Atelier d’Architecture Michel Remon has been announced as the winner of the Open International Competition for the Tel Aviv University Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Centre. The French company has a history of designing buildings for technological purposes, including the National Research Centre for Scientific Research (Meudon, suburb of Paris), the Physics and Biology Laboratories for Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau, suburb of Paris), the National Solar Energy Institute (Savoy), and the Paris-Saclay Research Сentre of Air Liquide. In Tel Aviv, a matrix of vertical lines creates a “skin” over a three story, 6,000 square meter structure that will house 12 research labs – including those for physical, biophysical, and neural engineering, as well as molecular electronics, and others – in addition to offices and public areas. Once complete, the building will house 120 scientists and engineers as collaborators with one of the most significant universities in Israel.
Courtesy of Strelka KB
“We chose this competition because we like to challenge areas where science meets human endeavor and progress,” says architect Alexis Peyer. “Nanoscience and nanotechnologies are one of the humanity’s greatest endeavors. The most interesting and challenging aspect of this project was to design a very technical building specifically for scientific research while keeping a strong and iconic architecture dedicated to the Tel Aviv University campus.”
Courtesy of Strelka KB
The project requires exceedingly high precision – similar project often require errors not in excess of 1 millimeter per every 100 square meters – in what is called “complete design accuracy.” As labs typically consume five times more water and energy than a typical home or office, particular measures have been taken to ensure sustainability. These strategies include the vertical panels, which will help regulate natural light, special glass, which will optimize sun energy, solar panels and natural ventilation, which will be used for cooling, and a collection system that will retain and recycle rainwater.
Courtesy of Strelka KB
Atelier d’Architecture Michel Remon was named a finalist for the project in March, along with Zarhy+StudioPEZ Architects and Jestico+Whiles+Associates. The Competition stipulated that the University initiate private negotiations with each finalist to declare a winner by May 1st. The competition was launched on October 12th of last year and organized by Strelka KB, a leading urban planning consultancy for architectural competitions. The project is expected to be completed in 2020.
The story of this place is rooted deep in the history and culture of the region.
The biodiversity of the region is part of the larger Madrean Archipelago, stretching from the Sonoran to Chihuahuan deserts. Defining parts of Southern Arizona, Southern New Mexico, and parts of Far West Texas with sky island ranges serving as beacons for life and inhabitants in the vast desert landscape. They are links in a chain that connect the northern end of the Sierra Madres in Mexico and are essential in the story of life in the region; in form of refuge and resource base for migrating tribes, birds, and predators moving through the vast openness.
The San Rafael Valley’s topography and geology forms the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River. One of the only rivers that runs south into Mexico, and turns back north into the U.S. This river is vital to the story of habitance of this region for 10,000 yrs.
Much of the human history lends itself to the geological events of the region millions of years ago. Large volcanic activity formed the landscape as we know it. This left behind the basin and range topography, as well as mineral and resource rich land that has been of value and use to the cultures that inhabited the region.
From native agricultural cultures, to nomadic hunter-gatherers, to conquistadors and missionaries, to pioneers, miners, cattle, and cowboys, to militia, migrants, and narcotraficantes., the San Rafael Valley in Southern Arizona is the quintessential landscape and folklore of the Wild West.
Site Plan
It is this history and context that Casa Caldera grows from. This small shelter is strongly informed by the climatic conditions; adapting to the natural, social, political, and economical environments. Each to its own weighted and varying degree. It is located 15 miles north of the international border between U.S. and Mexico.
The house rises from the ground in a simple rectangular form made of Scoria. The material, Scoria, selected as the main building material in reference the Valleys Geologic formation and the color of earth and stone on and near the site, blends harmoniously with the landscape. Scoria walls are made from a porous, lightweight red volcanic aggregate which is mixed to form a self- supporting semi-fluid and rammed into formwork similar to the process of rammed earth.
The clients request of having outdoor living and sleeping zones lead to the re-discovery of a local vernacular house planning typology that was used as the main organizing concept of Casa Caldera – a Zaguan.
Floor Plan
Casa Calderas livable space of 880 sq. ft. is broken into 3 small rectangular zones; 265 sq. ft. of living space, and 265 sq. ft. of sleeping/bathing space which are bisected by a central Zaguan, the main outdoor living space (270 sq. ft.) with a patio to the west (80 sq. ft.). The footprint of the house covers 1060 sq. ft. with a remote isolated patio down the hill of (100 sq ft.) (Total project sq. ft. 1160)
Large bifolding metal doors on either end of the Zaguan connect the covered living space to the landscape beyond. To the east the Zaguan opens up like a full scale diorama and to the west the story book view stretches to the distant landscape across San Rafael Valley and the Patagonia Mountains. The bi-folding doors deliver natural light and harness passive cooling breezes when open and security when closed. The doors can be configured in a myriad of ways, as seasons, use, and lifestyle requires the owner to interact and respond, using the bi-folding doors to control the solar gain or harness the breezes in different ways. When the temperatures are appropriate the Zaguan is a protected covered space used for lounging, dining and sleeping.
The Zaguan as a space offers the rare experience where one can slow down or stop altogether, and simply take in the natural environment in a single focused view and physically witness time passing.The only sources of heat are a wood burning stove and fireplace. Experientially, in the winter, the first thing one thinks of when they wake is fire. The smell of the Arizona Emory oaks burning further distinguishes the experiential nature of the house in the memory of scent. Cooling is achieved through the thermal offset of 18” thick scoria walls and the natural flow of air that moves through the Zaguan due to the positive and negative pressures on either side. Solar orientation was carefully considered in the placement of exterior windows, which were kept small to minimize direct solar heat gain in the summer.
Section
All of the windows are operable, as well as the kicks and transoms of the living room window wall, bedroom entry and slot windows that harness and pull air out of the Zaguan and through the living and sleeping zones. An extra door was added to the access to the sleeping zone, so that when both are open, the small wood burning stove can also heat the Zaguan space for dinner parties and small gatherings when desired. This operability further engages the owner as an active participant in the experience of the house. An existing well provides water for the house, and a small solar electrical system sits away from the house to provide for basic electrical power use. Minimal lighting is used, all low voltage LED. Cooking, water heating and refrigeration are all powered by propane gas.
Casa Caldera is almost entirely custom built. The scoria walls, steel windows, doors, hardware, leather pulls, wood siding, millwork, casework and framing were all fabricated and installed by DUST. The wood that is used on the ceiling and Zaguan walls is reclaimed sassafrass. Casa Caldera is entirely off grid.
Only thirty yards of waste, one roll-off, was created in the making of Casa Caldera.
The thick exterior walls were cast and rammed of pulverized red scoria sourced from northern Arizona. Scoria is an effective insulator due to the porosity provided by the aggregate and ramming methods.Scoria walls create the structure, finish and offer insulation and thermal mass all in one stroke. In addition to the porosity creating effective insulation, rigid foam insulation has been introduced within the outer 1/3 of the wall section.
The specific method of creating the scoria walls used in Casa Caldera is primarily a result of a pioneer builder named Paul Schwam who developed his own mixing and delivery system over the past 20 years.
A minimal structural grid of reinforcement is built upon concrete footings. Extra rebar is used as needed to form the integral beams, columns and heads that are all seamless in the final scoria shell. Formwork is erected in 4’ segments; in this case, Symons steel-ply forms were used. The dry lightweight volcanic aggregate and cement are put in the hoppers mixing machine custom made by Paul Schwam. The dry mix ratio is dialed in with an appropriate ratios and the introduction of just the right amount of water to produce a semi-fluid material. The ready to use mix finds its way to a conveying delivery system through a mixing auger at the bottom of the hoppers. Once the mix is on the conveying system is can travel on several conveying belts depending on height of the walls. Scoria is then delivered into the formwork in 12” to 18” lifts and lightly rammed by hand using small 2”x2” wood tampers. The process is repeated, adding more formwork as the walls rise until the top of wall is reached.
The functionality has resulted in an economic constructive solution, one material, slatted in pinewood
The introduction of a wooden element in the upper level of the store, transmits a character to the identity space, allowing the display of products area, privileged vision quota.
Diagram
Diagram
The design allows great flexibility and various hypotheses aggregation, various types of exposure, a versatility of occupation.
The new spatial configuration would change the relationship between the void and the built environment, by proposing relationships more proximity to the comfort in the lights, transparencies assumed a leading role in the definition of pure environments, white, wrapped in reflection
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced two gifts totaling $75 million dollars, bringing the museum’s Peter Zumthor designed campus overhaul one step closer to reality, reports the Los Angeles Times. Elaine Wynn, one of the world’s top art collectors, has pledged $50 million dollars, and former Univision chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio has promised $25 million, bringing the total funds raised and approved to $275 million, just shy of halfway to the $600 million required for the project.
The Zumthor design, now in its third major revision, evolved from a blot or tar-like form, later branching across Wiltshire Boulevard, and now has settled on a more rectilinear, S-like form. The project is backdropped by a flurry of museum expansions both in the United States and abroad, ranging from SFMOMA, to the Tate Modern, and the Museum of Modern Art. The LACMA building will begin its environmental review process this summer, with construction set to start in 2018 and conclude in 2023.
The principal stake of the project is to design a building to Dior’s image.
The first natural approach is to gather the values which build Dior’s identity:
France, Paris, Versailles,
The ‘Haute Couture’,
The elegance, the refinement,
The excellence, the search for perfection, The
know-how, the tradition, the culture,
The creativity, the desire of innovation and delight,
The nobility, the luxury, the beauty.
Haute Couture and Architecture can meet around these values. From this combination, a duality emerges, The Haute-Couture is linked to fashion, the ephemeral, and constantly needs to renew itself.
Sketch
Architecture transcends fashions and its image needs to outlive time that goes by and continue to represent de Dior spirit in a lasting manner.
More than a question of style, the Architecture is a question of light, proportion, and elegance. So, under the light, the sculptured white volume reveals its cut. Through large curved movements of white concrete, clear figures of the ‘plissée’ take shape, between which the spaces of the boutique slide in. The nobility of the smooth and delicate surfaces is given by a contemporary material made of ultra high-density concrete and by marble powder.
The project also respects its «commercial» nature. The building does not want to appear as an institution or a museum; and its generous shop windows open to the immediate public place. The drawing is influenced by the suggestive inspirations of Miami, images of sun and beaches along with an idea of dynamism, youth, and contemporary design.
Architecture and Haute Couture unite in the common desire to seduce.
Throughout her career, social activist and urban writer Jane Jacobs (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) fought against corporate globalization and urged post-war urban planners and developers to remember the importance of community and the human scale. Despite having no formal training, she radically changed urban planning policy through the power of observation and personal experience. Her theories on how design can affect community and creativity continue to hold relevance today—influencing everything from the design of mega-cities to tiny office spaces.
In The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), her most well-known publication, Jacobs critiqued the short-sightedness of urban planners in the 1950s and argued that their assumptions about what makes a good city are actually detrimental to the human experience. For example, she contended that the creation of automobile infrastructure results in the unnatural division of pre-existing neighborhoods, creating unsafe environments and thereby severing community connections. In the years leading up to her death, she discussed ways in which communities could recover what they lost as a result of poor foresight in earlier city planning efforts.
Besides her written works, Jacobs is known for her urban activism, in particular her criticisms of New York‘s masterplanner Robert Moses, who at the time was engaged in a wholesale modernization of the city with car-led infrastructure, slum clearances and Le Corbusier-inspired housing blocks—the feud between these two arch-rivals is dramatic enough that there is now an opera based on the story.
Perhaps the most high-profile part of this battle was Jacobs’ campaign to save her own neighborhood of Greenwich Village, which was designated by Moses for slum clearance and a new expressway. After a popular campaign of social activism—which included Jacobs’ arrest—Moses’ plans were largely abandoned, signaling a victory for Jacobs’ ideals, if not exactly a personal victory; following her arrest, she left Greenwich Village and moved to Toronto.
Greenwich village is in many ways an effective case study not just of Jacobs’ ideals at the time, but of the results of her theories. Many have criticized her ideas for apparently ignoring—even incubating—the processes of gentrification which in the intervening years have become one of the central challenges for cities. However, others have countered that when she made her arguments, in the era of modernization and suburban expansion, it was inconceivable that preservation of old neighborhoods would eventually lead to an increase in desirability and value.
After her first book, Jacobs broadened her scope and began to look at topics such as economics, morals, and social relations to create an oeuvre that approached a complete theory of what makes a city. Here is a complete list of her publications:
Perhaps the most enduring appeal of Star Wars for its fans is not simply its compelling storyline or its dramatic space battles – it is instead that this universe is, in fact, a universe, with all the complexity and depth that entails. One of the best ways to reveal that depth is through architecture, which offers the most visually striking combination of history, culture and technology available. As a result, the Star Wars universe is littered with a huge variety of fascinating architecture, from ancient temples to futuristic floating cities.
Today is the most holy day in the Star Wars fanatic’s calendar, and thanks to pages like Star Wars Architecture on Facebook and Wookieepedia, we’re celebrating the event with seven of the most interesting, astonishing and iconic architectural structures from the franchise. Enjoy, and May the 4th be with you.
The Great Temple, commonly referred to as the Massassi Temple, was built on Yavin 4 by the Massassi to worship Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord who had enslaved and mutated the Massassi using Sith alchemy. The Temple later housed the Rebel Alliance base, known as Massassi Base, and the Jedi Praxeum.
Internally, the Great Temple was divided into four levels, each representing a step of the ziggurat—each level was thus larger in floor plan than the one above, but all were outfitted on broadly similar plans with small cells, chambers and corridors around a large central space.
The Plasma Refinery Complex was a large, triple-domed structure erected on the cliff face next to the Royal Palace of Naboo, in the city of Theed. Built as a way to draw vast quantities of rare plasma out of the planet’s core, the refinery complex included the Theed Hangar and the city’s main power generator, as well as the headquarters of the Royal Naboo Security Forces.
Within the first of the three domed structures closest to the hangar was the seemingly-bottomless extracting shaft. A hemispherical chamber with black paneled walls which constantly monitored and compensated for pressure changes, the shaft was crisscrossed by several rings of catwalks. A series of twelve evenly-spaced acceleration shafts soared from the bottom of the pit and into the ceiling.
The Jedi Temple (also known as the Palace of the Jedi) was the headquarters of the Jedi Order from the conclusion of the Great Sith War to the Great Jedi Purge and during that time was home to its major training, bureaucratic and dormitory facilities. A massive structure which soared over a kilometer above the surrounding rooftops, the Jedi Temple had the appearance of a fortress but was really a place of meditation and gentle reflection.
Located in a strategically isolated area of Coruscant which neighbored the Senate District, the Temple rested on a large city block in the Temple Precinct. Concealed within the heart of the Temple ziggurat was the upper reaches of the Sacred spire, a towering mountain that jutted from the crust of the planet deep below. The uppermost summit of the mountain erupted from the top of the Temple’s base and formed the foundations of its central tower, Tranquility Spire. Surrounding the tallest tower’s finned peak were four shorter towers located on the ordinal-oriented sides of the complex. Each contained an austere Council Chamber at its summit and served as the meeting rooms of the four Jedi Councils. The ziggurat shape of the edifice, coupled with the five spires, was designed to symbolize a Jedi’s climb to enlightenment through the Force.
Seen in: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Royal Palace of Theed was a massive complex of sandstone-like blocks formed into towers and rotundas with cupolas covered in green tile. The largest structure in the city, it was the home of the planetary government and the destination of foreign diplomats and ambassadors. A central drum-shaped structure took up the majority of the complex, with a taller, narrower tower being the tallest point. Erected on a cliff face, the palace had several watch towers on the rocky face, placed to detect a rear attack from the valley below. Additions to the palace during each new administration was traditional and a way for the new monarch to curry favor with their constituents.
The palace was surrounded by a vast garden complex. A pool in the garden was capable of being drained; it had a control for a nearby bridge. A security gate required a passcode for entrance and exit into the garden. A secret passage led through the garden to the Theed Hangar. Filled with vast, cavernous corridors crafted by Naboo’s own artisans, the Royal Palace was a showcase of the great sculptors and craftsmen of the planet.
Seen in: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Cloud City was an outpost and a tibanna gas mining colony on the planet Bespin, named as such because it was perpetually surrounded by giant clouds. The main saucer-shaped city structure was 16.2 kilometers in diameter, and 17.3 kilometers tall. The city floated 60,000 kilometers above the core of the planet, which was an uninhabitable gas giant. Cloud City consisted of 392 levels, in addition to level zero, a top-side surface-level plaza concourse. The level-arrangements were as follows:
Level 1–50: The Tourist District, consisting of luxury hotels and casinos which made the city famous throughout parts of the Outer Rim.
Level 51–100: Upscale housing areas.
Level 101–120: Administrative offices.
Level 121–160: Privately owned industrial areas with an infamous reputation, known as Port Town.
Level 161–220: General housing of the facility’s workers.
Level 221–280: Factories.
Level 281–370: Gas refineries and miners’ quarters.
Level 371–392: Contained the 36,000 repulsorlift engines and tractor beam generators that kept the city afloat and in position.
Seen in: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
The Grand Convocation Chamber, also referred to as the Senate Rotunda, Senate Arena, Senate Chamber, Great Rotunda, was the largest room in the Senate Building, in the Senate District on Coruscant and the heart of the Galactic Senate. The room was over 100 meters tall and consisted of 1,024 repulsorpods for delegations from all over the galaxy. Ringed by the canyon-like Grand Concourse, the interior of the chamber was bathed in lavender; ancient designers of the room selected the color as it was the only shade that had not been historically associated with mourning, anger, or war in the Republic.
The center of the vast chamber was dominated by a podium used by the Supreme Chancellor, the Vice Chair and the Senior Administrative Aide to coordinate the sessions. When a Senator or representative wished to address the body they were able to detach their pod from its magnetic berth and move out into the open space of the chamber on an automated path. From there, their address would echo throughout the room, translated into hundreds of different languages instantaneously and piped into the other pods for ease of understanding.
Seen in: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, known unofficially, but more commonly as the Death Star or Death Star I, and known to the public as the Imperial Planetary Ore Extractor by the propaganda department, was a massive Imperial battlestation/superweapon with a diameter of 120 kilometers designed to enforce law and order throughout the Empire with the threat of planetary destruction. The basic structure of the station was a sphere the size of a small class-IV moon, with a kilometer-wide trench containing docking bays running around its equator. It was the very incarnation of the Tarkin Doctrine. Because of its size and shape, it was sometimes mistaken for a small moon.
The first Death Star, like its successor, was divided into two hemispheres, each subdivided into 12 bridge-controlled zones. The northern hemisphere held the main armament of the station, a fearsome superlaser. This weapon had the external appearance of a bowl several kilometers wide. The Death Star was said to comprise eighty-four separate internal levels, stacked south to north. Each level was separated into 257 sub-levels. A nominal number of sub-levels were then to be stacked around the surface of the sphere, encompassing the inner stacked levels. A number of the Death Star’s docking bays were reserved as executive docking bays for high-ranking personnel, featuring larger facilities and more significant defenses.
Seen in: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
With its conception and its internal organisation, the reconstruction of the Froelicher high school in Sissonne (France) fits into in a sustainable approach and takes account of the new urbanisation of the site. The project forms urbanizes and builts a coherent educational ensemble, dense and dynamic, suitable for studying and give flourishing students as required the last educational directions.
The project optimizes the site potentialities, like the orientation or the functioning. The choice to built it at the limits of the city with a special architectural parti, accentuates the role and the image of the public and sustainable equipment in Sissonne. The new high school offers to the students and the professors a spacious setting for work in a green context.
The conception is conceived integrating the technical, functionals and susbtainables constraints. It had been conducted considering the financial viability and economics saving without penalize the good working of the high school.
The projet’s influence in the environnement, coming out with obviousness or subtlety, is studied in order to give answers at the following demands :
•impose a public educational equipment
•merge harmoniously the project in the landscape and limited the impact of the buiding masses
The project size and its waves are melting in the landscape adopting the site natural form, the thermic and vegetal covering, protective canopy, are spreading out and wrapring the wood fronts like a forest mimetism. The gentleness of the curves, the masses expression without orthogonality, the chromatic range and the used of natural materials merge perfectely the project in the landscape and integrate in it environment.
The Jane Jacobs Documentary – a feature length film focusing on the life and work of celebrated author and urban activist, Jane Jacobs – is set to be released Fall 2016. Coinciding with the author’s 100th birthday, Robert Hammond, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Friends of the High Line, and Matt Tyrnauer, producer/director of Valentino: The Last Emperor, plan to have the film tour festivals near the end of this year.
Jane Jacobs, who died in 2006, was a major force for “bottom-up” urban renewal, being one of the first to suggest that cities required delicate “urban acupuncture” to remedy their ills. Her groundbreaking 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, spoke out against the top-down, authoritarian urbanism of her time. She and the legendary master-planner of New York, Robert Moses would battle for years, her activism along with others preventing the destruction of Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy.
“This is a film about our urban past and our urban future,” said Tyrnauer. “Jacobs’s ideas about healthy, just, and vibrant cities being planned and empowered from the bottom up are very important today, when discredited top-down planning is still destroying cities and lives all around the world.”
Find more information the film’s official website here.
Ennead Architects have unveiled their proposed design for the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts campus expansion, master planning and architectural design competition. “This campus expansion and re-envisioning positions Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts—one of China’s top schools of fine art—as an Academy in the Park,” inspired by nature and an oasis destination within the dense urban fabric of Tianjin, write the architects.
The design includes the addition of an identifiable core to the Academy’s historic quad, so as to integrate the institution with the adjacent neighborhood and strengthen its influence as a creative and cultural hub for the city and region.
The massing, scale, and proportions of the new academic core building draw inspiration from the historic campus buildings, which utilize simple structural bays to regulate their façades.
The project additionally includes a museum, which as an “art container,” is designed to be art in itself. The design also includes an art park, which features the campus’ figural studio buildings — playful pavilions with courtyards themed around different approaches to making art.
The core and professional studio buildings will be connected by a continuous ground-level podium and concourse, unifying the community through spaces for social connections.
Sig Nordal 