Satellite Architects have designed a pixelated facade for Designjunction temporary exhibition space at Cubitt House in Kings Cross, London. The facade combines natural and artificial elements by wrapping a reflective, gridded screen on top of a second screen of trees and bushes, allowing the foliage to peek through.
It is the combination of the natural artificial elements that Satellite Architects believe “reflect the temporary nature of the Design Junction exhibition.” The array of pixelated panels merges the obvious structural system with reflections of the context and glimpses of nature, softening the strength of the grid.
Courtesy of Satellite Architects
The reflective elements amplify the facades presence, multiplying the natural elements to give the feeling that visitors are “passing through the shrouded foliage” as they pass through to the exhibition. The panels are composed of an integrated wayfinding device, guiding visitors to the entrances.
Courtesy of Satellite Architects
The facade will be constructed in early September this year, in time for the Designjunction Festival which runs from 22-25th September in Kings Cross, London. The exhibition has been organized as part of the London Design Festival.
Development Group: Felipe Limongi, Juan Benavides, Manuel Mendoza, Francisco Pinzón, Ximena García, Fredy Pantoja, Laura Pérez, José Joaquín Gómez, Pablo Gaitán, Andrés Garzón, José Ricardo Gómez, Lina Mora, Gustavo Hernandez
As part of an ambitious master plan, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana has been conducting a series of architectural competitions with the aim of boosting its urban and architectural development for the next 20 years in a spirit of high creative, spatial and technological quality. Gerardo Arango S. J. Building, home of the School of Arts was the first in this series of buildings by competition and as such was intended to represent in its location and construction these new values that the university wanted to project to the city and the country.
To this end the southern edge of the campus was chosen, in direct relation to Enrique Olaya Herrera National Park. From early on the project took as its greatest asset this privileged location and entered the competition as the new door to the university that is open to the city through the park creating new roles for the university as an open and highly active institution in Bogota.
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The project is a new stage for the arts and innovation thus enhancing the natural condition that the park has to collect and concentrate different activities of social and urban life of this capital city. We have designed a building for the creation of new arts that supports diversity and enhances social exchange through art as a tool for reflection of the new realities that the country is ready to face.
The implementation and arrangement of the parts of the building has the additional attribute of integrating into a new public space the buildings that circumscribe it on the north, east and west sides. Tower and platform are the elements that enable the project to achieve this goal. A platform that is very closely linked to the park and topography and is above all the extension of public space between the university and the national park as a new plaza. In the center of this new public area grows the tower that finishes configuring the plaza to relate buildings that surround it, generating a new scale for the whole.
The tower is in turn divided into three volumes representing in their materiality and disposition each of the disciplines that make up the proposed school, generating a set of three autonomous worlds that are related through circulation, gaps and perspective connections vertically throughout the building.
Diagram
Following this logic, the world of visual arts associated with light is arranged in the last levels to take advantage of natural light through the overhead lighting provided by large skylights along with a translucent facade built from U-Glass that allows natural light to fade evenly. The classrooms are designed as flexible, generous and high spaces, with finishes that have been designed so that students can intervene them freely.
The second world, of silence and music, is constructed as an introverted space in gloom that offers a more private experience, a propitious space for music practice, for this reason the materiality of it has been thought of as more dense and solid. for which we use GRC panels on the facade and interior walls, which together with fewer openings to the outside gives that particular atmosphere to the building.
On the platform, dominating the new horizon that the building proposes and relations with the outside, a transparent and multiple world, a double-height space that allows the relationship between the three disciplines, a large gallery as a backdrop to the park and the city where students can dialogue through art with established artists.
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Finally on the platform we locate the world of movement, represented in the performing arts and for this purpose contains large classrooms and auditoriums as well as the administrative offices of the school that are separated from the classroom by a large interior staircase as an open street that draws the topography and is offered as public bleachers in direct relation to the exterior surface. These worlds are offset in large overhangs of 5.5 meters to the south and and north forming access thresholds as well as large urban balconies and generating space for peripheral stairs ascending in a spiral, promoting a space with movement, clear spatial contrasts in the atmospheres of each discipline and in relation to the distant landscape of the city.
Form4 Architecture has won first place at the International Design Awards for its project, Sea Song, which additionally was honored by the Green Good Design Awards presented by The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies, in collaboration with The Chicago Athenaeum’s Museum for Architecture and Design.
Courtesy of Form4 Architecture
Courtesy of Form4 Architecture
Located in Big Sur on the coast of California, Sea Song is designed as an unobtrusive form to the natural landscape. “Likened to a trio of gliding Manta Rays, its environmental footprint is virtually null, being raised on a cantilevered podium.”
Courtesy of Form4 Architecture
Courtesy of Form4 Architecture
To further its goals of sustainability, the project is additionally designed to be self-sustaining, net-zero energy, and is aiming for LEED Platinum certification via technologies such as photovoltaics, self-cleaning glass, rainwater retention, and xeriscape.
The 2016 European Architecture Students Assembly (EASA) has concluded in Nida, Lithuania. Centering around its title theme of “Not Yet Decided,” the two-week event included 35 workshops, with over half of the results still available to view around Nida. Among the most noticeable are “Highlight,” a 10-meter tall observation tower close to Nida’s lighthouse, a “nomadic theater” named “Atmosphere,” a relaxation space known as “The Living Room” at the end of a pier, and a sculptural seating installation on the beach known as “Dream Dune.” Read on to see images of all the completed installations.
EASA 2016 was organized in cooperation with the Neringa City Municipality, the Curonian Spit National Park, Lithuania’s Universities, The Architecture Fund, The Culture Support Fund, and various architects, private and public companies, and institutions. In 2017, EASA will head to Denmark, where it will enliven the town of Fredericia.
On a mountain in the rugged north of Ibiza, lies this beautiful casita. What formerly served as stables and storage, is now transformed into a contemporary dream house. The owners of Ibiza Interiors developed this 200 year old finca into their showroom and guesthouse.
To keep the character of the original building, basic materials are used. The beautiful authentic ‘sabina beams’ have been preserved, just like the original ancient stone walls in the kitchen and bathroom. The architects only used materials that were used traditionally on the island, like the iroko window frames, concrete and white chalk plastered stone walls.
The building had been unused for years, and was in very poor condition. Therefore only the walls, and parts of the roof could remain. Electricity, water and sewage were not present, the architects had to add all these things to make it work as a contemporary home. Water comes from a private well and there are solar panels installed for hot water, floor heating and electricity. The cottage is consequently completely independent of the grid operation and is thus self-sustainable.
Floor Plan
For the interior the designers used a number of brands and partners, where they often worked with in their hometown Amsterdam. So there are Coco-mat beds, made from natural materials and there’s art from the gallery Vroom & Varossieau. The upholstery is Etoffe Unique and all the other furniture, lighting and carpets are from their partner shop Modern Vintage. The beautiful steel designer kitchen with marble top is from Eginstill. The owners Jurjen and his wife Selina represent these brands and the architectural firm Standard on the island through their new company Ibiza Interiors.
The result is a fantastic contemporary residence where contrast plays a big role; old and new, sleek and rustic, light and dark. At the same time there’s a certain balance as well, and everywhere you look something is happening. With an incredible view from the mountain, a yoga platform above the house and many fruit trees and a vegetable garden, this is truly a piece of paradise. Here you really get into another world and you can relax and unwind. The nice thing is that everything is for sale, so except the house itself, you can take everything home!
Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter and Dualchas Architects have unveiled their plans for the St Kilda Visitor Center, which will be located on a cliff-top site at Geodha Sgoilt in the Uig area of the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Through the project, visitors will be able to experience the drama of St Kilda without physically visiting the famous archipelago, which lies over 50 miles to the southwest.
A triple world heritage site, St Kilda is famous not only for its sea cliffs and marine life but more for the story of how a community survived at the remote location before being evacuated in 1930.
By telling the story of this abandoned community, the current community of Uig hopes to catalyze economic development and reverse the population decline they have been suffering.
High-quality architecture can be an economic generator in remote rural communities- something both RRA and Dualchas have been committed to in rural Norway and the Scottish Highlands and Islands,” stated Dualchas director Neil Stephen. This can only happen if there is ambition and vision, which the community of Uig have in abundance – which is why this project is both exciting and important.
The project has been backed by UNESCO, and will serve as a template for creating “remote access” to the many World Heritage Sites that are geographically out of reach, environmentally fragile, or located in war zones.
The “Golden Garland” (K.G. Zochernrug) is a bridge in Tiel that strengthens the route from the shopping area to the city center. The bridge crosses the water diagonally and forms the best possible visual and functional connection between the embankments. By defining the entrance to the city the Garland plays the role of a “city gate”. In an elegant gesture the bridge invites people into the city.
The bridge relates to the canal environment and its design expresses fluidity and flow. It embeds itself into a network of pedestrian paths. The bridge negotiates the difference in the ground levels between the inner city and the station quarter, accentuating the continuity of the route with a graceful curve. A gentle double arc resolves the difference of height between both shores. The bridge doesn’t interfere with the monumental continuity of the canal and therefore appears open and transparent, modestly adding itself to the historic district.
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Details
The Golden Garland is an icon of the Burensepoort. Its golden coating, the city color of Tiel, reinforces the gate symbolism and links the bridge to the other two city gates. By night, the bridge looks like a golden curtain hanging above the city canal.
The steel bridge has asymmetrical longitudinal profile with the deck and girder welded into one slender closed form. The guardrails and supports are made of steel too. The concrete foundation at the inner city side disappears in the grass slope. On the other side the concrete foundation is wrapped by brick similar to the embankment. The different treatment of bridgeheads emphasizes the contrast between the inner city and the station quarter.
Before RIGI took over this project, the owner had already got a complete set of space design plan, but his plan did not solve problems existing in traditional medical space. After RIGI is commissioned to do the design for this project, together with the owner, RIGI overthrows the original design concept. RIGI hopes to get rid of the sense of discomfort created by medical space through the space design, and to create a different atmosphere for the whole space. RIGI hopes to express the idea that medical space needs to show trust and hope through different design insights. There should be warmth, goodwill, openness, communication and smile in life. RIGI wishes that all of these could be shown within this space.
From the architect. Dental clinic is not a happy place to go, or we should say, no clinic could make people feel happy: the cold registration desk, the worrisome waiting chairs and the disturbing doors of the clinic rooms; the whole space is filled with a sense of distrust between doctors and patients. However, from spiritual aspect, clinic should be a place which brings hope, or at least should be a warm space. It might not be a delightful thing to go to the dentist, so RIGI does some magic to this space through design, bringing it some kind of warmth and caring.
Because there’s warmth, life should have been happier. This is a clinic in RIGI’s heart and this is a RIGI-styled life terminal.
The brand logo and brand IP image of this dental clinic is orange. So circle penetrates the whole design as basic element, and wood material and the match of selected colors deliver a warm texture sensually. The space consists of four areas: entrance, kids area, waiting area and clinic. Besides its basic function, each of the areas has its corresponding design insight, and together, these four areas make up the genes of this dental brand and turn the cold medical space into a life terminal which connects to people and spreads warmth and caring.
This project is located in a creative park. To analyze from the perspective of behavior, seeing a doctor is different from going shopping. There is almost no occasional guest for clinics; patients only choose to come after learning about it. The special nature of this industry determines that this space needs no use of eye-catching signs to attract customers, and a friendly façade could narrow the sense of distance between medical space and the patients. Thus, RIGI adopts a design strategy of weakening the boundary between outdoor and indoor space through using plants on the façade to connect the outdoor and indoor space, and simplifies the scale of the logo on the wall to avoid delivering excessive commercial atmosphere. The façade extends to the interior space through circle, an element from the IP image, and interesting materials are used to create a warm commercial atmosphere. The design of the front desk also tries to present an attitude of relaxed and equal. Starting from the entrance, people could tell this is a friendly space and a warm clinic.
Building a sense of trust within the space is one of RIGI’s design focuses. The world of adults is complex and lack of security, excessive attentions may create an unfriendly sense of distance on the contrary, so we suggest the owner to build a kids area in the important place of the entrance. Caring for kids is caring for adults; a clinic which cares for kids would, to some degree, present a sense of caring and responsibility. Space does not exist in isolation, the emotions and need of roles of people’s behavior within the space are what RIGI is always trying to explore. Design idea is not top-down propaganda, but something that users could always perceive and understand in the terminal. That is the key to design in this age.
Waiting chairs in traditional hospitals are arranged in a parallel way and in orders. However, it is this sense of order that enhances the unease of patients. After all, what waiting for you is a terrible experience of seeing a dentist; it is anything but nothing good to be looking forward. So we make the layout of the waiting area looks like a dinner table. Here people can sit face to face; they could communicate with each other or wait quietly. In this way, this waiting process is equal and random during which patients could feel the temperament of the space. The orange and transparent area on the left side of the waiting area is the central supply room of the clinic. All medical devices and gauze will be centralized and sterilized here; thus the philosophy of “going transparent” of the clinic will be reflected through this transparent and open way. All these designs make people have a further perception of the clinic’s philosophy, while life scenario oriented design further expresses the clinic’s warm and caring nature. It might not be a home, but RIGI hopes to bring people a perception of home through design. After all, clinic is a place where problems will be solved and hopes be created, just like a home.
When people see the rows of doorplates such as dental implant department and radiology department, to some extent, a sense of discomfort and anxiety will grow. RIGI cancels all the logos and adds text signs with readable dimensions on the glass of corridors while doing the design. The issue of spatial recognition chaos does not exist in a clinic of this size. RIGI also uses signs of numbers to connect the corridor and departments. Different numbers on the floor mark different functional spaces. To eliminate in maximum the uneasy and anxiety of seeing a doctor is the key point of RIGI’s design.
The cross-sectional and longitudinal aspects of scale
The house belongs to a married couple with two children, and stands near the Tama River, which flows through Atsugi City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Plan 1
Although the surface of the Tama River flows eight meters below the house, The dry part of the river is at the same level as the house’s property. The dry part of the bed adjoins the property without any separation by an embankment or other structure. Although a road is situated between the dry river bed and the property, because there is almost no difference in elevation, the property is essentially a continuation of the river bed. The scale of the Tama River is far larger than the scale of the house’s property; however, the scale of the Sagami River, into which the Tama River flows just a short distance downstream from that point, is even larger.
For this unique location, in which scales ranging from the ultra small to the ultra large exist together, I came up with the idea of using an inverted V-shaped plane that combines both ultra small and ultra large scales. The open side of the inverted V indicates extensity whereby scale grows infinitely in the direction toward the river. The narrowing side becomes the space for clothing or food in the house. I arranged six of these inverted V-shaped planes to form a flat house resembling a fan-shaped plane.
For the cross-section, I arranged windows of the same size at the intermediate level, between the first and second floor (when viewed at the scale of the surrounding houses), in an associative array facing the river. For the floors, I alternated a high floor and low floor. The living room on the higher floor is a space of panoramic proportions with a suppressed ceiling height. The children’s room on the lower floor is a space of oblong proportions with a high ceiling. I called the area under the higher floor an “under-floor open space” and installed equipment for play and daily life there. It is a place for outdoor living, resembling a garden that extends to the adjoining ultra large-scale dry portion of the river bed.
Indoors, people go back and forth between the open side and the narrow side of the inverted V-shaped plane as they also go up and down between the higher floor and the lower floor. Outdoors, they go directly out from the under-floor open space to the dry river bed via the adjoining land. For both the indoors and outdoors, the zoom moves in and out freely in terms of the planar and cross-sectional view between the ultra small scale of the house’s interior and the ultra large scale of the river.
When rapeseed blossoms on the ultra small scale bloom across the entire dry river bed, the scale of the natural landscape in view swings within a certain range. This creates an ultra large-scale landscape, making the tall Mt. Fuji appear small, and making the Tanzawa mountains (which are lower than Mt. Fuji) appear larger. I wanted to create a sense of living where there are rapeseed blossoms, a house, a river, and mountains within such a mischievous shifting of scale.
Sig Nordal 