News: British architect Norman Foster has unveiled a concept to build a network of elevated pathways above London’s railways to create safe car-free cycling routes, following 14 cyclist deaths on the city’s streets in 2013.
Entitled SkyCycle, the proposal by architects Foster + Partners, landscape architects Exterior Architecture and transport consultant Space Syntax is for a “cycling utopia” of approximately 220 kilometres of dedicated cycle lanes, following the routes of existing train lines.
Over 200 entrance points would be dotted across the UK capital to provide access to ten different cycle paths. Each route would accommodate up to 12,000 cyclists per hour and could improve journey times across the city by up to half an hour.
“SkyCycle is a lateral approach to finding space in a congested city,” said Foster, who is both a regular cyclist and the president of Britain’s National Byway Trust. “By using the corridors above the suburban railways, we could create a world-class network of safe, car free cycle routes that are ideally located for commuters.”
If approved, the routes could be in place within 20 years, offering relief to a transport network that is already at capacity and will need to contend with 12 percent population growth over the next decade.
“I believe that cities where you can walk or cycle, rather than drive, are more congenial places in which to live,” said Foster.
“To improve the quality of life for all in London and to encourage a new generation of cyclists, we have to make it safe,” he added. “However, the greatest barrier to segregating cars and cyclists is the physical constraint of London’s streets, where space is already at a premium.”
According to the designers, construction of elevated decks would be considerably cheaper than building new roads and tunnels. The routes would offer greater health benefits for London residents and would make more efficient use of space, as more car owners could be encouraged to cycle rather than drive to work.
“At crucial points in London’s history major infrastructure projects have transformed the fortunes of the capital,” said Space Syntax director Anna Rose. “For example, Bazalgette’s sewer system helped remove the threat of cholera to keep London at the forefront of the industrial revolution; the Underground strengthened London’s core by making long-distance commuting possible.”
“SkyCycle is conceived in this tradition as a network of strategic connections from the suburban edges to the centre, adding the much needed capacity for hundreds of millions of cycle journeys every year with all the social, economic, environmental and health benefits to London that follow,” she added.
Cycling safety in London was called into question in November last year when six cyclists died in road accidents in a two-week period, bringing the total for the year up to 14. A poll by BBC News found that one in five cyclists in London stopped cycling to work following the accidents.
Hanjie Wanda Square est un centre commercial de luxe abritant des enseignes des grandes marques internationales situées en Chine. Pensée par UNStudio, cette structure propose une façade impressionnante et une enveloppe brillante. Plus d’images de ce temple de consommation dans la suite.
Black-painted timber contrasts with clean white window frames on the walls of this cube-shaped weekend home in Normandy, France, by Paris studio Beckmann-N’Thépé Architectes (+ slideshow).
Located on a quiet countryside plot in Bellavilliers, Beckmann-N’Thépé‘s House in Normandy is surrounded by little but woodland and fields.
The architects designed the house as a “minimalist object”, with a simple geometric shape and only one pronounced opening on each side.
Horizontal timber panels clad each wall and are painted black, giving the facade the appearance of charcoal.
“A line diagram cube with a 50 square-metre base on the ground, [the house’s] black-tinted wooden wall panelling responds to the woodland environment,” said the architects.
Small square windows puncture three elevations, while the fourth has glazed doors that lead out to a small terrace.
There’s also a fifth opening – a front door that is camouflaged within the cladding but revealed by a simple canopy.
A combined living room, dining area and kitchen takes up one half of the ground floor and features a double-height ceiling.
One bedroom is tucked away behind, alongside the bathroom, and a second occupies a mezzanine floor above.
The house was completed in 2009 and functions as the holiday home for a family of four.
Photography is by Stephan Lucas.
Read on for more information from Agence Beckmann-N’Thépé:
House in Normandy Bellavilliers, France
The house is located in the Normandy Bocage, surrounded by hedgerows and looking out over Bellême Forest. Set on the first third of a plot of land 150 m long, it stands in an isolated residential area in the Perche countryside.
A minimalist object, a line diagram cube with 50 m2 base on the ground, its black tinted wooden wall panelling responds to the woodland environment. With just one opening on each side judiciously oriented and highlighted with white, the front is made up of a wooden frame lined with high performance thermal insulation.
The double height in the living-room, also lit through a large bay window opening onto the south side, tends to expand the space.
The strict comfort needed is provided – a living space comprising a living-room with fireplace, open-plan kitchen, bathroom and cupboard space; and a night-time area with two bedrooms, one treated as a large open loft space, and a bathroom.
A few trees decorate the driveway and create a filter between the house and the lane outside.
The dormant partners’ requirement, the desired originality in the response, and the €120,000 budget together defined this simple volume, combining a good floor surface area to frontage ratio. The qualitative approach to the project in terms of materials and energy performance was the key here.
Program: Secondary residence for 4 people Architects: Agence Beckmann-N’Thépé (Paris) Client: Private Area: 80 m2 net floor area Cost: EUR 120 000 excl. VAT
Ground floor plan
Project manager: Nicolas Gaudard Architect: Laura Giovannetti Assistant architects: Mathilde Billet, Arthur Billaut, Thimothée Kazmierczak
In our second story today from Japanese firm Ryo Matsui Architects, a glazed facade reveals the two-storey interior of a house-shaped hair salon in Chiba, Japan (+ slideshow).
Ryo Matsui Architects designed the Hairdo beauty salon with a simple interior of plain white walls and timber surfaces, leaving roof trusses and other structural elements exposed.
Located next to Chiba’s train station, the salon’s transparent frontage allows pedestrians to look straight through and see what’s happening on both floors of the building.
“The big glass facade viewed from the frontal road raises the internal aspect and contributes a sense of unity,” the architects explained.
Glass entrance doors lead into a reception and waiting area that occupies the front half of the ground floor.
A row of mirrors and chairs are fixed down the side of the far wall, while a shampoo and colour area is tucked away at the rear along with a small courtyard.
Upstairs, a styling area covers much of the large open-plan space, with a staff room and extra shampoo area towards the back.
This salon is located in the prefectural road in front of Chiba Station where a monorail comes and goes.
We planned the two-story hair salon. In a condition called the ten years fixed-term land leasehold, it is required the coexistence as an intelligent architecture and effective interior.
In the big roof covering the second floor as a main, it is made from a gabled roof-shaped by the warren truss with a light steel frame.
It is matched up steel materials as thin as possible, for example chord members of 60×60mm, lattices of 40×40mm, and roof purlins of 60×30mm.
The contrast of the structure painted white and sheathing boards, applying to the furniture and fixtures, let them fused their visual expression.
The facade of the big glass viewed from the frontal road, raises the internal aspect contributed a sense of unity.
Building Site: Chiba-shi, Chiba Principal Use: Hair salon Architect: Ryo Matsui Architects Inc. Structural Design: Ryo Kuwako Construction: Nichinan Iron Corporation Site Area: 141.99 m² Shampoo Area Architectural Area: 106.7 m² Total Floor Area: 220.8 m² 1st Floor Area: 113.41 m² 2nd Floor Area: 106.67 m² Structure: Steel construction
Trees line the protruding balconies of this concrete house in Nagoya, Japan, by Tokyo studio Ryo Matsui Architects (+ slideshow).
Named Balcony House, the four-storey dwelling was designed by Ryo Matsui Architects with three large balconies and a roof terrace that give views of the surrounding city, but are also screened behind planted trees.
“The two metre wide balcony becomes the buffer area with the road and takes on the function of eaves,” said the architect. “We suggest that the balconies have a beneficial influence, not only for the interior, but they become part of the new cityscape.”
Trees planted on the first and the second floor balconies can grow taller through openings in the floor slabs above.
A side entrance leads into the house and ascends directly upstairs, bypassing two parking spaces and a study on the ground floor.
A child’s playroom is located towards the rear of the first floor, while a glass wall exposes the stairwell and an en suite bedroom lined with wooden panels opens out onto the first balcony.
On the second floor, dark wooden panels cover the walls and ceilings of the kitchen and living room, contrasting with sections of exposed concrete that shows the marks of its timber formwork.
The third floor features a bathroom and a walk-in-wardrobe, accessed by a central corridor. An L-shaped balcony with timber decking wraps around the front bedroom.
A outdoor staircase lead up from the third balcony to the roof terrace, which features an al fresco dining area with plants built into the decking.
In the residential area which have a low-rise building apartment complex and new houses with small balconies, we designed RC 4-floor house.
In Japan, especially the centre of Tokyo, the house next to each other extremely approaches the site boundary.
Axonometric showing balcony exterior
Although it is the place where we want to expect the openness to the frontal road necessarily, the site facing each other is the same condition.
Ground floor
There are small balconies, and the planters for blindfolds.
First floor
It is not exaggeration even if it is said that balconies influence the cityscape in the crowd place of the residential area. The two-metre wide balcony becomes the buffer area with the road and takes on the function of eaves.
Second floor
Getting plants grown wild by keeping enough depth of the balconies, it is higher than an upper balcony and brought it up. We suggest that the balconies have a beneficial influence not only for the interior, but they become part of the new cityscape.
Third floor
Project name: Balcony House Building Site: Minato-ku Tokyo Architect: Ryo Matsui Architects Inc. Structure Design: Akira Suzuki / ASA Principal use: Private house
Rooftop balcony
Architectural Area: 118.58 m² Total Floor Area: 202.6 m² 1st Floor Area: 113.41 m² 2nd Floor Area: 106.67 m² 3rd Floor Area: 113.41 m² 4th Floor Area: 106.67 m² Main Structure: Reinforced Concrete Design Period: 2011.7-2012.6 Construction Period: 2012.7-2013.2
A faceted roof made from a shimmering copper-bronze alloy covers this extension by British firm Emrys Architects to a pair of Georgian townhouses in London (+ slideshow).
Emrys Architects was asked by property management firm GMS Estates to modernise and extend its offices, which occupy two former residential properties on Great James Street in Bloomsbury.
The architects installed a new two-storey structure at the rear of the buildings to create additional rooms and improve connections between existing workspaces.
“The client wished to break out from the confined spaces of the Georgian terrace to allow easier communication between each other whilst retaining some delineation between departments,” explained the architects.
“Our solution was to retain and enhance the grandeur of the terrace and to introduce an entirely new structure in the tight land-locked space to the rear to create a dramatic transition from old to the new,” they added.
The triangular sections of the metal roof angle up and down to create varying ceiling heights inside the new structure, lining up with different parts of the old brick buildings.
“We took the existing heights of key points around the perimeter and used this for inspiration for an unusual triangulated roof form,” said the architects.
Inside, recessed lighting highlights the edges of each plane, while triangular skylights bring daylight into the space from the corners.
A cantilevered wooden staircase leads down to the lower level, where wooden ceiling joists have been left exposed.
A meeting room is contained at the centre of this floor and occupies an old barrel-vaulted brick structure that was formerly used as a vault.
Glass doors help to bring in extra daylight and lead out to small courtyards, plus both levels feature oak parquet flooring.
Here’s a project description from Emrys Architects:
Great James Street
Two Grade II* listed Georgian properties that have been the head offices of GMS Estates for generations have been redeveloped for the 21st Century. A melee of unconnected post-war extensions and dank lower ground spaces has been replaced with two storeys of striking contemporary work space.
Background
32-33 Great James Street comprises two five storey terraced townhouses built between 1720 and 1724. The terrace is one of the few remaining intact Georgian streets in London, close to Grays Inn in Bloomsbury. The properties suffered bomb and fire damage during the Second World War and were patched-up shortly after with a series of rear extensions. This annex contained poor office accommodation and some areas were in such bad condition that they were only suitable for storage.
GMS Estates are landowners and landlords who own many properties in Central London and take pride in keeping them to a high standard. Having recently completed several refurbishments of residences and offices for the rental market, they realised that their own accommodation was hampering their productivity and staff well-being.
The boardroom at 32 Great James Street was spectacular with original oak panelling and portraits of previous company chairmen, accessed from an oak panelled staircase. However, other areas of the building were jammed with staff in various rooms on different levels. Internal communication involved moving up and down the stairs, opening fire doors and bumping into tired office furniture and trailing wires. The team felt disconnected from each other. Many rooms lacked adequate natural light and felt oppressive. Some of the post-war extensions were damp and warren-like. Furthermore, the organisation was growing and could not easily be contained within the existing structure.
The GMS brief to Emrys Architects was to identify ways of better utilising the property within the constraints of the existing listed buildings and their outbuildings. They required Great James Street to be a flagship headquarters and although steeped in tradition, GMS happily embrace contemporary architecture.
Interiors
The client wished to break out from the confined spaces of the Georgian terrace to allow easier communication between each other whilst retaining some delineation between departments.
Our solution was to retain and enhance the grandeur of the listed terrace and to introduce an entirely new structure in the tight land-locked space to the rear to create a dramatic transition from old to the new.
Following an audit of the existing outbuildings, it was agreed with the local authority to retain some elements. The most notable feature was the existing silver vault, a brick barrel-arched structure that included a heavy steel door. Whilst this was not ideally located, it was used as the starting point for the space plan of the lower floors and became an unconventional meeting room.
The new structure is on two levels and is accessible from the Georgian terrace at both lower ground and ground floors.
The work spaces have been configured to allow departments to occupy clearly demised areas, yet still allow full connectivity between groups. Departments are positioned in areas that have the best natural light and access to the external courtyards. There are no physical divisions between each place.
An asymmetric lofted ceiling sits under the new roof with recessed lighting accentuating the geometric planes. A double height void is cut out at the rear and a cantilevered timber staircase rises through to connect the floors. Use of roof lights and glazed access to courtyard areas has ensured that the building is flooded with light.
Chevron oak parquet floor runs throughout the new offices and timber joists on the lower floor have been left exposed and lime washed.
Faced with the restriction of the land-locked site, we took the existing heights of key points around the perimeter to the rear of the listed building and used this for inspiration for an unusual triangulated roof form.
In order to maximise the potential of the space and introduce drama, certain elements of the roof shape were pulled upward increasing the internal floor-to-ceiling heights. The contemporary folded roof form is complemented by the use of a copper bronze alloy in a flush rain screen arrangement, the patina selected to harmonise with the existing townhouse.
The walls adjacent to the light wells are fully glazed and additional windows and roof lights added to maximise light penetration into the plan.
The structure is made up of a series of folded triangular plates that are self-supporting when all panels are in place. These are retained by a continuous light-weight steel ring beam that ties all the panels together and prevents them from sliding away. Triangular roof lights are placed outside this ring beam and allow light to penetrate down to the lower ground floor.
Long section
Outcome
“Emrys Architects have taken unusable areas and created stunning new offices that have transformed our working day.” – Tom Gibbon, Managing Director, GMS Estates
Cross section
Architects: Emrys Architects Location: Bloomsbury, London WC1 Type Of Project: Refurbishment and Extension Structural Engineers: Elliott Wood Partnership Project Architect: Gwilym Jones Design Team: Glyn Emrys, Matt Blackden, Nuno Meira, Gwilym Jones Client: GMS Estates Funding: Private Tender date: December 2012 Start on site date: 4th March 2013 Contract duration: 36 Weeks Gross internal floor area: 440sqm – 4,734sqft Form of contract and/or procurement: Traditional /JCT Standard Form of Building Contract Total cost: £1m
An angular steel canopy covered in plants wraps around this refurbished youth and community centre in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo by Australian architects Collins and Turner (+ slideshow).
Collins and Turner extended an amenities block for urban housing and health association Weave by adding a central courtyard and landscaped roof garden, which overlooks the skate park at Waterloo Oval.
The angular frame comprises structural poles and mesh made from galvanised steel, designed to support foliage.
“As the plants mature and grow across the canopy, the building will gradually merge with its park setting, becoming an abstract and sculptural green land-form that punctuates the park boundary and visually merges with the adjacent tree canopies,” said the architects.
The tubular metal structure hides a landscaped roof garden on top of the community centre building.
The garden looks down to a rectangular courtyard on the floor below, paved with timber from reclaimed city power poles. This allows daylight and ventilation to permeate through the building, which was designed specifically for low environmental impact.
“Internally, comfort conditions are passively controlled using natural cross ventilation, exposed thermal mass, and a building envelope shaded by the canopy structure and climbing plants,” said the architects.
Glass doors surrounding the courtyard open into the interior open-plan workspace, designed for 14 staff members. The space is subdivided to accommodate amenities such as two counselling rooms, a manager’s office and a kitchenette.
Retained brick walls from the previous structure are white-washed, and new concrete soffits and structural columns have been added.
On the exterior, the plant-covered protruding triangular sections provide a backdrop for the skate park.
Here’s a project description from Collins and Turner:
Waterloo Youth Family and Community Centre
The building has been transformed into a welcoming counselling facility and communal workspace for Weave.
The refurbished building has additionally become an extension of its landscape setting, combining architecture and horticulture in a unique way to create a new sculptural form that enlivens the southern area of the Waterloo Oval site.
Where possible, elements of the existing amenities block structure have been retained and re-used in the new plan, now focussed around a new central courtyard and crowned by a planted roof structure.
The landscaped roof garden is veiled by a dramatic steel canopy structure that has been designed to support a variety of native climbing and fruiting plants. The canopy is star shaped in plan – the points of the star mark the entry and newly constructed bay window areas in the four corners of the building.
The building is also partially submerged in its setting, as a result of subtle adjustments in the adjacent landscape levels, reducing its apparent size.
As the plants mature and grow across the canopy, the building will gradually merge with its park setting, becoming an abstract and sculptural green land-form that punctuates the park boundary and visually merges with the adjacent tree canopies.
Inspiration
The building design takes inspiration from a number of diverse sources. amongst them, the grass covered iron-age forts of Celtic Wales; the aviary at London Zoo designed by Cedric Price; and the work of John Krubsack an american naturalist who experimented with growing and grafting plants into shapes, creating the first chair that was grown rather than made.
The buildings unusual angular form evokes both the folded planes of Origami, and the triangulated surfaces of invisible stealth planes and boats.
Planning
The interior is arranged in a pin-wheel plan around the central courtyard, and includes a largely open and flexible plan with workspaces for 14 staff.
A reception area, two counselling rooms, a chill out room, managers office, kitchenette, and a small facility for a visiting general practitioner complete the program. Integrated joinery elements and staff amenities subdivide the space and functions.
Materials  Robust galvanised steel is utilised throughout the exterior form in structural sections, grillages, and meshes – such elements and finishes are familiar in the urban landscape of the inner city, seen regularly as railings, crash barriers, shutters and gratings.
Internally, materials are paired back and simply detailed. The retained existing brick walls are white- washed, and contrasted against off form concrete expressed in soffits and new structural columns, and solid timber in floors and handcrafted joinery. Additional colour is provided by furnishings, and the variety of rooftop and courtyard plants which are visible from the majority of spaces.
The resulting interior is clean-lined, light filled and neutral, and will form a simple but functional backdrop to the colour provided by the art and day to day activities of the young people who work-in and visit the Weave facility.
Environment
The building is designed to be robust, low maintenance and long lasting, and will have a low environmental impact, due to minimal use of natural resources and passive means of comfort conditioning. The building is a refurbishment of an existing facility, and has been planned to maintain where possible the existing wall and slab structures.
Internally, comfort conditions are passively controlled using natural cross ventilation, exposed thermal mass, and a building envelope shaded by the canopy structure and climbing plants. The new courtyard brings daylight and fresh air into the depths of the building, minimising reliance on artificial lighting and negating the need for air conditioning. Exposed thermal mass in the concrete super structure enables free cooling. Ceiling fans amplify air movement on still days.
The building also incorporates recycled materials including a wooden block courtyard floor utilising timber from reclaimed city power poles; concrete and pavers that utilise a high percentage of recycled material and fly ash for cement and aggregate replacement; and reclaimed roofing slate crushed as mulch for planting beds. LED lighting is used extensively in the building.
Rainwater is drawn from roof and paved areas and collected in an underground tank adjacent to the structure for use in the irrigation of the plants. The steel canopy structure has been designed as an interlocking but self-supported element, allowing the future demounting and relocation of the structure.
Architecture studio Juri Troy has designed this eco-friendly timber house as a family home in rural Austria (+ slideshow).
The wooden box of House Under the Oaks by Austrian studio Juri Troy is supported by six columns as it projects out from a hilltop, in the countryside west of Vienna.
Photovoltaic panels on the roof and a ground-source heat pump provide the wooden building with an ecological source of energy, while natural insulation keeps in the warmth.
“The whole structure was done in prefabricated timber with all ecological wood with wool insulation of up to 60 centimetres,” said the architects. “It is a new prototype for affordable living on minimal energy in Austria.”
The single-floor dwelling is entered through an L-shaped veranda to the back, which is fenced in by wooden slats.
The veranda provides access to the open-plan kitchen and dining area via a row of full-height sliding glass windows, as well as a separate door leading to a wide corridor with built-in storage space.
A bathroom is located at the centre of the house, behind which a bedroom is positioned with access to the veranda.
The entire interior is finished in local wood coated in a white pigmented oil.
Ribbon windows encompass the front room, offering views out to the surrounding countryside.
Photography is by the architects.
Here is some more information from the architects:
House under the oaks
The house under the oaks is a low budget passive house concept developed for an Austrian family.
With a minimum footprint and a wide outstretching wooden box on six columns it offers a living area of about 100 square metres.
The whole structure was done in prefabricated timber with all ecological wood with wool insulation of up to 60 cm.
The interior is done all in local wood as well with a simple white pigmented oil cover.
A heat pump with ground collector, a controlled ventilation system with heat exchange and photovoltaic panels on the roof offer a perfect energy concept with a minimum of required external energy – which is provided by eco electricity.
Like this it is a new prototype for affordable living on minimal energy standard in Austria.
Site planBasement floor planGround floor planLong sectionCross sectionElevationElevation
As people around the world prepare for the holidays and the new year, what better time then to look back on all of the standout Cool Hunting content from 2013. CH Video traveled from California to Georgia, met some memorable characters and got to go behind the scenes in…
One of the benefits of being President of the United States that you won’t read about in civics textbooks is the opportunity to admire for at least four and as many as eight Decembers, a 300-pound, edible replica of your home without ever leaving it. (And because you are the President, no one can stop you from uprooting a fondant fir or two for a quick taste test.)
This year, the White House chronicled the creation of its gingerbread doppelgänger in this video, which compresses several weeks of work—led by Pastry Chef-in-Chief Bill Yosses—into less than two action-packed minutes. The finished product, now on view in the State Dining Room until what we imagine to be an epic New Year’s Eve demolition party, includes a functioning replica of the North Lawn fountain and not-to-scale models of the Obama family dogs, Bo and Sunny.
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