Chop Stick / Visiondivision
Here’s a whole new definition of the phrase “Tree House.”
Visiondivision‘s concession stand for 100 Acres, an Art & Nature Park in Indiana, is made entirely from one 100-ft yellow poplar tree. Not only does the trunk form the horizontal beam of the structure, but literally nothing of the tree was left to waste: bark became shingles; extracted pieces of wood became structural support, chairs and tables, swings; even the bark’s syrup was extracted to be sold in the kiosk itself.
The architects who refined this tree into a building were inspired by an ethos of “gentleness” with nature. As they share in their architects’ brief: “Our project is about trying to harvest something as gently as possible so that the source of what we harvest is displayed in a pure, pedagogic and respectful way—respectful to both the source itself and to everyone visiting the building.”
A video, images, and the architects’ brief, after the break…
Villa Village / Visiondivision
Our Swedish friends from Visiondivision are back with their latest residential project for a family in Tampere, Finland - an extension that offers a quirky departure from a traditional “addition” as the architecture provides an entire “village” of units to meet optimal flexibility and potential. The village idea offers an interesting structure for the clients to inhabit and one that can be experienced in a variety of ways to inspire the residents during their everyday activities.
More after the break.
Stockholm Stacked / Visiondivision
Our friends from Visiondivision have envisioned a creative solution to respond to Stockholm’s lack of housing. While the city is growing rapidly, the pace of new construction for residences is quickly falling behind demand. Due to this lack of housing, the core of Stockholm has grown to be defined by expensive apartments, while the outer edges for those who can’t afford such prices. For Stockholm Stacked, Visiondivision responds to this segregated city by proposing a change in planning regulations to eliminate height restrictions on courtyard typologies, so as to utilize the urban spaces for efficiently and effectively. After all, “Who wants to move to a city where it is impossible to get an apartment? Which companies wants to invest in a city where their employees may have a hard time to find a place to stay? Which exchange students wants to study in a city where all the free time available will go to find a small flat with a decent rent?” asks the firm.
More about the project after the break.
Spire / Visiondivision
Last week, we shared a great series of modular summer residences by Visiondivision that ranged from a small cabin to a massive castle. In the meantime, the firm has also been working on a competition proposal to replace a church in Våler, a small Norwegian town, after a devastating fire. For a firm that typically takes a standard design approach and then reinvents it or inverts it to form a completely new paradigm, we were impressed by their ability to bring a simplistic elegance to this religious structure.
More about the church after the break.
Spröjs Series / Visiondivision
Just in time for the warm weather, Visiondivison has shared a great collection of summer houses with us. Entitled the Spröjs Series, the residences stem from an organizing modular system present in their built project Spröjs House (previously featured on AD). And, in this collection, in typical Visiondivision fashion, the firm has exploited the potential of the module and crafted residences ranging from a simple shed and cabin to a crazy castle.
Check out the range of residences after the break.
The Patient Gardener / Visiondivision
During the week-long MIAW2 workshop by Politecnico di Milano, Visiondivision served as guest professors and worked closely with students to generate new ideas about the essence of green design in terms of, resilience, recycling, and ethical consciousness. For the workshop, the architects constructed a study retreat on campus where the final result can be enjoyed in 60 years. With patience as the main key for the design, “we can reduce the need for transportation, waste of material and different manufacturing processes, simply by helping nature grow in a more architectonic and useful way,” explained the architects.
More about the project after the break.
Paper Cut Parlor / Visiondivision
At the end of this summer, our friends from Visiondivision will complete their latest commission, a waiting room for a private athletic clinic in Stockholm. By separating the clinic from the larger hospital, the architects were able to create a peaceful haven within the institution. This new section boasts a more refreshing environment that is brightly illuminated and designed for comfort.
More about the clinic and more images after the break.
Spröjs House / Visiondivision
Check out Visiondivision’s latest work – a residential extension to an old Swedish house. Expanding upon the clients’ taste in the traditional Swedish houses with mullion windows, or ‘spröjs’ in Swedish, the team set out to exploit the building component by introducing ”a huge mullion window as its main feature.” The mullion window becomes the focal point of the house as it covers the front facade and opens toward the garden that slopes toward the nearby lake.
More images and more about the residence after the break.
Nature’s Choice / Visiondivision
Our friends from Visiondivision shared their latest vacation home for two families in Sweden with us. The coastal site, which has been included on the world heritage list due to its outstanding land uplift geology, has two different levels – an upper level of untouched wood and a lower one of a rocky meadow. The project draws inspiration from the site as its unique arrangement beckons any built structure to blend into its environment. As the site incorporates two very different areas, the architects saw three potential alternatives for the site: either a wooden house set amidst the forest level, a stone house that lies in close connection with the rock outcrops, or, the more challenging alternative of how to appeal to both types of nature present on the site.
More about the project after the break.
Noah’s House / Visiondivision
Our friends from Visiondivision shared their latest summer house in Singö, Sweden with us. The architects were limited to designing the small summer house within the confines of an existing shed because the site is exposed every tens years to the overflows of the Baltic Sea. Constructed as a lizard’s tail, the house utilizes a pragmatic strategy where if one part of the building gets exposed to water, that part can easily be replaced without affecting the rest of the building.
More about the summer house after the break.
The Hollow / Visiondivision
Recently, we shared Visiondivision’s Cancer City project – if you haven’t seen it, be sure to check it out as the firm’s fresh outlook results in a new kind of landscape for the animals. Moving from designing a new metropolis for crayfish, the architects have switched gears for their latest project to create a sukkah for an annual Jewish harvest festival. The proposal is part of the New York competition for Sukkah City (be sure to view the finalists here), which asked participants to re-imagine the temporary pavilion by developing new methods of material practice and parametric design. For Visiondivison’s proposal, the organic pavilion changes the conditions for social interaction and behavior within a simplistic structure of compression.
More images and more about the proposal after the break.
Cancer City / Visiondivision
Check out the latest project from our friends at Visiondivision. Keeping true to their usual “un-traditional” projects, their Cancer City is an underwater metropolis for a crayfish community. Upon being approached by a country gentleman whose 10,000 crayfish were slowly emigrating to a nearby lake outside his estate, Visiondivision responded with an idea to design a refugee for the crayfish to immigrate back to the man’s property.
More images and more about the new city after the break.
The Peak Series / Visiondivision
Just in time for the summer, Visiondivison‘s new pre-fab housing series is geared toward accommodating summer time guests in a flexible, yet compact space. Pyramidal in shape, the house features a playful facade that is climbable, affording each guest his own entrance hatch that can be reached from the outside.
More images and more about the houses after the break.
Deer Grotto / Visiondivision
For their latest commission, Visiondivision addressed the extension of an 18th century cottage with their typical offbeat approach (check out their other projects previously featured on AD). Abiding by the clients’ request for the house to blend in with the environment, particularly from the one side where the client’s conservative mother “has her cottage and watchful eyes”, the extension becomes a unobtrusive living space that is part of the earth, making it appear “almost invisible”.
More images and more about the extension after the break.
Capilla para el Tio / Visiondivision
Visiondivision never fails to share interesting projects with us, whether it be their zoo/waterfall or their latest – a chapel for Tio, an evil devil that owns a mountain in Bolivia. As unusual as it may sound, miners in Bolivia are faced with awful working conditions inside a mountain, and claim that Tio is responsible for claiming the 8 million lives that have been lost within the mountain. The project is a shrine to Tio, and will serve as a place the miners can leave gifts for the devil so he does not harm the men working in the mountain.
More about the shrine and more images after the break.
Hill Hut / Visiondivision
Visiondivision‘s latest project, a residential extension for two children in Stockholm, utilizes a landscape surface that is enhanced by elements around and inside the house. The young children will be spending most of their day enjoying the outdoors, so Visiondivision “wanted to give the two new citizens a safe base where they can explore their new surroundings and be able to appreciate it to the fullest.” By deliberately choosing inexpensive building components, such as windows and façade materials, the architects saved a bigger part of the budget to create as many playful elements as they could.
More about the Hill House after the break.
Mangrolia Chaussures Stores / Visiondivision
Upon being commissioned for three shoe stores on Reunion Island, Visiondivision designed a Plexiglass shoe box that can be multiplied and arranged in a variety of forms. The arrangement of the shoe boxes create varied store layouts while still providing an easily recognizable element to identity with the Mangrolia Shoe store.
More about the store and more images after the break.
Eden Falls / Visiondivision
Visiondivision shared their Eden Falls entry for a vertical zoo competition organized by Arquitectum with us. The design features a thunderous water curtain facade that offers a dramatic entry condition as visitors pass over a moat of crocodiles and into a free setting where monkeys and birds freely roam about the building, and a pool with fresh water dolphins rests on the roof.
More images and more about the zoo after the break.
Taiwan Pop Music Center / Visiondivision
Visiondivision’s latest entry for the Taiwan Pop Music Center competition aims to “transcend its visitors into a total escapism of pop.” With different districts that use the effect of the main tower and specific angles of light, the whole building expands dramatically in appearance, from a rather low key building in the distance to a spectacular body of light once approached.
More about the project including images and a further project description after the break.
Cover Up / Visiondivision
Our friends at Visiondivision passed along their Cover Up project which is part of a bigger commission to improve several power plants for an energy company. The firm created a storage facility for several heating containers that could be quickly outsourced and serve as back-up power should the city experienced a black-out. Working in an industrial area where the company was used to break ins and vandalism, the firm designed a “good looking, roofless, and flexible-as-an-anaconda building.” Good looking in the sense that this storage facility could better the rough surroundings; roofless due to the fact that the large containers needed to be transported with a special crane truck; and flexible since the need for additional containers in the future should also be considered.
More about the project after the break.
Urban Fade / Visiondivision
Visiondivison shared their entry for the Koivusaari Idea Competition to create a new city district on an island just outside Helsinki, Finland. The competition asked participants to organize a master plan for the island that would provide the framework for further planning. Visiondivison’s proposal, Urban Fade, is comprised of a highly efficient city grid that allows users the option of moving around the district to interact with the different areas.
More about the proposal after the break.
