WilkinsonEyre was appointed to design this new swimming pool for Worthing Borough Council following a RIBA Design Competition. The new pool complex includes a six lane, 25 metre pool; a combined learner/diving pool; indoor leisure pools with rapids, flumes and outdoor waters; a health and fitness centre; café; crèche and flexible space for other activities.
This new complex, located adjacent to the existing Aquarena and close to the town centre, is an exciting development on a unique seafront site. The design maximises the potential of the site with ‘ribbons’ of accommodation flowing from north to south to emphasise the connection between land and sea. Each pool has its own terrace, opening up the façade to animate the beachfront elevation and enliven this prominent location in line with the Council’s aspirations for an Active Beach Zone.
Cities across the world are full of white elephants – something which ArchDaily has recently explored. In the latest episode of Section D, Monocle 24’s weekly review of design, architecture and craft, the team examine similar cases from the unfinished Palestinian Parliament to redundant projects in Belgrade. This edition also looks at the RIBA’s new International Prize, which was awarded this year to Grafton Architects for their University of Engineering and Technology building in Lima.
Courtesy of Monocle 24
Unfinished Palestinian Parliament Building. Image Courtesy of Monocle 24
Palestinian Parliament Building
Twenty years ago, with the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in full swing, the Palestinians began constructing their first parliament building. But when the peace process fell by the wayside, violence swept the region and the half-finished parliament became an afterthought. Monocle contributor Mary Pelletier went to the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Abu Dis to see why this sandy-coloured monolith is still stuck in limbo.
Santiago Calatrava's Constitution Bridge in Venice. Image Courtesy of Monocle 24
Belgrade
Belgrade used to be the capital of Yugoslavia. Now it’s the capital city of a considerably diminished Serbia. And that’s left it with all sorts of redundant buildings – everything from banks to army barracks – all designed to serve a much larger country. Campaigners say these places could be repurposed so they’ve called on experts from other European countries with experience of turning white elephants into something more useful.
When dealing with the refurbishment of this old carpenter’s workshop placed at Barcelona’s Poble Sec neighbourhood, the main goal was to set up this space for inhabitation while the main constructive components were mantained. They gave charm and singularity to the space.
These elements were poorly conserved. Brick and stone walls were hidden under thick linings of gypsum and mortar, as well as the ceiling surface was. Wodden beams in the ceiling were vastly damaged by termites at points, and it could affect the whole building stability.
However, the property had multiple light openings. The existance of an inner patio allowed us to use translucent glass in the street windows to keep the house privacy. The main spaces of the house will be visually connected with the courtyard which will be their focus point.
The existing valuable components which we wanted to restore formed the upper shell of the project: walls and roof. Owing to that the floor would be the new constructed element in charge of the space configuration. It becomes a magma that fills the whole base of the space. It creates open areas that are organized with the levels and objects generated.
First of all, it solves the conflict produced by the two entrances at different heights. It also gives a solution for the relation between the main level and the patio level which is depressed by 45cm.
In second place, some of the fixed furniture of the house is raised from the floor. The living-room sofa, the kitchen tables and some of the bathroom sinks are brick-made, and covered with a concrete lining as the floor is.
Section
In some of the main areas generated, space is organized with the use of closed boxes. They contain the more private uses of the house, such as bathrooms and dressing rooms. With its positioning, bedroom spaces are also generated, remaining separated from the daytime areas of the house.
The layout singularity arises from the owner requirements. He wanted to have a small independent apartment for the frequent visitors he will have during the year. At the same time, this space will be used as his studio while no guests are in the house. That is the reason why house is conceived with two separated spaces that can be used independently if wanted.
It’s that time of year again to find the perfect gift for that special architect in your life. We’re all aware of architects’ peculiar habits and discerning tastes – meaning a last minute trip to store probably won’t cut it for finding the right present. But not to worry, ArchDaily is here to help you out with a list of great items any architects would love to receive. Read on to see ArchDaily’s top gifts for architects!
Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser / MUJI
WHAT: Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser / MUJI
If you’re looking for a beautiful, minimalist gift that’s practical too, Japanese home goods retailer MUJI is a great place to start. One of their most popular items, the ultrasonic aroma diffuser, will inject life into any space by emitting a wide variety of MUJI brand scents, including blends named Happy, Love and Energy. Hot tip: the diffuser is great for getting rid of that stale apartment smell before guests arrive.
Sharpen your cold grey and warm grey pencils and add some colour to some great concrete constructions. Designed and printed with love in Brussels on thick recycled paper.
Detroit Blueprint pocket square. Cass Tech High School Blueprint from original 1917 blueprints. We’ve digitally restored the original print which was sadly full of creases and water damage. For an authentic blueprint look, choose one of the classics: white on navy or navy on cream. Or get creative with any of our over 70 fabric and 100 printing ink colors.
Designed by architect Cece de la Montagne, this line of minimal leather carryalls contains space for large format papers, canvas, and prints with room for all of your essentials.
These sets of boxed travel notes feature hand-illustrations of architectural sites by M. Wood, printed on thick cream card stock and boxed in sets of 10 with matching envelopes.
French company Oree makes a range of technology tools from the finest materials. Just place your phone on their latest product, the ‘Pebble’ wireless phone charger, and watch it charge cord-free. The ‘Pebble’ comes in tillia, walnut and white marble, and also includes an optional high end Bluetooth speaker for hands-free calls & music.
This series of steel, geometrically-shaped trays can be used individually as bursts of unexpected colour or stored inside each other to create functional and imaginative constellations.
Another fun stocking stuffer, these collections of paper cut-out models were inspired by modernist architecture of the former Eastern Bloc and beyond. The most fun set might be the “Blokografia” set, which take the form of different letters of the alphabet.
Made at late architect Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti studio in Scottsdale and his experimental city of Arcosanti, these bells were produced by Soleri to fund Arcosanti’s construction and development. Both bronze and silt-cast ceramic bells are available, and feature unique hand carved patterns in Soleri’s signature drawing style.
Made by bending a piece of chromed steel tube to create two intertwined candleholders, the Loop Candelabra comes from UK design duo Daniel Black and Martin Blum, whose work has been featured in exhibitions and galleries worldwide. Use them individually, or cluster the candleholders for a dramatic effect.
This classic was designed in 1987 by Jørgen Møller and his grandchild, and later went on to become a global favorite. At $50, it’s a more affordable option from Georg Jensen, who recently collaborated with Zaha Hadid for a line of rings and cuffs shortly before her passing this past March.
La Concha Motel, Las Vegas, 1961. Image Courtesy of the AIA
Yesterday, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced that they had awarded the 2017 Gold Medal to Paul Revere Williams. Despite the manic production rate of his five-decade-long career, those not familiar with the architecture of Hollywood’s early years might be forgiven for not recognizing Williams’ name. But he is notable for having designed around 3,000 buildings, for being “the architect to the stars” including, among many others, Frank Sinatra… and for being the first black member of the AIA.
Courtesy of the AIA
The details of Williams’ life, as an African-American providing a service to some of the richest and most powerful people in the country, are so astonishing that they often eclipse the details of his work. In learning about his life, one is likely to read a lot about how he learned to draw upside-down so that he didn’t have to sit too close to his clients, or how he defied a high school teacher who told him there was no demand for black architects. Far less common are accounts of the progression of his work from Tudor and Georgian styles, through a stripped-back “proto-modernist” style, to a more pure and even futuristic modernism later in his career. [1]
The LA Times once claimed that “If you have a picture in your mind of Southern California in the 1950s and early 1960s, you are quite likely picturing a building created by Paul Williams.”[2] However, this later period is not necessarily representative of the first three decades of Williams’ career. As noted by New York Times Magazine in 2002, “Williams was no revolutionary,”[3] and it is notable that today LA is known as much for its McMansions, those gaudy, inept imitations of Williams’ competent-yet-conservative homes for Hollywood stars, as it is for the sleek, experimental Modernism which Williams contributed to later in his career.
Courtesy of the AIA
It could be argued that Williams’ earlier residential architecture was the result of a desire to capitulate to his clients’ whims: accounts of his career are filled with tales such as his promise to deliver a design in under 24 hours to win a commission over his white contemporaries,[4] or the aforementioned reason for drawing upside-down. Similarly, he is noted as being “excited by the new modernist aesthetic and anxious to work with it, although he would also do conservative colonial houses for clients who wanted them.” [5]
Williams’ own analysis of his design choices was even more client-focused: “When asked what was my theory of design – that I did so many contemporary buildings yet I shunned the exotic approach – my answer was, conservative designs stay in style longer and are a better investment.” [6]
Paley Home. Image Courtesy of the AIA
Williams’ need to appease potential clients who might be skeptical on account of his race seems frequently at odds with his desire to be acknowledged for his great talent, independent of his color. The two impulses met most dramatically in a 1937 essay that Williams wrote for American Magazine titled “I Am a Negro.” Here, Williams demands that white people “deal with me, and with other men and women of my race, as individual problems, not as a race problem.” Yet he can’t seem to hold firm on his position, adding that “white Americans have a reasonable basis for their prejudice against the Negro race” and that even if people heed his earlier demand, white people and black people should remain separated in society, and “rightly so.” [7]
Fortunately, after another 20 years of demonstrating his talent, it seems Williams earned enough respect that he was able to partake in the energetic mood of the Los Angeles architectural scene in the 1950s and 60s, which so impressed the Los Angeles Times at the turn of the millennium.
Paley Home. Image Courtesy of the AIA
Those following the AIA’s Gold Medal awards might draw parallels between the circumstances surrounding this year’s award and those around the 2014 Gold Medal, awarded to Julia Morgan. That year, Morgan was the first woman ever to receive the Gold Medal, just as Williams is the first black architect to receive the award. While Williams was the first black architect to be an AIA member, Morgan was the first female to graduate from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the first licensed female architect in California. And, while Williams has been dead since 1980, Morgan died almost 60 years before her posthumous award.
But while the award given to Julia Morgan was criticized at the time for “highlighting Ms. Morgan’s achievements without reference to gender, culture, or its own history,” with one person adding that “it does speak very poorly for our profession that awarding a non-living female architect 56 years after her death is considered progress,”[8] this year the AIA has handled the situation very differently. Their press release openly acknowledges Williams as the first African-American to receive the medal, and briefly discusses the challenges he faced due to his race.
An analysis of both Williams’ professional career and the underlying social constraints resulting from his skin color show just how difficult a tightrope he was walking. Clearly, to adopt the demeanor of the abrasive visionary—in the mold of an architect like Frank Lloyd Wright—was simply not an option for a black architect working in the mid-20th century. As a result, Williams’ architecture may not be as prominent in the architectural history books as it could have been, but the AIA has done its first black architect a huge service in not only recognizing his work, but properly framing it in the context of his life.
In a 1994 article in Ebony magazine, Karen Hudson, Williams’ granddaughter and author of the books “Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style” and “The Will and the Way: Paul R. Williams,” is quoted as saying that she wanted her book about her grandfather to be as complete and balanced as possible, stating that she “had to accept that this may be the only book ever done on Paul Williams.”[9] In light of this 22-year-old quote, the AIA’s selection for the 2017 Gold Medal shows how far we have come in recent decades—but also how far there is still to go.
LAX Theme Building, completed with Pereira & Luckman, 1961. Image Courtesy of the AIA
This article is part of our new series “Material in Focus“, where we ask architects to share with us their creative process through the choice of materials that define important parts of the construction of their buildings.
Niop Hacienda from AS Arquitectura and R79 is part architectural regeneration project part historical building involving the transformation of an abandoned industrial space into high-end tourist complex in the southeast region of Mexico. A desire to maintain the original feel of the place influenced the selection of the new materials (like steel, stone, chukum, wood and glass) in order to create new spaces for public and private use that meld with the existing structure. In this interview, we talked with Roberto Ramirez from R79 who explains more about how the material choice of the project contributed to the design and construction process.
Describe how decisions on materials were considered within the conceptual design.
RR: We were able to put together a wide range, so that what we’re going to use for this project will in no way obscure the existing structure, but instead give it more strength, character and fill it with a revitalized glamor.
What were the advantages of these materials when constructing the project?
RR: Each material offers different advantages, sometimes the steel for its lightness and how easy it is to build with helped us to reach decisions in our operation. In others, like the stone, used as floors coverings and cut on a regular basis helped us to give the feeling of connection and revitalization to the existing rock. The glass helped us to provide a close relationship between the exterior and the interior and, through some use of wood, this relationship was controlled or framed. Concrete helped us unleash the platforms and floors on which the buildings emerged in search of attention, serving as a neutral base to highlight what we wanted. The chukum was one of the elements who shook things up the most, this ancient technique of mixing resins to achieve a kind of living plaster, because after it is applied it ages in a very genuine way; it lets us cover some of the surfaces that were in better shape, causing the surrounding areas that had lost their finish to stand out like scars of time, with new and wonderful appeal.
Were there any challenges you faced due to the selection of materials?
RR: Many, the main one was working with local materials, especially with the stone and the wood, that were either extracted and cut in the area or its surroundings; Or, certain tasks like using the metal, whether they were found pieces that we used to make tables or furniture, or to quickly train people on how to use them to create artisanal pieces.
How did you research and select the suppliers or contractors for the materials used in the project?
RR: In relation to suppliers, the chukum was a supplier in Merida that has the patent in the area and has successfully marketed the product, we had already worked with them on several projects, we like the personal attention and the supervision that they give to their teams on jobs they work on and we have formed an interesting relationship. As far as choosing the other contractors, the client, who was greatly involved in the project, introduced us to many local artisans in Merida, and after meetings and sketches of the project, we found complementary and inclusionary ways to work together when looking for more fine-tuned solutions. It was a great team effort where the plans were merely guides, the will and the sense of belonging were the engine, and that has given us great results so far.
* Recently Hacienda Niop was awarded the CEMEX 2016 Building Award in the Building category of the Mexico Edition.
From the architect. Norway has set ambitious targets for environmental and sustainable future. An increasing number of railway stations will now have a bicycle hotel, to promote the use of bicycles. On Monday 10 October 2016 the Lillestrøm Bicycle Hotel opened in the city that has been frequently voted Norway ́s best cycling city.
The project was designed by Various Architects AS, commissioned by ROM Eiendom AS and The Norwegian National Railways.
The design of the building focuses on making a positive contribution to the surroundings. The project gives back to the city the area it takes away by providing a public green rooftop, which directly connects to the main square of the train station.
Design Concept A free form wooden roof resting on a glass box. The glass box consists of transparent glass walls and a playful concrete base that protects the building against the surrounding heavy traffic. The transparent glass walls allow natural light to filter through during the day and transform the building into a glowing box at night, providing a special visual experience. The mood of the building keeps changing from day to night.
The dynamic wooden roof that lays on top of the glass box, slopes diagonally down to the west towards the train station plaza. This gesture provides an inviting public access to the top. The roof is conformed by furnishing, vegetation, stairs and slopes, creating a unique experience with a panoramic view towards Lillestrøm.
Section
Elevation
The glass walls continue over the roof, turning into the balustrade around the public area. At the same time, the roof penetrates through the walls to frame the entrance and to provide a shelter against rain. Together the glass box and the roof create an intimate yet open and accessible public space.
The interior space focuses on the function of the building with light and natural surfaces. The double story bicycle rack becomes the main element in the space. The room height varies from 2.70 m to 6.00 m following to the curvature of the roof.
Structure In consistence with the design concept and the materials principle, the structure of the building is also exposed an honest. The timber beams, exposed in the interior to define the curvature of the roof. A collaborative design process with structural engineers rustled in creating a simple roof structure with repetitive beam shapes to reduce the cost. The shape of the roof is simplified to be a single curved structure, with a diagonal slope to maintain it ́s dynamic form and experience and allows rain drainage. The wooden roof lays on thin steel columns, liberating the roof to be perceived as a separate floating element.
Energy The building has a minimal energy consumption. At day time no lighting is required since the glass walls allow for natural day light. During the night the artificial lighting double functions for the illumination of the interior and provides additional lighting to the surroundings. Natural crossed ventilation is possible through the gaps between the glass profiles hence no additional ventilation is required.
The end of the War of 1812 left the young United States of America awash with nationalist fervor. In the following years, the world’s first modern republic experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity; it was not without reason that the period came to be known as the “Era of Good Feelings.”[1] It was into this epoch of unbridled national pride that Thomas Jefferson, one of the country’s founding fathers and its third President, introduced his master plan for the University of Virginia: an architectural manifestation of the Enlightenment and republican ideals he had helped cultivate.
Although he was first and foremost a statesman, Thomas Jefferson was also a capable self-trained, if purely avocational, architect. Fittingly for a man who had helped to engineer a revolt against the United Kingdom’s colonial rule, Jefferson largely eschewed English architectural influences preferring instead the works of Andrea Palladio and the ruins of Ancient Rome. His first design project, begun before the War of Independence, was his own home: Monticello, a Neoclassical mansion with French and Palladian influences set at the peak of a small mountain. Jefferson was also responsible for the Virginia State Capitol, which he modeled upon the Maison Carrée, a former Roman temple in Nimes, France.[2]
Courtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
The University of Virginia had been under Jefferson’s consideration for decades by the time he actually began its design. As early as 1782, he affirmed his belief that architecture, being one of the fine arts, ought to be taught at the university; when given the task of planning the institution’s curriculum in 1814, he made certain to include it.[3] He also began to formulate his concept for the school’s design long before the Virginia State Legislature approved its creation. Rather than attempting to fit every program element within a single monumental building, Jefferson envisioned a grouping of smaller, separate houses for professors, each with a ground level hall for instruction and living chambers above. Organized around a grass square and connected by student housing, this was to become what Jefferson called an “academical village.”[4]
Once the university’s founding was formally approved, Jefferson began refining his concept into a functioning master plan. Rather than attempt to take on the task alone, he sought out the advice of professional architects William Thornton and Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Using the two architects as a sounding board, Jefferson made a number of alterations to his initial plan: at the urging of both, he expanded the living spaces intended for the professors and placed a library at the focal point of the Academical Village’s U-shaped layout. Thornton provided a number of sketches for the pavilions that lined either end of the central square, while Latrobe suggested the dome which eventually crowned the library.[5]
This section of Pavilion IX hints at the stratification found in every one of the University’s pavilions: residences above, instruction spaces below. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Courtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
The center of Jefferson’s final design scheme was that of an elongated U, the center of which was occupied by the grass plaza he had always envisioned. Ten academic pavilions lined either end of the square, each containing a separate department of the university and the living spaces of their respective professors. These pavilions, in addition to being connected by rows of student dormitories, were linked by covered colonnades; the sheltered walkways would, according to Jefferson, allow students to exercise even in inclement weather. The 200 meter (656 foot) avenue, left open to the picturesque Virginia landscape at one end, was enclosed at the other by the library Thornton and Latrobe had recommended.[6]
In 1817, Jefferson stated to Thornton that “[the academic] pavilions […] shall be models of taste and good architecture, and a variety of appearance, no two alike, so as to serve as specimens for the architectural lectures.”[7] As a result of Jefferson’s didactic approach, each of the ten pavilions followed a different, nuanced classical style. Most design elements were taken from examples in the various architectural texts in Jefferson’s library: Pavilion I featured a Doric pediment inspired by the Baths of Diocletian, while Pavilion V’s Ionic details were taken directly from Palladio. The colonnades between the pavilions utilized the simple Tuscan order, while only Pavilion X and the library featured Corinthian columns.[7]
This elevation of Pavilion IX showcases its radically different style from its neighbor below; only the uniform use of red brick and painted white wood tied the campus together aesthetically. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Pavilion X was the only pavilion of the ten to feature Corinthian design elements. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Corinthian capitals were only one of the features that set the library apart from its surroundings. Situated on the center of the university’s main axis, the library was also the only structure on the campus to feature circular geometry. Just as he had imitated the Maison Carrée for the Virginia State Capitol, Jefferson now chose to echo the Roman Pantheon; the library, which would later be named the Rotunda, is built to one-half the scale of its antecedent. Although Jefferson admired the Pantheon as the height of spherical architecture, he could not emulate its cavernous interior in Virginia. Instead, the Rotunda is divided into three floors: the lower two contained classrooms and lecture halls, while the third served as the university library. This space, ringed by columns and crowned by a domed ceiling, was the greatest built expression of Jefferson’s rational, Neoclassical ideals.[8]
The plan of the Pantheon on the left can be compared to the ground and third floor plans of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia; differences in scale and material required the reduction of the number of columns supporting the front pediment. ImageCourtesy of Wikimedia user Ibn Battuta (Public Domain)
As construction proceeded, Jefferson had to make a number of revisions to his master plan. In 1819, he expanded the initial U-scheme to include two additional rows of housing, known as the Ranges, separated from the original pavilions by a series of gardens with serpentine walls formed of the same red brick as the rest of the campus buildings. The gardens themselves were later divided into halves, allowing residents and guests in the Ranges greater privacy outdoors. After Jefferson’s death on July 4, 1826 and the completion of construction the following September, the Village and the Ranges were left practically unaltered; the Rotunda, which caught fire in 1895, was the only structure to be significantly remodeled.[9]
An elevation of Hotel C, one of the buildings set in the Ranges; it’s covered arcade was inspired by Thornton’s suggestion. ImageCourtesy of US Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Although the countryside around it has radically transformed since the early 19th Century, the Academical Village at the University of Virginia continues to serve its original function. The Rotunda was restored to its original Jeffersonian design in the 1970s, allowing its creator’s vision to live on after two full centuries.[10] Time may have weathered the bricks of the University of Virginia, but its unique blend of European historical reference and early American rationalism remains as potent a symbol as it ever was. Thomas Jefferson did not choose to note his time served as President of the United States on his tombstone; instead, he elected to be remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, the creator of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the Father of the University of Virginia.[11]
[1] Richard R. Beeman et al. “The United States from 1816 to 1850.” Encyclopedia Britannica. November 9, 2016. [access]. [2] Roth, Leland M., and Amanda Clark. American Architecture: A History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001. p4-33 – 4-37. [3] Lay, K. Edward. The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000. p281. [4] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 2.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 25, 2016. [access]. [5] Brant, Lydia Mattice. “The Architecture of the University of Virginia.” Encylopedia Virginia. April 21, 2016. [access]. [6] Edwards, Brian. University Architecture. London: Spon Press, 2000. p15-16. [7] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 3.” National Parks Service. Accessed November 25, 2016. [access]. [8] Brant. [9] Brant. [10] “Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed November 26, 2016. [access]. [11] “T. Jefferson’s Plan for the University of Virginia–Reading 3.”
From the architect. Nestling within the village structure of Valdaora di Sotto in South Tyrol, the kindergarten building communicates the interplay between tradition, contemporary life and nature. The third kindergarten made by feld72 aligns itself within its tranquil background without being subordinate to it. Self-evident and uncontrived. Embedded sensuously in its location, the building responds to the dominant aura of the parish church with the cemetery chapel and the elementary school in the centre of Valdaora di Sotto. The timber building sits as though in an encasement within the massive surrounding wall, lending security.
Boundaries and fences determine the village structure. The clear spatial margins divide the village into private and public spaces. Meanwhile, the architectural intervention of the kindergarten alludes to the theme of different boundary intensities and continues it further as a multi-layered circumferential wall. There is a successful contextual interweaving of elements that are typical of the location.
Because of the surrounding boundary wall, the kindergarten articulates clear spatial margins in the village ensemble. The unity of building and kindergarten yard is embedded in the traditional context and imparts to the kindergarten the architectural conditions for nest security, as well as for freedom. As a compact edifice this is located on the northern boundary of the property, endowing space for a sunny garden. The free space for children is optically and functionally separated from the road by the surrounding building structure.
The wall alternates between concepts of materiality and volume, thus it changes from garden fence to boundary wall for the building, just as much an interpretation of what already exists as it is a further elaboration of the existing stock. The wall on the kindergarten yard side is completely of wood and in a friendly gesture embraces the children’s garden. Roofed, weather-protected areas are set up as you pass over to the building. A playful way of handling the element of the wall unfolds. Architecture and playground fuse. The traditional element of fencing-in a property gains in complexity and in quality as somewhere to linger – it shelters, frames, hides, invites everyone to play and presents views not only towards the outside world but also inside. The building itself remains clearly modelled and yet has a multi-stratified effect.
Floor plan
Uniform materiality conveys simplicity. Rendered masonry and wood in the innards of the kindergarten create feelings of identity and belonging. A subtle and warm atmosphere is generated within the interiors thanks to the subtly complex treatment of local timber.
For the children, the group rooms represent the starting point of their daily explorations. The rooms are designed to be unpretentious and modest, providing scope for individual changes. Small areas for retreat are offered by the large window recesses and accessible partition furniture leading to the cloakroom. The assembly room and multi-function rooms can be adapted as connecting room structures or, if required, used singly. The suggested spatial concept thus enables attractive variations on both levels in realising the educational scenario.
A house for children and the village takes shape as intermediary between tradition and modernity. The familiar and the unusual simultaneously find a home in Valdaora di Sotto.
From the architect. The two houses “Im Wygärtli” are located in a villa garden on the southern hillside of Hofstetten. The buildings are situated across the slope and are accessed from the north on the upper floor level, which offers a beautiful view towards the first hills of the Jura Mountains. The curved shape of the roof creates its own topography, which connects the two floors and turns the location on a slope into a part of the design concept. On the inside, a single-flight staircase provides the spatial connection between the entrance hall on the upper living floor and the sleeping floor below. The dynamic and open staircase creates a strong reference between the two floors. It also allows daylight into the translucent bathroom cubes – which are built out of glass blocks and divide and structure the lower floor.
The effect of the curved ceilings in the interior is enhanced by the reduced and honest choice of materials; concrete ceilings, dyed concrete floors and white plaster walls. Also on the outside, the facades were developed to support the volumetric concept. The curved ceilings are indicated with hard concrete bands – the light filling in between is composed of ceiling-high windows and curtain walls covered with translucent polycarbonate panels. An economical and considerate use of housing space contributes to sustainability, as well as the use of uncoated materials and efficient building services with heat pump, thermal solar panels and comfort ventilation.
Floor Plan
Floor Plan
The project is an example of a modest densification of villa plots in rural living areas. The relation between the new buildings, the existing villa and the landscaped grounds were essential. The design of the two houses, inspired by the topographic particularities of the site, allows optimal integration into the existing estate and leaves enough presence, space and views for the villa.
Product Description. The lightwave polycarbonate boards are the filling between the ceiling foreheads of concrete. This supports the volumetric concept of waves and curved forms as a reaction to the slope of the plot.
Sig Nordal 