Dezeen Screen: in this next movie from our series filmed at the OMA/Progress exhibition at the Barbican in London, OMA partner Reinier de Graaf talks about the Dutch architecture studio’s preoccupation with “the vacuum left in the wake of the city’s expansion.” Watch the movie »
It was a bit of a shaky restart for the recently rehabbed Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Planning to reopen on Thursday after a reconstruction effort to the 200-year old former train station that cost nearly $30 million and required a closure of two years, the museum was hit by staff protests, which pushed back its opening. The NY Times reports that the staff, most of whom were security guards, were angry over planned “broad government cutbacks that see retiring civil servants – including museum workers – not replaced by new hires” and decided to use the reopening as a publicity-heavy method of getting their message across. That temporary disruption eventually lifted on Friday, giving people a first look at the addition of more than 20,000 square feet, the newly hung Impressionist masterpieces, and most importantly: get a look at the color of those new walls. Perhaps one of the more talked about aspects of the rehab effort is the museum’s decision not to go with the standard all-white gallery walls. Saying that “white is the enemy of painting” given that it can reflect light too brightly and create a subtle aura that washes out the works of art, the museum decided to go with subdued shades of green, gray, etc. Thus far, no one seems particularly bent out of shape over the decision, but the Guardian‘s Jonathan Jones has stood up for white walls in one of his most recent columns, arguing that “there are lots of whites, good and bad” and that sometimes it’s just the best color for art to exist alongside.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Here’s an extremely pointy apartment block by Japanese architects EASTERN Design Office.
The four-storey block with a blue facade, named On The Corner, is located in the Shiga Prefecture, Japan, and occupies a triangular slice of land.
Squares of stone, concrete, glass and glass blocks create a patchwork of materials on the building’s exterior.
Seven apartments are housed within the block, each with one bedroom and an open-plan living room.
Pointed terraces are provided in the building’s most acutely angled corner.
EASTERN Design Office have designed a number of residential buildings, most of which feature unusually shaped windows – see more of the stories here.
Photography is by Koichi Torimura.
Here’s a longer description from the architects:
On the corner by EASTERN design office
A castle where the boys and girls of the story of Michael Ende could be entering. It is a triangular building configured by the square elements!
The site is a manufacturing area in Youkaichi City in Shiga Prefecture. There are many big factories in this town. A lot of immigrants from South America live here among the local people.
This is a residential area as well an industrial area. It is also a popular drinking area where many bars and restaurants for such common people are scattered. There is a highway interchange nearby the town. The shape of the lot is a sharp triangle which is unusual for building a house.
The site is a wedge-shaped flatiron lot which remained at a corner where two streets meet at an acute angel. It was left behind neither residential nor for industrial development. No one wanted to buy it, and the public sector would not invest to change it into a park: a lot remained.
The elevation of this building takes the shape of the triangle plot. It is a triangular residential complex of 13 meters height with the base line 23m x height 12m x oblique line 26m. It is a typical tenanted apartment house with seven rooms, 1-3rd two units on each floor and one on the 4th floor.
Each room is composed of a living room of 13 m2, two bed rooms with 13 m2 and 9m2, a prefabricated bathroom, a kitchen system and a toilet. They are planned to be easy to rent for town people.
The concrete which serves as a structure is designed carefully. Other than that specific materials are not used here. The exterior wall is made out of square cut stone, concrete and glass formed like scattered cards on it. They are bound by a “cross” so that the spread out material would not disjoin.
It looks like a present, a toy box or a castle where the boys and girls of the story of Michael Ende could be entering. It is a triangular building configured by the square elements. The cross confines the power of the mixed materials into one.
A shuffle of stones, concretes, and glass. Keen edge of each material is too sharp. A shuffle of mass and void. The design “on the corner” consists of blue and the cross.
A composition of line and plane surface is created by the clearly distinguished edges of the material.
The confusing imagination is created to make the so far disregarded place interesting, which lies at the corner of messy scenery in an inner city
It belongs to no one.
It is nothing.
It does not belong to anything.
It does not belong to any country.
The edge of the triangular pyramid is like a wrecked boat, a fictional tip of a boat as if it were escaping from town. Where on earth is here?
A corner that makes you feel you are nowhere at the end of the world, where no one can go further anymore. It is far from the center of town, a place which makes you wonder where you are. It is a place to make the town to be nowhere but only here, and it makes you feel like a distinguished person.
We want to highlight the discarded lot from the urban framework by emphasizing its shape, building architecture similar to illusion. An illusion required by the town people. Reality that is similar to an illusion that one town has something to do with someone.
It seems as if this illusion deceives people to obscure their eyesight and feel invited to another world. It is pretentious, yet it is surrealistic too.
Data: On the corner
Location: Shiga,Japan
Completion: 2011
Client: TOYO-KAIHATSU Co., ltd
Site area: 261m2
Total floor area: 567 m2
Structure planning: HOJO STRUCTURE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Constructor: Okudakomuten Co., Ltd
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| Keyhole House by EASTERN Design Office | House Awaiting Death by EASTERN Design Office | Slit Court by EASTERN Design Office |
Architect Li Xiaodong has completed a library in China that’s covered in firewood.
Located on the outskirts of Beijing, the single-storey Liyuan Library houses its collection of books within a chunky timber frame.
Stepped platforms integrate low level shelves and provide seating areas for readers.
The sticks cover a glazed shell that encases the library.
We’ve also featured a library in Japan with an exterior of timber bookshelves covered by glass and another in Germany with a golden facade – see more stories about libraries here.
Photography is by Li Xiaodong
Here’s some more text from Li Xiaodong:
Liyuan Library
This project is modest addition to the small village of Huairou on the outskirts of Beijing, just under a two hours drive from busy Beijing urban life.
On the one hand it forms a modern programmatic complement to the village by adding a small library and reading space within a setting of quiet contemplation. On the other hand we wanted to use architecture to enhance the appreciation of the natural landscaping qualities.
So instead of adding a new building inside the village center, we chose this particular site in the nearby mountains, a pleasant five minute walk from the village center. In doing so we could provide a setting of clear thoughts when one consciously takes the effort to head for the reading room.
Because of the overwhelming beauty of the surrounding nature our intervention is modest in its outward expression. We can’t compete with nature’s splendor. The building blends into the landscape through the delicate choice of materials and the careful placement of the building volume. Especially the choice of material is crucial in blending with the regional characteristics. After analyzing the local material characteristics in the village we found large amounts of locally sourced wooden sticks piled around each house. The villagers gather these sticks all year round to fuel their cooking stoves. Thus we decided to use this ordinary material in an extraordinary way, cladding the building in familiar textures in a way that is strikingly sensitive.
The inside of the building has a very expressive character though; its interior is spatially diverse by using steps and small level changes to create distinct places. It frames views towards the surrounding landscape and acts as an embracing shelter. The building is fully glazed to allow for a fully daylight space. The wooden sticks temper the bright light and spread it evenly throughout the space to provide for a perfect reading ambience.
Architect: Li Xiaodong/Atelier
Team: Li Xiaodong; Liu Yayun; Huang Chenwen; Pan Xi
Location: Jiaojiehe village, Huairou county, Beijing, China
Floor area: 175 sqm
Client: Jiaojiehe village
Construction period: Mar 2011 – Oct 2011
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| University Library by Sou Fujimoto Architects | Livraria de Vila by Isay Weinfeld Arquitecto | Book Mountain by MVRDV |
We miss those halcyon days before the end of 2008 and the total financial collapse, back when every day you could find a story about some type of crazy architecture or museum project going up in Dubai. Remember the suspicious architect behind the Dynamic Tower? Or the plans for the iPad, the building that pre-dated Apple‘s table device by several years, and was instead a skyscraper that looked like an iPod? It was a fun time to watch the endless, silly spending. Of course, all that wild speculation ended exactly how it usually does, with a total implosion. So it’s nice, now nearly three years after that all ended, to catch a brief glimpse of those ridiculous glory days. Arabian Business reports that a Dubai architect is on the hunt for investors to help him build a Herbie theme park. After reportedly trying to get it launched Abu Dhabi and not having much luck, the architect is now trying elsewhere, hoping that he’ll find enough money to construct a multi-million dollar homage to the VW Bug star of several Disney films. Already they have a leg up on the project, having secured a number of the original cars used in the films, including the last incarnation, used in the 2005 film Herbie: Fully Loaded. The news outlet reports that “Initial designs for ‘Herbieland’ include a central building in the shape of a giant baseball, which would house a museum, workshop and cafe.” Good ol’ Dubai.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
New York-based architecture and design firm 0 to 1 recently completed a project called “Artist Retreat.” Located in Fiskars, Finland—an artist-centric village of scissors fame—the private guest house was commissioned by a Finnish fine artist as a live/work space for a guest artist.
The sectional shape [the yellow quadrilateral at the end] is a quarter of an octagon. It increases in size from building front to back creating a utility cube with sleeping loft above at the higher end, a work space in the middle and an outdoor terrace at the lower end.
According to 0 to 1, “the form was generated from local climate, Finnish culture, and functions / guidelines provided by the Artist.”
It’s certainly a compelling structure—almost furniture-like in form, constructed from impeccable materials—yet I can’t help but wonder about how much of the interior actually functions as a studio—i.e. there’s a reason why artists prefer warehouses and lofts.
After this spring’s tense stand-still between artists and activist and the Guggenheim over the safety and financial considerations for construction workers working on the organization’s new Abu Dhabi location, the Frank Gehry-designed project has once again hit a delay. The National reports that the concrete contract has been recalled from the company hired for the job last year, which will more than likely push back the planned opening date of the new museum, currently slated for 2013, depending on how long this delay lasts. BusinessWeek reports that the state-run group who is helping construct the project, the Tourism Development and Investment Company, is responsible for the delay, saying that they’d recalled the contract “due to a review of its project procurement strategy.” When that review will end is now anyone’s guess.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Architects mihadesign have completed a Tokyo house with sloping skylights, suspended lofts and a staircase that spirals around a wall.
This wall is one of three timber partitions that split the two-storey house, named Gate, into four portions.
The roof zigzags up and down, providing space for two ledge-like lofts above a study and one of two bedrooms.
Externally, ridged green steel clads the the house, which occupies a plot less than five metres wide.
This project shares a few characteristics with a couple of other Japanese houses on Dezeen – see our earlier stories about one with a private balcony concealed behind the facade and another with five roofs that pitch in opposing directions.
Photography is by Sadao Hotta.
The following information was written by the architects:
Gate
This house is for a couple and a girl and located at Shinjuku, in Tokyo.
The site is a long and thin rectangle shape of 4.5m width and 18m depth from south to north.
By the three bearing wall, the long and thin volume of two layers is divided into four in the direction of the short.
The bearing walls have some holes which residents, light and wind pass through.
In order to take in the sunlight as much as possible, the roof has zigzag form and has top light which delivers the light and wind to the ground floor.
Each spaces are lined up from the entrance in an order of the level of privacy: Public spaces such as living and dining and kitchen comes first, and then more private spaces such as restroom and bathrooms will appear deep in the house.
You can go to the first floor by going up the stairs at the living room, going through the hole of the wall, and watching the dining room underneath.
When you go back to the south via the corridor with closet and study space, you will arrive at the girl’s space. When you go to the north, you will be at bedroom.
The design of the relationship between well and floor, wall and ceiling, and the shape of open ceiling space and windows had been adjusted so that people will feel inclined to go and see beyond the walls of this deep house.
Site: Sinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Site area: 84.75㎡
Building area: 50.66 m2
Floor area ratio: 88.39 m2
Building height: 6700 mm
Design: April 2010 – September 2010
Beginning of construction: September 2010
Completion: December 2011
Design architect: mihadesign
Structure engineer: ejiri structure design office
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| House in Ookayama by Torafu Architects | Inside Out by Takeshi Hosaka Architects | House Folded by ALPHAville |
Grey and white blinds create a chequerboard pattern against the facade of this Barcelona school by MMDM Arquitectes.
The three-storey Castellbisbal School is located in a town just outside the city, on a site that slopes by approximately seven metres.
The monochrome blinds screen three rows of windows across the building’s front elevation.
A large courtyard behind this entrance block provides breakout spaces for students between lessons.
Children between the ages of 3 and 16 years old are taught at the school, separated within the building into a kindergarten, a primary school and a secondary school.
To see a few popular stories about schools, including a Stirling-prize winning academy in south London by Zaha Hadid, click here.
Photography is by Eugeni Pons.
Here’s a more detailed description from MMDM Arquitectes:
Nursery – Secondary School. From 3 to 16 years.
C/ Major – C/ del Doctor Llarc. Castellbisbal (Barcelona)
Background source and environmental data:
Castellbisbal is a municipality in the province of Barcelona. It is a town of about 13.000 inhabitats, situated in a geographically rugged area with agricultural tradition that actually has turned into an industrial activity.
The demographic progresión of Castellbisbal in recent years has gone hand by hand together to a strong urban growth complemented with the construction of new facilities to meet the demands of the arising population. The kindergarten, lower and high school (3-16 years) is an example of this.
The planned location for the new building is located on the north part of the town, right next to the cementery.
The plot limits to the east with Major street and south with Dr. Llarc streets where you can still see the trees of the old faro that occupied the site. It has an area of approximately 10.372,95 m2 and L-shaped geometry with unequal lengths. The main slope goes downhill from eat to west, reaching a maximum height of about 7 meters in between its farthest points.
A high voltage line and the minimum distance that must be maintained to the walls of the cemetery are the limits added to the one of the own plot. The concern for the organization of outdoor areas to avoid useless areas, causes a new limit, self-imposed, which reduces even more the scope for action.
The disposition of the outdoor areas generates a visual sight without barriers that drown the leisure hours of students.The resulting space is occupied by a building, which out stands at the perimeter of a cloister, emptying the interior space used as a patio.
Functional criteria:
The program is divided into three functional levels that appear as the ground level looses height. From the Major Street a unique floor is recognizable as the other levels are below the ground level of the street. This level of organization responds to the desire to minimize earthworks. The new topography is suited to the new uses, as well as to avoid a construction of greater impact.
The main entrance to the building is through a large inclined plane that leads to the intermediate level, thus, reduces the vertical routes within the school. This great space will be closed once the students have entered school in the morning, becoming part of the recreational areas of the center.
Once the main access is closed, the access to the school will be available through the kindergarten and administration access.
The outdoor spaces are designed to form a continuos stream bottoms to avoid residual spaces. You may move from onte to the other without going through the same point again. The treatment of these areas combine the hard surfaces with benches and green spaces with deciduous trees.
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Compositional criteria:
The building is seen as a compact volume, clear geometry, which avoids the major linear routes to be closed on itself causing an outdoor space in the inside. This space, as well as providing lighting and ventilation, causes visual cross sights from all of its sides while leading as through its slight slope at the courtyard areas.
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The same resource is used in the main access, a slightly inclined plane that guides almost in a natural movement the students into the school. The entrance area is designed combining the hard surfaces with benches and green spaces with deciduous trees.
The realisation of the skin of the building is proposed with lacquered microwaved aluminium sheets. This material achieves an excellent definition of the volume while its stripes softens it to the senses.
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The composition of the facades combined with deployé lacquered aluminium, other metallic which allows us to ignore the position of openings and at the same time protects from solar incidence.
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The west facade is formally resolved with a single opening with ajustable slats to hide modules that a number of different program windows. In opposition to this uniformity large openings that are strategically distributed help to lighten the volume of major proportions.
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Constructions and sustainability:
The project presents a very detailed topographic adaptation to minimize waste excavation and compensate small movements of land.
On a constructive sense prefabricated concrete elements have been used in the structure and in this elements that are used as facade support to the ventilated facade systems of different lacquered aluminium (flat sheets, punched and deployé various sections) to achieve a specific solar control and greater energy efficiency, and to improve acoustics conditions in the center and a reduction in construction waste. There has been an interest to work with local providers and to reduce indirect environmental impacts.
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At the same time different systems are placed to reduce consume: a system of solar panels for hot water, a rainwater collection system for irrigation and toilet cisterns, control systems and lighting low-power sensors with presence, and photoluminescent systems, ventilation system control CO2 sensors, cross ventilation in all rooms, the creation of outdoor spaces and planting deciduous trees to improve the external conditions.
Click above for larger image
Client: AYUNTAMIENTO DE CASTELLBISBAL
Site area: 10.372,95 m2
Floor area: 5.313,56 m2
Project: Febrero 2010
Beginning work: Phase 1 (25 march 2010) – Phase 2 (02 august 2010)
Final work: Phase 1 (30 july 2010) – Phase 2 (29 july 2011)
PEC: 6.274.325,20 euros
Architects: mmdm arquitectes s.c.p.
Frans Masana Castanys – Joan Dalmases Martí
Collaborating Architect: Helena Mercader Bonaventura
Structure: Bernúz – Fernández Arquitectes S.L.
Engineering: Terrassa Ingenieros S.L.
Quantity surveyors: Bramons, Sitjà, Bassols i Associats S.L.
Construction: VOPI 4
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| Les Cabanyes by Arqtel Barcelona | West Buckland School by Rundell Associates | Mondragon University by Hoz Fontan Arquitectos |
A Jewish purification ritual takes place in the pools of this Mexico City bathhouse.
To be acknowledged by the Jewish faith, Mikve baths must be constructed following a strict set of criteria that specifies what materials can be used and the precise layout.
Mexican firm Pascal Arquitectos originally constructed a small bathhouse on the site twenty years earlier, which they have now replaced with the larger Mikve Rajel building.
A large white-glass box sits atop the new timber panelled structure, containing a first-floor reception.
Beyond this, a sequence of washrooms surround the two Mikve pools, providing places for each visitor to prepare for their purification.
Once each person has immersed themself entirely in the pool they leave the Mikve through a separate door.
For more architecture connected with the Jewish religion, see our earlier stories about a meditation house also by Pascal Arquitectos and a community centre covered in glazed ceramic tiles.
Photography is by Víctor Benítez.
The following text is from the Pascal Arquitectos.
Mikve Rajel
The Mikve is the ritual bath of purification in the Jewish religion. It is possible diving in fresh spring water, or in a place specially dedicated to it, fed by rainwater that must be collected, stored and communicated to the vessel that is called a Mikve.
All this must be made under a very strict set of rules related to the degree of purity of water. These rules also include the use of materials, architectural measures and water treatment.
The Mikveh is mostly used by women once a month, and for the brides to be, for conversions and certain holidays.
There is also a Mikveh used for the purification of all elements of kitchen and food preparation.
Mikveh is known to represent the womb, so when a person enters the pool, it’s like to return to it, and when it emerges, as if reborn. In this way, you get a totally new and purified condition.
Its symbolism represents at the same time, a tomb, therefore, can not be performed the ritual bath in a tub, but must be built directly into the ground.
The fact that illustrates the Mikveh much as the woman’s womb and at the same time as the grave, becomes not a contradiction, since both are places where you can breathe, and at the same time are endpoints of the cycle of life.
This project has a special meaning for us. 20 years ago we designed Mikve. Rajel, it was the first “designed” Mikve, there were other such places but not very fortunate, dirty and neglected, community members were not going any longer, and the ritual was dissapearing, which according to the Jewish religion is the most important.
When designing the mikvah Rachel we really did not know which would be the consequences of its actual use, how the event was to going to unfold. It was so successful that all the communities began to make their own Mikves, but more than mystical spaces they seemed like luxury spas.
Click above for larger image
Today 20 years later we realize that the event for the brides becomes a big celebration, and that there was not room for all the assistance, plus 20 years of use is also influenced by architectural trends of the moment puts it out of time and so we have to destroy it to create a new proposal that meets the changing needs , both aesthetic and use.
The reception becomes a big box of white light, suggesting purity. No columns, just delicate natural aluminum vertical beams and white glass, floors in Santo Tomas marble, modern and sleek white sofas and starring up the wall and turning on the ceiling, a mural of the artist Saul Kaminer.
The corridors around the building giving access to washing bathrooms and from these in to the Mikve, it must be a separate access and exit, as you enter impure and exit pure, , contrasting the dark on the floor and walls and ceilings in white enhancing the visual drama with recesed lighting .
The bathrooms are marble-lined in Santo. Thomas unpolished and polished white glass, stainless steel furniture and Arabescato marble, from here we enter to the Mikve, tall space with a gable roof of which is collected water to be used in the ritual. Cumaru wood paneling, marble floors and St. Thomas lined pool.
Interior Design: Pascal Arquitectos, Carlos Pascal and Gerard Pascal
Construction: Rafael Salame
Furniture: Pascal Arquitectos
Address: Lomas de Tecamachalco, Cuidad de México, México
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| Tamina Thermal Baths by Smolenicky & Partner | Kanebo Sensai Spa by Gwenael Nicolas | Therme Wien by 4a Architekten |
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
