Browsing: Work AC

When David Basulto and David Assael from ArchDaily went to NY and interviewed Work AC, they got the chance to see this book before being published. Now, it has been published as the catalog of the 49 Cities exhibition we featured a couple of weeks ago, currently taking place at the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

49 Cities sets out to crunch the numbers of several centuries of unrealized urbanism, all the way from the ideal Roman city to the great utopian projects of the 20th century. Through plans, sections, charts and scale drawings, 49 cities are observed statistically and presented in an unprecedented comparative study, the result of a research project conducted over several years. Despite the fact that these cities never actually existed in their intended form, this overview of utopian urbanism provides a remarkable insight into our understanding of the contemporary metropolis.

How many inhabitants would Buckminster Fuller’s Tetrahedron City house? What would the density of Rem Koolhaas’ Exodus plan for London, or Superstudio’s Continuous Monument, have been had they ever been realized? How would they compare in scale to Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo Bay project, or to Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse?

You can buy the book here ($25.00), and there’s also a free 20-page sample PDF for you to download.

This villa is located in plot #96 of the ORDOS project.

Architects: Work AC / Dan Wood and Amale Andraos
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox

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Mark Magazine is by far one of my favourite architecture magazines. Their motto “Another architecture” tells us what we´ll find inside: fresh architecture – the main reason we love this magazine so much.

This bimonthly magazine is structured in 5 sections: Noticeboard (a collage of new projects), Cross Section (short articles on new buildings and architectural subjects), Viewpoint (interviews with architects on the rise), Long Section (in depth articles on buildings) and Service Area (new building materials).

On the August/September issue (October one on the mail, more about that soon) we find an amazing house by spanish studio Ensamble, shown on a collage with embossed textures, something that has become a signature on Mark Magazine covers.

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Work AC shared with us another project built in Manhattan, the Diane von Furstenberg HQ in TriBeca. An amazing renewal of an historic building. The light use is accented by the use of hanging crystals. I personally like the landscaping on the rooftop, wich reminds me of the High Line passing nearby. You can also see the new The Standard hotel in the back, which is actually being built over the High Line.

Architect: WORK AC – Amale Andraos & Dan Wood
Location: New York, USA
Design Period: June 2004 to February 2005
Demolition Period: February 2005 to February 2006
Construction Period: February 2006 to June 2007
Project Architects: Silvia Fuster, Eckart Graeve, Michael Chirigos
Design Team: Mirza Mujezinovic, Kirsten Krogh, Rune Elsgart, Christina Kwak, Andrew Sinclair, Brendan Kelly, Marc El Khouri, Judith Tse, Lamare Wimberly, Benjamin Cadena, Dana Strasser, Tina Diep, Jacob Lund, Erin Hunt, Martin Hensen Krogh, Martin Laursen, Dayoung Shin, Sylvanus Shaw, Forrest Jesse, Queenie Tong, Christo Logan, Fred Awty, Elliet Spring, Anna Kenoff.
Structural Engineering: Goldstein and Associates
Mechanical Engineering: Athwal Associates (main building) / Syska Hennessy (penthouse)
General Contractor: Americon
Crystals, Research and Development: D. Swarovski & Co.
Client: Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) Studio
New Building Area: 2,790 sqm
Budget: US $28,000,000
Photographs: Elizabeth Felicella

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Public Farm 1, Work AC’s installation for the PS1 opened on June 16th. The above video shows the construction process that took a month to be finished (May 15th to June 18th).

You can check the list of the DJs and artists that will playing at the PS1 this summer on the 10th version of the Warm Up Sessions (including LCD Soundsystem and Au Revoir Simone) here.

I still remember when i saw the cardboard tubes on their office,  and now they are part of this innovative green canopy. Below, pictures sent by photographer Elizabeth Felicella of the completed structure. She has more pictures available for editorials.

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As I had previously mentioned we visited Work AC in New York a few months ago, where we interviewed Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. This turned out to be a great interview, where they shared their thoughts on the current state of architectural practice, the role of architects in current society, humor, networking, media and something that really interested me: the importance of knowing how to manage the growth of your office.

On their office we saw the amazing model for their Cadavre Exquis Lebanese, a proposal based on a series of interventions to re-create Downtown Beirut presented at the 2007 Rotterdam Biennale. We also got to see their on on going projects and a 1:1 prototype of their Public Farm 1 structure soon to be opened at the PS1. You can check the construction progress at the PF1 website.

Pictures of Work AC after the jump.

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UPDATE: See a video on the construction and photos of the project finished on this article.

Every year the PS1 Gallery at the Museum of Modern Art in New York invites young emerging architects to propose a temporary structure for their Warm-up Music festival, and unless you´ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you already know that Work AC won this years edition with their PF1 (Public Farm One) proposal.

PF1 (Public Farm One) is an urban farm concept built with inexpensive and sustainable materials recyclable after its use at P.S.1, such as cardboard tubes that form a continuous surface creating multiple zones of activity including swings, fans, sound effects, innovative seating areas, and a refreshing pool at its center, as an Urban Beach.

We visited Work AC (interview coming this Sunday) and they told us how this project allowed them to get in touch with non architects for the technique for growing plants on the cardboard tube structure, which enriched the development of the project. They also worked with LERA structural engineers.

Installation opens June 20th, hosting the 2008 Warm Up summer music series at the PS1. You can follow the construction progress at the Public Farm 1 website.

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