Hasta La Ideas

A group of disused grain silos near Christchurch in New Zealand are being fitted out as motel rooms.

New Zealand studio F3 Design came up with the concept of reusing the industrial structures, which were used to store feed for farm animals.

Once complete, the Silo Stay motel will provide eight two-bedroom suites, one family unit and a manager’s room.

Each suite will be two storeys high and will have a glazed roof, as well as a kitchen and living room.

A wood pellet boiler inside a separate silo will heat all of the rooms.

F3 Design propose that grain silos could also be reused in cities as offices or information centres.

Another strange hotel room recently featured on Dezeen is the Sleepbox, where airport passengers can take a short nap – see all our stories about hotels here.

Here’s a project description from F3 Design:

Silo Stay Little River

Traditionally grain silos are found in the country filled with feed, surrounded by a distinct waft of, er, farm animals; however ‘Silo Stay’ based in Little River, Banks Peninsula is going against the grain. In this instance, proprietary grain silos are being used as individual motel units as part of an innovative, eco- friendly and affordable accommodation complex.

Silo Stay Little River has eight single units each sleeping two people, an accessible/family unit and a managers unit which will be erected to complete this exciting project. Visionary and founder of this project, Stuart Wright-Stow and his design team, F3 Design, are passionate about environmental sustainability so have designed an energy unit which houses a gravity fed wood pellet boiler to heat the complex. This sits within its own custom designed silo with glazed panels so you can see the energy in the making.

Each two storey unit is 8.7 metres high. The peak has a glazed lid allowing a glimpse of the night sky while relaxing in bed. Upstairs houses a queen sized bed and ensuite while downstairs has a kitchen and living area.

Silo Stay Little River is an exciting project that opens avenues for further ventures . The vision and ingenuity of this design is its versatility of uses in areas which are not necessarily accommodation complexes. These individual units or the larger family complex can be used in a myriad of situations and locations. For example, these units can easily become inner city offices, batches for secluded hideaways, home and office situations, sleep-outs, information centres, accommodation facilities for conference centres, or anything else that requires a compact vessel to accommodate the many needs of both the commercial and domestic sectors.

Along with the grain silo accommodation fit-out and configuration, F3 Design and Stuart have developed drawings for inner city office complexes. If there is a vision for the Silo Units, F3 Design will work with the client to create an exciting outcome to suit anyone’s needs.

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Farmhouse by Catrina Stewart	Oogst 1 Solo by Tjep.	Transformations by Tjep.

Back in May, we offered up a somewhat melancholic post about the Royal Institute of British Architects launching the Pylon Design Competition, a project searching to replace the massive electric towers that dot rural landscapes internationally. At the time, we were prematurely mourning the loss of those iconic metal structures that we’d grown up imagining as giant robots as they passed by on road trips. However, now that the contest’s shortlist has been released, we realize we had no reason to be concerned, as there’s only so much you can do to redesign a structure whose sole purpose is to hold wires high above the ground except to make them more attractive. Six entries have made the shortlist, each a much more aesthetically pleasing rendition of what we have now, some a bit more pronounced and others attempting to slink into the background, going unnoticed. Here’s a bit about our favorite, the “Flower Tower,” designed by Gustafson Porter with Atelier One and Pfisterer:

Flower Tower expresses the transmission of energy through forms associated with nature. In elevation, the Flower Tower reads like a bouquet of flowers or leaves. The bunching together of several ‘stems’ creates structural stiffness at the base. These stems are tied together by connecting plates and horizontal bridges which allow access to maintain the cables. Arcs defined by the cable clearance swings generate curving ‘leaves’, which splay out from the stem. The earth wire is held by a spike or ‘flower’ at the top of the tower.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Continuing this morning of eagerly anticipated unveilings of new architecture, the Berkley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive have released the first renderings of their new home. Following a rough blow back in late-2009 when the two organizations had to scrap plans to build a Toyo Ito-designed new building due to a mix of rough economic times and not finding they were able to reach their fundraising goals, they quickly shifted toward taking over an older building, a large structure that formerly housed a printing plant, and eventually hired Diller Scofidio + Renfro to design the new space for them. Now just over a year after hiring the firm, they’ve unveiled the first plans, offering up a small handful of images of what the project will look like when it’s finished, which is currently planned for sometime in 2015. Here’s a bit about the design from BAM/PFA’s director, Lawrence Rinder:

BAM/PFA’s dynamic exhibitions and programs will find an ideal home in the new facility designed by DS+R. The firm’s plan respects the grand interior of the existing printing plant, while adding to that building a bold new architectural form filled with sensuous colors, materials, and surfaces. DS+R’S commitment to the integration of cultural institutions into the life of cities is embodied in its embrace of transparency and openness as fundamental design principles. At once beautiful and accessible, the new BAM/PFA will be a destination for art and film lovers from throughout the Bay Area, the nation, and the world.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A bare cliff face is visible through the abutting glass walls of a Jerusalem house.

The two-storey house was recently completed by architects Paritzki & Liani, who are based in Tel Aviv.

The L-shaped ground floor of the house is positioned beside the rock face whilst the top floor tunnels into it.

The building has a chequered white facade of Jerusalem stone that is exposed on both the exterior and interior walls.

The residence is named Barud House, after the traditional Israeli warning call for an imminent mountain explosion.

Other recently published projects in Israel include a refurbished apartment with a vaulted ceiling and a house that combines traditional Palestinian and Islamic architecture with modernism – see all our stories about projects in Israel here.

Photography is by Omri Amsalem, apart from where otherwise stated.

Hers’s some more text from Itai Paritzki & Paola Liani:

Barud House by Paritzki & Liani Architects

Barud – a warning call shouted by construction workers before exploding the rock mountain in Jerusalem.

It is superfluous to emphasize that, from our very first visit to the site, impressed by a pink Cyclamen growing out of the rocky face, we decided to allow ourselves to be guided by the raw state of the terrain.

Above photograph by Paola Liani

Our treatment of the site emerged from this stabilitas loci, which we subdivided into three main themes: Jerusalem, a city of rock and stone; wide aerial views; and the sacred architecture of multiple religions intersecting in the skyline. These images composed the texture and backdrop for the project.

The house is positioned accordant to the mountain by constructing its first floor as an L-shape juxtaposed to an exposed rock wall. The living space, screened by glass mediates between a view of the minimal and pure geometric form of the rock on one side, and the landscape panorama on the other.

The two upper volumes, in contrast, project from the landscape, they converge with the rock forming a tunnel. The passageway leads from +6 metres at the top of the site, down to a subterranean room at +3 metres, descending further, to a sequestered subsidiary entrance.

Click above for larger image

Whether from the road, or a path which curls between the drywalls and cypress trees of a nearby property, the house appears a woven surface, even a bas-relief. The effect is composed by alternating 2cm projections of 53 x 25 cm modules of Jerusalem stone. The patterned surface establishes a powerful relationship between the building and the variations in light conditions throughout the day, and the passing seasons.

The composition of natural contours, the mountain, and the house draws out a near serigraphic effect between the constructed and natural landscapes.

If on the outside the chiaroscuro pattern seems screen-printed, the building’s interior allows light to penetrate its volumes, accentuating depth. Daily life in the house runs parallel to the exposed rock, separated by only a slender gap, or wadi: a tribute to the winter rain and snow.

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Jaffa Flat by Pitsou Kedem	Agbaria House by Ron Fleisher Architects	Haifa University Centre by Chyutin Architects

The six shortlisted entries in the RIBA competition to design new electricity pylons for the UK have been announced.

Amanda Levete Architects and Arup propose a bow-like pylon (top), while Gustafson Porter have designed a structure with curving branches (above).

Ian Ritchie Architects collaborated with Jane Wernick Associates to design an asymmetrical pylon (above).

Knight Architects stripped away all unnecessary and oversized components for the design of their Y-shaped structure (above), while Bystrup propose a T-shaped pylon with triangular conductors (below).

Newtown Studio and Structure Workshop’s proposal is a round lattice with a frame that thins towards the top (below).

Models of each entry are on show at the V&A museum in London until 5 October.

The Pylon for the Future competition was organised in collaboration with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the National Grid.

A £10,000 prize fund will be divided among the winning teams and their designs will be considered for development by National Grid.

Dezeen announced the launch of the competition back in May – see our earlier Dezeen Wire.

Another popular story about electricity pylons on Dezeen features structures shaped like human figures – see our earlier story here and see all our stories about pylons here.

Photography is by Zoe Norfolk.

Here are some more details from the competition organisers:

A vision of our electric future: What might Britain’s new pylons look like?

Six Pylon Design Competition finalists unveiled

Chris Huhne opened a display featuring scale models of six striking designs for new electricity pylons to the public today at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The “Pylon for the Future” display forms part of the London Design Festival and is open to the public until 05 October 2011.

The finalists are:

• Silhouette by Ian Ritchie Architects and Jane Wernick Associates
• T-Pylon by Bystrup Architecture, Design and Engineering
• Y-Pylon by Knight Architects with Roughan & O’Donavon, and ESB International in association with MEGA
• Flower Tower by Gustafson Porter with Atelier One, and Pfisterer
• Plexus by Al-A with Arup
• Totem by New Town Studio, with Structure Workshop

Speaking to the finalists Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said:

“Britain will see the equivalent of twenty new power stations constructed by 2020, and we need to use electricity pylons to get this new, low carbon energy to your televisions and toasters, dishwashers and DVD players. We must make sure that we take into account the visual impact on the landscape and also the view of the public, and this is what the pylon design competition is all about. I am highly impressed by the quality of these designs and I hope everyone takes the time to get involved and give their view.”

To coincide with this pylon design display, National Grid has today published its new approach to building new transmission infrastructure. Using this approach, National Grid will put greater emphasis on mitigating the visual impact of its new electricity lines, while balancing this with the need to minimise household energy bills.

National Grid’s Executive Director UK, Nick Winser said:

“Connecting Britain’s new power stations to our homes and businesses will be one of the great infrastructure challenges of the next decade and beyond. Through the use of new technology, pylon design, extensive consultation and undergrounding where appropriate, our new approach will ensure we consider very seriously the visual impact of new transmission lines.”

Chris Huhne commented:

“National Grid’s approach is very welcome, and is consistent with Government policy set out in the National Policy Statements, which Parliament approved in July. Pylons are a vital part of the grid but people in areas potentially affected by new transmission lines can be reassured that alternatives to overhead lines will be actively explored, with undergrounding wherever justified.”

With a new generation of power stations due to come online, in the coming decades, new transmission lines will be needed to carry this new energy to homes and businesses. These lines will connect new sources of power generation, such as wind farms and nuclear power plants.

National Grid’s more sophisticated approach to the visual impact of transmission lines reflects collaboration with Government and builds on the recently-designated National Policy Statements (NPS). National Grid will consider the visual impact of its new electricity lines with greater sensitivity to the beautiful British countryside, while balancing this with the need to minimise household energy bills. It will lead to greater focus on a range of mitigation measures such as undergrounding, re-routing, alternative pylon design.

On 23 May the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and National Grid called for designs for a new generation of electricity pylon. 250 submitted designs from around the world have been whittled down to just six finalists who have been working with the National Grid and Millennium Models to build scale models of their designs for the final judging panel.

As well as exploring the design of the pylon itself, the competition aims to explore the relationship between energy infrastructure and the environment within which it needs to be located. The challenge is to design a pylon that has the potential to deliver for future generations, whilst balancing the needs of local communities and preserving the beauty of the countryside.

The public are invited to comment on the designs via the competition website (www.ribapylondesign.com) until the 5 October and those comments will be taken into account by the judging panel when they make their final decision later that month.

Chris Huhne will chair the judging panel, which will include National Grid’s Nick Winser, former Director of the V&A Sir Mark Jones, architects Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and Bill Taylor, engineer Chris Wise, the journalist Jonathan Glancey, Scottish Power representative Jim Sutherland and a former RIBA President, Ruth Reed.

A prize fund of £10,000 will be shared amongst the winning candidates and National Grid will give consideration to developing the winning design for use in future projects.

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Land of Giants by Choi + Shine	Pylons of the Future by Hugh Dutton Associés	High Voltage Transmisison by Arphenotype