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Architects: Timmins+Whyte Architects
- Year : 2020
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Manufacturers : James Hardie Australia, About Space, Colorbond, Dulux, Warwick Fabrics, +6
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Professionals : Encore Projects, Profile Office Furniture, Emseem
When designing an architectural space, it's necessary to think about how to satisfy the needs of each user, looking to achieve an adequate level of comfort and a pleasant experience. Auditoriums, cinemas, and theatres are spaces that involve large masses of people, so special attention must be paid to factors like isoptics, acoustics or accessibility so that when witnessing an event, everyone is able to receive the same information.
The world certainly looks different through the eyes of a young child; enormous, intriguing, and somewhat overwhelming, and it has long been believed that what we encounter as children shapes up our perspective of the world. When asked about his childhood memories in Switzerland, Peter Zumthor shared that the memories of his youth contain the deepest architectural experience, which have become reservoirs of the architectural atmospheres and images that he explores in his work as an architect today.
Having a complete understanding of how children change and grow physically and psychologically throughout their childhood requires an in depth observation of different factors, such as their hereditary traits and genetics, the interactions they have with other children and adults, as well as the environment they are living, playing, and learning in. In celebration of World Children’s Day on November 20th, we look at how architects and designers stimulated children's autonomy and promoted their mental and physical wellbeing through architecture and interior design.
Violent cities result from social and economic inequality, which also affects the urban landscape and the way we live. International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, so we have selected a series of projects to reflect on non-violent ways of using public space.
Curved shapes have always sparked architects' fascination for evoking nature's beauty, fluidity, dynamism, and complexity. To replicate these shapes, however, is no easy task. From their two- or three-dimensional representation to their execution in their final materials, this represents an enormous difficulty, which requires technical expertise and a great amount of knowledge to achieve strong results. Thinking of new ways to produce organic shapes from natural materials is even more complicated.
In addition to this, working with a natural material such as wood carries its own set of peculiarities. Factors such as the species of wood, where the tree grew, what climate it faced, when it was cut, how it was sliced or dried, among many other variables, largely influence the final result. But it's hard for other materials to compare to the beauty and warmth that wooden surfaces bring to the built environment. If the appropriate processes are used, wood can be curved and remain in the desired shape - and for this, there is a number of known techniques which Australian company, Sculptform, has perfected.
Anyone who lives in a big city may have dreamed of moving elsewhere and living isolated, in a house among the trees or on a deserted beach. During the pandemic and the endless months of quarantine, many more may have had this same idea. As romantic and seductive as this may seem, however, living deep in nature comes with some important practical challenges. Rarely would anyone give up the little comforts they are used to, like turning on a faucet or charging their cell phone. If the location is, in fact, remote, it may not have electricity, drinking water, gas, sewage, or solid waste collection. But there remain several possibilities for a life with comfort and without neighbors. What are the main solutions to enable this and how can an architectural project provide an off-the-grid life?