This skateboarding ramp floating over the clear waters of Lake Tahoe was put together in just four days by design-and-build team Jerry Blohm and Jeff King for Californian skater Bob Burnquist (+ slideshow).
Brazilian-born Bob Burnquist was part of a group of California residents invited by non-profit organisation Visit California to “make their dreams possible” and “think big”. He came with the idea of skating over water.
“Dreaming big man, that’s what I do every day, I just try to dream as big as I can and then go make it happen,” he says in a video about the project.
Miami art director Jerry Blohm came up with a design for a wooden structure featuring one half pipe, one quarter pipe and one 45-degree ramp.
He also developed a concept for attaching weighted riggers in case the ramp oscillated too much in the water.
Once complete, the wood was stained with different colours to create horizontal stripes. The ramp was then towed out onto the waters of Lake Tahoe, which straddles the border between California and Nevada.
“It took about four hours to get it there going about four knots,” said Blohm, describing the installation.
“We had a host of folks coming up to the ramp on the way out to see what it was exactly. When they got close most could not believe it,” he said. “It looks like it is fake, floating with no supports.”
Footage of Burnquist using his skateboard on the ramp was included as part of a 24-hour stream of footage that Visit California aired on YouTube earlier this year.
Layers of sand that resemble a mountainous landscape will gradually move and change shape for the duration of this installation by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo for skincare brand Aesop‘s New Yorkpop-up shop.
The installation at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn was created by Escobedo to reflect its temporal setting and the idea of natural ornamentation espoused by Modernist architectural theorist Adolf Loos.
“Inspired by this principle, this installation for Aesop reflects the passing of time in the way of an inverse sedimentation,” explained Escobedo in a statement displayed alongside the work.
A simple wooden structure, which also references the minimal aesthetic favoured by Modernist architects, supports and frames the glass panels containing black and white sand. The sand has been poured into gaps between the glass sheets, creating striated patterns that look like the peaks and valleys of a mountain range.
The sand will gradually sift through and out the bottom of the glass panel, causing the patterns to evolve over the five month period of the pop-up shop’s residency.
“Installed in springtime in New York, it also recalls melting snow, Les Eaux de Mars, a change of season, optimism and expectation,” Escobedo explained.
Aesops’s products surround the space containing the artwork, which also features a freestanding vintage sink that echoes the raw, industrial backdrop of the gallery space.
Aesop is honoured to partner with The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn to present a temporary installation designed by architect Frida Escobedo. Launched on March 13, the innovative retail space will operate until the end of July.
While its main business is skin, hair and body care, Aesop has long nurtured a passionate interest in all forms of creative expression, and is well known for collaborations with individual practitioners and organizations alike. The endeavor sees the brand join with a New York exemplar of community-focused cultural engagement and one of the foremost proponents of Latin American Modernism.
The installation’s centerpiece is a timber-framed glass enclosure containing meticulously segmented layers of sand that will shift over the next five months. Escobedo speaks of this feature having dual interpretations. In a materiality and form, it reference Modernism’s shift away from ornamentation. And in keeping with one of Escoebdo’s central concerns, it reflects temporality of its setting. The design is also influenced by Aesop’s distinctive aesthetic, which the architect sees as aligned with the Japanese principle of shibusa or ‘sophisticated austerity’.
Aesop selected the location because of its deep ties with the neighborhood and by the creative space and support network it provides for artists. The Invisible Dog manages to combine residency studios for artists, venues for exhibits and performances, and community engagement. Established in 2009 and nestled between Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Boreum Hill, this interdisciplinary space is an exemplar of self-sustained, community-focused cultural engagement; and an acclaimed hub for experimentation and collaboration among artists.
Aesop was founded in Melbourne in 1987 and today offers its superlative formulations in signature stores and counters around the world and online. As the company evolves, meticulously considered design remains paramount to the creative of each space.
A wall of windows winches up and down to reveal the interior of this gallery renovation in Los Altos, California, by Seattle architect Tom Kundig (+ slideshow).
Kundig, the principal designer at Olson Kundig Architects, added the new mechanical facade to a vacant 1950s building at the heart of the Silicon Valley community, creating a temporary gallery space able to reveal its contents to the neighbourhood.
The five-metre-high grid of windows is hooked up to a system of gears, pulleys and counterweights. To set them into motion, a pedal must be engaged to unlock the safety mechanism, before a hand wheel can be rotated to begin lifting or lowering the facade.
In this way, 242 State Street is able to “morph from an enclosed structure into an environment that invites the community into the space,” says Kundig.
The interior, previously used as an Italian restaurant, was left largely unchanged to create a flexible space for displaying different types of artwork.
Kundig did however raise the roof by half a storey to create a more generous setting for larger pieces, and inserted a row of skylights to allow more natural light to reach the back of the space.
A pivoting door was also added to provide access to the gallery when the facade is closed, while the steel beams supporting the pulley system could for be used to support signage.
The gallery opened at the end of 2013 as one of the ten venues for Project Los Altos, a local art initiative launched by SF MoMA. Artist Spencer Finch created a site-specific installation at the front of the space – a grid of colourful squares that resonated with the new facade – while Jeremy Blake installed a digital projection behind a temporary screen.
Here’s a short project description from Tom Kundig:
Los Altos, California
Located in downtown Los Altos, the highlight of this 2,500 square foot adaptive re-use project is the introduction of a new facade that enables the circa 1950’s building to morph from an enclosed structure into an environment that invites the community into the space.
The transformation was achieved by essentially replacing the entire front facade with a double-height, floor-to-ceiling window wall that can be raised or lowered depending upon the needs of the user.
The window wall is operated by engaging a pedal – to unlock the safety mechanism – then turning a hand wheel which activates a series of gears and pulleys that opens the sixteen-foot by ten-foot, counterweighted two-thousand pound window wall. When the window wall is closed, visitors to the shop enter through a ten-foot-tall pivot door.
In addition to the front facade, other changes to the building included raising the roof by half-of-one story to create a better proportioned interior volume, and installing skylights to bring in more natural light.
The building most recently served as one of the temporary off-site locations for SF MoMA’s Project Los Altos. Beyond the introduction of the window wall, the interior was relatively untouched, leaving the space as flexible as possible for its future tenant.
Cedar shingles typical to New England houses have gradually faded from warm beige to a soft greyish brown on the walls of this residence in Maine by Los Angeles office Bruce Norelius Studio (+ slideshow).
Recent photograph of the house, courtesy of Kelly Bellis
Bruce Norelius Studio completed House on Punkinville Road in 2008 for a couple looking for a change of lifestyle as well as a new residence. Five years on, the pair say the best quality of the house is its adaptability to the changing seasons.
Recent photograph of the house, courtesy of Kelly Bellis
“During a snowstorm, we don’t watch the storm, we’re inside the storm,” said the client. “The amount of glass and the way the glass is placed takes every advantage of the site. And the sun is a constant presence.”
He continued: “As the light changes from hour to hour, from room to room, from season to season, it changes the rooms. The living area is not the same room at sunset as it was at sunrise, nor is it the same in winter as it is in the spring.”
Located several kilometres inland from Smelt Cove, the house sits on an elevated site surrounded by juniper trees and blackberry bushes. A concrete base grounds the structure into the landscape, while the main walls are all clad with the humble cedar shingles.
“It’s gratifying to know the clients are enjoying life here, even during the harsh Maine winters,” said the architects. “The facades are simple, confident and holding true, telling their time naturally, which is a narrative we continue to embrace in our work.”
The building is primarily made up of two rectilinear volumes stacked over one another to create an L-shaped plan. This creates a sheltered driveway at ground level and a generous roof terrace on the first floor.
Proportions were based around a prefabricated window module, which is used throughout. Combined with a specification for a simple timber structure, this design concept allowed the architects to deliver the project on a low budget.
The interior layout was also kept as simple as possible, with a pair of bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor and an open-plan living, dining and kitchen space above.
Photography is by Sandy Agrafiotis, apart from where otherwise indicated.
Here’s a project description from Bruce Norelius Studio:
House on Punkinville Road
The genesis of this project came from the clients, a couple who had lived many years in a treasured 19th century cape, and who sought a significant change in lifestyle. Their deep appreciation of that cape and its particular relationship with its site made them realise that their new site – a spectacular inland promontory on ledge, juniper and blueberries with extensive views – required a very different architectural solution.
The concept that evolved was a perpendicular stacking of two simple volumes. This allowed a relatively small footprint on a pristine site, and also created useful negative space – a carport below, and an expansive deck above. Furthermore, it guaranteed that the house took advantage of the entire site, ensuring each space its own particular, appropriate relationship to sun, passive solar gain, and views.
The plan is simple and rigorous, based on the module of a single prefabricated window unit that is used throughout. The entirely-wood structural system was edited and refined to allow speed and clarity in the construction process.
The sober expression of the house responds intentionally to the climatic demands of the site, and is clad humbly in white cedar shingles, the most traditional of New England building materials, and exactly what was used on that cape built a century and a half ago.
The priority on the interior was to create calm spaces deeply influenced by the seasons and weather. A remarkably low construction cost was achieved because of the clients’ ability to prioritise goals, the design team’s search for simplicity in both aesthetics and construction techniques, and the builder’s ability to propose alternative, less expensive solutions for aspects of the building.
News: construction is now underway on a 222-metre skyscraper by New York studios HWKN and Handel Architects that is set to become the tallest building in the state of New Jersey.
Named Journal Squared, the residential development will be located in the Journal Square district of Jersey City, adjacent to the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail station that links the city with Manhattan.
Designed as a collaboration between HWKN and Handel Architects, the development will accommodate 1840 apartments within a cluster of three pointed towers, each clad externally with metal panels.
The 222-metre structure will rise up at the front of the site and will be accompanied by towers of 193 and 175 metres, making it visible from the New Jersey Turnpike and from New York across the water.
The base of the towers are designed to break down into smaller volumes to relate to the scale of surrounding buildings, offering a series of ground-floor restaurants and shops.
“Our goal was to design an urban space that knits together the existing urban fabric of Journal Square, while also creating an iconic presence in the skyline that can be seen from Manhattan,” said Matthias Hollwich, partner-in-charge at HWKN.
“We designed a building that works equally well at the scale of the Turnpike, where hundreds of thousands of people will see it every day, and at the scale of the human who walks and lives in the city,” added HWKN partner Marc Kushner.
Integral to the proposal are public realm improvements that will overhaul the rear entrance to the station, replacing loading bays and parking areas with a tree-filled public plaza expected to play host to farmer’s markets and outdoor film screenings.
“Journal Square offers a new urban community, not just for the people who will live here, but for the region. It will be a place that people will be passionate about,” commented Handel Architects principal Gary Handel.
The project is funded by property developer KRE Group. The first phase of development will be the smallest of the three towers and is scheduled for completion in 2016.
Here’s some extra information from HWKN:
Tallest building in New Jersey breaks ground, designed by Hollwich Kushner (HWKN) and Handel Architects
Journal Squared is an important milestone as Jersey City’s development boom moves inland. The project sits adjacent to the Journal Square PATH stop and promises to bring great density to the site while working to connect to the existing fabric of the neighbourhood.
Journal Squared is that long sought after transformational project. Unanimously approved by the Jersey City Planning Board, it will be the linchpin in the City’s Journal Square redevelopment efforts. The development hopes to create a prototype for future transit-oriented developments around the world.
Pivotal to the project’s design is the transformation of the current back entrance to the Journal Square PATH stop into an inviting place and a public amenity. Acres of land previously dedicated to asphalt, station loading, and parking will be reclaimed in a sweeping, tree-filled plaza that is activated by community events such as farmer’s markets, bicycle parking, evening film projections and events along its low stairs that slope down to the PATH station.
The 2.3 million square foot project touches the ground lightly as its mass morphs into smaller units to relate to the lower density neighbourhood around it. This base hosts active program like retail, restaurants, lobbies and parking. Three residential point towers rise above the base and include 1,840 units. The tallest tower, at 70 storeys, is expected to be the highest residential building in New Jersey. The first of three phases, topping out at 54 stories, broke ground in January 2014, and is expected to be complete in mid-2016.
The graceful proportion and subtle lustre of the metal panel clad towers will be an elegant centrepiece for the community and a bold counterpoint to the brutalist concrete PATH Station. In addition, Bruce Mau Design has developed the visual identity for Journal Squared, including wayfinding, signage, and environmental graphics. BMD created a look and feel that reflects Journal Squared’s core values as a bold, modern brand that is sophisticated and energetic, while staying true to the history of the neighbourhood.
A sequence of vaulted ceilings and arched openings sets up layered vistas through the interior of this beach house in Southern California by Los Angeles firm Johnston Marklee (+ slideshow).
Johnston Marklee planned Vault House as a twist on the boxy “shotgun houses” that were typical in southern USA until the 1920s. Although the building has a simple rectilinear form, its volume is punctured on all sides by arched windows and recesses.
The same motif is repeated throughout the interior, creating a series of vaulted doorways, rooms and corridors that conclude with a large framed view of the beach and ocean.
“With the assembly of stacked and unidirectional vaulted rooms contained within a simple rectilinear volume, the parallel orientation of the rooms acts as a filter that extends the oceanfront view,” said the studio.
Local planning regulation stipulated that the house needed to be raised two metres above the sand and be collapsible in the event of a tsunami. This allowed the architects to create a split-level two-storey home with a car parking garage slotted underneath at the back.
An arched entrance leads into the house via a central courtyard that helps light to penetrate the interior, but also creates a natural division between the living spaces at the front and bedrooms at the back.
Vaulted forms overlap one another throughout these spaces, helping to outline different spaces and frame a number of artworks belonging to the owners.
“With varied contours and volumes, each vaulted room defines an area or a function in the house. The combined effect is a varied landscape of interior spaces, unified with a singular formal language,” added the architects.
Outer walls are coated with a cement membrane to protect them from the elements, while floors are finished in limestone. A single staircase connects each level and also leads up to a terrace on the roof.
All photography is copyright Eric Staudenmaier and used with permission.
Here’s the text description from Johnston Marklee:
Vault House Oxnard, California
Situated in a densely developed beach site in Southern California, the Vault House challenges the typology commonly found on narrow oceanfront lots. Instead of directing its focus on the single prime ocean view, an array of transparent interior spaces layered inside the main volume, offer a multiplicity of oblique views through the house while capturing natural light from a variety of angles.
With the assembly of stacked and unidirectional vaulted rooms contained within a simple rectilinear volume, the parallel orientation of the rooms acts as a filter that extends the oceanfront view from the beachfront facade to the west through to the street at the Eastern boundary of the site.
The house was designed under the restrictions imposed by the California Coastal Commission, which require the main living area to be lifted two meters off the sand, allowing for possible tsunami waves to pass beneath the house.
The garage to the East along the street, in contrast, sits directly on the sand and is designed with walls that collapse under the pressure of tsunami waves. This results in an asymmetrical section, where three floor levels – first floor, split level, second floor – are grouped around a courtyard that serves both as the main entrance to the house and as a central outdoor room.
The courtyard forms the core of the house: it negotiates between the more private rooms on the eastern side of the house and the open and connected areas to the west. In the courtyard, natural light enters in rotating cycles throughout the day and residents can be observed moving throughout the house from this central space.
A single-run stair located along the northern side of the house connects all three levels and leads to a roof deck that offers panoramic views of the beach and the ocean.
With varied contours and volumes, each vaulted room defines an area or a function in the house. The combined effect is a varied landscape of interior spaces, unified with a singular formal language. Similar to the paradigm of a shotgun house, the singular direction of the vaults maximises the visual connection of all spaces within the deep building footprint and incorporates the exquisite exterior landscape of beach, ocean and horizon into the depth of the building.
The extreme beach climate with pervasive winds and salty air demanded a simplified, weather resistant material palette. Limestone is used for all floors and as wainscots, both inside and outside, while an elastomeric, cementitious membrane called “Grailcoat” wraps the exterior facade. The membrane eliminates the need for metal flashing and control joints, rendering the facade scaleless and forming an abstract backdrop for the play of light and shadow.
News: the United States Mint has produced its first cupped coins to commemorate 75 years of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Gold five dollar coin – heads side
The United States Mint has issued $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollar clad coins coated in an alloy, which have concave “heads” sides and convex “tails” sides.
Gold five dollar coin – tails side
All three designs feature baseball motifs to celebrate the USA’s National Baseball Hall of Fame, which turns 75 this year.
Silver one dollar coin – heads side
The front face is decorated with a baseball mitt and inscribed with the text “Liberty – In God We Trust”, which has appeared on all US coins in 1864, along with the year produced.
Silver one dollar coin – tails side
Stitches used on baseballs pattern the raised sides of the coins, where the amount each one is worth is written out.
Clad half-dollar coin – heads side
The limited-edition coins will go on sale from 27 March.
Après avoir déjà pu vous parler de la première vidéo sur Fubiz, le duo de réalisateurs Colin Delehanty & Sheldon Neill reviennent avec le 2ème volume de ce projet sur le parc national de Yosemite. Un rendu magnifique, rendant avec ce time-lapse un hommage vibrant au parc et aux montagnes de la Sierra Nevada.
The three-fingered plan of this rural Californian retreat by Mork-Ulnes Architects is oriented to frame views of a mountain ridge, vineyards and a local landmark named Eagle Rock (+ slideshow).
Mork-Ulnes Architects, which has offices in California and Oslo, designed the Moose Road house as a simple getaway for two young couples, using low-cost engineered materials such as plywood and oriented strand board.
The house’s sprawling volume stretches out across its site like a splayed glove, setting up apertures towards the various landmarks whilst avoiding the roots of several nearby oak trees.
“The main challenge was to frame these three separate views while at the same time, preserving each existing oak tree on site,” explained architect and studio founder Casper Mork-Ulnes.
A solution the architect and team members Greg Ladigin and Andreas Tingulstad came up with was to raise the building off the ground on steel stilts. This also helped to frame the best views through the three floor-to-ceiling windows.
The outer skin of the house comprises a layer of steel siding. Interior walls are lined with birch plywood, while floors display the chipboard aesthetic of oriented strand board, which has been cleaned with a lye soap solution.
“To cut cost as well as meet sustainability goals of the clients, the building was designed using standard-sized, off-the-shelf sheet goods to minimise waste,” said Mork-Ulnes.
Entrance to the house is via a small porch that steps down to meet the ground. This leads through to an open-plan living room and kitchen that offers the view towards Eagle Rock – a rocky outcrop named after its resemblance to an eagle’s head.
Bedrooms are located within the two smaller wings and are screened behind self-contained toilet and closet units that are glazed at the top to allow light to filter through each space.
Furniture was added sparsely to prevent the interior feeling cramped, but includes a selection of burnt wood pieces by San Francisco artist Yvonne Mouser.
Here’s a project description from Mork-Ulnes Architects:
Moose Road
Three locally known land formations can be seen from the site of this project: “Eagle Rock”, a mountain ridge, and the valley of vineyards below. The main challenge was to frame these three separate views while at the same time, preserving each existing oak tree on site.
The three fingers extend precisely in between the existing trees, each oriented toward a land formation. The house was constructed on steel stilts to avoid severing tree roots. To cut cost as well as meet sustainability goals of the clients, the building was designed using standard sized, off-the-shelf sheet goods (unfinished plywood and OSB) to minimise waste. The building was accomplished with a tiny budget (by California standards) at under $190 per square foot.
Architecture firm – Mork-Ulnes Architects Project Design Team – Greg Ladigin, Casper Mork-Ulnes, Andreas Tingulstad Contractor – Crossgrain Co. Inc. Structural Engineer – Double-D Engineering
Site size: 16 acres Building size: 1,140 square feet Construction cost per square foot: $190
News: the latest celebrity to dip their toes into design is hip-hop artist Snoop, who has teamed up with holiday rental website Airbnb to create a pop-up house during next week’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.
Currently using the stage name Snoop Lion, the rapper has designed one of three kitHAUS temporary houses to be erected during the SXSW music, film and technology festival.
This image: pop-up interior by Snoop. Main image: pop-up exterior by Snoop
His design comprises two small rooms connected by a partially covered decked terrace. A lounge glazed on two sides opens out onto another platform in front of the structure.
This room will feature a classic Egg Chair by Danish modernist Arne Jacobsen alongside an illuminated sign that reads “BO$$”.
Pop-up exterior by Capital Cities
Snoop’s design will form part of The Airbnb Park, which is also set to host two more pop-ups designed by artists signed to Los Angeles label Capitol Records.
Pavilions by indie duo Capital Cities and soul musician Allen Stone will be a similar size and layout to Snoop’s contribution. All the artists teamed up with designer and TV host Emily Henderson to create spaces “to best convey their personal styles”.
Pop-up interior by Capital Cities
“Musicians spend so much time on the road,” said Amy Curtis-McIntyre, CMO for Airbnb. “We know they appreciate encountering great local experiences as well as the personal comforts of home when they are away from their own for so long.”
The Airbnb Park will also include public spaces such as dining areas and WiFi hot spots, and will be open from 11 to 15 March. SXSW runs from 7 to 16 March.
Pop-up exterior by Allen Stone
Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Junior and who went by the alias Snoop Dogg until 2012, isn’t the first celebrity to unveil design projects.
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