Diagonally laid timber planks create zig-zagging patterns across the exterior of this church in Cologne by German architects Sauerbruch Hutton (+ slideshow).
Sauerbruch Hutton arranged the buildings of the Immanuel Church and Parish Centre around an existing parish garden, creating a series of wooden structures that nestle amongst a group of trees.
A bell tower marks the entrance to the site from the street. A winding pathway leads up to the main church building beyond, then on to a small chapel used for private prayer and a columbarium where funeral urns are stored.
Each building is constructed from timber and clad with the diagonal panels. “Their character is defined by simplicity of form combined with straightforward construction and honest materiality,” said the architects.
Structural columns are exposed inside the church, creating a sequence of ribs that punctuate the pale wooden walls.
A low foyer brings visitors into the central nave, which is designed as a flexible space for hosting various community events. Seating can be moved into different arrangements and extra chairs can be utilised from a first-floor space above the foyer.
Two wings flank the nave on either side, accommodating a sacristy where the priest prepares for services, community rooms, a music room and a kitchen.
The organ is concealed behind a coloured timber partition, while a matte glass window catches light and shadow movements from outside.
Sauerbruch Hutton is a Berlin studio led by architects Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton and Juan Lucas Young. Past projects include the colourful Brandhorst Museum in Munich, completed in 2009.
Here’s a project description from the architects:
Immanuel Church and Parish Centre
The new Immanuel Church in Cologne is approached through an existing parish garden defined by a circle of mature trees. Offering itself for outside activity and worship, this garden becomes the central element of a new ensemble that comprises a bell tower, the church, a small chapel for private prayer, as well as a columbarium.
The bell tower marks the entrance to the site from the street. A visitor enters the church through a simple rectangular entrance into a low foyer that opens out into a central nave flanked by two low wings, somewhat reinterpreting the classical section of a basilica for a small, modern parish. The wings accommodate the sacristy, community rooms, music room and kitchen. The central nave provides a clear space with loose chairs that can be rearranged for community events, while a tribune rising above the foyer provides additional seating.
Behind the altar a coloured timber screen reaches up to the roof, hinting at the location of the organ that lies behind. Daylight enters the church from above illuminating the altar wall, and from the rear above the tribune bringing light and the play of leaf shadows onto a matt glass screen. In the evening low hanging lamps provide an atmosphere of warm light and create an intimate scale.
Standing alone, the small, simple chapel is screened from the outside bustle. Behind the chapel a new columbarium is nestled amongst the trees. The bell tower, church and chapel are clad externally with diagonally laid timber planks. Their character is defined by simplicity of form in combination with straightforward construction and honest materiality.
Dutch Design Week 2013:Dutch firm Bierman Henket architecten has added an extension shaped like a rugby ball on top of a neo-classical museum in the city of Zwolle (+ slideshow).
Bierman Henket architecten created the extension for The Museum De Fundatie, which is housed in a former courthouse designed in 1838 that now contains a collection of international art, sculpture and curiosities.
Located on the edge of a market square that links the medieval city centre to an area of nineteenth-century parkland, a shortage of space around the museum and the technical complexity of extending underground led the architects to propose placing the extension on top of the existing building.
The architects explained that their design “couples the classical, static building with the fluid dynamics of a contemporary extension in a vertical direction.”
Eight steel columns pierce the original building and support the two-storey extension, making it structurally independent.
The extension’s exterior is covered in 55,000 three-dimensional tiles produced by Royal Tichelaar Makkum with a blue and white glaze that helps the structure match the colour of the sky.
The curving, open spaces inside the extension contrast with the typical arrangement of adjoining exhibition halls found in the old building.
A large window on the northern side fills the interior with daylight and provides visitors with a panoramic view of the city.
The project won the Spatial Exterior category at the Dutch Design Awards last week, with the selection committee commenting that: “the project generates a huge impact in the city” and “has an incredible presence”. The top prize at the awards went to fashion designer Iris van Herpen’s collection featuring 3D-printed garments.
The architects sent us this project description:
Museum De Fundatie, Zwolle Extension: 2010-2013
Museum De Fundatie in Zwolle, situated on the border between the mediaeval city centre and the open 19th century parkland with its canals, has been extended with a spectacular volume on the roof of the former Palace of Justice.
The courthouse on Blijmarkt was designed by the architect Eduard Louis de Coninck in 1938 in the neo-classical style. De Coninck intended this style of architecture to symbolise the unity in the legislation of the new kingdom. The building has a double symmetry with a monumental entrance and a central entrance hall extending over two floors.
On the city side the free-standing building is slightly recessed in relation to the unbroken, mediaeval façade of Blijmarkt. Together with the classical façade structure of a tympanum on Corinthian columns, this gives the building a solitary character.
The building is also free-standing on the canal side, in the green zone of Potgietersingel. The canals were laid out as a public park in the English landscape style in the second half of the 19th century, following the demolition of the city walls.
Due to its location the building became a link between two distinct worlds: one an inward-orientated, mediaeval, fortified city with a compact and static character and the other a 19th century park with an outward-orientated, dynamic character.
In 1977 the building ceased to function as a Palace of Justice and it was converted into offices for the Rijksplanologische Dienst, the government planning department. A mezzanine was constructed in the two high court rooms. Since 2005, following internal renovation by architect Gunnar Daan, the building has been the home of Museum De Fundatie.
The museum has an extraordinary collection including works by Rembrandt, Saenredam, Turner, Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh, Mondrian and Van der Leck. In addition, the museum organises modest, but much discussed exhibitions. Under Ralph Keuning’s directorship these temporary exhibitions became so successful that extension of the museum became unavoidable. Despite the inherent problems of extending the palace in the historical city centre, the museum resisted the temptation to abandon this national monument and opted to extend it.
Bierman Henket architecten designed the extension of the former courthouse in 2010. Architect Hubert-Jan Henket succeeded in persuading the client not to add an extension next to the existing building: this would have destroyed its solitary and symmetrical character. An underground extension proved spatially too complicated. Instead Henket designed an extension with an autonomous volume on top of the monumental building.
In the same way that the Palace of Justice links two worlds in a horizontal direction, Henket couples the classical, static building with the fluid dynamics of a contemporary extension in a vertical direction.
The superstructure, just like the substructure, is symmetrical in two directions, but the shape rather resembles a rugby ball. Together, the two totally-different volumes form a new urban entity. There are also two contrasting interpretations in the interior: the classical succession of rectangular museum halls below versus the fluid, open spaces in the elliptical volume above.
Right from the outset, both the Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed, the department responsible for the preservation of monuments and historical buildings, and local conservation societies were enthusiastic about the radical concept for the expansion. Under the motto preservation through development the customary debates and public inquiry procedures were considerably shortened. Planning permission was granted in record time.
Straight through the existing building, eight steel columns stand on eight individual foundations. The columns support the new extension – with two exhibition floors that total 1,000 m2. So, structurally and architecturally, the extension is independent of the old building.
The extension – also called the Art Cloud – is clad with 55,000 three-dimensional ceramic elements produced by Koninklijke Tichelaar in Makkum. Together, the mixed blue-and-white glazed tiles measuring 20×20 cm and 10×10 cm, form a subtle surface which, depending on the weather, merges into the heavens. On the northern side daylight floods into the two, new exhibition floors through a large, glazed pane in the tiled superstructure. Inside, visitors have a panoramic view of the city.
With the extension, the original central entrance hall has been carried through as an atrium where the two museological worlds converge. A glass lift in the atrium conveys visitors to the various floors. The stairways are located on the outer part of the floors. In the old building they are stately and straight, in the new development they are flowingly curved.
A glass passageway runs between the existing building and the extension − where new and old meet. On the one side visitors look into the atrium and on the other they have a view of the city and the underside of the tiled extension. With its aim of presenting contemporary and old art in one building – Museum De Fundatie now has a new, truly-unique identity.
Faceted white walls frame the entrances to this monochrome auditorium in rural New South Wales by Australian architects Silvester Fuller (+ slideshow).
Silvester Fuller designed the auditorium building as a flexible events space for the Anglican church of Dapto, a small town south of Sydney.
The building is sandwiched between the existing town hall and primary school, creating a community hub and meeting place that is close to the town’s church.
“Locating the auditorium between these two facilities presented the opportunity to create a central hub, from which all the primary event spaces in both the new and existing buildings are accessed,” said the architects. “This hub becomes the campus meeting place.”
Large pre-cast concrete panels give a textured surface to the exterior walls. These are painted black to contrast with the white entrances, which are clad with sheets of fibre cement.
A paved terrace between the car park and the building leads visitors towards the main entrance, which comprises a concertina-style screen of glazed doors and windows.
The doors can be folded back to the edges of the entrance, opening the hall out to its surroundings.
The 500-seat auditorium is located at the back of the building and has an entirely black interior.
Silvester Fuller’s Dapto Anglican Church Auditorium is the first of a new generation of buildings for the Anglican Parish of Dapto. The design is a response to the changing functional and social direction of the church and it’s relationship with the community.
Intended to complement nearby St Luke’s Chapel, the auditorium offers a theatre-like venue for a broader range of event types. No longer a place devoted solely to Sunday worship services, the new church building is required to support a range of events held in the morning, afternoon and evening, 7 days a week and catering to a broad spectrum of the local community.
The organisational strategy for the site involved the relocation of vehicular traffic to the site perimeter, allowing for a fully pedestrianised centre. The new auditorium was then to be located on the site with minimal intervention to the existing buildings. For this reason the perimeter plan of the new auditorium is bounded by the two existing buildings; a preschool and church hall. Locating the auditorium between these two facilities presented the opportunity to create a central hub, from which all the primary event spaces, in both the new and existing buildings are accessed. This hub becomes the campus meeting place.
Once the perimeter mass of the new building was defined, circulation spaces were carved out of the mass, informed by the flow of people from the parking areas to the building and subsequently in and around the two primary spaces; the auditorium and foyer. This subtraction of mass defines voids which connect these spaces to each other and the landscape. The secondary support spaces then occupy the remaining solid mass. The requirements of the individual spaces called for a delicate balance between generosity and intimacy, with some spaces open to the landscape and others completely concealed from it.
The external facade responds to two conditions: where the primary mass has been retained the facade surface is dark, earth-like and roughly textured. In contrast the subtracted void areas are bright, smooth and crisp surfaces identifying the building entrances and acting as collection devices. Once inside the building, the entry into the main auditorium is an inverse of the exterior, presenting recessed darkened apertures acting as portals which then open into the 500 seat theatre. The theatre is a black-box with a singular focus on the stage. There is provision for a natural-light-emitting lampshade to be built above the stage at a later date.
A modest budget demanded construction simplicity combined with spatial clarity and efficiency, to produce a building that is easily understood whilst standing apart from its context. The new building aims to establish a new design direction and focus for the Parish and is envisaged as stage one of a master plan of growth.
Diagrammatic section
Site: 9546 square metres New building: 1155 square metres Auditorium capacity: 500 people Parking capacity: 118 cars, 10 bicycles Design phase: 2008-2009 Construction phase: 2010-2012 Client: Anglican Parish of Dapto & Anglican Church Property Trust Council: Woollongong City Council Architect: Silvester Fuller Project leaders: Jad Silvester, Penny Fuller Project team: Patrik Braun, Rachid Andary, Bruce Feng
Dutch studio Marc Koehler Architects has extended a former primary school in rural Belgium to create a community centre with a folded roof (+ slideshow).
Marc Koehler Architects designed the building for the Flemish government in the small village of Loker. It is one of eight government-funded projects across the province of West Flanders, which will see existing community facilities upgraded as part of a bid to attract new residents.
A steel framework creates the faceted roof of the new structure, which is clad externally with corrugated fibre-cement panels and lined internally with timber.
The walls of the building are glazed and surround a large hall that can be used for different community events, from performances and exhibitions to parties and sporting activities.
Curtains enable the space to be subdivided, allowing different activities to take place simultaneously.
A canteen, meeting rooms, bathrooms and storage space are located within the old school building.
“By re-using the existing 1960s building we create a layered reading of the history of the place,” the architects said. “Our task was creating an innovative, multifunctional building in a sensitive, historical environment.”
The corrugated roof material is intended to match the rooftops of nearby barns, while the angled forms were designed to be reminiscent of the folds of the surrounding landscape.
The roof also cantilevers beyond the glazed facade, helping to shade the building from direct sunlight.
The building is located in Loker, a small village (600 inhabitants) in the east of Flanders. The project is the result of our winning entry for the Open Call competition, organised by the Flemish government. Our project is the first of eight projects to be completed in the eight sub-districts of the municipality of Heuvelland. As such it can be seen as an impulse for social change, of Flemish villages modernising and upgrading their facilities to attract a potential suburban dweller, returning to the rural landscape. So our task was creating an innovative, multifunctional building in a sensitive historic environment.
The building consists of a reused part of the existing structure of a primary school build in the 60’s, covered by a large folding roof with a glazed façade. The changing shade, created by the various angles of the roof parts reminds of the surrounding patch-work landscape, while the corrugated roofing-material is similar to that used in neighbouring barns.
The glazed façade provides a generous view over the surroundings, with an emphasis on the Sint-Petrus church, and the sloping landscape of the Kemmelberg. With reusing the existing 60’s building, we create a layered reading of the history of that place.
The reused school-building houses the more intimate spaces, like the canteen, storage, sanitary spaces and meeting rooms. The polyvalent, open space can be used for a large variety of activities, like performances, gatherings, exhibitions, sports or parties. The smaller rooms can be opened up towards the polyvalent space, extending their potential, but the large space can also be divided by curtains so that several programs can coexist simultaneously.
The competition prescribed the demolition of the whole existing building, but proposed to preserve the asbestos-free part of the structure, works out in our favour. We created a financial advantage not having to construct new specific spaces, allowing for the polyvalent space to become larger then requested.
A natural climate compartmentalisation of use and energy management is automatically created by the two main components of the building. The cantilevering roof acts as passive sun shading, blocking direct sunlight from entering the building in the summer, but allowing sunlight to heat the building in the winter. Another effort is made with the selection of building materials. Carbon neutral fibre cement panels are used for roofing, but also for interior cladding.
New Orleans firm Trahan Architects used over a thousand cast stone panels to create the undulating interior of this museum in Natchitoches, Louisiana (+ slideshow).
The Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame brings together two previously independent collections to create a combined exhibition for regional history and sport in the centre of the city.
Rather than separating the exhibitions over two distinct floors, Trahan Architects designed a series of curving structural volumes that allow the three galleries to gently flow into one another.
“While sports and regional history may appeal to different audiences, the exhibits and configuration explore interconnections between the two,” explained the architects.
“The spaces flow visually and physically together, configured to accommodate state-of-the-art exhibits, education and support functions,” they added.
Using the fluid geometries of the nearby Cane River as a guide, the architects centred the spaces around a generous foyer that curves through the heart of the building, dividing two galleries on the lower level and leading to a third above.
The white stone surfaces can be used as screens for film projection, plus there’s also a first-floor balcony overlooking the city square.
The museum’s exterior envelope is a simple rectilinear volume, clad on all sides by pleated copper panels that form louvres.
“The louvred skin controls light, views and ventilation, animates the facade and employs surface articulation previously achieved by architectural ornamentation,” said the architects.
Here’s a project description from Trahan Architects:
Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame
The Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame in historic Natchitoches, Louisiana merges two contrasting collections formerly housed in a university coliseum and a nineteenth century courthouse, elevating the visitor experience for both. Set in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase on the banks of the Cane River Lake, the design mediates the dialogue between sports and history, past and future, container and contained.
Our exploration focuses on three questions. How does our design explore the client brief to exhibit sports and history simultaneously? How does it respond to the historic building fabric? How does it make a connection to context?
Our resolution is, first, to interpret athletics as a component of cultural history rather than as independent themes. While sports and regional history may appeal to different audiences, the exhibits and configuration explore interconnections between the two. The spaces flow visually and physically together, configured to accommodate state-of-the-art exhibits, education and support functions. Visitors however can experience both narratives either separately or simultaneously.
Second, historical pastiche is set aside in favour of a design language in response to the site. The internal organisation is an extension of the existing meandering urban circulation, while the design mediates the scale and character of the historic commercial core and adjacent residential neighbourhood. The “simple” exterior, clad with pleated copper panels, alluding to the shutters and clapboards of nearby plantations, contrasts with and complements the curvaceous interior within. The louvred skin controls light, views and ventilation, animates the facade, and employs surface articulation previously achieved by architectural ornamentation. The flowing interior emerges at the entrance, enticing visitors to leave the walking tour and into the evocative exhibit spaces within.
Third the design reflects the carving of the ancient river whose fluvial geomorphology inspired the dynamic interior form. The dynamic foyer is sculpted out of 1,100 cast stone panels, seamlessly integrating all systems and washed with natural light from above. The cool white stone references bousillage, the historic horse hair, earth and Spanish moss utilised by 17th Century settlers. The flowing surfaces reach into the galleries, serving as “screens” for film and display. At the climax of the upper level, the path arrives at a veranda overlooking the city square, sheltered by copper louvres, further connecting the interior to the public realm.
Danish architecture studio BIG has completed an underground maritime museum that loops around an old dry dock in Helsingør, Denmark (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Rather than filling the empty dock, BIG chose to repurpose it as a public courtyard at the centre of the new museum, then added a series of bridges that cut into the 60-year-old walls.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Located in the surrounds of Kronborg Castle, which dates back to the fifteenth century, the Danish Maritime Museum forms part of the Kulturhavn Kronborg initiative – an effort to bring cultural attractions to Helsingør’s harbour.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The museum’s underground galleries present the story of Denmark’s maritime history up to the present day, contained within a two-storey rectangular structure that encases the dry dock.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
“By wrapping the old dock with the museum program we simultaneously preserve the heritage structure, while transforming it to a courtyard bringing daylight and air in to the heart of the submerged museum,” said Bjarke Ingels, the founding partner of BIG.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The architect also emphasises that the presence of the dock allows the museum to be visible, without impacting on views towards the adjacent castle.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
“Out of respect for Hamlet’s Castle we needed to remain completely invisible and underground, but to be able to attract visitors we needed a strong public presence,” he said. “Leaving the dock as an urban abyss provides the museum with an interior facade facing the void and at the same time offers the citizens of Helsingør a new public space sunken eight metres below the level of the sea.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
A trio of double-level bridges span the dock. The first run directly across, forming an extension of the harbour promenade, while the second and third lead visitors gradually down to the museum’s entrance.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
An auditorium is contained inside one, while the others form extensions of the galleries, which were put together by exhibition designers Kossmann.Dejong.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
KiBiSi, the design studio co-run by Ingels, created a collection of street furniture to line the edge of the site, arranged as dots and dashes to resemble Morse code.
BIG with Kossmann.dejong+Rambøll+Freddy Madsen+KiBiSi have completed the Danish National Maritime Museum in Helsingør. By marrying the crucial historic elements with an innovative concept of galleries and way-finding, BIG’s renovation scheme reflects Denmark’s historical and contemporary role as one of the world’s leading maritime nations.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The new Danish National Maritime Museum is located in Helsingør, just 50 km (30 mi.) north of Copenhagen and 10 km (6.5 mi.) from the world famous Louisiana Museum for Modern Art.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
The new 6,000 m² (65,000 ft²) museum finds itself in a unique historical context adjacent to one of Denmark’s most important buildings, Kronborg Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site – known from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is the last addition to Kulturhavn Kronborg, a joint effort involving the renovation of the Castle and two new buildings – offering a variety of culture experiences to residents and visitors to Helsingør.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
Leaving the 60 year old dock walls untouched, the galleries are placed below ground and arranged in a continuous loop around the dry dock walls – making the dock the centrepiece of the exhibition – an open, outdoor area where visitors experience the scale of ship building.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
A series of three double-level bridges span the dry dock, serving both as an urban connection, as well as providing visitors with short-cuts to different sections of the museum. The harbour bridge closes off the dock while serving as harbour promenade; the museum’s auditorium serves as a bridge connecting the adjacent Culture Yard with the Kronborg Castle; and the sloping zig-zag bridge navigates visitors to the main entrance. This bridge unites the old and new as the visitors descend into the museum space overlooking the majestic surroundings above and below ground. The long and noble history of the Danish Maritime unfolds in a continuous motion within and around the dock, 7 metres (23 ft.) below the ground. All floors – connecting exhibition spaces with the auditorium, classroom, offices, café and the dock floor within the museum – slope gently creating exciting and sculptural spaces.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
Bjarke Ingels: “By wrapping the old dock with the museum program we simultaneously preserve the heritage structure while transforming it to a courtyard bringing daylight and air in to the heart of the submerged museum. Turning the dock inside out resolved a big dilemma; out of respect for Hamlet’s Castle we needed to remain completely invisible and underground – but to be able to attract visitors we needed a strong public presence. Leaving the dock as an urban abyss provides the museum with an interior façade facing the void and at the same time offers the citizens of Helsingør a new public space sunken 8 m (16 ft.) below the level of the sea.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
KiBiSi has designed the above ground bench system. The granite elements are inspired by ship bollards and designed as a constructive barrier that prevents cars from driving over the edge. The system is a soft shaped bench for social hangout and based on Morse code – dots and dashes writing a hidden message for visitors to crack.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
The exhibition was designed by the Dutch exhibition design office Kossmann.dejong. The metaphor that underpins the multimedia exhibition is that of a journey, which starts with an imagining of the universal yearning to discover far away shores and experience adventures at sea. Denmark’s maritime history, up to the current role of the shipping industry globally, is told via a topical approach, including notions such as harbour, navigation, war and trade. The exhibition has been made accessible for a broad audience through the intertwining of many different perspectives on the shipping industry.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
David Zahle, Partner-in-Charge: “For 5 years we have been working on transforming the old concrete dock into a modern museum, which required an archaeologist care and spacecraft designer’s technical skills. The old lady is both fragile and tough; the new bridges are light and elegant. Building a museum below sea level has taken construction techniques never used in Denmark before. The old concrete dock with its 1.5 m thick walls and 2.5 m thick floor has been cut open and reassembled as a modern and precise museum facility. The steel bridges were produced in giant sections on a Chinese steel wharf and transported to Denmark on the biggest ship that has ever docked in Helsingør. The steel sections weigh up to 100 tons a piece and are lifted on site by the two largest mobile cranes in northern Europe. I am truly proud of the work our team has carried out on this project and of the final result.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
On Saturday October 5, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II, cut the ribbon to mark the grand opening. The new Danish National Maritime Museum is open to the public for outdoor activities, exhibitions and events, making the museum a cultural hub in the region throughout the year.
Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima has added a circular courtyard and a renovated timber shed to her series of galleries on Inujima island, Japan.
A-Art House
Sejima, the female partner of architecture studio SANAA, has been working on the Inujima Art House Project since 2010, when she and art director Yuko Hasegawa opened three galleries and a small pavilion in the island’s village.
A-Art House
The two new buildings, entitled A-Art House and C-Art House, will join F-Art House, S-Art House and I-Art House to create a series of spaces that can host coinciding exhibitions.
A-Art House
Clusters of artificial flower petals decorate the acrylic walls of A-Art House, giving a colourful backdrop with shades of pink, orange and yellow to the open-air courtyard that makes up the space.
A-Art House
Instead of a precise circle, the structure has gently fluted walls that bulge outwards, creating an outline reminiscent of a flower shape. A rectangular opening forms an entrance through one of the walls, while silver stools offer a pair of seats for visitors.
C-Art House
C-Art House, the second of the two galleries, occupies a renovated nineteenth-century timber shed near the coastline.
C-Art House
The structure of this building is revealed inside, where ageing wooden trusses are supported by modern timber columns. Timber panels line the walls, while a panoramic screen provides a surface for film screenings.
C-Art House
To tie in with the opening of the new galleries, all five spaces are presenting a combined exhibition where each space is dedicated to the work of a different artist.
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in New Zealand, which was designed by Australian architecture studio Frances-Jones Morehen Thorp together with New Zealand studio Archimedia, is an extension and refurbishment of an existing gallery.
“It’s a turn-of-the-century building, it kind of embodies a colonial attitude to a European settlement,” says Francis-Jones of the original gallery.
“This new project gave us an opportunity to rethink that, to recast it in current values, to create a bi-cultural gallery that can have a much more holistic relationship to New Zealand society.”
The extension provides the gallery with a new entrance, atrium and gallery space, areas that are covered by large wooden canopies made from the indigenous kauri tree.
Francis-Jones says that it was very important for the design team to create a building that related to its local surroundings.
“One of the great challenges we face as architects in this age is that our materials and our systems are sourced from all over the world,” he says. “But we were seeking to make a building that was really embedded in this place, in this culture.”
He continues: “To create these canopies we wanted to use a material that was very precious and meaningful to New Zealand, so we used natural kauri. It’s got to be one of the most beautiful timbers you’ve ever seen in your life and it’s a timber of great significance and meaning to Maori culture.”
“But, of course, it’s a protected species, so we had to source it from fallen kauri or recycled kauri. We had to use it very sparingly.”
Photograph by Luke Hayes
The large glass walls of the building are designed to allow clear views outside to the surrounding landscape.
“The building, in a sense, creates a connection between the natural landscape and the city,” says Francis-Jones.
“Our effort was to strive to make a building that was transparent in a way, to create a building that was more open, inclusive and connected with the landscape. It is a more open interpretation of New Zealand’s future.”
Photograph by Luke Hayes
World Architecture Festival 2013 took place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 2-4 October. Next year’s World Architecture Festival will take place at the same venue from 1-3 October 2014. Award entries are open from February to June 2014.
Japanese architect Tadao Ando has added an auditorium with a curving concrete interior to the Palazzo Grassi – a contemporary arts centre inside an eighteenth-century palace in Venice (+ slideshow).
The Teatrino is the third phase of Tadao Ando’s renovation of the Palazzo Grassi, which is now owned by luxury goods tycoon François Pinault. After converting both the main building and the accompanying Punta della Dogana into contemporary art galleries, Ando added this extra building as a venue for conferences and performances.
Curving concrete walls separate the 220-seat auditorium from reception areas, dressing rooms and storage areas, providing a blank canvas for hanging artwork or film projection.
Lighting fixtures are tucked around the edges of a suspended ceiling in the main lobby, while triangular skylights offer a source of daylight.
The Teatrino occupies a space that once served as the palace’s garden. More recently it had functioned as a theatre, but has been closed to the public since 1983.
Only the facade of the original building remains, with the new structure erected behind.
Here’s a project description from the design team:
The Teatrino of Palazzo Grassi
The François Pinault Foundation is strengthening its implementation within the artistic and cultural life of Venice. A new site, created for conferences, meetings, projections, concerts, etc., will be added to the ensemble of Palazzo Grassi-Punta della Dogana-François Pinault Foundation: the Teatrino, which will open its doors to the public in June 2013.
After the restoration of Palazzo Grassi in 2006, followed by that of Punta della Dogana, inaugurated in 2009, the rehabilitation of the Teatrino in 2013 constitutes the third step of François Pinault’s broad cultural project for Venice. Conceived and conducted by Tadao Ando in close collaboration with the Municipality of Venice and the competent authorities and services (including the Superintendent of Architectural Assets and Landscapes of Venice), this restoration will maintain the spirit of architectural continuity of the preceding renovations. Work will begin in summer 2012 and last ten months.
Spread over a surface of 1,000 square meters, the Teatrino will be equipped with an auditorium of 220 seats, completed by reception areas and spaces for technical equipment (boxes, equipment for stage management and simultaneous translation, etc.). Thus, it will provide Palazzo Grassi-Punta della Dogana-François Pinault Foundation with optimal technical conditions (including acoustics) in a comfortable setting, in order to develop more fully the cultural dimension of its activities: meetings, conferences, workshops, lectures, concerts, performances, research, … with an emphasis on the moving image (cinema, artist, films, video, video installations, …). It will also reinforce the Foundation’s role as a forum of exchange, meeting, and openness towards the city.
Construction photography
Located on the Calle delle Carrozze, alongside Palazzo Grassi, the Teatrino was conceived in 1857 to serve as the palace’s garden. A century later, it was transformed into an open-air theatre, which was renovated and covered in 1961. It was abandoned in 1983 and has been closed to the public ever since.
London studio Loop.pH mimicked the molecular structures of carbon atoms to generate the form of this illuminated wiry dome (+ movie).
Named the SOL Dome, the structure was built using Archilace, a lightweight composite fibre developed by Loop.pH, and made up of carbon and fibreglass.
The stiff woven fibres, which can be bent into almost any surface, have been shaped into circles to create a rigid structure based on the chemical and molecular bonds between carbon atoms.
“It is an entirely new way of constructing architectural spaces based on textile principles,” creative director Rachel Wingfield told Dezeen.
The studio created the installation as part of the Fall In… Art and Sol Festival in Michigan, USA, an annual art and science exhibition that this year is focussing on solar-powered art.
Solar cells at the base of the dome store energy during the day and are then used to power an animated lighting sequence that is projected over the surface of the structure after dark.
“The rotational breathing rhythm of the light is driven by an onsite CO2 sensor and is part of our studio’s ongoing research into creating environments that allow people to experience cycles of environmental data in public space,” said Wingfield.
Wingfield also compares the structure to the experimental architecture of Buckminster Fuller.
“It’s a further development on Buckminster Fuller’s work on geodesic domes where the solid rods are replaced by a single tubular membrane,” she added.
The SOL Dome is a lightweight dome structure, 8 metres in diameter, 4 metre high and weighing only 40 kg. Its fabricated onsite over 3 days from thousands of individually woven circles of composite fibre. The structure is animated and part of a responsive lighting system, lit by a circular matrix of solar powered LED floodlights.
The rotational breathing rhythm of the light is driven by an onsite CO2 sensor and is part of our studio’s ongoing research into creating environments that allow people to experience cycles of environmental data in public space. The underlying geometry and construction technique of the dome is based on chemical, molecular bonds between carbon atoms. When each fibre is bent into a circle it is like charging a battery, creating a taut energetic structure.
Our work at Loop.pH speculates on what the future of renewable energy could be and how it may alter both the urban and rural landscapes. We create environments that question what new behaviours, work forces and activity might emerge in an abundant renewable energy future.
Ultimately, we have a vision for an entirely new type of architecture that responds and adapts to its environment, similarly to a plant and its surrounding ecosystem. We dream of a living architecture that photosynthesises, moves and orientates in accordance to the sun. It is an architecture whereby the inhabitants can actively participate in its shape, form and function.
The underlying geometry and construction technique is based on chemical, molecular bonds between carbon atoms. The taut structure of the SOL Dome embodies a kinetic energy whereby each fibre bent into a circle is like charging a battery. Large scale solar energy supply will only be possible if we can find an inexpensive storage mechanism. Transferring solar energy into chemical energy (chemical bonds) is one of the most promising approaches. The dome structure is an example of this type of stored energy.
Archilace is a pioneering and unique method to craft space and has been developed by Loop.pH over the past 10 years. It can simply be described as lace-making on an architectural scale and will be the principle technique behind the SOL Dome.
Archilace encourages designers, architects and citizens to intervene and re-construct the built environment, promoting the idea that architecture is a process and in a state of constant transformation. Archilace combines a cutting edge parametric design process with a hands-on crafting technique. Weaving with composite fibres allows for virtually any imaginable surface to be created from a small number of parts. Where many individual fibres are weak when singular, great strength is created in unison as they interlink and cross one another. Recently discovered structures that were previously unbuildable can be fabricated by hand using a textile, curvilinear approach – breaking the rectilinear geometry that dominates our built environment.
Fall In…Art and Sol is a celebration of art, culture and science throughout Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Region featuring the world’s first major solar art exhibition with International artists in October 2013.
Project: The SOL Dome by Loop.pH Location: FirstMerit Bank Event Park, Saginaw, Great Lakes Bay Region, Michigan, USA Date: 28 September – 31 October 2013 Client: Fall In… Art and Sol Festival
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