Hasta La Ideas

World Architecture Festival 2013: the Auckland Art Gallery by Australian studio Frances-Jones Morehen Thorp has been awarded World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore.

Frances-Jones Morehen Thorp‘s Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in New Zealand was designed in association with New Zealand studio Archimedia as an extension and refurbishment of the existing gallery, creating a new entrance and doubling the amount of flexible exhibition space.

Roofs over the forecourt, atrium and gallery spaces appear to float at different heights, patterned with wood panels on their undersides.

These canopies are designed to mirror the trees at nearby Albert Park, which can be seen through the large transparent walls of the exhibition spaces.

“Our inspiration was the beautiful natural landscape,” FJMT design director Richard Francis-Jones said after the announcement. “We saw the building as embedded in place. We wanted to use natural local materials, especially the beautiful kauri trees. But because these are protected, we could only use fallen trees or recycled wood.

‘The building is all about New Zealand, and it has the work of great Maori artists embedded in it.”

When the project won the Culture category at the awards yesterday, the WAF judges said: “This is a highly sensitive addition to Auckland Art Gallery which reanimates and reinvigorates the existing building. It responds brilliantly to context and site and gives the gallery a new architectural identity.”

The project beat 16 other category winners announced on day one and day two of the festival, including a whirlpool-shaped aquarium in Copenhagen by 3XN and two projects by last year’s winners Wilkinson Eyre.

Last year the World Building of the Year award went to Wilkinson Eyre Architects’ Gardens by the Bay project in Singapore. Watch our interview with the firm’s Paul Baker filmed moments after the announcement.

Dezeen is media partner for the World Architecture Festival, which concludes today at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre – see all our coverage of WAF 2013 here.

The event is held in conjunction with the biennial Inside Festival. This year’s World Interior of the Year was won by a tiled Barcelona apartment by David Kohn Architects. See all our coverage on Inside Festival 2013 »

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World Building of the Year 2013 appeared first on Dezeen.

Curving steel columns morph into angular arches around the etched concrete body of this bridge by New Zealand architects Warren and Mahoney over a road, railway and waterway in Auckland (+ slideshow).

Named Point Resolution, the pedestrian bridge connects the coastline with a stretch of headland on the opposite side of the bay. Warren & Mahoney designed the structure to replace an existing 1930s bridge, which had become structurally unsound.

The body of the bridge is framed by three sinuous arcs, which branch out from the steel columns that elevate the structure. “The steel supporting the deck was designed to pay homage to the original bridge by echoing its three arches,” explained the architects.

A curved concrete deck was modelled on the hull of a ship and features a series of etched patterns by artist Henriata Nicholas, designed to look like delicate water ripples.

These patterns continue across the angular glass balustrades that line the edges of the walkway, supporting handrails on both sides.

The architects compare the delicate patterns and curving forms with the nearby Parnell Baths – a 1950s structure that features a decorative mosaic mural. “[The baths] offered a clear language of angular lines meeting sinuous form and became a key motivator of the language and geometry of the design,” they added.

Warren & Mahoney were also the architects for the newest terminal at Wellington International Airport, which topped the transport category at the 2011 Inside awards. Watch an interview we filmed with the architects »

Other bridges completed recently include a Corten steel river crossing in Norway and a pivoting apostrophe-shaped bridge in the UK.

See more bridges on Dezeen »
See more architecture in New Zealand »

Photography is by Patrick Reynolds.

Here’s a project description from Warren & Mahoney:

Point Resolution Bridge

Auckland Council invited Warren and Mahoney to provide conceptual ideas for a replacement pedestrian bridge connecting Auckland’s waterfront to a prominent headland. The existing bridge, built in the 1930s was suffering severe structural fatigue and with the imminent electrification of Auckland’s rail network, the bridge needed to be raised.

The council, recognising the importance of the location, both in terms of its prominence along the waterfront and its proximity to the historic salt water Parnell Baths, wanted something sculptural, elegant and iconic. The baths, designed in the early 1950s in the International Modern style of lido bathing pools with a mosaic mural by artist James Turkington, with its fluid and abstracted swimmers, offered a clear language of angular lines meeting sinuous form and became a key motivator of the language and geometry of the design.

The location of the bridge at the edge of the harbour also provided obvious nautical allusions, both historic and contemporary – the waka and the super yacht.

It was determined that the bridge would be formed using three primary elements:

» A simple but sculpted and hull-like concrete deck would extend from the headland and protrude out into the harbour. This would in turn be cradled by a highly expressive steel armature or exoskeleton which sinuously referenced the language of the baths beyond. A simple cantilevered glass balustrade, co-planar with the concrete deck would provide barrier protection.

» The steel supporting the deck was designed to pay homage to the original bridge by echoing its three arches. The arches begin under the deck as diamond shaped columns which bifurcate to form the arches.

» The deck is formed with three separate twin-celled post tensioned precast concrete sections joined with in-situ stitches. The deck is supported by the steel armature through discrete pin connections.

Artist Henriata Nicholas developed a pungarungaru(water ripple) pattern over the concrete and glass surfaces. It was important that the patterning was delicately completed in a contemporary manner to ensure it would not be read as a patronising cultural reference. To ensure consistency of the concrete colour, a pigmented stain was applied.

To create the fluid and sinuous forms, along with the geometric precision required the bridge was designed and modelled in Rhinoceros with the associated parametric plug-in Grasshopper. The parametric capability allowed for design iterations to be produced quickly and tested against architectural and structural requirements.

Architect: Warren & Mahoney (Dean Mackenzie, Simon Dodd, Sebastian Hamilton, Chris Brown)
Artist: Henriata Nicholas
Structures: Peters & Cheung (Duncan Peters, Brent Deets, David Brody, Joe Gutierrez)
Lighting: LDP (Mike Grunsell)
Main Contractor: Hawkins Infrastructure (Nick Denham)
Client: Auckland City (Greg Hannah)

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by Warren & Mahoney appeared first on Dezeen.

This brick courtyard house by Auckland studio Glamuzina Paterson Architects sits at the foot of a mountain in New Zealand’s Otago region (+ slideshow).

Lake Hawea Courtyard House was designed by Glamuzina Paterson Architects as a rural home for a retired couple, who requested a building that “sits on the ground with weight and permanence”.

Occupying a square plot, the single-storey house has an L-shaped plan that folds around the north and east sides of a secluded central courtyard, allowing morning and afternoon sunlight to penetrate the interior spaces.

The walls are constructed from uneven bricks, giving a bumpy texture to the outer surfaces, and large recesses are infilled with a mixture of timber panels and glazing.

“The house is an enquiry into where a site begins and ends,” said the architects. “The use of rusticated bricks creates a material relationship with the site and anchors it firmly to the ground, along with a textural palette that allows for a constantly shifting interpretation of scale.”

Alongside the usual living, dining and bedroom spaces, the architects added a music room and a quiet room, designed to accommodate the residents’ various hobbies.

Entrances to the house lead in through the courtyard, plus a garage in the site’s south-west corner offers parking spaces for a pair of cars.

Other interesting houses from New Zealand include a guesthouse with walls of Corten steel and a residence that can be towed off the beach. See more architecture from New Zealand »

Photography is by Samuel Hartnett, apart from where otherwise stated.

Read on for a description from Glamuzina Paterson Architects:

The Lake Hawea Courtyard House

The Lake Hawea Courtyard House is grounded in rural land at the foot of Mount Maude in the Otago region. The house is an enquiry into where a site begins and ends – how to define the edges of the project and the way that landscape may be inhabited.

Firmly dug into the earth, its low form and simple square plan recalls the modest language of early settler buildings in the region that utilise low slung, stone construction to deal with the extreme environment.

This idea of a singular form clad with simple materials, drove the exploration into the material and formal qualities of the house.

In their written brief the clients requested “a building not built on a domestic scale, that might have been part of a bigger building that sits on the ground with weight and permanence”.

The couple planned to retire to the house so spaces were described by unusual titles, such as the quiet room and the music room that represented their respective hobbies.

The brick amour of the Courtyard facade wraps the house and large central courtyard, framing views to the lofty mountains and low plains.

Living, dining and sleeping spaces occupy the northern and eastern edges, favouring the predominant direction of the sun, while niches and overhangs in the building envelope protect it from the hot, dry summers and harsh winters.

The courtyard bunkered in the landscape responds to the immediate context within which it is placed and allows the building to address continuous enclosure and protection from the prevailing north-east wind. The use of rusticated bricks creates a material relationship with the site, and anchors it firmly to the ground, along with a textural palette that allows for a constantly shifting interpretation of scale. The strategies of shifting roof planes and concrete floor plates enables the house to articulate the relationship of form to land, this in turn is mediated by a plinth that is expressed as a low recessed wall wrapping around the building connecting the mass to the ground and acting as an organisational tool for apertures.

As Ted McCoy once commented: “The good thing about isolation [is that] one had to learn for oneself, by looking at surroundings.” The courtyard house reflects these values.

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by Glamuzina Paterson Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Two towering walls of Corten steel lead into this four-bedroom guesthouse at the Cloudy Bay winery in Marlborough, New Zealand (+ slideshow).

Australian firm Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects teamed up with local studio Paul Rolfe Architects to design the house, which accommodates visitors such as distributors, journalists and wine sellers. It replaces another that burnt down in 2009.

Named Cloudy Bay Shack, the house is orientated so that glazed walls face out towards the scenic landscape. “We shaped the building to gain vistas along the vineyards to the Richmond Ranges, whose silhouette adorns each bottle,” explained the architects.

The two weathered steel walls frame entrances at both ends of the house and were designed to reference the rural architecture of the surrounding region.

“[The exterior is] evocative of rustic buildings seen nestled in the pastoral landscape. This ensures that the building as an object sits comfortably in its environment,” said the architects.

The interior is lined with timber, and includes a series of zig-zagging panels that separate living and dining spaces from the central corridor.

Set down by three steps, these rooms feature floor-to-ceiling glazing that allows them to open out to the garden.

Bedrooms and bathrooms occupy the first floor, screened behind louvred panels that hinge open.

Other houses we’ve featured from New Zealand include a building on a sled that can be towed off the beach and a weekend cabin with a blackened timber facade. See more architecture in New Zealand »

Here’s a project description from Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects:

Cloudy Bay Winery
Shack II Guest House

Cloudy Bay Shack establishes the connection between the image on the wine label and the direct experience of the vineyard. We shaped the building to gain vistas along the vineyards to the Richmond Ranges, whose silhouette adorns each bottle.

An entry sequence has been established to deliberately dramatise the ‘Cloudy Bay’ view. On arrival, visitors face two weathered steel walls, resembling someone holding their arms out to welcome an old friend. When the door is opened, a warm timber interior is revealed and the view is obscured by a series of concertina timber panels. As guests enter, the view is revealed by degrees until they walk down three steps to the entertaining level where the full view of the receding vines and Richmond Ranges are presented.

Bedrooms and bathrooms are focused on the same view, with the added benefit that the visitors can be concealed behind their personal timber screen or gain the view directly by opening the screen.

The exterior is composed of materials typical of the region: weathered steel and timber, evocative of rustic buildings seen nestled in the pastoral landscape. This ensures that the building as an object sits comfortably in its environment. To provide unexpected contrast, the interior is lined in well detailed, sophisticated timber and stone.

Project team: Tim Greer, Elizabeth Muir, Ben Daly in association with Paul Rolfe Architects, NZ
Client: Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH Group) and Cloudy Bay Vineyards
Location: Marlborough, NZ
Timeframe: 2010 – 2012
Project Value: $1.4 million

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and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

News: the Cardboard Cathedral designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban opens to the public today in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The building was designed by Shigeru Ban as a temporary replacement for the city’s former Anglican cathedral, which was destroyed by the earthquake that struck the city in February 2011. With an expected lifespan of around 50 years, it will serve the community until a more permanent cathedral can be constructed.

The building features a triangular profile constructed from 98 equally sized cardboard tubes. These surround a coloured glass window made from tessellating triangles, decorated with images from the original cathedral’s rose window.

The main hall has the capacity to accommodate up to 700 people for events and concerts, plus eight steel shipping containers house chapels and storage areas below.

The cathedral had initially been scheduled to open in February, but was subject to a series of construction delays. The first service will now be held on Sunday 11 August.

The reconstruction of the permanent cathedral building has been a controversial topic in recent months, after critics rejected two contemporary designs and called for the building to be restored to its original gothic appearance. The selected design has yet to be announced.

Shigeru Ban has used cardboard on a number of pavilions and structures in recent years, particularly on disaster relief projects. Other examples include a temporary gallery in Moscow with cardboard columns and a cardboard pavilion at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid.

Dezeen interviewed Shigeru Ban back in 2009, when he explained that he considers “green design” to be just a fashion, but that he is most interested in “using materials without wasting”.

See more architecture by Shigeru Ban »
See more cardboard architecture and design »
See more stories about New Zealand »

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