© Patrick Bingham-Hall

• Architects: group8asia
• Location: Punggol, Singapore
• Project Team: Carlo Montoya, Armand Devillard, Duong Bao Trung, Nguyen Duy Tan, Le Hai Anh, Nguyen Viet Hung, Dam Van Tam, Vu Thu Nga, Vu Ngoc Tu, Vu Dong Thanh, Ngo Trong Anh, Phan Thi Bich Lien, Nguyen Phuong Chi, Bui Le Minh, Nguyen Trung Thanh, Florence Thonney, Do Dang Tuat, Nguyen Duc Cuong, Le Quang, Thomas Sponti
• Area: 258000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Patrick Bingham-Hall

• Concept Team: Manuel Der Hagopian, Grégoire Du Pasquier, Adrien Besson, Anne Luyet, Nicolas Moser, Laurence Savy, Nguyen Kien, Guillaume Desormeaux, Vu Hoang Ha
• Consultants: Aedas Pte Ltd, Singapore (Local Architect), Beca Carter Holling & Ferner (Se Asia) Pte Ltd, Singapore (Civil & Structure Engineering), Davis Langdon & Seah Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore(Quantity Surveying), Icn Design International Pte Ltd, Singapore (Landscape)
• Cost: 265m usd
• Site: 80’000 m2

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

From the architect. Looking to the future whilst looking back to the past, the Punggol Waterway Terraces form a blueprint for 21st century sustainable mass housing and mark a return to Singapore’s original ethos of community pride and identity.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

The original SIT public housing blocks were tropical adaptations of contemporary clean-lined odernism. As they were designed well before the advent of airconditioning,the apartments required cross- entilation, they were shaded by overhangs, and were orientated to avoid the heat of the afternoon sun. When the first large-scale HDB blocks were built in Queenstown in the early 1970s, that ‘tropical-necessity modernist-design’ architectural hybrid symbolised a newly independent Singapore.

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Diagram

As Singapore grew more affluent and as global architectural fashions changed, those heroic tropical-modernist forms were to quietly disappear. They were replaced by an architecture that itched to assert Singapore’s worldliness, but the designs became increasingly generic, many of the developments were implicitly anti-social,and the structures were unsustainably non-tropical.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

However, in the face of global warming and the loss of community identity, the pendulum has swung back to the principles and the spirit of tropical-modernist design, especially in the field of public housing.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

The sheer mass and the fundamental design elements of the Waterway Terraces are not hidden, they instead are presented to the public and the residents as an unequivocal response to the 21st century requirements for a sustainable, yet enjoyable, high-density urban lifestyle.

A matrix of planning strategies provides passive climatic control – cross ventilation and shading from the sun – whilst maximising the orientation of the apartments towards the waterway that bisects the site.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

Set upon linked hexagonal plans, the ‘arms’ of the blocks step down to the waterway as terraces, so all the residents have a direct experiential connection with the landscape and with their neighbourhood. The apartments are shielded from the heat and the rain by undulating ribbons of ‘Juliet’ balconies, which perform as decorative sun-shading devices.

Plan

Plans

A continuous no-dead-end corridor runs the length of every floor in each of the two sectors, and by virtue of an ingenious planning manoeuvre, the double-loaded corridors actually facilitate cross-ventilation and vertical cooling, instead of blocking the airflow to the apartments. Due to the hexagonal block plans, three corridors are angled at 120 degrees from the lift cores to serve apartments grouped in threes. Each apartment is directly ventilated by the lift-core breezeways and by voids inserted between the groupings.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

The fundamental principles of passive tropical design have been inventively recalibrated and then expressed at a monumental scale, whilst the contextually-attuned planning and massing have reintroduced a sense of communal identity at a human scale.

© Patrick Bingham-Hall

Waterway Terraces is a genuine precursor to the zero-energy mass housing that will be essential for the continued growth of Asia’s cities.

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© Jeremy Wright

• Architects: Freedman White
• Location: 4 Hoddle St, Elsternwick VIC 3185, Australia
• Project Team: Ilana Freadman and Michael White
• Area: 250.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Jeremy Wright

• Builder: Fedderson Pty Ltd
• Building Contract: ABIC Simple Works
• Bca Class: Class 1 building
• Cost: $470,000

Plan

© Jeremy Wright

Hoddle House has been designed to nurture the changing needs of a young family over time, through the creation of generous spaces with a high degree of flexibility. The existing dwelling was a 1930s brick with a rear 1970s addition.

Diagram

The client required additional space for their young children to explore; a rumpus room, living, kitchen and terrace. A primary deficiency in the existing condition was that the living/dining areas were buried within the rear addition, whilst the laundry occupied valuable garden space. Freadman White’s approach was to swap the laundry and living areas, providing a raking ceiling at the junction of old and new to reveal the extensive yard beyond.

© Jeremy Wright

The rumpus room was envisaged as a space of indeterminate function. Connected to the new living area by a large slider, it could be a rumpus room, as required by the client, or it could be more – a reading room, large dining room, or sleep-out. The room is bereft of joinery, or other programming features; its only determining feature is its connection to the garden, deck and living room, making it a connective space, open to variability and change.

© Jeremy Wright

Section

The new volumes adopt atypically thick walls and window reveals providing formal, shading, thermal and cost benefits; rather than demolish and re-build, much of the original extension is retained and concealed within these thick walls. To animate the building, sheer curtaining coupled with variegated window heights and depths blurs the static formalism. A common feature of the surrounding context is the hipped roof; in this addition, the exterior roof form is hidden from view. It is not until one experiences the interior that the angular forms of the hip roof type appear, in the form of soaring raked ceilings.

© Jeremy Wright

To watch over the children from inside, the client required vistas across the yard. A deceptively simple and cost effective approach was taken by the landscaper to express the boundary, by specifying black paint to all palings. This ‘horizon line’ can be seen form several internal vantage points, extending the effective floor area right to the boundary.

Diagram

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© Zupagrafika

Following “Brutal London,” Zupagrafika has released another collection of illustrated paper cut-out models, “Paris Brut,” which portrays the Brutalist architecture of Paris from the late-’50s through the 1970s. The set features buildings from the city’s arrondissements and banlieues, the latter of which became a central locality for Habitation à Loyer Modéré, a type of public-private, rent-controlled housing in France.

Paris Brut is made up of six illustrated models to assemble: Orgues de Flandre, Les Choux de Créteil, Cité Curial-Michelet, Cité des 4000, Centre National de la Danse and Plan Voisin interpretation. The whole set is eco-friendly (printed on recycled paper and cardboard), and includes a short technical note on each building’s architect, year of construction, and exact location.

© Zupagrafika

Zupagrafika’s Paris Brut pays special tribute to Modernist ideals with an interpretation of Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin (1925), a grid of cross-shaped towers meant to cover Haussmann’s Paris with rectilinear order.

© Zupagrafika

According to the designers, “The concrete blocks of Cité des 4000, round towers of Les Choux de Créteil, Cité Curial-Michelet – largest estate of Paris, and high-rise Orgues de Flandre towers, were to provide thousands of new homes for the rapidly growing population. Soon however, some of these urbanizations became affected with social problems and gained off-limits status.” During the 1990s and 2000s many of these housing blocks were renovated or demolished. The rubble that was once Cité des 4000 became a metaphor of the false promises of modernism to create housing for the middle and working class.

© Zupagrafika

But all has not been tragic for Paris’ stock of Brutalist buildings, certain structures have revitalized with new purposes, such as Jacques Kalisz´s administrative building in Pantin, which since 2003 has been home to Le Centre National de la Danse.

With its projects, Zupagrafika is interested in “cataloguing postwar modernist architecture in a playful paper form that allows us to look at this type of constructions from another perspective.”

http://ift.tt/27AX4MW. Image © Zupagrafika

“Paris Brut” and others collections by Zupagrafika are available in their online shop, here.

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Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

• Architects: Architekturbüro Steidl
• Location: Bärnhof, 92431 Neunburg vorm Wald, Germany
• Area: 153.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

• Construction Company: Franz Wilhelm Bauunternehmung GmbH
• Frame Carpentry: Holzbau Richard Kurz GmbH

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

The simple looking annexe for the medium voltage grid control center provides additional space needed to accommodate the switch to renewable energy sources – you would not guess that it is a wooden construction.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

At sunrise when the first sunbeam is falling over the treetops and the morning dew drips off the blades of grass you would not get any premonition that this is the heart of a gigantic energy grid.

Elevation

Hidden in the forest the control center of the medium voltage grid is situated in the Upper Palatinate, a part of Bavaria, Germany.  The 53 employees are not only controlling the voltage in Bavarian power supply, but also the natural gas grid in East- and North Bavaria. If there is a blackout in Bavaria, a signal light turns on in Neunburg.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

Since 30 years the area plays a significant role in our energy future. It contents the former largest solar-hydrogen pilot power station designed by architect Michael Steidl from Architekturbüro Steidl in 1987 and transformed into a control center in 2007. Now the high-security complex had to be extended, because of higher computational costs induced by the German Energiewende.

South Elevation

The design team of Architekturbüro Steidl added an elevated extension volume to the existing building stock by absorbing its design language in objective simplicity. “We took the yellow window frames as a corporate color coding and transported this code from the facade into the detailing of the interior”, explains Interior designer Barbara Steidl.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

To accent the color yellow, we combined it only with black metal elements at the façade. In contrast to the dark façade white and grey dominate the interior design and according to the color scheme decent yellow elements can be noticed in the detailing.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

By moving out of the building stock the cube has a clear direction, which is not only readable from slim openings at the side facades, but especially at the conference room that is situated at the end of the cube with a fully glazed façade. It creates a panorama view over 10.000 installed photovoltaic panels – A look ahead into the future of energy production.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

The prefabrication of wooden elements allowed a short construction period of five months. After pouring the concrete platform it needed only two days to set up the prefabricated modules. Those elements are frames constructed with solid structural timber, planked with OSB plates and wood fibre insulation and filled with cellulose insulation. Afterwards the shell construction was covered by a ventilated curtain façade with metal cassettes. The floor in the interior was done with the help of a combined dry screed and floor heating system. To guarantee air conditioning the dropped ceiling contents a metal cassette cooling system.

Courtesy of Architekturbüro Steidl

The project was selected by a jury of the Bavarian Chamber of Architects for this year’s Architektouren, which is a performance show of Bavarian architecture, landscaping, interior design and urban planning, giving the people the chance to look behind locked doors and take part in informative conversations about contemporary architecture.

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For this year’s US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, curators Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon have chosen twelve teams to speculate on possible architecture projects for four sites in Detroit, in an exhibition titled: The Architectural Imagination. After visiting Detroit last fall for site visits, community meeting, and discussions with faculty and students at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the teams have now released images for their projects. The curators hope to generate creative and resourceful work to address the social and environmental issues of the 21st century.

A(n) Office / Detroit, Michigan: Marcelo López-Dinardi; V. Mitch McEwen

A(n) Office, Promised Land Air, 2016. Rendered aerial perspective of industrial studios with pneumatic freight, housing, air-purification network, and a Canadian consulate. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit.

BairBalliet / Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois: Kelly Bair; Kristy Balliet

Courtesy of BairBalliet

BairBalliet, The Next Port of Call, 2016. Oblique drawing of dock, port of entry, customs checkpoint, and waterfront entertainment venues. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office.

Greg Lynn FORM / Los Angeles, California: Greg Lynn

Courtesy of Greg Lynn FORM

Greg Lynn FORM, Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge, and Innovation, 2016. Model detail showing cogeneration plant, corporate research centers, and movable university collaboration spaces. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant.

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects / Atlanta, Georgia: Mack Scogin; Merrill Elam

Courtesy of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Mexicantown: A Liminal Blur, 2016. Model of  interpretive layers of the Mexicantown neighborhood. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit.

Marshall Brown Projects / Chicago, Illinois: Marshall Brown

Courtesy of Marshall Brown Projects

Marshall Brown Projects, Dequindre Civic Academy, 2016. Towards a Coordinate Unit, handmade collage on inkjet print, 40×50 inches. Speculative project spanning Detroit’s Dequindre Cut greenway.

MOS Architects / New York, New York: Hilary Sample; Michael Meredith

Courtesy of MOS

MOS, A Situation Made from Loose and Overlapping Social and Architectural Aggregates, 2016. Sectional drawing through a new framework for the everyday life of the city. Speculative project spanning Detroit’s Dequindre Cut greenway.

Pita & Bloom / Los Angeles, California: Florencia Pita; Jackilin Hah Bloom

Courtesy of Pita & Bloom

Pita & Bloom, The New Zocalo, 2016. Axonometric drawing showing band shell, theater, and cultural center, part of a new neighborhood hub. Speculative project for Mexicantown/Southwest Detroit.

Present Future / Houston, Texas: Albert Pope; Jesús Vassallo

Courtesy of Present Future

Present Future, New Corktown, 2016. Model of superblock using cross-laminated timber construction. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office. 

Preston Scott Cohen Inc. / Boston, Massachusetts: Preston Scott Cohen

Courtesy of Preston Scott Cohen Inc

Preston Scott Cohen Inc., Revolving Detroit, 2016. Longitudinal section of post office, undulating roof, and entwined ramp and staircase. Speculative project for Detroit’s riverfront United States Post Office.

SAA/Stan Allen Architect / New York, New York: Stan Allen

Photo by Scott Benedict, Practical(ly) Studios.. Image Courtesy of Stan Allen Architect

Stan Allen Architect, Detroit Rock City, 2016. Model detail showing observation tower and conservatory, part of a larger vertical botanical garden. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant.

T+E+A+M / Ann Arbor, Michigan: Thom Moran; Ellie Abrons; Adam Fure; Meredith Miller

Courtesy of T+E+A+M

T+E+A+M, Detroit Reassembly Plant, 2016. Perspective rendering showing megamasonry mountain, formed by a new aggregate made of recycled building materials and supported by the Packard Plant’s existing columns. Speculative project for Detroit’s Packard Plant.

Zago Architecture / Los Angeles, California: Andrew Zago; Laura Bouwman

Courtesy of Zago Architecture

Zago Architecture, A New Federal Project, 2016. Model detail showing federal building, which deploys novel architectural forms as a means of direct political engagement. Speculative project along Detroit’s Dequindre Cut.

Learn more about The Architectural Imagination, here.

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© Adrien Williams

• Architects: Architecture Microclimat
• Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
• Area: 1700.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Adrien Williams

• Structural Engineer: Geniex
• General Contractor: Paquet construction urbaine

© Adrien Williams

From the architect. A low-impact intervention
Located in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a centennial home welcomes a family who wish to breathe new life into their space and establish a new dialogue with its surrounding environment. With a vision to respect the home’s original character and preserve the large poplar rooted in the backyard, Microclimat designed a low-impact intervention for an addition that would occupy a small portion of the garden. This new space would blossom from the home through two new large openings in the existing brick wall.

© Adrien Williams

The expanded architecture—an intermediate area between the yard and the living quarters—offers a newfound flow of space and light in the home without compromising intimacy. Through the fluid transition resides a sharp contrast between the modern addition and the home’s original design from 1885, one that is further accentuated by the addition of a light steel staircase that serves as a filter between the interior and exterior spaces.

3D

This staircase connects the spaces and allows a complete reorganization of the home’s original interior design, all while representing the verticality of the tree, thus reinforcing the relationship between the home and its roots. Two sunrooms located near the new wooden windows of the refurbished space offer a comfortable reading space near the yard, providing the family with the opportunity to enjoy the surrounding environment year round.

© Adrien Williams

A cantilevered mezzanine
Perched on the peak of the new space, the mezzanine is home to the master bedroom, with direct access to a new rooftop terrace. This mezzanine is cantilevered on both sides of the home and yard, floating quite literally over the neighbouring homes and minimizing the modifications made to the original structure.

© Adrien Williams

The Hôtel-de-Ville residence shows the potential of considered architectural interventions to rethink the purpose of a space by establishing a new connection to its surroundings, in this case the shared roots between a centennial home and a poplar tree.

© Adrien Williams

Architecture Microclimat
Founded in 2013, Microclimat is a budding firm whose work ethos is grounded in the principle that architecture and the environment in which it evolves, are perpetually feeding one another.
via v2com

© Adrien Williams

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© Adrien Williams

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1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia Navy Yard. Image Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Bjarke Ingels is the recipient of the 2016 Louis Kahn Memorial Award, an annual prize established in 1983 to recognize “excellence in architecture” in honor of one of Philadelphia’s most influential architects. Ingels was honored at a ceremony on May 9th, when he also delivered the annual talk that accompanies the award.

Speaking on the subject of Louis Kahn, who died the same year Ingels was born, in 1974, he remarked, “I wouldn’t say that my work is linear of Louis’ but I think that he rediscovered symbolism and designed super-functional architecture that’s been lost and has been re-created by pragmatism.” This fits into Ingels’ own views on his practice, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which he described as “pragmatic utopianism,” asserting a belief that architecture is “the art and science of turning fiction into fact.”

© Ulrik Jantzen

Remarking on BIG’s first project in Philadelphia, 1200 Intrepid, Ingels stated, “When we were coming up with the design, there was a clear place taking form already—the Navy Yard master plan was already in place. We thought we should inherit as much from the park, designed by Field Operations, as much as possible. We thought the circular park would be sort of a strong gesture and influence the building, so we designed the road in front of the building to curve with it. The white prefabricated concrete panels are sort of like the bracelets of a watch, and they tilt so that it creates a graceful, organic space and inviting cave like canopy.”

1200 Intrepid, Philadelphia Navy Yard. Image Courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

The Louis Kahn Memorial Award + Talk raises funds to help support the Charter High School for Architecture + Design (CHAD), founded in 1999 by the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The school encourages children from underrepresented and underserved communities to pursue careers in the fields of architecture and design.

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© Jure Živković

• Architects: Saša Randić , Idis Turato
• Location: Mali Losinj, Croatia
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Jure Živković

© Jure Živković

From the architect. Museum of Apoxyomenos is a building specifically converted to house one single exhibit: The Athlete of Croatia, a famous 192 cm high bronze sculpture made most likely in 2nd or 1st century BC in a Greek foundry. The sculpture was raised from the sea in the vicinity of the island Lošinj in Northern Adriatic in 1999. Statue is one of few remaining Greek bronze sculptures from Hellenistic period and one of the best preserved.

© Jure Živković

Discussion where to display the sculpture has involved different cities, but at the end the choice fell on city of Mali Lošinj. This decision was in line with the Croatian cultural policy from the 1990’s, favoring construction of museums in smaller communities. Museums have demonstrated capacity to generate social interaction and become true public spaces, so it made perfect sense to display the sculpture right next to the place it was discovered.

© Jure Živković

Chosen location for the museum was Pallazo Kvarner, an existing building forming the historical waterfront and the city’s facade, the “Riva”.

© Jure Živković

Two elements of this narrative were important for the architectural approach. The first one was that the sculpture found in the sea had actually no connection with the surrounding and it clearly belonged to a very different time and place.

The second one was a curious decision not to build a new building for it, but to use the interior of an existing house instead. Conditions from the Conservation Department even prohibited any intervention on the façade, demanding it to be restored in the original shape. It seemed odd that one of the most magnificent finds from Hellenistic period had to be displayed inside a carefully restored not-so-significant building.

© Jure Živković

For that reason museum was conceived as a completely independent metal casing, inserted inside the perimeter walls of the existing building. Display in the interior of a building also implied a more intimate presentation of the sculpture.

© Jure Živković

The inserted element is an exhibition device, dividing the area in 3 different spaces: exhibition space, residual space (service space) and public space.

Exhibition space is created froma predetermined exhibition concept, defining enclosed area of the museum. The outer shape of it is a wrap-up of these spaces.

© Jure Živković

The residual space, between the metal casing and the walls, is used as administrative and auxiliary space of the museum.

© Jure Živković

Third is the public space. Ground floor is conceived as a covered extension of the waterfront promenade, open for different uses, from exhibitions to various events.

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Exhibition space, leading gradually to the sculpture, was conceived as a path.

Dynamics of the waterfront, particularly during the summer months, are not creating the most appropriate background for the museum. Waterfront is a vibrant public space, full with attractions, that are at the same time distractions.

© Jure Živković

The competition brief mentioned purification and decontamination of visitors in technical description of air-conditioning and ventilation requirements. It became apparent that the location required a sort of emotional purification as well, to prepare the visitors for the encounter with the sculpture.

© Jure Živković

One of most common ritual forms of purification is a procession. Visitor is led, through a succession of the spaces and gradually prepared for the contact. Architectural space is seen as a “architectural promenade”, as Corbusier used to call it, as a personal journey through space. Sequence of different spaces creates enough distance between the sculpture and the street but it also creates a sense of anticipation and discomfort, liberating the senses for the encounter. 

© Jure Živković

Journey starts with an escalator, that brings group in the first room with exhibition displays about the sculpture and the find. The second room is a soft room covered with thick carpet, where the visitors watch the movies. From there a narrow staircase leads to a periscope room, where one sees the sculpture from below, and in enlarged details on the screen. The path continues in the olive-tree cladded corridor with displays exhibiting organic material found in the sculpture. From there the group finally enters the exhibition room with the sculpture. Journey ends in the last room in the attic, mirroring the view of the bay. 

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© Philippe Ruault

Sunlight has proven to be an excellent formgiver, with which architecture can create dynamic environments. The lighting design pioneer William M.C. Lam (1924-2012) emphasized in his book “Sunlighting as Formgiver” that the consideration of daylight is about much more than energy efficiency. Architects have now found numerous ways of implementing sunlight and the questions arises whether a coherent daylight typology could be a valuable target during the design process. However, many daylight analyses focus mainly on energy consumption.

Siobhan Rockcastle and Marilyne Andersen, though, have developed a thrilling qualitative approach at EPFL in Lausanne. Their interest was driven by the spatial and temporal diversity of daylight, introducing a matrix with 10 shades of daylight.

Above: Renderings of 10 typological Models from high spatial contrast and temporal variability to low spatial contrast and variability. Image © Siobhan Rockcastle, Marilyne Andersen

Observing daylight, we encounter the possibility of two extremes: direct sunlight, with clear blue skies and the diffuse cloudy sky as a counterpoint. They both lead to very different feelings and associations. Direct sunlight creates an intense modelling with harsh shadows and its direction during the course of the day has a major impact. Hence, our environment seems to be very diverse with the duality of light and shadow. Simultaneously the brightness of the blue sky has a very activating effect on us – which is why many people spend their holidays at destinations that guarantee sunshine in order to seek happiness.

Matrix showing spatial contrast and temporal variability for 60 architectural spaces. Horizonatl axis from high spatial contrast and temporal variability to low spatial contrast and variability. Image © Siobhan Rockcastle, Marilyne Andersen

But when clouds appear and fill the sky, the brightness decreases significantly and we lose the modelling due to the lack of clear shadows. Subsequently we encounter a dimmed situation of uniformity and calm. Such conditions settle our mind because we are not stimulated by diverse and dynamic surroundings.

Within the EPFL research study Siobhan Rockcastle and Marilyne Andersen analysed numerous examples of contemporary architecture with regard to the spatial and temporal variability of daylight. Their conclusion led finally to a typological categorization with 10 categories ranging from direct exaggerated patterns to indirect and diffuse spaces. In this way an analogy occurs to the two extreme weather situations of direct sunlight and cloudy sky. For a brief overview, here we will explore the three major groups of high contrast, medium and low contrast rooms.

A dramatic and even exaggerated daylight pattern design emerges with top- and side-lit spaces like Norman Foster‘s Kogod courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution, the Seattle Central Library by OMA or the Zollverein School by SANAA. The distinct façade structures create intense shadow patterns which move constantly during the day. The large, clear glass elements in the façade create high brightness levels that seem almost as bright as outside. When the façade openings are smaller, a screen façade leads to similar effects but with a finer pattern design. The Louvre Abu Dhabi by Ateliers Jean Nouvel is an excellent example of a screen technique with the characteristic Arabic Mashrabiya.

Terms Vals (1996). Architect: Peter Zumthor. Image © Wikimedia user kazunori fujimoto licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

The medium contrast category uses partially or selectively direct light in combination with indirect daylight. These spaces avoid both extreme contrasts over time and a dull atmosphere. Mies van der Rohe worked with large side-lit glass panes for his Farnsworth House with minimal obstructions in the forms of additions like louvers. The changes over the day are clearly visible, but they stay away from striking shadow patterns. Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals represents a remarkable compromise of selectively direct light. The powerful grazing light effect contributes a characteristic contrast but the pattern does not change that much during the day like at the Seattle Central Library. Daniel Libeskind’s Imperial War Museum is a similar example of playing with lines of daylight in the interior space to build up a certain mood.

Naked House, Saitama, Japan, 2000. Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects. Image © Hiroyuki Hirai

The third category comprises modes of indirect diffuse lighting and thereby eliminates intense contrasts and changes over time. Steven Holl’s daylight softly elevates the Chapel of St. Ignatius into a sacred space with several bottle-shaped tubes dispersing the light. A more deliberate solution regarding indirect lighting has emerged with buildings where the entire roof consists of daylight scoop grids against direct sunlight, such as in Renzo Piano’s High Museum in Atlanta. However, the ultimate example of a diffuse atmosphere derives from projects like Shigeru Ban’s Naked House. Here the diffuse walls stretch from ground to ceiling and grant the feeling of floating in a cloud. Due to the large luminous vertical surfaces hardly any shadow is left for modelling.

Above: Line diagrams of 10 typological Models from high spatial contrast and temporal variability to low spatial contrast and variability. Image © Siobhan Rockcastle, Marilyne Andersen

The value of the daylight typology by Siobhan Rockcastle and Marilyne Andersen with their two factors of contrast and dynamic impact lies in emphasizing daylight as a spatial quality beyond energy-driven metrics. This approach could evolve into a useful classification to reflect the qualities of daylight in daily design work. The three main groups, ranging from direct exaggerated to indirect and diffuse, enable a quick overview for the concept stage, whereas the 10 categories allow a more differentiated evaluation for the advanced design process. Additional simulations with simplified spatial models even open a path to generate year-round renderings in order to study the variability over time in more detail. Thereby, we would speak less about average values but more about the dynamic composition of light and shadow in the space.

Annual renderings for two top-lit spaces in Boston: Direct and exaggerated (left) and indirect (right) with a vertical axis from sunrise to sunset and horizontal axis from January to December. Image © Siobhan Rockcastle, Marilyne Andersen

Find out more about Siobhan Rockcastle and Marilyne Andersens study by reading their paper: Celebrating Contrast and Daylight Variability in Contemporary Architectural Design: A Typological Approach. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Lux Europe, 2013.

Light matters, a monthly column on light and space, is written by Thomas Schielke. Based in Germany, he is fascinated by architectural lighting and works for the lighting company ERCO. He has published numerous articles and co-authored the books “Light Perspectives” and “SuperLux”. For more information check www.arclighting.de or follow him @arcspaces.

© Siobhan Rockcastle, Marilyne Andersen

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© Steve Montpetit

• Architects: Les Architectes FABG
• Location: Sutton, QC J0E, Canada
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Steve Montpetit

© Steve Montpetit

From the architect. This residence located on a large wooded lot near Sutton in the Eastern Townships region is conceived as a bi-generational family cottage for a financier now based in Asia and his parents still living in Montreal sharing it for family holidays in summer and winter.

© Steve Montpetit

Common areas, kitchen, dining room and living room occupy the ground floor open space as well as the private rooms of the parents on its west end.

© Steve Montpetit

Plan 1

© Steve Montpetit

The second floor is reserved for the son, contains a living room, guest rooms, a terrace and a bedroom offering unobstructed views of Mount Sutton.

© Steve Montpetit

Plan 2

© Steve Montpetit

The two wings are disposed at right angle to minimize noise transmission between floors for occupants living on a different daily rhythm and having to adapt to twelve hours of time zone separation.

© Steve Montpetit

The house, sitting on a podium with a swimming pool and a lawn terrace, is clad with black lacquered aluminium panels and white cedar accents. The hybrid structure is made of wood, steel and concrete floors with radiant heating while the glazing of the curtain wall and windows include a low-e coating.

Via v2com.

© Steve Montpetit

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