From the architect. A haven for a young couple of art collectors and their two children to relax, coexist in harmony with their collection of works of art and design and feel at home in, right in the centre of London.
This is, in short, the brief Brazilian architect Fernanda Marques was given by the owners of this property, located at the end of a tranquil square in cosmopolitan London’s Belgravia.
“I retrofitted the triplex penthouse. My clients wanted ideal conditions for displaying their extensive art and furniture collection. My greatest challenge was to find the balance between the collection of works of art, prominently sculptural furniture and the everyday of a home”, explains Fernanda.
More than any other project this one required from the architect a thorough study of the materials and colours used in the interiors so as to ensure there would be enough wall surfaces as well as bright and open spaces.
Differently from the property’s original layout – with strong divisions between private and common areas – the interior was redesigned as large interconnected spaces, limiting doors to the indispensible ones.
4th Floor Plan
And so on the first floor are two suites, including the master bedroom – and soundproofing was enhanced. On the middle floor are the media room, the children’s suite and a guest suite. On the top floor are the kitchen, dining and living rooms.
As the couple are art collectors – and own, among others, works by Adriana Varejão and Zhang Huan- the lighting for the apartment received much attention.
Dayling, in turn, filtered by the windows that overlook the square, helps create a continuous, practically uninterrupted flow of spaces, where the owners’ vigorous art collection creates, at the same time, a unique and private atmosphere.
The Visual Resources Collection (VRC) at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) has released the second phase of their online database, now containing 20,000 images of architectural plans, sections, diagrams and photographs. The Avery/GSAPP Architectural Plans & Sections Collection contains images related to GSAPP’s history of modern architecture curriculum, which focuses on the history of modern buildings, with an emphasis of 20th century Modernism.
Released within the Artstor Digital Library, the collection was launched earlier this year with 10,000 images. Now, after the completion of Phase 2, the database includes images from nearly 1,000 built projects from 44 countries as well as documentation of unbuilt projects and competitions such as the Chicago Tribune Tower and the Lenin Library – the new set of 10,000 images includes nearly 100 projects by architect Le Corbusier, 100 projects in South America, and over 125 in Japan.
The collection was compiled by three VRC curators in conjunction with professors Mary McLeod and Kenneth Frampton, as well as a team of over 25 Columbia GSAPP students. The team included students from across many of the GSAPP programs, including Masters of Architecture, Historic Preservation, Urban Design, and Urban Planning programs.
In the canon of great Dutch architects sit a number of renowned practitioners, from Berlage to Van Berkel. Rem Koolhaas—the grandson of architect Dirk Roosenburg and son of author and thinker Anton Koolhaas—stands above all others and has, over the course of a career spanning four decades, sought to redefine the role of the architect from a regional autarch to a truly globally-active shaper of worlds – be they real or imagined. A new film conceived and produced by Tomas Koolhaas, the LA-based son of its eponymous protagonist, attempts to biographically represent the work of OMA by “expos[ing] the human experience of [its] architecture through dynamic film.” No tall order.
Tomas, who has been critical of films about architecture which are “made up of talking-head interviews interspersed [by] static, lifeless shots of empty structures,” suggested that REM would be “the first documentary to comprehensively explore the human conditions in and around [OMA’s] buildings.” Based on this vision—and, to a lesser degree, the nigh-on cult following which the practice has garnered—over a hundred Kickstarter backers pledged just over $30,000 to part-fund its production. REM, which has been four years in the making, premiered last week at the 73rd VeniceFilm Festival.
“New York City is the beginning, you could say. The foundation of everything else.” This city, unlike most others, has a certain foundational resonance for Koolhaas. Following his studies at London’s Architectural Association in 1972, he relocated to start working on Delirious New York, a retroactive manifesto for the city. This seminal book, which studies the unique metropolitan urban condition of the city to posit it “as the arena for the terminal stage of Western civilisation,” has since taken on almost mythological status. The stage for the film is set: this is a deadly serious affair, and one which will require your full attention.
If you’re looking for insights into the persona of the protagonist, you’ll be disappointed. Yes – Koolhaas sometimes flies Transavia, a budget-level subsidiary of KLM. He wears Prada, and a lot of it. He doesn’t use an iPhone. But a human-interest story, similar to that of Nathaniel Kahn’s My Architect (a highly personal journey to get to know his father, Louis Kahn), was never going to be the deal, here – and thank goodness. It’s clear that REM has been a formidable challenge behind the lens. Tomas has created a powerful cinematic experience, the quality of which is comparatively unparallelled in the world of architectural films. The film neatly sculpts the story of Koolhaas into a tight, rigorously edited narrative and the persona which emerges is at once charismatic, enigmatic, and reticent.
A certain degree of reticence is to be expected. For a filmmaker-turned-journalist, and a journalist-turned-architect, Koolhaas has more experience than most in recognising the power, and danger, of publicity. The Dutch translation for “editor” is redacteur – a word which, once Anglicised, references the process of “redaction” or, in its most extreme definition, “censorship.” REM sharply focuses in on a collection of grand narratives—building in the Middle East, for example; the media, villas, the countryside, the 14th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice—while others moments, such as the workings of his practice and the ways in which he collaborates with others (we see people like Marina Abramovic and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, albeit briefly), dissolve into a bokeh blur. If you accept that the story being told is revealing itself in a very particular way, frustrations are few; if not, scenes can often feel curtailed and all too brief.
From two techniques—the overarching voice of the architect himself, which spans almost the entire feature, and his portrayal by Tomas, his son—derives the film’s sense of authenticity. As we shadow Koolhaas across the globe, we become particularly au fait with the back of his head and shoulders – a conscious cinematic tactic which imbues the film with a sustained sense of momentum that it might otherwise lack. For the most part Koolhaas is moving, and we move with him. Occasionally scenes show him in meetings (audio redacted and often through a glazed partition), or we follow him through a construction site. Sometimes we hear people talk about him while Koolhaas himself, aside from incidental glances, never directly addresses the lens.
Nevertheless, REM constructs the most intimate portrait of the architect so far – not only in terms of how the narrative is delivered but also visually so. We learn, for example, that for Koolhaas exercise is a sociological undertaking. “Nothing is more revealing than seeing how people move in or near the water,” he states. A protracted, almost hypnotic scene attests to this: first we’re with Koolhaas swimming in a pool, before cutting to him leaping out of a boat in an ocean somewhere and swimming some more, before we jump abruptly to a dramatic face-on profile of the man in question – his piercing eyes framed by a furrowed brow and crescents below. Sudden and unexpected scene changes throughout mean that the film has no geographical anchor, nor a steady sense of where we sit in time. It feels as though we’re at the whim of his dizzying schedule and, as a result, the film feels almost timeless.
The observational power of Koolhaas’ practice is revealed in three short scenes in which Tomas revisits three of OMA’s groundbreaking projects: one public building, the Seattle Public Library, and two private villas in France – the Maison à Bordeaux, and the Villa dall’Ava in Paris. In Seattle the scene focuses on two homeless men, Phil and Mark, who use the building as both a retreat to pass the time and a place feel connected. “I’m sure it’s not any science or proven fact, but I think that some environments induce or are conducive to calming people” Mark, rather poignantly, suggests. This scene, which above all satisfies Tomas’ ambition to explore the human conditions in and around the buildings, is one of the more successful. Rather than capturing stationary shots of the library—an all too easy move when photographing architecture—the journey we take is a personal one, and one which treats a small box piano room with the same attention as the iconic atria.
The Maison à Bordeaux, one of OMA’s groundbreaking private houses, is presented with the same level of careful consideration. Completed in 1998, the building has visibly worn – concrete surfaces are slightly stained and the grass around is overgrown. One of its original residents, the father of Louise Lemoine who was physically disabled, has since passed away, and the house and its inhabitants have gradually restructured it for different patterns of living. An interview with Lemoine (who created the 2013 film Koolhaas Houselifealongside her collaborator Ila Bêka), in which she describes a domestic condition at once comfortable and “challenging,” is both beautiful and telling. Here, too, Koolhaas appears at his most relaxed and open and, perhaps, most satisfied.
Fundamentals and Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014—the two vast exhibitions he curated and controlled for the 14th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice—were immense undertakings, and the film palpably reveals the strain that they caused. One scene, in which Koolhaas is encased by journalists in advance of the opening, is particularly notable: the soundtrack, a majestic unbroken score by Murray Hidary, gives way as a television reporter asks him to describe what visitors to the Biennale will see. Looking to the floor and wiping his brow in despair, Koolhaas replies: “Sorry, I can’t answer that question. Just read the text.”
Whereas frustration ultimately melts into acceptance (he eventually answers the question, having been posed for the umpteenth time), it highlights one of the broader themes of the film and one which he addresses unambiguously: the matter of celebrity. “The dilemma,” Koolhaas states, “is whether you can use it or not.” While he recognises that the success of OMA is in large part down to its global exposure this has, in turn, fed an ever more voracious demand for his work, his opinions, and his presence.
Should REM, therefore, be read as the “official” retelling of Koolhaas’ professional life? A unique opportunity for both Tomas Koolhaas and Rem himself to redact—a necessary process, admittedly, in a seventy-minute film—and reformulate the narrative of a career which has been discussed, criticised, and lauded more than any other living architect? Perhaps this is the case. If so, it makes the film all the richer for it.
One World Trade Center is a bold icon lling the skyline void left by the fallen towers. While the adjacent World Trade Center Memorial speaks of the past and of remembrance, One World Trade Center speaks about the future and hope as it rises upward in a faceted form. Depending on the viewer’s perspective and angle of light, One World Trade Center appears to shape-shift from a platonic solid reminiscent of the original twin towers to an obelisk recalling the Washington Monument.
One World Trade Center ts seamlessly into the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site, on land claimed from the Hudson River over centuries of development in Manhattan. The site, several blocks east of the river and in the heart of the nancial district, will ultimately house more than ten million square feet of commercial development in ve towers, a performing arts center, 500,000 square feet of retail, a transportation hub, and, at its center, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
The master plan restores Fulton and Greenwich Streets, formerly blocked by the World Trade Tower plaza and the original 7 World Trade Center building, breathing new vitality into the area. The new 7 World Trade Center, which opened in 2006, reopens Greenwich Street, easing the ow of commerce and sending a message of accessibility to the approximately ve million annual visitors to the memorial and museum. The 2013 opening of 4 World Trade Center, the second tower to rise on Greenwich Street, signaled an important step towards completing the spiraling master plan, wherein each new tower stands progressively taller, culminating in the symbolic 1,776-foot One World Trade Center.
The tower rises from a podium whose square plan measures approximately 204 feet by 204 feet, the same footprints as the original towers. The podium is 186 feet tall and is clad in triple-laminated, low-iron glass ns and horizontal, embossed stainless steel slats. The more than 4,000 glass ns, each measuring approximately 13 feet by two feet, are xed and positioned at varying angles along the vertical axis to form a regular pattern over the height of the podium. This pattern both accommodates ventilation for the mechanical levels behind the podium wall and, in combination with a re ective coating, refracts and transmits light to create a dynamic, shimmering surface. The podium’s heavily reinforced concrete walls serve as a well-disguised security barrier.
Above the podium, the tower’s square edges are chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles. At its middle, the tower forms an equilateral octagon in plan and then culminates in a stainless steel parapet whose plan is a 150-foot by 150-foot square, rotated 45 degrees from the base. The resulting crystalline form captures an ever- evolving display of refracted light: the surfaces change throughout the day as light and weather conditions shift and as the viewer moves around the tower. Careful thought was also given to the design of the tower’s corners. Made of embossed stainless steel, the eight edges recall the re ective corners of the original twin towers.
One World Trade Center features a hybrid structure comprised of a high-strength concrete core surrounded by a perimeter moment frame of steel. Paired with the massive concrete shear walls of the core, the steel frame adds rigidity and structural redundancy. Both bolted and welded together for maximum connection strength, the steel members were hoisted into place by two Manitowoc cranes – the largest ever used in New York City. The tower’s tapered, aerodynamic form reduces exposure to wind loads while simultaneously reducing the amount of structural steel needed. Rising a quarter mile into the sky, the tower is brute strength veiled in glass.
Excavation is usually a bane for real estate developers. To make way for new buildings, truckloads of excavated waste are removed from site in a noisy, time-consuming and gas-guzzling process. Exploring a more sustainable solution, the California-based company Watershed Materials have developed an onsite pop-up plant which repurposes excavated material right at the job site to create concrete masonry units (CMUs) used in the development. By eliminating truck traffic, reusing waste and reducing imported materials, the result is a win for the environment.
The machine is shown here at Watershed Materials’ pilot block factory and research lab in Napa, California. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials
The pop-up plant itself works by applying ultra-high compression to loose excavation spoils, transforming it into a sustainable CMU. The pressure turns the mineral grains into a sort of sedimentary rock, mimicking the natural geological process of lithification. This unique manufacturing technology is the brainchild of Watershed Materials, who previously developed the compression technique in order to reduce the amount of cement used in concrete blocks by 50%.
Sample structural masonry block produced by Watershed Materials using excavated soil samples from the Kirkham site. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials
As the founder of the sustainable building materials startup David Easton points out: “There’s absolutely nothing new about building masonry structures from local materials. Some of the oldest and best-known architecture in the world has been constructed from stone and clay sourced directly on site.” But according to Easton, “what is new and absolutely groundbreaking is that with upgraded technology and improved material science, a construction waste product the developer had to pay to dispose of can now become an asset and provides environmental benefits as well.”
The Kirkham Project Community Plaza, a one-quarter acre accessible open space in the center of the development, provides excellent opportunities for installation of Watershed Materials blocks as pavers and landscaping features. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials
The pop-up plant was born when Naomi Porat, development manager of Alpha Group and part of the team working on the Kirkham Project, approached the startup to bring their technology straight to the construction site. The Kirkham Project is an urban infill redevelopment in San Francisco spanning across 445 new housing units, community plazas and gardens. While addressing the city’s need for additional housing, neighbors expressed concern over construction traffic, making it the perfect place to explore this onsite approach.
The Kirkham Project pedestrian entry, stairs and retaining wall along Kirkham Street provides an opportunity for installation of Watershed Materials’ blocks as both structural and decorative applications. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials
In their feasibility study, the Kirkham Project team identified compelling advantages of the onsite process and product. Reduced truck traffic meant reduced cost, diesel emissions and impact on neighbors. Also beneficial to neighbors is the pop-up plant itself, which is no louder than typical construction equipment and only onsite for a limited period of time.
The Kirkham Project development team is evaluating the feasibility of using Watershed Materials blocks for the structural elements of sub-grade parking structures below these residential buildings. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials
From the architect. Since its founding in 1961, Cetys University has been dedicated to shaping a new culture for expanding and sharing knowledge throughout Baja California. The Center for Postgraduate Studies is emblematic of the institution’s vision for leadership and innovation, creating a singular building focused on social connectivity and environmental sustainability.
Located in the arid desert climate of Mexicali, along the San Andreas fault line, the building stands as a fortiñed block that protects against earthquakes and high temperatures. The solid mass of the building wraps around the southeast and west sides with a layered exterior shell and built earthen topography insulating against the sun, whereas to the north the structure and landscape open to connect with the central campus quad. The thick exterior walls house the building’s anti-seismic structure and help isolate interior and exterior temperatures, and an expanded aluminum screen offset from the perimeter envelops the building, creating an additional layer that allows for natural air circulation and reduced heat gain.
Diagram
The building’s interior organization is predicated upon the interaction of two distinct spatial zones, creating a strategic composition of public and private spaces that simultaneously serves as a passive ventilation system. An enclosed, private zone of classrooms, offices and study areas interlocks with an open, public zone made up of various social spaces, producing a vibrant interplay of transparency and opacity as well as a continuous dialogue of spatial uses. A spiraling of hallways across the building’s three floors allows for both pedestrian and air circulation. The central atrium is not only a major social hub, but also the largest of various thermal centers which collect and flush out hot air through a system of solar chimneys located above stairways and other multiple-height spaces.
Though shielded, the building’s private zone interacts with its public spaces and the campus through a series of cubes and incisions that reveal the building’s deep interiors and frame views to both the outside and within. Like stones cast in a riverbed at varying depths, the cubes puncture, expand, and expose the solid walls. Private rooms for study and meetings are located within – dense and protected, they’re closed off from the noise of the building but are visually open, allowing light and visibility for those inside. Although the building’s thickness stems from the need to protect against solar radiation, these moments allow for transparency without over-exposure, creating both visual and thermal connections throughout.
By integrating passive thermal strategies with the building’s interior space, a 50% reduction in energy demand was achieved in comparison to a building of equal size and conventional construction. The Center for Postgraduate Studies marks a new precedent for Cetys University’s future growth, as well as the development of energy-passive building specific to the arid climates of Baja and Southern California.
Small stories and architectonic practices that existed in each character filled village and provinces in Buenos Aires are here rescued by Juan Viel when he captures their atmospheres and particularities through his camera.
The variety of images and their subjects invite us to reflect on the substance and architectural heritage in these small Argentinian towns, and to think about the places where we live.
Within the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo in a park designed by the French landscape architect Charles Thays, the Parque 3 de Febrero (February 3rd Park) , sits the Galileo Galilei Planetarium. Inaugurated on December 20, 1966, it was born of the idea of human evolution and the need to show it in architecture. The building exists as an instrument or bridge between the scientific world and the citizens of the city of Buenos Aires.
Designed by Argentine architect Enrique Jan, the building establishes a relationship between astronomy and architecture through its shared components: mathematics and geometry. Thanks to its location and unique shape, it is currently one of the iconic images of the city and the scene of many scientific, cultural, and festive events.
via Flickr user: Luis Argerich CC BY–NC 2.0
The profile of the planetarium stands out because of Jan’s contribution, both in the development of Argentine industry and as the manifestation of its possibilities, by putting forth a symbol for architectural expression. According to the architect, “This building is one of the few in the world designed and constructed based on the module of an equilateral triangle”, the first flat surface that can be created with a minimum of equal sides and enclosing a symbolic principle of unity of origin that establishes a recurring theme in the project. This unit can be seen in the ground plan and is present in all parts of the building, demonstrating the relationship between the parts and the whole.
via Flickr user: digitaltemi CC BY 2.0
The construction of Galileo Galilei Planetarium began in 1962, under the Argentinian architect’s direction and through the Department of Architecture of the then Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires. The company Construcciones Civiles SA was in charge of construction and, with great technical effort and professional collaboration, the first function was held in June 1967 and the opening of the planetarium took place on April 5, 1968.
Section/ Courtesy of Planetario Galileo Galilei
The building has five floors and six staircases, forming three main parts; the front grounds, the exhibition area on the first floor and the circular planetary room, 20-meter-wide space made up of a series of three hemispherical domes.
The front grounds consist of a bridge over a water mirror 47 meters in diameter where you can find ammonites, marine fossils and a metallic meteorite found in Chaco Province in 1965. The entrance hall leads to a spiral staircase that takes you up to the first floor, and the triangular shaped exhibition area, or down to the basement level, where you would find a specialized library, administrative and management room, restrooms, storage rooms and the machine room.
via Flickr user: Denise Mayumi CC BY 2.0
Until 2011 the main room was home to the 5 meters tall and 2.5-ton instrument that made up the system for projecting onto the first inner dome which was covered with aluminum sheets as a screen and provided various functions in relation to the astronomical theme.
After 2011 the space has undergone some renovations. Inside the dome projection, equipment and armchairs were replaced with newer models and the dome’s aluminum plates were also updated. Outside, the dome’s 15-year-old Xenon arc lamp architectural lighting system was replaced by LED lamps, resulting in the current geometric profile that stands out in the Buenos Aires night.
Industrial Engineer: Amorós Ingenieros ; María Amorós Gonzálvez
Calculist: Raúl Álamo Brotons
Collaborator: Universidad de Alicante (GIRA); Miguel Louis Cereceda, Yolanda Spairani Berrio, Raúl Prado Govea, Jose Antonio Huesca Tortosa, Ángeles García del Cura, David Benavente
Santa Pola Municipality: Rafael Plá
Construction: Grupo Renovak Rehabilitación de Edificios,
From the architect. What initially was meant to be the repair of some humidity and filtrations, turned out to be the full rehabilitation of this historical building, which dates to 1860, to its original value of “Posito Pesquero”.
During the intervention it becomes self-evident that, the different actions executed over time on the building, as well as the evolution of the building´s purpose, have provoked the initial condition, together with the composition and the cavities in its facade, to be found completely modified and detracted from its initial aspect due to its constant adaptations towards its current function, making it unrecognizable when compared to its initial aspect and projection.
Externally, the walls were found covered by different layers of paint and mortar. Internally, a brick wall covered with tiles, hid the original ashlar and masonry walls. Two levels of false ceilings placed at different heights prevented the view of the original wooden structure which composed the roof of the building.
An interior redistribution of the existing surface area is suggested, as well as a small expansion which takes advantage of the spatial dimensions in order to, by creating a double-height, offer the possibility of savoring the building from unknown points of view, placed on different levels and allowing to put value on highly important and singular elements such as the original wooden structure that forms the roof.
Section 1
Section 2
An extensive consolidation and cleaning process is carried out with several actions towards its maintenance and recovery.
For this process, the different layers of paint and mortar that covered the external facade are removed in order to allow for the visibility of the load-bearing masonry walls with elements of brick, plinth, border and cornice.
The original composition of the cavities in the facade is recovered by eliminating the cavities generated by the new functional use of the building. In this case, functionality had been prioritized however not respecting its original look given its dimensions and locations.
The original roof tiles are recovered and polished up as well as provided with the necessary isolation and water-resistant treatment for its current use. The exterior aspect of plain roof tile is also recovered.
Two large access gates are introduced in the facade, resembling the warehouses of the days. The gates help to enhance the access to the building and to hide and integrate at the same time the composition of the facade and the supply connections that must be placed in the external enclosure of the building.
Two metallic coated crates painted in black allow to separate the carpentry in the access thereby respecting the brick borders that used to frame the original cavities.
A forged wall is built to separate the construction from direct contact with the land against capillary rise of humidity. A floated concrete deck is used as pavement in order to provide continuity.
The new floor structure that is executed and that constitutes the intermediate attic floor, is separated from the ashlar stones and the masonry walls, respecting hereby the original building structure and clearly differentiating if from the new intervention.
The Vacheron Constantin Headquarters and Manufacturing Center, designed and built by Bernard Tschumi Architects (2001-2005), required additional facilities so as to meet the manufacturer’s increasing demands for state-of-the-art watch production. Although the new program is more than double the size of the original four-story building situated on the outskirts of Geneva, the client insisted on preserving the building’s iconic and symbolic presence.
The new building is located so as to open a cone of vision toward the flagship building. Since other construction is anticipated, the architects conceived of a campus in which all the buildings differ in configuration, but appear to belong to the same structural family.
The manufacturing spaces have been oriented on the north side of the new building so as to achieve the best natural light for the skilled watchmakers, with skylights providing comfortable working conditions. A large restaurant opens onto a generous lawn. A ground-level service court allows for truck deliveries, while the car park and small delivery depot occupy the basement level.
The concept of a curved metal envelope acting as a common denominator for both manufacturing and management, blue- and white-collar workers, was the starting point for the original building. For the extension, the architects developed a two-story variation on the original roof and installed 15,000 square feet (1500 m2) of continuous solar panels for energy conservation and efficiency.
A key feature of the extension is a spectacular glazed stepped ramp that serves as a vestibule and leads to the watchmakers’ changing rooms. The ramp provides an articulation between the original and new buildings.
Sig Nordal 