Hasta La Ideas

Organisers of the annual Antepavilion commission in London are fighting to prevent “oppressive” Hackney Council from demolishing a series of subversive canalside pavilions.

The local authority is demanding the removal of a series of architectural structures at Hoxton Docks on Regent’s Canal in east London, built as part of the annual competition run by arts and architecture charity Antepavilion and organised by the Architecture Foundation.

Hackney Council orders demolition of all Antepvaillion installations

The council has issued a demolition notice for the several Antepavilions plus other rooftop structures, none of which have planning permission, because they “detract from the architectural integrity of the 1960s warehouse they sit on,” said the Antepavilion organisers.

The structures at risk include a rooftop room disguised as an air duct by PUP Architects, a three-storey rooftop theatre by Mach Swift Architects (pictured above), and an inflatable performance venue on a barge by architects Thomas Randall-Page and Benedetta Rogers.

“Hackney Council has issued a demolition notice to Antepvaillion, ordering the removal of all the existing installations that have brought joy to the people of London,” they wrote on Instagram.

“Meanwhile, they have been ignoring all the representations to save Antepavilion coming in from supporters worldwide.”

The Antepavilion team is contesting the demolition notice.

Council prevented installation of this year’s pavilion

The demolition notice follows the council’s move to stop the installation of this year’s pavilion, which was due to feature five floating fibreglass sharks designed by architect Jamie Shorten.

Last month it issued a court injunction the eve of the pavilion’s opening, blocking the installation of the fifth shark, which remains on dry land.

At the time Russell Gray, whose property company Shiva owns the Hoxton Docks venue where all the Antepavilions have been built explained how the pavilions were designed to comment on the planning process.

“Part of the brief was engagement with the planning system and some of the nonsense that besets it,” explained Gray.

“You get this kind of situation where they haven’t then got a rulebook to follow, and so they go off on their own mission, which is largely driven by their own egos.”

Free public performance stopped by police

In a separate development, a dance performance at Hoxton Docks last week was shut down by the police.

On 1 September Distdancing, a free public performance by furloughed dancers from the Royal Ballet, was stopped by officers claiming the audience watching from across the canal from the stage had broken social distancing rules.

“Distdancing was stopped by dozens of riot police,” claimed Antepavilion organisers, who uploaded a photo captioned: “Six van loads of police officers storm and pull the plug”.

Antepavilions highlight planning “hypocrisy”

Antepavilion has had a contentious relationship with planners since its inception, with the structures often testing the boundaries of planning law.

The first Antepavilion in 2017 was a room disguised as an air duct intended to highlight the “hypocrisy” in planning decisions that allow ugly air-handling systems to be added to buildings without planning permission.

The year before developer Shiva, which owns Hoxton Docks, was denied permission to build a beach house on its rooftop as an art installation – but built it anyway.

This year’s pavilion was designed to draw attention to conflict with planners, referencing the battle over the Headington Shark, another fibreglass fish that is embedded in the roof of a terraced house in Oxford.

“Hackney Council proclaims its support for the arts when it suits its own self-image,” organisers said. “But not, it seems, when it cannot exert its own oppressive control.”

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A tree grows through a wooden deck between two angular black volumes that form this house that architect Smiljan Radić has designed near a national park in Chile.

Prism House + Terrace Room is raised above a sloped terrain near to Conguillío National Park on a stilted, wooden deck.

The Chilean architect said the vantage point offers views down to the dead river of lava from a previous eruption of nearby Llaima Volcano.

Measuring 184 square metres, the residence was split into two volumes that replicate principles in one of Radić’s earlier projects and Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara’s Prism House.

“In truth, this house is an exercise in repetition and replication, it is doing something again, though the gods may anger and the attempt always fails,” said Radić.

One of the structures known as the Room has a gabled roof, while the other known as Prism House is mono-pitched.

Radić created the latter to draw on the geometrical structure of Prism House, completed by Shinohara in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture in 1974.

“Its famous lateral facade, a right-angled isosceles triangle laid on the floor, and its exquisite interior diagonal wooden post, which, like many other supports in the houses by this Japanese architect, orders the space by interrupting in a position that seems out of place, are signs of its uncomfortable geometry,” said Radić.

Corrugated black metal roofing panels, know as Instapanel, cover the sloped roof and two walls of Prism House, while the rear wall is glazed. Inside, this block contains two bedrooms with a bathroom

With little documentation of Shinohara’s design, Radić developed the premise of the project from a few architectural photographs.

As a result, he slightly altered the design of the property in Chile, reducing the length of the longer side from 10.8 metres to 7.2 metres to match the 7.2-metre structural cross-section.

“The exclusion of photographs of the longitudinal facade and of the bedrooms from publications leads me to believe that for the architect, the 45-degree cross-section of the volume and the post were the essences of the Prism House,” he explained.

“Thus, the Prism House facing the Llaima Volcano that we are building is effectively a section of a cube, approximating the ideal of Shinohara, assumed to be expressed in his photographs, and moving away from the reality of the Prism House in Japan, as it is simply a construction of a photographic piece of the original.”

The pitched roof of Room is also composed of the black panelling but is raised on glazed walls that run around ground floor living area.

Radić said this shape takes cues from his project, the Room built in Chiloe, which is composed of a galvanised steel base and a red tented top.

Nods to this design are also provided by red decor touches inside, like textile seat covers and cooking pots.

While the lower level of Room is open-plan with expansive views, the second floor has three beds tightly tucked into opposing sides of the gabled roof. Each side is accessed by a separate ladder.

Materials are kept simple, with the interior of the roofing left exposed, and blackened Oregon pine wood covering the walls and floor. This material matches the deck that spans between the two volumes and is pierced by a tree.

Radić recently completed House for the Poem of the Right Angle based on the unusual forms in one of the abstract paintings in Le Corbusier’s series called The Poem of the Right Angle. Called Flesh, the lithograph features a woman, a foot, a large stone and the markings of a hand overhead.

The architect’s other projects in Chile include a theatre with a lantern-like skin that he designed for the city of Concepción with Eduardo Castillo and Gabriela Medrano, and a community hub in San Pedro de La Pa.

He also completed the 2014 Serpentine pavilion in London, which consisted of a doughnut-shaped fibreglass shell resting on stacks of quarry stones.

Photography is by Cristobal Palma.

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What is your definition of modern architecture? Is it tall glass skyscrapers? Or is the architecture better defined to you by the futuristic forms it takes rather than the materials? I believe the future is paved by our past and hence the future will include concrete but a more refined version of it. Concrete is the second-most used material on earth. It is also the second-largest emitter of CO2, with cement manufacturing accounting for 5 to 7 percent of annual emission. But can we just stop using a product that is a part of our fabric on such a large scale? And what about the long-term effects of the new material? I believe what we need is a tweak to our existing materials and process to better complement our planet and the use of concrete in these architectural designs tells me the material is here to stay!

Almost surreal in appearance, the ‘House Inside a Rock’ by Amey Kandalgaonkar creates a contrast – using a natural stone shape carved from years of battling with nature and a concrete and glass interior to carve out the living space. Taking influence from the rock-cut tomb architecture of Saudi Arabia’s Madain Saleh, this ancient archaeological site is the perfect mix of the old and the new. The designer of the concept says, “When I first saw the images of rock cut-tomb architecture, I knew I had to use it as an inspiration in an architectural project. There is a huge amount of architectural heritage laid out for us by past builders and I believe they did a great job of integrating built environments in natural elements.”

The vision of Graham Birchall of Birchall & Partners Architects, the ‘Bubble House’ comprises 11 circular domes, each measuring four to eight meters in diameter, resulting in a total of 20 rooms! Located in Australia, the three-level house includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a media room, a workshop, a wine cellar, and a kitchen. The design also boasts large outdoor spaces such as the main terrace, two balconies, and a golf tee. And the best of all, if this unique design catches your eye, it is available for sale at $1,800,000 AUD – Tony Stark, this can be the next Avengers headquarters!

Another exceptional design by architect Amey Kandalgaonkar, this design titles ‘House in the desert’ imagines a shaped carved out by the strong winds that relentlessly blow across the desert landscape. The design wraps around a natural rock formation, almost preserving the texture of the original formation. Almost embracing the rock, the design plays with the juxtaposition of the old against the new and how we see a future where they both could coexist in peace

Heatherwick Studio’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is the world’s largest museum dedicated to African contemporary art and its diaspora. The nine-floor, 9,500 square foot interior pays homage to the industrial history of the town. The silo had fallen into disuse by 1990 and that’s when Heatherwick entered the scene to transform this milestone into a cultural epicenter. The Studio says, “We were excited by the opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa. The technical challenge was to find a way to carve out spaces and galleries from the ten-story high tubular honeycomb without completely destroying the authenticity of the original building.”

Czech studios Formafatal and Refuel Works designed the Art Villa, a concrete villa nestled into the jungle in Costa Rica. The villa is a part of a community of resorts that include rentable houses – with each design being sustainable and comes with its own green roof and a multifunctional pavilion. “When designing the interiors, we found inspiration not only in the surrounding wild jungle but also in the work of the Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha,” the Formafatal said.

Designed for a client by Noel Robinson Architects who wanted a timeless and practical holiday home, I imagine he is truly enjoying his quarantine overlooking the Pacific Ocean because that is where I would be living out the pandemic if I had the option. The Domik eco-home has 3 floors, 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and is one of Australia’s most expensive homes. The exterior is anything but that of a conventional house – it has several large domes stacked upon each other and covered with green roofs to blend in with nature. The unusual shape and use of natural materials truly optimize the natural sunlight and ventilation that Domik gets due to its premium location. It almost looks like the house is wearing a hooded cloak of eco-consciousness. The design also incorporates the collection of roof water to be reused on-site. The internal non-loadbearing walls are made with hempcrete for thermal insulation (and acoustics!). Hempcrete has high carbon sequestration and is a fully recyclable product.

Don’t let the simplicity of this design’s architecture by Kazunori Fujimoto Architect & Associates for a seaside spot in Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture fool you. The house, named Akitsu, faces the Seto Island Sea and resembles a simple blocky concrete structure with a wide staircase that invites you to enter the home. “The most interesting challenge for this project was to create a comfortable inside silence combined with a new atmosphere of openness,” said the architects. “The use of a polish concrete finish for the living room and the kitchen floor became important in order to give an additional value to the external light.”

The conceptual DESI House by TABARQ is imagined to be set in the serene Austrian Alps with expansive windows that truly add another dimension to the panoramic views. What stands out is the shape of its exterior, it looks like someone rolled a sheet of concrete around a pencil for a crafts class! There seems to be a main tall cylindrical structure with a shorter one enveloping it and “rays” moving from there in different directions that probably divide the mansion into different wings. The detailed 3D renderings show the luxurious features of the house like the infinity lap pool with a jacuzzi and a local vegetation garden that makes the roof come alive – literally.

Architect Gerardo Broissin designed an intriguing pavilion that sits on the lawn at the contemporary art museum Museo Tamayo in Mexico City. The structure looks like it’s right out of another dimension, but it functions as a greenhouse of sorts! The pavilion has been created using concrete panels that come together like a puzzle. Named Egaligilo or equalizer in English, the puzzle-inspired panels of the pavilion are spread out across a steel frame, with bubble-like circles protruding from them.

Nestled between the Caspian Sea and the Sisangan Forest is a private residence designed by MADO Architects in the Sisangan province of Iran. The clients had one request, an intense focus on privacy. The architects placed concrete slabs in a tent-like manner allowing them to intersect one another. The intersecting slabs create interesting geometric angles, adding a bold and unique feel to the structure. The vernacular architecture surrounding the building was used as a source of inspiration, with the villa effortlessly merging with it. The design started off with a square. The sides of the squares were detached, separated and rotated, such that the interior of the villa is always illuminated with natural light. The rotated square sides not only allow light to enter but also create a delicate relationship between the indoors and the outdoors. The sloping solid walls hold up the roof and ensure complete and utter privacy. In fact, the structure looks like a deck of playing cards arranged amusingly! The oblique walls manage to create a deeply personal space while providing a gentle connection with nature.

Is brutalist your style? Check our more inspirational concrete architectural designs in the first part of this series.

Camille Walala has created two public artworks for the inaugural London Mural Festival as part of a new focus on community-oriented projects. The French designer tells Dezeen why she is now being more selective with her commissions.

As part of the London Mural Festival Walala created an artwork for the charitable arts and culture centre Rich Mix in Shoreditch. The work is an example of a renewed emphasis on the social and environmental impact of her work.

After rising to prominence in recent years, with her colourful, Memphis-meets-tribal patterns that are shared widely on social media, Walala now feels she is in the position to be more selective with who she works with.

“I had 10 years of struggle, where I was saying yes to everything because I didn’t have much work to start with,” Walala told Dezeen.

“But now I’ve done some really great projects and I’m trying to make very conscious decisions in terms of the responsibility and sustainability of my designs,” she continued.

“There are companies that have wanted to work with me because they knew it would push their popularity [on social media] and I’ve been saying no to working with them because I don’t just want to create popular Instagram spots.”

Adding colour to buildings “has such a strong impact”

In recent months, the designer has tackled several projects in her adoptive home of east London, which engage with the local community and community organisations.

The work created for Rich Mix comes shortly after Walala’s first crowdfunded project saw an entire high street block in Leyton repainted.

“Bringing colours and patterns onto buildings is not really hard but it has such a strong impact on people to have some kind of positive, joyful artwork in their community,” the designer said. “It gives them something to be proud of and it’s a way to show the community that we care about them.”

“The uglier the building is, the happier I am to refresh it,” she added.

Walala’s piece largest at London Mural Festival

As part of the London Mural Festival, more than 40 large-scale walls will be painted across the capital by a roster of international street artists including Walala, calligraphy artist Seb Lester and illustrator Marija Tiurina.

Walala’s Rich Mix mural, called Belleville, is the largest artwork being created as part of the festival and stretches across all 600 square metres of the cultural centre’s three back walls.

“I find Rich Mix and this area of east London so interesting. It was one of the first places I spent time when I moved to London,” said Walala. “It is so great that this independent arts centre and cinema is still standing strong, I think it is a real institution.”

The charity’s CEO Judith Kilvington heralded the work as an example of the “transformative power of culture and creativity”, capable of outwardly reflecting “the dynamism and energy” of the activities that usually take place inside the Rich Mix building.

Unlike Walala’s previous work, which squeezes a cacophony of patterns and graphics into the space provided by different architectural details, this piece makes use of its vast, uninterrupted canvas to play with more oversized shapes.

“I love working with the restrictions of a space,” said Walala. “At Rich Mix there are a lot of windows that are not especially symmetrical, so I had to create a pattern that works for them.”

“With the projects I did on [London’s] Old Street and in New York, I worked with their symmetrical rows of windows. But this time around I created something that looks a bit more like a collage.”

Walala’s second contribution tackles Adams Plaza Bridge in the financial district of Canary Wharf. Like her recent murals in White City, it was created for a private property developer that has arguably contributed to the areas’ rapid gentrification.

The project marks the first time the designer has taken on a bridge as her canvas, exaggerating the perspective of the futuristic, tunnel-like overpass by covering it in Op Art-style stripes and lines.

This includes not just the walls and ceiling but also the windows, which are clad in transparent strips of colour the let in light from the outside and, at night, make the bridge appear like a kaleidoscope illuminated from within.

“I’d love to collaborate with architects”

Rather than transplanting an existing design onto a structure, Walala’s work is created as a direct response to a building and its particular anatomy – a fascination, which she picked up from her architect father.

“I get excited by details in architecture and colours and then that’s the starting point for a composition,” she said.

“I work on a virtual, 3D model of the building and almost give it another identity by bringing out some volume here or playing with the perspective and the pattern there. That’s the challenge I set for myself.”

Her transformation of a facade in Brooklyn, for example, plays up the building’s flat, symmetrical structure by making it appear almost like a cartoon, while her renovation of a hotel in Mauritius saw structural columns accentuated via a horizontal pattern of black and white stripes.

Ultimately, the designer hopes to extend her work to even an even larger urban setting, in order to give citizens back a sense of ownership over their cities.

“I’d love to collaborate with architects and to keep working with public space on a different scale,” she said. “I started with benches but I want to create more colourful places that bring people together, like a big plaza where people can interact and communicate.”

The post “I don’t just want to create popular Instagram spots” says Camille Walala appeared first on Dezeen.

Have you seen the movie Skyscraper (yes, the one with The Rock)? Now imagine that tall glass building being a source of energy for the whole structure instead of just using energy! This futuristic vision could soon be a reality and the key lies in the creation of transparent solar cells which, when placed between the panes of double-glazed windows, harvest energy from the sun – this is the solar panel version of Harry’s invisible cloak if you will. Also, can you imagine phone screens made with this? We would eliminate portable charging!

Researchers have set a new efficiency record for color-neutral, transparent solar cells by achieving 8.1% efficiency and 43.3% transparency with an organic, or carbon-based design rather than conventional silicon. Glass on buildings have a coating to reflect and absorb some of the light for reducing brightness/heat inside and rather than discarding that energy away, transparent solar panels could harness it. For context, the previous transparent solar cells have light utilization efficiencies of approximately 2-3% which makes 8.1% a big leap. “Windows, which are on the face of every building, is an ideal location for organic solar cells because they offer something silicon can’t, which is a combination of very high efficiency and very high visible transparency,” explains Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken distinguished university Professor of engineering and Paul G. Goebel Professor of engineering.

To further push boundaries, UbiQD, an advanced materials company from New Mexico is continuing its development of transparent solar panels that are indistinguishable from regular glass using Quantum Dots – microscopic particles that have the ability to manipulate light to harness energy. “These Quantum Dots are super ‘nano’ particles of material and it would take roughly 100,000 of them to span your fingernail. These materials are especially advantageous due to having remarkably high efficiency and size-tunable photoluminescence (PL, light emission) over a wide range of colors,” explains the team at UbiQD. This technology can be a game-changer to reduce massive loads from large electricity grids and maybe even be integral in the planning of future cities that will run on solar energy!

Designer: UbiQD