Hasta La Ideas

Researchers in Canada have designed a family of prosthetic musical instruments, including an external spine and a touch-sensitive rib cage, that create music in response to body gestures (+ interview + slideshow).

Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick, two PhD researchers at McGill University’s Input Devices and Music Interaction Lab (IDMIL), worked with a team of dancers, musicians, composers and choreographers to develop wearable digital instruments for a live music and dance performance, called Les Gestes.

The instruments developed are a bending spine extension, a curved rib cage that fits around the waist and a visor headset with touch and motion sensors.

Each instrument can be played in a traditional hand-held way, but can also be attached to the body, freeing a dancer to twist, spin and move to create sound. All three are lit from within using LEDs.

“The goal of the project was to develop instruments that are visually striking, utilise advanced sensing technologies, and are rugged enough for extensive use in performance,” explained Malloch and Hattwick.

The researchers said that they wanted to create objects that are beautiful, functional and believable as instruments. “We wanted to move away from something that looked made by a person, because then it becomes less believable as a mysterious extension to the body,” Hattwick told Dezeen.

“The interesting thing would be either that it looks organic or that it was made by some sort of imaginary futuristic machine. Or somewhere in between,” he added.

The Rib and Visor are constructed from layers of laser-cut transparent acrylic and polycarbonate. “One of the layers uses a transparent conductive plastic film, patterned with the laser cutter to form touch-sensitive pads,” said Hattwick.

The pads are connected to electronics via a thin wire that runs through the acrylic. Touch and motion sensors pick up body movements and radio transmitters are used to transmit the data to a computer that translates it into sound.

The Spine is made from laser-cut transparent acrylic vertebrae, threaded onto a transparent PVC hose in a truss-like structure. A thin and flexible length of PETG plastic slides through the vertebrae, allowing the entire structure to bend and twist. The rod is fixed at both ends of the instrument using custom-made 3D-printed components.

“We used 3D printing for a variety of purposes,” Hattwick told Dezeen. “One of the primary uses was for solving mechanical problems. All of the instruments use a custom-designed 3D-printed mounting system, allowing the dancers to smoothly slot the instruments into their costumes.”

Speaking about the future of wearable technology, Hattwick told Dezeen: “Technological devices should be made to accommodate the human body, not the other way around.”

“Just as we’ve seen an explosion of DIY musical instruments and interactive art based on open-source electronics, perhaps we will see an explosion of DIY mechanical devices which create new ideas of how we use our body to interact with technology.”

Here’s a 15 minute documentary about the Instrumented Bodies project that features the instruments in action:

The team are now working to develop entirely 3D printed instruments and to radically re-imagine the forms that instruments can take.

Fetishistic suits of armour, orthopaedic braces and wearable tusks all featured in an exhibition of prosthetics at the SHOWcabinet space in London earlier this year and a 3D printed prosthetic hand has been designed to help children born without fingers.

We’ve also featured a number of wearable gadgets on Dezeen, including the UP activity-tracking wristband and electronic skin tattoos. See more wearable technology »

Photographs are by Vanessa Yaremchuck, courtesy of IDMIL.

Here’s the full interview with PhD researchers Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick:

Kate Andrews: Why did you embark on this project? What was the motivation?

Ian Hattwick: This project began as a collaboration between members of our group in the IDMIL (specifically Joseph Malloch, Ian Hattwick, and Marlon Schumacher, supervised by Marcelo Wanderley), a composer (Sean Ferguson, also at McGill), and a choreographer (Isabelle Van Grimde).

In 2008 we worked with the same collaborators on a short piece for ‘cello and dancer’ which made use of a digital musical instrument we had already developed called the T-Stick. We decided to apply for a grant to support a longer collaboration for which we would develop instruments specifically for dancers but based loosely on the T-Stick.

During the planning stages we decided to explore ideas of instrument as prosthesis, and to design instruments that could be played both as objects and as part of the body. We started by sketching and building rough prototypes out of foam and corrugated plastic, and attaching them to the dancers to see what sort of movement would be possible – and natural – while wearing the prostheses.

After settling on three basic types of object (Spine, Rib, and Visor) we started working on developing the sensing, exploring different materials and refining the design.

Kate Andrews: What materials are the spine, rib and visor made from?

Ian Hattwick: Each of the Ribs and the Visors is constructed from a solvent-welded sandwich of laser-cut transparent acrylic and polycarbonate. One of the layers uses a transparent conductive plastic film, patterned with the laser cutter to form touch-sensitive pads.

The pads are connected to the electronics in the base of the object using very thin wire, run through laser-etched grooves in the acrylic. The electronics in the base include a 3-axis accelerometer, a ZigBee radio transceiver, circuitry for capacitive touch sensing, and drivers for the embedded LEDs. Li-Ion batteries are used for power.

Each of the Spines is constructed from laser-cut transparent acrylic vertebrae threaded onto transparent PVC hose in a truss-like structure. One of the rails in the truss is a thin, very flexible length of PETg plastic that can slide through the holes in the vertebrae, allowing the entire structure to bend and twist. The PETg rod is fixed at both ends of the instrument using custom 3D-printed attachments.

For sensing, the Spines use inertial measurement units (IMUs) located at each end of the instrument – each a circuit-board including a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis rate gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer, and a micro-controller running custom firmware to fuse the sensor data into a stable estimate of orientation using a complementary filter.

In this way we know the orientation of each end of the instrument (represented as quaternions), and we can interpolate between them to track or visualise the shape of the entire instrument (a video explaining the sensing can be watch on Youtube). Like the Ribs and Visors, the Spine uses a ZigBee radio transceiver for data communications and LiPoly batteries for power.

All of the instruments use a custom-designed 3D-printed mounting system allowing the dancers to smoothly slot the instruments into their costumes.

A computer equipped with another ZigBee radio transceiver communicates with all of the active instruments and collects their sensor data. This data is processed further and then made available on the network for use in controlling media synthesis. We use an open-source, cross platform software library called libmapper (a long term project of the IDMIL’s – more info at www.libmapper.org) to make all of the sensor data discoverable by other applications and to support the task of “mapping” the sensor, instrument and gesture data to the parameters of media synthesisers.

The use of digital fabrication technologies allowed us to quickly iterate through variations of the prototypes. To start out, we used laser-cutters at the McGill University School of Architecture and a 3D printer located at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). As we moved to production we outsourced some of the laser-cutting to a commercial company.

Kate Andrews: How did collaboration across disciplines of design, music and technology change and shape the project?

Ian Hattwick: From the very beginning of the project, the three artistic teams worked together to shape the final creations. In the first workshop, we brought non-functional prototypes of the instruments, and the dancers worked with them to find compelling gestures, while we tried a variety of shapes and forms and the composers thought about the kind of music the interaction of dancers and instruments suggested.

Later in the project, as we tried a variety of materials in the construction of the instruments, each new iteration would suggest new movements to the dancers and choreographer. Particularly, as we moved to clear acrylic for the basic material of the ribs, the instruments grew larger in order to have a greater visual impact, which suggested to the dancers the possibility of working with gestures both within and without the curve of the ribs.

These new gestures in turn required the ribs to have a specific size and curvature. Over time, the dancers gained a knowledge of the forms of the instruments which gave them the confidence to perform as if the instruments were actual extensions of their bodies.

Kate Andrews: How was 3D printing used during the project – and why?

Ian Hattwick: We used 3D printing for a variety of purposes in this project. One of the primary uses was for solving mechanical problems – such as designing the mounting system for the instruments.

We tried to find prefabricated solutions for attaching the instruments to the costumes, but were unable to find anything that suited our purposes, so we designed and prototyped a series of clips and mounts to find the shapes that would be easy for the dancers to use, that would be durable, and that would fit our space constraints.

In addition, 3D printing quickly became a tool which we use any time we had a need for a custom-shaped mechanical part. Some examples are a threaded, removable collar for mounting the PET-G rod to the spine, mounting collars and caps for the lighting in the spine.

Kate Andrews: Where do you see this technology being used now?

Ian Hattwick: 3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it is known in industry, is increasingly commonplace. In the research community, we’ve seen applications everywhere from micro-fluidic devices to creating variable acoustic spaces. One of my favourite applications is the creation of new homes for hermit crabs.

Kate Andrews: Can we expect to see other live performances using the instruments?

Ian Hattwick: We are currently working with the instruments ourselves to create new mappings and synthesis techniques, and in October we will bringing them to Greece to take part in a 
10 
day experimental 
artist 
residency 
in 
Greece focusing
 on 
improvisation. We’ve also been talking with a variety of other collaborators in both dance and music, so we expect to have quite a few different performances in the next year.

Kate Andrews: What do you think is the future for interactive and wearable technology?

Ian Hattwick: I’m really excited about the coming generations of constantly worn health monitors, which is the first widespread adoption of the ideas of the “quantified self” movement. I expect in a relatively short time it will be normal for people to maintain logs of more than just their their activity, heart rate, or sleep patterns, but also the effect of their mood and environment on their body. I’m also excited about e-textiles, clothing which can change its shape or visual appearance.

One of the ways in which I see the prosthetic instruments making a real contribution is the idea that technological devices should be made to accommodate the human body, and not the other way around. Particularly, you see musical instruments created so as to be easy to mass-manufacture, rather than seeking to identify and support natural physical expressions during musical performance. At the same time, by creating technologies which are invisible to the performer we take away the physical interaction with an instrument which is so much a part of how we think about performance, both individually and in ensembles.

Kate Andrews: Does this present a new future for music? For dance?

Joseph Malloch: There is no one future for music or dance, but we can always count on new technologies being adapted for art, no matter their intended purpose.

Ian Hattwick: In interactive dance, the paradigm has always been capturing the unencumbered motion of the dancer; in music, there tends to be a fetishisation of the instrument. So in a sense, the idea of prosthetic instruments challenges the existing norms of those art forms. Certainly, using the prosthetic instruments requires a different conceptualisation of how we can perform dance and music at the same time.

The challenges of working with prosthetic instruments can be strongly appealing, however, and the level of mechanical sophistication which is provided by new generations of digital manufacturing will create opportunities for artistic exploration.

Just as we’ve seen an explosion of DIY musical instruments and interactive art based on open-source electronics, perhaps we will see an explosion of DIY mechanical devices which create new ideas of how we use our body to interact with technology.

Kate Andrews: What are you working on now?

Ian Hattwick: Documentation: We work in academia, and publication of in-depth documentation of our motivations, design choices, and insights gained throughout the process of development is an important part of the work. We are part of a much larger community of researchers exploring artistic uses for new technologies, and it is important that we share our experiences and results.

Mapping: The programmable connections between the gestures sensed by the instruments and the resulting sound/media really define the experiences of the performers and the audience. We are busy finding new voices and modes of performance for the prostheses.

Improvements to hardware and software: In particular, sensing technology advances very quickly, with price, quality, and miniaturisation constantly improving. There are already some new tools available now that we couldn’t use three months ago.

3D printing musical instruments: We are talking with a 3D printer manufacturer about developing acoustic instruments which are entirely 3D printed, and which take advantage of the ability to manipulate object’s internal structure as well as radically re-imagining the forms which musical instruments can take.

The post Instrumented Bodies by
Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: architect Rem Koolhaas has unveiled a collection of rotating, sliding and motorised furniture for US furniture brand Knoll (+ slideshow).

Designed by Koolhaas’ architecture studio OMA, the Tools for Life collection includes a table with a top that rises and falls at the press of a button, a chair that can be adjusted in the same way and a counter made of three swivelling stacked blocks (above and below).

Koolhaas said: “We wanted to create a range of furniture that performs in very precise but also in completely unpredictable ways, furniture that not only contributes to the interior but also to the animation.”

First glimpsed on the runway for Prada’s Autumn Winter 2013 menswear collection back in January the collection, unveiled today at Fondazione Prada in Milan, has been launched to coincide with Knoll’s 75th anniversary.

Above: swivel armchair with red button to adjust height

Two height-adjustable tables and a swivel armchair are powered by an electric motor and can be raised or lowered by pressing a large red button.

A low coffee table comprises three transparent acrylic boxes that slide apart to create cantilevered shelves, while upholstered cushions provide casual floor seating and a “table pocket” stores small objects.

Above: height-adjustable table and chair

Although not shown in these images, OMA has also designed a screen made from panels of foamed aluminum, travertine or wood laminate, a modular bench, another glass table and a height-adjustable stool.

Above: coffee table

Tools for Life will be on show to the public at Fondazione Prada at Via Fogazzaro 36, from 9 to 10 April.

Above: adjustable table

The collection was previewed during a Prada menswear show in January, and the fashion house has collaborated with OMA a number of times in the past, including on a shape-shifting pavilion in South Korea and a design for experimental exhibition spaces in Milan – see all Prada projects.

Above: table pocket for storage

We’re in Milan this week covering all the highlights from the design week, including Zaha Hadid’s monochrome pendant lamps for Slamp and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s installation of cork carousels – see all news and products from Milan 2013 or take a look at our interactive map featuring the week’s best exhibitions, parties and talks.

Photographs are by A.Osio, courtesy of Knoll. Here’s some more information from Knoll:

Knoll, Inc. introduces “Tools for Life,” a new collection of furniture by OMA, the collaborative practice co-founded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in 1975. Knoll tapped Koolhaas, one of the most provocative thinkers and daring form-makers of his generation, to help mark its 75th anniversary. With this collection, Koolhaas joins Knoll’s pantheon of modern masters, which includes such figures as Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen and Frank Gehry. “Tools for Life” offers a contemporary interface between furniture and people, supporting the ebb and flow of work and social life, while adjusting to the different needs of both.

The collection will be on view during the 2013 Salone Internazionale del Mobile at Prada’s Milan exhibition space at via Fogazzaro, 36, where the pieces were first previewed during the Fall Men’s Show earlier this year. Public exhibition hours are 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Tuesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 10.

Commenting on the endeavour, Rem Koolhaas said: “We wanted to create a range of furniture that performs in very precise but also in completely unpredictable ways, furniture that not only contributes to the interior but also to the animation.”

At the core of the collection is Koolhaas’s belief that furniture should be understood as a high-performance tool rather than a design statement.

“I want to talk about work and not the office — the distinction being that today people work everywhere,” added Benjamin Pardo, Knoll design director. “With that in mind, the OMA pieces are more kinetic than static: many are easily adjustable so that with changes in height, adjacency and degree of privacy, almost any space can be transformed to a place of work.”

The simple, no-nonsense palette makes the furniture compatible with a range of residential and workplace interiors. Clear acrylic is juxtaposed with concrete; glass with leather; travertine with steel—beguiling and engaging contrasts that draw attention to individual pieces.

Horizontal “Tools for Life”

The dynamic 04 Counter is the collection’s signature piece. Beginning as a monolithic stack of three horizontal beams, the user can rotate the top two beams and transform this wall-like unit into a series of shelves and cantilevered benches—a metamorphosis from a spatial partition to a communal gathering place. Rigorous engineering and a system of internal bearings and rails facilitate 360 degrees of movement. Patterned wood grain and leather surfaces provide unexpected and subtly sensuous contrasts.

For individual focused or group collaborative work, the 05 Round Table and 06 Table integrate mechanical sophistication with seemingly effortless effect. Both can be adjusted to accommodate lounge seating or even standing. The 05 Round Table features a travertine top with a travertine base or an acrylic top with an aluminum base. An exposed mechanism, powered by an electric motor, elevates or lowers the table.

Conceived as an executive desk, the 06 Table has a two-piece laminated glass top. The two horizontal surfaces, one a work surface and the other intended for storage, are separated by four round, glass columns.

The 03 Coffee Table is a stack of three transparent boxes constructed of clear acrylic. Internal slides allow the individual elements to be rotated and cantilevered, giving users the ability to adjust its overall shape depending on changing needs.

Seating “Tools for Life”

Comfort and privacy are explored in the collection’s two primary seating pieces: 01 Arm Chair and 02 Arm Chair with high back. The 01 Arm Chair is a height-adjustable, swivel lounge chair with a clear acrylic exterior frame and leather interior upholstery. A mechanical column base with a signature red band provides height adjustment at the touch of a button. A concrete base plate grounds the chair. The 02 Arm Chair with high back has the same features, while offering uniquely flexible interior cushioning that when unfolded provides an enveloping privacy.

Adding to the selection, the 11 Floor Seating, featuring simple upholstered cushions, provides alternate seating heights for work, reflection or relaxation.

The 07 Bench and 08 Perch round out the seating options. The modular bench, made of interconnecting and corner blocks, can be adapted based on user needs. A mortise and tenon mechanism locks the blocks in line; a selection of materials allows for seemingly endless combinations. The 08 Perch is an adjustable stool with an internal gas assist mechanism. Featuring an upholstered seat, the Perch consists of three cylinders; the top and bottom cylinders are wood; the middle one is acrylic. Offering height adjustment from 19 to 30 inches, the Perch accommodates different work requirements.

Ancillary “Tools for Life”

The 09 Screen can be used to partition specific zones within an overall open space. A base of clear acrylic supports panels of foamed aluminum, travertine or wood grain laminate that can be cantilevered off-center.

The 10 Credenza serves as a complementary piece to any and all of the horizontal table elements by providing storage pockets that are accessed by a hinged lid.

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for Knoll appeared first on Dezeen.

Google’s new Tel Aviv headquarters include a meeting area filled with orange trees, workstations on a make-believe beach and slides connecting different floors (+ slideshow).

Swiss designers Camenzind Evolution completed the project in collaboration with Israeli studios Studio Yaron Tal and Setter Architects.

The offices occupy seven floors of the Electra Tower, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the Israeli city, and were designed as a series of informal workspaces intended to encourage communication and collaboration.

Every area is themed, but each one is based on a scene found somewhere in Israel. Some of the corridors appear as narrow cobbled streets, complete with arched windows and flower boxes, while the reception area is an undulating timber landscape reminiscent of the public spaces at Tel Aviv’s port.

Fake grass covers the floor and seating in one room. Another contains surfboards that reference the city’s growing surfer culture.

“Each floor was designed with a different aspect of the local identity in mind, illustrating the diversity of Israel as a country and nation,” say the designers.

Other unusual spaces include a meeting area surrounded by climbing plants, rooms resembling converted warehouses and space modelled on a desert landscape.

One floor is assigned as a Google Campus, a shared workplace for startup technology companies modelled on one that opened last year in London.

Google frequently works with designers to develop wacky concepts for its offices and the latest London headquarters includes Union Jack flags and vegetable allotments. The internet company also recently revealed images of its data centres, which feature primary-coloured pipework and cooling rooms that glow green. See more stories about Google.

Other offices designed for well-known technology firms include a campus for Adobe in Utah and offices for Microsoft in Vienna, which also include a slide. See more stories about technology companies or see more stories about buildings with slides.

Photography is by Itay Sikolski.

Here’s some more information from Camenzind Evolution:

Amazingly inspiring new work environment for Google in Tel Aviv

At the end of December 2012, Google Israel has opened its spectacular new 8’000 m2 offices in Tel Aviv for their ever growing teams of engineers, sales and marketing.

Designed by Swiss Design Team Camenzind Evolution, in collaboration with Israeli Design Teams Setter Architects and Studio Yaron Tal, the new Google office now occupies 8 floors in the prestigious Electra Tower in Central Tel Aviv, with breath taking views across the whole city and the sea.

It is a new milestone for Google in the development of innovative work environments: nearly 50% of all areas have been allocated to create communication landscapes, giving countless opportunities to employees to collaborate and communicate with other Googler’s in a diverse environment that will serve all different requirements and needs.

There is clear separation between the employees traditional desk based work environment and those communication areas, granting privacy and focus when required for desk based individual working and spaces for collaboration and sharing ideas.

Each floor was designed with a different aspect of the local identity in mind, illustrating the diversity of Israel as a country and nation. Each of the themes were selected by a local group of Googlers, who also assisted in the interpretation of those chosen ideas.

Being in Israel, for lunch the Googlers can choose from three amazing restaurants, non-kosher, kosher dairy and kosher meat, each of the restaurants designed to it’s own style and theme.

Only 7 of the 8 rented floors in Electra Tower are actually occupied by Google. The remaining floor gives space to a new ‘Campus’, which was also opened in December by the Israeli Prime Minister. The ‘Campus Tel Aviv’, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, is a new hub for entrepreneurs and developers, providing a base for start-up companies, and is only the second Google ‘Campus’ worldwide.

Sustainability played a vital role to Google in the development of their new Tel Aviv offices and the project is currently awaiting LEED ‘Platinum’ certification, the first of its category in Israel.

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Camenzind Evolution appeared first on Dezeen.

Spectators at the stadium of Greek football team Olympiacos can dine overlooking the pitch at a restaurant with an undulating ceiling and a bar made from cooking pots (+ slideshow).

Designed by Greek studio LM Architects, the V’ammos Restaurant is positioned directly above the stands to give diners a panoramic view into the 32,000-seat Karaiskakis Stadium, located in the south-west of Athens.

The architects made reference to the stadium’s coastal situation by giving the space a wave-like ceiling. “We were inspired by this association and the outcome is the replication of the movement of the sea waves,” architects Mariza Angelidi and Lila Galata told Dezeen.

“The construction was adapted to hide the structural elements and the electromechanical installations, while at the same time allowing access to these units,” they added.

Around 300 metal cooking pots were stacked up in a line beneath a wooden counter to create the bar at the back of the restaurant.

Furniture includes tables with round and square surfaces, designed especially for the restaurant by LM Architects.

Other eateries we’ve featured from Athens include a rustic pizzeria and a dimly lit patisserie.

See more projects from Greece »

Photography is by Studio Paterakis.

Here’s a project description from LM Architects:

V’ammos Restaurant in Piraeus
Karaiskakis Stadium

The shell that houses the restaurant- Karaiskaki Stadium, which is built over the water, was a benchmark in the design proposal.

The wave of the sea that existed in place is introduced in the design of the space in the form of an optically moving roof element. This element, which is the result of parametric design, dominates the environment and gives identity to the restaurant.

Strong feature of the composition is the elongated bar, consisted of 300 cooking pots. The bar is an art installation itself, where the identity of the object is lost to highlight the visual impression created by its repetition and correlation in space.

The linear layout of the floor plan is framed by successive separate rooms and the overwhelming ambience of the stadium.

Total Surface: 300 sq.m.
Design: 2012
Construction: 2012

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by LM Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

More bamboo: this floating tea house in Yangzhou, by Chinese architects HWCD Associates, features brick rooms linked by louvred bamboo corridors and brises soleil.

Situated in the ShiQiao garden in Yangzhou, a city to the northwest of Shanghai, the tea house is organised in asymmetric cubes on a lake.

Tall rows of bamboo create corridors along the outdoor walkway. The bamboo is arranged vertically and horizontally to produce “interesting depth” and visual effects as you walk around, the architects told Dezeen.

Lights are inset into the door frames, providing a glowing pathway between the grey brick buildings.

We’ve featured tea houses from all over the world on Dezeen, including a lantern-like structure near Washington, D.C. and a timber and rope teahouse in the Czech Republic.

Recent stories about bamboo architecture include a Bangkok hair salon with thousands of bamboo stalactites and a thatched bamboo bar in the middle of a lake in Vietnam.

See all our stories about tea houses »
See all our stories about China »

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Tea, one of China’s most precious culture heritages has remained popular throughout the thousands of years. As tea leaves come from modest tea trees, through the long process of picking the leaves, drying the leaves and finally produces a cup of tea.

Thus, tea requires an unassuming setting in order to understand its lengthy process. Today, the appreciation of Chinese tea has become an art and furthermore, many teahouses are designed for this purpose.

Amongst the lush ShiQiao garden, stands this humble tea house which embraces the traditional Chinese garden fundamentals while blending into the natural environment.

The tea house is known as the bamboo courtyard as it mainly uses bamboo to create an interesting play of vertical and horizontal lines. In some spaces, the vertical and horizontal elements intensify to form a psychedelic perspective, evoking a profound sensory perception.

Traditionally, Yangzhou courtyards are formed with inward facing pavilions, creating an internal landscape space. So, drawing inspiration from this, the bamboo courtyard was designed from a basic square footprint, fragmented into small spaces to create an internal landscape area. Each of the spaces has views into the surrounding lake, allowing a panoramic view of the area.

As one walks through the bamboo courtyard, the asymmetrical corridors present an intentional semi-obstructed vision with the layering of bamboos.

There is a strong experiential sense of space, layered from one to another; from totally open to the internal lake to narrow spaces between the rough brick finish and bamboo curtain.

Section – click above for larger image

From the exterior, the bamboo courtyard has a cube form with a variation of solids and voids. The strong verticality becomes more apparent at night when the teahouse lights up to illuminate the surroundings. The simple form illustrates the harmonious blending of architecture with nature.

North elevation

Moreover, the natural materials such as bamboo and bricks have low embodied energy and low impact on the environment. The pocket of voids improves natural ventilation within the bamboo courtyard while the thick brick wall retains heat in winter, reducing the dependency of mechanical heating and cooling system.

East elevation

One who appreciates tea would understand that every serving of tea differs in colour, scent and taste even if it is from the same pot. There is a layering of experience in enjoying every cup of tea. Thus, the bamboo courtyard is an abstraction of the tea experience, creating layers of experience through spaces.

South elevation

If tea is an art and architecture is a way of life, then the bamboo courtyard is the portrait of the both worlds.

West elevation

Location: ShiQiao, Yangzhou
Client: Building And Construction Authority of YangZhou Economic and Technological Development Zone
Client-side Project Manager: YaoQiang
Design Firm: Harmony World Consulting & Design (HWCD)
Design-partner-in-charge: Sun Wei, Shi Jun
Building Area: 400m2
Completed: May 2012

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by HWCD Associates appeared first on Dezeen.