The team of Peter Bus, Tomas Vlasak, Vaclav Petrus, and Petr Bouril has received an honorable mention for their proposal for the Tokyo Pop Lab Competition, which recently announced its winners. The proposal, entitled “At The Crossroads of Ideas,” is designed as a “three-dimensional representation of history and development of pop culture.”
Separated into three parts, one below ground, one above ground, and one in-between, the design is interconnected via cylindrical concrete towers, which act as the main structural support of the building.
Courtesy of Tomas Vlasak
In the aboveground section, clusters of boxes are fixed in space by superstructure lattices of steel beams, each representing an individual category of pop culture.
Courtesy of Tomas Vlasak
The intermediate space—the parterre—is a natural extension of the public space around the building, with a single large space connected by two atriums that connect to the underground. This level furthermore hosts a lobby, cafeteria, and library with a reading room.
Courtesy of Tomas Vlasak
Courtesy of Tomas Vlasak
“The underground contains regularly spaced two-story boxes with educational and technical spaces of various heights,” with a main connection axis sharing the passage between the two atriums. Along this axis are main lounges, conference rooms, and an open design studio, with service rooms, offices and storage space to the sides.
Courtesy of Tomas Vlasak
Vertically, the building is more porous and more transparent than a traditional house: for example, floors aboveground are replaced by a system of walkways and perforated surfaces.
Grimshaw and MDT-tex have launched a tessellating canopy system at the Frankfurt Light + Building design festival and trade fair. The Tensilation Type EV canopy system is the result of a partnership that aimed to develop a product that not only offers the flexibility of modular canopy systems, but also has the engineering advantages of a unified structure.
Each canopy unit is structurally connected to its neighboring pieces via a watertight capping, with drainage taking place at a series of central supporting columns. A single unit stands at nearly four meters tall, and weighs under 30 kilograms, making Tensilation one of the lightest structures in its class. Through the utilization of tensile design and lightweight fabrics and cables, the product requires no special lifting equipment and can be erected by only three people.
“Tensilation’s overall form is comprised of tessellating diamond and square-shaped canopies that fit together in a variety of configurations, while creating an elegant overall impression,” states a press release. “The flexibility in its shape means the canopy system can be used independently, or annexed to buildings or marquees to deal quickly with changes in crowd size, seamlessly connecting fixed and temporary spaces. Its vaulted form provides an expressive structure designed for events and pop-up spaces, as demonstrated at Light + Building.”
From the architect. In the small house, located in a village of the Karst region close to Trieste, practical sliding elements made in Dacron, appear in their lightness (at the same time items of furniture and lighting), concealing endless possibilities.
This project takes place in a small town in the Karst plateau, not far from Trieste, characterized by its narrow alleys stretching around the old dwellings, overlooking the Gulf of Trieste.
The will was that of avoiding the addition of an indoor staircase that of course it would have taken up too much room, so we have finally opted for connecting the different storeys, thanks to a tiny elevator and the staircase has been moved outside.
Thus, space has become wider by giving the possibility to create new dimensions.
Section
The space is empty, just few dynamic elements with a light design represent those anchorage points to “make the conquest” and reinvent continually the space of experience.
The total absence of furniture, substituted by lightweight sliding elements made in Dacron conceals endless possibilities, including the elevator.
The same area on the ground floor can become a place for cooking, listening to music, meeting; on the first floor, a bedroom and a reading or listening room, while the second floor is a study that can be converted into a guest room.
1st Floor Plan
The wall in Dacron becomes an item of furniture, lighting and steady change of the space and ideally it extends to the first floor creating a continuity clearly visible from outside.
This continuity is pointed out by a clear glass cutting, conceived to be walked, it is repeated on every loft corresponding to the main façade and it allows to have a visual image on all floors, by highlighting the height of the building and the continuity of the light cutting and sliding elements.
The fluid space winds the way, set completely free also thanks to the choice not to use any kind of close or door: this implies even more emphasis in the fluidity of every function.
The dialogue with outside is strong and any hour of the day or night priorities areas move outside and vice versa, depending on how you want to live the space; it happens through a wide glass window and glazing placed on a slight metal stand.
Thanks to some devices (complete closure of the front door on the ground floor and black sliding wall in Dacron on the first floor), the space can be lived in intimacy, but also it can be transformed by opening outwards, so becoming a place for meeting many people.
1st Prize – (Proto) Prison by Alex Warr and Zach Walters. Image Courtesy of Combo Competitions
The winners of the latest Combo Competitions challenge, Prison Puzzle, have been announced. Based on the idea of utilizing architecture to reduce recidivism–the large number of criminals that relapse into crime and back behind bars–Prison Puzzle sought out proposals for the design of a medium-security prison with a capacity of 500 inmates. The design was to be sited in Arizona, in the United States, where the number of inmates per resident is high above the national average.
Each design had to include elemental components like cells, exercise yards, and visiting rooms, and participants were encouraged to explore “how architecture can help in shaping environments that influence behaviors.”
The jury included an ArchDaily staff member, James Taylor Foster.
The winners of the Prison Puzzle challenge are:
First Prize: (Proto) Prison / Alex Warr and Zachary Walters
Courtesy of Combo Competitions
Second Prize: To the Moon and Back Again / Lina Aakeroy, Wenzel Mielke, Elias Solberg, and Charlotte Hoaas
Courtesy of Combo Competitions
Third Prize: Borderless Prison / Emmanuelle Agustoni, Konstantinos Katsas, and Sergio Antonio Torres Escobar
From the architect. Located on a side street the hip 11th district of Paris, the job site was a boutique of an abandoned beauty salon that occupied part of the lower levels of a late 19th century working-class apartment building. The original space consisted a 19m2 ground floor that has been connected with a 32m2 flat upstairs and a18m2 basement right below. We have further sacrificed the precious square meters for thermal and acoustical insulation. Especially for the basement, we’ve literally built a box in the box and installed mechanical ventilation to make it suitable for daily use. The demolition and insulation had left us 3 boxes on each level.
The goal was to create a live-work pied-à-terre for a couple while they currently split their time between Paris and their home in the province besides their frequent travels to other places. Ideally, the place can also pay for itself by renting out a part to travelers. The fact of having three levels was quite ideal for a division. We naturally decided to create two independent units: the flat on the first floor to be the rental unit and the rest to be the office & pied-à-terre for the owners. However, we have kept the connection between the two so that they can be reunited seamlessly and without effort into a generous (Parisian standard) triplex whenever needed.
The program is quite intense for a 34 m2 in total. 2 permanent workstations for the couple and ideally a temporary one for a third person, a full service kitchen, a living-dinning area, a bathroom, a bedroom and ideally an extra bed for a friend, and also the staircase that allows to access the upper unit whenever needed.
A staircase in such a small space can be very dominant. We opted for the floating treads for an extremely light form and minimal visual impact. Usually not used, it becomes almost a sculpture in the background for the boutique. At the bottom, it is integrated into a banquette or daybed.
A kitchen in a small office can be distracting. So we hid it in a closet to get it out of way when it’s not in use. A central island that built around the fridge, more kitchen cabinets and the A3 format printer can be used as a bar, part of the kitchen countertop or the third workstation by pulling out a hidden tabletop.
The working station facing the window has a screen goes up to the eyelevel of its user to provide the right amount of privacy but still allow the view towards outside. The station is also retreated 30cm from the window, which has not only created a buffer zone from the exterior, but also let the natural daylight reach the basement via the glass panel right under the station.
The workstation is made up of 2 parts, a narrow fixed shelf that holds the computer and the objects in place while the table on wheel can be removed for other purpose, i.e. as the dining table.
In the evening, when the kitchen closet is open and the table moved in front of the banquette, the office becomes the dining room for 6-8 people.
Without any charming architecture elements from the epoch, the only advantage of the space was the three French windows along its south façade, although they were separated by a partition. The demolition re-established the continuity of three windows. It had a beautiful rhythm so that we decided to duplicate the effect with a full height mirror on one end and made it a series of six windows. On the same elevation we’ve added another full height mirror by the entrance. The two mirrors has created a visual extension along each side of the flat, thus doubled its length and created a seemingly continuing space. In addition, we’ve chosen a mirror as the backsplash of the kitchen on the opposite wall to the windows, in a very subtle way doubled the depth to the space and created an illusion of openings on both side of the flat.
Being rectangular space, the flat can be a project quite straight forward, yet when taking into consideration its connection with the lower unit, there are more variables in the equation.
Plan
When separated from downstairs for rental purpose, the projected occupants of the flat will be a couple or a family of three. The ideal program is to create a real bedroom for the couple, a reasonable sized living area with a comfortable full service kitchen, closet and storage for guests and the housekeeper, a bathroom with a large shower, and in the end, a sleeping alcove for the third person to ensure privacy for everyone. However, when the flat is reunited with the lower unit, it is also desired to have an open space that is big enough for parties or events. A movable partition made it possible to achieve the two contradictory programs. Its different position allows configuration of so many possibilities. The users can choose to have either a larger room or a larger dining area, or to have the bedroom disappear completely into a cube.
There is an ongoing battle between architects and our tools of the trade. Whether you use a 2D drafting program like AutoCAD, or a BIM program like Revit, you have experienced a full spectrum of frustration. Like many architectural firms, the office of Franklin + Newbury Architects, depicted in our webcomic Architexts, has been trying to transition to BIM for years, and that transition has translated into blood, sweat, tears, and expletives. Software woes and transitioning from 2D to BIM are just a couple of the many topics found in our body of comics.
From the architect. Located in Bilbao’s upcoming neighbourhood La Vieja, the project for an art gallery focusing on works of local and international photography artists is situated in a former workshop, derelict for years.
Axonometric
The design was to great extend influenced by the clients request to preserve the ambience of the space’s architecture and it’s enclosing brick and stone walls, while obtaining a contemporary, flexible exhibition space. This set-up was accompanied by our intention as designers to avoid the conventional concept of the white cube.
The project thus focuses on a respectful and in-detail restoration of the existing perimeters, providing the needed wall surface for the art pieces by a minimal architectural intervention: A series of wall-mounted wooden panels inserted between the structural elements create a second, neutral layer for the art to be shown.
An additional movable wall panel increases the exhibition surface available and gives possibility to various layouts according to the particular requirements of each exhibition. The abstract appearance of the panels as a partially overlaid second skin contrast with it’s build environment, emphasizing the physical qualities of the restored brick walls.
From the architect. This small house located within a commercial area near Nagoya station is built on a lot with 43 sqm in steel frame structure of three levels, while building area is less than just 33 sqm. The chic building exterior, covered with brown-colored louver and exterior wall with gray-colored spray paint, looks as if like a nest of a bird.
Section AA / BB
The 1st floor level consists of a garage space in a piloti style for a small car, the entrance to the house at the end of the approach, and a main bedroom, while the 2nd floor level is compactly provided with a children’s room and water section. The entire space of the main bedroom is treated as furniture to be conscious about the tightness of the space, thus a bed with storable mattress was provided along with a headboard equipped with indirect lighting system, creating a cozy and intimate atmosphere only available within such “tight” space.
The children’s room on the 2nd floor level is intentionally kept as an open layout continuous to the staircase area, allowing to be used as a multi-purpose space for adding spatial flexibility to the entire house. Because of this house in such small configuration, it is necessary to provide a niche space beyond pure functionality. A cockpit-style kitchen is provided on the 3rd floor level for mother and daughters to enjoy cooking together in the future, while this kitchen is connected to a compact dining table to make the space as a central focus of the house. The finish of the built-in kitchen and the interior is consistent by the use of lauan plywood, creating a sense of unity within the small space and pleasant feeling from its fine details.
The top light above the double-height living space provides ample daylight, creating an open atmosphere with the view to the sky. Louver of the balcony allows visibility from inside, while the sight from the outside is blocked to control the privacy level. This is the prototype of an urban residence, realizing the originality of the client by making the best use of the site conditions.
From the architect. It is necessary for designer to observe the lifestyle and needs of people and to sense the change of the trends. At the very beginning of kidsmoment project, RIGI did a number of researches of children fashion. Different from adult fashion, the fact is that the behavior of children clothes shopping is controlled by parents. From this point of view, it could say the children fashion business is built on a kind of social relationship. Designer thus developed a key word of this project, which is trust. The idea is delivering a clean, pure and joyful space, a trust atmosphere. By increasing the display efficiency and controlling the materials and color, create an attractive retail space with home feeling.
RIGI designed a member zone and kids experience zone strategically to increase the customers’ loyalty. The member could found children side-line products such as stationery in reasonable price. And lots of interesting details are added to several corners, a height mark on the wall, and a blackboard paint wall for children doodling. All of these design details are results of designers’ thinking, which is how to build the connection between the brand and the customers.
Diagram
The scale of fixture is tailored to fit both adults and children. Following the products’ category logic, several different spectacular space groups are formed by serial of modularized fixture. The fixtures themselves are becoming a part of the space. At the same time, all of the hard edges are chamfered to protect children.
Designer tried to understand the world from children’s perspective. A pure simple house shape is widely used on POP, fixtures and feature walls to suggest the concept of “home”. Because children are highly sensitive to number, the different single numbers are printed on several obvious places to enhance the spatial order of zoning. Material-wise, designer chose common stuffs such as felt, tile. The warm and gentle touch of timbers combining with naïve color, designer composed a fairytale space for children.
Diagram
In RIGI’s understanding, the visual elements are infectious. Illustrations are widely used in the space. A serial of simple signs are easy for children understand. Vision, fixtures and behaviors are well integrated with the space. RIGI delivered an innovative experience to both the brand and the public.
From the architect. The Cabañeros National Park Visitors Center and Interactive Museum is a public architectonic intervention whose main objective is to promote ecotourism in the populations that forms the environment of the park, through information, exhibition, research and care of the main values of this natural space.
One of the main features of this Center is that architecture and museum exhibition are designed at a time from the beginning and by the same team, so that complement and content express the same idea. Both try to show the unique biodiversity that exists in Cabañeros. It is told in a rigorously scientific manner and in a divulgative way at the same time. It is a complement of the National Park, a gateway to knowledge and enjoyment for visitors.
Diagrama
Architecture
The main idea of implementation of the different volumes is resolved by a gradient of the process of humanization of landscape, from the access road to the Sierra del Gavilán on the horizon.
Volumes in the foreground represents the most humanized environment so that has been used load-bearing walls with white reinforced concrete, interpreting the typology of the traditional built environment, with a serie of white volumes linked by courtyards (patio–corral) forming a succession of full and empty spaces.
Elevation
The hall, the library and the cafeteria, form the entrance courtyard facade of the main building. Here the concrete walls are crowned with perimeter windows that make the slab of the sloping roof to “float” suggesting the shape of a bird of prey that is supported by isolated groups of inclined columns, inspired by the small woods of evergreen oaks that are scattered in grasslands (rañas) of the Park.
In the third level, the walls protruding from the half buried space containing the exposition, are covered with local stone. They look like a crag over the mountains. Its roof is flat and landscaped with native plants. During construction, special attention was taken not to damage the nearby vegetation, so the evergreen oaks close to the cover contribute to hide the architectural intervention blending it into the landscape
Diagrama
The last plane its conformed by olive groves, scrub bush and the imposing Sierra del Gavilan in the background, now in the National Park, frequently overflown by pairs of black vultures and other birds of prey.
Energy efficiency
The design gives priority to the protection of the building from solar radiation to avoid spending on air conditioning during the hot months, which is the element of increased consumption. The architectural measures of passive design, such as volumetric fractionation uses, orientation of buildings, subterranean land use as thermal insulation and the incorporation of natural light graduated in the exhibition, along with the use of electric heat pumps, are the measures which contribute to achieve high energy efficiency of the building without emitting polluting gases into the atmosphere.
Park biodiversity is shown in a direct way, without author interpretations, using scientific knowledge, ethology (animal behavior) and biogeographic (species distribution in the territory) of a deep and rigorous manner. It has been used technology of digital photo reproduction, representing all the wildlife park in photomontages scale 1:1, forming scenes of specific moments of nature in Cabañeros (seasons, equinoxes and solstices), illuminated with natural light overhead. These scenes inform the visitor “when”, “where” and “why” the major events of nature occur in the park, so that later is more likely to observe in the natural environment.
Permanent exhibition is resolved in the main building and shows the most significant values of the Park:
– Biogeographic values: distribution of species of wildlife and vegetation in relation to time and space, developed in the “Hall of Seasons”. I
It includes:
Main Hall: Geology and fossils
Room Introduction: The formation of the seasons
Spring Equinox: Migration of birds
Spring in the grasslands Summer Solstice: Storks Summer in the Raña Autumn Equinox: The rutting deer Autumn in the mountain, the forest and the river Winter Solstice: owls and bats Winter in the water and mountains.
Summer Solstice: Storks
Summer in the Raña
Autumn Equinox: The rutting deer
Otoño en el monte, el bosque y el río
Autumn in the mountain, the forest and the river Winter Solstice: owls and bats
Winter in the water and mountains.
– Landscape values: interpretation of landscape evolution, developed in the “Biorama Room” by an audiovisual multiscreen that explains the formation of the landscape seen from a large window inside the room.
– Ethnographical values: traditional production systems of the evergreen oak and the cork oak, developed in the “Quintería” by audiovisual and interactive ways.
Sig Nordal 