© Peter Clarke

• Architects: Jackson Clements Burrows
• Location: College Cres, Keysborough VIC 3173, Australia
• Area: 3700.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Peter Clarke

• Builder: Lend Lease
• Structural: ARUP
• Services Consultant: SKM-S2FF
• Acoustic: Marshal Day

© Peter Clarke

From the architect. The project involved the redevelopment of three tired 1980s buildings at Monash University’s Clayton campus.  The intention was to establish new informal and engaging learning hubs within the three buildings and to clarify campus wayfinding by creating new pedestrian ‘walks’.

© Peter Clarke

JCB’s response was to reinforce the main campus intersection with a formal gesture incorporating folding and twisting concrete canopies, a theatrical stair and seating platforms. The canopies provide shelter, entrance identity and a dramatic engagement with the student realm, allowing for moments of congregation, observation and contemplation from the vantage of the stair.

1st Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan

3rd Floor Plan

Themed interiors and informal furniture with complimentary material selections were used to de-institutionalise the interior spaces. The Student Services Desk is sculptural in form, eliminating the traditional linear counter anticipated within this type of facility.

© Peter Clarke

A variety of work tables were designed for self-directed study or collaborative activities. Writable surfaces throughout encourage group learning. Throughout the building, visual links to the surrounding landscape and walks are maximized.

The upper floor schemes took the existing layout of a central corridor with perimeter offices and turned it inside out; open plan office areas, meeting rooms and ancillary spaces have been arranged in bays through the centre of the plan while the new circulation spaces run along the north and south facades, creating break-out spaces and informal seating areas along the perimeter.

© Peter Clarke

The new facades were developed as a colourful ‘kit of parts’ to address solar shading, building identity and transparency.  Mild steel shading loops and coloured fins were used to enliven and reinforce the existing structural rhythms of the buildings while the external colour scheme across the precinct sought to both reflect and abstract the surrounding landscape. 

© Peter Clarke

http://ift.tt/2b6VvDg

Courtesy of Architensions

New-York-based studio Architensions has released the design for its shortlisted project, Rising Ryde, for the Ryde Civic Center in Sydney, Australia. In an effort to embrace local communities and contexts, the project is conceived as a hill-shaped building covered in local vegetation and it aims to prioritize people through its complex system of social connections and interactions with nature.

As an open spatial system, the project “aggregates its micro-cells to the macro scale of the city,” and allows its users to define the use of its space, particularly via a circulation system that is “intertwined with the space that serves as a primary usable social condenser with its intricate succession of public plazas and vertical gardens.”

Courtesy of Architensions

Instead of creating boundaries, the Center furthermore “multiplies the interstitial space” through transparent and semi-transparent curtain walls. This openness allows the building to appear as a protective device and shading system for urban life, rather than a physically imposing mass.

Courtesy of Architensions

Similarly, the local vegetation and trees compliment the project as an extension of the local environment and the hill that rises along Parkes Street.

Courtesy of Architensions

The building will be organized as a micro-city with a multi-level density, intertwining residential, office, garden, and other programs in clusters.

Courtesy of Architensions

Learn more about the project here.

News via Architensions.

http://ift.tt/2blP7pC

The Hall of Remembrance. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

The relationship that humans have with death is complex and ever-changing, this is inevitably reflected in the architecture of spaces related to death. To interrogate the contemporary role of these spaces, architect Sanchit Arora of Indian firm Renesa Architecture Design Interiors used his thesis work, “The Shadow Spaces; Invisible Sacred Landscapes of Indian Cities” to analyze the place of crematoriums within Indian society. 

After a qualitative analysis, Arora has proposed an extension to the Green Park Crematorium in South Delhi. With this project, he aims to provide an example of an architecture which marries poetry and functionality to create spaces which are respectful, experiential, and user-friendly.

Arora speculates that the decline of ritualistic practices associated with death has seen crematoriums lose their “sanctity.” Whilst the spaces are frequented daily by a number of visitors, the lack of maintenance and consideration for the user has resulted in perfunctory architecture which is “without any sensitivity and respect”.  

Within Delhi, zoning defines the use of the 50-55 crematoriums in operation. Their proximity to nallahs (the streams that run through the city) reflects the Hindu ritual to have a water body at the site, whereas the green areas that often lie adjacent become buffers, isolating the sites from their context.

Crematorium location plan. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

Bird's eye view of the site. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

Arora situated his intervention at the Green Park Crematorium as of the four he investigated in depth, it was the most underutilized. By understanding the spatial periphery of the site, Arora was able to determine a series of macro and micro scales which would better integrate the isolated site into the cityscape. 

The Electric Crematorium. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

The new program is distributed in a way that establishes a series of linkages between the existing and new architecture. The flow and transparency of these spaces was of vital importance, to ensure that an “invisible landscape” was in place to guide mourners in the most sensitive way possible. 

A series of rough sketches depicting the physical manifestation of the emotions ,narrations and sanctity of the space. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

According to Arora, ‘The Shadow Spaces’ observes and remedies issues related to all stated inadequacies, taking instead a holistic approach that considers physical, metaphysical, emotional, and spiritual notions.

The Funeral Space. Image Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

The Shadow Spaces has been designed as a conceptual intervention, with the intention of submitting some of the plans to the Indian Government. 

• Architects: RENESA Architecture Design Interiors Studio
• Location: Green Park, New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Design Lead: Sanchit Arora
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Sanchit Arora of RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO

News via RENESA ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INTERIORS STUDIO.

http://ift.tt/2btF5ED

© Ignacy Matuszewski

• Architects: Wlodek Sidorczuk
• Location: Poland
• Collaborators: Jakub Majzel, Katarzyna Borkowska, Jan Tolksdorf
• Area: 450.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Ignacy Matuszewski

© Ignacy Matuszewski

From the architect. My Home = My Town.

Every family home has few habitants, diversity of functions and an approach to togetherness and individualism as well.

© Ignacy Matuszewski

The answer to this design task could be found in a town and urban planning. Home and Town have similar principles: different people living, various functions, communities, streets, places and squares.

Floor Plan

Applying this principles I created a design where habitants own their spaces as separate buildings. Different function concentrate around a courtyard – a common living space where all meet as in the ancient Agora.

© Ignacy Matuszewski

The home is symbiotically joined with the site — each space is treated as interior and exterior as well, as in a town every building has a garden or a tarrace. The spaces can live separately as everyone is integrated with its surrounding: courtyard, green area, view axes.

…400m2

© Ignacy Matuszewski

Axonometric

© Ignacy Matuszewski

Audio touch.

During the design process future habitants shared with me many ideas and stories from which one created the idea – love to sound and music. I have followed this inspiration and found ideal space based on mathemathic proportions of Fobonacci rule. The risk was to create a theoreticly ideal space for audio listening which practicly meant angled walls and ceiling. Once the concrete was poured the theory was imediatelly aligned with practice – a small private concert hall was created. Additionally we gained one more function building in our Town Home.

Diagram

http://ift.tt/2b6jAZJ

Courtesy of The Architectural Review

In its recent issues, The Architectural Review has been on a mission, highlighting a phenomenon that they have named “Notopia.” Characterized by a “loss of identity and cultural vibrancy” and “a global pandemic of generic buildings,” Notopia is – in overly simplistic terms – a consequence of the cold logic of market forces combined with a disinterested populace. The AR’s campaign therefore aims to analyze this “thing of terror” and push back by raising public awareness and by proposing alternatives. And they need your help.

Download your own #Notopia postcard https://t.co/7l6M42k3gN • Can we prevent the spread of generic architecture? http://pic.twitter.com/TLd43YPv30

— Architectural Review (@ArchReview) August 18, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The AR is collecting postcards of drawings and suggestions by their readers for change; whether it’s a simple proposal such as planting more trees in cities, the resurrection of an idea from a more idealistic time or even a completely original proposal, they want to hear from you. Download and print the postcard template here, and read the rules for submission on the AR’s website here.

Finally, if you’d like to learn more about the phenomenon of Notopia, check out AR editor Christine Murray’s last two editorials here and here. You can also read more articles about Notopia at the AR’s website and in the June issue of The Architectural Review.

✂️ Download your own #Notopia postcard https://t.co/7l6M42k3gN • Can we prevent the spread of generic architecture?🖍 http://pic.twitter.com/asm5cBRGMD

— Architectural Review (@ArchReview) August 19, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

http://ift.tt/2bq6mn2

© Thomas Jantscher

• Architects: CCHE
• Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
• Architect In Charge: CCHE Lausanne SA
• Area: 11000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Thomas Jantscher

• Artist : ZARIC
• Client : Petit Mont-Riond SA – Une société du groupe MOBIMO

© Thomas Jantscher

From the architect. In the urban context of the underground station area of Lausanne, 2 residential buildings were built. Residents enjoy both urban atmosphere and the nearby city park tranquillity. Generous openings allow those two atmospheres to penetrate inside the centre of the building. All apartments are arranged around a common courtyard exclusively pedestrian who acts as a collector and distributor of inhabitants flows. This welcome and friendly meeting place, with Zaric’s masterpieces, contributes to the creation of social links and for membership sensation between neighbours.

© Thomas Jantscher

Floor Plan

© Thomas Jantscher

The variety of sizes and typology of apartments (duplex, lofts, walk-through housing, rent-controlled apartments) promotes social and age diversity 

The buildings development, certified Minergie, offers optimal sunny apartments.

© Thomas Jantscher

Section

© Thomas Jantscher

http://ift.tt/2bJWXKE

© Jack Hobhouse

• Architects: dMFK
• Location: 4 Fore St, London EC2Y 5DE, United Kingdom
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Jack Hobhouse

• Qs: Jackson Cole
• Contractor: 8Build
• Client: The Worshipful Company of Salters
• Contract Value: ￡12m
• Interiors: Todd Hunter Earle
• Structural Engineer: ElliottWood
• M&E Engineer: Hoare Lea
• Retail Consultant: Ingleby Trice

© Jack Hobhouse

From the architect. De Metz Forbes Knight Architects (dMFK) have completed the transformation and renovation of the Salters’ Hall in the City of London. The brutalist Grade II listed landmark, the last building to be designed by Sir Basil Spence, has been extensively refurbished and extended, and a new entrance pavilion installed. dMFK won the project in competition and were appointed by the Worshipful Company of Salters in 2006 to explore ways to improve its income producing potential in office areas, to better it’s poor sustainability credentials, and to increase the public visibility of the building, retaining the livery hall functions.

© Jack Hobhouse

Elevation

The transformation has resulted in a 40% increase in lettable floor space and services being completely replaced, making ceremonial spaces more comfortable and commercially attractive for events. The development has attracted a single tenant to lease the additional office space created.
The installation of a new entrance pavilion establishes a strong sense of arrival, which was missing from the original design. Full height glazing and glass roof between the new and original concrete structures open up new views of the underside of the statement cantilevered ceremonial staircase on the east side of the building.

© Jack Hobhouse

dMFK’s designs, whilst sympathetic to the original 1970s aesthetic, feature a range of innovative materials and installations to enhance the various spaces in the building. Sculptural references to salt feature throughout, from the bush hammered white concrete exterior and salt coloured Tivoli Travertine Classico floor tiles, to a hanging light structure with salt shaped bulbs, which drops through and illuminates the ceremonial staircase.

© Jack Hobhouse

The building has achieved an improved energy rating from grade D to B, a BREEAM excellent rating, virtually unique for a modern listed building, and incorporates district heating and cooling from the Citigen system. Landscaping improvements, including the updating of Salters’ garden, realise the aspirations of Make’s London Wall Place Masterplan, improving the public realm in this area and enhancing public access to the historical assets around the site, including fragments of the old London Wall.

Plan

Ben Knight, Director of dMFK said: “It was a privilege to work with The Salters’ Company to refurbish this fantastic piece of London’s brutalist architecture. As a practice we enjoy unpicking the most complex and interesting buildings and sites. On this project we replaced the uninspiring, hidden entrance, with an extended and welcoming entrance pavilion on the site of an unattractive and redundant garage. This design also allows for greater access and appreciation of the heritage assets around the site, most notably the fragments of the old London Wall and St Alphage remains.”

© Jack Hobhouse

http://ift.tt/2bpK2d5

© João Morgado

• Architects: André Mesquita Arquitectos
• Location: Lisbon, Portugal
• Structure Engineer: Emidio Mendes
• Area: 450.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: João Morgado

© João Morgado

From the architect. Three principles lay down the rules behind the intervention which are: the proportions of volumes; the plans metrics and the use of colour.

© João Morgado

It was developed has three different dwelling areas, united morphologically and structurally through the treatment of void areas and zenithal windows. This spatial organization unites and creates living spaces and transit spaces in which the dichotomy between the different types of spaces are revealed through the character of the voids itself. Like a thread stitching the intervention giving a new dynamic to the existing spaces.

© João Morgado

Section

© João Morgado

On the ground floor, the metrics of the space was kept and was introduction a new large window in the entrance hall, framed by a concrete volume, like a box to make time known by the user of the space. This window attempts to join two gardens which were so far apart visually but almost together physically.

© João Morgado

In the other side of the building we take advantage of an old kitchen, creating a connection zone between the old container (the main volume of the old house) and the new concrete volume painted in red. It is through the redesign of the façade, introducing a longitudinal window, preparing the kitchen volume to the inserting of the new form taking advantage of the plastic quality given by concrete to introduce a curve line, which serves as a locking volume for the intervention. Here close to primary colors were introduced in the interior of small round windows and on the façade. The earth incarnated tone serves as to remind the torn of an animal that curves to enter the old form paying tribute to the pre-existing form. Color is introduced as an experimental approach to test how can it change the perception of space and volumes. 

Drawing

In the first floor was reintroduce the metric of the ground floor but now correspondence with different living spaces. Black shade is used to prepare for more private rooms. Ceiling heights are amplified or reduced in order to reference pathways, giving it a more solemn space through its different heights. A main volume (a closet) which encloses the bedroom space creates a dressing space in one side while in the opposite side a horizontal tear of modernist nature takes on the contemporary nature of the new spaces.

© João Morgado

http://ift.tt/2baYVRF

© Shamanth J. Patil

• Architects: The Purple Ink Studio
• Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001, India
• Project Team: Akshay Heranjal, Priyanka Bankapur, Jaikumar
• Area: 650.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Shamanth J. Patil

• Owners: Anil Drapes, Bengaluru
• Interiors: The Purple Ink Studio, Bengaluru
• Interior Contractors: Mm Interiors, Mumbai

© Shamanth J. Patil

From the architect. The upbeat and contemporary spirit of the AD boutique – a fabric/drapery retail store is expressed in their new flagship store nestled in the heart of Bengaluru city, India. The modest space of 650 sqft is celebrated with an accentuated idea of the arched windows with drapery, of the by-gone era which is represented in the most quintessential form, the “Arch”. The strong geometry of an arch articulated in a modern dialog creates the setting for a dramatically themed display.

The design is exemplified with the use of both modern and traditional materials in the palette. The arch is entirely structured in wood and finished to appreciate the natural grains while it takes the colossal monolithic form to hold the complete interior space together. The walls constructed in exposed wire-cut bricks along with the floor, walls and part of the display furniture in exposed concrete finish are rugged elements within the space which respect the true characteristic of the material. Although the overall material palette is natural and modernistic in approach, the furniture responds to the elements of the by-gone era and adds in a display of color and a tinge of ornamentation to the overall design scheme.

© Shamanth J. Patil

The interior space breaks up fluidically into waiting, meeting and showcasing areas, each of which carefully weaves the materials on display within the interior design dialog allowing the shopper the freedom to get a look-and-feel all around the retail space.

Elevation

http://ift.tt/2bkcTCq

© Ippei Takahashi

• Architects: Takahashi Ippei Office
• Location: Tokyo, Japan
• Area: 47.68 sqm
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Ippei Takahashi

© Ippei Takahashi

This house is located in a built-up part of the Tokyo outskirts, an area full of wooden houses. Its location is so tucked away that it can be difficult to find unless one actually lives in the neighborhood. The neighboring environment is quiet and contains a sense of anonymity peculiar to this area, which feels like a primeval forest. The client for this project wanted some distance from society, but to still enjoy their retirement living a convenient city lifestyle. One day I happened to find a worn-out home which perfectly matched their stipulations. I suggested renovating it. This house looked as old as the other homes in the area, sharing a similar appearance. I thought being part of the area’s unique anonymity would suit my client better, rather than my completely rebuilding the house and making it stand out from its surroundings. 

Plan

This idea led me to design the house in an open manner. I intended to make someone inside really sense their surroundings wherever they might be in the home. I intentionally did not divide the house up by space. Instead, I treated its location as a living environment. I sought to integrate this environment with its built-up surroundings by making the windows (the ones which don’t face other houses’ windows) as large as possible, so that one has a sweeping view of the neighborhood. The wind that passes between the neighboring houses will also be able to blow through this home. I defined the entrance and windows according to external factors. This resulted in significant changes to the in-house environment, so I arranged the basic living essentials to their right places accordingly: an island kitchen where one can cook with their back against the neighboring house’s wall, while overlooking an alleyway; an island bathtub in the windiest section of the house; a shower booth in a shadowy area; a gently sloped stairway that makes one sense the existence of the next house’s wall; and storage spaces in dark areas. I designed the house dynamically, not methodologically. The actual living experience is three-dimensional and more fluid than what a ground plan can describe.

© Ippei Takahashi

When adding new material, I ensured that it would coexist with what had already been there. This way, one can understand the reconstructed house by seeing the accumulation of its structure and history. For example, I added reinforced beams to the existing wooden frames, and window frames to the exterior of the house in order to expose old pillars.

Section

Until now, when we made plans to live in cities, we lived our lives by dreaming up fantasies: the ideal space, courtyards, the appearance of the city, etc. However, this project strives for a more liberated living environment in a city. Devote yourself to the aimlessly built-up surroundings, recognize them as being like a primeval forest, and spark your real body senses – just like what happens when you spend some summer days in a cottage situated in wild nature. 

© Ippei Takahashi

http://ift.tt/2bQYVu9