© Manfred Seid

• Architects: Makovský & partners; Zdeněk Makovský, Daniel Makovský, Adam Sirotek
• Location: Minská 214/85, 616 00 Brno-Brno-Žabovřesky, Czech Republic
• Area: 105.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Manfred Seid, Lukas Polacek

• Cooperation: Lukáš Poláček
• Structural Engineering: Projekt Holding, a.s., Brno
• General Contractor: Makovský & partners, Brno

© Manfred Seid

Concept

To present a building of a universal typology constrained by the narrow plot in urban context. To create a clear structure, to use materials and details which evoke the atmosphere of minimalist architecture.

© Manfred Seid

Report

Makovský & partners designed and built a terraced house in the Brno neighbourhood of Žabovřesky where the plots are typically narrow and constrained. Although this 105 m2 site faces a busy street we managed to create 1027 m3 of quiet comfortable space. The structure is divided into a four-story house and a one-story courtyard pavilion that meet/connect in a sunlit atrium.

© Manfred Seid

The design of clear geometrical schema is reflected in the prefab concrete structure and aims to create a universal space on each floor. The proportions of the volumes, their zoning, and the dimensions of the exterior and interior spaces rigorously reflect the human scale. The transparency of the building, the architecture of both horizontal and vertical flat surfaces allows creating a continuous space between the street and the inner pavilion on this long, only 4.8m wide, plot. The exposed reinforced concrete load-bearing structure of the external skin intentionally contrasts with the dematerializing white colour of the transverse stiffening walls and the horizontal and vertical interior surfaces /thermal insulation, floor finishes/. This abstract solution creates an atmosphere of concentration and does not burden the human psyche with details. At the same time the large glazing on the front facade communicates with the busy street and the upper floors have views of the city.  Rational architecture and maximal reduction is a long-term programme of the Makovský & partners studio.

© Manfred Seid

The main entrance from the street Minská opens to a corridor which leads to the atrium where is situated a steel staircase that makes access to the upper floors. Behind the dominant glass wall of the atrium is discovered the low courtyard pavilion – a “studio” lit by the skylights. The four-story building has a disposition repeated on all floors: two spaces with generous glazing which are separated by a core with minimalist bathroom and kitchenette.

Section

The constrained site with high ground water level required foundation on micro-piles. The limited width of 4.8m site was overcome by the prefabricated structure of the reinforced concrete external skin and stiffening internal walls. The insulation material Multipor was used to create a thermal comfort as well as to enhance fire protection.

© Manfred Seid

During the construction the Makovský & Partners office has learned how difficult and economically demanding is to build on terraced plot in the city development. The construction could be realized only thanks to the understanding and generosity of the investor.

© Manfred Seid

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© Alexis Dornier

• Architects: Alexis Dornier
• Location: MAS, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia
• Area: 450.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Alexis Dornier

• Construction: Surya Kembar Properti
• Interior Design: Alexis Dornier with the Client
• Kitchen Design: south8

© Alexis Dornier

From the architect. Designed around a collection of three historic artifacts, the design of House 1 seeks to explore the boundaries of contemporary architecture and traditional Indonesian building styles.

© Alexis Dornier

Framing thecarved, wooden ‘centerpieces’, once main structural elements of an ancient Javanese residential housing typology, the roof becomes the contemporary framework without actually touching or utilizing these elements.

LeveL 0 Plan

Skylights and a floating mezzanine level highlight the 3 artifacts as ‘objet trouvés’. The house wants to be experienced in a 3 dimensional way by meandering along a transparent gallery, around a collection of objects in space. It forms plateaus to create different perspectives through the living room towards the inside and the surrounding exterior landscape.

© Alexis Dornier

Under the loft like living room are two master guest suites with bathrooms – accessed through a suspended spiral staircase. The master bedroom is situated on the westerly end, forming a separate entity.

© Alexis Dornier

The composition seeks to give space and wall space to an eclectic collection of art, photography, fine art, and a collection of design objects from mid century modern to traditional Balinese crafted wooden sculptures.

© Alexis Dornier

The suspended ceiling is made from compressed bamboo fiber, and all hard surfaces are made from polished lava terrazzo. All wooden floors are made from reclaimed teak wood.

© Alexis Dornier

Transparent facades frame the buildings surroundings of lush the lush jungle of Bali. The house is overlooking a winding creek and rice fields.

© Alexis Dornier

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© Hu Wenjie

• Architects: waa (we architech anonymous)
• Location: Shanghai, China
• Design Team: Di Zhang, Jack Young, Ruben Bergambagt, Huang Yisu
• Area: 1000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Hu Wenjie

From the architect. We Create conditions for momentary “places” by organizing a series of event spaces. These events are created for clients in the hope of , removing the transient nature of traditional salesroom. We believe our clients are more sophisticated they believe in a lifestyle of improved working environment, we believe this means opulence is not sufficient and more tools will be required. Wherever Events take place, interior arrangement can be linked into abstracted platonic landscape; CEILING lighting as SKY, Floor rug as GROUND. Bespoke furniture viewed as found objects composed in the way to mark a gathering point. This Ad hoc informal arrangement creates the props for a place which uses specific events to detach the visitor from conventional accepted environment, and inspire discussions on their future places of habitation.

© Hu Wenjie

Visitors are guided through a prescribed procession route. The visitor is suggested to explore and find their own route through this unencumbered environment devoid of traditional strong obstructions. Whatever Declaration and Order mean, Gesture and Suggestion mean more. Though screens, walls, Light temperature and customised props we can prompt a way of inhabiting, utilizing visitor’s intuition. We hope this perception of transparency can enhance the freedom can lift the pressure that so often is associated with a salesroom.

© Hu Wenjie

Tall slender screens composed of scrim fabrics, are arranged and positioned to form a backdrop for the space as well as enclosure and formed a softer boundary for the individual events taken place. Scrim is a very light fabric textile. It is both opaque and transparent depending on the lighting condition it is placed. It can be seen as borderless as the viewer can see through. When scrim is lit from either side, the fabric becomes almost immaterial. Vertical bracing orchestrates a rhythm to the fluid lines of the scrim partition and together with the scrim creates the physical, sensory and temporal experience of the space. It reacts to differing atmospheric conditions highlighting these to the viewer can enhance qualities related to time of day and to perceive these qualities with greater vividness. It was important to allow prospective buyers the ability to visualize the space while inhabiting the showroom. Scrim allows for views beyond these boundaries and contemplation of potential.

© Hu Wenjie

Subtle color was applied to the scrim fabric, yellow to black then grey finally the white, transitioning colors promotes changes in perception enhancing a sense of excitement, which interact with visitor’s mood. It is used as soft boundary to melt the route, it becomes their emotional journey.

© Hu Wenjie

Four lighting intensities and zones where conceived in this showroom along the route:
Reception “ Yellow “:Sunlight shining through warm tone of scrims casting shadow onto the floor, overhead lighting on and off tracing visitor’s movement. There is a sense of warmth, lightness and serenity.

© Hu Wenjie

Theatre “Black “: Dark and opaque, only subtly lit up scrim to guide visitor’s movement. All lights interact with movement, sound, smell, visuals; this is the place where events are highly celebrated.

© Hu Wenjie

Project Display “Grey”: Full barrisol ceiling distributes even lighting throughout the space,
Instead of viewing, visitors are placed as the center of the exhibit, being part of it participating the event and activity to the place.

Resting” White”: To receive and perceive in white, sunlight casting shadow through layers of curved white scrim, onto those “found objects” made out of green felt, this is not a monochrome place, but colorful and emotional.

© Hu Wenjie

Hence Architecture becomes phenomena in response to the space surrounding them and the conditions prevailing there.

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Courtesy of BairBalliet

Kristy Balliet, Assistant Professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture, is the Columbus-based half of BairBalliet, who will be presenting their work as part of the Pavilion of the United States at this year’s Venice Biennale. Her research focuses on the exploration of volume as an architectural medium. Balliet’s interest in the city of Detroit began long ago. Related to her interest in contemporary forms of volume, her research started to reimagine the typology of the architectural “midrise” (10-15 story building). Detroit, along with other Midwest cities, requires an innovative tactic for urban infill and associated embedded volumes. This topic has been explored within her own work and as a topic for research design studios at the Knowlton School of Architecture.

In 2013, Kelly Bair and Balliet each submitted separate entries for a competition held on the iconic downtown Hudson Department store site in Detroit. At that time, they recognized an affinity between their individual contributions. There was a productive overlap in design ambitions of volume and figure. While they had worked together in various capacities as co-creators of the Possible Mediums Projects, ‘a series of events showcasing design investigations based in speculative architectural mediums’, they had never partnered as designers. The call for proposals for The Architectural Imagination prompted them to consider a joint submission. There is an architectural tension between Balliet’s focus on contemporary volume, which explore ideas such as room to room relationships and spatial connections and Bair’s interest in flat, recognizable shapes.

Courtesy of BairBalliet

Early on in their discussions about the site they acknowledged that the design required consideration at multiple scales due to the surrounding context. The Post Office site, as it is called by the curators, borders a light industrial and low rise residential neighborhood to the north and an expansive waterfront to the south. The site is not particularly “frontal,” according to Balliet. The project addresses the site on all four sides, including a deliberate extension of the western skyline along the waterfront. Specific to Detroit, they identified the nuanced problem of infill, asking “what are modes of infill beyond physical expansion?”

Since Bair and Balliet each reside in different cities, the initial design concepts were developed over a series of design charrettes in Chicago. As the project progressed into full production mode, the team recruited students and recent graduates from the University of Illinois, Chicago, College of Architecture and The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture.

Courtesy of BairBalliet

Reflecting on the design process, Balliet described the experience as “enjoyable and intense”, and is excited to reunite with the project in Venice. Students were able to see previews of the twelve foot elevational model, which was assembled in classrooms, fabrication shops, and corridors throughout the building. One of the models was briefly on show for students and faculty when it was transported in pieces to the “main space” for a several day photo shoot, before it was packed up and shipped off to Venice.

The Knowlton School of Architecture, and its students, have a history of involvement with Biennale projects, assisting Jose Oubrerie, Stephen Turk, and Jeffrey Kipnis with Piranesi Variations in 2012, and offering research assistance to Ashley Schafer for OfficeUS in 2014

“Architects should seek opportunities to engage dialogues that challenge and expand our imaginations,” said Balliet. “Whether in Detroit—or anywhere—architects contribute expertise that is invested in the spatial imagination.” She hopes that not only does this project speculate on the architectural potential for a complex site in Detroit, but it also captures the attention needed to address other urban scenarios that could benefit from prioritizing the architectural imagination to make spaces that promote connectivity and multiple subjectivities over a singular vision.

The U.S. Department of State selected the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan to organize the exhibition of the United States Pavilion in the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon are co-curators of the U.S. Pavilion.

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© Roberto D´Ambrosio

• Architects: Arkosis
• Location: La Vega, Costa Rica
• Author: Iván Delgado
• Collaborators: Ma. Fernanda Matamoros, Cristian Alvarez, Carlos Jiménez
• Area: 90.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Roberto D´Ambrosio

© Roberto D´Ambrosio

In our academic context we seem to start by  having to unlearn several notions about our built environment in order to learn how to make architecture.  But when it comes to construction we move between the institutionalized tradition and the “informal” one; the latter represents the majority of what has been built in this country…We must ask then, what significant knowledge pervades the present since it precedes formal architectural education by many years ? How is this knowledge transmitted ? Are the instructions for these constructions drawn or narrated ? Finally, how do we unlearn what we don´t understand ?

© Roberto D´Ambrosio

The house is located in a hamlet where no other architect has worked before, surrounded by informal constructions such as old traditional houses, milking parlors, warehouses and cattle pens , and the fragile ones that emerge and disappear without a trace like the tents vendors use to sell fruits on the roadside.  The naiveté associated to these constructions is what sets them apart from the architect´s attention and seems to be lost forever in academia, that is why it is difficult to achieve  effects of “poor” architecture such as the light the filters through the crevices in wooden walls, the  dust and smoke particles suspended in the air trapped within its limits, the half-light caused by old wood and the absolute control that shutters provide as opposed to extensive glass and overwhelming light. 

Plan

As a house of minimal dimensions it will barely incorporate a trajectory inside it, rather, it will be the destination and summary of the necessary journeys for the owner to move to this place,  which involved anticipation and nostalgia until the house became the definitive residence.  Thus it is a collection of the built facts observed during those trips. 

© Roberto D´Ambrosio

The house has simple double faceted roof, it is dimensioned in “varas” (an old unit of measure equivalent to 0.84 meters), has gates of overlapping slats that offer options for light control. Canvases over the deck and concrete slabs outside the bedrooms  make the light bounce twice, get stained and lose heat before coming into the house, this allows for a closer connection with the natural cycles, as the surfaces accentuate the blue light of the morning and the orange light of the afternoon to make waking up and going to bed easier.  Under the same concept, it is possible to see the moon from the master bedroom when it is low in the sky thanks to V shaped polycarbonate ceiling .

Section

For the oversight of the construction personal communication with the builders was indispensable as well as a model that worked better than the drawings.

© Roberto D´Ambrosio

Mrs. V. (the owner and a tireless cook) needed a house that could be built with her retirement savings (which resulted in $ 400 per sq. m.) and that could accommodate her strong personality and the mementos of her life without worrying about asking for the architect´s opinion to make use of the architecture as she pleases. 

© Roberto D´Ambrosio

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SCI-Arc's "Close-up" Exhibtion Explores Architectural Detail in an age of digital manufacturing and design. Image © Joshua White

SCI-Arc’s “Close-up” exhibition is currently on display at the SCI-Arc gallery, featuring architectural details designed with the use of digital technology by top architects in the field. The exhibit, curated by Hernan Diaz Alonso and David Ruy, seeks to explore the impact of new computational tools not only on large-scale building analysis, but also on the “traditions of tectonic expression” associated with architectural detail.

“Out of the many critical shifts that the discipline has gone through in the last 25 years with the explosion of new technologies and digital means of production, the notion of the construction detail has been largely overlooked,” Diaz Alonso said. “This show attempts to shed light on the subject of tectonic details by employing a fluid and dynamic movement of zooming in and zooming out in the totality of the design.”

The 16 exhibitors include architecture firms like Morphosis, Gehry Partners and UN Studio – see preview images of them all after the break.

Nurit Bar-Shai / Nurit Bar-Shai Studio

By Nuit Bar-Shai. Image © Joshua White

Ben van Berkel & Caroline Bos / UNStudio

By UN Studio. Image © Joshua White

Neil M. Denari / Neil M. Denari Architects

By Neil M. Denari. Image © Joshua White

Frank Gehry / Gehry Partners

By Gehry Partners. Image © Joshua White

John Enright & Margaret Griffin / Griffin Enright Architects

By Griffin Enright. Image © Joshua White

Ferda Kolatan & Erich Schoenenberger / su11 architecture+design

By su11 architecture+design. Image © Joshua White

Greg Lynn / Greg Lynn FORM

By Greg Lynn FORM. Image © Joshua White

Steven Ma / Xuberance

By Steven Ma. Image © Joshua White

Elena Manferdini / Atelier Elena Manferdini

By Elena Manferdini. Image © Joshua White

Thom Mayne / Morphosis

By Morphosis. Image © Joshua White

Lucy McRae / Lucy McRae Studio

By Lucy McRae. Image © Joshua White

Dwayne Oyler & Jenny Wu / Oyler Wu Collaborative

By Oyler Wu Collaborative. Image © Joshua White

Marcelo Spina & Georgina Huljich / P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S

By P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S. Image © Joshua White

Theodore Spyropoulos & Stephen Spyropoulos / Minimaforms

By Minimaform. Image © Joshua White

Tom Wiscombe / Tom Wiscombe Architecture

By Tom Wiscombe Architecture. Image © Joshua White

Michael Young & Kutan Ayata / Young & Ayata

By Young & Ayata. Image © Joshua White

• Title: Close Up
• Type: Exhibition
• Website: http://ift.tt/228eRHn
• Organizers: Hernan Diaz Alonso, David Ruy
• From: March 11, 2016 12:00 AM
• Until: May 29, 2016 11:59 PM
• Venue: SCI-Arc Gallery
• Address: 960 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013, USA

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Located in the arid desert of the San Rafael Valley, Arizona, Casa Caldera by DUST is a unique object in the vast landscape. In this video, architects Jesus Robles and Cade Hayes explain their project as viewers are taken on a vivid tour of the building and site. The camera moves through the desert, unveiling the house gradually, as one would truly experience it.

“One of the unique things about Casa Caldera is the experience of the approach,” Hayes says. “Two hours of travel are actually part of the experience of arriving. It isn’t until you are 20, 30 feet from the house that you get a good look.”

© Cade Hayes

Isolated and uninhabited most of the year, the building exists off the grid. Its few power needs are supplied by solar panels and a fire place. The entire home is passively cooled with the use of a vernacular “zaguan” space – openings are designed around this main ventilator to move the warm and cool air.

“You have to sail the house – find where the predominant winds are coming from,” says Robles. “Open certain windows, get the hot moving the cold.”

© Cade Hayes

The video closes with both architects reflecting on their experience of working on the project. The two explain the advantages of working onsite and inhabiting the space, allowing for a far more intimate understanding of the project than architects typically have.

“We were very focused on the tactile,” says Hayes. “That first touch as you arrive and the last as you leave – those moments that may not be conscious, but may be left with you later.”

Casa Caldera / DUST
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© Gonzalo Viramonte

• Architects: Gastón Castellano
• Location: Cañuelas, Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
• Structure: MLM  ( Mattiuz / Lozano / Mattiuz )
• Area: 330.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Gonzalo Viramonte

The house is situated in “Cañuelas” a gated   neighborhood in the South area of the city of Córdoba, based on a plain rectangular plot of land   facing  South –North.

© Gonzalo Viramonte

It is a one storey house where all public, private and service areas are included in an” L” design. It has an open angle facing the back area of the plot so as to optimize its visual and spacial possibilities.

Plan

The main characteristic of its design is, its glassed aisle through which all areas of the house are connected with a continuous   relationship with the outside green surroundings.

© Gonzalo Viramonte

The front façade of the house is mainly dominated by its “introverted” personality is closed both for the sake of privacy and bearing in mind negative weather   conditions  while the back  is open. This feature highlights the “surprise” of its interior design striking a difference from the outside façade.

© Gonzalo Viramonte

The house was constructed using a combined system of anti-seismic concrete   structure with brick walls on a concrete platform .  Parts of its structure was left rough without any cover to match other materials such as glass, steel and stone .The idea was to lower future maintenance expenses.

© Gonzalo Viramonte

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A material produced by Harvard researchers changes size, volume and shape all by itself, reports The Harvard Gazette. The new material, inspired by the “snapology” technique from origami is composed of extruded cubes that have 24 faces and 36 edges.

The cube folds along its edges to produce different shapes, and during tests the use of various pneumatic actuators allowed the material to be programmed to transform without external input. Yet actuators could be of any type, including thermal, dielectric or water. During the tests, 64 individual cells of the new material were connected to form a 4x4x4 cube that could change size, shape, and orientation – in turn controlling the material’s stiffness. 

The research was led by Katia Bertoldi, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); James Weaver, senior research scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University; and Chuck Hoberman of the Graduate School of Design.

“This structural system has fascinating implications for dynamic architecture, including portable shelters, adaptive building facades, and retractable roofs,” said Hoberman. “…this technology offers unique advantages such as how it integrates surface and structure, its inherent simplicity of manufacture, and its ability to fold flat.”

Learn more about the new material in the Harvard Gazette.

News via Harvard

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• Architects: Studio Bargone
• Location: 28922 Verbania VB, Italy
• Client: Comune Di Verbania
• Area: 5000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015

• Concept Design, Preliminary Design: STONES _ Arch. Salvador Perez Arroyo (TEAM LEADER), Sbarch Studio Bargone Architetti Associati (COORDINATOR) (arch. Federico Bargone, arch. Francesco Bartolucci), Arch. Peter Cook, Garcia BBM, Ing. Arch. M. Mariani, Arch. E. Auletta, Bianchini e Lusiardi Associati, Ing. A. Sandelewski, Arch. F. Brenci, Arch. A. Di Muzio
• Tender Design: STONES _ Arch. Salvador Perez Arroyo (TEAM LEADER) Sbarch Bargone Architetti Associati (COORDINATOR), Arch. Peter Cook, Garcia BBM, Ing. Arch. M. Mariani, Arch. E. Auletta, Bianchini e Lusiardi Associati, Ing. A. Sandelewski, Arch. F. Brenci, Arch. A. Di Muzio
• Construction Design: Arch. Fabrizio Bianchetti (progetto architettonico, progettazione ambientale e coordinamento) – Arch. Giancarlo Marzorati, (capogruppo) (progetto architettonico, scenotecnico ed arredi) – Ing. Stefano Rossi (progetto strutture) – Ing. Guido Davoglio direttore Tecnico di Tekser srl (progetto impianti) – Geol. Fulvio Epifani (indagini geologiche e geotecniche)
• General Contractors:: Notarimpresa s.p.a. / Tecno Costruzioni S.r.l. / CDL s.r.l.
• Construction Cost: 13.600.000,00 euro

The multifunctional cultural complex (CEM), with a contemporary and sculptural identity, is located on the Maggiore Lake coast.

The architectural complex hosts a wide entrance foyer for cultural events and art exhibitions, a theatre for 500 people and a 200 one, service and ancillary spaces, offices, a rehearsal theatre, a restaurant and a cafe. The building is located right at the San Bernardino river estuary, near the historical Villa Maioni and behind the local Civic Library. The external landscape is sculptured with a system of descending bleachers allowing a breathtaking panoramic view of the lake and the surrounding Italian Alps.

Plan

Four big volumes with gentle and curved shapes inspired by the lake stones and linked by a prismatic volume facing the landscape forme the new public Centre on the Maggiore Lake of Verbania.

The lake stone is the very symbol of the project and the striking surrounding context the utmost trigger of the Centre. Its architecture grows from the unique relation between mountains, city and lake

The building is open towards the surrounding. The big external square defines a new urban and public place of great social value, an open space designed as meeting place, leisure, events. The location is perfect, focal between the urban centres of Intra and Pallanza. The Centre acts as the pivotal start-up of a wider city requalification, both social and landscape wise. 

Zinc metal sheets with a characteristic shading and vibrant colour clad the four curved volumes, with the colour recalling and harmonizing with the Verbania lake and skies. A local stone is used for the external pavings. Inside timber, worm welcoming and natural is the main element. 

Diagram

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