Hasta La Ideas

A theatre in Belfast with a faceted timber interior is another of the six buildings shortlisted for the 2012 Stirling Prize and was designed by Irish architects O’Donnell + Tuomey (+ slideshow).

The Lyric Theatre is located on the edge of the River Lagan in the south of the city and is constructed from the same red brick as the surrounding residential terraces.

The building replaces a 1960′s theatre that occupied the site previously and the new plan follows the outline of the irregularly shaped site.

A multi-level atrium connects the entrance with the 389-seat auditorium, where the faceted iroko wood lining integrates stage lighting and improves acoustics.

The building also contains a performance studio for up to 170 spectators and a rehearsal room that matches the size of the auditorium stage.

This year O’Donnell + Tuomey also completed a photography gallery in London.

Other architects nominated for the Stirling Prize include OMA and David Chipperfield. See all the nominations here »

Photography is by Dennis Gilbert.

Here’s a little more from O’Donnell + Tuomey’s website:

The Lyric Theatre stands on a sloping site at triangular junction between the grid pattern of Belfast’s brick streetscape and the serpentine parkland of the River Lagan.

The architectural design was developed in response to the urban and landscape conditions of the site.

The building site was tightly restricted and irregular in shape. The budget was strictly limited. All the building materials are selected to endure and crafted to weather with age.

The new building replaces a substandard structure built in the 1960s.

The building is the result of an open architectural competition held in May 2003, and eight years immersion in the complex process of briefing, design, fund-raising, demolition and construction.

Area: 5,500 sqm
Completion Date: May 2011

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O’Donnell + Tuomey appeared first on Dezeen.

Shanghai architects Polifactory have developed a concept for a rammed earth house that generates energy from a lake on its roof.

Designed for a rural site in Vancouver, the self-sustaining HOUS.E+ would use turbines embedded in the walls to produce electricity from water being pumped through a system of pipes.

Additional electricity would come from photovoltaic panels on the rooftops of five blocks that rise above the water and any excess power could be fed back into the national grid.

Rooms would be set 2.5 metres below ground level, where they would be heated in winter and cooled in summer from an underground pump that uses the surrounding earth as a heat source or sink.

Two courtyards at this level would let daylight down onto the sunken floor, while more natural light would filter in through skylights.

Inhabitants would also be able to harvest their own food by cultivating an ecosystem of fish, seafood and plants beneath the surface of the water.

Polifactory developed the concept for a competition organised by The Architecture Foundation of British Columbia for a redesign of the typical regional house.

We also recently featured a self-sustaining house in rural China, which you can see here.

Here’s some text from Polifactory:

Hous.E+ is designed to combine new and old techniques in order to create a not only a resourceful building regarding energy efficiency and sustainability but also well equipped to actively respond to future demands of smart grid systems where energy surplus is distributed and agriculture within the city is a reality.

Above: solar energy and geothermal heat exchange

Designed for a competition in Vancouver, called “100 Mile House”, this project is more than just a concept, but reality with a twist. Therefore, it is based upon existing smart technologies, but goes a step further on solutions that haven’t been explored so far. In this house water is not only stored and re-used but also is part of a cycle that generates power throughout a series of wall embedded micro hydro-turbines. Unnecessary transportation of materials is avoid making a significant difference into the overall carbon foot print emission balance.

Above: hydropower

Hous.E+ is build upon a rammed earth wall technique that is unaffected by rain, fire or pests, plus it doesn’t require any further finishing. The walls act like breathing structures, allowing air exchange without significant heat loss, working naturally as a thermal mass, storing heat in winter and rejecting in the summer, eliminating the need for air conditioning.

Above: aquaponics healthy food growth

Hous.E+ is set to produce more energy than it consumes.

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by Polifactory appeared first on Dezeen.

These hand-drawn illustrations by Hackney design studio Something & Son explain the designs for a temporary spa that opens tomorrow in Barking, east London.

Above: bar and cucumber plants
Top: relaxation room

The Barking Bathhouse will be open for seven weeks in the heart of Barking’s town centre and will feature a series of treatment rooms, a cocktail bar and a makeshift beach made from piles of pebbles.

Above: pebble bays

Homegrown cucumbers will spout from a canopy of plants above the bar and will be used to make drinks, as well as for spa treatments.

Above: sauna room

One room will provide a wooden sauna, while another will contain a cool room chilled with dry ice.

Above: massage room

The structure is being assembled from a series of prefabricated wooden huts and is one of twelve projects taking place this summer as part of arts festival CREATE.

Other projects with imaginative illustrations on Dezeen include a tiny theatre and a row of houses for London’s east end.

Something & Son are based on Dalston Lane in the London Borough of Hackney. Scroll down to see their location on our Designed in Hackney map.

Here’s some information from CREATE and Something & Son:

The Barking Bathhouse, Something & Son
27 July – 16 September

CREATE has commissioned Something & Son to design and build The Barking Bathhouse. Focusing on wellbeing, The Barking Bathhouse will experiment in the latest design, health and beauty ideas to help people feel happy and relaxed this summer during perhaps the most hectic period in London’s history. The Bathhouse will open on 24 July in Barking town centre and provide affordable spa treatments as well as a free social space for people to meet. Something & Son are the design practice behind the hugely successful FARM:shop in Dalston which saw the practice create a fully functioning farm within a disused shop. This new project is one of the Mayor’s Outer London Fund projects being delivered for Barking and Dagenham Council.

The Barking Bathhouse will combine a spa with a bar, where visitors will be able to sip healthy cocktails under a canopy of growing cucumbers and sunbathe in seaside-inspired pebble bays. After soaking up vitamins and being pampered with a variety of treatments – using produce grown by local allotment gardeners – visitors will be able to sweat it out or cool down in a traditional wooden sauna or a cold room with a pioneering ‘dry ice’ chiller. The purpose-built design of the Bathhouse is inspired by 20th century working men’s bathhouses, ultra modern spas and Barking’s industrial heritage.

Andrew Merritt of Something & Son said: “Ideally relaxation should be an everyday experience and we wanted to design a space that can increase happiness and explore ideas of relaxation in an urban context. The juxtaposition of traditional spa techniques and the industrial setting will create a raw but very human space.”

Paul Smyth of Something & Son said: “When you travel the world, some of the best, most memorable experiences can happen in a simple massage hut or bathhouse. And many other cultures see visits to a bathhouse as an essential way to de-stress or spend time with others. We hope to recreate that unpretentious but effective philosophy at the Barking Bathhouse.”

The building design

Drawing on the industrial heritage of Barking, as well as the aesthetic of darkened timber farm buildings found in nearby Essex and the wooden beach huts of Kent, Something & Son will combine functional design and new spa technologies to create the Bathhouse building. The clear roofed structure of the bar area will allow high levels of sunlight into the communal space. In the treatment area, strong spotlights will pinpoint areas such as the nail bar, creating some drama in an otherwise low lit, tranquil space. A raw aesthetic throughout will challenge traditional notions of ‘luxury’ while creating a blissful space to relax.

The pod-based structure, to be prefabricated and docked together on site, has been planned with the future in mind, and when the Bathhouse closes at the end of the summer the different pods will be separated with the aim of relocating them locally for continued use by the community, including local allotment owners, playgrounds and youth centres.

The spa

The spa area will consist of a series of massage and treatment rooms in addition to a traditional sauna and a cold room lined with ice blocks will bring traditional bathhouse rituals to the experience. There will also be a relaxation area with loungers. Massages, body treatments, manicures and pedicures will all be offered, and Something & Son are working with local beauticians and local allotment gardeners to develop natural and refreshing treatments. To reduce excessive water use the Bathhouse will not have communal pools or energy-wasting hot tubs.

The bar

In the bar cocktails, smoothies, snacks and spa treatments will all be offered on the bar menu, the cucumber canopy above the bar providing fresh produce for use in beauty treatments. Next door a beach-inspired pebble bay is set aside for socialising and sun bathing under a partially open roof. Shingle dunes will provide the perfect space to relax and unwind between treatments, or just to come and catch some rays over lunchtime.

Events programme

The Bathhouse will also run a rich and varied events programme with workshops, talks and discussions with happiness and wellbeing as the central ethos. From talks on whether money can make you happy to chocolate making and meditation workshops, the programme will focus on establishing personal happiness. A workshop on the beauty myth will offer photoshop makeovers showing how media images of beauty are unattainable, while laughter yoga, clowning workshops and comedy nights will all bring an extra bit of happiness to the day.

Anna Doyle, Producer, CREATE, said: “We have developed a relationship with Something & Son over the past two years and are thrilled to have commissioned The Barking Bathhouse. Working with Barking and Dagenham we hope that the project will reinvigorate Barking town centre, bringing back a social space for local people, as well as providing a place for visitors to escape the crowds in central London during the Olympic period. CREATE is a great place to nurture new design talents like Something & Son, and The Barking Bathhouse is very exciting project for east London.”

Councillor Collins, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “I am thrilled that Barking and Dagenham is taking part in the CREATE festival this year, and in such a big way too. The Barking Bathhouse sounds like a fantastic concept and I am looking forward to seeing it operational. I am sure it will have something of interest to everyone and would like to encourage everyone to visit and take advantage of the facilities on offer.”

Entry

Public areas are free. Treatments can be reserved in advance or ordered on site. Spa: £8, £2 for Barking and Dagenham residents
Events: £4

CREATE in partnership with London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the Mayor of London. Part of the London 2012 Festival.

The history of bathhouses

While the practice of travelling to hot or cold springs in hopes of curing ailments dates back to pre-historic times, the earliest structured baths are found in the ruins in of the Indus Valley Civilization (present-day Pakistan). These were large communal baths reminiscent of modern day swimming pools. It was in ancient Greece and Rome that public baths became a centre of social and recreational activity. The bathing ritual was developed past immersion or sweating with the development of separate areas for massage and relaxation. Gardens, exercise spaces and even libraries and theatres were added. Meanwhile, in Japan, the historical origins of bathing are based in ritual purification with water, with many early Buddhist temples including saunas for free public use. Bathing in these ancient times was a necessity and socialising and relaxing in these spaces was central to daily life. Roman style public baths were introduced to England in the medieval period but these gained a bad reputation as a front for brothels and many closed during the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not until the mid-19th century that Britain’s first true public bath houses were opened, and by 1915 most towns in Britain had at least one.

Designed in Hackney map:

.

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands
Green = street art

See a larger version of this map

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

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by Something & Son appeared first on Dezeen.

The OMA-designed headquarters for the Rothschild Bank in London is one of the six buildings shortlisted for the 2012 Stirling Prize (+ slideshow).

Completed at the end of 2011, the steel and glass building features ten floors of open-plan offices, a rooftop garden and a glazed “sky pavilion” containing a stack of three double-height events rooms.

Above: photograph is by Charlie Koolhaas

This glazed cube is raised up above the roof and it towers above surrounding buildings that include the James Stirling-designed Number One Poultry and the St. Stephen Walbrook church by Christopher Wren.

Above: photograph is by Charlie Koolhaas

At ground level the facade is recessed, increasing the width of the pavement along St Swithin’s Lane, and is split into two halves that frame a view through to the church and graveyard behind.

Three smaller annex blocks adjoin the main building, providing meeting rooms, staircases and lifts, plus a staff cafe and gym.

This is the fourth headquarters building that the Rothschild family have occupied on the site since 1809 and it was delivered in collaboration with UK architects Allies and Morrison.

OMA have also been nominated for the Stirling Prize with their Maggie’s Centre, Gartnavel in Glasgow. See all the nominations here »

See more projects by OMA, including a series of interviews we filmed with Rem Koolhaas »

Photography is by Philippe Ruault, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by Charlie Koolhaas

Here’s some more text from OMA:

Rothschild Headquarters, New Court, London, UK

Rothschild has been located at New Court since N.M. Rothschild established residence there in 1809. New Court is situated on the architecturally rich site of St. Swithin’s Lane, a narrow medieval alley in the heart of the City of London, and is adjacent to Christopher Wren’s historically significant St. Stephen Walbrook church.

The new New Court is the fourth iteration of Rothschild’s London headquarters on the site, each increasingly isolating the church of St. Stephen Walbrook. What began as a dialogue between two open spaces in the city – a courtyard and a churchyard – has, through three centuries of transformation, been reduced to an accidental proximity.

OMA’s design of New Court, lead by Partners-in-charge Ellen van Loon and Rem Koolhaas, reinstates a visual connection between St. Swithin’s Lane and St. Stephen Walbrook. Instead of competing as accidental neighbours, the church and New Court now form a twinned urban ensemble, an affinity reinforced by the proportional similarity of their towers.

New Court is comprised of a simple extrusion transformed through a series of volumetric permutations into a hybrid of cube and annexes: a ‘cube’ of open office space and appendices of shared spaces and private work areas.

The central cube of the building consists of ten efficient and flexible open-plan office floors, which facilitate views over St. Stephen and the surrounding City. This cube is surrounded by four adjoining volumes – annexes – with support facilities to the Bank’s operations such as meeting rooms, vertical circulation, reception areas, and a staff cafe and gym. The fourth annexe, a Sky Pavilion, sits at the top of this central cube. The Sky Pavilion is an open space largely free of vertical elements. This affords a clear view of Wren’s most famous London Church, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the rest of the City, and provides an appropriately unique space for high level functions.

Above: photograph is by Charlie Koolhaas

At street level, the entire cube is lifted to create generous pedestrian access to the tall glass lobby and a covered forecourt that opens a visual passage to St. Stephen Walbrook and its churchyard – creating a surprising moment of transparency in the otherwise constrained opacity of the medieval streetscape. Reconnected, the two establish a continuity that radically transforms St. Swithin’s Lane and the setting of the Church.

Project: Rothschild’s London Headquarters
Status: Competition 2005, Completed November 2011
Client: Rothschild
Location: St Swithin’s Lane, City of London
Budget: N/A
Site: New Court, enclosed in cluster of buildings, adjacent to the 17th century St. Stephen Walbrook church; with main entrance on the narrow St. Swithin’s Lane
Program: Office headquarters: 21,000m2 (GFA)

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by OMA with Allies and Morrison appeared first on Dezeen.

The charred exterior of this temporary pavilion in Bergen, Norway, references 16 major fires that have taken place in the city since the twelfth century.

Named the Bergen Safe House, the wooden tower was designed and assembled in four days by Dutch architects Max Rink and Simon de Jong and designer Rachel Griffin.

The burnt outer layer forms a protective skin around the wooden walls that resists insects, rot and any future fires.

A series of wooden platforms create up to 11 stepped levels inside the pavilion and can be moved into numerous configurations to suit different activities.

The pavilion is currently located in Vågsbunnen square and is open to the public 24 hours a day.

See more stories about projects that feature blackened wood »

Here’s some more information from the architects:

The Bergen Safe House is a temporary multi-purpose city structure, designed and built by Max Rink (SPRIKK), Rachel Griffin (Earnest Studio) and Simon de Jong (de+ge architects) during a 4-day competition in Bergen, Norway. The structure uses the protective qualities of burnt wood, while simultaneously serving as a monument to Bergen’s venerable history of city fires.

The relationship between man and fire is an old one, characterized by a balance of safety and destruction. Fire provides warmth and comfort, yet the city of Bergen has burned to the ground 16 times in the last 800 years.

The Bergen Safe House embodies this dichotomy. Made entirely of 5 x 5 cm beams, the exterior facade of the structure is burned so that the outermost layer of the wood turns to charcoal. This charcoal layer protects the structure from future fires, rot and insects, while leaving the interior enclosed, untouched and safe.

The interior of the Safehouse consists of multi-level moveable platforms that can be arranged in different configurations. In this way, space is provided for sleeping, seating, working and socializing for up to 28 people, as well as allowing for a way to move vertically through the space.

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Rachel Griffin and Simon de Jong appeared first on Dezeen.