From the architect. Dutch design studio Lab-S has renovated a 30’s row house in the city of Utrecht (the Netherlands) and added a contemporary two story extension in harmony with the old house. The house has been made suitable for a young family with three kids as each floor has been given a new layout. Also, the old extension at the back of the house has been replaced by a new one of the same size. The design of this new façade is inspired by the old rear façade, with its large amount of window frames. Lab-S chose to keep the steel structure of the new extension in sight and add new steel window frames in the same colour. The result is a robust and at the same time slender looking extension that lets natural light enter deep into the old building.
The new living room on the ground floor is positioned at the back of the house, near the garden. This space is separated from the dining room and kitchen through high (glazed) steel doors that not only function as a room divider, but also serve as an eye-catcher in the living area.
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Two new bathrooms are located in the middle of the house on the first and second floor. Since these bathrooms are not positioned at a facade, Lab-S proposed a large skylight in the middle of the roof bringing in natural light into the two super imposed bathrooms. A gap in the master’s bathroom floor on the second floor lets daylight reach the children’s bathroom on the level below.
From the architect. Sunstar, a Japanese multinational company, a manufacturer of health related products, commissioned its corporate headquarters to convey a precise message. Swiss manufacturing precision and the country’s healthy life style mesh with these principles.
The design of this three story, sky-lit courtyard building demonstrates a strong commitment to quality of life in the workplace. It is day-lit, and naturally ventilated, casting its offices and conference rooms against a bright and panoramic perimeter. The feel of the building is warm and yet precise: concrete exterior paneling matches beautifully with the local Swiss stone for the ground floor.
The rhythmic pattern of the glass and wood louvered façade, trips up the static concrete and stone palette. Whether approaching the building from its entrance or driving by it on the main highway the structure has an upbeat effect on the landscape.
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Wood finishes, open glass walls and green tatami-like carpeting join Japanese serenity with an Italian architectural sensibility. A high level product finds its corporate home in a design that accords good health to its corporate culture as well as its ultimate customer.
From the architect. The concept of this residence is the combination of Traditional Javanese house with a modern look. The combination of the terrace, courtyard, pool and landscaping come together and make this residence as an oasis in the middle of the dense areas with the high rise buildings.
The concept of “pendopo” (pavillion in a traditional Javanese house) applied to most of the space inside the residence. The minimum of solid boundary between exterior and interior space make this residence blend in with the natural surroundings. Mass orientation of the building directs to the innercourtyard , with openings doors and large windows to maximize natural light and air into the house.
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The Mass building composition derives from the concept of “pendopo”, building mass split into several blocks, like as each of the “pendopo” are conected with the corridor . This mass building composition makes the residence not too massive and more humble.
Some existing trees was preserved and moved from its position which combined with new landscape form of green space on the outside and inside of the building. The placement of building mass that oriented to inside & outside create a green spaces that blends with the inside house, without reducing privacy of the householder.
1st Floor Plan
The Placement of spaces and the shape of the roof adapt to enviromental conditions, such as sun orientation, wind direction, view of each the room, and the surrounding buildings to form a mass unity with the environment.
This two storey residence looks very comtemporary and modern. But, if we explore it further, all these modern element comes from the values of Indonesia’s locality. The use of some local material that also handcrafted by local people combined with modern material and also various elements of traditional cultures and textures on the facade create a rich harmony in design.
The combination of local and modern elements also presented in the interior of the house. The application of ‘kawung’ pattern as traditional element combined with a simple and modern design create an new experience for the residents.
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Modular metal panels and Alumunium composite panels used as secondary skin to reduce the heat that goes into the building , so its save the used of air conditioning. The amount of open space, large openings that maximize cross ventilation, and the use of local materials make this residential are environmentally friendly and in line with the concept of sustainability.
From the architect. The ARTS Plaza is located in Suzhou where countless canals have been serving as both the essential infrastructure for the city and the framework for public space for millenniums. The design was originally commissioned as a pair of roof skylights above an underground badminton hall at the center of a newly constructed business district.
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By extending the structural steel plates that hold the skylight glass panels, a series of oversized steel gutters are folded into landscape features. Along the side of each folded trench, a wood bench caps the steel ledge. Like the historical canals to the city, these steel trenches celebrate the water flow during the rain and the site intervention offers a permanent public space. An elevated wooden platform between the two skylights acts as a children’s playground and an urban stage.
The project materials, ½ inch thick steel plate, solid wood, pebbles, stone inlays at the step, and bamboo, represent the five Chinese elements. The steel plate was bent and laser cut in a shipyard nearby and welded on site by trained seasonal workers from the farm. The wood bench tops are FSC certified and were hand made in a village 40 miles from the site.
Upon the completion of a subway station nearby and the subsequent opening of stores at the street level of the surrounding office towers, this project will transform a privately owned plaza into a vibrant public space.
Japan-based Komatsu Seiten Fabric Laboratory has created a new thermoplastic carbon fiber composite called CABKOMA Strand Rod. The Strand Rod is a carbon fiber composite which is covered in both synthetic and inorganic fibers and finished with a thermoplastic resin. The material has been used on the exterior of Komatsu Seiten’s head office.
The carbon fiber strands have many advantageous features. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but it also is the lightest seismic reinforcement in the world. It has high tensile strength with a “delicate but strong structural body.”
World renowned architect, Kengo Kuma was the first to use this reinforcement material with his design of Komatsu Seiren’s head office. The use of textiles, along with the carbon fiber composites was also considered, including the “’greenbiz’ ultrafine porous spongy ceramic base, which is an eco-friendly building material.” The completed building is not known as the “fa-bo” fabric laboratory.
A 160 meter-long roll of CABKOMA Strand Rod weighs only 12kg, and is easily transportable. For comparison, metal wire of the same strength is approximately five times heavier.
The proposed kindergarten is in the village of Cerkvenjak, which is located in the centre of the Slovenske Gorice region. Its traditional construction is defined by individual low elongated houses with pitched roofs built on the ridges of the hills.
Courtesy of SUPERFORM
The proposed kindergarten is inseparably connected with the natural surrounding of the trees and playground equipment. The concept of the kindergarten is similar to its local surrounding with the rhythmic string of volumes and roofs. Because of this, the kindergarten does not surpass the scale of an individual house and gives to the user – a child, a sense of home.
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The proposed kindergarten design originated from an existing learning path of Klopotec, which runs nearby. The kindergarten is a new program and function that upgrades the existing learning path; it becomes s a new branch of the Klopotec learning path. The result of using the principle of a learning path is a unique division and rhythm of the playrooms. The kindergarten offers rich experience to children. The kindergarten is closer to the scale of the child.
Jennifer Siegal, founder of Los Angeles-based Office of Mobile Design (OMD), has been announced as the winner of the fourth arcVision Prize – Women and Architecture, an international award to women’s architecture organized by Italcementi. Siegal was unanimously chosen by the jury for being “a fearless pioneer in the research and development of prefabricated construction systems, at low prices for disadvantaged users and areas, who has been able to invent and build practical solutions and a new language for mobile and low-cost housing.”
“Innovation and unconventional thinking are both hardwired into my DNA. This shows in my body of work and research that questions everything, particularly the static, heavy, inflexible architecture that we somehow still expect in a world that is anything but,” said Siegal in a press release.
“In 1998 I named my firm Office of Mobile Design, a nod to my obsession with the transitory. The firm focuses on portable, demountable, and relocatable structures, from homes to schools to stores. It also explores prefabrication, taking advantage of industrial processes to create a more efficient and nimble architecture,” Siegal added.
“Wheels are an important part of OMD’s design approach, examining ways that any city environment can be made more usable and more dynamic if it can be hitched-up, towed, pulled, or driven from place to place. For me, mobility is not about erasing everything that exists, but adding to the infrastructure in a more environmentally sound way — a more intelligent way of inhabiting the landscape — resting lightly on the ground.”
Siegal was selected by an esteemed jury that included Shaikha Al Maskari (member of the board of the Arab International Women’s Forum-AIWF), Vera Baboun (Mayor of Bethlehem), Odile Decq (owner of the Odile Decq architecture firm), Yvonne Farrell (co-founder of Grafton Architects), Daniela Hamaui (journalist), Louisa Hutton (co-founder of the Sauerbruch Hutton architectural practice), Suhasini Mani Ratnam(an Indian actress, producer and writer), Samia Nkrumah (President of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Center), Benedetta Tagliabue (owner of the Miralles Tagliabue EMBT architectural firm), Martha Thorne (Director of the Pritzker Prize).
From the architect. The plot of a rather narrow triangular shape is located at the end of a calm suburban quarter. Behind it, in the northeast direction, is a steep slope with a beautiful view on the floodplain of the river Vltava.
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We place the house on the side opposite to the entrance, which is widening, but not to the very edge of the plot. This splits the garden into two parts with different atmospheres: the front and the back. The front part of the garden becomes the place for afternoon activities by the pool, the social space for meeting with the visitors. The atmosphere of this place is unique, especially during the sunset, when the sun is above the silhouette of the palace.
The back garden is an intimate space for perceiving omnipresent colours, sounds and smells of the surrounding nature. This is supported mainly by the absence of the fence – the optical barrier, which would separate from each other the beauties of the surroundings.
The massing and layout of the object was influenced by the unusual shape of the plot, by the cardinal orientation and the effort to significantly connect the exterior with the interior. Further we include all the above mentioned panoramatic elements as factors influencing the interior space.
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On the ground floor is, apart from the main living space and facility rooms, located the parents bedroom with bathroom. The children bedrooms, second bathroom and terrace are on the upper floor. The contemporary layout of the house represents a compact family house for a four-membered family, but with simple partitioning in the hall behind the staircase, we achieve that the upper floor becomes a separate housing unit.
Students: Derek Ackley, Sidney Aulds, Brent Beicker, Matthew Breen, Andrew Brown, John Giddens, Brandon Gossard, Aaron Gray, Dane Hardy, Chad Holmes, Casandra Huff, Mark Hurni, Timo Jyrinki, Rachel Koleski, Kate Lucas, Nathan Moore, Matt Ollmann, Aleka Pappas, Holly Paris, Nathan Pepper, Kit Piane, Ken Roberts, Louisa Sanford, Joe Stainbrook, Brandon Sweeney, Phil Stuen, Amanda Tharp, Elliott Watenpaugh
Maymester Students: Becca Barenblat, Jeff D’Addario, Sam Palmer-Dwore
Faculty: Rick Sommerfeld, Scott Lawrence, JD Signom, Jordan Vaughn
From the architect. Located on a steep hillside in a lodgepole pine forest, these cabins were designed as micro dormitories for the Colorado Outward Bound School. The cabins sit lightly on the landscape, directing views from private spaces towards trees, rock outcroppings and distant mountain views of the Mosquito Range. More public “community” views are directed into social spaces that develop from the organization of the cabins in relationship to one another. These community spaces are made up of front porches and the negative spaces between cabins.
To satisfy clients’ lodging and storage requirements, and to facilitate completion in three weeks of on-site construction, the cabins were conceived as two separate elements, a “box” and a “frame”. The “frame” acts as a storage device for the educators’ large gear (bikes, skis, kayaks, etc.) while simultaneously housing the cabin “box” and covered porches. The prefabricated cabin “box” rests in the frame under the protection of a “snow roof” designed to keep the winter snow load off the waterproofed roof below. Hot rolled steel provides a low maintenance rain screen for the box. This steel cladding and the vertical columns blend with the lodgepole forest minimizing the visual impact of the cabins. Structural taped glazing on the windows eliminates mullions and connects the occupants directly with natural views.
The interior of the cabin is skinned in CNC’d birch plywood bringing warmth to the interior and evoking a connection with the trees surrounding the site. The plywood is specifically milled to accommodate desks, beds and storage for each user. The walls and CNC’d plywood were prefabricated in Denver, flat packed onto trucks and shipped to Leadville to shorten the on-site construction timeline.
Of course, the top story in recent weeks has been the sudden death of Dame Zaha Hadid, who passed away last week in Miami. At just 65 years of age, and at the height of her powers as an architect, the news of Hadid’s passing was a shock to many and unsurprisingly was met with grief from many of our readers. Read on to see what tributes those readers left, along with opinions on other stories from recent weeks.
Understandably, many readers felt compelled to leave their condolences in our comments section. You can read all of the tributes left by readers here (and other tributes from significant figures around the world of architecture here), but below are some of the most heartfelt and interesting:
Wow… awful news. I am not a fan of parametric architecture in general, but loved Zaha Hadid’s work… the world has lost a great talent. – labattsbleu
I didn’t think I’d be so shaken by her loss, but I truly am. RIP Zaha – top_swatta
From another woman architect of the same generation I hope you are resting in peace and guiding us all from above. You were an inspiration to those of us who fought and continue to fight for good design and functional spaces, and who came up through the ranks of a male dominated industry. Your life will inspire architects for many generations to come. – Janet
Love you and your projects! Rest in peace. I promise, one day, I will be like you! – hungchimau
However, aside from these tributes, one very interesting (and unexpected) result of Hadid’s death was that many readers revisited what was perhaps her most controversial moment: the infamous 2014 interview where she said that it was “not her duty” to concern herself with the safety of construction workers in Qatar. With the benefit of hindsight and the respect incited by her recent passing, the conversation took on a more measured tone than it had while she was alive. Perhaps the most interesting response was this comment by Auguste Comte:
Even asking this question pushes the lens away from the systematic nature of such occurrences. It’s bad politics to press the virtue of individuals, the complicity of individuals being brought to the forefront subtly works to de-emphasise the need for large scale change, it’s also quite tactless. Because really, we don’t need more sentimentality and extravagant design isn’t killing workers but rather cost cutting measures that trade concern for the health and safety of workers with externalities, which is a vastly more important phenomena than the ethical responsibilities (that couldn’t even be foreseen) of the architect.
This is not meant to deny that Hadid could design conservatively in order to avoid a possible death on site. What’s being said is that there is no way to foresee the specific health and safety standards that will be put into effect. With this in mind the relative effectiveness of her personal actions and the long term state of affairs of the two approaches and the structural outcomes following each attitude is what’s at stake – either architects try to minimise any possible harm as one extreme, where the structural standards stay the same or may well even degenerate(!) depending on the extremity in implementation of this approach or architects be allowed to design how they see fit with emphasis on the safety of workers constantly being ramped up. It’s disingenuous in the face of this colossal displays of human creativity to think safety on site is static and can’t be improved, as though creativity dies at just the moment the interests of workers are concerned. This entire discussion is just a subtle attempt at shifting the blame through emphasis of one approach that comes with the tacit de-emphasising of another. – Auguste Comte
The complex financing of the US Bank Stadium
Courtesy of Minnesota Vikings
Our story about the architecture of the Minnesota Vikings’ new $1.1 billion home, the US Bank Stadium, sparked an extended debate between two commenters about the building’s financing and whether the people of Minneapolis would end up getting a raw deal in terms of taxes being used to finance the building. Below are some interesting excerpts from their conversation, but to anyone interested in Minneapolis or the funding of such large-scale construction projects in general, I highly recommend reading the whole conversation here.
“…and thus don’t have to look away from the action.” Think about that. Last game I was at the spectators were either face planted in their wifi device or staring at the big screen in order to actually see the plays. I know, “it’s all about the experience…” Ironically, the locals paying for this live in city ranked third in the US’s ‘worst’ cities for housing. – Walt
The U.S. Bank Stadium has already generated $1 billion in development in the Downtown East beyond the stadium itself (and $100’s of millions more close by that are in progress or soon to start – from the Krause Anderson Block to the Guthrie ramp and projects in between).
As much of the private sector development is being done with tax increment financing, it will be a few years before the tax revenue stream will be fully captured/realized by city, county and state taxing authorities but is fixed at dates certain.
From an area that was at risk of descending further into an urban blight being transformed to a major expansion of the downtown core – the new U.S. Bank Stadium is already responsible for a substantial building expansion and the creation of future new tax revenue streams.
While it is generally true that such public financing programs fail to realize promised returns on investment, in the case of U.S. Bank Stadium, the new development and associated tax streams are already locked in – with construction programs started (and some almost completed) – the U.S. Bank Stadium is already a success in terms of attracting development and it has yet to open its doors.
The U.S. Bank Stadium is already a stadium apart when compared to other public/private development programs precisely because it has converted on such promises. – SirCollins
I am not assuming what you or anyone writes is accurate so I will not conclude it is misleading one way or another. Based on my consensus, connecting the dots, drawing multiple links together, critical thinking, etc., my opinion is the taxpayer is on the hook for $400+ million. Of the balance, U.S. Bank reportedly paid $220 million… so yes, their financial status is relevant. I do not think bartering a new deal is simplistic. As per the charts, one illustrated housing values relative to the year 2000 and was seasonally adjusted over the term.
I’ll offer another opinion; the exponential growth of virtual reality will revert more live view ‘spectators’ of sports and other entertainment venues into the comfort of their homes or local pubs long before stadiums such as this are paid in full or meet mtbf. – Walt
Remember, these are only excerpts from a very long debate, and are not meant to be read as a coherent back-and-forth as presented above. The full debate is available in the comments here.
Usually in these comment round-ups, we try to only include comments that were left on recent articles. However, this comment on the 2014 article “The Depreciating Value of Form in the Age of Digital Fabrication” was too good not to share. The article itself argues that the complex forms made possible by digital fabrication may soon be victims of their own popularity, losing their intrinsic value as they become more common and the skill required to make them decreases. But commenter Captain Zero disagreed with the article’s ideas:
While incisive criticism is essential to maintain the vitality of “digital fabrication” as a practice, this opinion seems to be written by someone who has understood the scope of digital fabrication by browsing through the front pages of design blogs in 2007.
I think the author is confusing a very small slice of formal exploration and direct-to-model 3D printing… with the body and principles of digital fabrication and how they are driving how design is taught and practiced.
Digital fabrication is not driven by an obsession to eliminate “tolerances” and some maniacal, control-freakish need to *replicate* a digital model in the real world. Any student who plops out a one-piece 3D print of some wacko swoopy building in lieu of actually *making* a model is usually taken to task, roundly criticized for mistaking representation with understanding… and has been for at least the decade I’ve seen 3D prints at crits. A decade! “Voronoi” was mocked in academic settings as a packaged, tacky, off-the-shelf effect a decade ago!
If anything, digital fabrication is one of the only things happening *IN* school that is allowing students to forge some kind of connection with professional practice, and to develop a personal praxis of making. What does material thickness really mean? What can and can’t a material do? What is structural and what is not? How do I visualize a complex assembly coming together, then give other people instructions for delivering it? How do I manage a workflow that is primarily information? What are the things that *actually* happen when we assume our tolerances are zero? How do I learn to yell at a plastics supplier over the phone when he’s giving me the runaround over why my mirrored acrylic all came scratched? – Captain Zero
Readers are still discussing the success (or otherwise) of Calatrava’s recently-opened transportation hub at the World Trade Center site – and, it seems as more images and stories emerge, the commentary is becoming increasingly incisive. In our latest story, a project post from March with a large selection of images, one comment from HeywoodFloyd stood out:
The space has an undeniable sense of monumentality, but you can’t help but think that a similar experience could have been arrived at through much more economical means. Any sense of serenity will surely be obliterated by the retail and associated signage currently planned for the perimeter of the space since what we are talking about here is essentially a mall to connect the ground level with the PATH platforms. The finishing on the underside of the escalators and on the ribs seems to be an unfolding disaster, similar to the issues with his project in Valencia. The asymmetry of the exterior in relation to the rationalism of the interior is incongruous at best, this is basically an object building shoe-horned into a fabric site. In the end the $4 billion price tag can’t all be Calatrava’s fault, but his needlessly complex design with it’s massively scaled custom fabricated structural members certainly didn’t help any. – HeywoodFloyd
Keep the debate flowing! Please post any responses to these topics in the comments below.
Sig Nordal 