The animation was created by a team of students and university professors at the School of Art and Art History, which will move into the new structure once it’s complete, together with American firm Steven Holl Architects and BNIM.
The movie takes viewers on a journey through the interior, beginning at the bottom of a long ramp on the ground floor and panning upwards, showing the different levels that the studio describes as “shifted layers where one floor plate slides past another.”
It then shows the view back down this ramp towards the entrance, where some of the curved glazed courts that cut into the rectangular building can be seen.
The film then travels up the stairs to the top floor and along a corridor to a light-filled gallery, showing off the channel-glass lightwells and daylight filtered through perforated stainless steel panels.
The view into different areas of the building across the central forum is explored next, before flying across the void to another gallery and terrace on the other side.
Positioned adjacent to the existing award-winning Art West Building by Steven Holl, the Visual Arts building will relocate teaching spaces from a 1936 building that was badly damaged when the campus flooded in 2008.
The new building will be used by students in the ceramics, sculpture, metals, photography, print-making and 3D multimedia departments. It will also feature graduate student studios, faculty and staff studios, plus offices and gallery space.
Located in Vienna’s second district, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) is the largest University focusing on business and economics in Europe, and the new site will accommodate 23,000 students and 1,500 staff.
Open 24 hours a day, the Library and Learning Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects is one of seven buildings that make up the new campus.
The 28,000-square-metre building houses a library, auditorium, workspaces, classrooms, offices, learning support services, book shop, event spaces and cafe.
The animation by Neutral first shows how the volumes of the design are generated, then begins a tour through the spaces.
“The straight lines of the building’s exterior separate as they move inward, becoming curvilinear and fluid to generate a free-formed interior canyon that serves as the central public plaza of the centre,” said the architects.
“All the other facilities are housed within a since column that also divides, becoming two separate ribbons that wind around each other to enclose this glazed gathering space.”
“Searching for a balance between abstract, conceptual narrative and much-expected photorealism, we blend soundscapes with evocative camera movements and traces of inhabitation – revealing time-based architectural design ideas which otherwise wouldn’t be apparent,” Christian Grou of Neutral told Dezeen.
Zaha Hadid Architects won the competition to design the building in 2008 – read more in our earlier story.
On display at the Galerie Kreo in Paris, the Perles necklaces by the Bouroullec Brothers consist of simple repeated stone modules.
Bell-shaped pieces sit inside each other to form a ridged band akin to prehistoric jewellery. “We had a profound desire to use stone in relation to our fascination with primitive jewellery,” said the duo. “Something direct but searching as well for delicacy in its fall and the relation to the body.”
The necklaces are made from blood jasper, black onyx and Carrara marble in a matte or shiny finish, and the collection includes three sizes.
Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza has extended a house he completed 25 years ago in Madrid by adding a boxy white studio in the garden.
First completed in 1988, Turégano House was designed by Alberto Campo Baeza as the home for graphic designer Roberto Turégano and his partner, actress Alicia Sánchez.
The couple requested the addition of a small garden studio to serve as a workplace for Turégano.
Campo Baeza’s concept for the main house had been to create a simple white cube, so for the extension he decided to create a volume that appears to be an exact quarter of the existing structure.
“Next to the ‘cubic white cabin’ we built a little white box,” he explained.
Glazing is positioned at the two ends of the building, offering residents a view right through, while the two long elevations are left as austere white surfaces.
To strengthen this relationship with the house, the architect installed an identical stone floor inside the studio. “Thus the two pieces are in complete harmony,” he added.
The final addition to the space is a circular skylight, intended as a counterpoint to the strict rectilinear arrangement maintained elsewhere.
Here’s a project description from Alberto Campo Baeza:
Little White Box
Next to the “cubic white cabin” we built a little white box.
Some time ago I wrote a text entitled “Boxes, little boxes, big boxes”. And my first box-project that I created and built was Turégano House, in Pozuelo-Madrid, almost 25 years ago. A white cube measuring 10x10x10 metres: a “cubic white cabin”.
So now to celebrate the event after all these years Roberto Turégano y Alicia Sánchez, who are now more friends than clients, have asked me to build this new piece. Alicia Sánchez is one of the leading actresses of the Spanish stage and Roberto Turégano one of our foremost graphic designers. And this little piece will be his studio at the foot of his house.
The result is very simple: a little box measuring 10x5x3 metres, as if it were a quarter of that cube. The new piece is in line with the existing one in its external walls and the use of the same stone floor ensures continuity with the house inside and outside. Thus the two pieces are in complete harmony. The short external walls of the new white box are entirely open, transparent and continuous. A large circular skylight in the ceiling is the counterpoint to this spatial arrangement.
News: the entrance pavilion for the Design Miami collectors’ fair in December will comprise a mound of sand with an aluminium roof perched on top.
Designed by New York studio Formlessfinder, the temporary pavilion is conceived as a space that will encourage interaction and play from some of the 50,000 visitors to the annual Design Miami fair, which takes place in Miami Beach.
“We’re hoping to create something that people would want to participate in,” said architect Garrett Ricciardi, who co-founded the studio with fellow architect Julian Rose. The pair expect visitors to lounge on the sand and adapt its shape.
They said the concept was developed in response to two of the city’s characteristics – its abundance of sand, beneath buildings as well as on the beaches, and the trend for cantilevered roofs.
“Formlessfinder’s pavilion takes the sand that is elsewhere so problematic and uses it to advantage,” said the fair organisers. “The sand, which is so destabilising for architectural projects elsewhere in Miami, here becomes the stabilising element of the structure.”
A retaining wall will dissect the pavilion, separating the sandy hill from a seating area furnished with milled aluminium benches.
New York-based architectural practice Formlessfinder to design a pavilion for Design Miami’s 2013 Design Commission
Each December, Design Miami/ commissions early-career architects to build a designed environment for the fair’s entrance as part of its biannual Design Commissions program.
Harnessing multiple, often unexpected, properties of sand and aluminium, Formlessfinder’s Tent Pile pavilion provides shade, seating, cool air and a space to play for the city’s public. The pavilion appears as a dramatic aluminium roof miraculously balanced on the apex of a great pyramid of loose sand. Milled aluminium benches give resting space in the shade, where visitors will be fanned by the cool air naturally generated by the structure.
Formlessfinder describes itself as a ‘formless’ architectural practice – a studio where an expanded range of ideas, material considerations, construction techniques and user interactions all take priority over the shape of the final building. “Form is often the default lens for thinking about architecture. Even when people think they’re talking about something else, like function or structure, there’s often some kind of formal idea underlying the discussion. We’re trying to shift away from form so that we can explore other qualities of architecture, such as new ways of experiencing space or innovative ways of using materials,” explains Julian Rose, who co-founded the practice in 2010 with Garrett Ricciardi. The pair refer to their practice as a “finder” because it has a multifaceted output, which includes research projects and a forthcoming book. But while the theoretical aspect is important to its work, Formlessfinder still has the creation of physical structures at its heart.
Formlessfinder approaches new projects with an interest in the specifics of geography and the use of available and appropriate materials, committing to use them in a way that allows for re-use. In researching ideas for Tent Pile at Design Miami/ 2013, Rose and Ricciardi ultimately focused on two phenomena very particular to Miami. The first was the ubiquity of sand in the region; those golden grains visible on the beaches also lie beneath the foundations of every building in the city and beyond. Any kind of construction in Miami must take into account the loose and shifting layer on which the final structure will ultimately float. The second was the architectural vernacular of the city; a kind of tropical post-war modernism distinguished by hybrid indoor/outdoor spaces of which the cantilevered roof seemed particularly emblematic. To design the roof and subsequent seating, the architects enlisted the support of materials powerhouse Alcoa and third-generation aluminium fabricator Neal Feay, both of which were integral in giving life to the ambitious truss design of the roof, executed in raw aluminium.
Formlessfinder’s pavilion takes the sand that is elsewhere so problematic and uses it to advantage. The sand which is so destabilising for architectural projects elsewhere in Miami here becomes the stabilising element of the structure, mooring the lightweight aluminium roof, in lieu of an excavated foundation, for the cantilever, while also being a zero-waste material, completely re-usable after its time at the pavilion.
A retaining wall appears to slice the pyramid of sand in half, creating a more ordered space immediately in front of the entrance to the fair. Bench seating in a variety of sizes is provided by large sheets of aluminium fixed to simple wood bases, foregrounding the raw nature of the materials used. Arranged in a 500-ton pyramid the sand has a thermal mass cooling effect – metal fins driven through the retaining wall into the sand will draw the cool temperature into the seating area, and simple fans will create a refreshing breeze rippling out from the wall.
The pavilion acts as a refuge for the more than 50,000 visitors who come to Miami for the fairs each year, as well as inhabitants of the city’s South Beach neighbourhood. It is intended as a public installation that marries the practical requirements of shelter and seating to spectacular creative architectural ideas from a young practice. Formlessfinder’s Tent Pile engages not only with materials and aesthetics specific to Miami, but with the location of the fair within the city – the pyramid of sand is there to be sat on and played in, the cooling fans to be approached, examined and enjoyed. “We’re hoping to create something that people would want to participate in,” says Ricciardi, and the result is a structure designed to be occupied and explored, as much as it is to be admired.
News: leading figures from London’s design institutions have warned that new immigration rules which make it harder for international students to stay in the UK after graduation could be a “disaster” for the city.
Kieran Long, senior curator at the V&A museum, described London as “a crossroads for great creative people to come and learn from their peers,” but warned: “Anything that stops that would be a disaster.”
Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic said: “London has really based its success on having 150 years of great art schools. They have been somewhat industrialised, got too big, and the government has also got quite curious about allowing students to stay once they’ve graduated. We need to be an open city, that’s what London always been.”
Last month the UK government announced changes to immigration rules that add “genuineness” interviews to the existing points-based hurdles students must clear if they wish to extend their leave to remain in the country once their course ends.
The new rules also introduce the power to refuse an application for a student visa extension where the applicant cannot speak English.
“It would be a disaster for London,” agreed Nigel Coates, professor emeritus at the Royal College of Art. “For creative people, London is the most attractive city in the world, partly because of its schools. But the government, confused as always, seems to be shooting itself – and us – in the foot.”
“It’s making it very, very difficult for AA students,” said Sadie Morgan, president of the Architectural Association school. “They give huge amounts to the UK economy. It’s a really big issue. It’s damaging and short-sighted of the UK government. They’re looking to be doing something aggressive about immigration but it is hugely damaging for schools like ours.”
Architectural firms can apply for visas on behalf of overseas graduates they want to employ, but Morgan said it was a “convoluted and expensive” process.
Sudjic added: “London is a remarkably successful place at attracting really smart, gifted young designers. They come to study here and lots of them build a practice here, not necessarily based on clients here, but on clients all around the world. London is a great place to be but it can’t be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay.”
“London is welcoming, enterprising and full of opportunities”, said Max Fraser, deputy director of the London Design Festival. “It’s multiculturalism is one of its great selling points. We want to retain the best talent and the new visa restrictions are not conducive to that.”
London mayor Boris Johnson is understood to share the institutions’ concerns and convened a meeting with leading London arts schools this summer to discuss the issue. However, the mayor has no influence over national immigration policy. The UK’s Conservative government introduced the rules to appease backbench MPs, who demanded a tougher stance on immigration.
Dezeen spoke to leading figures in the design world during the London Design Festival last month to get their views on London’s position as a centre for design and the reasons for its current strength as a creative hub. The pre-eminence of London’s arts schools and its openness to immigration were the most-cited reason for the city’s standing as one of the world’s leading international centres for design.
“I think London has always been a place thats incredibly tolerant of new things, of people arriving in the city,” said Kieran Long. “We know that the city is based on immigration, and the people that are already here tolerating them and we’re really comfortable with that. In terms of design and architecture, we have some of the greatest schools in the world, a lot of people come to study here.”
He added: “I think there are threats to that, certainly we should keep London as open as it possibly can be and any political agenda that’s about closing that down somehow, to me, is anathema to what London really is.”
Sudjic said: “London is a great place to be but it can’t be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay.”
Alex de Rijke, dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, added that funding cuts and the rising reputation of schools abroad presented new threats to London. “Inevitably you produce a lot of architects that stay for a while then go and forge a career, whereas perhaps in the future that will not be the case as emerging economies all over the world will inevitably take over cultural production. So I see, not necessarily a lessening in the influence of education here, but certainly more of a diaspora of talent.”
“As other universities around the world offer amazing opportunities for the global student population, it’s increasingly difficult to be able to offer added value,” agreed Morgan. “The added value is being able to stay and work in the UK because of the huge kudos you get from working for UK practices.”
In an interview with Dezeen during the festival Patrizia Moroso, creative director of leading Italian furniture brand Moroso, praised London’s openness to students from overseas and contrasted it with the situation in Italy, where she says underinvestment in schools is leading to the collapse of its creative industries.
“The schools [in Italy] are collapsing,” she said. “When I see our universities and design schools, they are not the best in the world, they are not so important unfortunately. If you don’t give importance to learning, not immediately but in ten years you lose a generation of material culture.”
Last month the mayor of London proposed a new “London visa” to allow exceptional creative talents to bypass the lengthy new visa application system to set up businesses in London. He told the Financial Times (£): “It is a clear message to the elite of Silicon Valley or the fashionistas of Beijing that London is the place they should come to develop ideas, build new businesses and be part of an epicentre for global talent.”
Partitions that don’t reach the ceiling create the illusion of a larger space in this renovated flat in Japan by Naruse Inokuma Architects (+ slideshow).
Naruse Inokuma Architects completed the single-storey renovation in an older building and retained the existing ceiling beams, painting sections of the ceilings in five subtly different pale colours.
The arrangement of colours doesn’t match up with the positions of the wooden divisions, so the individual rooms feel more spacious because the edge of the ceiling extends beyond the wall and can’t be seen.
“We kept all the partitions at a height below the beams to create connected spaces while maintaining a sense of privacy,” said the architects.
“The colours emphasise an expanse of space beyond the separate rooms and alter their expression dramatically with the smallest change in lighting,” they added.
The compact flat includes two bedrooms separated by an atelier, plus a large combined living and dining room. The kitchen and bathroom are separated by the main entrance hall.
Wooden furniture and floorboards also feature throughout the flat.
This is a renovation project for an old, 80m2 flat. Here, creating an expanse of space within a small, limited area was our biggest theme.
We kept all the partitions at a height below the beams to create connected spaces while maintaining a sense of privacy. The ceiling, crisscrossed with beams, was painted in five kinds of pale colours.
Slightly shifted from the layout of the rooms, these colours emphasise an expanse of space beyond the separate rooms and alter their expression dramatically with the smallest change in lighting. Although they compose the small interiors of an 80m2 space, these rooms feel as though they embrace the wide-open sky that changes in expression every moment of every day.
Simple rectangular cushions slot into grid-like tubular metal frames. The collection comes in seven colours and the cushions are available in leather and a number of fabrics by textile company Kvadrat.
“The correlation between the three-dimensional line drawing of the metal rod and the geometric volumes of the cushions marks a significant shift from the common connotation of wire furniture,” Grcic said.
Magis president and founder Eugenio Perazza described the collection as “a set of various elements conceived as simple rod cages in which the cushions for the seat, backrest and armrests are easily accommodated”.
This bulky concrete school of art, design and architecture was completed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando at the University of Monterrey in Mexico and is one of over 300 projects being showcased this week for the World Architecture Festival in Singapore (+ slideshow).
Housing studios and teaching rooms for over 300 students, the Centro Roberto Garza Sada de Arte Arquitectura y Diseño was designed by Tadao Ando as a six-storey concrete block with a huge triangular void at its centre.
This void exposes the underside of the building, creating the appearance of a twisted structure, and creates a large sheltered entrance for staff, students and visitors below.
Additional openings elsewhere around the building provide outdoor corridors and meeting areas, as well as an open-air amphitheatre.
The six storeys of the building accommodate different creative disciplines. Digital facilities occupy the first two floors, while visual arts can be found on the second floor. Textiles and photography share the third floor, model-making workshops are grouped together on the fourth floor and the top storey is home to the fashion department.
Here’s a project description from the design team:
Centro Roberto Garza Sada de Arte Arquitectura y Diseño
Roberto Garza Sada Center for Arts, Architecture and Design (CRGS) is a 6 storey building with height of 5.4 metres between each level. Built in an area of 20,700 square metres. The building has a modulation of supports (columns) arranged in a grid of 9 metres per side, having 3 modules in the short side and 11 in the long one.
The main support structure is based on 4 frames in the long direction, spaced 9 metres one from another, and describing free spaces of about 80 to 65 metres. The main frames are stabilised trough a secondary structure which allows it to have the required stiffness to be structurally stable.
The structural concept is based on the principle of composite action, that is, elements of structural steel-lined concrete and united so that both receive and transmit efforts jointly (the concrete is not only architectural but structural).
The finishes of the building are: » Granite floors or concrete polishing, epoxy-coated » Apparent concrete walls, plaster, drywall or resin panel » Ceiling drywall or prefabricated resin panel
Additionally it has windows of aluminium (profiles with thermal break) and insulated glasses with a low-e face are included in areas of direct exposure to the sun’s rays. The windows system is reinforced by a system of automated blinds and linked to the lighting control system for a more efficient system. Architectural design concentrates most of the windows in three main holes that come from the rooftop to the floors below that allow the natural lighting and ventilation of the building.
The VRV air conditioning system provides high efficiency in electricity consumption for the divided spaces configuration of the building. Lamps are high efficiency and with electronic ballast that is linked to an intelligent system that detects heat, motion and daylight by sensors strategically located through the building. The system regulate the environment of each space providing the lighting required for the development of activities, while they save energy by allowing most of the lighting to be natural.
Electric and voice-data systems feature the best technology, in order to provide users with the most suitable conditions for the performance of academic functions in each space of the building.
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