Designing urban spaces to improve mobility for all inhabitants is one of the main objectives of NACTO, the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Founded in 1996, this non-profit organization brings together more than 40 US and Canadian cities to share their advice and design practices seeking to raise the design standards in public policies for public spaces, mobility, and transportation.
They’ve developed a series of guides in which they propose design guidelines to make streets, cycle paths, intersections and other urban spaces more accessible and safe for all road users. One of the most recent is the "Transit Street Design Guide" in which they offer, among other things, 6 recommendations to take into account when designing bus stops. Find out what these recommendations are below.
The relationship vehicular traffic has with sidewalks and buildings is one point that should receive special attention when designing a bus stop or station. This is because the way a stop interacts with its environment determines whether or not it’s an appropriate access point to the transit system.
In addition, if the stops have elements to make the passengers’ wait more pleasant such as trees, seats, and a shelter to protect them from the rain, it is possible to positively influence the perceptions of public transport for the pedestrians and drivers in the surrounding area.
The role that public transport stations can play in a neighborhood goes much further than just being where people get on and off a bus. In fact, if the design and location of the stops are well planned, it is possible to reduce travel times and thus increase confidence in the transit system.
This is possible if the stops become intermodal centers distributed throughout the city that offer public bicycle rentals as well as opportunities for ride shares and other services. By doing so, any investments that are made will benefit the operation of the station and activity at street level.
Stops in bus-only lanes make it possible to reduce delays for the other traffic by concentrating stops in traffic flow to a single lane. This also offers an opportunity to create a safer space where passengers can board buses more calmly. They also contribute to condensing activity to a single point on the sidewalk without affecting the flow of pedestrians.
It’s possible to ensure that differently-abled passengers and people of any age can safely board buses if the bus stops’ designs are people-centered and accessible to all from the outset.
That’s why NACTO believes that intelligent design improves trip experience on public transport not only for those who have reduced mobility, but for all users. Planning a design well from the start can reduce time spent on future overhauls as well as costs for upkeep or accident repairs.
NACTO defines having traffic safe and socially safe pedestrian routes from places of origin to stops as an element that is "vital to achieving a safe [transportation] system."
For that same reason, they offer some design elements that help to achieve this, including taking into consideration that the stops be close to areas of all-hours activity, that shelters and stands are seen as places for waiting and human-scale lighting, in other words, light fixtures designed for people and not cars.
In doing so, the organization states that passengers can make better decisions when planning where and when to take public transportation.
Designing stops to be level with buses and the sidewalks is a basic feature so that boarding is first and foremost accessible and fast. This situation, which NACTO considers as a key part of any system, requires that they have a flexible design able to be used with different types of buses.
Construction on Heatherwick Studio’s undulating Pier 55 in New York has come to a screeching halt, following a ruling by a United States District Court judge last week that will require the project to undergo an intense wildlife impact review.
Last April, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave the project, located on the Hudson River in West Chelsea, the go-ahead, allowing initial construction to begin. But the district judge found that the Army Corps of Engineers had failed to properly consider the wide effects of the projects on the river wildlife.
The ruling is a major victory for the City Club of New York, who have been mostly unsuccessful in their fight against their park up until now.
Although the park has already received the support of Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and a range of local officials, ballooning cost estimates (from $130 million to $200 million), has lead to some skepticism in the community, and caused the project to be slightly redesigned earlier this year.Read more about the ruling and how the project will move forward, here.
Billionaire Barry Diller, chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp and former head of Paramount Pictures and Fox, has commissioned Thomas Heatherwick to design a $170 million " futuristic park " on Manhattan's lower west side.
From the architect. Impala House is a box, a big container, built in the forest of Cariló, in front of a forest reserve. The residence indirectly touches the terrain with a plinth that nestles the services.
The lot, which presents a strong transversal change of level, inspired a spacious public plan that takes full advantage of the terrain. From the top of it, the landscape dominates the views and then melts away with the lot in the solarium/swimming pool.
Diagram
The house, set as a strip, is oriented to the north and connects to the lot at the time that secures views of the forest reserve. Bearing this in mind and occupying the widest length between setbacks, a ‘piano nobile’ which goes through the public area of the house was projected.
In order to reach the entrance height, the access was prioritized by turning it into a path where water and different materiality create a sensory experience.
1st Floor
The program is ordered in different plans: services/public areas/private areas. This, added to the multiple possible accesses, creates great flexibility and secures privacy in each space.
The initial requirements included three en suite bedrooms, service bedroom, playroom/ screening room and barbecue area; and then, a sauna, a Scottish shower and a massage room were added to the list. The residence demanded a large amount of square meters, to avoid fragmentation of the program and to maintain a large percentage of the lot free from construction, all the areas were assembled into a compact box, a volume measuring 21 m long by 7,5 m wide and 7 m high supported on a half buried plinth
The barbecue area becomes an extension of the living room/dining room as the interior blends with the deck and the swimming pool. This area becomes the heart of the house in summer as it can welcome a great number of guests, connecting what goes on inside and outside the house.
In the search for a sensitive experience and the perception of the constant change of space, different games of light were created –concrete skylights, glass brick floor in the access, concrete pergolas and zenithal lighting in the bathrooms.
The studio looks for the use of an honest materiality. Iron, stone, aluminum, wood and concrete adapt to the environment and collaborate to a low maintenance.
Maybe it's a result of long studio hours, the fact that architectural thinking tends to seep into every aspect of life, or a combination of other factors—but it's certain that architects have a culture all their own. Weird obsessions feel so commonplace in our closed social circles that it's easy to forget how bizarre some of our little quirks can appear to people on the outside. If you're an architect with a friend whose architectural knowledge pretty much stops at the Franks (Gehry and Lloyd Wright), here are some secret thoughts about you that they might be harboring.
1. "You are an absolute hoarder for keeping those old issues of Architectural Record and Dwell for 'reference.'"
13. "You’re going to kill me if I ask about the difference between modern and contemporary again—but I can never keep them straight."
6. "You must secretly hate me—why else would you never be able to meet for drinks or dinner?"
7. "You’re going to die an early death. Between all the coffee, stress, and awful clients you can’t stop talking about, there’s no way you’re making it past 50."
8. "You’re ridiculous for owning a laser measure. How much did that thing cost again?"
9. "You are definitely exaggerating about how terrible your clients are. Really, can’t you just drop them?"
10. "Brutalist architecture is the stuff of nightmares, and you're a monster for enjoying it."
11. "You make the best tour guide. You always find something insightful to say about any building you come across."
12. "But you’re also awful to travel with. You stop and ogle at every other building and can’t seem to stop sharing just how much knowledge you have about each one."
13. "It's cool how you singlehandedly mastermind and build entire design projects."
14. "You’re spending way too many years in school." (Your four-year degree friends think you’re crazy, but they should be grateful you’re learning how to design structures that don’t, you know, collapse in on themselves.)
15. "You’re the easiest person on my holiday gift list." (A quick minimalist vase or a fresh architecture publication and you’re satisfied.)
16. "Why are you still single? Aren't architects supposed to be super dreamy?" (Truth is, you just don't have any time for things like "relationships.")
17. "You’re the only voice that matters when it comes to praising my kid’s LEGO creations."
18. "If I ever want to build a house, I know who to call to design it." (If you’re lucky, they might even be planning to pay you for your dream home services.)
19. "Your job is supposed to be like a mix between artist, engineer, and construction worker—but all you’ve actually done is become super pretentious about the use of the word 'design.'"
[Architecture can] change the life of people and give them a new one right away. This is not a job for normal people to do. This should be the work of God.
In this video from the Louisiana Channel Chinese architect, Pritzker Prize Laureate and co-founder (with Lu Wenyu) of the Amateur Architecture StudioWang Shu shares his perspective on contemporary architecture and what it means to be an architect today. "Architecture is not just an object that you place in the environment,” Shu explains. "Your experience of the architecture starts far away from the building. Architecture is not only the house in itself; it also includes a big area around it. All of this is architecture."
His studio focuses on designing buildings and urban spaces that foster community and work from the bottom up: "We think that a society that is good for people to live in starts from the ground. Real culture starts from the ground."
Until April 30th, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is exhibiting the work of Wang Shu. The first in a new series of monographic exhibitions collectively titled "The Architect's Studio," this show of the work of the 2012 Pritzker Prize winner features an exhibition catalog that includes essays from Kenneth Frampton, Ole Bouman, Yiping Dong and Aric Chen.
From the architect. A successful premiere marked the beginning of a sold out season at Denmark's first newly built theatre in over a century outside of the Danish capital Copenhagen. The 4,200 m2 theatre and culture building is designed as a dynamic and multifunctional complex that includes a Music hall, Black Box, Rehearsal hall and a 430 seat flexible hall which includes an"in-the-round" theatre. In addition, the building houses offices and spacious lobby area with café and backstage area with workshop and dressing rooms. With its central location in the heart of Hjørring, the theatre will become a dynamo for the entire region's cultural life.
The building appears as a composition of cubic blocks. The warm rusty red corten steel facades correspond with its surroundings during the day, whilst the LED backed frosted glass facades illuminate in various colors during the evening; thus, creating an aesthetic link between the town, the front plaza and the theatre building.
"It is our ambition that the building will manifest itself as a new living organism in the cityscape," says Founding partner John Foldbjerg Lassen. "It is a building which stands by its cultural significance and which dares to be different without taking focus away from the town's existing qualities."
Architectural, functional and experiential emphasis has been placed on five main themes: Anchoring in the town, transparency, functionality, flexibility and materiality. The result is a striking building, which relates pragmatically to its function and which invites both active use and quiet breaks.
The approach to the building's design has been a pragmatic view of culture as an opportunity and experience for all. Therefore, space has been created for both scheduled and ad hoc events outside at the plaza, inside the foyer and on the grand staircase where visitors can choose to be spectators or even participate in the activities.
Inside, an open plan solution ensures visual and physical connections across the building. The boundaries between publicly accessible areas and the more traditional theatre functions are blurred.
"We've designed emphasis on the interaction between artists and spectators. Inside, all the major halls can be opened to the foyer, the use of glass and windows in different rooms creates visual connections and the performers can get a glimpse of the public from their lounge on the top level."
For its new headquarters, The Kapor Center commissioned Fougeron Architecture to transform an existing 1920s-era office building in downtown Oakland into innovative workspace. The Kapor Center for Social Impact works to improve access to opportunity, participation and influence in the United States for historically underrepresented communities through investments in information technology and partnerships with nonprofits. The new headquarters had to be an architectural manifestation of the Kapor Center’s core values: connectivity, openness, and democracy. Fougeron Architecture crafted a space to foster collaboration between the Center, its partner organizations and other like-minded nonprofits.
The design is modern and harmonious, blending high-tech and humanism. Open spaces encourage collaboration and camaraderie, as well as flexibility. The clean interiors cater to informal social spaces that invite the interaction of staff, partners and visitors. Efficiency is paramount in the design, creating operational spaces that use human and technological resources sensibly, economically but imaginatively.
The LEED Gold building had to express the center’s vision for a connected, open, and democratic world, which is why the unified aim of the Kapor ethos is echoed through a circular volume at the heart of the structure. This circular volume carries an open stair upward through the building’s original three floors to a fourth-floor addition and organizes the spaces within, linking floors and connecting a range of workspaces. Throughout the building, the circular volume acts as an organizing and integrating principle, linking the various floors and functions while maintaining the separations needed to meet code and maintain privacy.
On the fourth floor, a modern dome and oculus establishes the Center’s presence and its role to grow outward and upward within the community. The dome signals the center’s mission to leverage tech-driven innovation with the highest goals of social transformation and equality. It also floods the building with daylight and incorporates channel glass and LED lighting—contributing to building’s overall energy. The space is not only environmentally efficient, it is also conducive to pioneering work.
BIG, in collaboration with Schønherr Landscape Architects and MOE, has revealed designs for a new yin-yang-shaped panda enclosure at the CopenhagenZoo that will serve as the new home of two Chinese giant pandas upon their arrival in 2018.
Located between several existing buildings, including the award-winning Elephant House by Foster + Partners, the circular shaped habitat will be split to create separate enclosures for the male and female pandas; to increase the probability of mating, partnered pandas should not be able to see, hear or even smell each other for the majority of the year.
“Copenhagen Zoo’s idea-driven organization was key in defining the team we wanted to work with on the new Panda House project,” said Steffen Stræde, Director of the Copenhagen Zoo.
“It’s part of our DNA to let everyone from zookeepers, to gardeners and vets, influence the design and function of the facilities to secure the well-being of our animals. The team understood our approach and successfully integrated it into their design process to create a world-class home for these adored Pandas.”
To provide the pandas with as peaceful a living environment as possible and to provide the ideal conditions for mating (one of the major challenges associated with panda preservation), the enclosures have been designed to feel like “humans are the visitors in the pandas’ home, rather than pandas being the exotic guests from faraway lands.” The interiors will resemble the animal’s natural terrain, with both a dense ‘mist forest’ and lighter green bamboo forest that will allow the pandas to move back and forth depending on season and temperature – just like they do on the hilly slopes of western China.
The design of the Panda House also optimizes the human experience. Two separate levels – a ground floor with a restaurant and access to interior spaces, and an upper floor leading around a rocky slope with Nordic plantings – will give visitors a variety of perspectives into the habitat, and allow for a full sense of immersion within nature. Barriers and functional spaces are carefully hidden or integrated into the landscape, giving both guests and the pandas a natural, non-distracting viewing condition. By lifting the earth at both ends of the male and female enclosure, the yin and yang shape is created, offering an undulating landscape with direct views. In addition, the building will give unique insight into the work of the zookeepers.
“Architecture is like portraiture. To design a home for someone is like capturing their essence, their character and personality in built form. In the case of the two great Pandas, their unique solitary nature requires two similar but separate habitats - one for her and one for him,” said Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.
“The habitat is formed like a giant yin and yang symbol, two halves: the male and the female, complete each other to form a single circular whole. The curvy lines are undulating in section to create the necessary separation between him and her - as well as between them and us. Located at the heart of the park, we have made the entire enclosure accessible from 360 degrees, turning the two pandas into the new rotation point for Copenhagen Zoo.”
The new Panda House will encompass a total of 1,250 square meters of indoor space and 1,200 square meters of outdoor space. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, after approval of the 150 million DKK ($22 million USD) construction budget. The project will be completed prior to the pandas arrival in 2018.
Project Leaders: Nanna Gyldholm Møller, Ole Elkjær-Larsen, Kamilla Heskje
Team: Maja Czesnik, Pawel Bussold, Jinseok Jang, Gökce Günbulut, Christian Lopez, Luca Senise, Høgni Laksáfoss, Sofia Sofianou, Carlos Soria, Victor Bejenaru, Claus Rytter Bruun de Neergaard, Gabrielé Ubareviciute, Eskild Schack Pedersen, Richard Howis, Tore Banke, Tobias Hjortdal, Joos Jerne, Hanne Halvorsen, Tommy Bjørnstrup, Joanna Plizga
From the architect. In the green belt of the city, the Professional and Technical High School has been renovated and extended. The design is functional, economical and it responds to social demands.
Comparable to a campus, it comprises of single free-standing buildings in a rural setting. The new extension of the building reinforces the courtyard. Simultaneously, a permeability to the surrounding open space is preserved.
The result is an extension of the existing building to a compact system that consists of distinct but linked volumes. These are are divided into different functional areas. The character of the existing buildings are kept and underlined.
Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), the Ping An Finance Center is located in the heart of Shenzhen’s Fuitan District. The building contains over 100 floors of office space located above a large public podium, with a multi-story atrium providing retail, restaurants and transit options to the city and greater Pearl River delta region.
The CTBUH describe the form of the tower as a “taught steel cable, outstretched by the sky and the ground at once. At the top of the tower, the façade tapers to form a pyramid, giving the tower a prismatic aesthetic.” The form is further emphasized by eight composite “megacolumns” along the building envelope that streamline the building for improved structural and wind performance, reducing baseline wind loads by 35 percent.
The facade of the building is one the project most innovative features; its use of 1,700 tons of 316L stainless steel make the envelope the largest stainless steel facade system in the world. The specific material was chosen for its corrosion-resistance, which will allow the building to maintain its appearance for decades even in the city’s salty coastal atmosphere.
In its annual report, the 2016 Tall Building Year in Review, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced that 2016 saw the completion of a record 128 buildings 200 meters or higher. This number surpasses the previous record of 114 completions set in 2015.
From the architect. The bold form of the extension linking the two existing buildings, has been abstracted from the existing roof forms and respectfully acknowledges the heritage dwelling and streetscape. The play of sunlight filtered by the trees embraces the building as part of the landscape.
The glazed roof floats as if it were a leaf on a tree branch and connects the interior to the external landscape, capturing views of the trees and sky. The dwelling will continually change with the landscape.
The roof is utilized as an edible garden adding a deep intrinsic soul to the space, expanding the understanding of how a suburban dwelling can function and what it can give back. There is a harmonious warmth between the old and the new. It feels as though the building has evolved over time.
Nivim is Goa’s first Gold rated green building certified by the IGBC – Indian Green Building Council in October 2013. It sits on a 1025 square meter property on a hill in a sleepy village in Goa. Before construction, the site had 14 fully mature trees- two jackfruit trees, one mango tree, two tamarind trees and one telful tree. The design of the house incorporates all these existing trees. Two trees in particular were located right in the center of the property and one of them rises up almost 15 meters.
The house is designed such that two walls in each room can completely open to make the rooms a part of the surrounding landscape. Each bedroom is designed like a pavilion in the garden with its own private verandahs and green space as well as large bathrooms that can only be built in the countryside with their own dedicated open space and open baths. The remainder of the property is designed with overlapping courtyards and gardens.
An important criterion at Nivim was to employ green practices without sacrificing the luxury lifestyle for its occupants and architectural design of the house. Impact on the environment was a key factor while designing the house. During construction, Nivim Goa minimized use of energy and resources by using local materials and materials with high recycled content while also minimizing waste. During operations, the house will consume less energy and water, use solar energy, recycle and reuse rain water and grey water on-site while providing a healthy environment for occupants.
The building with natural stone textures blends well with the surrounding vegetation and wilderness. The rear portion of the property was more or less flat where an old crumbling house existed, this was retained to make an effective visual buffer and screen partly open areas of the toilets/baths, kitchen and other circulation spaces.
Existing trees have been retained and provide shade to the building thereby reducing energy costs. Old wood salvaged from elsewhere in Goa from demolition sites have been used (25% of total wood needed) in the building thereby saving trees from being cut. New trees both fruiting and woody have been planted. Bamboo has been planted at many places to provide for the future.
A special feature of the house is a unique pavilion overlooking the pool that is designed to be a self contained unit with a bathroom, bedroom and a covered sit-out.
The wooden screens are effectively used to enhance and replicate effect of filtered light streaming in from surrounding trees. The building is located at highest point for privacy and with vantage views of pristine landscape. The old crumbling wall at rear restored and used as effective buffer to living / dining spaces. The partly open to sky bathrooms enhance airiness and connect to nature.
The buildings have been built using materials naturally available like stone, wood, adobe fillers and new materials made from recycled wastes like fly-ash bricks, tetrapac sheets, etc. For one, the hill slope has been retained and the building integrated within its natural slope. The natural and locally available basalt stone and its un-plastered finish makes the building blend well with the surrounding landscape as well as offer thermal cooling to the building. The open plan with minimal walls allows for maximum natural ventilation and day lighting minimizing the use of artificial systems to cool and ventilate the building. The adobe and terracotta pot fillers also reduce the thermal heat effect and effectively help in limiting the heat absorbed by the roof/terrace slab. The china mosaic finish also helps in reflecting sun’s heat. The solar water heater reduces energy consumption. All waste water from the kitchen and the bathrooms is routed to a waste water treatment system with reed beds, settlement and polishing pond. A large underground tank harvests 1,00,000 liters of rain water and replenishes the swimming pool. There are tangible benefits of the above systems in energy and water savings.
Some materials like laterite rubble, mud for adobe fillers, have been recycled/reused from within the site. Load bearing system of construction has been employed for all the stone masonry. Stone walls reflect heat; cool the building, so no artificial cooling is necessary. Percolation of rain water through percolation pits or pipes has been installed at certain points on the site to improve the ground water table of the area and the well water on the lower stretches of the hill. Since subsurface is hard laterite, rain water from the plot is channelized to an underground tank for storage and use for the swimming pool and secondary uses. The floor is finished with cudappa mirror polished in the main living/dining and kitchen areas for better durability and in rough Kota finish in the ground floor verandah areas and swimming pool hard landscape for a rustic look.
Inside the rural Tai Yang Valley, West of Hangzhou, the Sun Commune is a local initiative raising awareness of sustainable farming and promoting healthy living and outdoor activities for the increasing urbanization of China.
The valley, with bamboo and rice fields, is home to one hundred local farming families. Sun Commune initiates a bottom up strategy to sustain farmers while promoting organic food production. It further extends as an education platform for children from the city. Throughout the year, kids from Hangzhou and Shanghai will camp and learn about nature at MICR-O and allow them to be part of a rural micro-community.
Axonometric Structure
The central outdoor patio creates an enclosed platform to host learning activities and events. The white canvas ‘ring’ houses camping accommodation subdivided into segments by the three entrance points. The external corridor blends with the surrounding bamboo forest and offers an alternative circulation route while activities are happening in the central patio. The structure is elevated, keeping the ground nearly untouched. The structural A frame, a ninety-degree angled triangle, gives the design an externally pure shape, while internally the patio opens towards the sky and surroundings.
The construction is an example of time-and-cost-effective design. The simplicity of repetitive structural ‘A’ frame creates a bold gesture in the valley. Locally reclaimed pinewood is used as the main structure and floor decking.
On site workshops and physical models by the architects were used as communication tools to teach the local villagers how to realize the design. The architects are still involved by organizing architectural workshops for villagers and visiting kids and will keep supporting the Sun Commune.
From the architect. It is a very romantic imagination to build a house in the middle of a green rice field, but the reality was not so easy to get sentimental. The house could not be free from the gaze of others because the intercity bus terminal was in the vicinity. Therefore, the most important thing for the family was a protected exterior space where they can enjoy outdoor activities of the rural life with their two young children. The house had to be one and at the same time two because they are supposed to live with grandparents. And also another desire, that the house should look bigger than the actual one, reminded us a single-story house with the Korean letter 'ㄷ' shaped floor plan, where the courtyard in the middle seemed to be part of the inner space.
Compared to 'ㅁ' shape, 'ㄷ' shaped plan could be easily divided into two areas for the privacy of the family and the area in the middle could be used as a public space in the house which connects two areas. The inner space is divided into three areas with their own orientation: the family area, the grandparents or the guest area, and the living, dining areas which connect the two areas. On the other end of the courtyard that is enclosed by the 'ㄷ' shaped space stands a wall with a large gate which can protect the outdoor activities from the outside and also welcomes the neighbors when the gate is open. The courtyard in the center of the house becomes integrated with the inner space while changing the impression of the house occasionally as a water playground for children on summer days, a barbecue yard under a moonlit in the autumn night and a snowy landscape in winter. The roof, which slopes very low toward the courtyard so that the top plane of the roof is even visible from inside, not only adds to the openness of the courtyard but also blurs the boundaries of the inner space and the courtyard, making the house look more spacious than it actually is.
Thinking a new house in the countryside had to be somewhat different from the houses in the residential development area of the city. Having the common scenery in mind such as the single-storey houses with the gabled roof, the warehouses, and the simple vinyl greenhouses, familiar forms and materials are used in somewhat unconventional ways, which makes the house not so boring and foreign in the neighborhood. By using the corrugated galvanized steel plate for the roofing which is very common in the countryside and by stretching the wooden rafters lightly on the solid brick walls it was intended to give the intermediate sensibility between the Traditional Korean House (Hanok) and vernacular folk houses. In the courtyard, the concrete wall painted in white and the rough wooden gate with its exposed supporting structure reveal more the feeling of the countryside with its rough soil on the ground. In addition, the exposed ceiling with the cement-plaster, the concrete pillar with its traces of the formwork and the rough white-painted chimney are balanced with the white-painted walls inside and the elegant windows while showing more contrast.
With the lighting in the circular opening on the south which can light up the courtyard and the street at the same time, the front facade of the house highlights its presence creating a unique impression. However, because of the green brick surrounding the house coherently, it does not lose the unity of the whole. The greenish exterior of the house, which is unusual to be seen in the city, becomes part of surroundings while hiding in the green rice field in the summer and contrasting with the golden field in the autumn. The large opening on the main entrance, the stone frame surrounding the big windows and the high chimney create the effect of obscuring the dimension of the house from the distance and making the house somewhat smaller than its actual size. It is another characteristic of this house that the used material is same on the exterior but all four elevations are quite different within this very simple floor plan. That the high chimney doesn't act for the heating, but rather stands as a mere decorating element, has the meaning of symbolic representation which recalls the memories of childhood in the country house.
From the architect. The Songshan Mountain known as spiritual "Centre of Heaven and Earth" features a significant Buddhist presence. It is home to the Shaolin Monastery, traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Zen Buddhismand Kung-Fu martial arts. Being rich in its extensive history and significant in its cultural impact on the world the place was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Standing on the top of the Cypress Hill, the Shaolin Flying Monks Theatre's architectural and conceptual image pays respect to the beauty of surrounding nature and the historical heritage of the site. Developed in the shape of two symbols – mountain and tree – it serves as a platform for any kind of scenic arts focusing especially on flying performances. The building method combines modern and ancient technologies – laser-cut steel superstructure supports stone steps handcrafted using local quarry resources.
The building has four basic functional zones: exterior surface, the stage, interior area and engine room. The exterior combines both aesthetical and functional aspects. Stair surface, apart from its usual purpose, is designed to continue the topography of territory, to adjust natural lighting for interior and to provide massive air flow for engines. Upper levels of stairs shape the embracement for the stage – an amphitheatre with a wind tunnel in the middle. The interior of the theatre is organized in three floors and includes all the necessary premises and facilities for visitors and performers. Technical devices are developed by Aerodium team and anchored in the engine room under the stage.
From the architect. The Greiner Company, a family based business founded 1922 in the small town Pleidelsheim nearby Ludwigsburg, Germany, is known for its high quality chairs and seats and is selling products all over the world in the fields of beauty, healthcare and automotive – at its own brand or as supplier.
With its well manufactured products and sustainable services the company is growing for years. The old headquarter with its small client-center and showroom couldn’t hold up with that progress any more.
Originally located at the edge of the town, the company area with its production- and storage-halls was overgrown by the development of the town and is now part of the near city-centre. The site of the old, inconspicuous headquarter did not represent the company’s address very well.
The new office- and exhibition-building, by contrast, is located near the city-centre at the north-south cross-town link. Being on the chosen construction site, the old House of the company founder, later used as a tannery, had to be torn down. Therefore the location of the new headquarter also refers to the company’s history and benefits both, the identity of the company as well as the public space.
The surrounding of the site is characterized by several building-types, mixed with industry-, residential- and old agricultural-buildings. So how should a new building respond to that context and simultaneously transport some kind of corporate identity?
We decided jointly with the client to create a pure, reduced Shape that is inspired by the timeless qualities of classical modernism. The façade of building is worked in exposed concrete, giving the structure a modest but individual impact to that heterogenic place.
The cut out roof-terrace reduces the shape at the main-roads intersection so that the volume of the structure reacts sensible to the height of the surrounding buildings. At the intersection the building opens its exhibition-floor over the corner through big showcase-windows to the public - not primarily to catch new clients, but stimulating the public space.
Level 0 Scheme
Level 1 Scheme
The actual address, the entrance, is placed a little bit hidden to the east and reached over a small, clearly defined square, which is also used for parking. The square surface, worked in site-typical recycled cobblestones, is “washed around” the building, connecting the adjoining street- and sidewalk-surfaces and strengthen the idea of a sculptural and solitaire city structure.
Organized on four levels, the flexible and multifunctional exhibition-room and customer-center is reached on entry-level and can also be used for special events when needed.
It connects the upper floors with offices, conference-room, accounting-area and the roof-terrace.
Section
In Addition to the spiral staircase, the whole building is connected to an elevator and a necessary evacuation staircase, which provides a short internal connection for the staff and a shortcut to the nearby production-hall.
In this fifth episode of GSAPP Conversations, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Director of Columbia GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Carlos Bayod Lucini and Adam Lowe (Factum Arte). Based between Madrid, London and Milan, the practice was founded by Lowe and has become internationally renowned for setting new standards in digital documentation and redefining the relationship between originality and authenticity. Here they discuss Factum Arte’s work, including the creation of the first high resolution digital record of the Tomb of Seti I in Luxor, Egypt, the importance of teaching students not only practical skills but also a conceptual understanding of how new technologies can be applied, and the importance of recording of artefacts during times of peace.
GSAPP Conversations is a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice. Each episode pivots around discussions on current projects, research, and obsessions of a diverse group of invited guests at Columbia, from both emerging and well-established practices. Usually hosted by the Dean of the GSAPP, Amale Andraos, the conversations also feature the school’s influential faculty and alumni and give students the opportunity to engage architects on issues of concern to the next generation.
GSAPP Conversations #5: Carlos Bayod Lucini & Adam Lowe with Jorge Otero-Pailos
Jorge Otero-Pailos: I wanted to talk to you both about the work in the studio in relationship to your work. You went out with the students and documented the Church of San Baudelio de Berlanga. Can you tell us a little bit about why you chose to do a high resolution, digital recording of this particular building?
Adam Lowe: From the time that you asked us to come and teach, Carlos and I started thinking about what would be a project that would bring together all of the different skill sets that are emerging in this field of digital preservation and digital recording, with the intention of increasing the level at which it's studied, the number of levels on which it's studied and the number of ways in which it's studied.
So the idea of taking the hermitage of San Baudelio, which is an absolutely extraordinary story – it plays with how cultural heritage management changes over time, how values change over time. It's partly a detective story, it's partly a conservation story. it's partly a story about technologies and techniques that change.
Otero-Pailos: Some of our listeners might not know where San Baudelio is, so maybe we should start there.
Lowe: The Hermitage of San Baudelio is a Mozarabic hermitage in the province of Soria, so about 100 kilometers away from Madrid on the River Duero. So for many, many years during the Caliphate in Spain, this area was on the front line constantly changing hands, and is probably best known from things like El Cid and other Hollywood movies where there's an awareness and a realization that politics and history are not black-and-white and simple, and are always much, much, much more complicated than we imagine.
The Mozarabs were the Arabic-speaking Christians that effectively ran the civil service in Spain, and the Christian hermitage was built some time in the 11th or early 12th century. So that's about as much as we know of the very early years of the hermitage itself.
But what we do know is from an expert of Arabic Spain, Heather Ecker – one of the people that Carlos and I brought into the course – who has done a lot of work when she was within Factum on the history of the removal of the paintings that filled the hermitage and their dispersal around America and then their partial return back to Madrid.
Otero-Pailos: Is that what made this church interesting to you, the fact that parts of it were in other places?
Lowe: Well, what made it really interesting is that Columbia is up on 116th Street, and The Met Cloisters is up just a little bit further. And the Cloisters still has three of the panels. So as Carlos and I wanted to run a really practical course that was teaching the students a lot of new skills - so again, we had no idea when we started what skill level we were going to encounter, what intellectual level we were going to encounter, what level of curiosity we were going to encounter.
But what seemed to be great was to take a practical start, going into the hermitage recording using the Lucida Laser Scanner, which is a high resolution laser scanner, recording using photogrammetry and recording using composite photography. So we could teach them very, very quickly three emerging technologies, which still aren't totally stabilized. The whole protocol and practice and use of these technologies is still deeply misunderstood.
So what we really wanted to do was to use this as an absolutely practical working exercise where they could understand that they're both being taught practical physical and concrete things, but they're also being taught to think about how those things can be applied, how those technologies can be applied, how such a framework and points of access around those technologies both limit their use, but also give them enormous potential.
So what I wanted to do when Carlos and I first talked was to throw the students in the deep end and let all the pedagogical levels come up through the course. I did a number of sessions throughout the semester, but Carlos was the person who really held it together and structured a very remarkable I think series of practical, intellectual, and philosophical ways of looking at the same subject, and brought together a very diverse group of specialists who came in and worked alongside us, so from Griffith Mann at the Cloisters, to Ron Street at the Met, to Heather Ecker, who was previously at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto and then came to Factum, to Alexander Nagel who was there yesterday. You've got a great group of people who could help the students, could nurture them.
And I think if we did one thing that's important over the last semester, it's to motivate a group of students, to get them excited, and to get them to realize that they are the future who are going to be applying this technology and shaping these discourses. So basically the end point was the students actually get to be shaping the discourse in the future.
So we weren't just teaching them absolutely concrete facts. We were teaching them a whole framework that can be used to think about how technologies can be applied, how technologies have been applied, and what can come from them.
Otero-Pailos: There was a really interesting dimension of the first idea of the studio, which was: Here's this medieval church, parts of which are at the Met, parts of which are in Boston. How do you use technology to bring these together somehow? And I know that you've been working on this in other projects. A lot of the projects you've been involved with, like for example the scanning of the different pieces of the tomb of Seti I, have to do with this attempt to almost bring together the dispersal of a monument. How did that come to you?
Lowe: Well, it came because effectively the 19th century saw the formation of the British Museum and many of the great collections - next year is the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the Tomb of Seti I – but it's about the time that the Valley of the Kings was being discovered, and whether it's Champollion, whether it's Belzoni, whether it's Rosellini, whether it's any of the great first generation of Egyptologists, they went in and they saw these amazing things. And the kneejerk reaction was to remove them and take them back to show them to the people from the countries they came from, which is why there are so many great Egyptian things in England, in France, in Italy, and to some extent in the States (but that's slightly later).
And for me, the question is now we're in an age of mass tourism, when people go to the sites. And actually Egypt needs visitors on site, on the ground to support the local economy. But the Valley of the Kings was designed to last forever, but never to be visited. So Howard Carter, many people noticed very early on that the presence of visitors were destroying these tombs. And if you go to Tarquinia, if you go to other tomb sites around Europe, this is a well-known fact. I mean, they can't take large visitor numbers.
So what started to become apparent was that in making a facsimile, we could not only show the whole biography of the tombs, why they look like they do now, but we could also show that the fragments from Seti's tomb that were removed - and taken to Paris or taken to the archeological museum in Florence or taken to the British Museum or taken to Boston or taken to any of the other big repositories - have all had an independent biography since their removal.
So particularly the image of Hathor and Seti that's in the Louvre, which was a matching door frame to the one that's in Florence, those two fragments now look nothing like each other. They look vaguely like each other, but in details they look very different from each other. And they also look very different from the original tomb.
So if you can start to get people to look at the history of an object, to look at its movement, its trajectory, what it's been subject to, how it's been valued, how it's been cared for, how it's been conserved, then you can actually start to show different attitudes at different times to what's important about that object. And so it's not just trying to present objects as fixed things in museums, where they're revered for their aesthetic value that may be a part of them.
But it's actually trying to look at them as complex subjects that reveal many things about us – as many things about us as it does about the original object itself. Our perspective is very local, limited, and framed within our understanding, and that understanding is constantly changing. So the idea that we could make a facsimile that in some way is more complete than the original tomb because we can bring back elements that were removed and show the biography of all those elements and why they look like they do was the beginning of the project.
Otero-Pailos: This idea of completeness is really interesting. I'm curious to what degree your training as an artist influenced your ideas about what a complete object is. You were trained as a painter. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
Lowe: Yes - my training as a painter and my work as a painter up until the mid-'90s was very much concerned with making objects that reveal the process of how they're made, as well as the subjects that are contained within them. And I remember sitting in the Genius of Venice exhibition in 1984 looking at Titian's Flaying of Marsyas. And it was a painting that you could almost always find many different artists from Frank Auerbach to Craigie Aitchison to Leonard McComb, so a wide variety of different artists were always in front of that painting.
And it was quite an interesting moment because of course there were probably 150 – I can't remember the exact number of paintings in the exhibition – so there were many great paintings on show, but why was it that everyone was attracted to this one painting? Every painter was attracted to it. It was quite an important point. It wasn't just the public. It was people who apply paint, who use it, who know the language, who know what they're trying to do, who know the subtleties.
And the answer became quite obvious with a little bit of research – it was the only painting in the show without an extensive restoration history. So what you were actually looking at is the way the oil paint had aged over time, but not with a large number of interferences or interventions, which change the nature of the surface. So you were actually able to see to some degree the way the fluid dynamics of the paint were reflected in the way the paint had aged.
And whether you were reading this consciously or unconsciously, there's a number of things about the speed of a mark, so again to me it's a fascinating thing. A mark made fast and gesturely is very different from a mark made with a double-0 brush spotting in, even if what you're trying to do is a kind of Glenn Brown to make this thing look like a Frank Auerbach. So there are different levels of language, and that was when my obsession with recording surface began.
But what I think is incredibly important about what is happening within Factum Arte and Factum Foundation is really this skill, these skills – of recording, of looking, of using different technologies, of developing different technologies, of applying different technologies – are dependent on a large number of different skills. So I trained as a painter, but Carlos trained as an architect.
Otero-Pailos: How was your training as an architect influential in your work at Factum?
Bayod: In a way – and this is something that we are also trying to develop with the students – it’s this approach to objects and buildings as complex trajectories, not just trying to simplify what is in fact a composition of layers and that are per se very complex. So in the case of the Church of San Baudelio, that's the case study we used for this semester, that is very obvious because it's a monument that exists in fragments.
So what we were trying to develop with the students is this approach towards preservation, analysis, and active proposal to a complex building through the use of digital technology. So it is not the same if you are trying to analyze what is still remaining in the structure in the building in Spain. You would use different technology to analyze it, to understand it. It's different than if you are going to analyze the paintings that are in the museums. For example in the Cloisters in the Met or in the other museums in which the paintings are scattered.
We were really trying to not simplify the subject, but on the contrary trying to make the students aware of how technology can help them to understand complex trajectories.
Lowe: And in the crit yesterday, it's very, very interesting. As Carlos says, it's a building in fragments. So a lot of the wall paintings that can be seen in the Cloisters or in the Prada or in Cincinnati or in Boston or in blah, blah, blah, were clearly ripped off the wall, have been remounted, have been presented as pictures. But what came up in the crit yesterday is the next layer. So all the things that are on the wall of the hermitage as it is now were also removed and taken to Madrid and restored by Patrimonio Nacional and put back on the wall.
So the layers that seem obvious, like one lot's been stripped off and one lot's still there, is actually a much more complex issue than even I imagined when we began the research into the church. And if I start questioning it as a painter, you know, I used to use strappato techniques within my own paintings to go back to reveal what was on previous layers and to actually demonstrate that painting was never purely lamina.
And yet you go into San Baudelio and they've ripped the top off, but you've still got the residue of all the paint underneath, so you have a ghost of it, a pentinente of what is now here, visible in the church. But on a normal strappato method, you have to break the underlayer, so you wouldn't normally see it like you see it in the church.
And so there was one or two interesting moments when I thought we were going to have a very good conversation with the guest critics - with Michelle and the other conservators who were here who were picking up marks that are clearly anomalous. So why are there hack marks as if the wall was going to be refrescoed, recovered? And yet you can see this underdrawing, which wasn't underdrawing. It's the latent trace of something that was painted on top. Or is it an underpainting? And why is it so coherent? And can you really see the bits of strappato that were ripped off and are now here that didn't come away and are still on the wall? And the answer is yes. So can you actually walk into that building and look at these things and start reading the biography of the building?
And, yes, like every object it gives up its secrets in many, many different ways, and often it's very surprising. So there are bits, like the little – I don't know what you'd call it – arcs or the little curved bay on the raised floor on the landing area, on the balcony area, is actually in remarkably good condition on two sides, but in disastrous condition on the third. Why?
The paintings on the wall which haven't been strappatoed tend to be in very bad condition. Then when you start looking back at the historical photos – and I loved it where the students had done the properly with the Calvary photos that Heather started showing them. And there's a great image, and when you look it's easy to see.
So you go to the church and you can see the figure of the man with the hawk on his arm riding a horse, and on the wall of the church it's completely disfigured. You look at the strappato bit, and it's completely right. You look at the photo of what it looked like in the '20s, and it's completely disfigured. So what we know is that horse and rider, the rider and his hawk is painted in the 20th century in London. The bit of the puzzle we haven't been able to put together is who painted it.
But what fascinates me is, you know, everyone says they read the pictures. And this is a 20th century painting mimicking a 12th century or 11th century depiction. So is it actually showing us what was there, or is it a falsification of what was there done by a restorer in London so that the paintings could be sold to the client we now know through research was probably Archer Huntington, but to be sold here in America.
So they spent a lot of money getting these paintings out, and the paintings were at Patrimonio Nacional, so they were bought off the villagers who of course sold them. If you go to villages in poor, rural Spain where the hermitage is being used as a goat shed or a sheep shed, you offer them the equivalent of 60,000 euros – which is several years' money for the whole village - and do they say yes? Exactly the same things go on now all over the world.
What I love in the diversity of Factum's projects is - or Factum Foundation's projects is what you were saying about bringing things back together. On one hand we've got Seti's tomb. On the other hand we're doing all the work with the Polittico Griffoni, which is one of the great 15th-century altarpieces from Bologna.
But we were in the Cross River State in Nigeria recording monoliths last week - or last month - and what we actually found was during the Biafran War, which is the late '60s, many of these were sold. Late '60s, early '70s. Many of these stones were being stolen and sold to pay for the civil war. And there's half of one of these stones in the Met. So while I was here, I was talking to the Department of African Art at the Met, who have agreed in principle that we can record the top half of this stone and bring it back to raise an awareness in the Cross River State working with Calabar University about how important it is to document these objects in case they get stolen.
Otero-Pailos: You're making me think of André Malraux's photographic museum and this idea of bringing the world together in pictures for people's education. And there is a part of what you're saying that has this encyclopedic dimension where every bit of every museum is connected somehow to every other museum and somehow it is now a little bit by the kind of connections that you're personally making being connected.
You're producing digital data. You're thinking about this. You're thinking about the afterlife of this data. Do you envision it as a type of museum of its own, like the Cast Courts would have been a type of museum?
Lowe: Well, I was about to say - you cite Malraux and Les Voix du Silence is clearly the reference at the Museum Without Walls. But the Museum Without Walls is not really a Malraux idea specifically. It grew out of Henry Cole and the Viennaise. I'm very glad you brought the debate back to the Cast Courts. So these are ideas that are of that time. Henry Cole is half a century or a little more earlier than Malraux - or a century.
So you have ideas that are really made possible by technology. So the Victoria and Albert Museum if you read Henry Cole's Convention – and it's the 150th anniversary of the Convention next year. So if you read that Convention, his big claim is that it's the technologies of the time that make possible the recording. And the technologies he cites are casting, photography, and electroforming. And he makes the claim that all of these are totally safe and harmless.
Well, we know now that's not true. I mean, casting is absolutely not harmless. But we can also be very grateful that they did cast so many things because now we have evidence of things that have changed since in the plaster casts. And, you know, I think the work that people like Ian Jenkins are doing is incredibly important, who knows and can study copies of let's say the Pantheon from antiquity to plaster casts done in the 18th century to plaster casts done in the 19th century to plaster casts done in the British Museum after the Restoration, when the only models had been cleaned.
But cleaning at that time meant reworking the surface with effectively a hammer drill, which removes the dirt mechanically. So there what you're not looking at are the original anymore and is the original surface. You're looking at a surface that's been chipped off. So which layer does the originality lie on? And of course is something that's aged over time less original than something that once was pristine?
Well, all we know by looking at ourselves in the mirror is we change every single day. If you've had a bad day, if you drink too much, if you smoke too much, you look terrible the following morning. So we know we're original, and we know we're dynamic. So at what point do we interfere with it?
Well of course any cleaning treatment or any consolidation treatment or any restoration treatment or any repainting treatment are collectively made decisions that will in some degree change the object. But they're decisions made socially. They're decisions made collectively. What I think we're trying to do is to say, "Please, let's have documentary evidence."
So Malraux had photographs because he was working in a time of photographs. Malraux could easily have had photo sculptures because he was also in a time of photo sculptures. So there were photo sculpture, commercial photo sculpture practices in Regent Street in London in the 1930s doing good quality, photogrammetric portraiture.
But everything is of its time. And the use of x-ray, the use of infrared, the ability to read under the surface is something that's been part of conservation practice for so many years that nobody questions it.
Bayod: I think it's important to mention as well that all these stories are possible and we can discover new things about the objects because we are talking about high resolution recording. So some of the technology we have been using in the semester, for example 3D scanners, are meant to obtain information not just of the general shape of an object, but also of the details of the relief, of the texture. And this is what is allowing us to discover more and more layers of histories inside the objects.
Otero-Pailos: It was really amazing the contrast that you – you made two scans of the building, one with a FARO scanner, and the other one with a Lucida scanner. And it was so stark, the difference between the level of resolution.
Lowe: But we actually made three. The FARO scanner records the internal volume at millimetric accuracy. And it's a remarkable long – medium-to-long-range scanner that can do incredible things. So it's used in architecture all the time. It's used in reverse engineering, and so it's a very clever system. And we use it on almost every project that we work on.
But it's not something that's recording surface. It's something that's recording shape. And in most cases, most architectural cases, shape is much more important than the detailed grains of decay or whatever else on the front of a limestone building, for example.
Then we use photogrammetry to demonstrate that this is the emerging technology. So on a section of a wall, you can compare the FARO data, the photogrammetric data, and the laser scan data, and you can really see what's meant by correspondence to surface.
So what we got the students to do was to do the recording, then to prepare the data in the most objective way possible, then to send it to the CNC milling machines downstairs here in Columbia, to get the data milled with a resolution that's the maximum resolution possible. And what you can see on the FARO data is a triangulated surface, very beautiful. It looks a bit like an Agnes Martin painting or something. It's got its own qualities. But it's a transformation.
You look at the photogrammetric data with a raking light, it starts to mimic the surface of the wall. But it's still not the surface of the wall. And you look at the Lucida data, and the correspondence between the Lucida data and the surface of the wall is breathtaking. It's still not the surface of the wall.
But in photography we know that a 1-megapix camera is not called a high resolution camera. It's something that's very simple. And if you photograph an image from close up with a macro lens using a composite method of photography, you can build an image which can be gigapixel. And if you have a low resolution camera, you'll never do that.
So there are horses for courses, there's techniques for every different thing. And what we're really concentrating on at the moment is to say which technologies would be satisfying the needs of the next five years. So I would still argue there will be a place for a scanner like the Lucida scanner. There will be a place for the FARO scanner. But there will be an even bigger place for photogrammetry because with just a camera and a tripod, you can record objects in difficult situations, so in the desert in North Africa; in Syria, where Iconem went in recently and did very good photogrammetry; in Iraq; in Dagestan; in Jordan; in Israel; in Lebanon. So you can do it in places that are not entirely peaceful and that the foreign office recommends you not to go to. You can train people and equip them, and they don't need logistical support to get to the sites.
So the future of one level of recording will definitely lie with photogrammetry. But that still won't answer all the needs. I mean, it's doing color and 3-dimension together. Can it match the Lucida? No. Are there times when you'll need something that's different? Will it be able to match the Lucida in five years if people put the effort into writing the software and the programming? Probably. And so all of these things are not fixed. The recording technologies are as dynamic as the applications that are used.
But I would rewind and add one thing to that: that if you're recording in a war zone, it's already too late. So recording is something that should be done in times of peace, and it should be something that every government, every heritage body is working to do. And it should be something that should be done with accepted notions of what constitutes the standard that's needed, and with a shared frame of reference.
These are the things that your department here I think is really needing to work towards helping to find a shared terminology.
Otero-Pailos: On that note, I think it's been a really wonderful discussion, and thank you so much for joining me for this podcast.
You can listen to every episode of GSAPP Conversations, here. This particular episode is available to listen to directly on Soundcloud and through the iTunes store and iOS Podcasts app, where you can also Subscribe. GSAPP Conversations is a podcast produced by Columbia GSAPP's Office of Communications and Events in collaboration with ArchDaily.
Location: Fuchsröhrenstraße 17, 1110 Wien, Austria
Architects In Charge: Mark Gilbert, Christian Aulinger
Design Team: Christian Aulinger, Mark Gilbert Realisation: Sonja Reisinger Brigitta Sponer, (Project Managers) Michael Pulman, Ricardo Oliveira, Michael Koenig
This project for group housing may be small in size, but its objectives are generous and substantial. Here, young men with special needs can find a place to call home: a supervised and supportive living environment with opportunities for shared activities as well as places for private retreat.
The layout of the building supports its unusual program, and connects it with its heterogeneous surroundings. The house’s eight individual rooms are located on the uppermost floor. In the middle is the shared living room, the kitchen and a suite for the counselor; cantilevered in front of these rooms is a large, private terrace for the residents. The ground floor is given over to a community room that is shared with the adjacent public housing estate, as well as a broad, open passage, which connects the courtyard of the estate to the public street.
Floor Plan
The FUX community housing building mediates between the differing scales and building styles of Vienna's heteromorphic, rapidly developing XI District. The house uses precise massing and haptic, inviting materials to integrate itself harmoniously into the existing, sympathetically ramshackle buildings of the Fuchsenröhrenstraße. The structure is clad in iridescently-stained, larch-wood siding; the undersides of the passage are rendered in stucco. The cladding's tactile edges and shimmering surfaces stand tête-à-tête in dialog with the surrounding milieu.
Towards the street, the building expresses itself as a powerfully articulated and sculptural form whose various edges correspond to the fronts and heights of its neighbors. Seen from the courtyard of the adjacent housing estate, the building’s front appears as a planar surface, which is subsequently interlocked with the estate’s outbuildings to create a single, integrated composition.
The Ross Development Trust, in collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council and Malcolm Reading Consultants, has announced the seven finalists teams that will compete for the design of the new Ross Pavilion in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland. Located in West Princes Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle and at the intersection of the UNESCO World Heritage recognized Old and New Towns, the £25 million project will feature a landmark pavilion to replace an existing bandstand, a visitors center with cafe, and a subtle reimagination of the surrounding landscape. The new pavilion will host a range of cultural arts programming.
From an entry pool of 125 teams, the following seven were unanimously selected to continue on to the second stage of the competition:
Adjaye Associates (UK) with Morgan McDonnell, BuroHappold, Turley, JLL, Arup, Plan A Consultants, Charcoalblue and Sandy Brown Associates
BIG Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark) with with jmarchitects, GROSS. MAX., WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, Alan Baxter Associates, JLL, Speirs + Major, Charcoalblue and People Friendly Design
Flanagan Lawrence (UK) with Gillespies, Expedition Engineering, JLL, Arup and Alan Baxter Associates
wHY (USA)with GRAS, Groves-Raines Architects, Arup, O Street, Creative Concern, Noel Kingsbury, Yann Kersalé Studio, Lawrence Barth, Stuco, Alan Cumming, Aaron Hicklin, Alison Watson, Peter Ross, Adrian Turpin and Beatrice Colin
“We were absolutely delighted by the response of designers from around the world to the competition’s first stage. The quality of the 125 teams on the longlist sent a strong signal that the international design community regards this as an inspirational project for Edinburgh that has huge potential to reinvigorate this prestigious site,” said The Chairman of the Ross Development Trust and Competition Jury Chair, Norman Springford.
“Selecting the shortlist with our partners from City of Edinburgh Council was an intense and demanding process. We’re thrilled that our final shortlist achieved a balance of both international and UK talent, emerging and established studios. Now the teams will have 11 weeks to do their concept designs – and we’re looking forward to seeing these and sharing them with the public.”
Finalists will have until June 9, 2017 to complete concept designs for the pavilion, visitor’s center and site, which will need to fully integrate into the existing Gardens, which are of outstanding cultural significance and operated and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council as Common Good Land. A public and digital exhibition will follow in mid-June, with a winner expected to be announced in early August. Construction is expected to begin in 2018.
For more information, visit the competition website, here.
Gensler New York has revealed designs for a 200,000-square-foot renovation of the recently landmarked 601 Lexington Avenue, commonly known by its former title, Citicorp Center. The plans will update the entry plaza as well as add a new atrium space housing a range of dining and retail options, giving the site a rejuvenated space for the entire neighborhood to utilize.
“Gensler’s design was driven by the desire to create a destination. We wanted to redevelop this prominent public space to be truly approachable, creating an amenity for both the tenants and the community,” Gensler Principal Joseph Lauro told ArchDaily.
The project, approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission last week, will result in the demolition of the existing Hideo Sasaki-designed fountain, which has caused some concern amongst preservationists.
“While the original design of the public plaza and atrium was striking, the spaces were not inviting to public and lacked connectivity,” explained Lauro on Gensler’s design approach. “We believe our design will bring vibrancy to the Midtown East neighborhood by seamlessly integrating these public amenities while respecting the iconic architecture.”
In a city of skyscrapers of nearly every shape and size, the Citigroup Center on Lexington Avenue is one of New York's most unique. Resting on four stilts perfectly centered on each side, it cantilevers seventy-two feet over the sidewalk and features a trademark 45-degree sloping crown at its summit.
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