Barcode House / David Jameson Architect

Architects: David Jameson Architect
Location: Washington DC, USA
Project Architect: Alex Stitt
General Contractor: The Ley Group
Project Year: March 2011
Photographs: Paul Warchol Photography

Barcode House explores juxtapositions between the heavy and light and the old and the new. The work is formed by positioning the project’s diverse pressures into a unique situational aesthetic. Brittle masonry walls of the existing Washington, DC row house governed that the addition be engineered as a freestanding structure. Site constraints dictated a vertically oriented spatial solution.
The client’s desire for transparent living space generated the opportunity to create an integrated solution for lateral force requirements. Structural steel rods within a glass window wall are aligned with datum lines of the neighboring building elevations. A stucco circulation tower anchors the living space to the existing row house.

The Market Bag by Linus

The Market Bag by Linus is beautiful and functional. Perfect for the market or a sleep over, carry it in with a shoulder strap, or roll up the sides when not in use.

WasteLandscape by Elise Morin and Clémence Eliard

An undulating landscape made of 65,000 discarded CDs carpets the floor of theCentquatre art space, housed in a former funeral home in Paris.

The collected CDs were sewn together with wire then draped over inflatable mounds.

Called WasteLandscape, the installation by architect Clémence Eliard and artistElise Morin remains in place until 10 September when it will tour other locations.

Hourai 1111 by Touhoku University of Arts and Design

Undulating timber panels line the walls and ceiling of a Japanese hotel room renovated by Touhoku University students. The project entailed the modernisation of the Hourai 1111 suite in the Kameya Hotel, which is located in the Yamagata prefecture.

Lengths of cypress wrap around the main room to create beds, which face windows with a sea view.

The timber also curls below the windows to create a bench and raised platform.

Doorways on one wall lead to an entrance hallway and study, opposite to a duplicate upside-down doorway that leads to bath, shower and wash rooms.

These three adjoining bathrooms are finished with black paint and tiles, contrasting with the light-coloured spaces elsewhere in the suite.

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre / Henning Larsen Architects

Architects: Henning Larsen Architects
Locations: Reykjavik, Iceland
Client: Austurnhofn TR – East Harbour Project Ltd.
Project Year: 2011

Situated on the border between land and sea, the Centre stands out as a large, radiant sculpture reflecting both sky and harbour space as well as the vibrant life of the city. The spectacular facades have been designed in close collaboration between Henning Larsen Architects, the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and the engineering companies Rambøll and ArtEngineering GmbH from Germany.
The Concert Hall and Conference Centre of 28,000 m2 is situated in a solitary spot with a clear view of the enormous sea and the mountains surrounding Reykjavik. The Centre features an arrival- and foyer area in the front of the building, four halls in the middle and a backstage area with offices, administration, rehearsal hall and changing room in the back of the building. The three large halls are placed next to each other with public access on the south side and backstage access from the north. The fourth floor is a multifunctional hall with room for more intimate shows and banquets.
Seen from the foyer, the halls form a mountain-like massif that similar to basalt rock on the coast forms a stark contrast to the expressive and open facade. At the core of the rock, the largest hall of the Centre, the main concert hall, reveals its interior as a red-hot centre of force. The project is designed in collaboration with the local architectural company, Batteríið Architects.

Metal Shutter Houses by Shigeru Ban Architects and Dean Maltz Architect

After hours, rolling metal shutters fasten across these New York apartments designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Surrounded by art galleries in a West Chelsea neighbourhood, the Metal Shutter Houses rise above a gallery on the ground floor. The eleven-storey block contains eight duplex apartments, each with balconies facing the street. Activated by a motor, individual perforated shutters slide over each balcony to entirely conceal the glazed facades of the apartments behind. A central elevator provides access to the apartments, which each have private lobbies before their front doors.

The Canopy: Student Pavilion Erasmus University / NEXT Architects + MASS Studies

“The Canopy”, a collaborative project between NEXT Architects, Amsterdam and MASS Studies, Seoul for the invited competition for a student pavilion at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Additional images of the proposal and a narrative from the designers after the break.

LIGHT HOUSING: continuity and openness - The designated location for the pavilion is characterized by the horizontal continuity of a leaf canopy of the surrounding trees and provides very desirable condition for meeting within the campus of the Erasmus University (EUR). With the involvement of this exceptional environment by the new pavilion we commit to provide for the continuation of the existing spatial qualities of continuity and openness within a ‘canopy’.

KEY: centrality and motion. - The central position that involves the pavilion on campus, can be compared to an atom consisting of a visible nucleus, but whose real influence is much greater and is determined by the constantly moving electrons in the surrounding shells. The pavilion will serve as the focal point of meeting and knowledge. In this the activities and events in the building not only work as a catalyst for a lively interpretation inside the building, but will also serve as a stimulus for movements around the site. Adapting to and match the horizontal and vertical connections that occur in response to the complex but promising contextual starting positions, is central to the current design.

DURABILITY: stratification and intelligence- A shelter under the roof of a subtle filtered light also generates energy, the construction makes the improbable possible: a transparent glass building as an icon of durability. The secret is hidden in a layered structure of climatic zones temperature constant at a moderate intelligently. This mass is created where needed and used wherever possible light and transparent, this strategy blocked the theater partly underground and made it into a buffer for temperature differences in the pavilion.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept

Police guarding the Turkish Consulate in Hanover have upgraded their VW bus for a tiny mobile office.The Mobile Police Station was designed by German architects Gesamtkonzeptand is parked on the roadside.The mobile container is clad in laminated panels finished to look like wood and features floor-to-ceiling windows.

Client: Nordstadt Police Department
User: Police officers
Architect: Gesamtkonzept Architekten, Hanover
Material: Steel-frame construction, insulation of walls and roof, curtained rear-ventilated facade, panels made of high pressure laminate(HPL)
Planning and construction period: 07.2010 – 07.2011
Effective area: 8 sqm

Tianmen Mountain Restaurant by Liu Chongxiao

A triangulated glass and steel restaurant sits beside a river in a remote forested gorge in southern China. Designed by Liu Chongxiao, the Tianmen Mountain Restaurant is located at the foot of a ravine leading down from the top of a mountain popular with sightseers. The restaurant is constructed from triangular panels of alternating timber and glass strips that allows diners a view of the surrounding landscape. The building is raised off the ground on steel feet to prevent flooding and gives access to the river via an external staircase. Tianmen Mountain forms a national forest park near the town of Guilin and also contains a historic temple.

Architect: Liu Chongxiao

Client: Guilin Zijiang Danxia Tourism Co. LTD
Location: Guilin, China
Planning team: Jiang bo, Mo Keli, Wang Chao
Design team: Liu Chongxiao, Li When, He Rong, Fan Yi, Zhang Yue, Wu Xi, Ren Sijie
Project area: 627 square meters
Project Year: 2011

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

An oversailing glass roof and steel mesh curtain protect a two-storey extension and terrace at a historic Sydney house. The double-height curtain provides shade and privacy but can be drawn back to open the house to the remodelled garden. Australian architects Allen Jack+Cottier converted the High Victorian house in collaboration with designer Belinda Koopman, while the garden was redesigned by Vladimir Sitta. The house formerly contained a private zoo, according to the architects. Glass Loggia House was recently awarded two Houses magazine awards.