Courtesy of UNStudio

Ben van Berkel and UNStudio have collaborated with a multidisciplinary team including Goudappel Coffeng (mobility consultants), GeoPhy (data specialists) and 2getthere (automated transit systems) to produce a study examining the future of infrastructure and city development for an area around Amsterdam’s A10 ring road and the Leylaan district.

Proposals resulting from the study comprise a new multimodal transportation hub located at the intersection of Cornelis Lelyaan and the A10, and new urban districts flanking the highway that will link to adjacent neighborhoods while provided a much needed new address in Amsterdam.

Courtesy of UNStudio

Currently, the A10 ring road acts as a barrier between the inner and outer cities, and has rendered adjacent sites as uninhabitable and vacant. As a result, the study was commissioned by The Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (BNA), in consultation with the Rijkswaterstraat and Amsterdam City Council, to discover potential strategies for revitalizing the district through an improved infrastructural system.

The result of the study shows solutions that “reconcile the disparate nature of the highway and the city through the injection of new programmes and amenities,” and reconnect to surrounding neighborhoods through increased accessibility.

Courtesy of UNStudio

The envisioned transportation hub will serve as a modal change point that will allow users to transition between different forms of transportation: from private vehicles to public transport; gas engined vehicles to electric mobility; or from driving to walking and cycling. The hub will also serve as a stop for Amsterdam’s new CityPods system, an alternative to mass-public transport that provides a direct connection to the city center.

Inside the hub, restaurants and retail will be featured to activate the space and make the district a destination. The hub will also contain a charging station for electric vehicles that could double as an energy supply center for surrounding neighborhoods during peak hours.

Node mobility plan. Image Courtesy of UNStudio

Parking Typology. Image Courtesy of UNStudio

“We are currently transitioning into an age of on-demand transportation, where in the near future different modes of transport will be blended according to need, environmental impact, rush hour direction, traffic jams and other parameters,” explain UNStudio in a press release. “With traffic speed on the A10 reduced considerably, traffic volumes managed through innovative solutions such as flexible lanes and the implementation of new road surface and car technology that reduce air and noise pollution, habitation on the A10 will become desirable.”

Urban development diagram. Image Courtesy of UNStudio

Energy diagram. Image Courtesy of UNStudio

The new urban developments will be organized into five new areas around the transportation hub, providing 8,400 new residential units within a total built area of 750,000 square meters. These development could be built in phases, which would allow construction on the project to begin immediately while adapting to future market fluctuations.

CityPod. Image Courtesy of 2getthere

Complementing the new residential areas, the Amsterdam A10 proposal includes the introduction of new human-centric urban environments.

“With underground and above ground connections there will no longer be a prevailing concept of the inner/outer ring,” explain the architects. “The proposal is premised on streets and pathways that favour pedestrians, a density of people and buildings that create liveliness and a mix of uses and provision of amenities with a robust network of public spaces that allow for a strong social infrastructure and job creation opportunities.”

News via UNStudio.

http://www.archdaily.com/799191/unstudio-envisions-new-transportation-hub-and-development-in-amsterdam

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

• Architects: Johnsen Schmaling Architects
• Location: St Germain, WI 54558, United States
• Area: 900.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

The Linear Cabin is a small, unassuming family retreat, its long, low-slung body sitting on top of a steep bluff overlooking Alma Lake in the sparsely populated Northwoods region of Wisconsin.  A narrow gravel road weaves through the forest and leads to a small clearing, where the simple, 900-square-foot bar building marks the threshold between the densely wooded plateau and the lake bluff beyond.  With its simple plan, restrained use of materials, and precise detailing, the Linear Cabin continues Wisconsin’s rich legacy of cabin architecture – an unapologetically contemporary building that echoes the elegant clarity and rustic warmth of its typological predecessors while carefully avoiding bucolic sentimentality.

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

Floor Plan

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

The cabin is organized as a series of three identically sized, nearly opaque boxes separated by spatial voids, all tied together with a continuous, thin roof plane that spans the entire length of the building.  The storage box offers space for canoes, tools, and logging equipment; the service box contains the cabin infrastructure, including entry, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and boiler room; and the sleeping box houses two bunk rooms.  The void between storage and service boxes is unenclosed, framing views from the clearing toward the lake and offering a covered spot for a vehicle when needed.  The void between service and sleeping boxes functions as the hearth room, the center of the cabin anchored by a wood-burning stove.  The 15’ wide lift-slide glass doors bracketing the hearth room serve as picture frames, allowing for unobstructed views through the building from the outside and into the sylvan landscape from within.        

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

The cabin’s discreet material palette is based on regionally sourced materials, including a variety of timber products harvested in Wisconsin’s vast northern forests.  The opaque boxes are clad with blackened pine planks, their somber darkness echoing the weathered monochrome of traditional Wisconsin cabins.  Varnished cedar accentuates the continuous horizontal reveal between the building boxes and the roof plane and acts as a recessed, vertical buffer as the roof folds down at the north end of the house.  Inside, walls and ceilings are clad in knotty pine, its inherent rusticity tempered by the crisply detailed joinery and the simple lines of the light-grey, lacquered millwork throughout.  A polished dark-grey concrete floor completes the interior palette, providing a sufficiently durable surface against the periodic abuse from dogs, snow shoes, and ski boots.

Courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects

http://www.archdaily.com/798987/linear-cabin-johnsen-schmaling-architects

© 2016, Herzog & de Meuron

The Royal College of Art (RCA) has announced that Herzog & de Meuron has been selected as the winner of a competition to design a strategic approach for the center at its new £108m Battersea South campus.

Beating out runner-up practices Christian Kerez (Switzerland), Diller Scofidio + Renfro (US), Lacaton & Vassal (France), Robbrecht en Daem architecten (Belgium), Serie Architects (UK/Singapore) and Studio Gang (US), the winning proposal was lauded for its “strong engagement with the existing College buildings and wider surroundings in Battersea.”

Hangar Space. Image © 2016, Herzog & de Meuron

The jury for the competition noted that Herzog & de Meuron’s approach exhibited “a deep understanding of the potential for Battersea, making new connections and foreseeing the possibilities for sustainable place-making,” while provided a concept with “a clear organisational structure and showed an acute sensibility in mapping the complex objectives in the brief.”

The project aligns with the RCA’s recent initiative to transform into a STEAM-focused graduate university (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics/Medicine), which will focus on contemporary fields such as computer and materials science, the impact of the digital economy, robotics, sustainability, advanced manufacturing, intelligent mobility, mass migration and city design.

‘We took our inspiration from the RCA ethos of experiment and making to explore the possibilities of spatial organisation, and to test the physical expression of bringing together theworlds of science, art, design and technology under one roof,’ said Ascan Mergenthaler, Senior Partner, Herzog & de Meuron.

Interior. Image © 2016, Herzog & de Meuron

Organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, the competition features a competitive selection model that saw a total of ninety-seven expressions of interest from practices around the world. 

‘We are delighted to win the competition,” said Pierre de Meuron. “The RCA set a challenging brief to look forward and visualise the spaces they will need to deliver innovation and expertise. The Battersea site offers an opportunity to rethink the RCA campus and establish the patterns of connectivity and organisation that will make a successful building.’

The Royal College of Art will now collaborate with Herzog & de Meuron and Mott MacDonald & Equals Consulting, who are leading the multidisciplinary professional team, to develop initial concept designs.

News via Malcolm Reading Consultants.

http://www.archdaily.com/799184/herzog-and-de-meuron-wins-competition-for-royal-college-of-art-center

© Ignacio Santa Maria

• Architects: Carlos Torres Alcalde
• Location: Aysén Province, XI Región, Chile
• Architect In Charge: Carlos Torres Alcalde
• Area: 114.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Ignacio Santa Maria

• Collaborator: Consuelo Alfaro

© Ignacio Santa Maria

From the architect. The ordered  is a second home in Coyhaique, Chilean Patagonia, located on the River Simpson, on the outskirts of the city, 1.5 km from the city center.

© Ignacio Santa Maria

The program includes a large space containing the main living room, open kitchen, 6 cabins on site, one guest bathroom and a suite room. The second level contains a wide open floor plan with access to a balcony.

© Ignacio Santa Maria

1st Floor Plan

Architecture, has its origins in traditional constructions southern end of Chile, which aims to support a hostile climate in winter, with snow, rain and cold almost all year. For these conditions and the material to be used, it was decided to raise the house to separate the field.

Exploded Axonometric

On the other hand, a budget bounded coupled with a scarce labor and basic technology, led to pose a simple type design wooden shed, to build without special construction details, all based on local pine wood, interior completions grooved plywood boards and covered with zinc.

© Ignacio Santa Maria

2nd Floor Plan

The volume comes from access hermetically coated by the same cover material (zinc plates) and opens fully to the views dominating over the river and the Mackay hill with a large terrace plank. The interior is completely made of wood and the house is assembled from a large table that also serves as a rest inside the staircase and in the terrace  as a second dining room.

© Ignacio Santa Maria

http://www.archdaily.com/799092/casa-la-quimera-carlos-torres-alcalde

© Rasmus Hjortshoj

• Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group
• Location: 4747 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19112, United States
• Partners In Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Beat Schenk
• Project Leaders: ören Grünert (Concept), David Brown (Schematic & DD), Brandon Cook (CD), Michelle Stromsta (CA)
• Team: Annette Miller, Aran Coakley, Armen Menendian, Douglass Alligood, Natalie Kwee, Peter Lee, Taylor Hewett, Terry Lallak, Thomas Fagan, Thea Sofie Gassenholm
• Area: 9250.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Rasmus Hjortshoj, Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

• Client: Liberty Property Trust
• Collaborators: Environetics, In-Posse, LRSLA, Pennoni, Re:Vision

© Rasmus Hjortshoj

From the architect. 1200 Intrepid is a LEED Gold office building shaped by the encounter between Robert Stern’s master plan of rectangular city blocks and James Corner’s iconic, circular Central Green Park. 

Site

Context

Navy Yard Basin Views

The building’s double curved, pre-cast concrete façade bows inwards to create a generous urban canopy that responds to the ‘shock wave’ of the park’s circular running track, activity pods and planting vignettes – rippling outwards like rings in water to invade the building’s footprint. Shaped by the city grid, the cornice and remaining elevations return to the orthogonal design of the Navy Yard’s master plan, forming the building’s double curve and melding the neighborhood’s two dominant forms.

© Rasmus Hjortshoj

Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Referencing the Navy Yard’s maritime history while providing much needed natural light, a functioning periscope penetrates the core of the building, projecting views of the Navy Yard basin into the center of the elevator lobby. Visitors and employees can admire the mothballed ships sitting in the adjacent docks while embracing Central Green Park – connecting the building and its inhabitants to their surroundings.

© Rasmus Hjortshoj

http://www.archdaily.com/799118/1200-intrepid-bjarke-ingels-group

© TheatreSquared

On November 3, TheatreSquared Executive Director Martin Miller and Artistic Director Robert Ford unveiled the completed plans for the company’s new permanent home, a 50,000 square-foot building in Fayetteville, Arkansas designed by London-based theater planners Charcoalblue and New York–based Marvel Architects. The new building will include two theaters, a rehearsal space, staff offices, design workshops, a community space, a 24-hour cafe/bar, three levels of outdoor public space, and a separate building housing eight guest artist apartments.

© TheatreSquared

Charcoalblue worked to preserve and enhance the sense of panoramic immersion in the current space, adding 100 seats to the theatre’s base seating capacity while only deepening the room by one row, said senior project manager Clem Abercrombie. I’m proud to say this is one of the most intimate, yet immersive, theatre spaces Charcoalblue has designed.

© TheatreSquared

The theater achieves acoustic isolation with an acoustic envelope composed of board-form concrete, shielding the performance spaces from the noise of downtown Fayetteville. Meanwhile, the assemblage of volumes integrates the theater with its surroundings: the theaters and rehearsal space project out from the building’s facade, and the outdoor areas are designed for transparency to the community at large.

© TheatreSquared

TheatreSquared is the professional regional theater of Northwestern Arkansas. Named one of the nation’s foremost emerging theaters by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, TheatreSquared has expanded its audience tenfold in the last five years and now hosts 40,000 visitors annually. In 2015, TheatreSquared was chosen as one of three inaugural beneficiaries of the Walton Family Foundation’s Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, which funds the development of public spaces by renowned architects. Since launching in 2015, the Program has curated a group of 36 architecture and landscape architecture firms to participate in all phases of design projects aimed at elevating the quality of Northwestern Arkansas’s built environment while complementing the region’s rich architectural history.

• Architects: Charcoalblue, Marvel Architects
• Area: 50000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: TheatreSquared

News via: TheatreSquared

http://www.archdaily.com/799035/theatresquared-reveals-designs-for-permanent-facility