Sports Hall by Takenaka Corp

Entitled Harmonie Hall, the building functions as both a basketball court and auditorium for the Kobe International Junior High School and Senior High School, and was designed by Takenaka Corporation to fit in with the wood and concrete buildings that already made up the campus.


A 46 metre-long wall of uninterrupted concrete lines the north elevation. Narrow lengths of glazing run along its top and bottom, bringing light through to the floor and ceiling of the hall.


Larger windows span the southern elevation so that students elsewhere on the campus can catch a glimpse of activities taking place inside, while students inside can look out towards the surrounding woodland.


Structural timber columns are positioned along this facade to take some of the vertical load from the wooden roof, which protrudes over the edges of the walls.





Design Intent
The Kobe International Junior High School and Senior High School Harmonie Hall was based on an idea of a clear and open axial plan utilising concrete and wood to respond to the campus' history while creating a new relationship with the natural landscape. Harmonie Hall is an ancillary facility that includes a teacher's room, storage, toilets, and a gymnasium that can be used as both a basketball court and an auditorium.

Site plan

This building is designed to capture the most from the rich surrounding environment while inheriting the formal language of the campus as it exists today. Functionally, gyms tend to be enclosed spaces removed from their surrounding environment, but this time, by utilising a wood structural frame, the building is in concert with the vibrant local environment as much as possible.
The south side leads to an existing building and is comprised of a long 20m wood structural span for views of the woodlands supported by a 6m high and 46m long concrete wall. Opening the building to the lush ecosystem of the north campus was a natural configuration.
By supporting the horizontal force with concrete walls on three sides, with the north side being the exception, the structural roof frame was designed to transfer vertical load to the wooden poles on the north facade.

Ground floor plan

The north side is a rich and open ecosystem. Through the framing of landscape views, the beautiful surroundings engage with the space and offer openness by using the trees and sky to highlight the structural frame. From the beginning, the design has been interested in offering the experience of simultaneous continuity between the paired horizontal open spaces.
Furthermore, by providing a sufficient aperture to the wind and natural landscape, a space filled with light and consistent breezes from the north is realised.
Also, by using vegetation identified from research and field surveys, trees are transplanted from the construction staging areas while simultaneously cultivating local seeds as a means to visually and biologically produce a landscape of continuity with the local context.

Cross section

The idea for using structure to maximise openness to the surrounding environment, both conceptually and visually, marries the wind and light of the natural environment with the new space. The environment is the architecture.

Site and Context
The context for this project was a combined junior and high school located in the peaceful hills overlooking Suma with a view of the Akashi Straits and Awaji Island. This school was established in 1992 with aims to foster women with prolific knowledge and grace, and the campus has since been designed with the theme that the campus has made an impression on their memory. The exposed concrete of the design provides a sense of integration with the campus which includes many memorable places.

Long section

The existing school buildings, located on the north-south and east-west axes, consist of just two basic geometric shapes, the square and the circle, and were built of exposed concrete. This prompt for this project was to build a gymnasium the size of a basketball court for the 20th anniversary. For this project, I tried to create a new gymnasium, on the angle shaped site located in the west part of the campus, that was in harmony, to the greatest degree possible, with the surrounding environment. The junior high school building has a circular hall in the centre which is surrounded by open related rooms. This memorable hall within the square shaped form is inserted into the hill, but for this project I aimed to create memorable places between this building and the hills.


To see more photos, click here: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/24/harmonie-hall-by-takenaka-corporation/

Credit goes to: Amy Frearson @ dezeen

Reading Nest in Cleveland

YEOW for today~ a temporary art display in front of a library...read more to see what its all about below!



Artist Mark Reigelman used over 10,000 discarded wood boards to create a nest-shaped temporary installation inspired by mythical creatures and ancient symbols of knowledge. The Reading Nest is dedicated to books and, with its gold-hued interior, references the legend of the Griffin- a half-lion half-eagle creature, who built his nest of pure gold.



Visually, the installation resembles both a forest and fowl. It symbolizes growth through knowledge and is designed as a fresh interpretation of the Griffin sculptures which can often be seen at the entrances of civic buildings throughout the country. It took ten days and a team of five people to build the piece, which is currently on display in the Eastman Reading Garden of the Cleveland Public Library.



The installation is 13 feet (3.35 meters) high and 36 feet (11 meters) wide. It is comprised of 10,000 boards, held in place by wooden armature, steel cables and around 40,000 nails. The boards were locally sourced through Cleveland industrial and manufacturing sources. Around 4,000 boards were kept in a raw and weathered condition, while 6,000 were painted gold. The exterior of the installation is made of a combination of gold and raw pieces, while the interior is completely painted gold.







Read more: http://inhabitat.com/mark-reigelmans-reading-nest-in-cleveland-is-built-from-10000-discarded-wood-boards/

 

Exbury Egg: Amazing Self-Sustaining Floating Office Launches in the UK

  the exbury egg - images courtesy of nigel ridgen

 

 

 

Two years ago, a group of architects, artists and engineers announced plans to create a floating egg-shaped room to be occupied by artist Stephen Turner. Last month, the fruit of their labor was realized as the Exbury Egg, an energy-efficient, self-sustaining pod was launched in an estuary of the River Beaulieu in the UK. Turner will live in the egg for 12 months while he uses the space to study the life of a tidal creek and the ways in which humans interact with nature.

the exbury egg is a self-sustaining work space that is the result of a collaboration between PAD studio, the SPUD group and artist stephen turner, who will work from vessel for the next year.

located in in the estuary of the river beaulieu UK, the egg is a place to stay and a laboratory for studying the life of a tidal creek, a collecting and collating centre with integral storage & display areas.

the structure built using boat building techniques and local materials features a bed, a desk, a small stove, and a wet room. it will take on the patina of 730 daily tides below the water line, and 365 days of weathering by wind, rain and bleaching by the sun above.





the egg will be ‘tethered’ like a boat and will rise and fall with the tide. the light touch and basic nature of the 'exbury egg' aims to re-appraise the way we live; to properly consider sustainably and future use of natural resources. stephen turner is interested in exploring a more empathic relationship with nature which reveals the precious and transcendent in everyday life. the artwork created will stem from stephen’s occupation, developing through direct experience an understanding of local natural cycles and processes and the relationship of the environment to the narratives of human activity in the unending calendar of seasonal life.




the ‘exbury egg’ adopts the two key premises of 'lean, green and clean' and 'reduce, reuse and recycle'. the potential energy requirements during occupation were determined through exploring stephen’s anticipated daily routines, including a consideration of the variations that would result from seasonal differences. stephen’s requirements for electricity use including electricity for charging items such as a laptop, digital camera and mobile phone will be met using solar.































stephen turner
artist’s impression of the exbury egg exterior
watercolour on paper, january 2013
740mm x 1000mm
the watercolour was made by the artist from the western red cedar timber used in the actual egg construction.

For more information see links below:

Read more: Exbury Egg: Amazing Self-Sustaining Floating Office Launches in the UK | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Life of an Architect: The Graphics

TGIF!

I came upon this site: Life of an Architect and it had me quite amused...and smiling too.

I think we need some humor today...hence...this YEOW.

http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/life-of-an-architect-the-graphics/

The sketches on Bob's site has links to his other entries. So you might want invest your lunch hour to read some.... ;-)

Reinventing Homebuilding

Town Reinvents Homebuilding With Flat-Pack Houses Under $150k

 

 

Holland has always had a progressive take on affordable housing, especially where apartments and co-housing are concerned. But a new government program is making it possible for people who make as little as $40,000 a year to build their own homes—all through the magic of flat-packing.

The program is called I build affordable in Nijmegen (or IbbN), and it’s more like buying a car than buying a house. The city offers potential owners a loan for the land and the house, which buyers pick from a roster of 30 specially-designed prefab packages which start at less than $150,000. The cost and schedule of building the house—and here’s what makes this program so crazy—is fixed, eliminating the primary reason many people hesitate to build their own home.

This being the Netherlands, design quality matters. Nijmegen invited 20 Dutch firms to develop the 30 home packages, which range from gabled townhome to wood shack. Each of the options comes with a menu of customizations, too—you can change your facade from wood shingles to metal panels, say, or extend the house with an extra room or patio. And because most of the components are assembled off-site, they take roughly a month and a half to assemble.

In a Guardian article about IbbN, one of the architects involved with the project explains the allure:

Since the economic crisis, both architects and the city are trying to find new ways to build houses. There are few developers willing to build, so the city is selling plots directly to the residents and letting them do it for themselves. People always think working with an architect will be more expensive and take longer, but this way they feel more secure. We've always wanted to make a really cheap, sustainable house and this gives us a great way into the market.

There are plenty of flat-pack and self-build companies flourishing in other places. But what makes IbbN innovative isn’t necessarily the architecture—it’s the knowledge that your project won’t go over budget (or schedule). [Guardian]

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A home by 8A Architecten (who designed the package in the lead image, too) costs $150,000 total.

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A concept from Bendien/Wierenga Architects. Left image via Wired UK.

EX.s Architecture designed this flatpack cabin.

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Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk's contribution to the program uses hay bales for insulation.

 

For more infromation see Link Below:

 

http://gizmodo.com/town-reinvents-homebuilding-with-flat-pack-houses-under-505652036

NEW LEVELS OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Upcycle House by Lendager Architects prepares for completion in Nyborg, Denmark

Images: LENDAGER ARKITEKTER Later this month the first of six experimental one-family upcycled houses in Nyborg, Denmark will welcome its inhabitants. The Upcycle House project is a collaboration between Lendager Architects and the Realdania Byg foundation with the ambitious goal of being the first house build only from upcycled and environmentally sustainable materials. In Upcycle House sustainability is the primary design parameter, both environmentally and socially, and not least economically with construction cost limited to 1 million dkk (approx. $175,000). Lendager Architects sees upcycling as the natural next step after the growing focus on the energy consumption of buildings in the operation phase. Attention is beginning to be directed towards energy and resource use in all stages of the building process: The production and transportation of materials, the building and construction phase, and when the building or parts of it have served their time. Upcycle House there has also been a 75% recorded decrease in CO2 consumption in the production phase compared to traditional building.   Upcycle House is a house build for everyday life, the daily life of the inhabitants is supported by energy and resource-efficient solutions. Natural light, rainwater harvesting, and access to grow vegetables is emphasised and the passive properties of the house are optimised to withstand the changing Scandinavian weather without spending excessive resources heating and cooling it. The goal for Upcycle House is to demonstrate that it is possible with limited funds to build a strong CO2 reducing and publicly appealing one family house that is not meant to be a unique specimen but an alternative to regular prefab houses. Upcycling is a step beyond recycling, the materials are not just reused, but reused in a way where value and quality is added. The upcycled construction materials have been chosen based on four indicators: CO2 reduction - relative comparison between new materials and standard material; Price; Operation and maintenance - expected lifetime and expenses/efforts for maintaining function; Accessibility - are the materials available in sufficient amounts within the timeframe   The structural core of the house is two shipping containers and recycled wood frames placed on a foundation of Screwfast helical screw piles and Tecnopor rigid insulation made from used glass bottles. The walls are insulated with old newspapers made into paper wool and clad in drywall made from recycled gypsum and Richlite facade cladding made from paper waste. Flooring is UPM profi deck, a composite of recycled plastic and wood granulate. Furthermore old windows, bricks, battens and laths have found a new purpose in Upcycle House. The house is topped off with a roof made from trapezoidal profile sheets of recycled aluminum beer bottles. These materials all show how one of our times most plentiful resources: trash, can be reused in a myriad of ways where it ends up representing a higher value than even before the waste became waste.                                   For more information please see links below: http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=22531

SUPER MARKET

Super Market Sanya Lake Park by NL Architects

Housing Corporation VANKE has asked us to make a proposal for a Super Market as part of a big resort in Sanya.
Sanya is the southernmost city in China. It is located in Hainan Province. The area is renowned for its tropical climate and is a popular tourist destination.



The resort will consist of three clusters of large residential slabs of 21 stories high enveloping semi enclosed gardens. The public space plays a crucial role in the atmosphere of the area as a whole. A lot of consideration is going into creating a pleasant environment. The landscaping is a key factor to the success; a large park-like corridor will connect the important parts of the masterplan.
Within this park, the client intends to create several pavilions with services and commercial functions to activate this landscape.
The required Super Market would take up much of the public space. Supermarkets tend to create big impenetrable surfaces; their planning logic often leads to ‘blind’ facades. Or to facades that are covered in advertisements. Often the expression is rather cheap for this is what the core-business boils down to: to evoke the sensation of competitiveness.



The counter-intuitive strategy in planning supermarkets: some brands actually invest a lot of money in a cheap appearance…
In order to relieve the public domain from this potentially unattractive interface the Super Market could be wrapped in a more vibrant and more appealing layer of smaller shops. On the available plot however space was limited.
The idea is now to place the main shopping volume underground. The Super Market can directly draw its customers from the large basement parking below the residential buildings. In addition delivery and logistics can now disappear underground as well.
To mark the entrance to the underground domain we propose a pavilion that contains retail and cafes. At each corner the roof bends up to form a lively entrance to the ‘estate’.



By disconnecting the volume that initially was supposed to be an extension of the residential slab next doors a triangular plot comes into being that allows a shortcut, an additional mini shopping street comes into being.
The triangular, all-sided building will be topped by a stepped landscape: a seemingly natural rice paddy-like valley comes into being featuring several usable terraces. The green additional ‘facade’ will provide a great view for the neighbors in the surrounding high-rises.
Dimensions:
Super Market: 2000 m2
Ancillary spaces for the Super Market: 950 m2
Ground floor + first floor: 1000 m2
Roof: 1580 m2

For more image and info go here:                         
http://www.archdaily.com/366482/sanya-lake-park-super-market-proposal-nl-architects/