News: architect Frank Gehry has warned that performances at his Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles could be ruined by the noise of a subway line planned nearby.
The new Metro line below the parking garage of the venue, which is one of the architect’s best-known buildings, is expected to open in 2020.
In an acoustic experiment conducted in April, subwoofers simulating the sound of a passing train could be heard in the auditorium.
“The test was several minutes long,” said Fred Vogler, a recording engineer who oversees concert-taping for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “Then they said, ‘Is anybody troubled by the train sounds?’ We said, ‘Well, we heard them, if that’s what you’re asking.’ It set off a lot of concerns.”
Tests of subway noise carried out nearly two years ago by Metro’s noise abatement consultants had led them to predict there would be no audible impact on Disney Hall, but Gehry has now called for this decision to be reviewed.
“The flag is up, and we should go over it and make sure,” he said.
However, Art Leahy, Metro’s chief executive, reassured concerned parties that nothing that might damage the hall would be approved to be built.
“We are not about to do anything which in any fashion, however slightly, impairs or damages … Disney Hall or any other feature in that area,” he said.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall was completed by Gehry in 2003 and designed to be one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls in the world.
Motion graphics designer Al Boardman celebrates five Chicago skyscrapers in this short animation.
Al Boardman is a British designer, but he lives and works in Chicago and wanted to pay homage to the city’s architecture. “Chicago has many truly great buildings. It sits firmly on the map of global architecture and is the birthplace of the skyscraper,” he explains.
The movie presents each tower as a colourful cartoon made from bold blocks of colour and clean geometric lines.
First up are two projects from US firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill: the 442-metre Willis Tower – more commonly known as the Sears Tower and until recently the tallest building in the US – and the 344-metre John Hancock Observatory.
Also featured are the diamond-shaped Crain Communications Building, the corncob-like Marina City towers and Trump Tower, a hotel and apartment block owned by billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump.
Another architectural illustration on Dezeen recently was The ABC of Architects, an animation depicting a famous building for every letter of the alphabet.
An elongated timber prow oversails a solid brick base at this school boathouse in Worcester, England, by British studio Associated Architects (+ slideshow).
The Michael Baker Boathouse replaces an existing building that had served as the The King’s School’s boathouse since the 1950s but was too small to accommodate storage for rowing boats and sculls as well as training facilities, changing rooms and events spaces.
Associated Architects redesigned the building as a two-storey structure with a boat-shaped first floor that cantilevers out towards the adjacent River Severn, while the brickwork ground floor protects the interior from the regular flooding that occurs on the site.
The architects used double-length bricks to emphasise the slender form of the boathouse. The timber-clad upper floor features diagonal lengths of sweet chestnut, which will naturally fade to a silvery-grey, and a glazed bow facing out over the water.
“This and the gently curving plan, following [Worcester’s] historic defensive line, give the building a distinctive modern presence on Riverside Walk,” say the architects.
Interior walls are lined with sheets of birch, alongside more exposed brickwork. A skylight spans the roof to bring daylight into the upper floor.
The layout of the new boathouse also creates a new pedestrian route across the neighbouring memorial gardens.
“The scheme creates a new route to the boathouse through the gardens, which is much more direct, wheelchair friendly, and improves security: the previous boathouse was isolated and accessible only from outside the school grounds,” add the architects.
The Michael Baker Boathouse is the latest of several projects by Associated Architects at The King’s School, which include a new library and a sports hall that is still under construction.
Here’s some more information from Associated Architects:
The King’s School, Worcester Michael Baker Boathouse
Associated Architects’ second ten-year Masterplan for King’s Worcester included rebuilding the Boathouse, which was previously a small and unsightly 1950s building. The site is a focal point in the Masterplan, Conservation Area and in the Worcester City Council/Sustrans Worcester Riverside project. On the line of the old city defences, it is at the edge of the historic city core which has a rich history including Norman and medieval archaeology. The Masterplan proposal to create a striking modern building was welcomed by Worcester City Council planners.
The existing ground floor footprint is increased by 60% to provide storage for all the School’s considerable fleet of rowing boats and sculls. The site is subject to regular flooding, so this floor’s construction internally and externally is robust fair-faced brickwork growing out from the line of the historic brick embankment. Reflecting the elongated form of the building, the new wall is built with double-length bricks.
By contrast, the lightweight upper floor floats above the retaining wall and flood plain. It provides changing, teaching and a school/community training and reception space, with dramatic views up and down the River Severn from a new glazed and cantilevered prow. This and the gently curving plan, following the historic defensive line, give the building a distinctive modern presence on Riverside Walk.
The upper floor overlooks the historic Creighton Memorial Gardens, previously an under-used part of the School grounds. The scheme creates a new route to the Boathouse through the Gardens, which is much more direct, wheelchair friendly, and improves security: the previous Boathouse was isolated and accessible only from outside the School grounds. A new garden terrace and windows north focus views to the twin Worcester landmarks of the Cathedral and St Andrew’s spire.
Fine sweet chestnut timber laths cloak the upper volume, weathering down to a natural silvery-grey colour in keeping with the sensitive historic context. Rather than running horizontally, the laths are set at a shallow angle to enhance the dynamic form of the building. The interior is panelled in ice-birch over timber I-beams, facilitating airtight construction and rapid thermal response for multiple uses. The roof is traditional standing seam terne-coated stainless.
Sustainability is a central consideration in the brief and design. Solar electric and hot water roof panels meet much of the building’s energy needs in summer, and make a useful contribution in winter. The construction uses the principles of Passivhaus design with triple glazing, super-insulation and air-tightness. These measures, coupled with a wood-pellet boiler, give environmental performance to EPC A, approaching zero carbon standards.
The partners of new Vancouver studio Scott & Scott Architects created this remote snowboarding cabin for their own use at the northern end of Vancouver Island.
The Alpine Cabin by Susan and David Scott is lifted off the ground on six columns made of douglas fir tree trunks, which pierce through the rooms on both storeys.
The exterior clad in cedar, intended to weather to the tone of the surrounding forest, and the interior finished in planed fir.
“The construction approach was determined to avoid machine excavation, to withstand the annual snowfall, to resist the dominant winds and to build in a manner which elevates the building above the height of the accumulated snow on the ground,” say the architects.
The majority of the ground floor is taken up by a combined living room and kitchen, but also includes a bathroom and sauna. Upstairs there are two bedrooms with a study in between.
One corner of the ground floor is cut away to create a spacious porch where firewood and snowboarding equipment can be stored.
The cabin is located in a community-operated alpine recreation area 1300 metres above sea level and is accessible by a gravel road for five months of the year, but otherwise equipment and supplies must be carried on a sledge to the site.
The building is completely off-grid, heated by a wood-burning stove and using water that must be fetched from nearby and carried in.
The architects built the project themselves with the help of friends. “The cabin was constructed out of a desire to directly design and build as a singular act, to work with the freedom one experiences when snowboarding, and in a manner which is centered in the adventure and not bound heavily in pre-determination,” they explain.
Susan and David Scott launched their own practice in February after twelve years of working for established firms.
Construit en 2003 dans la ville de Graz en Autriche lorsque la ville était capitale européenne de la culture, ce musée des arts insolite appelé Kunsthaus Graz est aussi surnommé Friendly Alien par ses auteurs Peter Cook et Colin Fournier. Davantage d’images de ce lieu surprenant sont à découvrir dans la suite.
Herzog & de Meuron replaced two of the older halls at the Messe Basel, which hosts Art Basel each June, with an extension that stacks three new ten-metre-high halls on top of one another to create volumes that appear displaced.
Brushed aluminium clads the exterior of the building and has a textured surface to create the impression of a basket weave.
Part of the extension bridges across the neighbouring Messeplatz public square to creates a sheltered area with a huge circular skylight.
Glazing surrounds the space and leads into a ground-floor lobby filled with shops, bars and restaurants.
The building was completed in February, but only opened to the public in April. Read more about the Messe Basel New Hall in our previous story.
Le créatif Al Boardman nous propose de découvrir avec une vidéo d’animation la silhouette et le nom des 5 plus grands buildings de la ville de Chicago. Avec des choix visuels simples et colorés, le résultat est à découvrir en images et en vidéo dans la suite, sur une musique de Chris Zabriskie.
Découverte du projet Finca Bellavista qui est le nom d’une communauté située au Costa Rica et vivant dans les arbres. Le principe est basé sur un réseau de maisons et de cabanes perchées et reliées entre elles dans la forêt. Des maisons magnifiques qui sont à découvrir en images dans la suite de l’article.
London studio Jonathan Tuckey Design has converted a historic chapel in Wiltshire, England, into a house with a blackened-timber extension conceived as the building’s shadow.
The architects were only permitted to build an extension that would be invisible from the street. “The form was generated by the parameters of building something as big as possible within the chapel’s shadow, so that led to the consideration of materials reminiscent of a shadow,” Jonathan Tuckey told Dezeen.
Photograph by James Brittain
The roof and every wall of the extension is clad in bitumen-stained larch, with flush detailing around the edges of the gable and chimney. It is built over a series of reconstructed dry-stone walls.
Photograph by James Brittain
“The clients, the planners and us were all keen to create something different to the original building, rather than mimic it,” said Tuckey.
Photograph by James Brittain
All four of the house’s bedrooms are contained inside the new structure, while the former vestry of the chapel functions as a library and the large hall is converted into an open-plan kitchen and living room with a mezzanine gallery above.
Photograph by James Brittain
A transparent glass corridor links the extension with the two adjoining buildings of the chapel and can be opened out to the garden in warmer weather.
Here’s a short project description from the architect:
Shadow House – Transformation of a Grade 2* listed chapel in Wiltshire into a family home
Our clients were intent on preserving the historic character of this elegant historic chapel but needed to adapt the building to accommodate the needs of their young family and connect it to the garden at the rear of the site.
Complementing the existing chapel’s form and scale the new extension sits on re-built dry stone walls in the garden and is unseen from the street. It is clad in blackened timber, echoing the vernacular tabernacle churches of the West Country; a quiet shadow of the original building.
A glazed transparent passage, which can be opened entirely in warmer weather, links the extension back to the chapel where the mid-19th century spaces have been refurbished.
The Old Market Square Stage, also known as The Cube, was designed by 5468796 Architecture as the centrepiece of a recently remodelled public square by landscape architects Scatliff+Miller+Murray.
Photograph by James Brittain
The chain-mail hangs like a curtain over the facade of the structure. During performances it can be hauled up out of the way to reveal a stage, while at other times it functions as a protective screen, shielding the interior.
Photograph by James Brittain
“[It] throws out the old bandshell concept on the grounds that when a conventional stage is not in use it would look forlorn,” say the architects, explaining their concept for a structure that can “hibernate” during the city’s long winters.
Photograph by James Brittain
Lighting fixtures and a projector have both been installed inside The Cube, allowing colours, images and movies to be projected over the metal surfaces.
Photograph by James Brittain
A lawn in front of the structure doubles-up as a spectator area during performances, while a line of curving benches provide seating around the edges of the square.
Read on more more information from 5468796 Architecture:
OMS Stage by 5468796 Architecture
“The Old Market Square Stage” (otherwise known as “The Cube”), OMS Stage for short, is an open-air performance venue situated in Old Market Square, an iconic green space and summer festival hub in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District. In 2009, 5468796 Architecture won an invited competition with a multi-functional design that throws out the old bandshell concept on the grounds that when a conventional stage is not in use it would look forlorn – especially through the city’s long winters.
Photograph by James Brittain
A concrete cube enclosed by a flexible metal membrane, The Cube functions as a multipurpose environment. The membrane is composed of 20,000 identical hollow aluminium pieces strung together on aircraft cables.
Photograph by James Brittain
The orientation of the pieces alternates, forming a flexible and shimmering curtain – a contemporary take on medieval chain mail, that can stand like a wall, be pulled in to reveal the performance space, or function as a light-refracting surface – allowing it to morph into a projection screen, performance venue, shelter or sculptural object. The curtain’s flexibility also allows for acoustical fine tuning.
Photograph by James Brittain
Internal lighting refracts through the mesh so that the The Cube softly glows on the outside. An internal projector also enables images to be projected on the front curtain. The membrane’s diamond extrusions capture and refract light and images to their outer surface, creating a unique pixel matrix for artists to appropriate at will.
Architect: 5468796 Architecture Inc. Client: Winnipeg Exchange District BIZ
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Project Area: 784 sqft (28’ x 28’)
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