From the architect. This house is located in a housing estate of Uji city and surrounded with old houses which have been rebuilding. We had tried to make the house feel open even the land space was limited.
In order to give the room a better ambience, we have intentionally avoided placing the door opposite to the window. We have also made good use of a slope to be a small lawn hill in the yard. By doing so, you can enjoy the outside view from the inside of the house. Because of the design of this house is made to protect the privacy of its residents, you can live there without any worry.
From the architect. In ancient Greece, architecture was considered one of the highest forms of art. This is arguably no longer the case. A first approach for us in responding to the “Young Architects Program” was to consider that our thoughts will find an echo in Contemporary Art.
The architect Le Corbusier compared a big cargo ship to several monuments in Paris and observed the beauty that was thus created by the epoch in which he lived. The artist Marcel Duchamp gave a new meaning and value to utilitarian mass-produced objects, by removing their initial function and position, calling them Readymades and questioning the idea of an object in art.
Diagram
Diagram
Any great cultural vestiges can lose their function. In the same way, a material can also lose its original value over time. The fact that the destiny of cultural relics is to be dismantled, should make us reflect upon what we need to consider for future generations.
The Ancient Greek word “oikos” meant “house” and is the etymology of “Eco-“, which is at the origin of words like “ecology” and “economy”. They are important factors for the contemporary practice of architecture which has to consider both the environment and the cost of building.
Temp’L is designed from recycled steel parts from an old ship. It shows not only a beauty of structure, but it has also a recycling purpose, ahead of any process of reusing materials. It provokes thought about beauty in our time, coming from a recent past. The architectural section of the project is drawn through the process of cutting up the old ship. The section-cut has the necessary force for the sawing action, while opening and thus freeing the space contained in the volume of the ship.
This upside down massive metal structure situated at the entrance of the museum’s courtyard, encourages curiosity and becomes an invitation to visit the project. The front surface curve of the ship may lead people to the museum, as it opens towards its main entrance.
Plan / Section
It welcomes the visitor by showing its industrial face, made of a rusty and rough surface that is showing the origin of the material, the ship. On the other hand, the inside space is designed as an open area connected to a larger volume, where we find a resting place surrounded by vegetation. The ship is hollowed out by connected spheres that set up a minimum structural reinforcement in order to maintain its shape.
Courtesy of Shinslab Architecture
The Temp’L has almost the same scale as the buildings surrounding it: as such, it is not just a simple object. It is introduced alongside the monumental buildings of the Office of the Royal Genealogy Hanok that are built in the Korean traditional style of architecture.
Through this Temp’L (temporary temple), we hope not only to develop a new method of construction in architecture by recycling materials, but for those who will see to create emotion.
The house sits in the context of a densely built residential area in North Bangalore. A substantial area of the plot along the road edge is occupied by the expansive canopy of a beautiful African Tulip.
The design takes the tree into consideration at every stage in an attempt to unite it with the built space, factoring in daylight and ventilation. The resulting home is marked by a sedate atmosphere, hints of the tree and the sky mingling with sober earth walls, which then contrast with oxide floors and painted steel windows.
Ground Floor Plan
Upon entering indoors, the tree is perceived beneath a skylight that roofs most of the living space on the ground floor. An open kitchen sits adjacent to the living area while a bedroom is tucked away on one side. Two walls of the kitchen shared with the toilet are made of granite slabs placed vertically in a metal frame, reminiscent of homes built entirely with stone slabs, ubiquitous near quarries. Workers involved in this part of the construction were noticeably aged – perhaps a reflection of a technique that is fast fading.
The first floor consists of a bedroom in two levels, the lower of which is pronounced by a rubber wood seat along a large window framing a terrace and the tree canopy above it. The seat is cast in concrete, raising the slab above the floor and allowing the kitchen below to relate to the skylight. The upper level leads to the terrace which is a relief amid closely built houses on either side. A shower and a toilet are built similarly in granite slabs. This material can be recovered in entirety and eliminates the need for tiling, while its metal structure replaces the need for door frames.
First Floor Plan
An external staircase on the ground floor leads to the terrace and continues up to a studio apartment on the second floor. This space commands direct views of the branching canopy and the sky above. Granite slabs for the toilet walls here are placed horizontally for the relative ease of lifting shorter slabs to the second floor level.
Moving through the house, the definition of inside and outside spaces feels blurred. The skylight effects that the indoors change with changing light and colours of the sky through the day. The glass roof emulates a blank canvas on which flowers shed. This open roof and the terrace under the tree effect a reinterpretation of a courtyard on a small urban plot.
From the architect. ELL is a 5,500SF ground-up Beverly Hills Spec residence designed for Luxe List. The building is located at the crest of the Benedict Canyon hillsides, overlooking the entire serene landscape of the Beverly Hills neighborhood. The project is loosely situated within the footprint of a former, now demolished, one-story 1950s residence.
The construction and development faced multiple challenges, including a shortened design and submittal phase – two months – and a steep slope on the existing site, with the only, feasible flat portion being maximized by the original. Domaen consciously decided to expand the exterior and infinity pool into the steep slope, supported by long caissons, and to keep the existing footprint of the original building. This enabled to permit it as a remodeled residence and so overcome extreme setback and building restrictions of the local Baseline Hillside Ordinance. Despite the physical limitations of the existing footprint, the building employed an open floor plan and vertical extension for a contemporary, practical response to the increasingly difficult agenda of building in the hillsides of Los Angeles.
A design-build methodology was employed and streamlined to meet a fast moving schedule, with the dynamic design process that evolved during construction. The methodological constraints of the project led to explorations of an ‘elevational’ architecture, focusing on systemic alignments and misalignments as tools to create a dynamic, yet minimal façade. Formal elements are subtle, accentuated, and exaggerated. Planes are simultaneously thickened and destabilized through the opening of corners and separation from the ground surface.
This technique allowed maximum freedom in developing a loose plan that emphasizes zones rather than rooms, which is played out with various degrees of privacy; the building is obscured to the street-front, yet completely open to the scenic view in the West. The ground-floor opens up to the elements using the architecture as framework for views of the landscape beyond. The second floor, which features the most private areas has a discreet roof terrace, which is set into the roof surface to exercise another dialogue between privacy and openness.
1st Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
The entrance is shielded by a long, heavy, elevated wing wall that not only forms part of the ground floor and sideboard enclosure but also embraces an interior courtyard with an entry pond. This allows the east facade to be completely opened up over two stories while being visually almost inaccessible from the street.
The deck and zero-edge pool cantilever over the steep hillside and are extensions of the floor plans rather than landscape elements. This enhances the continuous interplay between interior and exterior throughout the house and artificially increases the footprint.
The material vocabulary of the project is reduced to three related elements. The extensive glazing, with its reflective and transparent surfaces and thin dark glazing frames, is starkly contrasted by white stucco facades. Wooden slats serve as a textural mediator through the use of parametrically generated undulation. Inside, material contrasts continue. Expressed through sharp-edged geometries and articulated datum, juxtapositions of white stucco, grey stone, and soft, warm wood surfaces unfold throughout.
Forum Studio has released plans for “The Pearl of Istanbul”, a mixed-use development situated along a natural bluff overlooking the Marmara Sea that will provide residential, cultural and retail venues for the city of Istanbul. The project’s centerpiece will be the new marina, a string of man-made islands for boat parking that will function as an alternative to a seawall, protecting the development from harsh weather.
Courtesy of Forum Studio
The chain of islands are centered around a central “pearlescent” node activated by a variety of uses including nightlife, entertainment, family activities and marine research facilities. The marina will contain slips for up to 500 yachts as well as a cruise ship dock, and has been formed to evoke the character of the natural landscape.
Courtesy of Forum Studio
“The islands that shelter a tranquil marina resemble a string of pearls; a cascade of terraces on land is an homage to a shell’s undulating ridges,” the architects explain.
On land, six sculptural towers rise from a podium containing public spaces, restaurants, cafes and retail areas. Terraces in the base step gently down to the water, mimicking natural plateaus of the region and creating outdoor areas for residents and visitors.
Courtesy of Forum Studio
The residential towers have been designed to optimize visual corridors, so each unit receives ample natural light and views out to the surrounding scenery. A range of residential options will be available, from luxury condos to lower priced apartments to hotel rooms, ensuring a diverse mix of people will occupy the complex.
The project is expected to be completed by July 2023.
The National Shooting Centre (Brasil2016.gov.br) was built for the Pan American Games in 2007. This is an award-winning project done by the architecture office BCMF Arquitetos (Brasil2016.gov.br ) that has been carefully renovated by Vigliecca & Associates to meet Olympic standards without changing the identity of the original structure.
Plan
Although it is a recent construction, the building had to attend more specific standards established by the International Shooting Sport Federation and also needed maintenance upgrades for the target system as well as the air conditioning, hydraulic and electrical systems.
The project focused on meeting Olympic requirements, which included three times more seating capacity as well as making sure it would be useful after the Olympics once left as a legacy.
Diagram
Diagram
Since the required Olympic geometries were very different from what was found in the existing building, simply adapting the building seemed unworkable. The only solution would be to build a temporary shooting range for the finals next to the existing range. Once the cost estimate was found to be quite high, Vigliecca & Associados analyzed different ways of reconciling the requirements of the Olympic Games with the situation and was able to presented an innovative solution regarding the standardization of the finals range, using a lower visibility curve profile that adapted perfectly to the existing ceiling height and building geometry.
For this, a 2.000 seat temporary grandstand was placed over the existing 600 seats. Once the triple of seats was placed in the same area, the overall visibility angle also had to be reconsidered in order to guarantee visibility to all seats. The result was a softer angled grandstand. The best seats turned out to be the top ones instead of the first ones, just as in permanent stands, and will be designated to press members, also a requirement from the International Shooting Sport Federation. It’s worth mentioning that the first Olympic Medal will be given for this sport modality and surely the entire world will have their eyes on this facility.
This solution proved to be the most suitable for maintaining architectural harmony as well as being the most economical solution, since it only required the range to be expanded, without interfering much with the existing structure.
In order to increase the internal area, the shooting area was also expanded and placed under a temporary roofing system. Overall, the design allowed the internal space to be increased simply by being reconfigured instead of having to demolish any portion of it.
A few years ago, Chinese company Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment envisioned a unique solution to address congestion issues spurred by rapid population growth in many of China’s cities: a straddling bus that would bypass traffic by simply driving over top of it. The design captured the attention of people worldwide, though many were skeptical the idea could ever come to fruition. But now, that pipe dream has become a reality.
World's first transit elevated bus, TEB-1 on its launching test Tuesday in Qinhuangdao, N China's Hebei http://pic.twitter.com/yMepYWD1kD
A real life version of the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) has began testing in Qinhuangdao, China. The bus, measuring 72 feet long by 25 feet wide (22 meters x 7.8 meters), has the potential to carry up to 1,200 passenger at a time at estimated speeds of 40 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour), increasing transportation turnover at a fraction of the cost of installing a new subway or elevated train line.
via Xinhua News Agency
But the TEB isn’t ready to deal with competing traffic just yet. For now, the TEB is limited to a 300 meter long test track that will evaluate the braking system, drag and power consumption. Once complete, the straddling bus will move on to further testing stages.
Despite it still being an unproven system, the TEB has already attracted interest from countries from around the world including Brazil, France, India and Indonesia.
MALMÖ’S NEW SKYLINE World Trade Center Malmö is a new multifunctional housing project being constructed in the centre of Västra Hamnen, incorporating both dwellings and commercial facilities. Sjöjungfrun consists of187 dwellings comprising flats interspersed with public access shops at the lower levels. The housing project forms the boundary of the WTC area facing Stora Varvsgatan, the location of JFA’s award-winning Media Evolution City, and Kockumsparken directly opposite.
Sjöjungfrun is the visual marker placing the WTC area firmly on the map of Malmö. Dwellings are placed in two free-standing buildings, together forming a tenement block structure, but also an independent volume reaching its pinnacle in the WTC area’s north-eastern corner. The block structure forms an inner, semi-public atrium serving as an informal meeting point. The layout of the complex suggests through-going flats and secures an optimal daylight intake from the inner atrium. From the atrium, there is access to the flats via private access balconies. Access to the upper levels is provided by these balconies, creating a semi-public arrival situation. The uppermost flats in the complex have recessed roof gardens overlooking the city of Malmö. Sjöjungfrun responds well to the urban life of Malmö, linking Kockumsparken’s recreational environment with the inner semi-public atrium.
Plan
Section
SOCIAL MEETING POINT The atrium will be home to many functions and activities, creating a lush oasis comprising facilities for social gathering, individual gathering facilities for each stairwell, and private patios for ground-level flats. The through-going passage is accessible to everyone – an open invitation to the city. The elements of the atrium comprise a layered structure of terrain and planting in mutual harmony, combining to form a variety of spaces, structures, and uses. The central garden is easily accessible from all sides forming a social space where residents and visitors can come together. The paving in the atrium consists of concrete tiles with differentiated modular dimensions, which contributes to accentuating the level of public access in the atrium.
MODERN LIVING ENVIRONMENT At one and the same time, Sjöjungfrun relates to the urban life of Malmö, Kockumsparken with its recreational facilities, and the internal, semi-public atrium – a central urban oasis for the residents. In this way, Sjöjungfrun embodies a modern living environment in one of the large housing developments currently being constructed in Malmö. Sjöjungfrun has been awarded a Silver Certificate for being an environment-friendly and sustainable building complex.
In this interview, presented in collaboration with PLANE—SITE, Frédéric Bonnet of Obras Architecture and Grichka Martinetti of PNG, curators of the French contribution to the 2016 Venice Biennale, discuss their commitment to celebrating meaningful architecture in various contexts, and the ways in which this passion was translated into their exhibition. The duo explains the concepts driving the exhibition design, including their choice to exhibit small-scale work from throughout France rather than focusing on the large, high-profile architecture found in the major cities.
“We wanted to show that at every level, from the first step, let’s say everyday life in the transformation of our surroundings, there’s an opportunity to think about global challenges,” explains Frédéric Bonnet.
Grichka Martinetti adds, “One thing architecture should address is architecture itself within daily life. Because it’s very easy when you are an architect to talk about architecture with architects and we have kind of lost the track that architecture matters to everyone.”
From the architect. The Missouri State University (MSU) Bill R. Foster and Family Recreation Center is conceived as a crystalline, geologic form in the campus landscape. The chiseled stone mass is fractured by a new pedestrian campus passage that brings students to the entrance and center of the building, and on to other campus destinations beyond. The stone shell – referencing the historic stone buildings that define the MSU campus – is cut away to reveal a cool metal and glass interior, exposing the activities of recreation. The path’s subtle rise and fall allows pool and locker functions to slip below the walk on the lower level, while the jogging track loops above providing cover to students passing through the building. Inside, occupants are continually reconnected to campus through carefully measured cuts and apertures, creating a degree of transparency not readily apparent in the building’s exterior.
Bringing together previously scattered recreational offerings to create a centralized and cohesive recreation program, the MSU center is located on a pivotal campus site between student life functions, the academic core, and other sports and recreation venues. The center’s defining feature – the column-free passageway connecting two campus precincts – creates a unique spatial experience that helped solve both planning and phasing challenges. Its spatial qualities contribute to the fluid experience of passing through the building.
The building’s exterior is comprised of custom cast stone panels, scaled to a monumental size appropriate to the building’s size and colored to accompany the campus limestone architecture. In-grade linear LED lights line the pedestrian path that cuts through the building. The building’s interior is defined by a dynamic palette that complements the university’s colors, with coordinating accents applied in glazing, flooring and other materials.
The recreational program elements include a 3-court gymnasium, one with a multi-use play surface, 18,000 sf of weight fitness and cardio space; an indoor jogging track; a natatorium with both leisure water, lap lanes, and an outdoor deck; multi-purpose rooms for wellness activities; a climbing wall; and other support spaces, including locker rooms and administrative space. The building responds to increased student demand for enhanced recreational programming, and MSU student leaders and groups were integrated into the entire design process.
Sig Nordal 