Stone Over Stone

The idea of a "folding facade" is not entirely new. Shuttered exteriors have traditionally been used in various locales for protection from the elements, from New Orleans to New England in the United States, and in most other parts of the globe. What separates the newfound use of a folding perimeter to the traditional use is extent and purpose. [Carabanchel Housing | photo by Francisco Andeyro Garcia and Alejandro Garcia Gonzalez] The Carabanchel Housing in Madrid, Spain by Foreign Office Architects strongly illustrates how the 20th-century shift to frame structures has made folding screens encompass the whole facade, as opposed to covering punched openings in load-bearing walls. This enables the character of the facade to be seen as ever-changing, as each occupant modifies their space to suit. [Carabanchel Housing | photo by Francisco Andeyro Garcia and Alejandro Garcia Gonzalez] In this design the folding facade is created from small bamboo rods in a metal frame. The archi...

Undulating roofs are fairly common in contemporary architecture these days, at least for commissions with a budget that can accommodate one. But undulating roofs that incorporate the column structure into the undulations are less common, though certainly more interesting. The blurring of the boundaries between the two functions (protection from the elements and keeping the building standing), stemming from the continuity of the construction (if not the actual structural system), make for very appealing spatial wrappers. [Nicolas G. Heyak Center in Tokyo, Japan by Shigeru Ban] The top floor of Shigeru Ban 's Nicolas G. Heyak Center (the home of Swatch Group Japan ) in Tokyo's Ginza district features a woven lattice roof that foreshadows his Centre Pompidou Metz set to open next year. This smaller-scale version is less integral with the rest of the building than the European museum branch, but the complexity of the structure and the compelling space it creates make the trip to ...

Glass in modernism was theorized as a material whose transparency dissolved the separation between inside and outside. In effect it was a material that disappeared by allowing light to pass through while blocking air, bugs, and most projectiles. Today glass is seen less simply. Instead its presence is explored via a number of procedures, from casting and bending to silkscreening and other surface enhancements. One aspect of this is the transformation of curtain walls from two-dimensional surfaces to three-dimensional, vertical terrains. [Trutec Building in Seoul, Korea by Barkow Leibinger Architects | image source ] As the production of both architectural designs and construction elements (materials, systems, etc.) has evolved with computers, more complex and varied designs are possible. One example are folded glass facades, which take once-modular components of glass and steel and make them appear more malleable. Barkow Leibinger Architects ' Trutec Building in Seoul, Korea synthe...

It seems like New York firms have a thing for bay windows, but not the usual symmetrical bays prevalent in residential architecture. I'm talking about angled bays that project from facades asymmetrically to orient views and jazz up building exteriors. The most well known recent example of this architectural element is the Switch Building in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The design by nARCHITECTS alternates these angled bays to give the building its name. A small building that would have most likely been overshadowed by Blue next door, the maneuver holds its own, while offering its occupants captured views up or down Suffolk Street. Bays typically provide seating space for residents, and these are no different. The projections give a public face to an intimate space of the domestic realm. [photographs of Switch Building by Frank Oudeman | image source ] Further uptown, near Madison Square Park is M127 in NYC by SHoP Architects . The condo project is a renovation of seven flo...

A brick is a modular masonry unit, something that wouldn't appear to "want to be" composed into undulating surfaces. Of course this doesn't stop architects from trying, from using limitations as inspiration and opportunities for doing something new. The idea of creating curves from orthogonal materials is not new. Modern examples of undulating brick walls include such mid-century designs as Eero Saarinen's 1955 MIT Chapel , where fairly regular ins-and-outs create an embracing space for worship. [MIT Chapel by Eero Saarinen | image source ] Similar forms were created by Uruguay's Eladio Dieste , an engineer who exploited a technique of reinforcing brick walls, an innovation that could be considered his own. The Church of Christ the Worker is a stunning examples of how Dieste engineering prowess led to sensually appealing forms, undulating in plan but also leaning in section, following the roof also undulating overhead. The image below shows how he revealed the...

Found in : http://archidose.blogspot.com While masonry is often perceived as impenetrable, a suitable material for keeping out wind and rain, it is actually by nature porous, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the specific material and its treatment. Cavity walls, for example, are designed to shed any water that may weep its way through the outer brick and mortar facade. Brick is seen as a veneer that keeps out most air and water, but it is not the sole means of doing such. Some architects exploit this inherent porosity of masonry -- be it brick, stone or concrete -- by designing walls that allow light, air and water to penetrate. The most famous examples are surely Frank Lloyd Wright's four Textile Block Houses in sunny California. Wright used horizontal and vertical steel reinforcing bars and concrete grout (instead of standard mortar) to create three-dimensional compositions of flat and textured custom blocks, the latter either open or with glass inserts. The 1923 Freem...

Found in : http://archidose.blogspot.com/ Thatching is traditionally used as a roofing material, where reeds, straw or some other vegetable material is used for the outer roof covering, usually held in place with stones, ropes or poles, and interspersed with layers of mud. One thinks of both the British Isles and tropical regions, a testament to the versatility of the technique and the abundance of the materials in various contexts. Today the use of thatching is departing from its traditional form, being used as roofs but also walls, what I'm calling hairy facades. [Reed thatch | image source ] One example that starts retains the roof-only aspect of traditional thatching, but scales it up so it blurs the typical distinction between roof and wall, is a new building at Plaswijckpark in Rotterdam by Drost + van Veen architecten . The oversized roof appears to float above the glass box below, unlike traditional applications in northern climes where the roof and (usually stucco) wal...

Via: http://www.destak.pt/artigos.php?art=27464   Os trabalhos de demolição nos terraços do Carmo, que serão convertidos em miradouro e esplanada, começam dentro um ou dois meses, afirmou ontem o vereador do Urbanismo na Câmara de Lisboa, Manuel Salgado (PS). Destak/Lusa | destak@destak.pt A autarquia aprovou hoje por unanimidade o projecto de arquitectura de Siza Vieira para ligar o pátio B do Chiado ao Largo do Carmo e aos terraços do quartel da GNR. “Muito em breve, dentro de um ou dois meses, vão iniciar-se as demolições nos terraços do Carmo”, disse Manuel Salgado na conferência de imprensa que se seguiu à reunião do executivo municipal. O autarca escusou-se a avançar a data de conclusão das obras, que poderá ser condicionada pelas descobertas arqueológicas que se forem somando às já detectadas e que Manuel Salgado garantiu serem “integradas no projecto”. O projecto prevê a ligação do Chiado ao Carmo por um “sistema de escadas e ra...

Transmissão online da conferência: "O que aprendi com a arquitectura? - Siza Vieira" www.casadamusica.tv

  Conferência de abertura na Universidade de Coimbra, Auditório da Faculdade de Direito     Na organização das celebrações nacionais, o ICOMOS-Portugal e a Universidade de Coimbra, em colaboração com o IGESPAR e a PP-CULT, iniciam a abertura deste dia com uma conferência em Coimbra, de título   O Património como Oportunidade e Desígnio: Ciência, Sociedade e Cultura!   a realizar no Auditório da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra, dia 18 de Abril a partir das 9:30. Trata-se de uma organização da Universidade de Coimbra, do IGESPAR, do ICOMOS e da PPCULT, que conta com o alto patrocínio do Senhor Presidente da República, com o apoio do Ministério da Cultura e da Comissão Nacional da UNESCO. O Magnífico Reitor da Universidade de Coimbra e o Senhor Ministro da Cultura abrirão o evento e, entre os conferencistas, encontram-se grandes cientistas e professores, nomes de vulto da cultura portuguesa, tais como: Vitor Serrão, Paulo Peixo...