity was embodied by the centerpiece of the exposition: the Space Needle, a slender assemblage of steel and reinforced concrete which became—and remains—Seattle’s most iconic landmark.[1]
Courtesy of Wikimedia user Cacophony (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Seattle was particularly fragile as the Space Age dawned. At the time, the city depended on two primary sources of employment: maritime trade and that of aircraft manufacture (the Boeing Corporation). Shipping between the western United States and other countries along the Pacific Rim frequently passed through Seattle, but the growing popularity of the jet airplane allowed for shipments to cross the ocean without ever passing through the region. Boeing, which had made its headquarters in the city in 1910, was also one of the largest employers the area, but the threat of economic downturns—and the layoffs that followed—drove both local business owners and city officials to begin brainstorming a way to entice other companies to settle in the city.[2]
Impetus for the 1962 World’s Fair, as it was colloquially known, did not come only from Seattle itself. The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in October of 1957 was an undeniable challenge to a United States in the midst of the Cold War, necessitating a timely and emphatic response. It was under this mandate that the federal government selected Seattle as the host for the country’s next World’s Fair; one which, it was hoped, would demonstrate American technological superiority – both on Earth and beyond.[3]
This sketched rendering of the Space Needle dates to April 1961 – one year before its opening. ImageCourtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives (Public Domain)
The idea for the Space Needle itself came not from the Soviet Union, but from Germany. When Seattle World’s Fair Commission chairman Eddie Carlson dined in a restaurant in Stuttgart’s Fernsehturm in 1959, he quickly decided that the Century 21 Exposition required a similar landmark attraction. He wasted no time in sketching out his vision of this tower on a number of postcards sent to other fair officials; while rather crudely detailed, the slender form of his concept drawing was clearly inspired by the Fernsehturm. In response, one of the officials suggested that Carlson enlist architect John Graham, Jr. to turn his sketch into a reality.[4]
The collaboration between Carlson and Graham resulted in substantial revisions to the initial concept. Early versions of the Space Needle resembled an enormous balloon, either tethered to the ground or sitting atop a column; it was Graham who turned the sphere into a saucer, a form perhaps more fitting in light of the tower’s Space Age inspiration. Approximately a dozen designers contributed to the project, each recruited into a team by Graham for the task. One member in particular, Victor Steinbrueck, was responsible for the tripod support shaft; its double-decked crown was concocted by member John Ridley. The final design was decided upon only a year and a half before the fair’s intended opening in 1962.[5,6]
A 1962 cutaway drawing of the Space Needle's tophouse. ImageCourtesy of Flickr user James Vaughan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The next six months were spent securing a lot upon which to build the tower. Although the Space Needle was to be the exposition’s greatest attraction, its construction was not financed by the city; the investors, therefore, had to purchase a lot within the fairgrounds. Eventually, a 14,400 square foot (1337.8 square meter) site was found, and construction could finally begin with only a year left before the beginning of the Exposition.[7]
With the deadline looming, construction proceeded rapidly. The first step was to dig a hole 30 feet (9 meters) deep and 120 feet (36.6 meters) across into which the building’s foundation could be poured. This concrete pour would be the largest attempted in the West to that date: over the course of an entire day, a total of 467 cement trucks worked to fill the gaping hole. The resulting foundation was so heavy that it weighed as much as the tower that sprouted from it. In spite of the Space Needle’s slightly top-heavy appearance, its center of gravity is only 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the ground.[8]
The Space Needle under construction before its opening in April 1962. ImageCourtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives (Public Domain)
From this massive foundation arose a slender tower whose skyward growth did not end until it had reached 605 feet (184.4 meters) tall. The structure comprises a steel tripod, with each of the three legs pinched just above the middle of their height and topped by a multi-level tophouse reminiscent of a flying saucer. This tophouse consists of five stacked layers: a revolving restaurant, a mezzanine level, an observation deck, a mechanical equipment level, and at the tower’s pinnacle, an elevator penthouse. The structure was also originally crowned by a 50 foot (15 meter) natural gas torch.[9] Suiting the futurist leanings of the fair, the Space Needle was also painted in the colors Astronaut White, Orbital Olive, Re-entry Red, and Galaxy Red.[10]
Despite the tight schedule under which it was organized, the Century 21 Exposition opened as scheduled on April 21, 1962. The fair was one of the most successful in history, exceeding projected attendance and even turning a profit; exit polls of attendees indicated a stunning 98.4% approval rating. The Space Needle itself, the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River at the time of its opening, was a smash hit with guests and almost immediately adopted as an icon of Seattle. It remains a popular tourist destination, with over a million visitors paying to access its observation deck every year.[11]
A view from the observation deck; at the time of its construction, the Space Needle was the tallest building in Seattle. ImageCourtesy of Flickr user Chris Yunker (CC BY-SA 2.0)
In the late 1990s, the Space Needle was declared a historic landmark by the Seattle City Council – the first structure to qualify in each of the six potential criteria for the title. Once built as a heady vision of a spacefaring future, it is ironically now recognized as a relic from decades past.[12] The city around the Space Needle has changed since 1962. It now enjoys the commercial diversity so intently sought by the fair’s organizers, apparently validating their efforts. The Space Needle now stands as a symbol of the bright 21st Century Seattle hoped for in 1962 – albeit not quite the way they envisioned it.[13]
References
[1] Chatelin, Raymond. The Seattle & Vancouver Book: A Complete Guide. Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 2005. p89. [2] Cotter, Bill. Seattle’s 1962 World's Fair. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015. p7. [3] Cotter, p7-8. [4] Crowley, Walt. “Space Needle (Seattle).” History Link. June 27, 1999. [access]. [5] “About the Needle.” Space Needle. Accessed November 5, 2016. [access]. [6] Crowley. [7] “Space Needle.” United States History. Accessed November 8, 2016. [access]. [8] “About the Needle.” [9] LeBlanc, Sydney. The Architecture Traveler: A Guide to 250 Key Twentieth-Century American Buildings. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. p113. [10] “About the Needle.” [11] Cotter, p8-13. [12] Crowley. [13] Chatelin, p89.
The extraordinary urban development with the large free square in front of the Old Pinakothek made it possible to close this square with a generous, quiet building in the south, which takes up approximately the proportion of the Old Pinakothek, vis-à-vis in the north, where the new building lies. In accordance with the lateral emphasis of the Old Pinakothek with its space-limiting risalits and avenue, is the entrance to the University of Film and Television located in the east of the new building and in the west the entrance to the State Museum of Egyptian Art, which is buried like an archaeological excavation underneath the green forecourt.
The public is invited to use the numerous facilities and events like the library, movie screenings, lectures and festivals by the Foyer of the University- a large opening in the stone pedestal of the building. The public space continues inside the building, where it is surrounded by cinemas, seminar rooms, the cafeteria and a library. In contrast to the extroverted foyer, the studios are located in the protected concrete base to ensure a concentrated and protected work. In the glass upper floors, smaller offices and office-like uses are accommodated.
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“In the museum, my aim was to create a place for the precious exhibits, in which the atmosphere of ancient temple complexes, from which they are largely derived, is translated into a modern architectural language.” Peter Böhm
The large walls of the pedestal are executed in a light, slightly ocher-colored concrete, while the wall of the Egyptian Museum is kept in a darker, red granite-like shade – a coloring game which is found in the Old Pinakothek (with the addition of Döllgast) . The double skin of the glass body of the upper floors is a chirping, flickering band with the light play of rotatable glass discs and sun protection lamellae in varying positions. The entrance to the Egyptian Museum, which is marked by a large wall slab, is reached via a separate forecourt, which is designed as a flat inclined ramp. The museum is based in the underground and its rooms are grouped around atrium, which is cut into the lawn area and is also used for exhibition purposes.
Modern Garden Apartment is a residential project completed by Annette Frommer. The home is located in Jerusalem, Israel. Modern Garden Apartment by Annette Frommer: “This project was a total gut renovation. Taking into account existing beams, new ceilings were incorporated and touches of wood added in order to provide a warm and welcoming feel to the requested grey color scheme. The result; an elegant spacious living and dining area with..
Interior design and reconstruction of “MAHER” women’s apparel (clothes – dresses) store, which is a part of a fine 40 years old building. MAHER store has been in Hamedan for more than 60 years.
This building is located next to the circle, which houses the mausoleum of late BOO ALI SINA a well- known doctor and philosopher. This location is a tourist attraction. City dwellers and tourists are wondering around in the area for shopping or otherwise. This point has been a main source for the design idea.
Design has been formulated in such a way in which store’s internal space is a continuation of city’s space and impact of the city is felt in the store. In fact, if the commercial application of the store is removed, still it could be a proper space for people to wondering around the city and could be taken as a part of city. The experience and memory of a space whether commercial or otherwise motivates people to go back to space, for shopping or entertainment.
There was a balcony inside the building, which was demolished during the reconstruction, due to structural problems. This created a space with 5.5 meters height. We placed the staircase in this space as an independent object. This object (staircase) is independent, with 50 cm distance from the walls of the main building. The staircase has created diverse spaces with various applications within 5.5 meters height. People could walk through the stairs, which goes through store’s glass showcase, stop at landings of it and look around. They could also stop at the last landing, which is a kind of a balcony.
Diagrams
Showcase, a place for people to go through, not mannequins
Usually, mannequins placed in the showcase to attract people, and customers to the store. However, in MAHER store, mannequins are not placed in a showcase and instead people see some walkers who go through, stop or even sit in the showcase. People from outside watch those inside and those inside watch them outside. In a way, mannequins and people have taken each other place.
In MAHER store, people who go through staircase in the showcase are visible and attracting people from outside not the dressed mannequins. This feature gives a distinctive position to the MAHER store, as mannequins have scattered throughout store.
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In this design project, a social topic is addressed and a social expression, evaluation and interpretation of mannequin-ism are done via architectural space.
An independent inner space skin, coordinated with old building’s walls is created in the main space of the building with 5.5 meters height. This is an integral membrane, which covers floor, walls and ceiling and its form and texture are integrated with Persians patterns in a nostalgic way.
In relation to the organizing volume of huge staircase, diversified and attractive spaces are created (in every turn 0f 360 it happens frequently). Depths, shades and repetitions in the texture, creates a particular space which promotes the space potential and people desire for shopping and converts it to a desirable space for wondering around and entertainment.
Fitting room is located at the top of the huge staircase, on a last landing as an attached box with a triangle base. Services and storage spaces are separately located on the store’s ground floor.
Floor Plan
Handrails and regales, an integrated and continuous structure
Staircase’s handrails and landings end up to regales and dress hanging location, which make an independent, continuous and integrated structure, while each as an separate object has its own structure and configuration. Either at the top or on the ground floor, all of them are integrated and continuous pipes, which are running at 50 cm distance from the staircase and main membrane.
We did not try to hide that column and we approached it as an added element in general space design and in contrast with … ceiling. In addition, it was a major factor for laying out elements in internal zoning, circulation and directions.
Team : Wong Mun Summ, Richard Hassell, Phua Hong Wei, Bernard Lee, Kim Young Beom, Evelyn Ng, Christina Ong, Huang Yue, Larissa Tan, Chen Shunann, Iyan Mulyadi, Oscar Korintus, Victoria Meadows, Simopoulou Olympia Konstantinou, Donovan Soon, Ang Chow Hwee, Dennis Kwek
Interior Design: Studio Patricia Urquiola
Client : Far East SOHO Pte Ltd
Electrical: Kimta Electric Pte Ltd
Acmv: Great Resources M&E Contractor Pte Ltd
Fire Protection: Rico Engineering Works Pte Ltd
Plumbing, Sanitary, Gas: Great Resources M&E Contractor Pte Ltd
Lift: Kone Pte Ltd
Pool & Water Features: Yi Wee Pools and Fountains Pte Ltd
Aluminum & Glazing: Jinyue Aluminium Engineering (S) Pte Ltd
Building Maintenance System: EW Cox SE Asia Pte Ltd
From the architect. A verdant tower of green in the heart of Singapore’s dense Central Business District (CBD), Oasia Hotel Downtown is a prototype of land use intensification for the urban tropics. Unlike the sleek and sealed skyscrapers that evolved out of the temperate west, this tropical “living tower” offers an alternative image to the sleek technology of the genre.
Courtesy of WOHA
In response to the brief for distinct Offices, Hotel & Club rooms, WOHA created a series of different strata, each with its own sky garden. These additional “ground” levels allow generous public areas for recreation and social interaction throughout the high-rise, despite the inner city high density location.
Courtesy of WOHA
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Courtesy of WOHA
Closely overlooked by surrounding towers, the tower carves out its own internal spaces and dynamic views instead of relying on external vistas for visual interest. Each sky garden is treated as an urban scale verandah, sheltered at high level by the preceding sky garden and open sided for formal and visual transparency. The openness also allows breezes to pass through the building for good cross-ventilation. In this way, the public areas become functional, comfortable, tropical spaces with greenery, natural light and fresh air instead of enclosed, internalised air conditioned spaces.
Courtesy of WOHA
Landscaping is used extensively as an architectural surface treatment and forms a major part of the development’s material palette both internally and externally. Achieving an overall Green Plot Ratio of 1,100%, the tower is conceived as a haven for birds and animals, reintroducing biodiversity into the city. This quantum of green is an exciting number, as it effectively compensates for the lack of green in 10 surrounding buildings. The tower’s red aluminum mesh cladding is designed as a backdrop that reveals itself in between 21 different species of creepers, with colourful flowers interspersed among green leaves, providing food for the birds and insects. The creepers will form a mosaic with each type taking over its most suitable conditions of light, shade and wind. Instead of a flat roof, the skyscraper is crowned with a tropical bower; floral, diverse, soft and alive.
It is a cubic architectural installation of 3m*3m*3m. This is not a large space; however, it carries the designers’ great affection and thinking for their hometown Foshan. The core concept of the design could be summed up in one phrase” Origin of everything”.
Actually, this architectural installation is an exhibit represents Foshan designed by the designers when invited by Expressions of The City during Guangzhou Design Week. Because the organizer sets limitations to the size of exhibition work, so the designers choose a cube which has the largest volume as the carrier of the architectural installation to express the vast theme “city”. The use of the cube allows the designers to present a journey back to “Foshan” and their original minds around the core concept of “Origin of everything”.
For the structure, the designers use bamboos to form a smaller rectangular space around the geometric center of the cube. A one-way path which allows passage of only one person is thus built along the four lateral facades of the cube. This is the road for the journey. However, when look at the cross section of the whole space from above, the two squares created by the bamboo wall and exterior wall together form the Chinese character “Hui”, which symbolizes “return to the origin”
The process of “Hui”has begun before visitors enter into the architectural installation. Visitors could come into this space alone through a narrow entrance, walk slowly and circle the space with the playing of background music which has a sense of ritual. While looking through the gaps between the bamboos, semi-finished Chinese Southern lion and Chinese leather drum placed in the centre could be seen; it is like a journey from outside to inside of both your inner self and the environment. In respect of spatial level , this journey , from external environment, the steel plate material of the façade, to the bamboo of the inner wall, and then to the traditional prototypes which enclosed by bamboo, allows visitors to experience the process from modern to ancient and from new to old, and offers visitors enlightenment from a different angle.
For the designers, “Origin” means Foshan and the original selves. The Chinese Southern lion placed at the right centre of the space is originated from Xiqiao district, Nanhai county, Foshan. Thus it represents part of Foshan’s important traditional culture and it represents the root of the designers as well. Beatings of drum is necessary when performing a lion dance, so a primitive leather drum prototype is placed under the white body of the Chinese Southern lion, they appear as one set. What is worth mentioning is that, the designers choose semi-finished Chinese Southern lion instead of a completed Chinese Southern lion with eyes is because that they could take use of the light permeability of the white body; they could make the image of the Chinese Southern lion more rich through placing flashing lights inside the white body. As the beatings of the drum leads the emotions and actions of the lion dance, the background music in this space matches with the flashing colorful lights. So visitors would see the lion in red or in green from time to time, and the colors express different emotions.
The imagery which represents Foshan also appeared on the façade – the designers piece together the maps of Foshan city and Nanhai county and the words “Foshan”on the steel plate wall with small holes. Functionally, it strengthens the ventilation of the space and gives visitors a better feeling on the one hand; on the other hand, these small holes bring light to the space – apart from that, only the rectangular roof which is partitioned off by bamboos that could provide natural light for the space. From the aspect of artistic conception, considering that mirrors are used in both the ceiling and floor of the corridor, when sunlight enters into the space through the holes, under the reflection of the mirror, the whole space will become more mysterious, fantasy and changeable. This is the artistic conception needed to be created for the journey of our mind. And such artistic conception will change according to the position that the installation is placed— when the angle of the sunshine changed, the picture create by light through the holes will change accordingly.
The whole design process is more like a process of re-learning and understanding of the traditional culture of their hometown, said the designers. But due to the limit of space, so what could be expressed is limited as well. What they hope is that through this well-chosen design expression, more and more people could pay attention to Foshan and try to understand Foshan. From higher level, the designers hope every visitor could be inspired by the architectural installation so as to pay more attention to their hometown’s traditional culture and the original self, no matter where they come from and where they are.
From the architect. St Kilda East House is a tiny addition to an existing Edwardian House. With just 11m2 of new building works, this project engaged with big ideas within a modest footprint and budget to enhance the quality of everyday experience for the family living here.
Sig Nordal 