From the architect. We were asked to undertake comprehensive renovation and adaptation of two residential units in a building that was constructed in the 70s. Due to the dilapidated state of the apartments we were required to get passed a significant change with regards to all issues of sanitation, safety, local materials.
The renovation is spread out over 250 square meters, and is designed according to the topography of the lot: It‘s 7 floors, with the ground floor having two levels, with no setup for a service elevator. The initial idea that we tried to keep through the design process was the preservation of the existing parameter of the flat while implementing our notion of Ceramic Rooms which are made from local soil transformed to Tadlak. By doing that we emphasize different body and special entities into space.
Floor Plan
Secondly, strengthening the dialog between the old state and the new, and improving it by simplifying the tenants access to the building. An additional subject is handling of the details and creating a homogeneity between the various spaces. With regard to question of the duration and cost of the project, from the beginning of the process the importance of the issue of staying on schedule and primary supervision, throughout its development.
The architectural proposal includes renewal and preservation of the exterior envelope of the structure, adding an elevator and Safe-Room. Additionally, changing the overall aesthetics of the rooms with plans for demolition and construction and the swapping of rooms for new functions. The proposal includes construction techniques that combine locally sourced ingredients such as the use of natural building materials and solar energy.
The offices of Caá Porá, Siete86 and Ingeniera Alternativa have released designs for “Palenque Cultural Tambillo,” a cultural center dedicated to the artistic tradition of marimba music in the Afroecuadorean town of Tambillo, Ecuador. Consisting of a performance and meeting hall, two multi-use classrooms, rehearsal spaces, an artisanal instrument workshop and ecologically friendly public bathrooms, the project is planned to become one piece of a network of cultural centers to be built in the UNESCO heritage province of Esmeraldas.
Courtesy of Caá Porá Arquitectos
The team began a process of research and design workshops with the community of Tambillo in October 2015 to determine the center’s needs. The main desire of the community was for a place where they could preserve their cultural history, built from traditional construction methods.
Building in a protected ecological reserve and in a mangrove forest presented unique engineering challenges for the project, but also with opportunities to learn from local techniques. One such solution was the use of oyster and conch shells discarded by the fishing industry as aggregate to strengthen the project’s rammed earth walls and concrete foundation. The main structure of the performance hall is made of responsibly-sourced wood and is covered with a palm thatch roof, while classroom and workshop buildings feature zinc roofs lined with acoustical and thermal insulation.
Courtesy of Caá Porá Arquitectos
The main hall also features a sand floor similar to the dance floors used in traditional dance ceremonies, and musicians are elevated to a mezzanine level to keep the floor space as open as possible and provide seating areas for spectators. To optimize acoustics, the palm thatch roof has been designed to absorb excess percussive sound, a tilts to create views out to the nearby mangrove forest.
Courtesy of Caá Porá Arquitectos
Courtesy of Caá Porá Arquitectos
The buildings have been designed to be cost-accessible and easily constructed, while also able to resist the heavy rainfall and earthquakes that are a part of Tambillo’s climate and environment. The project also uses locally-sourced materials to reduce its overall ecological impact – important to a region where concrete block and other less sustainable materials have become to most common construction elements.
The project is currently using the crowdfunding platform indiegogo to gather interest and make the complex a reality. You can donate to the TambilloCultural Centerhere.
The Forks Market Food Hall breathes new life in to one of Winnipeg’s most important and beloved public spaces. The market acts as the city’s living room, a place for people to gather and relax with their friends and loved ones. The design aims to re-define the aging interior as a modern food hall and event space.
While developing the design, it was important to support both the evolving functions of the public space and the site’s rich history. For hundreds of years The Forks has been a place for both gathering and trade. From the late nineteenth century onward the site was used as a rail yard. The two brick structures that today form the market were once machine shops for freight car and coach repair, and later stables for the rail companies. An atrium space was constructed in the late 1980s linking the two historic structures to create The Forks Market building, establishing a shopping and dining destination.
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The Forks’ industrial past inspired the direction of the interior design. Raw steel, hand forged blacksmith work and natural wood detailing are all used to reinforce the character of the historic architecture. An exposed steel structure stretching over the craft beer and wine kiosk, composed of exposed c-channels and bent i-beams, was inspired by the architectural language of Canada’s rail history. Its hand forged steel detailing by a local blacksmith references a traditional industrial art. The existing teal structure was painted dark grey and new lighting was added to enhance the character and material of the original stable buildings. Former horse stalls, which act as food kiosks are outfitted with new tile and steel front counters, consistent signage, and a flexible assortment of equipment to accommodate a variety of food and beverage vendors. New tables with steel bases and swinging circular seats reflect factory plant benches, further relating to The Forks as a place of turn of the century industry.
The design aims to enhance the sense of community in The Forks Market’s central court. Smaller wood tables with hinged drop leaves can transform in to an 80-person harvest table, allowing for large communal gatherings. Arched structures with counter seating and upholstered banquettes define the edge of the hall, creating more intimate seating areas within the larger volume of the space. Suspended above, large metal drum pendants with glowing LED Edison bulbs contribute visual warmth and further define the gathering space.
The Forks has acted as a space for gathering and commerce throughout its rich history. Our hope is that the refreshed food hall will breathe new energy into the space, helping this tradition to continue long in to the future.
Ingenhoven Architects have released images of Marina One, a high-density mixed-use complex for the new Marina Bay Financial District in downtown Singapore. The plan consists of two office towers, two residential towers and a retail podium set between two large urban parks. The project’s centerpiece is the “Green Heart,” which upon completion will become the largest public plaza in the central business district. Construction has currently topped out, with an expected completion date falling sometime in 2017.
The design of Marina One is green in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. The inner faces of the four towers feature vertical plantings centered around a multi-level biodiversity garden. To maximize airflow and create a comfortable microclimate, the buildings have been designed with strategically placed openings and are shaped to capture air currents.
The two 30-story office towers meet LEED Platinum criteria and as well as the local designation of “Green Mark Platinum,” and feature sky gardens and two floors of high-density occupancy, which will be the largest “Grade-A” office floors in Singapore.
The other two 34-story towers house 1,042 luxury residences ranging in size from one to four bedroom units and penthouses. The residence towers are penetrated by air wells and slots, allowing all units to receive natural ventilation, increasing building efficiency. The facade consists of an external sun-shading system and high-performance glazing to reduce solar gain into the building, and PV panels will provide energy from the sun.
Additional spaces in the complex include a variety of restaurants and cafes, a fitness club, a food court, a supermarket and several event spaces. These venues are accessed through a series of open public terraces. Direct connection to the MRT line and bus routes will allow the complex to become a new public destination for the city.
Design Team: Christoph Ingenhoven, Martin Reuter, Christian Kawe, Olaf Kluge, Jae Man Bae, Arzu Bastug, Mario Böttger, Mehmet Congara, Darko Cvetuljski, Justyna Fleszar, Matthias Hemmrich, Gerald Huber, Ben Hughes, Ingo Jannek, Raphael Keane, Melik Kekec, Moritz Krogmann, Rosario Ligori, Stephan Lücke, Haitao Ma, Javier Martinez Martin, Christian Monning, Kenzo Nakakoji, Gillian Neumann, Danny Piwko, Peter Pistorius, Michael Rathgeb, Michael Reiß, Viviane Rosenbaum, Ulrike Schmälter, Markus Stöcklein, Zakiah Supahat, Jun Teraoka, Matthias Thoma, Thomas Weber, Jan Wesseling, Jhon Jairo Zamudio, Bibiana Zapf, Ivona Zelic
Client: M+S Pte Ltd. Singapore, a company owned by Khazanah and Temasek
Main Contractor: Joint venture company owned 60:40 by Hyundai Engineering & Construction and GS Engineering & Construction
Structural & Me: BECA Carter Hollings & Ferner, Singapore
Quantity Surveyor: Langdon & Seah, Singapore
Residential Interior Designer: Axis ID, Singapore
Facade Consultant: Arup, Singapore
Lighting Consultant: Arup, Singapore
Piling Contractor: Sambo E & C, Singapore
Landscape Architecture: Gustafson Porter LLP, London
Area: 341000.0 sqm
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Doug and Wolf V5. Courtesy of Ingenhoven, Courtesy of Ingenhoven Architects, M + S Pte Ltd. Courtesy of Ingenhoven, Alexander Schmitz. Courtesy of Ingenhoven
The site of the house is on a silent road close to the beach on a rectangular plot, surrounded by small and typical 2 storey houses. A little garden at the entrance of the house on the west side creates an open space that can be used for parking as well.
Plan
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The volume of the two-storey building is cut by three atria in order to let in natural light and a double height ceiling at the entrance of the building. The first floor is mainly for a living and kitchen area as well as guest rooms and two bathrooms. The upper floor has two bedrooms as well as two bathrooms and a big terrace facing the seaside. A balcony from the master bedroom faces a small courtyard.
The big facade openings on the west side with sliding doors offer maximum daylight and can be closed with white aluminium shutters for sun shading and to protect against trespassing.
Interiors are made by wood elements and raw concrete, that is used for the floors and even for furniture pieces like the bed or the sinks in the bathroom.
The entire front facade of the building (and some parts of the courtyard) is covered by custom handmade tiles that are inspired by a traditional Mexican pattern. The use of the tiles within the project should reflect a vernacular tradition that is expressed through contemporary design.
Building on the popularity of Snarkitecture’s popular BEACH last year and BIG’s massive Labyrinth in 2014, the National Building Museum‘s 2016 Summer Block Party installation has returned this year with “ICEBERGS,” designed by James Corner Field Operations. ICEBERGS is an interactive underwater environment of glacial ice spanning the museum’s Great Hall, and invites in the public to escape the hot Washington D.C. summer by exploring climbable bergs, ice chutes, caves, grottos and more.
Take a look at this time lapse video to see how the project came together.
Urban Cabin was designed for a retired couple interested in downsizing and simplifying their lives. The couple lived on the site for 26 years, creating and nurturing their private yet urban sanctuary. The challenge was to design an appropriate response to the ideals of living with less in a neighborhood which is prone to excess. Conceptually, the design was inspired by a picnic shelter in a forest. The ideas of a primitive picnic shelter gave direction to both the building’s form and minimal program requirements. All program elements were reduced of excesses and distilled down to the elemental.
The house is composed of a simple sheltering roof, supported on the east by a solid wall, which protects the inhabitants from a busy public park. Informed by the topography, the house was slightly recessed into the landscape, engaging a visual connection to the site.
The remaining west-facing elevations are composed of windows and doors which embrace the surrounding garden and ponds. The deep overhangs at the ends of the long roof create an extension of space beyond the glass enclosure. Terraces are tucked under the shed roof to reinforce a connection to the beautiful landscape beyond. The exterior siding on the long east wall continues through the interior spaces, and with the minimal window details, blurs the boundaries of inside space.
The result is a compelling report. It reveals that these high-performing projects skew small. That performance gains and metrics, particularly real-time performance metrics, are improving each year. That the leading projects tend to be expensive. On average, they come in at $537 per square foot. “The cost data shows us that we need more compelling examples of lower-cost, higher performance projects,” Hosey says. Clearly, more exemplars at greater scale, type, and cost variation would be beneficial to both the profession and the market.
This report has been produced as the AIA Committee on the Environment celebrates its 25th year. Its longevity is peculiar, in a certain way, because so many of its leaders over the years have suggested that real success would mean the group’s obsolescence. (That includes me: I served as an Advisory Group member for AIACOTE, as well as its chair, in 2007.) If and when the AIA and the profession fully embrace the integration of design excellence and sustainability, we have long argued, then COTE’s reason for being might evaporate. Unfortunately, we’re nowhere near that.
How to get there? There are steps the AIA could take.
First, this leading edge program—and the projects and the teams who create its recognized exemplars—should be more visible and accessible. The report suggests an “online portal that updates Top Ten performance analysis every year; [a]n annual education track at the national convention with ten sessions featuring deep dives into the winners; [r]egular or occasional conferences devoted to the leading edge of sustainable design; [c]loser study of the effects of the size, structure, and culture of high performance design firms.” The online portal would allow these exemplars to be living, real-time examples of what’s working and what’s not. Tracking how architecture functions for the people who use it would be a tremendously valuable tool for owners, occupants/users, and designers.
Another? It is long past time that these measures and metrics be fully integrated into the AIA Honor Awards. To be clear, the COTE recognition program was started because Honor Awards were a beauty contest that neglected performance. In this century, that weakness persists: while a few of the COTE measures were finally integrated into the Honor Awards starting three years ago, the associated performance metrics are requested but not required. (This leaves it up to the jury to decide whether attractive buildings that are regionally inappropriate—or worse—can earn recognition. Thus far, few entrants have provided metrics and the program does not publish the information that winners provide, as Top Ten does.)
Design excellence without accountability is far short of excellence. And isn’t excellence—actual functioning excellence in architecture, the kind that shows the relevance and leadership of the profession itself—precisely what the AIA Honor Awards are meant to recognize?
Pajarera House is located on the top of the south-eastern hillside of the Aburrá Valley, in the Loma del Escobero (outskirts of Medellín). The house is in the middle of a hilly, woody and green landscape.
The plot where the house is placed is very sloped, with many large native trees and views to the valley of San Nicolas (a high valley in the Central Andes Mountains in Colombia). The plot bought by the clients (a young couple, friends of the architects) had an artificial terrace: usually an ideal place to build a house. One of the main ideas of the project was to build the house elsewhere, because the artificial terrace was the only horizontal area of the plot, hence perfect for taking a sunbath, playing soccer or having a barbecue or a picnic.
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The house rests on a large reinforced concrete pillar on the sloped of a mountain which resembles a palafito or a stilt house. This arrangement allows plants to grow and water to pass under the house.
The house is an amplified version of a birdhouse. It is in the middle of the trees, raised from the ground and protected by branches and leaves. The landscape can only be seen through the leaves of the nearest trees.
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The access to the house is by the artificial terrace through a long and narrow bridge that connects to the social area: kitchen, dining and living room, and then goes out to a small balcony that hovers over a forest. Thus, the bridge that gives access to the house becomes the balcony that extends the building towards the woods.
ODA New York has unveiled the plans for Bushwick II, a 1,000,000 square feet apartment development that will occupy two city blocks in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood in New York.
Located on the former site of the Rheingold Brewery, the project will act as a “city within the city,” and is modeled after “the quintessential European village,” featuring a meandering system of interconnected courtyards.
Courtesy of ODA New York
Within the courtyard system, landscaped and partially covered walkways will guide visitors through a series of plazas, coffee shops, art galleries, lounges, fitness centers, recreational and study areas, among other publically accessible amenities. The design aims to “promote a sense of community in this increasingly vibrant area” noted the architect in a media release.
Courtesy of ODA New York
Similarly, many of the amenities within the courtyard system will be enclosed in glass, so as to create a sense of openness and connectivity.
Courtesy of ODA New York
Additionally, the project seeks to create community through a series of art installations commissioned from local artists that will be distributed throughout the complex.
The development will also feature a 60,000 square foot rooftop space, where tenants will be able to participate in urban farming, as well as general relaxation and fitness facilities.
A 17,850 square foot park will run directly through the development’s center, creating a vast public promenade. By opening the project in this way—in addition to providing 20% affordable housing, and making many of its offerings available to the public—ODA aims to create a highly porous community center – Eran Chen, Founder & Executive Director of ODA New York.
Sig Nordal 