Hasta La Ideas

Australian architect Andrew Burns has installed a charred timber pavilion with deceptively curved walls in the garden of the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Paddington, Sydney (+ slideshow).

Named Crescent House, the structure was designed by Andrew Burns with a symmetrical geometry that comprises two intersecting arcs within a rectangular frame.

Visitors are invited to follow the curve of the walls to a secluded space at the pavilion’s centre, where light filters through tiny perforations to create a wall resembling the night sky.

The charred cedar cladding references the frequently occurring bush fires of the region. Meanwhile, the rectangular structure at the back frames a view of the hedge beyond.

“The pavilion has an ambiguous presence, between architecture and art object,” says Burns. “The structure responds to elemental themes: darkness and light, the wonder of the night sky, the arc of the sun and the presence of bushfire on this continent.”

Crescent House is the inaugural project in the Fugitive Structures programme, a series of temporary pavilions that will be installed annually in the Zen Garden of the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF).

Citing the Serpentine Gallery pavilions in London as an inspiration, the SCAF plans to invite emerging and mid-career architects to design four new pavilions each year.

Andrew Burns also recently completed a pointy gallery and studio for artists in Japan.

See more architecture that features blackened wood, including a rural residence outside Melbourne and a temporary tower installed in Norway.

Photography is by Brett Boardman.

Here’s some more information from Andrew Burns:

‘Crescent House’ is the first in an annual series of temporary pavilions to be installed at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Paddington, Sydney. The aim of this ‘Fugitive Structures’ program is to engage a wide audience with architectural thought.

Two arcs are set within an apparently simple rectilinear form. The arcs bisect, creating a pair of infinitely sharp points and a threshold to the space beyond. This combination of fragility and robustness seeks to charge the conversations within the space with a particular quality.

The structure has an ambiguous presence; between architecture and art object. Through framing, it transforms an ordinary rose apple hedge into a landscape of beauty.

The pavilion responds to elemental themes; darkness and light, the wonder offered by the night sky and the burnt quality of yaki-sugi (charred cedar) recalling the presence of bushfires on this continent.

The pavilion and has been initiated and supported by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, BVN Donovan Hill, Andrew Cameron Family Foundation and the Nelson Meers Foundation.

The post Crescent House
by Andrew Burns appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a team made up of architecture firms OMA, Hassell and Populous has been selected to redevelop Sydney’s convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour (+ slideshow).

Above: International Convention Centre

The Destination Sydney team, lead by developers Lend Lease, were today announced as the winning bidders with their plans to create a 40,000-square-metre exhibition centre, a red-carpet entertainment venue, a 900-room hotel and a new residential neighbourhood.

Dutch architects OMA will work alongside Hassell of Sydney and international firm Populous to deliver the 20-hectare masterplan, adding the new leisure complex to the north of Pier Street and new residential neighbourhood The Haymarket on the site of the existing Sydney Entertainment Centre and car park.

Above: the theatre

“This project will redefine Sydney as a global city and create one of the world’s great meeting and entertainment destinations,” commented Destination Sydney’s chief executive Malcolm Macintyre. “Not only will it become a beacon for international visitors for conventions and events but will also build on the appeal of the Darling Harbour area for Sydney-siders creating an entertainment hub that promises to reconnect and re-energise the city.”

A phased redevelopment will see the existing Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre close in December 2013, while the current Sydney Entertainment Centre will remain open until December 2015. Construction is set to complete in late 2016.

Above: The Haymarket neighbourhood

Darling Harbour sit adjacent to Sydney’s city centre and has established itself as a centre for entertainment on the western edge of the central business district. Other recent developments in the area include an office complex that was awarded at the World Architecture Festival.

OMA have completed a number of projects over the last year, including the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing and the headquarters of the Rothschild Bank in London.

See all our stories about OMA »

The post OMA, Hassell and Populous to redevelop
Sydney’s Darling Harbour appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: in this movie, Australian architect Jeff Morehen of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp tells Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs how the workplaces of the future should be “more hybrid in their nature” and accommodate public facilities, just like his Darling Quarter offices in Sydney that won the office category at the World Architecture Festival this month.

Located beside the harbour, the building curls around a large open space to create a public park and children’s play area. “Putting an office in a park was quite an unusual commission,” says Morehen, before explaining how his team had to overcome the “corporate nature and privatisation” that usually accompanies this kind of commercial building.

Above: photograph is by Florian Groehn

The architect compares the project to some of the public buildings his studio has worked on. “Often libraries that we’re invited to do are more than a library, they become a community meeting space with a whole series of overlaid functions,” he explains. “I think it’s very natural that we start thinking about that for our workplaces.”

Cafes, bars and restaurants line the edge of the ground floor, creating open spaces that can also be used as workplaces. Morehen describes how the current generation of office workers are “no longer tied to desks” and can use the city as their workplace. ”No longer are we individuals just tapping away at computers, he says. “More and more we’re collaborative and we need a range of settings to do that.”

We’ve filmed a series of interviews with award winners at the World Architecture Festival. See all the movies we’ve published so far, including our interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the World Building of the Year.

See all our stories about WAF 2012 »

Photography is by John Gollings, apart from where otherwise stated.

The post Workplaces can become “more hybrid in their
nature” – Jeff Morehen on Darling Quarter appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian studio CplusC Architectural Workshop has extended a house in a Sydney suburb so that it looks like a doll’s house with the back wall taken off (+ slideshow).

A new black-stained timber canopy creates a roof and side walls around rooms and terraces on the ground and first floor, while glass walls slide open to connect the living room and kitchen to the garden.

The discarded timber beams of the house’s original roof have been reused to construct the new family dining table, which overlooks an outdoor swimming pool.

Reclaimed brick walls are exposed in the kitchen, where a cluster of pendant lights are suspended over a central breakfast counter.

Bedrooms occupy the first floor and are shaded by the overhanging roof.

See more Australian houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Murray Fredericks.

Here’s some more text from CplusC Architectural Workshop:

Located in the leafy suburb of Castlecrag, Sydney Australia, the natural beauty of timber is fundamental to the project, and embraces the ideals of Walter Burley Griffin’s design legacy for the area – “Building for Nature”.

The home maintains its original presentation to the street, but is transformed internally from a cellular and inward-looking mid-20th century brick house to a contemporary, open and light-filled home.

The kitchen is the pivotal room in the home, with Western Red Cedar doors disappearing seamlessly behind recycled brickwork allowing the internal living space to extend to a double-volume outdoor living space where Spotted Gum decking leads to the garden and swimming pool.

The external use of timber for seating, decking, fencing and screening terminates in a garden pavilion and transforms the yard into an intimate, peaceful oasis within a dense suburban context.

Both the functional and aesthetic qualities of timber have been drawn upon to heighten the experience of the home, and timber has been utilised in all aspects from structure and cladding, to internal finishes and external amenities.

The rough-sawn plywood canopy to the North is stained black and acts a shroud for the first floor, screening the neighbours and focusing the outlook towards the garden.

Plywood provides a neutral backdrop that allows the cedar cladding, doors and windows to be the focus of the home.

The materiality of this canopy is mirrored in the garden pavilion providing a visual balance.

The cabinetry of the home utilises the efficiency of Australian hardwood veneer and corresponds with the laminated Blackbutt Island bench.

Complementing the golden hues of the interior timbers is a custom Oregon dining table formed from the original roof beams, which has become the centrepiece of the home.

Architect and Builder: CplusC Architectural Workshop

The post Castlecrag Residence by
CplusC Architectural Workshop appeared first on Dezeen.

This young writers’ workshop in Sydney by architects LAVA is parading as an embassy for Martians on earth (+ slideshow).

LAVA worked alongside producer Will O’Rourke and arts organisation The Glue Society to design the centre for creative writing charity The Sydney Story Factory, who organise classes where children can develop imaginative writing skills.

A skeleton of plywood ribs surrounds the space, integrating seating, counters and shelves.

Travel essentials for Martians fill the display areas and can be purchased at a plywood counter, while the workshop desks are located just beyond.

“The concept is to awaken creativity in kids,” explains LAVA director Chris Bosse, ”so the design acts as a trigger, firing up the engines of imagination”.

To see stories about normal embassy buildings, click here.

Photography is by Brett Boardman, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here’s some more information from LAVA:

The Martians have landed and they’ve set up their very own embassy in inner city Sydney!

The new embassy was designed by LAVA, with partners Will O’Rourke and The Glue Society, as a fusion of a whale, a rocket and a time tunnel, an immersive space of oscillating plywood ribs brought to life by red planet light and sound projections.

Above: photograph is by Peter Murphy

LAVA’s design for the Martian Embassy is for The Sydney Story Factory, a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people in Redfern, Sydney. The project was a collaboration with production company Will O’Rourke and their creative partners The Glue Society, who developed the Martian concept which was then road tested with kids – of all ages.

Chris Bosse, Asia Pacific director of LAVA said: ‘It’s the stuff great stories are made of – think of Moby Dick, H. G. Wells’ Time Machine and 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick’.

Above: photograph is by Peter Murphy

‘The concept is to awaken creativity in kids, so the design acts as a trigger, firing up the engines of imagination. It’s an intergalactic journey – from the embassy, at the street entrance, to the shop full of red planet traveller essentials, to the classroom. By the time kids reach the writing classes they have forgotten they are in “school”.’

‘Using a fluid geometry merging the three program components [embassy, school and shop], a computer model was sliced and ‘nested’ into buildable components. 1068 pieces of CNC-cut plywood were put together like a giant puzzle. Using technologies from the yacht and space industry the timber ribs create shelves, seats, benches, storage, counters and displays and continue as strips on the floor. Edged with Martian green, the curvy plywood flows seamlessly so that walls, ceiling and floor, space, structure and ornament, become one element.’

A mix of Martian essential oils infuses the tunnel to inspire young imaginations, whilst the sounds and lights of the red planet animate the space.

Click the image above for a larger image

Martian passports, alien money, 1kg cans of gravity, abduction kits and SPF 5000 sunscreen are just some of the ‘Made on Mars’ gift products sold in the Martian Embassy store.

‘We had a lot of fun creating the first diplomatic mission from inner space’, added Bosse.
The Sydney Story Factory is a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people in inner Sydney. Volunteer tutors help students to write and publish stories. Free programs target young people, from marginalized, Indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds, but are open to everyone.

Click the image above for a larger image

It was inspired by 826 Valencia, a creative writing centre for young people started by novelist Dave Eggers in San Francisco in 2002. A Pirate Supply Store fronts the centre, selling everything the working buccaneer needs: peg legs, eye patches, parrot feed. There are now eight chapters across the US, each with its own unique themed shop. In 2010 novelist Nick Hornby opened The Ministry of Stories in London, behind Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.

Click above for larger image

Architects: LAVA: Laboratory for Visionary Architecture
Production: Will O’Rourke
Creative direction: The Glue Society
Project Manager: Berents Project Management
Lighting and acoustic design: ARUP
Builder: Redwood Projects
Lighting: Philips
Sound: Syntec
Oils: Avatar Air

The post The Martian Embassy by LAVA,
Will O’Rourke and The Glue Society appeared first on Dezeen.