The 1970s bungalow was extended to create extra space, with a large window and open decking designed to maximize views over paddocks and farmland to the west. To the east of the bungalow, large sliding doors and windows were introduced to connect and integrate the living areas with a large garden.
Plan
Inside, the functions were rearranged, and a more generous open plan environment created with double height ceilings. The timber used for the extension and decking was continued inside as wall panelling and cupboards – organising the internal functions.
The result is a re-imagined house that truly responds to its environment by maximizing the use of light, sun, and restful views.
Model
Product Description.The MODIWOOD sustainable wood facade cladding was also used as decking and soffit lining. The sustainable properties made it suitable as a long term cladding solution that provided the house with a warm an natural finish that reflected the surrounding landscape.
Today, Microsoft announced the latest in their Surface family of personal computers. Called the Surface Studio, the device is essentially a 28-inch touchscreen drawing board which the company is targeting specifically at creative professionals, potentially placing it at the top of many architects’ wish lists.
Central to the design of the all-in-one desktop device is the “zero-gravity” hinge, which allows users to adjust the screen orientation to any point between a desktop-like vertical configuration down to just 20 degrees off horizontal, where the desktop will act more like a drawing tablet. And the screen supported by this hinge is quite a feat of engineering in itself: the 13.5-million pixel display–that’s 192 pixels per inch–offers 63% higher resolution than a 4K television, according to the Verge, all within a 12.5-millimeter-thick frame that is being marketed by Microsoft as the “world’s thinnest LCD monitor ever built.”
Rounding out the 3-part design is the base, which contains all the internal workings of the PC. As a device aimed at the high end of the market, this also contains some impressive hardware: the top of the range model features Intel’s i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, a dedicated 4GB graphics card and 2TB of internal storage.
Alongside the main device, Microsoft has also unveiled a series of accessories designed to work specifically with the Surface Studio. The screen still works with the Surface Pen, which is included with the portable members of the Microsoft Surface family, but the most notable new addition for designers is the “Surface Dial,” a small cylinder which allows access to contextual menu options when placed on different parts of the screen.
The prices announced by Microsoft today range from $2999 for the entry-level 256GB, i7, 8GB RAM model, up to $4199 for a 1TB, i7, 16GB RAM model. However, the Microsoft website lists specification options both lower (eg the option for an i5 processor) and higher (such as that 2TB, 32GB RAM model), so it seems likely that a wider range of models could be released in the future.
White Arkitekter with developer Midroc has won a competition for a new residential development to be located in the Royal Seaport district of Stockholm, Sweden. Drawing from the industrial history of the site, the buildings feature concrete ramps and rustic wooden floor treatments, and have been clad with brick facades and masonry arches to frame the street level and establish an identity for the community.
Courtesy of White Arkitekter
“Our vision was that each building will lend character to its own street. At the same time, the buildings are connected conceptually and functionally, with common areas for services and social activities, for example. The colours give some cohesion to the different materials used and reference the industrial heritage of this area”, says Fredrik Fernek, Architect at White Arkitekter.
Courtesy of White Arkitekter
The project consists of three volumes containing a total of 90 apartments encircling an interior courtyard, and features an abundance of social spaces varying from public to semi-private. Along the front property line, one of the buildings has been set back to provide more room for social interaction at the street level, drawing visitors into the “atelier” style apartments and retail spaces, which feature high ceilings and large windows.
At the end of this facade, an opening between the buildings provides a controlled entrance into the landscaped courtyard, which will contain sandboxes, vegetation and seating areas for gathering and socializing. On top of the buildings, several shared roof terraces will provide common space that can be used for gardening, water collection and as a venue for gathering and small events.
Site Plan. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
Facade Detail. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
The project shows its commitment to sustainable practices through the addition of several bicycle storage rooms and a common bicycle workshop to allow neighbors to socialize while fixing and maintaining their bikes. Environmental strategies have also been implemented to optimize building efficiency.
“The project meets the highest environmental standards with extremely low energy consumption, its own solar cells and vegetation. The green roofs and patio minimise the effects of flooding and help pollination. They are also a central meeting place”, says Rickard Nygren, sustainability expert at White Arkitekter.
Elevation. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
Section. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
“We’ve designed small functional apartments which have access to patios, green roofs, cafés and other amenities. This helps to build a community rather than just housing”, says Fredrik Fernek.
Located at the southern portion of Värtahamnen, The block will be centrally located within the Stockholm Royal Seaport in an area currently undergoing a brownfield redevelopment until 2025. A part of the long-term Clinton Climate Initiative for the district, the project will fit into a larger masterplan for the area that is anticipated to generate more than 12,000 new homes and 35,000 jobs in the next two decades, as well as create a new cultural area for the city.
Ground Floor Unit. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
Material Palette. Image Courtesy of White Arkitekter
Construction of the residential project is scheduled to begin in 2018, with a completion date set for 2020.
Design Team: Fredrik Fernek, Anna Öhlin, Ásdís Andersdóttir, Rickard Nygren, Hana Kassar, Maria Oprea, Erik Kiltorp, Lisa Rönnolds, Katharina Björlin Wiklund
From the architect. In a cluttered environment we propose a refuge, a wood in small forest cabin, a palisade that filters views but at the same time makes it very open, very permeable to the nearby environment and especially to the square and the adjacent green area a haven.
The interior volume is modeled generating small courtyards, transitional spaces where shown the interior wood skin that only comes out in the big hole that crosses the fence to look out over the square giving continuity to the large multipurpose space, allowing incorporate outer space for outdoor activities.
One of the courtyards, become larger and more permeable, and it serves like a space for access to the building “patín” mode of traditional houses in the area.
The simplicity of volume, color and texture must be enough to convert the center into a small local and an urban reference, giving a friendly and easily recognizable image.
The winners of the 2016 LEAF Awards have been announced. Founded in 2001, the awards ceremony honors innovative architecture projects in 13 different categories dedicated to various aspects of building, including best façade design and engineering, best future building, and public building of the year. The winning projects are recognized as “setting the benchmark for the best in the industry.”
From the architect. Forest Mews is a redevelopment of an urban brownfield site with a small sustainable community of 3 live/work houses arranged around a multi-functional shared outdoor courtyard. The buildings create a balance between natural light and thermal performance by using triple glazing as well as high performance insulation to walls, floors and roof.
Land-locked on all sides, the architects had the challenge of providing light to each room, without compromising privacy and outlook; in a scheme conversant with its patchwork context, constructed with the sensitivity which accompanies 32 Party Wall Awards, and delivered on an ambitious budget.
Ground Floor Plan
The communal courtyard is landscaped with a geometric mix of resin-bound gravel and planting beds, connecting back to brick piers. The beds provide footholds from which climbing plants grow, supported on a treillage mesh, which branches across the face of the buildings, tracing out the motif of the elevations and providing privacy and shade to occupants. The geometric pattern features in project graphics, textile-prints and also in the clients’ wedding rings.
Central to each of the open plan ground floors is a semi-private outdoor room / courtyard. This loggia space is multifunctional, serving as a grand entrance porch, an external terrace, an extension to the living space and as an atrium to the surrounding rooms. The flying brick beams of houses, define the boundary of the private and communal space, creating a clear gateway without barriers.
Diagram
Each house is tailored to its position on the site, fashioned from the same building fabric, and gathered together using a common design thread. Atypical to a traditional mews, the designs are light and airy, with a high proportion of glazing to solid. The pale ‘stock’ bricks and glazing reflect light into the communal courtyard even during winter months.
The large two-storey triple-glazed window openings are framed by slender brick piers, which are braced by the construction of the first floor. The steel structure and bespoke masonry supports over the curved roof were designed in 3D to accurately unite the crafted brickwork geometry of the inclined beams. Lifted in two corners to bring light into the living space, this roof is finished internally with a softly reflective, biscuit-jointed ‘armadillo’ ceiling.
A sustainable drainage system (SuDS) incorporates a combination of green roofs, green walls, planted filtration strips, a rainwater-harvesting tank, a 17,000 litre attenuation tank and 2 ‘drinking policeman’ – which the architects invented – to slow the flow of water, as well as slowing traffic. A mix of sedum and native wild flowers were used to increase biodiversity and improve the appearance.
Diagram
Features of each house:
A private courtyard at the centre of the open plan ground floor living and studio
Vertical gardens and green roofs
Full height triple glazed windows
Stone carpet (gravel bound into resin) and smooth resin floors and stairs
Bespoke kitchens with solid-surface worktops
Sky lit bathrooms with floor to ceiling glass paneling (instead of tiles) and built in cupboards
Super high performance insulation for low energy bills and provision for solar panels to be installed
Underfloor heating throughout
Rainwater recycling and stormwater attenuation
Additional features in some of the houses include double height space, walk on glass floor, built in cupboards, en-suite wet room, sliding folding doors and a bright red solid-surface bath.
Bijoy Jain, the founder of Indian practice Studio Mumbai, has long been well-known for his earth-bound material sensibilities, and an approach to architecture that bridges the gap between Modernism and vernacular construction. The recent opening of the third annual MPavilion in Melbourne, this year designed by Jain, offered an opportunity to present this architectural approach on a global stage. In this interview as part of his “City of Ideas” series, Vladimir Belogolovsky speaks with Bijoy Jain about his design for the MPavilion and his architecture of “gravity, equilibrium, light, air and water.”
561/63 Saat Rasta, Byculla West, Mumbai, India (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
Vladimir Belogolovsky:Let’s start with your MPavilion design here in Melbourne. You said about this project, “I want it to be a symbol of the elemental nature of communal structures. I see MPavilion as a place of engagement: a space to discover the essentials of the world – and of oneself.” How do you think architecture can help to discover the essentials of the world and of oneself?
Bijoy Jain: Let me start with the premise here. Fundamentally, we are all mythical beings. And the idea of a building that we call architecture is as close as it can be to this idea of mythical being and the fact that it is really an extension to the human body, not that different from the cloth that we wear. So for me, architecture is a physical and material manifestation and precise representation of what it means to be human. Architecture is all about negotiating with the immediate landscape and our environment, but also on another level, it is about how we can incorporate into our world this idea of a mythical being or a beast… For me, that’s the potential of architecture. The act of architecture is about making space, not a building or an object. Yes, it requires a form; a form is important. But for me, it is more important to discover how each place reverberates. I don’t believe architecture can save the world but it can resonate with the essence of a particular space.
Ganga Maki Textile Studio, Bhogpur Village, Dehradun, India (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:Do you mean that architecture works on a more personal level; meaning, it responds to those who are open to receive certain signs and messages?
BJ: Well, personal and universal at the same time. If we get rid of all the clutter, what fundamentally makes me also fundamentally makes you. We are all connected. We are all driven toward the center [of the pavilion] manifested in the well of water. Without the well, it would be just another building floating in the landscape. The well makes it anchored.
VB:You said, “Architecture is an interface between ground and sky.” What do you mean by that? You also said, “Architecture emerges from the ground and returns to the ground.” Could you elaborate?
BJ: I was referring to gravity. This is what we are all confronted with. And it is all about how we negotiate gravity that gives architecture its form. For me, architecture is a moment in time. That’s why I call it an interface, a communication between ground and sky. I believe that if we want to see what the Earth looks like, we have to look up to see it in the sky. Another question is – why do we look up? Somewhere in the sky, there is a mirrored reflection of the Earth.
I once was told a story by an Australian architect, Peter Wilson, who now lives in Germany. He explained to me that when an aboriginal man prepares to go to sleep he would drive a stick into the ground. The symbolism behind that is to “slow down” the rotation of the Earth, to slow down time during the sleep.
Palmyra House, Nandgaon, Maharashtra, India (2007). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:Gravity is the most direct challenge to all architects. What is it for you? Do you try to accentuate it in your work? As you know, some architects fight it hard. They don’t want to accept it.
BJ: I think we all strive for a certain lightness, but in recognition that there is weight too. There is a beautiful posture in yoga where half of the body is rooted into the ground, while the other half strives to go into the sky, like a rocket. So you can propel yourself up into the sky and deep into the ground at the same time. That state of equilibrium is very important.
VB:And what about dynamism? For example, Wolf Prix said: “I want my architecture to change like clouds.” You are not interested in that kind of dynamism, right?
BJ: I would like to remain within what is my capacity. Nature is nature. Yes, I am nature too, but in my physical constructs, I have limits and it is within those limits that I need to find ways to extend myself. For me, it is not equilibrium itself that’s important but the idea of working towards equilibrium and the idea of center. For me, what’s important is reverberation of resonance. Just like in mathematics, if something is zero, then we have minus something and plus something. It is about the rate of change. If I reverberate closer to the center, I remain closer to the center. To remain purely in the center, that’s status quo. Change is important, but it is all about how to negotiate each moment in time.
Ganga Maki Textile Studio, Bhogpur Village, Dehradun, India (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:Gravity, equilibrium, lightness, what other words would you pick that describe your architecture best?
BJ: Transparency. I also hope that it is open. Porous is also important, so things can go through – light, air, water…
VB:You mentioned that to you, air, light, and water are building blocks. They are the elements that create an atmosphere. Could you elaborate?
BJ: Our body needs three main ingredients to survive – air, light, and water. So if architecture can be as close to what the human body’s needs are, then these three natural ingredients become very important in the construct of our environment.
I was in Bahrain this week and it was an interesting experience… I prefer to be out in the 40-degree heat than to be stuck in the air-conditioned hotel. The minute you land there, you spend the entire time in a sealed, air-conditioned environment. So when I was there I spent most of my time at the roof’s terrace and swimming pool because I needed to be in full contact with open environment. Yes, it was very hot, but the human body has a great tenacity and capacity. And if we can provide a space that is four degrees cooler, the perception of such temperature shift is significant. I understand there are colder climates and we need to provide heat as well, but I believe in simpler ways to make us comfortable. Such new technological innovations have been demonstrated to us and it is all about our ability or inability as architects to find ways to use them.
561/63 Saat Rasta, Byculla West, Mumbai, India (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:An atmosphere or an ambient environment is always very specific. What are your ways of achieving something unique?
BJ: One important distinction is that in my studio there are no catalogs.
VB:Does this mean that everything you design is invented specifically for each project by you?
BJ: Of course. And we discover architecture through making things.
VB:Do you ever recycle your own details?
BJ: Sure.
561/63 Saat Rasta, Byculla West, Mumbai, India (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:So you have your own catalogs, in a way.
BJ: Yes. What I am saying is that if I want to have a particular self-expression I need to be self-reliant, and what I can do or can’t do should not be conditioned by how things are typically done by the industry. My architecture has nothing to do with assembling different technological solutions. My goal is to be in a situation in which things that one can imagine are possible. I don’t want to be restricted because of an industry or economy, within which I have to operate. In a way, each problem is mine; each solution is mine.
For example, in one of my houses, I used marble to construct a roof, which is the evidence of such freethinking. Strictly relying on standard solutions would never even allow such thought to enter into one’s ambit.
Ahmedabad Residence, Ahmedabad, India (2014). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:Using your own details and not relying on standard solutions leads to producing a very distinctive and personalized architecture. Are you interested in developing your own voice and style in architecture? And what do you think about signature architecture in general, as it now loses its relevance?
BJ: I think for me the greatest part of why we go to school or why we need to receive an education is the ability to question what exists. And self-expression is very important. My self-expression is not limited; it can remain unlimited and filled with possibilities. I am interested in anything that will allow me to remain in that discourse.
Do I want to have a signature style? No. I am interested in the anonymity of architecture and in finding new ways. I don’t need to accept what was developed by Le Corbusier or Kahn. I want to keep searching for what is important for me here and today. Yes, they were the great masters, but they were as human as I am. If I can nurture a plant and do it with the greatest amount of affection and empathy that’s for me a construction of architecture. Again, my work is about understanding my own limits and from that focus on how those limits can be extended. My practice is about this and not about being unique. It is important to question what has been done before and how relevant it is today, and not just repeat the same thing just because it has become a habit.
Ahmedabad Residence, Ahmedabad, India (2014). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:I heard that the marble-made roof you mentioned earlier was actually cheaper to build than if you were to use mass-produced engineered wood. Could you explain how this is possible?
BJ: That’s the result of the way industry operates, the machines…
VB:Don’t machines make things cheaper?
BJ: Not necessarily. Think of the cost of the machines, their maintenance, the manpower that’s required to operate them, transportation, and so on. So in economies such as India’s, things made of marble can be achieved at a cheaper cost than the most banal prefabricated pressed wood panels. Therefore, an informal industry can produce much richer results at a cheaper cost than highly organized one.
For example, this year, we presented one of our installations at the current Venice Architecture Biennale called “Immediate Landscapes,” in which we tested various traditional materials and their possible applications. We demonstrated techniques that have been practised in India for over one thousand years. Yet, some architects could not even recognize the materials. We used earth and fiber composites, wood constructions, and bamboo frame structures reinforced with mud. These primitive structures used to be built in the times when we were still nomadic and just turning to becoming agrarian. What I want to say is that three hundred million people in my country still live like that today. These people live with a great amount of dignity, self-reliance, and they are self-governed. They are seemingly poor, but that is only because of the measurement of what money can buy… All I am saying is that there is a lot to learn there and that’s why I ask if Modernism is the right answer for modernizing India. I have a great deal of affection for Modernism, but I also want to test and find various ways to connect it to many regional techniques used in India to this day; that is the real focus of my practice. Nothing is right or wrong; the question is – what are other things that we value? How do we mitigate the influx of ideas and products? How do we keep the balance of modernization on the one hand and maintain traditions on the other?
Tara House, Kashid, Maharashtra, India (2005). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:Could you talk about your idea of an architect being a conductor?
BJ: It is all about the manner of doing work by trying to bring people together. There is this idea of shared values, empathies, and the will to connect despite a broad diversity of interests. So for me an architect is a sort of a bridge, a conduit for communication.
VB:You are currently working on projects all over the world. Do they present opportunities for you to discover something new in your ways of making architecture?
BJ: We are working on several projects overseas, including a community center near Hiroshima in Japan, which is about instigating a regeneration of a small town with the idea of bringing young people back to their small hometown. Then there is a luxury hotel in France. This hotel could have been a convent or university. What’s important is that this new building will have a capacity to transcend its initial function and expand its program. If the core structure is in place, the potential for buildings could be endless. Houses can become museums, hotels turned into hospitals, and places for storage, industry, or worship could be transformed into houses. Then we are working on four houses for a family in Zurich, Switzerland. There we use local stone, as opposed to concrete; the displacement of land is very minimal. We are involving many interesting artisans there. So to me, the process is the same, and it is all about what’s being embedded in architecture itself.
Bridge by the Canal, Triennale Brugge (2015). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
VB:You said that you are not interested in discovering what Indian architecture may be. For example, Glenn Murcutt expressed a similar idea to me by saying that he is simply interested in doing “ordinary things extraordinary well.” Do you agree?
BJ: Sure. For me, architecture is universal. There may be different symbolism or traditions, but too often, we are caught up in the world of a particular image. Architecture is not about an image, it is about sensibility.
Copper House II, Chondi, Maharashtra, India (2012). Image Courtesy of Studio Mumbai
Belogolovsky’s column, City of Ideas, introduces ArchDaily’s readers to his latest and ongoing conversations with the most innovative architects from around the world. These intimate discussions are a part of the curator’s upcoming exhibition with the same title which premiered at the University of Sydney in June 2016. The City of Ideas exhibition will travel to venues around the world to explore ever-evolving content and design.
From the architect. The A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Architecture, and Life Sciences Complex is a new 36,700 SF academic laboratory building for Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, that provides advanced facilities for robotics engineering, biomedical engineering, life sciences and related programs. The design of the building evolved around opportunities to enhance connectivity at multiple scales – between the school’s various engineering and design disciplines, previously housed in separate buildings, as well as within existing and future regions of the campus.
The Taubman Complex is among the first buildings constructed in LTU’s major expansion and renovation effort, which will add new campus regions, buildings, and amenities to serve the university’s growing student population. To support this effort, the Complex is designed as an “extrudable section:” an occupiable bar that can be extended in phases to accommodate growth while maintaining the function and design integrity of the building. The spine of the bar is formed by two floors of laboratories, which look out into an open flex-space that runs the length of the building. This flex space is the collaborative heart of the Taubman Complex, providing an expansive and re-configurable hall for informal discussions, pin-up critique sessions, and lectures. Clerestory glazing fills the flex-space with light diffused through an ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) scrim along the east facade; in the evening, this scrim becomes illuminated by light from within the building.
Beyond adding flexible collaborative spaces and laboratory facilities, we identified opportunities to use the form of the building to establish a new axis for the school that would enhance links between existing buildings and act as a bridge to future regions of the campus. The bridge-like form of the building defines the periphery of the campus and enhances the presence and view of the University from the adjacent major roadway. The Complex is linked to neighboring buildings by lifted bridges, framing a new grand entrance and gateway to the University. Breaching the linear form of the building, a carbon-fiber circulation “orb” contains the main staircase and marks entry to the building, while creating a focal point for the University quad.
The precedent for a light-filled, extendable building design is rooted in the history of our teaming architect and engineering firm, Albert Kahn Associates, and of Detroit as the center for American innovation in engineering. Albert Kahn was the primary architect for an emerging automobile industry; his commissions included numerous state-of-the-art factories for Henry Ford, which employed a revolutionary structural system engineered by Kahn and his brother Julius to allow for the creation of open span, brightly lit assembly floors. The success of these buildings depended on a repeated system of structural ribs and clerestory windows – an efficient, modular formula that could be expanded and extended to whatever size necessary to accommodate the program within. A century later, Kahn’s innovations are revived in a new expansion for Lawrence Technological University designed to offer flexible laboratory facilities for evolving research and disciplines.
Wall thickness, color, scale, solar dynamic, spaces built with a subtle metaphor immersed around the meaning of life, seem to be elements immersed in all of Luis Barragán’s architecture. Elements of an enduring legacy, away from the ephemeral world of fashion, textiles and haute couture; however, it’s the search for the heightening of the senses, present in the architecture of Barragán, that inspired designers to put the name of the architect on catwalks and the world of apparel.
Transcending his architecture to a particular line of design, major firms in the textile industry have used the mystical language of Barragán. A language in which fashion manages to live a furtive beauty in geometry, color, texture, but especially a totally emotional search.
Check out 10 labels whose collections have been partially inspired by Barragán’s work and ideas .
The recent 2016 Spring – Summer campaign by Louis Vuitton, directed by Nicolas Ghesquiere, acquired a particular monochromatic and futuristic clothing collection. With high ceilings, solid and colorful walls in pink and purple shades mimicking the vibrant colors for the Pre-fall collection, originating from Barragán’s “Cuadra San Cristobal,” and inspired by the exaltation of the senses.
As a result of the photography of Patrick Demarchelier, the campaign starring the artist Léa Seydoux captures the iconic work of Barragán, playing with scale and color to reproduce the mystical goal of the season, where the architect’s horses, a recurring presence in his work , make up a landscape of strength, excitement, and movement.
The Mexican designer Daniel Espinosa’s ‘Mexican Geometry‘ collection, inspired by Barragán’s love of the tradition of Mexican culture, synthesizes clean lines and vibrant colors through a singular minimalism seek to capture the essence of Mexican mysticism through geometry present in the architect’s work.
Kris Goyri’s 2015 Autumn – Winter collection, entitled “Barragán” is as its name suggests, inspired by the career of Luis Barragán. Clean cuts, geometric patterns, and a palette of colors ranging from hot pink to royal blue, by way of red and yellow, are a tribute to the architect’s most representative work and chosen by Goyri to create a collection of Mexican roots.
Using the themes of romance, countryside, vernacular architecture and the environment, the British firm Thomas Pink found the inspiration for its 2016 Fall – Winter collection in Luis Barragan’s latest work.
By playing with blocks and colorful geometric shapes, the recent PINK collection is an interpretation of the architect’s buildings and designs. Like Barragán did in his works, the collection seeks to integrate the function, nature, architecture and emotions present in British culture, with the starting point for the design of their pieces being the Mexican architect’s work.
The 2010 Spring-Summer collection is a tribute to the architecture of Luis Barragán inspired by the monumentality and symbolism of color. The collection, led by 5 column style dresses, is a tribute to the Torres de Satélite, taking Mexican culture’s scale and identification as its inspiration.
Font uses Barragán as a starting point to create such a strong collection. Barragán’s creations are known for possessing an “emotional” style, his buildings were more about the feelings than function and that is exactly what Del Pozo has brought to fashion. A house that values tradition, its roots, details and excellent finishes that celebrate the life and emotions. They call themselves Pret-à-couture, that is the best of both worlds, designs for every day that seem couture.
Long Champ’s limited Spring – Summer collection from 2013, designed by Luisa Villa, is inspired by the architect’s Guadalajara houses. Pieces with Mediterranean influence and a specific portrait of Mexican culture in the early twentieth century are printed on bags, scarves and other garments of linen in cotton, and blend into geometric shapes and colors that reference Barragán’s style.
As part of a cultural approach via fashion, the new 2016 Spring- Summer Campaign by Fred Allard for Nine West is titled “Into the Sun”, inspired by Mexico’s creative heritage of textiles, festivals, and architecture.
In the search for a symbol of the elements that define Mexican culture over time and with a particular contemporary touch, Allard chose Cuadra San Cristobal. More than an inspiration for the collection, the particular work of Luis Barragán served as a backdrop for the campaign this season, making clear that this icon of Mexican architecture is a symbol of culture and creative heritage of the country.
The Mexican designer who won ELLE Mexico’s 2011 design contest, Alfredo Martinez breaks the barrier between different design disciplines in his latest season. A thorough intersection between architecture and fashion are part of his collection, also inspired by Luis Barragan.
Martinez’s collection is intended to be an ode to the philosophical legacy of Guadalajara called “After Barragán”, basing his entire collection on the architect’s career. Vibrant colors used by Barragán aim to capture his essence and mysticism, replicating his iconic geometric compositions, shadows, lines, and volumes, opting for black canvas to contrast orange, blue and red colors in homage to the architect’s ideas.
Again, the five Torres de Satélite serve as inspiration; in this case the fashion house Akris replicated this work as its leitmotif while creating their 2014 Spring-Summer collection. It’s awesomeness, geometry, and color lead the start of the season, however, a replica of La Cuadra San Cristobal where horses, geometries, and colors seem to present a deep inspiration of feelings caused by Barragán’s architecture.
The creations showcased by the French model Anais Mali are a clear tribute to Luis Barragán’s architecture, seeking to integrate snapshots of his work in different outfits from the collection.
Danish firm Arkitema Architects, in collaboration with Arkitektgruppen Cubus, has won the competition to design a new Life Science building—called EnTek—at the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway. As an Energy and Technology building, the project is designed to ensure collaboration between UiB’s faculty and the energy and technology industry.
The 17,500-square-meter building will become a southern gateway to the university, connecting the school to the city via a new street that will also become a central meeting point for both researchers and citizens.
Courtesy of Arkitema Architects
Inside the building, a new public space called “Science City” will be created, where professionals can develop community and bring new thoughts to fruition. The architects claim that “the vision of Science City Bergen is to support even more research and development between companies and faculties, with the ambition to become an international portal for innovation within energy, climate, and technology.”
Courtesy of Arkitema Architects
Courtesy of Arkitema Architects
With our proposal for the EnTek building, we have created a new and dynamic research and study environment, with high aesthetic qualities and thought through functionality, said Arkitema Architects senior partner Per Fischer. Hopefully this will underline UiB’s position in Bergen. EnTek is situated right next to the oldest building on campus, the Meteorological Institute, so the building will mark a new and modern arrival to the university, but at the same time, symbolically linking future and past.
Sig Nordal 