Marc Fornes/THEVERYMANY has unveiled “Spineway”, a permanent public artwork commissioned by the City of San Antonio in Woodlawn Lake Park. Calling to mind the midcentury marvels of Alexander Calder or Mark di Suvero, Spineway has been digitally fabricated with custom computational protocols of structural form-finding and descriptive geometry. As with past projects by Mark Fornes/THEVERYMANY the studio posits, “Spineway is consistent with the studio’s approach of exploring structural performance while catalyzing public places through dynamic and unique spatial experiences.”
Although mimicking the construction methods of segmental bridges in its use of prefabricated pieces, Spineway has been built on the scale of a neighborhood. According to the studio, “The interdependent structural network is comprised of interdependent catenary arches, in which the stresses and loads of each depend on one another as part of a complete system. It is made of 1,009 1⁄8” aluminum shingles, fastened together by 19,429 rivets.” The sculpture touches the ground on 12 precast concrete feet, on top of a weblike grid of concrete inlay.
Courtesy of Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY
Erected over the course of five days, the lightweight and long-lasting structure is painted 22 shades of blue and green. Marking the conclusion of Cincinnati Avenue Corridor and the beginning of the Park-University Corridor, the sculpture acts as a bridge to adjacent neighborhoods. It is also an iconic gateway to San Antonio’s Woodlawn Park, a destination that has been inviting city dwellers for over 100 years.
From the architect. Poly Prep Country Day School teamed up with Jack L. Gordon Architects to build the Novogratz Center for Athletics. Located in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, Poly Prep Country Day School has earned a reputation of one of New York’s premier private schools. The 27,900 sq. ft. center for athletics – the first new building on the school’s historic campus in nearly 20 years – was designed to flexibly accommodate Poly Prep’s growing athletics program and provide a new home for their squash and wrestling teams.
The first floor is a 12,428 sq. ft. dedicated squash facility that houses four practice squash courts and two all-glass, international-competition-size squash courts with stadium-style spectator seating.
Section A
The mezzanine level provides men’s and women’s restrooms and provides direct access to and from the adjacent Legacy Gymnasium building.
The 11,311 second floor is designed as a multi-purpose gymnasium which can accommodate wrestling and basketball. A divider curtain can be lowered to separate two practice fencing lanes from the main space. Additionally, a 733 sq. ft. outdoor terrace on the south side of the building provides 270 degree views of the Verrazano Bridge and surrounding Poly Prep athletic fields.
To be cost-effective, the building makes use of a pre-engineered steel structural system which has been customized to meet the specific functions and needs of the school. The east front wall of the building is angled, creating a dynamic façade that calls to mind the movement and grace of sports.
The articulation of the south and east façades achieves a scale consistent with the existing campus buildings. The split-rib concrete masonry unit clad elevator tower helps to transition between the existing traditional brick buildings and the new Athletic Center. The exterior wall of the existing Legacy Gymnasium building is left exposed forming the south wall within the lobby spaces, integrating the existing building with the new one.
Floor Plan
The center, which has already held squash and wrestling tournaments, will have a formal opening ceremony this spring.
Aedas has unveiled its design for Abdul Latif Jameel Corporate Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Currently under construction, the open plan office will provide a centralized facility for 2,500 employees for Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), the largest independently owned Toyota distributor in the world. Located on the Red Sea in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, ALJ’s headquarters will be on a site north of Al-Balad, the city’s historic center, near the airport and the Prince Majid Road, a north to south thoroughfare. The headquarters project will be adjacent to existing ALJ facilities including a Vehicle Service Center, workshop space, offices, a training center, and vehicle stockyard.
Courtesy of Aedas and Asymmetric
A distinct L-shape, the building will anchor the northwest corner of ALJ’s property, at the intersection of a secondary road with a main artery to the city of Jeddah. The facility walls adjacent to the roads are covered in a “protective” plaster, emulating the city’s traditional buildings, and limiting the structure’s exposure to harsh western light while mitigating street noise. Glass-clad offices on the interior side of the building contain open-plan offices, while the plaster-covered street facing volume houses support services including cores, conference rooms, canteens, a gym, prayer rooms, and bathrooms.
Courtesy of Aedas and Asymmetric
The building’s office floors occur in stacks of three, separated by an interim floor intended for more casual office meetings and interactions. The building’s podium is topped by an exterior garden and outdoor track. Large overhangs limit the building’s sun exposure, and all roofs are covered in plantings further mitigating solar gains. The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.
At the beginning, we found 660 square meters site in close proximity to forest with a beautiful view of Bratislava. The challenge was to fit in two separate family houses with gardens. Moreover, the site has slight elevation differences.
The site was divided into two equal parts, 330 meters for house. Both buildings have very similar basic floor plans and layout; on the other hand each house is different. The clients had very various priority lists, which resulted in individual architecture of each house.
•Built-up area vs site area ratio (62 m² / 60m²) with the maximum use of space
•Floor space 180 m²
•Interior in close connection to the garden
•Central staircase circulation
•No fence, just front garden at the street boundary – both facades follow the street line, which is more or less identical to the boundary of the estate. This way we saved room for gardens and the living area.
The entrance, generous living space, kitchen and dining are situated on the ground floor. The kitchen is directly linked to terrace in the garden. The living area is dominated by a central staircase with a built-in fire place.
Section – A
The internal space is used at its maximum. The sofa in the living room works for two sides – as a comfortable seating place in the dining room, but on the other hand also as a classical sofa with a chaise longue turned towards the screen. Since it has no walls, the living space seems to be optically higher, though it has a standard ceiling height – 2.7 m.
The first floor offers three bedrooms, one bathroom and a large closet. The roof terrace placed over the first floor opens up impressive views of Bratislava.
The second house has been built on a similar foundation base. The floor plan is the same and the central staircase is located at the same part of the building. However, the solution of the inner layout of the house is different.
Ground floor layout of the House B is based on open space principles. The entire space of the ground floor consists of a living room with a kitchen, a winter garden and direct access to the outer garden and garage. The synergy of the living room, kitchen, terrace, garden and barbecue works perfectly here.
This building is slightly narrower compared to the neighbor’s house. The winter garden and garage were placed next to the house instead of basement level.
Section – B
The guest bedroom, bathroom, storage room and hobby room found their place in the basement of the house.
The interior of the house is decorated in exotic Asian style, created by original pieces of furniture from Bali, wholly defining the atmosphere of the entire house.
Through the work of his firm Elemental, Aravena is known for his interest in incremental, participatory housing design: a common-sense way of working within financial restraints and a cornerstone of Elemental’s studio work. The motto—focus first on what is most difficult to achieve, what cannot be done individually, and what will guarantee the common good in the future—resulted in a “half a house.” First introduced over a decade ago, the model consists of an expandable 40 square-meter (431 square-feet) container with basic infrastructure (partitions, structural and firewalls, bathroom, kitchen, stairs, a roof) built-in and added to over time. It is not only an achievement from a conceptual and project management standpoint, but also an aesthetically open and diverse project. From this one idea stemmed 100 variations.
Much has been written about participatory design as a way to face the challenges of unprecedented urbanization and urban poverty, but little has been written about the way information-sharing can be a positive disruptor in the construction industry. The idea of open source need not be restricted to social housing for those nations most gravely afflicted by urban poverty. In fact, housing is the main financial burden on the middle-class in developed countries. According to the Federal Reserve Board and Bureau of Economic Analysis, the debt-to-income ratio of American families in 1945 was 17%, and home mortgage represented three-quarters of the total. In 1950 it was 31%; in 1960 55%; in 2001, 100%. Although it peaked at 122% in 2005, the debt-to-income ratio of American families is still above 100% today, and housing represents between 70–75% of the total. Housing-related debt dwarfs debt of any other kind.
Quinta Monroy, the first "Half a House" project by ELEMENTAL, after occupation and additions by the residents. Image Courtesy of ELEMENTAL
The clash of the real and the speculative value of housing triggered the financial meltdown of 2009, whose repercussions are still being felt across all sectors. This recent event should urge us to collectively think about ways to bring down cost and improve housing stock.
Housing economics is a matter of supply and demand, where the demand is made up of all buyers and renters, while the supply side consists of land, labor, and building materials. In America, the approximate break down of the cost of a new house is 10% land acquisition, 11% site improvement and infrastructure, 26% labor, 31% materials, 3% financing, and 19% administrative and marketing fees. Architectural services can add as much as another 8-15% to this total, driving the majority of people, already burdened by a 40/60 balance of tangibles versus services, away from quality design. Moreover, these costs prevent the middle class from growing and diversifying its investments in a better future.
Tatiana Bilbao's open-source design for Paperhouses. Image Courtesy of Paperhouses
Ignoring, for the moment, the issues of material scarcity and security of supply, and focusing only on these numbers, we can see that labor amounts to about a third of the cost of a house, while services (administrative, financing, marketing, architectural and engineering) represent another third. If we can simultaneously increase the role of technology and share information freely on all parts of a project, from design to manufacturing, we can develop not only much cheaper housing but also much better housing.
This idea is, of course, deeply disruptive for those invested in the building sector.
Panorama Architects' open-source design for Paperhouses. Image Courtesy of Paperhouses
Two years ago, when Nick Dangerfield and I created Paperhouses, an online platform that makes unique house plans, models, and images from young and award-winning architects freely accessible to the public, we wanted to bring the idea of open source to the “drawing board.” We were certain that it was the only viable answer to this vast problem facing architecture. Open source allows design concepts to branch out and multiply, driving innovation without any limits to speed or scale.
However, my assumption was that no one would ever join—after all, the notion of open source in design is not simple. Recognition and authenticity are undeniably at the center of the designer’s concerns. They are the flags of a struggle for survival and significance, powerful and bleak and the same time. I could just see the designers’ shock, maybe horror, at the suggestion that their architectural works could be pieces of clay that any one could mold. Yet it was too beautiful and powerful an idea to leave behind. To my surprise, many talented people came on board: Rintala-Eggertsson architects, recipients of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture; Panorama Arquitectos, nominated as part of the 20 Top Young Architectural Talents by Wallpaper magazine 2013; Sporaarchitects, nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award in 2015; and Tatiana Bilbao, Berlin Art Prize 2012, among others whose houses will soon be available through Paperhouses.
Sporaarchitects open-source design for Paperhouses. Image Courtesy of Paperhouses
Aravena’s recent initiative to open-source four of his built projects goes a long way to promoting the public and social benefits of collaboration and information-sharing. He deliberately gave up exclusive rights of use, which means giving up all the income associated with the implementation of those designs. In doing so, he recognized that the most important role of these projects is to inspire others and facilitate solutions to the housing issues facing our rapidly urbanizing world. To be able to grant work a life of its own—unbiased, uncontrolled, and unafraid—is an outstanding example for the architectural community. The latest bold move by Aravena makes me ever more confident that open source will become a mainstream initiative that will liberate design, and revolutionize home-building in the process.
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced that Lars Krückeberg, Founding Partner of GRAFT, and Juergen Mayer, Founder of J. Mayer H., will speak at this year’s festival as part of a session titled ‘Architect as Instigator,’ exploring issues of housing, immigration, and how architects can drive social change through the buildings and spaces they create.
The world’s largest, annual, international architectural event, WAF will be held from November 16 to 18, at Franz Ahrens’ historic former bus depot now known as Arena Berlin, in Berlin, Germany. WAF also features the biggest architectural awards programme in the world. Projects can be submitted for consideration for an award until May 19th via this link.
Both GRAFT and J. Mayer H. have recently worked on various housing projects across Germany. GRAFT’s Eckwerk is a mixed-use project that incorporates housing for students and young professionals, and J. Mayer H. recently opened Sonnenhof, which offers a flexible pattern of use throughout office and residential spaces.
Lars Krückeberg, Founding Partner of GRAFT, commented: “Before the beginning of the refugee migration crisis in 2015, Berlin was already gaining over 40,000 net inhabitants per annum. Additionally asylum claims have reached a historic high in Germany with 442,000 first applications in just one year. Housing is therefore a crucial issue for architects across the country.”
David Chipperfield will also deliver a keynote speech at the Festival according to the “Housing for Everyone” theme.
Learn more and submit your project for consideration, here.
Lot limits get blurred with the inevitable focal point: the lagoon. As regards usefulness, we designed flexible spaces adaptable to our client’s active life as well as to his future family needs, trying not to restrict other possible uses. Such flexibility enables private spaces, located on the upper floor, to be isolated from public spaces, located on the ground floor.
The double-height vertical circulation fills the space with zenithal light and connects both levels. The volumetric indoor/outdoor interplay dematerializes towards the North-oriented rear thus solving view opening of the main areas to the lagoon, while a more closed South-oriented service area front offers privacy to the house.
View of the southwest façade. Image Courtesy of Grupo Allard
Jean Nouvel has unveiled the design of his latest project: a 22-story tower located near Avenida Paulista in São Paulo. The skyscraper, dubbed Rosewood Tower, is part of Cidade Matarazzo, a 27,000-square-meter site containing historic buildings that once made up the Filomena Matarazzo maternity hospital. A heritage-listed site, the Allard Group is restoring the buildings and creating a cultural center, of which Nouvel’s new tower will be a central component.
Set to contain a hotel as well as residential units, Nouvel’s tower is designed to be a vertical continuation of the local landscape. Thus, the nearly 100-meter-tall tower develops at different levels, forming terraces and large gardens with small and medium-sized trees.
Courtesy of Grupo Allard
The hotel and residential complex will have 151 guest rooms and 122 residential suites, two restaurants, a bar and a “caviar lounge,” in addition to three pools, a spa and a fitness area.
View of the northwest façade. Image Courtesy of Grupo Allard
“Matarazzo Park is a remnant. More than a remnant, I would say it’s an oasis. It’s a space of calm urbanisation. A space of incredible trees: figs and magnolias. The hospital in the middle of the grounds is a sort of mini-town, very well organised around patios. Surrounding this little gem is a chaotic metropolis. What is most interesting for me is being able to work with the memory of the place,” said Jean Nouvel in a press release.
Entrance from Itapeva street. Image Courtesy of Grupo Allard
São Paulo and Paris-based Triptyque will be the executive architect for the tower as well as for the restoration and repurposing of the pre-existing buildings.
Courtesy of Grupo Allard
Nouvel’s tower is set to be completed by the end of 2018.
The classroom and the office are the two main settings where we learn about the practice of architecture, yet both expect the other to fill in more than a few gaps. Maybe schools shouldn’t emphasize the “technical details” and instead focus on teaching how to design; or maybe a little technical knowledge would be great preparation for that first job out of school (where you won’t get to design much more than a straight line). No matter which ideology you subscribe to, there will always be a disconnect between the classroom and the office.
Our webcomic, Architexts, features a character named Tim who attends school at an unnamed, practice-based architecture program. Tim faces all the challenges one would expect when attending a demanding educational program, while also working full-time in the profession.
Whether you were a full-time student, a part-time student that worked full-time, or an educator, we want to hear your experiences and insights for our forthcoming book, Architects, LOL. Check out Architexts for information on submitting your stories and insights for this book.
Designed for a Paris-based family with two children, the Cubist House is located in a courtyard that encloses an urban oasis, totally disconnected from the busy, greenless street outside.
Jacques Moussafir’s context-based design enhances the positive qualities of the site and resolves its problematic aspects.
Plan
Section
The project responds to its highly textured surroundings, in which various typologies, materials and historic elements coexist with lush vegetation. On a footprint of 108 m2, a cluster of three volumes with Corten cladding and large glazed openings forms a dynamic three-dimensional frontage whose different parts align with the adjacent facades on two sides.
The ‘cubist’ combination of solids and voids offers an intelligent solution that brings ample natural light into an 8-meter deep interior of a house surrounded by seven and eight-storey-high buildings. At the same time, the fragmented facade relates to the history of the site defined by successive additions and transformations. ‘Here, more than anywhere else, we felt it necessary to opt for dense materials that would dialogue with the cobblestone paving, old masonry, and lime plaster, all of which tend to patinate and thus testify the passage of time,’ says Jacques Moussafir.
Both the interior and the exterior of the Cubist House evoke a collage of volumes and materials that form spatial compositions oscillating between 2D and 3D. The concrete floor in the ground-level kitchen/dining/living room incorporates ‘islands’ of parquet flooring that correspond to the distinct suspended volumes of the upper-floor rooms.
A gap left between the rear side of the house and the neighbour’s masonry wall has a double function: it contains a staircase and serves as a light well that lets natural light penetrate through the openings in the rear wall with integrated ‘architectural furniture’ items.
Sig Nordal 