viernes, 25 de octubre de 2013

 
 
STUDENT RESIDENCE PAUL LAFLEUR/BISSON
 
 
 
 
From the architect. Active in the fields of education, creation and the presentation of the arts, the Domaine Forget Music and Dance Academy, located in St-Irénée on a vast swath of historical property, needed to reassess its accommodation services. It was with the goal of surpassing the requirements of a discerning clientele that the Pavillon Paul Lafleur, a new student residence project, was built. 
 
 During the planning and design stages for this 30-room building, special attention was paid to the site-specific environmental sensitivity, namely the sweeping views to be afforded, but also the surrounding woods, the interior/exterior transition areas which accentuate the building’s relationship with its surroundings as well as the different options for appropriating its spaces offered to users.


 
 Following a historical assessment of the site and its typological references, the chosen integration approach is grounded upon lessons from the past that then led to an undeniably modern decision-making process. The resulting architecture integrates unassertively into both its natural and built environment. The volume of “floating” wood on the site, suspended between sea and sky, is firmly rooted in the terrain while the wooden siding, shutters and protective soffits are reminiscent of the language of the heritage buildings to be found nearby. The modern reinterpretation of the siding in featheredge boards of varying widths evokes a bridge between forest and music.

 
Each space, both inside and outside, was designed so that it meets all functional requirements while at the same time constituting an optimal transition towards significant spatial and ergonomic qualities. The multifunctional facet and layout flexibility are conducive to a wide range of activities and give rise to an ideal number of convivial meeting places and panoramas affording contemplative views over the entire site.

 
 As such, through its attractive architectural identity, the project lives up to the reputation of the Music and Dance Academy, consolidating by the same token its credibility among its national and international clientele.

 
 
Architects: Bisson | Associés Architects
Location: Saint-Irénée, QC, Canada
Architect In Charge: Jonathan Bisson
Design Team: Julie Dubé, Caroline Lajoie, Jacques Dion, Chloé Barabé-Pépin, Geneviève Gagnon, Patrick Gosselin, Véronique Boulet & Éric Maurand
Project Manager : Roche Construction
Photographs: Stephane Groleau
Client : Domaine Forget, Music and Dance Academy
Consultants: LGT Ingénieurs Conseils
Constructor: Les Constructions Béland & Lapointe

viernes, 18 de octubre de 2013

 
CAIXA ONTINYENT CULTURAL CENTER/RAMÓN ESTEVE

From the architect. The characteristic use of the building is cultural, mainly dedicated to the promotion of all kinds of cultural activities such as exhibitions, performances, concerts, conferences, representing the entrepreneurial spirit of the company.
The building has two significant facades, one is historic and linked to the memory of all citizens, and the other is contemporary, overlooking a green slope, with the Clariano river as backdrop.

 
 The project consists of two large twinned volumes, turned onto a private garden and through it, to the Clariano river. The main entrance to the building is through the historic façade of the Casa Llorens, and through a controlled height gives way to a large foyer with double and triple heights, which all rooms overlook. It is a multifunctional hall, it acts as a reception area, foyer, and at the same time as a multi-purpose hall for exhibitions and performances.

From the lobby there are different crossed views with the different parts of the building, such as the cafeteria, offices, boardroom, exhibition room, meeting room… creating a visual link between them while maintaining their functional independence. A large central horn-shaped skylights, produce some significant pockets of light, that flows through the concrete walls and give a special character to the space. This treatment is also applied on the facade facing the courtyard, creating large gaps, giving depth and framing the views through the facade.
 
 
The hierarchy of spaces is perceived through a play heights of the different areas. The garden as background and the skylights as zenith focus points, are clear references of the Project.

Architects: Ramon Esteve
Location: Valencia, Spain
Site Manager: Gonzalo Llin
Technical Architect: Antonio Morales
Project Area: 1,855 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photography: Xavier Mollà

Collaborators Architects: María Daroz, Rubén Navarro, Olga Badía, Anna Boscà
Collaborators: Silvia M. Martínez, Patricia Campos, Rafael Codina
Client: Caixa Ontinyent. La caixa de les Comarques
Construction: Construcciones Francés SL

viernes, 11 de octubre de 2013

 
AD CLASSICS: THE FORD FOUNDATION/KEVIN ROCHE JOHN DINKELOO AND ASSOCIATES
 
 
 
 Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo established their own practice in 1966, after heading the firm of Eero Saarinen for several years. The Ford Foundation Headquarters is regarded as the pair’s first major success, a combination of Roche’s unique ideals and Dinkeloo’s innovative structural solutions. They introduced an office typology in which employee interaction extended beyond departments and levels, reaching even to the public.

 
 The Ford Foundation is unusual for Manhattan in that it occupies fewer square feet than the site allows. Rather than designing a shorter building to cover the entire site but break the existing skyline, the architects took advantage of the excess space. The offices occupy only a portion of the site, with the remainder devoted to an interior garden within a greenhouse-like atrium. The flourishing vegetation and generous space provide a focal point for the workers and an interface between the Foundation and the city.
 
 

The company originally occupied eleven stories of a traditional office building, with relative isolation between floors. Wishing to create a sense of community, Roche and Dinkeloo arranged the new offices in a C formation. All occupants are able to see each other across the garden and benefit from the natural light offered by the glass walls and skylight overhead. The lower floors are stepped back to create terraces overlooking the garden, accessed from each office through sliding glass doors. While coworkers are aware of each other on the interior facades, the individual office is lost in the composition of repeated units, offering privacy and anonymity to its occupants.
 
 Inspired by bridge and highway construction, the straightforward structure is composed of load-bearing concrete and weathered steel. The steel beams span 84 feet, freeing the south and east facades. Ten-story glazed walls are set back from the columns, dissolving the distinction between interior and exterior. The garden is visible to the public through the towering, transparent walls, creating a visually open space on 42nd Street. The main entrance is located on 43rd Street, characterized by a smaller, residential scale. The steel roof trusses are inlaid with glass, forming an intricate, prismatic skylight.
 
 The structural concrete is clad in South Dakota granite, relating the Ford Foundation to its context. The stone’s gray and purple hues and the reddish brown of the weathered steel form a color palette that blends with the surrounding buildings. On the interior, the industrial materials contrast with the bright green of the subtropical garden.

 
The Ford Foundation received wide acclaim from the architectural community, including critic Ada Louise Huxtable, and contributed to Roche winning the Pritzker Prize in 1982. completed several iconic projects in City, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the United Nations Plaza. Both projects were featured in a recent exhibition of Roche’s work at the Museum of the City of New York.

Architects: Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates
Location: 320 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017, USA
Architect In Charge: Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo
Landscape Architect: Dan Kiley
Interior Designs And Furniture: Warren Platner
Area: 287500.0 ft2
Year: 1968
Photographs: Ezra Stoller/Esto, KRJDA, Richard Anderson, Rian Castillo

viernes, 27 de septiembre de 2013

 
CENTRO DE CINE BUSAN/COOP HIMMELB(I)AU
 
 
 
 Descripción de los arquitectos. En 2005, el Festival Internacional de Cultura Arquitectónica Busan en Corea del Sur organizó un concurso de diseño de un nuevo Centro de Cine Busan que sería sede del Festival Internacional de Cine de Busan (BIFF). El diseño radical del estudio austriaco Coop Himmelb(l)au recibió el primer lugar y la construcción comenzó a finales de 2008, terminando cuatro años más tarde en 2012. En su corta historia, el edificio ya ha ganado el Premio Internacional de Arquitectura y el Chicago Athenaeum en 2007, así como un récord mundial Guinness por tener el “techo voladizo más largo” del mundo. El equipo de Coop Himmelb(l)au supo llevar a cabo con éxito una visión arquitectónica de un calibre muy pocas veces visto fuera de la mesa de dibujo.

 
 Según Wolf D. Prix, el diseñador principal de la empresa, el concepto básico de este proyecto fue el discurso sobre la superposición de espacios abiertos, y cerrados y de los espacios públicos y privados. El diseño tiene como objetivo proporcionar una nueva intersección entre el espacio público, los programas culturales, el entretenimiento, la tecnología y la arquitectura, creando una marca vibrante en el paisaje urbano.
 

En primer lugar, sin embargo, el proyecto – el primero de la firma en Corea del Sur – aborda el tema de la cubierta como elemento arquitectónico – un tema que la firma se ha preocupado durante mucho tiempo. El equipo se inspiró en las cúpulas del Renacimiento y el Barroco, el techo de la casa de Oscar Niemeyer en Río de Janeiro, y en el techo escultural de la Unité d’Habitation de Le Corbusier.
Teniendo en cuenta estas poderosas interpretaciones de la cubierta como elemento arquitectónico integral, Coop Himmelb(l)au desarrolló los techos del Centro de Cine de Busan como una cubierta sin columnas, que más se acerca a la idea de un techo “volador” – diferenciado además por su techo tridimensionalmente articulado. Elementos LED saturados para el techo al aire libre, actúan como un cielo virtual que conectan construcción-objetos y plaza-zonas en un espacio multifuncional continuo urbano, público. Los medios de comunicación, la tecnología, el entretenimiento y el ocio se fusionan en una arquitectura abierta de experiencias cambiantes y eventos a medida. El resultado es un espacio sensible y cambiante de las corrientes que actúan como un catalizador urbano para el intercambio cultural y la transformación.

 
 La superficie de iluminación LED dinámica que cubre los techos ondulantes de los toldos del techo, le da al Centro de Cine Busan su característica iconografía simbólica y representativa. Programas de iluminación artística a la medida de los acontecimientos del BIFF o el Ayuntamiento de Busan pueden ser creados por artistas visuales y se muestran a través del techo en los gráficos de movimiento completo, creando una situación animada urbana en la noche, pero también visible durante el día.

 
Mientras que las salas de cine se encuentran en una construcción como de montaña, el espacio público del centro es compartido entre un cine al aire libre y un gran espacio público que se llama la zona Red Carpet – es decir, la zona de recepción. El área de la alfombra roja es en realidad en tres dimensiones: a través de una rampa que conduce a lo largo de un cono doble, los invitados de honor llegan a la sala de recepción. Cada una de las dos áreas se cubren por un enorme techo – una de ellas mide 60 x 120 metros – el tamaño de una cancha de fútbol – y el voladizo de 85 metros.

 
Los ahora famosos voladizos se ciernen sobre una plaza urbana que consiste en zonas superpuestas denominada Urban Valley, la zona de Red Carpet, el Paseo de la Fama y el Canal Park BIFF. Los objetos de construcción contienen teatro, cines interiores y exteriores, salas de convenciones, oficinas, estudios creativos y un comedor en una mezcla de espacios públicos interiores y exteriores protegidos y vinculados. El diseño de estos espacios tienen una funcionalidad flexible e híbrida que se puede utilizar tanto durante el período del festival anual y como para el uso del día a día sin interrupción.

 
Las zonas urbanas definidas por las superficies funcionales en planta son más articuladas en un diálogo transversal entre las piedras cubiertas de formas “básicas” de la montaña Cine y BIFF Hill, y el metal y los elementos revestido de LED de los techos. La materialidad de los objetos de construcción que diferencia a los espacios y articula el concepto arquitectónico. A través de su forma, la colocación y la materialidad, las diversas partes crean una tensión dinámica e informal entre el suelo y el techo.

 
 La separación estructural completa entre el teatro y las salas de cine de montaña garantiza el aislamiento óptimo de sonido para el espacio del teatro, que está diseñado como una sala de primera clase, flexible, con capacidad de dos niveles y líneas óptimas de visibilidad y acústica ajustable. Un escenario tipo proscenio flexible con las fases laterales alberga torres móviles acústicas utilizadas para cerrar el volumen de escenario para conciertos y óperas, pero se puede mover fácilmente a teatro, musicales y otras escenificaciones. El escenario incluye un ascensor que puede proporcionar asientos adicionales, un foso de orquesta o la extensión escenario como se prefiera. Cortinas de seguimiento horizontalmente a lo largo de las paredes de la sala de audiencias se pueden ocultar o desplegar para ajustar la acústica del espacio.

 
 Se propone un evento al aire libre adicional ‘bowl’ rodeado de canales que pueden proporcionar acceso de barcos públicos y privados para el sitio del proyecto. Se propone el espacio para una futura ampliación del proyecto del centro de cine Busan, como una isla entre los canales, una mayor integración de las funciones culturales del proyecto con el espacio público circundante y el entorno paisajístico.

 
 Socio Local: Heerim Architects & Planners, Seoul / Korea:
Jeong, Young Kyoon; Eu, Sung Mo; Lee, Mog Woon; Kang, In Soo; Kim, SeoniI; Shin, Dong Young; Chang, Hyo Sup
Ingeniero Estructural: B+G Ingenieure, Bollinger und Grohmann GmbH Frankfurt / Vienna, Germany/ Austria: Klaus Bollinger, Jan Lüdders, Daniel Pfanner, Astrid Münzinger, Jürgen Asmussen Jeon and Partner, Seoul / Korea: Jeon, Bong-soo, Yoon, Heum-hak, Kim, Dong-gwan, Ms. Nam, Jung-hwa, Lee, Jang-hong, Ms. Han, Hye-hwa, Kim, Seung-a, Yi, Joon
Ingenieros: Arup, Berlin, Germany: Bryan Cody, Till Pasquai, Tobias Burkhart, Akif Berkyuerek
Iluminación: Har Hollands, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Estudio De Vientos: Wacker Ingenieure, Birkenfeld / Germany:
Jürgen Wacker, Michael Buselmeier
Consultoría De Tachada Chbl: Face of Building, Oberpullendorf / Austria: Johannes Stimakovits, Harald Weidinger
Consultoría De Teatro Chbl: Artec, New York / USA: Tateo Nakajima, Ed Arenius, Ted Pyper
Diseño 3 D: Renate Weissenböck, Jan-Ruben Fischer
Modelo: Paul Hoszowski, Ernst Stockinger, Vincenzo Del Monaco, Johannes Spiesberger, Markus Erhardt, Hyoung Sub, Marc Werner
Imágenes: Armin Hess/Isochrom
Organización De Concurso: Busan International Architectural Culture Festival Organizing Committee: Yeonjegu Jungangro, Korea
Equipo De Concurso: Victoria Coaloa, Rob Henderson, Paul Hoszowski, Jörg Hugo, Irakli Itoni, Alex Jackson, Matt Kirkham, Shannon Loew, Mona Marbach, Jens Mehlan, Tom Wiscombe, Burcu Bicer, Etienne Chanpenios, Monika Heliosch, Akvile Rimantaite
 
Arquitectos: Coop Himmelb(l)au
Diseño Principal / Ceo: Wolf D. Prix
Socio De Proyecto: Michael Volk
Arquitecto De Proyecto: Günther Weber
Arquitectos De Diseño: Martin Oberascher, Jörg Hugo
Equipo: Sergio Gonzalez, Rob Henderson, Guthu Hallstein, Matt Kirkham, Veronica Janovska, Dieter Segerer, Markus Baumann, Jasmin Dieterle, Anja Sorger, Jana Kucerova, Jan Brosch, Ivana Jug
Cliente: Municipality of Busan: Kim, Byung-Heui; Cho, Seung-Ho; Chai, Young-Eeon; Seo, Myoung Seok
Área Proyecto: 0.0 m2
Año Proyecto: 2012
Fotografías: Duccio Malagamba, Coop Himmelb(l)au

viernes, 20 de septiembre de 2013

 
WANAKA CATHOLIC CHURCH/SARAH SCOTT ARCHITECTS LTD
 
 
Structural Engineer: Lewis Bradford
Builder: Naylor Love Construction Ltd
 From the architect. The site is located in Wanaka set on a suburban island surrounded by a broad and immediate panorama of the NZ Southern Alps

 
.The building’s organic form alludes to the mountains that surround it. Solid walls of masonry dressed in simple plaster sweep from the entry, widening to embrace the congregation before curving inwards and focusing on the semi circular apse containing the altar. The floating leaf form of the roof inclined towards the altar rises skyward further emphasizing attention in this direction.
 
 
The interior is illuminated by natural lighting that enters through a narrow glazed clerestory ribbon that widens as it progresses towards the sanctuary subtly shifting angles to emphasise focus towards the altar. The ribbon windows offer the faithful a view of the surrounding mountains. The landscape and its changing moods are quietly present as a living backdrop to the service.
 
 
 
Architects: Sarah Scott Architects Ltd
Location: , New Zealand
Design Team: Barry Condon, Sarah Scott
Area: 500 sqm
Year: 2011
Photographs: Tony Brunt, Karen Dennis

viernes, 6 de septiembre de 2013

 
RI HOUSE/ PARITZKI LIANI ARCHITECTS
 
 
 
From the architect. The Savyon residential area was built to guarantee a pleasant isolated life outside the city limits. It is a luxury “gated community” consisting of villas surrounded by parks and gardens and is no more than 18 minutes from Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion airport. So, although appreciated for its natural surroundings, it has easy access to the country’s various infrastructures and road links.

 
The house we designed is based on the letter “lamed” (ל), and consists of two vertical marks pointing in opposite directions and connected together by a horizontal line. The house is thus constructed from two long narrow parallelepipeds with different orientations connected by a two-storied volume relating the two parts of the site.

 
It stands in a secret and hidden corner of the neighbourhood, protected by a roof of impenetrable greenery. The house is hidden from the road both because of its position and, above all, because of the diagonal movement of the path. From the road you can only see a blank façade, the main entrance, and a vertical slash that reveals a part of the house’s internal patio. The higher central volume, placed at the heart of the site, is distant from the road and has a full view of the garden. And so, privacy is maintained by taking into consideration the use of the volumes and the way of life of those who live in them.

 
Two main criteria lie behind the subdivision of the space: the generation and age of those living there, and its nature and vegetation. These are the underlying inspiration for the children’s quarters, the parents’ attic, the domestic areas connected to the greenery and the swimming pool, the apartments for guests and personnel, and the cinema built at a lower level and overlooking an internal courtyard

 
Our aim was to make the house appear absent from the site so that it can be seen only through views that are more elusive than revealing, and be glimpsed rather than observed. This wish to reduce the volumetric mass and offer the place its fullest expression is evident inside the house. In fact, once having crossed the threshold, our attention is held by the patio which acts as a corner between the children’s quarters lower down and the two-storied central block. This is edged by a narrow passageway which both increases luminosity and mitigates the stratification of the horizontal and vertical circuits in this area, the centre of attraction for the house.

 
If the patio is observed or crossed from various directions it acts as an element pointing forward from the living room to the entrance. Although not located in a central position it is a nucleus that highlights the space and, at the same time, makes details and stratified planes visible through very long views. In this way necessary and unexpected moments of perceptual incorrectness are created, reminiscent of the deformed and unreal perspective systems of medieval art.

 

The three ground floor volumes accommodate various lifestyles. The functionally and temporally independent children’s night zone, the living room, the domestic spaces, and the entrance, are all visually linked even though quite distant from each other. Social life and private life are all an integral part of the spatial organization of the house.

 
The second floor attic in the central block is the private apartment of the parents, the place where they can enjoy the deep green vegetation of the neighbourhood, the branches of the patio trees and two stone gardens

 
Architects: Paritzki Liani Architects
Location: Savyon, Israel
Area: 466 sqm
Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Paritzki Liani Architects

viernes, 30 de agosto de 2013

 
ESTHER ROCA HOUSE/JOSEP LLOBET
 
 
 From the architect. Houses within a house, half hidden corners, shadows and recollection, kindness and tenderness, measure and proportion, all of this is sensed in this house. When one visits, even more is discovered. Wood and more wood of all types, colors, scents, and textures, this is the home for a carpenter who enjoys his profession, he is the carpenter working with me for two decades.
 

 
Pleural transition spaces. Thinking and building a house for a couple, means knowing their privacy, these inhabitants have been intimidated. They have understood the suffering and sacrifice that means getting involved in this life project. The house is designed from the inside out, and this is the result and reward of years of inquiries, sketches, models, meetings, good communication, and understanding with the owners. Every corner, every line drawn, represents a thought, represents an action. The house is full of daily actions, sometimes evident and sometimes not.
 
 
 A half-buried plan (facilities, garage and studio), and two plans shape and constrain the daily actions. The house gives a part of its garden to the public space, without a physical enclosure to the street. The materials of the house (concrete, wood and clay) are used throughout and exposed, without masking or treatment, in their pure rawness. This gives the house a comfortable, almost monastic austerity.
 
 
Architects: Josep Llobet
Location: Carrer del Mil·leni, Girona, Spain
Structures: Manuel Fernandez, Bernuz&Fernandez
Technical Architect: Ismael Fernandez
Project Area: 880 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Eugeni Pons, Courtesy of Josep Llobet
 

viernes, 26 de julio de 2013

 
 
HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARIO SANT JOAN DE REUS/PICH-AGUILERA ARCHITECTS+COREA & MORAN ARCHITECTUR
Por: Alexandra Molinare
 
 
 
 
El nuevo Hospital Universitario Sant Joan de Reus se concibe como motor de zona de ensanche del municipio donde se planifica generar un nuevo barrio tecnológico. Esa dimensión urbana marca su concepción tramada, capaz de generar recorridos y enlazar con los flujos de la ciudad.

 
El edificio se implanta en una gran pastilla horizontal con dos sótanos y planta baja, sobre ella se sitúa un peine de 6 barras de internación de dos plantas cada una.
La fachada Norte apoya uno de los viales de acceso rápido a la ciudad mediante unos cuerpos en voladizo que albergan los espacios de internación. El eje de circulación público del hospital, está orientado a Sur y se concibe como una gran avenida, espacio de transición entre el exterior y el interior.

 El proyecto busca modular la escala de un gran equipamiento hospitalario, desde la escala urbana propia de los espacios de acceso y de circulación pública hasta la escala propiamente de hospitalización, con sus necesidades de proximidad y recogimiento. En este sentido el área pública se trata, tanto funcional, como climáticamente, como si de una calle cubierta  se tratase y agrupando el área de internación entorno a tres patios exteriores ajardinados, hacia donde vierten las habitaciones, tratando de humanizar la  vida de esta área.


 
El hospital se concibe como un gran sistema que organiza subsistemas de servicios. Las necesidades públicas, médicas y técnicas se jerarquizan y conectan mediante circulaciones que forman una secuencia donde se definen restricciones a las posibilidades de acceso, provocando claridad en los circuitos y evitando interferencias.
 
 
La arquitectura es asimismo una infraestructura capaz en gran medida de producir directamente las condiciones climáticas y lumínicas para su vida interior.

 
Arquitectos: Corea & Moran Arquitectura, Pich-Auilera Architects
Ubicación: Reus, Cataluña, España
Equipo: Felipe Pich-Aguilera Baurier, Teresa Batlle Pagés, Mario Corea y Luis Morán
Área: 86013.0 m2
Año Proyecto: 2009
Fotografías: Adrià Goula