© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

• Architects: WAATAA_we are all together around architecture
• Location: 3460 Tondela, Portugal
• Architect In Charge: WAATAA
• Team: Rita Cantisano Diz, Lucas Cantisano Diz, Miguel de Gouveia André
• Area: 299.9 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

From the architect. In a seemingly infinite territory and mostly occupied by pines and oaks, the implantation of the house marks a space and an intention. A space of pause, serenity and breathing, surrounded and protected by the green patch that filters the light and the eyesight, purifies the air and the soul and stimulates the corporal senses of who let himself be seduced by the elements of nature. An intention of materializing a perennial refuge that transforms and adapts itself to the site’s conditions and to the family that inhabits it.

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

The house does not begin in the physical limits of its walls, but rather at the outer limit of the green patch that surrounds it, assuming it as imaginary walls that make up a larger house, a habitat. This green patch, or better, this forest, is assumed as the intermediate and transition space between the outside (of what exists beyond itself) and the interior (housing).

Ground Floor

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

Section

The concrete volume construction sets up and gives shape to a boundary defined by employing courtyards that are outlined by the interior spaces of the house. It is the empty space trimmed and subtracted from the built volume. This design favours the organization and the hierarchy of the spaces inherent to the house, and also increases the contact perimeter with the forest, which promotes the creation of scenarios where the fusion of inhabitants and nature happens, where the visual, touching, hearing and olfactory experience is encouraged in a way to provide a sense of comfort and well-being to those who live there.

© WAATAA PHOTOGRAPHY

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Kingslanding- Game of Thrones (2011). Image © HBO

What makes a city different from a town? What is the distinction between these two seemingly similar collections of buildings and streets? Why can we trace towns back to the Stone Age, while the first city remains a mystery? Although a village and a city can be considered similar, the city has a unique and innovative element that makes it stand out: the citizens and civitas.  

While villages were merely an efficient urban system for groups of people that live together, the foundation of a city entails the institution of a very concrete idea of society, of a commitment between individuals to organize the world based on shared criteria.

The civitas is precisely this idea of social order, the accumulation of traditions, laws, principles and beliefs that gave rise to the civil community. Urbs is the urban model especially dedicated to institutionalizing this idea of society. Be aware that we’re not talking about streets or houses here, but of the moment of the establishment, that is, of the foundation of the city. As Fustel de Coulanges would say, while the civitas is a time-honored inheritance accumulated over centuries, the urbs is founded in one day. Filling it with streets, houses, and shops as a consequence.

As Hermann Minkowski puts it in “Vers une cosmologie. Fragments philosophiques” (Paris, 1967, p.149), “in the beginning, the environment was a shifting ocean. It is evolution. The human personality detaches from that evolution and affirms itself because of that. The person does it what he can, that is, by modeling the environment in his image, according to both individual and general characteristics. “

In this sense, the city is not a housing complex but a cosmogonic device, which explains the origin of order -cosmos- in disorder -chaos-. The political institutions – polis – are guarantee the operation of this device and of the laws that it governs. Therefore, its existence affects the founding city form just as much as the civitas or the urbs. Aristotle already identified this circumstance in the 4th century BC and presented the act of founding a city as a practice that is bound and subject to the political regime. De Coulanges would probably propose a debate on whether the Polis is a later, more complex element, and not as essential.

With respect to fortified places, they aren’t equally suited for all regimes. The acropolis, for example, is useful to an oligarchical or monarchical regime; For democratic regimes an open plain is best, and neither of those for an aristocracy, but rather several fortifications – Aristotle, Politics, II, 8, 1.

Joseph Rykwert proposed in the 1960s that all these political and symbolic foundations share certain common elements. From the Euphrates Valley to Etruria, Greece, Rome, China, India, sub-Saharan Africa, Indigenous North America and Pre-Columbian Latin America, every foundation has represented a cosmic order and has possessed an institutional and religious center, key areas, a boundary, gates and a labyrinth. This article does not have illustrations, but the sketch I would’ve liked to have shown you is the same that you are already drawing in your head. Center, streets, boundary, gates and labyrinth. That’s it. Now the only difference between your mental picture and a true urban foundation is the unconditional acceptance that these elements build the order of the universe on earth.

Roman mosaic from the end of the Republic showing a fortified labyrinth. (1st century BC) Rykwert, Joseph. The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy, and The Ancient World Madrid: Hermann Blume, 1976. p. 166.

So far we’ve been talking about history, history in the sense that these rites and institutions feel like they’re far removed from the diffused and scattered metropolises that the majority of us live in today. If you are lucky enough to live in a small town, you are still connected to the net of networks, to the liquid marsh of data and vectors that govern the world. It seems that with the exception of some specific places like historical city centers in Europe or Bolivar Square(s) in the Americas, the contemporary city is more a system of aggregated elements than a cosmic gesture guaranteeing order. This is true, of course … only if you ignore the other half of today’s urban production: fictional cities.

The Banner Saga 2 (2016). Image © Stoic Studios

Literature, theater, film and video games are arts plagued by cities. From the Old Testament to A Song of Ice and Fire (1996-), works of fiction are often developed in urban contexts, cities that by their very nature do not possess the Deleuzian complexity of modern cities. Each of the cities in the work of George R. R. Martin represents a political position and a specific way of facing the world. It’s not a coincidence that it’s one of those “books with a map”, a genre that could be considered founded by Utopia in 1516.

The opening credits of the series of HBO Game of Thrones (GoT) are a great success in this sense. In the absence of a physical cartography like the one accompanying the book, GoT’s opens with the map itself, the land. Through an abstract and stylized infographic, the spectator goes through the main cities of each episode one by one.

King’s Landing sits on a cliff crowned by the great royal palace, the lower you live on it, the lower you are on the social ladder: a tribute to Aristotle. The center of Winterfell is outside the stronghold and is shaped like a tree, as it is a city that honors the ancient gods. The Wall is not the “city wall” but the “city gate”, one that decides what’s within the social order and what is left out, the “wild”. Pentos is a city “on the other side” and its existence is based on its confrontation with King’s Landing. It is the opposite shore, the refuge of the “other” personified by the last vestiges of the house Targaryen and its allies the Dothrakis.

All these cities are urbs characterized to house singular civitas, imagined but linked to our own history. Their foundational elements are powerful, basic but revealing. Their forms institutionalize very clear political orders that the viewer can read from the very first scene. The classic practice of founding cities as messages of order survives today in these fictional cities. For many centuries to come, Rome lives on.

A trench was dug
down to the solid rock,
fruits of the earth were thrown into the bottom of it,
and with them earth fetched from the neighbouring soil.
The trench was filled up with mould,
and on the top was set an altar,
and a fire was duly lit,
on a new hearth.
Ovidio, Fasti, IV, 819.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture, west facade. Image © Darren Bradley

This article, originally titled “DC’s Museum Of African American History Is The City’s Greenest,” was originally published on Lance Hosey’s Huffington Post blog. It is part of a four-part series about the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Fifteen years ago, when I worked on the design of a high-performance museum, the concept was considered so unusual that the media questioned the very idea. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) had only very recently introduced its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, so much of the public wasn’t familiar with the concept. Over the following decade, it became more and more popular in every building type, including museums. A watershed year was 2008. The Water + Life Museums in Hemet, CA, became the first LEED Platinum museum, quickly followed by the California Academy of Science, which has been called “the world’s greenest museum.” The same year, the Grand Rapids Art Museum became the first LEED-certified art museum. By 2016, International Museum Day could highlight ten LEED-certified museums in the US alone.

Now the Smithsonian has completed its first LEED Gold project, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). (The Silver-rated National Museum of the American Indian [NMAI] was the first Smithsonian project to become a certified green building, although it wasn’t designed to this standard and didn’t achieve it until seven years after opening in 2004.) By many measures, the NMAAHC is easily the greenest museum in Washington.

© Darren Bradley

But the bar isn’t very high, unfortunately. Last year, the Smithsonian completed its renovation of the Renwick Gallery, but it’s not clear from public records when or if LEED certification will be completed—although reportedly the building systems originally were designed to be very efficient. Earlier this year, the Smithsonian also reopened the historic Arts & Industries Building after a 12-year closure and an extensive renovation, but it didn’t pursue LEED, I’m told. The National Gallery also reopened the iconic East Building after a three-year refurbishment. No LEED. The Newseum opened in 2008. No LEED. Washington is said to be “in a class of its own when it comes to high quality museums,” but an article last year highlighting “must-see green museums” around the world included none in DC. What’s the problem?

Interior of the museum, with views of the exterior through the latticework. Image © Alan Karchmer/NMAAHC

At the time it opened, the Newseum’s director told the press that it didn’t get LEED certification “for reasons of cost.” This is a common misperception. In a 2008 survey of over 700 construction professionals, 80% cited “higher first costs” as the biggest obstacle to green building. Yet, even a dozen years ago the average surcharge for LEED projects was only 2%, and the additional investment typically yielded operational savings worth ten times that much, according to a widely cited report back then. By 2007, studies showed that LEED need not cost more at all, and now green building actually can cost less than conventional construction. The LEED-Platinum 1225 Connecticut Avenue, here in DC, cost about 5% below market rate construction in 2009 and sold for the highest price per square foot ever paid for an office building in the city.

© Darren Bradley

Regardless, the fact that so few museums in DC are exemplars of sustainability makes the NMAAHC all the more remarkable. Its systems include “low-impact” materials, a nearly 100-kW solar array to produce energy on site, and efficient infrastructure connected to surrounding buildings to avoid redundancy. But the most impressive aspects of the building are how the basic design gestures conserve resources and enhance the visitor experience. The bronze-color metal tracery enveloping the façade is carefully calibrated to avoid undue heat gain while bathing the interior in soft light and allowing views in every direction. This lowers energy needs while improving occupant comfort (although the decision not to extend the screening to the ground floor results in occasionally heavy glare and uncomfortable temperatures when the sun is low, as I experienced one morning this winter). The latticework has another appeal that has been overlooked by reviewers and possibly by the designers themselves. As I documented in my book, The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design (2012), research shows that people generally crave the image of irregular tree-like patterns mimicking natural fractals—so much so that the pattern can lower stress by as much as 60 percent, just by being in our field of vision. The Japanese practice of forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku)—spending time immersed in wooded settings—can lower blood pressure, heart rate, and concentrations of stress hormones. Could the interior of the NMAAHC, like an artificial forest, have a similar effect?

The museum’s “porch” creates a comfortable microclimate at the entrance. Image © GGN

This research relates to the biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that people have an innate desire to connect with nature and other forms of life. An associated idea is the theory of “prospect/refuge,” which suggests that we seek out places that help us feel sheltered while allowing an uninterrupted view of our surroundings. A veranda or porch is a commonplace example. The main entrance to the NMAAHC is designed to act as a gigantic porch, inspired by traditions in African and African American vernacular building, as I pointed out in an earlier article. The prospect/refuge effect of this space is about as palpable as any I’ve ever witnessed. Additionally, the deep shade combined with a reflecting pool creates a cool microclimate intended to provide more comfort during the hot, humid summer months.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture / Adjaye Associates

See more of the building here.

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Washington has been called the “epicenter of green building,” not just because the USGBC is located here. A decade ago, DC became the first major American city to require green building certifications for both public and private new construction. Annually for several years, the District has built the most LEED-certified square footage per capita of any state or district—nearly five times the next best location. My research for the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), published earlier this year, found that DC also has the largest number per capita of projects that have won a COTE Top Ten Award, considered the premier program celebrating sustainable design. So the city boasts an impressive track record for green. With the NMAAHC now, we have significantly raised the bar for museums in the city, and Washington could be well on its way to establishing itself as the national leader in sustainable design by any measure.

This article is part of a four-part series by Lance Hosey on the NMAAHC. Click the following links to read about how the museum reveals the complicated political history of Washington, DC, how the museum is an act of both celebration and political resistance for the African-American community, and what the museum reveals about architectural criticism.

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Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

A team composed of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH) has won Director’s Choice Award in the AC-CA competition to design a contemporary footbridge in Dublin, Ireland. Entitled The Catalyst, the team’s proposal aims to become “a dynamic link which stimulates diverse urban activities and facilitates a spectacular cityscape.”

Designed around the idea of enhancing the surrounding Dockland neighborhood and Dublin as a whole, The Catalyst acts as both a physical link, as well as a new vantage point, encouraging passers-by to pause and reflect on the city.

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

The organic, curved form of the bridge is a response to significant buildings in the area, such as the Harp Bridge and Convention Center (CCD). Similarly, the design utilizes a symmetrical approach, in order to resonate with the local Georgian heritage architecture.

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

With a pivotal structure driven by a cylindrical motor, the bridge can move for passing boats and larger ships, as well as cultural activities like the Dublin Marine Festival. Moreover, the bridge itself can accommodate film and performances in its amphitheater.

Courtesy of Feng Xue, Helen Chan, and Oscar Reyes (FOH)

Functionally, the new bridge is a meeting place, a viewing platform for visitors, a worker’s break-out area, a lover’s dating spot, a shortcut for pedestrians and cyclists, and an amphitheater for buskers, said the design team. Despite the vast functional possibilities, our bridge proposal respects and realizes the rich historical context of Dublin by creating a space that looks back at its urban context. Our response to the enhancement of Dublin is to create a place that acts as a catalyst to activate and exhibit the transformation of the city. The bridge is a book to the stories of Dublin to be discovered.

News via: Feng Xue.

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© Roman Keller

• Architects: Michael Meier Marius Hug Architekten AG, Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
• Location: St Gallen, Switzerland
• Architect In Charge: Armon Semadeni, Marius Hug, Michael Meier – Anita Emele, Project leader 2009-2013, Martin Dennler, Project leader 2014-2016 – Jonas Krieg, Kirsten García, Anouk Trautmann, Daniel Hediger, Thomas Winkelmann (cand.), Tobias Uhlmann, Murielle Geel, Alexandre Figueiredo (cand.), Estelle Bertholet (cand.), Nina Fruhmann (cand.), Alain Walter (cand.)
• Area: 600.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Roman Keller

• Construction Management: Othmar Brügger, Davos; Baumed Bauleitungen, St. Gallen
• Landscape: Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitekten, Zürich
• Construction Engineer: Synaxis AG, Zürich
• Signage: BIV Grafik, Zürich
• Scenography: 2nd West, Rapperswil

© Roman Keller

From the architect. The new building of the Natural History Museum St. Gallen carries on the existing ensemble of public buildings and facilities surrounding the church St. Maria Neudorf and the botanic garden on the eastern limits of the city centre. Through the urban setting and the use of mostly lithic materials the building acts as a visual and representative landmark towards the street and the church complex. At the same time the new museum respects the strong presence of the church’s silhouette. The visible structure of the roof refers to the functional, modest expression of the existing architectures in the botanic garden. 

Site Plan

© Roman Keller

The three-storey building occupies the parcel almost entirely. A new open-air exhibition space is defined and becomes an important part of the promenade between church, museum and botanic garden. Four precisely set incisions in the corners of the building volume interlock it with its surrounding. According to each specific situation they host several different functions – such as a quiet terrace for the café, a representative forecourt towards the street and a discreet delivery in the back. 

© Roman Keller

The museum premises are organised as an open sequence of spaces, beginning with the connection of the foyer facing the street and the secondary entrance hall towards the garden. The visitor follows the tour of the museum across two shifting floors, past the temporary exhibition, into the “relief room”. With its impressive height, its specific character and the connection to the gallery above, it reminds of classical exhibition spaces from the 19^th century. The space constitutes the heart of the two exhibition storeys and offers great possibilities to exhibit large objects. The second exhibition storey provides a vast unsupported skylight-lit hall, allowing a lot of flexibility for diverse exhibition concepts. Quiet lounges and educational spaces, such as the library and the youth lab are arranged around the core zones, inviting to individual studies and contemplation in a pleasant, private atmosphere.

© Roman Keller

© Roman Keller

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ZAO/standardarchitecture – one office interior photographed by Goodwin. Image © Marc Goodwin

Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has recently completed the third collection of his “ultra-marathon of photoshoots” – this time in Beijing. Following his unique insight into the spaces occupied by Nordic architectural offices (based in Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki) and his look at studios both large and small lived in by London-based practices, Goodwin has turned his lens to the burgeoning number of offices in the Chinese capital. From MAD Architects’ magnificent old printing works to ZAO/standardarchitecture’s purpose-built studio, here is a view into the places that architectural offices call home.

© Marc Goodwin

Chiasmus Partners, Inc.

• In this space since: 2010
• Number of employees: 15
• Former use: classrooms
• Size: 120sqm

Chiasmus Partners, Inc.. Image © Marc Goodwin

Chiasmus Partners, Inc.. Image © Marc Goodwin

URBANUS Architecture & Design, Inc.

• In this space since: 2014
• Number of employees: 45 in Beijing
• Former use: offset printing factory
• Size: 860sqm (above and below ground)

URBANUS Architecture & Design, Inc.. Image © Marc Goodwin

URBANUS Architecture & Design, Inc.. Image © Marc Goodwin

C+ Architects

• In this space since: 2016
• Number of employees: 6
• Former use: studio
• Size: 52sqm

C+ Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

C+ Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

Vector Architects

• In this space since: 2014
• Number of employees: 25
• Former use: university administration office
• Size: 295sqm

Vector Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

Vector Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

MAT Office

• In this space since: 2015
• Number of employees: 10
• Former use: hostel (before that a factory)
• Size: 90sqm

MAT Office. Image © Marc Goodwin

MAT Office. Image © Marc Goodwin

Crossboundaries Beijing

• In this space since: 2015
• Number of employees: 25
• Former use: auditorium, bar, showroom
• Size: 350sqm

Crossboundaries. Image © Marc Goodwin

Crossboundaries. Image © Marc Goodwin

ZAO/standardarchitecture

• In this space since: 2015
• Number of employees: 30
• Former use: warehouse
• Size: 580sqm

ZAO/standardarchitecture. Image © Marc Goodwin

ZAO/standardarchitecture. Image © Marc Goodwin

anySCALE Architecture Design Consultants Co., Ltd.

• In this space since: 2014
• Number of employees: 25
• Former use: apartments for diplomats
• Size: 250sqm

anySCALE. Image © Marc Goodwin

anySCALE. Image © Marc Goodwin

MAD Architects

• In this space since: 2008
• Number of employees: 105
• Former use: printing works
• Size: 660sqm

MAD Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

MAD Architects. Image © Marc Goodwin

LISPACE Design Ltd.

• In this space since: 2013
• Number of employees: 10
• Former use: factory boiler room
• Size: 180sqm

LISPACE Design Ltd.. Image © Marc Goodwin

LISPACE Design Ltd.. Image © Marc Goodwin

Haskoll Architectural Design Consultancy

• In this space since: 2015
• Number of employees: 45
• Former use: restaurant
• Size: 1000sqm

Haskoll Architectural Design Consultancy. Image © Marc Goodwin

Haskoll Architectural Design Consultancy. Image © Marc Goodwin

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Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

• Architects: NEBRAU
• Location: Giraitė, Lithuania
• Architect In Charge: Laurynas Avyzius
• Landscape Design: Domas Timinskas, Vaidotas Gudeliauskas
• Area: 145.0 m2
• Project Year: 2010
• Photographs: Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

Idea
Lithuanian architecture studio NEBRAU main task was to create minimal architecture with clear lines and simple volumes, using long-live and natural materials, creating natural and minimal landscape surrounding where people can relax from their daily life routine. 

Site plan

Integration to the environment
The place of the house in the quarter: square-shaped land plot which continues the row of houses. The area contains a mix of large, contemporary homes and older dwellings dating to the 1970s and 1990s.

Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

The Function
The building is convenient to use and functional. The young family house is very comfortable by its planning functionality. House is one storey. The main entrance is in the middle of the house, where free-time zone (living room with kitchen) is separated from sleeping zone (bedrooms). 

Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

The Architecture
Family residence is located in Lithuania, Kaunas city.
House volumes are different height for it’s inside functionality and exterior dynamic. The finish is a solid concrete tiles on walls, which gives horizontal shadow structure for the house. Architectural volumes of the house are separated with a vertical larch wood planks, which left naturally to get grey. Dark colors and natural material merges into the surrounding.
Lithuania is in the weather zone, where temperature is from -35C till +35C. House insulation should be well prepared for all seasons and comfortable living. Energetical class of the house is A.
Heating – geothermal, Windows – wood frame with aluminum outside.

Floor plan

Courtesy of Laurynas Avyzius

The Interior
The interior was created as a warm, cosy atmosphere. Natural and reliable decoration materials shall be used such as natural wood look floor tiles of the greater part of the areas, guest room, kitchen, as well as kitchen. We love natural oak mass furniture, which used for table tops in the kitchen.

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