The Global Art Affairs (GAA) Foundation in collaboration with PLANE-SITE, has produced a series of interviews with world renowned architects that will be available for public viewing at the TIME SPACE EXISTENCE exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. The prestigious list of architects includes Peter Eisenman, Denise Scott Brown, Curtis W. Fentress, Meinhard von Gerkan, Dirk Hebel, the late Frei Otto, and Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell of WOHA.
The interviews focus on the discussion of “where architecture has been and where it is going.” The videos, about five minutes each, discuss the ways that architecture has impacted our existence.
Some of the perspectives taken by the interviews include Frei Otto reflecting on his legacy, Eisenman questioning architectural pedagogy, and Denise Scott Brown calling on young architects “to grasp the present moment.”
The interviews will be on display at the Palazzo Bembo and Palazzo Mora from May 2016 through November 27, 2016.
From the architect. From a distant path on the outskirt of Santiago do Cacém, an amalgam of white solids emerges from the cork oaks of Portugal’s arid Alentejo. Under the scorching sun light, these gleaming blocks showcase Atelier dos Remédios’ latest creative ambition – Monte do Córrego, a single-detached dwelling project commissioned by a family dreaming of experiencing the tranquility of a pastoral scenery.
The residence can be reached via a minimalist gate that opens into a vast stretch of land wherein the house stands subtlety into the terrain. Monte do Córrego is in part set into the ground, and as a result the massing of its front façade is diminished to create perceptible openings into the countryside behind the building, divulging the bucolic beauty of agricultural fields.
The front entrance is also covertly placed into the earth. A moment of surprise awaits once the sliding door unlocks to reveal the large interior expanse, the richness of the marbled concrete floor, and the numerous courtyards that are concealed within the green roof. The family can gather in one of many social spaces connected to the outdoor and each can as well remain reclusive within their independent sleeping quarters.
Monte do Córrego is about a family coming together to enjoy Alentejo’s scenic countryside, and the design results both from a dialogue between architecture and landscape as well as indoor and outdoor.
Once a photograph is uploaded to social media, it ceases to be part of one’s private archive and becomes public property – as well as an object of study for researchers. There have been many attempts to study photographs on the scale of “Big Data.” Take, for example, the numerous and well-publicised projects by Lev Manovich’s Big Data Lab. Evidently, using the results of one study of the huge online archive of photographs to make conclusions about society at large, is not necessarily a good idea. It’s fair to say that our society is not evenly represented online: a 19-year old woman may be posting her selfies daily, but it doesn’t mean that same goes for a sixty-five year old man. That said, we can learn a lot about cities and their inhabitants from the results of studies such as these.
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
According to Darya Radchenko, Deputy Head of the Centre for Urban Anthropology at Strelka KB, “quantitative and qualitative analysis of a big volume of photographs uploaded online allows us to not only describe the typical practices of amateur photography, but also see the city through the eyes of its visitors, define the key interests associated with it, important objects and ‘blind’ spots, obstacles restricting the use of certain zones.”
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
Quite surprisingly, even a Muscovite can feel like a tourist in their own city – when transported from the familiar environment of a microrayon to Gorky Park or the Pushkin Museum located in the city centre, for example. So it’s not accidental that in many Russian cities when locals residing on the outskirts decide to visit the city centre they call it ‘going to the city’. A ‘local’ tourist takes just as many photos as a tourist coming from different city, it’s the photographs themselves that differ.
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
In an interview with Snob magazine said, Grigory Revzin (a Russian journalist and architecture critic), said: “To my mind, the best indicator of the quality of a street is whether it becomes a popular location among the street fashion crowd. The best street in the city is the one most popular among models and fashion bloggers for having their picture taken and uploaded on Instagram. Thanks to the research conducted by the Centre for Urban Anthropology, we can now tell which streets are more more often chosen for walks around the centre of Moscow: infographics show the percentage of selfies and portraits taken on each street.”
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
Even Jane Jacobs once noted that the attractiveness of a street doesn’t depend on time of day or season. By analysing the level of photo-activity at night it becomes possible to define how healthy the street is, and whether it is considered safe enough.
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
Interesting Facts
The most ‘masculine’ statue turned out to be the statue of St. Cyril and St.Methodius on Slavyanskaya Square. Men, almost exclusively, have their photographs taken next to it – be winter or summer, day or night, crowded or empty.
What makes ‘small water’ better than ‘big water’: the fountain on Chistoprudniy Boulevard is photographed twice more often than the pond also located there. It might have something to do with the Moscow tradition of preferring to bathe in fountains.
Two writers: The Mikhail Sholokhov (a famous Russian 20th century writer) monument on Gogolevskiy Boulevard is four times more popular than the statue of Nikolai Gogol, which is also located there.
What to photograph? Most people walking down Kuznetsky prefer to take pictures of the Bank of Moscow building, the former San-Galli passage, and graffiti on the brandmauer of House No 12.
The riddle of the cow: the most popular locations for photography are not just famous places of interest. There are more images of people standing next to the trademark cow statue at the entrance to the “Moo-moo” restaurant, near Smolenskaya metro station, than of people posing alongside the statue of Peter the Great.
Kids on the ring: there’s a distinctive ‘kid’s route’ in the Boulevard ring: it goes through Gogolevskiy, Nikitskiy, Tverskoy and Strastnoy boulevard. Children appear on 15% of all photographs taken on these streets.
The secret of Izmailovsky avenue: once a year this quiet street is transformed as the students of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University gather to celebrate their graduation. They take rides in plastic wash basins attached to cars with ropes, covered in beer and with lit up pyrotechnic flares in their hands. If it wasn’t for the photographs they posted online, we would have never found out!
Courtesy of Strelka Magazine, Alla Shvydkaya
This article originally appeared on Strelka Magazine and has been shared exclusively with ArchDaily readers. Find out more about the magazine, which publishes in both English and Russian, here.
From the architect. The new Travel Centre is located at the heart of the cityof Lahti next to the existing, historical railway station. It forms a public transport hub connecting the rail network to the long-distance and local bus lines.
The new Travel Centre consists of a 60-meter long canopy for the bus terminal, enclosed elevator structures, local bus stops, and supporting landscape elements. There is also a cladding for the 80-meter long tunnel space underneath the new deck that forms a platform for the canopy.Together these elements create an easily perceivable and high quality entity in a complex city environment in various levels.
Historically significant railway station, a solid red brick building from 1930’s, sets a characteristic milieu for the Travel Centre. The station building is included on the National Board of Antiques’ list of nationally significant cultural environments. Partially in front of it stands the new terminal canopy for the intercity busses. As the most prominent element of the new Travel Centre, the terminal canopy initiates a dialogue between the new and old elements. Its minimalistic sculpture-like form embraces the history and value of the area.
In terms of the cityscape, the Travel Centre provides a high quality and cohesive visual impression. The main materials, copper, glass and aluminium, were carefully chosen to meet requirements of the surrounding milieu. The canopy and columns are clad in perforated copper. Next to it, the delicate and airy elevator tower uses glass in both the outer walls and load-bearing structures. Inside the glass shell is the elevator shaft, covered in copper and copper wire mesh. It is an elegant counterpart to the powerful and streamlined silhouette of the canopy. The two other elevator towers, also made of glass and copper, are located in the northern part of the area. The elevator towers connect the lower level street to the northern bus stop shelters on Mannerheiminkatu. Together they create a portal to southwards of the city.
The space under the bridge deck is clad with anodized aluminium profiles. Noise reduction, general lighting and high-quality atmospheric lighting are all integrated behind the cladding. They create visually refined and acoustically pleasing environment to the tunnel-like space. The parts between the main structures – support walls, bridge railings, outdoor benches and walls – are all copper-clad as well to complement the appearance.
Floor Plan
The Travel Centre is in use throughout the year and around the clock. Therefore special attention was paid to lighting. The electricity and HVAC equipment is hidden inside the structures. Light sources have been placed behind perforated copper parts in various elements and will enhance the character of the copper parts during the darker seasons.
The starting point of our research for this design was a concrete and stone building which had been built in the nineteen sixties according to the aesthetic codes of the nineteen thirties.
Architecturally rigid, the Eastern and Western walls were structured with a repetition of vertical openings, whereas the Northern and Southern walls were more austere. The flat roof was crowned with a concrete cupola forming a very light dome.
The principal challenge of our design was how to modernize the access to and the progression inside the building by adding technical and museum components on the car park level, thus reinforcing the geometry of the existent building.
So, on either side of the stone building, beneath a plant covered embankment, we bury the whole of the functions necessary to the development of the future permanent scenography of the Memorial.
Cross Section AA
Cross Section BB
At the front, the Northern extension built onto the secondary road has been designed like a trench into which to slip the reception functions of the Memorial and of the battlefield of Verdun.
This rift goes through the building from the East to the West and allows space for a vast Hall to the scale of the future Memorial.
The strong presence of the original building, on the level of the secondary road is magnified by the creation of a black stone square facing the initial entry which keeps its ceremonial function.
Lastly, the roof becomes an expression ground for a completely glazed level to crown the stone building.
This is the place for the development of the Memorial into an interpretation centre housing such new functions as a room for temporary exhibitions, a cafeteria, an information centre, an educational room and an area for children. These light and clear environments allow direct views of the surrounding landscapes of the battlefield, the Fort of Douaumont and the Ossuary.
The singularity of this building site situated on the scene of the battlefield of Verdun has haunted every member of the working team during this operation and still does today.
Working in this landscape which had been remodeled by the conflict imposes a respect of memories. This is how the quietness of this artificial forest, which today constitutes its setting, witnessed the rebirth of the Verdun Memorial Museum that the war veterans had wished for.
From the architect. 33 Holland Park in Singapore is one of the rare private residential projects carried out by the studio. With a design centred around the creation of an intimate yet expansive garden sanctuary holding layers of seamlessly linked living spaces, this project represents a concentration of the key architectural philosophies which recur in the studio’s larger civic projects: the importance of elegant meditative environments characterised by fluidity and a fusion between exterior and interior spaces, a deep respect for existing structures, the history and potential of a site, and the imperative for a design to be harmonious with the wider natural and human surrounds.
Thanks to the open and supportive relationship between the studio and the client, this project presented a unique opportunity to explore, on a human scale, the studio’s defining interests.
The original site consisted of around 2,000 square metres of broadly triangular-shaped land with a 1930s single-story bungalow of around 300 square metres built of brick masonry with a wooden frame, flat roof tiles and interior teak flooring. Originally built for an English civil servant, the house is on the national conservation listing. As a result, no additional building could be added to the existing structure and a certain distance was required to buffer the original house from any new construction.
1st Floor Plan
At the same time, the brief required 700 sqm of new living spaces including common areas, a music room, 6 bedrooms to serve three generations, and a pool. Key challenges of the design, then, were to transform the unusual land shape and spatial/conservation limitations of the existing site into a beautiful house able to combine many diverse living areas filling the greater part of the land with a sense of expansiveness and spatial harmony which is a signature of studio Milou.
33 Holland Park is also a house of views. From each of the house’s hallways and common areas are views which traverse and link one space to another, whether from one wing of the new house to another, or between the main residence and the conservation house. Large glass windows frame.
The intense foliage at every opportunity, offering a warm palette of rich greens beside the stone and polished Burmese teak of the floors and walls. From the landscaped roof of the new building are tree-top views of surrounding houses, and in turn, neighbours enjoy views of Holland Park’s verdure, which discreetly contains the monumental nature of the design.
studioMilou’s project overcame the limits imposed by the land’s shape and the existing conservation house with a design giving a sense of transparency and fluidity between the old and new buildings, between interior and exterior. To achieve this, the outer wall of the new structure is a paravent-like wall system, consisting of rising screens opening onto a walkway which winds around the site, with both borders lined with lush vegetation that appears to venture both into the house on one side, and over the neighbouring properties on the other. A feeling that the house expands into the garden, and that the garden inhabits the house is accentuated by the closeness of plants to the house’s closed surfaces. Dense foliage caresses the many glass surfaces of the house, and towers to the second-floor spaces.
Sketch
A discreet welcome, a private place
Upon entering the house from the driveway, the visitor is unaware of the almost monumental scale of the new house, covered as it is by vegetation and carefully designed proportions aimed at avoiding any stark comparison with the one-storey conservation house. To further unify the two buildings, the conservation house serves as the key reception area and kitchen, through which one passes to the new residence, the door of which is aligned with the exit of the former. A rectangular pool lines one outer wall of the new house, with water and green-grey tiles softening the visual links between the conservation house and the new structures. The simplicity of the conservation house’s interior – white ceilings and walls, uncluttered furnishings – adds to a sense of openness towards the exterior and the paravent form of the new building walls, which seem to encompass the historic house in a protective manner. It is only when inside the new residence that the largesse of its design gradually becomes apparent.
Another approach common to studioMilou’s work is the restricted use of materials and colours. Accordingly, the materials chosen for the exterior, including grey glass-reinforced concrete columns and stainless steel, have been composed in such a way as to play with the colours of the vegetation and to accentuate the impression of an architecture which is transparent and in conversation with the trees and light. The reflections and movement of the pool’s water, set off by the soft grey-green stone tiles, contribute to the play of light and life, and seem to belong equally to both houses. Sharing light wall colours and the warm glow of Burmese teak floors, the interiors of both buildings offer calm backgrounds for the ever-present plants whose foliage reaches towards and into the house from all angles.
Senior Architects: Simon Ewings, Alan Gordon, Marianne Lau, Elaine Molinar, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen
Design Team: Nick Anderson, Behrang Behin, Sam Brissette, Chad Carpenter, Michael Cotton, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Kyle Johnson, Nick Koster, Mario Mohan, Neda Mostafavi, Anne-Rachel Schiffmann, Carrie Tsang, Giancarlo Valle
Associate Architect: EHDD, San Francisco
Ehdd Team: Duncan Ballash, Principal + / President Lotte Kaefer, Project Architect / Rebecca Sharkey, Project Manager
Project Managers: Terry Reagan, Don Young, Bob Reuter, TJ Reagan, Inc.
Webcor Builders, General Contractor: Jes Pedersen, CEO , Matt Rossie, Vice President-Project Executive ,Pat Reidy, Construction Manager, Matt Paves, Senior Project Manager , Jim Roux, Senior Project Manager , Adam Bird, Project Manager ,Joe Hovan, Senior Superintendent
Plant Construction Company, Special Projects: Conrado Vellve, Vice President / Ken Ahrens, Senior Project Manager / Mizell, Project Manager / Cliff Durant, Superintendent / Bob Klovich, Superintendent
Av Design: BBI Engineering
Civil Engineering: KPFF
Conservation Studio, Lab And Art Storage Design: Samuel Anderson Architects Electrical: The Engineering Enterprise
From the architect. SFMOMA’s leadership worked closely with Snøhetta to design the new museum as an outward- looking and engaging gathering space. Connections to the surrounding neighborhood and city were carefully considered, along with bringing the benefits of landscape and the outdoors to the museum spaces. New pedestrian pathways around the museum and a new public entrance on Howard Streetbetter integrate SFMOMA into the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and activate the surrounding streetscape.
The iconic eastern façade of the Snøhetta-designed expansion, inspired in part by the waters and fog of the San Francisco Bay, is comprised of more than 700 uniquely shaped and locally fabricated FRP (fiberglass reinforced polymer) panels. Throughout the day, the movement of light and shadow naturally animates the rippled surface. Silicate crystals from Monterey County embedded in the surface catch and reflect the changing light. Craig Dykers, founding partner of Snøhetta and leader of the firm’s design team for SFMOMA, said, “Our design seeks to create an intimate experience, welcoming a diversity of visitors to the magnificent collection, and fostering a connection between the visitor and museum for years to come. All of the senses will be engaged as part of the experience. Wonderful day lit staircases lead visitors from floor to floor, the galleries create a comfortable viewing experience of the art, and terraces allow for moments of repose, to be reinvigorated by fresh air, sunlight and vistas of the city between galleries. The visitor should sense that the building is inspired by one of the great cities of the world, San Francisco”.
Visitors are welcomed to the new museum by two main entrances, leading to ground floor exhibition spaces that are free to all. The entrance on Third Street welcomes visitors to the reimagined Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium, where the iconic oculus floods the space with natural light. Alexander Calder’s 27-foot-wide mobile, Untitled (1963), is suspended beneath the oculus, drawing the eye upwards, and a new sculptural stair leads visitors to Helen and Charles Schwab Hall, the main gathering space on the second floor.
On Howard Street, a new museum entrance adjacent to the glass-walled Roberts Family Gallery, allows visitors to enter the museum through Schwab Hall. Now presenting Richard Serra’s monumental sculpture Sequence (2006), the Roberts Family Gallery is a vibrant space visible to passersby, creating a visual connection between the city and the museum and showcasing SFMOMA’s community-focused mission. Inside, a set of maple-faced Roman steps provides an informal public gathering spot and seating area. From both entrances, stairs lead visitors to Schwab Hall, the hub of the new museum. Visitors can enjoy a rotating installation of artworks, such as Sol LeWitt’s joyful Wall Drawing 895: Loopy Doopy (white and blue) (1999), or obtain admission to explore the rest of the museum. From here, a maple- clad stair leads upward to the third-floor Pritzker Center for Photography and the galleries above.
Section
The new galleries in the Snøhetta-designed expansion are intimate in scale and create ideal conditions for viewing the artworks. Diverse gallery spaces support the display of specific collections and works of various scales. Minimal, flexible, column-free galleries permit countless temporary wall layouts—a blank canvas for the curators. At opening, visitors can experience a contemplative, octagonal-shaped gallery devoted to seven works by Agnes Martin and loft-like galleries on the seventh floor that offer space for contemporary artworks.
Terraces adjacent to many galleries extend exhibitions into the city, displaying outdoor sculptures and offering unparalleled views of San Francisco. The new third-floor Pat and Bill Wilson Sculpture Terrace is home to the largest public living wall in the United States with more than 19,000 plants and 21 native species. This curated sequence of spaces allows visitors to move between incredible artworks to broad overlooks, and enjoy views of the city as they circulate through and up the museum.
Complementing the museum’s incredible art galleries, the new SFMOMA features dynamic educational program and performances. The new Koret Education Center serves students, teachers and lifelong learners with a resource library and studio classrooms. SFMOMA partnered with Bay Area innovator Meyer Sound to install sound solutions throughout the museum, including a state-of-the-art Constellation acoustic system in the newly renovated Phyllis Wattis Theater. The Wattis Theater screens archival film and offers cutting-edge 4K projection. The new Gina and Stuart Peterson White Box is a uniquely flexible space, with a theatrical truss that supports a variety of performances, events or large scale artworks.
The new SFMOMA is on track to receive LEED Gold certification, and is one of the first museums in the country to employ all LED lighting throughout the gallery spaces. This measure helped the museum meet its ambitious sustainability goals.
From the architect. Baoism is a new food concept originated in Shanghai, making a modern version of the traditional Chinese street food guabao, served in a clamshell-like bun.
Although the flavours are a modern interpretation, the age-old process of cooking in a traditional woven bamboo steamer is a prime focus of display in the kitchen. Linehouse took this traditional handicraft notion of weaving and applied it in a spatial way with a non-traditional material; perforated raw metal panels are woven between the structure that frame the dining area and the service area.
The branding for Baoism stemmed from the concept of I Ching, an ancient divination text and the oldest of the Chinese classics. The text of I Ching is called Zhou yi. The basic unit of this is the hexagram, a figure composed of six horizontal lines, each line is either broken or unbroken.
Linehouse used this concept of stacked and directional lines to create two structures that frame the dining and the kitchen / service area. Custom lights float in-between the structure at high level, creating a broken rhythm above.
Plan
A datum line of bronze poles defines the lower half of the structure, with raw steel above. These two materials make a playful composition of rough vs. refined. Wood leaners extend out from the structure for guests to dine at. The bar counter is composed of dead wood, with 450mm x 450mm wood sections stacked upon each other. A burnt logo is branded into the front elevation of the wood.
The custom bar stool took reference from the petite wooden stools commonly seen on the street corners of Shanghai. A wooden handle extends out operating as a mechanism to move the stool and to hang one’s bag.
From the architect. The first condition which dictated the structure’s shape was the desire to erect a building of considerable size on a relatively small piece of land (with an area of about 900 sqm).
In the initial design phase, the building was to be crowned with an asymmetric, gabled roof. Yet the necessity of creating an additional space while preserving the original layout of the ground floor forced a revision of the initial concept. Besides the functional program, the investor’s only guidelines concerned custom floor heights (3.85 m for the ground floor and 3 m for the first floor). Other than that, we had complete freedom in our decision making.
We strove to create a building that expressed itself simply, with clear divisions of materials and colors. In creating its façade, we decided to make use of concrete, plaster and African wood.
Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
The combination of the raw, loft-style concrete form of the garage with the graphite form of the living quarters gave rise to a contrasting composition. Its most striking feature is the way the smooth surface of the living area is cut by an irregular orthogonal grid of rustication. We sought to balance the coolness of the main materials used in the façade with knotless African okoume wood. This wood lent clarity to the façade and visually insulated the building.
We moderated the building’s monumentality with a large number of windows, which gave lightness to the structure and provided good illumination to its interior. During the creative process, we applied the principle of special subtraction rather than addition or ornamentation. We wanted to convey the impression of a cold cuboid with an interior made of wood, so we consistently covered surfaces created by “removing” fragments of the structure with okoume timbering. This visual cut gave rise to the terraces occupying part of the ground and first floors. This move allowed us to maintain the cubic shape of the main structure and simultaneously maximize the surface area available for greenery. Taken as a whole, the house was to be a platform floating in a sea of green, one the residents would not want to leave.
The minimalist interiors match the aesthetics of the elevation – contrasting colors, white and graphite, and concrete, wood and glass are used here to create the atmosphere. The large area devoted to windows allows the presence of greenery from the yard to be felt inside.
The house was designed in accordance with the principles of efficient energy construction. By facing the windows to the southwest and keeping the structure relatively closed off from the north, we reduced the amount of energy needed to heat the house. The building is equipped with mechanical ventilation heat recovery, a ground heat exchanger and a wall air intake grill. The thermal insulation used exceeds the standards required in Poland.
Courtesy of Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond
Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond have revealed plans for the “Chicago Skyline” an aerial cable car attraction spanning from the Chicago Riverfront to Navy Pier and through Downtown along the Riverwalk. The project, still seeking permission, is meant to enable visitors to experience the fabled Chicago skyline in a new way, viewing the city and lakefront from custom-designed pods or “gondolas”. The design shares many similarities with the pill-like capsules surrounding the London Eye, which was also designed by Marks Barfield Architects. The Skyline is being marketed as a practical solution to link Navy Pier to the transit network within the Chicago Loop.
Courtesy of Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond
“The Chicago Skyline could do for Chicago what the London Eye has done for London, and become a very identifiable landmark within the city, driving tourism and prosperity,” says David Marks, Director at Marks Barfield Architects. “Its design touches the ground lightly and with an environmentally sensitive and delicate presence – like jewels in a necklace – energizing the city’s Riverwalk, and attracting the eyes of the world.”
Courtesy of Marks Barfield Architects and Davis Brody Bond
The “Chicago Skyline” Project is being developed with Lou Raizin, a noted figure in the Chicago entertainment industry and former Chair of the Chicago Loop Alliance, and Laurence S. Geller, current Chairman of Geller Investment Co and an accomplished leader in the hospitality industry. If built, the Skyline would operate into the evening hours and year-round. The project team includes Leitner-Poma, builder of the London Eye capsules, and Jacobs, that project’s principal engineers.
A video rendering of the proposal can be seen below by advancing to 26:42.
Sig Nordal 