Hasta La Ideas

American firm Morphosis has completed a museum of nature and science in Dallas where visitors begin their tour by taking an escalator journey to the uppermost floor.

Surrounded by glazing, the escalator streaks diagonally across the striated concrete facade then angles back inside the building. At the top, each visitor is faced with a view of the city before spiralling their way back down through five exhibition floors into the atrium where they first arrived.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is sited in Victory Park, downtown Dallas, and when it opens to the public next weekend it will replace some of the facilities of the existing Museum of Science and Nature, located further east in Fair Park.

Morphosis‘ founder Thom Mayne conceived the building as a large cube emerging from a series of landscaped lower tiers. These levels, designed in collaboration with landscape architects Talley Associates, are covered in stones and drought-resistant grasses that are typical of the landscape in Texas.

A 3D cinema, auditorium, cafe and shop accompany the eleven exhibition galleries inside the building.

Above: site plan – click above for larger image

“The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a gift to the city of Dallas,” said Mayne. “It is a fundamentally public building – a building that opens up, belongs to and activates the city. It is a place of exchange. It contains knowledge, preserves information and transmits ideas; ultimately, the public is as integral to the museum as the museum is to the city.”

Above: exploded axonometric diagram – click above for larger image

See more projects by Morphosis on Dezeen, including a floating house for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans.

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Here’s a project description from Morphosis:

Museums, armatures for collective societal experience and cultural expression, present new ways of interpreting the world. They contain knowledge, preserve information and transmit ideas; they stimulate curiosity, raise awareness and create opportunities for exchange. As instruments of education and social change, museums have the potential to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.

Above: east-facing section – click above for larger image

As our global environment faces ever more critical challenges, a broader understanding of the interdependence of natural systems is becoming more essential to our survival and evolution. Museums dedicated to nature and science play a key role in expanding our understanding of these complex systems.

The new Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Victory Park creates a distinct identity for the Museum, enhances the institution’s prominence in Dallas and enriches the city’s evolving cultural fabric. Designed to engage a broad audience, invigorate young minds, and inspire wonder and curiosity in the daily lives of its visitors, the Museum cultivates a memorable experience that persists in the minds of its visitors and that ultimately broadens individuals’ and society’s understanding of nature and science.

Above: north-facing section one – click above for larger image

The museum strives to achieve the highest standards of sustainability possible for a building of its type. High performance design and incorporation of state of the art technologies yields a new building that minimizes its impact on the environment.

This world class facility inspires awareness of science through an immersive and interactive environment that actively engages visitors. Rejecting the notion of museum architecture as neutral background for exhibits, the new building itself is an active tool for science education. By integrating architecture, nature, and technology, the building demonstrates scientific principles and stimulates curiosity in our natural surroundings.

Above: north-facing section two – click above for larger image

The immersive experience of nature within the city begins with the visitor’s approach to the museum, which leads through two native Texas ecologies: a forest of large native canopy trees and a terrace of native desert xeriscaping. The xeriscaped terrace gently slopes up to connect with the museum’s iconic stone roof. The overall building mass is conceived as a large cube floating over the site’s landscaped plinth. An acre of undulating roofscape comprised of rock and native drought-resistant grasses reflects Dallas’s indigenous geology and demonstrates a living system that will evolve naturally over time.

The intersection of these two ecologies defines the main entry plaza, a gathering and event area for visitors and an outdoor public space for the city of Dallas. From the plaza, the landscaped roof lifts up to draw visitors through a compressed space into the more expansive entry lobby. The topography of the lobby’s undulating ceiling reflects the dynamism of the exterior landscape surface, blurring the distinction between inside and outside, and connecting the natural with the manmade.

Above: west-facing section one – click above for larger image

Moving from the compressed space of the entry, a visitor’s gaze is drawn upward through the soaring open volume of the sky-lit atrium, the building’s primary light-filled circulation space, which houses the building’s stairs, escalators and elevators. From the ground floor, a series of escalators bring patrons though the atrium to the uppermost level of the museum. Patrons arrive at a fully glazed balcony high above the city, with a bird’s eye view of downtown Dallas. From this sky balcony, visitors proceed downward in a clockwise spiral path through the galleries. This dynamic spatial procession creates a visceral experience that engages visitors and establishes an immediate connection to the immersive architectural and natural environment of the museum.

Above: west facing section two – click above for larger image

The path descending from the top floor through the museum’s galleries weaves in and out of the building’s main circulation atrium, alternately connecting the visitor with the internal world of the museum and with the external life of the city beyond. The visitor becomes part of the architecture, as the eastern facing corner of the building opens up towards downtown Dallas to reveal the activity within. The museum, is thus, a fundamentally public building – a building that opens up, belongs to and activates the city; ultimately, the public is as integral to the museum as the museum is to the city.

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by Morphosis appeared first on Dezeen.

This bright-white house in Alicante by Spanish studio Fran Silvestre Arquitectos features an 18-metre-long balcony that stretches out towards the Balearic Sea (+ slideshow + movie).

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos designed the structure as a single monolithic volume that nestles against the rockface whilst also projecting out towards the shoreline.

Living rooms and bedrooms are contained within the protruding upper storey and offer panoramic views through an entirely glazed facade.

A staircase climbs through and across an exterior wall to connect these rooms with an infinity pool and terrace.

Concrete was used for the entire structure, but the walls were coated in stucco to create the clean white aesthetic.

The architects explain how they always try to design houses around the habits of future residents. ”Dialogue is always present, since the work becomes part of the identity of those who inhabit it,” they explain. “This dialogue seeks comfort and also utility, and examines the conflicts and joys of daily acts of human life.”

Others houses by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos that we’ve featured include a residence where all the rooms are on show and a wedge-shaped house that thrusts out from a rock face.

See more Spanish houses on Dezeen, including a house with four hovering concrete wings.

Photography is by Diego Opazo, movie is by Alfonso Calza.

Here’s a project description from Fran Silvestre Arquitectos:

House on the Cliff
Calpe, Alicante.

We like the virtue of architecture which makes possible constructing a house on air, walking on water…
An abrupt plot of land overlooking the sea, where what is best is to do nothing. It invites to stay.
A piece that respects the land’s natural contour is set in it.
Above, a shadow, the house itself, looking calmly at the Mediterranean.
Under the sun, the swimming-pool brings us closer to the sea, it becomes a quiet cove.
In the inflection point, the stairway proposes a evocative path, a garden in the basement…

Due to the steepness of the plot and the desire to contain the house in just one level, a three-dimensional structure of reinforced concrete slabs and screens adapting to the plot’s topography was chosen, thus minimizing the earthwork.

This monolithic, stone-anchored structure generates a horizontal platform from the accessing level, where the house itself is located.

The swimming-pool is placed on a lower level, on an already flat area of the site.

The concrete structure is insulated from the outside and then covered by a flexible and smooth white lime stucco.

The rest of materials, walls, pavements, the gravel on the roof… all maintain the same colour, respecting the traditional architecture of the area, emphasizing it and simultaneously underlining the unity of the house.

Architecture: Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
Project team: Fran Silvestre, María José Sáez – Principals in charge
Maria Masià, Adrián Mora, Jordi Martínez José V. Miguel – Collaborating architects

Structural engineer: David Gallardo | UPV
Building engineer: Vicente Ramos, Esperanza Corrales, Javier Delgado

Interior design: ALFARO HOFMANN
Collaborators: Fran Ayala, Ángel Fito
Contractor: Construcciones Alabort

Location: Toix Mascarat, Calpe, Alicante

Site area: 962,84 sq m
Built area: 242,00 sq m

Cost: (P.E.M.) 650.000 euros

Above: lower floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: middle floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: upper floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: roof plan – click above for larger image

Above: cross section one – click above for larger image

Above: cross section two – click above for larger image

Above: cross section three – click above for larger image

The post House on the Cliff by
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.

• Fast furniture giant Ikea knowingly benefited from forced labor in the former East Germany to manufacture some of its products in the 1980s, according to an Ernst & Young investigation commissioned by the company. “Even though Ikea Group took steps to secure that prisoners were not used in production, it is now clear that these measures were not effective enough,” the company said in a statement released Friday. A related investigation into purchase practices in Cuba (as trade with Cuba was supposedly initiated by the former GDR state trade organization) concluded that Ikea has never had any long-term business relations with suppliers in Cuba and found no evidence that the IKEA Group was aware of the possible use of political prisoners in Cuba.

• Google is pitching in for greener buildings. The company is donating $3 million to the U.S. Green Building Council. The grant, announced Wednesday at the annual Greenbuild International Conference in San Francisco, will help to transform the building materials industry and accelerate the creation of healthier indoor environments. “Working with Google enables us to broaden our efforts in the materials industry as we prepare for the next version of the LEED green building program, LEED v4,” said USGBC president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “This updated rating system will paint a more complete picture of materials and products, enabling project teams to make more informed decisions.” The Google funding will support research on building materials and health, development of transparency tools, and engagement of stakeholders from across the industry.

• Nike has inked a deal to unload Cole Haan. The buyer is private equity firm Apax Partners, which has agreed to pay $570 million for the 84-year-old footwear and accessories brand. The deal, expected to close early next year, is part of Nike’s move to focus on its Nike, Jordan, Converse, and Hurley brands. The company sold Umbro last month to Iconix Brand Group for $225 million.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This house by architects Destilat appears to climb down a hill at the foot of the Pöstlingberg mountain in Austria.

“The design incorporates the property’s topography,” Destilat architect DI Wolfgang Wimmer told Dezeen. “Every floor is ideally adapted to its respective location on the steep slope, which turns the conventional order of public and private areas on its head. The house is structured from top to bottom.”

The residence is split between two larch-clad buildings with similar shapes, which are referred to as the “residential building” and the “sleeping building”. The former accommodates the living and dining areas, while the latter contains all the bedrooms.

Residents enter through the top floor of the first three-storey building, where an oak staircase leads down into the open-plan living room on the middle floor. From here, an underground passage leads across to the second building.

Both buildings feature asymmetric roofs that create irregular ceiling heights and double-height spaces for the rooms inside.

“The form of the roofs goes with the incline of the slope, so the buildings seem lower than they would appear with the construction of flat roofs,” said Wimmer.

Rooms in both buildings feature cork floors, while one is covered with Tatami mats so that it can be used as a traditional Japanese room.

Above: top floor plan

The architects had to fell a tree during the construction process, so they reused the trunk as a structural column along one of the inside walls.

Above: middle floor plan

See more Austrian houses on Dezeen, including a stark white residence and a concrete house on stilts.

Above: lower floor plan

Here’s a more detailed description from Destilat:

Haus Y2

The property is located on a steep slope at the foot of Pöstlingberg in the immediate vicinity of the Danube. Like all buildings along this residential estate’s main street, its width amounts only to 21m. Some of the neighbouring structures extend almost to the property’s boundary; therefore an orientation towards east and west was of lesser importance.

The building is divided into 2 slim structures. This division increases the effect of the interspace between the structures; it generates a strong relation between the two and ensures the desired link between all floors on this steep property.

Above: residential building long section

Design

The design incorporates the property’s topography. Every floor is ideally adapted to its respective location on the steep slope which turns the conventional order of public and private areas on its head – this house is structured from top to bottom.

Integration into the property’s environment

The property’s layout is ideal for designs in accordance with the above mentioned principles. The back side of the building provides protection and is therefore raised while the front side is open and wide. The property’s location above the Danube River is ideal for this kind of design.

Above: sleeping building long section

Structure and shape

The room assignment was the basis for the project’s design with its two structures (residential building + ‘sleeping’ building) which are joined by a subterranean passageway. This way, the two structures are not set against the slope. They are both positioned along the fall line to let the energy of the slope flow through the centre. The structures appear to be one-storeyed on the sides that face the slope.

The residential building (southeastern side) almost seems withdrawn while the sleeping building (southwestern side) is open like a big gate. Formally, both structures are perceived as twin or duplex houses. They seem to be unusual and familiar at the same; their heights and dimensions are also very similar. The structures’ exteriors follow the property’s boundaries; their inner sides, which are facing each other, generate unique dynamics in this context. Both houses are covered with irregularly inclined saddle roofs across the entire length of the respective structure. These roofs rise gradually from the side of the entrance and drop steeply at their narrowest point between both buildings along the slope’s inclination. The varying inclinations of the roofs are felt in every room of the house – with ceiling heights of up to 5 m.

Above: cross section

Layout

The way to the entrance door was particularly important for this project: it does not lead to the door in a straight line but takes visitors to the structure’s back via a roofed concrete ramp that leads through the carport’s wide open gate. From this point a wooden bridge branches off to the left and ‘bridges’ the gap to the entrance of the residential building.

Above: massing diagram one

Residential building (southeastern side)

A draft lobby is located behind the front door and leads to the waiting area of the treatment rooms as well as to the private cloakroom. Natural light floods into the entrance area via a large window that provides a view of the front garden as well as the wooden bridge and the neighbouring sleeping house.

The sides of the Shiatsu treatment room are 3.6 m long. This room is meant for treatments on 8 rice straw mats which are placed on the floor. Tatami are used for floorings in traditional Japanese houses and may not be walked upon in shoes. At night, a futon is laid upon the tatami mat and turns this room into a sleeping area. This area can also be used as a guest room as it also works as an independent unit due to the adjacent bathroom on the entrance floor.

Above: massing diagram two

An oak wood staircase leads directly from the entrance area to the living area that comprises all functions from living and dining to cooking – in this order. This is the area where everybody come together. It is the most public room in the house and the very centre of communal life. Inhabitants and guest meet here to relax, listen to music, read, cook and communicate. There are almost no right angles in this entire – almost sacral – room. The freestanding staircase, the suspended body, windows in various formats and on different levels as well as ceiling heights of up to 5 m right below the roof enhance this effect even further. The living area consists of a fireplace, an all-glass corner window with a panoramic view and elevated seating/reading area at the parapet’s height of 45 cm which, at the same time, constitutes the back rest of the free-form seating ensemble. A sliding door offers a view of the wooden terrace that connects both buildings on the outside. The central dining area is located under the physiotherapy room which is suspended from the roof with no supports. The kitchen with its island unit lies right behind the dining area. Oak wood shelves in the back of the dining area, which were adapted to the shape of the staircase, provide clear and open storage space.

One reaches the sleeping house via the subterranean passageway, which is naturally illuminated by the skylight dome right above it, by taking a left turn at the top of the staircase. This way also leads to the slope-sided technical room, the wc and the utility room.

Above: massing diagram three

Sleeping house (northwestern side)

The hallways runs along the eastern side of the sleeping house and leads from the bathroom to a recessed balcony. The bathroom – upgraded to a private wellness area – includes an all-glass view across the balcony into the alpine foothills, a shower with mirrored glass walls and a view of the forest as well as an elevated rest area.

The bedrooms are oriented towards the west – the children’s room includes a gallery, the master bedroom extends across the floor above the hallway. This way, both rooms are exposed to morning light from the east.

The meditation room on the lowest level of the sleeping house can be accessed by e-stairs (space-saving staircase) and leads to the southwestern garden on the ground level.

Above: massing diagram four

Construction and material

The house is built right onto the slope and is based on foundation slabs made of reinforced concrete. Walls made of reinforced concrete were only used for walls that touch the actual ground of the slope. All other walls that are visible from the outside as well as the roof are made of wood.

Future-oriented, sustainable construction with ‘healthy’ materials was of the utmost importance to the client. Wooden components were insulated with rock wool and the installation level was insulated with renewable materials (hemp). The inner sides of exterior walls were cladded with insulating soft fibre boards and finished with clay plastering or sand-coloured clay coating. The heating system consists of an air source heat pump supported by a controlled living room ventilation system. The house was designed as a low-energy building.

Domestic larch wood was chosen for the outer sides of exterior walls. The open and ventilated façade with vertically positioned boards and squared timber in various widths and depths – a so-called ‘chaos formwork’ are key elements of the building’s distinctive look. These boards and squared timbers were cut with a gang saw, dried and then brushed on the outside. This procedure reduces soft parts within the wood and therefore ensures that the façade grays evenly.

Above: massing diagram five

Cork and cast cementitious coatings alternate throughout the house’s floor areas.

The wood-aluminium windows consist of oiled larch wood on the inside and pearlescent-gray coating on the outside. They were either installed as flush windows or set deeply into the window reveal to create deep and useful recessed areas on the inside as well as exciting incisions in the exterior façade. The interior tilt-and-turn sashes were filled with panels to contrast the fixed glazing and bring more materiality from the inside to the outside.

A tree, that had to be removed for the construction of this house, was dried and stripped of its bark and is now used as a column. This natural column supports the tip of the house and is true testament to this building’s wooden construction.

Above: massing diagram six

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by Destilat appeared first on Dezeen.

Les équipes de BaksvanWengerden Architects basées à Amsterdam ont récemment présenté cette maison située à Bentveld (Pays-Bas). SH House est en réalité une extension en béton à la maison triangulaire en vieille brique construite en 1932. Un alliage entre modernité et tradition à découvrir dans la suite.