This house by architect Marlene Uldschmidt has been built into the side of a hill in Portugal and features a vertical light well that links its upper and lower floors (+ slideshow).
Located in the fishing village of Ferragudo, the split-level building was designed by Portuguese studio Marlene Uldschmidt Architects with layers of internal and external glass partitions that allow natural light through each of the rooms.
Interior and exterior staircases link the different levels of the sloping site, leading down from a staggered rear terrace to the two main floors of the house, and then further down to the entrance at street level.
“The difficult topography of the site meant that our concept would need to allow for the design of the internal space to strengthen the visual connection with the rest of the village and beyond,” said architect Marlene Uldschmidt.
Built on a narrow rectangular site, the glass, stone and wooden house is squeezed between a pair of neighbouring buildings on the hillside street.
“The challenge was to create a facade which would be a physical barrier between the public and private areas whilst enhancing the visual connection with the village and the river,” added the architect.
A small wooden door at street level leads into a long entrance hall on the ground floor, then through to the spacious master bedroom and the only two bathrooms in the house.
A flight of white stairs appears to grow out from the surface of one of the walls, leading to first-floor kitchen, dining and living room spaces.
The upstairs kitchen and dining area opens out to the rear terrace, which steps up to various gardens and patios.
A rectangular swimming pool, wooden sun deck and a private solarium complete this garden.
Our studio were excited to take on such an interesting project in the Fishing Village of Ferragudo, Portugal.
The historic centre of Ferragudo is an extremely sensitive area to work in and we believed that our intervention should be balanced harmonious and above all integrate with the surrounding architecture and history.
The studio decided to explore the concept of “LIVING BEHIND THE WALL” ! connection.
The challenge was to create a facade which would be a physical barrier between the public and private areas whilst enhancing the visual connection with the village and the river levels.
The difficult topography of the site meant that our concept would need to allow for the design of the internal space to strengthen their visual connection with the rest of the village and beyond.
The concept we chose was to use the changes of level within the site in order to achieve this goal.
This timber-clad house in Auckland by New Zealand studio Glamuzina Paterson Architects zigzags across its site to outline gardens on both its east and west sides (+ slideshow).
Glamuzina Paterson Architects named the residence S House in reference to its angular plan, which was designed to offer an alternative to a typical plot house with rectangular front and back yards.
“The house becomes the active space between the gardens, and affords the occupants multiple views and sectional level changes as they move through the site,” explain the architects.
The house accommodates a couple and their three children, so the two gardens were designed to suit the parents’ different tastes. “The front garden is predominantly native and rugged; the rear garden, exotic and sculpted with a long dark pool,” said the architects.
Residents enter the house through a porch at one of the corners, arriving at an informal corridor that meanders through the house.
At the rear of the building, this corridor opens up to a split-level kitchen, dining room and living area, while outside the childrens’ bedrooms it swells out to create a playroom.
Stained cedar cladding clads the exterior walls and is arranged in both horizontal and vertical stripes. The angled roof is covered with corrugated metal.
Here’s some more information from Glamuzina Paterson Architects:
S_House
The parti of S_House divides the long thin lot into two gardens, challenging the conventional diagram of the front and back yard of the typical suburban house. The house becomes the active space between the gardens, and affords the occupants multiple views and sectional level changes as they move through the site.
The house was designed for a family of five, with the clients wanting a house that responded to the contours of the land with a sense of connection to the garden and pool. The 1920s stables to the rear of the site was to be restored.
The site is located in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden. It is a 15m wide x 72m long rectangle that slopes from the street towards the middle of the site then slopes downwards towards the rear boundary. The front yard setback was 10m due to an existing use right.
S_House differs from the standard villa that has a compact form and central circulation. The elongated plan allows more surface connection with the landscape and sun penetration for a south facing section. This site wrapping creates east and west gardens that reflect the differing tastes of the parents. The front garden is predominantly native and rugged, the rear garden exotic and sculpted with a long dark pool.
The activities of the house, cooking, eating, relaxing and play take place across a singular spine corridor which expands and contracts spatially as the house mediates the site. The corners are broken open to form the entry and provide a series of connections with the gardens. The kids play area and bedrooms occur at one of the turning points – a ‘knuckle’ in the plan. The ‘kids’ space opens to both courtyards, providing connection between the two ‘parent’ gardens.
The cladding is stained cedar with a corrugated iron roof that is a continuous series of hips and valleys. The internal palette of the house is black and white with a black oxide concrete floor and built in furniture. Excavated basalt was used in garden retaining and planting plan. The intention with the street elevation was to create a landscape that is quite austere and outward-looking, with Ribbonwood and Kowhai trees that will grow to a substantial height and leave the architecture sitting in a forest.
An old brick and timber house appears to have been cut in two inside the new Shanghai flagship store for shoe brand Camper, designed by Chinese architects Neri&Hu (+ slideshow)
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
Intended to evoke the look and feel of one of Shanghai’s traditional narrow streets, the newly constructed building was inserted within an old industrial warehouse to turn the store into a “house within a house”.
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
“The Camper Showroom/Office in Shanghai recalls both the spatial qualities and the vibrant activities characteristic of life in a typical Shanghai alleyway, called a nong-tang,” explained architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu.
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
Constructed from reclaimed wooden frames and grey bricks, the house structure extends out from one wall of the interior. A mirror runs along one edge, creating the impression of a hinge, while the sliced edges are finished in bright red paint to match the block letters of Camper’s logo.
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
Offices are located within the house’s upper floors, while the lower level accommodates a traditional shop where shoes are presented on perforated bronze shelves that were custom made by the designers.
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
More shoes are attached to steel hooks and hang down from a series of suspended steel rods outside the house – a reference to clothes hanging out to dry.
Photograph is by Shen Zhonghai
The space below offers a gathering area, which can be used for hosting talks and presentations, and is naturally lit via a huge skylight.
Photography is by Dirk Weiblen, apart from where otherwise indicated.
Here’s more information from Neri&Hu:
Camper Showroom/Office Shanghai, China
Drawing inspiration from the surrounding urban condition, the Camper Showroom/Office in Shanghai recalls both the spatial qualities and the vibrant activities characteristic of life in a typical Shanghai alleyway, called a “nong-tang”.
The exterior lane extends into the showroom creating a physical sectional cut of the new house and a gathering space used for presentations and talks. A mirrored surface at the end of the lane visually lengthens the sectional cut.
Neri&Hu inserted their interpretation of a brick and reclaimed wood clad two-storey house into the shell of an existing warehouse, resulting in a layering of spaces from exterior to interior to the in-between, which showcases a unique hanging shoe display.
The house is constructed out of timber framing using locally sourced reused wood and grey bricks as infill material. The wood salvaged from demolished lane houses reveal years of patina from paint, newspaper and wallpaper still attached to the planks.
A new skylight addition above heightens the experience of being in an exterior alley by casting long linear shadows across the walls throughout the day.
Several furniture pieces were custom designed for the project; the bronze perforated shelving, the Neri&Hu Solo Chair with special edition red legs, and a ‘Lazy Susan’ table for the Press Room.
This small wooden hut is a combined guest house and sculpture studio perching on the edge of Lake George in upstate New York (+ slideshow).
American architect Jeffery Poss worked with Chicago-based WORKUS Studio to design the two-storey Polygon Studio in the surrounding woodland of an existing house.
The studio is built at a vantage point overlooking the lake. A tiny wooden balcony juts out from a top-floor loft to offer a view through the trees and down a flight of steps towards the water’s edge.
The ground floor features a spacious area for sculpture work with shelving for equipment on one wall and large sliding glass doors opposite. The guest room occupies a mezzanine that juts out overhead.
“The interior result is a series of very distinct yet interconnected spaces,” architect Jeffery Poss said.
Vertical panels of locally-milled red cedar line the interior walls to create a cosy interior that references ski lodges and saunas.
The building has a zig-zagging profile formed by a pair of gables, also clad in cedar panels. The remaining exterior walls and roof are covered in galvanised steel siding.
A small square window offers a glimpsed view through one of the walls, while sliding glass doors face out onto the lake and provide the main source of natural light.
Comparing the project to the rustic local style, the architect added: “The exterior cladding references Adirondack rural vernacular and helps emphasise the spatial conception.”
The form of the building reflects these two functions. The sculpture studio on the ground floor has both a large vertical light-filled space, as well as a lower service zone tucked under the loft.
The studio is located at the highest point of the property, along an access road that forms the western boundary. The guest space is at the pinnacle of the site, 130 steps up from the water’s edge.
This vista allows elevated tree-filtered views of Lake George. The exterior cladding references Adirondack rural vernacular and helps emphasise the spatial conception.
Architects including Zaha Hadid, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are depicted like vintage video game characters in these images by graphic designer Federico Babina (+ slideshow).
Jean Nouvel with his Torre Agbar
Federico Babina illustrated a series of well-known architects as pixellated graphics with white or black outlines, as if they feature in an 8-bit video game from the 80s.
Zaha Hadid with her Vitra Fire Station
Each is paired with one of their famous projects in the background, coloured with a limited palette.
Rem Koolhaas with his CCTV Headquarters
Babina intended the pixellated portraits and backdrops to display the essence of each architect and their buildings.
Frank Gehry with his Disney Concert Hall
“The idea of this project is to represent the complexity of the forms and personalities through the simplicity of the pixel,” he told Dezeen.
Frank Lloyd Wright with his Guggenheim Museum
Frank Lloyd Wright stands next to his spiralling Guggenheim Museum in New York, Louis Kahn is positioned in front of the concrete Salk Institute campus in California and Le Corbusier is shown beside his Ronchamp chapel in France.
Tadao Ando with his Church of the Light
Along with buildings, architects Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto are also pictured with iconic chairs they designed.
Japanese architects Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Arata Isozaki and Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA are all represented too.
Norman Foster with his “Gherkin” tower
Curved towers by Jean Nouvel and Norman Foster in Barcelona and London respectively are featured, as well as Richard Meier with his Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.
Renzo Piano with his Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre
Current “starchitects” Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas complete the line-up.
Kazuyo Sejima with her Zollverein School of Management and Design
Babina described the style as a kind of “digital pointillism”, with the mouse replacing the brush: “The pixel reappears and emphasises the importance that has the single dot, seen as something essential that in combination with other points form a more complex picture.”
Toyo Ito with his Porta Fira Towers
“It’s a metaphor of architecture where every little detail is a key component of the whole mosaic,” he said.
The setting for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio will be a lagoon-side peninsula with 15 sports venues dotted along a network of snaking pathways, as detailed in this new set of visuals by masterplanners AECOM (+ slideshow).
Located on a flat triangular site in the city’s Barra da Tijuca district, the main Olympic park will centre itself around a trio of existing stadiums leftover from the 2007 Pan-American Games, which were constructed over a Formula One racetrack from the 1970s.
AECOM plans to transform the peninsula into a tropical landscape that reflects the mountains and valleys of the Brazilian coastline, including gently sloping hills and curving pathways. Venues will be lined up on either side of a black-and-white striped central axis, winding like a river from the site entrance to the waterfront.
Seven new stadiums will be constructed on the site. London studio AndArchitects is collaborating with Rio office Lopes, Santos & Ferreira Gomes on the handball arena, which will be dismantled after the games and used to build four new schools.
UK firm 3DReid is teaming up with Rio studio BLAC Architects to renovate the existing Velodrome, while the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre will be reused for swimming and diving events, and the HSBC Stadium will host gymnastics.
A waterfront lawn will allow up to 12,000 spectators to watch the action on big screens and an AECOM-designed broadcast centre will accommodate around 20,000 international journalists.
“This is such a high profile and complex project for AECOM, which brings many exciting opportunities and challenges,” commented the firm’s Jason Prior. “We are drawing on our experience from being masterplanners of the London Olympics to take the design of the Rio venues and park even further, which will hopefully be reflected in the end result in 2016.”
Alongside Barra da Tijuca, events for the games will also take place at Copacabana, Maracanã and Deodoro, where the National Shooting Centre is already in place.
In 2011, AECOM won Brazil’fs first international architecture competition to design the masterplan for Rio’s 2016 Olympic Park, making it the first company to design the parks for two consecutive Olympic and Paralympic Games Parks – London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
In Rio, AECOM has taken on an even larger role than it had on the 2012 Games, with responsibility for the preliminary design of the seven sporting venues as well as the detailed design of the International Broadcast Centre. This is in addition to the architectural, masterplanning, landscaping, engineering, cost consultancy, project management, sustainability and transportation strategy design services that it also provided in London.
Site masterplan – 2016
Set in one of the most beautiful areas on Earth, AECOM’s masterplan takes its inspiration from the dramatic natural setting of Rio. Located on a former Formula 1 race track in Barra da Tijuca, the main Olympic park sits on a triangular space with water on either side. During Games time, at the southern peninsula of the site there will be an entertainment area for around 12,000 people to watch the events on big screens.
The park’s design draws from the Atlantica Forrest that surrounds Rio de Janeiro. This context provides the conceptual inspiration and influences the architecture and landscape design as will the Brazilian culture and strong design heritage. The masterplan sets out to respect and reinforce the balance between native ecology, the city and its people while delivering the platform for sporting excellence.
Site masterplan – 2018
Every Olympics needs to reflect the character and ambitions of the host city and this is where the differences between the two parks are most pronounced. While London was about demonstrating how a short global event can lead to the long term regeneration of one of the most neglected and deprived areas of the city, Rio is about celebrating Brazil’s emergence as a world power as well as making sure there is a strong legacy plan in place.
Throughout the development of the Rio masterplan, you can see how AECOM has been applying the lessons learnt from working on London 2012. This includes working with the wide range of stakeholders and local communities, and the utilisation of its knowledge of the requirements for running such a huge event, from crowd management and traffic strategies, to meeting the needs of athletes, visitors and the extended Olympic management and support system.
Site masterplan – 2030
The vision for the future is not just to create a global stage for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016, but also, in the longer term, to create a new legacy district with new homes, jobs and places for leisure activities with a new central park and a thriving beautiful waterfront. It is also set to become a global centre of sporting excellence, with a Legacy Olympic Training Centre utilising the Games’ permanent sporting venues.
After the Games, the site will evolve into a compact urban environment built around a network of streets and open spaces, which encourages a diverse mix of living, working and recreational uses. AECOM has taken reference from the grid, linearity, axis and contrasting organic forms which permeates Rio’s unique urban environment to propose a responsive flexible framework that resonates with and echoes the specific local characteristics of Barra and Rio. The masterplan provides an opportunity to enhance environmental quality and bring Costa’s original concept into the 21st century as an example of new urbanism for a new era.
Product news: French design company Moustache will present new products including lights shaped like swirls of cream and visor-inspired wall lamps at Maison & Object in Paris this weekend (+ slideshow).
The Moto walls lamps by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez reference motorcycle helmets, with rounded iridescent shades based on visors.
Parade vase by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
Also by Fastrez, the Parade vase comprises blown-glass balls with holes in the tops that hang from a wooden stick.
Chantilly lamp by Constance Guisset
Constance Guisset’s Chantilly lights look similar to a swirl of cream and can either be stood on spindly legs or suspended from the ceiling.
Ooga Booga, Frik Frak and Pierre coat hooks by Bertjan Pot
Wooden coat hooks that have pegs positioned like facial features on tribal masks are designed by Bertjan Pot.
Gavotte chair by François Azambourg
François Azambourg employed techniques used to build sailing dinghies when creating his wooden Quadrille and Gavotte chairs.
Mousse shelf by François Azambourg
He has also extended his collection of squidgy looking Mousse shelves, which are actually made from enamelled ceramic and designed Très Jolie, a translucent red seat with a truss-like structure.
Bold chair by Big-Game
Big-Game has added six new colours to its range of Bold chairs, each formed from two curved tubes, and made the new two-seater Bold bench in the same style.
Bold bench by Big-Game
Moustache is exhibiting in Hall 8, Stand B33 at Maison & Objet, from 6 to 10 September.
At the occasion of Maison & Objet in Paris next week French company Moustache will launch a new collection of furnitures and objects designed by regular designers François Azambourg, Inga Sempé, Big-Game, Ionna Vautrin, Benjamin Graindorge, Sébastien Cordoléani and will reveal the firsts products issued from their new collaborations with Bertjan Pot, Constance Guisset and Jean-Baptiste Fastrez.
Since its launch in April 2009, Moustache, a French publishing house in the field of contemporary articles and home furnishings, under the impetus of Stéphane Arriubergé and Massimiliano Iorio, is forging close links in a network of complicity and expert knowledge in design fields.
An active participant in the present-day writing of the history of manufactured articles, Moustache proposes a collection which explores new approaches to production and consumption. Its articles and pieces of furniture involve their users in their own contemporary history. To the market constraints linked to the ever-increasingly insistent demand for novelties and experiences on the market, Moustache prefers to build a long-term domestic world with a high cultural value.
Rooted in the history of arts and techniques,the Moustache philosophy combines design and pattern in the present: attentive and responsible production responds to his searches for new, aesthetic, function and relevant shapes. Committed, Moustache is surrounded with designers for whom it is essential that convictions and points of view be shared. François Azambourg, Big-Game, Sébastien Cordoléani, Jean-Baptiste Fastez, Benjamin Graindorge, Constance Guisset, Bertjan Pot, Ionna Vautrin and Inga Sempé make up the uniqueness of this joyful community.
The result of a well thought-out dialogue between technique, strong identity and contemporary use, each article with its disparities forms the contours of the same family.
Moustache is attached to the heritage value of the articles, evidence of a society, its developments and its uses. It offers to share its soul, its ideas and its values. The environment it reveals according to an enlightened editorial line, a catalogue of objects linking some with others according to the principles of simplicity and accessibility.
A distinctive and remarkable symbol, Moustache publishes a collection with a character which, today, is imposing its presence in the design environment.
Objects produced by Moustache have joined museum collections such as the MoMa design and architecture collection, Museum of Modern Art in New-York, the F.N.A.C, Fond National d’Art contemporain, centre national des arts plastiques, Paris, Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, the MAKK, musée des arts décoratifs of Cologne…
New products September 2013
Moto lamp by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
Moto, design Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
The Moto wall light designed by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez revisits the aesthetic codes of motorcycle equipment vendors. Hieratic, ultra-reflective, producing numerous optical effects, when lit it diffuses slightly coloured light through its translucent visor.
The Moto wall light is available in 4 colours. It can be connected to a wall power outlet or plugged directly into a socket.
Parade vase by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
Parade vase, design Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
The Parade vase by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez organises and articulates blown glass parts and a wooden spindle. They are fastened together by nylon industrial wing nuts.
To be suspended or placed on a piece of furniture, the Parade vase forms a bunch of spherical or oblong containers and expresses in its own right the bases of a work statement: combine industrial and craft techniques and update the outdated industrial ideal, “an object for all”, for a more adapted contemporary ideal, “an object for everyone”.
The research studies for this project were conducted at the CIRVA during the seventh edition of the Design Parade festival at Villa Noailles, Hyères (France), in 2012.
The Parade vase is available in three colours.
Ooga Booga coat hook by Bertjan Pot
Ooga Booga, Frik Frak and Pierre, design Bertjan Pot
Ooga Booga, Frik Frak and Pierre could have been the artistic creations of an archaic nonliterate society if they had not come across Bertjan Pot, who gave them a function!
Tribal arts, witchcraft and drolleries underlie this series of three masks to which Bertjan Pot simply seems to have added the traditional function of coat hanger.
Generously sized, Ooga Booga, Frik Frak and Pierre are available in solid ash, ash dyed white, yellow or black and are made in France using highly sophisticated industrial tools!
Chantilly lamp by Constance Guisset
Chantilly, design Constance Guisset
The Chantilly lamps by Constance Guisset create complex volumes based on a highly simple yet ingenious system of folds.
Delivered flat, the lampshade takes shape in the single closure movement required to assemble it.
Small, large or to be suspended, the Chantilly lamps follow the delicious movement of the icemaker’s siphon and enhance it through the use of subtle colours, fold by fold.
Each Chantilly lamp is available in three sizes and four colours, at a very attractive price.
Quadrille chair by François Azambourg
Quadrille and Gavotte, design François Azambourg
The Quadrille chair and the Gavotte armchair by François Azambourg are updated versions of his now classical tripod chair, the Petite Gigue. Like their predecessor, the Quadrille chair and the Gavotte armchair are based on the construction principle known as hard chine used for small sailing dinghies such as the Fireball. The manufacture of these amazing chairs requires both cabinet-making and shipbuilding skills.
This range composed of the Petite Gigue and Quadrille chairs and the Gavotte armchair, takes the names of three popular dances in Europe.
Each chair is available in natural or lacquered ash.
Très Jolie chair by François Azambourg
Très Jolie, design François Azambourg
The Très Jolie chair, known as Very Nice in its initial experimental version, has now been structurally transformed to become completely functional. The Très Jolie chair immediately evokes the childhood balsawood and paper scale models, even using its construction and assembly principles. Fascinating, like a complex construction whose logic escapes you, the Très Jolie chair almost resembles a folly in the architectural sense of the term. Red, pretty, light and comfortable, the Très Jolie chair by François Azambourg is also a concentration of qualities difficult to combine in a single chair.
Mousse, design François Azambourg
The Mousse family of shelves, launched in July 2011 during the Moustache exhibition and a performance/production given by François Azambourg for the Hyères Design Parade at Villa Noailles, is growing. The collection now includes a corner model and a very deep shelf.
The Mousse collection is currently available in turquoise, pale yellow and pale pink enamelled ceramic.
Bold bench by Big-Game
Bold bench, design Big-Game
The Bold bench by Big-Game could be seen as an extension or a deformation of the chair. The first sketches drawn by Big-Game for the chair represented a tube full of paste which formed in a single stroke the tube of this chair with expanded lines. Four years later, the Bold bench integrates all the structural and graphical qualities of the chair to produce a very comfortable two-seater. The removable coating is available in four colours.
Bold chair/New colours, design Big-Game
The Bold chair, added to the collections of the New York MoMA Design and Architecture department last spring, is now available in six new colours that complement the six existing colours.
London studio rAndom International has created a 20-metre tower of falling water at a former coal mine in Germany (+ slideshow).
The Tower: Instant Structure for Schacht XII by interactive design studio rAndom International features a rectangular frame from which four huge curtains of water fall to the ground and cycles up to 30,000 litres of water each minute. Visitors can view the rain storm from afar or step inside – if they don’t mind getting wet.
“It is a sensuous adventure: the sound of falling water, the humidity, the glimmering water walls in the sunlight,” said the curators. “The sound of the resulting rain storm is intensely loud and a sensation of moisture lingers in the air.”
“By bringing such large quantities of water into the controlled form of a building, rAndom International investigate if a structural purpose can wrought upon this otherwise chaotic element,” they add.
The monumental Tower structure has been installed at the Zollverein industrial complex in Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, a World Heritage site that consists of a historical coal mine and a range of early twentieth century buildings.
The giant shower forms part of the music and arts festival Ruhr Triennale 2013 and intends to sit in contrast to the “solid and static architecture” of the former coal mine, the curators explain. Each year the international festival transforms industrial venues in the region into locations for music, art and performance events.
Here’s a video featuring the Tower:
The installation was commissioned by arts organisation Urbane Künste Ruhr. It is the first outdoor project by rAndom International and opened in Essen on 23 August. Tower will be open from 10am-1am every day through to 6 October 2013.
Formed in 2005 by former Royal College of Art students Hannes Koch, Florian Ortkrass and Stuart Wood, rAndom International has created a number of installations involving audience participation.
Here’s more information from rAndom International:
Tower: Instant Structure for Schacht XII
Commissioned by Urbane Künste Ruhr for Ruhrtriennale 2013, ‘Tower’ will be on view daily from 10am-1am at night, until 6 October 2013.
Known for their experimental installations that explore natural phenomena, London based studio Random International have created a monumental, performative structure at World Heritage Zollverein using its plentiful, native material: water (6 million cubic metres of which have to be pumped out of the former mines every year to warrant the structural integrity of the entire region).
Random are cycling almost 30,000 litres of water per minute to create a monolithic form, an ephemeral tower that appears and disappears instantaneously. The sound of the resulting rain storm is intensely loud and a sensation of moisture lingers in the air.
Through the senses, ‘Tower’ explores possibilities for engagement wit, and access to, an historic, industrial space at a scale that had not originally been intended for human and social use. In sharp contrast to the solid and static architecture of Zeche Zollverein, the ‘simulated structure’ of the Tower is transient, its watery presence a temporary spectre.
By bringing such large quantities of water into the controlled form of a building, Random International investigate if a structural purpose can wrought upon this otherwise chaotic element. The architecture of the space becomes performative, inviting those within it to experience the water of Zeche Zollverein in a uniquely physical and intimate way. And get absolutely soaked in the process.
About Ruhrtriennale
The Ruhrtriennale is the international arts festival hosted by the Ruhr metropolitan area. The venues of the Ruhrtriennale are the region’s outstanding industrial monuments, transformed each year into spectacular sites for music, fine art, theatre, dance, and performance. At the centre of all this are contemporary artists seeking a dialog with industrial spaces and between the disciplines.
A new artistic director every three years provides the festival with ever-new impulses. Under the artistic directorship of Heiner Goebbels, the Ruhrtriennale will become a laboratory and an open platform for current developments of the international world of the arts.
Our second recent story from Japanese architects Studio Velocity is a house shaped like a fairytale tower with five different staircases connecting its two floors (+ slideshow).
House in Chiharada was designed by Studio Velocity in the garden of another residence in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, so architects Miho Iwatsuki and Kentaro Kunhura specified a cylindrical volume that would contrast with the rectilinear structure of the existing building.
“To avoid facing each other, a round-shaped volume was chosen against the corner of the square-shaped volume of the main house,” explained Iwatsuki.
The first of the five staircases wraps the curved perimeter of the house, leading up to a first-floor entrance that is sheltered beneath an ultra-thin canopy.
Inside, a large circular room occupies the entire floor and contains a sequence of family spaces that are divided by four box-shaped volumes with various proportions.
Each box contains a staircase down to a different room on the floor below. Arched wooden doors lead inside, while square windows help to draw in extra light.
One staircase descends into the bath and washrooms, while the other three head directly into bedrooms. There are no corridors between these rooms, but extra doors give direct access to the bathroom from the other rooms.
“By intersecting the living space from exterior to interior and from upstairs to downstairs, the hierarchy between the first floor and the second floor disappears and individual functions and sceneries mix together,” said Iwatsuki.
To allow this arrangement to work, the architects gave low ceilings to the ground floor so that each staircase needed only ten treads. Meanwhile, the upper level is a double-height space that brings light in through openings in the roof.
Additional doors allow residents to open their bedrooms out to the garden.
Here’s a project description from Studio Velocity:
House in Chiharada
Deconstruction of a multi-floored architecture
A site with a two-storey main house is split in half and a new house for a young couple is going to be built on the vacant area.
Although there is enough space within the surrounding environment and there are no approximate buildings, it is inevitable that the new house be built rather close to the main house. In addition, a multi-floor living space was needed due to the limitation of the site area.
Sectional model
Therefore, to avoid facing each other, a round-shaped volume was chosen against the corner of the square shaped volume of the main house. It was arranged so as to create a valley-like space in between the two buildings spreading open towards the outside. The round shape is set on an irregular shaped site, creating various shaped gardens around it that can be shared with the main house. Each room on the first floor in the round-shaped building has a door that opens to the gardens.
A number of small rooms and a bathroom are located on the first floor, and a single large hall where everyone can gather is arranged on the second floor. Downstairs and upstairs are relatively close by lowering the height of the slab (the upstairs floor) that lies between the two floors, and therefore, the garden grounds can be seen even from the centre of the second floor through the enclosed staircases and downstairs rooms.
Entering through the entrance on the second floor, enclosed staircases are arranged within the living room that is filled with natural light from a high ceiling; the enclosed staircases look like slender structures of various heights. The space seems like being on a street in a town, and makes you feel that it is on the ground level although it is upstairs of the multi-floor building.
Each of the four enclosed staircases connects to an individual room on the first floor. When you look up at the open ceilings from the children’s room or the bedroom (inside of the enclosed staircases) that almost reach the roof, the sky can be seen and natural light pours down from skylights above the openings in the enclosed staircases. It was intended with this house that a person be able to feel the ground and sky throughout, though it is a multi-floored building.
Elimination of the discontinuity between multi-floor stairs that usually exists might result in the unfolding of a united and continuous new living environment. By interrelating with each area, including the outside, and by intersecting the living space from exterior to interior and from upstairs to downstairs, the hierarchy between the first floor and the second floor disappears and individual functions and sceneries mix together.
Angular cutaways and a deep shaft create apertures between the floors of this family house on Shikoku Island, Japan, by Osaka studio Horibe Associates (+ slideshow).
The compact wooden House in Kamihachiman was designed by Horibe Associates with all its windows on the northern side, overlooking bamboo woodland rather than neighbouring houses.
“The challenge in this design was to provide a comfortable, open lifestyle despite the fact the building site is surrounded by other homes lined up uniformly on a street running along their south side,” said architect Naoko Horibe.
The houses’s rear facade is built at an angle, with double-height windows that bring daylight into an open-plan dining and kitchen area.
The internal window and cutaways offer glimpses between this space and the bedrooms on the floor above.
A living room just beyond is lined with low wooden benches and leads out to an open-air courtyard, which provides another source of natural lighting.
“The overall result is a home that is much more comfortable and relaxing than one would guess by looking at the surrounding neighbourhood,” said the architect.
A lavatory, bathroom and laundry room are clustered together on the opposite side of the house, while the three first-floor bedrooms are arranged around a central wooden staircase.
Here’s a short project description from the architects:
House in Kamihachiman
The challenge in this design was to enable a comfortable, open lifestyle despite the fact that the building site is surrounded by other homes lined up uniformly on a street running along their south side. The architects chose not to place windows on the southern side of the home, where they would look out only on neighbouring houses, and instead included large windows on the northern side that take advantage of the view of a bamboo forest behind the property.
In doing so they achieved even natural lighting and a feeling of spaciousness in the interior. A private walled-in terrace connecting to the living room adds to this sense of light and space. The overall result is a home that is much more comfortable and relaxing than one would guess by looking at the surrounding neighbourhood.
Location: Tokushima-Shi, Tokushima Primary usage: Residence Structure: wooden construction, two stories above ground Family structure: Couple with a child Site area: 175.29 m2 Building area: 74.54 m2 Total floor space: 98.92 m2 Completed: May 2013
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