Hasta La Ideas

British studio Hugh Strange Architects has transformed an agricultural barn in Somerset, England, into a family archive building by inserting a new timber structure within the dilapidated brick and stone shell.

Located on a working farm amongst a mixture of barns and sheds dating from the nineteenth century through to the present day, the building was designed by Hugh Strange Architects to store the architectural archives of the client and farm.

The architects stabilised and repaired the walls and roof of the old stone and brick barn, before inserting two new timber structures inside.

Both of these new structures were constructed from a single layer of cross-laminated timber panels, which required no insulation, external cladding or internal lining. They are identical in volume, but subtly differentiated in their fenestration and fit-out.

“We choose timber because it provides a stable environment for the drawings in the collection – both thermally and in terms of relative humidity,” Hugh Strange told Dezeen. “It is also a wonderfully warm material and has many sustainability benefits.”

The south building provides a drawing archive and display space and is light from above by a skylight.

The north building provides an office space and features large French windows that offer views to the woods outside.

In contrast to the engineered spruce construction, the buildings are fitted out with hardwood floor mats made from timber felled from the surrounding woodlands and dried in the neighbouring wood store.

Inside, wall-mounted timber display cases are used to display drawings from the archive. “The edges are detailed with hessian and the stitches are deliberately not cut off on the back side to reveal the process,” said Strange.

Photography is by David Grandorge.

Here’s a project description from Hugh Strange Architects:

Architecture Archive, Somerset

Site & Brief

Located within the context of a working Somerset farmyard, the new building provides an office and store that houses the client’s architectural and family archives.

The project sits within an agricultural valley in a mix of buildings that includes a large farmhouse, a converted Dairy Cottage, a traditional wood store and a mix of barns and sheds that date from the 19th Century, through the 1970’s, to a recently completed cow shed.

Layout & Form

The dilapidated walls and roof of an old stone and brick barn have been removed and the remaining walls carefully stabilised and repaired.

Within these walls two timber structures have been inserted with a single new roof over-sailing the whole composition and providing a covered entrance. The two new timber buildings are identical in their volumes but subtly differentiated in their fenestration and fit-out.

The south building provides a drawing archive and display space and is predominantly top lit by a generous roof light.

The north building provides an office space and is characterised by large French windows that offer views to the woods outside. To the rear of the building a modest external space is provided, enclosed by the retaining wall to the sloping side of the valley, with a generous external stair providing access up to the surrounding woodlands.

Construction & Environment

The new building shell is constructed of a single layer of solid wood without insulation, external cladding or internal lining. The Cross-Laminated Timber panels range from 300mm to 420mm in thickness and simultaneously provide insulation and thermal mass, creating a stable internal environment for the archive in terms of its temperature and relative humidity.

The simple timber forms sit on a rough in-situ cast concrete base and are protected by a profiled cement roof similar to those of the surrounding barns. The vented space between the timber and the roof cladding prevents overheating during hot summer months.

In contrast to the engineered Spruce construction, the buildings are fit-out with hardwood floor ‘mats’ using timber felled from the surrounding woodlands and dried in the neighbouring wood store.

Rough-sawn cedar floorboards to the office and smooth-sanded and oiled ash and beech to the archive distinguish the different characters of the spaces.

Architect:
 Hugh Strange Architects
Structural Timber: Eurban / Stora Enso
Structural Engineer: Price & Myers
Joinery: Andrew Balls
Display Panels: Jude Dennis / Lars Wagner
Construction Manager: Paul Rawson
Budget: £250,000

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archive inside old farmyard barn appeared first on Dezeen.

Paris architects Lacaton & Vassal have designed a translucent structure to house an international art collection that is a mirror image of the adjoining former shipbuilding workshop (+ slideshow).

Lacaton & Vassal won a competition organised by FRAC (France’s regional contemporary art fund) to transform the derelict workshop in the port area of Dunkirk into a new home for the archives and exhibition spaces of the Nord-Pas de Calais region.

Instead of overhauling the existing workshop, which was built in 1949 and is known as halle AP2, the architects chose to conduct minor renovations and leave it empty so it can be used to host events, exhibitions and house large-scale artworks. In addition, they proposed constructing an extension of identical dimensions alongside it.

“The halle AP2 is a singular and symbolic object. Its internal volume is immense, bright, impressive: its potential for uses is exceptional,” explained the architects. “The new building juxtaposes delicately without competing nor fading. The duplication is the attentive response to the identity of the halle.”

The new structure extends from the side of the renovated warehouse and provides an additional 9,357 square metres of floor space alongside the 1,953 square metres of usable space inside halle AP2.

A translucent skin of corrugated polycarbonate covers most of the new structure’s exterior and surrounds a solid concrete core in which a collection of over 1,500 artworks are stored in protective conditions.

“Under a light and bioclimatic envelope, a prefabricated and efficient structure determines free, flexible and evolutionary platforms, with few constraints, fit to the needs of the program,” said the architects. “The transparency of the skin allows to see the background vision of the opaque volume of the artworks reserves.”

Artworks are delivered to a loading bay and transit areas on the ground floor and then transferred using a lift at the centre of the building to archives on three further storeys. The ground floor also houses a reception and cafeteria that looks into the halle AP2, and the first of several exhibition spaces spread throughout the building.

Above the cafeteria, an internal street fills the void between the old and new structures, and there are plans to connect this space to an elevated walkway that would traverse the canal that currently separates the port from the adjacent beach. Exhibition halls, education facilities, administration and event spaces are accessed using lifts at the front of the building.

On top of the concrete core is an open event space that sits beneath the gabled steel framework, which is fitted with clear EFTE pillows to allow a view of the port and the nearby town.

Photography is by Philippe Ruault.

The following information is from the architects:

FRAC (Regional Contemporary Artwork Collection) of the North region

The FRAC houses regionally assembled public collections of contemporary art.

These collections are conserved, archived and presented to the public through on site exhibitions and by loans to both galleries and museums.

The North region FRAC is located on the site of Dunkerque port in an old boat warehouse called Halle AP2. The halle AP2 is a singular and symbolic object.

Its internal volume is immense, bright, impressive. Its potential for uses is exceptional.

To implant the FRAC, as a catalyst for the new area, and also to keep the halle in its entirety becomes the basic idea of our project.

To achieve this concept, the project creates a double of the halle, of the same dimension, attached to the existing building, on the side which faces the sea, and which contains the program of the FRAC.

The new building juxtaposes delicately without competing nor fading. The duplication is the attentavie response to the identity of the halle.

Under a light and bioclimatic envelope, a prefabricated and efficient structure determines free, flexible and evolutionary platforms, with few constraints, fit to the needs of the program.

The transparency of the skin allows to see the background vision of the opaque volume of the artworks reserves.

The public footbridge (previously planned along the facade) which crosses the building becomes a covered street entering the halle and the internal facade of the FRAC.

The halle AP2 will remain a completely available space, which can work either with the FRAC, in extension of its activities, (exceptional temporary exhibitions, creation of large scale works, particular handlings) or independently to welcome public events (concert, fairs, shows, circus, sport) and which enriches the possibilities of the area.

The functioning of each of the buildings is separated, or combined. The architecture of the halle and its current quality make sufficient minimal, targeted and limited interventions.

Thanks to the optimisation of the project, the budget allows the realisation of the FRAC and the setting up of conditions and equipment for public use of the halle AP2.

The project so creates an ambitious public resource, of flexible capacity, which allows work at several scales from everyday exhibitions to large-scale artistic events, of regional but also european and international resonance, which consolidates the redevelopment of the port of Dunkerque.

Site : Dunkerque, France
Date : competition 2009, design 2010,completiion scheduled in 2012 – 2013
Client : Communauté Urbaine de Dunkerque
Architects : Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal with Florian de Pous, chief project, Camille Gravellier, Yuko Ohashi, Juan Azcona and for the competition, Sandrine Puech, David Pradel, Simon Durand
Engineers : Secotrap, structure, mechanical systems, CESMA, metal structure, Vincent Pourtau
Program : artwork reserves, exhibition rooms, education
Area : 11 129 m2 net :
– 9 157 m2 new building
– 1 972 m2 existing halle
Cost :12 M Euros net (2011)

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mirrors an old shipbuilding workshop appeared first on Dezeen.

Copper walls will gradually change colour from dark grey to rich brown on the exterior of this church archive in Nuremberg, Germany, by Hamburg office GMP Architekten (+ slideshow).

The seven-storey structure houses the archive of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria and is located close to the main church building on the site of a former factory.

GMP Architekten designed a pinkish sandstone plinth for the base of the building. This allows it to nestle against the side of a hill, as well as to fit in with its neighbours.

“Seen from across the garden, the new archive appears as a continuation and extension of the Theological Seminary,” said the architects.

A glazed ground floor is sandwiched between this plinth and the copper-clad upper floors, which comprise two overlapping box-like volumes.

The oxidising copper panels are arranged vertically and interspersed between narrow metal stripes. Alternate panels extend down over windows, creating the appearance of columns.

“The natural metal surface will undergo various oxidation stages and colour changes until it finally develops a velvety, brownish appearance,” added the architects.

With 21 miles of shelving, the new facility doubles the storage of the church’s previous archive and provides an additional restoration workshop.

A reading room for visitors is located on the entrance floor and leads out onto a large terrace with views of the nearby Wöhrder lake.

GMP Architekten is best known for designing a series of stadiums, including three for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and three for the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. See more architecture by GMP Architekten »

Other archive facilities featured on Dezeen include a concrete and steel bunker for the British Film Institute and a Corten steel-clad archive for the city of Essen, Germany. See more archives »

Photography is by Heiner Leiska.

Read on for a project description from GMP Architekten:

State archive of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria

Today, the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Bavaria is inaugurating its new archive in Nuremberg with a special ceremony. The new building, which was designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), took three years to build and is located on a former factory site in the direct vicinity of the existing main building. With 34 kilometres of shelving, the State Church archive now has more than twice the storage space compared to previously and, in addition, accommodates a restoration workshop and enough space for visitor rooms. In the “Memory of Evangelical Bavaria”, the Church is archiving – amongst many other original documents – letters by Martin Luther and documents by popes and emperors, as well as numerous historically important books and paintings. The State Church archive has been designed to include passive air conditioning of the archives.

The new building consists of two intersecting solid cubes which seem to float above a transparent receding ground floor. The structure rises from a basement floor about one metre high along the road, which develops into full storey height along the downward slope towards the south, including a large terrace which offers views of the Wöhrder See lake. The ensemble consists of a solitary building sculpture with main facades on all sides. It thereby confines the adjacent Zeissstrasse on the one side, and the garden of the Theological Seminary to the east on the other side. Seen from across the garden, the new archive appears as a continuation and extension of the Theological Seminary. The plinth of the reinforced steel structure is clad with reddish sandstone which forms a continuation of the existing sandstone wall and anchors the building in the landscape context. The external walls of the archive are finished in a shiny copper facade with a subtle vertical structure. The natural metal surface will undergo various oxidation stages and colour changes until it finally develops a velvety, brownish appearance.

Visitors enter the public areas of the archive via Veilhofstrasse. From there they also reach the lecture hall, which can also be used for exhibitions. This hall faces the corner of Veilhof-/Zeissstrasse in a manner that welcomes the public. The reading room faces both east and west and is located on the quiet garden side. The offices are located above, on two levels surrounding the archive areas, and provide easy access for members of staff to the repository. The repository areas themselves occupy four floors above the ground floor, as well as the two lower ground floors. Since the first lower ground floor extends out on the slope towards the south, access is available from Zeissstrasse to the workshop and functional rooms.

Design: Meinhard von Gerkan and Nikolaus Goetze
Associated Partner: Dirk Heller
Project Leader: Karen Schroeder
Design Team: Christoph Berle, Katharina Traupe, Monika Braig
Implementation Team: Christoph Berle, Miriam Bamberg, Judith Saile, Alexander Schnieber, Sui Jinying
GFA: 9,327 square metres
Client: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria

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Church of Bavaria by GMP Architekten appeared first on Dezeen.

Gino Sarfatti is possibly the most important lighting designer in the history of Italian design. Between founding the beloved Arteluce in 1939 and selling it to Flos in 1973, the self-taught designer had over 600 lamps…

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Pools of water separate offices from archives at a new building for the National Archives of France by Italian architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas (+ slideshow).

The new national archive building is located in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris, and will take over from the existing centre in Le Marais as the main archive of documents charting the history of France.

Studio Fuksas designed the building as two separate wings, with the offices and conference room contained inside a stack of glazed volumes at the front of the structure and the archives housed within a 10-storey aluminium-clad block at the back.

Pools of water fill the open spaces between the two wings, while angular sculptures by artist Anthony Gormley appear to hover just above the surface of the water.

Above: photograph is by Studio Fuksas

Enclosed bridges span the pools as connecting corridors, leading visitors across to the archives.

Above: photograph is by Studio Fuksas

A diamond-shaped motif decorates the facades, creating a lattice across the glazing of the entrance wing and a pattern of panels across the aluminium cladding of the archive. Some of the aluminium panels are replaced with windows to let a little natural light into a 160-seat reading room.

Above: photograph is by Studio Fuksas

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas have offices in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen. Past projects from the architects include the Zenith music hall in France and and a church in Foligno, Italy, and they also recently completed a public services hall in Georgia. See more architecture by Studio Fuksas.

Above: photograph is by Poltrona Frau

Other archive buildings of interest include a Corten steel-clad building in Germany and a film archive in the UK. See more archive buildings on Dezeen.

Above: photograph is by Poltrona Frau

Photography is by Yves Bellier, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information from Studio Fuksas:

New National Archives of France, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Saint-Denis, Paris

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas architects have completed the New National Archives à Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Saint-Denis, Paris.

The National Archives, created during the French Revolution, hold documents of political regimes from the seventh century until today. The National Archives preserves some milestones in the history of France: the papyri Merovingian, the processes of the Templars, the diary of Louis XVI, the Will of Napoleon, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the oath of the Jeu de Paume , …

The new building of the Archives of France (108,136 sq.m.), à Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, is signed by the Italian architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas and after three years of construction works it opens to the public.

Above: site plan – click above for larger image

The project is composed of two main “bodies”: one that extends horizontally the other with a tension in height.

The first, stretching out towards the city, consists of six cantilevered volumes called “satellites” that accommodate the offices, the conference room (300 seats) and the exhibition room. The facades, mostly glazed, give lightness and transparency to the volumes of different proportions, that follow each other and overlap in “suspension” on the surfaces of the water.

The building that accommodates the Archives (220 stock rooms on 10 levels) is an imposing monolith thought as a place dedicated to memory and research. It houses the archival documents and the reading room (160 seats). The facades of the monolith are coated with aluminium “skin” that runs throughout the volume, except for some glazed insertions that allow the amount of natural light in the reading room and the entry route. The basins insert themselves between the building of the Archives the “satellite” volumes and at the foot of the satellite volumes. Walkways above them create a connection between the volumes.

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image and key

The facades of both “bodies” follow a lozenge geometry that is repeated both in the aluminium cladding of the building of the Archives and in the glass facades of the “satellite” volumes.

The sculptor Antony Gormley has signed one of the three artistic interventions. Gormley’s work stands out among the monolith and volumes “satellites.”

A precious sculptural object that rises from the veil of the water below, like to draw strength from it. This redesigns the spaces in a contemporary way, winding along the facades of the architectural complex. The geometric faces articulate the artwork along its passage and give life to the structure of a chain of dodecahedra, which reflects and projects itself between the basin of water and the mirror surfaces of the volumes.

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Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas appeared first on Dezeen.