From the architect. The building is part of a complex which englobes the Dunalastair School (Colegio Dunalastair), located in the Community of Peñalolén, which is characterized for being a traditional, slightly urbanized rural area.
The working plan consists in designing/developing a building dedicated mainly to indoors sport activities but also suitable for cultural events such as concerts and stage plays.The whole project, totaling an extension of 2070 m2,will consider a multi activity field with bleachers for 300 spectators, dressing rooms, storage rooms plus an infirmary.
Plan
The gymnasium will be built in a piece of land with a 7% slope which, considering the size of the construction, will result in a considerable difference in level. For this reason, it has been decided to sink the construction to certain extend so as to minimize the volumetric impact in relation with the surrounding landscape.
The building consists of 2 concrete volumes (invested with bricks) at each end, making up the most hermetic space of the structure, holding the stage, toilets and storage rooms at one enf, and the dressing rooms at the other end. A more light structure in between, holding the playground and bleachers, is totally accessible from the school.
One of the main objectives is to allow natural light to infiltrate in all the premises, thus reducing to a minimum the energy consumption. This has been accomplished by different ceiling levels, using metal trusses 2 meter high by 28 meter in length as dormers. The resulting geometry of this structure improves the acoustic of the space and, at the same time, provides a greater spatial amplitude.
Detail
Due to the multiple purpose uses of the building it was necessary to improve the warmth and acoustics of the premises by using an interior finishing with MDF boards,veneered with natural wood, in 2 different formats: a) In the ceiling, through the original modulation of the manufacturer in 15 x 240 cm strips, 3 cm apart, lined with an acoustic insulation fabric in the inner side, in order to reduce resonance, and b) in the walls, 60×120 cm panels drilled with holes of different diameters, with the same acoustic objective but aimed to simulate an interior vegetal landscape, providing an atmosphere connected with nature.
Elon Musk has revealed his company Tesla’s latest world-changing innovation: a solar roof system so fully integrated into a home’s architecture as to be indistinguishable from a traditional roof.
At the unveiling event on Friday, Musk invited a crowd to the old Hollywood set of “Desperate Housewives,” the quintessential model of American suburbia. After an introduction about the imminent effects of climate change, he revealed the reason for the unique site.
“The interesting thing is that the houses you see around you are all solar houses,” said Musk. “Did you notice?”
As it turns out, nobody had. Musk had installed prototype versions of his new solar tiles onto the roofs of the surrounding houses, but their aesthetic nearly identical to that of traditional roof shingles. With many homeowners turned off by the appearance of other solar panel systems, this represents a possible breakthrough to full acceptance of solar technology.
Made from textured glass, the tiles feature microscopic louvres that allow light to pass through while blocking views to the photovoltaic cell within. Tesla claims the tempered glass shingles would be “tough as steel,” with a “quasi-infinite lifetime,” and that heating elements could be added to melt snow in colder climates.
The solar roof will come in four different architectural styles: Tuscan, slate, smooth, and textured, and will be integrated into Tesla’s Powerwall 2 home solar battery, allowing most homes to produce all of the energy they would need for a typical day. Tesla is also in the process of further refining the louvre technology to bounce reflected light back onto the solar cell, potentially increasing the tiles’ efficiency.
Pricing on the system has not yet been released, but Musk claims that the solar roof could cost less than than the installation of a traditional roof combined with the cost of electricity from the grid.
Team: Martin Corullon, Gustavo Cedroni, Helena Cavalheiro, Marina Ioshii, Renata Mori, Luis Tavares, Isadora Marchi, Rafael de Sousa, Juliana Ziebell, Gabriela Santana, Marina Pereira
Structural Design : Inner Engenharia E Gerenciamento
From the architect. METRO began the project for a new Casa Triângulo by collaborating with their clients on an extensive search for a site suitable for one of Brazil’s most important contemporary art galleries, which has already been in operation for 28 years. This partnership ensured that that the property on Rua Estados Unidos (one of Sao Paulo’s most distinctive streets) was not simply chosen based on its physical location, but was also selected for the characteristics of an existing structure that would allow for a rapid conversion into a substantial exhibition space. The resultant gap between design and construction was just 11 months.
The new building is conceived as a single large volume, housing two exhibition areas, the collection’s storage, administration and support areas totalling approximately 500sqm spread over three levels (ground, mezzanine and first floors). At almost 5m, the height of the main exhibition area is equivalent to that of the Sao Paulo’s Biennale Pavillion, making the new Casa Triângulo one of the few galleries in town with proportions of this scale.
Regarding the external areas, the façade facing onto Rua Cristóvão Diniz – less exposed to flows of traffic than Estados Unidos – is defined by a courtyard demarcated by the extension of the concrete flooring of the gallery and at its lengeth by a pre-cast concrete bench. This helps suggest a public character conducive to both event days and the daily use of pedestrians. This is complemented by a second asphalt and gravel area which may be used for loading and unloading works of art, but also activated as additional external event space. The area fronting Rua Estados Unidos is reserved for general-access parking. Translucent polycarbonate panels form the entire perimeter of the gallery allowing for natural lighting and transparency during the day, whilst in reverse, transmitting it at night. Large pivoting openings found within these continuous panels, reinforce the permeability between interior and exterior.
Materials have been selected for their efficiency at the detailing stage, either because they were prefabricated or did not require excessive finishing during construction. The polycarbonate and cement panels used on the external facade and in the lining of the main exhibition area, together with the expanded steel grills covering the ceiling, are examples of such materials.
From the architect. The Ex of In House explores a language of space, aimed at inner spatial energy strongly bound to the ecology of the place – questioning current clichés of architectural language and commercial practice. The house is a built manifestation of the research and development project Explorations of “IN” under development at Steven Holl Architects since June 2014.
Sketch
SEVEN POINT MANIFESTO FOR EXPLORATIONS OF “IN”
TO STUDY ARCHITECTURE FREED FROM THE PURELY OBJECTIVE.
FROM ORIGINS OF ARCHITECTURE WE EXPLORE “IN”.
“IN”: ALL SPACE IS SACRED SPACE.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF “IN” DOMINATES SPACE VIA SPACE.
INTRINSIC “IN” IS AN ELEMENTAL FORCE OF SENSUAL BEAUTY.
“IN” IS USELESS, BUT IN THE FUTURE WILL BE USED. PURPOSE FINDS “IN”.
On twenty-eight acres of forested rock outcropping, the site named ‘T2 reserve’ has been established as an experimental topological landscape. Slated to be a subdivision with five suburban house plots, the site was joined into one natural preserved landscape.
As a compressed form of 918 square feet on a site of twenty-eight preserved rural acres, the house serves as an alternative to modernist suburban houses that “sprawl in the landscape”. Instead, the Ex of In is a house of compression and inner voids.
Section
Section
The house’s geometry is formed from spherical spaces intersecting with tesseract trapezoids intended as a catalyst of volumetric inner space. The geometry of the spherical intersections begins to be felt at the entry porch; an orb of wood carved out of the house volume welcomes the entrant.
The shift in section of the house alters internal space with vertical dynamic spatial overlap. Situated around one main volume, open to the second level, with the kitchen placed in the center, alternative use patterns are created. There are zero bedrooms, yet the house can sleep five.
Sketch
Instead of fossil fuel, the house is heated geothermally. Instead of grid power, the house has electricity from the sun. Thin film SoloPower photovoltaic cells are connected to a Sonnen battery energy storage system, allowing the house to be energy independent. All light fixtures are 3D printed in PLA cornstarch-based bioplastic. Glass and wood are locally sourced.
The house was made almost entirely from raw materials by the builders, crafting solid mahogany window and door frames, a mahogany stair and birch plywood walls. There is no use of sheetrock. The spherical intersection space was also crafted in curved, thin wood layers. All natural oiled wood and plywood interior finishes are part of the arte povera materiality and economy of this place of wabi-sabi.
Architecture is often the backdrop, rather than the subject, of the scary. For example, The Shiningowes much to the Overlook Hotel, “haunted” is often followed by “house,” and Victorian architecture has come to be associated with the creepy. In a less supernatural manner however, architectural elements themselves have proven over history to be scary in their own right. With the clarity that only retrospect can offer, it’s easy to look back on the following macabre materials, bleak utilities, and terrifying technologies in horror… but perhaps what is most scary is to consider which aspects of architecture we might blindly accept today that will also become glaringly frightening with time.
Unlike conventional elevators, paternosters have no doors and never stop. Working sort of like a completely vertical escalator or ski lift, a user steps into an open compartment looping in either the up or down direction, simply stepping off at their desired floor. The paternoster’s lack of adaptability for disability design and their safety issues–such as people staying in the compartments past their looping endpoint, or passenger changeovers gone wrong, with people falling in the shaft between compartments–mean that paternosters are now banned in most countries, though pre-existing ones can still be found scattered around Europe, sometimes repurposed to novel uses.
Not only deadly to the likes of Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet, lead water piping was common up until the early 20th century before it was proven to be linked to lead poisoning. Before this knowledge, lead was favoured for its malleability, resistance to pinhole leaks, and longer lifetime compared to iron pipes.
Although never a widespread practice, human bones are certainly unlikely to make it into a BIM database or drawing set schedule today. However, historic buildings such as the Sedlec Ossuary (decorated with over 40,000 human skeletons, including a chandelier made from every bone of the human body) and the Czerma Skull Chapel (with three thousand skulls making up its walls), show off a gratuitous use of tibia over timber.
4. Sky Boys
A worker on the Empire State Building. Image<a href='http://ift.tt/2ee4jX0 Wikimedia</a>. Image taken by Lewis Hine, used under <a href='http://ift.tt/2f8RRVS domain</a>
Immortalized in the (albeit staged) photograph “Lunch atop a Skyscraper,” the precarious working heights of ironworkers earned them the nicknames of “air-treaders” or “sky boys.” In the 1890s, American ironworkers had the highest accident and mortality rate of any trade, as they needed to traverse narrow steel beams all with the expectation that they would work ten-hour work days and disregard weather conditions. Today, ironworkers have greatly improved safety regulations, with nets, helmets, and harnesses, but the sheer heights remain the same, if not higher.
Before indoor plumbing, early pit latrine-style toilets usually had a cesspool outside or underneath to collect excretion. Not only would this lead to terrible smelling neighborhoods, the “night-soil men” in charge of emptying them faced a dangerous and dirty job, with at least one recorded case of a night-soil collector who drowned after falling into one.
Once hailed as a “miracle material,” asbestos was desirable for its insulating properties, fire and heat resistance, and tensile strength. Less desirably, it was discovered to be carcinogenic when inhaled, though only after widespread international use in construction. Today, non-carcinogenic but materially similar fibreglass insulation is the most common substitute, while many older buildings throughout the world are riddled with a dangerous and difficult-to-remove reminder of our earlier ignorance.
The Phoenicians were amongst the first to use animal blood in their building methods [1]. Blood held symbolic value as a paint, but was also a powerful additive to clay used in the building of adobe bricks. On a molecular level, a tight layer of blood wraps around the clay crystals, increasing the material’s plasticity, strength and water repellence. Although this ancient technique of using mammal blood as a bio-adhesive may seem slightly grisly, as one architectural graduate sees it, revitalizing the art of blood bricks today could be a productive way of utilising waste cattle blood.
References:
Winkler, Erhard M. “Stone: Properties, Durability in Man’s Environment.” Volume 4 of Applied Mineralogy Technische Mineralogie (2013).
Vision for Madrid – 1992. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Today, on October 31st, we celebrate what would have been the 66th birthday of Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) who tragically died in March. Internationally renowned for her avant-garde search for architectural proposals that reflect modern living, Hadid made abstract topographical studies for many of her projects, intervening with fluid, flexible and expressive works that evoke the dynamism of contemporary urban life.
In honor of Hadid’s birthday and in order to further knowledge of her creative process and the development of her professional projects, here we have made a historic selection of her paintings which expand the field of architectural exploration through abstract exercises in three dimensions. These artistic works propose a new and different world view, questioning the physical constraints of design, and showing the creative underpinnings of her career.
The Peak – 1983. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
What Were Zaha Hadid’s Early Inspirations?
From the beginning of her career Zaha Hadidwas influenced by the artist Kazimir Malevich, who led her to use paint as a tool for architectonic exploration. During the 1980s, before Zaha had realized any of her works, she was faced with many fruitful years of theoretical architectural design. In these years she created a precedent for her entire career, with these explorations later consolidated in material form in her works.
The Peak – 1983. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
“I was very fascinated by abstraction and how it really could lead to abstracting plans, moving away from certain dogmas about what architecture is” – Zaha Hadid
The Peak – 1983. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Hadid began her paintings with essays in a macro urban scale, exploring proposals for masterplans and forms of connection within and between cities. In her paintings of “The Peak,” Hadid proposed a landmark as a respite from the congestion and intensity of Hong Kong, developed on an artificial mountain.
The World (89 Degrees) – 1983. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
In “The World (89 degrees)” the architect explored the multiple capabilities of new technologies and their impact on architectural design, producing an abstract composition—almost like a satellite view of the world. Using only sharp angles that give dynamism to the view, the plan is crossed by a wide curved horizon which in its movement embodies the constant change in contemporary lifestyles.
Grand Buildings Trafalgar Square – 1985. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Hadid also used this graphic research to rethink existing urban spaces, as in the case of “Grand Buildings Trafalgar Square.” In this painting, in addition to inserting a public podium recognizing the tradition of public meetings in the square, Hadid introduced tall buildings with public terraces, whose height would correspond with various landmarks in the city.
Kurfuerstendamm 70 – 1986. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Kurfuerstendamm 70 – 1986. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Entering into a public competition to design an urban development plan for what was at the time West Berlin, in “Victoria City Aerial” Hadid intervened with an urban context organized around programmatic corridors at different heights that would inject commerce and culture into the area.
Victoria City Aerial – 1988. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Hafenstrasse Development – 1989. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Hafenstrasse Development – 1989. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
The Hafenstrasse development was designed by Hadid to fill intermediate spaces in a zone of traditional vertical housing in Hamburg. The graphic essays propose a succession of permeable constructions with terraces that connect to the river Elbe.
Hafenstrasse Development. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
KMR Art and Media Centre – 1989/93. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Great Utopias – 1992. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
In 1992 Zaha Hadid was called on to develop a collection of paintings and drawings for “The Great Utopia,” an exhibition on Russian Constructivism at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In response, Hadid realized an interpretation of Vladimir Tatlin‘s Monument to the Third International (1919-1920), in addition to experimenting with recreations of other Russian artists such as Kazimir Malevich.
Great Utopias – 1992. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Vitra Fire Station – 1993. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
In her studies for the Vitra Fire Station, Hadid’s paintings materialize and freeze the movement of the work, tracing the plan’s emerging and inter-connected walls, and giving a sensation of suspense before imminent movement.
Terminus Multimodal Hoenheim Nord – 2001. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
From her student days onward, Zaha Hadid used painting as a part of her broad and profound process of architectural creation, demonstrating that we must never stop experimenting. Despite painting throughout her career and realizing multiple exhibitions of her painted work, she never accepted the definition of artist, since all her graphic explorations were part of her ongoing architectural exploration; using the flexibility inherent in art to delve freely into her experimentation as an architect.
For more on Zaha Hadid’s relationship to art, check out a documentary in which she discusses the influence of Kazimir Malevich on her work here.
Rosenthal Center for Contempoary Art – 2003. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid
Oporto has been suffering radical cultural and social changes in the last ten years, leading to a large revitalization dynamic that has expanded beyond the city center. Driven by this movement, we were invited to refurbish an abandoned XIX century bourgeois house and convert it into a set of 5 apartments.
D. João IV project is a pragmatic response to the program requirements, where the pre-existence served as a guide for a dialogue between different timelines. A simple principle: re-inhabit respecting the building’s concept and character.
The project preserves the main elements of the house, such as its construction system and spatial organization, introducing only the necessary infrastructures, like kitchens and bathrooms.
Our design intended to merge all the interventions that the house has suffered in his lifetime, providing it with an unified image that denies any design statement intention.
What do ghosts say when they see a great design? “Ghoul!” (Sorry, not sorry). 10 exceptional ArchDailyers showed their salt by designing these Halloween-themed gourds. Since all of you are our kin, we wanted to give you something that would pump you up for Halloween. -__-
See the fab-boo-lous winners below! The gif shown above is the masterful work of Andres Antolin!
From the architect. This is the landscape project in the center of small town Jurbarkas in western part of Lithuania. The site area was very close to the town center and main square, near the government buildings, school, library and shops. Still situation of the site was rather complicated: hilly territory with some trees and one footpath passing through was surrounded by private houses with their yards and gardens. As there was some similar places in Jurbarkas already- nearly wild nature parks- our idea was to change the spirit of the site and make it more integrated to urban territory. We decided to choose contemporary materials and forms, but to use them with a great sensitivity to the existing situation and concrete was the best solution for our purpose. Concrete is one of the signs of contemporary urban culture, but can be used in many different ways. We used white one for steps- benches and black concrete tiles for filling the empty spaces between them. The steps-benches are multifunctional elements and all of them may be used in a very different ways by people of various age. The contrast between black and white elements, between urban and natural, straight lines and organic forms was the important art principle we have chosen for this landscape project.
We have found that there are three different zones with diverse atmosphere and viewpoints that people pass through when they cross the park. Our purpose was to shape them and emphasize the scale, function and atmosphere of each of them. The amphitheatre zone- the largest one we developed with the spot fountains and little creek streaming down by concrete stairs and nice view to the town – perfect place for gatherings, town events and celebrations. The hillock place- a tiny place to spend time for several people more separately and the third zone- square type chamber place, perfect for reading, spending time with small children, etc.
From the architect. The site is located in Barcelos, industrial town in the North of Portugal. It refers to an existing industrial complex composed by two industrial pavilions and technical areas, detached from each other and placed over an 8 775 sqm area. The existing buildings are two story high on the frontside facing the entrance, gathering all main public and office areas, while the remaining areas were set to the production and storage processes. The exterior areas were essentially set to parking areas with narrow strips of vegetation and two entrance gates. The topography is composed by two plain platforms, linked by a ramp in between pavilions. The site is home to a textile manufacturing company and all the installations were licensed and fully operational.
The operation emphasizes on low impact measures within an integrative perspective, adding value to the landscape and urban surroundings. The biggest challenge was to enable a full-scale renewal of the existing buildings that implied a complex reorganization of working areas, while keeping all the company activities underway.
The goal was to renew, re-organize and expand a set of functional areas due to the limited and constricted spaces and disconnected areas. The overall design implied a complex and intense task of correct and adjust the functional layout, optimizing and updating all work areas towards a more efficient and articulated set of services. Our approach was to enforce a sense of identity, creating a uniform pattern of construction solutions and coating materials to assure spatial coherency, and to enhance the visual correspondence between the functional areas.
The redesign of the façades and exterior spaces were guided by the concepts of unity and formal homogeneity, leading to an overlay of a new skin in wavy perforated metal sheets along the existing exterior walls. The form, texture and permeability of this skin relates to the fabrics, primary material to the company. This formal analogy is then used in the interior spaces, mainly in the office modules located in the production areas and storage areas.
Sig Nordal 