Hasta La Ideas

Photographer Fernando Guerra has sent us these photographs of two stone-clad buildings by Lisbon firm Aires Mateus Architects that form a research centre with accommodation on the island of São Miguel, Portugal.

The Furnas Monitoring and Investigation Centre is the larger of the two buildings and has three wings that enclose a central courtyard, overlooked by all rooms.

The accommodation building is simpler in form with a square plan and a pitched roof. Each facade is punctured by a ceiling-height glazed doorway.

The accommodation has a symmetrical plan divided into four spaces each with a different ceiling height.

See all our photography stories »

Here’s some more from the architects:

The project intends to evoke the architectural landscape of the Azores, drawing upon the form and material that embed the collective memory of this island and archipelago, that have become, with time, a second nature of this place.

Therefore the buildings are archetypal volumes, simple and compact, clad with the local basaltic stone.

The Furnas Monitoring and Investigation Centre

This building asserts itself as the largest of the group to build around the lagoon. Being the most exceptional building, the Furnas Monitoring and Investigation Centre draws on an intermediate space between exterior and interior – the courtyard.

This element results from a subtraction to the volume, cutting it from within the central zone (the vertex of the four roof fields) to the exterior limit of a facade thus enabling access to the interior.

This internal courtyard also becomes the point where the main internal compartments are revealed.

These spaces, truncated by the subtraction that defines the courtyard maintain all relations between interior/exterior.

The building was therefore conceived as a sculpture, as a block of raw matter that is intentionally cut into to capture light and the lagoon itself.

Accomodation for researchers

The building for temporary accomodation is a compact volume of four fields compartmentalised into four units.

The building is cut in each of the four facades by a wooden threshold that enables the penetration of light and access to each of the accomodation units.

There is an established hierarchy of heights between the four spaces related to the solar orientation of each unit.

The exterior wall of the building is structural where the necessary infrastructures and services run as oppose to the light interior timber walls.

See also:

.

Casa Areia by Aires Mateus Architects	More photography stories	More architecture stories

Last year’s Pritzker Prize winner is next year’s Serpentine Pavilion designer. Although the current temporary structure, Jean Nouvel‘s big batch of redness, is still open for business until this Sunday, organizers have already named Peter Zumthor as next year’s architect for the popular annual project in London’s Hyde Park. The Architects Journal landed the scoop, with perhaps the first sneak peek at what he will cook up, saying that he had proposed “a big concrete block with a garden in it.” Additionally, Building Design has speculated that “Arup will provide engineering support and developer Stanhope will also help to deliver the scheme.” Though with the Pavilion usually opening sometime in early to mid-July, it’s anyone’s guess as to how the thing will turn out. Though traditionally, the designer had been announced in February and March, with renderings released around April, so with news this early of the selection, who knows what the schedule will be.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are some photographs by Edmund Sumner of the completed Balancing Barn holiday home in Suffolk, UK, by MVRDV and Mole Architects, including a swing under the 15 metre cantilever.

The project is the first of five in Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture project and available for rent from 22 October.

The building is clad in reflective panels and the interior was created by Dutch designers Studio Makkink & Bey.

More about the project here.

Photographs are by Edmund Sumner.

The information below is from MVRDV:

Balancing Barn, a cantilevered holiday home near the village of Thorington in Suffolk, England, was completed last Tuesday. The Barn is 30 meters long, with a 15 meters cantilever over a slope, plunging the house headlong into nature. Living Architecture, an organization devoted to the experience of modern architecture, commissioned MVRDV in 2008. Mole Architects from Cambridge were executive architects and Studio Makkink & Bey from Amsterdam collaborated on the interior. The Barn is now available for holiday rentals.

Balancing Barn is situated on a beautiful site by a small lake in the English countryside near Thorington in Suffolk. The Barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular. In this sense the Balancing Barn aims to live up to its educational goal in re-evaluating the countryside and making modern architecture accessible. Additionally, it is both a restful and exciting holiday home. Furnished to a high standard of comfort and elegance, set in a quintessentially English landscape, it engages its temporary inhabitants in an experience.

Approaching along the 300 meter driveway, Balancing Barn looks like a small, two-person house. It is only when visitors reach the end of the track that they suddenly experience the full length of the volume and the cantilever. The Barn is 30 meters long, with a 15 meters cantilever over a slope, plunging the house headlong into nature. The reason for this spectacular setting is the linear experience of nature. As the site slopes, and the landscape with it, the visitor experiences nature first at ground level and ultimately at tree height. The linear structure provides the stage for a changing outdoor experience.

At the midpoint the Barn starts to cantilever over the descending slope, a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building, resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space. The structure balances on a central concrete core, with the section that sits on the ground constructed from heavier materials than the cantilevered section. The long sides of the structure are well concealed by trees, offering privacy inside and around the Barn.

Click above for larger image

The exterior is covered in reflective metal sheeting, which, like the pitched roof, takes its references from the local building vernacular and reflects the surrounding nature and changing seasons.

Click above for larger image

On entering the Barn, one steps into a kitchen and a large dining room. A series of four double bedrooms follows, each with separate bathroom and toilet. In the very centre of the barn the bedroom sequence is interrupted by a hidden staircase providing access to the garden beneath. In the far, cantilevered end of the barn, there is a large living space with windows in three of its walls, floor and ceiling.

Click above for larger image

The addition of a fireplace makes it possible to experience all four elements on a rainy day. Full height sliding windows and roof lights throughout the house ensure continuous views of, access to and connectivity with nature.

Click above for larger image

The interior is based on two main objectives:

• The house is an archetypical two-person home, expanded in shape and content so that it can equally comfortably accommodate eight. Two will not feel lost in the space, and a group of eight will not feel too cramped.
• A neutral, timeless timber is the backdrop for the interior, in which Studio Makkink & Bey have created a range of furnishings that reflect the design concept of the Barn.

Click above for larger image

The rooms are themed. Partly pixilated and enlarged cloud studies by John Constable and country scenes by Thomas Gainsborough are used as connecting elements between the past and contemporary Britain, as carpets, wall papers and mounted textile wall-elements.

Click above for larger image

The crockery is made up of a set of English classics for two, and a modern series for a further six guests, making an endless series of combinations possible and adding the character of a private residence to the home.

Click above for larger image

The Barn is highly insulated, ventilated by a heat recovery system, warmed by a ground source heat pump, resulting in a high energy efficient building.

See also:

.

More about this project	Even more about this project	More about Living Architecture

The Skyroom is a rooftop event space designed by David Kohn Architects above the Architecture Foundation’s London offices.

Opened to coincide with the London Design Festival last month, the steel structure is enclosed by copper mesh walls and topped with transparent plastic.

The mixture of enclosed and open-air spaces will be used for lectures, performances and parties.

Photographs are by Will Pryce.

The information that follows is from David Kohn Architects:

Skyroom

The Skyroom is a new rooftop venue to host events programmed by the Architecture Foundation. Sitting above their offices on Tooley Street, the structure offers a range of rooms, both covered and open to the sky, for different occasions and uses ranging from lectures and performances to dinner parties and sun-bathing. The project opened to coincide with London Design Week on 20th September 2010.

The project features a central courtyard open to the sky, framing the rising form of The Shard being built high above London Bridge Station. A balcony cantilevered over Tooley Street offers breathtaking views through the More London development to the Thames and the Tower of London beyond.

Akin to a small theatre space, the proportions of Skyroom enable it to be occupied in a variety of different arrangements. Four niche spaces extend from the courtyard to provide an intimate setting for meeting and relaxing. On the south facade a louvred screen frames a Black Tupelo tree with purple autumnal leaves which will eventually turn an intense bright scarlet, affirming the rooftop as a new ground and a site available to be colonised by nature.

With a bespoke structure constructed of steel with copper mesh facades and larch flooring, Skyroom is topped with six Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) cushions.

The structure and materials used throughout the scheme have been chosen for their lightness and varieties of transparency: the white steel structure is like a drawing in space, marking out the territory of the rooftop and framing key views of the site and sky.

The stainless steel and copper mesh panels create moiré patterns that lightly obscure their surroundings. ETFE, a material originally designed by NASA to create enclosures on the moon, is used here in sizes ranging from 2m sq to 8m x 3m. Stippled with sun-blocking silver dots, this continues the fabric-like quality of the enclosure across the roof.

The design of Skyroom is a response to a number of major constraints: the limited structural capacity of the existing roof; location of the building within a conservation area with strict guidelines on the appearance of developments; building to a limited budget; and access to the roof for construction.

As the roof was not able to support any additional load of either materials or people, the creation of a new structure above it was crucial. In order to transfer load into the existing steel columns, a new steel deck was created, passing through the roof to connect to the heads of the columns below. Newly built large steel sections enable the transfer of load through the steel deck into the existing structure.

Excluding the cantilevered balcony, the scheme is set back from the building perimeter to negate the need for expensive scaffolding on all sides as well as to comply with planning regulations to limit the amount of the structure visible from the street and consequent change in appearance to the overall building.

Additionally, materials used throughout were selected to satisfy the local authority’s requirement for quality finishes that would age well and compliment the conservation area.

Both points reveal that there are indeed opportunities to adapt the capital’s skyline even when faced with the rigorous planning control of a conservation area.

A limited budget and tight programme were additional factors that steered the design of Skyroom, which went from detailed design to completion in just eight weeks. The project, commissioned and funded by the landlord of Magdalen House, Lake Estates, demonstrates an imaginative re-use of one of London’s neglected roofscapes and is in keeping with the Mayor of London’s policy to encourage the occupation of the city’s rooftops.

See also:

.

Studio East by Carmody Groarke	Nomiya temporary restaurant by Pascal Grasso	More about David Kohn Architects

After what seems like endless years of seeing Prince Charles as a mean, architect-hating bad guy (and rightly so at times), there’s finally a positive story about the guy — and it even relates to architecture. The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (which last year was being investigated for some of those aforementioned negative things and received a judge’s slap on the wrist this year as the troublesome Chelsea Barracks debate continued) will be taking over the role as lead planners for the rebuilding of Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, starting in December. According to the Guardian, while some are calling it a political move by Haitian politicians trying to win favors from the UK, the Foundation will be stepping in to not only create “a masterplan” for the city, “including homes, streets, public spaces and amenities,” but will also be training residents on how to best rebuild after an earthquake leveled nearly the whole country and killed hundreds of thousands of people earlier this year. They’ll be working in collaboration with the urban planning firm Duany Plater Zyberk on the project that will cover roughly 25 city blocks. So politically motivated or not, it’s apt to be a worthwhile endeavor. Just don’t any expect any new modernist buildings to get built. Here’s a bit from the Foundation’s statement:

“We are honoured to have been given the chance to help create a better future for Haiti after the suffering and devastation of the earthquake,” said Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the prince’s foundation. “We hope to play a small part in bringing hope and benefit to the city by maintaining its authentic character, reducing its environmental impact and helping train local people in construction skills that equip them for future employment.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.