20 January 2019

A perforated and folded steel sheet characterizes the new façade of the Edogawa Garage Club in Tokyo. The exterior is inspired by the movement of the waves, a second skin that iridescent wraps entirely the old building and makes it current. The new metal screen exterior is composed of a series of modular perforated metal plates that allow natural light to filter through the ventilation panels. Colour variations are marked by changes in brightness that produce an unexpected play of colours, gold and silver that enrich the versatile nature of the façade. No demolition of the old buildings, but a work of makeover that gets old and renews it. Designed by Japan Jun’ichi Ito Architect & Associates firm, this is an innovative and green project, because it does not generate waste due to decommissioning.   www.ito-jun.com

Edoardo Croci

Dolomitenblick - Ulla Hell architect presents his project in a residential area in the hilly landscape of the Dolomiti. And he explains why he chose copper as façade material. www.plasmastudio.com/

11 March 2019

The city of Hamburg will become, until September, in the European capital of sustainable architecture, anticipating the trends of smart cities of the future, to find an innovative response to the most urgent problems of the contemporary urban living. The occasion is the International Building Exhibition (IBA), an event with over a century of history, born in 1901, and today more than ever pushed the green innovation of the construction industry. Hundreds are the proposals in a few weeks on the streets of Hamburg with international authorship. Architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers will meet to implement a wide range of architectural solutions related to reality and, above all, can be exported in any other context. Among the protagonists of IBA, we find an award-winning team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), authors of "Soft House". "An architecture suited to respond to the continuous changes of our time," says the architect Sheila Kennedy Professor of MIT and leader of the study team KVA Matx, where energy infrastructure are not ends in themselves but as means of creating innovative buildings where technologies are the protagonists. Posted in Wilhelmsburg Island, Soft House presents: -a dynamic South façade made of a Web of textile strips integrated photovoltaic cells and applied to a horizontal axis solar tracking. Photovoltaic elements are always oriented toward the Sun, picking up the maximum amount of clean energy to power your home. At the same time the fabric of the façade becomes a brise-soleil: natural shielding that protects the Interior from the heat during the summer months, leaving the light penetrate deep into winter; -a light wood frame and wooden furniture components that transform the perimeter structure of classic German Passivehaus, in a flexible and moldable living space, corresponds to the standard Passivehaus. -energy produced from “solar curtains” is transferred directly to the LED lighting system, essential to keep down the level of carbon emissions. The Soft House is a clear demonstration of how the energy technology, can be transformed into a piece of design that contributes to the efficiency of low-energy buildings, besides being completely dismantled and recycled at the end of the life cycle of the building. "We need to achieve maximum creativity and flexibility to see how far we can bring new materials," says Sheila Kennedy. "The most interesting applications for the new materials are those who work at different levels, once this is achieved, we will be able to insert ourselves in the market, revolutionizing the sustainable architecture". (Fabiana Cambiaso – Università La Sapienza) Credits: www.kvarch.net web.mit.edu   Soft House, Kennedy & Violich Architecture   Residential area: 
4/180 mq Finished on March 2013 Materials: Wood, Textile membranes Applications: Structure, Casing, Screens.

Carlo Bardelli

05 October 2018

Looking for a new balance between the natural environment and the built one, creative and constructive process of housing is looking for new concepts and objectives.

The architect Marco Piva presented at Made the installation "Space for Life" that addresses the issues of small-scale residences, their possible aggregations in more and more complex structures.

Constructive solutions are made in relation to the highest energy standards. The manufacturing technology is that of wood, renewable natural material; energy performances are in "class A"; renewable energies are used and the structure is earthquake-proof and fire resistant.

The building materials are sustainable and high performance. The vertical walls are made with the innovative Greenbiz. Born in Japan, result of research and studies, it is a unique and worldwide patented material, result of a virtuous cycle of production. Cooking at very high temperatures, above 1000° c, makes the matter be like ceramics, so it is inert, fireproof and ultra-micro porous and lightweight.

The characteristics of absorption and thermal insulation combined with the ability to absorb water and hold it for 50% of its volume makes it the best possible material for industrial roofing and terraces with hanging gardens. Used as a coating, it works as a coat and it allows the creation of vertical green.   www.greenbizitalia.it

Edoardo Croci

12 January 2019

For the Walker Art Center Expansion, the client – represented by Director Kathy Halbreich and Chief Curator Richard Flood – did not aim simply to increase the exhibition area, like so many other museums did in the nineties, but primarily to give the public more room, more room for urban living inspired by the variety and richness of contemporary art.

The Walker Art Center (WAC), as one of the most progressive poles for the transmission of contemporary art, is indeed a "center" and not just a "museum." Its name is an agenda, which is why plans for expansion also include more leeway for electronic media and the performing arts. The intention of the museum and the trustees to enhance urban life at the WAC is especially meaningful and necessary because there is essentially no street life in Minneapolis, due not only to the city's climate but also to the Skyway system of elevated pedestrian walkways.

Initial planning therefore targeted a repositioning of the WAC in relation to existing urban infrastructures. The demolition of the Guthrie Theater will make room for a larger Sculpture Garden, the main entrance will be moved around Vineland Place (back) to Hennepin Avenue, and a second tower will complement the existing tower by Edward Barnes, while also establishing a visual link with the downtown skyline as well as the church spires along Hennepin Avenue.

This second tower is essential not only as an urban landmark; it also expresses the increased importance of the performing arts in the WAC program. Inside the tower there will be a theater encased in a balcony-like, three-story zone for the audience, somewhat like a down-sized version of the Scala in Milan or the open-air Globe theater of Shakespeare's day. This audience zone can also be used as an exhibition area for all kinds of art installations. Pictorial and performing arts can be interwoven here in entirely unexpected and innovative ways. The architecture thus fosters an intensification of the various activities with a view to the targeted urbanism of the new WAC. In contrast to the solid brick of the existing building, the walls are completely glazed, which will allow direct eye contact between the busy thoroughfare of Hennepin Avenue, the new interior of the WAC, and the new enlarged Sculpture Garden. This glazed street level running parallel to the slightly angled street will function like a "Town Square" open to everyone as a meeting point, a place to exchange information and news or to have a cup of coffee. People can also circulate here without going to an exhibition or attending an event. The new exhibitions spaces will be freely arranged within this glazed public area so that the "Town Square" will include cozier spaces, like side streets or alley ways.

This loose arrangement of galleries is a necessary modification of and addition to the rigid shape of the existing brick tower, which looks today like a pragmatic version of Wright's Guggenheim Museum. Edward Barnes' gallery concept along with his choice of materials, especially the terrazzo floors, have clearly stood the test of time and ensured remarkable curatorial freedom. On looking at the new WAC from outside, one is immediately struck by the huge, irregular windows. They look accidental but are homologous forms, showing a kinship in value and structure, somewhat like the shapes of a silhouette cutting. The papery appearance of the façade – also resembling a silhouette – consists of panels, which can simply be folded up along the slanted edges of the openings. Fragile and papery cladding will also be used for the inside of the theater, with its stud-wall construction so typical of US-American buildings that it is the inevitable fate of every architect. (Fabiana Cambiaso, Università La Sapienza) Credits: www.herzogdemeuron.com Figures: © Herzog & de Meuron; © Cameron Wittig.

Marco Mignatti

The Metaphone® is the contemporary keystone of the whole project, embodying the site’s new musical and acoustic role. An architecture of materials, sound and light, it is the emblematic space of 9 – 9bis: a building to be looked at and listened to, an immense instrument played by musicians who are alternately invisible or in the limelight. The musical flow of the site strikes its walls and makes them sing. And like music, it evolves in time, in the passing of time: it is transformed into harmonies of sound and colour, fluid, fleeting, but constantly renewed, which will become the spirit of the place.

The Metaphone® is both concert hall and “urban musical instrument”, whose walls produce and diffuse sounds, in harmony with the play of light. The concert hall and its annexes (technical rooms and audience boxes) are contained within a volume of black concrete, itself wrapped in a light skin made of scales of different materials: ground glass, steel, wood... This scaly skin extends outwards and opens above the concourse, forming a great porch protecting the entrance and terrace. Between the concrete mass and the scaly skin, attached to a metallic structure, technical walkways are provided for installing and maintaining the sound and lighting equipment. On the roof, the lattice of scales extends into a sheet of integrated photovoltaic cells. The instrumental elements are made up of plates of different materials, whose acoustic properties have been calculated to produce musical sound. There are two principles of sound production: mechanical or electroacoustic, with vibrating bowls mounted on the plates to form loudspeaker membranes (this technique is commonly used in the car industry). These systems have been developed and tested by making a prototype of the musical facade, composed of 8 modules measuring 1.2 m, half fitted with an acoustic instrument, the other half with vibrating plates.

What can be composed with such an instrument? Obviously, it is not a tool for producing special effects. On the contrary, the aim is to give a totally and resolutely musical shape to a concert hall built on a site dedicated to music. Undoubtably unique. The principles of composition include factors relating to architectural space, materials and light. Factors relating to environment and use, to maintenance and cost... One can only imagine the variety of timbres that can be produced. In addition, the dimensions of the hall offer a playing area great enough for an orchestra bigger than Berlioz himself could ever have dreamed of. It is an exceptional space which will make it possible to invent musical forms commensurate with the architecture. Composers from all over the world will be invited to create works for this auditorium. This is how the originality and power of the project will be maintained.

For the public, the Metaphone® is likely to be a “curiosity”. People will come to Oignies to see and hear it. It will serve as a secular bell, marking the hours, midday or sunset. It will signal the beginning of a concert or the interval, produce a peripheral sound space, discreet so as not to inconvenience the neighbours … It could also be used as an instrument in an orchestral composition, with the musicians playing beneath the porch.

(Fabiana Cambiaso, Università La Sapienza) Credits: www.herault-arnod.fr Figures: © André Morin; © Marie Clérin   Concert Hall, Oignies (Pas-de-Calais), France Hérault Arnod Architectes Site: 1 980 m² Completed: 2013 Materials: Frosted Glass, Wood, Corten Steel Applications: Envelope