Each year Maison & Objet awards a Designer of the Year and the 2013 edition celebrates French designer Odile Decq. Decq’s work…
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Here are some new renders of Beijing studio MAD‘s Harbin Cultural Centre, which is well under construction (+ slideshow).
MAD designed the undulating arts and culture venue for the city of Harbin, in China’s far north-east corner.
Situated on an island surrounded by wetlands of the Songhua River, the meandering site plan echoes the form of the river cutting through the land.
To disguise the centre in the often snowy landscape, the buildings will be predominantly clad in white aluminium and also use white stone and concrete.
The complex is split into two parts, separated by a man-made lake but connected by a long straight bridge.
On one side is the Harbin Grand Theatre, which will contain two different-sized theatres to host performances from large-scale operas to small independent shows.
A ribbon-like structure rises up from the ground to wrap around the back of both theatres, pinching in at the front of each.
This element will continue outward from the larger volume to create landscaping around a plaza.
Glass panels will form the roofs over the foyers, filling the gaps between the ribbon shape.
Inside, the larger theatre will be lined with wood panels to aid acoustics and add warmth to the otherwise white spaces.
The Harbin Labour Recreation Centre will sit on other side of the lake, containing facilities for conferences, cultural education and exhibitions, plus a hotel and catering space.
The project is due to complete next year, in time for Harbin’s summer concert in July.
MAD has also completed a wood sculpture museum shaped like an icicle in Harbin.
Last week the studio’s director Ma Yangsong revealed plans for a mixed-use complex in Beijing featuring skyscrapers, office blocks and public spaces modelled on mountains, hills and lakes.
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Read on for more information from MAD:
Harbin Cultural Island is located in the natural landscape of the riverside wetland north of Songhua River. The entire project covers an area of 1.8 square kilometres, with a construction area of 79,000 square meters. It is part of the development north of Sun Island, which is an important natural habitat in the north. In February 2010, MAD won the competition to design the cultural center on the island. The entire building is expected to be completed in 2014 when the Harbin July summer concert will be held.
Influenced by both Chinese and Russian culture, Harbin is reputed as the music capital of the north. Different from other theatre buildings that are normally located in the urban centre, Harbin Grand Theatre will not act as an isolated landmark for the city, but the natural continuation of the human spirit. Apart from regional protection and utilisation of the wetland ecosystem, Harbin Theatre, Harbin Labour Recreation Centre, Harbin Great Square and the Wetland Park together compose the Harbin Cultural Island, to join culture, art and nature in an integrated environment.
Surrounded by rivers, the Cultural Island embraces the wide riverbank as its background appearing as a glacier stretching and connecting to each other into a cohesive whole. The main entrance mimics a jade belt bridge spanning the wetlands and connecting the city and the cultural centre together. The movement of the terrain strategically directs the flow of people from different directions to the entrance of Harbin Theatre and Harbin Labor Recreation Centre.
The external ramp of the Grand Theatre, resembling a mountain path formed by gusting winds, guides people from the interior to the exterior. Walking along the landscape passage, visitors are able to appreciate the surrounding cultural and natural landscape. Atop the highest point of these buildings, visitors are able to enjoy a panoramic view of the surrounding scenery as if they are on top of a mountain.
The grand theatre takes the natural beauty of the north as its premise. In an attempt to reduce such a large volume, the architectural form is a continuation of the natural environment as it becomes part of the landscape. The entire building acts as an undulating snow covered mountain, following a natural rhythm.
The cladding of the building is custom-made pure white aluminium. White stone and concrete are also used as part of the wall, introducing a pure feeling as ice and snow. The skylight above of the auditorium utilises natural daylight. During the day, the need for interior lighting can be completely satisfied with energy-saving and special lighting effects. The Grand Theatre is made up of two different sized theatres. The larger theatre can accommodate up to 1,600 guests and it is formed with lower level stalls and a two-floor gallery. The interior space uses a large amount of wood to provide the best possible acoustical effects for the Performance Hall of the Grand Theatre. Also, the wood and the white wall form a balanced contrast between warm and cold colours, resembling the unique warm atmosphere of mountain huts.
The stage design for the theatre is not only suitable for western opera and modern drama performances, but also meets the requirement of traditional Chinese theatre plays. The acoustics and lighting design provide a high level of performance for the various venues in the theatre. Covered by curved acrylic lamps, the second floor VIP lounge appears as a glowing clear crystal floating in the theatre. The standardised stage is equipped with a versatile orchestral pit, designed to meet large-scale performances of Opera, Ballet and other various needs.
The 400 seat small theatre that connects with the larger theatre serves as the venue for small drama performances, chamber music, and operas. The design of the backstage curtain allows the stage to expand like a wide screen with natural landscape in the background integrating the indoor and outdoor view. The outdoor water section can also be used as an outdoor auditorium, therefore when the curtain opens, it becomes a panoramic arena with unobstructed views. This ingenious design creates a great space and a delicate dramatic effect for the Grand Theatre to adapt to the innovation and changes of the modern theatre art.
The art centre demonstrates the rich scale of the city, the nature and the people. It encourages the publicity and mass participation of Harbin’s art and culture activities. People can get a different sensory experience from different distances. The huge man-made lake between the Grand Theatre and the Culture and Art Centre contrasts the building with a long landscape bridge wedged in-between to form a Buddhist concept of “Void”.
Along the landscape bridge, visitors can reach the Labour Recreation Centre west of the Great Square. With a construction area of 41,000 square meters, this building is a comprehensive building complementing the Grand Theatre. Its functions include staff training, conferences, cultural education, exhibitions, hotel and catering space. These facilities will provide a diversified space for visitors, spectators and the staff. The boundary of the Cultural Centre interconnects with the river bank and wetland, blurring the boundaries of the natural and the artificial. Open spaces like ramps, bridges, sky terrace and squares bridge the distance between man and nature.
From the design’s initial startup in 2010 to August 2013, the overall structure of the Cultural Centre was completed and the entire project began to take shape. In the coming year, the building façade, the interior design and landscape design will be finished. This new cultural island in Harbin is emerging to facilitate the blend of humanity, art and nature in the north and it will become the centre of this city’s spirit.
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by MAD appeared first on Dezeen.
It’s Marseille’s moment. The port city, France’s largest on the Mediterranean coast, is in the spotlight as this year’s European Capital of Culture, with a host of major projects on view. Writer, author, and intrepid flâneur Marc Kristal paid a visit to the new and improved Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean and filed this formidable report for us.
(All photos courtesy Rudy Ricciotti)
Comprised of two 15,000-square-metre structures—the 17th-century Fort St.-John and a new seven-level building by architect Rudy Ricciotti, linked by a slender 115-metre-long footbridge—Marseille’s Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MuCEM), is, says director Bruno Suzzarelli, “an outstretched hand from France to the region.” Wishing to refuse the “bling-bling brightness” of signature-building starchitecture, Ricciotti responded to the fort’s massiveness with a “bony, feminine, fragile” design, executed almost entirely in high-strength concrete, and distinguished by a densely-patterned screen that covers two elevations and folds onto, and projects off of, the roof.
Seven hundred and eleven of the 15,688 cubic metres of MuCEM’s signature building material are comprised of fiber-reinforced ultra high performance concrete (UHPC), which proved especially suitable to the project: UHPC’s “closed-pore” compounding renders it virtually impervious to sea spray and other corrosive agents, and the highly “flowable” substance can adapt to the most elaborate molds—ideal for MuCEM’s latticework panels. Ricciotti also appreciated the material for its narrative qualities. “Cement can inspire dread in certain slums and elsewhere touch the sublime,” he observes. “And cement gives off a formidable sensuality.”
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Architecture studio Snøhetta of Oslo and New York has revealed designs for a community library in Queens, New York, with a shimmering golden exterior and a triangular entrance at one corner.
Proposed for the neighbourhood of Far Rockaway, the new building will replace a well-used but small existing library that functioned as a disaster relief centre during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last year.
Snøhetta’s design is for a two-storey structure that will double the floorspace of its predecessor.
The exterior will be screened behing fritted glass, creating a golden surface intended to reference the colour of the skies along the Long Island coastline. A sliced-off corner will be clad with transparent glass, providing the building’s entrance.
Snøhetta recently completed a library at North Carolina State University, which features a robotic book retrieval system and a 3D printing workshop.
Other projects underway by the firm include a major extension to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a new stadium for the Golden State Warriors basketball team.
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Here’s more information from Snøhetta:
Snøhetta releases design of the new Far Rockaway Branch Library, Recipient of the 2013 Public Design Commission’s Design Excellence Award
Today, Snøhetta releases the design of the Far Rockaway Branch Library in Far Rockaway, Queens. The new building will replace the existing library building, while also doubling the area of library spaces. The project, currently in design development in New York City, has also received the Public Design Commission of the City of New York’s recognition for outstanding public projects, the Annual Award for Excellence in Design.
Community Context
The Far Rockaway Library is located at the prominent intersection of Mott and Central Avenues in Far Rockaway, among the more dynamic, ethnically diverse communities in the borough of Queens. While the current library is small, it is heavily used, and its local importance is well-demonstrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when it was used to provide disaster relief to the community. This new building seeks to increase the services needed by the neighbourhood, and it is hoped that along with other revitalisation efforts, it will serve as a catalyst for community transformation.
Design Intent
The massing is a simple volume clad in fritted, coloured glass, with a gradient of colour reminiscent of the sky off the coast of Long Island. The simple form provides a calm contrast to the visual noise of surrounding retail outlets. The combination of transparency and translucency of the façade provides an awareness of the activity within as well as a degree of privacy for occupants of the library.
The primary organising elements are indicated with simple, clear forms. The entry is announced with a tall transparent glass pyramidal opening at the corner. The interior is organised around an inverted pyramidal atrium, which allows the penetration of natural light to the ground floor as well as a view of the sky from within the building. Combined, they provide the entry and circulation sequence through the building, and orient the visitor within.
The Far Rockaway Branch Library will comply with Local Law 86, seeking LEED Silver Certification, and will be sited at an elevation exceeding the new FEMA flood zone guidelines. As part of the Percent for the Arts program, Snøhetta will be collaborating with an artist to create a site specific artwork within the library.
Architect: Snøhetta
Structural: Robert Silman Associates
MEP/FP Engineers: Altieri Sebor Weiber
Sustainability/Lighting: Atelier Ten
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by Snøhetta appeared first on Dezeen.
This small house in rural Japan by Tokyo firm Case Design Studio is lifted off the ground on a single central pillar (+ slideshow).
Case Design Studio designed the single-storey home for a couple and located it on a sloping site in Yamanashi Prefecture, close to Mount Fuji.
A winding pathway leads from the road towards an elevated entrance, which comprises an external staircase that ascends to a balcony.
The house centres around a double-height dining room, which is lit from above by a series of clerestory windows.
Other rooms are arranged around the outside of the dining room and include a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms and a traditional Japanese room filled with tatami mats.
According to the studio, the rooms were designed to lead into one another in a “migratory flow pattern”, meaning there are “no dead ends”.
The Japanese room is raised on a wooden platform and features a large window, offering a view out towards the trees.
Flooring elsewhere is concrete and features under-floor heating.
Interior walls are painted white, contrasting with the dark timber that lines the inside of the dining room.
Other Japanese houses completed recently include one with cantilevered storey, one shaped like a fairytale tower and one with angular cutaways. See more houses in Japan »
Location: Yamanashi Prefecture, Minamitsuru Narusawa village
Character: Fuji
Primary use: Housing (residence)
Residents: Couple
Land size: 395 sqm
Construction area: 75 sqm
Total floor area: 67 sqm (20T)
First floor scale: ground
The post House in Fujizakura by
Case Design Studio appeared first on Dezeen.
Local basalt stone mixed into the concrete used to construct this holiday home in India helps to connect it with its mountainous site (+ slideshow).
Mumbai firm SPASM Design Architects took its cue from the dark tones of the basalt which surrounds the site on a rocky hillside in the Maharashtra region.
“We chose to build the house as an accretion on this rocky basalt outcrop with the same inherent material transformed,” the architects said, explaining how they mixed water, sand, cement and granular basalt to cast the thick raw walls.
The use of robust concrete for the Khopoli House was dictated by the drastic climatic changes that the region experiences, which include high temperatures in the summer and heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, while natural stone was used for key details like flooring.
“Stone has been used in many forms, based on use, wear, grip, texture,” said the architects. “The dark, saturated black matt-ness conjures a cool sense of refuge and calm.”
The house perches on the edge of a cliff with views of the distant hills, which are framed by the walls on either side of a vertiginous projecting swimming pool.
A cantilevered concrete overhang marks the entrance to the house and creates a sheltered outdoor space with a suspended sofa.
The living and dining area is located in a void between the building’s two wings, with blinds enabling this space to be closed off when required.
The entrance hall and dark passages give the interior an intimate feel, while a stone-lined staircase leads to a guest bedroom and bathroom buried in the rocky hillside.
Other architectural projects that celebrate stone include an apartment block in Iran made from offcuts from a local stonecutting business and a house in England with a sliding stone wall.
Mumbai practice WE Design Studio has designed a coastal holiday home built on top of a basalt stone retaining wall with views of the Arabian Sea, while another Mumbai practice, Rajiv Saini + Associates, has created a single-storey house with a scooping cantilevered concrete roof.
See more stories about stone »
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Here’s some more information from the architects:
The house cast in liquid stone
A second home on a rocky outcrop at the start of the western ghats (highlands), Khopoli, in Maharashtra, India. An area of high precipitation in the monsoons, and equal heat during the summers, the site changes remarkably from March to July, with the onset of the south westerly monsoons.
Basalt the local black rock of the region is what this site was about. We chose to build the house as an accretion on this rocky basalt outcrop with the same inherent material transformed. An outgrowth which was made of a mix of water, sand, cement and the granular basalt. Concrete finely honed to serve as refuge, to face the climatic changes that the site offered.
The house was conceived as a cast for human occupation, a refuge which trapped the views, the sun, the rain, the air, and became one with the cliff edge it stood on. Akin to the growth of a coral, the substance of the walls and roof dictate the experience of inhabiting the site.
Stone has been used in many forms, based on use, wear, grip, texture. The dark, saturated black matt-ness conjures a cool sense of refuge and calm.
Photographs cannot express the sense of weight when one approaches, or the sense of release at the edge of the pool at the far end of the open terrace, the feeling of burrowing deeper enroute, past the stacked stones, to the lower bedroom.
The house, a cast, an object for living, whatever you may call it, has transformed into a belvedere to minutely observe and sense the spectacle of nature, of shade as a retreat against the sharp tropical sun, the resurgence of life, a sudden BURST of green, when the hard pounding monsoon arrives, the waft of breezes filling the air with the fragrance of moist earth, the movement of stars across the very dark night skies.
To heighten the drama of the the site through what we build, without building a dramatic building!
Lead Architects: SPASM Design Architects
Design Team: Sangeeta Merchant, Mansoor Kudalkar, Gauri Satam, Lekha Gupta, Sanjeev Panjabi
Location: Khopoli, Maharashtra, India.
Contractors: IMPEX Engineers, Mumbai
Engineers: Rajeev Shah & Associates (structural)
Site Area: 19,950 sq.mts.
Total Built Area: 638 sq.mts.
Design Period: November 2009 – Oct 2010
Construction Period: May 2011 – May 2013
Photographs: Sebastian Zachariah, Denver, Tanmay, Gauri
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Design Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
A car service pavilion with a canopy shaped like a giant Pringle potato crisp has been completed in northern Germany by GRAFT Gesellschaft von Architeken (+ slideshow).
Berlin-based GRAFT Gesellschaft collaborated with WES & Partner Landschaftsarchitekten to design the structure for Autostadt, a visitor attraction at the Volkswagen factory in the city of Wolfsburg.
The structure is part of a 15,000-square-metre driving space allowing guests to test features in new cars including driver assistance systems, automatic parking, traffic sign recognition and automatic distance control for safer driving in traffic.
Anchored to the adjacent service centre and a small hill opposite by just two points, the suspended roof forms a shelter for cars to drive through and park, protecting them from sunlight and rain.
Built from a foundation of reinforced concrete, the roof features a double-curved frame of welded steel plates and a frame of steel wire ropes that criss-cross underneath.
The steel cords are integral to the structure, keeping the curved frame in shape and supporting the translucent exterior membrane.
“The space had to be protected from rain and direct sunlight, while allowing enough daylight to avoid the usage of energetically expensive and unnecessary artificial light,” they said.
In the adjacent service pavilion, customers can ask questions about the cars, purchase accessories and find out about other visitor attractions at the site, which include a pavilion with a curled-over steel roof showcasing cars from Porsche and a permanent sustainability exhibition by J Mayer H.
Other Pringle-shaped designs we’ve featured include the 2012 Olympic Velodrome and a glimmering structure covered with reflective pixels and brass pieces at this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week.
See more German architecture and design »
Photographs are by Tobias Hein.
Here’s a project description from the architects:
Autostadt Roof and Service Pavilion, Wolfgang, Germany
Driver assistance systems, including automatic parking, traffic sign recognition and automatic distance control, are becoming more common in today’s cars. The new ‘Ausfahrt’ at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg offers guests an opportunity to try out these technical systems in models manufactured by Volkswagen. This helps to ensure safer driving in road traffic. Covering 15,000 square meters, the new driving attraction was built in ten months’ time and opened in August 2013.
GRAFT was commissioned to create a quiet area where the buyer of a new car could get familiar with all the functions in an almost private atmosphere. The space had to be protected from rain and direct sunlight, while allowing enough daylight to avoid the usage of energetically expensive and unnecessary artificial light.
GRAFT developed the idea of a horizontal leaf that protects the landscape underneath with its organic form. “WES-Landschaftsarchitektur” planned the landscape surrounding the roof. In the architectural application of this image, it was necessary to produce the greatest possible lightness: A special static principle allows for the unique roof structure to be anchored in just two points.
It lays in the landscape and defines a clear and protected room. The planning of the structural framework was done by “Schlaich Bergmann und Partner”. The orientation of the roof represents a welcoming gesture through its curvature. The elegant amorphous geometry of the roof structure forms an evident bridge between top and bottom, between sky and landscape.
The associated service pavilion fulfills various functions: the customer can ask questions about his new car, purchase accessories or get information about Autostadt attractions and activities. As the roof follows the concept of a leaf, the pavilion is integrated into the architectural landscape and not designed as a separate building. Basic forms of the roof can be found in the interior architecture.
Client: Autostadt Wolfsburg
Architect: Graft Gesellschaft von Architekten
Planning of the structural framework: Schlaich Bergermann und Partner
Landscape Architect: WES – Landschaftsarchitektur
Contractor Roof Structure: Eiffel Deutschland Stahltechnologie with Taiyo Europe
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GRAFT Gesellschaft von Architekten appeared first on Dezeen.
This tiny wooden cabin in Sweden contains a sauna and a bedroom with large picture windows that frame views of the surrounding forest (+ slideshow).
The cabin was designed by Paris studio SEPTEMBRE for a couple who spend their summers on the remote island of Trossö, off the west coast of Sweden.
It is situated in a clearing just 50 metres from the the North Sea and the architects told Dezeen that their brief was for “a room with a view of the sea,” that gives “the feeling of being immersed in the landscape”.
The clients also asked that the building “make minimal impact on the surounding nature [so] no trees should be cut down.”
The cabin is raised off the ground so it sits lightly on the plot and all of the materials used were transported to the site by boat as there are no roads on the island.
A pitched roof references the vernacular of local fishing huts and also increases the internal volume.
External walls are made from Swedish spruce that has been painted black. The floorboards are also spruce, while the internal walls and ceiling are clad in plywood.
A large sliding door leads from a small deck into the bedroom. With the door open, the deck effectively doubles the usable floor space.
In the bedroom, a mattress is placed at the back of a wooden platform that also acts as a surface for seating.
Long drawers on castors roll out from underneath the platform to provide storage.
The sauna is entered through a door at the side of the cabin and contains benches and a window looking out onto the forest.
Renzo Piano recently completed a tiny cabin designed as a self-sufficient hideaway for a single inhabitant at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, while other wooden cabins on Dezeen include an artists’ cabin built on the side of a hill in Nova Scotia and a wood-clad two-storey cabin in Austria.
We’ve published some unusual saunas on Dezeen, including one with wings like a bird and another that’s hung from a bridge – see more stories about saunas.
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by SEPTEMBRE appeared first on Dezeen.
Our new Pinterest board features architecture for education, encompassing schools, kindergartens, research centres and universities. See our new schools Pinterest board »
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schools appeared first on Dezeen.
Créée par Lawrence Scarpa et Angela Brooks, la Solar Umbrella House est à la fois éco-responsable et moderne, construite à base de matériaux recyclés et performants. Utilisant des techniques de récupération d’énergie solaire passives et actives, cette création est aussi esthétique que technique.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
