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© Amir Sultan

Architect: LOOK Architects
Location: Country Heights, Damansara, Malaysia
Design Team: Look Boon Gee, Ng Sor Hiang, Looi Chee Kin
Local Architect: y’ SHIN Architect
C&S Engineers: SM1 Consulting Engineers
Main Contractor: Hiap Leck Construction
Completion Date: 2009
Site Area: 890 sqm
GFA: 407 sqm
Photographer: Amir Sultan

© Amir Sultan

Luxuriant scenery can transcend the role of a static vista, as the single-family home – Country Heights Damansara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – by LOOK Architects can attest to. A land parcel located on a gentle hillock within one of the several select residential districts in Damansara incited the designers to conceive of an integrative architectural approach where the house is virtually an offshoot of the natural setting it is nestled in.

© Amir Sultan

The existing gradient of the sloping landform is construed to underpin an elevated cascading pool that announces a sense of arrival from the main entrance. The lip of the cascading pool, clad in the indigenous Sukabumi stone, sits on a stilt-supported platform to create a delicate interface with the surrounding foliage, impressing upon the viewer that the house is nimbly reclining in the fold of the landscape. A spiral staircase connects the pool deck to a lower tier of relaxation space, a snug corner brushing the feathery tips of greenery that offers the most candid contact with nature. A lavishly cantilevered glass canopy denotes a transparent transitional space uniting the expansive outdoors with a sonorous gallery comprising of the interlocking living/dining room and semi-open kitchen.

© Amir Sultan

The upper half of the building volume is swathed in a continuous aluminum envelop, whose lustrous champagne-colored sheen resoundingly contrasts with the surrounding sprawl of nature. However, the rationale behind this prominently shaped roof is steeped in the homegrown know-how of construction in the tropics, albeit given a contemporary interpretation – the curvature of the aerodynamic roof profile effectively collects and channels the prevailing south-west breeze through the main mass of the house. This environmental control mechanism is significantly enhanced by evaporative cooling occurring over the surface of a reflective pool that is strategically situated underneath the interior circulation staircase, resulting in a sustainable solution that can serve as a prototypical substitution for mechanical means of cooling.

© Amir Sultan

The passage through the interior staircase is devised to first undergo a spatial compression generated by the enclosure of an exterior appendage prudently wedged on the north-eastern façade, and tension is quickly resolved as this reverberating vestibule opens out to an airy hallway giving access to 4 bedrooms on the second storey. The supple grain of merbau timber screen materializes at either end of this aisle, complementing the sleek unembellished aplomb of the roof above. Not only articulating the flanks of the bent aluminum roof profile, the introduction of the timber screens further furnishes the residents with a sumptuous sense of tactility in their daily experience of the habitat.

© Amir Sultan

© SOM

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has been selected as winner of an international design competition with its Beijing Bohai Innovation City master plan that illustrates a new model of compact, environmentally enhanced urban design.

The winning proposal centers a new environmentally friendly district along the high-speed rail line, linking the national capital to the port city of Tianjin while leveraging the economic and lifestyle assets of the Beijing-Tianjin corridor. The city expansion will bring 17.6 million square meters of mixed-use development, with a focus on providing a premier headquarters location for advanced industries in the dynamically growing Bohai Rim, a region that already accounts for more than a quarter of China’s GDP.

Continue reading for more.

© SOM

With half the 1,473-hectare site allocated to open space and nature, Beijing Bohai Innovation City builds upon SOM’s more than seven years of sustainable, high-performance city design throughout the region – from its award-winning green Beijing CBD expansion master plan to numerous projects in Tianjin, including the rapidly rising Yujiapu Financial District.

“Beijing Bohai Innovation City establishes a new model of transit-oriented development at an unprecedented scale,” said project chief designer Thomas Hussey of SOM’s Chicago urban planning studio. “The new district will leverage the high-speed rail to bridge two major metropolitan areas and create a sustainable urban environment that concentrates walkable, compact densities around transit stations, while still preserving existing agriculture and green space.”

© SOM

The client commented on the winning design scheme in a written statement, “SOM has designed a human and family-oriented mixed-use urban community within an environmentally friendly framework to attract talented people and forward-thinking Chinese and international firms that want to position themselves in the same way.”

In addition to setting specific and aggressive goals for water, energy, waste, renewable energy and building design efficiency, the winning design scheme builds upon landscape design firm Turenscape’s proposed central wetland park by calling for functional environmental systems to filter and clean storm water before returning it to adjoining rivers.

© SOM

“This project underlines China’s commitment to transit-based and environmentally sensitive planning. There is tremendous potential here, and we would like to work with the District Government, Development Company and other stakeholders to further define the character of the city and tailor it to meet the needs and desires of the people and industries that will make Beijing Bohai Innovation City a national model for the country’s next generation of satellite city development,” said SOM global planning partner Philip J. Enquist.

The master plan is designed with a central business district organized around a high speed train station and five distinct neighborhoods offering diverse housing, education, shopping and work destinations. It modifies the street grid to incorporate existing road alignments while enhancing connectivity to the high speed rail station and creating special view corridors to landmark developments.

SOM’s Beijing Bohai Innovation City concept emerged from the competition for “Beijing Bohai Rim Advanced Business Park” held jointly by Beijing Tongzhou District Taihu High End Headquarters Construction Management Committee and Beijing Xinghu Investment and Development Co. Ltd.

© SOM

The plan also provides an advanced multi-modal transportation network highlighted by the city’s close proximity to the existing capital airport and a potential new international airport south of Beijing. By uniting high-speed rail with metro lines, bus rapid transit, local streetcar and a state-of-the-art electric car fleet, the plan enables 80 percent of the city’s personal transportation to be by transit, walking and bicycling. Combined with pedestrian and bicycle friendly street design, this network conveniently connects residents to neighboring workplaces, schools and cultural amenities along green streets and corridors.

Via SOM

Courtesy of Aulík Fišer Architects

Architects: Aulík Fišer Architects
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Investor: BBC – building E, a.s
Developer: Passerinvest Group, a.s.
Collaborators: Jan Kucera, ing. arch. Adela Stredova, ing. arch. Monika Cizkova, ing. arch. Petr Vacek, ing. Martin Zelenka
Total Gross Floor Area: 17,600 sqm
Completion: February 2007
Photographs: Courtesy of Aulík Fišer Architects

Courtesy of AulíkFišer Architects

The office building E is the very last piece of development completing the northern part of the BB Center complex along Vyskocilova (street) and a ramp to 5.května (street). So, towards the city centre the bldg. E closes the planned “protection shield” against the negative impact of city highway traffic on residential houses planned for the second phase of development. This part of the Prague-Michle district has now been revitalized, reintroducing the urban environment with multiple functions and restoring it the way it was before the highway – 5.května street – completely destroyed it.

Courtesy of AulíkFišer Architects

Location of the building within the first plan facing the highway protects the future development along Baarova (street), but at the same time calls for the necessity to eliminate noise reverberation to the opposite residential houses. The solution of this problem became (similar to the solution of the recently completed Gamma building) the basic architectural concept responding to physical principles of noise reverberation.

Courtesy of AulíkFišer Architects

The approach to this problem is very individual resulting from the specific set-up of this particular building. A ´broken´ façade is designed facing the source of noise – 5. kvetna street and the access ramp – with strip fenestration. Its moulding was defined by the specific highway curve and the ramp from Vyskocilova (street) in order to prevent reverberation of noise generated by cars passing by towards the above-mentioned houses on the opposite side of the highway.

The designed geometry allows areas of this special envelope to bounce noise away either to the grassed slope between the highway and the ramp naturally absorbing it, or diverting it at a large angle upwards and diffusing it in the open space high above. This way the façade system effectively deals with the so-called ´non-attenuable´ parts of the façade – i.e. glazed strips of windows and remaining solid panels that are incapable of noise attenuation due to their physical properties. The bigger part of the facade is made from sound-absorbing perforated steel plates.

Courtesy of AulíkFišer Architects

The broken façade is a 3-D reinforced concrete wall with window openings between loadbearing pillars copying its geometry. To build it the contractor decided in the end to use a combination of prefabricated elements and casting in-situ. Façade windows are designed as fixed panels made of the façade modular structure; special trapezium profiles were produced for this particular purpose corresponding with the designed inclination of the façade.

Glazing and fixing to the core and shell is dealt with so that acoustic comfort is also maintained in the interior – the assumed maximum level of acoustic pressure in each office is Laeq45 dB. A particular type of glass for this façade was selected in respect of solar radiation – glass panes are used preventing an increase in the heat loading; exterior louvers complement glazed areas. These louvers can be controlled either individually or from the central control panel.

ground floor plan

Solid façade sections are designed as thermally insulated with perforated sheet panels finished by metallic coloured powder coat set in front. Perforation (diameters and cc distances of holes) was again selected in cooperation with sound engineer. Sheets are screwed to structural grating that also drains water away from the façade. Due to perforation, a waterproof foil protects mineral acoustic and thermal insulation. Window frames with plinths and boxes for exterior louvers consist of exactly fabricated Larsen composite casing panels. The parapets and fronts of walls set in the face of the façade on both ends of the building are composed the same way.

typical floor plan

A system of fixing eyes for anchorage of the façade cleaning and maintenance staff is designed within the façade system.

The acoustic facade forms a hypotenuse of a triangular concept of the building; the remaining two sides facing inwards to the area are designed as fully glazed with irregular horizontal articulation. The envelope is designed using a system modular façade; the additional areas on the ground floor and façade of the bay above the entrance are standard framing with additional cladding of solid areas by aluminium coated sheet and Larson composite panels.

roof plan

The triangular footprint contains a similar triangular atrium letting light into the interior of the seven-storied structure. The atrium is at the same time a circulation and social centre of the building containing green, panoramic lifts and other refreshing elements. A glazed skylight roofs the whole atrium.

The building E also has areas allocated for relaxation and park areas, partly designed in front of the main entrance, partly in the form of a roof garden protected by a parapet of the acoustic façade. A fountain is installed as a landscaping element in front of the entrance.

section drawing

The concept of the layout allows arranging the interior areas as open-space and at the same time as individual offices. The office areas, furnished and parted according to the particular tenant’s needs (CEZ Group), are complemented by other facilities – a kitchen with a staff canteen, a conference centre with a cafeteria on the ground floor, etc. The underground garage utilises the central shape of the building and it is designed as a four-storied helix without additional ramps.

The building E is equipped with sophisticated forced ventilation and cooling, the so-called exact cooling – VRV system. The building is fully sprinklered; gas fire extinguishing is designed for server rooms and IT workplaces. Lighting of offices is also up-to-date employing the system of mobile floor-tape luminaries allowing more even distribution of light and better a flexibility of office organisation.

© Miguel de Guzmán

Architects: Manuel Fonseca Gallego
Location: Albacete, Spain
Completion: January 2010
Photographs: Miguel de Guzmán

© Miguel de Guzmán

The location of the Nature and Urban Ecology Centre, immersed in a pine forest with no site, has been established after conducting a thorough study of the topography, trying to avoid an excessive clearance and the indiscriminate cutting of the magnificent tree specimens that surround it.

© Miguel de Guzmán

The pure and clear prism has an east-west direction in order to maximize the south orientation, incorporating a north-south cross ventilation and allowing us to enjoy the magnificent views of the surrounding environment.

© Miguel de Guzmán

It’s access has been configured as a real tour, starting next to the road and materializing into a gentle slope that points the way, trying to extend the landscape’s contemplation.

The intervention consists of a linear program developed in one level, responding to functionality and simplicity criteria. The bathroom and storage areas arrange the different rooms, releasing its facades, clearly distinguishing the public area (that includes a classroom for educational and environmental activities) from the private area (reception, lobby and offices).

© Miguel de Guzmán

The building is posed as a dialogue with the exterior through large glass panels that allow transparency and visual communication between the different orientations and direct contemplation and interpretation, including different indoor units. At the same time it enhances natural light, illuminating interior spaces, protecting itself from solar radiation in summer through “Euronit” fixed blades set in the façade. This material is also used in the outdoor configuration incorporating panels that generate complete ventilated facades that unify the volume, only altered by the insertion of large sliding wooden doors that serve to mark the access, closing and fully safeguarding the centre when it’s not in use due to its isolated location. The whole construction is topped with a green roof that collects rainwater for reuse.

east elevation

The bioclimatic presence of the whole is reinforced by the integration of photovoltaic solar panels on its cover in order to produce electricity, which enhances passive strategies such as cross ventilation, ventilated facades, green roof, solar protection, rainwater collection, improved insulation, under floor ventilated air chamber, etc.

north elevation

During the construction, the uniqueness of the implementation has been taken into account, using highly, easily laid, recyclable materials such as wood, composite slab, galvanized sheets, metal structure, etc.

© Iwan Baan

The best from the best for our 9th selection of previously featured museums. Main image belongs to SANAA’s New Art Museum in New York, with great photos from Iwan Baan. Also in this selection: UN Studio’s Mercedes Benz Museum and Delugan Meissl’s Porsche Museum, both in Germany. Don’t miss the M.H. de Young Museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron and our In Progress of Salvador Dalí Museum, designed by HOK + Beck Group. Enjoy!

© Nacasa

Architect: Studio SUMO
Location: Sakado, Japan
Design Team: Sunil Bald + Yolande Daniels, principals-in-charge; David Huang, project designer; Shai Turner, Brad McCoy, James Khamsi, Jeff Dee
Project Area: 7,000 sqm
Photographs: Nacasa Co. Ltd

© Nacasa

Campus | Museum
The 7,000sf Mizuta Museum of Art lines the main pedestrian route near the campus entry of a private Japanese university. The building is…1. a museum to display a valuable collection of Ukiyo-e (Japanese woodcuts) and other art in highly controlled environment and…2. a campus visitor information center to welcome the general public. The compressed site contains seventeen existing trees and a nine meter height limit.

© Nacasa

1/2 up | 1/2 down
To give both floors direct access to the pedestrian route, the building is excavated a half level into the site, with one ramp leading up to the museum galleries and another leading down to a campus information center. These ramps are dimensioned for loading as well as public entry. In conjunction with the mechanical space at the east entry and a gallery lounge at the west end, the space of the ramp creates a perimeter environmental buffer that protects the exterior side of the gallery walls from direct sunlight.

elevations

Picture of the Floating World
“Ukiyo-e” translates into “Pictures of the Floating World” as the prints were meant to lift the viewer from his/her daily routine. We translated this concept into the cast-in-place galleries cradling art that hovers above the information spaces. Additionally, the graphic method of depicting rain found in many of the prints informed the patterning of the façade. L-shaped pre-cast concrete pieces line the building ramps. The 52 unique pieces, all cast on their sides from a single steel mold, are up to four feet wide, 28 feet along the vertical, up to 11 feet overhead along the horizontal. One-foot wide slots of varying lengths were blocked out along the seam lines, some continuing for the vertical to horizontal section of the piece. This creates light slots that animate and aerate the passages, placing the viewer in the space of the print, within the “floating world.”

© Guillermo Hevia García

In an article originally published on Plataforma Arquitectura, Guillermo Hevia Garcia describes his experience when visiting the Unité d’ Habitation in Marseille, France, also known as Cité Radieuse. On February 9th, the building was overcome by a large fire that was said to have been started due to a heating problem. The blaze took  hundreds of firefighters nearly a day and a half to put it out. Eight residential units and four hotel rooms were destroyed, and approximately 35 other units were severely damaged by smoke or action relief. Most residents have returned home to the Unité d’ Habitation, Le Corbusier‘s thesis on domestic life, as they continue to live the communal life that the renowned architect dreamt up.

Read on for more after the break.

© Guillermo Hevia García

The eighteen-story “village” is an achievement of Le Corbusier’s own perceptions of architecture, both physically and conceptually.  Unité d’ Habitation manifests the architect’s own five points of architecture along with his thesis on urban living.  The five points, which all architecture students are familiar with, are addressed in this building:

1 – The building stands on pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts – which raises it, thereby freeing the ground for other programs and activities.
2 – The column based structure allows for a free facade, composed of lighter materials that can be punctured with windows for light and air.
3 – The structure also affords an open plan offering greater flexibility in the design of interior spaces.
4 – The facade is designed with a bris soleil which blocks out excessive sunlight and unwanted heat gain, but still allows inhabitants to look out.
5 –  A roof garden brings the natural world back into the architecture, as if replacing the land that building itself displaced.

© Guillermo Hevia García

Garcia calls this building “the construction of a neighborhood” because Le Corbusier considers the value of communal and shared space over private space.  Bedrooms are scaled down and tucked away.  The units themselves are compact, taking up two levels and separating the bedroom from the public areas of the apartments.  Furniture and details are designed specifically for the units; from these photographs it is obvious that some are even built into the walls, further emphasizing the effect of the open plan.  Garcia calls this a “complete project: harmonious and comprehensive”.

© Guillermo Hevia García

Public spaces are celebrated; balconies bring light and air into the relatively small spaces the alleviate the scale.  Public amenities and facilities are abundant.  Le Corbusier planned to provide residents with as many necessities as possible: “community centers, nursery, gardens , pool, laundry, nursery, restaurant and even a bar, though many were not always fully realized”.

© Guillermo Hevia García

With such precise design, even the retro-fitting of this building harmonized with the existing ventilation and lighting arrangements, notes Garcia.  It is an example of what a collaboration of concept, structure and engineering can achieve.

Read more on the Unité d’ Habitation at AD Classics.

Reference: Plataforma Arquitectura, Lexpress

LEGO® Architecture Series: Sydney Opera House

LEGO® has just announced the newest building in their Architecture series, the iconic Sydney Opera House designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.

Sydney Opera House is not only a building with great beauty but it has also become known throughout the world as a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country.

The LEGO version of the Sydney Opera House seeks to capture the essence of this grand building in a small scale. Like the other models in the series it was created by Adam Reed-Tucker.

The set will be available in stores on March 1st at a suggested price of $39.99. More images after the break:

LEGO® Architecture Series: Sydney Opera House

LEGO® Architecture Series: Sydney Opera House

LEGO® Architecture Series: Sydney Opera House

LEGO® Architecture Series: Sydney Opera House