Hasta La Ideas

The cylindrical shape of this university building on the outskirts of Dutch town Wageningen is designed by BDG Architects to optimise the usable floor space inside and reduce energy loss through the facade (+ slideshow).

Stoas Vilentum is the only institution in The Netherlands dedicated to teaching agriculture and ecology, and the Zwolle office of Dutch firm BDG Architects wanted to reflect its sustainable focus through the building’s shape, materials and interior details.

“For the basis of the building [we] chose a cylindrical shape because of the favourable ratio of surface area relative to the area of the facade,” said the architects, adding: “This minimises energy loss through the building’s skin.”

Located on a site surrounded by grass and trees, the building is slightly raised to make the most of its position in the landscaped campus.

“The interaction between architecture and landscape is intensified by placing the building on a green mound,” the architects explained. “The campus will develop in the future more into a surrounding where education, working and living come together.”

Balconies wrap around sections of the facade and transition into long staircases that connect the building’s three storeys.

A staircase ascends through the circular atrium at the centre of the building, which is filled with natural light from large round skylights.

The architects planned the interior spaces to accommodate the university’s flexible learning practices, with labs, offices and classrooms located around the circumference of the building, and spaces for informal activities in the open areas at the centre.

Angled green columns punctuate the communal spaces around the edge of the stairwell on each floor, in some places surrounding glass-walled cylindrical meeting rooms.

Students and staff can also congregate on giant beanbags clustered throughout the atrium to conduct impromptu meetings or relax during free time.

Swivel desk chairs lining long curving work surfaces provide an alternative place to study with views across the surrounding campus.

Photography is by Scagliola Brakkee.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

STOAS VILENTUM HOGESCHOOL – WAGENINGEN

Stoas Vilentum is a small academic institution where research and teaching focus on the green sector, and where educational specialists in the fields of agriculture and ecology are trained.

The educational philosophy of the institution is based on ‘ecological intelligence’. The design of BDG Architects is a translation of this philosophy and is conceived in close cooperation with the future users.

Green mound

The building is designed as a pavilion in the green surroundings of the campus. The interaction between architecture and landscape is intensified by placing the building on a green mound. The campus will develop in the future more into a surrounding were education, working and living come together. The new building for the Stoas Vilentum is an important step in this development, which is emphasized by placing the building on this mound.

Study landscape

The three floors of the building are linked to each other by a central atrium in which lazy stairs connects the different floors. The balance between open learning areas, intimate study places and classrooms is designed to serve the educational philosophy of the university optimal. The spaces are divides into the so called ‘nesting areas’- rational spaces with established functions such as labs, offices and classrooms -, and ‘cave areas’- open spaces where different (spontaneous) activities can take place.

Beautiful prints on the walls make these areas recognisable. On different places in the building are ecological structures used, for example on these prints, which refer to the education that is given in which the relation between humans and nature and ecology is placed central.

Equivalence

For the basis of the building BDG Architects choose a cylindrical shape, because of the favourable ratio of surface area relative to the area of the façade. This minimises energy loss through the building’s skin. The cylindrical shape also represents the equivalence between tutors and students. The clear shape makes it into a firm and attractive building, well placed in its surroundings and with an pleasant interior for the students and tutors.

Architect: BDG Architects Zwolle
Name project: Stoas Vilentum Wageningen
Address: Mansholtlaan 18, 6708 PA Wageningen, the Netherlands

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Formlabs is reinventing 3D printing with the Form 1, the first affordable, high-resolution desktop 3D printer. Started out of MIT, they’re a fast-growing, focused team, having an outsized impact. They do much more than make a machine; they are equipping the community with the best tools, ideas, and knowledge, teaching everyone how to make the digital, physical.

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L’illustrateur italien Giordano Poloni a fait une série intitulée « Climbing in Love » dans laquelle il reproduit les architectures qui l’inspirent à travers des dessins. Il représente plusieurs bâtiments d’Italie et d’Amérique, souvent avec des personnages aux pieds des immeubles. A découvrir dans la suite.

Via Cuneo in Milan.

Velasca Tower in Milan.

Unknown Building in Cagliari.

Conestoga Building in Pittsburg.

Unknown Building in Cagliari.

House of Kobe.

Semi-translucent polycarbonate panels and wooden shelving systems create partitions in this office renovation for a television station in Hangzhou, China, by Daipu Architects (+ slideshow).

Chinese studio Daipu Architects renovated the two-storey open-plan office to bring more light to the interior and inserted a system of shelving, cabinets and partitions to break up the different spaces.

Architect Dai Pu said he designed the interior layout to be similar to that of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, also using influence from the three-dimensional works of Italian artist Giorgio Morandi.

“No regular partition walls (plaster wall or brick wall) have been built,” Pu said. “The new partition is composed of very light cabinet and one centimetre semi-transparent polycarbonate panel, while the furniture, stairs, handrails and bar counter all come up to constitute the partition system.”

The simple interior features polished white floors with wooden desks, chairs and shelving.

A cafe, kitchen and a mixture of office spaces and meeting rooms make up the lower floor, with extra space for leisure activities including a ping pong and a football table.

In the lobby, a curved plaster-clad staircase with wooden treads leads up to the first floor.

Two rooftop terraces used as interview spaces sit on either side of a large meeting room. The rest of the first floor is occupied with more desks, a corner reading room and another small room with beds for staff members to rest.

Photography is by Xia zhi.

Here’s a project description from Daipu Architects:

Office Renovation of CCTV Zhejiang Reporter Station

This office renovation is located in west of Ba Gua field, Hangzhou, China. The site possesses excellent landscape; however, it was dark and gloomy in the old building. The existing structure had a floor-height of 3.3 m for the ground floor, and the clear height below the beam is only 2.6m, which is comparatively depressing for open office. The height of the second floor was ok, however it did not have enough connection with the ground floor. The old structure layout could hardly exhibit advantage of a double-deck.

So the first consideration was to build up a connection between 2 floors, the connection not only on physical space aspect, but also on psychological perception of people who will work here. People who will be working downstairs or upstairs could feel the existence of the other part of colleagues, thus to create an ambient of teamwork.

A lot of attempts have been made. Finally the Barcelona Pavilion of Mies and the painting works of Morandi give a breakthrough. The work of Mies only offered the idea for the 2-dimensional design, whilst the approaches of Morandi were good examples for seeking the 3-dimensional solutions. In Morandi’s late works, the relations between the main object and the background and their colour relations were becoming assimilated and simplified; it can see that the boundaries of many objects merged into the background in many of his works.

The approach is, if we take the furniture as the object, while taking the structural components like the walls and stairs as the canvas, then to make the object (furniture) merged into the canvas (structure), it can easily pass the perception of flowing to the people as the furniture is the very thing which most connected to the people. The space upstairs now is connected to the space downstairs due to this assimilated effect happened between the building structure and the furniture. In order to imply the space concept and work with the atmosphere, a few works of the Morandi’s paintings have been redrawn and placed in some particular corners.

There is not any regular partition wall (plaster wall or brick wall) has been built. The new partition is composed of very light cabinet and 1cm semi-transparent polycarbonate panel. The furniture, stairs, handrails and bar counter all comes up to constitute the partition system.

The prefabricated partition system saved the cost of on-site work, and it also avoided wet operation meanwhile it saved the time. The partition system, as the most important part of the construction had been put into furniture factory which has advanced equipments; this is also a solution to improve the perfection of construction here.

Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Design Architect: Daipu Architects
Design Director: Dai Pu
Design Team: Dai pu, Luo yaqin, Wang tiantian
No. of floors: 2
Area: 640 sqm indoor, 147 sqm outdoor
Program: office, dubbing, duty, outdoor interview, leisure, storage
Client: China Central Television
Furniture manufacture: Hangzhou Runzhu Science & Technology Co. Ltd
Contractor: Zhejiang Sunshine Decoration Engineering Co. Ltd
Design: 2012.06 – 2012.09
Construction: 2012.09 – 2013.09

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and wood partitions by Daipu Architects appeared first on Dezeen.