Hasta La Ideas

A plant-covered twisting tower shaped like a DNA strand by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is under construction in Taipei, Taiwan (+ slideshow).

Described by Vincent Callebaut as “neither single tower, nor twin towers”, the 20-storey Agora Garden apartment block is designed with a double-helix structure that twists up around a fixed central core.

“Different from the modern city built of concrete, glass and steel, the Agora Garden tower appears in an urban centre as a green twisted mountain,” says the architect.

Balconies on each floor will be filled with plants, vegetable gardens and fruit trees, creating a cascading layer of greenery across the exterior. These will enable residents to grow their own food and compost all their biodegradable waste.

Between two and four apartments will be located on each floor of the building and will integrate a number of sustainable technologies, including rainwater-harvesting and solar energy.

“The concept is to build a true fragment of vertical landscape with low energetic consumption,” explains Callebaut. “The project represents a built ecosystem that repatriates the fauna and the flora in the heart of the city and generates a new box of subtropical biodiversity.”

Agora Garden is being constructed on one of the largest designated residential sites in the city and will be surrounded be a moat. As well as apartments, the building will also accommodate rooftop clubhouses, a swimming pool, gym facilities and car parking floors.

Vincent Callebaut won a competition to design the building in 2010 and construction is set to complete in 2016.

The architect also recently unveiled a futuristic concept for “farmscrapers” made from piles of giant glass pebbles. See more architecture concepts by Vincent Callebaut.

Here’s a detailed project description from the architect:

Agora Garden, An Ecologocal Residential Tower

Taipei, Taiwan, 2010-2016

In November 2010, Vincent Callebaut Architectures SARL was awarded as the successful tenderer for the construction of a new luxurious residential tower located at Taipei. The project is currently under construction and will be completed in 2016.

You will find below the conceptual design proposal presented during the competition phase in 2010 by Vincent Callebaut, design architect:

The Ecologic Philosophy of the Project

In the heart of the urban networks of Xinyin District in full development, the Agora Garden project presents a pioneer concept of sustainable residential eco-construction that aims at limiting the ecologic footprint of its inhabitants by researching the right symbiosis between the human being and nature.

On this site that is the last and only biggest parcel of land for residential use, the concept is to build a true fragment of vertical landscape with low energetic consumption. The building is thus eco-designed. It integrates not only the recycling of organic waste and used water but also all the renewable energies and other new state-of-the-art nanotechnologies (BIPV solar photovoltaic, rain water recycling, compost, etc.). The project targets thus the energetic performance so as to be officially approved by the Green Building Label, the norm for high environmental quality, delivered by the Home Affairs Ministry of Taipei.

Part of the concept of inhabited and cultivated vertical farm through its own inhabitants, this project of residential tower enables first to design by its avant-gardist architecture a new life style in accordance with the nature and the climate. Actually, the Agora Garden tower superimposes vertically wide planted balconies of true suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens, aromatic gardens and other medicinal gardens.

Such as a living organism, the tower becomes metabolic! It overpasses its energy-consuming passive role (absorbing all the natural resources and rejecting only waste) to produce its own organic food. The architectural concept is thus to eco-design an energy self-sufficient building, whose energy is electric, thermal and also alimentary.

Therefore, the project answers directly to 4 main ecologic objectives of the After Copenhagen:

1. The reduction of the climatic global warming.
2. The protection of the nature and the biodiversity.
3. The protection of the environment and the quality of life.
4. The management of the natural resources and waste.

Finally, according to the Cradle to Cradle concept where nothing is lost, everything transforms itself; all the construction and furnishing materials will be selected through recycled and/or recyclable labels. By imitating the processes of natural ecosystems, it deals thus with reinventing in Taiwan the industrial and architectural processes in order to produce clean solutions and to create industrial cycle where everything is reused, either back to the ground as non-toxic organic nutrients, or back to the industry as technical nutrients able to be indefinitely recycled. Biotechnological prototype, the Agora Garden project reveals thus the symbiosis of human actions and their positive impact on the nature.

Above: north and south facades

The Morphologic Philosophy of the Project

Neither single tower, nor twin towers, the project arises towards the sky with two helicoidal towers gathering themselves around a central core. This architectural party offers a hyper-compacted core and a maximal flexibility of the housing storeys (with the possibility to unify two apartments units in one without any footbridge). It brings a reduction of view angles towards the urban landscape and a hyper-abundance of suspended gardens.

The Agora Garden tower is, as its name indicates it, directly inspired of the structure in double helix of the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), source of life, dynamism and twinning. Every double helix is represented in the project by two housing units forming a full level.

Thus, from its base to the top, the 20 inhabited levels in double helix stretch themselves and twist themselves at 90 degrees. By metaphor, the obtained sinuosity corresponds to the universal musical symbol of harmonic revealing the notion of ultimate balance praised by the project.

» This twist of 90 degrees answers to four major objectives:

1. The first objective is to be perfectly integrated in the north/south pyramidal profile of the building volume. Actually, the morphology of the project changes according to its orientation. Its east/west elevations draw a rhomboidal pyramid whereas the north-south ones represent a reverse pyramid.

2. The second objective is to generate a maximum of cascades of suspended open-air gardens, not part of the F.A.R. (floor area ratio). Thus, the planted balcony surface area can easily exceed the limit of the required 10 percents. The global framework of 40 percents of building coverage ratio, i.e. 3 264 M2 is thus totally respected.

3. The third objective is to offer to the inhabitants exceptional panoramic views on the skyline of Taipei by multiplying the transversal views, especially towards the very close Taipei 101 tower and the Central Business District in full emergence.

4. The fourth objective is to generate from a flexible standardized level a progressive geometry with corbels which assures the intimacy and the confidentiality of each apartment by avoiding the indiscreet vision axes.

Inspired from nature, the Agora Garden project is shaped with an organic fluid and dynamic geometry. From the simple and standardized element of the double helix of housing superimposed vertically and put in successive rotation of 4.5 degrees level by level, a multi-facial morphology appears all in convex and concave curves.

Actually, according to the point of view of the pedestrian from the surrounding streets, the Agora Garden tower changes of faces and proposes new profiles. Besides this moving geometry wearing a planted dress with sensual style, the project represents a built ecosystem that repatriates the fauna and the flora in the heart of the city and generates a new box of subtropical biodiversity. It is a new nest in the city!

Above: east and west facades

The Main Components of the Project

The luxuriant forest and the glade

In order to ensure the confidentiality of the residents, the whole perimeter of the site is bordered by a mineral moat that animates the outside public space with organic urban furnitures. Inside the parcel, the walls of this moat transform themselves into planted surrounding walls. The main access of the site is located at the Song Yong Road which is less busy that the main avenue, Song Gao Road. The tower is coiled up in the centre of a heavy and luxuriant safe forest of mature trees that protects the intimacy of the inhabitants from the surrounding urban pollution. In the heart of the vegetable lung, the pedestrian square of exotic wood opens itself on a mineral and aquatic glade.

Such as the shock wave created by a water drop, the landscape design is made in circles arches and radiates from the epicentre of the tower. A circular light well, curved this time, makes the light, the abundant plants in cascades to the deepest basement. The car parks, the swimming pool and the fitness are thus naturally lightened and ventilated.

The lobbies in indoor – outdoor connectivity

The ground floor in double height sets through its great transparent facades a high connectivity between the interior community spaces and the exterior garden.

The central core, a vertical twisted garden surrounded by sky entry foyers

The central core has been designed to separate totally the vertical circulations into two housing units on the same level. This core is fixed (it does not pivot). But in order to ensure the rotation of the storeys floor by floor, it is surrounded by a (naturally lightened) horizontal circulation loop welcoming the entry foyer dedicated to each unit. This buffer loop enables thus to set the main entrance always in the axis of each apartment and this despite of the 4.5 degrees rotation storey by storey. An alternative has been studied to build sky entry foyers directly around the cylindrical central core offering thus planted entry foyers with spectacular front view on the city of Taipei.

By level, the central core gathers 2 staircases, 4 high speed elevators of 24 people (1800 kg), 1 car elevators (also useful to carry enormous art pieces, luxury antique vehicles, or even huge pianos, etc.), 2 sky garages in glass and also all the vertical shafts for the main flows. All these vertical flows are covered by a huge bearing exoskeleton in reinforced steel.

The apartments, a maximal spatial and technical flexibility

The apartments of 540 M2 on average superimpose themselves under the shape of two planted twists unified around a central core. Each unit presents a storey structurally made with Vierendeel beams system behind glass facades only on even floors. All levels are linked at both ends by two spiralling mega columns covered by green walls. Each apartment is completely free columns!

This structural concept inspired by the DNA chain enables a maximal flexibility in terms of interior layout. It ensures also an optimal visual permeability (indoor outdoor connectivity) towards the suspended gardens of the balconies in foreground and the urban panorama on the background.

» The spatial flexibility is divided in 4 main typologies of storeys of 2 or 4 units:

Typology A: 2 units with curved living rooms around a central core.
Typology B: 2 units with living rooms stretched in the length behind the Southern façades.
Typology C: 2 units with living rooms set in bow by the panoramic storey.
Typology D: 4 units in duplex with living rooms benefiting from a double height.

In addition to these basic typologies, two huge clubhouses are set up on the roof floors so as to respect the setback required by the building volume. Therefore, from the same standardized double helix (1.250 M2 floor area), the rotation of the storey and its customizable interior laying-out makes every level be a unique floor for each resident!

Above: north-west and south-east facades

» The technical flexibility is obtained by the integration of the double deck and double wall concepts:

Spatially hyper-flexible, the constructive system proposed also a total flexibility to the level of technical distribution of the flows. Additional vertical flows are organized with “oblique shafts” along the glass façade. The system of double deck is integrated at each level under the shape of a double floor and a suspended ceiling. The network of the flows (rain water, used water, hot water, electricity, under floor-heating, cool air, hot air, optic fibre, etc.) crossing the central core can thus irrigate without any difficulty on the horizontal way all the surface area of each storey. Moreover, the use of castellated beams will enable to take advantage of a maximal free height under ceiling. The interior partitioning of each apartment will be à la carte according to the wishes of each inhabitant. The double walls will compartmentalize the different rooms following the curved axes of the building by integrating also many useful storage spaces.

» The energetic efficiency is obtained by isolating façades with high performance named inter-layer or double-layer:

The Agora Garden tower is covered by linear crystalline façades repeating themselves at each level. The identical facades in every apartment will be pre-manufactured in factory to accelerate their setting-up during the works. A multilayer glass (airspace + Polyvinyl Butyral) or double layer façades with integrated blinds will be directly associated there in order to protect the interior spaces from the solar radiation in summer and to limit the calorific loss in winter.

The landscape balconies, green cascades of flowers, fruits, vegetables and aromates

The landscape concept is to build a cascade of suspended gardens which cover the entire building. The tower becomes then a true vertical inhabited park, in a box of nature in the heart of the city! The selected essences will be preferably eatable in order to make each inhabitant gardener in its own vegetable consumption. Suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens, aromatic and medicinal gardens will flourish the wide and deep jardinière along the global periphery of each apartment. Garden furniture, compost spaces from waste to organic fertilizers, fuel cells, rain water tanks for the irrigation of plants, and ecologic nests for birds will be directly integrated in the design of these jardinières. In order to protect the organic substrate tanks from the heating coming from the solar radiation, the planting beds will be covered by a layer of Bethel white granite on honeycomb. The white colour of the Agora Garden tower will provide a new emblematic, pure and fresh identity.

The tower generates through its morphology in rotation two types of very specific landscape balconies:

1. The balconies called ascending or positive:open-air, they benefit from a maximal sunshine and enable to cultivate their trees and shrubs of subtropical essences. We will preferably set up the living rooms on this side. It will be also possible to inlay photovoltaic sunshades at the extremity of the slab according to the wishes of each resident. Thermal captors could be also set up in order to produce sanitary hot water.

2. The balconies called descending or negative:Covered by the superior level, they offer half shadowed relaxing spaces to cultivate flowers, vegetables, aromatic plants and falling and climbing species. We will preferably set up the bedrooms on this side.

In bow of the housing storeys, are laid-out some outdoor garden bath sanctuary that coils themselves up in an alcove dig in the façade of each apartment. Different from the modern city built of concrete, glass and steel, the Agora Garden tower appears in an urban centre as a green twisted mountain. Following the seasons, the planted essences (with persistent and deciduous leaves) will make its colours and its abundance to evolve. Declining a camaieu of green in the summer, the tower will blaze with golden and bloody colours in autumn. In spring, it will be bloomed with thousands colours and will liberate floral fragrances from its fruit trees. The tower will then develop perfumed micro-climate for the very best welfare of its inhabitants!

The photovoltaic roof and its gardens for phyto-purification

Located at 100 meters high, a huge photovoltaic pergola of 1000 m² transforms the sun rays into electric energy which is directly reintroduced into the network of the building. Under this layer with blue-steel reflection, clubhouses are located on the roof surrounded by panoramic sky gardens. They filter and purify the rain water with the action of the plants in order to reinject the water by gravity in the distribution network of sanitary water. From this terrace, there is an extraordinary panoramic view on the 101 tower.

Above: north-east and south-west facades

The landscape basement naturally lightened and ventilated:

Contrary to the traditional car park of 2.10 M high under beams and plunged under an artificial shadowy light, the car park of the Agora Garden project benefits from the natural light. Actually, a light well integrating seismic joints makes the light and the fresh air fall to the levels of the basement. Thus, the car park and the connected facilities (swimming pools and fitness) are naturally ventilated. The main access of the basement is done by the Song Yong Road under a sculptural entry gate inspired by a spiralling leaf.

From the level B1, we can access to both car elevators inside the central core and go very quickly to the sky garages located at the entrance of each apartment. The car park is designed in the existing perimeter of the current car park of the pre-existing Agora Garden hotel in order to limit the works cost of excavation and foundations.

Only the south-west wall has been corrected so as to set up a laying-out with double helix. Actually, in the continuation of the rotating tower, the car park is drawn according to a circular plan with an ascending interior helix around the core in the direction of the exit and a second descending helix in the direction of the entrance. The whole set forms a continuous banister that welcomes more than 230 cars and 500 scooters. From slab to slab, the minimal height is 3,10 meters which improves comfortably the atmosphere of the building of an immaculate white. It is important to notice that the structure of the tower weights through this car park in order to facilitate the descent of the loading of the whole building.

The Challenge Of A Positively Ecologic Revolution!

In the architecture of the Agora Garden project, the association of the living (Bios), the biotechnologies (renewable energies and nanotechnologies), and the NICT (New Technologies of Information and Communication), can meet the Chinese antique thought which always refused to separate the nature and the humanity that nourishes itself from it; the body from the spirit that did not exist without it. Avant-gardist on the theme of contemporary ecologic crisis, the Chinese thought prefers the relationships rather than the separated elements. The human being and its life framework depend from the fusion of the variables:

As humbly wrote the influent sinologist, specialist in old China Marcel Granet in the Chinese Thought in 1934: None opposes the human being from the nature; do not think of opposing them such as the free element from the determined element. The Chinese people only see in the Time and the Space a gathering of occasions and sites. These are interdependences, solidarities that constitute the order of the Universe. We do not think that the Man could form a reign in the Nature or that the spirit distinguishes itself from the material.

In the heart of Taipei, after having built the city on the landscape, after having then built the city on the city, it is now time for the landscape to rebuild itself on the city! In this perspective of ecologic resilience, the Agora Garden project must be considered as an abstraction of geography and a distortion of ecosystem. The Agora Garden project is a nature built from the living that fights for the re-naturalisation of Ecopolis of tomorrow! This tower reveals strongly and surely the challenge of reinventing a new lifestyle for residential tower, that is self-sufficient, sculpturally unprecedented. It is a project absolutely unique in the world and charismatic drawing with poetry in the oriental sky, a delicate superposition of sky villas with wide suspended private gardens.

Last but not least, it is a unique ecologic landmark, new symbol of sustainability at the bottom of the prestigious 101 tower!

Above: cross section

Type: International Competition – First Prize Winner In November 2010
Client: Bes Engineering Corporation, Taipei
Contract Location: Xinyin District, Taipei City, Taiwan
Program: 40 Luxurious Apartments + Facilities
Surface Area: 42.335.34 M²
Delivery: 2016
Current Phase: Construction Documents – Below Grade Under Construction
Green Certification: LEED Gold

International Design Architect: Vincent Callebaut Architectures, SARL Paris
Local Architect: LKP Design, Taipei
Structural Engineer: King Le Chang & Associates, Taipei
Local Mep Engineering: Sine & Associates, Taipei
International Interior Architect: Wilson & Associates (Wa), Los Angeles
International Landscape Architect: SWA, Sausalito, San Francisco
Local Landscape Architect: Horizon & Atmosphere (H&A), Taipei
International Lighting Designer: L’observatoire International, New-York
Local Lighting Designer: Unolai Design, Taipei
Green Consultant: Enertek, Taipei
VCA’s Team: Emilie Diers, Frederique Beck, Jiao Yang, Florence Mauny, Volker Erlich, Philippe Steels, Marco Conti Sikic, Benoit Patterlini, Maguy Delrieu, Vincent Callebaut
Model Maker: Patrick Laurent

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Vincent Callebaut appeared first on Dezeen.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is set to reopen next week following a ten-year restoration and extension programme led by Spanish office Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos (+ slideshow).

Above: the Atrium, photographed by Pedro Pegenaute

Working alongside French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and restoration architect Van Hoogevest, Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos has overhauled the interior of the historic arts and crafts museum, which was designed by architect Pierre Cuypers in the late nineteenth century. As well as restoring galleries to their original configuration, the architects have created a new entrance hall and added a pavilion to showcase Asian artworks.

Above: the Atrium, photographed by Pedro Pegenaute

The entrance hall, named the Atrium, replaces a series of gallery extensions in the museum’s two inner courtyards.

Above: the Atrium, photographed by Pedro Pegenaute

A rib-vaulted passageway divided the space in two, so the architects have lowered the floor to create an underground zone linking the two sides from underneath. As the main route through the building, this passageway was then reconnected to the hall with a set of new staircases.

Above: the passageway, photographed by Pedro Pegenaute

The architects have installed a new glass roof to enclose the grand triple-height court, filled with natural light. Polished Portuguese stone covers the floor, while two rectangular chandelier-like structures are suspended overhead on each side.

Above: Gallery of Honour, photographed by Iwan Baan

Elsewhere in the museum, lowered ceilings and half-storeys have been removed to rationalise the layout of the Rijksmuseum‘s 80 galleries, which have been completely reorganised. Only Rembrandt’s seventeenth-century painting The Night Watch remains in its original position, in the dedicated Night Watch Gallery.

Above: Rijksmuseum, photographed by Iwan Baan

New display areas are designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte to look invisible where possible and include cases made from anti-reflective glass and simple rectangular plinths. Walls are finished in five different shades of grey, in line with Cuypers’ original palette.

Above: The Night Watch Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

Under the supervision of Van Hoogevest, the terrazzo floor has been restored in the Great Hall, while additional ornaments have been revitalised in the Gallery of Honour and within the stairwells.

Above: 17th Century Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

The new Asian Pavilion is located to the south of the building and features walls of stone and glass. It is surrounded by water and sits within redesigned gardens by Dutch landscape architects Copijn Landschapsarchitecten.

Above: 17th Century Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

A number of historic museums have been given a facelift in recent years. Also in Amsterdam, Benthem Crouwel Architects recently added a sink-like extension to the Stedelijk Museum, while David Chipperfield won the Mies van der Rohe Award for his 2009 renovation of the Neues Museum in Berlin. See more museums on Dezeen.

Above: 20th Century Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

Here’s some more information about the opening:

Rijksmuseum to open following ten-year transformation

The Rijksmuseum will open on 13 April 2013, following a ten-year transformation. Never before has a national museum undergone such a complete transformation of both its building and the presentation of its collection.

Spanish architecture firm Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos has spectacularly transformed the 19th-century building into a museum for the 21st century, with a bright and spacious entrance, a new Asian Pavilion and beautifully restored galleries. Under the guidance of restoration architect Van Hoogevest, the lavish decoration scheme of Pierre Cuypers, the original architect of the museum, has been fully reconstructed in a number of the museum’s key spaces. Parisian architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte designed the new interior of the galleries, fusing 19th-century grandeur with modern design.

The presentation of the Rijksmuseum’s world-famous collection is also new. For the very first time, visitors can follow a chronological journey through the collection, and experience the sense of beauty and time this offers. In a sequence of 80 galleries, 8,000 objects tell the story of 800 years of Dutch art and history. Only Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch will be returning to its original position.

The renovation and opening of the Rijksmuseum is made possible by founder Philips and main sponsors BankGiro Lottery, ING and KPN. The restoration of the Cuypers colours is made possible by AKZONobel/Sikkens.

Above: 18th Century Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

Journey through time, from the Middle Ages to Mondrian

The new presentation of the Rijksmuseum collection is a journey through Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages and Renaissance until the 20th century. The story of the Netherlands has been set in an international context and is told chronologically across four separate floors. Paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, silver, porcelain, delftware, furniture, jewellery, arms, fashion and objects from Dutch history will be presented together for the very first time.

More than 30 galleries are dedicated to the glory of the Golden Age, when the young mercantile republic led the world in trade, science, military exploits and the arts. At the heart of the museum will be the magnificently restored Gallery of Honour, presenting world-famous masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. The Gallery of Honour leads visitors to the dedicated space that architect Cuypers created for Rembrandt’s The Night Watch in the late 19th century, and where this huge masterpiece can once again be admired.

New to the presentation are the 20th century galleries. Paintings, furniture, photography, film and an aeroplane paint a picture of Dutch culture from the last century.

Above: 18th Century Gallery, photographed by Iwan Baan

Special Collections

The Special Collections are also displayed separately for the first time. Here, visitors will be able to discover famous and unexpected objects from the applied arts, science and national history, such as ship and navy models, musical instruments, and an armoury.

Above: Cuypers Library, photographed by Iwan Baan

New acquisitions and restorations

With the support of businesses, funds and private donors, hundreds of new objects and works of art have been acquired over the last ten years, of which more than 100 will be showcased in the museum when it reopens. The Rijksmuseum was also able to carefully study and restore almost the entire collection of works featured in the new presentation. Highlights among the new acquisitions include:

The ‘Golden Bend’ in the Herengracht (1671-72) by Gerrit Berckheyde, one of the highlights of the Dutch landscape genre from the Golden Age. Acquired with the support of Royal Dutch Shell, the National Art Collections Fund foundation and the BankGiro Lottery.

The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter (1655) by Jan Steen, one of the masterpieces of the 17th century collection. Acquired with the support of the BankGiro Lottery, The Mondrian Fund, VSB, Vereniging Rembrandt and National Art Collections Fund foundation.

A rare white armchair (1923) by Dutch designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld. With the support of the BankGiro Lottery Fund.

Two-metre high wooden sculptures of celestial warriors from Japan, temple guardians from the 14th century. With the support of the BankGiro Lottery Fund, the M.J. Drabbe Fund, The Mondrian Foundation and Vereniging Rembrandt.

Above: Great Hall, photographed by Jannes Linders

Cuypers for the 21st century

The main building of the Rijksmuseum has undergone a spectacular transformation. The lead architect for the renovation was Seville-based architecture firm Cruz y Ortiz. They based their ideas on the original design by Pierre Cuypers, the 19th-century architect of the museum. Under the motto Cuypers for the 21st century, and in close collaboration with Dutch restoration architect Van Hoogevest, the architects have turned the 19th-century national monument into a modern museum for the 21st century, restoring and introducing light and space. Cruz y Ortiz have opened up the previously converted inner courtyards into an impressive glass-covered new entrance hall, known as the Atrium. The original, richly decorated walls and ceilings have been revealed again in a number of places under the guidance of architect Van Hoogevest. The French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, known for his work in the Louvre, is responsible for the design of the Rijksmuseum galleries. He has designed elegant display cases, plinths, lighting and furniture, and has selected an interior colour scheme inspired by Pierre Cuypers’ palette for the building.

Above: Gallery of Honour, photographed by Iwan Baan

The new Asian Pavilion

Surrounded by water, the new Asian Pavilion is made from Portuguese stone and glass, and is characterised by many oblique surfaces and unusual sightlines. It houses the museum’s rich collection of Asian art from China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand, dating from 2000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. A total of approximately 350 objects will be on display.

New “outdoor museum”

Based on Cuypers’ 1901 design, the Rijksmuseum gardens’ new layout was created by Dutch garden and landscape architecture firm Copijn. The gardens feature several of the original formal garden styles, as well as classical statues, and fragments and ornaments of historic buildings. A fountain, a water artwork designed by Jeppe Hein, a 19th-century greenhouse with ‘forgotten’ vegetables, and a children’s garden with playground equipment by Dutch designer Aldo van Eyck will soon be added to this “outdoor museum”. A Henry Moore exhibition will open in the new gardens on 21 June 2013, the first in a series of international sculpture exhibitions to be held each year.

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and Jean-Michel Wilmotte appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese architect Hironaka Ogawa designed this rural house in Kagawa like a sundial, with a south-facing tower that casts shadows across a grassy courtyard (+ slideshow).

Named Sundial House, the building is the home of a farmer, so Hironaka Ogawa wanted to create a structure that reflects the seasonal calendar: “My goal was to build a home where the client can feel the seasons change from winter, spring, summer and fall”.

He continues: “To accomplish this, I proposed this courtyard house with a two-storey unit in the middle of the site. As a result, the shadow of the tower moves slowly throughout the day.”

The six-metre high tower with windows on three sides contains two bedroom floors and an attic.

The rest of the rooms are contained in a single-storey volume that outlines the perimeter of the courtyard on three sides, creating a sequence of spaces with glazed elevations. Most of the glass panels slide open, so that rooms including the living room and dining room can easily be opened out to the garden.

A wall of timber separates the courtyard from the surrounding field. Externally, this wall is stained in dark red, while the internal surfaces are white.

Sundial House is our sixth recent story about the work of architect Hironaka Ogawa. Other residential projects include a house with indoor trees in Kagawa and a house with chunks missing from its sloping roof. See more architecture by Hironaka Ogawa.

Photography is by Daici Ano, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from Hironaka Ogawa:

Sundial House

This house stands in the middle of the fields in the country. The client does farming on the side.

The site draws attention from the street; however it is not a place from which one can enjoy beautiful scenery in particular. Yet the client desired to live openly in this home.

Modern housing lacks the feelings of seasonal and time changes by the artificial environment. My goal was to build a home where the client can feel the seasons change from winter, spring, summer and fall as a farmer. In order to accomplish this, I proposed this courtyard house with a two-storey unit in the middle of the site, surrounded by a one-storey unit.

I purposefully placed the two-storey unit on the south part of the site to block the sun. As a result, the shadow of the tower moves slowly throughout the day. In addition, the shadows of objects and places to stay within the home move accordingly.

Above: photograph is by the architect

In the summer, there would be a summer shadow. In the winter, there would be a winter shadow. The house shows different appearances in each of the four seasons. There would be a rhythm in the home’s atmosphere created by the shadow of the tower, intentionally constructed on the south part of the site.

Also, the client can feel the sense of privacy at the same time as the indication of the each room by placing a small courtyard in the one-storey unit to maintain the distances in the house.

In conclusion, this house is like a sundial where one can feel the change of the seasons along with the surrounding fields.

Function: private house
Location: Kagawa, Japan
Structure: wood frame
Site area: 727.69 sqm
Architectural area: 132.21 sqm
Total floor area: 147.51 sqm

Above: site plan

Above: plan – click for larger image

Above: long section – click for larger image

Above: short section – click for larger image

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Hironaka Ogawa appeared first on Dezeen.

A narrow vertical slice at one corner is the only interruption to the monolithic facade of this plain white house in Miyazaki, Japan, by Hiroshima studio Tsukano Architect Office (+ slideshow).

Designed with a simple rectilinear shape, the austere two-storey residence has a single window slotted into its narrow opening, as well as a dark corridor that leads down inside.

A door at the end of the corridor opens into the house’s dining room, set around a metre below ground level, where a large window reveals a courtyard concealed behind the blank facade.

This courtyard spans the width of the building and is overlooked by every room inside. Its surface is at the same level as the ground outside the walls, but it also lines up with worktops in the kitchen and a concrete breakfast bar in the dining room.

Tsukano Architect Office designed the house with two almost-identical floor plans, creating a living room directly over the dining room, a kitchen that lines up with the upstairs bedroom and the study with a bathroom exactly overhead.

Surfaces are finished in a mixture of exposed concrete, timber panels and white plaster.

Architect Michiya Tsukano describes his intention to protect the house from the noises of the road and the overbearing surrounding buildings using an encasing “white plate”. He explains: “With the white plate, the house can be separated from the outer crowdedness, while sunlight is allowed to come into the courtyard.”

House T is one of the first completed projects by Tsukano Architect Office. Other recently completed houses in Japan include a home with a crooked blue spine and a residence in a converted warehouse. See more Japanese houses on Dezeen.

Photography is by Kenichi Asano.

Here’s a short description from Michiya Tsukano:

House-T

This scheme has been planned for the downtown in Miyazaki, located in southern Japan.

The road in front is so busy and noisy, and there are tall buildings for residence at the south. Considering all these factors, I came up with a brilliant idea to harmonize with the circumstances having a piece of white plate wrap the whole home space.

With the white plate, the house can be separated from the outer crowdedness, while sunlight is allowed to come into the courtyard, which makes inner space warm and brighter.

Architect: Michiya Tsukano/Tsukano Architect Office
Structural design: Hiroshi Okamoto, Tomoe Tsukano
Location: Miyazaki, Japan

Site area: 172.38 sqm
Building area: 59.47 sqm
1F floor area: 50.15 sqm
2F floor area: 57.99 sqm
Total floor area: 108.14 sqm

Structure: RC
Principal use: residence

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

Above: cross section

Above: long section

Above: elevations

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Tsukano Architect Office appeared first on Dezeen.

Walls surrounding this property showroom in Chongqing, China, were designed by architects PURE Design as triangular planes with origami-like folds (+ slideshow).

Located on the side of the hill within the Hong’en Temple Forest Park, the Chongqing Greenland Clubhouse comprises two storeys, which include a boxy lower level with transparent glass walls and a more sculptural upper level clad with zinc.

The sloping ground allowed PURE Design to add entrances on both levels of the building. On the lower floor, visitors arrive at a reception area for the sales centre and offices, while the upper entrance leads into an exhibition gallery.

A river runs past the south elevation, so walls are glazed on both levels to afford views out across the water towards the city skyline.

A spiral staircases connects the levels, plus the lowest floor opens out to a patio seating area on the east side of the building.

The building will initially function as a sales centre for the Chongqing Greenland Real Estate Development Company, but could be converted for use as a restaurant and clubhouse in the future.

Construction in and around China has led to the construction of a number of new showrooms for property developers that we’ve reported on, including an extremely pointy pavilion in Tianjin and a building with a rampart-like facade in Singapore.

See more new architecture in China, including a 300-room hotel in one of the country’s oldest cities.

Photography is by Shu He.

Here’s a project description from PURE Design:

The clubhouse is located halfway up the south side of the mountain in Hong’en Temple Forest Park, Chongqing, facing the Jialing River. It is one of twenty-three commercial buildings, initially used as a real estate sales centre for the Greenland Bund Center project. Designed as a medium for dialogue between the river and mountain, the spatial experience through the building reflects the unique qualities of the dynamic terrain.

Due to the one storey height difference between the mountainside entrance and the terrace overlooking the river, the building is composed of two floors. The second level consists of the main entrance, and is primarily used as the real estate exhibition space, containing multimedia presentations and a river view experience. The first floor functions as a sales centre, containing models of the properties and sales spaces. It is also connected to the model homes.

In terms of architecture, the form of the first level is conceived from a glass box, pristine and sturdy. On the second level, the side facing the mountain utilizes stretched triangular shapes to create an undulating contour line, echoing the silhouette of the mountains. Additionally, the heavy gray colour of the external zinc cladding integrates the architecture with the city. In contrast, the surface facing the river is tranquil and lithe, reminiscent of a crystal case; its translucency presents little disturbance to the river scenery while allowing a complete view of the river from the interior of the building. On this basis, the visitor is led on a winding path containing seven different experiences from the second floor entrance to the first floor terrace. Let each visitor experience the beauty of the medium between the site and its surroundings, composed of an infinity pool, river, triangular form, courtyard, and crystal case.

Above: exploded axonometric diagram

Project: Chongqing Greenland Clubhouse
Location: Chongqing, China
Completion: September 2012
Area: 1100m2
Client: Chongqing Greenland Real Estate Development Co.
Design Firm: PURE Design LLC.
Structural Engineer: Shanghai Baoye Construction Group Corp.
Landscape Design: Collective Landscape Design LLC.
Interior Design: MoHen Design International

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: lower level plan – click for larger image

Above: upper level plan – click for larger image

Above: long section – click for larger image

Above: cross section – click for larger image

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by PURE Design appeared first on Dezeen.