Extremely narrow, long properties have spawned a special kind of building in this quarter: working class homes with lengthwise terraces along the street, sloping roofs and longhouse annexes that reach far into the gardens, resembling railway carriages in a row.
This existing Typology was our model here, further developed and built in its own, revamped style. on a space of 6 by 22 metres, there are a children’s house, a communal building and a parents’ house next to each other, shaped into one volume.
While the entire ground floor can be used communally and a small office unit added, all of the private rooms are situated in the two upper floors, some of which with little roof galleries. The centre of family life remains the elongated living and dining room facing the garden, with 60 square metres on split levels and with varying ceiling heights. Constructed in solid, permanent materials with insulating bricks and oak window frames, it meets low-energy-Standard.
Ga-Pyeong region is located outskirts of Seoul. The site is famous for Arboretum, pine forest and mountains with rocks. The project embraces these characters of region. Likely, to other places, pine trees and large Rocks were easily found on the site. We pursue to express the atmosphere of the site character on our master plan. When people visit the site, they should experience the nature as itself and should not be disturbed by destructed nature. The site is located on the edge of pine forest, which has slope height difference of 25 meters from the south to north end. Area for glamping is on nature side. The buildings are positioned on the road side, as if they protect the camp site.
The buildings are divided into three volumes along the slope. The buildings are merge into the nature. The last volume on lowest side is used as welcome center. The facade of the building is combination of mirror and black cedar wood panels. The mirror panels embrace the surrounding nature.
In this project, we introduced two glamping designs. They are ‘rock flower’ and ‘dynamic triangle’. Both the buildings and the glamping are positioned along the inclined slope.
The word ‘Glamping’ was introduced over 10 years ago in Korea but its meaning was misappropriated in terms of quality and comfort. Instead of glamorous camping, low quality tents were installed and profiteered.
We came to a mind of creating Glamping, which gives people chance to experience the nature even closer, while providing place to experience uniquely designed architecture and comforts. A place, where nature, ecological values, comfort and modern design are equally balanced. This concept led to the creation of Glamping Architecture in Korea.
The Glamping units are juxtaposed with a minimum change of the nature. We developed the Glamping unit and we named the design ‘Rock Flower’. The basic concept of ‘Rock Flower’ was inspired from the rocks on the site.There were number of large rocks on the inclined steep hill and the flowers were grown between gabs. The design intension is to express the glamping as flower buds on the rock.The 1.5m round window on top of the glamping helps to bring the sun light as well as experience the nature closer.The shape of the Landscape/nature has highest design character and we reflected this while planning the master plan.
The shape and the position of the structures were carefully considered to give aesthetic emergence both during the day and the night time.When the form was designed, we considered the vertical structure spacing not to exceed the maximum width of the standard membrane size. This helped to reduce the cost as well as better control over visual effect of the joints between the surfaces. Because of the translucent character of the membrane, the shadow of the structure gave lantern effect, when projected on the surface.
From the architect. This is a renovation project on 5F of the kitchen studio Hue, following the first renovation on 6F, 7F, and RF in 2012. 6F had been used as the tableware storage room and the library. But this time they decided to use it exclusively as the tableware storage room and relocate the library to 5F. In addition, they also wanted to open a cake shop on 5F.
“A library and a cake shop” are apparently a rather unexpected combination: we provided a kind of “backstage” space in between, intended as a “buffer zone” that visually connects both functions while keeping some distance in between at the same time.
Plan
We also intended to create a place for gathering by connecting the seemingly unrelated spaces, namely the library and the three kitchen studios. Three “table brothers” of circle, triangle and square are located in these spaces, providing opportunities for interaction.
Instead of locating the tea café on the hilltop, the architect decided to lay the buildings hidden in the hill but outreach to take the view of plantation.
Plan
Plan
The idea is to keep the hill top view where the building rooftop would then be a 360-degree viewpoint of the plantation. Here at the rooftop, in addition to the natural atmosphere of the plantation, the visitors can do observe the farmers’ activity, tea leaves ‘hand pick’ harvesting during the day.
The main building is composed of three buildings; they are floated and outreached from different viewpoints. The functional areas included dining zone, café, teashop, and toilets. Scale and proportion of them are various and depended on those usage of each building.
The structure is challenged point, we can see they are floating when we look at them from the foot hill and only one pile appears to bear the entire building. The retaining wall at the back is set into a distance of the building to create an extra space for the green courtyard to provide shade and shadow in this area.
There is another separated building of toilets for visitors at the parking lot; this is to alleviate the visitor circulation during the high season. Same as with the main building, this toilet building is also hidden under the hill and also composed with stone and green courtyard for shady.
From the architect. This project is a Buddhist temple and ossuary for the “Jodo-shu”, a Buddhist sect. The site is located on a slopein Sasebo, Nagasaki, surrounded by a dense residential area. In addition, the ossuary, the temple premises and the residences are separated by ponds, and the reflection of the sunlight is thrown on the floor of the ossuary through the glass windows. Generally, temples of the “Jodo-shu” are planned to face east so that when praying at the main hall, the prayers would naturally face the Western Paradise (a paradise in the Jodo sect which is supposed to be located in the far west of our world). In contrast, due to the direction of the slope, this temple faces west. However, by adding a cinnabar-coloured finish to the inner part of the grid inset in the temple gate, and with the help of the light of the setting sun through the stairway and the temple premises, the stairway space, the temple premises and the main hall are all lit up in cinnabar.
The whole design of the ossuary and the prayer hall is directed by Buddist beliefs, applying a contemporary vocabulary. Architecture here follows a narrative that gives sense to every axis, orientation, space, material and volume of the buildings. According to Buddist beliefs, the facade of the ossuary has to face West, the holy land, this way the holly light warms and consoles the souls in houses. The use of light follows this condition and is nevertheless used as an opportunity to provide a solemn atmosphere inside, a restful space for the ossuary.
Plans
Building on the Slope
The existing graveyard was on a man-made terrace that was dangerously deteriorated. However, the temple was lacking funds. A reinforced concrete structure was proposed as a gate and an ossuary with 450 crypt spaces. 120 spaces re-accommodated the existing graveyard, and the rest were sold to fund the new main hall. In contrast to the concrete ossuary, the main hall is a light steel structure. In summer, doors of the hall function to completely open the space to cooling breezes.
At the bottom of the site, a temple gate attached to a charnel house is arranged, and through this gate, a stairway would lead us up to the temple premises. The main hall of the temple is planned at the front of the premises, and on both sides of the premises, the residences for the chief abbot and vice-chief abbot are arranged. However, as these residences are hidden by wall partitions, no one could notice the dwellings from the temple premises.
The pond is a spiritual element. It is a symbolic separation between this world and the next. The ossuary, the temple premises and the residences are separated by ponds. The reflection of the sunlight is thrown the floor of the ossuary through the glass windows.
The location of the temple was carefully studied to take advantage of its high position on the hill and make use of natural ventilation for cooling the space during summer time. The space was designed adopting an idea from traditional Japanese houses: the engawa, a veranda with shoji screens (sliding doors made of paper) behind.
From the architect. The new Preparatory School creates a series of individual linked buildings set within the landscape, linked by courtyards, play spaces and learning breakout spaces. Guildford Grammar School is situated in the heart of Western Australia’s Swan Valley. Located on the Swan River, the site nestles into the floor plain and wetlands of this ecosystem.
The buildings are oriented to capture views to the floodplain and strategic elements of the campus; and to allow for the connection of external learning with the internal classroom environment.
Woven throughout the project is the notion of learning and play, and the integration of these as part of the whole. Sliding, climbing, tunneling and waterplay all break down barriers between traditional learning environments and a more contemporary pedagogy.
The material character of the project differs from outside, in. Like a jewel box, the solid and steady external character of the brick, zinc and sandstone reference the campus and fabric of historic Guildford, an area rich in heritage. These give way internally to a play of warm plywood, vibrant colours, soft and slippery surfaces, inviting exploration and inhabitation.
The plan is centered around a courtyard and streets which connect horizontally and vertically, linking play, breakout and learning spaces. Colour and texture animate the spaces creating a transparent and engaging learning environment for the preparatory school, placing learning on display.
The sequencing of classroom, transition, breakout and courtyards provide a continuum of integrated flexible learning spaces to be explored by new methods of learning, technologies and pedagogies.
The project incorporates active and passive sustainable design strategies to minimise embodied carbon and energy use through its operation. Natural light, ventilation, water harvesting and solar energy are all visible aspects of the design which contribute to environmental awareness and energy efficiency. These systems integrate with water courses; natural and man-made, to further enhance the connection to the wetland ecosystem. The building acts as a tool for teaching and learning about the site and its ecology.
In the newest video by architects Wahyu Pratomo and Kris Provoost of YouTube’s #donotsettle, the duo visit MVRDV’s “The Stairs” installed outside Centraal Station in Rotterdam. The project commemorates the 75th anniversary of the city’s reconstruction after World War II by devising the staircase now attached to the Groot Handelsgebouw, a landmark and one of Rotterdam’s first post-war buildings. In the video, Pratomo and Provoost discuss the idea of temporariness, experience-driven architecture, context, and symbolism inspired by MVRDV’s intervention, all the while asking other visitors for their own reactions to the spectacle.
Pratomo and Provoost started #donotsettle on YouTube while they were architecture students and urban enthusiasts studying at TUDelft in The Netherlands. Now, the duo regularly visit new and noteworthy architectures sites, both in Europe and around the globe, creating user-oriented architecture videos imbued with a playfulness and experiential authenticity.
MVRDV’s “The Stairs” is a free installation and will be open until June 12.
The design theme and name of the ASH NYC 2016 VIP Lounge was Office Space, which merged office culture with the exuberance of the art fair experience, by reinterpreting cubicles, dropped-ceiling panels, and ready made office furnishings. The lounge occupied a 1250 square foot space located at the heart of the Collective Design fair and featured a 60 foot long modular table, called Office Table, that was made from the same reclaimed heart pinewood used for the new floors at the Whitney Museum.
Diagram
The piece connected the lounge to the public café program and served as a café, cubicle, bar, lounge, and stage for the event. A series of informal seating cubes, Office Chairs, ran along the edges of the space as a whimsical ensemble of functional sculptures where visitors could gather. In addition to the above, ASH also produced a limited-edition WC4 chair, that was available for purchase on-site.
A flexible system of horizontal blinds enclosed Office Space on all four sides, while clusters of the limited-edition WC4 chair were scattered among office plants to form intimate gathering spaces. Ceiling panels were wrapped in reflective mylar to compose a mirrored drop ceiling.
As floor becomes table, blinds become walls, and ceiling panels become mirrors, a bricolage of standard office elements take on a second life to reveal a space that is at once familiar and unknown.
The Oslo Architecture Triennale has announced the program and participants for this year’s sixth edition of the event, titled After Belonging, which will open in September of this year. Participants will contribute to two exhibitions, occurring alongside a conference, and collateral events, taking place September 8-November 27, 2016.
As described by the Oslo Architecture Triennale website: “The 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale designs the objects, spaces, and territories for a transforming condition of belonging. Global circulation of people, information, and goods has destabilized what we understand by residence, questioning spatial permanence, property, and identity—a crisis of belonging. Circulation brings greater accessibility to ever-new commodities and further geographies. But, simultaneously, circulation also promotes growing inequalities for large groups, kept in precarious states of transit. After Belonging examines both our attachment to places and collectivities—Where do we belong?—as well as our relation to the objects we own, share, and exchange—How do we manage our belongings?”
“…speculates on architectural intervention strategies at a selection of sites—in Oslo, the Nordic region and around the globe—that are understood to encapsulate the contemporary transformation of belonging.”
“…dissects the architectures entangled in the contemporary reconfiguration of belonging, documenting the ways in which these architectures redefine residence, and the spatial, aesthetic, technical, and sociopolitical implications of this redefinition.”
“…[considers] what is architecture’s role in the contemporary reconfiguration of belonging? How has this process transformed the notion of residence? What are the spatial, technical, and sociopolitical consequences of this transformation?”
“…investigates the objects, spaces, and territories of our transforming condition of belonging. Global circulation of people, information, and goods has destabilized what we understand by residence, questioning spatial permanence, property, and identity—a crisis of belonging. Circulation brings greater accessibility to ever-new commodities and further geographies. But, simultaneously, circulation also promotes growing inequalities for large groups, kept in precarious states of transit.”
The Academy Organized by Oslo School of Architecture and Design, September 11-18, 2016:
“…will bring schools from around the world to enter in a global dialogue and knowledge-sharing experiment, reflecting on issues related to the topics explored in the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016: After Belonging, including new forms of residence, contemporary states of transit, and the ways in which architecture and design are responding to new forms of belonging and belongings.”
“…is a stateless embassy that represents, through cultural means, the ideals of ‘stateless democracy’ developed by Kurdish communities of the autonomous region of Rojava, northern-Syria. The embassy is conceived and designed by Studio Jonas Staal, and takes the form of a temporary installation in Oslo. Through assemblies and public debate it will present the cultural and political ideals of this new autonomous region. The aim of the project is to rethink non-state models of political representation through art, as well as to engage a large public in the unique cultural and political ideals being developed in this war-torn region.”
“…a series of [events], both in Oslo and around the various In Residence Sites that respond to the curatorial framework for OAT 2016:After Belonging. These programs are expected to multiply the perspectives and formats of the discussion taking place at the Triennale.”
From the architect. The first time I visited this property and took in the desert and the diaphanous, clear water running along a horizontal line in the background, I felt the enormous drive of water under a scorching sun. This piece of land, located in the middle of a coastline dotted with “All Inclusives,” would have to be transformed into a box that contained its own sea –practically its own air– given the happy circumstance that the universe had created a desert joined to the sea along a horizontal line. It was the purest, most minimalist landscape a horizon could have drawn. On either side, this dreamlike scenery collided with what humans consider to be aesthetic and build and baptize as architecture. I wanted to draw my own version, apart from the rest.
I believe that the greatest virtue of architecture is the generation of sensations through space on a series of planes that are found within the realm of sensitivity. I believe this capacity becomes still greater when your surroundings allow you to meld into them, forming thus part of your own space; in this sense, I wanted to take that horizon and bring it into the foreground. The water is an event that borders the entire project; all of the volumes open up toward the sea and turn their backs on the city, which is all that remains of the original surroundings, burdened by noise. Mar Adentro is a kind of Medina that opens out onto the sea. Each floating volume contains interiors that form, in turn, independent universes. Each room visually contains a piece of the sea; no one can resist gazing out at it.
For a long time, I have felt that construction has failed to evolve on a par with other endeavors: the automobile, for example, in a hundred years went from being a wagon to what we know today. And yet when I look back at the Pavilion by Mies Van Der Roe, it is in essence very similar to what we see today in architecture, albeit transgressed a bit perhaps through involution. We see unnecessarily complicated, but relatively non-complex structures scattered around the world. There are some risky proposals that form part of the current panorama we refer to as modern or contemporary, but they have not been very evolutionary.
Each room was built in a factory. Poliform was our ally. We built the entire interior structure and sent it in boxes across the sea to its destination, where it was assembled on site by local hands. In a question of days the first room was ready, of a quality subject to the tyranny of a machine and the wisdom of hands dedicated over the course of a lifetime to construction. There was no room for improvisation, and yet the room was fashioned with intelligence, imagination, and dedication. I learned from those German and Italian manufacturers what we sometimes fail to intuit from schools or books over the course of many years.
Our project can be constructed entirely through this process, employing a module whose versatility allows it to be divided or added onto, thus becoming autonomous or dependent on another structure. Our main module, for example, is a kind of loft divided in half in order to create two rooms, as simple as that. In summary, the module is a two-, three-, or four-bedroom apartment; a house can be formed by adding on two or four more modules. The important thing is the versatility of this structure, one that can be entirely factory-made then raised on site in a friendly manner.
Sig Nordal 