A sequence of arches creates topsy-turvy openings and curvy doorways through the spaces of this art gallery in Beijing by design collective Penda (+ slideshow).
Vienna and Beijing firm Penda refurbished the Hongkung Art Gallery and Art Arcadion on the outskirts of the city, providing a new reception area where curved openings of different sizes guide visitors through to the existing exhibition rooms.
The curves begin at the building’s entrance and continue around the space to create arches of different sizes and alternating orientations.
“As a visual effect, we chose the arch as an inviting and welcoming gesture,” architect Chris Precht told Dezeen. “In combination with the counter-arch, it has the appearance of a continuous ribbon.”
The designers based the forms on the mountains and valleys depicted in typical Chinese landscape paintings, tying in with the artworks that comprise the gallery’s main exhibition.
“Multiple arches altering in size and orientation create a continuous, gentle curve, which becomes a sculptural interpretation of the landscape paintings that are exhibited in the gallery,” said Precht.
A new monolithic facade forms the building’s entrance. Inside, the arched openings frame an information desk, cloakroom and a staircase shielded behind translucent glass.
Ground floor galleries are located just beyond and focus on well-known Chinese artists, while the floor above caters for themed temporary exhibitions. A special exhibition hall is located in the basement and the mezzanine level is reserved for gallery employees.
Most spaces in the building have clean white walls, designed to allow visitors to focus on the artworks.
Photography is by Xia Zhi.
Here’s a project description from penda:
Hongkung Art Gallery / Art Arcadion
Located on the southern 3rd ring road in Beijing, the white exterior of the Hongkun Art Gallery works a sculptural focal point for the area.
Entering the gallery through an opening in the monolithic facade, the arch-like curves continue to the interior and gently merge into a clean white space for exhibiting the artworks.
The open areas in the gallery offer a wide space for themed exhibition, while the gently curved entrance part draws people into the space and guides them naturally further into the gallery.
The solid expression of the exterior continually merges with a carved out interior and increases the sculptural appearance of the gallery. Multiple arches altering in size and orientation create a continuous, gentle curve which becomes a sculptural interpretation of the landscape paintings, that are exhibited in the gallery.
Within the arches, the entrance sculpture inhabits an information desk, a coatroom and the main circulation staircase, which guides visitors to the basement with a special exhibition hall and employees to the office area located on the mezzanine level.
Project: HK Art Gallery Architects: penda Project location: Beijing, China
Design concept
Project area: 2000sqm on 2 floors Project started: End of October 2013 Gallery opened: beginning of December 2013
Austrian studio Bernardo Bader Architects sourced pine and spruce from the surrounding slopes to build this picturesque chalet in a village of western Austria (+ slideshow).
Named Haus Fontanella, the house is built between the Glatthorn and Zafernhorn mountains in Fontanella – a village with historical ties to the nomadic Walser people that settled throughout the Alpine regions in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Bernardo Bader combined traditional and modern building techniques to build a house that resonates with the typical Walser buildings. A concrete base burrows down into the hillside, while the upper section comprises a pine frame clad with roughly-hewn spruce panels of random sizes.
“Our use of the wood was similar to how it would have been years ago – simple, first-hand and rough,” said Bader, explaining how the spruce was delivered from the sawmill and then installed on the walls in exactly the same condition.
Square windows also come in a variety of sizes and are dotted around the walls in a way that gives no clues about the internal layout.
“The intentional rough planking together with the randomness of smaller and bigger windows generate an exciting facade game and an intimate atmosphere inside, with selected framed views to the exterior,” said the architect.
There are three storeys inside the house, as well as an attic tucked beneath the sloping roof. Silver fir lines walls, floors and ceilings throughout the building, plus most of the fixtures are also made from wood.
The main living and dining areas can be found on the middle floor, opening out to a sheltered terrace, while three bedrooms and a study are located upstairs, and a sauna and storage area occupy the partially submerged basement floor.
A geothermal pump offers a sustainable heating source and extra warmth can be provided by a wood-burning stove.
Photography is by Archive Architects.
Here’s a project description from Bernardo Bader:
Haus Fontanella
Aim of the project: Not far away from the town centre of Fontanella – an old village of Walserpeople – the house is situated on a inclined south-terrace-plane. Not just to benefit from the great view but also to optimise the property’s borders, the building is placed on the upper part of the property and the volume is kept as compact as possible.
The whole facade of the building is a made of differently size sliced spruce boards, exactly how they are delivered from the sawmill.
The intentional rough planking together with the randomness of smaller and bigger windows generate an exciting facade game and an intimate atmosphere inside with selected framed views to the exterior.
The basement is made of concrete, the rest of the house is a whole wood construction. The interior work of the ground floor is also a silver-fir wood construction, the one in the upper floor is drywall.
It shows a three-dimensional image of flowers that appear to grow in a generative pattern, creating unique blooms derived from colours, patterns and forms found in the museum’s collection of historical taxidermy and plant samples.
“The shape of the stems and flowers are generated using splines and 3D surfaces that follow mathematical equations,” Brown told Dezeen. “A second formula generates petal surfaces by taking segments of images of the museum exhibits, and arranges these to create seamless larger textures.”
He added that the two-stage process means every bloom will be unique: “The combination of the two [formulas] ensures that no two generated flowers will ever look quite the same.”
Various plants and animals from the museum’s collection informed the shape the digital plants grow into, while the surfaces of petals and leaves are decorated with patterns influenced by textures taken from the same sources. “For example, the colourful bulbous stamens that appear on some plants take their form from birds in the collection, and their rich texture comes from their plumage,” Brown explained.
Brown employed techniques similar to those used in the production of computer games and cinematic special effects to develop an animation specially for the museum that pans around the flowers as they evolve.
The visuals are designed to be suitable for vertical or horizontal projection so the installation can be presented in a variety of different spaces throughout the museum, or even tour other galleries.
Over the past ten years, Brown has been developing algorithms based on mathematical principles which can generate realistic-looking flowers that never repeat the same characteristics.
The original flower series called On Growth and Form was named after a book written in 1917 by Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, the biologist and professor after whom the museum at the University of Dundee is named.
Brown said the processes explored by Thompson in the book influenced his investigations into the relationship between nature and mathematics. “My work essentially uses the same thinking but in a practical context rather than theoretical: using seemingly ‘cold’ mathematical equations to create hyper-real organic behaviour,” he explained.
The museum commissioned the installation as part of a collection of new works it is compiling called the Renew Project, which is inspired by D’Arcy Thompson’s legacy and influence on the artistic world.
Brown has previously produced animations for installations at the Design Museum and Victoria & Albert museum in London, as well as working on interactive interfaces, websites and projects for architecture and fashion. His website for fashion brand Mulberry generated unique flowers that users could send to their loved one on Valentine’s Day.
The designer sent us the following project description:
Darwin – a new artwork by Daniel Brown for the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum
“The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty” – Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, from On Growth and Form.
London-based designer and digital artist Daniel Brown is pleased to announce the recent completion of a specially created artwork for the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum.
Commissioned by the University of Dundee Museum Services with grant funding from the Art Fund, the work uses shapes and textures taken from and inspired by exhibits in the museum. The work is part of the museum’s ‘Renew’ programme
Over the past ten years Brown has become known for creating his ‘Flowers’ series – ornate artworks that use complex mathematics to generate never repeating floral animations. The series was originally entitled ‘On Growth and Form’ in homage to D’Arcy Thompson’s pioneering book and Brown states ‘it was an honour and the ultimate privilege to create an artwork for the museum given the huge influence Thompson’s book has had on my work’.
The piece is the first in a new phase of the series, utilising cutting edge 3D technology that is more commonly used for computer games and cinema features, creating realistic-looking flowers that grow on screen like time-lapse documentary photography. It is designed to work both in portrait and landscape arrangement to allow for large format projection and flat-screen presentation in different spaces.
Previous pieces from the series have been exhibited at the London Design Museum and a three-story-high projected version was commissioned by the Victoria & Albert as the entrance feature for their Decode – Digital Art Sensations blockbuster show that took place from December 2009 to April 2010.
Brown was voted Designer of the Year in 2004 – the year after Apple design guru Jonathan Ive was also awarded this major national accolade. Ive commented that… “Daniel Brown’s work changes the way we look at and engage with digital imagery. It is technically innovative and emotionally engaging, but also gives us an extraordinary amount of freedom in the way we experience it”.
Photo essay: Polish photographer Alicja Dobrucka has produced a series of images documenting the rapid growth of skyscraper construction in Mumbai, India (+ slideshow).
According to Dobrucka, there are currently more skyscrapers under construction in Mumbai than anywhere else in the world, many of them unregulated, adding to over 2500 high-rise buildings that already exist in the city. These luxury apartment blocks are in stark contrast to the surrounding “desolate slums”, which the photographer says account for 62 percent of the population.
The Life on a New High series depicts a selection of these new buildings and their surroundings, and couples each one with a quote from a property advert, highlighting the disparity between the new high-end consumer and the slum residents.
Mumbai is currently is home to the largest number of supertalls and skyscrapers under construction in the world. This project, entitled Life on a New High, aims to address the issue of the changing landscape and unregulated construction in this financial capital of India.
The city is undergoing a massive construction boom, with more than 15 supertalls (buildings taller than 300 metres), hundreds of skyscrapers and thousands of high-rise buildings under construction.
More than 2500 high-rise buildings are already constructed, in addition to more than a thousand mid-rises existing already. Most of the skyscrapers are residential. Even the richest man in the city lives in a skyscraper. Antilia is one of the taller towers in which 27 floors accommodate a family of four and 200 servants.
The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square-kilometre. The living space is 4.5 square metres per person. The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to be nine million, that is, 62 percent of all Mumbaikers live in desolate slums.
There is no centralised urban planning and towers keep popping up in all areas of central Mumbai, particularly on the huge pieces of land that accommodated textile factories now closed, as well as in the suburbs. The building companies are supported by the government and are given tax exemption.
All the skyscrapers are constructed by international companies, in many instances from Denmark. The architecture of the new risers has no relation to the Indian cityscape – European architecture is being transplanted to India, transforming this country in the process.
This building boom creates a great deal of problems and makes the city difficult to negotiate on foot. It is also damaging to the environment as the large glass windows require air conditioning, which in turn increases the consumption of electricity.
Advertising agencies appeal to the newly rich, the up-and-coming middle class, using slogans such as: “You don’t just invite friends over, you invite awe”. The new Indian luxury consumer is pursuing a lifestyle where owning an apartment in the “newly builds”, as much as possessing exclusive items, is seen as a clear sign of wealth and power.
Sports brand Adidas has unveiled its latest running shoes with springy blades sticking out of the soles (+ slideshow).
Adidas Springblade Razor trainers have 16 blades on the bottom of each shoe, arranged in pairs up the length of the base with two larger pads at each end.
Formed from specially engineered plastic, the blades compress under the runner’s weight when pressure is exerted on the ground then spring back to help push the foot forward.
A sock-like upper wraps around the top of the foot to keep it secure when pushing off and is designed to aid breathability.
The men’s trainers in four colourways are now available to preorder from the Adidas USA website, and will go on sale online and in stores across America tomorrow. They will launch in other countries later this year.
Adidas launches Springblade Razor, the next generation of explosive energy under your feet. The new running shoe is available for pre-order for $180 on adidas.com this weekend starting Sunday 12 January.
Springblade, introduced last year, is the first running shoe with blade technology designed to help propel you forward. The Razor features a unique web design over sock-like Techfit technology that helps lock your feet in place and enhances breathability. The shoe’s 16 individually tuned blades instantaneously react to any environment, compressing and releasing energy.
Springblade Razor goes on sale on adidas.com, at adidas Sport Performance stores and retailers nationwide including Finish Line on 16 January.
The Razor launches in four colorways for men, including Solar Blue/Tech Grey Metallic/Black, Black/Tech Grey Metallic/ Light Scarlet, Metallic Silver/Black/Light Scarlet and Light Scarlett/Black/Metallic Silver, and three colorways for women including Solar Blue/Tech Grey Metallic/Black, Black/Black/Vivid Berry and Bahia Pink/Metallic Silver/Black.
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has layered wooden boards to create striations inside this workspace and cafe for an online restaurant guide based in Osaka (+ slideshow).
Kengo Kuma designed the interiors of two spaces for Gurunavi: one that’s used as a physical base and information centre for the Japanese restaurant guide and another that serves as a cafe.
Both follow the same design language, with surfaces created using layers of plywood to create a landscape that functions as furniture.
“We piled up pieces of wooden panels to build the interior like topography,” said Kuma. “Various kinds of food-related items are laid out on this wooden ground.”
At the Shun*Shoku Lounge cafe, the wooden boards are stacked from floor to ceiling in one corner and create a counter in the centre plus seating around the sides.
Similarly in the workspace, the strata wrap around the edges of the room and extend out at various heights to form shelving, desks and seating.
Shun*Shoku Lounge
The two spaces are both enclosed by glass walls on three sides and a solid wall at the back. They are separated by a tunnel that leads to further retail units at Osaka’s main railway station.
Russian studio Wowhaus has transformed a four-lane highway beside Moscow’s Moskva River into the city’s first year-round park, featuring rows of trees, fountains, cafes and artists’ studios (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
Extending from the northern perimeter of Gorky Park, the Krymskaya Embankment project creates pedestrian pathways and cycle routes alongside the southern bank of the river, connecting with the Central House of Artists gallery building and Muzeon Fallen Monument Park.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
Starting at the Krymskaya Bridge, Wowhaus divided the stretch into four zones that each accommodate different activities, then used a wave motif to unite various design elements that include cobbled paving, wooden benches, buildings and pathways.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
“The central design element of the embankment is the wave,” said the architects. “Wave-shaped benches, and pedestrian and cycling waves create an artificial landscape.”
“In summer the wave-shaped multi-level layout can be used for walking, cycling or roller skating, while in winter it is a perfect setup for sledging, skating or skiing,” they added.
The first zone encompasses the area in front of and underneath the bridge. It includes a wooden stage for outdoor performances, as well as a series of sheltered benches made from reconstituted stone and wood.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
The next section accommodates the artists’ studio and exhibition spaces, which are contained within a 210-metre-long structure featuring wavy roof profiles.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
A riverside pathway runs along beside the structure, leading on to a fountain area behind. Here, jets of water are laid out on a 60-metre-long grid to create an interactive water feature, flanked by rows of linden trees designed to reference classic French streetscapes.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
The final zone, entitled Green Hills, includes landscaped areas interspersed with winding pathways and various pavilions. Wooden benches slice into the hillsides and are surrounded by rowan trees, apple trees and hawthorns.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
Here’s a project description from Wowhaus:
Krymskaya Embankment
A once unappealing Krymskaya embankment, only recently separated from the Muzeon park and the Central House of Artists, has been transformed beyond recognition: what once was a road has turned into a lane for pedestrians and bicycles. Fountains have been set up, wave-shaped artist pavilions have replaced a chaotic exhibition area and small hills with benches scattered about have become part of the landscape park thus extending a green strip from Gorky park on the other side of the Krymsky bridge.
Objective
To turn a quiet four-lane road into a new city landmark, thereby bringing life to the deserted area of Muzeon park between the Central House of Artists and the Moskva river.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
Solution
To link the Krymskaya embankment to a 10 km pedestrian and cycling route that starts at Vorobievy Gori and to replace the road with a landscape park with distinct transit and sport features while preserving the artists’ exhibition zone.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
The transformed Krymskaya embankment is the first year-round landscape park in the centre of Moscow. In summer the wave-shaped multilevel layout can be used for walking, cycling or roller-skating while in winter it is a perfect setup for sledging, skating or skiing. The central design element of the embankment is the wave: wave-shaped benches, pedestrian and cycling waves create an artificial landscape.
The park zone was divided into four parts: an area in front of the bridge, an artists’ zone around a “Vernisage” pavilion, the Fountain Square and “Green Hills”. When planning each zone, the view from the other bank was also considered.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
Under the Krymsky Bridge
A transit zone connecting Gorky Park with the Krymsky embankment has become a popular spot and also provides shelter from the rain now that a stage, and two wooden amphitheatres have been built. 28 artificial rock and metal benches illuminated from the inside are scattered along the way as an amenity for pedestrians and cyclists from Muzeon to Gorky park.
The entrance of Muzeon is a 210 metre wooden vernissage with a wave-shaped roof (the pavilion was designed by Asse Architects).
Photograph by Olga Ascension
Fountain zone
The fountain zone which is the central element of the new park, faces the Central House of Artists and is separated from the river by a linden alley. A fountain jet, 60 metres long and 14 metres wide, is one of the options of the so called “dry” fountains when the edge of the water is level with the paving. The fountain has an internal system of dynamic lighting that allows various lighting patterns.
49 lindens were planted in a classic French park order to the north-east of the fountain on the embankment. A special planting technology, used in Russia for the first time, allows walking and cycling on these lanes without causing damage to the trees.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
“Green Hills”
When planning this part of the pedestrian route special attention was paid to the artificial landscape and plantation. Hills designed for walking and resting were furnished mainly with steppe plants. Trees and bushes with decorative crowns like lindens, hawthorns, rowan trees and ornamental apple trees were planted on hills from where one can contemplate and admire the scenery.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
The artificial relief is accentuated by wave-shaped wooden benches and beach beds that are “cut” into hills between walking lanes. There is also an artificial pond in this part of the park.
Photograph by Alexander Minchenko
Pavilions
In accordance with the bureau’s project there are three pavilions on the Krymskaya embankment, the fourth one will be completed by the end of 2013 and will replace a gas station. Pavilions will be used as cafes, stores and bike rentals.
Pavilion near the fountain square is designed by Darya Melnik and the cafe-pavilion in the “Green Hills” zone is designed by Anna Proshkuratova. The bike rental pavilion closest to the 3rd Folutvinsky Lane is equipped with a concrete roof ramp for bikes or skateboards, designed by Roman Kuchukov.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
All pavilions feature an extensive use of glass, some of them even use structural glass shapes – U-shaped toughened glass with high-bearing capacity.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
Lighting solutions
To make the park accessible and attractive for guests 24 hours a day, planning takes into account night time illumination, especially the point lighting of certain landscape elements. Ornamental lamps that are installed in groups among plants on the hills illuminate the area and create a striking visual. All the lanes are illuminated as well so that pedestrians and cyclists do not get lost.
Photograph by Olga Ascension
On the Fountain Square the “dry” fountain together with the linden alley make up a lighting composition that combines the dynamic colour lighting of the fountain jets with the softer warm-white illumination of the regular rows of the linden alley.
Area of the Krymskaya embankment:45 000 m2 Length of the embankment: 1 km Area of planting: 10 700 m2 Planting: 44 726 perennial and ornamental plants, 96475 bulbous plants, 485 trees and bushes. Number of flowerbeds and hills: 34, 3 of which are breast walls Area of paving: 24 318 m2 Length of bicycle lanes: 4684 m2 Light: 1419 light fixtures Fountain info: fountain dimensions – 12m х 60 m, 203 sprayers Area of pavilions: pavilion on the Fountain Square – total area 275 m2, pavilion on “Green Hills” – total area 35 m2, bike rental pavilion: total area 200 m2.
Bureau partners: Dmitry Likin, Oleg Shapiro Leading project architect: Mikhail Kozlov Architects: Maria Gulida, Alena Zaytseva, Roman Kuchukov, Darya Melnik, Tatyana Polyakova, Anna Proshkuratova, Anastasia Rychkova, Tatiana Skibo, Yarmarkina; with the participation of Yuriy Belov, Anna Karneeva, Olga Lebedeva, Anastasia Maslova Senior project engineers: Dmitry Belostotsky, Ivan Mikhalchuk Planting: Anna Andreeva Lighting: Anna Harchenkova Constructors of pavilions: Nussli (consulting), Werner Sobek Artificial landscape consulting: LDA Design Fountain and electricity engineering: Adline Chief design contractor: MAHPI
Photos: Olga Alekseenko, Yuriy Brazhnikov/Village, Nikolay Vasiliev, Olga Voznesenskaya, Elizaveta Gracheva, Darya Osmanova
Australian office Tribe Studio has hollowed out the centre of a 1920s house in Sydney to create angular ceilings and a wide entrance to the garden (+ slideshow).
Tribe Studio created House Chapple by retaining the original 1920s frontage of the old bungalow, renovating the interior and replacing a later extension at the rear.
“The challenge of this house was to achieve sun and privacy while appreciating both aspects,” said the architects. “Our client wanted to retain the romantic elements of the house and its sense of humility in a suburb of flashy new builds.”
The architects removed a suspended ceiling in the centre of the house, creating a double-height living space with pyramid-shaped ceiling profiles. They also added skylights at the top and installed pendant lights with long cables.
“We allowed light into the centre of the plan, promoting stack-effect ventilation and reinforcing the unusual order of operation of the house,” they added.
A street-facing sunroom is positioned above the garage, with views out across Sydney Harbour. The room opens out into the main living space that includes a lounge, kitchen and dining area.
Three bedrooms, a TV room and a study are positioned along the sides of the main space.
At the rear, the wide entrance opens onto a wooden deck flanking a garden with a long rectangular swimming pool.
Polished wooden floorboards and white walls feature throughout, while the brick exterior walls have been painted white.
With fantastic harbour views and a northerly orientation to the street-front and a wonderful garden and existing pool to the rear, the challenge of this house was to achieve sun and privacy while appreciating both aspects.
The house has been in our clients family since the 1960s. An important part of our brief was finding a balance between new and old architecturally and sentimentally.
Our client wanted to retain the romantic elements of the house, and its sense of humility in a suburb of flashy new builds. She was simultaneously keen to have a new start in this house and have it feel her own.
The strategy is a modest one: retain the original 1920s bungalow frontage and replace a poor 1960s addition at the rear.
The primary move is to cave out central part of the plan as living spaces with clear views to the front (harbour) and back (garden). The central band of living space is contained on either side by cellular ribbons of bedrooms and utility.
The living space occupies the area underneath the peak of the original roof. The ceiling is removed and a series of distorted pyramid ceiling voids are created within the original geometry, allowing light into the centre of the plan, promoting stack effect ventilation and reinforcing the unusual order of operation of the house.
On the high side of the site, the master bedroom is nestled against an existing cliff-face, juxtaposing its harbour view and a close encounter with mossy sandstone and a cheeky orchid garden.
The intention is modest: a replacement addition that is fully concealed from the street and minimal facelift to the front.
This children’s library with rammed earth walls in Burundi, Africa, was built by Belgian studio BC Architects and members of the local community, according to an open-source design template (+ slideshow).
The Library of Muyinga is the first building of a project to build a new school for deaf children, using local materials and construction techniques, and referencing indigenous building typologies.
BC Architects developed the design from a five-year-old template listed on the OpenStructures network. They adapted it to suit the needs of the programme, adding a large sheltered corridor that is typical of traditional Burundian housing.
“Life happens mostly in this hallway porch: encounters, resting, conversation, waiting,” explained the architects. “It is a truly social space, constitutive for community relations.”
Rammed earth blocks form the richly coloured walls and were produced using a pair of vintage compressor machines. They create rows of closely spaced piers around the exterior, supporting a heavy roof clad with locally made baked-clay tiles.
“The challenge of limited resources for this project became an opportunity,” said the architects. “We managed to respect a short supply-chain of building materials and labour force, supporting the local economy and installing pride in the construction of a library with the poor people’s material – earth.”
The wide corridor runs along one side of the building, negotiating a change in level between the front and back of the site. Glass panels are slotted between columns along one of its sides and hinge open to lead through to the library reading room.
Here, bookshelves are slotted within recesses between the piers, while a large wooden table provides a study area and a huge hammock is suspended from the ceiling to create a more informal space for reading.
Wooden shutters reveal when the library is open. They also open the building out to the area where the rest of the school will be built, which is bounded by a new drystone wall.
“A very important element in Burundian (and, generally, African) architecture is the very present demarcation of property lines. It is a tradition that goes back to tribal practices of compounding family settlements,” said the architects.
High ceilings allow cross ventilation, via a pattern of square perforations between the rammed earth blocks.
Here’s a more detailed project description from BC architects:
The Library of Muyinga
Architecture
The first library of Muyinga, part of a future inclusive school for deaf children, in locally sourced compressed earth blocks, built with a participatory approach.
Our work in Africa started within the framework of OpenStructures.net. BC was asked to scale the “Open structures” model to an architectural level. A construction process involving end-users and second-hand economies was conceived. Product life cycles, water resource cycles en energy cycles were connected to this construction process. This OpenStructures architectural model was called Case Study (CS) 1: Katanga, Congo. It was theoretical, and fully research-based. 5 years later, the library of Muyinga in Burundi nears completion.
Vernacular inspirations
A thorough study of vernacular architectural practices in Burundi was the basis of the design of the building. Two months of fieldwork in the region and surrounding provinces gave us insight in the local materials, techniques and building typologies. These findings were applied, updated, reinterpreted and framed within the local know-how and traditions of Muyinga.
The library is organised along a longitudinal covered circulation space. This “hallway porch” is a space often encountered within the Burundian traditional housing as it provides a shelter from heavy rains and harsh sun. Life happens mostly in this hallway porch; encounters, resting, conversation, waiting – it is a truly social space, constitutive for community relations.
This hallway porch is deliberately oversized to become the extent of the library. Transparent doors between the columns create the interaction between inside space and porch. Fully opened, these doors make the library open up towards the adjacent square with breathtaking views over Burundi’s “milles collines” (1000 hills).
On the longitudinal end, the hallway porch flows onto the street, where blinders control access. These blinders are an important architectural element of the street facade, showing clearly when the library is open or closed. On the other end, the hallway porch will continue as the main circulation and access space for the future school.
A very important element in Burundian (and, generally, African) architecture is the very present demarcation of property lines. It is a tradition that goes back to tribal practices of compounding family settlements. For the library of Muyinga, the compound wall was considered in a co-design process with the community and the local NGO. The wall facilitates the terracing of the slope as a retaining wall in dry stone technique, low on the squares and playground of the school side, high on the street side. Thus, the view towards the valley is uncompromised, while safety from the street side is guaranteed.
The general form of the library is the result of a structural logic, derived on one hand from the material choice (compressed earth blocks masonry and baked clay roof tiles). The locally produced roof tiles were considerably more heavy than imported corrugated iron sheets. This inspired the structural system of closely spaced columns at 1m30 intervals, which also act as buttresses for the high walls of the library. This rhythmic repetition of columns is a recognisable feature of the building, on the outside as well as on the inside.
The roof has a slope of 35% with an overhang to protect the unbaked CEB blocks, and contributes to the architecture of the library.
Climatic considerations inspired the volume and facade: a high interior with continuous cross-ventilation helps to guide the humid and hot air away. Hence, the facade is perforated according to the rhythm of the compressed earth blocks (CEB) masonry, giving the library its luminous sight in the evening.
The double room height at the street side gave the possibility to create a special space for the smallest of the library readers. This children’s space consist of a wooden sitting corner on the ground floor, which might facilitate cosy class readings. It is topped by an enormous hammock of sisal rope as a mezzanine, in which the children can dream away with the books that they are reading.
The future school will continue to swing intelligently through the landscape of the site, creating playgrounds and courtyards to accomodate existing slopes and trees. In the meanwhile, the library will work as an autonomous building with a finished design.
Local materials research
The challenge of limited resources for this project became an opportunity. We managed to respect a short supply-chain of building materials and labour force, supporting local economy, and installing pride in the construction of a library with the poor people’s material: earth.
Earth analysis: “field tests and laboratory tests” – Raw earth as building material is more fragile than other conventional building materials. Some analyse is thus important to do. Some easy tests can be made on field to have a first idea of its quality. Some other tests have to be made in the laboratory to have a beter understanding of the material and improve its performance.
CEB: “from mother nature” – After an extensive material research in relation with the context, it was decided to use compressed earth bricks (CEB) as the main material for the construction of the building. We were lucky enough to find 2 CEB machines intactly under 15 years of dust. The Terstaram machines produce earth blocks of 29x14x9cm that are very similar to the bricks we know in the North, apart from the fact that they are not baked. Four people are constantly producing stones, up to 1100 stones/day.
Eucalyptus “wood; the strongest, the reddest” – The load bearing beams that are supporting the roof are made of eucalyptus wood, which is sustainably harvested in Muramba. Eucalyptus wood renders soil acid and therefor blocks other vegetation to grow. Thus, a clear forest management vision is needed to control the use of it in the Burundian hills. When rightly managed, Eucalyptus is the best solution to span spaces and use as construction wood, due to its high strengths and fast growing.
Tiles: “local quality product” – The roof and floor tiles are made in a local atelier in the surroundings of Muyinga. The tiles are made of baked Nyamaso valley clay. After baking, their color renders beautifully vague pink, in the same range of colors as the bricks. Each roof surface in the library design consists of around 1400 tiles. This roof replaces imported currogated iron sheets, and revalues local materials as a key design element for public roof infrastructure.
Internal Earth plaster: “simple but sensitive” – Clay from the valley of Nyamaso, 3 km from the construction site, was used for its pure and non-expansive qualities. After some minimal testing with bricks, a mix was chosen and applied on the interior of the library. The earth plaster is resistent to indoor normal use for a public function, and has turned out nicely.
Bamboo: “Weaving lamp fixtures” – Local bamboo is not of construction quality, but can nicely be used for special interior design functions, or light filters. In a joint workshop with Burundians and Belgians, some weaving techniques were explored, and in the end, used for the lamp fixtures inside the library.
Sisal rope: “from plant to hammock” – Net-making from Sisal plant fibres is one of the small micro-economies that bloomed in this project. It took a lot of effort to find the only elder around Muyinga that masters the Sisal rope weaving technique. He harvested the local sisal plant on site, and started weaving. In the pilote project, he educated 4 other workers, who now also master this technique, and use it as a skill to gain their livelihood. The resulting hammock serves as a children’s space to play, relax and read, on a mezzanine level above the library space.
Concrete “when it’s the only way out” – For this pilot project, we didn’t want to take any risks for structural issues. A lightweight concrete skeleton structure is inside the CEB columns, in a way that both materials (CEB and concrete) are mechanichally seperated. The CEB hollow columns were used as a “lost” formwork for the concrete works. It is our aim, given our experience with Phase 1, to eliminiate the structural use of concrete for future buildings.
Project Description: Library for the community of Muyinga Location: Muyinga (BU) Client: ODEDIM Architect: BC architects Local material consultancy: BC studies Community participation and organisation: BC studies and ODEDIM Muyinga Cooperation: ODEDIM Muyinga NGO, Satimo vzw, Sint-Lucas Architecture University, Sarolta Hüttl, Sebastiaan De Beir, Hanne Eckelmans Financial support: Satimo vzw, Rotary Aalst, Zonta Brugge, Province of West-Flanders Budget: €40 000 Surface: 140m2 Concept: 2012 Status: completed
Cologne 2014: Denmark design duo GamFratesi has combined a coffee table and pouffe to create footstools with integrated trays for French brand Ligne Roset (+ slideshow).
Trouf, a cross between a tray and a pouffe, was designed by GamFratesi with both hard and soft surfaces as a multi-functional piece of furniture.
“We wanted to join different functions just combining soft and hard surfaces, and create furniture where the different objects or moods find their place informally,” Enrico Fratesi told Dezeen.
Wooden trays for holding food or drinks are set into the upholstered tops, offset so a fabric section at one end can be used for laptops, books or resting feet.
Rounded edges were designed so sharp corners wouldn’t cause any issues when walking past. “It seemed correct to have a rounded shape,” said Fratesi. “Since the position of the furniture is in front of a sofa or a lounge chair, we wanted to facilitate the passage between sitting and pouf – avoiding any kind of angle and the rigid part.”
A palette of pastel colours was chosen for the fabric coverings, though these can be customised to match or stand out against the users’ existing furniture.
“The colours that we have selected for these models are soft and nearly muted, but in fact the pouf can be upholstered with very different fabrics and colours so that can be in combination or contrast with the seat in front,” Fratesi explained.
The surfaces are slightly raised on small white wooden legs. The trays are available in natural oak or stained the colour of anthracite, and can be removed along with the upholstery for cleaning.
Trouf is on display at Ligne Roset‘s stand located in Hall 11.3 at imm cologne until Sunday. It will also be shown at Maison&Objet outside Paris from 24 to 28 January.
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