On 1 October 2016, Second Dome was inflated in London Fields in East London to host free community events for local families and children. The events were organized by the not-for-profit organization Shuffle, and include animation workshops, film screenings, pinata-designing and science experiments.
Courtesy of Dosis
This free day of activities in London Fields is part of Second Home’s commitment to supporting local communities and civic spaces.
Courtesy of Dosis
Second Dome is a reconfigurable space that can transform within minutes from a single 65 sqm bubble to a multi-room structure with over 400 sqm and 8 meters high. No other type of structure can be assembled so quickly and also have the capacity to span large areas with a thickness of less than a millimeter. It is a technologic artefact that automatically responds to wind and pressure and that needs extremely low quantities of energy for fabrication and assembly.
Courtesy of Dosis
Second Dome was commissioned for Founders Forum 2016, Europe's leading business and technology event to house a series of high-profile events including an exclusive talk on design and innovation with architect David Adjaye and iPod co-creator and Nest founder Tony Fadell.
As part of a new exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., twelve dollhouses tracing the history of British domesticity have been lent by London's Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood. The show—Small Stories: At Home in a Dollhouse—spans 300 years and presents a miniature-sized, up-close-and-personal view of developments in architecture and design – from lavish country mansions, to an urban high-rise.
Displayed chronologically, Small Stories encompasses a stately home, a lodging house, a suburban villa, and a wartime council estate. According to the curators, the "exhibition take[s] visitors on a journey through the history of the home, everyday lives, and changing family relationships." The imagined stories of each house are brought to life by the characters who live or work there—the owners, tenants, children, and servants—as day-to-day life is illuminated through tales of marriages and parties; politics and crime.
The Tate Baby House, dating from 1760, was owned by the same family for 170 years, passed down from mother to eldest daughter. It includes original wallpapers and hand-painted paneling. In the lying-in room all set up for a home childbirth, Joanna, the pregnant doll, is ready with clean linens and a beautiful gold and red cradle for the newcomer.
At Henriques House, it is an early morning in October of 1828, and a crime has just taken place. Phineas Henriques has been robbed. With the candlesticks missing, broken railings, and an open window, the evidence points to an inside job. But the servant claims his innocence...
Whiteladies House is in the style of a Modernist country villa, and was designed by artist Moray Thomas in the 1930s. Here, a house party is in full swing, and the house features chrome furniture, a cocktail bar, and artworks by British Futurist Claude Flight as well as a swimming pool and garage.
The Hopkinson House was built in the style of London County Council’s 1930s suburb, the St. Helier Estate. The interior shows a World War II-era family in intricate detail, poised for an air-raid, with miniature gasmasks, ration books and torches for the blackouts. The children are upstairs packing, preparing to be evacuated from the war-torn city.
Jenny’s Home is a 1960s high-rise, telling the story of young people in the modern city. Here lives a young couple with a new baby, a Jamaican immigrant, and Jenny, a single girl listening to a transistor radio and getting ready to go out for some late-night dancing in her “groovy” new red dress.
The British government have come to the realisation that the Palace of Westminster—the iconic UK Houses of Parliament designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin—is in desperate need of full-scale restoration and renovation. The decision to move ahead with the plans will be costly and inconvenient; aside from the need to repair the structure, the UK government is bracing itself for eye-watering "relocation" fees. In response to this, Gensler have proposed a temporary parliament on the banks of the River Thames.
Self-described as a "radical" concept, the proposal is intended to "reduce the cost and minimise the disruption of the comprehensive refurbishment of the Palace." Employing a modular structure to create maximum flexibility and security, the design accommodates all the principal components of the current Houses of Parliament – it maintains the relationship between both Chambers (the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords), and their supporting Committee Rooms. The new modular structure could potentially be built in less than three years in shipyards across the UK and floated along the Thames to be secured and assembled on the river.
An essential element of the refurbishment proposals for the House of Parliament requires total decantation of the building for an estimated six years. The challenge has been to find a suitable location within Whitehall that can accommodate Parliament in an efficient and cost effective manner. This concept offers a unique opportunity to co-locate the House of Commons and the House of Lords together with all their supporting committee rooms in a purpose built structure at the centre of the Whitehall estate.
Security has been carefully thought through. According to Gensler, "the concept overcomes some of the initial concerns about a river location by ensuring the structure does not interrupt the navigable channel along the centre of the river." They add that the proposal also incorporates a number of security measures that supplement the natural defence provided by the river itself.
The design takes inspiration from the magnificent hammerbeam roof of Westminster Hall, which was commissioned by Richard II in 1393 and is the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe. The 250-metre-long structure would be built on a series of steel platforms and the building above would be a dramatic, high-tech, wooden-framed structure covering 8,600 square metres, which would provide all the necessary environmental and acoustic containment.
Reset architecture has designed a multipurpose theatre pavilion with a hall for 200 seats in the woods of ‘Zonnewende group stay’. The sturdy brick building is designed to blend into its surroundings but also to stand out.
The domain of ‘Zonnewende’ is part of a nature reserve, you find dense woods combined with open spaces for sports and play. Barracks in the woods are used for theater, musical performances or other activities. A 220 m2 derelict barrack is now replaced with a 430 m2 pavilion, offering space for 200 seats in a theatre hall.
The buildings on the Zonnewende grounds have a certain nonchalance in their architecture. The presence of different types of roof shapes provide an informal quality. Within this context, a building with a special roof type may seem like a logical continuation. Reset has given this a twist by reshaping a simple gable roof. A rectangular volume with two gable roofs are cut out at corners so that the building-contour follows the edge of the woods. This allows the pavilion to blend in easily in its surroundings. It also creates an interesting façade differentiation with dynamic roof lines. Optically, this approach also changes the scale perception of the building, you never experience the full extent of the pavilion. The sensitive way Reset architecture situates the building also shows in the encounter of facade and sandy bottom, a color gradient in the base brickwork softens the transition. The façade is made up of four brick types, each with its own color scheme, to subtly resonate color tones from the soil. The façade with a grandstand has a totally different character. The harder gray shades in the façade and roof are a clear visual reaction to the adjacent asphalt sports field.
The entrance is slightly accentuated with a recess which is created by the interlocking of two wall surfaces. Upon entering the entrance hall you experience the continuity of the woods in the interior. The birch wood walls and ceilings give it the right atmosphere that are combined with the matching tiles in which you see different gray and brown shades from the sandy soil of the woods. The theatre pavilion was constructed in a short time during the winter when Zonnewende is closed, lack of time and a limited budget required a pragmatic design. The plan has a clear organization composed of two zones; the multipurpose theatre hall and all additional program. The pavilion is built with a prefabricated timber frame construction that is also the birch finishing of the interior. The inner wall between the hall and the hallway form a unit with the roof through the use of birch wood. In order, the rafters consistent with the wall and the roof, and give a clear organization of space. The contrast is created by the white timber outer wall that folds freely. The wall claims its own logic, which is also emphasized in the divergent position of the openings.
Product Description. The sensitive way Reset architecture situates the building shows in the encounter of facade and sandy bottom, a color gradient in the base brickwork softens the transition. The façade is made up of four brick types, each with its own color scheme, to subtly resonate color tones from the soil.
Over the course of 134 years of construction of the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona has experienced three unresolved conflicts. First, there was a lack of a (contemporary) construction permit, the nonpayment of taxes, and finally the uncertainty about whether or not to finally build the large plaza to the southeast that Gaudí imagined with the forced expulsion of up to 3,000 residents and lessees, all living in the area surrounding Sagrada Familia’s Glory Façade.
In recent days, these three issues have come to light almost simultaneously, but let’s discuss them one by one. Bitterly upset by what he describes as "a project without plans in Gaudi's name" Councilman of Barcelona Architecture, Urban Landscape and Heritage Daniel Mòdol called the Sagrada Familia a "giant Easter cake".
His statement, reported by the press two weeks ago, overshadowed the official Municipal proposal made to the temple’s construction monitoring committee "if they plan to modify the planning around the basilica" in a maximum period of six months. This is in reference to the large esplanade designed by Gaudi in his original plan, in front of the Glory Façade (between the streets Mallorca and Arago): a walkway 60 meters wide that would connect the temple with Diagonal Avenue.
Barcelona City Council took up the matter and announced the creation of a Commission of Architectural Quality, that same that happens with the rest of the buildings in the city, but this will be exclusive to the Sagrada Familia. In turn, the temple’s Board has reacted and asked to meet with the authorities to explain how it is planning the delicate construction of the project’s final six towers: the Jesus Christ tower (172.5 meters), the Virgin Mary (140 meters) and the other four dedicated to the Evangelists (each 135 meters), all produced outside Barcelona and assembled on site.
Regarding the building permit, the Board of the Sagrada Familia has made a statement to the Spanish press that the construction is based on a permit request made to the City of Sant Martí de Provençals in 1885, 12 years before its administrative annexation to Barcelona. Jordi Fauli, the head architect of the temple explained the Board’s position on the absence of a building permit, following questioning from El País last September:
The doors are open [for observation], but this is about us moving forward with the original project with the license that was requested at the time the municipality of Sant Martí de Provençals, not a new building.
Along with the processing permits for the building, something that’s been delayed by all previous Town Council administrations, the current government is requiring the church to pay taxes. The deputy chairman of the Sagrada Familia Foundation, Esteve Camps, explained to La Vanguardia that the basilica "is willing to pay the taxes for which it is responsible under the law" without specifying whether that meant taxes related to construction permits or property taxes.
From the architect. The party proposed an inviting space, integrated into a surrounding environment that goes beyond only fulfill the functions of a home, welcomes those who like to experiment, mix and discover the new, satisfying all family desires.
Simple lines and volumes that create relationships between internal and external space, resulting in the interaction of looks that turn to the garden. The materials used not only determine the finish as well as the specific uses: wood, concrete, stone and Corten steel express the influence of Brazilian modernism.
There are at least as many definitions of architecture as there are architects or people who comment on the practice of it. While some embrace it as art, others defend architecture’s seminal social responsibility as its most definitive attribute. To begin a sentence with “Architecture is” is a bold step into treacherous territory. And yet, many of us have uttered — or at least thought— “Architecture is…” while we’ve toiled away on an important project, or reflected on why we’ve chosen this professional path.
Most days, architecture is a tough practice; on others, it is wonderfully satisfying. Perhaps, though, most importantly, architecture is accommodating and inherently open to possibility.
This collection of statements illustrates the changing breadth of architecture’s significance; we may define it differently when talking among peers, or adjust our statements for outsiders.
A note: In an age that is particularly enamored with capturing ideas in 140 characters or less, it is tempting to take these remarks out of context. Yet many are part of a larger, nuanced conversation. Sources and/or context are included for each definition.
1. "Architecture is definitely a political act." - Peter Eisenman in Haaretz
2. "Architecture is unnecessarily difficult. It's very tough." - Zaha Hadid in The Guardian
3. "Architecture is by definition a very collaborative process." - Joshua Prince-Ramus in Fast Company
4. "Architecture is a way of seeing, thinking and questioning our world and our place in it." - Thom Mayne in his Prtizker Prize Acceptance Speech
5. "Architecture is the art and science of making sure that our cities and buildings actually fit with the way we want to live our lives: the process of manifesting our society into our physical world. - Bjarke Ingels in AD Interviews
6. "Architecture is merciless: it is what it is, it works or doesn’t, and you can clearly see the difference." - Jacques Herzog in a lecture at Columbia University
7. “Architecture is always related to power and related to large interests, whether financial or political." - Bernard Tschumi in The New York Times
8. "Architecture is a good example of the complex dynamic of giving." - Jeffrey Inaba in World of Giving
9. "Architecture is too complex for just one person to do it, and I love collaboration." - Richard Rogers in The Guardian
10. "Architecture is the most powerful deed that a man can imagine." - Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos in Volume
11. "Architecture is an act of optimism." - Nicolai Ouroussoff in The LA Times
12. "Architecture is an artificial fact." - Mario Botta in Perspecta
13. "Architecture is full of romantics who think that even relatively small changes to the built environment create the aspiration for a better society." - Mark Wigley in Surface Magazine
14. "Architecture is for us, the public, and it is going to get scuffed." - Alexandra Lange in Design Observer
15. "Architecture is the work of nations..." John Ruskin in Stones of Venice
16. "Architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience." - Roland Barthes in "Semiology and Urbanism"
17. "Architecture is an expression of values – the way we build is a reflection of the way we live." - Norman Foster in The European
18. "Architecture is the real battleground of the spirit." - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in "ID Merger Speech"
19. "Architecture is not a question of the purely theoretical if you're interested in building buildings. It's the art of what is possible." - Paul Rudolph in Chicago Architects Oral History Project
20. "Architecture is geometry." - Álvaro Siza in Imaginar a Evidência (Imagining Evidence)
21. "Architecture is about improving conditions: environmental, social and sometimes also political." - Arjen Oosterman in Volume
22. "Architecture is not just one thing. It is not just an art. … It has to deal with the real situation; it has to do something good for the society." - Xiaodu Liu in "What Can Architecture Do? An Interview with Xiaodu Liu" on ArchDaily
23. "Architecture is much more than the building of an object on a site: it is a reinvention of the site itself." - Sean Lally in The Air From Other Planets
24. "Architecture is a language: new designs should abide by grammatical rules to avoid dissonance with existing structures." - Prince Charles in The Architectural Review
27. "Architecture is a very complex effort everywhere. It’s very rare that all the forces that need to coincide to actually make a project proceed are happening at the same time." - Rem Koolhaas in Co.Design
28. "Architecture is intended to transcend the simple need for shelter and security by becoming an expression of artistry." - Jay A. Pritzker in his 1985 Pritzker Ceremony Speech
29. "Architecture is the only art that you can't help but feel. You can avoid paintings, you can avoid music, and you can even avoid history. But good luck getting away from architecture." - Philippe Daverio in Humans of New York
30. "Architecture is the petrification of a cultural moment." - Jean Nouvel in Newsweek
31. "Architecture is characterised by endurance and longevity: a long education, long training, long hours and long lives." - Catherine Slessor in The Architectural Review
32. "Architecture is a muddle of irreconcilable things." - Juhani Pallasmaa in The Architectural Review
33. "Architecture is, in many ways, a very specific type of science fiction; it is its own genre of speculative thought," - Geoff Manaugh in Architect
34. "Architecture is largely irrelevant to the great mass of the world's population because architects have chosen to be." - Bruce Mau in Architect
35. "Architecture is becoming less about a single walled-off phallus on the horizon, and more about parks and public spaces which engage with the city." - Alissa Walker in Gizmodo
36. "Architecture is most often a victory over the process of creating architecture." - Sam Jacob in Log
37. "Architecture is capable of mounting a profound critique of the status quo." - Reinhold Martin in Places
38. "Architecture is such a conspicuous immensely physical object in space its presence is bound to influence everyone.” - Gautam Bhatia in India International Centre Quarterly
39. "Architecture is not just about building. It's a means of improving people's quality of life." - Diébédo Francis Kéré in Washington Post
40. “Architecture is a physical experience — it needs to be seen and touched to be wholly understood.” - Nicolai Ouroussoff in Los Angeles Times
41. "Architecture is really difficult. I realized that only very recently. It's like music. You can enjoy it but — to know it — it's a different story." - Diana Agrest in nprEd
42. "Architecture is capable of absorbing anything, and hence tends to dissolve into everything." - Ole Bouman in Volume
43. "Architecture is not just a matter of technology and aesthetics but the frame for a way of life – and, with luck, an intelligent way of life." - Bernard Rudofsky
44. "Architecture is a discipline where you can have multivalent interests. You could be a philosopher, a geographer, a scientist, an artist, an engineer; you can be poetic about it." - Toshiko Mori in Metropolis
45. "Architecture is supposed to be about a higher purpose." - Stanley Tigerman in Newsweek
46. "Architecture is the most public of the arts, and the public are severe critics." - Eric Parry in The Guardian
47. "Architecture is a formmaker, problem‐solver and environment‐creator, and the international exposition is its laboratory." - Ada Louise Huxtable in New York Times
48. "Architecture is supposed to complete nature. Great architecture makes nature more beautiful—it gives it power."- Claudio Silvestrin in Elle Decor
49. "Architecture is a small piece of this human equation, but for those of us who practice it, we believe in its potential to make a difference, to enlighten and to enrich the human experience, to penetrate the barriers of misunderstanding and provide a beautiful context for life's drama." - Frank Gehry in his 1989 Pritzker Prize Ceremony Speech
50. "Architecture is not a private affair; even a house must serve a whole family and its friends, and most buildings are used by everybody, people of all walks of life. If a building is to meet the needs of all the people, the architect must look for some common ground of understanding and experience." - John Portman in "The Architect as Developer"
51. “Architecture is a social art. And as a social art, it is our social responsibility to make sure that we are delivering architecture that meets not only functional and creature comforts, but also spiritual comfort.” - Samuel Mockbee
52. "Architecture is too important to be left to men alone." - Sarah Wigglesworth in Parlour
53. "Architecture is not a purely private transaction between architects and clients. It affects everyone, so it ought to be understandable to everyone. - Blair Kamin
54. "Architecture is vital and enduring because it contains us; it describes space, space we move through, exit in and use." - Richard Meier in his 1984 Pritzker Prize Ceremony Speech
55. "Architecture is more about ideas than materials." - Qingyun Ma in Los Angeles Times
56. "Architecture is not just for big star projects like museums. It's for the slums around them, too." - Juan Ramon Adsuara in npr
57. "Architecture is bashful about reality." - Wouter Vanstiphout in Archis
58. "Architecture is just background. The beauty of architecture is that it brings people together and can create public constructs." - Ben Van Berkel in AD Interviews
59. "Architecture is about hope, about change—it makes life more exciting." - Lars Lerup in Architect
60. "Architecture is blessed and cursed with more dimensions than its greats know what to do with: the three of sensible space, the celebrated fourth of travel through it; and others, ineffable, beyond—the fifth of utility, say, the seventh of happy accident, the ominous eleventh." - Philip Nobel in Metropolis
61. "Architecture is a mystery that must be preserved." - Jean Nouvel in Huffington Post
62. "Architecture is only as great as the aspirations of its society." - Lisa Rochon in Globe and Mail
63."Architecture is like the picture of Dorian Gray: It can look beautiful in public, while somewhere out of sight its true soul withers and rots." - Lance Hosey in Architect
64. "Architecture is about reason-right?" - Alfred Caldwell in Chicago Tribune
65. "Architecture is a profession of optimism." - Johanna Hurme in spacing
66. "Architecture is about the manipulation of light: both artificial light and day lighting."- Tom Kundig in Architectural Record
67. “Architecture is expected to carry too much weight in many cases.” - Patricia Patkau in Globe and Mail
68. “Architecture is not a goal. Architecture is for life and pleasure and work and for people. The picture frame, not the picture.” - William Wurster
69. "Architecture is the most obvious flower of a society's culture." - Alan Balfour in Art Papers
70. "Architecture is more than making a statement from the street. It's making an environment for living.” - Dion Neutra in Los Angeles Times
71. “Architecture is a translation process.” - Fernando Romero in Metropolis
72. "Architecture is quite a narrow, obsessive business." - Nicholas Grimshaw in The Guardian
73. "Architecture is perplexing in how inconsistent is its capacity to generate the happiness on which its claim to our attention is founded." - Alain de Botton in The Architecture of Happiness
74. "Architecture is a kind of urban ballet." - Aaron Betsky in New York Times
75. "Architecture is a history of style written by the victors." - Herbert Muschamp in New York Times
76. "Architecture is driven by belief in the nature of the real and the physical: the specific qualities of one thing - its material, form, arrangement, substance, detail - over another." - Kester Rattenbury in This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions
80. "Architecture is an incredible ego trip. You get things done, you build them, you look at them. That's why I enjoy life and don't have an ulcer. - Stanley Tigerman in the Chicago Tribune
81. "Architecture is a strange field where we’re constantly asked to demonstrate over and over why design matters, to everyone, all the time. It’s exhausting." - Amale Andraos in Metropolis
82. "Architecture is about the lack of stability and how to address it. Architecture is about the void and how to cross it. Architecture is about inhospitability and how to live within it." - Geoff Manaugh in The Guardian
83. "Architecture is both an art and a practical pursuit, and the profession has always been divided between those who emphasize the art, that is pure design, and those who give priority to the practical." - Paul Goldberger in New York Times
84. Architecture is one of the reflections of the permanence of a civilization. - Charlie Rose
85. Architecture is not a profession for the faint-hearted, the weak-willed, or the short-lived. - Martin Filler in The New York Review of Books
86. "Architecture is a very dangerous job. If a writer makes a bad book, eh, people don't read it. But if you make bad architecture, you impose ugliness on a place for a hundred years." - Renzo Piano in Time
87. "Architecture is the pathology of the contemporary era." - Forensic Architecture
88. "Architecture is a discipline directly engaged with shaping enclosure, of erecting and toppling barriers or—more explicitly—of extending and limiting ‘freedoms’." - E. Sean Bailey & Erandi de Silva in "BI's First Print Edition Released - FREE: Architecture on the Loose"
89. "Architecture is interesting, but by itself it means nothing." - Massimiliano Fuksas in New York Times
90. "Architecture is an art, yet we rarely concentrate our attention on buildings as we do on plays, books, and paintings." - Witold Rybczynski in Metropolis
91. "Architecture is aligned with and implicated in the systems of surveillance and control." - Eric Howeler in Volume
92. "Architecture is 90 per cent business and 10 per cent art." - Albert Kahn
93. "Architecture is probably the subject of more theorizing, navel-gazing and introspective agonizing than any of the other arts." - Paul Gapp in the Chicago Tribune
94. "Architecture is invention."- Oscar Niemeyer in Newsweek
95. "Architecture is always political." - Richard Rogers in Financial Times
96. "Architecture is a frame of mind, it’s about ideas; the profession is about how to translate those ideas into the real world." - Christopher Janney in Architectural Record
97. "Architecture is an active participant in the interactions of people within it." - Jonathan C. Molloy in ArchDaily
98. "Architecture is not only developing in its own realm, it is constantly assimilating achievements from other fields. - Maya Engeli in Volume
99. "Architecture is first and foremost about serving people and society. This is an architect’s responsibility: to design buildings that fulfill their practical purpose, bring people together, and connect us to the natural world while preserving precious resources." - Steven Ehrlich in Metropolis
100. "Architecture is about building a place in the universe, not about mimicking a depleted, decrepit reality." - Stefanos Polyzoides in The LA Times
101. "Architecture is a public commodity, and as such invites public scrutiny." - Reed Kroloff in Architecture*
102. “Architecture is not about the creation of newness but rather about the fulfillment of needs and expectations." - André Tavares in Forbes
103. "Architecture is the same as advertising for communicating the brand." - Patrizio Bertelli in The New York Times
104. "Architecture is not just about accommodating very prescriptive demands—it’s doing it in a way that stimulates the unfolding of life. - Bjarke Ingels in Co.Design
105. "Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to past life." - Peter Zumthor in Thinking Architecture
107. "Architecture is a combination of science and fiction." - Winy Maas in Domus
108. "Architecture is the art we all encounter most often, most intimately, yet precisely because it is functional and necessary to life, it's hard to be clear about where the "art" in a building begins." - Jonathan Jones in The Guardian
109. "Architecture is not an inspirational business, it's a rational procedure to do sensible and hopefully beautiful things; that's all." Harry Seidler in the Sydney Morning Herald
110. "Architecture is used by political leaders to seduce, to impress, and to intimidate.” - Deyan Sudjic inThe Washington Post
112. "Architecture is about giving form to the places where people live. It is not more complicated than that but also not simpler than that. - Alejandro Aravena in his 2016 Pritzker Prize acceptance speech
113. "Architecture is generally a poor relative to things like film, fashion and product design. Even though it is economically more important, for some reason it is not getting the recognition." - Tamsie Thomson in The Architects' Journal
114. "Architecture is a complex and articulated process but if you lose the process and only keep the form you lose the core of architectural practice." - André Tavares in Wallpaper*
116. "Architecture is practical poetry." - Bjarke Ingels at the New Yorker Festival
117. "Architecture is the sum of inevitable negotiations." - Felipe Mesa in Domus
118. "Architecture is more than just buildings; these structures can inspire and motivate people to do great things." Fisk Johnson for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial
119. "Architecture is one of those disciplines that has no shortage of voices." - Guy Horton in Metropolis
120.“Architecture is always a temporary modification of the space, of the city, of the landscape. We think that it’s permanent. But we never know.” - Jean Nouvel in The New York Times
121. "Architecture is like life: a matter of trade-offs." - Paul Goldberger in The New York Times
*These links can only be viewed by those who have access to Proquest and JSTOR. Many universities and public libraries provide access to their students, alumni and patrons.
From the architect. Stretching itself out on the meadow, looking at the sky and all that is close to it: tree crowns, nearby mountain peaks, clouds, flying birds… the open-air house establishes the relationship with the surroundings through the courtyard, open to the sky and elevated things, and at the same time protects itself from the road and the neighbouring houses.
This design project is located in a residential district build on an old vegetable plot and crops demarcated by pumice walls. The house is situated in one of the ends of this site and borders on a road in the north-west, on other houses in the south and in the east, and there are trees from the four winds. In this location, we lay out a ground level house, opaque in the north, changing towards the south and open to the sky through the courtyard, which is conceived as a big connecting space of the house. The garden, raised a bit higher than the rest of the plot, is equipped with automatic shutters, allowing different intensity level of interaction with the neighbourhood: from full opacity to complete openness, passing though the blinds with the changing angle of their slats. The L-shaped wall, built from its own reused pumice stone it the alter ego of the Persian blinds with their adjustable slats; its task is to isolate the house from the wind and the cold from the north as well as from the noise and the visibility of the busy road.
Over the former mosaic of vegetable patches, we draw a new 1.5 X 1.5 m plot, in which we fit the whole project. This order is expressed in the structure and also gives us answers about the layout and wall coverings. Inside the wall, almost left free-standing because of the linear skylight, there is a corridor, which is in charge of organizing the program for this dwelling: a space which connects the changing areas of the house with the sky always above and follows the relentless rhythm drawn by the structure.
The open-air house wants to come across friendly to the neighbourhood, bashful to the road and rooted to the ground; it wants to be a refuge of peace and quiet in the bustle of modern life. The open-air house is just a meadow of fresh grass where one can listen to birds and count the clouds floating above.
The Frankfurt Book Fair and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) have announced the results of the 2016 International DAMArchitectural Book Award, their annual list of the ten best architectural books published in the past year.
This year, books were selected from 214 entries and 88 international publishers, based on criteria such as design content, quality of material and finishing, innovation, and topicality. The winning books feature a wide range of topics and graphic styles, and feature projects from all over the world.
Find the top 10 and additional shortlisted books below.
Publisher: Park Books Edited by: Manuel Herz Authors: Manuel Herz, Ingrid Schröder, Hans Focketyn, Julia Jamrozik Design: Marie Lusa Photography/illustration: Iwan Baan, Alexia Webster
The book presents 80 Modernist structures in five countries, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Kenya and Zambia, which were built in the 1960s and 1970s, the first years of independence, when people’s hopes were at their highest. And to our eyes they seem unfamiliar and new, even though some of their architects were from Europe. Remarkable discoveries, our usual image of Africa with all its disasters and misery is transformed to one veering towards cool mid-century Modernism.
Publisher: gta Verlag Authors: Anette Freytag Design: Büro 146. Valentin Hindermann, Madeleine Stahel, Maike Hamacher with Tiziana Artemisio and Barbara Hoffmann Photography/illustrations: Georg Aerni, Christian Vogt
In “Stadt und Landschaft lesbar Machen” Anette Freytag vividly breaks down how design, theory, and presentation are interwoven in Dieter Kienast’s work, and how the latter is a combination of artistic, scientific, intellectual, and social aspects (gta Verlag). This makes the book clearly different from existing illustrated books.
Publisher: Park Books Edited by: Sascha Roesler Author: Jean Hentsch, Udo Kultermann, Sascha Roesler, André Studer, Theres Studer Design: Adrian Ehrat Category: Construction history monograph
This is an evolutionary building monograph on a small series of three settlements built towards the end of the French colonial era (1954-56) in Casablanca, Morocco, by the two young Swiss architects Jean Hentsch and André Studer. They built a structuralist masterpiece, which attempted to adopt approaches to regional vernacular architecture and enable future transformations of the rigid structure. This approach can be followed by means of the architects’ very historical looking travel photos of the country at that time. The actual transformations that occurred during the next 60 years are then shown, and thus the life of these structures, revealing a typical dilemma of well-meaning Westerners, whose cultural prejudices collide with the residents’ actual living habits.
Publisher: Ruby Press Author: Marc Angélil, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes u.a. Design: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Something Fantastic (Julian Schubert, Elena Schütz, Leonard Streich) Photography: Students on the Master of Advanced Studies in Urban Design course at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich
Housing Cairo documents the aspect of informal urbanization in this metropolis with 20 million inhabitants. The book is the result of a Master’s course (Master of Advanced Studies in Urban Design at ETH Zurich) supervised by Marc Angélil, and using photographs and plans traces the city’s historical development through to the present day. Taking a district on the west bank of the Nile as an example, the methods of construction used in the very dense cluster is analyzed using photos and drawings.
Publisher: Spector Books Author: Walter Scheiffele Published by: Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau Design: Ludovic Balland Typography Cabinet, Basel, Siri Bachmann
The author Walter Scheiffele bases his publication on the 1926 book “Der Raum als Membran” by Siegfried Ebeling (1894–1963). At that time the latter developed his theory of biological architecture. On the basis of Ebeling’s biography, the books relates the history of lightweight construction and the theories behind it. It ranges from the Glass Chain and Bruno Taut, Paul Scheerbart, Hermann Finsterlin, and Hugo Junkers’ metal building projects, to Frei Otto and Werner Sobek. Interviews with contemporary architects were conducted and feature in the book.
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Author: Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis Edited by: Sara Stemen, Jennifer Lippert Design: Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis
The idea is so surprisingly obvious that one really wonders why no one ever thought of it until now: 62 buildings from the 20th century are presented in freshly drawn cross-sections (strictly speaking: cross-section perspectives). These cross-sections reveal not only the spatial qualities in each case, but also provide information about the way the edifices are constructed. Walls and floors are literally cut open, revealing some surprises: Who knew that Le Corbusier’s chapel in Ronchamps is far less solid than previously thought? Insights resulting from the method behind the cross-section make the book a textbook, which all architecture students ought to consult from their very first semester on. It contains a wealth of discoveries about structures that are seemingly familiar and have often featured in publications, which makes close study along the edges of the cross-sections a pleasure.
Publisher: M BOOKS Authors: Martin Düchs, Monika Grubbauer, Hanna Hilbrandt, Vladimir Kulić, Sven Quadflieg, Dubravka Sekulić Edited by: Sven Quadflieg, Gregor Theune Design: Sven Quadflieg Photography: Gregor Theune
Based on a series of photos by Gregor Theune, this book addresses the phenomenon of adding stories to and extending existing residential buildings, as well as the continued construction of their type in the successor states to former Yugoslavia (“Nadogradnje”). It presents a good two dozen of these photographs, which are peculiarly fascinating: Time and again stories are added to pre-fabricated buildings form the socialist era – not infrequently in the form of timber-clad huts with gable roofs.
Publisher: Spector Books/CCA Edited by: Giovanna Borasi Design: Jonathan Hares
“Architecture as production of ideas” (Mirko Zardini)
This exhibition catalog, which was produced in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Architecture, is about “The Other Architect”, in other words not about forms of architecture and the classic production of architecture, but about how new spaces and laboratories for working and reflecting in can be created outside traditional structures and beyond built edifices. It is not about building or buildings, but about thinking. The book is a collection of some 20 examples dating from the 1960s to the present day. They include, for example, the international ILAUD Group, IAUS in New York, and Forensic Architecture from London.
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing Edited by: Liz Faber Author: Ian Volner Design: Laurence King Publishing, Art Director Angus Hyland Illustrations: Michael Kirkham
This short publication is a skillful mixture of a monograph about the legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright that by all means deserves to be taken seriously, and an entertaining closer look at a highly colorful character – an esteemed teacher, failed businessman, bon viveur. Even Wright’s extravagant dress style gets a mention. Short articles, sumptuous illustrations, and a cover made of hard cardboard give “This is Frank Lloyd Wright” the appearance of a children’s book. It is a clever disguise for a successful introduction to the work of one of the greatest architects of recent times – educational literature at its best.
Völlig losgelöst - Architektur der 1970er- und 1980er-Jahre in der Nordwestschweiz und den grenznahen Regionen (Completely Detached - Architecture of the 1970s and 1980s in Northwest Switzerland and Border Regions)
Publisher: Park Books Authors: Christian Flierl, Ulrike Jehle-Schulte Strathaus, Roger Ehret Design: Andreas Hidber Photographer: Christian Flierl
Apart from the title “Völlig losgelöst”, which refers a to chapter of Pop music from the 1970s and 1980s, in terms of format and design this work initially appears to be a classic illustrated book. The book has recent architectural photographs of buildings from the era to which its slightly attention-grabbing refers. Using an extremely calm visual idiom and desaturated colors, Christian Flierl photographs buildings of which we are hardly still aware. Pleasantly short interviews by Ulrike Jehle-Schulte Strathaus and other authors, as well as a historical context help the reader understand this era and accept its aesthetics long after. Given the compelling nature of its content, theme, and style, this book deserves to keep on being perused and discovered.
Up Up: Stories of Johannesburg´s Highrises (Hatje Cantz)
Veduten der Normalstadt (Franz Schiermeier Verlag)
The award ceremony will be held on October 19, 2016 in the library at Deutsches Architekturmuseum and all winning books will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair from October 20 to 23, 2016.
This year the external jury comprised: Werner Huthmacher (photographer), Torsten Köchlin (designer), Karoline Mueller-Stahl (lector, author), Christoph Scheffer (arts editor hr-iNFO radio), Martin Seelinger (architect, treasurer of The Society of the Friends of Deutsches Architekturmuseum).
The internal jurors were: Peter Cachola Schmal (Director, DAM), Annette Becker (curator, DAM), Oliver Elser (curator, DAM), Christina Budde (curator, architecture education at DAM \ coordination, DAMArchitectural Book Award 2016).
From the architect. The building, built in the 1930s, had a former life as a shoe factory. The clients were drawn to it for its expansive windows, though the old arrangement of rooms meant that these were always partially hidden from view. The brief was to transform the warehouse space, taking close consideration of the scale, grain and detailing of the existing architecture, and to create something very personal to the clients, representing something of their histories.
The old factory has a roughness, an authenticity, which appealed to Dexter, whose film background supports a love of architecture seen through a lens, in movement.
Plan
The existing window frames which work together on metal rods ‘in unison’ for ventilation are a complex but beautiful mechanical pivoting system which creates a raw and industrial aesthetic that retains a certain dynamic of movement, even when static. These themes permeated the design.
A directorial, choreographic & artistic fluidity prevailed. Dalia’s operatic set design skills became the design core around which the space was manipulated. A black box like a huge fly tower sits centrally in the space. This houses a bathroom, film and book archive and laundry facilities:
The black box sets about a pattern of architectural movement so that the spaces wrap around it. Each side of the cube is characterised by a different function: reading & sleeping / working, preparing food & dining / socialising & relaxing. The whole space is however a continuous wrap.
The cube surfaces open and close, incorporating raw steel walls, blackened mesh screens, metal shelves, recesses, decorative niches and sliding doors. It is Baroque in complexity but simple in function.
Each element serves a purpose in movement to reveal a use of space that is compact and deliberate or occasionally obtuse and irreverent. Springing from the clients love for theatre, dance, music and artistic clarity, a monochrome palette became highlighted by gentle warm tones of light, delicate introductions of industrial steel blues, rich dark olive green and unexpected textures.
Hard materials appear as soft as butter, soft fabrics are placed as monolithic stone like structures. Lighting is varied, from muted & reflected tones to occasional directed, theatrical atmospheres.
The choice of materials, furniture and moveable wall screens is deeply personal, inspired by family history as well as evoking memories of journeys in Japan, Belgium, and Argentina, each captured by fragments (solid oak shelves, black ash shoji, thick black marble splinters, mountain climate blankets & throws) that combine to create a dark mystical dream at night or a textural landscape in daylight. Urban in complexity yet strangely archaic /prehistoric in its base simplicity, the apartment dominated by a black steel cube reflects the inhabitants passions and their love for material quality of an elemental nature.
The Ensemble Immobilier Tour Maine-Montparnasse (EITMM) has selected 7 notable firms to continue to the second round in a competition for the renovation of Tour Montparnasse in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France.
Often cited as one of the architecture world’s most hated buildings, Tour Montparnasse has been criticized for its discordance with the Parisian urban landscape – just two years after its completion, new buildings over seven stories high in the city centre were banned, leaving the tower as an alien presence on the skyline.
With the launching of the competition, the EITMM hopes to transform Tour Montparnasse into a beloved landmark with a complete renovation of the facade, the building entry and all interior spaces. The budget for the project is estimated to reach over 300 million Euro ($330 million USD), and will be funded in entirety by the building owners.
After receiving inquiries from over 700 interested candidates, the list has been narrowed down to 7 multi-disciplinary teams, who will now design proposals that are “capable of giving a powerful, innovative, dynamic and ambitious new identity to the famous Parisian landmark, whilst integrating the challenges of usage, comfort and energy performance to the highest levels.”
The firms were selected by representatives for the Tower co-owners. “The 7 agencies were selected for their reliability, expertise, audacity and their understanding of the challenges we face,” remarked one stakeholder.
The second stage of the competition is now underway, as the seven teams will now prepare their proposals to be submitted in March 2017. The list will then be narrowed down to 2 finalists, with a winner expected to be selected in July 2017. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2019, with completion coming in 2023.
The competition is the first step in a much larger plan, Demain Montparnasse, aimed at “restoring the surrounding property’s role as a modern and accessible urban centre in the heart of Paris’s left bank.”
From the architect. This project consists of replacing a school in bad conditions for a new building, using the same plot of land on Chaparral lane in the Municipality of San Vicente Ferrer located in the central mountain range, at 2150m above sea level and a two-hour bus journey from Medellin. It is a rural school for the children of the farmers of the region.
The new building is built on the footprint of the previous one, it prevents from touching some areas with unstable ground, and it consolidates as a perimeter that avoids using external fences and lifts like a polygonal wall that incorporates the program of classrooms and services, prolonged by the ramp and the stairs towards the play area, opening to the rural landscape. On its south face, it is hermetic to control the noise and dust from the nearby rural road, but on its north face it opens to the far away exterior of greenhouses and crops over the mountainside.
This is a project with a limited budget, for which reason we opted for cheap, hard-wearing and low maintenance materials: walls in concrete blocks in earth colors, floors in concrete or stone paving, metal handrails and bars… tones and materials similar to the ones used in the region, in contrast with the color of the vegetation and crops.
The California College of the Arts (CCA) has selected 3 top firms as finalists to design “a new, ground-breaking art school that will redefine 21st century arts education.” Chosen from an original pool of 75 architects, the three firms will now interview for the chance to design a new campus that aims to unify the college’s Oakland and San Francisco campuses into one vibrant Bay Area institution.
The chosen firm will work together with the school over the next five years to create a plan that will bring together 2,000 students, 600 faculty members, 250 staff members, and 34 academic programs to a consolidated campus located at the intersection of the city’s innovation corridor, the new DoReMi (Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, Mission) arts district, and Mission Bay. The primary project site will be a 2.4-acre lot that borders the college’s existing San Francisco campus buildings. The campus will house all of CCA’s programs, including art, crafts, design, architecture and writing, fostering interaction between the different disciplines.
The campus design will follow the strategic planning framework outlined by Gensler and MKThink and further developed by local firm Jensen Architects. The plan will be held to high sustainability standards, stipulating advanced strategies for water and energy generation, usage, and conservation; healthy air quality; and environmentally safe artmaking materials and practices. Student housing will also be a priority for the campus, as the college hopes to double the number of on-campus beds to 1,000 by 2025.
CCA Site Plan. Image Courtesy of California College of the Arts
Later this month, the three finalists will give presentations to the CCA community and public, with a winner expected to be selected in November 2016.
For more information, visit the CCA website, here.
Correction Update: The winning firm will be selected via a presentation/interview process, not a competition as was previously stated. The three firms will each prepare a presentation, but not full design proposals.
From the architect. This is the fourth shop we designed for the apparel brand DESCENTE BLANC in Japan, located in Shin Marunouchi Building, and its second in-shop after their shop at Expo City in Osaka. The characteristic difference from the Osaka shop is that the entire design of Shin Marunouchi Building is very authentic.
Our design concept for the DESCENTE BLANC series is to redesign the movement of shop staff to go to get stocks and incorporate automatic lifting stock stock-display systems in the ceiling. After the existing ceiling was removed, the ceiling plenum was exposed and the existing finishes above and below the removed ceiling created a sharp contrast, implying an “imaginary” ceiling plane there.
Section
In order to highlight this distinctive feature, we designed the overhead stock space in the plenum space where clothes are stored closely under the ceiling, resembling an aircraft hangar. Hanger pipes are leveled so that hems of the clothes align with the “imaginary” ceiling plane, and the ceiling lights are also installed at the same level to emphasize the effect.
A client is the doctor who performed medical care to support an area as a family doctor for a long time in this ground. The front road of the site became the attending school road of the elementary school, and the building which had children feel friendly feeling was demanded.
Plan - Section
The shape that a wall assists makes a feeling of opening without giving the town a feeling of pressure and makes the memory of the town. In addition, the diagonal adjoining roof supports a building and the connection with the town. The house-shaped window of various size penetrated by the wall is each domestic symbol and watches local people warmly. We prepared the space with the warmth into the finish of the interior decoration using a variety of trees. We pray for becoming the place of the community of the people whom this building visits.
MPavilion 2016 is part of an international movement in handmade architecture and uses 7km of bamboo, 50t of stone and 26km of rope to create an extraordinary 16.8m square summer pavilion for Melbourne. Encapsulating Jain’s ongoing interest in traditional craftsmanship and human connectedness, the pavilion sits on a bluestone floor sourced from a quarry in Port Fairy, Victoria. Bamboo poles imported from India especially for the MPavilion are pegged together with 5,000 wooden pins and lashed together with rope. Slatted panels that form the MPavilion roof are constructed from sticks from the Karvi plant woven together by craftspeople in India over four months.
Plans
MPavilion’s design features an opening at the centre of the roof that Bijoy Jain sees as connecting earth to sky and below sits a golden well symbolising the importance of water to place and community. An elaborate ‘tazia’ entrance tower, as used in Indian ceremonies, sits next to the pavilion as a welcoming gesture.
MPavilion features lighting design by Ben Cobham of Bluebottle. Activated at twilight every night, the pavilion will be lit in-synch with a specially commissioned nightly soundscape by artists Geoff Nees and J David Franzke.
Elevation + Section
The MPavilion is an annual architecture commission and design event conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Every year, a new temporary summer pavilion designed by a leading international architect, is erected in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens. From October through February, the MPavilion becomes a ‘cultural laboratory’ and home to a series of talks, workshops, performances and installations. It is then moved to a permanent new home within Melbourne’s CBD, creating an ongoing legacy in Melbourne’s increasingly sophisticated architectural landscape.
Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai was selected to design MPavilion 2016. Australian architect Sean Godsell designed MPavilion 2014 and in 2015 it was designed by British architect Amanda Levete of AL_A.
Chi She is an artistic group founded by ZHANG Peili, GENG Jiangyi, whose exhibition space in West Bund Art Exhibition Area characterizes an altitude towards realism, that is, chasing the spatial appeal, harmonizing with integral environment, as well as realizing formal representation corresponding with the artistic mission embedded inside. It is hoped that the building can provide a delicate and abundant compound art space, where contains various artistic events, such as curiosities exhibition, creative workshop and unpremeditated communication.
We retained the initial exterior walls, followed by the elementary performance enhancement and structure reinforcement, in order to provide a maximum exhibition space. Therefore, under the condition of maintaining the space perception of the whole artistic park, part of the roof has been elevated in order to create an interlayer space, where people could enjoy the intact sky view. Furthermore, the roof structure has been replaced by a lightweight and more efficient tensioning string wood structure, and part of them is lifted to obtain the skylight indicating the climate change, which presents a sense of harmony. On the other hand, the grey green bricks coordinated with this ancient building have been applied on the exterior part located on the main interface towards the park. When the wall in the entrance is curled up a lit bit, this generated wrinkle wall texture becomes the impressive part of the form manipulation, which represents the architectural expressions as well, that is, a status that embodies current cultural trends based on tradition.
In order to complete such a masonry process that cannot be precisely achieved by traditional technology, we applied the robotic masonry fabrication technique by Fab-Union, which accomplishes the first endeavor to utilize the advanced digital fabrication technology to construct on site. The external walls of Chi She were built by the recycled grey green bricks from the old building and constructed with the help of the advanced technology of mechanical arm, which generates a cambered surface morphology, showing the vitality of Chi She.
The precise positioning of the integrated equipment of robotic masonry fabrication technique and the construction elaborately to the mortar and bricks by the craftsmen makes this ancient material, brick, be able to meet the requirements in the new era, and realizes the presentation of the design model consummately. The dilapidation of these old bricks coordinated with the stretch display of the curving walls are narrating a connection between people and bricks, machines and construction, design and culture, which will be spread permanently in the shadow of external walls under the setting sun.
The key idea of the Life Science Centre architecture are the science and teaching complex modules forming the public space layout and comprising the integral whole like different cells of the matter. Cube-shaped volumes in open spaces of Saulėtekis, reiterating the natural context and building a humanist, traditional urban structure characteristic of the city of Vilnius, resemble a feature of the historical Vilnius University ensemble – a cosy inner courtyard. The volumes comprising the square perimeter and the entrance to the building are moved out over the glass vestibule and the merging space unites the areas of the main lobby, the courtyard and the passage, seamlessly linking them with the environment.
Diagram
The monumental expression of the building architecture provides exceptionality and reflects the typological purpose, symbolises the austerity of science and creates a solid character of the new complex. Life is movement and growth. Notedly vibrant vertical lines of facades inspired by the impressive nature and the textural image of the adjacent trunks of the pine trees create a playful abundance of different points of view.
Indoor premises are planned universally, the ongoing research and training processes can be organised as needed – jointly or separately. Researchers will enjoy ultra-modern laboratories, quiet workrooms and open recreation areas. Student premises can function independently but during lectures scientists and students will meet in the audiences, teaching laboratories etc. General spaces are adapted for recreation and independent studies.
From the architect. Since the dawn of history, ‘public’ architecture – the architecture constructed by institutions of church and state, served as a tool in shaping the consciousness of the masses. Its massive dimensions, layout of spaces, and choice of materials, were all done with the objective of creating in the viewer and visitor a sense of moving between dimensions – from the day-to-day, the simple and the often inferior – to a place that is sublime, inspiring and of awesome majesty – homes to those among the people raised to privilege– the representatives of God on earth.
The Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, influenced by the Nile which flows in linear manner, designed their temples as a voluminous physical experience. En route, temple visitors move over long stretches that become more convoluted and ever deeper, passing through spaces where each exposes a clue to the next, and where each transition appears to take you closer to the exalted and the shocking, which only the favored will get to see.
Western modern architecture sought to break free of its propaganda-based foundations and serve as a reflection of the values of a society, its culture, and its technological capabilities. It is intended to serve the public and the objectives of a nation’s government – no longer in the form of holy places, but as functional public buildings that are welcoming and democratic in nature. Accordingly, the importance of changing the mind-set of the visitor has been almost entirely absent from the design discourse in recent centuries.
When it comes to ‘grassroots architecture’ – namely, the architecture used in planning private residences – the experience of a change in consciousness upon entering a house is hardly ever thought of nowadays in the design process, having lost its importance quite some time ago. The living spaces and the living room are thus made as one piece, separated from the street by nothing more than a door, both physically and metaphorically.
The house under discussion here is about this experience. It is this dynamic that is generated in its design, explaining it to the visitor simply by placing him or her at its center from the first moment they stand in front of the facade facing the street — an opaque monolithic slab, covered in dark stone. The impermeability of the wall is softened by an avenue of young trees directing the visitor along the length of the paved footpath, directly into an inner courtyard surrounded by a semi-opaque stretch of wood, the first in a series of internal courtyards that form a key principle in the design of the house.
Walking along the path, as indeed the entry into the enclosed grounds, is part of the process of separating from the outside world and contemplating the present moment more deeply. Full attention can now be given to the structure, captured in its spaces like a prisoner – as we stand in front of a large, transparent curtain wall on which we can observe what is going on in the house in absolute transparency, something reserved for visitors invited because they appreciate such loveliness.
Although the facade facing the street is designed as an opaque mass and seems to hold an enigmatic secret, as soon as one crosses the line of the wooden ‘arbours’, the spaces of the house are suddenly visible in all their simplicity. The process of stepping into opaqueness and then catching sight of the private interior as it emerges from the sealed, the hidden, and the monolithic, into an open and light-filled space, would almost seem to confirm that you have entered the place now exposed – the private parts of the house. Here the geometry is simple and minimalist, and is clean and transparent in its form and materials, almost as if it were someone that had turned all his cards face up on the table.
The other internal courtyards, as well as the glass balustrade that encloses the swimming pool, separating it from the other outside spaces, seemingly bring together all the visitor’s experiences into a focused and penetrating experience, one that clearly spells out the boundaries of what is permitted and possible, and defines the house as a private and intimate experience.
Situated at the end of Avenue Lefaucheux, the plot of land is located at the entrance to the joint development zone by the quay. Thanks to its position, it has exceptional views over the Seine, with the island of Billancourt opposite and the new urban park anchoring the riverbank.
Situation
Ground Floor Plan
The idea of the project is to open the garden, at the heart of the plot, outwards, so that it is linked to the new park within the development zone. This means that the majority of the apartments benefit from both the light and the views, and a link with the landscape is created.
In response to instructions received from Patrick Chavannes and Thierry Laverne, visual transparencies have been built in at the level of the building’s common base. This offers an enhanced distribution of both light and sightlines, softening the transition between public and private spaces. In the same way, the way the building is set back from the street, along with the opening on the north side on rue Traversière, help to open up the plot: a small private square broadens the urban perception of the street.
The composition of the facades is directly influenced by the visual spectacle of the Billancourt park and the river: in the central part of the building, mosaic cladding reflects the context in its choice of colours, whilst the choice of modules of white concrete for balconies and walkways enhances the sense of continuity with the generous openings that punctuate the vertical volumes.
Similarly, lush and abundant vegetation is an inherent part of the design. The park continues not only through the central garden, but also up the facade and all the way up to the roof terraces. It gives a strong identity to the whole design, transforming these spaces into a background for plants and bushes. The overall image becomes blurred with the background. Residents have their ‘heads in the treetops’.
© Iwan Baan
© Drones
© Iwan Baan
Axonometric
Courtesy of Dosis
Courtesy of Dosis
Courtesy of Dosis
Courtesy of Dosis
© Drones
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