design – Page 158 – Sig Nordal

OBR with Michel Desvigne Wins Competition to Design New Central Park in Prato, Italy

October 12, 2016signordalLeave a comment

© OBR Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi with Michel Desvigne Paysagiste

OBR Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste have been announced of the winners of first prize in the international competition to design the new Parco Centrale (Central Park) in Prato, Italy.

The 230-team competition asked architects to design a new 3-hectare urban park in Prato’s historical city center on the site of the former city hospital, within the perimeter of the city walls. The project is intended to meet the needs of a contemporary city while driving socio-economic development of the city center through “enhancements to its touristic vocation, sustainability and accessibility.”

The jury, chaired by architect Bernard Tschumi, unanimously selected the winning proposal for “its ability to offer to the city of Prato an original, innovative and practical solution.” Commented Tschumi on the design, “The project is remarkable in the way it understands and celebrates the history of Prato and of its medieval walls. At the same time, it looks to the future and to the development of the city and its diverse population.”

The jury also released the full rankings of the 10 finalist teams. Learn about the winning design and see the entries from all 10 of the finalists, after the break.

Winner: OBR Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi + Michel Desvigne Paysagiste

Description via Il Parco Centrale di Prato Competition.

The winning project pays a lot of attention to the urban fabric of the city of Prato and to its extreme regularity: an orthogonal grid which, as a trace of the ‘cardo’ and the ‘decumano’ of the Roman grid, is still very persistent and is striking for its spatial and temporal diffusion. The project hence starts from the memory of the place and from its original urban forms to manipulate them, through abstraction. It enhances the historical city wall, it evokes traces of the Italian Renaissance gardens, organized according to perspectives, pergolas and hedges, and reinterprets them in a contemporary language. To the north of the site, the pavilion is a one-storey structure, open towards the park. Beside restaurants and other park-related facilities, it accommodates ample spaces for artists’ ateliers and temporary exhibitions.

In the words of the designers: “The park itself soars to the status of open-air museum. In the heart of the park contemporary sculptures are exhibited, along with a collection of plants that will be selected not merely for their botanical features, but also for their aesthetic qualities, their colors, their exuberance. Displayed in such manner, these natural elements will become art pieces themselves.”

The project for the new 3-hectare park consists of two functional lots. The first lot includes the complete creation of the green areas and therefore of the park, as well as a built volume with a minimum area of 500 square meter of gross floor area containing, among other things, the services essential to the park itself. The second functional lot includes the creation of other buildings, up to a maximum of 3,000 square meters of gross floor area.

For the city, the creation of the urban park in the former hospital area represents an exceptional and unrepeatable occasion. The new urban park must first of all be able to change the vision and perception not only of the new place that will be created, but it must also alter the perception of the downtown areas adjacent to it, conferring awareness that a new part of the city has been created inside the walls. We will not come upon an area closed off by walls and gates, but we will detect a prevalently open area capable of becoming a hub of vitality for the center and for the city outside the walls.

2nd place: Ferdinand Ludwig (Baubotanik)

3rd place ex aequo: Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT | Enric Miralles – Benedetta Tagliabue)

3rd place ex aequo: ELEMENTAL

4th place ex aequo: Alvisi Kirimoto + Inside Outside

4th place ex aequo: Dogma + Elia Zenghelis

4th place ex aequo: MAXWAN Architects + Urbanists

5th place ex aequo: DGT Architects (DORELL.GHOTMEH.TANE)

5th place ex aequo: Jakob + MacFarlane Architects with Coloco

5th place ex aequo: TURENSCAPE

Along with the commission for the project, the winning team has been awarded an prize of 40.000 Euro. Each finalist will receive a reimbursement of 13.000 Euros.

OBR and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste will now work with the city to finalize plans for the new Parco Centrale di Prato.

More information about the competition and the finalist designs can be found on the competition website, here. You can also follow the competition through Facebook and Twitter.

News via Il Parco Centrale di Prato Competition.

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Church St. Ana / Urbis

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Architects: Urbis
Location: Rijeka, Croatia
Architect In Charge: Dino Krizmanić, Leonid Zuban, Saša Putinja
Area: 1275.0 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Francesco Scarpa

Collaborators: Franko Andrijančić, Silvana Pilar
Lighting Design : Skira d.o.o., Dean Skira, Božidar Pustijanac
Structural Engineer: TGI d.o.o. Pula
Client: Archdiocese of Rijeka

The context of the project is already contained in the same title of the project task: Church St. Ana and Social center Vežica. This public and social context is only enhanced by the presence of a school in direct contact with the location of the project, but also the park that connects everything, and functions as a certain ‘green spine’. The church is therefore in direct dialogue with the social center and park, so the project puts emphasis on these two spatial relations by means of an ‘atrium’ and a ‘porch’, two strong architectural elements trough which a place becomes a ‘position’.

The interior of the church already begins in the access square that connects the church with the social center, where the church leans above it forming an inner atrium as the spatial extension of the square. The rise starts in our own reflection in the glass façade of the ground floor, and continues on the central stairs leading to the atrium. The atrium has a task to gather and connect people, surround them and protect them, get them to jointly participate in religious events. It also refers to the monastic cloister, which is peripherally framed by a full wall, while in the middle is the void, the connection with the access square and the ground floor of the church. The atrium also covers one part of the main square. Following the atrium are the sacred spaces of the church at the park level with which the church is linked directly through the porch. So instead through one door, the exterior and interior of the church are separated over the atrium and the porch of the church that are directly connected (semi-public space). This spatial proximity of the church, the park and the access square is articulated as the area of procession, where the liturgical and secular spaces meet and give life to the church. The building itself shows its presence in one essential gesture: the white volumetric dematerialized mass looms over the main square.

The difference between ‘secular’ and sacred part of the church is emphasized by partially shifting and different materialization of the facade – glass wall in relation to the wood panelling and concrete slabs compared to the stone pavement of the atrium. White walls define the outer perimeter of the church and create a distance between the inner spiritual world and outside of the city.

The spatial growth of the church through the atrium, nave that ends at the presbytery of the church is followed by a graduation of the interior lighting. Access Square bathed by daylight, rises in the mysterious dimmed atrium, and ends in the light-filled main hall. The church hall is characterized by three basic elements. The first of these elements is a longitudinal and cross-section of the hall, which follows the growth of the hall to the presbytery. The second are the visible reinforced concrete angled ribs, which draw the side, diffuse light in the hall of the church. Third are spatial niches, which draw direct daylight in the altar, baptistery and tabernacle. Artificial light follows the same principle of natural daylight by means of color and the type of lighting (warm – liturgical spatial niches, cold – diffuse side lighting). The mediterranean ambient of the church is also narrated through shadows that alternate on the porch towards the park and on the covered square in front the entrance of the church.

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Bahá’í Temple / Hariri Pontarini Architects

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Courtesy of Asamblea Espiritual Nacional de los Bah·'Ìs de Chile + Hariri Pontarini Architects

Architects: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Location: Diagonal Las Torres, Penalolen, Peñalolén, Región Metropolitana, Chile
Architect In Charge: Siamak Hariri
Project Manager: Doron Meinhard
Project Architect: Justin Ford
Area: 1200.0 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Courtesy of Asamblea Espiritual Nacional de los Bah·’Ìs de Chile + Hariri Pontarini Architects, Daniela Galdames

Project Team: Michael Boxer Tiago Masrour, Jin-Yi McMillen, Adriana Balen, Donald Peters, John Cook, George Simionopoulos, Tahirih Viveros, Jaegap Chung, Mehrdad Tavakkolian, Jimmy Farrington.
Structural Assistance: TROW/Carruthers & Wallace (Canada), Universidad de Toronto (Canada), SIRVE S.A. – Carl Lüders y Juan Carlos de La Llera (Chile), DICTUC – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Local Architect: Benkal y Larrain Arquitectos
Landscaping: Juan Grimm (Chile).
Project Management: Desarrolllo y Construccion del Templo Bahá’í de Sudamerica Ltda.
Superstructure And Cladding: Gartner Steel and Glass GmbH Glass Casting: Je Goodman Studio and CGD Glass
Stone Fabrication: EDM
Structural Consultants: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Halcrow Yolles EXP, Patricio Bertholet M.
Cladding Consultants: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Hvac Consultants: MMM Group, Videla & Asociados, The OPS Group
Lighting Consultant: Isometrix, Limari Lighting Design Ltda
Acoustics: Verónica Wulf

From the architect. A temple of light expressing a faith of inclusion is poised to become an architectural landmark in Chile. Set within the Andean foothills just beyond the metropolis of Santiago, the complex- curved temple is designed by the distinguished Canadian architect Siamak Hariri as an invitation for spiritual contemplation and architectural pilgrimage.

Surrounded by reflecting pools and a landscape of native grasses, the Bahá’í Temple of South America is a domed, luminous structure that echoes the rolling topography of the Andes while appearing to oat some 30 metres above the earth. Its nine monumental glass veils frame an open and accessible worship space where up to 600 visitors can be accommodated on curved walnut and leather seating. Looking up to the central oculus at the apex of the dome, visitors will experience a mesmerizing transfer of light from the exterior of cast glass to an interior of translucent Portuguese marble. At sunset, the light captured within the dome shifts from white to silver to ochre and purple.

Fourteen years in the making, the South American House of Worship represents the last of the eight continental temples to be completed as part of a remarkable portfolio of landmark sacred architecture commissioned by the Bahá’í Community. The temple will be unveiled on its stunning 10-hectare site outside of Santiago in mid-October, 2016 with a series of press and public events.

Without ritual or clergy, without icons or images, Bahá’í Temples are conceived to reflect an ideal of universal worship where women, men and children can gather together as equals. The Bahá’ís believe in the critical role of volunteerism (known as service) to heighten their prayer and reflection within a House of Worship. In time, universities and hospitals are to be erected in proximity to the temples. In Chile, connecting to the community has inspired the repurposing of an existing golf clubhouse on the property into an education centre for youth.

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Openness and transparency are fundamental to both the structure and its site. The Bahá’í House of Worship can be accessed by nine entrances located at regular intervals around the domed structure, while curving paths lead visitors on walking meditations through the sloped landscape. The acclaimed Chilean landscape architect,Juan Grimm, has transformed a barren golf course into a lush, colourful landscape planted with native, drought-resistant varieties that extend generously around the temple. According to Grimm’s landscape design and working in partnership with the Municipality of Peñalonen, the Bahá’ís are planting native Quillay trees to support an environmental program called “Crece Verde” or “Green Growth”. In total, more than 6000 trees have been planted or are currently growing in a nursery established for the temple landscape.

Visitors to the spectacular site will be amazed first by the epic scale of the surrounding Andes. Walking toward the House of Worship up stone stairs and along pathways visitors will experience gardens that foreground the temple. As the path cuts between a rise in the landscape, the temple disappears momentarily only to reappear alongside a monumental reflecting pool. Standing next to the temple, visitors will appreciate the complex subtlety of the exterior cladding manufactured from melted glass that recalls the configuration of snowflake crystals.

Access to the mountain site was previously di cult. To open the House of Worship to all peoples as a place of prayer and meditation, the Bahá’ís have invested significantly to build a new road to the site, allowing for easy access for locals visiting from Santiago. Of the new South American temple, Francisco Chahuán, Senator of the Republic of Chile said: “I have no doubt that this place is destined to be a center of prayer, meditation and gathering, that will also invite all of the inhabitants of Peñalolén and the whole country to seek a place of tranquility and introspection.”

Designing a structure as complex and varied as nature required the most advanced computer technology. Led by Siamak Hariri, the team at Hariri Pontarini Architects innovated its own system of rendering the sculptural building, using machine-to-machine fabrication to create highly irregular, organic shapes in glass.

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Step into this Digitally Reconstructed House from Ancient Pompeii

October 12, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have digitally reconstructed a house in Pompeii to envision what life in the city would have looked like before the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The large house, thought to have belonged to a wealthy banker named Caecilius Iucundus, is among the first 3D models created by the research team to document and preserve the city. The team has now released video material of their work, showing their creation of a 3D model of an entire block of houses.

Following a catastrophic earthquake in Italy in 1980, which shifted the tectonics under the ancient city, causing the remaining ruins to deteriorate even further, curators from the city of Pompeii launched a call seeking international researchers to help document and preserve the city. As a result, in 2000, the Swedish Pompeii Project was founded.

The project now includes a branch of advanced digital archaeology tasked with developing 3D models of remaining and destroyed buildings.

“By combining new technology with more traditional methods, we can describe Pompeii in greater detail and more accurately than was previously possible”, says Nicoló Dell´Unto, digital archaeologist at Lund University.

The team uses archaeological findings to infer what different structures may have been used for. So far, they have, among other things, uncovered floor surfaces from AD 79, performed detailed studies of the building development through history, cleaned and documented three large wealthy estates, a tavern, a laundry, a bakery and several gardens. In one of the gardens, they were even able to identify a faucet that had been running during the time of the destruction, frozen beneath the rain of ash and pumice that fell onto the city.

Also preserved were three completely intact crystalline gypsum windows from a former Roman shop. The team has also conducted in-depth research into the infrastructural systems of Pompeii to understand how citizens used water and how the city changed throughout its existence.

More information about the Swedish Pompeii Project can be found on their website, here.

News via Lund University. H/T Interesting Engineering.

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Casa del Limonero / Taller Estilo Arquitectura

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Architects: Taller Estilo Arquitectura
Location: Barrio de Santiago, Centro, 97000 Mérida, Yuc., Mexico
Project Architects: Víctor Alejandro Cruz Domínguez, Iván Atahualpa Hernández Salazar, Luís Armando Estrada Aguilar
Project Area: 164.96 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: David Cervera

Collaborators: Arq. Silvia Cuitún Coronado, Arq. Carlos Marrufo Tamayo, DI. Alberto Góngora Brito

From the architect. The Casa del Limonero is a house on two floors; compositionally divided into two clear sections: the first area is where the main access from the street is located, occupied by a pre-existing construction and a rear one, with the bedrooms and central courtyard, which has different programs: terrace, pool and connections to the new building. It also serves as a hall because it contains the landing of the staircase and access to the rear bedrooms.

The staircase and its triple function: besides being the access to the upper floor, it is a service area and has the formal strength of a sculptural element within the central courtyard.

The rescue and rehabilitation of the existing building seeks to create a fusion between the old space and the new one in a natural way. Lighting and ventilation are primary factors to create atmospheres of enjoyment and comfort for users. A house completely linked to the outside, making spaces that are enriched by the aesthetics of all materials and maximizing passive conditioning systems to reduce energy costs in the home.

The traditional concept is retaken and transformed into a modern design. Both in the old and the new areas similar construction systems were used with a limited number of materials. The predominant materials are stone, wood, traditional flooring, metal, and white cement as wall cladding.

Traditional houses in the historic center of Mérida used cement floors in the shape of mosaics with colorful and different designs, forming mats in the spaces and marking a pattern in the decor of each room. Our proposal takes up the material and concept but turns them into large areas of white cement and other surfaces with integrated mineral green pigment, strongly defining the color palette that becomes one of the characteristic features of the house.

The merger of the historic character of the building and contemporary architecture create a perfect and harmonious amalgam, allowing a clear and sober language that supports the incorporation of functional and yet formally unique elements, enhancing the material they were made from while remaining outside our natural environment and the great possibilities that it provides through its proper use.

Traditional techniques and regional materials point toward the spatial and aesthetic composition of the project; revealing the labor of our builders who manufacture our identity.

At the end, a house that respects the environment, harnesses the landscape, converses with the human scale and the spatial sense.

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Artist Miguel Chevalier Projects Imaginary Starscapes onto the Ceiling of a Gothic Cathedral in Paris

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Digital artist Miguel Chevalier has transformed the ceiling of the Saint-Eustache Church into a dynamic, imaginary sky chart for the 2016 Nuit Blanche Festival in Paris. The installation, titled Voûtes Célestes, illuminates the soaring ceilings with 35 different colored networks to create glowing webs of light that highlight the church’s gothic architecture.

The virtual performance is accompanied by an ominous organ score played by Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard. Visitors to the piece were invited to roam throughout the structure or lie on the floors to fully take in the visual and sonic environment.

You can find more of Chevalier’s work on his website, here.

H/T Colossal, Designboom.

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RB House / Fritz + Fritz Arquitectos

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Architects: Fritz + Fritz Arquitectos
Location: Luján, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Architect In Charge: Fernando Fritz, Eric Fritz
Area: 200.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Quiroga + Caraffa

Project Team: Hernán Feldmann
Structural Engineering: José Zaldua

The “House RB” is characterized by its conceptual synthesis, formal and material.

Being a home for a young couple, the design should be flexible enough to adapt in the future, with the arrival of children, allowing to modify its distribution, and even adding new bedrooms.

The house is organized by a series of patios that allow the natural ventilation of every room, and the inside/ outside connection, creating different situations of permeability.

The use of massive inverted beams located on the roof, allow a “column free” “living room” area and a 60 sqm gallery.

As for the material aspect of the house, the concrete ceiling contrasts with travertine floors and white interior walls.

The structural solution also generates a gallery of 60 m2 partially covered by a cantilevered slab 4 m x 15 m, devoid of props.

As for the outside, the facade is conceibed by the use of large glass panels in relation to the concrete beams of the roof and in contrast to the white brick walls and travertine.

Towards the front, a white brick masonry latching system generates a visual screen to the kitchen´s patio, providing both permeability and privacy at the same time.

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Veiled in Brilliance: How Reflective Facades Have Changed Modern Architecture

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Reflections on glass façade. Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Architects: Herzog & de Meuron. Image © Frank Thiel

Even as modernism promoted the transparency of glass architecture, many within the movement were conscious of the monotony of large glass facades, with even Mies van der Rohe using elements such as his trademark mullions to break up his facades. But in the years since, countless uniform structural glazing skyscrapers have emerged and bored urban citizens. In response to this, unconventional reinterpretations of facades have gained interest.

Accompanied by the belief that light and brilliance could help in creating iconic architecture and a better human world, glass and metal have been innovatively transformed to create crystalline images. As a result, the locus of meaning in architecture has shifted from the internal space-form towards the external surface.

Celebrating the expressive materiality of transparency and reflective imagery for entire building skins emerged during the early 20th century, when Paul Scheerbart and Bruno Taut envisioned a new glass culture made of “colored glass” “sparkling in the sun,” “crystalline shapes of white glass” which make the “jewel-like architecture shimmer.” Mies van der Rohe absorbed this vision when he discarded the rectangular tower in favor of a free-form glass skin in his proposal for the Glass Skyscaper in Berlin in 1921. In a 1968 interview, Mies explained his skepticism regarding the urban monotony of glass mirror effects: “Because I was using glass, I was anxious to avoid dead surface reflecting too much light, so I broke the facades a little in plan so that light could fall on them at different angles: like crystal, like cut crystal.” Norman Foster materialized this glass dream with his Willis Faber & Dumas Headquarters in Ipswich in 1975 and SOM presented it in its tallest manifestation with the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai in 2009.

Glass façade of Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. Architects: Herzog & de Meuron. Image © Maxim Schulz

Undoubtedly the glass façade at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg by Herzog & de Meuron refers to the visionary glass culture of Scheerbart, and indirectly to the golden shimmering skin of Berlin’s Philharmonic by Hans Scharoun as well. Inwardly and outwardly curved glass elements distort the perception of the city, water and sky. They build a fresh contrast to the uniform plane glass curtains of the International Style. The environment is not appreciated as a clear mirrored picture, but instead goes through a process of modification and reproduction.

Due to the curves of the balconies, the building reflects points or lines of brilliant light streaks. With a blue or diffuse sky the distinctive curves reflect the light as bright lines, similar to the horizontal lines seen in the designs of the automotive industry. Under direct sunlight, bright glossy points appear and evoke a jewel-like shimmer. Additionally, the vertical and horizontal convex curves of numerous single glass elements reinforce the shiny distorted reflections of the sky. Overall the curved façade with its printed dot screens evokes a vivid and liquid image, which expresses a close link to the water around. Built upon the historic brick warehouse below, and with its abstract choreography of complex distorted light reflections, the Elbphilharmonie operates as a magical eyecatcher.

Façade with curved glass elements at Prada Aoyama, 2003, Tokyo. Architects: Herzog & de Meuron. Image © Yen-Chi Chen

The precursor to the Elbphilharmonie, which first showcased Herzog & de Meuron’s desire to transform the mirror effects of modernist glass skyscrapers, was the Prada Epicenter in Tokyo, completed in 2003. The glazing shell consists mainly of rhombus-shaped elements, but selected parts create distinct distorted reflections due to the convex exterior shapes of the glass – comparable to a contact lens resting on the façade.

The intriguing imagery of brilliant reflections on transparent glass facades is fortunately not limited to those outside the building; it also offers interesting views for those inside. However, for closed exhibition or concert halls, the concept of veiling an entire building with brilliant reflective effects has been adapted with other shimmering panels.

Reflections on titanium façade at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997. Architect: Frank Gehry. Photography: Thomas Mayer. Image © ERCO. www.erco.com

The American architect Frank Gehry transferred this aesthetic of brilliance from glass to metal with the titanium cladding of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997. While the connotations range from a ship for the larger form to fish scales regarding the reflective panels, the building as a whole has turned into an urban jewel that kicked off numerous urban redevelopments with its iconic signature. Many an aspiring metropolis assumes that the structural form is the key successful factor in “Bilbao effect.” However, with the sparkling light qualities of the titanium sheets and its changing appearance, Frank Gehry has not only brought a dynamic composition of forms to Bilbao but reinforced his design with a distinctive, dynamic image which varies with every cloud and sunbeam.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003, Los Angeles. Architect: Frank Gehry. Image © Gehry Partners, LLP

Though they are less than half a millimeter thick, the titanium sheets evoke an interesting, almost corrugated- tactile dressing – an association which the New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp connected with Marilyn Monroe: “Frank Gehry’s new Guggenheim Museum is a shimmering, Looney tunes, post-industrial, post-everything burst of American optimism wrapped in titanium (…) The building is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.” With the Walt Disney Concert Hall, opened in 2003, the lustrous gesture subsequently arrived in the glamorous Hollywood scenery.

Later Paul Andreu covered the monumental dome of the National Grand Theatre of China with a shiny titanium skin and heightened the effect with a surrounding reflecting pool to stand out against the nearby ancient red walls of the Forbidden City. But continuous glossy skins do not present the only option for sparkling jewels in the city.

Aluminium discs at Selfridges Birmingham, 2003. Architects: Amanda Levete and Jan Kaplicky (Future Systems). Image © Ken Lee

The play of elegant veils in fashion and shiny cladding in architecture combined in a Paco Rabanne dress for a British retail temple. Future Systems stylishly covered the Selfridges Birmingham department store, opened in 2003, with a dense mesh of 16,000 anodized aluminium discs. The store was able to avoid attaching any logos to the building due to the fact that the building itself was turned into a sign. Its sensuality immediately spurred the marketing world to utilize the sensational setting for advertisements. The glistening net creates a fascinating feeling for scale: Small discs generate a haptic, human feeling while the overall form offers hardly any clues about the building’s number of stories or size. The diffuse reflections of the façade cladding leads to an abstract transformed image, which is primarily determined by the brightness and colour of the sky and neglects any clear mirror effects of the neighborhood.

Messe Basel - New Hall, 2013, Basel. Architects: Herzog & de Meuron. Image © Hufton + Crow

In contrast to the shimmering disc dress at Birmingham, the stretched metal gesture at Messe Basel New Hall by Herzog & de Meuron introduces a linear interpretation of light reflections. The building’s twisting bands of aluminum avoid the well-known monotony of windowless exhibition halls. The homogeneous but stretched aluminum modulates the building in a light way. When oriented towards the sky, the surface gives brightness to the building which is set in stark contrast to the dark perforations and areas where the bands leans toward the ground.

Aluminum sunshades at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide. Architects: Woods Bagot. "South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute" by Jackstarshaker is licensed under <a href="http://ift.tt/2dW2mgn BY-SA 4.0</a> . Image

For an Australian science facility the veil has even fulfilled the task of protecting against the harsh sunlight. The architects Woods Bagot erected an urban icon with enveloping the entire building with aluminum sunshades, each individually computer modeled, for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide.

Some forms of sparkling reflective patterns are even able to initiate political discussions and influence the names of buildings. The “Fernsehturm Berlin” is an excellent example of this, with its reflection in the form of a cross emanating from the sphere. Built in 1969, the socialist and atheist party of the German Democratic Republic erected the tower to resemble the Russian satellite Sputnik. Located in the historic center of former East Germany next to a medieval church, the tall tower was intended as a political statement addressing the deconstruction of the old city. But the selection of pyramidal stainless steel panels led to an unintended effect: The reflections of the sun create a clearly visible cross pattern on the sphere. Thereby, the communist regime had accidentally installed a highly visible Christian symbol in an ostensibly atheist environment. Hence, the people in Berlin nicknamed the lighting effect the “Pope’s revenge.”

These strategies with shimmering veils have significantly increased the relevance of the surface as a carrier for the meaning of a building. The International Style has come to a point in façade design where the uniformity of mirroring cubes has begun to erode a sense of human scale. Consequently, concave and convex building forms, reflective curved façade elements, or a mixture of the two, have opened another set of options, generating more multifaceted images for the city. Furthermore, the interest in complex reflection patterns has swept aside brutalism with its raw concrete dualism of dark voids and light surfaces. These shimmering facades have also superseded Kahn’s monumentality, where the material’s purpose is primarily to cast a shadow. Neither shadows nor simple mirror effects seem to evoke enough attraction for our spectacle-oriented society today. Therefore, new landmarks will continue to reach for innovative combinations of material and form to create brilliant veils and a bright urban future.

Light matters, a monthly column on light and space, is written by Thomas Schielke. Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting and works as an editor for the lighting company ERCO. He has published numerous articles and co-authored the books “Light Perspectives” and “SuperLux”. For more information check www.erco.com, www.arclighting.de or follow him @arcspaces.

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Oh!Porto Apartments / Nuno de Melo e Sousa + Hugo Ferreira Arquitectos

October 12, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Architects: Nuno de Melo e Sousa, Hugo Ferreira Arquitectos
Location: Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Area: 300.0 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: José Campos

A building on a privileged site in dialogue with the emblematic D.Luís I bridge, the river, facing the houses and Porto´s Ribeira, embedded within a unique landscape that leads us where the Douro crosses the horizon. Building on top of this area protected under the flag of Unesco with its charming historical character, was a delicate process – a deep reflection made of very strong restrictions.

The existing building, buffeted by abandonment and full of add-ons, would have to adapt to a new type of use: apartments for local tourism. On four floors, measuring 13.80m by 7.20m, it was necessary to organise five independent studios for flexible use, a penthouse, a reception with a common kitchen, back office and technical areas.

Given the constraints of the building´s weakness, the remaining thick perimeter granite walls, and new programmatic use, the design concept serves three principal structures:

1- a longitudinal concrete axis serving as backbone to support the existing structure and to solve all the technical necessities: bathrooms, kitchens, vertical ducts, lighting and the elevator. Applying this layout, the studios became open spaces and the longitudinal view: the courtyard versus the Oporto, the Douro river, the bridges, and the ocean.

2 – a staircase, on the concrete spine alignment, connects all floors and different exterior areas.

3 – a new volume, assuming as an “add-on”, with the typical black slate outside skin- two bedroom apartment with a large living room facing the best panoramic views towards Oporto.

The proposal is expressed along a longitudinal section, between the margins of reconstruction, the new structure and the backyard areas, from the street level to the top. These relations enhance the inner experience of the building, framing the construction site challenged by conditions concerning space and light, became the design themes, articulating different levels of privacy within the excavated granite, under tension with the sculptural stairs, the back concrete hill and the D.Luís I bridge.

From the inside, the building, reveals the structural and conceptual narrative. The concrete slabs and walls, show the spine which holds the thick granite walls, with the existing windows as framed views. And the penthouse, as it is a penthouse, is white!

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Detailed, Colorful Elevation Drawings of Historic Brazillian Buildings Illustrated in CAD

October 12, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Luz Station, São Paulo. Image © Zema Vieira

While using technical drawings, Zema Vieira makes architectural illustrations by using only AutoCAD without any further techniques. Her body of work became a project called “Fachada Frontal” or “Front Facade.” In it, the artist depicts buildings from cities around the world, with a particular focus on Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Check out below the illustrations made by the artist.

Praça da Estação / Station Square, Belo Horizonte. Image © Zema Vieira

“The project came about through an admiration for the way that architectural designs use to be represented. Not just the buildings, but the project themselves relied on a wealth of detail and an artistic sensibility that I believe would be impossible to recreate with the coldness of technical drawing tools used today, particularly CAD software. That’s where it came from, a desire to try.”

St. Joseph’s Church, Belo Horizonte - Pre-restoration facade. Image © Zema Vieira

St. Joseph’s Church, Belo Horizonte - Post-restoration facade (detailed illustration). Image © Zema Vieira

“Facades especially caught my attention – an architect always plays with shadows to highlight volume, a technique now replaced by using different line thicknesses. The illustrations in Fachada Frontal, with maybe one or two exceptions, are always elevations, drawings without vanishing points, the same way they would be in technical drawings.”

Souza Pinto Sawmill , Belo Horizonte (detailed illustration). Image © Zema Vieira

Mining and Metal Museum, Belo Horizonte (detailed illustration). Image © Zema Vieira

“Choosing which buildings to do was partly based on personal taste, but also involves practical issues. A major feature of the piece is the representation of each detail of the building, which makes a trip to the place for a photographic survey a fundamental step in the process. This visit also helps in understanding the object and its relationship with the urban landscape that surrounds it, and this is often reflected in designs that include this context.”

Acaiaca Building, Belo Horizonte (detailed illustration). Image © Zema Vieira

Learn more about Fachada Frontal here or follow the project on Instagram or Facebook.

http://ift.tt/2dWIKuB

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