eVolo #02

By: admin | December - 7 - 2009

Skyscrapers of the Future
Spring 2010

Interviews with:
Carol Willis
Giacomo Costa
Skyscrapers by:Herzog & de Meuron
Morphosis
MVRDV
Jean Nouvel
Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Skidmore Owings and Merrill
Studio Shift

Essays by:
Brian Ahmes
Marcos Betanzos
Joanna Borek-Clement
Benny Chow
Mario Cipresso
Elie Gamburg
Arvin Garay-Cruz
Mohamed Ghamlouch
Ted Givens
Maryana Grinshpun
Mathias Henning
Reinaldo Leandro
Andrew Liang
José Muñoz-Villers
Chad Porter
Maria Prieto

2009 Skyscraper Competition: 30 most innovative projects

Aranda / Lasch: Recent work

Full Article
http://www.evolo.us/category/magazine/

Art Collector’s Loft / UNStudio

New York City

By Suzanne Stephens

Architectural Record

Ben van Berkel, principal of the Amsterdam-based architectural firm UNStudio, is known for his breathtakingly swoopy designs of sleek surfaces that never seem to end. The gleaming, aluminum-clad Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, with its double-spiral-ramped concrete structure, convincingly argues the case [RECORD, November, 2006, page 128].

After completing that nine-story-high, 270,000 square-foot building, you might think that a 5,840-square-foot (gross) residential loft would be too rinky-dink a commission. Van Berkel argues otherwise: “I’m not interested as much in the scale of a project as with the program,” he explains. In this case, he was asked to design a loft in New York City for a collector of Modern and contemporary art, which he found fascinating. “It’s as if you’re making a portrait of someone and how he might live with his art,” van Berkel adds

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The owner met the architect when van Berkel was working on an ill-fated expansion of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, earlier in the decade. The collector, who had seen UNStudio’s famous Möbius House (1998) in Het Gooi, the Netherlands, says, “I found a clarity in the language and a logic of the space that made me think about the way I lived.” He decided to seek van Berkel’s help “in making sense out of the muddle that had become my art collection.”

The architect’s solution for the apartment, on a floor 95 feet long and almost 60 feet wide in a former light-industrial building, was as logical as it was novel: He pushed living spaces along the east and west party walls, saving the central portion for the gallery. At the north and south ends, the architect clustered living and dining areas, inserting a steel-and-glass wall on the south elevation, where a glass balcony allows unobstructed garden views.

The gallery walls of the central space meander sinuously, with a small library tucked behind the major wall on the west and defined by its curve. Even though the loft’s floor-to-floor height is about 11 1⁄2 feet, the client feared the art would appear cramped. He made it clear he didn’t want lighting fixtures to be visible or create any glare. So van Berkel came up with the idea of a luminous ceiling that would add the illusion of height. Like the one that UNStudio designed for the Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, the Netherlands (1999), the ceiling takes on an ethereal quality, where artworks appear to float in space — ”a limitless haze,” according to the owner.





For full Article

http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/recordinteriors/2010/Art_Collectors_Loft.asp

The Right to Be Lazy

written by Ana Dana Beroš

...If we transfer the focus from art to architecture, we can ask ourselves rightfully whether a Croatian architect, who has been suffering from ‘recession laziness’ for quite some time now and starts to forget the original meaning of the word productivity, will become ‘lazy in a pragmatic sense’? Will he start to deal with different questions of architecture – those that are outside and above the law of the market, in other words, system of global productions, exchange and consumption? Is it worth hoping that the ‘right to architectural laziness’ will initiate another series of questions which are already on the way – symbolically or at the barricades? And eventually, can we imagine architecture which would ‘materialize the value of laziness’?

                                                                         

                                                            

The New Indoor Sun

The urban landscape makes it difficult for us humans to experience the bliss of natural sunlight at home, thanks to the towering high-rises. So how can we expect our houseplants to flourish or pamper them with the natural goodness of sun? Unless of course, we get sneaky and trap some solar power in the “Solight” and then hood it over the plant; trick it into thinking it’s getting some natural sunshine! Clever idea and no one will know how you manage to keep those plants happy…because you can stash the Solight away when not required!

Designer: Lee Ju Won

Beirut Terraces designed by Herzog & de Meuron

A vertically layered building that enables flexible living between in- and outside
Layers of vegetation, utilization of thermal mass and natural light enhance the quality of living while lending to the building’s sustainability. Basel-based Architects Herzog & de Meuron sent us some information on their latest project in the Middle East, the Beirut Terraces - a residential tower in the Lebanese capital. We share it whith you here on desMena:

Beirut Terraces: The city of Beirut finds itself at the heart of the developing Middle East. As a cosmopolitan city throughout its existence, it always figured as a cultural hub of the region and - culturally as well as geographically - functioned as a link between Europe and the Middle East. By consequence Beirut’s urban history could hardly be more diverse; remains of Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Mamluk, Ottoman and colonial rule have shaped the city and its buildings, just as its past and eventful present have left their marks. The design of Beirut Terraces was quite literally influenced by the layers of the city’s rich and tumultuous history. The most immediate historical event, which those from Beirut will remember for generations to come, is that of the assassination of the Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which occurred when his car detonated in front of the St.Georges Hotel, its ruins are still visible as a daily reminder. Adjacent to the site there is a vast landfill of war-debris and trash from the several bombings since the 1970’s, but in the future this will change. Despite the scarred history, there is a clear vision to rehabilitate the area, the current masterplan already well under way aims to rebuild and bring life back to this part of Beirut. The site is located in a portion of the masterplan dedicated to building office and residential high rise buildings and is closely related to a new yachting marina. Architecture The proposed building concept, structure, and appearance are conceived by both awareness and respect for the city, as well as self-confident optimism that it shares with contemporary Beirut. The project is founded on five principles: layers and terraces, inside and outside, vegetation, views and privacy, light and identity. The result is a vertically layered building expressed by diverse sizes of slabs which create both openness and privacy and enable flexible living between in- and outside. Fine detailing and a focus on the concerted orchestration of decent materials make for an efficient and luxurious building. Conscious of energy use, the environmental engineering coupled with the integration of vegetation into the architecture, enhance the quality of living while also lending to the building’s sustainability.Layers and Terraces

The building is a 116 meter tall multilayered high rise. Its stratified structure is differentiated by the individual residences set back or forward to allow for terraces and overhangs, light and shadow, and places of shelter and exposure. In this way unique places are created to be enjoyed by residents and guests alike. The individual apartments are grouped on the different levels in different formations and come together to carefully shape a new neighbourhood.

Inside and Outside

The moderate climate of Beirut is certainly one of the city’s biggest assets; it makes outdoor life not only an additional, but an integral part of Beirut’s urban life. Capitalizing on this asset and cultivating apartments that foster such specificities is one of the key design principles. Each apartment’s indoor and outdoor spaces merge, and in this way the terraces become integral to everyday living.


Vegetation, Views and Privacy


The proposal for the vegetation blends in with the concept of the existing masterplan. The idea of a green boulevard that connects the residential high rise to its surroundings is taken up by the design and continued vertically both inside and outside of the building. The main entry, an airy high space is equipped with water ponds, plants and outlooks that open up the views to the sea in the north and the green boulevard to the east. The complement between architecture and suspended nature enlivens the spacious lobby around the central core and continues up to the balconies and terraces throughout the entire building. The entry sequence thus develops a consistent transition between the open, public landscape and private, green residences. Light and Identity


Extensive overhangs provide shadow and reduce the solar gains of the building to a minimum. Wherever needed, perforations mediate the levels of light and solar exposure. Their density, shape, and shadows generate an unmistakable pattern that clearly distinguishes the identity of the tower from its surroundings. Furthermore, the relative thickness of the floor plates is substantial enough to balance the daily temperature cycles by virtue of its thermal mass, storing heat over the course of the day and releasing it during the cooler nights. It is such passive strategies that make the building a truly sustainable place to live.

Unveiled> Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre Olafur Eliasson and Henning Larsen team up for a multifaceted, multifunctional project in Reykjavik

Out of the ashes of Iceland’s economic collapse rises the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík with an 1,800-seat main performance space, meeting rooms, exhibition spaces, boutiques, and restaurants, all tucked under a kaleidoscopic, glass-and-steel facade designed with artist Olafur Eliasson. Programmatically, the 300,000-square-foot structure melds exacting venues for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Icelandic Opera—acoustic design is by Artec—with more workaday convention facilities.

Designed by Copenhagen-headquartered Henning Larsen Architects with Batteríio Architects of Iceland, the project is one of several intended to revitalize Reykjavík’s East Harbor district, where a Henning Larsen–designed masterplan is helping the city catch up with resurgent waterfront hubs in Oslo and Hamburg.
The crystalline exterior—recalling the basalt columns that dot the country’s landscape—is draped with colored glass panels that reflect the harbor surroundings. On the interior, the faceted, honeycomb-like modules create a warm sense of enclosure while offering expansive views of the North Atlantic. Developed by the holding company Portus along with the Icelandic government and the city of Reykjavík, the decades-in-the-making complex arrives as an apropos symbol of the nation’s rebirth.

Architect: Henning Larsen Architects and Batteríio Architects
Client: Portus
Location: Reykjavík, Iceland
Completion: May 2011

Jeff Byles

COLLECTIVE EXPERIMENTS. SPANISH ARQUITECTURE 2010