Monday, April 27, 2015

Arch Daily

Nepal’s Historic Architecture Destroyed By Earthquake

The Bharahara Tower, a defining feature of the Kathmandu skyline has been destroyed by the earthquake. Image © Flickr CC user Oliphant
Just one of the many tragedies involved in the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struckNepal on Saturday – which as of Monday morning, is known to have claimed the lives of over 3,500 people – is its effect on the historic architecture of the region. Home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the affected regions of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, news outlets from the BBC to The Washington Post are reporting extensive damage to some of the country’s most significant monuments.

Patio Palafito Hotel / Eugenio Ortúzar + Tania Gebauer

© Pablo Casals-Aguirre
Architects: Eugenio Ortúzar, Tania Gebauer
Location: Castro, Castro, Los Lagos Region, 
Area: 350.0 sqm
Year: 2013
Photographs: Pablo Casals-Aguirre, 

schmidt hammer lassen Reveal Chirstchurch’s New Central Library

© schmidt hammer lassen architects
schmidt hammer lassen architects, together with New Zealand-based Architectus, has unveiled plans for Chirstchurch‘s New Central Library (NCL). An “anchor project” for the city’s 2010 and 2011  Recovery Plan, the new 12,000-meter library will built by 2018 on the northern edge of Cathedral Square – Christchurch´s key civic space defined by Christchurch’s Cathedral.
It is hoped that the NCL will become an important gathering space within the city, offering easy access to digital technologies and local heritage collections, as well as exhibition and performance space, a learning center, indoor and outdoor areas of relaxation, and activities for young citizens.

Lightbox / Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

© Nic Lehoux 
Architects: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Location: Point Roberts, WA, USA
Principal: Peter Bohlin, FAIA, Robert Miller, FAIA
Project Manager: Jeremy Evard, AIA, Associate
Project Team: Patricia Flores, Kyle Phillips
Area: 1560.0 ft2
Year: 2015
Photographs: Nic Lehoux Photography

Why 2015′s Most Important Design In Architecture Isn’t A Building, But A New York Times Article

Looking towards the uppermost floors of the new Whitney Museum of American Art, thick clouds roll diagonally across the sky behind. Reflected in the ample window of the museum’s main gallery they dash in a different direction, while the building’s white facade flashes light and dark in response to the changing light conditions. Superimposed over this scene, bold all-caps lettering pronounces the title of an article: the simple but dramatic “A New Whitney.”
This is the sight that greeted readers of Michael Kimmelman’s review of the Whitney in The New York Times last Sunday. Scroll down just a little, and the first thing you encounter is a list of credits: Jeremy Ashkenas and Alicia Desantis produced the article; graphics were contributed by Mika Gröndahl, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Graham Roberts; and videos by Damon Winter (the editor behind the entire endeavor, Mary Suh, is not mentioned).
Before even reading the article’s opening words, one thing is clear: this is not your average building review. As a matter of fact, it might even be the most important article in recent architectural memory.

House Refurbishment in Baralla / OLAestudio

© Héctor Santos-Diez
Architects: OLAestudio
Location: 27680 Baralla, Lugo, 
Architect In Charge: Oscar López Alba
Project Year: 2014
: Héctor Santos-Diez

AD Classics: German Pavilion, Expo ’67 / Frei Otto and Rolf Gutbrod

© Frei Otto
The pivotal turning point in the late Frei Otto’s career – capped by last month’s Pritzker announcement – came nearly fifty years ago at the Expo ’67 World’s Fair in , Quebec. In collaboration with architect Rolf Gutbrod, Otto was responsible for the  pavilion of the Federal Republic of Germany, a tensile canopy structure that brought his experiments in lightweight architecture to the international stage for the first time. Together with Fuller’s Biosphereand Safdie’s Habitat 67, the German Pavilion was part of the Expo’s late-modern demonstration of the potential of technology, pre-fabrication, and mass production to generate a new humanitarian direction for architecture. This remarkable collection at the Expo was both the zenith of modern meliorism and its tragic swan song; never since has the world seen such a singularly hopeful display of innovative architecture.

The Mill / WT Architecture

© Andrew Lee
Architects: WT Architecture
Location: Biggar ML12, 
Area: 150.0 sqm
Year: 2014
Photographs: Andrew Lee, Courtesy of Wil Tunnell
Courtesy of RIBA

RIBA Future Trends Survey Reveals A “Healthy Uplift”

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)’s Future Trends Survey for March 2015 has ”bounced back strongly” in comparison to February, as the workload index rose to +36 from +26 last month. Private housing and the commercial sector remains strong, while uncertainty still surrounds forecasts in the public sector. Workload forecast balance figures have remained high, the highest numbers being reported from practices in London (+42) and in the south of England (+39). In addition, large and medium sized practices have reported confidence about staffing levels, while small practices remain “more circumspect.”

Sardinera House / Ramón Esteve

© Mariela Apollonio
Architects: Ramón Esteve 
Location: Platja del Portixol, 
Area: 1285.0 sqm
Year: 2014
Photographs: Mariela Apollonio

Machado de Castro National Museum Refurbishment / Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos

© Duccio Malagamba
Architects: Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos
Location: Largo Doutor José Rodrigues, 3000-373 Coimbra, Portugal
Architect In Charge: Gonçalo Byrne
Area: 13130.0 sqm
Year: 2013
Photographs: Duccio Malagamba

30m2 Flat in Paris / Richard Guilbault

© Meero
Architects: Richard Guilbault
Location: 75018 Paris, 
Area: 30.0 sqm
Year: 2015
Photographs: Meero

Fantastic Cities: A Coloring Book of Real and Imagined Cities From Around the World

via Steve McDonald
Canadian artist Steve McDonald has released “Fantastic Cities,” an illustrated coloring book featuring 60 cities from around the world. From Paris to New York, Tokyo to Istanbul, the will take any architect or urban planner back to childhood times. 
The book, with 48 full-view pages of real and imaginary places, is on sale Amazon and Chronicle Books. Take a look inside, after the break. 

Daniel Libeskind’s “Future Flowers” Represent Oikos at Milan Design Week

Courtesy of Oikos
Daniel Libeskind, together with Italian paint company Oikos, has transformed the Università Statale’s Pharmacy Courtyard into a garden of “Future Flowers” as part of the 2015 Milan Design Week. On view through May 24, the installation was inspired by one of Libeskind’s “Chamberwork” drawings. It features a series of intersecting red metal “blades” that represent a collection of Oikos paints developed by Libeskind.

Genoves Park’s Lookout and Protection Building / José Luis Bezos Alonso

Courtesy of 
Architects: José Luis Bezos Alonso
Location: , , Spain
Area: 3868.0 sqm
Year: 2015
Photographs: Courtesy of José Luis Bezos Alonso
Le Grand Louvre © Greg Kristo. ImageLe Grande Louvre

Spotlight: I.M. Pei

Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (born April 26, 1917), is arguably the greatest living member of the modernist generation of architects. When he received his Pritzker Prize in 1983, the jury citation stated that he “has given this century some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms.” 

Unified Architectural Theory: Chapter 10

Chippenham Park, Ely, UK. “The biophilia hypothesis thus turns traditional architecture on its head: we did not build only for utilitarian purposes, but to give ourselves a form of continual nourishment from the result”. Image © Flickr CC user Karen Roe
We will be publishing Nikos Salingaros’ , Unified Architectural Theory, in a series of installments, making it digitally, freely available for students and architects around the world. In this chapter, Salingaros moves his discussion towards our physiological and psychological reactions to the built environment, and the science of healing spaces. If you missed them, make sure to read the previous installments here.
Biophilia: Our Evolved Kinship To Biological Forms
The organized complexity in artifacts and buildings, as I have described it, leads to a positive response from users. This is the perception of “life” which we sense in certain structures and places in the built environment. The physical structure of the world has a massive effect on human beings. A crucial task of architectural theory is to explain and predict the impact that living structure — or its absence — has on us.

Vira-Lata / Moradavaga

Courtesy of Moradavaga
Architects: Moradavaga 
Location: , 
Architect In Charge: Manfred Eccli, Pedro Cavaco Leitão
Year: 2015
Photographs: Courtesy of Moradavaga

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