SketchUp developer Trimble has launched SketchUp Viewer, a new virtual and mixed reality app for the Microsoft HoloLens that will allow users to inhabit and experience their 3D designs in a completely new way. Using the holographic capabilities of the HoloLens, SketchUp Viewer creates hologram versions of models that can be placed in real-world environments – allowing architects to study and analyze how their buildings will react to their context while still in the design stage.
At today’s Trimble Dimensions keynote, architect Greg Lynn presented SketchUp Viewer for the first time, demonstrating the technology using his re-imagining of the Packard Plant in Detroit, commissioned as part of the “Architectural Imagination,” the U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale exhibition.
“Trimble mixed-reality technology and Microsoft HoloLens bring the design to life and bridge the gap between the digital and physical. Using this technology I can make decisions at the moment of inception, shorten the design cycle and improve communication with my clients,” said Lynn.
via SketchUp Viewer
SketchUp Viewer uses the newly launched AR|VR Extension for SketchUp Desktop, and is compatible with models from Trimble’s 3D Warehouse and the cloud-based collaboration platform Trimble Connect. Once in Tabletop mode, models can be scaled as needed to fit into the available space or to zoom into specific design details. Models can be moved, rotated, anchored and re-anchored in physical space, giving users the ability to walk around the project and examine it from any vantage point.
“What truly differentiates SketchUp Viewer from any other product on the market is the ability for users to transition seamlessly to an immersive experience,” explained Trimble. “Mixed reality enables unique opportunities to overlay physical models in real world environments; and as a completely untethered device, HoloLens allows users to move freely as they inhabit their digital surrounds.”
In addition to its visualization capabilities, SketchUp Viewer will also contain remote collaboration technology, allowing designers and consultants from around the world to review and cooperate on projects in real time.
“Empowering people to design and communicate better in 3D is part of our DNA. Across the SketchUp platform, we are dedicated to the idea that technology should get out of the way of our users,” said Chris Keating, general manager of Trimble’s SketchUp. “With SketchUp Viewer, we are taking another big step toward delivering the ultimate experience for designers and their clients—the experience of inhabiting their own work.”
More information on the SketchUp Viewer can be found here. The AR|VR extension for SketchUp Desktop can be found in SketchUp’s Extension Warehouse. Microsoft HoloLens devices are available for purchase from the Microsoft Store, here.
The Illuminated River Foundation has unveiled the six designs shortlisted to transform the river Thames in London by lighting up key bridges along the length of the river. The six teams were selected in September and asked to work their initial schemes into concept designs for the Westminster, Waterloo, London and Chelsea bridges. The teams comprise: Adjaye Associates; A_LA; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Leo Villareal with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Future\Pace; Les Éclairagistes Associés with ecqi and Federico Pietrella; and Sam Jacob Studio with Simon Heijdens. Read on to see all six designs.
Blurring Boundaries / Adjaye Associates
Adjaye Associates’ design aims to highlight the unique histories of each individual bridge, assembling a number of artists and designers to bring their own touch to each location. The cumulative effect of these interventions will be, as they describe it in their project description, “to reimagine the bridges not as connectors, but as the heart of London itself… they join to form a cohesive stitching for London’s heart, a vibrant new epicenter anchoring the two banks.” The design also includes a number of urban pavilions, with uses ranging from lookout towers to a new auditorium.
Full team: Adjaye Associates with Cai Guo-Qiang, Chris Ofili, Larry Bell, Jeremy Deller, Philippe Parreno, Richard Woods, Mariko Mori, Lorna Simpson, Teresita Fernández, Joana Vasconcelos, Angela Bulloch, Thukral & Tagra, Katharina Grosse, Glenn Ligon, Doug Aitken, Tomás Saraceno, onedotzero digital consultants, Plan A Consultants, DHA, Hurley Palmer Flatt, AKT II, AECOM, Arup, Sir Robert McAlpine, Tavernor Consultancy, DP9, Four Communications, Hayes Davidson digital visualisers, Bosch and iGuzzini.
The Eternal Story of the River Thames / A_LA
A_LA’s design focuses on exploring the river as a natural entity, which has constantly been ignored or even suppressed by the construction of the city around it. This is highlighted by continuous lighting along the river walls, creating “a constant thread of light through the city that gently illumines the expanses of foreshore exposed at low tide.” On the bridges, the lighting changes with the tides: at low tide the undersides of the bridges are illuminated, while at high tide the illumination shifts to the light up the bridges’ elevations.
Full Team: AL_A, Asif Kapadia, Simon Stephens, SEAM Design, Arup, GROSS. MAX., Mark Filip, Soundings and DP9.
Synchronizing the City: Its Natural and Urban Rhythms / Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design also highlights natural rhythms, in this case the natural rhythm of daylight. In the “magic hour” when the sun has set, each bridge will begin to “fill up” with light, reaching its maximum illumination one hour after the sun sets. At this moment, a beam of light will be briefly directed towards the sky, offering a “night kiss” at the end of twighlight. The lighting for each bridge will be carefully calibrated to its position along the river, with the precise timing of this display varying depending on the exact timing of the sunset in that location, thus giving a visual representation of the rotation of the earth.
Full Team: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Oliver Beer, Arup, Copper Consultancy, L’Observatoire International, Penoyre & Prasad, Jennifer Tipton and Transsolar.
Leo Villareal, the designer behind The Bay Lights on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, worked with London architecture firm Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and placemaking agency Future\Pace to imagine a design which not only includes site-specific colored displays at each bridge, but also incorporates forward-looking strategic plans and partnerships which aim to control commercial lighting along the river and increase public engagement through a variety of installations.
Similar to the proposal by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the design by Les Éclairagistes Associés hopes to light each bridge at the opportune time between day and night, resulting in the timing of the bridges lighting being dependent on their precise location. In addition, the concept hopes to highlight London’s position as a global city by placing symbols of other global cities—specifically, faithful recreations of their lampposts—in the river itself, where they will be revealed to a greater or lesser extent depending on the height of the tides.
The design by Sam Jacob and Simon Heijdens seeks to create a three-dimensional “ribbon” of light between Chelsea and Wapping that forms an overlay on top of the river. The ribbon itself will be formed of multiple planes of projected light, which through their overlapping layers will form an ethereal representation of the river directly below; the lower edge of each plane will vary depending on the depth of the river, while the upper edge will change constantly based on real-time measurements of the movement of the surface. Similarly, the bridges will be illuminated with a shifting monochromatic light that causing the perception of their form “to wax and wane as the tide rises and falls.”
Hollwich Kushner Project Team: Matthias Hollwich, SBA, Marc Kushner, AIA, Robert May, Caitlin Swaim, Daniel Selensky, SJ Kwon, Alda Ly, Kate Scott, Amanda Azzahra, Fan Zhang, Gangandeep Singh, Ignas Kalinauskas, Jordan Doane, Jessica Knobloch, Patrick Herron, Taesoo Kim
Kss Architects Project Team: Pamela Lucas Rew, FAIA, Petar Mattioni, AIA, Joseph Alperstein, AIA, David Von Stappenbeck, AIA, Jessica Mangin, Gail Milano
Landscape Architect: Land Collective
Signage And Wayfinding Consultant: Bruce Mau Design
The Pennovation Center is a 20th century paint factory, transformed into a 21st century idea factory. The building is the centerpiece of a new, twenty-three acre development at the University of Pennsylvania known as Pennovation Works.
While much of the building is occupied by shared wet labs and efficient coworking areas, key social spaces tempt entrepreneurs to leave their desks and engage with their colleagues. These spaces are tucked into a new angular facade that reaches outward towards the Schuylkill River, featuring a conference room, coworking counter with a view of campus and the city, and bleacher seating where inventors can share ideas, pitch to investors, and gain crucial perspective. The building inspires creativity within, while simultaneously telling the world outside that Penn is committed to putting knowledge into action for the greater good.
“This is a unique business and technology incubator where innovators’ ideas go to work,” said Anne Papageorge, Vice President of Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services. “The Center is designed to bring together the University’s eminent researchers and students, along with the private sector, to foster creative exploration, entrepreneurship, new alliances, and generate economic development for the region.”
Diagram
Diagram
“Having personally navigated through the startup experience ourselves when we launched Hollwich Kushner and Architizer, we understand the needs and challenges of emerging companies,” said Hollwich Kushner Principal, Marc Kushner.
“Inventors love to invent things. That means a lot of time spent in labs hunched over workbenches and computers. We wanted to create a building that encouraged entrepreneurs to get up from their labs and pitch their ideas and socialize with their colleagues. That’s why we took all of the social action of the building and packed it into the spiky geometric facade” added Matthias Hollwich of Hollwich Kushner.
A beacon for the next generation of entrepreneurship in the region, the Pennovation Center will advance the dynamic role of the University as both an inspiration for and a facilitator of cutting-edge invention.
Architectural photographer Danica O. Kus has shared with us new images of BIG’s VIA 57 West. Having opened earlier this year, the “courtscraper” has already been the recipient of several awards, including its unanimous victory of the 2016 International Highrise Award last week. This new photoset takes us inside the public and private spaces of the 32-story building, including interior shots of the lobby, lounge, pool and the residential units.
From the architect. Villa Muurame is a wooden 3-story single-family home by Lake Jyväsjärvi in Jyväskylä, Finland. The spatial elements of the house (approx. 3m wide, 7.8 longa and 3.1 high) were pre-fabricated during the winter in the Muurametalot housing factory in Karunki, Finnish Lapland and the elements were erected in Jyväskylä after the snow had melted. The timber used is extremely slow grown and high quality Lappish spruce and pine.
The house is getting more private as one moves up the floors. The ground floor is an open space with collective functions, the bedrooms are on the second floor and on the third floor you get naked. Each floor has their own terrace or balcony and the second floor opens to an extensive roof garden.
Elevation
The house is warmed up during the harsh Finnish winters with geothermal heating, which also cools down the house during summers.
One of modernism’s most iconic houses, Case Study House 21 (Bailey House) by Pierre Koenig, is now on sale. The two-bed/two-bath Hollywood Hills landmark has been touted as among the finest of Arts & Architecture Magazine’s Case Study Houses, and one of the program’s few truly experimental projects to explore groundbreaking design and materials.
In this early-career exploration, Koenig used a constrained set of industrial materials—primarily steel and glass—to execute a pure expression of his design approach. His philosophy of functionality and honesty in aesthetics manifests in a structure that appears simple but contains complexity in plan and organization.
The design emphasizes harmony of materials and balance between interior and exterior through the use of terraces, water, glazing, and skylights. A 60-foot reflecting pool frames the undulating steel facade on the east and another pool traces the covered carport. Interlocking steel decking on the roof and an all-glass north wall add drama to the main entry, drawing visitors in, while the southern wall’s sliding glass doors extend the living area into the exterior terrace.
Views of the expansive and carefully considered landscaping permeate the house. In the core of the house is a courtyard and the bathrooms; the bedrooms are also connected to the exterior via sliding glass doors.
Built in 1958, Case Study House 21 underwent a restoration by Koenig to his original intent and design in 1998, including the addition of updated appliances and cabinetry. The house was last sold in an auction in December 2006, with an estimated value of $2.5 million – $3.5 million.
Completing a degree in architecture can be a long and arduous process, but also wonderfully rewarding. Despite this, many freshly graduated architects find themselves unsure about where to begin, or deciding that they actually don’t want to be architects at all. Here is a list of 21 careers you can pursue with a degree in architecture, which may help some overcome the daunting task of beginning to think about and plan for the professional life that awaits.
Careers in Architecture
Architecture: the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. Architects often argue over the actual definition of our discipline, but can never really escape the use of broad terms, coming from a fantastically broad education. It’s unsurprising then, that the task of figuring out what kind of architect you want to be is a daunting one. Below is a list of 7 branches of architecture for you to consider:
1. Landscape Architect
Designing outdoor landscapes, including infrastructure, public areas, agriculture and forestry is vital for constructing the webs that bind our urban and rural spaces, but also, and perhaps more importantly, it’s essential for responding to globalization and climate change. Landscape architects are involved in storm water management, environmental restoration, and recreational areas among other things. If you enjoy working with and in the natural environment, this could be the path for you.
2. Urban Planner
As a result of a rapidly growing percentage of our population moving into urban areas, the conditions of urbanism are constantly in a state of flux. The dynamic state of the urban environment makes it an exciting path to take as an architect, covering everything from economic and demographic changes, to sustainable development. It’s an essential responsibility within our profession, but a challenging one; it requires adaptability and problem solving on a large scale.
Our societies’ heritage and history as presented through architecture are not only beautiful glimpses into the past, but also crucial to understanding our culture as a discipline. Conservation and restoration of buildings is undeniably a challenge; it is never possible to please everyone. The media often targets the act of restoration as a “heritage massacre,” in spite of the often very beautiful solutions.
4. Research Architect
With the current wave of digital design and constant advancement of digital tools, our methods of representation and expression are changing dramatically. Information technology has had a profound impact upon architecture that is far from over. These constant improvements are in part made possible by the exciting research being done by architects, not necessarily consisting of designing buildings, but focusing more on how these new tools can enhance our work.
5. Lighting Architect
Light has a profound impact on our mental and physical health, as anyone living at high latitudes can empathize with. Delving into the architecture of lighting entails improving the quality of our experiences, our health and well-being, and the sustainability of not only the natural environment, but also smaller spaces such as our work environments.
6. Political Architect
Some argue that architecture is by nature political, however being active in the political decision of a city or country is a different story. Architecture is more than just creating beautiful objects; the discipline has a value in organizing society. Architecture firm Terroir, for example, has worked with the Burnie City Council as well as with the Parramatta City Council in Australia, to argue for a certain structure for the city, to predict what may happen, and to design a set of criteria for the evolution of the city. It is a case of architecture influencing politics, instead of the other way around.
With the current development of climate change, extreme weather conditions such as floods, heat waves and hurricanes are predicted to increase. Existing extreme environments, such as deserts, are likely to expand due to phenomena such as desertification. Being an architect who specializes in extreme weather conditions is therefore not only an incredibly fascinating way to tackle the subject, but also invaluable for us to adapt to the future of our planet.
Careers in Art and Design
If, upon graduating, you realize that architecture is in fact not for you, design and art might be. Architecture already is a form of design (or maybe it’s the other way around), making it easier to create direct links between your education as an architect, and your profession as an artist or designer. Another alternative is to combine two disciplines, such as graphic design and architecture. Perhaps your passion is to make it easier for architects to communicate through graphics?
8. Artist
Although Olafur Eliasson did not study architecture, he works with many architects at Studio Olafur Eliasson, exemplifying how harmonious and imperative the relationship between space and art is. The spatial reasoning and visualization skills one gains from an education in architecture lends themselves perfectly to installation art, sculpture and spatial experiences, without the necessity for functionality.
9. Industrial Designer
Several architecture firms have branched into industrial design, due to their close creative ties. However, industrial design focuses on smaller scale objects of mass production, as opposed to large-scale buildings designed for a specific context. If the prospect of designing something enormous, permanent, and landscape changing sounds all too intimidating, industrial design is a great, smaller scaled alternative.
Even more so than industrial design, furniture design can be seen as architecture’s little sister. Countless famous architects have made significant contributions to furniture design: Charles and Ray Eames, Alvar Aalto and Arne Jacobsen, among others. Contemporary architects such as Zaha Hadid Architects are following suit, proving that the two can even be done simultaneously.
11. Textile Designer
Designing textiles requires sensitivity for color, tactility, construction, patterns and forms, all of which are developed during any student’s years at architecture school. The relationship between “skin” and structure is in some ways even more literal than in a building, as the two merge together. High fashion is also reminiscent of architecture in many ways, adopting the geometric and sculptural constructions of contemporary buildings.
Graphic design is the way in which we take in our world and identify it. It is invaluable when it comes to communication. It can also be so aesthetically pleasing that one can hardly resist becoming a graphic designer. Taking a short course in graphic design to supplement a degree in architecture can open up a range of possibilities to still work within the field, but take charge of tasks that are more suited to your interests in communication.
13. Video Game Designer
The near-limitless boundaries that come with designing a virtual world may be one of the most fun things a newly graduated architect could think of doing with their education. Constructing the architecture of a video game is a way of letting your imagination roam free, but could also add more depth to your spatial reasoning.
14. Photographer
Architecture photography is becoming increasingly popular, possibly due to the beautiful geometry that can emerge by constraining something within a lens. Photography concerns itself more with the aesthetic, with the object and the composition in that unique moment, within that specific frame. It concerns itself with the fleeting atmosphere, more than with the permanent organization of people and spaces. Yet it still consists of composition, colour, environment and experiences.
Although a set or a stage are far smaller platforms than a virtual planet, designing theater and film sets allows for just as much creative flow. It lifts the pressure of traditional spatial design and expression, allowing for experiences that may be more evocative, sensuous, and story-driven, while still utilizing all the knowledge and skills one gains from an education in architecture: time pressures, conceptual environments and collaborative creativity.
Careers Outside of Design
If you find yourself scrolling through this list and shaking your head at any mention of architecture, art or design, perhaps this final list is for you. It covers 6 careers outside of the stereotypical fields of design, mostly within the human sciences as architecture is inherently directed towards the human experience. Drawing the essence of this from your architectural education and injecting it into another discipline may even make you a stronger candidate in the professional sphere.
Young teachers at architecture schools are becoming more common, and if you’re looking for more time to learn about the field before making a decision on whether or not you want to remain in it, taking up a year or two of teaching could be an ideal way to do so. Teaching is a two way street, especially at such a young age, which provides you with an excellent method to learn from your students and reflect on your view of architecture. Here are some tips on how to succeed as a young professor.
17. Philanthropist
In the past, architecture was a gentleman’s profession, taken up as a philanthropic endeavour as opposed to an economic one. In our present day, women have begun to get a strong hold on the profession, but thankfully the philanthropic ideal has not died out. Contemporary architecture has a necessary focus on sustainability: environmental, social, psychological, and economic. The knowledge and awareness of these ideals can be converted into other types of philanthropy, if that’s what interests you. Founding a sustainable foundation towards a humanitarian aim is never a waste of time.
As mentioned previously, architecture and politics are in many ways inherently tied together. The knowledge one gains of people, and the way they interact with their environment, the way they are organized, what makes the human body and psyche feel comfortable; all of these skills contribute hugely to making a good politician. In fact, in Finland, Anders Adlercreutz, a current first-term Member of Parliament, is educated as an architect and practiced as one for many years before turning to politics, while in Britain Richard Rogers serves in the House of Lords alongside running his practice.
19. Conservationist
Similar to philanthropy, conservation of the environment is becoming a focal point within architecture. Despite many efforts, our planet is still heading down a path leading to disaster when it comes to our natural surroundings. Using your knowledge of spatial organization to develop a method of environmental conservation is not only intellectually stimulating, but also vitally important for our society.
Becoming a writer or journalist can be a great way to utilize an architectural education; we learn to articulate ourselves using (mostly) descriptive language and rhetoric, in order to communicate our complex projects to teachers and critics. Turning that into writing, whether fictional or not, is another way of constructing another world and an experience for others. Despite the print being two-dimensional, the stories definitely aren’t.
21. Entrepreneur
Problem solving, creative thinking and the art of persuasion are three skills architects and entrepreneurs have in common that you can use to your advantage. Your experience with abstract concepts and human interaction can make you a stronger competitor with an alternative way of thinking.
The list above is of course incomplete, as the careers mentioned here can be combined in many ways, and other, unmentioned vocations can be brought to the table to provide virtually infinite possibilities. As German educator Kurt Hahn said, “there is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.” Don’t forget that there is a sea of possibilities out there.
The winning proposal has just been announced for an extension to the Bunkier Sztuki (“Bunker of Arts”) contemporary art gallery in Cracow, Poland. Out of 33 entries in the international competition, the underground design by Robert Konieczny – KWK Promes has been selected to be executed in the heart of Cracow’s Old Town.
The proposal includes a new 3900–square meter exhibition space in front of the existing building with moveable slabs and an elevatable roof, which can be adjusted according to program. This ultra-modern mechanical system allows for interaction between the exhibition space and the city: the roof can be lifted to give the gallery a direct physical connection to the street level. Meanwhile, by eliminating a superstructure to the extension, the architects have given deference to the existing building. The intervention also includes a plan to refurbish the historical gallery to reveal its original brutalist form.
Situated in one of Poland’s most culturally vibrant cities, Bunkier Sztuki is a rare icon of Polish brutalism. Since its founding in Planty Park in 1965, the gallery has undergone several alterations, including a cafeteria pavilion directly in front of the exhibition space. The planned restoration will eliminate all unnecessary additions and return the building to its initial intent.
Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has recently shot the second collection of his “ultra-marathon of photoshoots” – in London. Following his unique insight into the spaces occupied by Nordic architectural offices (based in Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki), Goodwin has turned his lens to a broad collection of practices in the British capital, captured in just seven days. From Zaha Hadid Architects’ former school to Foster + Partner’s monumental studios on the banks of the River Thames, here are a series of surprising places that architectural offices call home.
Former use: ccording to the listing text, these premises were originally occupied by “druggists, sundriesmen, infant milliners and artificial flower manufacturers.” The interior arrangement suggests that it was always intended for a number of different trading concerns
Number of employees: 1200 at Riverside, 1450 globally
Former use: Riverside is a pioneering example of a mixed-use building – with Foster + Partners’ studio occupying the lower three levels and apartments located on the upper floors. There was no former use, as it was purpose built by Fosters for its current use. The building’s strategy for renewal involved the creation of a new network of pedestrian routes to make this stretch of the riverside accessible to the public
Former use: the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery was previously home to a pop-up hair salon designed by Hadid; the larger office spaces were formerly a school
The building site presents a trapezoidal shape quite similar to a regular polygon, with one of its ends curved, and the rest in angle. The building site is practically flat on its north half, and presents a pronounced slope on the south half. The building site’s slope develops itself in a north-south direction with a total drop of approximately 4 meters. The views to the west from the high part of the site are splendid.
The project consists on a multi-purpose building destined to be a Cultural Centre and a Music School (a discipline that counts with a big number of students in Meco) with four levels corresponding to a basement floor, a semi basement, a ground level floor and a first floor, the latter in the northern centerline of the building. The building results in a compact plan that adapts itself to the geometry of the existing terrain and occupies its lower and southern part. Likewise, the building adapts to the existing topography in a steep slope, arranging its program of uses in a stratified way, within dependent layers with different uses. As a result of all this, that the building organizes itself with two entrances located in the opposite facades (south and north facades) and different floors (semi-basement level and bottom level). Each of these entrances gives access to clearly differentiated uses. The southern entrance through an exterior covered space gives access to the auditorium and to a multi-purpose exhibition space that serves as the entrance hall the auditorium. This level is equipped with the general washrooms of the building and the necessary installation rooms for the correct functioning of it. The north entrance, which you can reach from a patio covered by a concrete lattice with access from Plaza de España, gives access to the Music School that develops a program of uses which are consensual with the direction of the future school that will develop its activity in our spaces. An empty space runs longitudinally within the building, merging uses and levels and permits a complex use and perception of it. This vacuum presents itself as the place of principal communication in the interior of the building, describing it spatially and qualifying it as a public building as it widens its limited interior surface area.
In the basement floor are located the rooms such as store rooms or change rooms that provide service to the auditorium. In the first floor, the administration and direction of the centre, and a small music library opened to the north and the views.
The roof of the building has also a use. An outdoors auditorium and a square called Southern Square located on the same place complete the program of the Cultural Centre and Music School. This auditorium and this Southern Square have an access from the patio through a “stair-ramp”, and also from the interior of the building, becoming a quality leisure place and urban rest.
The action opts for a volume of well defined contours which is able to affirm its autonomy against a residential heterogeneous and recent environment of family housing in a suburb with no architectonic interest, and other traditional housing with which we have tried to create a dialogue. The popular abstraction is chosen as a composition strategy at the elevations. The gaps appear where they are needed by the interior uses or the views, as in the popular traditional architecture, always abstract. Plinths and frames are solved with our contemporary material:”reinforced concrete”; the white stuccos, as well as the scale and the volumetric treatment of the projected building, collaborate in the insertion in Meco Town.
Sig Nordal 