This private residence, designed by Steven Holl Architects, is thought to be a part of the great 20th century contemporary art collection of the owners.
Constructed of tilt-up concrete walls, the flat and rotated nature of the walls merges with the simple orthogonal requirements of the interiors for art. The house is a vessel for the art collection hidden behind a perforated sheet of Cot-Ten steel.
Via materialicious
Olivino is a delicatessen shop designed by Pierluigi Piu complementary to the Olivomare Restaurant, with which it shares the appealing aubergine colored shopfront.
The shop is limited within 40 square meters room facing the public, were a staircase protected by a full height frame-less glazed partition leads to the storage located in the basement.
The perimetrical wall, adjacent to the staircase, is entirely covered by a cladding finished with a double layer of thick opaque laminated plastic on which has been engraved a decorative patterns of variously oriented bottles and glasses.
On the opposite side a system of overhanging shelves allows to set off the pre-packed goods displayed on them, while not lasting food is shown in a custom made refrigerated counter which features a lower section, an upper glazed showcase and a working top made out of a thick solid wood board.
A light purple resign floor complete the delicatessen shop interior.
DV Architekten builded their studio-home in a plot with a big tree and decided to capture the shadows of the tree in the building facade, like a tattoo.
The envelope of the building is made of translucent plastic panel reinforced with fiberglass “PRFV” of 5 mm thick. The graphics of the shadows have been designed from photos of the existing tree. The printed pattern is mounted on the panel, fixed and protected applying several layers of resin, so the final finish is uniforms and resistant.
Via Judit Bellostes
Architect: Peter Kuczia
Location: Lake Laka, Poland
Area: 175sqm
Construction year: 2007
Usage: Single family house
Materials: Wood, Fibre cement
Using untreated larch wood and black fibre cement panels to optimise solar energy gain, this lake house in Poland is a pretty good example of how to be sustainable and respectful with the environment.
This sustainable house - like a chameleon - blends with its surrounding area on Laka Lake in south of Poland. Colourful planks within the timber façade reflect the tones of the rural landscape. The window reveals with fibre cement cladding, frame images of the countryside.
Analogical to the most creatures, the building is outside symmetrical, although the internal zones are arranged asymmetrically according to function.
The built form is designed to optimise the absorbance of solar energy. Approximately 80% of the building envelope is facing south direction. The single storey living space on the ground floor is externally clad with untreated larch boarding. Solar energy is gained there by the set-in glazed patio. Solar collection panels are located on the roof and a photovoltaic system is planed for the future. The dark facade of the “black box” - a three storey structure clad with charcoal coloured fibre cement panels - is warmed by the sun, reducing heat loss to the environment. The passive and active solar energy concepts and a high standard of thermal insulation are enhanced by a ventilation plant with thermal recovery system. The house consumes only about 1/10 of the average energy use of the existing single-family houses in Poland.
The design of the project was determinated by the twin goals of low lifecycle costs and a reduction in construction costs. All details are simple, but well thought out. The house did not cost more than a conventional one in Poland. Cost-savings were made by the application of traditional building techniques and the use of local materials and recycled building elements.
Architects: Aata Associate Architects
Location: Licancheu, Navidad, Chile
Client: Mario Cerda Sepulveda
Area: 26sqm
Construction start: 2005
Completion: 2006
Contractors: Carlos Vidal
Materials: Straw bales, polycarbonate, wood
Budget: 700 US$ / m2
Photos: impulsando.com
The assignment was consisting of a small cabin for visits.
It was thought as for it spoils reason it was decided to do it in 2 levels, this way to diminish the surface that deals with the area.
The project is a 540cm cube (exterior measure) of wooden structure with two levels inside.
It is thought as a housing of low energetic consumption, as what special care was had in the orientation, and the interior color, the location of the windows and the isolation. In this case, the isolation material gives a special characteristic to the façades and to the entire project.
For the walls bales of straw were in use stuccoes in mud, given its high thermal efficiency and for being an abundant material in the zone. These are protected from the rain by plates of transparent polycarbonate, which leaves in evidence the materiality and zinc waved in the parts top and low.
The cover is a green cover, with pasture, which prevents that the wind to strikes directly the surface, and take heat from it. This is considered a 5th façade for its also visible.
The location of the windows was projected to allow abundant sun light in the interior in winter and a crossed flow of air to ventilate it in summer.
The interior was decided to be painted white, in order that the natural light bounces and diminishes the need to use artificial light.
Architects: Giancarlo Mazzanti
Location: La Ladera, Medellín, Colombia
Constructed Area: 6.800sqm
Construction year: 2007
Services: Constructor AIA CONSTRUCTORES
Structural Engineer: Sergio Tobón
Materials: Concrete, Wood, Glass
Photos: Sergio Gómez
The aim is to establish a project that enables the biggest amount of urban connections and the development of public spaces. To achieve this, there are several proposals such as enabling the roofing of the building as public space, empowering meeting places and developing viewing-points which overlook the city.
The model allows the usage of communal facilities as small open spaced theatres, viewing-points, small plazas and sport fields when placing them on the rooftop, leaving plain borders as vacuums inside the lot and thus enabling their external use.
We propose a management program between the EDU and the Culture Secretariat called “Film, Music and Theatre in my quarter”. This will allow the usage of the above mentioned roofing as auditoriums so that every two weeks a cultural show can be taken to each quarter.
The place presents itself as a green viewing-point and a territory of connections between the lower and upper zones of the quarter, which are actually used as areas for sport activities. The project we propose will redefine the existing paths and empower the creation of shaded plazas on the library’s rooftop. As a result, it will not only multiply the connections because the building will be an obliged path, but it will create more and more events as people intertwine in the public spaces provided around the library. More than a transformation, we want to re-interpret the space so that it can be recreated into a symbolic place for the city.
The project will consist of a system conformed by three contained, rotated, squared modules that turn, adapting themselves to the landscape and the view and one curved module that unites and relates the other modules and that, in addition, allows other uses. The project is a landscape that gives the urban geography continuity through the paths and the building of public space on the rooftop, a landscape constituted by paths, theatres or inclined plazas, a spatial network with connection multiplicity and meeting places.
1. CONTAINER 1 - COMMUNITY CENTER - User: individual and in groups. Time: 24 hours. Multiple Salons (quarter meetings), my quarter, gymnasium, sieve, technical substation (optimizing the land cut left by housing).
2. CONTAINER 2 - LIBRARY- User: individual. Time: Attending from 8am to 8pm. Foyer, reception, catalogue, collection, reading rooms, navigation centers.
3. CONTAINER 3 - CULTURAL CENTER - User: Organized groups. Time: Scheduled events. Auditorium, workshops.
4. CURVED CONTAINER - 24 hours. Can be used as support. Exposition rooms (as obliged path for all users), cafeteria, management, bathrooms, ludotechs (will be used as kinder gardens 24 hours).
Structural system in reinforced concrete, in porches and screens.
Each container module is structurally independent from the curved connector. Modules are conformed by screens in the ends to compensate the projection afore mentioned and in the center 2 axes of rectangular columns in concrete. The connector is proposed in a reticule of metallic columns filled with concrete and a contention wall in stone gabion and concrete in the rear part.
Vinyl floors in different colors and shapes limiting pedagogic areas. Visible roofing in white concrete with inferior cake and wooden panels of 5 cm planks. White antique concrete walls. Crystal plates in sandwich with colored resin on the inside to mark and provide some color to the pedagogic areas. The mobile panels of the façade in folded cool rolled planks and curved borders with elements in teka wood.
Following this, the Container Module 1 is thought to have 3 floors, using the tilt of 12 meters left by housing.
Circulation systems crossed airs through the mentioned patios, which allow cold air to displace hot air. We propose the usage of natural air cooling systems, nurturing the inside of the library with fresh air. In addition to this, we want mobile blinds to cover the windows that face the sunset so that the effect of sunlight can be minimized. On top of the roofing-view points, we propose the plantation to trees to provide shadow.
Alejandro Aravena was selected as one of the 20 essential young architects by Icon.
Architects: Alejandro Aravena, Jorge Christie, Victor Oddó
Location: Pirihueico lake, Chile
Built Area: 350sqm
Construction start: 2003
Completion: 2004
Materials: Stone, Wood, Glass
Budget: 1.000 US$ / m2
Photos: Cristobal Palma
We were asked to design a summer/winter house in a remote landscape in the most southern part of Chile. More than a design, the client wanted, first of all, an equation that included every possible aspect that one could consider to be included; the design then had to be just the resolution of that equation.
A volcanic site, 4.000 mm of rain every year, strong winds from the north and east, views towards the lake (east) and the forest (west), considerations of the difficulty of bringing materials to this remote place, erasure of any a priori architectural language (be it old or contemporary) were the ingredients of this unknown dish, that should have the capacity to sound familiar once developed.
Being the weather condition very extreme, we started taking as less risk as possible; that’s why we began from the double sloped conventional roof. Slowly, we moved on, deforming it, looking for the views, avoiding the winds, using the frame windows as the arriving or starting points of the slopes. This acceptance-rejection logic of the operations, explain the geometry of the second floor; the first floor on the contrary, is a dry resistance box, able to deal with earthquakes and with the solitude this type of houses have to deal with, great part of the year.
Stones and wood came from the clearence made in the site for the house. The darkness of the object, will be a way to restitute the original density of the place.
Erick van Egeraat has won the international competition for the design of a new incineration line in Roskilde, Denmark for Kara/Noveren, a local waste management company. Due to its large scale, the incinerator is destined to become an outstanding structure in the wide and open landscape of the Roskilde area. After its completion in 2013, the facility will produce both electricity and heating for the Roskilde district.
From their press release:
“I want to engage Incineration Line 6 in a dialogue with its historic and industrial surroundings. Close to the ground we shaped the building to reflect the angular factory roofs of the immediate surroundings,” says Erick van Egeraat. “We then let the building culminate in a 100m tall spire. This spire pays the due respect to the existing historic landmark, Roskilde Cathedral, with its trademark twin spires and its warm brick and stone material palette.”
Laser-cut circular openings cover the raw umber-coloured aluminium façade. At night, backlighting of the perforated façade transforms the incinerator into a glowing beacon, symbolising the energy production inside the facility. For a few minutes every hour a spark gradually grows into a blazing flame eating up the entire building. The metaphoric fire then ceases, and the building falls into a state of burning embers.
In order to fulfil the technical requirements for ventilation, wind and water tightness, the façade is composed of two layers. The inner layer provides all necessary openings for daylight and air-circulation. This liberates the outer layer from functional requirements and allows for flexibility in the patterning.
“Our design rests on standard, readily-available products and simple construction details. We use cutting-edge manufacturing technology to minimise the production costs of the façade and the eye-catching lighting scheme uses standard, energy-efficient fittings”, explains Erick van Egeraat.
The other participants in the competition are NL Architects, Cubo Arkitekter A/S, Holm & Grut Arkitekter A/S, SITE A/S Arkitekter and Arkitektfirmaet C.F. Møller A/S.
The Baupiloten are a group of students at the architectural faculty of the Berlin Technical University who carry out building projects under Susanne Hofmann’s guidance and supervision.
They have completed their third project. It is already the second one for the client ASB Kinder.- and Jugendhilfe GmbH, Berlin. Within the scope of the refurbishment the Baupiloten created a completely new conceived world from the temporary structure of the kindergarten as imagined by the children. The results are interactive and communicative interior spaces as well as a multifunctional façade according to Astrid Lindgren’s story. The construction costs were extremely low due to the recycling of material and the economical renewal of the damaged building substance. Concept design started in 2005 and completion was in March 2007.
Pippi Longstockings’s “Taka-Tuka-Land”, according to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s book of the same title, not only bestowed the name to the kindergarten but turned into architecture. The Baupiloten and the child minder inspired the children to design their own vision of “Taka-Tuka-Land”. Their concepts of singing bridges as well as huts, the merry-go-round made of petals and the shell-throne belonging to Pippi’s father gave the Baupiloten an inkling of spatial qualities the children imagined for their new kindergarten. With the help of collages and architectural models the Baupiloten then communicated their views to the staff and the children. Thus the end users had had a direct involvement in the design of their newly built environment. The daily observation of the children’s play and the routine was a further inspiration to the Baupiloten.
The original temporary structure of the kindergarten has been turned into an everlasting oak tree where lemonade grows and flows. The flow of lemonade has seven intervals where the children can enjoy it, for example, the large-scale windows where the midday sun turns the room into a glittering environment due to the crystals that have been mounted in the windows. As a matter of fact, yellow is the dominant colour, be it in the entrance or the corridors with the lemonade gallery where the children can show their parents their latest achievements. In the hall the children’s clothes are accommodated in lemon-coloured cupboards. The architectural highpoint is the “lemonade-island” where the children are taller than the grown-ups. It’s oblique surfaces invite every child to play and “drown” in streams of yellow lemonade. In one of the rooms the stream of lemonade literally bursts out bounds and floods into the garden. Metaphorically Pippi Longstocking’s old oak tree has been turned into an interactive façade. It has become an oblique climbing frame made of green oak wood covered by yellow membrane with plenty of spaces to hide. The entire construction is protected against the elements by a transparent yellow membrane that sheds the inside with a warm light.
While visiting Gage Clemenceau Architects we learned about their design process and research on building new forms through diverse design strategies that range from the use of automotive design software to a heavy reliance on robotic digital fabrication tools.
This time we bring you two residences in New York by Gage Clemenceau - Mark Foster Gage & Marc Clemenceau Bailly.
In the past decade architectural design has become increasingly reliant on the limited form-making tools offered in standardized architectural software packages. In order to overcome such limitations Gage / Clemenceau Architects proposes a new model of design research that creates collaborations with other disciplines of design. The sole purpose of such research is to discover innovative methods for creating, manipulating, and fabricating new genres of form for potential use in architecture. Both the institutional and residential projects of the firm capitalize on these alliances, often involving diverse design strategies that range from the use of automotive design software to a heavy reliance on robotic digital fabrication tools.
The products of these collaborations posit that the geometric, indexical, mapping, and performance based ambitions of the digitally produced architectures of the past decade have failed to yield the intended results. Instead of relying on these, now conventional, architectural fictions for legitimacy, the work examines the emerging interest in formal aesthetics as a vehicle by which architecture can seek engage a new and vibrantly altered 21st century cultural context. In place of the semiological crutches of the index, the icon, and the symbol, the research revels instead in the emerging formal positions such as the beautiful, cute, elegant, sensuous and lovely.
Architects: Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Location: Coliumo peninsula, Chile
Client: Poli House Cultural Center
Area: 180sqm
Site Area: 10.000sqm
Construction start: 2004
Completion: 2005
Contractors: PvE
Structural Engineer: Cecilia Poblete
Materials: Concrete, Glass
Budget: 370 US$ / m2
Photos: Cristobal Palma
The work is located on the Coliumo peninsula, in a rural setting scarcely populated by farmers, independent fishermen and a few summer tourists. It is a distant location that, we believe, is not far from the reality of the raw dream described by Martinez Estrada. There, a compact and autonomous piece was built in order to capture at least two things: the sensation of a natural podium surrounded by vastness and the dizzying and wide open space produced by the sight of the sea washing against the rocks at the foot of the cliffs.
The building functions both as a summer house and a cultural center. This established a contradictory use: the interior would have to mediate between a very public aspect and a more intimate and informal one. That is, it had to be both monumental and domestic without any of the negative aspects of either one affecting the other. Therefore, we decided not to name the rooms by function but instead to leave them nameless and functionless, just empty rooms with varying degrees of connection between them. Then we decided to organize all the service functions in an oversized perimeter (the functional width), inside a thick wall that acts as a buffer. That hollowed, empty space houses the kitchen, the vertical circulations, the bathrooms, the closets and a series of interior balconies that protect the windows from the sun (to the north) and the rain (to the west). If necessary, all the furniture and domestic objects can be stored inside the perimeter, freeing up the space for multiple activities.
The entire work was built with handmade concrete, using untreated wooden frames. The work was done with a small mixer and four wheelbarrows, in horizontal strata that matched the height of half a wooden board. We then used the same battered wood of the frames to line the interior and to build sliding panels that function both as doors to hide the services of the perimeter and as security shutters that cover the windows when the house is left alone.
Architects: Snohetta
Location: Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway
Client: Ministry of Church an Cultural Affairs
Area: 38.500sqm
Construction start: 2004
Completion: 2007
Contractors: 55 contracts
Geological Engineer: NGI
Structural Engineer: Reinertsen Engineering ANS
Electrical Engineer: Ingeniør Per Rasmussen AS
Theatre Planning: Theatre Project Consultants
Acoustics: Brekke Strand Akustikk, Arup Acoustic
Artists, integrated artwork: Kristian Blystad, Kalle Grude, Jorunn Sannes, Astrid Løvaas og Kirsten Wagle
Photos: Snohetta, Nina Reistad, Statsbygg, Erik Berg & Nicolas Buisson
Statsbygg is Norway’s largest civil property manager, with 650 employees. It is the state’s main consultant on building and property issues, development and management. Statsbygg is a management company under the Ministry of Renewal and Administration, but provides services and support to all ministries and state organs.
In 1998 the National Assembly decides that Statsbygg would be the building client for the new operahouse, responsible for planning and management. Statsbygg procure services in the private sector, but are responsible for professional coordination and quality control of the consultants, contractors and suppliers.
The Norwegian Opera and Ballet is the building’s end user. They are Norway’s largest music and theatrical institution. Their core purpose is to be the national producer of opera, ballet, music and dance theatre, and concerts. They intend to have approx. 300 shows and 250,000 visitors per year. The Operahouse will be a workplace for approx. 600 employees from more than 50 professions.
The operahouse is the realisation of the winning competion entry. Four diagrams, which were part of the entry, explain the building’s basic concept.
Opera and ballet are young artforms in Norway. These artforms evolve in an international setting . The Bjørvika peninsula is part of a harbour city, which is historically the meeting point with the rest of the world.. The dividing line between the ground ‘here’ and the water ‘there’is both a real and a symbolic threshold. This threshold is realised as a large wall on the line of the meeting between land and sea, Norway and the world, art and everyday life. This is the threshold where the public meet the art.
A detailed brief was developed as a basis for the competition. Snøhetta proposed that the production facitities of the operahouse should be realised as a self contained, rationally planned ‘factory’. This factory should be both functional and flexible during the planning phase as well as in later use. This flexibility has proved to be very important during the planning phase: a number of rooms and romm groups have been adjusted in collaboration with the end user. These changes have improved the buildings functionality without affecting the architecture.
The competion brief stated that the operahouse should be of high architectural quality and should be monumental in it’s expression. One idea stood out as a legitimation of this monumentality: The concept of togetherness, joint ownership, easy and open access for all. To achieve a monumentality based on these notions we wished to make the opera accessible in the widest possible sense, by laying out a ‘carpet’ of horizontal and sloping surfaces on top of the building. This carpet has been given an articulated form, related to the cityscape. Monumentality is achieved through horizontal extension and not verticality.
The conceptual basis of the competition, and the final building, is a combination of these three elements - The wave wall, the factory and the carpet.
The operahouse is the first element in the planned transformation of this area of the city. In 2010 the heavy traffic beside the building will be moved into a tunnel under the fjord. Due to its size and aesthetic expression, the operahouse will stand apart from other buildings in the area. The marble clad roofscape forms a large public space in the landscape of the city and the fjord.
The public face of the operahouse faces west and north - while at the same time, the building’s profile is clear from a great distance from the fjord to the south. Viewed from the Akershus castle and from the grid city the building creates a relationship between the fjord and the Ekerberg hill to the east. Seen from the central station and Chr. Fredriks sq. The opera catches the attention with a falling which frames the eastern edge of the view of the fjord and its islands.
The building connects city and fjord, urbanity and landscape.
To the East, the ‘factory’ is articulated and varied.
One can see the activities within the building: Ballet reheasal rooms at the upper levels, workshops at street level. The future connection to a living and animated new part of town will give a greater sense of urbanity.
For Snøhetta, close collaboration with artists has always been an important part of building projects. As early as the competition stage, artist were invited in as collaborators, and the wished to continue this from the beginning of the design phase. Snøhetta have tried to avoid having artist apply ‘decoration’ to the architecture, prefering to allow for an open dialogue between artists, artisans and professionals with various approaches to important building elements. With the operahouse, the architect intended that both the large marble clad roofscape and the aluminium clad facades should be approached as collaborative endeavours.
An early collaboration was established for the sone roof with artists: Kristian Blystad, Kalle Grude og Jorunn Sannes. One year later, in accordance with the guidelines for state funding building projects, a committee for integrated artwork was established. This committee engaged the artists Astrid Løvaas og Kirsten Wagle to collaborate on the design of the metal cladding elements.
The materials, with their specific weight, colour, texture and temperature, have been vital to the design of the building. Snøhettas architecture is narative. It is the materials which form the defining elements of the spaces. It is the meeting of the materials which articulates the architecture through varied detail and precision.
In the operahouse, three main materials were specified as early as the competition entry: White stone for the ‘carpet’, timber for the ‘wave wall’, and metal for the ‘factory’. During the continued work on the project, a fourth material, glass, which allows for the exposure of the underside of the ‘carpet’, has been given specific attention.
Stone
After an international tender competition, th italian marble, La Facciata, was chosen. This is a stone which, in common with other marbles, retains its brilliance and colour even when wet. It has the necessary technical quality in terms of stabitity, density, and longevity. The producer, Campolonghi, has had the professional ability, capacity, and experience necessary for such a large and complex project.
The accessibble area of the ‘carpet’ is approx. 18,000 m2. Its detailed design has been important: the architect desired that it should not interfere with the general dorm of the building but that it simultaneously was articulated enough to be ineresting at close quarters.
Together with the artists several alternatives were proposed before a particular non repetitive pattern with integrated riased areas, special cuts, various surface textures, and specific details were designed to articulate the main geometry.
Timber
Oak has been chosen as the dominating material for both the ‘wave wall’ and the main auditorium.
For the wave wall it has a light and varied surface. Oak is used throughout for the floors, walls and ceilings. The wave wall has a complex organic geometri made up of joined cone shapes. It is also an important acoustic attenuator within the foyer space. To achieve these goals it is made up of smaller elements which can deal with the changing geometry and provide acoustic absorption.
Inside the auditorium oak has been chosen for a number of reasons: It is dense, easily formed, stable and tactile.
The oak has been treated with amonia to give a dark tone. Here too oak is used for floors, walls, and ceilings, as well as balcony fronts, and acoustic reflectors.
Metal
An operahouse is designed and built to have a long lifespan. This means that a simple, modern metal cladding, such as we associate with factories and workshops, needs to be re-evaluated and redesigned.
After a consideration of aesthetics, longevity, maleability and the possibility to make very flat panel, aluminium wa chosen. To give the panels further quality, a collabarative process was begun with two artists.
The design team initially aimed for an industrial modulrity but that the panels themselve should have greater visual quality. The panels were punched with convex spherical segments and concave conical forms. The pattern was developed by the artists based on old weaving techniques.
In all, eight different panels were designed which give a constantly changing effect depending on the angle, intensity and colour of the light playing on them.
Glass
The high glass facade over the foyer has a dominant role in the views of the building from the south, west, and north. Early in the project it was realised that this glass faced was more important than previously assumed, both during the day and night when it would act as a lamp illuminating the external surfaces.
The glass façade is up to 15 meters high. It was the architects intention to design a glass construction with an absolute minimum og columns, framing, and stiffening in steel. The solution was to use glass fins where minimised steel fixings are sandwiched inside the laminates.
The requirements for the glass’s stiffness increased due to the desire for large panels and slim joints where the panels meet.
Thick glass of this sort tends to be quite green rather than transparent. It was therefore decided that the façade of the operahouse would use low iron glass.
The building is split in two by a corridor running north-south, the ‘opera street’. To the west of this line are located all the public areas and stage areas. The eastern part of the building houses the production areas which are simpler in form and finish. Comprising 3 to 4 storeys above ground. There is also a basement level - U1 - below this part of the building. The sub stage area is a further 3 storeys deep.
The building’s western part
A marble clad plaza leads the visitors to the foyer and other public areas. A secondary entrance on the north façade gives firect access to the restaurant and foyer. To the south, the foyer opens up to the inner oslo fjord and views of Hovedøya island. To the west and north it is views of the city which dominate, while the auditoria lie to the east. There can be as many as 1900 audience members in the building. 1400 in the main auditorium, 400 in stage 2 and 150 in rehearsal room 1, which doubles as a black box theatre.
There is a brasserie to the south of the foyer, a restaurant to the north and several bars which can be run separately from the performances. Service functions such as education spaces, cloakrooms, toilets, information/ticketing desk and diverse smaller rooms are located around the foyer. From the foyer, at ground level, and from the public galleries, access is provided to the two main auditoria.
The large stage area occupies a significant part of the building footprint. Here is the main stage (16m x16m) with an 11.8m deep substage, two side stages and two rear stages, as well as a scenery hall and store. There is a free height of minimum 9m throughout these areas. Storage for the backdops is located above the rear side stage. Finished scenery for several performances and acts can stand ready on the rear and side stages as well as below stage. In addition, the large rehearsal room is located in direct connection to the stage areas and can provide further scenery storage should this be necessary.
The orchestra rehearsal room - an acoustically sensitive space - is also located in the western part of the building - at basement level. This hall is the orchestra’s most important rehearsal space and can also be used for recording purposes. The requirement for variable acoustics is achieved by the use of adjustable panelling and drapes. The room can achieve similar acoustics to the main auditorium.
A passage from the foyer, along the southern façade, leads to rehearsal room 1 allowing it to be used as a public performance space.
The same area of the building at the upper levels houses sponsor lounges and a VIP room.
The building’s eastern part
To the east of the ‘opera street’ are located all the production and administration areas; approx 1000 rooms of varing size and function. The opera street is the main communication artery for all the employees - almost 600 persons from more than 50 professions.
A large loading dock running east west splits the back of house area in two. Here also, the dimensions of the space are given by the size of scenery elements, up to 9m high.
To the north lie the ‘hard workshops’ where the scenery is made. Several professions have their workspaces here, carpenters, metalworkers, painters and decorators. The finished scenery is moved through the loading dock and directly into the rear stage area.
To the south lie all the other functions necessary to serve the needs of the dancers and singers: ‘Soft workshops’ with costume production, wigs, hats, gloves and make up areas. Also administration and changing rooms are located here.
A spaceous green courtyard is at the heart of this area on levels U1 and Ground.
Most of the changing rooms house 4 performers with all the necessary costume and make up for each show. The rooms are also intended to be a place for relaxing and concentrating and are therefore equipped with a day bed.
The opera and ballet departments have several large rehearsal rooms in this zone on levels 3 and 4. and it is possible to transport scenery from the loading dock to the rehearsal spaces on level 3 via an elevator with a clear height of 6m. The largest of the rehearsal rooms has a clear height of 9m and is as large as the main stage. This allows the dancers to practice a complete performance. All these spaces have walls with acoustic attenuation. There are also a number of small rehearsal rooms at palan 2.
The wig makers, make up artists, and dressers are located closer to the stage at level 1 (ground). From here the artistes can access the stage areas at ground level or from the basement.
At level 2 there are msic archives, offices, and support functions for the orchestra as well as a health center and gym.
Level 3 houses the administration department with a large canteen wo the south with a terrace overlooking the fjord.
The main auditorium is a classic horseshoe theatre built for opera and ballet. It houses approx. 1370 visitors divided between stalls, perterre, and three balconies. Technical spaces occupies the area above balcony 3.
The orchestra pit is highly flexible and can be adjusted in height and area with the use of three separate lifts.
On each side of the stage are mobile towers which allow for adjustments in the proscenium width for ballet or opera without damaging the acoustics of the hall. Reverberation time is fine tuned using drapes along the rear walls and control rooms for sound and light are located to the back of the hall.
The form of the auditorium is based on several relationships: short distance between the audience and the performers, good sight lines, and, above all, excellent acoustics. The architectural intentions for a modern auditorium with traditional, acoustic musical performance have been developed in parallel with requirements for visual intimacy and acoustic excellence. In older opera halls acoustic attenuation was often achieved by using rich decorative, sculptural elements on most surfaces. In this case the requirements have been met with a clean, carved aesthetic using a modern formalistic language.
The requirement for a long reverberation time results in a room with a large volume. In this case the volume is increased by the use of a technical gallery which cantilevers out over the walls below, giving the hall a T shaped section. The main structure of the stone clad roof above is included in the volume of the hall rather than being hidden behind a false ceiling.
Optimum acoustics have been achieved by the following methods:
• We have, also as an aesthetic move, given the balcony fronts a geometry which changes relative to its location in the room and the acoustic function necessary in each location. At the sides the form reflects sound back down to the audience whilst at the rear it sends soungs in multiple direction to avoid focussing.
• The oval ceiling reflector visually finishes the hall and also reflects sounds in very specific ways. The same principle is used as with the balcony fronts.
• The rear walls at each level are made up of convex panels to avoid focussing and to spread sound evenly through the room.
• The geometri of the interlying walls, main orchestra reflector, and the mobile towers are modulated to scatter sound around the space. Using timber staves of varying dimensions to modulate sound of different wavelengths.
• All the surfaces are of relatively dense materials to avoid high frequency vibrations. Balcony fronts are 50mm solid oak where the rear wall panels are 100mm MDF with oak veneer.
The double curvature of the balcony fronts and oval ceiling ring are made of pre-fabrcated oak elements made of solid stave glued together, amonia treated and the routed from 3D computer drawings before oiling and polishing. The dark coluour is particularly suited to the theatre space and the oak gives a rich, warm, and intimate feel to the space.
The seats are designed to absorb as little sound as possible. Materials are dark timber and a specially design orange red fabric as a counterpoint. Text display screens are built into the seat backs so that the audience can individually choose to read the libretto in a number of languages.
The auditorium is illuminated by a snøhetta designed chandelier in the form of a shallow lens as well as inbuilt LED fittings in the cailigs and floor.
The chandelier
The chandelier, which is suspended inside the oval reflector, is an important element in the hall as performs several tasks. It is the auditoriums main source of illumination, using LED for the first time in such a setting. It weighs 8.5 metric tons and has a diameter of 7m. It is made up of 5800 hand cast glass crystals through which 800 LED lights shine. This bathes the room in a cool diffuse light. The whole chandelier can be lowered to the floor for maintenance.
It is also an important acoustic reflector. This explains the particular form which scatters and diffuses sound. The distance between the strips of crystals increases towards the stage to allow a greater amount of sound to pass through and therefore contribute to the reverberance of the space. It is placed forward of the centre in order to allow unhindered sightlines from the follow spot room on the rear of the oval reflector.
Finally it forms a visual closure to the hall itself to take attention away from the technical spaces and structure above.
The stage curtain
The stage curtain is also an important element in the auditorium. Together with the chandelier and seat fabric it is a contrast to the dark timber. It has been made by the american artist Pae White, following an international competition. She has worked with digital images of aluminium foil which reflects and adopts the colurs of the auditorium. These images are then transferred to a computer driven loom.
Stage 2 can, depending on the chosen seating configuration, house an audience of up to 400. It will be used by both opera and ballet, as well as for banquet functions, rock concerts, experimental performances and children’s theatre. It is a multi use hall where the seats, which are on large wagons, can be repositioned in a number of different configurations. There are 2 large elevators which form an amphitheatre, orchestra pit and transport seating wagons for storage in the basement.
The area which is normally the stage is made up of removable floor elements. The auditium has no flytower but rather an extensive motorised pully system to hang and transport scenery, backdrops and acoustic reflectors when necessary. A 9m high sliding gate connects the stage area with the back stage zones and scenery stores. The reverberation time in the hall can be damped down for amplified performances.
The client required an auditorium with the flexibility of a black box but with an amount of architectural quality and identity. These to requirements are generally considered to be mutually exclusive, but after close discussions with the end user, a solution was found where of a black box has a high quality cotrasting, freestanding structure placed inside it.
This ‘object’ has rounded, high gloss, red paneling on the outside and a cooler metallic silver finish in towards the stage.
Four technical bridges span across the space at high level housing lighting and ventilation and forming an important visual and acoustic ceiling.
Between the columns, large, black painted doors and removable panels are used to adjust to different configurations. These panels have also been given acoustic consideration.
The exterior of the operahouse becomes diffuse as night falls. The large timber ‘wave wall’ in the foyer is illuminated and the building takes on a completely different character. The interior becomes the façade. It shows how interdependent the interior and exterior of the building are.
The building’s architectonic ideas and concepts have also been used in the buildings interiors. The task has included considerable interior planning based on the schedule of rooms, functions, colours, materials, and surface treatments, coordinating lighting schemes, technical instalations, built in furniture, wet rooms, kitchen solutions, elevator cars, fittings and fixtures.
It has also encompassed design and coordination of the end user equipment and loose furnishings.
Cooperation between the various architectural diciplines has been vital.
Interiors concept, public spaces
The experience of the buildings exterior clearly requires that the interiors be of equally high architectural quality.
On entering the building one is first lead in under the lowest part of the sloping roofscape. Where the ceiling falls to meet the floor.
This area is used for the public cloakroom where a copse of slim columns hold the visitors coats. Further out into the foyer, four volumes hold up the roof. The perforated, illuminated cladding of these is another example of integrated artwork. In this case by Olafur Eliasson. These white form house the public toilets. Moving out into the open space of the foyer one is below an expance of white, sloping cailing held up by angled white columns which meet in clusters at floor level.
The grand staicase is peeled out of the wooden wall and leads up to 3 galleries around the auditorium. Thus providing access to the upper levels of the hall.The interior of the wooden wall has an intimate feel in contrast to the open, white foyer.Dark light locks lead the audience into the heart of the building. The main auditorium.The feeling is of being inside a carved out piece of timber, or perhaps within a musical instrument.
Furnishings and equipment in the public areas
The interior, from cloakroom to auditorium can be described as a formalistic journey which takes the visitor from the open unknown to the enclosed and secure. The level of abstraction to be seen in the outer spaces ahs made it natural to minimise the number of recognisable builing elements and details.
At the same time it has been a clear aim that the furniture elements use the same design language as the building as a whole.
Larger elements such as bar counters, shop fittings, ticketting desk, and cafè interiors are either integrated in larger building forms or designed as free standing sculptural forms in white corian. These can be completely closed down when not in use.
The cloakroom and foyer are further furnished using simple seating forms and high tables made of steel plate coated with industrial rubberized black lacquer. Upholstery is with flat sheets of felt and sheep skin. Signage is made of the same black steel and white glass surfaces complete a number of the interior elements.
Furnishing of the production areas
These zones are designed around eronomics, functionality, and experience. The harde workshops are rational rooms where the logistics of mechanisation dominate the design. Wig and make-up workshops have been provided with specially designs workstation modules specific to the user’s requirements. The costume department, which is a hectic space full of activity has been given solution specific to its complex logistics.
The three artforms; Ballet, opera, and orchestra all have their requirements for changing rooms fulfilled with standardised but purpose built furniture. However, the orchestra have larger, 10 man changing rooms with areas for unpacking instruments, rest, and changing prior to a performance, amd with shared access to toilets and showers. The Ballet, choir and soloists have smaller 4 or 6 man rooms with person specific places and showers shared with the neighbouring room.
For the ballet these rooms function as a home base in a day filled with training and rehearsals.
All the changing rooms are specially design with fitted, standardised furniture, make up tables, day beds and cupboards.
A great deal of work has gone into designing the rehearsal spaces for the different groups. These are important working spaces, with optimised acoustics, ventilation, and lighting. The intention has been to provide a great deal of spacial quality and the acoustic wall panelling in particular contributes to this.
Material use in the production areas
The brief for these area specifies that they should be simple and inexpensive. This means that they are of general office quality with painted walls and linoleum flooring. This works well as a neutral background to the opera’s colourful costumes and stage elements which enliven the spaces.
The colour palette is therefor quite simple and neutral.
The open courtyard forms a central reference point to the production areas and the corridors which encircle it are given a dark colour to make orientation easier.
The rehearsal rooms have different characters for ballet, opera and choir.. The ballet spaces are light and airy with views over the fjord to the south. Whilst the choir space is more introvert with daylight from a high clerestory window facing east. Enclosing the musical experience. Colours and materials have a warmer, darker hue.
Furniture and end user equipment
Even though the building is large, there is little loose furniture. We have attempted to to simplify and standardise the choice of furniture and relate it to the building’s architectural design. A small number of quality furniture producers have been chosen and the pieces have a clean, contemporary design which is simultaneously classical enough to be timeless.
The opera’s landscape comprises of the marble roof, additional marble clad areas, and the areas between the building and the surrounding streets. Access to the plaza and the main entrance is over a marble clad footbridge over the opera canal. The plaza forms a part of a public promenade and cycle lane which continues around the west and south sides of the building, and eventually coming to a planned bridge over the Aker river to the east.
As early as the competition entry, Snøhetta proposed that the roofscape should be openly accessible to the general public and that it should be clad with white stone. Today the building’s defining feature is the characteristic geometry of the roof as it rises from the fjord and is laid out like a carpet over the public areas. An important move has been to introduce channels along the roof edges with ramps and steps. This allows the integration of regulation height balustrades with raising the line of the roof itself.
To achieve enough acoustic volume in the auditorium, the roof has been raised indepently inside the line of the balustrades. This has created a new viewing point from which the city and the fjord can be experienced. The roofs are mostly too steep for wheelchair use but access to the near flat, upper areas is provided via a dedicated elevator.
The surface treatment of the stone, its pattern, cuts and lifts which create a shadow play, have been designed in close collaboration with the artists. The white marble is ‘La Facciata’ from the Carrara quaries in Italy. The north facede and all the stone cladding which is in contact with water is a norwegian granite called ‘Ice Green’
Prototypes and tests at full scale were studied at the contractor’s facitities before the final choices were made for colour nuance and surface texture. A running quality control regime has been implemented throughout the production process
Adjacent areas During the building period it became clear that rapid and considerable settling of the ground level around the building would need to be addressed.
Large areas of gravel which is designed to take local vehicular traffic have been laid around the building footprint. This is easy to adjust as the ground sinks relative to the building which is founded on the bedrock. Trees are planted in the gravel areas, and a zone of street furniture is located along the pavement line with cycle parking, benches and specially designed streetlamps in stainless steel. The pavements are of asphalt with black granite edges and larger areas of granite paving wto highlight the entrances to the restaurant, opera street, and stage entrance. The dark grey colur palette is a clear contrast to the light stone and aluminium of the building itself within a cool monochrome language.
Landscaping of the surrounding areas has been designed in collaboration between Snøhetta and Bjørvika Infrastructure who have been responsible for the planning of the street around the operahouse.
Courtyard
The courtyard is a garden in the middel of the production area of the building. Surrounded by facades of black glass, aluminium and timber and open to the sky. There is direct access to the courtyard from ground and basement levels while the upper levels experience it as a green lung deep inside the building. In front of the sound insulated rehearsal rooms at basement level, vegetation has been planted to form a screen. The floor of the courtyard is a composition of timber dekking, white marble, and green areas. A marble cladd stair connects the two levels. Grasses, climbing plants and perennials are planted around clusters of cables reaching up to the upper levels and providing shade to the facades.
3LHD is a croatian office that has developed some interesting houses, sports facilities and urban projects. And now they just won the private competition for the Zamet sports and community centre in Rijeka, Croatia. Rijeka is an industrial harbour city on the Adriatic Sea and the new complex will provide it with a new civic hub for both business people and the general public.
From their press release:
The primary characteristic of the design of Zamet Centre is the integration of a big work project into the urban structure of this part of the town of Rijeka, with the objective of minimizing disruption and to evaluate its given urban conditions – unleveled terrain, the pedestrian link in a north-south direction, the quality plateau in front of the primary school, the park zone, placing the program in the centre of Zamet at the intersection of communications.
The joint conceptual and design element of the handball hall and the Zamet Centre are ‘ribbons’ stretching in a north-south direction, simultaneously functioning as an architectural design element of the objects and as a zoning element which forms a public square and a link between the north – park-school and the south – the street. One third of the hall’s volume is built into the terrain, and the building with its public and service facilities has been completely integrated into the terrain, i.e. it creates it with its ‘ribbons’.
The public space on the roof is not only a feature of the building in the business part of the centre, but the roof of the hall is also used as a kind of an extension of the park situated to the north of the hall. The hall has been designed for major international sports competitions, in compliance with state-of-the-art world sports standards. The design of the hall has been conceived as a very flexible space. The auditorium has been designed as a system with telescopic stands, which open and adapt to the kind of competition and the number of spectators; at major competitions 2100 spectators have seating places by opening all the stands. The architecture of public facilities, the shopping centre, the library and the local authority stands out in the topography of the terrain, connecting the square in front of the hall and in front of the school and tries to integrate into the overall existing context of western Zamet.
With their know-how on waterfront development and sports facilities we expect this project to generate a positive impact on Rijek.
Bale (Valle in Italian) is a small place in Istria with a population of 1000 people. The new sports hall is adjacent to the old school, and due to the size of the village itself where this building is the second largest after the church, it will also be used as a public facility for various social gatherings. The size of the building has been defined by the basket ball playground and modified by additional facilities on the gallery: a fitness centre and a sauna, while the locker rooms are planned as an extension to the school.
The traditional local dry stone wall motif has been used as a template for the whole surfacing, and the small traditional stone hut, the so called kažun, an example of the archetypical structure has been used as the basic structural pattern. The sports hall solution plan has been made to meet the design and construction time schedule of 11 months, which was possible only by using RC prefabricated elements. All the bearing and façade elements of the sports hall have been made from prefabricated elements. Its integration into the environment has been achieved by minimizing its size, blending with the landscape but also by using local stone materials for façade surfacing which gives to this modern building the appearance of an traditional house.
Bathrooms and kitchens can make or break a sale. Buyers coming in and seeing an outdated bathroom, especially one that isn’t spotlessly clean and shiny, will simply walk right back out. They’re also very personal spaces, and too much custom work will make a buyer feel like they could never be “at home” in the space, hardly a feeling you want in a bathroom! Spend your money wisely, and invest in quality products, take a look at bathroom vanities by companies like Fairmont Designs, the investment in quality pays off in the long run. It’s easy to spend a lot of money on new tile, a whirlpool tub with separate shower and beautiful fixtures, but don’t overlook the commode. Toilets come in all shapes, sizes and colors and should match your décor as much as possible. Again, opt for quality brands like Toto toilets to get the most for your money.
Unless your existing bathroom is woefully outdated and horrible, a mid-range
If it’s your kitchen that’s stuck in the ‘70s with Formica counters, renovating that room can be the most cost effective upgrade you can do. If you’re renovating right before a sell, keep your costs low, about 10% - 15% of your home’s value. If you plan on staying at least five years, ramp that number up to 25% or more. Most of the time, a reasonable kitchen
The kitchen
This is another case where investing in quality is wise. You don’t’ want to spend all that time and effort on making over your kitchen only to have the final look and feel ruined by cheap faucets. Look for quality products like faucets by Whitehaus or Rohl, and Blanco sinks. Remember, you might be better off investing in a facelift with quality fixtures and faucets, and updating paint and finishes rather than opting for a full renovation using low-end products, especially if you’re about to sell your home. Buyers are looking for what still needs to be done, and if they’re looking at a kitchen full of apartment-grade products, they’re going to imagine dollar signs flying away as they upgrade the quality.
The Herringbone Houses are two 400sqm houses and integrated landscape located in a wooded back land site overlooking the South London Bowls Club for private developer Lyford Investments.
Each open-plan house is composed of two continuous planes of herringbone timber and graphite render surfaces that form walls, floors, external decking and fences. These planes interlock and fold inward at the centre of the house to create a double height entrance hall open to the sky. This approach to the wrapping of spaces generates an apparent lightness to the houses which are conceived as an assembly of planar elements as opposed to “punched” masonry. The atrium holds a suspended timber staircase and galleries which lead to the first and second floor bedrooms. Each house has a two car carport that has been integrated into the design of the house, fence and landscape with pebbled roofs on expanded metal trays supported by stainless steel ‘picture frames’.
The 3 storey 5 bedroom houses have full basements with storage, guest accommodation and a games room. The ground floor is conceived as an open plan living, family and kitchen area wrapped around a central double height hall open to the sky with a 3×2m roof light. The hall is a double height atrium at the centre of the house with a sculptural oak staircase hanging in the middle of the space. The first floor bedrooms are accessed from a gallery space and library with a balcony offering views down into the living space.
The three principle bedrooms are on the west facing façade with large windows that maximise passive solar gain and offer fantastic views out over the bowling green. All of the bedrooms have windows on both sides to allow natural ventilation of the spaces and maximise the light and views. The living rooms are recessed behind deep overhangs that provide shade, direct views to the south-east and shelter the ground floor entrance areas. Adjacent to these are the three storey volumes oriented north south, containing bedrooms and family rooms. These elements also have recessed glazing at the 2nd floor level to reduce solar gain, increase a sense of privacy for the occupants and create space for greenery at the buildings’ upper levels.
The ground floor living spaces have been designed in order to create a free flowing space from inside to outside with level thresholds opening out to generous terraces.
The house is constructed from a steel frame with timber infill that has been wrapped in plywood sheathing. This acts as a substrate for the insulation and cladding. The herringbone cladding was initially developed and set out using 3d modelling software to establish the dimension of each board and to test the final visual effect. After trials with different lengths of board and widths it was decided to us a thin board profile (50mm) and that the boards should be 800mm long, a dimension that worked functionally for the construction and fitted into the structural levels of the house.
The cladding is essentially a traditional open weatherboard construction. The house is initially wrapped in Tyvek breather paper over the rigid insulation. Battens were set out at 800mm horizontal centres and the IPE cladding was all pre-cut to 800mm lengths with pre-drilled holes to speed up the installation and accuracy of the construction process. At our request the contractor constructed a 1:1 mock-up to test the construction of the façade and each stage of the installation was signed off by the architects before proceeding.
This enabled us to maintain a tight control over the building finish. Following the installation of the boards each board was pelleted and sanded before sign off.
Across the façade all materials - timber, render and glass are in the same plane. This was done to further enhance the abstract planar quality of the façade. The windows sit on steel angles and are strapped back to the window heads and jams, meaning that they can be positioned flush with the timber, like holes cut out of in a thin surface.
Wall house innovates on house design, through a sustainable soft skin. This house was awarded the 2007 AR Emerging Awards and selected as one of the 2008 Record Houses by Architectural Record.
With a limited budget, our office was asked to design a residence for a retired couple in one of the suburban areas that stretch out from the center of Santiago de Chile along the Pan-American Highway. We were immediately curious about the ambiguous nature of the couple’s purchased lot: while technically being part of a suburban subdivision, the development actually projected a highly rural image through its dirt roads, large lots of more than 50,000 square feet, and most importantly its clever use of tall hedges to enclose the lots on their perimeters and provide a high level of privacy. Finding that the hedges, while blocking off any visual connection to the immediate suburban context yet still opening up to views of the distant Andean mountains, could be understood as an outer layer of building skin, they became an intriguing starting point for the project. Using this new understanding of the hedge, we developed the idea of a house based upon a series of separated wall layers which structure the house and progressively fade it out, starting from its solid, innermost core to its soft and delicate encasing.
While the “traditional” single family home, regardless of locale, typically establishes a strong separation between interior and exterior through solid walls and clearly defined window and door openings, our design creates a gradual and hazy transition between the two, finally including the exterior in its hierarchy of interior spaces. Based on 4 layers, in between which residential activities result, each layer offers its very specific structural, material, functional, atmospheric, or climatic qualities and contributes to an intelligent hierarchy for a limited-budget project: while the innermost zones contain the most demanding functions associated with home (i.e. kitchen and bathroom), the selection of materials and finishes is allowed to ‘roughen up’ toward the exterior. Moving from room to room plays with a perception of moving deeper into or further out, with changes of materiality and lighting providing a range of qualitative experiences and cues.
Contrapunto, a Chilean book shop that specializes in architecture, design, art, photography and illustrated books, invited us to develop a new concept for their most recent store. The atmosphere, architecture and design should act as a support for the book world, and deliver a pleasant environment were the content and the aesthetics of the books were the main characters.
The project should solve the coexistence of three main book subjects: illustrated books (architecture, design, art, photography, landscaping, cooking and children’s books), novels and medical books. With a neutral, sober and atemporal aesthetic, the architecture solves the problem through light, proportion and space.
The main design decision was to understand the context and location of the shop: an irregular space with a 10 meter facade and a 5 meter height. These details were the basis to define a new way of approaching a commercial space.
The second floor was conceived to use the front of the shop, leaving a double height access and bookshelf area. The 3.8 meter high perimeter was used to create a grand bookshelf for the illustrated books. The novels and children’s books were located in a floor level area, while the second floor was left exclusively for medical books. The entrance door is a 5 meter high, three sheet folding iron structure that inserts into a lateral marble wall.
The tour through the store begins in the exterior, were the shop window was conceived as a piece of continuous furniture for book exhibition, cash desk, counter and consult desk. Once in the inside of the store, the grand bookshelf leads the route through the different areas.
The materials used in this project were open pore travertine marble and crystal for the facade; black iron for the entrance door, paquio wood for the bookshelves and lapacho wood for the floors, both of which are native Bolivian woods.
Name: Contrapunto Bookstore
Location: Shopping La Dehesa, Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile
Completion date: April 2007
Clients: Editorial Contrapunto
Architects: Lipthay + Cohn + Contenla
Furniture Design: Lipthay + Cohn + Contenla
Collaborators: Diego Salinas, Carolina Agliati
Floor area: 120 mts2
Constructor: KIT CORP S.A
Budget: USD$92.300 (CLP$41.5M)
Photography: Lipthay + Cohn + Conten
Treehouses have grown-up and are winning awards for excellence in design and innovation. If the idea of treehouse as family dwelling conjures up images of the Swiss Family Robinson, then prepare yourself for the following reinterpretations.
In 2003 Lukasz Kos, a masters student at the University of Toronto's School of Architecture & Design, took honourable mention at the OAA awards for his Muskoka, ON. treehouse, an elegant slatted structure that scales the trees and lets light radiate down it's core.
More recently, Joel Sherman of jls Design produced his AIA award-winning Steel Tree House in Lake Tahoe, CA, a sprawling residence that is cleverly engineered to work with snow loads and sloping terrain. Then there is Marcio Kogan's BR House in Araras, RJ that was built up to the canopy, and allows trees to puncture through the roof at points creating a contemporary elevated living space.
It seems that idea is less about reducing the ecological footprint, and more about the treehouse as a relic of childhood that is virtually extinct in urban settings. By resurrecting them on a very grand scale in a more sylvan setting, these treehouses are the ultimate in treehouse design, and no doubt the owners are the most popular kids in the forest.
The project “Kinderstad” (Dutch for “children’s city”) emanated from the Young Architects Competition of the Dutch National Board of Architects (BNA) together with the Ronald McDonald Children’s Foundation (Kinderfonds) in 2003. SPONGE ARCHITECTS & Rupali Gupta in cooperation with IOU ARCHITECTURE (Björn van Rheenen, Rupali Gupta and Roland Pouw) won the first prize and received at the same time the appointment to realize the winning design for both the exterior and interior work including the management of the project. “Kinderstad” is the first project among the projects presented to the BNA Young Architects Competition that has actually been realized and implemented. The similarity between the result and the competition design is striking. During the process of the implementation almost all ideas and designs have been adopted.
The goal of “Kinderstad” is to extract the sick child, its family and friends from the unpleasant surrounding of a hospital and to enable an encounter in a much better atmosphere. This new specialised type of health care for sick children gives the visitors the chance to forget for a moment that the child is sick and to facilitate the normal development of the young patients (between 4 and 18 years old) despite the treatments; it has a positive influence on the patients’ recovery. “Kinderstad” is attached to the children’s ward on the 9th floor in the eastern wing of the Medical Centre of Amsterdam Free University (VU Amsterdam).
For some parts, the facade is closed with titanium behind the glass. Special tiles of three different kinds of titanium have been produced for this project; it’s the first time it has been used in the Netherlands (baked with crystals, 15×15cm). The tiling has been assembled in different angles of inclination on the facade and under the exterior ceiling with the effect of reflecting the light in different colours for each moment of the day. In combination with the reflection of the glass in front of the tiling it creates a fascinating effect with the light, the surroundings and the building. It becomes absorbed in its natural environment: the constantly changing Dutch skies.
The titanium creates a layer of protection against corrosion. This layer makes sure that scratches or light damages repair themselves and that the material does not develop patina like other metals. As a result the titanium is reflecting the light permanently, unlike other metals. With their playful prints of natural materials the boxes in the facade that stretch from the inside of the building through the glass facade to the outside give an impression of the thematic design of the interior and wear away the border between interior and exterior. The combination of the strict lines, the richness of the 20.000 titanium tiles and the colorful boxes that stick out gives the facade a playful look while establishing a contrast to the rather uninspired facades of the surrounding office buildings.
The project was nominated for the architectural facade competition “Architectuurprijs GevelTotaal 2008″. From the jury’s report: “The titanium tiles have been used in a clever way that underlines how exciting the irregularity of the material is. Glass and titanium are giving fascinating reflections. Beautiful details.”
The basic idea of the concept of “Kinderstad” is to get the children in contact with the outside, with nature. This idea was realized by the use of natural materials (wood, stone and photo prints), a completely open facade and big roof windows that allow natural light to come in while giving the impression that 35m above you the sky and the weather are within your grasp. Every detail of the design is connected to this concept in a very consequent way. “Kinderstad” is really a little city with a big playground, little houses, streets, alleys and streetlights.
The big central staircase made of wood connects the two levels fluently and can be used as theatre stage or movie theatre. Several rooms, different in size and atmosphere, are located as boxes in the open space. These boxes are covered with enlarged printed motives of nature (moss, tree trunks, honeycombs, water drops and rocks) and stick through the facade as to wear away the border between interior and exterior. The boxes are covered with prints of these materials as the use of real natural material was not possible for reasons of hygiene.
The floor, ceiling and a big wall of “Kinderstad” are covered with wood. The ceiling on the 10th floor is a special ceiling for heating and cooling, made of plates of steal that are painted in the style of wood. On the 9th floor, the neighboring strips of the roof and an outside terrace are covered with artificial grass.
The border between interior and exterior, and the references to nature through material, light and a phenomenal view of the sky, the city of Amsterdam and the forest, convey the sensation of “being out and about”.
The interior has been designed partly by the architects and partly by students of the Rietveld Academy or sponsors, under supervision of the architects. There is a lot to discover and experience in “Kinderstad”:
An 8-meter long tunnel serves as the entrance. This tunnel forms the crossing from the hospital to the imaginary world of “Kinderstad”. The shape of the tunnel changes its profile from rectangular to round. The LED lighting behind the semi-transparent plastic allows the creation of different atmospheres corresponding to the four seasons of the year. Furthermore, one can find a theatre, a DJ workstation with disco music by Radio 538 and a TV workstation of Endemol. From the Schiphol airport tower with parts of a rebuilt airplane with seats and cockpit you have a view till the airport and you can follow the landing of airplanes with real sound effects. The child can also dress up as a pilot or stewardess.
Next to it, a little football field sponsored by Ajax is to be found, with artificial grass, white lines and goals, looking out on the Amsterdam Arena football stadium. Here, the children can watch live football training sessions and games on a big screen, admire shirts and trophies and play tabletop football.
A bit further down one encounters one half of a racecar by Spyker with a big screen instead of the front window. In this car, the visitor can participate in a virtual race overlooking the real highway next to the “Kinderstad”.
In the KPN Wizzkids Corner, the children can use the internet, play virtual games and watch little movies. There is also a reader’s corner where they can read books in a calm atmosphere. Finally, there is a slide, which the children can use to slide down from the 10th to the 9th floor.
Last but not least, there is a living room area with a calm atmosphere for the parents who want to catch their breath for a moment.
There are many important issues involved in buying a new home. Searching the best value for your family means evaluating your unique family needs and matching them to the numerous home choices. Imperial Legacy Homes is not only among the great builders, but we are the only great builder out there to match the qualities of exciting luxury homes with the economies of production home building.
The experience of custom homes can bring elegance and the advantage of being fashionably current, with the latest household products and appliances. A custom home also brings you unique experiments with architectural treatments and floor plan designs. However, investing in a custom luxury home is quite expensive; the overall result may not turn out to be the dream home you have been anticipating.
Imperial Legacy has created the opportunity for you to find exceptional homes that have been carefully scrutinized over years of development to result in fabulously livable floor plans. Warmth and elegance can be found in every Imperial Legacy home, and these qualities will be recognized by you, your family and friends. While we design and engineer each home for efficiency, we do not engineer excitement of our homes. Dramatic architectural design is not free, but it is within your reach when you buy an Imperial Legacy Home.
Additionally, you will love our huge Design Center, loaded with the latest materials you can select and customize your home with. Our buying process will allow you to make your own individual mark on your home in ways other production builders would not even attempt. Elegance and grand architectural design are distinguishable characteristics once your enter an Imperial Legacy model home, but it takes the careful eye to see and understand the many exclusive features of our homes.
We--Imperial Legacy-- have spent a long time developing our unique collection of innovative features embedded in every room in the house. Learn about them through this website, or come see for yourself at our model homes. Once you understand Imperial Legacy’s unparalleled qualities, you will not want to buy a new home without them.
To understand a luxury home, is to understand an Imperial Legacy Home.
In many cases, the label 'luxury' is misleading because it is used to describe properties that offer basic amenities like parking and sports facilities which are considered standard in the rest of Europe.
The average price of houses in the center of Sofia top out at around 3,000 euro/sq m. Houses in upscale suburban neighborhoods Simeonovo, Dragalevtsi and Boyana range between 1,200 and 1,600 euro/sq m.
Most of the luxury apartments on the market are located in gated communities and usually occupy the top floor of the building. Away from the gated complexes, downtown Sofia and the foothills of Vitosha mountain, luxury homes are mostly available in the Iztok, Lozenets and Ivan Vazov districts.
The rise in luxury housing prices has kept pace with the overall residential market, gaining 40-45% on an annual basis. The only standout is Ivan Vazov where prices added only 30%. Apartments with an area of over 90 sq m in prime neighborhoods in Varna appreciate by 25-45% annually with average prices at 1,100 to 1,500 euro/sq m.
We’ve waxed lyrical about many a mini backyard prefab, (the FutureShed, the Modern Cabana, the MetroShed) but the EcoSpace Garden Studio really takes the cake. This stylish little prefab is green in almost every way: it is constructed from sustainably harvested cedar, employs eco-friendly materials throughout the structure and interior, and even comes outfitted with a pre-built green roof! Starting at £15,850, its reasonably priced as well - although bathrooms, kitchens and necessary amenities cost extra.
EcoSpace is based in London, so I imagine their buildings are only for sale in the UK, but here’s hoping this idea will be successful enough to jump the pond soon!
One of the most beautiful, flexible, and complex prefab systems we’ve covered in the last year is the Ray Kappe designed Living Home. For better and worse, it was covered this week in the LA Times by writer Christopher Hawthorne in the article “Such a deal?” Although he addressed several shortcomings that bother us about the current prefab industry, we can’t help but feel he cast a harsh light on prefabs in general based upon this high end model.
“…the last thing the fledgling prefab movement needs at this point is aggressive marketing or more hype. What it needs is a reality check.” –Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times
Yes, there’s a lot of prefab hype. We admit it; a bit of a prefab bubble, yet to be filled. But we consider this an important weekly topic for two important reasons. First, a handful of designs in the not so distant future will emerge at the head of the pack and deliver quality sustainable design – and we want to be at the front of this curve. The second, and perhaps more important reason for the massive amount of publicity is to convince the general public (and the design community first) that prefab can be an affordable, livable, reliable, and environmentally conscious alternative to the entrenched system of building a home.
Ask the average person on the street “what’s a prefab home?” and you’ll likely get a description of a mobile home. Then, ask them if they would be willing to pay a thirty year mortgage on something that just rolled out of a factory and was built in 15 days. Given its huge potential for reducing the environmental impact of construction- while providing housing for people at all economic levels, we feel the deluge of marketing is essential to help educate the public and create a dialogue between what home owners want and what the manufacturers can provide.
Yes, the Living Home is expensive. Look at it! I can’t believe it’s under $2 million; this is the Cadillac of current prefab designs. Don’t knock it on approachability and affordability, because that’s definitely not the target market which Kappe was designing for. This “product” offers a beautiful, spacious, and quick move-in design for those with sophisticated modern tastes- and relatively deep pockets. There are many other prefab models in production that do provide a more affordable housing option. Tiny ones like the Weehouse, several designs by Michelle Kaufman, and the sub-$100,000 option by Rocio Romero are all good examples.
So what about “Sloping lot affects cost?” Hawthorne is merely pointing out the obvious here. If you can figure out how to locate a structure on the side of Pike’s Peak for the same price as one on rolling prairie, you’ll become a billionaire over night. The issue of site is always an unknown – no prefab manufacturer would give you a quote for site work unseen, because every site is different. All construction requires custom site work, including footings or foundation preparation, drainage considerations, and utility requirements; this is not particular to prefab.
“Greenwashing,” admittedly, is becoming a commonplace problem. However, whether it’s a single solar panel, or a complete zero energy design- the green marketing comes in response to consumer outcry. Americans are finally getting sustainable alternatives, having voiced a willingness to pay a premium for products that are healthier for ourselves and the planet. And while many prefab projects tout their superior green features, by far, what makes the most difference is the reduction in waste and energy that is possible through mass production, delivery, and offsite construction.
Part of our frustration, as part of the home buying public, is that what we’re seeing now is the infancy of the prefab construction industry. Yes, we all know it ain’t perfect, but many talented minds are toiling away to produce the next best rendition, to deliver what the twenty-second century market wants, and what the planet needs. Of course, they wouldn’t mind becoming the Henry Ford of the prefab home, either. 
We have covered the Sustain MiniHOME on Inhabitat before - but this is the first time we’ve gotten a real photographic look at the gorgeous eco-friendly prefab. We go on and on about how sick and tired we are of seeing prefab in renderings and models and never the real thing. Of late, of course, we’ve had a few, such as Living Homes and a small army of sheds. But when we feasted our eyes on the most recent images of Sustain Mini Home’s first house, it was like getting a piece of 3-layer cake after endless courses of brussels sprouts. We could stare at these all day.
This design is not only beautiful inside and out, it’s also sustainable through and through. As they say themselves:
“Even when the miniHome was only 1-day old out of the factory, it didn’t have any of the noxious off-gassing and poor indoor air quality that plagues most vehicles, trailers, houses and manufactured products. That’s because we set out a very exclusive set of criteria for our manufacturer, which demanded:
* No vinyl
* No formaldehyde
* No toxic adhesives or finishes
* All water-based, or plant oil-based finishes
* No CFC’s or HCFC’s
* All woods to be certified from sustainable sources (FSC certification)
* High natural ventilation rate (windows open)
* Constant fresh air supply (windows closed) via heat-recovery-ventilator
* durable and low-maintenance
This ensured both a mountain-fresh indoor air quality, with the pleasant aromas of unfinished cedar and beeswax millwork finishes, and a clear conscience - that we produced a building of enduring beauty from materials and methods that have the lightest burden on our ecosystems.”
The whole story and plenty of FAQs can be found at their site: sustain.ca 
The Trapanese house, designed by Celoria Archotects, starts with the idea of a main way that goes through the house connecting the road with the hill.
The stairs are put in the centre, creating a hinge of rotation from which all the different spaces are organised on different levels. This double height void also connects the earth with the sky.
The house is entirely cladded with polycarbonate slabs. This allows to have two different types of light in the house, direct and diffused.
Added to an end-of-terrace house in North London, Focus House is a delightful prefabricated eco-home for a family of five. Bere Architects, the firm behind the design, used PassivHaus principles to inform their process. The world’s leading energy efficiency standard, Passivhaus recognizes buildings that are so energy efficient all they need is a small electric heater. Focus House is a unique design that embodies the prefab principles of waste reduction and efficiency, and raises the bar on energy-efficient building design.
Made in Austria and then transported to London in kit form, the building is formed of KLH UK solid timber panels, clad in zinc paneling. Not only is timber a less carbon-intensive material than concrete, it was cheaper and quicker to construct, taking a week to build for a cost of £50,000. The timber also helps to stabilize the building’s temperature, further reducing energy requirements.
Incoming air is warmed using waste heat from the bathroom, and a solar heater provides half of the building’s hot water requirements. But despite great ambition, the building doesn’t quite achieve PassivHaus standards. Although windows use a heat recovery ventilation system, they didn’t meet the PassivHaus triple glazing requirements. Still, the energy efficiency of this home stands as an example for low-impact living.
Measuring only 2.8m wide at the front, it’s hard to believe five people can live comfortably in the space. But with a glance at the back of the Focus House, you’ll see it widens to a swinging 7m, as well as offering a delightful garden and outdoor seating space.
We’re not the only one that thinks Focus House is an outstanding design. Grand Designs Awards presented it with ‘Best Eco House’, and RIBA felt it worthy of its London Region Award.
I’ve spent a lot of my spare time over the past several weeks trying to decide on furniture for the family room. My research has included:
* Poring over every furniture catalog ever published — from Restoration Hardware (beautiful, but expensive) to West Elm (too modern) to J.C. Penney (a little too practical).
* Surfing dozens of Web sites, including eBay (there are currently 764 listings for sofas and love seats, but none is what I have in mind).
* Visiting a number of bricks-and-mortar furniture stores, including Macy’s, LaZBoy, Bassett, Ethan Allen, Raymour & Flanagan and Bloomingdale’s. I even dragged Paul all over Manatee and Sarasota counties last time we were in Florida, hoping to find the perfect local store. But most of what we saw didn’t fit our taste: Robb & Stucky, a small chain, was way too formal, while other retailers, such as Kane’s, seemed to specialize in dark furniture, the opposite of the casual, beach-cottage style we seek.
My objectives were fourfold:
1. The furniture needs to be comfortable but attractive.
2. It has to be reasonably priced.
3. It has to come from a trusted source that can provide reliable customer service if something does not work out.
4. It needs to be deliverable the first week of April, when the house will be completed. (Yes, I still believe.)
So the winners, as Paul hinted on Friday, were: Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn.
There’s a Crate and Barrel furniture store three miles from our house in New Jersey; not only are the pieces to our taste, but the shipping policy is going to work well for us. It’s a flat fee of $279 for an unlimited number of furniture items going to a single address. (We also ordered bedroom furniture, which I’ll write about in upcoming posts.)
As for Pottery Barn, a customer service representative patiently stayed with me on the phone for about 30 minutes, while we sorted out ordering some items and making sure they could be delivered in early April.
Here’s what we chose:
Sofas
Paul liked the Potomac sofa as soon as he saw it and sat on it, and I liked the fact that it’s slipcovered, and the slipcovers are machine-washable. The men in my life — Paul, Peter, Sam and Nick (as well as Buster, the world’s most annoying dog ) — are not quite as neat as I might have liked. We were happy with the stock color, called Oatmeal, because it’s neutral and we can add color and other details around it with pillows, rugs and lamps.
After measuring the family room space, we decided to get a full-size sofa and a love seat, which we plan to arrange in an L-shape: the full-size sofa will have its back to the kitchen, and the love seat will sit along the left-hand wall (if you’re facing the kitchen).
Coffee and Side Tables
I loved the Parsons collection. It’s a little modern, but the Travertine top is very sensuous and just a bit glamorous (“a bit” is as glamorous as I get). The only downside: We have to use coasters. We chose a square coffee table and two side tables.
Entertainment Stand
We ordered a Rhys media console (which was on sale; every little bit helps). We plan to buy a flat-screen TV to put on top, and place this piece at the back of the family room, in between the porch doors.
I know there will be more needed for the family room — lamps, a rug, pillows, probably another chair or two — but this will be enough to get us started, so we can use the space as soon as we move in.
The 11th International Architecture Exhibition entitled Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, directed by Aaron Betsky and organized by La Biennale di Venezia presided over by Paolo Baratta, will take place in Venice from Sunday, September 14th to Sunday, November 23rd 2008.
According to Aaron Betsky, six year director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, and director of the Cincinnati Art Museum 11th Architecture Biennale Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, “will point the way towards an architecture liberated from buildings to engage the central issues of our society; instead of the tombs of architecture, which is to say buildings, it will present site specific installations, visions and experiments that help us figure out, make sense of and feel at home in our modern world.”
Betsky goes on to point out “what should be an obvious fact: architecture is not building. Buildings are objects and the act of building leads to such objects, but architecture is something else. It is the way we think and talk about buildings, how we represent them, how we build them. This is architecture. More generally, architecture is a way of representing, shaping and perhaps even offering critical alternatives to the human-made environment. In fact, buildings are not enough. They are the tombs of architecture, the residue of the desire to make another world, a better world, and a world open to possibilities beyond the everyday. In a concrete sense, architecture is that which allows us to be at home in the world”.
“The challenge of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale – underlines Betsky - is to collect and encourage experimentation in architecture. Such experimentation can take the form of momentary constructions, visions of other worlds, or the building blocks of a better world. This Biennale does not want to present buildings that are already in existence and can be enjoyed in real life. It does not want to propose abstract solutions to social problems, but wants to see if architecture, by experimenting in and on the real world, can offer some concrete forms or seductive images”
As I’ve said in Contemporary Kitchen in Bamboo post in these days the kitchen has long since become a place where the boundaries between food preparation and everyday life dissolve. The kitchen is continuing its evolution into a natural part of people’s living areas. Now by following this trend Designboom hold a contest entitled “Kitchen is the heart of the home“, where 2980 designers from 102 different countries participated. The winning entry at this contest is a design created by 3 designers from China ( Cheng He, Liu Quang Kui and Zhou Dong ) and is called “Round cupboard assembling that can be rotated and lifted”. The final design it’s futuristic, but still very realistic kitchen concept. Each element of the kitchen is designed to allow objects to come to the user, instead of having the user moving to reach them. In conclusion this concept can save a lot of time and space, because everything is very compact and handy …and finally improve your productivity.
Now here are a few words from the designers of the winning product :
1. Creating the new concept of happy kitchen: Sharing the joy with relatives and friends face-to-face.
2. Cupboard adopts double-deck rotator structure, can rotate 180°respectively, the three major work center of washing, mixing and cooking can rotate in the front of the operator, let “zero” distance in each workflow; And can lift in certain distance in order to be suitable for the different operator.
3. Flume has two kinds of outlets: The parallel water outlets of induction type lie on both sides of flume; The holding type faucets with metal hose lie in the middle of two flumes, that can be suitable for operating under various environments.
4.Abandon the board type, slide rail and hinge of the traditional cupboard completely. This cupboard regards the structure frame of aluminium alloy and the combination of stainless steel pipe as the integer structure. Adopt level bearing, hydraulic pressure system, shutting system to realize lifting of cupboard and wall cupboard.
5. Integrative structures with operational table-board, flume and kitchen, cupboard distribute icebox, disinfector and oven symmetrically, other borders are closets.
6. Lower cupboard is drawing structure, can pull out wholly while using, and make the operation simplify. Hang the kitchen ventilator under the top cupboard with function of illumination.
What do you do with truck tail lights which no longer work? Turn them into a chandelier! This innovative chandelier designed by Stuart Haygarth, a Berlin based artist, illustrator and lighting designer is just brilliant and I love the re-use & recycle concept being put into great works of design.
When we think of greenhouses many of us imagine a pristine building of glass with endless trays of plants. But your greenhouse doesn’t have to be grand to bear produce and take a bite out of your grocery bill.
Location, Location, Location
Obviously, the greenhouse should be places where it cane get the most sunlight. In our hemisphere the best choice is directly south or on southeast side of your home. Experts say that the morning sunlight is the best because it gets the plant’s food production going and so growth is stronger. If the greenhouse is to be used all year then shoot for the winter sun exposure because the sun is lower in the sky in winter. Also it should be shelters from the wind. Build the greenhouse above the ground so that the water will drain away.
Attached Greenhouses
There are three basic types: lean -to, even span: and window.
1. Lean-To: The lean-to design is when space is limited. It can be built over a doorway but should always be on the wall which gets the most sun. It is somewhat limited because it will not get all the sun because the wall will block some of the daylight.
2. Even Span: This is full-size structure with one wall, usually an end wall, attached to a building. It is better than an lean-to because it has better air circulation, can be expanded and gets more light.
3. Window-Mount: This style is the cheapest and easily accessible. But it is the most limiting. It is basically a box that fits in a window frame and is good for spices, small plants and starter plants.
4. Free-Standing: Like the ever-span this greenhouse is larger but has more light than the attached model.
Building Materials
Glass: The old greenhouses were wood-frames with glass inserts. The frames had to be maintained and the expansion and contraction of the wood had to be monitored. The new ones have metal frames and are covered with fiberglass or a thick plastic sheeting but the mainstay is the aluminum frame with glass panes. These are permanent and are easy to maintain and allow 90% of light to pass through.
Plastic Panels: These are usually double-sheeted so that the energy savings is 30% over glass but the light transmission is 80%. Acrylic doesn’t yellow but polycarbonates tend to cloud up if not UV protected.
Plastic Sheeting: This material is cheap but has to be replaced every few years. However, because it is light the frame does not have to be as strong so the framing material would be cheaper than a glass or fiberglass greenhouse.
For the homeowner one of the best ways to build a greenhouse is to get old windows destined for a landfill and construct your own small one to get a feel for it. The wooden window frames can be easily attached to a wood frame. In this way you can rebuild it the next year when you get more glass. the main thing is that you will have a cheap greenhouse which can be expanded.
