From the architect. The scenery is the backwoods of Alagoas, Brazil, a place so atypical of great beauty and simplicity. It helped us understand that the kickoff should be to enhance local culture by using regional techniques on the design and construction of a home and its interior. The result is a cozy, clear and light environment.
Thermal comfort was a priority in the project. We created cross ventilation and holes in the roof so that the hot air could be exhausted, while the cold air was coming in. Translucent roofing tiles and perforated bricks also helped to bring ventilation and natural light to the house interior, almost absent previously.
First Floor Plan
Neutral colored furniture highlighted local craft objects. Works of art from natives as well as the reuse of typical objects in the interior design were some of the actions that nurtured the design.
Kitchen has a special treatment in the house, since there is a cook in the family that helps many community institutions. The dining room is integrated to the kitchen in a way that this space is shared intensely by the family. At the rooms, studying was the focus.
At the facade, we decided to use mostly white paint so as to talk with the light colours of the local architecture, while the green, the blue and the vegetation in strategic places give life to the project.
Yesterday, the UK Government announced plans for 3 new garden towns and 14 new “garden villages” across England, expanding a plan that already includes 7 previously announced garden towns. Explaining the concept of the garden villages, the Department for Communities and Local Government described settlements of 1,500 to 10,000 homes, saying that together the 14 locations have the potential to deliver 48,000 new houses. In order to expedite the creation of these new settlements, the government has set aside a fund of £6 million (US$7.4 million), which housebuilders will be permitted to use in order to accelerate development at the sites.
However, the architectural community in the UK has mocked the proposals and the government’s use of language, highlighting what appears to be a poor understanding of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities concept. Many have also pointed out that the plans are relatively meager in a country that, by many estimates, is falling hundreds of thousands of new homes short of the number needed every year.
@GavinBarwellMP We had New Towns. Then Ecotowns, didn't work. Garden Cities, ditto. Now Garden Towns & Villages. What next? #ebenezerhoward
Speaking with ArchDaily, Charles Holland—co-founder of Ordinary Architecture and a former member of FAT—said: “I think the idea of new villages is a very interesting and important one which I have been researching at the University of Brighton. As part of an answer to the current housing crisis, I think new villages offer a plausible model that could reflect changing work patterns and the role of digital culture. This could facilitate a sort of reverse modernity or rural futurism—a migration from urban to rural.”
However, regarding the UK government’s announcement, Holland was less positive: “As for the ‘garden’ bit, well that seems like a lazy, unthreatening way to evoke places like Letchworth minus the radical model of communal land ownership that was an essential part of Ebeneezer Howard’s original vision.”
The garden prefix will not gussy up the same inadequate housing policy, served up in smaller and more lukewarm portions every year
Others were also pointed out how the original socialist intentions of the Garden City movement were at odds with the government’s plans, with writer Gillian Darley referring to an article from 2012 which criticized a previous misuse of the term by the government:
From the architect. JATA is a company with more than 50 years of experience in the manufacture and marketing of household appliances. With its original headquarters already obsolete, it was decided to build new, larger facilities, which would cover the current requirements of the company and the market. These requirements were mainly a large logistical area and spaces destined to activities of manipulation, recovery, production lines, laboratory, etc. On the other hand a properly administrative area.
With this distribution of the program and under operating guidelines studied by Jata throughout its history, the project was born with two volumes of pure lines and an industrialized construction based on prefabricated concrete elements, as a reference to the company and its production in series, which allowed to reduce the execution time. The largest volume houses the logistics program meanwhile the smaller one embraces the rest of the areas.
The logistic warehouse has 14.6 m of maximum height, 100 m of width and 120 m of length. It is a building with a closed facade of concrete panels placed horizontally, prefabricated structure of concrete sconces of big lights to achieve an interior space as clear as possible, naturally illuminated thanks to skylights and exutorios in deck. The offices, of smaller size and greater complexity, is defined by a facade with prefabricated elements of vertical concrete from floor to deck, with an orientation S-SO that allows to take advantage of the natural light for the whole day, achieving a uniform natural illumination throughout the building, and allowing the best possible views of the open landscape and the Moncayo peak. Light is present everywhere and transparency is intended in all spaces, creating connections between different working areas and achieving greater efficiency and better working conditions within the company.
First Floor Plan
Despite all difficulties, the program has been developed to achieve a project with an architectural value associated to the company, a design that corresponds to the innovative but, at the same time, traditional character of Jata Appliances.
This quality of the building based on repetition, austerity and functionality generates a rigorous piece that is necessary to disrupt in order to mark the access to the interior. Therefore, the entrance to the office building fractures a corner of the main parallelepiped, creating an atrium of double height and broken shape that contrasts with the austerity of the totality.
It is a 14 story, 15,000 m2 mixed use building: commercial on the lower floor, offices for the next four floors and residential units on the next nine floors.
Diagram
The building is located at an important intersection within the city where urban elements converge, such as a new metro stop, an important government building, a commercial shopping center and the most emblematic park of the city. Being the first new construction in this zone and highly visible, the building attempts to combine the many existing and new diverse elements through movements that bring new shadow lines reflections and points of view.
In the search for spatial wealth elements of the facade were eliminated, this is achieved by a design concept that removes strategic corners of the building. Where double and triple height spaces are generated. Where panoramic visual connections to the entire city, manage to activate these exterior areas traditionally dead, and replacing them with different social programs.
These new exterior areas at the top of the building take advantage of the park’s visual and excellent equatorial climate that prevails throughout the year. Deep perimeter balconies around the building help to reduce solar gain in the interior spaces allowing for the use of larger portions of glass in the façade, without sacrificing passive climate controlled spaces.
Section
The building contains a large roof garden that makes a visual connection with the surrounding Andes Mountains while creating usable green space for the building’s residents.
The façade of the building uses a material process known as GFRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete). Molds were made in close collaboration with the architect’s digital model and the fabricators work shop to provide accurate and a well coordinated process. The concrete material in then sprayed onto the molds to create the final product.
The design and the construction process of the building utilizes a repeatable patterning system to reduce the overall amount of molds used in creating the dynamic building facade. Advantages of this material are efficiency of installation, as panels are fabricated up to 4 meters by 2 meters tall. Molds are also able to be reused, reducing the material used and fabrication time. Also designed and built into the installation process is a system of adjustable metallic connections allowing the complex forms to align with ease. The final product is a continuous dynamic façade system.
The coordination between the Leppanen + Anker Architects, the developer and builder, Uribe & Schwarzkopf, was vital for the development of the GAIA building, resulting in a new landmark for the city, a new architectural and constructive reference, which is incorporated enriching urban life and local architecture, in the Ecuadorian capital.
La Grande passerelle is designed for a young family wishing to enjoy a peaceful lifestyle on the shores of a scenic lake in Quebec, Canada. Two volumes of wood anchored against a gentle slope generate a luminous inner courtyard delimited by the forest. The first, acting as a screen to the street, contains a luminous training room, located under the garage, which overlooks the private courtyard.
Below, a second volume comprising the rooms seems to float above the fully fenestrated ground floor. The connection between the two volumes of wood is made by a large footbridge which penetrates the interior spaces of the house and projects itself towards the lake. The visitors reach the residence by the upper floor to discover step by step the living room, the kitchen and finally the lower level that opens generously on the backyard and the dock. The play of transparency connect the different rooms of the house to the lake that the family can contemplate from all places.
White Arkitekter has proposed a timber-framed “lantern” design for in a new addition to the local art center in Akershus, Norway as part of a limited architecture competition. The design by White Arkitekter was selected as a runner-up, with Haugen/Zohar Arkitekter named the winner. White’s design aims to connect the art facilities to adjacent historical institutions and create additional public space.
The proposal is a direct response to the long-standing establishment of Akershus Kunstsenter as a cultural hub for its community just outside of Oslo and hopes to further cultivate the cultural quarter of Lillestrøm. Physically, this cultural development manifests in a new public space dubbed the Lantern; this area would allow for events, debates, and exhibitions both inside and outside the building. The timber-framed building is composed of galleries joined in a ring around a courtyard, which is not specifically programmed but is equipped for more exhibitions. The daylit interior space is flexible enough to evolve with rotating exhibitions.
Courtesy of White Arkitekter
According to the architects, the design aims “to keep the creative and curative process as transparent and accessible as possible” to optimize community engagement. To this end, the designers kept many galleries visible from the exterior and laid out circulation patterns to draw visitors through the exhibitions.
Sketches of scale figures can be seen as an architectural signature. These miniature stand-ins for human life not only bring scale and understanding to a sketch, they also offer a glimpse into the architect’s personality. Some designers automatically go for realistic, anatomically correct people, while others have more abstract interpretations of the human body. But what exactly do these predilections say about their illustrator? Read on to find out:
For some reason, figures with tiny heads, often neckless and floating, make frequent appearances in architectural drawings. It’s just a thing. If these figures are your go-to, you’re someone who’s happy to go with the flow, even if it’s kind of a weird flow featuring hovering miniature heads.
These vague scribbles and blobs say one of two things. Either you see yourself as a misunderstood genius who’s way ahead of your time, or you ran out of time or just couldn’t be bothered, and hope the abstract approach comes across as “intentional creativity” rather than “last-minute panic.”
Wow, these figures have body parts that are all in proportion to each other! Just like a real person! These figures suggest an architect who’s put together, organized and responsible. If this is you, you probably also enjoy a fulfilling career, good work-life balance, and even go jogging on your lunch break. How inspirational! Good for you! We’re definitely not envious at all!
It’s what’s on the inside that counts—or not, with these outline-only figures. If you’re an empty outliner you have no room for excess in your life, especially not 2D representations of depth. Who has time for that? Not you! You are also likely to have no unnecessary items on your desk, wear crisp, neat clothing and are always annoyingly early for appointments.
Cross-hatching is the black leather jacket of architectural drawing. Such wistful figures could only have been sketched by a deep, brooding individual. In the studio you keep silent, appearing cool and aloof. Underneath it all, however, you just hope that someone will notice the forlornness of your scale figures and listen to you talk about your own feelings. Aww.
No way! Figures that can smile because they actually have a mouth! And eyes, ears, and a nose… such a rare sight in design drawings. And their head is connected to their shoulders too! Did you even go to architecture school?
You are a clever individual who is well aware of the fact that you can’t draw people to save your life. Column-to-beam details, yes. Perspective interiors, yes. People, no. Thus, you know to hide this fact from others by using magazine cutouts instead, with your sketches also benefiting from an effortless retro aesthetic. Smart!
Many architecture schools will drill into you early on that stick figures are a huge no-no. So if you’re using stick figures this can only mean you are either a) a brave individual whose design is so convincing that it doesn’t matter at all what else you draw, or b) three years old.
Whether it’s a sketch of a house, a tree-laden outdoor site, or a detailed doorframe, your trendy scale figures always distract instead of assist. Do you really need seven people wearing haute couture walking through a drawing of a single door? If you’re getting more compliments on your stylish, but overdressed and out of place figures, perhaps it’s time to given fashion school a think. Make it work!
There’s a fine line between self-love and narcissism. When it comes to figures with your own face, they most definitely fall into the latter category. While it’s great that you clearly love yourself (a lot), the seas of people drawn in your likeness that you think are cute are just a bit weird for everyone else. Sorry.
Every figure is wearing a cap and holding a skateboard
You’re not like other architects, you’re a cool architect. If these are what your scale figures look like, then you’re either an architect wanting to relate to the young hip kids, or you are the young hip kid. Sick. 100 emoji flame emoji clapping hands emoji.
Martin Duplantier Architectes has won a competition organized by Chinese tour company ZTG with a design for a series of “illusionist” bridges and pavilions in western Zhangjiajie, China. Contrasting with the surrounding “baroque” landscape, which is a world heritage site, the project utilizes geometric forms and delicate placement to “create a physical relationship” with its neighboring rock faces.
The project features three footbridges: “the illusion of a mirror for one, the fear of the void for the next, and lastly the setting in abyss for the final.”
Through its elliptical disk shape, one footbridge mirrors the surrounding environment, and offers views into the gap between rock faces through an off-centered hole, which will be covered in a strong netting, so that visitors can “lay down in the void.”
Another of the bridges—the “water mirror”—is made from two centimeters of water covering black stone. Every seven minutes, the water disappears and reappears through spray nozzles, creating a cloud that later settles back onto the stone.
This black stone flooring material, as well as reflective stainless steel, is not only utilized in the footbridges, but also throughout the project’s three pavilions: a terrace with panoramic views, a café, and a royal guesthouse, organized from high to low, respectively.
From the architect. Het Gielsbos is an existing care facility for people with severe mental disabilities, located on large, green, public domain within the municipality of Gierle. This project includes the design of a masterplan to replace the outdated pavilions that houses the residents and to design seven new homes.
Dwellings Site Plan
Previously, the site was cut in half by a central axis, from which a network of smaller roads branched out without any clear hierarchy. All pavilions were situated in the northern half of the site.
The master plan suggests making better use of the whole domain by replacing this central axis by a loop road that would connect six new residential clusters, located over the whole site, with the existing administrative and sports facilities. The loop roads facilitates efficient on-site logistic movements by bike, foot or (occasionally) motorized traffic, e.g. for a doctor’s visit, mail delivery or the distribution of meals.
The new residential clusters consist of five interconnected pavilions or ‘homes’, situated on both sides of the loop road. When the road passes through a cluster, it widens and becomes a public courtyard for the pavilions around it. All activity on the courtyard is visible from the living rooms of each home: the courtyard becomes a lively communal and logistic space. Each home functions more or less independently, but is connected with the adjacent ones to facilitate internal logistics for care workers.
Section Dwelling Type 1
Section Dwelling Type 2
The homes each consist of five volumes with pitched roofs, built around a small central patio. The play of volumes, the configuration of the homes around a central courtyard and the small-size residential clusters help create the perception of a real residential environment, rather than a care institution.
David Adjaye OBE, principal of Adjaye Associates, will be Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to architecture at an investiture in 2017. The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St. James’s Palace, who administer the Knight Batchelor awards that will be bestowed upon the architect, described Adjaye as “one of the leading architects of his generation and a global cultural ambassador for the UK.” Edgar Allies and Graham Morrison, co-founders of British practice Allies & Morrison, have been announced as Officers of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Years Honours List.
Sir David Frank Adjaye OBE. Image Courtesy of Adjaye Associates
I am truly honoured and humbled to receive a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen for my contribution to architecture. I see this not as a personal celebration, but as a celebration of the vast potential—and responsibility—for architecture to effect positive social change. that we as architects have to bring something positive to the world. I am proud to continue to work in service of this mission as a global cultural ambassador for the UK.
Sig Nordal 