Hasta La Ideas

Slideshow: Indonesian architects Aboday have won a competition to significantly extend their country’s National Museum in Jakarta.

A glazed atrium will separate the original museum from the new building, which will be more than twice as tall.

A waffle-gridded canopy on stilts will shelter this entrance lobby and provide a location for informal exhibitions alongside book and gift shops.

A bronze elephant that is currently positioned at the museum’s entrance will also be relocated into this atrium, marking a central position where corridors converge.

Other projects by Aboday on Dezeen include a house with a spiralling concrete slide – see them all here.

Here’s a lengthier project description from the architects:

Museum Nasional Indonesia
(Open National Competition, 1st Prize Winner)

As a national pride, Museum Nasional Indonesia, located in Jakarta, on the west side of the city’s infamous Monumen Nasional (National Monument with its 24 karat gold coated flame on the top) has been suffering from identity crisis for more than a decade. Occupying an 1862 colonial building from the era of Dutch Governor General JCM Radhermacher; it has an iconic Bronze Elephant in its front yard; a gift from Siamese King Chulalongkorn during his visit in 1871 thus its nickname of Museum Gajah (Elephant Museum).

Despite its long journey as an oldest research institution dedicated to Indonesian history, the museum has only been visited by 200.000 visitor during the year of 2010. This is happened in a city whereby one nearby shopping mall welcoming 30,000 visitor a day; and a research about shopping habits shows that people in this city religiously paying a visit to their favorite mall once in 6.5 day! It doesn’t help that the museum has 145,000 artifact and artwork, the largest of its kind in South East Asia; and that its collection span from the Prehistoric Indonesia to the Independence era of 1945.

A new MasterPlan was produce in 1996 as a result of a closed competition; an attempt to revamp the museum by extending its facilities with commercial supporting areas; even thought it was halted halfway due to the global economic crisis that hit Indonesia badly. This MasterPlan with typical approach of ‘archeological-conservation: copying an existing building to achieve a ‘new harmony’ , resulting on the construction of Building B on the Northern part of the original museum creating a confusing dual identity that put the whole complex in dismay rather than the intended harmony. Some attempt to steal its precious collection also force the museum to develop a massive security fencing eliminating the museum role as a supposedly public facility, to become a building with full surveillance element. The museum complex loose its relevance to the life of cosmopolitan Jakarta.

The new scheme to develop the museum complex try to bring back this massive institution to its original role as public facility. It addresses the question of urban context by inserting a new corridor between the existing museum building (A) and building (B) that will maintain an openness to the pedestrian and city park on the Eastern part of the complex. Called Museum Corridor, this East-West axiality of future urban stream further organized and help visitor to navigate their journey within the museum complex. Shaded by a giant urban canopy, the architect introduce new activities along the corridor in a hope to attract wider audience to the otherwise staid institution. Arrange between the row of slender steel rumboid shape colonnade is a series of social and commercial nodes such as bookshop, museum store, orientation/exhibition hall and choices of F&B areas that will surely attract people in this food heaven city.

Made entirely of steel structure and shading of waffle pattern aluminum fin, the glass covered corridor is a magnified version of open terraces surrounding the perimeter of existing building; an attempt to respect and reflect the old without imitating it as guided by Charter of Venice. In this very space that the architect expect people will start diving into the experiential ambience of contemporary social and museum aesthetic. Without even buying ticket, the first time museum visitors will still be able to enjoy the collection in this passage as display starts as early as in the open garden next to the F & B sitting area. This is part of the idea to widen the exhibition area in the museum complex, as absolutism has been indefinitely ended from the issue of museum display presentation.

Perpendicular to this passage corridor, there is a wide alley on the upper level stitching the existing museum building (A), new building (B) and proposed building (C) . Called Museum Alley, it is connected by the curvilinear gentle ramp; circulating the urban stream from the passage below to the key-points at the North-South end of this alley. It also serves as the main handicap access from the secondary drop of on the Northern side of the complex. Vertically co-join by a series of elevator and ramps, the alley bring people further up to areas of temporary exhibition in Building (B) or Display Storage, Offices and 1000 seater auditorium in Building (C). The highest level of this new building block will be occupied by a museum theme restaurant that will claim the magnificent view of Monumen Nasional as it main attraction.

Click above for larger image

Many of museum collections are now scattered around the existing building, some of them are displayed in the courtyard or open verandah with no proper protection, endangering its lifespan by exposing it to weather. Also the lack of display areas within the building resulting in a very cramp museum interior, where visitor and collections sometimes knocking elbow by elbow. With the new pragmatic program of additional 10.000 sqm exhibition space, this situation will be improved as more collections can now be displayed in proper sequence or story.

Click above for larger image

Positioning these exhibition spaces in layers of levels enable museum goers to create their own choreography during the visit; as display will likely be categorized base on theme rather than chronological year. Aside from the exhibition space, new additional storage area of 5500 sqm in the upper level will be designed as such, that it will actively visible to the visitors. A storage passage of floor to ceiling glass wall for museum goers will be inserted within the storage space, allowing the visitor to have a view of what happened inside; an attempt to reduce the possibility of any wrongdoing to those priceless collection when its shielded from the public view.

To establish the criss cross of new Museum Corridor and Museum Alley as the key-point within the building, the bronze elephant will be relocated, positioned on a 2 storey pedestal right on the crossing path of these 2 main thoroughfares. People from both axial of East-West and North-South will be able to see this iconic sculpture as the museum’s mainvisual connector. Generating objections during the competition presentation as many museum insider are worried that the relocation will cause museum a lost of identity, the architect rather convinced that relocating an old icon to new position will strengthen the meaning and put the symbol into a more relevant context of time and space.

Architect: Aboday

Competition Team
Partner in Charge: Ary Indra
Team: Rafael David, Johansen Yap, Ferdy Apriady, Radhi Maulanza, Vani Wijaya, Agie Aditama, Budi Yono, Dugi Maheswardhitra

Artist Impression: Rizal Bayu
Client: Museum Nasional Indonesia

Slideshow: British architects HAT Projects have completed a seaside gallery in Hastings, England, with a shimmering exterior of black glazed tiles.

Positioned between a fairground and a fish market, the two-storey Jerwood Gallery has a U-shaped plan that folds around a private rear courtyard.

One large hall on the ground floor will host temporary exhibitions, while a permanent collection is housed within a series of domestic-scale galleries upstairs.

Pointed roof lights let natural light into rooms on both floors, which also include an education room, storage areas, a shop and a first-floor cafe.

Another seaside gallery that has opened in the UK in the last year is Turner Contemporary in Margate – see it here or see more stories about galleries here.

Photography is by Ioana Marinescu.

Here’s some more information from HAT Projects:

The Jerwood Gallery is a £3.3m new-build art gallery on the Stade in Hastings, part of a wider masterplan to develop a new public space and community uses on a former coach and lorry park occupying a pivotal seafront site.

Click above for larger image

Hastings has a growing artistic community but is also one of the most deprived towns in the UK and the wider Stade project aims to assist in economic regeneration, through more year-round tourism and higher-income visitors, as well as culturally and socially through creating a facility that will bring national-quality arts experiences to all the community. It also aims to raise internal and external perceptions of the town through creating a new focus for civic pride and identity.

The site sits at the foot of the medieval Old Town, between the East and West Cliffs which dominate the townscape. The Stade – a Saxon word meaning ‘landing place’ – is an interstitial zone between the town and the working fishing beach, and the site is between the ‘Amusement Stade’ of fairground rides and penny arcades, and the Fishermens Stade of the Fishmarket and tall black net shops that are unique to Hastings.

In this extraordinary location, the gallery is conceived as a strong and civic building in a sensitive dialogue with its surroundings.

Click above for larger image

Urban analysis

The masterplanning of the site (also undertaken by HAT Projects) involved detailed analysis of the townscape and urban grain of the area. In particular, the unique listed net shops – not found anywhere outside Hastings – give the eastern end of the Stade a very particular character and urban pattern, with small courtyards between the rows of huts. We felt that it would be important to continue this rhythm along the street, and also to consider views of the net shops very carefully in terms of the new building’s massing.

Lessons were also learnt from how some much larger buildings – in particular, the Fishermens’ Chapel – nestle among the net shops and use more permanent, solid masonry in contrast to the more provisional timber cladding of the huts. East Cliff House – a Georgian structure which was the first ‘gentleman’s residence’ to be built with a deliberate sea view – also gave clues in its massing and hierarcy of a semi-rusticated ground storey projecting to the street, and more elegant ‘piano nobile’ upper storeys set back.

The use of black glazed mathematical tiles on Lavender House, next to East Cliff House, was one of the leads behind the development of the glazed cladding for the Gallery. Robus Ceramics, the Kent- based workshop that produced the replacement mathematical tiles for its restoration, worked with us to develop the bespoke hand glaze for the cladding.

Masterplan and consultation

The brief for the wider site was developed to reflect the needs of the Old Town community in particular, and the traditions in Hastings of holding festivals and celebrations such as Jack-in-the- Green and Bonfire, which previously had no public space in which to focus. The medieval Old Town lacks any fully accessible community buildings and there is very little public open space due to the tight urban grain of the area.

The masterplan was developed with the participation of an extensive network of local groups and representatives. This included residents’ groups, heritage groups, local business, fishermen, arts and education providers, and other local community organisations. This ‘advisory group’ met monthly with HAT Projects and Hastings Borough Council to feed into emerging options and design approaches.
The emerging proposals were tested through several rounds of full public consultation in addition to the ‘advisory group’. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and laid the base for a strong local engagement with the project.

HAT Projects worked with Hastings Borough Council to procure the architects for the detailed design of the other masterplan elements. Tim Ronalds Architects were appointed and the project was completed on site in Spring 2011.

Design

The Jerwood Gallery is designed as a contemporary civic building in a sensitive dialogue with its surroundings.

Clad in hand-glazed black ceramic tiles which refract and reflect the changing seaside light, the gallery’s form is simple but carefully calibrated. It is broadly structured with a relatively inward-looking ground floor around a small internal courtyard, and a more outward facing first floor recalling the ‘piano nobile’ arrangement of a palazzo or villa.

On an urban scale, the building continues the rhythm of the net shops, creating pockets of public realm off the street. The two-storey mass is set to the south of the site, allowing the net shops to be glimpsed over the single-storey entrance and temporary gallery wing which is pushed to the street edge. Facing the public space, the glazing to the first floor cafe window slides back fully to form a covered balcony from which to spectate the festivals and events for which the Old Town is renowned.

Reflecting the character and scale of the Modern British art they will house, the internal spaces are more domestic in scale than industrial art-warehouse, although the space for temporary exhibitions tends towards the latter. The collection galleries generally have views north or east to the Old Town, or into the courtyard, and the arrangement is intended to encourage exploration through the building, discovering unexpected spaces and views, rather than a simple axial plan.

Sustainability

Sustainability has been embedded in the design from first principles, including the orientation and plan diagram of the building, as well as the approach to materials and servicing. All the galleries are naturally lit (with optional blackout in selected spaces) and the building is almost all naturally ventilated, with the exception of the collection galleries where the air-conditioning is driven entirely through ground source cooling. Eleven 120m-deep ground source probes provide all the cooling and 60% of the heating for the building. Solar thermal panels provide most of the hot water for the building, and rainwater is collected and recycled for use in the WCs.

The Foreshore Gallery is naturally ventilated with fresh air drawn through underground ducts from the courtyard through grilles in the floor, and extracted through automatically operating mechanical louvres in the rooflight lanterns. A mechanical supply and extract system is also provided for situations of high occupancy or when exhibitions require a closer acoustic control to the environment. The exposed concrete soffit and concrete floor provide thermal mass, and air can also circulate behind the wall lining, using the thermal mass of the blockwork behind.

Key facts
Gross external floor area: 1380m2 (excluding 80m2 courtyard and 56m2 terrace) Gross internal floor area: 1260m2
Construction budget: £3.3m
Project budget: £4m (not including art collection)
Anticipated CO2 emissions: 27kgCO2/m2/yr – 40% of the CIBSE benchmark for museums and galleries

Design team
Architect: HAT Projects
Structural engineer: Momentum
Services engineer: Skelly & Couch Quantity surveyor: Pierce Hill
Access consultant: People Friendly Design

Main contractor
Coniston Ltd

Subcontractors and suppliers
Glazed tile cladding: Agrob Buchtal Keratwin with bespoke black pewter glaze by Robus Ceramics, installed by ICS Ltd.
‘Plinth’ glazed brick: GIMA Feletto, installed by Dixon Brickwork
Buff brick: Winerberger Pearl Grey, installed by Dixon Brickwork
Curtain wall glazing: Schueco with Senior Systems sliding doors, installed by Prima Systems
Frameless glazing: bespoke system fabricated and installed by Prima Systems Aluminium windows/doors generally: Schueco, installed by Prima Systems. Frameless rooflights (lower roof): Bespoke system by ESB Services.
Aluminium framed rooflights (upper roof): Vitral, installed by ESB Services
Roof covering: Sarnafil, installed by ICS Ltd
Roof pavers (lower roof): Eurodec Bauhaus paver (bespoke product for this project), installed by ICS Ltd
Pavers (terrace) Marshalls, installed by ICS Ltd
Zinc roofing: Rheinzink, installed by T&P Roofing
Granite paving to courtyard: Marshalls
Rubber flooring: Dalsouple
Acoustic timber lining: Topakustik
Insulation: Kingspan generally
Terrazzo: bespoke mixes by Surtech Ltd
Precast concrete stairs: Ebor Concretes
Precast concrete planks: Milbank
Oak flooring: Reeve Flooring
Balustrades, steel screen: fabricated by Iron Designs
Bespoke timber doors: fabricated by DFC Joinery
Doorsets: Leaderflush
Paint (collection galleries): Papers & Paints
Paint (generally): Dulux
Tiles: Johnson Prismatics
Resin flooring: Altro, installed by Surtech Ltd
Polished concrete floor: Contech Ltd
Ironmongery: Yannedis
Bespoke joinery: Canterbury Joinery
Lighting: Deltalight; Erco; iGuzzini; Nimbus; Modular; Etap; Bega.
Signage: graphic identity by Rose Design, signage designed by HAT Projects, fabricated by Bull Signs

Slideshow: a Ferrari automotive museum designed by the late Czech architect and Future Systems founder Jan Kaplický has opened in Modena, Italy.

Following Kaplický’s death in early 2009, the Enzo Ferrari Museum has been completed by London practice Shiro Studio under the direction of former Future Systems associate Andrea Morgante.

The museum comprises two buildings. The first is the early nineteenth century former house and workshop of Ferrari’s father, renovated to house a 40-metre-long gallery, while the second is a new glass-fronted structure that curves around it.

This new non-linear structure has a streamlined yellow aluminium roof that matches the colour of the Ferrari logo and features sliced incisions intended to resemble the air intake vents on the bonnet of a car.

A gently-sloping ramp leads down into the building’s basement level exhibition hall, where up to 21 cars can be exhibited on a series of raised platforms.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

An exhibition of models and key drawings spanning Kaplický’s career took place at the Design Museum the year he passed away – you can find photographs and a podcast from it here.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Photography is Studio Cento29, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by David Pasek

Here’s a more comprehensive project description from Andrea Morgante:

Enzo Ferrari Museum, Modena, Italy

In 2004 Future Systems won an international competition to design a new museum in Modena, Italy. Dedicated to motor racing legend and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (1898 – 1988), the museum comprises exhibition spaces within the early nineteenth century house where the motor racing giant was born and raised, and its adjoining workshop, as well as a separate, newly constructed exhibition building.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Following the death of Jan Kaplicky in 2009, the office of Future Systems was dissolved ¹. Andrea Morgante, formerly of Future Systems and now director of Shiro Studio, was appointed to oversee the museum’s completion. The new building has been constructed to Kaplický’s original design– it is sensitive to the existing historical context, combines the latest in construction and energy saving technology, and resonates in spirit, language and materials with the cars it is intended to showcase. The fully restored house and workshop provide additional exhibition space designed by Morgante.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

New Exhibition Building

The sculpted yellow aluminium roof with its ten incisions – intentionally analogous to those air intake vents on the bonnet of a car – allows for natural ventilation and day lighting, and both celebrates and expresses the aesthetic values of car design. With its 3,300 square metres of double-curved aluminium, the roof is the first application of aluminium in this way on such a large scale. Working together with boat builders whose familiarity with organic sculpted forms and waterproofing made them the ideal partner, and cladding specialists, the form is constructed from aluminium sheets fitted together using a patented tongue and groove system. The bright Modena yellow of the roof is Ferrari’s corporate colour, as seen on the Ferrari insignia where it forms the backdrop to the prancing horse. It is also the official colour of Modena.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Kaplický wanted to create a sensitive dialogue between the two exhibition buildings that showed consideration for Ferrari’s early home and underscored the importance of the museum as a unified complex made up of several elements. The views out of the new exhibition building dramatically frame the house and workshop, while views from outside the house and workshop immediately reveal the function and content of the new exhibition building. The height of the new exhibition building reaches a maximum of 12 metres – the same height as the house – with its volume expanding below ground level. In addition, the new building gently curves around the house in a symbolic gesture of appreciation.

The glass façade is curved in plan and tilts at an angle of 12.5 degrees. Each pane is supported by pre-tensioned steel cables and is able to withstand 40 tonnes of pressure. The technical specification of these panes and cables means that greater transparency in the façade is achieved with maximum functionality. In the summer months a thermo-sensor activates the windows in the façade and roof allowing cool air to circulate. With 50% of the internal volume of the main exhibition building set below ground level, geothermal energy is used to heat and cool the building. It is the first museum building in Italy to use geothermal energy. The building also employs photovoltaic technology and water recycling systems.

Visitors entering the new building have uninterrupted views into the entire exhibition space: a large, open, white room, where the walls and floor transition lightly into one another and are perceived as a single surface. A stretched semi-transparent membrane spreads light evenly across the roof, and in combination with the slits running from side to side which allow air to escape and give a ribbed effect, recalls the language of a car interior. A bookshop and café are situated to one side of the entrance and facilities to the other. Both are painted the same Modena yellow as the roof and take the form of blister-like pods. A gently sloping ramp gradually leads the visitor around the building from the ground floor to the basement level, with display stands designed by Morgante punctuating the circulation path. These stands lift the cars 45 centimetres so that they can be viewed from different angles and appreciated as works of art rather than objects simply placed in a room. Up to twenty-one cars can be displayed in this open space at any one time. Supplementary exhibition material is displayed in leather cases located along the perimeter wall. At the bottom of the ramp and directly below the entrance, an audiovisual room forms a permanent part of the exhibition. A flexible teaching space and a conference room with a carved out opening allowing views up into the entrance area are located next to it.

Restored House and Workshop

The two-storey house and workshop built by Ferrari’s father in the 1830s has been completely refurbished. Later additions to the house and workshop have been removed and, with the exception of two internal bracing structures that have been inserted in accordance with Italian anti-seismic regulations to give structural rigidity, no alterations have been made. The main gallery space is located within what was the double height workshop. Here Morgante has designed a contemporary exhibition display system, which incorporates digital projections, objects owned by Ferrari, information panels and other material.

The display system was conceived as a large-scale vertical book that allows the visitor to read the different chapters of Ferrari’s life through various media; a three-dimensional immersive biography. The system takes the form of a sinuous wall separated into pages, so that as visitors progress down the room, they are obliged to gradually discover each page and chapter in sequence. At every point the next chapter is concealed so as to maintain interest and create a sense of excitement. This organic landscape stretches through the entire length of the 40 metre long space and soft, low-level backlighting gently illuminates both it and the room, making the space intimate in spite of its size. At the northern end of the main gallery, in the original house, two smaller exhibition spaces are located next to one another. Administrative spaces are situated directly adjacent to them and on the first floor.

Client: Fondazione Casa Natale Enzo Ferrari
Location: Via Paolo Ferrari 85, Modena, Italy
Concept design: 2004
Completion date: 2012
Site area: 10,600 m²
Gross floor area: 5,200 m²
Contract value: €14.200.000

Architect: Jan Kaplický (Future Systems)
Project Architect: Andrea Morgante
Competition team: Jan Kaplický, Andrea Morgante, Liz Middleton, Federico Celoni
Project team (Preliminary, Detailed, Construction) (2005-2007): Andrea Morgante, Søren Aagaard, Oriana Cremella, Chris Geneste, Cristina Greco, Clancy Meyers, Liz Middleton, Itai Palti, Maria Persichella, Filippo Previtali, Daria Trovato.
Art Direction (2009-2012): Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)
Gallery Exhibition design: Jan Kaplický (Future Systems), Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)
Enzo Ferrari House Exhibition design: Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)

Project Management and Site Supervision: Politecnica- Modena
Structural, Mechanical & Electrical Design, Environmental Impact Assessement, Health & Safety (Preliminary, Detailed & construction stages): Politecnica

Main Contractor: Società Consortile Enzo
CCC soc. coop. (Leader), Ing. Ferrari s.p.a, ITE Group s.r.l, CSM.
Technical Director: Giuseppe Coppi (CdC – Modena)

A semi-circular vaulted concourse designed by British architects John McAslan + Partners will open at King’s Cross Station in London next week.

The architects, who have been progressing a masterplan for the railway station since 1998, have fully restored the five buildings that comprise the western elevation to serve as a backdrop to the new glazed entrance hall.

The criss-crossing steel structure unfurls like a tree from columns in front of this elevation and folds down around the space.

Departing passengers will be able to access the eight existing platforms in the main train shed, as well as one new one, directly through the new two-storey hall instead of beneath the temporary canopy currently in front of the building.

The architects plan to remove this structure during the next phases of construction to create a new public square.

John McAslan was awarded an OBE for services to architecture at the start of this year.

Other railway stations we’ve featured on Dezeen include Bijlmer Station in Amsterdam and Rossio Station in Lisbon – see them both and more here.

Photography is by Hufton + Crow, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by John Sturrock

Here’s some more information from John McAslan + Partners:

TRANSFORMING KING’S CROSS – LONDON’S HISTORIC STATION ACQUIRES A CONTEMPORARY TWIST

The new Western Concourse at King’s Cross opens to the public on Monday 19th March 2012.

“The transformation of King’s Cross station by John McAslan + Partners represents a compelling piece of place-making for London. The show-piece is clearly the Western Concourse – Europe’s largest single span station structure and the heart of the development, but the overall project is far more complex: an extraordinary, collaborative effort that has delivered an internationally significant transport interchange, fit for the 21st century and beyond.

We are very proud of our role as lead architects and master-planners of the King’s Cross redevelopment, and it’s immensely satisfying to see the project delivered on time, ready for the capital’s celebration of the London Olympics later this year.” John McAslan, Chairman John McAslan + Partners

With this multi-phased development now complete, the significance of the King’s Cross Station redevelopment is finally revealed. The transformation of King’s Cross Station for Network Rail involves three very different styles of architecture: re-use, restoration and new build. The train shed and range buildings have been adapted and re-used, the station’s previously obscured Grade I listed façade is being precisely restored, and a new, highly expressive Western Concourse has been designed as a centrepiece and the ‘beating heart’ of the project. When the station opens to the public next Monday, 19 March, King’s Cross will become a new, iconic architectural gateway to the city, ready for the 2012 London Olympics.

John McAslan + Partners began work on the project in 1998 and established the overall master-plan for the development in 2005. As a result the practice has played a key role in the wider transformation of the King’s Cross area – infrastructural, social and commercial changes that now connect the station with the massive King’s Cross Central scheme north of the station as well as to St Pancras, the London Underground, and the surrounding urban context. The architectural ambition of JMP’s scheme has been to create a new iconic landmark that will function as a key catalyst for the ongoing regeneration of this new London quarter as well as providing striking new facilities that will accommodate the 50 million passengers now passing through the station each year.

WESTERN CONCOURSE

The centrepiece of the £547m redevelopment is the new vaulted, semi-circular concourse to the west of the existing station. The concourse rises some 20m and spans the full 150m-length of the existing Grade I Listed Western Range, creating a new entrance to the station through the south end of the structure and at mezzanine level to the northern end of the Western Concourse.

The 7,500sqm concourse has become Europe’s largest single-span station structure, comprising of 16 steel tree form columns that radiate from an expressive, tapered central funnel. The graceful circularity of the concourse echoes the form of the neighbouring Great Northern Hotel, with the ground floor of the hotel providing access to the concourse. The Western Concourse sits adjacent to the façade of the Western Range, clearly revealing the restored brickwork and masonry of the original station. From this dramatic interior space, passengers access the platforms either through the ground level gate-lines in the Ticket Hall via the Western Range building, or by using the mezzanine level gate-line, which leads onto the new cross–platform footbridge.

Located above the new London Underground northern ticketing hall, and with retail elements at mezzanine level, the concourse will transform passenger facilities, whilst also enhancing links to the London Underground, and bus, taxi and train connections at St Pancras. The concourse is set to become an architectural gateway to the King’s Cross Central mixed-use developments, a key approach to the eastern entrance of St Pancras International. It will also act as an extension to King’s Cross Square, a new plaza that will be formed between the station’s southern façade and Euston Road.

WESTERN RANGE

The Western Range at King’s Cross is the historic station’s biggest component, accommodating a wide range of uses. Complex in plan, and articulated in five buildings, the practice’s considered architectural intervention has delivered greatly improved working conditions for the station staff, train-operating companies and Network Rail management teams. The Northern Wing, destroyed by bombing in World War II, has been rebuilt to its original design. The reinstatement of the Western Range also delivers key gated connections, including a new gate-line at the southern end, now the main point of connection between the Western Concourse and the platforms of the Main Train Shed.

MAIN TRAIN SHED

The station’s Main Train Shed is 250m long, 22m high and 65m wide, spanning eight platforms. The restoration includes revealing the bold architecture of the original south façade, re-glazing the north and south gables and refurbishing platforms The two barrel-vaulted roofs are currently being refurbished and lined with energy-saving photo- voltaic arrays along the linear roof lanterns, while a new glass footbridge designed by JMP extends across the Main Train Shed, replacing the old mid-shed Handyside bridge and giving access to every platform as well as the mezzanine level of the concourse.

Click above for larger image

JMP’s design integrates the main and suburban train sheds for the first time, creating a completely coherent ground- plan for passenger movements into and through the station. Improvements to the Suburban Train Shed located to the north of the Western Concourse and Western Range buildings have enhanced the operation of its three platforms (the busiest in the station during peak-hours).

Click above for larger image

The ambitious transformation of the station creates a remarkable dialogue between Cubitt’s original station and 21st- century architecture – a quantum shift in strategic infrastructure design in the UK. This relationship between old and new creates a modern transport super-hub at King’s Cross, whilst revitalising and unveiling one of the great railway monuments of Britain.

Voici la société Naf Architect & Design qui a pensé cette maison, située dans un quartier résidentiel de Tokyo. Avec un véritable mur d’escalade et un design très épuré, cette construction pensée pour une famille se dévoile en images dans la suite de l’article.

Previously on Fubiz

• Cloudy House
• Eco-Perch
• Paper Architecture

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook