Construction process of the The Cathedral of Christ the Light / SOM
The construction process of the The Cathedral of Christ the Light by SOM (featured earlier on AD), clearly shows the impressive structure that supports the building and its skin.
You can see more at this gallery, courtesy of SOM:
The Cathedral of Christ the Light / SOM
If you haven´t heard about Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, maybe you didn´t take and Architecture History class, as they played an active role on the International Style during the 1930s. They also developed an expertise in high rise towers and structural engineering, shaping the downtown of the most important cities in the United States – and the rest of the world. As of now SOM is one of the largest offices in the world, with on-going projects such as the Burj Dubai, actually the tallest building in the world.
But SOM is not just high rise buildings. They have developed award winning sustainable master plans, interiors, structures, and other types of buildings.
Now we present you The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA, an amazing structure with a wooden/glass skin that creates an interior full of light. One of my favorite buildings of the year, already awarded with an AIA Honor Award for Architecture.
We´d like to thank SOM San Francisco for providing us all the information of this new project.
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Design Team: Craig Hartman, FAIA, Design Partner / Gene Schnair, FAIA, Managing Partner / Keith Boswell, AIA, Technical Director / Raymond Kuca, AIA, Project Manager / Patrick Daly, AIA, Senior Design Architect / Eric Keune, AIA / Lisa Gayle Finster, AIA / Christopher Kimball / Jane Lee / Christina Kyrillou / Elizabeth Valadez / Denise Hall Montgomery / Mariah Neilson / Peter Jackson / Surjanto / Gary Rohrbacher / Ayumi Sugiyama / Liang Wu / Katie Motchen / Matthew Tierney / Henry Vlanin
Structural Engineering: Mark Sarkisian, PE, SE, Structural Engineering Director / Peter Lee, PE, SE, Senior Structural Engineer / Eric Long, PE, Senior Structural Engineer / Aaron Mazeika, PE, AP / William Bond / Ernest Vayl / Feliciano Racines / Jean-Pierre Michel Chakar / Lindsay Hu / Rupa Garai / Sarah Diegnan
Interior Design: Tamara Dinsmore, Chanda Capelli, Susanne LeBlanc, Carmen Carrasco, David Lou
General Contractor: Webcor Builders
Design start: 2002
Construction Complete: 2008
Site Area: 2.50 acres
Constructed Area: 20,996 sqm
Photographs: César Rubio, Timothy Hursley, John Blaustein
Architect´s description:
Seattle Central Library / OMA + LMN
This is -by far- one of the most inspiring projects I know. And it´s not just the skin or the structure. It´s the new program relations, that make of this more than a mere library, but an enhaced public space around knowledge.
Architects: OMA + LMN
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Key Personnel: Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus (Partner-in-Charge), with Mark von Hof-Zogrotzki, Natasha Sandmeier, Meghan Corwin, Bjarke Ingels, Carol Patterson
Consultants: Arup, Bruce Mau Design, Davis Langdon, Dewhurst Macfarlane, Front, HKA, Hoffman Construction, Inside/Oustide, Jones & Jones, Kugler Tillotson, Magnusson Klemencic, McGuire, Michael Yantis, Pielow Fair, Quinze & Milan, Seele
Client: Seattle Public Library
Program: Central library for Seattle’s 28-branch library system, including 33,700 sqm of hq, reading room, book spiral, mixing chamber, meeting platform, living room, staff floor, children’s collection, and auditorium, and 4,600 sqm of parking.
Project year: 1999-2004
Constructed Area: 38,300 sqm
Budget: US $169.2 M
Photographs: Ramon Prat, Philippe Ruault, Iwan Baan, Fernando Herrera
Wyly Theatre / REX | OMA
The Wyly Theatre in Dallas is almost finished. This project is very interesting, and REX/OMA show once again how designing a building goes way beyond that working on the volumes and the skin, but to rethink the program itself.
Anyone familiar with a theatre knows the program order hasn´t changed much, as it´s pretty much the same you find on Neufert. But REX/OMA take this a step further, by re-studying the program relations and adjacencies, resulting on a unique building. Perfect for the client, as the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) is recognized as one of the country’s few innovative theater companies located outside the triumvirate of New York, Chicago, and Seattle. On the top of that, an interesting aluminium skin adds to make this building unique.
The facade is being installed this days, opening expected during 2009.
Now, the architects description:
Museum Plaza / REX
Museum Plaza is -in my opinion- one of the most amazing mixed-use project of our time. It makes all the variables (economical regulations, community, local authorities) fit together, on an pure volume – with a Mies-ian look.
But REX, and the following video, explain it better:
Winters Studio / MOS Architects
Architects: MOS – Michael Meredith, Hilary Sample
Location: Columbia County, New York, USA
Design Team: Chad Burke, Fred Holt
Project year: 2006-2007
Constructed Area: 557 sqm
Engineering: Edward Stanley Engineers LLC
Photographs: Michael Vahrenwald
Entries for the Young Architects Program at P.S.1 2009
Since year 2000, the MoMA and the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center present the Young Architects Program, an annual competition that invites emerging architects to design a temporary structure at the P.S.1 ’s facility in Long Island City, Queens. This has been a field for experimentation for digital manufacturing, new materials and new construction techniques -all under a tight budget-, as we saw in 2008 with the P.F.1 installation by WORKac.
A few days ago we featured this years winning proposal by MOS, a lightweight aluminum frame using recyclable parts, and saw how the economical crisis is present on the project´s conception.
But also, the other proposals by BSC Architecture, !ndie architecture, L.E.FT architects and PARA-project explore this and other social/cultural concepts on their proposals, so we decided to contact them and feature this projects so you can get the whole picture.
I´d like to thank Michel (MOS), Martin (BSC Architecture), Paul (!ndie architecture), Ziad (L.E.FT architects), Jon (PARA-project), April (P.S.1) and Meg (MoMA) for helping us out on this article.
And now, onto the proposals:
Tsai residence / HHF Architects + Ai Weiwei
Architects: HHF Architects + Ai WeiWei
Location: Ancram, New York, USA
Design Team: HERLACH HARTMANN FROMMENWILER & AI WEIWEI with Bhavana Hameed, Tom Strub, Fumiko Takahama, Magnus Zwyssig
Structural Engineering: Crawford & Associates, Hudson, NY
Construction Management: Crawford & Associates, Hudson, NY
General Contractor: Robert Reed Construction, Germantown, NY
Design year: 2005-2006
Construction year: 2006-2008
Client: Private
Constructed Area: 375 sqm
Photographs: Iwan Baan, Nikolas Koenig
MOS Architects wins the P.S.1 competition
We just got the news that MOS Architects won the competition to build a temporary installation at MoMA´s P.S.1 during this summer.
For this competition the P.S.1 invites each year a group of emerging architects to experiment with new shapes and materials, as Work AC did last year with their PF1 project.
MOS project is entitled Afterparty, a design that Micheal Meredith and Hilary Sample (MOS partners) say is meant to honor and reflect current economic realities, by using basic materials. The main structure is a lightweight aluminum frame using recyclable parts which require minimal assembly, which will become a landmark for the neigborhood – all this on a USD$70,000 budget.
I spoke with Michael a few minutes ago and he refered to the name of the project: One thing about the “Afterparty,” as we’re calling it, is the need to look for new promiscuities after the party of a sort of high-formalism which has dominated academic discourse, and in our case it’s with the basic structural arch geometries, rough almost singular materiality and the production and interaction of “environment,” (literally cooling down the courtyard through stack effect) looking towards a more primitive state of architecture. – (See afterparty definition on Wikipedia).
The project is still under development, and we´ll keep you posted on further updates. We´ll try to do a good coverage on this as we did last year.
You can see other works from MOS previously featured on AD: Floating House and their ORDOS 100 villa.
More images of Afterparty after the break.
NORTH / Skylab Architecture
Architects: Skylab Architecture
Location: Portland, USA
Project Year: 2007
Site Area: 929 sqm
Client: NORTH Advertising
Photographs: Skylab Architecture
Mameg + Maison Martin Margiela / Johnston Marklee & Associates
Architects: Johnston Marklee & Associates
Location: Beverly Hills, California, USA
Project year: 2007
Project Architects: Mark Lee, Sharon Johnston AIA, Katrin Terstegen
Project team: Albert Chu, Robert Garlipp, Nicholas Hofstede
Client: Sonia Eram (Mameg), Staff USA (Maison Martin Margiela)
Contractor: Lofton Contracting, Inc. (Sherman Oaks, CA)
Structural Engineer: B.W. Smith Structural Engineers (Studio City, CA)
Lighting Consultant: Kaplan Gehring McCarroll Architectural Lighting (Los Angeles, CA)
Electrical Engineer: A&F Consulting Engineers (Reseda, CA)
Photographs: Eric Staudenmaier
The Commons / debartolo architects
Architects: debartolo architects ltd.
Location: Gilbert, Arizona, USA
Project team: Jack DeBartolo Jr FAIA, Jack DeBartolo 3 AIA, J. Eric Huffman
Civil Engineer: integra engineering
Structural Engineer: rudow + berry
Mechanical engineer: kunka engineering
Electrical Engineer: woodward engineering
Contractor: the construction zone
Landscape: GBtwo
Constructed Area: 1,672 sqm
Design year: 2005-2006
Construction year: 2007
Photographs: Bill Timmerman
Artfarm / HHF Architects + Ai Weiwei
Architects: HHF Architects + Ai WeiWei
Location: Salt Point, New York, USA
Design Team: HERLACH HARTMANN FROMMENWILER & AI WEIWEI with Tom Strub, Fumiko Takahama
Structural Engineering: Crawford & Associates, Hudson, NY
Construction Management: Crawford & Associates, Hudson, NY
Design year: 2006-2007
Construction year: 2007-2008
Client: Christophe W. Mao / Chambers Fine Art
Budget: US $321,700
Constructed Area: 373 sqm
Photographs: Iwan Baan
M1 Residence / Skylab Architecture (Twilight movie house)
A few weeks ago I watched the movie Twilight, and noticed that the house of the vampires was actually very interesting, with separated volumes and big openings that potentiate the views into different directions of the surrounding woods. This house in Portland´s Forest Park was designed by US Architects Skylab Architecture. Project description by the architects after the break.
The Prayer Chapel / debartolo architects
Architects: debartolo architects ltd.
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Project team: Jack DeBartolo Jr FAIA, Jack DeBartolo 3 AIA, J. Eric Huffman, Aaron Taylor, Tim Smith, Kent McClure
Civil + Landscape: wrg design
Structural Engineer: rudow + berry
Mechanical engineer: kunka engineering
Electrical Engineer: associated engineering
Contractor: arthur porter construction
Landscape Design: michael boucher landscape architect
Lighting Design: roger smith lighting design
Constructed Area: 578 sqm
Design year: 2003-2006
Construction year: 2007
Photographs: Bill Timmerman
Obama wanted to be an architect (thanks he didn´t)
Did you know that Barack Obama wanted to be an architect? Thank god he didn´t, otherwise he wouldn´t be assuming as the US President tomorrow.
(seen on AMNP)
Suburban Intervention / Oyler Wu Collaborative
A small intervention on the backyard of a house by Oyler Wu Collaborative. Functional, open, and well shaded… I like it.
Architects: Oyler Wu Collaborative
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Project Team: Dwayne Oyler, Jenny Wu, Chris Eskew, Brad Goldpaint
Lighting Design: Thomas Paterson, Luxpopuli
Photographs: Art Gray Photography
Tree house / Sander Architects
Architects: Sander Architects
Location: Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Project Year: 2002-2004
Construction Year: 2004-2006
Photographs: Sander Architects
House of Sweden / Wingardh
Architects: Wingårdh Arkitektkontor
Location: Washington DC, USA
Principal Architects: Gert Wingårdh & Tomas Hansen
Architects in Charge: Gunilla Murnieks
Competition Team: Gert Wingårdh, Thomas Hansen, Ulrika Davidsson, Fredrik Gullberg, Pål Ericsson, Jacob Sahlqvist, Jacek Zalecki, Petter Leyman, Ola Frödell, Henrik Schulz, Tobias Fasth, Robert Hendberg
Building Team: Gert Wingårdh, Thomas Hansen, Gunilla Murnieks, Susanna Ringnér, Birgitta Stenvaller, Andreas Henriksson, Gustav Appell, Markus Furby, Björn Nilsson, Therese Ahlström, Taito Lampinen, Robert Hendberg, Daniel Frickeus, Fredrik Gullberg, Sven Nestgaard, Sara Helder, Pål Ericsson, Maria Olausson, Fredrik Prytz, Anna Palm, Hanna Samuelson, Alexandra Pripp
Construction Year: 2004-2006
Project Managment: National Property Board Sweden
Structural Engineering: Flygfältsbyrån AB
Lighting: Ljusarkitektur P & Ö AB
Constructed Area: 8,157 sqm
Photographs: Wingardh
Surfhouse / XTEN Architecture
Architects: XTEN Architecture
Location: Manhattan Beach, California, USA
Principals: Monika Haefelfinger & Austin Kelly, AIA
Client: Jennifer & Nick Hall
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Art Gray Photography
