Hasta La Ideas

The next movie in a series about the buildings of Slovenian practice OFIS Arhitekti features a social housing block on the outskirts of Ljubljana with a latticed facade inspired by local Alpine hayracks.

Named Hayrack Apartments, the building was completed in 2007 and contains a total of 56 residences that vary from small studio flats up to large, four-bedroom apartments.

OFIS Arhitekti designed the building with an L-shaped plan to frame a central courtyard and to avoid disturbing the roots of a 300-year-old lime tree that’s also located on the site.

Wooden beams were used to create the criss-crossing and linear facade patterns, which are typical of old farms, barns and hayracks in the area. ”Traditionally farmers use the beams to store grass and corn. On the housing facade one can hold flowers or other balcony decoration,” explained the architects.

Textured grey tiles cover the sloping rooftops, intended to replicate the appearance of slate.

We first featured the Hayrack Apartments in 2007, just after the building was competed, along with a residential development of a shopping market.

This is the second movie in the series produced by Carniolus. The first features an Alpine holiday hut in a national park.

See all our stories about OFIS Arhitekti »

Photography is by Tomaz Gregoric.

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: first and second floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: third floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: roof plan – click above for larger image

Above: section A – click above for larger image

Above: section B – click above for larger image

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by OFIS Arhitekti appeared first on Dezeen.

International firm SWA Group has been selected to redesign Futian District in Shenzhen, an area that’s larger than Manhattan (+ slideshow).

Above: raised walkways and gardens are proposed for Futian District

Landscape architecture and urban planning firm SWA Group hopes to transform the congested and car-dominated district of central Shenzhen into a calmer, greener space where pedestrians are welcome.

As part of SWA’s masterplan, titled Garden City of Tomorrow, residential streets will be made over with exercise areas for all age groups as well as quieter green spaces.

Office streets will incorporate gardens with seating areas, while retail streets will encourage pedestrian traffic with public art and better lighting.

A botanical garden in the shape of a circuit board, representing Shenzhen’s electronics industry, has been proposed for a space alongside the Civic Center.

Three existing parks divided by major roads will be linked by a raised landscape of walkways, cycle paths and gardens called the Bridge Park.

Above: a botanical garden has been proposed alongside Shenzhen Civic Center

“Our landscape and urban design strategies will rebalance Futian from a car-dominated city with a challenging street system to offer a more beautiful, more functional environment, from landscaped boulevards and greenspaces to plazas and large gathering spaces,” said Sean O’Malley, the principal leading the masterplan from SWA Group’s office in Laguna Beach, California.

The first phase of construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2013, with completion by autumn 2014.

Futian is home to the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, where we made a series of movies in 2009, including one about a project to build a farm in a city square and another looking at an installation of 10,000 garments manufactured in Shenzhen.

Other projects in Shenzhen we’ve featured recently include a registry office that looks like its covered in confetti and the Kingkey 100 skyscraper, the tallest building in the city.

See all our stories about Shenzhen »
See all our stories about masterplans »

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by SWA Group appeared first on Dezeen.

Berlin studio Gnädinger Architekten has completed a faceted golden museum dedicated to medieval marksmanship beside the fortified city wall of Duderstadt in Germany.

Like many historic towns in Germany, Duderstadt is filled with timber-framed buildings that are referred to as “half-timbered” and Gnädinger Architekten added the faceted golden structure to one of these old houses to create the two wings of the new museum.

“The expressive, outstanding form was chosen to create a new landmark in this old medieval town and a signature architecture for this unique museum,” architect Christoph Claus told Dezeen. “The inclined facades of the new wing refer to the similarly inclined facades of the old typical half-timbered houses in the neighbourhood, but in totally different and new ways.”

The museum also adjoins the historical Westerturm gatehouse tower, which dates back to the thirteenth century and features an unusual twisted spire. The architects added a new steel bridge to allow visitors to walk from this fortification to the next along the parapet of the ancient stone wall.

Sheets of copper alloy give the new wing its golden cladding and were installed by a traditional tinsmith. ”The golden skin was choosen in reference to the metal shiny surfaces of old weapons like armour, swords and shields,” said Claus.

“A wonderful side-effect is the sun reflection in this very narrow street,” he added.

Visitors enter the building through the old house and an angled staircase leads up through the extension to galleries on each floor.

The stone structure of the wall is exposed inside some of the rooms and the architects also used materials such as black-painted timber and raw steel.

Completed in 2011, the museum is already open to the public and offers an insight into shooting, city defense and local town life in the middle ages.

Other golden buildings we’ve featured include the Islamic art galleries at the Musée du Louvre in Paris and an extension to a Tudor-style museum in Maidstone, England.

See more stories about golden materials »

Here’s a project description from Gnädinger Architekten:

Museum of Historical Markmenship, Duderstadt, Germany

Duderstadt, which is situated in the neighborhood of Göttingen, ranks among the 10 most important half-timbered towns in Germany. Besides the historical town hall, one of the most striking landmarks is the medieval “Westerturm”, with its distinctive twisted spire, integrated in the oldest sections of the city fortifications.

Above: ground floor plan – click above to see larger image

In 2009 it was decided, to undertake the renovation of an abandoned half-timbered house next to the tower and to install a museum for historical marksmanship, thus incorporating the tower with another house on the east side of the tower, that has been flashily restored some years before.

Above: first floor plan – click above to see larger image

The massive historic stonewall acts as a support for the structure on one side of the ensemble. In addition to the reestablished half-timbered structure, Gnädinger Architects designed an expressive new wing made of concrete, consisting of assembled triangular folds. The addition, mainly houses the emergency staircases, as well as a gallery with a void in front of a big window. In keeping with the shape of the new building, the three story open staircases are also sculptural in design and form.

Above: second floor plan – click above to see larger image

The facade is clad with golden copper metal panels of various sizes, set in a uneven pattern; this has been executed by a tinsmith, in accordance to high craftsmanship standards.

Above: roof plan – click above to see larger image

The result reveals a completely foreign body, an exciting new quality, both partly rigid and partly organic among the other houses in this idyllic neighbourhood.

Above: front elevation – click above to see larger image

The interior design is mainly characterized by the use of a few materials: raw steel on the floor and the balustrades, black painted wood surfaces for furniture and doors imprinted with sulphur yellow texts and pictos and exposed concrete inside the new wing, contrasting with the old stone wall.

Above: facade details – click above to see larger image

The exhibition offers three stories of different media installations and historical exhibits, giving insights to such themes as shooting, city defense and town life in the middle ages. An interactive town model of Duderstadt allows the visitors to reenact different attack scenarios. The first floor is dedicated to the archers and shooters who formed a special militia to defend the city in the middle ages. Visitors can try their hand at target shooting or the crossbow, at two virtual shooting ranges. Further audio installations are spread throughout the overall museum and give insights ito medieval city life.

A new steel bridge, a reconstructed parapet walk, makes it possible to take a walk along a part of the ancient town fortifications, it also connects the ensemble to the adjacent historic “Georgsturm”, build onto the town wall in the eighteen century.

Completion: 2011
Volume: old part 765 m3, new wing 430 m3
Costs (without exhibition) 1.01 Mill. €
Designteam: Rolf Gnädinger, Babette Drillig, Karin Hirschmiller, Markus Hattwig
Project Director: Christoph Claus
Exibition-Design: Art+Com, Berlin

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by Gnädinger Architekten appeared first on Dezeen.

Film studio Carniolus has produced a series of movies to document the architecture of Slovenian practice OFIS Arhitekti and the first gives a tour of the 6×11 Alpine Hut, a holiday home in Slovenia’s Triglav National Park.

Completed in 2009, the house was designed by OFIS Arhitekti in line with a set of plans for a traditional Slovenian hut that had already been granted permission on the site. The architects designed a contemporary version with the same dimensions, roof pitch and materials, meaning a new construction permit was not required.

The house is used as an alpine retreat for a family, so the architects added three bedrooms and a sauna on the top floor, as well as a large living and dining room on the ground floor that opens out to a sheltered veranda.

See more photographs of 6×11 Alpine Hut in our earlier story.

See all our stories about OFIS Arhitekti »

Photography is by Tomaz Gregoric.

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by OFIS Arhitekti appeared first on Dezeen.

Californian firm amphibianArc was inspired by images of spacecrafts to come up with two different skyscraper proposals for the headquarters of a Chinese machinery company in Changsha (+ slideshow + movies).

Above: option one – single tower

The designs, for industrial vehicle manufacturer Zoomlion, were commissioned following amphibianArc’s previous proposals for a shape-shifting exhibition centre to host the company’s exhibitions and product displays.

Above: option two – twin towers

Both new proposals feature skyscrapers that are 199.2 metres in height, in reference to the founding year of the company; 1992.

Above: option one – single tower

The first design includes one prominent office tower, with seven spacecraft-inspired pods protruding from one side. “Seven spacecrafts represent seven founders of the enterprise,” amphibianArc’s Shu Yang told Dezeen.

Above: option one – single tower

Five additional buildings of between 80 and 100-metres would be constructed around the tower, while a small “transformer building” would sit at the base.

Above: option one – single tower

Just like the architect’s previous project, this structure would feature a facade that flaps like the wings of a huge insect.

Above: option one – single tower

The second design is for a pair of skyscrapers, including an office tower and an accompanying 280-metre hotel.

Above: option two – twin towers

The architects based the design on an image of a rocket launching from alongside its supporting structure. ”The twin towers scheme is inspired by the spacecraft, the Long March Carrier Rocket, that China just launched using the crane manufactured by Zoomlion,” explained Yang.

Above: option two – twin towers

The hotel is pictured with a streamlined exterior, while the headquarters building is designed as a stack of box-like structures with an exposed steel framework that references scaffolding. A bridge would add a vertiginous swimming pool to the top of the towers, plus a five-storey podium would stretch across the base.

Above: option two – twin towers

Our earlier feature about the design’s for Zoomlion’s exhibition centre was described as “extravagant”, “dangerous” and “breathtaking” by readers. See the full story and comments »

Above: option two – twin towers

Also this month, we announced the news that the world’s tallest building will be constructed in China in 90 days, while Chinese architects told Dezeen that there is “an absence of a modern Chinese architecture and design language”.

See more stories about skyscrapers »
See more stories about China »

Here’s project descriptions for each of the two proposals:

Zoomlion is one of China’s leading manufacturers of construction machinery equipment and is ranked top 10 globally in the construction machinery industry. amphibianArc was invited to design its new headquarters located in Changsha, China. Our criterion is to match its forward thinking, unique, and mechanistically imaginative corporate image and values.

Zoomlion Headquarters International Plaza – Single Tower

This scheme uses the multi-level and multi-centre space layout strategy, achieving the goal of multi-function and multi-target. 280 m ultra high rise single tower as the highest point of the massing, the scheme proposes 5 towers of 80-100 m and a podium to form an enclosed space. The structure of the conference facilities falls back on the 199.2 m ultra-high tower, which represents the founding year of 1992 of Zoomlion. A water feature suspended at the vertical midpoint of the tower represents the spiritual and architectural center of the complex. The most visible feature in the scheme is the “seven spacecraft” – seven pods representing the seven founders of Zoomlion.

2012, Changsha, China
Project area: 344,250 sq m
Site area: 111,389 sq m
Status: Concept

Zoomlion Headquarters International Plaza – Twin Towers

The philosophical concept of dualism is embedded in the nature of Zoomlion. As a machine maker, the characteristics of Zoomlion are masculine, machinery and full of industrial power. However, the end products produced via Zoomlion machines that will be used by the general public is refined and people-friendly. This duality is intrinsic to Zoomlion’s existence.

From the project itself, the office for internal use represents the company, while the hotel for external use is associated with its external image. This characteristic of duality is expressed in two distinct design schemes concepts with two distinct articulation of architectural forms.

The twin towers are representing the idea of the dualism. The office tower which is 199.2 m in height is the symbol of Zoomlion. The geometry of the building is form by massing spin around along with the core of the building. Volume of the spinning massing varies and creates a masculine, machinery look of the tower. There is a bridge that connects two towers to top floors of office tower. Refined and elegant geometry of hotel tower that is 280 m tall is contrast with the rough texture and geometry of the office tower. The image is a vivid simulation of the space shuttle tied up to the launching pad of space center. This image emphasizes the industrial strength of Zoomlion product.

The podium of the twin towers is a huge elevated platform that contains more than five floors. The elevated platform is support by giant trapezoid shape structural columns. It is a floating platform hanging over the campus and open up the ground for public spaces and landscaping. More substantially, podium floor plates reach far for a panoramic view of the city. Because of the floating podium, the footprint of the building decreases substantially and frees up the space for a park-like green campus.

2012, Changsha, China
Project area: 283,000 sq m
Site area: 111,389 sq m
Status: Concept

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by amphibianArc appeared first on Dezeen.