Browsing: Uncategorized

After 9 days and 10 contests, Team Germany from the Technische Universität Darmstadt won the 2009 Solar Decathlon with their surPLUShome project.

© Jim Tetro, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

The surPLUShome is based on a single room concept. The interior design is characterized by a multi functional body as its central element. This body contains primary functions like the kitchen, stairs and the bath and defines the possible use of close-by space. Besides it takes over functions of furniture and the building services.

But the most interesting aspect of this house is its shingle inspired ventilated skin, using photovoltaic modules.

You can learn more about the house at Team Germany’s official website.

Architects: Irisarri + Piñera / Jesús Irisarri Castro & Guadalupe Piñera
Location: Pontevedra, Spain
Client: University of Vigo
Structural Engineer: Antonio Reboreda Mártinez / Ibinco SL
Installations: Ana Maria Vigo, Manuel Lopega / Ibinco SL
Phase 01 year: 2004-2006
Phase 03-03 year: 2006-2007
Phase 02 year: 2008
Photographs: Manuel Gonzalez Vicente

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Architect: SOMOS Arquitectos
Location: Madrid, Spain
Project Architects: Luis Burriel Bielza, Pablo Fernandez Lewicki, Jose Antonio Tallon Iglesias
Structural Engineer: Deroman S.L.
Engineering: GD Inco S.L.
Quantity Surveyors: Miguel Asensio Rivera & Maria Jose Lapuerta Morante
Façade Consultant: Proesga
Project year: 2006
Construction year: 2007-2009
Budget: $6,115,627.97 Euro
Project Area: 14,934 sqm
Photographs: SOMOS Arquitectos

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Architect: Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture AB
Location: Falsterbo, Sweden
Project team: Joakim Kaminsky,Fredrik Kjellgren, Oscar Arnklitt and Jonas Tjäder
Competition year: 2006
Design year: 2006-2008
Construction year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Kalle Sanner

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Architecture: Morphosis Architects
Location: Pasadena, California, USA
Project Manager: Kim Groves
Job Captain: Salvador Hidalgo
Project Architect: David Rindlaub
Project Designers: Martin Summers, Shanna Yates
Project Team: Irena Bedenikovic, Pavel Getov, Debbie Lin, Kristina Loock, David Rindlaub
Project Assistants: Patrick Dunn-Baker with Adam Bressler, Laura Foxman, Brock Hinze, Amy Kwok, Hugo Martinez, Mark McPhie, Barbra Moss, Greg Neudorf, Mike Patterson, Aleksander Tamm-Seitz , Rychiee Espinosa, Jennifer Kasick, Kyle Coburn, Christin To, Sunnie Lau
Constructed Area: 9,290 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Texts: Morphosis
Photographs: Michael Powers

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Aerial collage: the new archipelago of incremented kaccha houses rising from a context of well built permanent homes in a typical slum.

The problem with social housing has been how to give the most with less money. We have very good examples in Europe, but the constrains are way different than the ones in developing countries. In these countries, almost all the constructions are done by anyone but architects. Clearly, in these countries architects can do something way better than just designing or constructing, developing strategies together with communities to achieve housing solutions that not only address today´s necessities, but that can also be extended over time as families grow, once again by themselves and without architects.

A good example on this is Elemental, lead by Alejandro Aravena, which has been changing not only design aspects of social housing, but also public policy. Currently, they have built and on going projects in Chile, Mexico and more countries.

But also, there´s the work that Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson have been doing in India, invited by  Sheela Patel and Jockin Arputham from SPARC to develop an Incremental Housing Strategy that could be implemented anywhere.
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Architects: Pacific Environments / Peter Eising & Lucy Gauntlett
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Project Managers: The Building Intelligence Group – Gareth Skirrow, Blair Wolfgram, Joe Holden
Engineers: Holmes Consulting – Chris MacKenzie & John Worth, Martin Feeney – Holmes Fire
Building Contractors: NZ Strong – Shane Brealey, Paddy Molloy, Megan Roberts; Citywide Construction Ltd – Jim Bellamy
Timber Fins: McIntosh Timber Laminates – Owen Griffiths, Sandy Sandiford
Lighting: ECC Lighting & Furniture – Renee Kelly
Project year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Lucy Gauntlett

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Probably the most important thing when you travel is where are you going to stay. Choosing an hotel can be difficult but fun at the same time. So today, we’ll help you in your quest to find the world’s coolest hotel with our Round Up of projects previously featured on ArchDaily.

Hotel Kirkenes / Sami Rintala
The hotel has a single room, a double room and a lobby. The project was constructed in ten days with an economic budget. It is a totally wooden structure standing on a lightweight brick fundament. Whole interior is painted natural white for maximum light condition during winter, exterior brown black to receive sun warmth and to imitate the color of the rocky seashore. The house is anchored to the pier rocks to match with the rough weather conditions prevailing at the site (read more…)

Indigo Patagonia Hotel / Sebastian Irarrazaval
Indigo Patagonia Hotel is situated along the maritime passage of Puerto Natales, entrance to the Torres del Paine National Park. It is has six levels with 29 bedrooms and a Spa on top of the building. The Project is organized around three main ideas. First: to discover the building as a voyager who experience places not at once but through continuous steps. Second: to be sensitive with the site and its provincial character and lack of “noise” .Thirdly: to radically differentiate the intimate space of the sleeping rooms from the monumental space of public areas (read more…)

Arrebol Patagonia Hotel / Harald Opitz
The arrebol hotel is placed on the south-east border of Llanquihue lake, in the city of Puerto Varas. It is located in a 14.000 mt2 of forest area, with native trees, lagoons and four centenary trees. Also, this area, is completely irregular, because of the shrubbery, ravines and little rivers. By the other hand, the entire hotel looks to the city and the lake. The hotel is built on the border of the superior area of the forest. In front of, this you can find a big slope and also the best view of the city, lake and horizon (read more…)

Seeko’o Hotel / Atelier King Kong
The Seeko’o hotel is positioned on Bordeaux’s waterfront at the intersection of the Quai de Bacalan and of the Cours Edouard Vaillant. Upstream, the waterfront façade built in the 18 century is characterised by the homogeneity of the stone buildings and its unique architectural continuity. Looking out over the river, this façade is one of the main gems of the heritage of the city. In this particular, somewhat abandoned part of the waterfront, the heterogeneous architectural identity offers a much more anomalous façade (read more…)

Loisium Hotel / Steven Holl
The project is composed of three parts: the existing vaults, which were made accessible to visitors, the Wine Center, and the Loisium Hotel Wine and Spa Resort. The vault system’s geometry is transformed into an abstract three dimensional spatial language. This language forms the basis of the architecture of the Wine Center and Hotel, wherein each project element is derived from and related to the unique spaces of the vaults, while simultaneously having individual qualities of space, materials, light and experience (read more…)

The folks at Art & Seek published a video with interesting insights on the construction of the Wyly Theater in Dallas, TX designed by REX | OMA, which is almost complete.

You can see interesting details on the facade and the engineering behind one of the most innovative contemporary theaters. Follow the link to see to whole video.

Architects: Sander Architects
Location: Culver City, California, USA
Constructed: 353 sqm
Budget: US $500.000
Photographs: Sander Architects

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A few months ago we told you about some changes on the jury of the Pritzker Prize, and some readers started pointing out names for the possible 2009 laureate.

The prize is only a few weeks away (it usually gets announced on March 31st) and we decided to setup a poll with the given names and the possibility that you add your own candidate.

Lets see if the ArchDaily community can guess the next Pritzker. Poll available on the sidebar or after the break:

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This project by young Latvian architects NRJA (previously featured on AD) is currently under construction. The complex, in Riga, Latvia, includes 2 towers (29 and 30 stories each), connected by a floor bridge. It also includes a 4-stories podium. Completion is expected durin 1st quarter 2010.

Architect´s description, more renderings and construction photos after the break. You can also watch the construction site via webcam.

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Loft Barn, Hamptons, NY – L.E.FT

AD Futures is a weekly section showcasing emerging practices from around the world. We are open for submissions.

I got to meet L.E.FT when we interviewed them at their office in New York back in September, 2008. This practice is lead by three partners, Makram el Kadi, Ziad Jamaleddine and Naji Moujaes.  They all graduated in Beirut between 1995 and 1997, and then got their masters at Parsons, Harvard and SCI-Arc, respectively. After that, they worked on big practices such as Massimiliano Fuksas and Steven Holl Architects, and then founded L.E.FT in 2001.

They are still related to the academy (UPenn, Yale, Cornell, RPI), a constant on innovative practices. Also, they got invited to the Young Architects Program at P.S.1 2009, an annual competition that invites emerging architects to design a temporary structure.

You can hear their thoughts on several aspects of the architectural practice on the interview we conducted. Now, onto some of their featured works:

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During our interviews, we have noticed that most practices have a milestone on their careers, that marks their “jump” on the scene: a competition, one of their first buildings, an innovative project…

While searching for new works and offices to feature on AD for our beloved readers, we have found several practices that are about to take that jump, and that we are sure will put them on the spotlight.

So, we decided to start a new series of articles featuring this practices, so you get to know them before you start seeing them on the traditional magazines/websites. Every Monday, you will find one of this practices featured on AD. And yes, we are open for suggestions (specially if you can show us something exclusive).

Our first chosen practice is ICE, an international practice based in Hong Kong.

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Belgian practice BURO II sent us this extension of the existing offices for the property developer Vanhaerents. It is an excellent example of collaboration between Buro Interior and Buro II.

They sent us some photographs taken by Jean Godecharle, but no drawings are available yet.

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The December-January edition of Mark Magazine features a new design, more clear and simple, but with the same quality content. A a very classy black and white composition with the skylights of Torafu´s House in Kohoku is featured on the over.

Now, lets head to the contents of this issue.

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When we interviewed Jeffrey Inaba at the C-LAB, we had a great conversation as they were working on this issue, “Content Management”, something we are very into at ArchDaily – so we had the chance to discuss the implications of new media, globalization and architecture.

But back to this edition. It follows the tradition of Volume with a great editorial, this time by Inaba himself:

“At the close of this era of expansion and surplus C-Lab speculates on one of the period´s emblematic inventions: Content Management, or the collecting, organizing and sharing of digital information. Our retrospective appraisal of recent developments in the managing of information offers insight into the ability of Content Management to serve the current realities of digital abundance and material shortage, and to protect both vast and extremely limited quantities.

Like Content Management systems, Architecture arranges information and objects into a navigable environment using technology to configure the environment´s spaces and circulation routes. It embodies the values of the presentedd content, setting the tone for the visitor´s experience through the design of the public interface. Architecture is a structure of experiences involving interaction with numerous forms of content, introducing choice, connections, updates, human encounter and surprise, and in this respect is the precursor and operating blueprint of Content Management [...] As you will see, some of the essays and interviews describe how architecture continues to inform the thinking behind Content Management, for better and worse“.

It presents an interesting reflection on the current state of globalization, on which we have infinite amounts of information available at the tip of our fingers, while facing massive shortfalls (energy, natural resources).

At some point it compares the created necessity of Content Management as a result of the amounts of information we publish, with the early architects of Koolhaas´Manhattan who legitimized the necessity of their profession by causing the irreversible  state of congestion which they then took as their mission to solve.

On this issue:

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Architects: Takao Shiotsuka Atelier
Location: Oita-city, Oita, Japan
Client: Private
Project year: 2008
Constructed area: 119 sqm
Photographs: Toshiyuki YANO (Nacasa & Partners Inc.,)

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Well, here we have another skyscrapper in Dubai, this time in the shape of a giant wind turbine. When I saw this, i thought it had this turbine to generate eolic energy, but actually it’s a structure that holds a panoramic restaurant in the glass capsule at the top of the building, as you can see on the further images.

The 2,15 feet (655m) tall tower includes a mixed use developement with retail, offices, 300 luxury apartments and a 250-room luxury hotel. As you can see on the vertical renderings, it has a tremendus atrium and vertical gardens every 27 floors.

The Anara tower was designed by Atkins Design Studio for Tameer Holding Investment

Construction is set to be started during next year. More images after the break.

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Our friends at Inhabitat tipped us on this amazing project, the Folded Bamboo Houses + Paper House by Ming Tang. This structures were conceived as a response to the 7.9 earthquake that strucked China last May. 

In order to relocate the people that lost their houses, the Chinese goverment decided to build 1.5 million temporary homes. For this, Ming Tang proposed a shelter that was easily produced, cheap and environmentally friendly, using bamboo. The concept utilizes a system of bamboo poles that are pre-assembled into rigid geometric shapes. The geometry of these forms provides each structure’s integrity, allowing a range of lightweight modular structures to be quickly assembled in factories and transported to their destination. Once constructed, the shelters are then covered by using post and pre-consumer recycled paper.

For this modular system, Tang also proposed a  paper fibers, water, and cement envelope that allows for larger configurations.

This project was presented on the RE:Construct competition, a call for a ideas on temporary housing. This project was selected as a notable entry, but i think it should have been awarded since it address a on going problem with a local solution in an innovative way.

This are the kind of projects that I wish were being built right now! What do you think? Do you have more examples on innovative temporary housing?

More pictures after the break. 

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