Hasta La Ideas

Swedish design studio Visiondivision has come up with a proposal for a sheltered promenade, outdoor cinema and art gallery for the redundant space within the structure of Stockholm‘s Tranebergsbron bridge.

Anders Berensson and Ulf Mejergren of Visiondivison developed the Under the Bridge strategy to shorten the time it takes for pedestrians to cross the waters between the city island Kungsholmen and the western suburb of Bromma.

According to the designers, the walk currently takes 15 minutes and involves following a noisy highway. They believe this time could be reduced to just three minutes by adding a new walkway that follows the arch of one of the existing concrete vaults.

“We looked at the bridge as a whole and saw that the beautiful concrete vaults were ideal to make a more rapid connection between the two sides, and that connecting these two hotspots would also allow a much greater potential in creating activities,” the designers told Dezeen.

The passageway would pass through a series of pre-existing doorways in the concrete pillars that support the bridge. The main construction needed would be the addition of stairs on the vault, new lighting and balustrades.

“Since it is relatively cheap to build and will have a huge effect on the site, we really hope to see this realised,” added Berensson and Mejergren.

The designers suggest that the huge concrete pillars could also be used as projection walls for occasional movie screenings, or could function as exhibition spaces for hanging artwork.

Red concrete paving tiles would be added to encourage people to follow the path, and small kiosks could be set up in the abutments.

Here’s a project description from Visiondivision:

Under the Bridge

Stockholm’s many islands has created a beautiful city to live in but it has also created barriers between the inner city and the suburbs. Large scale bridges connects many of these places to each other, often built with the car in mind.

Tranebergsbron is one of the most beautiful bridges in Stockholm and connects the city island Kungsholmen with the western suburbs. It was completed in 1934, at that time having the world’s largest bridge vaults in concrete.

In 2005 an identical bridge vault was added to the two original ones, allowing more cars on the bridge. As many bridges that is predominantly built for cars, the construction begins to incline many hundreds of metres on land on both sides the shore, this means that if you want to walk over the bridge it will involve a strenuous 15 minute walk in a noisy environment considering that you will walk just next to a busy highway.

We therefore propose to use the actual concrete vault of the recently built bridge to cater to the neglected pedestrian traffic between these two important areas in Stockholm and to dramatically shorten the time between the two shores and make the journey into a pleasant three minute walk in a beautiful and relaxed setting. To do this, only a minimal intervention is required.

The concrete pillars that connects the vault with the surface of the bridge already has holes in them, so the only thing that is necessary to do is to extend the upper part of the vault to allow passage and to add stairs on to the vault, proper lighting and a protective fence. The ground before the arc begins could also be treated with red concrete tiles to highlight the new path better and make it more accessible.

The two shores would benefit tremendously from being better connected to each other and they are both major gateways that are currently undergoing a great expansion with new housing and services.

With the underworld of the bridge suddenly being used, this would also mean that the beautiful space underneath the bridge will be better activated, which leaves room for new functions and ideas. The impressive concrete pillars would be perfect to use as a temporary art gallery and the stairs on the vaults can have a double use as seating to watch film screenings on the pillars.

The two abutments would be attractive spots where small kiosks could be set up when weather permits.

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to include a sheltered promenade and cinema appeared first on Dezeen.

A bulky concrete apartment appears to hover above the glass roof of a patisserie at this combined home and workplace in Chiba Prefecture by Japanese studio Yuko Nagayama & Associates (+ slideshow).

Yoko Nayagama & Associates designed Katsutadai House to accommodate both the home and business of a family, but wanted the different functions to appear as two separate entities.

To achieve this, the architects recessed the middle floor of the three-storey building, creating a large void between the patisserie and the living and dining room of the apartment above.

They then added a glass roof over the patisserie and a window in the floor of the living room, allowing light to enter the building and letting residents peer down to catch a glimpse of the activities taking place below.

“During the daytime it will be a lightwell for a patisserie, and at night time the lights leaking from this aperture make it look like a treasure box has been opened,” explained the studio.

While the upper level has a windowless facade of exposed concrete, the walls of the patisserie have been rendered white to create a marbled effect.

Wooden doors slide back to invite customers inside the shop. A serving counter runs along the back wall of the space, while a kitchen and food preparation area are tucked away at the back.

A separate staircase leads up to the residence above, where a master bedroom and bathroom comprise the small first floor. The childrens’ room and extra bathroom are located above.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Yuko Nagayama & Associates sent us this project description:

Katsutadai House

A dwelling with shop at Katsutadai, Chiba prefecture, Japan. The outer part of 1st floor is a patisserie and the inner part is a cuisine, 2nd and 3rd floor is a dwelling for a family of four people. This house has an aerial wedge in between 1st and 3rd floor, so that the upper part of dwelling is looks like floating above a patisserie as a view on street.

This aerial wedge will be changing its character as the photic layer with different times – during the daytime it will be a light-well for a patisserie, and the nighttime the lights leaking from this aperture look like a treasure box is opened. And we can see a sole of dwelling volume in a patisserie based on its transparent glass roof. The wall of shop along the street is planned to 1.8 metres height and it is gradually being higher toward the inside. That is based on our intention to create a familiar open space like an empty-lot where is just surrounded by low wall.

This house has an inter-observing relationship between a shop and a floating dwelling space that makes different independent existence in a single building simultaneously. Each space has a particular sense of distance to the surrounding environment.

A shop space is a kind of continuous exterior with the street scape where is only surrounded by low wall. And a dwelling space is more separated form the surroundings where is floating above the street and has non-openings along the street, so that dwellers cannot see other houses directly and vice versa.

Additionally, we put a kind of wind-path in a dwelling part that brings the wind and the sounds form the outside to the inside space, and then dwellers can be feel an atmosphere of the street. When we went their previous house for the first time (1st floor was a shop and 2nd floor was a dwelling), a curtain is closed due to concerning about the eyes from street, and they also troubled with the noise of their child’s footstep form upstairs to patisserie. Therefore, we also attempted a solution of those problems in the schematic design.

The approach is planed to have an attractive appearance with long length to change the mood between a shop and a dwelling. We intended to change a sense of distance to the surroundings with the situations – such as high public patisserie space and more independent dwelling space, and those senses of distance change the flow of time between the spaces in their life.

Architect: Yuko Nagayama & Associates/Yuko Nagayama, Yohei Kawashima
Location: Katsutadai,Yachiyo, Chiba, Japan
Function: dwelling with shop
Site area: 100 metres squared
Architectural area: 79.9 metres squared
Total floor area: 178.5 sqm
Structure: steel
Year: 2013

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above a patisserie in Japan appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest project to complete in Toyo Ito‘s Home For All community rebuilding initiative is this timber and concrete pavilion in a Japanese fishing village, designed by Kazuyo Sejima‘s protégé Yang Zhao (+ slideshow).

Home For All in Kesennuma is the ninth building in the Home For All project, which was initiated by Japanese architect Toyo Ito just days after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, and involves the construction of new community buildings in the worst-hit areas.

Under the supervision of SANAA principal Kazuyo Sejima, Japanese Chinese architect Yang Zhao designed his building for the coastline of the Kesennuma fishing community in north-west Japan, creating a structure that can be used as a market hall, a meeting place or a performance area.

“It’s a shelter in which fishermen can take a rest, a place where the wives would wait for their husbands to return with the catch and sometimes a marketplace,” explained Zhao.

The structure was built with a hexagonal plan. Concrete walls support a large pitched roof and also frame a trio of wooden platforms that accommodate different activities.

The first platform accommodates a kitchen and can be enclosed behind sliding glass doors. The second is based on the engawa, a traditional Japanese veranda, while the third includes both toilet facilities and a seating area.

A multi-purpose space at the centre of the pavilion is exposed to the elements and features a timber-lined ceiling punctured by a large triangular skylight.

“At night, the building glows warmly from within, like a lighthouse, waiting for fishermen to come back from the sea,” said Zhao.

The floor inside the pavilion is set at the same level as the surrounding pavement so that forklift trucks can drive into the building on market days.

Photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s more information from Yang Zhao:

Home For All in Kesennuma

The home-for-all in Kesennuma is designed and built as a gathering space for a fishing community that severely suffered from the Tsunami in 2011. It is located at Kesennuma’s Oya fishing harbour that serves as a centre for the local fishing activities and community life. It’s a shelter in which fishermen can take a rest, a place where the wives would wait for their husbands to return with the catch and sometimes a marketplace.

Most part of the space opens to the exterior. A roof, supported by 3 “rooms”, covers an area of 117 square metres. At the centre is a triangular-shaped hole in the ceiling that allows people to gaze directly at the sky. The “rooms” with lifted benches are oriented toward the centre and, at the same time, towards views of the surrounding landscape through the three entrances from different sides. The kitchen room is glazed by glass sliding doors and can be slide open in pleasant weathers. The room nearest to the water can be enjoyed as an engawa (a space underneath the eaves, an important space for Japanese architecture and daily life). The toilets are accessed and ventilated from the outside, while oriented towards the centre and the sky through the slanted glazing. The surrounding ground will be paved to the same level as the space inside, allowing forklifts to enter in market hours.

The elemental geometry of the roof creates a dome-like space underneath. Together with the plywood (Japanese cypress) materiality, it generates a warm and protective atmosphere. At the same time, the transparency of the supporting structure creates an open and welcoming character. At night, the building glows warmly from within, like a lighthouse, waiting for fishermen to come back from the sea.

The project was the collaboration between architect Yang Zhao and his mentor Kazuyo Sejima during the 6th cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Art Initiative. The architects had three workshops with the local community to discuss about the design and get their approval to build. The completion and transfer ceremony took place on Oct. 27, 2013. The photos were taken on the ceremony day.

Architect: Yang Zhao
Advisor: Kazuyo Sejima
Local Architect: Masanori Watase
Design team: Ruofan Chen, Zhou Wu
Structural engineering: Hideaki Hamada
Site supervision: Takezou Murakoshi

Client: People of Ohya district in Kesennuma-city, Miyagi prefecture, Japan
Site area: 419.21m2
Built area or Total floor area: 93.45m2
Cost: 10,0000 euros
Design phase: Dec 2012 – Jun 2013
Construction phase: Jul 2013 – Oct 2013

Roof: galvanised steel sheet
Ceiling: plywood + protective coating
Exterior wall: concrete + protective coating
Interior wall: concrete + protective coating

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Toyo Ito’s post-tsunami reconstruction project appeared first on Dezeen.

Today we’re launching Dezeen and MINI Frontiers – a major, year-long collaboration with MINI that will explore how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.

Over the coming year we’ll be looking at some of the most exciting developments in emerging fields such as augmented reality, wearable technology, synthetic biology, robotics and mobility.

Subtitled “Where design and technology connect”, Dezeen and MINI Frontiers will take us on a journey of discovery. Through a series of videos we’ll be speaking to the most interesting, established and emerging talents from around the world who are working at the frontiers of these disciplines.

We’ll be investigating the way that connectivity between previously separate disciplines is creating new hybrids, new originals and new ways of working that promise to change for the better the way we live and work.

We look forward to sharing our discoveries with you over the next 12 months.

Look out for our first movie tomorrow, in which Andy Millns of 3D technology company Inition discusses how virtual reality is fast becoming as life-like as the real world.

In September we’ll be teaming up with six leading creatives to explore the future of mobility in an exhibition at London Design Festival – details to be announced soon.

Marcus Fairs
Editor-in-chief, Dezeen

The post Dezeen and MINI Frontiers launches today appeared first on Dezeen.

Stockholm 2014: this collection of wooden furniture by Japanese designer Jin Kuramoto is built using traditional techniques derived from shipbuilding (+ slideshow).

Pieces in Jin Kuramoto‘s Nadia range for his new brand Matsuso T are constructed using a particular interlocking technique known as kumiki.

“The heritage of many of the woodworking techniques used by Japanese carpenters originates from Japanese shipwrights,” said Jin Kuramoto.

“Inherent in its position as an island nation, it is unsurprising that the maritime industry has been a driving force behind the innovation of wood construction for centuries.”

Curved sections of wood form grids for the chair backs, which flow into supports for the thinly padded seats. The chairs come in natural wood or bright red.

Frames of interlocked struts cross beneath the coloured table tops to support the surfaces. Rounded legs splay outward from where they join the under frames, nestled into the corners where the beams meet.

The circular tables have three legs and rectangular designs are supported on four.

Coat stands are created using three poles with branch-like offshoots at the top that fix onto each other to make the structure sturdy. These are available in a set of light colours.

The collection will be unveiled at the Stockholm Furniture and Lighting Fair, which opens tomorrow as part of Stockholm Design Week.

Matsuso T is also launching a range of pentagonal wooden furniture designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune.

Photographs are by Takumi Ota.

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Japanese shipbuilding techniques appeared first on Dezeen.