Who’s Next 2.0: Envisioning Affordable Luxury Competition
Freegreen.com is challenging you to help define the design concept of Affordable Luxury. Gone are the days of free-flowing mortgages, and multi-million dollar McMansions. In this “new normal” home owners still desire livable, ascetically pleasing, and luxurious homes, but now need these same concepts implemented into smaller more affordable residential structures. This creates the perfect opportunity for the design community to take charge of this challenge and be the first to create new home designs, and design delivery methods, that meet today’s restraints and requirements.
Competitors will select one of two user profiles and design a single family home that fits their chosen profile. Competitors will be able to design for a lot of their creation, but will be asked to identify the Climate Region that their entry is designed for, which will help the public and our jury better determine performance benefits. Affordability and Constructability is a key in this contest so all entries should be targeted for an eventual construction cost of $220,000 to $410,000. For more information, visit the competition’s official website. Seen at Death by Architecture.
New Headquarters for Environment Services / Magén Arquitectos
Architects: Magén Arquitectos – Jaime Magén, Francisco Javier Magén
Location: Parque de Riberas del Río Ebro, Zaragoza, Spain
Collaborators: Beatriz Olona (architect); José Luis Sánchez, Fernando Jiménez (rigger); Rafael González (engineer) ; José Sainz (structural engineer)
Client: Municipio de Zaragoza
Contractor: Ferrovial Agroman SA
Project Area: 1,948.87 sqm
Budget: 2,470,222.68 €
Project Year: 2007-2009
Photographs: Pedro Pegenaute, Jesús Granada
New study says LEED may not be that green after all
In ArchDaily, we have been featuring some really great projects with LEED certification, like the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences, AMD’s Lone Star Campus, and the City Center of Las Vegas. More recently, we had an excellent discussion on an article featuring an interview of the Chicago Tribune with Frank Gehry, where he basically dismissed LEED and its efforts to make our built environment more eco-friendly.
Now we may continue with the discussion, after a new study released by Environment and Human Health, Inc. says that the voluntary rating system falsely presents its projects as bastions of health and safety, when it actually allows for all sorts of harmful stuff, whether pesticides in tap water or formaldehyde-laden particleboard.
You can read the complete article at Fast Company and of course, share your opinion with us.
H House / Wiel Arets Architects
Architects: Wiel Arets Architects
Location: Maastricht, The Netherlands
Project Year: 2005-2009
Photographs: João Morgado
Highstreet Loft / Kokaistudios
Architects: Kokaistudios
Location: Shanghai, China
Collaborators: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani, Li Wei, Puikie Wu
Local architect: Shanghai Xiandai Design Institute
Area: 38,800 sqm
Project Year: 2006
Photographs: Charlie Xia
KT Landmark Tower / Studio Daniel Liebeskind + G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners
Architect: Daniel Libeskind + G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Client: KT Corporation
Project architect: Carla Swickerath (Studio Daniel Libeskind) + Chuloh Jung (G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners)
Design team: Seungki Min, Byungdon Yoo, Roy Oei (Studio Daniel Libeskind) + Shinhui Won, Wookjin Chung, Sangsu Park, Sang-Hyun Son, Inkyung Han, Taewook Kang, Namhui Kim, Shinkyung Jo (G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners)
Project area: 169,784 sqm
Competition Year: 2010
Flying Carpet / Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture
Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture shared with us their project ‘Flying Carpet’, a colorful carpet laid out on a central square in Örebro, Sweden. Above people have a coffee under their own mirror images. More images and architect’s description after the break.
V21K07 / Pasel.Kuenzel
Architects: Pasel.Kuenzel Architects
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
Project Team: R. Pasel, F. Künzel, F. Sack, S. Wolff, S. Bein, S. Pape
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Marcel van der Burg
de LaB’s City Listening II
de LaB is proud to announce their first-ever fundraiser, City Listening II! On Saturday, June 26, de LaB and a fantastic roster of collaborators and sponsors will present an evening of stories about Los Angeles read by your favorite design, architecture and art writers from both sides of La Brea!
To buy tickets and find more about the event, click here.
Nel Sedone / EarthStudio
Architects: EarthStudio
Location: Three and Half Mile, Upper Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Design Architect: Gerald Pde
Site Supervision: Gerald Pde/ Atelier A+ Architects and Designers
Client: Habari Warjri
Project Area: 8,500 sq ft
Project Estimate: 20 Lakh Rupees ($45,000)
Project Year: 2007-2008
Photographs: Courtesy of EarthStudio
North GA House / D.O.C. Unlimited
Architects: D.O.C. Unlimited
Location: Northern Georgia, USA
Project Year: 2009-2010
Photographs: William Pruyn & Carl Martin/Will Townes
AMO: Roadmap 2050 – A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe
A month and a half ago we presented you Roadmap 2050, a proposal to set in motion an invisible revolution in the energy sector which would stabilize the Earths climate.
The project is a design for a feasible and affordable Europe-wide power infrastructure which can be implemented by 2050 with existing technology. With the political will and capital investment needed to realize the design, Europe could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, and set an example for the rest of the world.
The initiative is lead by the European Climate Foundation, looking to chart a policy roadmap for the next 5-10 years based on the European leaders’ commitment to an 80-95% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. The goal is to achieve a 2% energy efficiency saving per year in order to meet this goal, with power and vehicle transportation being the most important areas.
OMA is one of the institutions commissioned to develop this strategy trough its think-tank AMO, focusing on the production of a graphic narrative which conceptualizes and visualizes the geographic, political, and cultural implications of the integrated, decarbonized European power sector.
We now present you a series of videos produced by AMO that continue this narrative to help us understand the implications of this plan:
Change Control, a Dan Wood // WORKac lecture
Dan Wood from WORKac will be conducting a lecture in Syracuse Architecture NYC Studio next Tuesday June 8, 6pm at 171 Madison Ave, 14th floor, NYC. The lecture is open to the public but seating is limited, so be there early to grab a seat.
WORK Architecture Company (WORKac) was founded in 2003 by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. Based in New York, WORKac strives to develop architectural and urban projects that engage culture and consciousness, nature and artificiality, surrealism and pragmatism.
You can see every WORKac project we’ve featured in ArchDaily here. And don’t forget to check one of the first interviews we had with Amale Andraos & Dan Wood, and the 49 Cities book by WORKac (with a free PDF sample).
AD Round Up: Wooden Houses Part III
From Netherlands, USA, Chile, New Zealand and Sou Fujimoto’s awarded Wooden House in Japan, comes this third selection of previously featured wooden houses. Check them all after the break!
Final Wooden House / Sou Fujimoto
I thought of making an ultimate wooden architecture. It was conceived by just mindlessly stacking 350mm square. Lumber is extremely versatile. In an ordinary wooden architecture, lumber is effectively differentiated according to functions in various localities precisely because it is so versatile. Columns, beams, foundations, exterior walls, interior walls, ceilings, floorings, insulations, furnishings, stairs, window frames, meaning all (read more…)
The Architect and the Urn exhibit
Lundgren Monuments in association with Vital 5 Productions is proud to present The Architect and the Urn – a west coast exploration of the cremation urn as architectural object, June 3 – July 18, 2010. Twenty-five architects from Seattle to Los Angeles approach the design and concept of housing human ash in this complex and conceptually rich exhibition.
Americans have an unhealthy relationship with death and remembrance. Death care has become a multi-billion dollar industry almost devoid of artists, designers and architects. Instead it is clogged with mass produced plastic urns and heavy, uninspired blocks of imported granite. With the choice of cremation on the rise, more and more of our departed friends and family are returning to us in the form of ash. In the design savvy culture that we live in, it is amazing how few interesting choices exist for us to address this transformed matter. The Architect and the Urn exhibition is assembled to approach this social trend and help fortify the ideas and forms that define our very last residence.
Curated by Greg Lundgren, The Architect and the Urn is on exhibition at the Lundgren Monuments boutique located at 1011 Boren Avenue, Seattle WA 98104. You can see the complete poster after the break.
AD Classics: House VI / Peter Eisenman
Unlike the previously featured Vanna Venturi House, Peter Eisenman’s House VI includes disorientation in the work without the concept of relating it to the traditional home. The house is, in fact, anything but what one would consider a conventional house. Eisenman, one of the New York Five, designed the house for Mr. and Mrs. Richard Frank between 1972-1975 who found great admiration for the architect’s work despite previously being known as a “paper architect” and theorist. By giving Eisenman a chance to put his theories to practice, one of the most famous, and difficult, houses emerged in the United States.
More on House VI after the break.
Barkly Plaza / Sergey Skuratov Architects
Architects: Sergey Skuratov Architects
Location: Moscow, Russia
Project Team: S. Skuratov, N. Demidov, A. Medvedev, N. Ishutina, P. Shalimov
Client: ZAO «Uks – Vostok»
Project Area: 23,920 sqm
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Yuri Palmin
Motorized External Roller Shades / Hunter Douglas Contract
This month, we would like to introduce Motorized External Roller Shades, a great product from the Solar Control line of Hunter Douglas Contract.
Nysan motorized external roller shades provide excellent control of glare and thermal gain. Hunter Douglas Contract’s high-performance exterior fabrics – including PVC-free GreenScreen® Tek-Screen fabric – remain colorfast, resist damage from water and heat, remain dimensionally stable, and are resistant to rot. Motorized external roller shades can be controlled by switch or automated control system. Heavy-duty headrails, bottom rails, and side guides are engineered to withstand adverse weather conditions.
Key Features
- Attractive headrail to protect the fabric (and motor) in the raised position.
- Durable roller tube incorporating the motor.
- Heavy-duty brackets, bottom rail, and side guides engineered to withstand adverse environmental conditions.
- Full motorization and automation available for raising, lowering, and adjusting the shade.
Nysan external roller shades feature
- Very good protection against thermal gain and glare, with performance superior to internal window coverings.
- The ability to retract shades completely when not required.
- A wide variety of fabric colors, opennesses, and options to customize the aesthetics and performance of the shade.
- Integration with intelligent controls makes it possible to create an active shading solution on sun-facing elevations.
- Gravity drop roller shades, which resemble standard interior shades but feature specially designed operating mechanisms and fabrics.
System Description
Nysan motorized external roller shades provide excellent control of glare and thermal gain.
A wide range of highly-performance are available. PVC-free GeenScreen® Tek-Screen fabrics are specifically produced for external use and are:
- Colorfast to light
- Resistant to the elements (rain, temperature variations, direct sunlight etc.)
- Dimensionally stable
- Resistant to rot
Fabric Selector
Natte
Satine
Projects that use this product
California Academy of Sciences
This post is part of our ongoing effort to create a database of architectural products, a useful resource for all architects, with the help of our partners.
Hunter Douglas Contract is a business partner of ArchDaily.
Montecito Residence / Barton Myers Associates
Architects: Barton Myers Associates
Location: Montecito, CA, USA
Principal in Charge: Thomas Schneider
Associate in Charge: Yianna Bouyioukou
Project Architects: Wayne Thomas, Cheng Zhou, David Karp
Landscape: Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Structural Engineer: Norman J. Epstein
Engineering: AGME Engineers, mechanical & plumbing; Smith Engineering Associates, electrical; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc, envelope consultant; Rios Clementi Hale Studios, interiors; Penfield & Smith, civil; Grover Hollingsworth & Associates, geotechnical
Contractor: Caputo Construction
Site Area: 1 acre
Project Area: 3,365 sf main residence, 500 sf garage, 50′ lap pool, pool cabana
Project Year: 2009
Photographer: Ciro Coelho
Contemplating the Void: Bad Architects Group
A few months ago, the Guggenheim Museum exhibited Contemplating the Void in honor of the museum’s 50th anniversary. After receiving 200 submissions, curators from the museum selected five winners. We’ve shared different proposals with you previously on AD, and today, we bring you Bad Architects Group’s winning Void Codition[ed]. In German, void or “Luftraum“, literally translates to “air-space“. By conditioning the given air, which is already present in the void, the architects create the possibility to access the space as is without interrupting how it currently exists. The proposal “adds another dimension or layer to the existing experience in form of a vertical wind tunnel.”
Small Street House / BASE Architecture
Architects: BASE Architecture / Shawn Godwin
Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Floor Area: 250 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Christopher Frederick Jones
