Hasta La Ideas

Anymore when a large urban landscape project is in the works, you could fairly safely guess that New York’s High Line co-designers, James Corner Field Operations, would either be on the short list or had just won (it’s even been speculated that all the High Line enthusiasm could be the next “Bilbao effect”). And so it has happened again, right here in Chicago. Back in September you might recall, the organization behind the city’s Navy Pier, which juts out into Lake Michigan and offers spectacular views of the skyline and therefore should be an inviting experience but is, instead, a soul crushing tourist trap, announced plans for a major, let’s-actually-make-this-place-inviting redesign competition. The original list included teams upon teams of industry heavies, which was then whittled down, somewhat surprisingly, to some less household name teams. In the end, this week it was revealed that James Corner’s group, which also includes Bruce Mau Design, nArchitects, and Ed Marszewski, along with twelve other firms, has won the project. We were initially very excited, but then reason prevailed in the form of the Tribune‘s Blair Kamin, who writes that the project provides both “great promise — and peril” given that “pier officials’ historic tendency to favor pragmatics over aesthetics” which “could undercut a thoughtful conceptual plan.” If you’ve been to Navy Pier at any point, you’ll likely come to that worry as well. And with a relatively small budget as well, we’ll hope for the best, but we’ll do so with fingers tightly crossed. Here’s Corner and Co.’s lengthy presentation video from back in February, and here’s the quicker, animated plans:

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Slideshow: the concrete walls of this church in Tenerife are roughly lined with crushed volcanic rocks.

Completed in 2008 by Spanish architect Fernando Menis of Menis Arquitectos, the church comprises four chunky concrete volumes separated from one another by sliced openings.

Two overlapping cracks in the building’s end wall create a large cross-shaped window that is visible from within the nave.

Gabion walls inside the building also create partitions between rooms.

This is the second concrete church we’ve featured in recent months – see our earlier story about one on the side of a mountain in China.

Photography is by Simona Rota.

Here’s some more text from Menis Arquitectos:

Church in La Laguna

This is a project located in the city of La Laguna on the Island of Tenerife. It is a place that encourages reflection, a meditation space, an intrinsic space where a person of any condition can go to find himself in the temple or join with others in the cultural center.

The building exists as a large piece of concrete split and cut into four large volumes, at these separations movement occurs. This space creates light, allowing to enter and penetrating into the space, they exist as if to signify a higher meaning inspiring a spiritual presence and sense of tranquility.

The building stands stark, stripped of superfluous elements that involve distractions far from its spiritual essence. The void has been sculpted to the same extent. The balance of proportions of void and building was vital to developing the identity of the project.

We chose to exploit the properties of concrete, based on its isotropic nature energy efficiency is optimized by the thermal inertia of the walls. The building also gets a better acoustics result; thanks to a combination of concrete and local volcanic stones called picón, which is chopped afterwards and acts as a rough finish that has a degree of sound absorption that is superior to conventional concrete.

Exterior, interior, structure, form, material and texture are joined inextricably by a complex study of the concrete.

The volumetric impact of the building and its use of essential materials, treating concrete as if it were liquid stone capturing waterfalls of light, create the temple while also optimizing economic resources. The space reflects timeless emotion.

Location: Los Majuelos, San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
Use: Social Center and Church.
Site Area: 550 m2
Total Constructed Area: 1.050 m2
Cost: 600.000 €
Structure: Reinforced concrete
Materials: Reinforced concrete, local stone, golden sheet.
Status: completed Social Center (2005-2008); under construction Church (2005-..)
Client: Holy Redeemer Parish.
Architect: Fernando Menis
Office: Menis Arquitectos
Project Team: Juan Bercedo, Maria Berga, Sergio Bruns (2005-2010), Roberto Delgado, Niels Heinrich, Andreas Weihnacht
Support Staff: Andrés Pedreño, Rafael Hernández (quantity surveyors), Pedro Cerdá (acoustics), Ojellón Ingenieros, Milian Associats, Nueva Terrain SL (services)
Construction: Construcciones Carolina
Cliente: Obispado de Tenerife

Designed in Hackney: we’re kicking off this week’s set of iconic projects designed in the London borough of Hackney with a Stirling Prize-nominated museum of fine art in Denmark by Shoreditch firm Tony Fretton Architects.

Surrounded by agricultural fields, the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum is a white-rendered brick building composed of rectangular forms.

Galleries feature diagonal roof lights, as well as large windows that face out across the rural landscape.

We first published a story about the building when it was completed at the start of 2008, then again when it was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2009.

Architect Tony Fretton founded the firm in 1982 and now co-directs it alongside architect James McKinney. You can find all our stories about them here.

Their office is located on Clifton Street in Shoreditch.

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

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.

Photography is by Peter Cook.

Over the past three years ArchDaily has established itself as one of the largest and most up-to-date resources for architects all around the world, serving as both a place for inspiration and a reliable site to learn about new projects from large firms and small studios alike. Every year they allow their readers to select the Building of the Year, an award that celebrates the best in new architecture. There are fourteen winners in the following categories: Interiors, Offices, Institutional Architecture, Religious Architecture, Cultural, Refurbishment, Houses, Housing, Hotels & Restaurants, Industrial Architecture, Museums & Libraries, Public Facilities, Educational and Sports Architecture.

As a reader myself it’s rewarding a to see projects go from the proposal stage to the finished product. These awards are also a chance for my fellow architecture fans and me to geek out over those buildings near and dear to our hearts, the ones we’ve watched grow from the ground up. The winners were selected after a two-stage voting process with more than 65,000 votes, and while every winning firm is remarkable, here’s a list of some of my favorites. As good as they look in pictures I’ve never visited a single one, so if you’re lucky enough to have been up close and personal with any of these sites please let me know what it was like in the comments so I can live vicariously.

Educational: Milstein Hall at Cornell University by OMA
Religious Architecture: Chapel Tree of Life by Cerejeira Fontes Arquitectos
Public Facilities: Moses Bridge by RO&AD Architecten
Cultural: Tverrfjellhytta by Snohetta
Refurbishment: Town Hall Hotel by rare
Houses: MIMA House by MIMA Architects
Industrial Architecture: Fuleky Winery – TOKAJ by Ejtpitesz Studio

(more…)

Architects TYIN tegnestue of Norway have taken an empty slot in a dense residential area of Bangkok and worked with the local community to build a climbing frame and basketball court.

A year of interviews, workshops and public meetings with the Klong Toey community allowed them to build the structure with the help of residents and students in only three weeks.

It includes new hoops for basketball, a stage for performances and public meetings, walls for climbing and seating both inside and on the edges.

The two-storey structure sits on top of a deep concrete block, which also acts as seating.

Bright lights, recycled wood panels and patterned orange metal frames create a scaffold-like intervention with graffiti and other dwellings as the backdrop.

Wooden stairs and walls allow children to climb up and down the construction and reach small platforms above.

The playground was designed as an open, adaptable space so future communities can add and remove elements as required.

See more work by TYIN tegnestue here.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Klong Toey is currently the largest and oldest areas of informal dwellings in Bangkok. More than 140,000 people are estimated to live here, and most are living in sub-standard houses with few or no tenure rights or support from the government.

The area has great social challenges mostly due to the lack of public services like healthcare, affordable education, sanitation and electricity. An extensive drug problem greatly affects the social climate followed by high unemployment rates, violence and crime.

In addition to the main function as a football court and a public playground the project will work as a tool for the community to tackle some of the social issues in the area.

A crucial factor in the continuation of the project is that the Klong Toey Community Lantern will be part of a long term strategy. This project is part of a development on a larger scale, and it has to be considered as a small contribution that might lead to positive change.

With the local connection established both in the local community and a professional network in Thailand the project has greater chances of having a social sustainability.

The year long preparation period allowed the team to design and build the structure in as little as three weeks.

During this period the project team got involved with the community through interviews, workshops and public meetings.

The design of the structure is a combination of many basic ideas and concepts, and embodies several of the features lacking in the area including new hoops for basketball, a stage for performances or public meetings, walls for climbing and seating both inside and around the edges of the playground.

Space was limited on the site, and it was important to maintain the size of the football field. As a result of these limitations the footprint of the structure measures 12m x 1,2m and the full height of the building is short of 5 meters.

Due to poor ground conditions a concrete base was cast to support the weight of the building.

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The main construction simplicity, repetitive logic and durability enables the local inhabitants to make adaptations that fit with their changing needs without endangering the projects structural strength or the general useability of the playground.

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This way the project runs in parallel with the ever changing surroundings and fits with the idea that the project could be part of a larger call for a more sustainable development in the Klong Toey area.

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Location: Klong Toey Lock 1-2-3, Bangkok, Thailand
Client: Klong Toey Community
Project: Public space
Cost: 35.000 NOK / 4.500 EUR
Building period: February 2011 – March 2011
Area: 91 m2
Built by: TYIN tegnestue with Students and Community

Architects: Kasama Yamtree, Andreas Gr¯ntvedt Gjertsen, Yashar Hanstad, Jeanne-Francoise Fischer, Karoline Markus, Madeleine Johander, Paul la Tourelle, Nadia M¸ller, Wijitbusaba Marome

Students: Natthanan Yeesunsri, Sarinee Kantana, Nuntiwatt Chomkhamsingha, Nantawan Tongwat, Supojanee Khlib-ngern, Nattaporn Seekongplee, Sarin Synchaisuksawat, Nuchanart Klinjan, Panyada Sornsaree, Porawit Jitjuewong, Amornrat Theap-un, Ponjanat Ubolchay, Yaowalak Chanthamas, Boosarin khiawpairee, Praopanitnan Chaiyasang, Kritsana Srichoo, Mario Vahos, Carla Carvalho, InÍs Correia, Sarah Louati, Pola Buske, Tabea Daeuwel, Johannes Drechsler, Lisa Gothling, Alessa Hansen, Albert Hermann, Karl Naraghi, Alexander Neumer, Nandini Oehlmann, Fabian Wolf

Sponsors: LINK Arkitektur. RATIO Arkitekter AS