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London architecture office Make has designed a portable prefabricated kiosk with a folded aluminium shell that opens and closes like a paper fan (+ movie).

Make based the design of the kiosks on the folded paper forms of Japanese origami, but chose to reproduce them in metal to create a compact and robust structure that can house street vendors.

“Origami was fundamental in developing the design; the ideas of a folding fan informed the design and folded paper models were used throughout the process, right up to the final testing of the completed design,” project architect Sean Affleck told Dezeen.

Two of the kiosks were installed in a public plaza at London’s Canary Wharf and acted as information and vending points for the duration of an ice-sculpting festival last month.

Affleck said the kiosks were created to perform multiple functions at different venues: “They’ve been designed to be used anywhere and for a multitude of purposes; from serving coffee, to information points, to a spot for DJs at events.”

The folded structure is made from hinged aluminium panels that radiate from a central axis and are treated with a resilient powder-coated finish.

A counterweight system controlled by a winch raises the front of the kiosk upwards from the base to create an opening that reveals the interior.

The folded section forms a canopy that protects the inside and anyone standing in front of the counter.

An interior space measuring 1.95 by 3 metres is lined with a plywood skin covered with a waterproof membrane, while a further layer of cladding creates an insulating gap to reduce the impact of solar gain.

Make collaborated with metal fabrication specialist Entech Environmental Technology Ltd to manufacture and test the pavilions off-site and then transported and installed them pre-assembled.

The kiosks will continue to be used as information points or rented out to vendors during an ongoing series of events taking place in Canary Wharf, and can subsequently be moved to a new location.

All images are courtesy of Make.

The architects sent us the following project description:

Make kiosks open for business

Two unique prefabricated retail kiosks designed by Make Architects were opened to the public for the first time when they became part of the Canary Wharf’s Ice Sculpturing Festival.

The simple folding geometric form of the kiosk is based on the concept of origami.

Expressed as a compact, sculptural rectangular box when closed, the structure is transformed when open, with folds and hinges in the aluminium panels allowing them to expand and contract like a fan when the kiosk opens and closes.

Sean Affleck, Make lead project architect, said: “It’s fantastic to see the kiosks on site being used and enjoyed by the public, and adding vibrancy and character to Canary Wharf’s public realm area.

“Our solution on the modern street kiosk is a distinctive sculptural rectangular box that transforms when it opens and its function is revealed. The design is also efficient and functional with compact, robust, durable, easy to maintain and vandal and graffiti- proof features. The internal fit-out elements can be adapted to suit the needs of individual vendors.”

The extremely lightweight, portable structure was tested and prefabricated off-site by Entech Environmental Technology Ltd, delivered to Canary Wharf via lorry and installed complete and pre-assembled.

The post Folded metal kiosks by Make
open like a paper fan appeared first on Dezeen.

Opinion: Kieran Long responds to the recent closure of ten London fire stations, arguing that architecture built for a specific purpose and location is far more valuable to a city’s sense of place than generic, pragmatic solutions.

Last week in London, ten fire stations serving the city closed for good. The buildings will be sold to the highest bidder and most likely turned into apartments. It felt like a tragedy. These civic places that housed some of the bravest of our citizens were suddenly surplus to requirements and, at a stroke, the men and women who served there had no representation on these high streets.

One striking consequence was the sight of beefcake guys openly weeping on the streets of London. It was as moving as it was unsettling. What kind of a society reduces its strongest and bravest to crying on each others’ mountainous shoulders? As the last watch ended at Clerkenwell, Westminster and Belsize stations, emotions ran high. Some anger, yes, which the trade unions stoked as best they could, but mainly resignation and powerlessness: a sense of the inevitable carelessness of contemporary cities.

Architecturally, many of these stations provided a curious setting for this human drama. Take Belsize station in north London, designed by an architect with the unlikely name of Charles Canning Windmill. With its pitched roof and tall dormer windows it has the villagey idiom of the suburban Arts and Crafts. It must have been terribly retro even in 1915 when it was opened, with the gleaming, noisy engines it accommodated seeming jarringly modern against this romantic cottage of a building.

At Clerkenwell station, the built fabric was more urban and assured. Clerkenwell fire station is the oldest in the country (it opened in 1872) and was part of a dense urban fabric even then. Piled on top of and behind the functional, fire engine-related accommodation are flats intended for firefighters and their families. On the roof of this six-storey building is a platform that was used during the war to spot fires as they broke out. There’s even a small football pitch for exercise.

To what degree does the architectural character of these fire stations contribute to the guileless sadness expressed by the people who used to work there? Profoundly, I would say. Good architecture marks out our territory; it gives us a place in the world in both literal and metaphorical senses. When that building is built specifically to a purpose that benefits all of us, the sense of loss at its demise is all the greater.

Can we say that the firemen of Clerkenwell felt more sad than those at Kingsland Road, whose building is a fairly banal Modernist box of beige brick and red concertina doors? I’m not sure what kind of quantitative research would be possible on this question, but it’s an intriguing problem. When a building articulates its location and purpose so clearly it can be a powerful thing, one that has its own momentum, and some are more powerful than others. Battersea Power Station feels like the most strident example of a building so perfectly suited to its time, place and function, that many have failed to transform it into anything useful since it closed down.

Something happens to the city when you replace the specific with the generic. I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the last couple of weeks, especially in view of MoMA New York’s decision to demolish the Folk Art Museum by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, which is an egregious example of the sacrifice of the precisely tuned, specific environment with a purposefully generic one.

It is here where the vandalism of that proposal really becomes clear. The Folk Art Museum was intended for a collection of folk art: small, unheroic things that needed low light levels. The galleries helped you concentrate on these objects, but the building also provided a sense of relief through its vertical connections.

MoMA‘s architect Diller & Scofidio proposes to use the same site for what they call the Art Bay, a large, abstract glass box. In its banal simplicity, it’s supposed to enable access for the public and give freedom to artists. In fact, it’s a classic misunderstanding of what a public place really is. Taking our place in society is not about being free from constraints, it’s about being free enough to commit ourselves to something: understanding our place in relation to others. It’s not about flattening or denying our differences by pretending they don’t exist, but instead about expressing ourselves clearly and tolerating and enjoying wildly differing approaches to life, culture, art and work.

In her Opinion piece about the MoMA plan on Dezeen, Mimi Zeiger argued that it is somehow sentimental of us to wish for architecture to endure, that it has a sell by date and we should all just accept obsolescence as a fact of contemporary life. In this regard, I think she’s wrong. Perhaps bad architecture or arcane, outmoded institutions become obsolete. But good ones adapt, become influenced by their surroundings and renew their commitment to their place in the world. The fire fighters of Clerkenwell were torn away from their place in violent, pragmatic fashion, and it caused pain.

MoMA and institutions like it should be the last to cause such a sense of loss because of pragmatic considerations. Without a sense of institutional and architectural character, our cities would not give us a place in the world. We would all be fire fighters, exiled to a modern, strategically located facility, out of the sight of our fellow citizens: mere service providers.

Kieran Long is senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He presents Restoration Home and the series The £100,000 House for the BBC, and is currently the architecture critic for the Evening Standard newspaper.

The post “London’s fire station closures represent the
inevitable carelessness of contemporary cities” appeared first on Dezeen.

This series of images by architectural rendering studio Hayes Davidson envisages how London‘s skyline might look in 20 years time.

Over 200 towers with a height of 20 storeys or greater are planned in the UK capital over the next two decades and Hayes Davidson has visualised how these new buildings will appear alongside existing skyscrapers such as Renzo Piano’s The Shard and Norman Foster’s The Gherkin.

The images were created for an exhibition opening later this year at New London Architecture (NLA) entitled London’s Growing… Up! which will chart the growth of tall building construction in London since the 1960s and look at the impact skyscrapers will have on the city in the near future.

“As London’s population gets bigger and bigger, and new development for London takes place within the constraints of the green belt, we have to increase the density of the city,” said Peter Murray, who is chairman of NLA and the exhibition curator.

“This results in our buildings getting taller. The huge number of towers in the pipeline will have a significant impact on the look of London.”

New buildings such as the so-called “can of ham” by Foggo Associates and The Pinnacle by Kohn Pedersen Fox are featured, along with nearly complete structures such as the Leadenhall Building by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Rafael Viñoly’s Walkie Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street.

The exhibition opens to the public on 3 April 2014.

Here’s more information about the exhibition from NLA:

London’s Growing… Up!
The rise and rise of London’s tall buildings

London’s skyline is currently going through a massive change. Over 200 towers are planned in the capital in an attempt to meet the needs of the capital’s growing population. So how will London’s skyline change in the next 20 years?

This April, New London Architecture (NLA) – London’s Centre for the Built Environment will explore this new skyline with London’s Growing… Up! Through the use of images, video, models, CGI’s and visitor interaction, the exhibition will present a past, present and future view of London’s skyline as the capital’s developers focus on building upwards rather than outwards.

There are over 200 towers, each more than 20 storeys, currently planned in London, around 150 of them new residential blocks. London’s Growing… Up! offers a timely exploration into this hotly debated subject.

Since the emergence of skyscrapers in London in the 1960s, the capital’s skyline has changed irrevocably. Visitors will explore the history of London’s high­‐rise architecture through images, models and construction videos, witnessing how iconic structures such as the Barbican and Centre Point set a precedent for the future of the skyline. A series of panoramic views of London chart the ever­‐changing landscape, from the 1960s through to the modern day and demonstrating how London will appear in 10 years time.

Famous structures including Canary Wharf, The Gherkin and The Shard are examined in the exhibition, looking at their context, their economic raison d’etre and the impact they have on our understanding of the city.

The exhibition will also explore the significant growth in high‐rise residential development. High‐rise residential was once only seen on council estates and glass skyscrapers were reserved for the business world, but the growing trend of luxury towers is currently providing the majority of new developments in the capital. Areas such as Nine Elms, Waterloo and White City will be explored, looking at why these new areas are attracting high­‐rise development and how luxury and affordable residential can coincide in London’s new vertical city.

Visitors will be able to have their say on what should or shouldn’t be in the London skyline. Touch screen will enable guests to rewind time and fast­‐forward to the future to see how London has, and will be, developed. Visitors will have the opportunity to remove or change the location of buildings they don’t like and even add buildings from other cities, making their own metropolis which will be posted onto the NLA’s Twitter feed.

Thursday 3 April – Thursday 12 June 2014
NLA, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT

The post London’s future skyline captured
in new visualisations appeared first on Dezeen.

Latticed wooden screens form balustrades for a red pigmented concrete staircase inside this renovated mews house in west London by British studio Jonathan Tuckey Design.

Named Submariner’s House, the three-storey residence was redesigned by Jonathan Tuckey Design for a resident who used to work on a submarine. This client asked for a home that maximises space and includes a new basement and roof terrace.

The compact proportions of the building led to a simple layout with one main room on each floor and a focal staircase that runs along one wall.

“Our ambition was to provide a series of new domestic spaces that were pulled together as a whole by a new staircase and voids between the different levels to create a psychologically expanded space,” said project architect Ryuta Hirayama.

Red pigment was added to concrete to give a warm colour to the staircase. It is fronted by screens made from timber slats, which are white washed so that they appear bleached and have diagonal braces for handrails.

On the ground floor, an illuminated glass box sits at the end of the staircase to allow light to reach a shower room in the basement.

The rest of the newly excavated basement is used as a games room. Felt-lined walls slide back to reveal shelves and cupboards, and the room can also be partitioned to create a small guest bedroom.

More built-in cupboards line the walls of a ground-floor kitchen and dining room, while old stable doors open the room out to the quiet street.

The living room occupies the first floor and the client’s bedroom can be found on the storey above. There’s also an en suite bathroom including a limestone bath and a skylight with adjustable opacity.

Photography is by Dirk Lindner.

Here’s a project description from Jonathan Tuckey Design:

Submariner’s House

Reconstruction of a mews house in the conservation area of St Luke’s Mews, west London.

Brief

Full refurbishment of a three storey mews house and construction of a new basement for a private client who is an ex-submariner. The house consists of a kitchen/dining room on the ground floor, living room on the 1st floor,bedroom/bathroom on the 2nd floor and media room in the basement which can also be used as a guest bedroom.

This late Victorian mews house is located in a conservation area allowing us only minor alteration works to the external facade. Briefed to maximise both the living and storage space in this small mews house, our ambition was to provide a series of new domestic spaces that were pulled together as a whole by a new staircase and voids between the different levels to create a psychologically expanded space.

Concrete stairs and screen

The staircase is made from red pigmented concrete and is veiled in a delicate screen of whitened timber slats that acts as both balustrade and room divider. In places this screen parts to reveal views through the house and, together with the strategically positioned new windows, helps to join the different levels and spaces of the house into one. Polished plaster walls also tie the spaces together and draw light deep in to the building.

Basement

A newly excavated basement allowed for the addition of a new media room and guest accommodation and a sequence of felt-lined panels and cupboards allow this space to accommodate its mix of functions.

Ground floor

The main entrance garage door can be opened out a full 180 degrees and with an integrated folding table can create a dining room extended into the street. A glass box by the entrance door lets natural light into the basement shower room. The entire polished plaster wall alongside the kitchen/dining room conceals a cupboard with black MDF shelves.

First floor

Whitened timber slats and bookshelves create spacious open living room space.

Second floor

Skylight on the pitched bathroom roof allows natural light to flood into the bedroom. A control on the skylight allows the client to adjust the opacity of the glass while looking up at the sky from the bathtub. Bathtub is made of limestone and the floor is tiled with natural cement tiles.

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a mews house for an ex-submariner appeared first on Dezeen.