Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: architect Alex de Rijke of dRMM talks to Dezeen about his practice’s Escher-inspired installation of staircases in this movie filmed outside Tate Modern in London. 

The Endless Stair installation, constructed on the bank of the River Thames as part of this years London Design Festival, comprises 15 interlocking staircases demonstrating a new cross-laminated timber material.

“Endless Stair is a prototype,” explains de Rijke, who is co-founder of architects de Rijke Marsh Morgan and dean of architecture at the Royal College of Art. “It’s a research project into making a new material, or a new version of a material, namely a hard wood version of laminated timber, which is generally soft wood.”

dRMM chose to create an installation of stairs to demonstrate the material because of the sculptural quality of staircases, de Rijke says.

“Stairs are one of the nicest things about architecture,” he explains. “Somebody once said sculpture’s gift to architecture is the staircase.”

He continues: “My team were interested in Escher’s endless stair as a conceptual conceit. We thought we would make a very simple version of Escher’s sophisticated ideas.”

To recreate one of Escher’s drawings in 3D would be impossible, and de Rijke admits that the installation is not literally endless.

“Endless Stair is obviously a real staircase with a real end,” he says. “The idea of Endless Stair is that it can be endlessly reconfigured; it’s something that can be recycled and reused. There are 15 flights in this example, and they can be reconfigured with more or less in many different contexts.”

De Rijke says that the sculpture is meant to be fun, but forms part of a serious research project.

“All useful architecture has its origins in some kind of experiment,” he says. “We wanted to make a new material and we wanted to apply it and we did so with a kind of sculpture, but actually there’s a serious intent behind it, which is the application at the scale of buildings and larger structures.”

We drove to Tate Modern in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music featured in the movie is a track called Temple by London band Dead Red Sun.

See all our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies »
See all our stories about London Design Festival 2013 »
See Dezeen’s map and guide to London Design Festival 2013 »

The post “Sculpture’s gift to architecture
is the staircase” – Alex de Rijke appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest residence to feature a combined staircase and bookshelf is this loft conversion in north London by British design studio Craft Design. (+ slideshow)

Craft Design renovated a former office to create the open-plan residence, inserting a central bathroom that separates the kitchen and dining area from the living room, while also providing the framework for a first-floor bed deck.

The gabled end wall is covered with bookshelves, providing storage for three different areas. The staircase is formed from a series of extruded shelves and leads up from the living room to the mezzanine sleeping area.

“The idea was to maximise the sense of space as well as keeping a simple and efficient layout,” said designers Hugo D’Enjoy and Armando Elias.

The designers kept to a simple palette of wooden flooring with white walls and fittings, allowing the owner to add colour by displaying books and other collected items.

We’ve recently featured a renovated apartment in Barcelona that also uses a bookcase as a staircase. See more interiors that combine staircases with bookshelves »

Photography is by Craft Design.

Here’s a project description by Armado Elias:

London based Studio Craft Design led by Hugo D’Enjoy and Armando Elias has transformed a loft space in Camden into a bright and dynamic living-working space.

Originally used as an open plan office space, the challenge was to convert the property into a bespoke and innovative environment that efficiently and creatively responds to the demands of living in London.

In response to the brief, the idea was to maximise the sense of space as well as keeping a simple and efficient layout. The solution successfully achieved this with the introduction of a single volume located central to the loft where all the services are accommodated. Detached from the facades and ceilings this element has divided the open plan into several spaces for different uses such as kitchen-dinning, living room, storage, bathroom and a mezzanine for the sleeping and working area.

The 4.5 m height party wall and roof eaves have been fully used with shelves and storage, which serve the whole space. The stair to access the mezzanine level was cleverly integrated into this single piece of furniture. The rest was about keeping a simple palette in terms of materials and colors to allow the owner collection of objects, art and books give the wall an authentic personality to the space.

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by Craft Design appeared first on Dezeen.

Danish architects 3XN have completed a star-shaped regional headquarters for the United Nations in Copenhagen – but the real star is the spectacular staircase rising through the centre of the atrium (+ slideshow).

The UN City complex, located at the tip of the Marmormolen wharf in the city’s docks, takes the form of an eight-pointed star in plan and houses 1,700 UN staff.

3XN specially developed the white perforated aluminum shutters that clad the building and which can be controlled by workers via their computers.

Environmental features include sea-water cooling, rainwater collectors to flush the toilets, aerator taps to reduce water use and rooftop solar panels that can generate 297,000 kWh/year.

The sculptural central staircase is intended to encourage staff to circulate and interact, representing the UN’s role in encouraging positive dialogue between nations.

Likewise the star-form of the building is a metaphor for the UN’s work at all the compass points of the world.

See more projects by 3XN, including the dune-shaped Blue Planet Aquarium in Copenhagen, which was today shortlisted for the World Building of the Year award.

Here’s some info from 3XN:

3XN’s eight pointed star shaped UN City is inaugurated in Copenhagen

The new regional head office of the United Nations is designed with clear references to the UN’s identity and values: It is a building that physically reaches out to all parts the world, while the sculptural staircase in its core reflects the UN’s work to create global dialogue.

Delivering as One

Bringing together the various agencies and functions of the United Nations regional offices in Copenhagen, the new UN City is located at Marmormolen (The Marble Pier) north of Copenhagen’s city center. 3XN’s design is a response to the UN’s wishes for an iconic building expressing the organization’s values and authority. More specifically, the design reflects the independent, efficient and professional nature of each UN unit, while at the same time clearly rooted in a mutual set of values – Delivering as One.

Located on an artificial island the building is naturally separated from its immediate surroundings, while still being highly visible from both the city and the water.

The Star

From above, the eight-pointed star shape is a clear visual reference point, which, like the UN, reaches out to all corners of the world. Similar to the surrounding rusty pier edges, the UN city has a dark burnished steel base from which the white main building rises. This is a reference to the elegant white ships that characterize this part of the Copenhagen harbor.

The building has a façade cladding of white perforated aluminum shutters, developed by 3XN and contractor Pihl specifically for the UN City. The shutters ensure solar shading without blocking the view or the daylight. Since the facade is divided into three meter long modules, it is possible for the employees to control the sunshade from their computers. The result is an improved indoor environment, and a dynamic façade expressing a building full of life.

From the core of the star-shaped building, a daylight filled atrium connects the lobby level containing all common functions, with the office levels, where the various UN agencies are distributed.

From the atrium a central staircase binds all levels together. 3XN has created the staircase as a dramatic spatial sculpture, which is to be seen as a symbol of the UN’s work to create dialogue, interaction and positive encounters between people in all parts of the world. In the daily life, the sculptural form inspires the UN employees to want to use the stairs, and thus the staircase also forms the basis for dialogue, cooperation and informal meetings between the various UN organizations.

Sustainability

All office levels are characterized by an open and flexible layout encouraging knowledge sharing and interaction as well as individual immersion. Work stations are ensured plenty of high quality daylight and a good indoor climate. The working environment is further improved by an overall health policy including green recreational areas and a number of sustainable features including:

Air quality – The building has been designed to limit the use of chemicals and pollutants during both its construction and its use. The building is entirely ventilated with filtered outside air. This ensures that only clean, fresh air is present in the building and helps balance the interior humidity level.

Solar panels – More than 1,400 solar panels are lining the roof of the building to support the goal of generating renewable energy onsite. With an estimated total production of 297,000 kWh/year, the solar panels significantly reduce the need for electricity from the grid.

Sea water cooling – Cold seawater pumped into the building’s cooling system, almost entirely eliminating the need for electricity to power the cooling cycle.

Water efficiency – Innovative aerators have been placed in the taps in kitchens, toilets and showers throughout the building. The low-flow taps reduce water usage. In addition, pipes on the roof capture almost 3,000,000 litres of rainwater annually, which is almost enough to flush the toilets of the entire building without using potable water.

Solar shades – Sophisticated solar shades on the building’s facade can be opened and closed to either trap or reflect the sun’s heat.

Reflective roofs – The roof of the building has been coated with a white, recyclable membrane, made from plant-based materials. The environmentally-friendly coating reflects sunlight and reduces the solar warming of the building.

The UN City is expected to become one of Denmark’s most energy efficient buildings with an annual energy consumption of less than 50 KwH per m2 (Danish Energy Class 1). The UN City is registered with the LEED sustainability ratings system with the certification goal of LEED® Platinum. UN City has been awarded the prestigious GreenBuilding Award 2012 by the European Commission.

Project Data

The project is delivered in two phases: Phase 1 was completed in December 2012 and phase 2 will be completed in December 2013. The official inauguration took place July 4 2013 with the participation of the General Secretary of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.

Client: FN Byen p.s. (Copenhagen Port & City Development)

Architect: 3XN

Engineer: Orbicon a/s

Landscape: Schønherr

Contractor: Pihl A/S

Interior Design: PLH / UN Common Services

Size: 45,000 m2 office and public facilities + 7,000 m2 archives and secondary facilities

Capacity: 1700 employees

Budget: Approx. 134 mio. EURO

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by 3XN appeared first on Dezeen.

This concrete staircase into the air by Lisbon architecture studio Ateliermob functions as a riverside amphitheatre on the banks of the Tagus in central Portugal (+ slideshow).

Positioned on the northern shore of the river near the village of Rio de Moinhos, the structure is built on the site of an old fishing boat dock that had fallen out of use due to regular flooding.

Ateliermob‘s brief was to create a public installation on the site. To withstand the changing water levels, the intervention needed a solid structure that would resist decay even if submerged for a few days a year.

The chunky concrete bleachers rise up in a northerly direction, facing a stage that cantilevers out across the riverbank. A telescope is mounted at the very top, while rectangular concrete benches and tables provide a picnic area on one side.

“The new element wipes out the boundary between land and water, projecting itself on the river, and on a flat terrain it erupts in the air as a reference in the landscape,” say the architects.

The Rio de Moinhos Open-Air Theatre is the latest in a series of riverside installations designed by Ateliermob for the banks of the Tagus since 2007.

Other amphitheatres on Dezeen include a summer theatre in Estonia and a stage set in Sicily designed by OMA.

Photography is by Zoraima de Figueiredo.

Read on for more details from Ateliermob:

Rio de Moinhos Open Air Theatre

Following an international competition for the banks of the Tagus River in four counties in central Portugal where ateliermob got the first prize, they were asked to design three projects in the municipality of Abrantes.

Located on the right bank of the Tagus River, near the village of Rio de Moinhos, the Cais das Barcas served as a fishing boat dock and transported people and goods between the two banks. Over the years, that space lost its essence, both due to the nearly non-existent maintenance as the constant flooding of the Tagus (the height of the pier is +18.00 m, and the 1979 flood overflowed the river, which rose to 31.00 m).

Following a study of the dynamics of the local population, which can be characterised as having intense activity in recreational and popular associations, and it was understood that an outdoor space that could serve as an informal area for groups and communities and that could withstand submersion for a few days of the year. The new element wipes out the boundary between land and water, projecting itself on the river, and on a flat terrain it erupts in the air as a reference in the landscape.

The project seeks to recreate a place that spring-starts from the renovation of the pier, adding new collective reference meanings and uses. A new space for the local people that acts as a gathering place for the community or as an idyllic meeting place. The entire area around the auditorium, parallel to the existing dock, is redrawn maintaining its natural character, yet providing it with urban furniture – benches and tables for a more effective use by the population. Rio de Moinhos has experienced a difficult relationship with the river, noticeable its urban morphology – from times of flooding to times of drought. Every year, during the rainy season, this structure may become partially submerse.

The proposed structure seeks to reclassify the area, creating a new meeting space for the local community. When no events are taking place, this amphitheatre will be ideal to contemplate the river, the landscape and from its highest point, Rio de Moinhos.

Project: Rio de Moinhos Open Air Theatre
Place: Rio de Moinhos, Abrantes, Portugal
Promoter: Câmara Municipal de Abrantes (city council)
Construction: Construforte – Sociedade de construções e Empreitadas, Lda
Architecture: ateliermob – Andreia Salavessa and Tiago Mota Saraiva with Vera João, João Torres, Ana Luísa Cunha, Zofia Józefowicz and Sophia Walk (competition: Carolina Condeço, Nuno Ferreira)
Structures: Betar Estudos – José Pedro Venâncio and Maria do Carmo Vieira
Lights: João Pedro Osório

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by Ateliermob appeared first on Dezeen.

Italian studio Disguincio & Co has produced a concept for a spiral staircase with steps made from folds of fibreglass.

The Folio Staircase by Pordenone-based practice Disguincio & Co would comprise a repeated sequence of steps that slot into each other to make a spiral staircase.

Each step is flexible and relatively weak, but when pieced together the whole staircase would become stable and robust, says designer Mirk Daneluzzo.

The steps would be made from fibreglass reinforced with carbon fibre strips, although Daneluzzo hopes to utilise other materials in the future. “We are actually doing research to select environmentally sustainable solutions to have a natural fibre and bio-polymer-matrix composite,” he told Dezeen.

For the moment there is no working prototype of the staircase, only a small model. “We are working to make it as soon as possible, in collaboration with some producers,” added Daneluzzo.

We recently featured another concept for a spiral staircase using a single repeated element, this time based on a whale’s backbone.

Other staircases we’ve published lately include flights of stairs floating in mid-air by artists Lang/Baumann and a ladder-like wireframe staircase leading to a mezzanine bedroom – see all staircases.

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Disguincio & Co appeared first on Dezeen.