In Le Corbusier’s 5 points of architecture, he advocates the inclusion of flat roofs hosting roof gardens, providing valuable outdoor space for the inhabitants of the building in order to replace the ground lost to the construction of the building. But while this acknowledgement of outdoor space was important for people, Le Corbusier‘s sculptural concrete roof gardens were little consolation to the non-human flora and fauna that were displaced by his works.
Recent improvements in our understanding of ecosystems and the environment, as well as a better scientific understanding of the needs of plants, have changed this dramatically. In the past few decades, green roofs and living roofs have exploded in popularity, and now adorn every kind of building–from small private houses to the gigantic surface of Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.
We’ve collected together some excellent examples of these living roofs, including the structural detailing that makes them possible. Read on for 13 spectacular green roofs that achieve environmental benefits including reduced stormwater runoff, and reductions in energy use and the heat island effect.
Our experience of information is changing. We now consume more and more information digitally, with much of this being non-textual. Videos, photos and GIFs have become commonplace, with technology allowing these mediums to be as easily shareable as text. This gives way to another trend: the increase in the number and accessibility of online platforms. Not only is more information being digitized, but more dynamic ways of digitization are being developed; multimedia articles and online exhibitions, for example, hope to provide a more engaging way of sharing information.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
Architects are getting in on this online exhibitionism too, with Moscow-based architecture firm Meganom having their debut cyber “show” on Thngs. Each “show” is a curated collection of archived objects, with Meganom’s online exhibition featuring their architectural models from the past 18 years. Clicking on a model gives further information on its dimensions, weight and materials, with the entire group accompanied by a mini essay and timeline.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
But what exactly is Thngs, the host behind these online exhibitions? Seeking to be a Wikipedia of physical objects, Thngs is an online archive providing photos and information on hundreds of objects, from 40,000 BC through to today. They put forth the argument that “each thing is a source of objective information about our past, present, and even future.” Thus, the digital archive is a response to the fact that “the physical preservation of all things is not possible, but we can preserve information that things contain.” Their shows complement this larger archive, giving further insight to selected groups of related objects, like the Meganom models.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
Thngs differs from websites like Thingiverse or WikiHouse, as its catalog is purely a cultural exercise rather than a functional one. Rather than providing for the production of large numbers of new objects, it records those that have already come into existence. There is poetry in this, a respect for the many physical things that surround us and make up our world. The Thngs team appears conscious of this sentiment and the difference between recording and reproducing. Its shows are one such attempt to provide a function that differentiates them as a website that records instead of reproducing. This differentiation is further seen in the website as a whole, which is especially beautiful and crisp—making it feel like you’re really “visiting” somewhere special.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
However, until Thngs catalogs every single physical object that has come into existence (which is near impossible), there is unavoidably a conscious process by which someone chooses what to include in and exclude from the catalog. This is where Thngs begins to stray from its goal.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
A search for “chair” is a good example of this, with the results largely being upscale, Eurocentric designer furniture (though other categories, especially electronics, also include pop culture icons such as the original iPod or GameBoy). Commonplace chairs that are in other ways also iconic, like school chairs and bus seats for example, are currently left out. This implicit bias ultimately jars against Thng’s democratic aim of providing comprehensive, objective information. So perhaps what is needed is a method of selecting objects which is as fresh and innovative as their way of displaying objects, and a self-awareness of their role as curator. Otherwise, Thngs falls back into an old-fashioned approach to curation despite its contemporary platform.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
Fortunately for Thngs, other institutions have already begun to set a precedent in this regard. Of note is the V&A Museum’s “rapid response collecting,” where items are “collected in timely response to major moments in history”—meaning that it is society, rather than a curator, who dictates the importance of an object.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
When selection of an object is based upon its position as a topical, culturally charged artifact, the selection process is also vastly shortened. This is a huge breakthrough for a museum that has, for most of its history, rejected items less than fifty years old. There is also opportunity for open discussion over what items should be considered, via the hashtag #rapidresponsecollecting. Considering these elements make up the V&A’s approach to “the museum as a blog”, it would be fitting for Thngs—the blog as a museum—to take on a similar methodology.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
Furthermore, though Thngs mentions future hopes to “provide possibilities for the re-creation of things,” transforming the “digital form back into the physical” with accompanying files for 3D printing, the website currently lacks this feature and relies solely on photographs to represent the object. These three-dimensional models, as well as other modes of representation such as videos, would certainly give Thngs a more convincing presence, pushing it towards the realm of projects like the Million Image Database Project, which preserves at-threat artifacts through 3D documentation.
Courtesy of Thngs Co.
There are many innovative aspects to a project like Thngs, and what it has already achieved is undeniably a beautiful contribution to the growing world of digital archives. But if it’s to reach its full potential it is not a technological, but a human issue that is of central concern: how best to achieve an objective curation of objects.
The Pillars is a new monument in the heart of Copenhagen dedicated to informing the public through a combination of national data and artistic beauty. Inspired by other nationally recognized works such as the 10,000 Year Clock in Texas; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; and the Fühlometer (Feel-o-Meter) in Lindau, Germany, The Pillars encourages both citizens and leaders to understand the facts of their national development.
Powered by data from established sources such as the UN, Statistics Denmark, and the CIA World Factbook, The Pillars are modeled after the birch trees common to Nordic forests, with lit holes in place of the markings on trees. These holes light up to visualize information about Denmark in the last decade; for example, an increase in life expectancy would be signified by lights turned on over more than half the height of the tree.
Courtesy of Søjlerne
Other trees represent unemployment, GDP, pollution, income equality, and mortality. The goal, according to the team of architects, policy makers, and international ambassadors responsible for the project, is to help the Denmark’s people understand their country’s development and continually strive for improvement.
Amsterdam-based Rietveld-Architecture-Art-Affordances (RAAAF) and Atelier de Lyon have revealed designs to reimagine one of The Netherland’s monumental “tribute[s] to the majesty, and seemingly indestructible power, of the Dutch Delta Works.” The works themselves—a network of dams, sluices, locks, dykes, levees and storm surge barriers in South Holland—have collectively been described as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Deltawerk 1:1 is an intervention examining the practice of the preservation of cultural heritage by inserting a new structure within Waterloopbos, the former Dutch Hydrodynamics Laboratory.
One structure in Waterloopbos, a collection of test models each no longer serving their original function, is the Delta Flume – a structure used to artificially form enormous “full-scale” waves to test the strength of the Delta Works projects. By excavating the sand plateau around the flume, RAAAF intend to reveal “a gigantic ‘Delta Work'” 7 meters high and 250 meters long, surrounded by water. In their words: “Massive concrete slabs [will be] cut out of the 80 centimeter-thick walls and turned 90 degrees around on their axis.” The ‘room’ thereby created offers an intense spatial experience of contrasting light, shadow, reflection – and views through the Waterloopbos itself. “Over the years,” the designers state, “the slabs will be colonized by nature. The space [will] change throughout the day, the seasons, and over the years.”
Deltawerk 1:1 has been commissioned by the Natuurmonumenten & Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency and conceptualized by Erick de Lyon, Ronald Rietveld and David Habets. It is set to be realized in 2017.
From the architect. The Hill House sits in an area of Winchester that has a hidden and secluded feel yet somewhat paradoxically, has some of the greatest views in the city.
Built in the late 70s, the five bed house was recently bought by the current owners from an elderly lady who had not changed the property since its construction. The existing layout was dark, outdated and denied the occupants an appreciation of the stunning views of which the house commands.
The client’s approached AR Design Studio with a simple brief; increase the area of the living spaces, allow as much natural light in to the house as possible and maximise the views out.
Externally, the now linear nature of the house is highly apparent. At the rear, an elongated insertion frames the new aspect of the house. At the front, one now enters the home via a new double height box which has created a visibly welcoming and clear entrance. Both of these new features are clad in fibre cement, defining the property with a bold and contemporary character.
The house, split across three levels, has the bedrooms and bathrooms located on both the lower and upper floors. One arrives on a split level landing and is met with snippets of the stunning views that make the location so special.
Proposed Ground Floor Plan
Descending a few steps down, one arrives at the central floor which plays host to the kitchen, dining and living spaces where the insertion of the contemporary box has allowed for the exterior wall to be completely removed and replaced with a single expanse of sliding glazing; one cannot fail to appreciate the uninterrupted panorama yet feel complete privacy due to the clever orientation of the house.
To make the most of the wide plot and provide a new outlook, AR Design Studio proposed the idea of increasing the width of the central floor. In this new space the kitchen, a clean and seemingly simple space, encompasses clever touches which hide the pantry and utility rooms with ‘secret’ kitchen unit doors.
As keen hosts, the client’s wanted somewhere for entertaining. The dining space, now large enough to contain a dining table of grand proportions, allows the client’s to enjoy parties.
The entire property has been finished with a visibly neutral palette; primarily designed to allow the walls and floors to be decorated by the ever changing play of shadows and dappled light that filters through the trees and dances around the spaces throughout the day.
Product Description:The fibre cement cladding was chosen as it provided the clean and contemporary sense that we wanted to achieve, yet still gave a subtle connection to the existing brick pattern and form.
From the architect. The design for the Strasbourg Palais de la Musique et des Congrès by Austrian architectural firm Dietrich | Untertrifaller and French firm Rey-Lucquet & Associés combines the two existing music halls from the 1970s and 80s with new buildings to create a harmonious ensemble with a distinctive architectural identity. The expansion and general renovation of the convention center involves the construction of a 3,000 m² multifunctional hall, a conference hall for 450 people, and a 520-seat auditorium, the expansion and conversion of two existing concert halls, plus a new rehearsal hall for the Strasbourg Philharmonic orchestra. In December 2016, the recently completed project was nominated for the European Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.
For their design, Dietrich | Untertrifaller and Rey-Lucquet decided to further develop and expand on the existing central motif of equilateral triangles. They also created a completely new silhouette with the new buildings and stainless steel arcades. The architects integrated as many useful functions as possible into the existing buildings and continued the use of the typical hexagon in the new buildings. A central foyer with air spaces, galleries and bridges unites and connects the concert, conference and exhibition spaces. This clearly arranged and open spatial design simplifies and structures the complex’s functional processes and provides visitors with improved orientation. The architectural concept is also visible on the façade: An almost kilometer-long arcade wraps around and encloses the entire building complex, giving it a distinct profile. The fifteen-meter high and six-ton steel columns covered in angularly folded stainless steel sheets form an attractive, dynamic outer shell with their twisting rhythms.
The capacity of the Auditorium Schweitzer was expanded from 900 to 1,200 visitors and the 1,900-seat Auditorium Erasme was optimized for concerts and conferences. Located just to the west of these two buildings is the new hexagonal multifunctional hall that is integrated into the existing structures and together with the old buildings forms the new main entrance and forecourt. The Palais de la Musique et des Congrès now comprises a huge multifunctional hall, three auditoriums, two conference halls, fifteen conference rooms, foyers, staircases, bars, a restaurant, office spaces and a parking garage.
With a gross floor area of 44,500 m², the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès is an important part of the Wacken-Europe urban development project. The district located in the north of the city center close to the European Parliament receives a new architectural landmark and positions itself as an attractive international business and service destination.
In June 2011, Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten along with French architectural firm Rey-Lucquet & Associés won the international competition organized by the city of Strasbourg by unanimous jury decision. Construction work began in late 2012 and continued uninterrupted until its completion in the summer of 2016.
From the architect. The project site is located in the town centre of Herderen, in between church and cemetery, a small park and a day care centre. The site has a 3m level difference, which is exploited to arrange access to the school.
The school exists of two three story rectangular volumes. The shifted configuration of these volumes creates two corners/‘armpits’ where the entrances are located. By pushing the volumes against the steep level drop, a separate access to each level can easily be organized.
Section
The lower level houses the nursery school that has its own playground, adjacent to the day care centre. A wide hall in between class rooms serves as an indoor playground or lunch room for the toddlers.
The primary school’s main entrance is located above, at the level of the church, and has another playground. This level houses the school’s administration and a multi use hall that serves as a refectory for the primary school.
Level -1
After school hours and during weekends, the hall is used as a neighbourhood centre by various social & cultural associations.
The upper level contains the primary school’s class rooms. High up in the trees, they overlook the town’s green surroundings. The spacious hall in between the class rooms can be used for communal activities.
Doctor XU Hongquan is painter, and a literati who is good at writing books, calligraphy, literary review as well. Mr. Xu found us through friends this summer, to make this reconstruction of the old factory building, which will be used as his studio and home in future: Hall within the Cloud.
Through conversation with Mr. Xu, we clarify the basic function of the studio, which is studio, tea room, bedroom, study room, etc. The typical configuration of an artistic studio. The site is also a typical linear brick factory with slope roof, which was used as factory office before. The height of the building is about six meters, with the triangular steel roof truss structure, overall keep in good condition. For us, what unique about the project is, Mr. Xu is trained in eastern and western education at the same time, he is taking art comments and art history research in college together with young students,. And also had successively studied from Lou Jiye, Huang Yecun, Shi Gufeng about calligraphy, painting and art history. So he is not a “traditional” painter, because he is not only drawing, His literary achievements is even above drawing. However, he is also a traditional literati, who keeps lifestyle in spirit of Chinese traditional culture.
Original building
We find his demand on functions for an oil painting room, and a traditional painting room as well. Two separate studios with different atmosphere and scenario. In this unique mission requirement, we find our entry point: Perspective, the biggest difference between east and west painter art.
Follow this perspective clue, we designed a nested life scenario. Through a series of psychological analysis. We propose an artist’s psychological space diagram. In this chart, we put sleep, diet and other most basic physical need in center position, reception, exhibition these social needs in the middle layer, the outermost layer as the painter’s most important art pursuit and demand. If the psychological space relationship directly projected on the layout of architectural space, we can just create a nested progressive space structure. Through the corner of room export, people enter from one room to another, through the open of every corner, form a visual corridors through buildings. Because this kind of nested layout, space of each layer are wrapped in another layer, reach one layer space needs get through another one, Space events in each layer are affected and watched by another layer, this is also thoroughly eliminated the element of the corridor.
This space may let us think of traditional ink painting scenario, such as painting < play chess in multiple screen>from Zhou Wenju in Song dynasty, four men in a circle to play chess. There is a screen behind them,In the screen which shows a person in front of another screen on the couch served by a few servants. This perspective on screen makes people feel like they are in the same space with play chess in front，which makes it difficult to distinguish the screen definitely is a picture or just a real door frame in space. It is interesting to note that the< play chess in multiple interfaces > originally is also mounted on a screen. Thus formed three layers of nested relations about the painting of the painting, box in box, impossible to distinguish which is the real space, which is the reappearance imagination space, a effect ” multiple screen”.
Our this kind of space layout is also intended to reproduce the “multiple screen”.
Screen overlapping chess drawing
Due to the site is surrounded by a lot of forest land, Mr. Xu hopes to move the bedroom and study to second floor, so that the beautiful scenario outside the window can be caught. So our plan which only do the modification inside the factory has been changed. Under this change, we hope to implant new orders to respond new needs, We took the gradient type slope roof as the treatment. On one hand, because of there is no need to use the slope roof, it will let the height too high and abrupt.Meanwhile this can’t connect new added parts and the original factory history form into some kinds of distinction and dialogue relations. The perspective theme from the external form which hints that theme extends to the second floor. On the other hand, We also think by changing slope is a translation of traditional artistic conception, we imagine in the rain, raindrops fall on the slow and steep roof, and then gently sprinkled on the yard. Make the slope roof as a water and gravity acting stage. At first we are going to make the top a purely hyperboloid, but as the limitation of manufacturers craft level and cost, we chose the segmented folding roof form finally. In order to ensure construction quality , we also made an 1:1 scale structure test sample before the construction. Finally this meaningful construction from ideal to reality “translation” complete.
Analysis of visual screens
Finally, In addition to “the perspective of layout” and “changing slope roof”, We didn’t do more big actions during the design, how to treat the outdoor garden, a large number of display interior, the painting on the wall, they all according to Mr. Xu’s wishes. This bold design decision finally make a good harmonious fusion from designers and customer’s will luckily. Our design is like a stage set, or like “white space” of traditional ink painting technique, make the Chinese traditional culture elements in full display here. Mr. Xu with his students and friends involved in the whole process deeply, after completion of the construction, they will start to do art activities such as kunqu opera the Pony Pavilion. In a demo perform finished complete, we appreciated the shocking scenario of kunqu opera song in the high open studio space.
Walking Into the studio which has just completed, We can imagine to watch the lake and snow in next winter; and Mr. Xu and his friends listen to zither in a teahouse next summer under the warmsun; and in the big studio rocking chair with Cricket chirping, a series of touching scene.
WORKSHOP [1:1] is being organized by WO|V|EN annually since 2013 as a form of a summer school. Last summer’s edition (18. – 29. July 2016) took place at a special location, on an island called Lido, splitting and regulating the river Váh in a popular spa town Piešťany in Slovakia. For the first time, it was organized in collaboration with a local NGO Centrum architektúry. The main goal of the WORKSHOP [1:1] is to design and build wooden structures in a one-to-one scale in ten intense days and to broaden the practical skills and experience of architecture and design students.
The participants do not only gain experience in the field and learn a new set of skills but also their craft work remains on the site and becomes a vital part of the place. Last summer, eight international participants from different architecture schools were led by two tutors, architects experienced in the field of timber construction – Ransu Helenius from Finland and Tobias Foged Permin from Denmark.
The design process was supported by a landscape architect Sebastian Sowa from Germany, architect Lorcan Koethe coming from Switzerland and local architects Benjamin Brádňanský, Vito Halada (n/a architects) and Peter Lényi. Neither the topic nor the site were specified beforehand but emerged on spot from the initial design process that took about four days, while the rest was dedicated to building.
Diagram
The students came up with an idea of an object wedged into a forest near the tip of Lido island. Inspired by the view to the sky shining through the wildly growing trees and the ivy carpet, which make this space rather unused, they created an iconic space immediately recognized and attracting people. Its name, UWO (unidentified wooden object), is a playful reference to its “unidentified” function without any recognizable structural sign how to use it and also to its alien appearance intentionally out of the context of local nature, without a direct relationship to the bent trees. People curious to climb in and experience the atmosphere tend to use it to relax, chat and drink, while the children love to just madly run around. On the opening day it became a special stage for a multimedia-dance performance.
The supporting structure is made of layered timber profiles of douglas fir, bent to the required shape by using a jig. Screwed and pegged through they hold the curve. These beams were then assembled into eight wedges and put together straight on site. The resulting object is of a diameter of 5,5 meters and weights about 600 kg.
Throughout the years WORKSHOP [1:1] became a movable event of sorts, travelling from town to town, bringing life to forgotten places with potential or faded past. Next year’s edition, the fifth WORKSHOP [1:1] is going to bring its experience and experiments to a beautiful scruffy castle park of a small town Stupava, Slovakia.
The client is an elderly couple, retired from Taipei, wants to begin their new life at their country hometown, Yilan. They, who grew up at Jhuangwei, Yilan, has great nostalgia for the sloping black terracotta roof, red brick walls, and the scenic view of Gueishan Island’s. Their experience, the small road wandering through the rice field and the passage across the watering ditch, has been discussed constantly and become the core of this project’s concept, related to home.
By shifting two solid masses backwards and forwards, a void is generated and set as the core of a “home”. It functions as household alter of family’s ancestor. And we want to redefind this space’s relations in Taiwan’s family.
-The Rooftop overlooking Gueishan Island
Through the ritual of drinking teas and appreciating the sun rising, we want the client to live again in the nature. Architecturally, we create several roof terraces to provide various sceneries, such as the rice field, the mountain in the distance, and the sun rising from the sea horizon.
In architectural design, we imagined the house as an abstract swallows’ nest, so the characteristic feature can be identified in the vast rural field, from far away. And more to the function of these two shifting solid masses, which are planned for client’s two sons to inhabit, it is generated a flowing space that is more flexible and can be multi-functioned.
Plan
– Integrated landscape and spatial experience
There are the wandering small country roads, the irrigating ditches amidst the paddy rice field, and the rolling hills in the distant, which we transform into a spatial experience: the curvilinear staircase in the living room, suspended platform along the axis on which one can sit on or lie down, the stairs changing with the gables, and the attic space shaped by the folding walls. All these elements integrate together and generate another spatial experience.
– The use of light-well motivating the flow of the space
Designed strategically, we shifting the viewpoint to make the space more interesting and have the quality of flowing. Therefore, the light-well on the top of the balcony, the skylight atop the attic, and the clerestory of the household alter all increase the fowling quality.
Sig Nordal 