We had a task to design a complex of locker buildings which would be in harmony with the natural environment on the territory of the “Luzhniki” Olympic complex. The project was implemented as temporary buildings which were assembled from modular structures.
Courtesy of Ka-Buro
The buildings are located in front of each other in order to make a conditional corridor that would lead to the locker. Modular buildings were provided by a specialized company http://www.modul.org The functionality of the buildings is not only a locker, they are used as well for keeping sports equipment, aid station, coach room and shower. All necessary conditions are provided for comfortable stay of sportsmen over there.
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Building Structure The area of one building is 260,4 sqm. The buildings are designed of prefabricated modules 6000×2450 mm each which are finally assembled steel constructions joined by bolted connections. The foundation of the building is made of screwed piles. Exterior walls of the modules are sandwich panels 100 mm, internal walls are 80 mm. The facade of the buildings is finished with larch deck; wooden planks on the steel construction are jointed to the facade of the buildings and cover it totally hiding part of the windows.
From the architect. Huishan Transportation Center and the earlier built high-speed railway station become the new center of Huishan District, which play a significant role in the overall cityscape. The project is in a moderate scale with about 7000m² floor area. Besides serving as bus terminal, the transportation center is also the power station as well as an administration office for the railway station.
As an urban focal point in the new district, the transportation center shall be unique and identifiable, in the meantime it should have a dialog with the curvy shell railway station in a humble way. Based on the concern, a rippling box with facade like water waving is created. Together with railway station, the new transportation center define a modern, light architectural style for the new district of Huishan.
The roof of the building is folded and extended to the south and west elevations in order to have contrast to the curvy shell of railway station, meanwhile some overhang and inclination is formed. The folding plate provides a feeling of lightness and forms an enclosure to keep the building away from the railway noise. The overhang part of the roof and wall is supported by steel structure, and it is integrated with curtain wall keel and ceiling, in order to improve the lightness and thinness of the volume.
On the elevation facing the city, the designer created a vivid three dimensional facade consists of folding glass and aluminum plates, and each floor is interlaced, which brings a dynamic image to the city. The aluminum plate surface is anodized with blurred mirror finish to provide a hazy visual effect. When passing by the transportation center, the glass plate would reflect the actual surroundings while the aluminum plate will only reflect the obscure atmosphere nearby. The overall elevation presents a fabrication of reality and illusion, a fluidity of ambiguousness.
The facade consists different combination of solid and transparency, so that sunlight could have various projections in indoor space and meet different lighting requirements in different areas like terminal lobby and office.
On the elevation facing to the railway, the facade is heavier and simpler than the opposite side, which mainly consists of gray marble. The vertical linear windows make the facade have a unified look, and the opening proportion is determined through careful calculation to meet lighting needs and to minimize the railway noise.
The building plan has a simple and clear layout. The bus terminal is in the east of the building, where is closer to the pedestrian flow coming from the railway station. The office portion is in the west and upper levels, in order to reduce the interference of the passenger. The power station is located in the basement to reduce the structural load and cost, meanwhile it could minimize the influence of equipment vibration. The power station vent port is in the southwest corner away from the bus terminal. The cooling towers sit on the roof with a dedicated noise reduction design.
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The building material mainly consists of blue gray glass, silver anodized aluminum plate, light gray stone with some black corrugated aluminum interspersed on the roof and parapet edge. The combination of glass, metal and stone reflects the boldness and sharpness of modern architecture. Meanwhile the wooden color aluminum plate on the roof and inner wall brings warmness to the building. The project reflects and develops our persistent consideration and exploration in regional architecture practice.
Compared with creating a dazzling building, designing a simple, elegant, modestbut impressive project is more challenging. We believe the program will beoutstanding by its role and function in the city. More importantly, it will be extraordinary because of the respect to the environment as well as the control of materials, proportion and scale.
In this interview, presented in collaboration with PLANE—SITE, the creative directors of the Australian Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale discuss the motivation and execution of their design, “The Pool.” In the short clip, Amelia Holliday, Isabelle Toland and Michelle Tabet provide insight into the cultural relevance of the pool within the Australian built environment and the emotional reactions they hoped to invoke in visitors. They explain the way these ideals are translated into the physical pavilion, which was intended to replicate “a place where people of different ages and backgrounds and abilities can all come together and be part of something.”
Throughout all cultures water is symbol of survival; there’s something very spiritual about water, all of humanity is very connected to water. Culturally, in terms of art and music and indigenous culture it’s really, really strong [sic], and there’s many layers of connection with the pool that we wanted to bring to light. – Isabelle Toland, Creative Director
We knew intuitively at the beginning of this process that the pool was this unique social space, a very Australian experience, but we also knew that there was something incredibly seductive about water. Like all good design, the pool itself draws you in immediately, and people have an immediate emotional connection to it. – Amelia Holliday, Creative Director
As a creative team, we were really intent on creating a singular but multi-sensory experience, so when you enter the space you will first see the reflections of the water, onto the walls, onto the volume of this new pavilion which is a fantastic opportunity for us [sic]. Then, you’ll start hearing the music that we’ve had composed by a composer, and finally you will start hearing the different interviews that are overlaid onto that. All of this has been done through the prism of the pool which is the central element. It’s very simple, but it engages all the senses. – Michelle Tabet, Creative Director
For more thoughts from the creative directors, check out the following article which they penned earlier this year.
Rolka Studio have unveiled their winning proposal for the Mevaseret Zion Conservatory in Israel. A joint venture of the local council of Mevaseret Zion, the Israeli Architects Association and the Musicon Association, the competition sought a design that integrated the urban and natural borders of the site with the unique musical program. The judges commented that it was Rolka Studios’ interrogation of the “relationship between the creator and nature, between performance and landscape, sound and topography” that made their proposal stand out from the 85 entries.
The building sits at the junction of three different types of public space; continuous urban public space on the north, Hare’el nature park, and a smaller scale neighborhood public space to the south. Despite these natural borders, the site is centrally located within Mevaseret Zion city, and this position required consideration of its public presence as a landmark and urban square.
Courtesy of Rolka Studio
Within the urban grain of Mevaseret Zion city, the neighborhoods are penetrated by ‘green valleys’. In reference to this, the back side of the conservatory opens up towards the open nature, bringing the landscape into the building. A scenic path passes through the building and connects the urban square and the natural valley, enabling the passage of hikers and pedestrians. In contrast, the continuous front facade presents a distinctly urban condition and forms the bounding wall of a public square to its forefront.
Courtesy of Rolka Studio
The building is hedged upon the unique musical values of the program, which includes a concert hall, a variety of learning and performance spaces, choir and orchestra practice rooms and a dance center. The architectural language is based on the attempt to connect this musical theme into the existing landscape, and the need for differentiation in the floor plan between public and private zones.
Courtesy of Rolka Studio
The learning spaces and common music practice rooms are organized in adjacency to the public areas of the building, providing users a nature passageway with rotating performances. Separate entrances allow the auditorium, dance center and the rock rooms privacy from the visiting crowd, as they operate separately from the rest of the building. The private learning spaces are located on the outskirts of the project, with open and direct views to the existing landscape.
The design of the ground floor respectfully references the traces of old buildings and natural features on the site and its close surroundings. Following the flow of the topography as a Greek village would, the lower floor is folded into the ground, hiding it from street view. Thus the building appears as a set of white floating boxes, a set of portals to view outwards and inwards.
Courtesy of Rolka Studio
In a press release, the architect describes how the architectural language creates a delicate balance between an object or an icon and a “soft” structure that fits its natural environment. The project offers a flexible set of options for teachers and students of the music center in one hand a building which acts as a stage for presenting music to the city, and on the other hand, quality private learning environment with a close connection to nature.
For an alternate response to the competition brief, check out Neuman Hayner Architects proposal.
The villa is fitted to a bucolic rural land in a small village of eastern France.
The radical and uncompromising project takes place in this site to establish a close relationship between indoor spaces and the garden. All internal spaces have an access to the garden.
The concrete volume is composed of solids and voids, the notion of traditional openings is forsaken in favor of completely open and continuous facades.
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The terrace and pool are treated with the same material so as to expand the volume to the garden.
With their latest facade construction, Iranian architecture firm Sstudiomm explores the potential that brick can offer by utilizing parametric architecture. Instead of relying on unique construction elements for assembly on-site at a later date, in their new project (called, in full, “Negative Precision. On-Site Fabrication of a ParametricBrick Facade // A DIY for Architects”) the firm considers how a simple mass-produced element like the brick can be assembled in unique ways by taking advantage of digital technology. While firms like Gramazio Kohler have already developed industrial methods of assembling brickwork following parametric designs, Sstudiomm aims for a more lo-fi approach, creating parametric brick walls using little more than the traditional construction methods found in Iran and a dose of ingenuity.
Courtesy of Sstudiomm
Iran has a long tradition of brick construction, as clay and lime mortar are among the most readily available materials in the country. Vernacular buildings, such as housing blocks, are generally made of plain brick walls, while landmark Iranian buildings are either built with traditional brick construction and coated with decorative plaster and tiles, or feature brickwork that forms geometrical patterns. But by using 3D modelling, Sstudiomm offers new alternatives to generate sophisticated brickwork patterns and make the ornamental character of Iranian architecture accessible to a larger part of the population.
Courtesy of Sstudiomm
As Sttudiomm’s facade for an apartment block in Damavand exemplifies, stencils allow the assembly of bricks into a geometric pattern. This construction technique had already been used by Archi-Union Architects when assembling concrete blocks for their AU Office and Exhibition Space, but Sstudiomm also proved that digital technology can open new fields to building industries that still rely on craft and traditional construction methods.
Courtesy of Sstudiomm
Sstudiomm demonstrates that stencils can provide a low-budget solution to the building of parametric walls. They developed the various patterns using a Grasshopper code that rotates the bricks between 9 and 27 degrees depending on their position within the pattern. Beside the laser cutting of stencils, the construction requires little new technology and mostly relies on local resources and crafts.
Courtesy of Sstudiomm
As a result of the hand-made assemblage, the finished parametric wall differs from the initial drawings, but Sstudiomm takes advantage of this lack of precision. Digital fabrication provides an excessive degree of precision, yet to some extent this precision is not necessarily visible to the human eye. On the other hand, whereas digital technology can be a luxury in the building industry, Sstudiomm’s construction method opens parametric design to a larger section of society. The Iranian firm even released open-source pattern and stencil designs on their website, providing architects with the essential tools for a DIY construction technique to build brick parametric walls.
Courtesy of Sstudiomm
Architect: Sstudiomm Client: Z. Jabarpour + R. Naghavi Location: Damavand, Iran Construction: Behesht construction co. + sstudiomm Construction Manager: Sadegh Naghavi@ Behesht co. Photographs: Courtesy of Sstudiomm
For a ruined Civil War-era warehouse in Brooklyn, there may have been no better organization than an avant-garde theater group to think creatively about its future.
Situated in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge in the popular Dumbo neighborhood, the 1860 tobacco warehouse was crumbling and forgotten when St. Ann’s, a 36-year-old theater company that began life in another Brooklyn church, sought to renovate it for its first permanent home. Attaining energy efficiency in historic buildings is not just possible—it can be the most sustainable and aesthetic choice.
St. Ann’s, led by artistic director Susan Feldman, hired a building team that included Marvel Architects; BuroHappold Engineering; and Charcoalblue, a theater, lighting, and acoustics consultancy. The resulting 25,000-square-foot complex, St. Ann’s Warehouse, includes two versatile and changeable performance spaces, lobby and event areas, and a triangular garden (designed by landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates).
The historic structure of what became St. Ann’s Warehouse. Image Courtesy of Charcoalblue
The main performance area can accommodate between 300 and 700 audience members, depending on the configuration, which allows for a range of productions that has included an all-female staging of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and a production of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson (X-Files).
Yet the renovation was a long time coming and by no means assured. In addition to getting all the necessary approvals to refurbish the building, including a sign-off from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the primary design problem involved creating a flexible, comfortable, and energy-efficient space for performers and audience members. This had to be done without sacrificing the building’s most historic and architecturally significant elements, namely its 24-foot brick perimeter walls and arched windows and door openings, which had warranted the building’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
“One of the first things we agreed upon was preserving that brick shell,” says Zachary Griffin, a Marvel associate who served as the project architect for St. Ann’s. “We decided that those walls would remain untouched and exposed on the inside of the building as well as the outside. In addition, to really function as a performance center, St. Ann’s needed about seven more feet in height. It was always assumed that we would do something above the existing walls.”
Essentially, the designers created a building within the building—a steel, glass, and plywood structure that preserves the historic walls. The new roof was built upward and set back from the original frame, with a clerestory made of glass bricks. It’s a modern twist on historic building materials. This element put a permanent roof on the structure for the first time in decades; previous roofs had caved in and left the building open to the elements.
“The clerestory was an opportunity to let in natural daylight,” Griffin says of the unusual-but-welcome concept for theater people used to working in dark backstage spaces. “It’s solid glass, so it works very well acoustically, and there’s some R-value associated with it. We have blackout shades for when performances are going on.”
Construction at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Image Courtesy of Charcoalblue and Pavel Antonov
From the outset, the company and the designers wanted a sustainable and energy-efficient space, going for LEED Silver certification with a goal of a 20 percent energy reduction over a comparable building. At the same time, theaters have different heating and cooling needs than, say, offices. Keeping such a large open space comfortable was a challenge.
“As a performance venue, the acoustics and volume are very important,” Griffin says. “We chose to use a fin-tube radiant perimeter heating system in conjunction with a forced-air system to improve efficiency and reduce noise.” Ductwork for the cooling system runs overhead, dropping cool air down from above; the design team kept it exposed, along with a series of catwalks, which honors the historic industrial nature of the space.
Building in climate-change resiliency and protecting against flooding were also important—especially given that the project began just weeks after Hurricane Sandy had devastated many waterfront areas in the Northeast. The team moved certain essential electrical and mechanical equipment to the mezzanine and roof levels to help reduce the impact of potential flooding. Other sustainable elements included an insulated roof, triple-glazed windows, energy-recovery ventilation, and occupancy sensors, which reduced unnecessary energy use and reliance on electrical systems.
To envision the new design, the team used a combination of software, including Autodesk AutoCAD, but that came after quite a bit of hand drawing. “A lot of theater clients are wary of high-tech visualizations; they are craftsmen who create productions step-by-step, often by hand,” says Gavin Green, founding partner of Charcoalblue. “To them, computer renderings look finished—even though they’re far from that. So we don’t emphasize that too much in the early stages. We promote physical models and sketching to engage the client team and encourage them to participate in the design process, but that takes you only to a point. Then we complement that work with three-dimensional modeling to help clients understand how rooms will feel.”
Seating inside St. Ann’s Warehouse. Image Courtesy of Charcoalblue and David Sundberg/Esto
Just as St. Ann’s (the company) has been pushing the boundaries of theater, its building is now pushing the boundaries of historic preservation to include sustainable design, energy efficiency, and resiliency. The design has already won several awards, including recognition from the AIA New York chapter, the Municipal Art Society of New York (which awarded the project Best Adaptive Reuse), and the Urban Land Institute’s New York chapter.
Making the choice between tearing down a building and resurrecting it is a big one, but a historical structure should be able to make the case for itself. “Because it was so powerful in its architectural language, there was a lot of respect for the structure and the complexities in this historic building,” Green says. “Those fantastic brick walls established the character for the rest of the project.”
Collaborators: London School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, NOW Gallery, London Festival of Architecture, BD Landscape Architects, City Sq, Creative Aluminiun Solutions
From the architect. An experiential garden den has been created for the London Festival of Architecture 2016 by pH+ Architects on Peninsula Square, Greenwich. Conceived as an inclusive sensory space, The Milkshake Tree is a pop-up inspired by the practice’s work for the London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy (LCCCP) in Haringey. The installation stimulates and encourages play through sounds, smells, movements and reflective surfaces.
The Milkshake Tree is part of the philosophy of learning through play, embraced at the LCCCP. Using specific education techniques, which were specifically developed for children with cerebral palsy or other movement disorders, the charity’s aim is to inspire disabled children to develop independence, confidence and self-esteem to achieve their full potential. The pop-up is named after a request from one of the children for a milkshake tree in their new Centre.
Located outside the NOW Gallery, the installation includes a ramped walkway bounded by a screen of timber fins combined with copper xylophones which can be played by the children as they pass by. The walkway wraps around a 12 sq metre gold mirrored cube with leaf-shaped cut outs, an Amelanchier tree and a glass prism in the centre creates a kaleidoscope of colours and light.
From the architect. The city of Turku has gone through many changes during its 700 years of history and architecture reflect different stages of that history. The last stage in architectural progress, newest modernism, is exhibited by Ikituuri student apartments. The copper tower was designed by Architecture Office SIGGE Ltd. It is an oval 12 story building with copper facades manufactured by Luvata Pori Ltd. These Green Living facade cassettes give the building a streamlined and extraordinary textural feel and look.
An architectural competition was held and the winning entry by Pekka Mäki’s Sigge Ltd was awarded the commission. The building site is situated between a main motorway and Turku Student Foundation’s student home townscape. The Ikituuri building is to be used as living quarters, but in the townscape its function is also to be a land mark.
Site Plan
The building mass is divided into two parts; Basement and tower. In the triangular basement there are rooms for HVAC and bicycles. Staircase and elevator are in the middle and rooms are situated in a radial way along the corridor along them.
In each level there are eight rooms, singles and doubles, 30-45m2 in area. Each of them has a glazed balcony. Noteworthy is, that the oval form also feels and shows clearly in the interior of the apartments, but without causing any difficulties in furnishing or decorations. The way the apartments are designed gives a thrilling feeling. In the topmost floor there are a conference room and a sauna and a large sun deck. The deck is visible in the facade form and finishes the tower in an elegant way.
Floor Plan
The colors of the building are springing partly from the materials. The foundation is covered with rusty red steel net and the tower growing above gets its color from the pre-patinated copper. The patina looks and feels natural as the copper ages, but is industrially made and the color is sustainable.
Architect Pekka Mäki has arranged the lighter and darker copper cassettes so that the lay-out gives the oval a dynamic feel.
In the interior the architects have used strong color effects: The staircase is painted in concentrated green, the bicycle garages oval concrete wall have a luscious red color as well as the kitchen cabinets. Otherwise the living quarters are painted in light color which’s gives the dwellers good possibility to decorate the rooms according to their own tastes.
Ikituuri is an interesting building also when considered its building physics. The oval form causes a sail effect and works like a stationary rotational sail. The on molten concrete frame was quite simple to make strong enough, but the mounting of the copper cassettes is specifically constructed so that both winds suction strength and the coppers ability of electrochemical attack are considered. Therefore the mounting grid is build of stainless steel profiles.
Floor Plan
Ikituuri is also geothermally heated. The process is bi-directional. In wintertime it produces heat and in the summertime the geothermal wells are used in cooling by pumping the warmed air loads back into the wells in the bedrock.
The representative of the Student Foundation of Turku believes that the decisions have been correct regarding the use of copper and technical questions. Also the use of geothermal energy gives an ecological advantage and is also a question of sustainable development.
And so Turku got a new landmark situated near the motorway. The dwellers are getting more value, not only trough a modern home, but also having a chance to live in stylish and modern building with exceptional architectural design with copper facade.
From the architect. VINTED is the place where community and staff are connected by common ideas, work environment and friendly office spaces. The new office of 600 square meters which symbolically we call VINTED 4TH is situated in Žirmūnai district in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, on the fourth floor of the old administrative building. Entrance to the office is right from the elevator!
Color cuts in the plan shows difference in the taste of every person who works there or who uses its service. Not to enchant colorful environment too much, the main working area we left bright and calm, what counts as strong fundamental stone of the company.
Every detail in new interior is little add-on to the idea, that everyone can find the right place in one office. Working areas have their own shapes of light above the tables to find the perfect working position. To erase the limit from work and rest we looked at some little details as hammocks and swings. Those small things helped to escape pressure, be more flexible with working and thinking. Since the office shares common ideas we left old doors from male and female WC but made them lead to the same space and it gave another addition of equality in the working environment. Every space in the office has something to tell and to show, every space has his own new born history in the path of the company.
Sig Nordal 