© Javier Callejas Sevilla

• Architects: Beckmann-N’thepe Architectes
• Location: Boulogne-Billancourt, France
• Architects In Charge: Wilfried Daufy, Camille Garzuel, Maxime Laurent, Warren Mouran, Amélie Renevier, Marianne Richardot, Marine Tenette
• Area: 15.618 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Javier Callejas Sevilla, Olivier Amsellem, Christophe Valtin

• Contractor : Nexity
• Urban Planner: Patrick Chavannes
• Developer: SAEM Val de Seine
• Construction Managing Service: DJ AMO + AKPA
• Project Manager: Sibylle Pöhler
• Supervising Office: BTP Consultants / SIPREV
• Landscape Architects: Ingénieurs & Paysages
• Plumbing: HVAC + High Environmental
• Quality : ID BATI
• Economist: LTA
• Acoustics: Cap Horn Solutions
• Fire Safety: Prévention Consultants
• Health And Safety Coordination: BTP Consultants
• High Environmental Quality Consultant: Prévention Consultants / Citae
• High Environmental Quality Certifier: QIOS
• Building Company: BATEG
• Cost: 39 M€ before tax

© Christophe Valtin

Situated at the end of Avenue Lefaucheux, the plot of land is located at the entrance to the joint development zone by the quay. Thanks to its position, it has exceptional views over the Seine, with the island of Billancourt opposite and the new urban park anchoring the riverbank. 

Situation

Ground Floor Plan

The idea of the project is to open the garden, at the heart of the plot, outwards, so that it is linked to the new park within the development zone. This means that the majority of the apartments benefit from both the light and the views, and a link with the landscape is created. 

© Olivier Amsellem

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

In response to instructions received from Patrick Chavannes and Thierry Laverne, visual transparencies have been built in at the level of the building’s common base. This offers an enhanced distribution of both light and sightlines, softening the transition between public and private spaces. In the same way, the way the building is set back from the street, along with the opening on the north side on rue Traversière, help to open up the plot: a small private square broadens the urban perception of the street. 

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

8th Floor Plan

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

The composition of the facades is directly influenced by the visual spectacle of the Billancourt park and the river: in the central part of the building, mosaic cladding reflects the context in its choice of colours, whilst the choice of modules of white concrete for balconies and walkways enhances the sense of continuity with the generous openings that punctuate the vertical volumes. 

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

Similarly, lush and abundant vegetation is an inherent part of the design. The park continues not only through the central garden, but also up the facade and all the way up to the roof terraces. It gives a strong identity to the whole design, transforming these spaces into a background for plants and bushes. The overall image becomes blurred with the background. Residents have their ‘heads in the treetops’. 

© Javier Callejas Sevilla

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© Amit Geron

• Architects: Pitsou Kedem Architects
• Location: Savyon, Israel
• Architect In Charge: Hila Sela 
• Design Team: Pitsou Kedem, Hila Sela
• Area: 700.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Amit Geron

• Lighting Design: Orly Avron Alkabes 
• Project Manager: Assaf Lupo Ltd
• Total Site Area: 2000 sqm 

© Amit Geron

From the architect. Since the dawn of history, ‘public’ architecture – the architecture constructed by institutions of church and state, served as a tool in shaping the consciousness of the masses. Its massive dimensions, layout of spaces, and choice of materials, were all done with the objective of creating in the viewer and visitor a sense of moving between dimensions – from the day-to-day, the simple and the often inferior – to a place that is sublime, inspiring and of awesome majesty – homes to those among the people raised to privilege– the representatives of God on earth.

© Amit Geron

Plan

© Amit Geron

The Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, influenced by the Nile which flows in linear manner, designed their temples as a voluminous physical experience. En route, temple visitors move over long stretches that become more convoluted and ever deeper, passing through spaces where each exposes a clue to the next, and where each transition appears to take you closer to the exalted and the shocking, which only the favored will get to see.

© Amit Geron

Western modern architecture sought to break free of its propaganda-based foundations and serve as a reflection of the values of a society, its culture, and its technological capabilities. It is intended to serve the public and the objectives of a nation’s government – no longer in the form of holy places, but as functional public buildings that are welcoming and democratic in nature. Accordingly, the importance of changing the mind-set of the visitor has been almost entirely absent from the design discourse in recent centuries.

© Amit Geron

When it comes to ‘grassroots architecture’ – namely, the architecture used in planning private residences – the experience of a change in consciousness upon entering a house is hardly ever thought of nowadays in the design process, having lost its importance quite some time ago. The living spaces and the living room are thus made as one piece, separated from the street by nothing more than a door, both physically and metaphorically.

© Amit Geron

The house under discussion here is about this experience. It is this dynamic that is generated in its design, explaining it to the visitor simply by placing him or her at its center from the first moment they stand in front of the facade facing the street — an opaque monolithic slab, covered in dark stone. The impermeability of the wall is softened by an avenue of young trees directing the visitor along the length of the paved footpath, directly into an inner courtyard surrounded by a semi-opaque stretch of wood, the first in a series of internal courtyards that form a key principle in the design of the house.

© Amit Geron

Walking along the path, as indeed the entry into the enclosed grounds, is part of the process of separating from the outside world and contemplating the present moment more deeply. Full attention can now be given to the structure, captured in its spaces like a prisoner – as we stand in front of a large, transparent curtain wall on which we can observe what is going on in the house in absolute transparency, something reserved for visitors invited because they appreciate such loveliness.

© Amit Geron

Although the facade facing the street is designed as an opaque mass and seems to hold an enigmatic secret, as soon as one crosses the line of the wooden ‘arbours’, the spaces of the house are suddenly visible in all their simplicity. The process of stepping into opaqueness and then catching sight of the private interior as it emerges from the sealed, the hidden, and the monolithic, into an open and light-filled space, would almost seem to confirm that you have entered the place now exposed – the private parts of the house. Here the geometry is simple and minimalist, and is clean and transparent in its form and materials, almost as if it were someone that had turned all his cards face up on the table.

© Amit Geron

The other internal courtyards, as well as the glass balustrade that encloses the swimming pool, separating it from the other outside spaces, seemingly bring together all the visitor’s experiences into a focused and penetrating experience, one that clearly spells out the boundaries of what is permitted and possible, and defines the house as a private and intimate experience.

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© Tadas Černiauskas

• Architects: Architektūros linija
• Location: Saulėtekio al. 9, Vilnius 10221, Lithuania
• Architects In Charge: Gintaras Čaikauskas, Miroslav Šejnicki, Virginija Venckūnienė, Vytenis Raugala
• Area: 24084.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Tadas Černiauskas, Martynas Slapšy

• Engineers : Ekoprojektas, Viltekta
• Clients : Vilnius University
• Consultants: Statybos Inžinierių Konsultantų Biuras

© Martynas Slapšy

The key idea of the Life Science Centre architecture are the science and teaching complex modules forming the public space layout and comprising the integral whole like different cells of the matter. Cube-shaped volumes in open spaces of Saulėtekis, reiterating the natural context and building a humanist, traditional urban structure characteristic of the city of Vilnius, resemble a feature of the historical Vilnius University ensemble – a cosy inner courtyard. The volumes comprising the square perimeter and the entrance to the building are moved out over the glass vestibule and the merging space unites the areas of the main lobby, the courtyard and the passage, seamlessly linking them with the environment. 

Diagram

The monumental expression of the building architecture provides exceptionality and reflects the typological purpose, symbolises the austerity of science and creates a solid character of the new complex. Life is movement and growth. Notedly vibrant vertical lines of facades inspired by the impressive nature and the textural image of the adjacent trunks of the pine trees create a playful abundance of different points of view.

© Martynas Slapšy

Indoor premises are planned universally, the ongoing research and training processes can be organised as needed – jointly or separately. Researchers will enjoy ultra-modern laboratories, quiet workrooms and open recreation areas. Student premises can function independently but during lectures scientists and students will meet in the audiences, teaching laboratories etc. General spaces are adapted for recreation and independent studies. 

© Tadas Černiauskas

Section

© Tadas Černiauskas

The lecture auditorium complex is individualised and has a separate entrance. It can be used as an independent conference centre. 

© Martynas Slapšy

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© Su Shengliang

• Architects: Archi-Union Architects
• Location: Xuhui, Shanghai, China
• Architect In Charge: Philip F. Yuan / Archi-Union Architects
• Design Team: Alex Han, Xiangping Kong, Tianrui Zhu, Qinrong Liu
• Area: 200.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Su Shengliang, Bian Lin

• Structural Engineer: Rui Wang, Junchao Shen, Xiaofeng Zhang, Jin Wang
• Interior Designer: Xuwei Wang, Xiaoming Chen Construction Equipment
• Construction Equipment: Yong Liu, Changying Jiang, Xi Li
• Fabrication Company: Fab-Union Intelligent Engineering Co. Ltd.
• Fabrication Team: Philip F. Yuan, Yuchen Hu, Liming Zhang, Wen Zhang.

© Bian Lin

Chi She is an artistic group founded by ZHANG Peili, GENG Jiangyi, whose exhibition space in West Bund Art Exhibition Area characterizes an altitude towards realism, that is, chasing the spatial appeal, harmonizing with integral environment, as well as realizing formal representation corresponding with the artistic mission embedded inside. It is hoped that the building can provide a delicate and abundant compound art space, where contains various artistic events, such as curiosities exhibition, creative workshop and unpremeditated communication.

© Su Shengliang

Elevations

We retained the initial exterior walls, followed by the elementary performance enhancement and structure reinforcement, in order to provide a maximum exhibition space. Therefore, under the condition of maintaining the space perception of the whole artistic park, part of the roof has been elevated in order to create an interlayer space, where people could enjoy the intact sky view. Furthermore, the roof structure has been replaced by a lightweight and more efficient tensioning string wood structure, and part of them is lifted to obtain the skylight indicating the climate change, which presents a sense of harmony. On the other hand, the grey green bricks coordinated with this ancient building have been applied on the exterior part located on the main interface towards the park. When the wall in the entrance is curled up a lit bit, this generated wrinkle wall texture becomes the impressive part of the form manipulation, which represents the architectural expressions as well, that is, a status that embodies current cultural trends based on tradition. 

© Su Shengliang

Diagaram

In order to complete such a masonry process that cannot be precisely achieved by traditional technology, we applied the robotic masonry fabrication technique by Fab-Union, which accomplishes the first endeavor to utilize the advanced digital fabrication technology to construct on site. The external walls of Chi She were built by the recycled grey green bricks from the old building and constructed with the help of the advanced technology of mechanical arm, which generates a cambered surface morphology, showing the vitality of Chi She.

© Su Shengliang

The precise positioning of the integrated equipment of robotic masonry fabrication technique and the construction elaborately to the mortar and bricks by the craftsmen makes this ancient material, brick, be able to meet the requirements in the new era, and realizes the presentation of the design model consummately. The dilapidation of these old bricks coordinated with the stretch display of the curving walls are narrating a connection between people and bricks, machines and construction, design and culture, which will be spread permanently in the shadow of external walls under the setting sun.

Sections

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© John Gollings

• Architects: Studio Mumbai
• Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
• Architect In Charge: Bijoy Jain
• Area: 17.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: John Gollings

• Other Participants: Arup and Kane Construction

© John Gollings

MPavilion 2016 is part of an international movement in handmade architecture and uses 7km of bamboo, 50t of stone and 26km of rope to create an extraordinary 16.8m square summer pavilion for Melbourne. Encapsulating Jain’s ongoing interest in traditional craftsmanship and human connectedness, the pavilion sits on a bluestone floor sourced from a quarry in Port Fairy, Victoria. Bamboo poles imported from India especially for the MPavilion are pegged together with 5,000 wooden pins and lashed together with rope. Slatted panels that form the MPavilion roof are constructed from sticks from the Karvi plant woven together by craftspeople in India over four months. 

Plans

MPavilion’s design features an opening at the centre of the roof that Bijoy Jain sees as connecting earth to sky and below sits a golden well symbolising the importance of water to place and community. An elaborate ‘tazia’ entrance tower, as used in Indian ceremonies, sits next to the pavilion as a welcoming gesture. 

© John Gollings

MPavilion features lighting design by Ben Cobham of Bluebottle. Activated at twilight every night, the pavilion will be lit in-synch with a specially commissioned nightly soundscape by artists Geoff Nees and J David Franzke.

Elevation + Section

The MPavilion is an annual architecture commission and design event conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.  Every year, a new temporary summer pavilion designed by a leading international architect, is erected in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens.  From October through February, the MPavilion becomes a ‘cultural laboratory’ and home to a series of talks, workshops, performances and installations.  It is then moved to a permanent new home within Melbourne’s CBD, creating an ongoing legacy in Melbourne’s increasingly sophisticated architectural landscape.

© John Gollings

Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai was selected to design MPavilion 2016. Australian architect Sean Godsell designed MPavilion 2014 and in 2015 it was designed by British architect Amanda Levete of AL_A.

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© Masato Kawano / Nacasa＆Partners Inc.

• Architects: TSC Architects
• Location: Aichi Prefecture, Japan
• Architect In Charge: Yoshiaki Tanaka
• Site Area: 447.00 sqm
• Built Area: 223.18 sqm
• Area: 287.98 sqm
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Masato Kawano / Nacasa＆Partners Inc.

© Masato Kawano / Nacasa＆Partners Inc.

This building was planned as the clinic which supported a medical connection with the people from a local child to the elderly.

© Masato Kawano / Nacasa＆Partners Inc.

A client is the doctor who performed medical care to support an area as a family doctor for a long time in this ground. The front road of the site became the attending school road of the elementary school, and the building which had children feel friendly feeling was demanded.

Plan – Section

The shape that a wall assists makes a feeling of opening without giving the town a feeling of pressure and makes the memory of the town. In addition, the diagonal adjoining roof supports a building and the connection with the town. The house-shaped window of various size penetrated by the wall is each domestic symbol and watches local people warmly. We prepared the space with the warmth into the finish of the interior decoration using a variety of trees. We pray for becoming the place of the community of the people whom this building visits.

© Masato Kawano / Nacasa＆Partners Inc.

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• Architects: Schemata Architects
• Location: Tokyo, Japan
• Architect In Charge: Jo Nagasaka
• Area: 61.7 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Kenta Hasegawa

• Project Team: Ryosuke Yamamoto, Ou Ueno, Shun Sato
• Construction: TANK

© Kenta Hasegawa

From the architect. This is the fourth shop we designed for the apparel brand DESCENTE BLANC in Japan, located in Shin Marunouchi Building, and its second in-shop after their shop at Expo City in Osaka. The characteristic difference from the Osaka shop is that the entire design of Shin Marunouchi Building is very authentic.

© Kenta Hasegawa

© Kenta Hasegawa

Our design concept for the DESCENTE BLANC series is to redesign the movement of shop staff to go to get stocks and incorporate automatic lifting stock stock-display systems in the ceiling. After the existing ceiling was removed, the ceiling plenum was exposed and the existing finishes above and below the removed ceiling created a sharp contrast, implying an “imaginary” ceiling plane there.

Section

In order to highlight this distinctive feature, we designed the overhead stock space in the plenum space where clothes are stored closely under the ceiling, resembling an aircraft hangar. Hanger pipes are leveled so that hems of the clothes align with the “imaginary” ceiling plane, and the ceiling lights are also installed at the same level to emphasize the effect. 

© Kenta Hasegawa

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Front of the campus "Skyline". Image © Dave Fenton

The California College of the Arts (CCA) has selected 3 top firms as finalists in a competition to design “a new, ground-breaking art school that will redefine 21st century arts education.” Chosen from an original pool of 75 architects, the three firms will now submit proposals for a new campus design that aims to unify the college’s Oakland and San Francisco campuses into one vibrant Bay Area institution.

The winning firm will work together with the school over the next five years to create a plan that will bring together 2,000 students, 600 faculty members, 250 staff members, and 34 academic programs to a consolidated campus located at the intersection of the city’s innovation corridor, the new DoReMi (Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, Mission) arts district, and Mission Bay. The primary project site will be a 2.4-acre lot that borders the college’s existing San Francisco campus buildings. The campus will house all of CCA’s programs, including art, crafts, design, architecture and writing, fostering interaction between the different disciplines.

The 2.4-Acre primary project site. Image © Jim Norrena

The three finalists are:

• Allied Works Architecture
• Michael Maltzan Architecture
• Studio Gang

The campus design will follow the strategic planning framework outlined by Gensler and MKThink and further developed by local firm Jensen Architects. The plan will be held to high sustainability standards, stipulating advanced strategies for water and energy generation, usage, and conservation; healthy air quality; and environmentally safe artmaking materials and practices. Student housing will also be a priority for the campus, as the college hopes to double the number of on-campus beds to 1,000 by 2025.

CCA Site Plan. Image Courtesy of California College of the Arts

Later this month, the three finalists will give presentations to the CCA community and public, with a winner expected to be selected in November 2016.

For more information, visit the CCA website, here.

News via CCA.

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© Julián Castro

• Architects: Plan:b arquitectos
• Location: Vda. Chaparral, San Vicente, Antioquia, Colombia
• Area: 995.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Julián Castro, Alejandro Arango

• Project Manager: Felipe Mesa, Federico Mesa
• Team: Esteban Hincapié, Carlos Blanco, Laura Kate Correa, Maria Clara Osorio
• Construction: C.A.S.A.
• Client: Fundación Fraternidad
• Photographer: Alejandro Arango, Julián Castro
• Precio: $1.482.000/sqm (Colombian Peso)
• Elevation (Above Sea Level): 2150 m
• Temperature: 13 / 24°C
• Facing: North – South
• Direction Of Wind: South East

© Alejandro Arango

From the architect. This project consists of replacing a school in bad conditions for a new building, using the same plot of land on Chaparral lane in the Municipality of San Vicente Ferrer located in the central mountain range, at 2150m above sea level and a two-hour bus journey from Medellin. It is a rural school for the children of the farmers of the region.

© Alejandro Arango

Plan 1

© Alejandro Arango

The new building is built on the footprint of the previous one, it prevents from touching some areas with unstable ground, and it consolidates as a perimeter that avoids using external fences and lifts like a polygonal wall that incorporates the program of classrooms and services, prolonged by the ramp and the stairs towards the play area, opening to the rural landscape. On its south face, it is hermetic to control the noise and dust from the nearby rural road, but on its north face it opens to the far away exterior of greenhouses and crops over the mountainside.

© Alejandro Arango

Plan 2

© Alejandro Arango

This is a project with a limited budget, for which reason we opted for cheap, hard-wearing and low maintenance materials: walls in concrete blocks in earth colors, floors in concrete or stone paving, metal handrails and bars… tones and materials similar to the ones used in the region, in contrast with the color of the vegetation and crops.

© Alejandro Arango

Axonometric

© Alejandro Arango

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© flickr user xispics. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse (EITMM) has selected 7 notable firms to continue to the second round in a competition for the renovation of Tour Montparnasse in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France.

Often cited as one of the architecture world’s most hated buildings, Tour Montparnasse has been criticized for its discordance with the Parisian urban landscape – just two years after its completion, new buildings over seven stories high in the city centre were banned, leaving the tower as an alien presence on the skyline.

With the launching of the competition, the EITMM hopes to transform Tour Montparnasse into a beloved landmark with a complete renovation of the facade, the building entry and all interior spaces. The budget for the project is estimated to reach over 300 million Euro ($330 million USD), and will be funded in entirety by the building owners.

© flickr user chagiajose. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

After receiving inquiries from over 700 interested candidates, the list has been narrowed down to 7 multi-disciplinary teams, who will now design proposals that are “capable of giving a powerful, innovative, dynamic and ambitious new identity to the famous Parisian landmark, whilst integrating the challenges of usage, comfort and energy performance to the highest levels.”

The 7 selected architects are as follows:

• Architecture Studio (France)
• Dominique Perrault Architecture (France)
• MAD Architects (China) + DGLA (France)
• nAOM (Franklin Azzi Architecture / Chartier Dalix / Hardel-Lebihan Architectes) (France)
• OMA (The Netherlands)
• PLP Architecture (UK)
• Studio Gang (USA)

The firms were selected by representatives for the Tower co-owners. “The 7 agencies were selected for their reliability, expertise, audacity and their understanding of the challenges we face,” remarked one stakeholder.

The second stage of the competition is now underway, as the seven teams will now prepare their proposals to be submitted in March 2017. The list will then be narrowed down to 2 finalists, with a winner expected to be selected in July 2017. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2019, with completion coming in 2023.

The competition is the first step in a much larger plan, Demain Montparnasse, aimed at “restoring the surrounding property’s role as a modern and accessible urban centre in the heart of Paris’s left bank.”

News via Demain Montparnasse.

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