Hasta La Ideas

Marvel has released a new television spot for their upcoming superhero film, Ant-Man. The chip shows Scott Lang donning his new Ant-Man suit, shrinking down to a miniature size for the first time, and then facing a fierce trial by water.(Read…)

Know Your Car Warning Lights, those lights on your dashboard really mean.(Read…)

Dans le cadre de sa campagne MadeByYou, Converse a repéré cinq fans de la célèbre Chuck Taylor et a décidé de leur offrir une oeuvre d’art réalisée sur mesure par des illustrateurs et des tatoueurs. Ici, c’est Romdilon, basé à Marseille, qui aura le plaisir de recevoir ce superbe portrait réalisé par l’artiste PEZ.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has arranged translucent plastic blocks in a brick-like formation to create new walls for a Beijing tea house overlooking the Forbidden City (+ slideshow).

Kengo Kuma and Associates used polyethylene plastic batons to create an elaborate grid across the ceiling and walls of each room of the private member’s club, which is simply named Beijing Tea House.

The white latticework is interlaced with translucent blue polycarbonate panels – offering an alternative to the decorative wood panelling and paper screens that are typical within tea houses all over Asia.

These new walls allow light to filter gently into the building from all sides. They also rise above the tea house’s traditional tiled roof to enclose a terrace overlooking the Forbidden City – Beijing’s former imperial palace, and one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions.

There are numerous tea houses dotted around the outer walls of the UNESCO-listed palace, which was constructed in the early 15th century and occupied by imperial courts until the early 1900s, when it was converted into a museum.

Chinese studio Cutscape Architecture recently completed one to the north-east corner of the complex, inside a pair of converted brick warehouses, while Kengo Kuma’s stands at the east gate.

The staggered arrangement of the new walls is reminiscent of the city’s traditional brick architecture – which the firm also referenced for a Beijing clothing boutique enclosed with walls of latticed aluminium.

“The main structure for the city of Beijing is masonry bricks,” explained Kengo Kuma and Associates. “Blocks made of polyethylene are in this sense a modern version of masonry.”

“It proves high performance in insulation and passes through light to create a gentle space of Zen, just as the paper used for Siheyuan [courtyard residences] did in the past,” they added.

The white plastic framework was produced through rotational moulding, a process where liquid plastic is inserted into a mould and slowly rotated to produce a hollow form.

Slotted together in varying formations, the blocks create display nooks in the interior walls, and also hang down from the ceiling of each room.

“Four types of blocks were produced by rotational moulding to be joined and stuck up, as the structure of the extended part,” explained the architects.

Related content: see all our stories about Kengo Kuma

Dark timber floors and furniture can be found on the ground level of the building, while the two upper floors feature tea rooms decorated with patterned rugs and floor cushions.

Kuma has had a busy year. Other recently completed projects by his firm include a bar lined with tufts of electrical cabling to give it a hairy appearance, a community centre with a hilly floor and a university building covered with hundreds of wooden strips.

Photography by Koji Fujii/Nacasa & Partners Inc.

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Architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron has reframed the cable-car station on the top of Switzerland’s Chäserrugg mountain by enveloping it within a wooden restaurant building (+ slideshow).

Located in a ski resort within Switzerland’s Toggenburg region, the Chäserrugg building stands at the peak of the mountain at an altitude of approximately 2,260 metres. It completely surrounds the 1970s-built cable car station, offering a more comprehensive facility for winter sports tourists.

Herzog & de Meuron – which also recently completed a new stadium in Bordeaux – wanted the building to reference the heritage of its Alpine setting without becoming a pastiche.

To achieve this, the team used locally sourced spruce wood wherever possible, with the addition of contemporary details. They also employed local craftsmen to build the various elements of the structure.

“We tried to develop a language that fits into Toggenburg, without falling into the trap of popular Alpine clichés,” explained architect Christine Binswanger, one of the five senior partners of the firm.

“The participation of local companies provoked a lot of passion,” she added. “The construction could thus also be implemented in very resource-friendly way. “

Chäserrugg is the easternmost of the seven peaks that make up the Churfirsten mountain range. The region had been largely inaccessible until 1972, when the cable car was installed – connecting it with Zurich and St Gallen.

A restaurant had also been in operation on the mountain before now, accommodated within the housing originally built for construction workers.

This was demolished to make way for Herzog & de Meuron’s structure, while the steel and concrete station was retained and concealed behind the new wooden facade.

“This project involved creating a place that has character in every season and in all weather, to create a mood for skiers who are in a hurry, for groups wishing to spend a day or two days here, but also for hikers and other people who seek peace,” said Binswanger.

The completed building is sheltered beneath a low-hung sloping roof, which is supported by a series of branching wooden columns.

The restaurant runs along one side of the structure and is glazed on three sides to offer panoramic views of the Alpine scenery. It features built-in wooden seating areas and a balcony that extends out over the precipice.

Related content: see more projects by Herzog & de Meuron

The station sits just behind, where cable cars emerge through unusually shaped cutouts in the walls.

All of the materials used to the build the structure were transported via cable car, apart from the crane, which had to be airlifted to the site by helicopter.

The project follows a recent series of small-scale projects by Herzog & de Meuron, which is best known for bigger projects like Miami’s Pérez Art Museum and the Beijing Olympic Stadium. The firm recently created a trio of wooden pavilions at the Milan Expo and a biologically filtered bathing lake.

“The mountain station on the Chäserrugg is one of the smaller projects that we dedicate ourselves to again and again,” said studio co-founder Pierre de Meuron.

“The courage of the building’s owners to start a project in such a place, where for many years nothing has happened, and to attach great importance to architectural quality, is remarkable,” he added.

Photography is by Katalin Deér.

Project credits:

Client: Toggenburg Bergbahnen
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron – Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger
Project team: Michael Fischer, Beatus Kopp, Hendrik Steinigeweg, Salomé Gutscher, Roman Aebi, Frederik Bo Bojesen, Leif Buchmann, Yannick Claessens, Santiago Espitia-Berndt, Alexander Franz, Alen Guberinic, Justin Hui, Maria Krasteva, Victor Lefebvre, Severin Odermatt, Philipp Schaefle, Kaspar Stöbe, Christoph Wassmann, Freya Winkelmann
Construction management: Ghisleni
HVAC engineering: Amstein + Walthert
Structural engineering: Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure, Pirmin Jung, Schällibaum
Acoustics: Bau und Raumakustik
Building physics: Zimmermann & Leuthe
Fire protection: Amstein + Walthert
Interior consulting: Rondelli Consulting
Carpentry: Schreinerei Stolz
Electrical: Kolb Elektro
Elevators: AS Aufzüge
Roofing: Bühler Bedachungen

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