28 November 2018

Mud huts, wooden houses, stone houses: the architecture of all the world is changing, evolving and adapting to the environment, climate and local materials. Great examples of sustainable construction, expressions of traditional cultures, arise from here.

"Learning from Vernacular" exhibition was staged at the Vitra Design Museum. It has been an opportunity to discover examples of traditional architecture: a contemporary design that hides new forms of construction, from South Africa, Egypt, China, to Malaysia up to Cameroon; wooden architecture, spectacular projects in bamboo up to structures that resemble tunnel and were made with Palm grass.

The exhibition presents the residential projects of the Auburn University of Rural Studio in Alabama, the collaboration between architects and craftsmen in India, the work of architect Carin Smuts in South African townships or the bamboo structures of the Colombian Simón Vélez. Films, photographs and plans demonstrate how the buildings were built and the everyday life of their inhabitants.

With its 40 models, the exhibition presents a veritable panorama of world architecture. And it opens the eyes of the public for the abundant variety of materials, shapes and construction techniques that exist outside of the commercial market and are handed down from generation to generation. In these cases, the social aspects of architectures are often just as important as aesthetics or the economy. Thanks to the numerous examples of renewable raw materials and energy-neutral solutions, it offers numerous opportunities for sustainable development of resources. Learning from vernacular was made possible thanks to the complete collection of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). This collection includes more than 700 1:20 scale architectural models and many documents. The collection is part of a large archive dedicated to modern architecture, whose Director Pierre Frey is the curator of the exhibition. One of the pioneers of sustainable and social construction practice is the architect Anna Heringer, that held a conference at Vitra Museum about projects in countries such as China, Morocco or Bangladesh, where she developed a unique approach to architectural design that closely involves the community and local materials. www.design-museum.de www.anna-heringer.com  

Marco Mignatti

10 October 2018

Designed by architects Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi from OBR, the new restaurant on the terrace of the Palace of Art, with the "Arts & Foods" Hall curated by Germano Celant, is one of the most important initiatives of the Triennale di Milano for Expo 2015. After restoring the roof terrace over the main hall according to the original plans by Giovanni Muzio, Triennale of Milan shows a new dimension of quality catering, prepared by Michelin-starred chef Stefano Cerveni. All of the Milan Triennale exhibition have defined a synthesis between design and architectural experimentation. At such times the Park was transformed into a theatrical platform of new myths for urban living and Muzio's building became an admirable cultural promotion device. The OBR project, winner of the competition organized by Triennale of Milan in January 2014, interprets the tradition with a lightweight, rigorous and dynamic solution. The restaurant is designed as a transparent greenhouse surrounded by greenery and suspended on the Sempione Park, with a spectacular view of the Castello Sforzesco and the entire skyline of Milan. Going up on the terrace of the Palazzo dell'Arte, you are greeted by an aromatic garden designed by landscape architect Antonio Perazzi, behind which the restaurant Glass Pavilion (33 x 5 metres), set back from the façade portals. “Triennale has always been a reference of social and cultural life of Milan. The restaurant like greenhouse suspended between the Park and the city was born from the idea of enhancing the terrace of Palazzo dell'Arte as a place strong urban sociability, evolving sensitive space that works under dynamic exchanges between inside and outside "-Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi explain. The Hall, which is completely open on the perimeter, is characterized by a light stainless steel modular structure which allows easy and fast mounting and dismounting directly in situ, combining industrial technology with craftsmanship. The structure design, engineered by Buro Happold and Milan Engineering and built by Capoferri firm, resumes the geometries of historic spans of Muzio. A large 400 square meter mobile tent floats suspended above the Glass Pavilion. Completely open on one side, it runs the Hall like a greenhouse, thermoregulating with different mode day/night and summer/winter bioclimatic use, and allowing guests to dine repaired by the sun or dining under the stars. As a video installation, the curtain suspended on greenhouse comes alive with images and lights designed by Guido Bianchi, referring to events sponsored by Triennale for Expo and providing guests with a unique experience between haute cuisine and design, suspended between the park and the city. The Pavilion is 33 meters long, 4.7 meters wide, 3 meters high and it has an area of about 150 square meters. The architectural design was developed by Paolo Brescia, Tommaso Principi and Andrea Casetto from OBR, with Maddalena D'alfonso, and it involves the construction of a glass Pavilion above the terrace of the Palazzo dell'Arte of Triennale di Milano, recently restored by the architect Alessandro Pedron.

Edoardo Croci

10 January 2019

ANIMA is the first work of the Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi (among his most famous works there is the Parc de la Villette in Paris) in Italy. Commissioned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno and Comune di Grottammare, the work was born with the objective of facilitating the identification of the territory. The project, whose inauguration is scheduled for 2016, is a future landmark for the city of Grottammare, a generator of ideas for the territory, both in its physical size and in its creative potential. Including in an area at the edge of the urban fabric between the sea and the hills, the new work is characterized by a high degree of flexibility; its spaces are configurable on event function.

The name, ANIMA, comes from an acronym: A as Art, N as Nature, I like Ideas, M as Music, A like Action. They are the “five souls” of the project the architect has interpreted as an identity in the making. The work will be a catalyst for interest, interactions, synergies. The surface where architecture is placed coincides with that of the small medieval town of Grottammare, slightly more than 7,000 square meters. The project approaches the historical heart of the town not only in size: it recalls, both outside and inside, the “urbs” concept. Outside the ANIMA looks like a compact body, a perfect square that, if somewhat alludes to an idea of closure and protection, it breaks and immediately shows a high permeability.

A reflection on the theme of the façade is the basis of the research that led Bernard Tschumi in a workaround for large vertical walls that surround the building and that finds its strongest expression in the south wall, through which you access the complex. Once in the square body you find yourself immersed in a split, partly inside and partly outside.

The architect explains the project: The complexity of this space is determined by the rotation of a large cuboid volume that occupies the central area of the building and contains the main hall, with seating for 1,500, flexible and configurable based on capacity needs variables. The rotation of this volume determines a system of four large courtyards, to each of which the main hall has a chance to open up a fluid and dynamic system of visual and physical paths. In addition, an extensive system of ramps allows moving within this heterogeneous environment and mobile, observing from prospects and continuously variable heights. Adjacent to the main hall and linked spectacularly through a multiplicity of paths, there are willing share laboratories, offices, café-restaurant, ancillary spaces. Can you design a façade without recourse to a formal composition? Can you do so is neither figurative nor abstract but, so to speak, without form? At a time of economic crisis, indulge in formal geometry produced by complex volumetric curves didn’t seem to be a responsible choice. The era of the so-called 'iconismo' seems to be finished, as arbitrary sculptural figures of the recent past ".

"Rather than adding a new province and iconic sculptural shape, we decided to investigate interaction, simplicity and sobriety. The internal organization of space was socially and culturally important, but that the external image of the project was equally significant. For this reason we have designed a simple square plan with four façades and a fifth façade, as equivalent coverage. Each façade has its own vocabulary, allowing to address issues such as protection from the Sun, natural lighting and ventilation at the same time project a strong identity to the outside world.

Edoardo Croci

26 January 2019

Energy efficiency, low construction costs, quicker completion rate, recycled and recyclable materials, long-lasting finishings and furnishings, green areas and public services seem to be the main features of housing models with a strong social dimension. And the Tor Vergata Campus in Rome is an excellent example. Social housing has ‘contaminated’ the university. This summer the last of the 550 residences for students, professors and researchers of the Tor Vergata University in Rome were handed over. The many Italian companies involved in the project include Spagnol Group for the “turnkey” furniture of the residences, Marazzi for the indoor flooring, Mirage for outdoor flooring, iGuzzini for internal and external lighting, Estel for the auditorium’s furnishings. Headed by architect Marco Tamino and realized by Ingenium RE, the project features a total of 1,500 residences distributed over 17 units with services and common areas for dining and leisure organized around a 5-hectare park. Designed as a place for study, dialogue and discussion, the complex is geared toward energy saving, eco sustainability, low construction costs and social awareness. (Fabiana Cambiaso Università La Sapienza)

Edoardo Croci

Upcycle House is an experimental project, aimed at exposing potential carbon-emission reductions through the use of recycled and upcycled building materials. In the case of Upcycle House, the reduction has been 86% compared to a benchmark house. With increasing building performance in regards to operational energy consumption, focus has now shifted towards CO2-emissions related to construction.

Upcycling is the process of converting waste-materials or waste products into new materials or products of higher quality resulting in a reduction in production and therefore CO2-emissions. When building houses, it is therefore environmentally beneficial to think in terms of material recycling, since the materials have already emitted CO2. It is even better to develop processes where garbage or useless materials can be upcycled and reused for new building materials of higher utility value than they had originally. Upcycle House. Realdania Byg (a Danish foundation that promotes innovation and good practice in the building sector) has developed and constructed a single-family house with Lendager Architects called Upcycle House conveying the principles of upcycling in a tangible and clear example. The house is built of processed recycled materials and Upcycle House investigates how much it’s actually possible to reduce the CO2 footprint by using upcycled materials to the extent possible.

The loadbearing structure consists of two prefabricated shipping containers, while the roof and facade cladding is made from recycled aluminium soda-cans. Facade panels, consist of post-consumer recycled granulated paper, which is pressed together and heat-treated. The kitchen floor is clad in tiled champagne cork-leftovers, and the bath tiles are made from recycled glass. Walls and floors are covered with OSB-panels consisting of wood-chips that are bi-products of various production sites, pressed together without glue. The recycled materials are not very visible and the house does not radiate a recycled look – The house looks and functions like a contemporary house built of conventional materials.

The initial work on Upcycle House takes place in the workshop where window holes are cut, and the containers are fitted with plumbing and wiring for the bathroom and the kitchen. The containers only serve as the constructive frame of the house.Upon arrival at the site in Nyborg, the containers are placed apart, shaping a central living space, dining space and master bedroom. The two shipping containers are insulated on the outside, making the recycled structural framework invisible. The result is a 129 sq. meter (1390 sq. feet) house that is designed to create the optimal setting for a family’s everyday life. The house features a large living room connected to a spacious kitchen, a master bedroom, three smaller rooms, bathroom, utility room and a passive cooling chamber. In addition to this the house is also fitted with a large greenhouse adjacent to the kitchen and a large south-facing terrace. Anders Lendager (owner of Lendager Architects) comments on the results of using recycled materials: “We initially thought that a reduction of 65% CO2 was unrealistic, but when we ran the LCA (Life Cycle Assesment) on all materials throughout the entire project, it turned out that we had reduced the CO2 emissions associated with construction with 86%, compared to a benchmark house. With that in mind, we are surprised that no one else is working on this. Why is it not included in everything we do as architects? Why is it not included in the building code that a certain percentage of building materials have to be recycled?” Passive sustainability. Besides the material approach, Upcycle House aims to reduce emissions through an array of sustainable features. Due to the limited economy of the project (1,7 Mil Dkr.) a special emphasis has been put on the house’s passive properties. Therefore Upcycle House is designed with orientation, temperature zones, daylight optimization, shading and natural ventilation in mind. This makes for a single family house with a significant reduction in emissions, that is also well within economic reach of the average family. To illustrate the potential of this house, the team did a rough calculation: The CO2 emission from Upcycle House is 0,7 KG CO2/M2/YR compared to 5,0 KG CO2/M2/YR for a benchmark house. In Denmark 10.000 single family homes are built every year. With a reduction of 4,3 KG CO2/M2/YR and an average floor area well over 130 sq. meter this makes for a potential reduction of 5590 tons of CO2 – per year. Area: 129 sqm Completion: 2013 Materials: Wood, Aluminium, Glass, Plastic, Paper, Applications: Envelope, Structure lendagerark.dk Figures: © Jesper Ray; © Polfoto