© Simone Bossi

Architects: SET Architects

Location: Foro Buonaparte, 14, 20121 Milano, Italy

Team: Lorenzo Catena, Onorato di Manno, Andrea Tanci

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Simone Bossi

© Simone Bossi

ALBUM “Bff016” has been declared the winning proposal of Exhib-it!, a competition promoted by Florim4Architects. It will be on display during the Milanese Design Week inside the central flagship store of Florim, a world leader in ceramics. 

© Simone Bossi

The proposal was awarded by a jury comprised of Odoardo Fioravanti (industrial designer), Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli (OMA/AMO), and Amelia Valletta (Domus Academy) (among other members). The installation consists of photographs of the Azerbaijan Pavillion of EXPO 2015, which was realized with ceramic products of Florim. 

Diagram

Diagram

ALBUM “Bff016” is an essential object composed by two elements: a steel free-standing structure, which can be infinitely reproduced, and juta black cloth, which is durable and biodegradable. The steel frame is based on modular elements that are easy to assemble thanks to a bolt-less system that allows maximum flexibility. The juta cloth wraps the structure delineating five distinct exhibition areas; ten photographs are distributed among these spaces. The black cloth gives rise to a chequered pattern, which consists of a modular grid of 1 square-meter spaces. Thus, the cloth serves not just as a discreet background for the photographs but also as a tool to highlight the value of the images. ALBUM “Bff016” is much more than a simple showcase: it does not impose itself on the content but gives it value and conveys it with great elegance. 

© Simone Bossi

The installation, which is located in the vicinity of the flagship store’s windows, stimulates and attracts visitors allowing for a fluid circulation within the exhibition space. The wings created by the steel free- standing structure and the juta cloth generate diverse paths and ways to interact with the space. The spotlight points at the concept of art fruition. 

© Simone Bossi

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© Xia Zhi

Architects: ARCHSTUDIO

Location: Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

Design Team: Han Wen-Qiang, Wang Ying, Li Yun-Tao

Area: 1300.0 sqm

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Xia Zhi

© Xia Zhi

From the architect. Poly WeDo is a new children’s education brand of Poly Culture Group, which aims at exploring and developing kids’ gift and potentiality in music, and improving their comprehensive art accomplishment. ARCHSTUDIO is invited to do the design for their teaching space within Yongli International Shopping Centre in Workers’ Stadium North Road, Beijing. The top issue to be solved while doing the design thinking is how to create an open, free and flexible modern teaching environment which breaks the limits of rigid structure and creates a feeling of closeness between children and the space.

Diagram

The project covers the area cross 7 pillars of the shopping center on the first floor. The basic structure of the space is framework + shear wall, it enjoys an area of about 1000 sqm and has a basement with an area of 300 sqm. ARCHSTUDIO removes the concrete block wall as much as possible to open up the closed space; a corridor is used to connect the classrooms to the public space. All the teaching spaces including music classroom, private classroom, reception hall, theatre and rehearsal room, etc. stretch out horizontally to the atrium of the shopping Centre. The slope shape roof extends to the wall and then the floor, which becomes the extension of classrooms and public space. The entire teaching space is like a translucent “indoor village”, which presents spaces of variety of scales and texture according to different needs. It presents the kids an intimate, natural and cozy music playing and learning environment.

© Xia Zhi

Section

© Xia Zhi

ARCHSTUDIO introduces green landscape to soften the restriction of structural walls and to keep teaching get in touch with nature all the time. Part of the floor slab of the atrium is removed; the bamboo courtyard extends to the dancing classroom, Yoga classroom and office in the basement. The bamboo courtyard is the highlight of landscape of the entrance hall, and the shift point of traffic of the two floors. Gaps between walls of classrooms are used to create landscape area, thus “outdoor” space are formed in the indoor space. And the combination of plants and book shelves make kids’ reading coexist easily and naturally with rest.

© Xia Zhi

Music classrooms need to satisfy acoustical requirements of sound insulation and sound absorption. For the purpose of soundproof, three layers hollow glasses are used for the walls of music classrooms, wood grain aluminum grille and aluminum plate are used for the ceiling. In additional to soundproof treatment, the shape of the slope roof and the wavy surface of grille have the effect of audio mixing. Because of the limitation of height of the small theatre, we keep the original ceiling, only use some sound-absorbing wood panels on part of the wall,  which heightens the space visually and achieves excellent acoustic effect as well.

© Xia Zhi

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© Qatar Museums and Malcolm Reading Consultants

Qatar Museums has announced a shortlist of eight finalists that will move on to the third and final stage of the Art Mill International Design Competition in Doha. On a site extending into the Arabian Sea that was only recently occupied by Qatar Flour Mills, Art Mill will integrate gallery and exhibition space with facilities for education, events, conservation, art handling, and research. Joining the Museum of Islamic Art designed by I.M. Pei, and the still under-construction National Museum of Qatar, designed by Jean Nouvel, in the words of the competition brief, “Art Mill will and extend and intensify the cultural quarter being developed in Doha.”

Shortlist:

Adam Khan Architects (UK)

Atelier Bow-Wow (Japan)

EAA Emre Arolat Architecture (Turkey)

Elemental (Chile)

Junya Ishigami + Associates (Japan)

Mangado y Asociados (Spain)

Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Italy)

Rice+Lipka Architects (US)

The competition jury met for two days last month to select the eight finalists from a longlist of 26, which was already reduced from the original pool of 489 submissions from 56 countries.

Jury:

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

His Excellency Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani

Dr. Hassan Rashid Al-Derham, President, Qatar University

Professor Harry Gugger, Principal, Harry Gugger Studio

Dr. Akel I. Kahera, Dean, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar

Sir John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland

Jasper Morrison, Designer

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Photographic artist, sculptor, architect, producer, and 

Professor Chris Wise FREng FICE RDI, Director, Expedition

The jury was advised by competition organizer and architect, Malcolm Reading of Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) and QM technical representative Maha Hamad Al Hajri.

Stage three of the competition will occur between April – August of this year, with a winner to be announced in the fall.

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© Naoki Kobayashi

Architects: S PLUS ONE architecture

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Area: 50.0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Naoki Kobayashi

© Naoki Kobayashi

From the architect. This project is a village house of the small village surrounding environment mountains.

© Naoki Kobayashi

So, there are so many Japanese cedar, pine and white cedar in this village. The form of the building is very simple.We use only materials of the area,  The façade and the interior decoration of of each building volume change.

Section

© Naoki Kobayashi

Plan

In this time, we chose cedar and pine, designed cedar house and pine house. We can be also design white cedar house,oak house and so on.

© Naoki Kobayashi

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© Justin Alexander

Architects: Tobias Partners

Location: Bondi Beach NSW 2026, Australia

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Justin Alexander

Project Team: John Richards (Project Principal) , Nick Tobias (Principal Architect), Robert Gemmel, Edmund Spencer, John Barker

Builder: Bellevarde Constructions

Project Manager: Auric Projects

Structural Engineer: Partridge

Landscape Design: Myles Baldwin Design

Hydraulic Engineer: AJ Whipps Consulting Group

Planner: GSA Planning

Joiners: Stylewood, Caporns

© Justin Alexander

On a spectacular site, Deepwater celebrates its iconic location and the remarkable narrative of a fruitful marriage. Commissioned by a well-travelled couple in their 60’s, the house is a platform – a relaxing place to accommodate family and friends – and a container: a curiosity cabinet for their most treasured possessions.

© Justin Alexander

Perched on the high tide line at Bondi Beach, harsh environmental conditions and limited access dictated the form and fabric of the robust outer shell, which sits quietly among its neighbours on Ben Buckler Point. To counteract the relentless activity outside and achieve design clarity throughout, the design employs a sense of intentional restraint: a consistent material palette allows indoor and outdoor spaces flow seamlessly.

© Justin Alexander

Divided into a classical-style vertical and horizontal grid, the five levels are treated subtly differently. Ceiling heights vary, and rooms and balconies sit within and project beyond the exoskeleton, an approach that overcomes the site’s modest footprint, helps to capture views, and enables the house to be easily divided into two spacious apartments when guests stay over. 

© Justin Alexander

The deliberately spare interiors feature hand-crafted joinery and hardware. A carefully curated display of paintings, sculptures, furniture and heirlooms evokes memories of travel and family history, with some newly commissioned artworks that converse with the architecture.

Section

The building also speaks to its landscape: a series of operable devices mediate the threshold, bringing in sea breezes, warm sunshine, salty air and dappled light, resulting in a home that is always naturally comfortable, regardless of the weather.

© Justin Alexander

A true collaboration between design disciplines and construction experts, every detail is built to the highest standard. The landscape design speaks to the public realm as well as the occupants, with endemic species and hardy palms greening the beachside and street elevations. 

© Justin Alexander

Whether the owners are enjoying time at home together, or have their grandchildren staying over; or hosting casual family dinners or entertaining on a grand scale, this timeless home is always intimate and inviting. And with the ability to function equally well as platform and container, it conveys a precise distillation of this family’s unique narrative.

© Justin Alexander

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© Eugeni Bach

Architects: Anna & Eugeni Bach

Location: Plaça Rector Ferrer, 17800 Olot, Girona, Spain

Area: 90.0 sqm

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Eugeni Bach

Collaborators: Albert Cabrer, Maria Ibáñez, architects

Special Thanks To: Xevi Bayona, Montserrat Planella, Esteve Planella and Joan Carles Roqué

© Eugeni Bach

“Lluèrnia – Fire and light Festival” is an event that takes place in the town of Olot during one night every November. More than 50 light installations adorn the streets and squares during this special annual tradition of the region.

Elevation

Our installation was performed on the Plaza del Rector Ferrer, at the front facade of the church of Sant Esteve. Due to the topography of the square, the church, located at the highest end, has a podium which is accessed from a central staircase and from side ramps, creating a small elevated pedestrian walkway from the rest of the square.

© Eugeni Bach

This location, turns this space into a theater, where the facade of the church is the stage. Because of the elevated position, few people use the walkway other than when accessing the church.

Elevation

Our proposal creates a lightweight pergola that plays with light in two different ways:

During the day, the walkway becomes a space where the shadow of the pergola outlines the shape of the ground and the church façade, turning the space into a surprising threshold.

© Eugeni Bach

At night, illuminated from inside, the installation arouses the curiosity of the locals and attracts them to  walk through, casting their shadows and making them a part of the show.

© Eugeni Bach

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Rendering of Atrium Modifications. Image via YIMBY

The Ford Foundation has received Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approval for renovations to its building at 320 E 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, reports New York Yimby. Constructed from 1963 to 1967, with a design by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo and an atrium garden by Dan Kiley, the building became an instant architectural mecca and was made an individual and interior landmark in 1997. The proposed renovations, designed by Gensler, seek to restore a half century of alterations to the building’s appearance, in addition to subtle changes to adhere to adhere to fire and accessibility codes.

Rendering of Atrium Modifications. Image via YIMBY

Existing Condition, West View. Image via YIMBY

Most of the changes will occur beneath the surface, but some of the more pronounced modifications will include additional railings, new and reconfigured doorways, the removal of an exterior planter, and a new pathway along 42nd Street leading to an ADA lift. Hardscape restorations will occur in tandem with landscape upgrades by Raymond Jungles Studio. The intention is to bring the garden back to its Kiley-designed appearance, with a complete replacement of the existing, non-original plantings.

Rendering of Proposed Modifications, East View. Image via YIMBY

Existing Condition, East View. Image via YIMBY

While LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan praised the plans, stating “[they] supports the essence of that space,” are “very modest” and “incredibly respectful,” the public had a more mixed reception. Questions were raised by The Historic Districts Council’s Kelly Carrol over the proposed door replacements (the originals are bronze) and removal of the exterior planter. Both Carrol and Tara Kelly of the Municipal Art Society took issue with the 42nd Street facing wheelchair path, which both felt upset the relationships of the garden space to the street condition.

Rendering of Proposed Modifications, Main Stairwary. Image via YIMBY

Existing Condition, Main Stairway. Image via YIMBY

The LPC approved the changes, but asked the applicant to readdress the greenery along the proposed ADA lift path. The renovated building is expected to reopen to the public in 2018.  

Story via New York Yimby.

AD Classics: The Ford Foundation / Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates

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via Madeleine Underwood, Student Life

By next Fall, the architecture students of Washington University in St. Louis will no longer be allowed to use Styrene on their projects. The university’s newspaper, Student Life reports that the commonly used white plastic material was deemed in 2014 by the National Research Council’s National Toxicology Program as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” Thus the Sam Fox School of Design is taking its own measures to protect their student’s health. A number of other schools and cities have already banned Styrene since the NRC’s ruling. 

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© Janez Marolt

Architects: Skupaj Arhitekti

Location: Lake Bohinj, 4265 Bohinjsko jezero, Slovenia

Architect In Charge: Meta Kutin, Tomaž Ebenšpanger

Area: 100.7 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Janez Marolt

© Janez Marolt

From the architect. The House in the protected Alpine village of Stara Fužina is located in the Triglav National Park and addresses the traditional environment with author’s interpretation of characteristic local details. Standing elegant on a steep hillside the house, by its attractively oriented position, catches spectacular and commanding views across the topographically diverse glacial valley.

© Janez Marolt

 The house is erected in place of a former car repair workshop. The roof ridge of the new house rotated 90 degrees from the original. It runs rectangularly to the steep hillside in order to make the most of both sunny warmth and spectacular views. There were some agreements reached with the Slovenian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage who take care of heritage protection in urban and rural settings and of architecture preservation in old Alpine villages. The authority allowed the change based on the explanation that the village has been naturally-generated and developed throughout the history  following the logic of individual micro-locations.

© Janez Marolt

A special attention has been focused on jutting roofs. Their design conception follows the rural pragmatism, hence they have different depths to meet the function; a longer jutting roof is above the entrance of the northern facade and another above the glass window of the southern facade (protection against sunshine). They are visible on account of their slenderness which is further emphasized by a thin  fibre cement grey roof covering and a supporting structure made of cross-glued board plates.

© Janez Marolt

Plan

© Janez Marolt

The wood used for structural and furniture applications on and in the house is native larch, oiled or waxed. The stone used is local building stone. All metal elements are made of galvanized metal sheet and author designed. The gutters, for instance, have preserved the traditional motif of wooden gutters laid on wooden eave hooks. The motif is abstracted and transferred into another material. The V-shape gutters match with steep roof pitches of the old village in the background and with the glacial valley of the same shape in the distance.

Section

The ground–plan of the house is small but made good use of space. The conception allows for future adjustments to suit the needs of existing residents. The living room on the south-east is linked via a staircase with the bedroom which is separated by only a string of wardrobes. The ground-floor of the west wing houses a separate apartment to rent which may later turn into a suitable bedroom. The house can fit a family of either one or four members.

© Janez Marolt

The house in Stara Fužina have introduced new building materials and details into a traditional rural space and is aimed to constitute a place of permanent residence for a native member of the community. In spite of its different conception of details, pure lines, absence of merely decorative use of wood, large glass surfaces and visible concrete inside the house, it seems that this house has stood in its place since old times.

© Janez Marolt

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At last year’s Moscow Urban Forum, Charles Renfro discussed Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design for Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Located in the heart of the city, the park employs Wild Urbanist principles, which seek to emulate Russia’s diverse landscapes – tundra, steppe, forest, and wetland – against a backdrop of architectural landmarks that includes the Kremlin, Red Square, and St. Basil’s Cathedral.

© Diller Scofidio+Renfro, Hargreaves Associates, Citymakers

In the words of Charles Renfro, “While Moscow is a great international city and Z-Park will be a model for the world, it is a park for Russia made from Russia. It samples the natures of Russia and merges them with the city, to become a design that could only happen here. It embodies a wild urbanism, a place where architecture and landscape are one.”

© Diller Scofidio+Renfro, Hargreaves Associates, Citymakers

Designed as a collaboration between Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Hargreaves Associates and Citymakers, the park will open to the public in 2018.

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