From the architect. Tagore 8 is multi-user light industrial factory located in Tagore Industrial Estate.The main generating concept of the project lies in a continuous driveway and ramp which spiral up the centre of the building, providing vehicular access to each individual factory unit. This circulation path becomes the main organizing device, both horizontally and vertically, around which all the primary spaces are arranged. A large central landscaped courtyard is located in the centre of the factory to provide lighting and ventilation to the inward facing units.
Each factory floor is six meters in height. In order to achieve a minimum vehicular ramp length, the factory is bisected into two wings, each wing offset sectionally by three meters. The central ramp negotiates this reduced height difference and is integrated into the driveway loop therefore reducing circulation areas and optimizing saleable area efficiency.
Each factory unit has a six meter high space and selected units are designed with a loft style mezzanine that overlooks the factory floor.
Typical Plan
The main elevation is articulated by vertical aluminum sunshade fins that generate a sequential rhythm on the floor-to-ceiling glazed curtain wall façade. This rhythmic backdrop of glass and fins is intermittently punctuated and juxtaposed by balconies that form a compelling visual counterpoint. The ground floor shop-front units are recessed, fully glazed and back mullioned to create a transparent datum onto which the volume of the upper floors appears to float. The roof of the building is capped with a deep projecting eave that creates a sharp profile to the façades
Chilean studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen has erected a temporary wooden tower of “an ambiguous” scale in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. Named the “Deci Pavilion,” the structure is made up of ten stacked octagonal wooden drums of decreasing size. While in reality only large enough to hold one visitor at a time, the column’s form and relationship to its surroundings give it the presence of a much larger structure.
Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
“This column, a hollowed octagonal shaft that decreases its size upon ascension, embodies an ambiguous scale, resonating with historic landmarks while distorting the perspective of the most monumental axis in Paris. As a temporary wooden monolith, the object has a familiar yet remote presence,” explain the architects.
Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Following both gravitational logic and the “ancient and arbitrary rule of ‘entasis’,” the tower’s design draws from many historical tower archetypes, such as “a babel barbican, a ziggurat, a lighthouse, an epic pedestal or an obsolete telescopic observatory.”
Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Small rectangular opening puncture each surface of the faceted drums, contributing to the distortion of scale. Since the openings remain the same size while the drums diminish, the tower’s height is fixed at the point where an additional drum’s surface area could no longer contain the stipulated openings.
Inside the structure, the allotted space is just large enough to hold a single person, forcing the individual to become a part of the column, and enticing the tenant to look upward through the final drum’s octagonal opening to the sky.
"Deci Pavilion" Painting. Image Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
"Deci Pavilion" Painting. Image Courtesy of Pezo von Ellrichshausen
“Technically, this little tower might be read as a tenth of another building. Literally, the name of the construction is given both by that conventional proportion to reality but also by its amount of levels, by its ten octagonal drums.”
While the existing facilities have a large area horizontally, it gives us an oppressing feeling spatially. So, we wish to create an opened spatial environment there by means of introducing some external element.
Floor Plan
In the proposed café plan, external spaces and internal spaces are created only by means of installation of iron frames. And, those frames divide spaces mildly without disturbing environment of the total open space. In the open space, iron frames are sprinkled in a manner of images of wooden birdcages so to create an atmosphere as if you are outside of the building. And, some specific meaningful atmospheres are given to each counter seats corners, sofa seats corners and table-and-chair areas.
Also, installation of iron frames and counter seats corners are designed as if they are under the eaves so that people can have a feeling of outside space even if they are inside of the building.
In the process of the formulation of the project concept under which space dividing are made in keeping open feeling, an idea was come to our mind. That is a concept of space creation by “Torii”, a gateway at the entrance of a Japanese Shinto shrine.
“Torii” plays a role as a symbol of a shrine as well as a role of separating shrine area from outside areas. When we visit a shrine and walk through under “Torii”, we have such a feeling that we come to another world. Even though we are in an open space, we feel something like “space is divided”. We applied this feeling to the proposed café.
Elected in 2001, over eight years in office Miami‘s former mayor Manny Diaz oversaw one of the most dramatic urban transformations in the United States’ history. Diaz was therefore invited to offer the opening remarks to the second day of the 2016 Design Matters Conference, presented by the Association of Architecture Organizations, which is currently taking place in the city. In his speech delivered at the Miami Center for Art and Design, Diaz explains how he developed the “Miami 21” zoning code to leverage the power of architecture and urban planning, ultimately turning Miami from a subject of jokes into one of the United States’ most successful and admired cities. Below is an edited version of this speech.
Ron asked me to explain how a lawyer with no experience in elective office and with no training whatsoever in architecture, urban planning or city design ends up with land use and Miami 21 as the signature project of his administration.
Personal Evolution
When I ran, I had no clue what the terms environmental and economic sustainability meant. During my first state of the city, I talked about creating a city-wide master plan, but I had no idea what that meant either.
You see, a mayor faces significant challenges daily—eradicating poverty, ensuring the safety of our residents, providing a quality education for our children, creating opportunity for all. We deal with the suffering of people losing their jobs, their homes, their businesses or a loved one to a drive-by shooting. City design gets lost in all of that. But, it is at the heart of everything we must do in order to make our city livable and sustainable.
City design was not a part of my campaign platform. It certainly was not my first priority on day 1! Yet, the single most critical step for environmental and economic sustainability is embracing smart growth, designing a city that makes sense, a city that works. I knew we needed to plan our future. The status quo was unacceptable!
Intuitively, I saw much that was wrong with Miami; much that did not make sense and did not seem to work. I also knew that, if we were going to implement our many other initiatives and tap into Miami’s unrealized potential, a lot of new development and people would follow. This would require a plan for growth that had to go beyond zoning regulations; the mere swapping of one zoning code for another. It had to include a holistic approach—how parks, green spaces, transportation, the arts, historic preservation—would all work together to create a sense of place in Miami.
A city is like an orchestra. For an orchestra to make beautiful music, all the instruments must work together off the same sheet of music. And so too must a city. This idea to create a blueprint for the Miami of the twenty-first century and beyond became Miami 21.
Miami 21 repeals an archaic zoning code and replaces it with sustainable zoning and land use policies that promote great urban design. It is a code that does not focus on what is forbidden, but rather on what is desired. It is not just a regulatory code, but also both a planning document and a guidance document.
We merged zoning, planning and sustainability, at one time, in one document. It was the first time a form-based code had been adopted for an entire major US city. I must confess—this is not exactly what I had in mind when I called for a “city-wide master plan.”
But this is a classic example of how mayors evolve, and how the following 3 “AHA!” moments helped shape my evolution.
My first “AHA!” moment occurs when I realize that a mayor’s most important job is that of chief architect of his or her city. I mentioned a few issues earlier: crime, education and economic opportunity and jobs. Through time, crime, academic performance and job figures will go up and down, often for reasons beyond the mayor’s control. But our decisions regarding the physical environment are very different. The decisions we make today will determine the character and function of our city for the next 25, 50, 75 years.
Our decisions regarding buildings, bridges, highways and streets, and the public realm can serve to either enhance our city’s future or help condemn it to mediocrity for decades. Once you realize this is really your one true legacy, you begin to fully appreciate this extraordinary obligation. You also realize how little knowledge or training you bring to the job to deal with city design.
Miami had been known for lots of great things: our diversity, culture, food, beaches and nightlife. We had not been known for being a leader in the environmental movement. Miami’s history is filled with examples of an almost criminal neglect for our environment: suburban sprawl; using parks as landfills; polluting our rivers; no green buildings; no water conservation plans. I had always taken great pride in being a strong environmentalist. We implemented many environmental initiatives: climate action plan; expedited permitting, green procurement and water conservation, solar panels at city hall, miles of bike lanes, green fleet, tree canopy, green buildings; from 0 in 2005 to top 10 in the US today.
2005 was a watershed year, with two events: the Kyoto accords (for which the US was not a signatory) and the release of An Inconvenient Truth. The Mayors Climate Protection Agreement implemented Kyoto in cities, with over 1,100 US Mayors eventually signing the agreement.
What had started as my strong belief that a city must plan for its future had become an integral part of the fight against climate change. All of a sudden, you connect city design to a city’s carbon footprint. You get a new sense of urgency because you realize that an aggressive environmental program is not enough.
Here is another “AHA!” moment. Embracing smart growth took on a whole new significance. It was now a much greater effort to promote environmental sustainability.
This is an example of how mayors evolve as the world changes. 9/11 turned mayors into first responders in the fight against terror; now, mayors become first responders in our struggle against global climate change. The answer to this global challenge requires a local response. Miami 21 was our response to global climate change; Because Design Matters.
Through the late 1990s, Miami was still known to many as the capital of drugs and murder, of poverty and riots. We had double digit unemployment, a rate higher than during the great recession. The city was under state financial oversight and held junk bond status.
We had a declining urban population, and plenty of suburban sprawl—people voting with their feet. No major projects were being built. Our parks and open spaces were neglected. Our streets filthy, broken and unsafe. Our neighborhoods in decay. We lacked political stability, and we were a community divided by ethnic and racial tensions. We were the brunt of national and international jokes.
This was the Miami of just 16 years ago. How do you turn this around?
You focus on creating a climate of opportunity. Through proper planning and targeted government investments you create the environment where private sector investment and economic opportunity follow.
Another “AHA!” moment: city design is also an important economic development tool. Through city design you create the quality of life that attracts and keeps the people and the businesses that enable a city to grow and sustain a globally competitive economy.
During the last decade we invested in the basics: job creation and economic development, education, affordable housing, public safety, the arts, a greener Miami, urban planning and infrastructure.
We became a top 10 job generator. Our schools showed remarkable gains in academic achievement. We invested over $1 billion in affordable housing and reduced our homeless population by over 50%. Our crime rate dropped to rates not seen since the 1960s and 70s. Our use of force policy became a national model, resulting in an unprecedented 20 consecutive month period without the discharge of a gun by a police officer.
Our city’s neighborhoods benefited from over $5 billion dollars in infrastructure investments. From streets and sidewalks, to flood mitigation, to parks and open spaces and a port tunnel—we rebuilt our city.
We invested in the arts. A region previously criticized as being devoid of art and culture has become one of the world’s art capitals. The opportunity to experience great art did not exist in Miami—but it does now.
Proper planning and strategic investments helped create the Miami of today by ushering in the greatest economic expansion in our city’s history. Our metro area is now the 11th largest metro economy in the US; larger than 32 States; 47th largest in the world; and only 6 countries in the Western Hemisphere have an economy larger than ours. In 2001, the tax base for the entire city of Miami was $13 billion. As of last year, the tax base for the urban core alone was over $15 billion. Citywide, it was over $40 billion.
The population in our urban core increased by almost 100% and may soon reach 100,000 residents. 135 new high rise buildings were completed; greater than the combined total of high-rise buildings built between 1960 and 2000.
We led the nation in housing growth, were number 2 only behind New York City in new construction activity, and were number 2 in new business start-ups. We are America’s most diverse city; 60% of our residents are foreign born.
This was the Miami Transformation. From the brunt of jokes to a city others wish to emulate; a laboratory of new ideas and innovation; the face of the new American city.
This Transformation was not a coincidence—it happened because of proper planning and strategic investments designed to create a climate of opportunity that encourages private investment and growth.
Why is this important?
Because the world is changing at a pace never before imagined. For the first time in history over half of the world’s population live in cities—a trend that will continue to bring added pressure and greater challenges to cities.
Because information flattens the world, the role of cities has become more important than ever. Cities must function as incubators of the knowledge-based businesses driving the new economy. Cities will have to compete to attract the knowledge workers whose ideas serve to grow these economies. And in order to attract the best and the brightest, cities must invest in the drivers of growth. Prosperous cities will be those that can become places for innovation and change.
The most important factor in attracting young workers today is not what they will do, but where they will do it. New urban residents, from Boomers to Millennials, want cities to focus less on recruiting new companies (the old paradigm) and more on investing in new transportation options, walkable communities and quality of life. The more attractive a city, the more they want to live there.
The “magic” formula for attracting and retaining the best and the brightest is designing a great place to live; designing a city that works. Today’s highly mobile young adults can choose to live and work anywhere. We want them to choose Miami. Show me a city that fails to invest in its quality of life; that fails to plan, and I will show you a city that will not work, a city that will not prosper and a city that can plan to fail. Miami 21 was our answer for economic sustainability; Because Design Matters.
As the world continues to urbanize, the role of a mayor to make cities sustainable, to make them work, to be the architects of their futures is more important today than at any other time in our history—because the battle for a more sustainable environmental and economic future will be won or lost in our cities. The single most critical response to help keep our cities and our country strong is to design cities that make sense for today and for generations yet unborn.
Miami 21 is the most exciting and rewarding project I worked on, and yes… I would do it again. We were not afraid to dream big, to take a step back for the sake of our future, to control our destiny, to set a course to guarantee our environmental and economic sustainability, to take a city from good to great, and to leave a city much greater than the one left to us.
A city that embraces and prioritizes the public realm, density, mixed use development, walkability, mobility, housing options, healthy lifestyle and the arts, a city that plans and protects its neighborhoods, making them safe, livable spaces for human interaction; where we plan for smart growth so that we can enjoy the benefits of living in well balanced neighborhoods.
A millennium city, one that hopefully 100 years from today will be referred to as the “model” of city planning for the 21st century.
From the architect. In this typical 17th Century flat located in the heart of the Marais, three working axes have structured the work :
– Within the 36 m2 space, there will be a bedroom, a dinner-area, a lounge, an office, a kitchen and a bathroom.
Courtesy of UBALT
– There will be an illusion of a larger surface by visually lengthening the flat. – The space will be transformed while keeping the character of the old…
Courtesy of UBALT
A compact and efficient technical block including the bathroom, toilets and kitchen will be located at one end of the flat in order to free a maximum space for the bedroom and the living-room. The bedroom, located at the other end will be separated from the living-room by a vibrating accordion partitioning. This partitioning will be designed to create an intimate and hidden access to the bedroom. The central space contained between the technical block and the bedroom will be dedicated to the living-room and the office. Every piece of furniture will be custom-made and have a specific function that fits in such a way as to create a pictorial composition.
Isometric
The aim of the project is to create a stroboscopic effect in this originally long flat. Like the partition, no piece of furniture will reach the ceiling in order to expose the beams.
Courtesy of UBALT
The same visual continuity is facilitated at the ground level by hollow joints and mirror covered items of furniture legs. Storage units such as the closet, the shelves, the kitchen furniture and the library are laid in thhe longitudinal axis of the flat, increasing the impression of length. On the contrary, the living areas, office and bar, are laid out in transverse of the flat. Custom-designed lamps are suspended between furniture and beams running lengthwise in the flat.
Courtesy of UBALT
The flat has been entirely painted in white to emphasize the specific texture of each material. This work on texture can be found in the new elements that have been used: accordion, mosaic, marble and lacquers in a cameo of white. This neutrality of tints, barely disturbed by the light coming from the mirrors, will allow a subtle contrast between Old and New.
The firm was lauded by the WSJ for their landscape-based approach to architecture and their ability to create buildings that function as natural extensions of their contexts.
“The way Snøhetta practices architecture is remarkably intuitive,” said Wall Street Journal writer Ian Volner. “They don’t go looking for dragons to slay; they just do their thing, and the dragons fall.”
Coinciding with Snøhetta’s nomination, WSJ has published a comprehensive article discussing the firm’s origins and design approach, featuring quotes from the founders. Read the full piece, here.
Constructor: Miro Chichelero, André Bergamin, Patrick Rigon
Pereira Narvaes house is located in Caxias, a mountainous region of southern Brazil. After visiting the site it was clear that the incredible view of the ‘green wall’, a mountain with na almost vertical slope, would direct the project.
The clients requirement was a contemporary residence that represented their family’s personality, and the resulting design was a functional house of straight lines using concrete, brick, iron and glass.
The house contrasts with all the surrounding nature, and internally frames the landscape, bringing the outside inside. There is a constant inter-play of contrasts: density and space, concrete and nature, light and shadow – this is powered by pure geometry in features like the many glass windows, and the concrete box which floats on the south facade, and contains the bathroom of the master bedroom. It also cleverly hides the water tank.
Virtually all openings in the house – including the service area – are oriented to the north, taking full advantage of the mountain views and providing excellent insulation and ventilation.
Section
The residence is on sloping terrain. It is bordered to the south by the access road and to the north by a small watercourse.
The sound of a waterfall is constantly present, but can be stopped using thermal acoustic frames with special glass. The region has extreme temperatures throughout winter so thermal comfort is maintained by a quality heating system. Underfloor heating was used in the social area so that the radiators would not interfere with the interior design. Solar panels also feed the system.
The house is set over three blocks: the sleeping and social blocks (parallel to each other and at different levels) and the vertical circulation cross-block which unites them.
The access door leading to the sleeping block also leads to the office, which is integrated into a family room with access to a terrace and green roof.
The bedrooms have sliding doors that reveal the stunning landscape. The use of a green roof on the social block helps with thermal issues, whilst not restricting the spectacular views.
In the master bathroom the coolness of concrete and glass is softened by wooden furniture. Hydraulic tiles have been used on the floor – their strong graphic lines were achieved using three different colours.
The stairs leading to the social area have an iron frame and wooden treads – their open minimal design also allows additional light into the space. Downstairs, a wooden landing smoothes the transition between the two levels.
In the social area, the living room, dining room and kitchen are all integrated. The cooking area is separated by a kitchen island. There is no inner wall to this block, which helps create an impressive sense of space whilst making a feature of the exposed concrete ceiling.
To optimise usage, the guest room combines as a games/reading room. When necessary, it can be converted into a bedroom with futons. It is completely isolated from the sleeping zone ensuring privacy to all.
Zaha Hadid Architects has been announced as the winner of an international competition to design a new football stadium for the Forest Green Rovers in Stroud, UK. Following a seven month competition featuring over 50 entries from around the world, ZHA was selected over finalist Glenn Howells Architects for their all-wood proposal. When finished, the stadium will be the first in the world to be built entirely out of wood.
“Forest Green Rovers have established a holistic vision for the site to retain its pastoral qualities whilst adding new facilities for the town. While the stadium will be the centrepiece, the project creates a new public realm with both recreational and occupational uses, enabling the entire site to contribute to the town – not only on match days, but every day of the year,” said Jim Heverin, Director at ZHA.
The choice of a natural material for the stadium falls in line with the development’s environmentally-conscious concept – the wooden structure will allow the stadium to have the lowest embodied carbon of any stadium in the world. Virtually every element will be constructed of sustainably sourced timber, including the structure, roof cantilevers and louvered cladding.
Additionally, the stadium roof will be made up of a transparent membrane, which according to ZHA, “contributes to turf growth, minimizes stark shadows for players and fans and reduces the volumetric impact of the stadium from distant views in the surrounding landscape.”
“We’ve done as much as we can to make our current stadium properly sustainable, but we are limited with what we can do – it simply wasn’t built with the environment in mind. At Eco Park, we’ve started with a blank sheet of paper, and we’ll be going further than anyone has done before – this really will be the greenest football stadium in the world,” explains Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers chairman.
“As a building material, timber is highly durable, recyclable and beautiful,” adds Heverin. “The proximity of the stadium’s structural elements to each other has also been determined to enable the seating terraces and floor slab to be made from timber. In most other stadiums, these elements are concrete or steel.
Not forgotten is user experience design, as the stadium seating has been designed to optimize unobstructed views to the pitch and to generate a lively environment.
“With the team’s community and supporters at its core, fans will be as close as five meters from the pitch and the position of every seat has been calculated to provide excellent, unrestricted views of the entire field of play,” says Heverin. “The stadium’s continuous spectator bowl surrounding the pitch will maximise matchday atmosphere.”
The new stadium serve as the centerpiece of the new £100million, 100 acre Eco Park development, which will also consist of state-of-the-art sporting facilities, grass and all-weather training pitches, public multi-purpose facilities and a sports science hub. It will be built in two phases, allowing seating to expand from 5,000 to 10,000 as the development grows.
Also part of the development project will be a green technology business park housing offices for green energy company Ecotricity, a potential public transport hub, an on-site nature reserve, and restoration of the nearby Stroudwater canal.
“Glenn Howells also produced an exceptional design – and they impressed us as much as their design did actually,” said Vince. “As a result, we’re going to work with them on some future projects.”
Stal Collectief is a collaboration between four young furniture designers who studied in Mechelen: Len de Paepe, Bob Segers, Tim Vranken and Jonas Blondeel.
The Hofer pavilion is an experimental shelter for which we chose to use the archetypical shape of a house with a gable roof. Three out of the four walls and the roof can be moved to transform the interior into an outdoor livingspace. Ten pillars were used to support the structure and to create a slight elevation towards its surroundings. As a result the pavilion offers different perspectives on the rural scenery.
From the architect. The Feuerle Collection is a new museum in Berlin. Located in a former telecommunications bunker which was renovated by the British architect John Pawson, The Feuerle Collection juxtaposes international contemporary artists such as Cristina Iglesias, Anish Kapoor and Zeng Fenzhi, among others with Imperial Chinese furniture and Southeast Asian art. The museum encourages a conversation between different time periods and cultures, offering an alternative perception of the antique, which creates a new perspective on the artworks and leads viewers through a synesthetic experience.
The Feuerle Collection has been officially opened to the public since 14 October 2016.
Sig Nordal 