Hasta La Ideas

News: architects including Alvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Kengo Kuma will create installations inside London’s Royal Academy of Arts for an upcoming architecture exhibition.

Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined will see seven architects create temporary structures across the 13 main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA).

The selected architects are Pritzker Prize winners Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura of Portugal, Kengo Kuma of Japan, Stirling Prize nominees Grafton Architects of Ireland, Li Xiaodong of China, Pezo von Ellrichshausen of Chile and Diébédo Francis Kéré of Burkina Faso and Germany.

Each architect will create a sensory and spatial intervention exploring the emotive powers of architecture inside the Grade II* listed galleries of the London institution.

Speaking at a press event earlier today, the RA’s architecture curator Kate Goodwin said she hopes the exhibition will help “visitors rediscover the quality of architecture”.

Also present at the event, Grafton Architects director Yvonne Farrell told Dezeen: “What is different about this exhibition is that it’s not about representing projects and buildings.”

“What Kate asked us to do is to focus on fundamental qualities that we’ve been searching for generally in our work and find a way of expressing that to the public,” said Farrell.

Although the designs of each structure are yet to be unveiled, Goodwin hinted that Kuma’s piece is to be based on the Japanese performing art of Kodo. Grafton Architects will manipulate “light from the skylights” in the central gallery, and Xiaodong’s contribution will be a “labyrinth”.

The RA released one teaser image showing a dark corridor with a glowing floor (top).

A special film in one gallery will play interviews with the architects speaking about their designs for the exhibition and introducing their previous work. Visitors will be encouraged to touch, interact and take photos of the installations.

Sensing Spaces will open to the public on 25 January 2014 and run until 6 April 2014.

Currently on show at the RA is a retrospective of work by Richard Rogers, with whom we filmed a series of interviews to coincide with the exhibition and his 80th birthday.

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in major exhibition at London’s RA appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architecture studios OMA and BIG are among the ten collaborative design teams selected for an initiative to revitalise parts of the USA devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

The Rebuild by Design competition was launched in June by US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Shaun Donovan and asked architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban designers to come up with proposals that would help revitalise communities affected by the hurricane that struck the east coast in October 2012.

Danish studio BIG and Dutch firm OMA were both named on the shortlist, alongside New York studio WXY Architecture, landscape architects West 8 and a design team from the University of Pennsylvania.

The ten teams will spend the next three months studying the region and building relationships with local stakeholders. Designs will be focused on four areas: coastal communities; high-density urban environments; ecological and waterbody networks; and the unknown and unexpected.

“The projects that come out of this competition will save lives and protect communities in this region and – as the Task Force will emphasise in the Rebuilding Strategy to be released in the coming weeks – serve as models as we prepare communities across the country for the impacts of a changing climate,” said Donovan, who also chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

Implementation of the resulting designs will begin in March 2014, funded in part by community grants.

Top image of Hurricane Sandy devastation courtesy of Shutterstock.

Read on more for information and to see the full shortlist:

Ten design teams selected to proceed to stage two of Rebuild By Design competition

The Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force has announced the selection of ten Design Teams to proceed to Stage Two of REBUILD BY DESIGN, a multi-stage regional design competition that will develop innovative projects to protect and enhance Sandy-affected communities. U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, launched the competition on June 20, 2013 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.

Over 140 potential teams from more than 15 countries submitted proposals, representing the top engineering, architecture, design, landscape architecture and planning firms as well as research institutes and universities worldwide. Thanks to the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation and JPB Foundation, as well as the New Jersey Recovery Fund and the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, ten Design Teams will participate in an intense eight-month process broken into two distinct stages: analysis and design.

“The ten teams we selected stood out because of the talent they bring to the table, their pioneering ideas and their commitment to innovating with a purpose and competing not just to design but to build something,” said Secretary Donovan.

“The projects that come out of this competition will save lives and protect communities in this region and – as the Task Force will emphasise in the Rebuilding Strategy to be released in the coming weeks – serve as models as we prepare communities across the country for the impacts of a changing climate.”

“As cities around the world face increasing shocks and stresses, it is more critical than ever that we find ways to integrate resilient design into our urban future,” said Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation. “The Rebuild by Design competition is an innovative model, bringing together some of the greatest minds around the world to improve how our cities manage, cope with and bounce back stronger from disasters. I am confident that the ten extraordinary teams chosen will create innovative and replicable projects that will strengthen our cities and help them thrive in the face of climate change.”

“Hurricane Sandy brought to the fore difficult and challenging questions for the metropolitan area,” said Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association. “The Rebuild by Design competition is an important and innovative process to bring design professionals and the affected communities together to deliver the best answers.”

David van der Leer, Executive Director of Van Alen Institute, said, “By bringing together local communities with world-class, interdisciplinary design teams, we aim to produce extraordinarily innovative projects that highlight next generation perspectives and trends that will catalyse regional approaches to resilience for the United States and beyond.”

Eric Klinenberg, Research Director for Rebuild by Design’s Research Stage and Director of NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, said, “Rebuild By Design is an unprecedented opportunity to think deeply about the great challenges for cities as the climate changes, and to act boldly, too. We look forward to learning from communities and working collaboratively with the Design Teams as we spend the next several months bringing positive action throughout the region.”

“MAS heralds the leadership of the Hurricane Sandy Task Force, and its philanthropy partners, in challenging the world’s best planners and designers to work with communities and develop innovative approaches ” said Vin Cipolla, President, Municipal Art Society of New York. “Our priority is to strengthen the capacity of local communities across the city and region to build their environmental, economic, social and cultural resilience. RBD brings tremendous resources and expertise into the city and region.”

The selection of the teams marks the beginning of the second of four phases of the design competition, which will ultimately result in resilience projects that will be built or implemented in communities in the Sandy-impacted region:

Stage Two: Analysis

Starting today, the Design Teams will begin a three-month research and analysis process, facilitated by New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). IPK, known for bridging the gap between serious scholarship and practical action, will present the outcome of Stage Two in a detailed report cataloguing the Design Teams’ research reports and synthesizing their findings into one resource kit for local communities throughout the region.

Stage Three: Design

Building off the comprehensive analysis of the region’s vulnerabilities and existing initiatives developed during Stage Two, each Design Team will then work on one site-specific design proposal. Design Teams will partner with a local or state government entity to identify specific sites and projects that will improve the resilience of communities. During this stage, the Regional Plan Association, Municipal Art Society of New York and Van Alen Institute will collaboratively facilitate this design process for the teams to develop implementable solutions for the opportunities they identified in Stage Two.

Stage Four: Implementation

The projects that come out of this innovative process will be evaluated by the Rebuild by Design jury – made up of world-renowned experts in hazard mitigation, resilience, public health, landscape architecture, urbanism, real estate, design, and other fields – to ensure that winning projects are implementable and have the maximum impact on the region’s resilience.

Background on Design Teams:

1. Interboro Partners with the New Jersey Institute of Technology Infrastructure Planning Program; TU Delft; Project Projects; RFA Investments; IMG Rebel; Center for Urban Pedagogy; David Rusk; Apex; Deltares; Bosch Slabbers; H+N+S; and Palmbout Urban Landscapes.
2. PennDesign/OLIN with PennPraxis, Buro Happold, HR&A Advisors, and E-Design Dynamics
3. WXY architecture + urban design / West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture with ARCADIS Engineering and the Stevens Institute of Technology, Rutgers University; Maxine Griffith; Parsons the New School for Design; Duke University; BJH Advisors; and Mary Edna Fraser.
4. Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Royal Haskoning DHV; Balmori Associaties; R/GA; and HR&A Advisors.
5. HR&A Advisors with Cooper, Robertson, & Partners; Grimshaw; Langan Engineering; W Architecture; Hargreaves Associates; Alamo Architects; Urban Green Council; Ironstate Development; Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation; New City America.
6. SCAPE with Parsons Brinckerhoff; SeARC Ecological Consulting; Ocean and Coastal Consultants; The New York Harbor School; Phil Orton/Stevens Institute; Paul Greenberg; LOT-EK; and MTWTF.
7. MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism and the Dutch Delta Collective by ZUS; with De Urbanisten; Deltares; 75B; and Volker Infra Design.
8. Sasaki Associates with Rutgers University and ARUP.
9. Bjarke Ingels Group with One Architecture; Starr Whitehouse; James Lima Planning & Development; Green Shield Ecology; Buro Happold; AEA Consulting; and Project Projects.
10. Unabridged Architecture with Mississippi State University; Waggoner and Ball Architects; Gulf Coast Community Design; and the Center for Urban Pedagogy.

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Sandy-affected communities appeared first on Dezeen.

Portuguese architect João Mendes Ribeiro clad this swimming pool pavilion with mirrored panels so it disappears into the surrounding orchard (+ slideshow).

João Mendes Ribeiro added the pool and pavilion in the grounds of a countryside property in central Portugal without disturbing the garden too much.

“The swimming pool was settled in a way that would allow to avoid changes on the terrain morphology and not to interfere with the existing vegetation, keeping the orchard’s character almost untouched and favouring the landscape scenic atmosphere,” said the architect.

Polished stainless steel sheets cover the small building at one end of the pool, which houses a pantry, toilet, shower and small storage room arranged in a row.

These mirrors reflect the landscape around the pool so from some angles the building is camouflaged amongst the trees.

The small rooms within the structure are entered through panels that swing open on both sides of the building. Its thin roof overhangs to provide poolside shade.

The pool sits to one side of a granite platform that’s level with the ground at the pavilion end but is accessed by stairs at the other to compensate for the gently sloping site.

A single set of steps leads into the water from a corner by the pavilion.

João Mendes Ribeiro has also converted the former house of a Portuguese poet into a writer’s retreat. Our latest story from Portugal is a collection of farm buildings revamped into a minimal family home.

We recently featured aerial photos that reveal the angular geometries of a rooftop swimming pool in Bangkok and have previously posted a plunge pool at a Stockholm house that looks like an aquarium.

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Here’s some text from the architect:

Swimming Pool in Chamusca da Beira

The swimming pool in Chamusca da Beira is located in a rural property whose landscape is characterised by the presence of large and small scale trees, in an orchard area with ornamental and fruit trees.

The swimming pool was settled in a way that would allow to avoid changes on the terrain morphology and not to interfere with the existing vegetation, keeping the orchard’s character almost untouched and favouring the landscape scenic atmosphere.

The swimming pool is surrounded by a granite stone platform where, in one of its extremities, relies the volume containing the swimming pool dependencies (one pantry, one toilet, one shower and a small storage room). This volume is coated with polished stainless steel sheets that, by being highly reflective, allow the camouflage of the volume on its surroundings, dematerialising its presence and visually extending the landscape.

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by João Mendes Ribeiro appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a Chinese businessman who built a house covered by an artificial mountain on top of a 26-storey apartment block in Beijing has been told to remove it or face having it demolished.

Local media sources including South China Morning Post have reported that the man spent six years creating the structure using fake rocks but real trees and grass.

The artificial landscape covers the entire 1000-square-metre roof of the tower, but local urban management officials have told the owner the structure is illegal and issued him with an ultimatum to prove it was built with proper government permission or dismantle it within 15 days.

Residents of the high-end Park View apartment block in the city’s Haidan district have complained that the two-storey house could cause structural damage to the building and have been regularly disturbed by noise from heavy machinery on the roof.

The villa’s owner is reported to be a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, who is quoted as saying: “Since I dare to live here, I am not worried about complaints.” If the structure is not removed or its legality is not proven it could be forcibly demolished.

Last year, a five-storey house in the middle of a Chinese motorway was eventually demolished, while work recently began on a hotel built into the face of a water-filled quarry near Shanghai.

See all our stories about China »

Photography is by Xinghua/ChinaDaily.

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on top of Chinese tower appeared first on Dezeen.

Since publishing a residential extension in Italy by architects Plasma Studio earlier this month, we’ve picked another faceted house from the studio’s archives located in the same South Tyrollean village.

Plasma Studio designed the Cube House on a steep site between two existing properties in the village of Sesto, high in the Dolomite mountains.

Triangular sections of the facade jut out to meet the slope, fusing the building with the site.

Main access to the house is past two parking spaces on the lower level dug into the hillside.

The staircase dog-legs up through the centre of the house, surrounded by the living, dining and kitchen area on the first floor. Bedrooms occupy the top storey.

Generous south and east-facing balconies and terraces double the amount of useable floor space. “We opened the facade as much as possible in order to widen up the tight interior,” said the architects.

The house is wrapped in slanted wooden slats, which help to screen balconies and terraces from the main road while still offering views to the mountains through angled openings.

Facing the hill behind, the back corner of the property is rendered white like the surrounding buildings and punctured with small rectangular windows.

Plasma Studio have designed another project in the area – a hotel clad with similar angled wood panels just down the valley.

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Photography is by Cristobal Palma.

Here’s the project description from Plasma Studio:

The major constraints of this project, its steep site, compressed between existing buildings and very limited allowance of development volume have shaped the form of this house.

It is inserted into the earth with two covered parking spaces to the front from where a small stair case leads up to the main living zones in the first floor and further to the bedrooms in the second floor.

Compact circulation

Because of the limited available floor area the staircase and circulation had to be designed in a very space-saving way – this lead to the continuous organisation in the first floor: the single functions cooking, eating and living are positioned around the circulation core in order to give connectivity and privacy at the same time to the single activities.

The staircase and built-in furniture piece, which is storage, oven and service cavity at the same time, divides and connects as a short cut at the same time. On the second floor the single sleeping rooms are connected to each other in the shortest possible way.

View and shelter

Given prominent location of the site directed towards the south and the Dolomites we opened the facade as much as possible in order to widen up the tight interiors – on both main floors ample balconies and terraces double the available floor area and offer great places to play for the kids and rest for the parents.

In order to provide shelter from the views of the passing by road a layer of wooden sticks was wrapped around the big openings directed to the south – depending on the varying size of the openings they provide different degrees of shelter and intimacy.

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Plasma Studio appeared first on Dezeen.