Slight Awkwardness as More State and Federal Money Needed to Help Pay for Boston’s Tea Party Museum

Last summer, you might recall that the city of Boston made a move that looked to be capitalizing on the then yet-to-be-determined, widespread popularity of the Tea Party activist movement by announcing plans to build a new Boston Tea Party Museum (honoring the original event, not the current incarnation). Three parties would be tasked the raise the $25 million needed to build the museum (or rather, rebuild, as the original burnt down in 2001 and then it burnt down again when they tried rebuilding in 2007), a collaboration between the city, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and the company, Historic Tours of America. That was a hefty price tag to begin with, but as the Boston Herald reports, it was originally intended to cost just $9 million and has since shot up another $3 million since last summer’s announcement, bringing it in currently at roughly $27 million to finish by next year. What’s more, the paper reports that a healthy chunk of that money is coming from both state and federal aid, or even being diverted from other government spending, like $3 million from a fund originally “slated for affordable housing.” The Herald, perhaps trying to give the story’s angle a bit of a nudge, mention early on that this direct government funding doesn’t exactly cotton to current Tea Party members’ worldview of less spending. They even talk to the head of the local chapter, who says, “The government shouldn’t be involved in something like this, in any way.”

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Four-Cornered Villa by Avanto Architects

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

Helsinki studio Avanto Architects have completed this house with four wings overlooking four distinct views in Virrat, Finland.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

Called Four-Cornered Villa, the house is stained black on the outside and clad with light wood inside.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

The lakeside building has no running water and draws power from solar cells.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

Photographs are by Anders Portman and Martin Sommerschield.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

The information below is from Avanto Architects:


The site is situated on a horse shoe shaped island and faces north and east. The cross like shape of this simple villa reaches towards four very different views.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

The space is open and defined at the same time. The exterior is treated all black and to contrast the interior is very light.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

Dark color makes the building disappear totally when seen from the lake. The roof is flat – there is some warm irony to the clichés of modern architecture.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

The building is insulated well and heated by wood only resulting in a carbon neutral building.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

There is no running water and the electricity is provided by the sun. Vegetables and herbs are cultivated on site and the Vaskivesi Lake is known as a good place to catch pike-perch.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

The simple and ascetic life at the countryside differs dramatically from the hectic city life and provides a possibility to live a life with a minimum impact to the nature.

Four-cornered villa by Avanto Architects

Four-cornered villa
Location: Virrat
Gross floor area:78 m2 + sauna 24m2
Budget: 150 000 €
Client: The architect
Structural design: Konstru Oy / Jorma Eskola
Electrical design: Virtain Sähkötyö Oy / Väinö Sipilä


See also:

.

Shingle House by
NORD Architecture
Prefabricated Nature
by MYCC
Trufa by Anton
García-Abril

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

This athletics track in Alicante by Spanish studio Subarquitectura has an alternative track that loops up over the roof of the changing room.

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

Athletes can stick to the flat, standard track or deviate over the little hill behind a bank of spectators.

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

More architecture for sport on Dezeen »

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

More about Subarquitectura on Dezeen »

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

The text that follows is from the architects:


3D ATHLETICS TRACK
Elda, Alicante / SPAIN

Designing an athletic track could get you as bored as when you are running on it: curve, straight, curve, straight, again and again…

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

Perfectly standardized, sport architecture has become more universal than international style. Track length of 400 m, 36.5 m radius. 1.22 m each lane… just data, without any fissure to let your imagination soar.

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

We have added to the conventional track an alternative one, amateur and funny, raised and three-dimensional. It goes off on a tangent, covers the changing rooms and returns to the conventional track.

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

As new ways are available for athletes, spectators get involved in the sport activity, seated in-between this two tracks.

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

This is our tribute to all the sport pioneers that created new ways of performing that later others followed. Tom Burke, Dick Fosbury, Graeme Obree….

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura

Period of construction: 2009-2010
Architects: Subarquitectura ( Andrés Silanes, Fernando Valderrama & Carlos Bañón )

3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura
Promotor: Ayuntamiento de Elda
Constructor: CYES


See also:

.

Evelyn Grace Academy by
Zaha Hadid Architects
Sports Hall by Franz Architekten&Atelier MauchTraining centre by
Chartier-Corbasson

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Faceted wooden panels divide the interior of this house in Kyoto, Japan, by architects ALPHAville.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

The steel structure allows for an open interior where all floors are visually linked.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Photographs are by Kei Sugino and K Takeguchi.

The information that follows is from the architects:


New Kyoto Town House

The most characteristic feature of this house is the polyhedral form of the partition walls. They are not made by intuition but are based on logical concepts and perform multiple functions.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

First, the partition walls, normally extended in the vertical and horizontal directions, have multidimensionality and loosely connect the rooms on the three floors.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

The space thus created is one continuous room with dynamic nuances: it is simultaneously spacious and heterogeneous.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Second, the partition walls serve as reflectors of natural light.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

They softly reflect the natural light coming from both the north and south sides and bring it to the otherwise dark interior of the building.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Finally, the partition walls blur the boundary between architecture and furniture, thus stimulating perception and behaviour.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Melt into floors and ceilings, the plywood-finished walls offer enjoyable experiences of touching and passing.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

The house as a whole is a machine for living, like playground equipment.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Influence in Asia

Because of the landscape regulations and the physical context of the neighbourhood, we inherited the traditional form and composition of townhouses. But at the same time, this house overcome the negative aspects of townhouses.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

The wooden structure of townhouses cannot afford to have large openings on the short sides of the building as well as on floors. Consequently, the interior is dark and communications of people are limited to the horizontal direction.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

In this project, it is the steel rigid frame and the polyhedral partition walls that enable to overcome the drawbacks of typical townhouses. Large openings on the walls and the floors, along with the partitions, allow natural light to diffuse multidirectionally, and encourage three dimensional communications and movements.

New Kyoto Town House by ALPHAville

Freed from the constraints of the old system, occupants can have various relations with each other and place, and a new lifestyle in the historical area of Kyoto emerges.


See also:

.

SN.House by
atelierA5
Himeji Observatory House by KINO architectsHouse Shimouma by
Kazuya Saito Architects

Thomas Phifer and Partners

Modernism grounded by the natural world in this architect’s first monograph
book1.jpg

The beautifully simple design of architects Thomas Phifer and Partners’ first monograph (even lacking page numbers) almost rivals the buildings themselves. Rather than rely on text and sketches, high-res photographs and renderings show in vivid detail what makes the firm’s stunningly minimalist ideas and emphasis on eco-friendly construction so renowned.

TP-200.jpg

Central to their design process is the use of technology to connect inhabitants to the building’s surroundings rather than creating a divide. Naturally-lit, floor-to-ceiling structures in glass and steel favored by Phifer and his design team make this connection—what they call “Modernism from a humanist standpoint”—most clearly.

TP-50.jpg TP-51.jpg

But this connection to nature goes further than a picture window; natural elements inform eco-conscious solutions to lighting, heating and cooling, working with the seasons to deepen residents’ relationship to their environment.

TP-500.jpg

The American-made monograph is available through Amazon.


The Bay by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

These twenty lakeside villas in the Qingpu district of Shanghai are designed by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu of Beijing.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

The Bay project combines local vernacular elements like gabled walls and sloping roofs with grey stone, aluminium doors and steel screens.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

More about Shanghai on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from the architects:


The Bay, Qingpu District, Shanghai

Yung Ho Chang/Atelier Feichang Jianzhu

The Bay Garden is located at Qingpu district, Shanghai. The site was once used as a fishpond of nearly 43 hectares, with an ideal ecological environment. In the breeding season, a large number of water birds perched there. Our parcel is situated at the Island B, with altogether 20 houses of five types. The building areas aboveground vary from 514 sq. meters to 1022 sq. meters.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

In our design, we try to bring together the architecture and the context. The latter is both natural and cultural — the water is a key element of the natural and the architectural tradition of the south is the prominent feature in the cultural. Meanwhile, the contemporary lifestyle and construction condition determine that the architecture will not be a mere repetition of the tradition.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

Thus, the design was developed with a set of keywords: disperse, courtyard, and garden.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

Disperse—to take apart the different functions of a villa and then reorganize them into small groups. This move makes one building more of a combination of several buildings. In this way, more rooms are ensured good ventilation and day light which fits the humid and rainy climate of the locality and also blends the space inside and scenery outside.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

Courtyard—the regrouped villa embraces several enclosed and half-enclosed courtyards of different sizes, providing the inhabitants livable outdoor spaces.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

Garden—the landscape from the road to water introduces the residents a leisurely lifestyle. It also echoes the experience in a traditional southern garden. So far, each villa is a house as well as a miniature garden. People come here for the enjoyment of everyday life as well as sceneries.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

In form, the gable wall and sloped roof reflect the traditional building elements in the vernacular architecture of the south whereas the untraditional construction materials—grey stone, aluminum alloy doors, windows and roofing, a steel channel that frames the wall, etc. — are a new interpretation of the regional heritage.

The Bay by Atelier FCJZ

Project Information:
Project: The Bay, Phase 1
Location: Qingpu District, Shanghai
Client: Shanghai Qingchen Real Estate Development Co., LTD.
Designer: Atelier Feichang Jianzhu
Principal Architect: Yung Ho CHANG
Project Architect: Liu Lubin
Project Team: Wang Siuming, Liu Yang, Shi Chao, Qiu Yukui
Construction Drawing: China Shanghai Architectural Design & Research Institute CO., LTD
Constructor: Zhejiang Shunjie Construction Group Co., LTD
Interior Design: Li Weimin
Building Area: 19,495.9 sq. meters
Stories: 2 stories aboveground, 1 story underground
Structure Type: Reinforced Concrete Frame Structure
Design Period: 2006-2010
Construction Period: 2007-2010


See also:

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D House by
Panorama
Fiscavaig Project by
Rural Design
Urezkoenea House by
Peña Ganchegui Asociado
s

Casa Moderna – Mexico

This 2 bedroom/2 bath house designed by noted architect Jorge Gracia is a special mix of 50’s modern and Mexican Rustic. The open plan design lets in ..

Tokyo Balconies by KINO Architects

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

KINO Architects of Japan have completed this four-storey timber and concrete house in Tokyo with balconies on each level.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

The Tokyo Balconies house has been designed to simultaneously comply with the height regulations of two zoning areas, as the north sits in a residential zone and the south side is in a commercial zone.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

The house has a large balcony on the top floor to the north, overlooking the skyline of Shinjuku.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

More projects in Tokyo on Dezeen »
More by KINO Architects on Dezeen »

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Photographs are by Daici Ano.

The following is from the architects:


Tokyo Balconies

In Tokyo where building density is high both the “Geographical map”, defining the undulating land, and “Town planning and zoning regulations” have a large influence on construction. This house is on a site where the features of these two geographical maps come together successfully.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

This site is off a busy shopping street in the middle of Tokyo. The southern part of the site belongs to a “commerce” zone, and the northern part to a “1st priority residential” zone. To the north of the site the residential zone continues. These two different zones have different regulations in regard to the height of buildings.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

The design proposes to make the best use of building on the boundary of two zones. The design included four floors with a large balcony to the north on the top floor. This balcony could also take advantage of the geography to the north giving an outstanding view of the skyscrapers of Shinjuku.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

The balcony feature from the top floor is repeated on each floor; internal space is enhanced with outside balcony space. It is too difficult to provide a garden in the super-high density Tokyo environment; also balconies are not included in the calculation of building volume. Therefore many balconies were used to produce an urban garden.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

The balconies have two additional roles: to communicate with the surroundings and to obstruct a direct view from the road. The balconies gradually connect the inside and outside.

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Architect : Masahiro Kinoshita / KINO architects location : Tokyo, Japan

Principal use : private residence

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Structure : wooden, partly reinforced concrete

Scale of building : 1basement and 3 stories

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Site area : 49.65 m²

Building area : 31.12 m²

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Total floor area : 103.88 m²

Himeji Observatory House by KINO architects

Completion : 2010.05

Tokyo-Balconies KINO Architects

See also:

.

SN.House by
atelierA5
Himeji Observatory House by KINO architectsHouse Shimouma by
Kazuya Saito Architects

Wear House by AUAU

Wear House by AUAU

This house in Seto, Japan, by architects AUAU is wrapped in a faceted shell.

Wear House by AUAU

Called Wear House, the project has bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor with a living room upstairs that opens onto a terrace.

Wear House by AUAU

The outer shell is made of fibre-reinforced plastic.

Wear House by AUAU

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

Wear House by AUAU

Photographs are by: Yoshimura Masaya

Wear House by AUAU

The information below is from the architects:


Location :Seto, Japan
Function :Personal residence
Site area :   182.63áu
Building area : 67.34áu
Total Floor Area :91.51áu
Stories : 2FL
Structure (materials) : Wood
Finish :(exterior =fiber reinforced plastics, interior =plaster)
Wear House by AUAU
Completed date : 2010.03
Client :personal
Interior Design :Akitoshi Ukai/AUAU
Landscape Design :Akitoshi Ukai/AUAU
Structural engineer :Kenji NAWA/NAWAKENJI-M
Constructional engineer :Mizuno construction company
Supervision :Akitoshi Ukai/AUAU
Wear House by AUAU

WEAR HOUSE]:YSY HAUS

Outline of design
It is a small house for two small children and young couple. The blank and coming in succession were invented by making the best use of the vertical interval in the small hill, making “Enclosure” as the life scene place in the average of a dynamic flow that connected the earth to the sky, and dressing “Wear” the outside. This creates an inside, outside new relation and sense of distance, reinforces the subject soft “Enclosure” structurally by “Wear”, assumes the strengthened plan, and has both the role to ease the thermal environment in the environment.

1,Landscape
The row of houses that queues up on the opposite side of the earthenware mortar geographical features where Seto river was placed it is possible to command the town in the strait from the site where commanding to which it goes up on a steep slope in Seto city is good to the south and it can command a view of mountains in the interior in addition, and the main three axis lines of direction of the direction of Nagoya, the direction of the strait, and Nagakute can be recognized. A dynamic landscape that became like a huge gingival trough and the prefecture having woods where it is edging removed have a peculiar ecosystem for the potter’s clay mining for pottery that is called behind Grand Canyon in the strait. The road from the closest station is winding, geographical features where ups and downs are intense is characterized, and the retaining wall of a big weight type to adjust it with the vertical interval characterizes the landscape of this ground. It was thought that it wanted to make a plane a plan so that the element of these landscapes memorized in the body was reflected in the space of construction, and it tied them more directly.

2,Individuality that makes the best use of piece
I walked with client and town, searched for land, surrounding town was collected, the planning was decided by the process of thinking about the family’s life together, and the cooperation of labor work with the client was proceeded. It thought about the cooperation arranging the private room on the first floor, and the living space that held the view concurrently was distributed to the second floor. It composed piling up the box of each life, and considering each glance while thinking about the opening. And, the design was advanced in the process of wrapping it in the person summary with “Wore”. The ideal way to which the piece or more helped by esteeming the individuality of each life, and bringing it together by another individuality was requested. The second floor becomes openhearted at a dash, and actually feels the existence of “Wear” while the first floor is a set of the box when entering an internal space. The scenery seen from the window can be intentionally experienced as turned over.
3,Pile it up.
The box of life fused and the fundamental form of living “Enclosure” composed by the wall, the window, the floor, and the roof was passed, and the part and the blank where the film came in succession by wrapping “Wear” from the outside were able to be done, and a little middle area was caused. This is thought to be separate the film that applies the agreement with town as the container of life. It compared it by the material feeling by using general painting in “Enclosure” and using elasticity FRP for “Wore” though it was a similar color as for two films.

4,Structure
This buildings are two wooden stories. It aimed at individuality as the whole and the acquisition of strength by treating wooden by bundling, that is, “Enclosure” and “Wear” two this time, and treating the relation between them. The spreading wooden frame that consists of basic vertical and the horizontal brace is adopted, and “Enclosure” part has been passed by a minimum structure. On the other hand, “Wear” part becomes because it composes of the diagonal material the streak or exist, and strengthens “Enclosure” that becomes a life scene. It did not govern in the same respect to dare to clarify that each part joint part was different, and it was assumed the held settlement from the outside partially.

5,Effect of environment, ventilation path, and heavily clothed
“Wear” prevents the wind that blows from the west, and overdoes the wind that blows down from the north. In addition, the vent window of the second floor is covered like eaves like interrupting shooting on the day of the setting sun at the midsummer.
There is an effect has heavily clothed outside of the outside wall in “Wear”. In summer, the air that entered in the wall cools the building by the internal cave’s that “Wear it” and “Enclosure” make playing the role like the chimney, rising, and getting out from the slit opened under the eaves in the south.
In addition, the thermal conductivity of “Wear” is low because it is finished up by elasticity FRP and the topcoat after the ventilation trunk edge and plywood are put on the usual roof groundwork. It can be said the heat distance is reduced by reducing the input heat, and piling up some layer-one material, and it is more effective than the heat environment design that relies on only the heat insulator.
Moreover, the shape of this building indoors takes while receiving the wind from the south in the courtyard, and makes the vertical updraft while turning in the stairs and the open ceiling at the center. The wind can cool the room by coming off to the south and the east side of the second floor.

6,Lighting program
“Wear” is caught as a reflector of the illuminator, and it is assumed the general lighting. Six sources of light with the directivity were trained to the top part of the wall. The light reflects to the ceiling and shines on the floor face and the top of kitchen. There is no window in “Wear”, and is no hole for the lighting. Moreover, the spotlight is irradiated on the back side of “Wear” on the west side, and it is returned softly indoors, that the light that reflects to “Wear” at the same time as dropping light in front of the door is the second floor. The space is richly produced with such a lighting program at nighttime though it is “Wear” in daytime to invent the effect of various light by time and the weather.


See also:

.

House with Gardens
by Tetsuo Kondo
Himeji Observatory House by KINO architectsMizoe House by Takashi Seisho & Akinari Tanaka

House with a Wall by Masao Yahagi Architects

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

This house in Fukuoka, Japan, by Masao Yahagi Architects snakes across its site to give every room a little sheltered garden.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

Called House with a Wall, the residence is defined by one continuously turning concrete wall with rooms and terraces slotted in between.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

Photographs are by Koichi Torimura.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

The following is from the architects:


Project Name: House with a wall

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

Project Description:

The family structures are married couple and two children. It succeeded though wife’s grandparents lived in this land. Succeeded land was very large land of 537 square meters though most of the surrounding land was about 200 square meters.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

Therefore, Clients wanted the house where a large site is used enough. But they said that children’s possibilities of living in other palces in the future are high. A big house was unnecessary. The small house is buildt though a large site is used enough. The only problem only of suburbs became the theme of this house.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

The site is a place where the residentioal area from old times. When I walking in the alley of crank, I felt that the scale and the scene were various. I thought abou the composition of a wall of crank as a result of experiencing an ambient surrounding.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

A wall of crank that expands freely in the site has some important roles.

1. One room can have one garden. Each room can be used natural light and wind from the garden.

2. Because the inside and the outside become one space, it can use a large site enough.

3. the direction for each room is changed for a wall of crank. Therefore can pass through the in various directions.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

It is a design that makes the best use of the large site though it is a small house of 90 square meters.

House with a wall by MasaoYahagi Architects

Project Materials: Wooden built
Project completion time: May 2010
Project Lovation: Fukuoka, Japan
Design Company: Masao Yahagi Architects


See also:

.

Inside Out by
Takeshi Hosaka Architect
s
Edge by Apollo
Architects & Associates
House in Ise by Takashi Yamaguchi & Assoc.