Cirbaots by Nick Ervinck

Belgian artist Nick Ervinck has masked the unattractive rear facade of a building in Ghent by constructing a gigantic yellow blob with a bar inside (+ slideshow).

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Named Cirbaots, the huge sculpture is attached to the rear of Zebrastraat, a mixed-use building that houses art galleries, apartments, and a hotel and lounge. New apartments constructed recently behind the building had revealed windowless facades never intended to be seen, so Nick Ervinck was asked to place a large sculpture in front.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

“For me it was really challenging to do something at that scale,” he told Dezeen. “The idea was to put a bar inside the sculpture, so it was almost like hiding one sculpture underneath another.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Describing how he came up with the idea for the blob-like form, Ervinck explained: “I started with the idea of water, then came more to the idea of fabric, of a cloth or a veil.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

The bright yellow form folds around the new bar – set to be fitted out by designer Peter Vermeersch – and its colour matches an earlier installation created by the artist on another side of the building.

The structure was assembled from seven parts that were manufactured offsite and then hoisted into place. “We had to close one of the most important streets in the city for two days,” revealed Ervinck.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

The main body is made from polyurethane foam, which was sculpted by hand based on a computer-generated design. The exterior was then built up with a layer of fibreglass and painted polyester.

“It still fells like one really big veil,” said Ervinck, reflecting on the completed form. “On one hand it’s very much a sculpture, but on the other it’s completely figurative, like a huge piece of fabric that’s glowing.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Other installations to feature on Dezeen recently include an arched screen with hundreds of building-shaped holes and a melting brick wall. See more art and design installations »

Here’s some more information from the designer:


CIRBAOTS

With this monumental project for Zebrastraat in Ghent, Ervinck bundles some current topics and personal interests: the architectural discourse between blobs and boxes, the art historical motif of the veil and the social and political tension between public and private, and outside and inside. This monumental sculpture should be a meeting point that bridges the separation between public and private, and between inside and outside. Moreover, it elevates the “rear” of the building or neighbourhood to a visual attraction.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Blobs and boxes

This monumental sculpture is so to speak grafted on the building and illustrates the contrast between the conventional models of the architecture (box) and the virtual design (blob). It is a contrast between rigid and organic forms and between physical and virtual. While most architects favour only one single of these schools in design, Ervinck choose with this design resolutely for a third way: the synthesis of both. Inspired by architects like Will Alsop and Greg Lynn, Ervinck explored the potential of digital design methods for the sculpture. For Zebrastraat he designed an organic form that seems to loosen the cube, but at the same time can not exist without the latter. This tension between the solidity of the base on the one hand, and the sculpture coming to life on the other, was already treated by Ovid (the sculptor Pygmalion creates Galathea from a cut stone) and in the 17th century, beautifully visualised by Bernini (Daphne’s legs are half part of the base and half free). In the work of Nick the blob and the box form as it were two identities that attack, embrace and reject each other and merge together. This monumental work is not only a study of the media sculpture, it also challenges its existence conditions (mass, dimension, matter and gravity) in a radical way.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Veil

Covering with fabric or a veil is an art historical theme with a long tradition. Pliny associated the curtain with illusionism and interactivity: he described how he fooled the artist Parrhasius Zeuxis by asking him to slide a painted curtain. The contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto worked further on this tradition with his work ‘Green Curtain’ (1962-1965). The artwork for Zebrastraat is also about such illusion: using digital design and mathematical formulas the illusion of a fabric is created. This substance seems loosely draped over the underlying matter. It invites so to speak the viewer to lift the veil and to see what lies hidden beneath it. Associated to this are questions about the role of art in society and the imperative of participation and engagement of the viewer relative to the artwork. This artwork also refers to the Belgian identity which is intertwined with surrealism.

The German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach accented the nakedness of his figures by a transparent veil. The veil is a very ambivalent pattern: firstly it hides the information, but at the same time it also emphasises what is hidden under the cloth. The sculpted fabric stands for transformation: it conceals and reveals the matter. This art work for Zebrastraat is finally a monumental poetic ode to the volume and shape: the fundamentals of sculpture.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Public and Private

Because this work responds to the social specificity of the real estate project in Zebrastraat, it has, besides its artistic relevance, also a profound social significance.

First Ervinck plays with the concept of ‘rear’. These facades were originally not intended to be seen from the street. Now the land was bought, these facades play a new role in the streetscape. Ervinck wants to upgrade the – often unappreciated – rear of the building, and even attribute it a public function. With this work he also thinks about how art can be integrated into society.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

By “covering” part of the facade with a veil, Ervinck reflects secondly on the processes of spatial appropriation. Its imposing structure reflects an increasingly problematic division between public and private, and a privatisation process that since the 15th century has become increasingly compelling. Claiming common property in order to transform it into a profitable product is today common practise in all segments of society. The protection of certain areas (think of Fortress Europe) – and the related division between “us” and “them” – is surmounted by a political act. This separation is always characterised by a tension between protection and confinement. Ervinck does not want to draw a radical line between inside and outside. He would rather create a meeting point, which will functionally be realised by the installation of a bar at the bottom of the sculpture. Just as the world has not gone away, when you close your eyes, the architecture does not disappear when it is shielded. It has been transformed and is part of the common area.

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Nick Ervinck
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An Architectural Makeover Down Under

This winning bid for the redevelopment of Melbourne’s historic Flinders Street Station transforms the landmark into a modern 21st century transport hub while retaining its best known heritage features & buildings to reflect the spirit of the original design. The new social hub on the banks of the Yarra River will include a public plaza, amphitheater, marketplace, & permanent home for arts & cultural festivals, as well as a public art gallery that pays tribute to the indigenous life & culture to whom the area was significant.

The weatherproof, articulated filigree vaulted roof-scape is a respectful yet dynamic interpretation and contextual response to the history, function and location of this very special place in the heart of Melbourne.

Designer: HASSELL + Herzog & de Meuron


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(An Architectural Makeover Down Under was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

A garden snakes between the cedar-clad walls of this house in Osaka by Japanese architects Arbol Design (+ slideshow).

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Arbol Design chose to enclose the garden within the high walls that surround the property to keep the spaces out of view from tall apartment buildings close by.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

“There was concern about overlooking from the park and the apartments nearby, plus views within the site to the buildings outside,” said the architects. “We solved it by encircling the entire house with a wall.”

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Designed for a retired couple, the single-storey wooden home stands out from the rendered concrete multi-storey apartment blocks in the Nishimikuni district of central Osaka.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The gravel garden planted with small trees winds around the bedroom at the front of the property, passes the dining room and tatami area then ends beside the bathroom at the back.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Its path is broken by a small portion of corridor in the centre of the plot that connects the front section of the house to the rear. Large windows along the route flood the rooms with natural light and allow the foliage to be appreciated without venturing outside.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The perimeter wall blocks all views of the neighbourhood so only the sky is visible from inside, though thin vertical slits allow glimpses beyond.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The same cedar cladding used externally also covers the floor, while other indoor finishes are kept neutral. Entry to the home is through an inconspicuous door off the side of the partly covered front driveway.

We’ve posted a couple of Japanese houses already this week. One features a staircase that folds around a double-height bookcase and another includes playground swings that can be hung inside or out.

See more Japanese houses »
See more architecture and design in Osaka »

Keep reading for more information from the designers:


House in Nishimikuni

What are one-storied houses like in the centre of cities? The surroundings and privacy matter, or how to use the outer space of the house. We pursued simplicity and richness the most.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

By decreasing the number of the rooms as much as possible, we made it possible to use rich materials in the spaces. Furthermore, take away unnecessary stories and let in the natural sunshine instead.

This house is designed for a retired couple, proposing a new style of one-storied house located in the centre of Osaka city.

There was concern about overlooking from the park and the apartments nearby, plus views within the site to the buildings outside. We solved it by encircling the entire house with a wall.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

You could see a beautiful colour contrast in green from planting within the site and in blue from the sky. We created a S-shaped garden across the house so you could enjoy it anywhere, and it is as if you were in the forest watching a river running!

This one-storey house surrounded with lined-up condominiums has created a new concept of richness, in the concept of not needing to be chained to thoughts about how large the ground space is, or how convenient it is.

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by Arbol Design
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Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

UK studio Designscape Architects has completed two buildings for artist Damien Hirst. One is an art production studio that appears to change colour from blue to green and the other is a glazed brick building designed for using toxic chemicals (+ slideshow).

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio

The two buildings are located near Damien Hirst‘s existing studio in Stroud, Gloucestershire. The Science Studio provides the British artist with a generous workspace, high-security art store and private gallery for showing work to clients, while the Formaldehyde Building provides a controlled environment for working with chemicals, particularly the preservative previously used by the artist to create sculptures from dead animals.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building

Diffused internal lighting was an important requirement for the Science Studio, so Designscape designed a windowless building that brings in daylight through rooftop glazing.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Without windows, the aluminium-clad exterior walls presented a blank canvas, so the architects added stripes of graphic tape to create flashes of blue and green on the edges of each raised seam.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

“The aim was to produce a wall that was intriguingly blue from one direction and green from the other,” they explained. “If you stand halfway down the elevation, you are not quite sure whether the building is blue or green.”

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Nine-metre walls give high ceilings to rooms inside the studio, while the gallery is housed in an adjoining 18-metre-high block that is clad with dark grey panels. Interior walls are lined with plywood and plasterboard, providing a strong surface for hanging artwork.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

The neighbouring Formaldehyde Building was designed to fit the shape of its site, with one extremely pointy corner.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Glazed white brickwork gives a clean surface to the exterior walls, screening an internal layer of concrete blocks.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Louvred openings in the walls ensure a constant stream of natural ventilation, creating a safe environment for working with poisonous chemicals.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Designscape Architects is a Bath studio led by architects Chris Mackenzie and Spencer Back. Past projects include an extension to an English country house that reverses the building’s orientation.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Other studios designed for prolific artists include a galvanised steel workshop for Antony Gormley and a studio for Vivienne Westwood in London. See more art studios on Dezeen »

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Here’s some more detailed information about the construction of each building:


Science Studio

Science Studios is the largest art production studio in the world, incorporating a high security art store and private gallery for showing art to clients.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Site plan – click for larger image

The studios and art stores have stringent requirements for diffused daylight, as well as privacy and security, so all the daylight is provided from the roof except in the staff amenity areas. This results in very big elevations with very few openings – 70 m long and 9 m high without interruption. The walls are clad in 200 mm thick mineral fibre filled composite metal panels which provide an airtight, fireproof, highly insulated and secure external envelope. Inside these walls there is a high density blockwork wall clad in ply and plasterboard to provide a high-strength hanging wall for artwork, as well as providing a services zone, additional security and additional thermal mass.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio ground floor plan – click for larger image

The idea of the standing seams, with blue on one side of the seam and green on the other the Client’s brand colours was to make the most of this unusual opportunity with a very big, uninterrupted façade. The aim was to produce a wall which was intriguingly blue from one direction and green from the other. If you stand half way down the elevation, you are not quite sure whether the building is blue or green.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio first floor plan – click for larger image

The snap-on overcladding, which protects and extends the life of the mineral fibre panels is made of pre painted hard tempered aluminium. The metal came to site as a coil, and the building was used as a production factory to decoil and form the cladding into trays. Then the colour was applied to the preformed standing seams with a specialist graphic tape (made by 3m).This is a technique very much like a traditional standing seam system, but the seams are preformed and then snap together so no tools are required to close up the seam. This technique is rarely if ever used in the UK, but is more common in the US, but was used in this case because it allowed the application of the coloured tape on the sides of the seams without the risk of damaging the tape during installation.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio roof plan – click for larger image

Once formed and coloured, the panels were carried outside manually and hoisted up (they are extremely light and easily handled by 2 people) and then snapped into place on the façade. Setting out and detailing had to be meticulously planned in order to ensure that there were no unfortunate alignment problems at the openings, and the all the details were first trialled on a sample panel which was essential in order to iron out some issues which would otherwise have ruined the simplicity of the façade.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio long section – click for larger image

The gallery is 18m high by 70m long, and is expressed as a separate volume and clad in a dark metallic grey Kingspan micro ribbed panel. These panels were made especially long by Kingspan – they exceeded the normal maximum length by several metres, but because they are made in a linear production line, all that was required was to cut them longer than the normal limit, and then arrange special transport to get them to site. The setting out and installation of these again had to be thought through meticulously, so that the cumulative installation tolerances could be accommodated and the cladding module would coincide neatly at the openings without cutting panels. Corners were designed to take out any final tolerances, with the corner panels being mitred along their full length and then fixed using a @damage and fillA technique making a countersunk hole in the cladding using a ball hammer, installing the fixings, and then repairing the panel with an epoxy filler and overspraying the damaged panels. The resulting finished fixing is invisible, but does require exceptional workmanship to get it right. Finally, the mitred corners were covered by a small 100 x 100 mm angle bonded in place and the coping was made to a matching dimension.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio cross section – click for larger image

Formaldehyde Building

The building houses a specialist studio facility which uses various chemicals and is therefore fitted out with specialist finishes and services which enable a safe working environment and safe ventilation. The chemicals being used react with and corrode many commonly used building materials, so the choice of glazed brickwork provided a solution that is naturally resistant to the chemicals, but also expresses the use of the building through the choice of external finishes. The client demanded a high quality of finish and detail, and the form of the building – which was dictated by the shape of the site, combined with the other requirements to produce a number of challenges.

The end result is a very high quality and durable building envelope, with all the openings covered in louvre clad doors to produce a fine – grained monolithic, wedge of a singular material.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building ground floor plan – click for larger image

The building is constructed as a steel frame with an internal leaf of concrete blockwork, bracing the frame and providing the inner leaf of a cavity. The brickwork is therefore a ½ brick thick outer leaf of a cavity wall.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building roof plan – click for larger image

The choice of glazed brickwork and the requirement for a high quality finish led the designers to decide that a standard 10mm brick joint would not be acceptable, and so a 4mm joint was adopted in order to produce the aesthetic quality the client was looking for. This raised a number of challenges:

» Putting wall ties into a 4 mm joint – The solution was to make every brick as a “pistol”, so that the actual brick bed joint was in fact 12 mm, with only the visible face of the brickwork having a 4mm joint for pointing up. This thick bed joint also assisted with the control of thermal movement.

» Avoidance of movement joints in the brickwork – there are only two vertical movement joints in the building façade, and these are disguised by a full height louvred panel. The mortar and the pointing up mix were designed by a specialist engineer and are soft, flexible lime mortar mixes, allowing sufficient movement to avoid thermal expansion cracking.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building section – click for larger image

Coordinating brickwork with 4mm joints sizes around openings. As the perpendicular joints are changed from 10 mm to 4 mm it means that, with a whole number of bricks dictating an opening width, then the bricks at the opening jambs will no longer be exactly a ½ brick – one side of the opening will be 6mm more than a ½ brick, and the other will be 6mm less than a ½ brick.

The solutions to the issues outlined above involved the manufacture of a large number of brick specials. The specials used included the pointed end of the building, copings made into precast units, glazed headers for corners and jambs, (not exact ½ brick sizes) slips for cladding lintels, brick slips for cladding a door, and all the “standard” stretcher bricks were cut as pistols. The Design Team worked closely with Ibstock to develop the details and the range and quantity of brick specials.

The nature of this facework is very unforgiving and required unusually tight manufacturing tolerances (dimensions and colour) and meticulously accurate setting out and gauging, using 4mm tile spacers and specially design stainless steel gauging rods to maintain an accurate face dimension of the brickwork in order to achieve the end result.

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for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
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House S Architecture

Le studio Atelier Heiss Architects a réadapté cette maison à Vienne en gardant la façade d’origine mais en créant en parallèle un intérieur et un jardin résolument moderne, amplifiant ainsi le contraste entre les deux types d’architecture. Un très beau projet de rénovation à découvrir en images dans la suite.

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L.A.’s Petersen Automotive Museum Reveals ‘Early Sketch’ for Exterior Redesign


(Courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum)

The Pedersen Art Museum made headlines recently for what the Los Angeles Times characterized as a plan to sell off “a third of its 400 classic cars” to finance a major renovation and “put more emphasis on motorcycles and French vehicles…passions that match the tastes of the museum’s new leadership.” That leadership was not amused and has fired back with a statement intended to set the record straight.

“The collection has now reached over 400 pieces. Not only are we unable to showcase all of the vehicles, but maintaining and keeping that many cars in running order is virtually impossible,” wrote museum board chairman Peter Mullin and co-vice-chairman Bruce Meyer in an open letter posted to the museum’s website. “We are culling the collection for the first time in nearly 20 years, selling cars that can easily be procured on loan or vehicles that were never intended for exhibition.” The only vehicles that are being sold, according to Mullin and Meyer, are those “that we have in multiples or are not in show-worthy condition.”
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell triumph in Melbourne station competition

News: a team comprising Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Australian firm Hassell has won the high-profile competition to redesign Melbourne’s iconic railway station at Flinders Street.

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell

Seeing off competition from architects including Zaha Hadid and Grimshaw, Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell‘s proposals were selected by a panel of architects and experts as the preferred option for the overhaul of the nineteenth-century Flinders Street Station and its surrounding spaces, including the restoration of the iconic dome and clock tower.

The winning design includes the construction of a new barrel-vaulted roof structure that envelops the station and brings dappled light and ventilation onto both new and improved station concourses. The architects also plan to add a new public art gallery dedicated to oceanic and contemporary art, a public plaza, a marketplace, an amphitheatre and a permanent home for some of the city’s cultural festival organisations.

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell

Existing taxi ranks would be located to a more suitable location on Flinders Street, while the existing tram stop would be redesigned and a new cycle route would be inserted beneath the station in an old concourse, connecting with existing routes along the Yarra River.

“Our proposal respects the heritage, improves all aspects of the transport hub, and underscores its central civic nature with new cultural and public functions for all residents and visitors to Melbourne,” says the design team on the competition website.

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell

The judges praised the scheme for its “beautiful and compelling integration of aspects of the original station design” and supported the decision to keep the height down on the east side, but increase it to the west.

“The extended vaulted forms provide a distinctive branding for the city, their eastern elevation to Swanston Street imaginatively recalls the intended – but not executed – proposition by Fawcett and Ashworth [the architects of the existing station building] of a family of variously scaled vaults,” they said. “At the same time, however, the language is clearly contemporary, underlined by the fact that the new line-up of vaults is bracketed by the pair of historic Flinders Street Station buildings facing the Swanston Street concourse.”

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell

They continued:” The main train hall offers a celebratory experience of rail travel; its light-weight structure promises a filigree of ever-changing dappled light while providing ventilation, shelter and way-finding. The vaulted form will appeal to the universal collective memory of the great station terminuses of the past”.

The architects are awarded a $500,000 (£300,000) prize and the Victorian Government has two years to decide whether to proceed with the scheme.

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell

The same team was not the winner of the public vote, as proposals by Colombian architects Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina topped the poll on the competition website.

Their designs called for the addition of a public garden over the roof of the station, with glazed domes over the tops of platforms. See images of this project and the other shortlisted entries »

Flinders Street Station by Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell
Proposed site plan – click for larger image

Herzog & de Meuron also recently won a competition to design a a visual culture museum in Hong Kong’s new West Kowloon Cultural District. See more architecture by Herzog & de Meuron »

Another recent design competition asked architects to consider the future of Grand Central Station in New York. See proposals by SOM, Foster + Partners and WXY Architecture »

Here’s a summary of the scheme from the competition website:


Flinders Street Station Design Competition Winner

Overall Design Merit

Decades after the people of Melbourne first talked about “meeting under the clocks” at Flinders Street Station, the HASSELL + Herzog and de Meuron proposal updates it for the 21st Century, turning it from a place to hurry through to a destination.

The overall design merit of the proposal can be seen in a new, major public art gallery, public plaza, amphitheatre, marketplace, and a permanent home for arts and cultural festival organisations. But we have also delivered the glory of the first 19th Century design for Flinders Street Station.

Transport Function

Transport function is greatly improved, with new or improved concourses making it easier to get in and out. New weather-proof vaulted roofs flood the platforms with dappled, natural light and ventilation. Taxi ranks are relocated to Flinders Street and the tram stop between the station and Federation Square redesigned to improve the connection across St Kilda Road. A bike path under the station through the old western concourse links cycle ways on the river and Elizabeth Street.

Cultural Heritage and Iconic Status

The cultural heritage and iconic status of the station is protected, with the built fabric that most people are familiar with – the Flinders Street building and corner entrance pavilion – are both retained, and paintwork returned to the original colours.

The vaulted roofs that greatly improve the passenger experience are inspired by features of the original design that were never realised. The new elements, particularly the Oceanic and Contemporary Art Gallery, enhance the station’s iconic status.

Urban Design and Precinct Integration

Good urban design and precinct integration breathe new life into the city, stitching it together. The restored station and the new art gallery fill the missing link between the cultural precinct encompassing St Kilda Road and Federation Square with the old Customs House and the Immigration Museum on Flinders Street.

The station itself is better integrated with the city, the river and Federation Square. Distinctive and memorable architecture sits with significant civic space and high quality public amenity.

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in Melbourne station competition
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House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

From the outside this house in Nagoya by Japanese architect Tetsuo Kondo looks like a pile of overlapping boxes, but inside it opens up to form one big bright space (+ slideshow).

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

As the home to family of four, House in Chayagasaka was planned by Tetsuo Kondo as a single space so that residents can always see what’s going on elsewhere in the house.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

“As both of the parents work, they wanted to have as many common areas as possible, in order to spend more time together as a family,” said Kondo. “So I decided to build a one-room house, with a lot of subtle balance between connected and separated areas.”

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

The main body of the two-storey building comprises six cuboidal volumes, with small gardens and balconies squeezed into the spaces between.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

A white metal staircase winds up through the centre of house, beginning as a rectilinear form but soon adopting a curved shape.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

This staircase leads up from a central living area to two children’s bedrooms and a bathroom, each set at a different level. Two final steps ascend to a terrace in the far corner of the building.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

“When making a house for a young family with children that will soon grow up, and the developing area around the house will change fast, it seems to make sense to design a house with very open architecture,” added Kondo.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

Glazed screens surround the two small gardens that puncture the volume of the house at ground floor level. One is positioned alongside a dining room at the rear, while the other pushes into the space of the living room.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

The floor steps down at the front of the house, defining the boundary of the master bedroom.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

Tetsuo Kondo founded his studio in 2006 and previously designed a house where every room leads through to a little garden. Other projects by the architect include a walkway that winds its way around tree trunks and a mirror that becomes cloudy when viewed from the side.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

See more design by Tetsuo Kondo »
See more houses in Japan »

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

Photography is by Iwan Baan, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from Tetsuo Kondo Architects:


House in Chayagasaka

This is a private residential house for a family of four in Nagoya – a young couple and their two small children. The site is located close to a new metro station, in an area that is developing rapidly. As both of the parents work, they wanted to have as many common areas as possible, in order to spend more time together as a family. So I decided to build a one-room house, with a lot of subtle balance between connected and separated areas.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

In this project, I tried to achieve architecture that welcomes a large variety of things, in a state where all the parts are mutually interrelated. This architecture is not one dominated by a strong system or built in a well-ordered manner, but rather one that incorporates various meanings and it seems difficult to understand why it was made that way. When making a house for a young family with children that will soon grow up, and the developing area around the house will change fast, it seems to make sense to design a house with very open architecture, one with balance that can accept diversity.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

I designed a strange shaped one-room house by placing ordinary room-size boxes of variable shapes. I tried to deal at the same time with components which might normally not be directly related, such as widths, heights, structures, brightness, functions, shape, circulations, terrace, etc. The relationships between these things are very complex, and if one part would be changed, it would influence the whole building. However, from the perspective of a whole, it can be absorbed.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Ground floor plan – click for larger image

I think this type of architecture can achieve a new kind of residential comfort, by mixing various things including the present and the future course of life, as well as the history and culture of the location.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
First floor plan – click for larger image

It manages to maintain the diversity of a certain state of equilibrium with order. The order should not constrain the system, but it should rather loosely define its relationship. I aimed to create an architecture in such a soft order.

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Illustrative section

Location: Aichi, Japan
Program: Private house
Completion Period: September 2012
Total Floor Area : 89.55 sqm
Site Area: 97.58 sqm
Architect: Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Structural Engineer: Konishi Structural Engineers

House in Chayagasaka by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Diagrammatic sections – click for larger image

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Tetsuo Kondo Architects
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Emerald Art Glass House by Fisher Architecture

American architect Eric Fisher claims to have built the world’s largest residential cantilever with this house in Pittsburgh that protrudes by 16 metres to hover over the roof of a glass factory (+ slideshow).

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

Designed to house the owners of the factory, the Corten steel-clad Emerald Glass House was completed by Fisher Architecture in 2011, but the studio recently submitted it for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

The impressive cantilever forms the uppermost floor of the four-storey residence, which is set into a hillside to the south of the city. “It floats above the owner’s glass manufacturing facility like a foreman’s shack,” said Fisher.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher

The architect used Corten steel, mesh and exposed steel columns to create an industrial aesthetic, then added large areas of glazing to recognise the trade of the house’s residents.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher

This includes a fully glazed facade, designed as a beacon for visitors to the factory. Behind the facade, a living room occupies the whole cantilevered space, allowing the structure to function as a giant viewfinder.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher

Glass also surrounds the interior surfaces of the house’s concrete block core and was used for staircase balustrades and a breakfast counter in the kitchen.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

Other cantilevered houses we’ve featured on Dezeen include a Seattle house with a twisted top floor and a house that extends over a river in Wales.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

See more cantilevered buildings »
See more American houses on Dezeen »

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

Photography is by the architect, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher

Here’s a project description from Eric Fisher:


Emerald Art Glass House

The Emerald Art Glass House is a site-sensitive, cantilevered home for the owners of a glass company. This is contextual design: Located on Pittsburgh’s South Side slopes, it floats above the owner’s glass manufacturing facility like a foreman’s shack.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

The home’s industrial forms and Corten steel siding relate to the factory below while a living roof connects the house visually to the verdant slopes beyond. In a building this public, it’s possible to make larger references: Pittsburgh’s neighbourhoods are cut off from one another both geographically and culturally. The new horizontally massed house and the US Steel tower, Pittsburgh’s tallest building, are Corten steel peers. Together, they establish a small but meaningful new dialogue between the residential slopes and the commercial city centre.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

Glass products are featured throughout, celebrating the owner’s craft: A radical, north-facing, butted, “Greenheat” radiant-heated glass facade functions from outside as a sign for the glass factory and from inside as a view catcher. A unique, glass rain-screen system clads a concrete block core. Inside the core, a glass stairway winds its way from the ground floor to the kitchen.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

And it’s green: 21st century architects must learn to recycle space in the same way we recycle our garbage – finding value in waste. Here, we are putting to use the unused space above the owner’s warehouse in this dense urban neighbourhood. Recycled materials are used throughout. As well, geothermal well-generated forced air complements the radiant heated floors and glass.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Photograph by Eric Roth

Extending three times farther than nearby Falling Water, the Emerald Art Glass House may be the world’s longest residential cantilever. As Jean Paul Sartre once wrote, ‘The human body always extends across the tool that it utilises: it is at the end of the telescope, which shows me the stars; it is my adaptation to those tools. When a structure cantilevers in a daring way, we imagine ourselves leaning out over the space below, which explains why it moves us. This is the thing with feathers, an object that disrupts daily life just enough to make one believe that there is maybe more to life than the humdrum.

Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Long section north to south
Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Cross section west to east
Emerald Art Glass by Eric Fisher
Detailed long section south to north – click for larger image

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Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

This kindergarten in Gandia, eastern Spain, has a cloud-shaped courtyard that encloses six mulberry trees  (+ slideshow).

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

The entrance to the single-storey Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa leads straight through to the central courtyard, which features an open-air theatre and sand pit, and is surrounded by classrooms split into two blocks.

The southern block contains a cafeteria, office, baby room, reading room, computer suite and art studio, while to the north-east of the courtyard is a music room, dance studio and indoor theatre.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

Double-height glazing on the internal facing walls offers pupils a view out to the courtyard and brings in natural light, dappled by the maple trees. Most of the classrooms also have doors that lead directly outdoors.

Floors are lined with linoleum and the ceilings are covered with cork to absorb sound.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

The exterior facades and roof are clad in white ceramic tiles. The roof is sloped away from the centre, preventing rain water running into the courtyard.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

In the north-west of the courtyard children can look out toward the nearby Serpis river that runs through the city.

A former water basin has been refurbished for swimming and water games.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

We’ve also featured another project from Paredes Pedrosa: a public library with a layout determined by an ancient archeological excavation.

See more education architecture »
See more architecture by Paredes Pedrosa »

Photographs are by Roland Halbe.

Here’s more information from Paredes Pedrosa:


UPI. Kid University in Gandia
Paredes Pedrosa, arquitectos

The Kid University in Gandia (UPI) is an experimental initiative proposed by the Municipality of Gandía. The UPI is not a conventional kindergarten, but a group of specialised classrooms and workshops located in a natural setting where kids can develop their creativity and have fun beyond a school context.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa

The proposed volume does not alter the Ausias March Park’s layout. Indeed, it respects the position of six existing white mulberry trees, arranging the classrooms around them and shaping a central lobed courtyard. Library, computers, painting, photography, auditorium, theatre and music classrooms are arranged around the mulberry trees.

This courtyard is the core of the Kid University, linking open spaces, covered areas and indoor rooms. Towards the exterior, the building exhibits a sober and continuous facade, serving as a sort of palisade, that avoids building up fences.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa
Plan – click for larger image

White coloured ceramic tiles are the material both for facades and roof. There is continuity in the material that builds up the whole exterior of the building. From the outside, the building intends to be a light, white ceramic fence where the shade of the nearby trees is reflected.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa
Section – click for larger image

Vernacular architecture in this Mediterranean area uses ceramic that does not need any maintenance and adapts naturally to its mild climate. In summer it reflects the strong local light and protects inside from high temperatures.

Elevations – click for larger image

Ceramics are designed as three-dimensional pieces with a can shaped mould that resembles a continuous bamboo fence. The pieces are double faced and the flat side is used for the roof.

In the patio, the facades are built with wooden carpentries painted white, so there is a transparency between inside and outside and all mulberry trees can be seen from the classrooms. In the inside finishing’s is linoleum for pavements and cork for ceilings as sound absorbent material, combined with the concrete structure walls.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa
Diagram – click for larger image

Sustainability is achieved by the own concept of the building. Cost was tight and both structure and construction are finishing’s and conditioning. The interior is shaded from the intense summer sun by the mulberry trees that attenuate solar irradiation and cast scattered shadows to the interior of classrooms. And so artificial light is reduced to the essential.

In winter, mulberry trees have no leaves and sun light enters freely into the classrooms. Once spring has transformed the trees and they are full of leaves they become a natural shade for children.

Kid University by Paredes Pedrosa
Map – click for larger image

In the outside the ceramic continuous walls bear naturally the patina of time and have no maintenance. The only openings are the entrance fence and a large window overlooking the historical centre. The sloped ceramic roof attenuates solar irradiation and conducts water from rain to the patio and to the trees where a central playground has a circular sand pit and a circular bench for telling stories and outdoor music.

A nearby old water basin is refurbished for children swimming and water games.

Project: 2010. Construction: 2010-2011
Location: Parque Ausías March, Gandía. Valencia
Architects: Angela García de Paredes and Ignacio Pedrosa
Project team: Álvaro Oliver, Álvaro Rábano, Lucía Guadalajara, Ángel Camacho, Laura Pacheco
Technical control: Antonio García Blay
Structure: Alfonso G. Gaite. GOGAITE, S.L.
Mechanical engineer: JG S.A.
Location: Ausías March Park, Gandía
Client: Municipality of Gandía
Contractor: Alesa Proyectos y Contratas S.A.
Tiles: Ceràmica Cumella
Floor area: 1075 sqm.
Programme: multiple classrooms and workshops, cafeteria, administration

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Paredes Pedrosa
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