Hasta La Ideas

A labyrinth of brick walls, arches and courtyards are protected from flooding behind a man-made embankment at this open-air community centre in rural Bangladesh (+ slideshow).

Designed by Bangladeshi architect and URBANA founder Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, the complex functions as the centre for a charitable organisation. It offers training programmes for the poorest individuals in Gaibandha, a town where most of the community are employed in agriculture.

The Friendship Centre is built on low-lying land surrounded by fields. Despite the threat of flooding, the cost of raising the building above the flood plain was too great so instead the designers created their own defence by building up the earth surrounding the site.

Each building within the complex is constructed from a uniform brickwork, creating a maze of pavilion-like structures. Each block has the same height and every rooftop is covered with grass.

“In the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and shadows, of the economy and generosity of small spaces and of the joy of movement and discovery in the bare and the essential,” said Chowdhury.

The architect also compares the project to some of the ancient Buddhist monasteries constructed elsewhere in the region. “Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel,” he added.

Rooms are divided into two zones to separate reception and training rooms from dormitories and other more private quarters. There’s also a library, a conference room, a prayer space and a small shop.

Large openings in the walls bring natural light and ventilation through the buildings, while a sequence of small courtyards and pools allow cool air to circulate.

Excessive rainwater is collected in some of these pools and pumped into a nearby pond, while a complex network of septic tanks and wells prevents sewage mixing with flood water.

Other projects designed to combat possible flooding include a floating house in New Orleans and a whole neighbourhood in Copenhagen.

Here’s more text from the design team:

Friendship Centre

The Friendship Centre near the district town of Gaibandha, Bangladesh, is for an NGO which works with some of the poorest in the country and who live mainly in riverine islands (chars) with very limited access and opportunities. Friendship uses the facility for its own training programs and will also rent out for meetings, training, conferences etc. as income generation.

The low-lying land, which is located in rural Gaibandha where agriculture is predominant, is under threat of flooding if the embankment encircling the town and peripheries break.

An extensive program with a very limited fund meant that raising the structures above flood level (a height of eight feet) was not an option: nearly the entire available fund would be lost below grade. Being in an earthquake zone and the low bearing capacity of the silty soil added further complications. The third and final design relies on a surrounding embankment for flood protection while building directly on existing soil, in load-bearing masonry. Rainwater and surface run-off are collected in internal pools and the excess is pumped to an excavated pond, also to be used for fishery. The design relies on natural ventilation and cooling, being facilitated by courtyards and pools and the earth covering on roofs. An extensive network of septic tanks and soak wells ensure the sewage does not mix with flood water.

The ‘Ka’ Block contains the reception pavilion, offices, library, training/conference rooms and pavilions, a prayer space and a small ‘cha-shop’. The ‘Kha’ Block, connected by three archways, is for more private functions and houses the dormitories, the dining pavilion and staff and family quarters. The laundry and drying shed is located on the other side of the pond. There is no air-conditioning and the entire lighting is through LED and energy efficient lamps.

As in construction, so in conception – the complex of the centre rise and exist as echo of ruins, alive with the memory of the remains of Mahasthan (3rd century BC), some sixty kilometres away. Constructed and finished primarily of one material – local hand-made bricks – the spaces arc woven out of pavilions, courtyards, pools and greens; corridors and shadows. Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel.

The centre serves and brings together some of the poorest of poor in the country and, by extension, in the world, yet in the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and shadows of the economy and generosity of small spaces; of the joy of movement and discovery in the bare and the essential.

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Chowdhury/URBANA appeared first on Dezeen.

News: California studio Smith|Allen has completed the world’s first architectural structure using standard 3D printers (+ movie + interview).

Called Echoviren, the 10 x 10 x 8 foot pavilion was completed last weekend. It consists of 585 individually printed components produced on seven Series 1 desktop printers made by Type A Machines.

It took the printers two months and 10,800 hours to print the components, but just four days to assemble them on site.

The components, each measuring up to 10 x 10 inches, were snapped together to create a perforated structure resembling an igloo with an opening at the top.

Each component is made of a plant-based PLA bio-plastic, meaning the structure will decompose over time, disappearing within 30-50 years. “As it weathers it will become a micro-habitat for insects, moss, and birds,” the architects write.

Artist Stephanie Smith and architect Bryan Allen of Smith|Allen built the structure in a redwood forest at Project 387, an arts residency programme in Mendocino County north of San Francisco.

“The texture [of the structure] is based on a study of the cellular forms of sequoia cells,” Allen told Dezeen (see full interview below). “Their structure allows the trees to maintain huge amounts of strength with a minimum volume.”

Allen added: “The overall form is driven by the structural requirements of building in PLA. The section is pyramidal so each of the walls is self supporting. As the structure is completed it becomes a compression structure with the top most layer forming a compression ring.”

Architects have this year been racing to complete the first 3D-printed house, as we reported earlier this year. Projects in the pipeline include a looping two-storey dwelling by Dutch architects Universe Architecture and a fibrous single-story dwelling by UK studio Softkill. Meanwhile Amsterdam studio DUS Architects plan to create a canal-side house room by room.

However Italian engineer Enrico Dini is credited with creating the first 3D-printed inhabitable structure using a D-Shape printer – a huge machine he invented himself that prints using a type of synthetic stone.

In 2009 Dini teamed up with designer Andrea Morgante to print a 3 metre-high prototype structure and the following year he worked with architect Marco Ferreri to print a single-room house modelled on a mountain dwelling. See our feature about 3D-printed architecture for more details.

We conducted an email interview with Bryan Allen of Smith|Allen about the project:

Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the type of printers you used.

Bryan Allen: We used 7 of the Type A Machines Series 1 printers. We’ve been working with some other types for a few years. I worked with Ron Rael at Emerging Objects and at Berkeley where we used ZCorp printers to develop new materials. The idea to make something huge has been around for a while but despite our efforts to use the ZCorp, the BFBs, or the Makerbots, it just wasn’t possible or it was prohibitively expensive. The Series 1 made it possible to build large prints reliably and with the price drop in PLA, building something big became a reality.

Marcus Fairs: What does Echoviren mean?

Bryan Allen: The name Echoviren comes from a reference to the coastal redwood, it’s Latin name is sequoia sempervirens. Translated roughly that’s ‘always alive’ or ‘always growing’. The Echoviren is a technological echo, a reflection, and specter of life and of the forest. It evokes the essence of its site in the forest and mirrors it in a deliberately artificial method. Although we consider this forest primeval and natural, in reality its a highly controlled and modified environment, the forest has been logged and even before recorded history it was cultivated. Echoviren highlights that palimpsest, a forest landscape that has been written over many times, continually changed and grafted onto.

Marcus Fairs: What are the form and texture of the structure based on?

Bryan Allen: The texture is based on a study of the cellular forms of sequoia cells. Their structure allows the trees to maintain huge amounts of strength with a minimum volume.  This form also naturally works well on FDM-style printers. Their ability to print cellular infill structures on the interior of parts fits in with a macro scale cellular tessellation scheme. The perforations form a gradient of size drawing the viewers vision up and through the occulus.

The overall form is driven by the structural requirements of building in PLA. The section is pyramidal so each of the walls is self supporting. As the structure is completed it becomes a compression structure with the top most layer forming a compression ring. The PLA components are strong in compression and the pyramidal section coupled with a compression ring makes the structure tend towards stability. In the XY the components are connected via a dovetail joint, in the Z the layers fit together with a pin and socket.

Marcus Fairs: How did you get started with 3D printing?

Bryan Allen: When my partner and I graduated from School we lost our access to the tools that had allowed us to make,design, and to create things. We were faced with a choice: go into an office and slave over CAD drawings for a couple years working on someone else’s projects until I could get licensed, or to go it on our own. Getting the printers made it possible for us to actually make a go of doing what we really wanted to do: creating large scale installations, sculpture, and architecture.

We first attempted to make a small scale aggregation called Xylem at the end of 2012. That piece was 4x4x3′ and after we completed it we thought well, what if we go bigger? We bought more printers, put them in our studio and got to work. We applied to Project 387 for funding and for the site, after we were accepted we began construction.

Marcus Fairs: What’s new about this project that hasn’t been done before?

Bryan Allen: I think the fundamental breakthrough in this project is that of aggregation as a construction system. So many of the 3D printed architecture projects that have been proposed are based on building large scale printers which is a huge barrier in and of itself. By utilizing Rhino and grasshopper with consumer-grade, easily available desktop 3D printers we were able to make this thing in (relatively) small, precise, individual components. After all architecture is about assemblage, it’s about how to organize connections, details, and joints. To design a 3D printed architecture requires a fundamental rethinking of how we design: there are new details, systems, and processes that open the door to the huge potential of 3D printed architectures.

Marcus Fairs: What will you work on next?

Bryan Allen: So next we are going to be working on a retail interior in Oakland California. We are hoping to build a large scale urban intervention in San Francisco at the beginning of next year. We are also closely involved with Type A Machines and hope to be designing pavilions and other structures for their office and events in the future. We want to continue to grow the scale and scope of our projects. We want to find the limit of what is possible within the disruption 3D printers have created. We want to incorporate more intensive systems into 3D printed constructions like HVAC, lighting, etc, as well as make spaces for more permanent dwelling.

Marcus Fairs: What’s next for 3D printing?

Bryan Allen: There are some new printers and materials coming out that allow designers who don’t have the resources of a huge institution to begin to realize their creations and push the envelope of architecture in general. To us the 3D printer is right on the cusp of transitioning from a toy to a tool, it can make real things, real design, and real architecture.

Marcus Fairs: What is Project 387?

Bryan Allen: Project 387 (www.project387.com) is a multidisciplinary residency program in its inaugural season. Located in rural Mendocino Country, California Project 387 has offered six artists an opportunity to develop their proposed projects in the quiet of giant redwoods. This year’s selected residents are: Smith|Allen Studio [Bryan Allen and Stephanie Smith] (Oakland CA), Rich Benjamin (Brooklyn NY), Claudia Bicen (San Francisco CA), Sean McFarland (San Francisco CA), and Robert Wechsler (Glendale CA).

Project 387 provides community-based living and working experience to artists in all career stages. The residency is a unique opportunity to dive into the creative process in a focused, exploratory and rigorous manner while removed from the clamor of urban distractions.

Here’s some more info about the project from Smith|Allen:

Echoviren, the worlds first piece of full scale 3D printed inhabitable architecture

Smith|Allen participated in the Project 387 Residency, located in Mendocino County from August 4-18, 2013. In the heart of a 150-acre redwood forest, Smith|Allen has created a site responsive, 3D printed architectural installation (the largest of its kind): Echoviren. The project merges architecture, art and technology to explore the dialectic between man, machine and nature. The Project 387 open house and reception was Saturday, August 17.

Spanning 10 x 10 x 8 feet, Echoviren is a translucent white enclosure, stark and artificial against the natural palette of reds and greens of the forest. Walking around and within the structure, the viewer is immediately consumed by the juxtaposition, as well as uncanny similarity, of natural and unnatural: the large oculus, open floor, and porous surface framing the surrounding coastal landscape.

This artificial frame draws the viewer up from the plane of the forest, through a forced perspective into the canopy.

Echoviren was fabricated, printed, and assembled on site by the designers. Through the use of parametric architectural technologies and a battery of consumer grade Type A Machines desktop 3D printers, Smith|Allen has constructed the world’s first 3D printed, full-scale architectural installation.  Made of over 500 unique individually printed parts, 7 3D Printers ran constantly for 2 months for a total of 10800 hours of machine time.

The structure was assembled though a paneled snap-fit connection, merging individual components into a monolithic aggregation. From breaking ground to finish the prefab 3D printed construction technique required for only 4 days of on site building time.

Entirely composed of 3D printed plant based PLA bio-plastic, the space will decompose naturally back into the forest in 30 to 50 years.   As it weathers it will become a micro-habitat for insects, moss, and birds.

A graft within the space of the forest, Echoviren is a space for contemplation of the landscape, of the natural, and our relationship with these constructs. It focuses on the essence of the forest not as a natural system, but as a palimpsest. The hybridized experience within the piece highlights the accumulated iterations of a site, hidden within contemporary landscapes.

Echoviren exposes an ecosystem of dynamic natural and unnatural interventions: the interplay of man and nature moderated by technology.

Location: Project 387 Gualala, California

Manufactured by: Smith|Allen

Involved companies: Type A Machines

Commissioned by: Project 387

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3D-printed architecture” appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a residential development designed by Richard Rogers to adjoin two streets in London’s Mayfair via a paved arcade has been granted approval.

The £300 million scheme designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners will include 42 apartments, a restaurant and retail space. There will also be 1248 square metres of dedicated gallery space, split into five retail units for the selling of art and antiques – for which Cork Street and the surrounding area are well-known.

The conversion will transform a former office building into a nine-storey mixed-use property and will link Old Burlington Street and Cork Street via a double-height arcade, making it the first of its kind in Mayfair since the 1930s.

Alasdair Nicholls, chief executive of property developer Native Land said: “These proposals will greatly enhance Cork Street and the experience of visiting one of London’s most established art gallery districts, by both augmenting the gallery offering of the building and creating an arcade with a permanent dedicated space for young and emerging artists.”

The scheme has faced opposition from gallery owners, locals and retail experts who felt that the development and expected higher rental costs would negatively affect the area which is well known for its small galleries.

A campaign website called Save Cork Street was set up and a number of public events were held in an attempt to protect the heritage of the street. A petition against the plans was signed by 12,000 people, including retail guru Mary Portas.

Recently we published a number of films with eminent British architect Richard Rogers. In our most recent movie, Richard Rogers reflects on his 50-year career and told Dezeen that architects today must be careful to protect the public domain.

In another movie exclusive Rogers spoke to us about London’s new Leadenhall building, dubbed “the Cheesegrater”, which is currently under construction.

See all our coverage of Richard Rogers »
See more stories about Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners »

Images are from Rogers Stirk Habour + Partners.

Here’s more information from Native Land:

Westminster City Council approves Native Land’s plans for 30 Old Burlington Street

Consent granted for apartment and gallery space in Mayfair

Native Land has secured planning approval from Westminster City Council for the redevelopment of 30 Old Burlington Street, Mayfair. Westminster’s Planning & City Development Committee last night agreed to the plans for new residential and enhanced gallery provision at the W1 address.

Native Land applied to redevelop the Old Burlington Street office building, creating 42 apartments, a restaurant, retail space, and 1,248 sq m of gallery space in five units dedicated to the sale of art and antiques, as part of the restriction in the Section 106 agreement.

The proposed development, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, will replace the existing 1980s office block and will link Old Burlington Street and Cork Street via a newly built double height arcade, which is the first in Mayfair since the 1930s.

The new development will consist of nine floors, with 42 one, two and three bedroom apartments spread over floors 1 – 8. The ground floor will accommodate the new arcade, which is expected to increase gallery visitors and footfall within the area.

Alasdair Nicholls, Chief Executive of Native Land, said:

“We welcome Westminster City Council decision to approve our plans for 30 Old Burlington Street. These proposals will greatly enhance Cork Street and the experience of visiting one of London’s most established art gallery districts, by both augmenting the gallery offering of the building and creating an arcade with a permanent dedicated space for young and emerging artists. The combination of art galleries, purpose built residential and a contemporary arcade is unique, with appeal both to domestic and international buyers alike looking to live in Mayfair.”

Native Land, the Mayfair-based development company, is managing the development, after acquiring the site freehold in August 2012 in a joint venture with Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), the Singaporean hotel, property and retail group, and Amcorp Properties Berhad (Amcorp), the Malaysian property, engineering and infrastructure group.

In December 2012 Native Land secured funding for the development via a £90 million debt facility from OCBC Bank of Singapore.

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+ Partners gallery arcade in Mayfair appeared first on Dezeen.

News: the developer behind Europe’s tallest residential towers has attacked “fake and insidious” press coverage of the project, after claims that the 47-storey skyscraper has been built without elevators went viral.

Rafael Ballesta, sales manager for the Edificio Intempo residential towers, described the media storm as “ridiculous” and said: “We are constructing the highest residential skyscraper in Europe so how is it possible to build without elevators?”

Dezeen was one of several publications to feature the story, which was originally reported by Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“The journalist from El Pais issued some fake news and everyone else just copy-and-pasted it,” Ballesta told Dezeen. “People must not believe this fake news”.

A Twitter account dedicated to the Edificio Intempo building, which is nearing completion in the Benidorm beach resort on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, has responded to some of the publications who reported the news by tweeting that it is false and its elevators are working.

Another tweet links to a document published by engineers Florentino Regalado & Asociados showing section views of the building, including elevator shafts.

Ballesta says the towers feature six “latest generation” elevators, with three installed in each of the twin towers.

A Spanish journalist who has visited the building posted on her website that she had ascended as far as the building’s 45th floor using its elevators and included a photo that claims to show the elevator’s unfinished operating panel.

The project’s website also features photos of lift doors within the building.

In its story on 20 July, El Pais reported that the building was originally designed with 20 storeys, but developers later decided to extend it to 47 storeys and neglected to allow the extra room required by a lift ascending over twice as far. This meant that the top half of the building would be inaccessible by elevator.

The twin 200 metre-tall building, designed by Roberto Perez Guerras Architects, claims to be Europe’s tallest residential building and is scheduled for completion in December 2013. Consisting of two slender towers joined at the top by an inverted conical structure, Edificio Intempo contains 269 luxury apartments, which are being marketed primarily to Russian buyers.

See more stories about skyscrapers »

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skyscraper has no elevators appeared first on Dezeen.

Graduate designer Mugi Yamamoto has designed an inkjet printer that sits on top of a stack of paper and eats its way down through the pile (+ slideshow).

The compact Stack printer by industrial designer Mugi Yamamoto is simply placed on top of a pile of A4 paper, rather than loading paper into the device in batches. The sheets are fed through rollers underneath the machine and exit on the top.

Yamamoto told Dezeen that his intention was to reduce the space taken up by a printer. “Thanks to this new way of printing it is possible to remove the paper tray, the bulkiest element in common printers,” said Yamamoto. “This concept allows a very light appearance and avoids frequent reloading.”

The designer looked at commercial printers and modified existing mechanisms to create the working prototype.

The printed paper creates a new pile on top of the machine. “It’s not endless – it might go up to maybe 200 sheets of paper,” Yamamoto told Dezeen.

Yamamoto completed the project while studying industrial and product design at Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL) in Switzerland. He was also selected as one of ten young designers to exhibit at this year’s Design Parade 8 at Villa Hoailles in Hyeres, France.

The designer was born in Tokyo and is currently undertaking a design internship in Nürnberg, Germany.

Other interesting printers we’ve featured include an inkjet printer that prints patterns to contort pieces of paper into specific 3D forms and an old inkjet printer that had its ink cartridge replace with felt pens.

See more technology »
See more gadgets »

Photography is by the designer.

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Mugi Yamamoto appeared first on Dezeen.