Arch Tracker

Project: TOO49
Architect: 16A
           Tatsuya Ogawa
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Image Credits: Satoshi Asakawa ZOOM

TOO49 is a six-story housing complex with 43 studios and 6 two-bed-room units.
Proposed in this project is the prototype to stack courtyard houses in not-too-close connection with surrounding contexts. With the slates’ aging, this out-of-scale block will grow into a landmark to sympathize with the blending well with the surrounding area.
More images after the break.

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In the Jinhua Architecture Park in China, 17 pavilions in a park along theYiwu River, are dedicated to the memory of the poet Ai Qing.

Jinhua is a small city southwest of Shanghai with an ancient history and a thriving economy based on industry, agriculture and tourism. In 2002 designer and curator Ai Weiwei invited 16 architects from around the world to design a pavilion for a park on a ribbon of land that stretches over 2 kilometers along the Yiwu River. The Park is dedicated to the memory of his father, the poet Ai Qing, who was born In Jinhua.

Exhibition Space – Tatiana Bilbao
Mexico

Restaurant – Johan de Wachter Architects / Fun Design Consultancy
The Netherlands

Book Bar – Michael Maltzan
USA

All 17 pavilions after the break.

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Architects: Snohetta
Location: Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway
Client: Ministry of Church an Cultural Affairs
Area: 38.500sqm
Construction start: 2004
Completion: 2007
Contractors: 55 contracts
Geological Engineer: NGI
Structural Engineer: Reinertsen Engineering ANS
Electrical Engineer: Ingeniør Per Rasmussen AS
Theatre Planning: Theatre Project Consultants
Acoustics: Brekke Strand Akustikk, Arup Acoustic
Artists, integrated artwork: Kristian Blystad, Kalle Grude, Jorunn Sannes, Astrid Løvaas og Kirsten Wagle
Photos: Snohetta, Nina Reistad, Statsbygg, Erik Berg & Nicolas Buisson

About the Building Client and the User
Statsbygg is Norway’s largest civil property manager, with 650 employees. It is the state’s main consultant on building and property issues, development and management. Statsbygg is a management company under the Ministry of Renewal and Administration, but provides services and support to all ministries and state organs.

In 1998 the National Assembly decides that Statsbygg would be the building client for the new operahouse, responsible for planning and management. Statsbygg procure services in the private sector, but are responsible for professional coordination and quality control of the consultants, contractors and suppliers.

The Norwegian Opera and Ballet is the building’s end user. They are Norway’s largest music and theatrical institution. Their core purpose is to be the national producer of opera, ballet, music and dance theatre, and concerts. They intend to have approx. 300 shows and 250,000 visitors per year. The Operahouse will be a workplace for approx. 600 employees from more than 50 professions.
Architect’s description.

The operahouse is the realisation of the winning competion entry. Four diagrams, which were part of the entry, explain the building’s basic concept.

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WINNER ANNOUNCED FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE – MIES VAN DER ROHE AWARD 2009

Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Oslo by Snøhetta

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe announced today that the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Oslo, Norway by Snøhetta is the winner of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awar 2009

The Jury also awarded the Emerging Architect Special Mention to STUDIO UP/ Lea Pelivan and Toma Plejic for Gymnasium 46° 09′ N / 16° 50′ E, Koprivnica, Croatia.

The 60,000 € Prize funded with support by the European Union, one of the most importan and prestigious prizes for international architecture, is awarded biennially to built works completed within the previous two years.

By supporting the prize, the European Commission underlines the role of architecture as a driver for creativity and innovation, opens up culture to audiences beyond national borders and draws attention to the European professionals’ contribution in the development of new ideas and technologies that impact Europeans’ everyday life.

You can see the announcement online at www.miesarch.com made by The European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel and Francis Rambert, Chair of the Jury.

This landmark building by Snøhetta, who also designed the new Library of Alexandria (2002), is the largest cultural centre built in Norway in 700 years. It sloping stone roof – made up of 36,000 fitted pieces – rises up from the fjord; allowing members of the public, residents and opera goers alike, to walk over the building, developing a relationship with the public structure. Integral to the 1,000-room interior, which is largely lined with crafted woodwork (using the traditions of Norwegian boat builders), are a number of art commissions interwoven into the structural fabric, including a cloakroom, a collaboration with their 2007 Serpentine Pavilion collaborator Olafur Eliasson.

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ARCHITECT ROJKIND ARQUITECTOS + BIG
CLIENT: PATRONATO TAMAYO
SIZE: 3.500 M2
LOCATION: MEXICO
STATUS: 1. PRIZE

Set upon a steep hillside in Atizapan on the outskirts of Mexico’s largest metropolis will soon sit the New Tamayo Museum. The building will serve as a nucleus of education and culture – locally, regionally, and internationally – and continue to carry the name of the Oaxacan born artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991). The very strong and symbolic shape of the cross is a direct interpretation of the client’s preliminary program studies, defining an optimized organizational scheme for the Tamayo’s visitors and administrators.

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Project: Broken House, Katowice
Architect: KWK PROMES
                      Robert Konieczny
                       Marlena Wolnik
Site Area: 3,500m2
Usable Floor Area: 330m2
Volume: 1,036m2
Design: 2000
Construction: 2002

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LOT 128-04
Team leader: Alberto Catalano  
Team members: Giulia Iurcotta, Barbarangelo Licheri, Daniel Piludu, Celestine Sanna, Mariangela Murgia, Emanuela Forcolini, Souraya Frem
Location: Milano, Italy

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An extension to an existing 3 bedroom house in Fitzroy North to provide new living and kitchen space for a growing young family.

Many of the design decisions were generated by the tight budget. The form is a simple box- the strongest form an architect can achieve at a bargain basement price.

Every element needed to perform multiple functions for maximum return- hence the kitchen bench becomes part of the stair, and the screening required by council reflects heat and glare away from the expansive windows, neatly eliminating the need for curtains. Leer el resto de esta entrada »

Architects: HHF architects
Project: Invited project study for an information- and trainingcenter
Location: Olten, Switzerland
Function: Information and Training center
Footprint: 1200 m2
Total area of usable space: 1200m2
Materials: Wood, Profilitglas
Client: Nussbaum AG
Team: HERLACH HARTMANN FROMMENWILER with Janna Jessen, Alexa den Hartog Leer el resto de esta entrada »

Architects: Arkhefield
Location: South Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia
Project Team: Andrew Gutteridge, Simon Wynn, Justin Boland, Julie Tomaszewski
Project Year: 2006
Photographer: Scott Burrows, Aperture Architectural Photography

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Relying on the architect to reinvent dynamism
by Espen Folgerø
Bergen School of Architecture – BAS, – Bergen, Norway

Completely rebuilt after the bombing of WWII, Kristiansund city centre is the clear result of an overall approach aiming to regulate everything in detail. The result is necessarily a closed form: once the gameboard has been filled, the pieces are fixed and everything becomes a static system. The problem, however, is not what Pedersen (the masterplanner) formulated back then, the problem is how we read the city today. The plan is so good that the approach still seems to echo in the minds of everybody working with the city. Every city forms a system, and every system produces deviations. The potential for development and community building does exist, but we need to change our approach in order to find it. We need to move off the map and into the territory itself. We need to find a new approach suited to coping with the challenges of our time, so that the city can reacquire its dynamic properties. When facing a society dictated by economic forces, architects often react by reducing themselves to mere instruments of these capital forces, a facilitator of their immediate needs. Here, the architect has an important role in structuring society. Doing so demands a clear definition of this role clearly for oneself and others. The architect, above all others, has the possibility to visualize and comment upon the ongoing debate, becoming part of the process, interacting with both developers and users. The success of every architectural project aiming to contribute to the building of societies depends on the ability of the project to combine pragmatism and idealism.
Full size images after the break. Leer el resto de esta entrada »

A proposal for floating art facilities
by Kazuaki Hattori
University of Tokyo, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering – Tokyo, Japan

The illegal occupation of retired ships, seen in various places along the Sumida River, which is situated on the city edge – unlike rivers in European cities – still prevents us from the possibility of designing an amenity on a riverside. One day I found a beautiful lumberyard ruin at the mouth of Sumida River. Lumberyards on the water are often unnecessarily reclaimed, causing the setback of the coastline of Tokyo Bay. The ruin can be easily converted to moorings – in other words, parking places for ships. This idea solves both problems. By gathering together retired barges, ships for water transportation, we can also use these vessels as facilities for exhibition space and for studios for artists. Barges have large holds and, as such are mobile rooms. They can bring upstream many activities based in this art centre. The Sumida River itself will resemble a temporary museum.
Full size images after the break.

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Project Name: LATTICE in Beijing
Location: Beijing, China
Architect: SAKO Architects
Project Designer: Keiichiro SAKO
Project Team: Aya UNAGAMI, Akiko MIYAZAKI
Structure and Material: Reinforced concrete construction, Gold-colored mirror-finish stainless panel,Mirror-finish stainless panel, Cast iron screen
Building Area: 8,267m2
Design Period: 2005.09 – 12
Construction Period: 2006.01 – 2007.12

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IaaC is pleased to invite you to the open lecture of Theodore Spyropoulos.
Friday 24th of April.
19:30h
IaaC Main Hall
C/ Pujades 102, Poble Nou

`Systemic Play`
Theodore Spyropoulos / Minimaforms

Theodore Spyropoulos co-directs the Architectural Association Design Research Lab [DRL] (London). He directs the experimental architecture and design studio Minimaforms with Stephen Spyropoulos. He is a visiting Research Fellow at MIT since 2006 and curates the AA New Media Research initiative. He has taught in the graduate schools of the University of Pennsylvania and the Royal College of Art. He has studied at the AA, Bartlett School of Architecture and the New Jersey Institute of Technology graduating cum laude. He has worked as a project architect for the offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects.

The lecture will examine role of experimentation in architecture and design through the work of Minimaforms and the AADRL.

Abandoned mines and their imprint on the territory
by Tomás García de la Huerta
Universidad del Desarollo, Arquitectura – Santiago, Chile

The project involves the ‘Transito’ mine, approximately 12 kilometres from Tierra Amarilla and 20 km from Copiapó. Explored by the English in the period 1743-48, the mine has remained redundant since then. It is the only mine in the location that maintains itself in a good state, with a colonial house (former administration building) that accommodates machinery within, and solid steel mine cart structures and tunnels. These, in perfect state, communicate through the subfloor with the ‘Andacollo’ mine seven-hundred metres from there. Given its importance as a cultural landscape, the Universidad de Atacama in conjunction with the Municipality of Tierra Amarilla launched a preservation programme to convert the ‘Tránsito’ mine into the first Mining Museum in Chile. The face itself is situated under eight kilometres of tunnels more than three hundred years old that reach a depth of five hundred metres: a distance equivalent to a one-hundred-and-seventy storey building, or the same as the altitude between Santiago and sea level, in other words, a real skyscraper in extension. This fact makes the abandoned mines an extremely potential panorama in terms of commercial/tourism exploitation in the north of Chile. The project, through two spot interventions, generates a circuit of tunnels, an ‘access’ building and an ‘exit’ one – one as the main building in the ‘Tránsito’ mine and the other in the ‘Andacollo’ mine as a mine extension centre. By uncovering a plate-like building, the main building in the ‘Tránsito’ mine connects 2 existing structures: the house and the main tunnel. This is resolved through spatial materialization of the only two directions of the mineralized vein. As they cross, they reveal themselves as the organizing axes of the building.
Full size images after the break.

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