Hasta La Ideas

Complex wooden lattices provide a stage set for archery competitions and boxing matches at this pair of university buildings in Tokyo by Japanese studio FT Architects (+ slideshow).

Located on the campus of Tokyo’s Kogakuin University, the two structures are both dedicated to sporting activities and called for column-free spaces built from low-cost materials.

Katsuya Fukushima and Hiroko Tominaga of FT Architects used locally sourced timber for the construction of both buildings.

They said: “We have salvaged the purity of traditional Japanese timber composition, simply made up of horizontals and verticals, which has been somewhat disregarded ever since the advent of modernism in Japan.”

“Small timber sections, normally reserved for furniture making, were chosen for the archery hall, and timber members deemed defected because of insect damage, for the boxing club,” they added.

A simple bolt-and-nut assembly was used for both frameworks, but required meticulous accuracy to ensure that each grid is made up of only perpendicular elements.

Other projects by Tokyo studio FT Architects include a house pierced by eight concrete columns.

Another sports centre recently completed in Japan features an exposed timber frame and huge clerestory windows.

See more sports centres »
See more architecture in Japan »

Photography is by Shigeo Ogawa.

Here’s some more information from FT Architects:

Archery Hall and Boxing Club, Kogakuin University, Tokyo

Structure & Space – medium-span, column-free

The project consists of two buildings, an archery hall and a boxing club, standing a few hundred metres apart on the grounds of Kogakuin University in west Tokyo.

The formal rituals of Kyudo (Japanese archery) and the very physical nature of boxing may appear worlds apart. However, surprisingly, the two built facilities share a number of commonalities.

The University’s brief was for low-cost structures made of locally sourced timber to provide accessible and inspiring spaces for the students. By chance, both facilities called for a column-free space of 7.2m by 10.8m, a size that is comparable to a sacred hall in a traditional Japanese temple. In order to achieve this span, without columns and using low-cost methods of timber construction, it was necessary to come up with an innovative timber solution. We began the project by investigating a number of structural forms that would be appropriate for each sport.

Underlying Principles

Through collaborative exploration with timber experts, from researchers, manufacturers to suppliers, we derived at timber materials that are not commonly associated with structural or architectural usage. Small timber sections, normally reserved for furniture making, were chosen for the archery hall, and timber members deemed defected because of insect damage, for the boxing club.

We have salvaged the purity of traditional Japanese timber composition, simply made up of horizontals and verticals, which has been somewhat disregarded ever since the advent of modernism in Japan. Delicate lattice frame composed of slender ties beams and posts for the archery hall, and a bolder, stepped frame, was employed for the boxing club. Here, timber, a historical material, has been reanalysed and transformed into a new building material.

Contrast/Complement

The two structures have been constructed employing a simple, lo-tech method of bolt-and-nut assembly. However, due to the scale of the space and simplicity of construction, the execution had to be meticulous, in order to produce spaces that are out of the ordinary.

For each building, the main subject is the 7.2m x 10.8m space and the timber structure, merely its backdrop. The powerful presence of the timber structure emphasises the stark transparency of the void below. The whole is only achieved by the juxtaposition of these two contrasting and complementing qualities.

Departing from the same starting point, the two buildings have arrived at a shared architectural theme via two different structural and spatial solutions.

Completion: 2013
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Principal use: archery hall (Japanese archery=Kyudo) and boxing club
Total floor area: archery hall 106.00 sqm, boxing club 92.75 sqm
Structure: wood
Architect: FT Architects/Katsuya Fukushima, Hiroko Tominaga

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by FT Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

This luxury apartment building in Hong Kong references the local vernacular of overcrowded high-rise towers covered in ad hoc extensions.

International architecture firm Aedas designed the serviced apartment building for a small site in Mongkok, which is one of the world’s most densely populated neighbourhoods.

The architects drew on the local tendency to add balconies to apartments in tower blocks to maximise views, but “reinterpreted these structures in a modern way, using irregular protrusions to create unobstructed views for each apartment.”

Aedas also added a living wall to the bottom of the facade that was “inspired by the home gardens which people create on the balconies”.

The living wall will introduce greenery to the busy street and will be supplemented by planting in the area vacated by setting the building’s podium back from the street.

Also in Hong Kong, Zaha Hadid’s Innovation Tower for Hong Kong Polytechnic University is nearing completion and Herzog & de Meuron has been selected to design a visual culture museum in the new West Kowloon Cultural District. See more stories about Hong Kong »

Aedas recently won a competition to design a twisting 33-storey skyscraper for Shanghai, China, and is working with Dutch firm MVRDV on the design of a new business district in the city.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Aedas designs a serviced apartment building in one of the most densely populated places on the planet

With a population density of 130,000 people per square kilometre, Mongkok, a neighbourhood in Hong Kong, is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Aedas was appointed to design a serviced apartment building in this hyperdense district, whose construction work commenced recently.

Standing on a site of 614 square metres, which is challengingly small, the building will offer serviced apartment accommodation to occupants. In the early post-war years, it was common to create illegal iron balconies for residential units in Mongkok to acquire maximum view. Aedas reinterpreted these structures in a modern way, using irregular protrusions to create unobstructed views for each apartment.

Inspired by the home gardens which people create on the balconies, Aedas designed a green wall that seemingly protrudes from the solid façade of the podium to further connect the building with the historical cityscape. This green wall will also enhance the quality of life for the neighbourhood by increasing the provision of greenery at the pedestrian level.

The building is set back from the street to allow more opportunities for planting, which creates a breathing space in the middle of the dense neighborhood and provides rare greenery. It also transforms the outdoor landscape space into an urban backdrop for the building’s public areas such as an entrance lobby on the ground level and a transit lift lobby on the second floor.

The design sets an example of contemporary interpretation of traditional architecture.

Project: Composite Building at No. 78-88 Sai Yee Street
Location: Hong Kong
Architect: Aedas
Client: Good Standing (Hong Kong) Limited
Site area: 614 square meters
Gross floor area: 5,514 square meters

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by Aedas appeared first on Dezeen.

Reclaimed ceramic tiles decorate the recesses of this long white pavilion, which stretches across a redesigned town square in Provence by French architecture studio Comac (+ slideshow).

Marseille-based Comac designed the pavilion as part of a town centre redevelopment in Gignac la Nerthe, which included a new plaza, a children’s playground, a garden and the renovation of an existing stone barn.

Hollow sections in the volume of the long pavilion offer four sheltered areas, each lined with the colourful tiles that were found on the site.

One is intersected by a canal and fountain, while two others contain benches and tiered seating that create small open-air theatres.

At night, the tiles are illuminated by lights set at the pavilion’s base.

“The main goal was to unify three deserted plots into a whole public square connected with the actual city centre,” said the architects. “The entire urban project is creating several intimate spaces and foster social gatherings and activities.”

The old stone barn was restored to “leave a historical trace in the middle of the city”, while regional trees and flowers were planted in the botanical garden that surround the canal.

Other pavilions we’ve featured include one built from recycled windows, one made from recycled food packaging and one clad with silver pillows. See more pavilions »

More redesigned civic spaces include a seaside square in Croatia with new steps, terraces and paving and a mobile town square that packs onto the back of a bike. See more landscape architecture »

Photography is by Philippe Ruault.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

City Centre and Pavilion Main Square

An old Roman City from the 1st century, Gignac la Nerthe is a city from the Provence region, 20km from Marseille. In the late 1960s, the city developed alongside the first wave of North African immigration and in the 1980s with the people moving from some of Marseille’s roughest neighbourhoods. Nowadays, the city has been populated by low cost individual housing that didn’t leave any room for public space. The city centre’s new square and pavilion delivers a two-level proposal: first an urban evolution and then a social answer.

The main goal is to unify three deserted plots into a whole public square connected with the actual city centre, composed of the town hall main square, the church, an old barn, a village house, an old wash house and the boulevard Perrier.

First of all, the houses had to be demolished to create a direct connection with the town hall square and the deserted plots. The old barn was renovated to leave a historical trace in the middle of the city. By extending the axis created by the municipality’s building, an architectural element is set up on one hand to structure the public space and on the other hand to organise some function needed in such a space.

In the continuation of the actual town hall’s square, the entrance of the project is defined by the new pavilion and the renovated old barn.

The long building (70 meters) is creating a mineral square followed by a botanical garden, old Provencal plants and flowers are growing along the square. On the other side of the pavilion, a Provencal garden is defined by 9 trees and a water canal.

The pavilion is hosting activities and functions, beginning by the children area: a small theatre and a playground, the fountain, toilets, a covered space for party, open air lunches and at the end an open air theatre for projection, children shows or movies shows.

A modern Provencal approach: the ceramic coloured pattern comes from a piece of ceramic founds on the site, as a testimony to the region’s heritage.

The entire urban project is creating several intimate spaces and foster social gatherings and activities. It is a powerful tool to help the municipality realise its social policy goals towards the citizens of Gignac la Nerthe.

Location: Marseille – Gignac la Nerthe
Program: Pavilion, main square, botanic garden, kids playground, intimate garden, open air theatre, technical room, old wash house
Surface: 3000 square metres

Client: City of Gignac la Nerthe
Budget: €750,000
End of construction: July 2013
Building period: 10 months

Architect: Comac
Landscape architect: Paul Petel
Engineer: SLH – Franck Penel
Building firms: DM construction, Paysages mediterraneens
Urban furniture: Cyria

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by Comac appeared first on Dezeen.

London Design Festival 2013: designers Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp have created a collection of furniture and products including a magazine holder that resembles a toast rack (+ slideshow).

Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp showed a selection of products designed individually, alongside three designs created in collaboration that were inspired by sailing.

“I sailed for the first time two years ago and I love everything about it,” Laetitia de Allegri told Dezeen. “The closeness to nature, the design of the boats, the materials, techniques, everything is so simple and beautiful.”

A beech tray features a linear arrangement of wooden slats joined using the process of caulking that traditionally creates a non-slip seal on boat decking.

Door handles sand cast from aluminium or gunmetal reference the curving form of propeller blades.

The duo’s foldable stool can be hung on the wall to display the fabric that creates its seat when unfurled. The fabric is attached to a horizontal bar that holds it in tension when in use and weighs it down when hung up.

Laetitia de Allegri exhibited a range of side tables and stools with colourful bands of glazing based on the look of the frayed ends of rugs.

De Allegri also showed a magazine rack that supports magazines between three protruding vertical fins. The product is available in marble or colourful ceramic.

Eva Feldkamp showed a pair of ceramic carafes with forms that reference their contents. The taller, slimmer vessel is for water, while the rounder one is used for pouring milk.

Feldkamp’s other product is a tape cutter comprising aluminium sections and a circular blade that can be stacked to create a tool for accurately cutting rolls of tape into strips of a desired width.

The designers presented their products as part of the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival, which ended at the weekend.

Other products launched at the festival include a wall-hung mirror with a brass counterweight, furniture made from wood and colourful resin, and a collection of wicker lighting.

See all our London Design Festival 2013 coverage »

Here are some more details from the designers:

Issue No. 1 by De Allegri / Feldkamp

Drawing on the technical expertise developed throughout their studio work, the duo Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp launch their debut exhibition, Issue No. 1, in a tribute to feminine sensibility at London Design Festival this September. Against a landscape of colours, a selection of independent projects – side tables, magazine racks, carafe and a tape cutter – are showcased alongside three feature collaborations: a series of door handles, a foldable stool and a tray, each inspired by the mood and feel of sailing.

The inspiration underpinning the collection is the free spirit of sailing. Through our projects, we explore its associated shapes, materials and techniques alongside its relationship to nature.

Door handle

The door handles capture the sensitivity experienced in the repetitive touching of an everyday object. All three handle types are sand cast, as is each shape – some from aluminium, some from gunmetal. This project revisits the domestication of a product that is technical in its design, yet involves the senses in its use, embodying the perfect balance between function and tactility

Foldable stool

This stool’s function is twofold. In its closed position, it can be hung on the wall to create a framework for the fabric that gently drops down lengthwise. The weight of a stitched inner tube creates a slight tension to display the material. When unfolded, the tube centers the fabric in between two simple frames joined at an axis, forming the seat.

Sparks by Laetitia de Allegri

SparkS is a collection of playful, ceramic side tables and stools, based on colour experiments in glazings. They were intended to be placed next to a sofa or bed, but are equally at home on terraces or in gardens. The superimposed colours were inspired by the frayed ends of rugs bundled together on display, fusing together to create a coincidental new world of colour.
Dimensions: 350 x 350 x 540mm (Tall round Table), 300 x 300 x 240mm (Small round Table)

Untitled Nº 01 by Laetitia de Allegri

Untitled Nº01, marble magazine rack, has been created for the exhibition No function – no Sense? for DEPOT BASEL in August 2012.
Dimensions: 310 x 400 x 210mm

Untitled Nº 02 by Laetitia de Allegri

Untitled Nº02, ceramic magazine rack.
Dimensions: 310 x 400 x 210mm

Carafe by Eva Feldkamp

Similar in form, these two carafes are distinguishable by the liquid each is made to hold. The fresher, slimmer carafe complements the flowing, refreshing and transparent quality of water, while the rounder, deeper bellied carafe evokes the rich, nourishing quality of milk.
Dimensions: 255 x 75 x 75mm 230 x 80 x 80mm

Tape cutter by Eva Feldkamp

Personal tool to customise the width of tape, composed of turned aluminium layers and circular knife. When the layers of turned aluminium are stacked to a certain height the tape can be cut precisely into a specific width. Pressure controls the number of layers, and with that, the length of the cut piece.
Dimensions: 65 x 55 x 55mm

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and Eva Feldkamp appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Zaha Hadid’s extension to the Serpentine Gallery has opened today in London’s Kensington Gardens (+ slideshow).

Located just across the river from the main gallery building, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery occupies a 200-year-old former gunpowder store. Zaha Hadid Architects renovated the old brick building to create new gallery spaces, then added a curving cafe and events space that extends from one side.

The new tensile structure is built from a glass-fibre textile, forming a free-flowing white canopy that appears to grow organically from the original brickwork of the single-storey gallery building.

It stretches down to meet the ground at three points around the perimeter and is outlined by a frameless glass wall that curves around the inside.

Five tapered steel columns support the roof and frame oval skylights, while built-in furniture echoes the shapes of the structure.

“The extension has been designed to to complement the calm and solid classical building with a light, transparent, dynamic and distinctly contemporary space of the twenty-first century,” explain the architects. “The synthesis of old and new is thus a synthesis of contrasts.”

For the original building, the architects added a new roof that sits between the original facade and the outer enclosure walls, creating a pair of rectangular galleries in the old gunpowder stores and a perimeter exhibition space in the former courtyards.

A series of skylights allow the space to be naturally lit, but feature retractable blinds to darken it when necessary.

The Serpentine Sackler Gallery is Zaha Hadid’s first permanent structure in the UK and follows the studio’s Lilas installation at the gallery in 2007 and pavilion in 2000.

The gallery opens with an exhibition from Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas.

This year’s Serpentine Gallery pavilion by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto is a cloud-like grid of steel poles and remains open in Kensington Gardens until 20 October.

Zaha Hadid has also recently revealed the first in a chain of boutiques for American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman and plans for an 11-storey apartment block that will be constructed beside New York’s popular High Line park, while her forthcoming National Stadium of Japan is now set to become the main sporting venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.

See more architecture and design by Zaha Hadid »
See all our stories about the Serpentine Gallery »

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by Zaha Hadid appeared first on Dezeen.