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“Suspension House” preserves all the charms of this very special setting but lessens the home’s impact on the creek. The project presented an engineering problem at the outset: how would the architects expand and modernize the home without changing its outline? Their solution was to stack a whole new level on top of the two existing ones and modify the structural supports so they could accommodate the extra weight.

The original 1970s version of the home was built on columns driven into the creek bed. The new structural system uses steel supports under the floors to anchor the home to the bedrock so that no part of it is touching the water. The tranquil flow is unimpeded, and nearly every living space inside the 2,500-square-foot dwelling enjoys a beautiful view. Each level has its own glass-enclosed balcony, and a spacious deck (also following the contours of an existing structure) spills out onto the hillside. From inside, massive new floor-to-ceiling windows create an immersive experience.

Set at a 90-degree angle to the two original floors, the new addition contains the home’s primary suite, bedroom, and flex room. The shared spaces like the kitchen, dining area, and living room are on the middle level, and the spaces closest to the water include a guest room and utility room. The pale zinc cladding and black steel framework coupled with the stacked rectilinear shapes preserve the original home’s modernist feel.

“Transparent materials and carefully considered sight lines merge the home with this dramatic landscape,” say the architects. “The two lower floors stay studiously within the confines of the original building; yet the minimal glass volumes, steeped in the surrounding beauty, feel more expansive than ever. A third floor addition strikes a more slender profile facing east to engage the breadth of the site. The experience is one of being in nature and also humbled by it.”

Of course, the project calls to mind the famous Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, a 1935 home in southwest Pennsylvania built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run creek. But that’s not the only beautiful home that enjoys such unusual surroundings. “Bridge House” by architect Dan Brunn hovers above a small natural stream in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, using lightweight modular steel for a low impact on the natural site. And in rural Australia, architect Max Pritchard built a similarly bridge-like home with recycled corrugated metal siding, set across a seasonal winter creek that divides the property.

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Completed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning studio SANAA eight years after the Japanese firm’s proposal won an international competition for the new building, Sydney Modern adds 7,000 square meters (about 75,350 square feet) of gallery space to the existing Art Gallery of New South Wales. It officially opened to the public on December 3rd.

The new addition connects to the original art gallery, a neoclassical-style building designed by British architect Walter Vernon and completed in 1909, via a public garden “land bridge.” It consists of a series of stepped platforms that give it a stacked, low-profile appearance from a distance — certainly a contrast to the bold, graphic Opera House and its unforgettable silhouette.

For SANAA, the point wasn’t to rival that monument. It was to create an appropriate building for the site, with its stunning views of Woolloomooloo Bay and a backdrop of the city skyline. SANAA principal architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa wanted the building to be harmonious with its surroundings, “one that breathes with the city, the park, and the harbor.”

“There are two ways to create a landmark, which depends on the landscape,” says Nishizawa. “If you are in an open site, a landmark can appear with a positive form and clear outline, like a rock. But if you are in a forest with all its trees, this doesn’t work. You have to create a clearing and allow the sunlight in. But the light in the forest doesn’t have a clear outline. This is a very different way to create an icon.”

The effect may be subtle architecturally, but its impact on the museum certainly isn’t. The addition’s rectilinear pavilions are arranged around a central glass-walled atrium with views of the water. Courtyards and rooftop terraces grant the upper levels a series of outdoor areas for open-air events, and the lower levels are made with rammed earth, anchoring them to the site.

Interior spaces include large exhibition rooms, including one solely dedicated to aboriginal art and another two with soaring 18-foot ceilings. Smaller exhibition rooms are devoted to children’s learning spaces and a studio for creating multimedia artworks. A large, columned underground art space repurposed from a decommissioned World War II naval oil tank will offer another 2,200 square meters (23,680 square feet) for special commissions and performances.

The new land bridge reconnects the art gallery to the city’s Royal Botanic Garden, allowing pedestrian movement from the Woolloomooloo to the city center and creating an entirely public space in the process. The garden atop the land bridge is named “bial gwiyuno” (the fire is not yet lighted) and includes both indigenous plant species and an installation by Australian artist Jonathan Jones.

“The Sydney Modern Project allows us to engage our audiences and work with our artists in thrilling new ways,” says Maud Page, Deputy Director and Director of Collections for the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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There’s nothing conventional about this second-floor addition to a compact house in the Babylon area of Long Island, New York. Not only does it flout the very modest conventional styling of the existing home, it looks like an entirely different home was just plopped right on top of it. That effect is intentional. The architects didn’t want the home to simply blend in, but rather offer a contrast of past and present, both visually and programmatically. While the original home is clad in light gray vinyl siding, the addition features thick stucco exterior walls. The two volumes are merged together by a splash of pale pink tiling flowing across the facade.

The client didn’t care much about resale value, opening up the potential for the architects to experiment. Instead, he asked them to update the original layout of the existing home and draw down some of the new features to create visual transitions, like a bold sculptural yellow staircase. The circular form of the staircase is echoed by the curves of the addition, including its street-facing facade.

“This prompt set the stage for a design process rooted in extensive research into the cultural history and architectural taxonomy of the surrounding suburban neighborhoods,” the architects explain. “In particular, co-principals Orsini and Roseboro were interested in the home’s proximity to Levittown, NY, a suburban development archetypal of the relationship between race, inequality, and housing in America, in which segregation was embedded in its formation through exclusionary contracts and redlining.”

The firm adds: “In Levittown, African Americans and indigenous communities could not access sales contracts by specific prescription of the Levitt & Sons Company; this was true of similar developments across suburban America and their surrounding neighborhoods. Further inherent in the typology were architectural features and layouts that fostered the isolation and introversion of the nuclear family, rather than the community.”

The original home’s design was identified as mimicking that of the standardized homes made popular by Levittown, which emphasized conformity and a lack of flexibility. The architects identified architectural elements like windows, porches, and roofs that are often found on these suburban homes and “hacked” them to simultaneously reference the neighborhood’s architectural history and defy it.

While most suburban homes are concerned with privacy, the client wanted to challenge those norms, creating big open cut-outs and and terraces that don’t attempt to hide from the prying eyes of strangers. He also requested that the architects eliminate the typical suburban separation of bedroom and bathroom in the upstairs suite.

“House on House” may not be for everyone, but that’s the point. The project questions whether seeing more expressions of personal tastes and preferences in the architecture around us could inspire more people to appreciate the little differences that make us who we are.

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The 42-year-old architect will helm the $500 million, 80,000-square-foot addition to the museum’s Fifth Avenue building. Though her designs have not yet been revealed, Met director Max Hollein has praised her potential to “challenge the embedded hierarchies of our history and chart a more accessible trajectory for the new wing.”

The path of the addition has been rocky since its announcement in 2014, when sluggish fundraising delayed its progress. Chipperfield’s firm was initially selected to design the expansion in 2015, but when its plans pushed the cost up to $800 million, the project was reconsidered. The addition was originally supposed to be completed in time for the Met’s 150th anniversary in 2020.

COVID also resulted in a $150 million budgetary shortfall for the museum. Last December, trustees Oscar L. Tang and his wife Agnes Hsu-Tang gifted the museum $125 million, the largest donation in its history, allowing the project to move forward. The new wing will thus be named the Tang Wing.

Escobedo founded her studio in 2006 and previously gained attention for becoming the youngest architect to ever design the Serpentine Pavilion in London in 2018. Her focus on simplicity eschews luxurious and expensive materials, instead elevating ordinary materials like concrete blocks to craft sophisticated atmospheres. That gives her projects a sense of monumental minimalism full of pattern, repetition, and clean lines. The Met commission will be her largest and highest-profile project to date.

“[Escobedo] wields architecture as a way to create powerful spatial and communal experiences, and she has shown dexterity and sensitivity in her elegant use of material while bringing sincere attention to today’s socioeconomic and ecological issues,” Hollein said in the Met’s official statement. “The new wing will be a vibrant, exhilarating space that meets the Met’s current and future needs while promoting a lively representation and reevaluation of the art of the 20th and 21st centuries in the context of 5,000 years of art history.”

Hollein’s approach to the renovations is guided by a desire to create more inclusive exhibitions and find homes for works like a collection of Cubist paintings gifted by Leonard A. Lauder in 2013. The director has previously spoken about the art world’s failure to include non-Western contemporary artists in museums.

The Met is currently working to repatriate colonial objects like 45 artifacts from the Khmer Empire believed to have been stolen from Cambodia between 1970 and 2000 during a period of civil war and genocide, along with other objects obtained via colonization. Museums in the United States and Europe are also facing a reckoning around racism in the wider art world, and the ways it affects what we ultimately view on museum walls.

“The Tang Wing presents an opportunity to give new life to the museum’s art from the 20th and 21st century; to celebrate the dynamics we can find within art of different times, geographies, and ideologies; and to uncover new spaces for self-reflection and connection with others,” Escobedo said in a statement.

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The town, which once thrived in the silk industry, is currently in the midst of a revitalization, with Shiroiya Hotel in particular being seen as “a living room” for locals and travelers to relax, dine, and enjoy art. In recent decades, however, the hotel fell into decline and closed. Japanese business mogul Hitoshi Tanaka, CEO of eyewear company JINS, enlisted Fujimoto to make it the jewel of his hometown once again, overseeing a renovation that also includes guest rooms designed by an international team of creatives including Michele de Lucchi, Jasper Morrison, and Leandro Erlich.

In an interview with Designboom, Fujimoto explained that he didn’t feel particularly inspired when he saw the existing building, and that the four-story hotel made of reinforced concrete “wouldn’t be a very special place” if the team just completed an interior renovation. Naturally, they had to take it further than that. Then, by a stroke of luck, the lot next door became available, and they had the opportunity to transform the heritage structure while also building something new.

“From my personal background, I have always been interested in integrating the natural environment with an architectural environment, because I don’t like to divide nature and architecture,” Fujimoto says. “Nature has a nice diversity, and it’s more of an open place where people can choose where to sit, or what to do.”

The result is a stunning “Green Tower” that brings the natural scenery of the region into the downtown area. The grassy hillside wraps around the new volume, topped with small house-like volumes and pierced by windows. A staircase zig-zags up its surface to the pinnacle. Suddenly, the environment around it is reinvigorated, seeming to bloom under its new sense of purpose as a center of activity.

The theme continues in the original building, where Fujimoto followed through with his initial idea to eliminate many of the horizontal planes of the hotel, creating vast new atriums open to skylights. These spaces are perfect for incorporating lots of living greenery, which contrasts with the solid, geometric Brutalist shapes of the concrete. Stretching through the new voids are Leandro Erlich’s “Lighting Pipes,” functional sculptures that double as lamps.

Last year, Fujimoto completed L’Arbre Blanc Tower in Montpelier, France, a mixed-use multifamily project featuring cantilevered balconies supporting plants, which turned out to be a fascinating example of how odd-looking renderings translate to real life buildings. Some of his other notable works include residential projects that make interesting use of tight urban lots, like the surreal “stacked houses” apartment building in Tokyo and the bright white “House N,” which consists of three perforated layered shells.

The post Sou Fujimoto Builds a Grassy Hillside in the City for “Shiroiya Hotel” first appeared on Dornob.

With fifteen surface planes, the Workstation Cabin has a sculptural look that’s part alien spaceship, part biomimicry. It perches lightly on the land with its black metal legs, offering one wall that’s entirely glass, one window, and one generously sized skylight. It’s basically an instant extra room for your house with no construction or remodeling required, acting as a private retreat that’s both insulated and soundproof.

Budapest-based Hello Wood notes that during this global pandemic, having a private, quiet workspace that’s close to home is more important than ever. And since the interior is so versatile, you could use it as a home office during the day and convert it to a sleeping space by night, changing its usage as your own needs shift.

“When designing the concept, our main goal was to create a highly functional space,” say the designers. “The quality of the space is not given by the huge size, but by its complexity. We believe that for those who adapt a minimalist lifestyle, it isn’t a challenge but a pleasure to spend their time in a practical space. The interior is insulated, therefore easily adapting to the changes of the seasons. You can enjoy the comfort of a private room during winter, and you don’t have to suffer the heat in summer, as the air conditioner can be hidden in a built-in bench. An electrical outlet ensures that you can charge your laptop, phone, and establish a Wi-Fi connection.”

“The cabin gives you the extra room you always wished for. The playful form that brings to life the illustrations of our favorite childhood storybooks was inspired by nature. The Workstation Cabin brings you closer to the outside world. The cozy interior is characterized by wood panels, and the huge windows let natural light in. Last but not least, our main goal is to meet the needs of the present and achieve a more sustainable future: due to its low energy consumption and environmental focus, building a small house is more environmentally friendly than building a house with traditional technologies and non-renewable materials.”

It’s great to see so many prefab backyard office pod designs taking chances architecturally with unusual shapes that are hard to integrate into full-scale residential projects. Some previous examples include the round shingle-covered “People Pod” and the pleasingly curvilinear shell-shaped “Shoffice.”

Hello Wood Studio is known for its unique custom-made, temporary, and prefab installations, including their series of Hello Wood cabins, architectural pavilions for festivals and events, pop-up facilities like bars and kitchens, and smart public furniture that integrates amenities like chargers and lighting into sinuous wooden benches.

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“If you were to reconstruct the house, you’d cover up some of the most interesting parts,” says architectural conservator Matt Webster, a Menokin Foundation Advisory Council Member. “With glass, we can actually see how an 18th-century building comes together.”

The foundation sees this approach as “revolutionary,” connecting the past to the future in “relevant, daring ways.” The Neo-Palladian home, which stands on a 500-acre property, is one of the best-documented 18th-century houses in America. The conservationists had an original presentation drawing dating to 1769, an extensive Historic American Building Survey from 1940 including photography and 20 sheets of drawings, and a number of research reports and historic images to go off while completing the project.

About 80 percent of the mansion’s original materials have survived, including its sandstone exterior and 1,000-plus pieces of intact interior woodwork, but it did start to deteriorate a bit during the 20th century when it fell into a period of neglect. In the 1960s, a tree fell on the house, destroying half of it. The house was pretty much totally in ruins by the time the Menokin Foundation received it in 1995, at which point they covered it with a steel canopy. Their experts have spent the last 18 years developing a plan to save it and make it available to scholars, preservationists, and enthusiasts for continued learning and inspiration.

In June 2020, construction began on the new glass portion, which is expected to be completed in 2023.

The project’s official website explains that “The Glass House Project, the only initiative of its kind in the world, will preserve the remaining portions of the 1769 house and replace missing walls, floors, and sections of the roof with glass. The glass serves not merely as a protective covering for the fragile original structure, but as part of an integral whole that brings the house back to life. The use of glass as a structural element, blending seamlessly with the 18th-century stone, brick, and timber is a tour de force of design and engineering. This fusion of technology and mission embodies the Menokin Foundation’s commitment to innovation in design and historic interpretation.”

“While traditional restoration methods cover evidence of the human story that historic structures present, the transparent design of the Glass House Project emphasizes the deconstructed architectural elements of the building and provides a literal window into the lives of those who built, lived, and worked at Menokin. Fingerprints are visible in the handmade bricks, marks of hand tools are etched on the timbers, and the successes and failures of the builders are revealed.”

“Views of the surrounding landscape through the glass walls will continually connect visitors to the pristine natural environment and the traces of the tobacco plantation where generations of enslaved laborers once worked. This interplay of interior and exterior, historic past and modern-day design, allows a layered and complex look not only at the house but also the people who lived on the site over the centuries — the Rappahannock, the English settlers and the Lee family, and the people who were enslaved at Menokin.”

The preservationists see this last part as a crucial element in telling the tale of Menokin. The home’s importance lies not only in its past but in its ability to connect historical injustice with contemporary issues, telling the stories of the plantation’s enslaved laborers and the Rappahannock people, who lived on the land for centuries and gave “Menokin” its name.

Part of the project will include a new pavilion made of translucent agricultural fabric built above the archaeological footprint of an 18th-century field slave dwelling, which will glow at night in memorial to those enslaved residents who literally built and maintained the property, making it what it was and what it remains today.

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“La Madriguera (The Burrow)” is a renovation of an old wooden hut previously used as a painting studio, with the addition of an unusual new volume. Tucked between the mature trees of a heavily wooded lot, the hut looks like the cottage of a wizened hermit. Subterranean animal burrows may be dark and enclosed, but when you step inside this space, you’ll be greeted with nothing but light.

The hut, which now contains the kitchen, dining room, lounge, and studio, is lined with bright white surfaces and pierced by generously sized skylights, filling all the rooms with natural light. Custom designed furniture like bench-style sofas and desks and built-in niches and shelves line the walls, making the most of the modest square footage and allowing the space to feel larger and more open.

But it’s the home’s addition that really shines — literally. Consisting of a prefabricated steel structure featuring recycled OSB panels, cork, and recycled cotton insulation, the volume containing the bedrooms is totally mirrored on the outside, making it practically disappear into the garden around it. One large porthole window gazes out at the tranquil pond, the only interruption in a reflection of profuse greenery.

In their quest to unite the occupants of the home with nature, the architects could have gone with the ubiquitous floor-to-ceiling glass walls seen on just about every other contemporary home. Instead, they chose to connect the indoors and outdoors in glimpses, and camouflage the home much the way a rabbit hole can be hard to spot amidst the grass.

The firm adds that “the reflective element hosts the most private spaces of the house, the bedroom and toilet, with controlled openings on it, allowing effective lighting and ventilation while avoiding the direct views from the outside. Introverted and cozy, [it perfectly captures] the burrow’s essence. The oculus [and] window frames are fully made in brushed galvanized steel, which reflects and blurs the incoming light. On the roof, two skylights of this same material are opened to the sky, bathing the space with [even more] light.”

Note the word “introverted” here. “The Burrow” continues the growing architectural trend of the “introverted house,” but in a very different way from the modern homes that look like fortresses from outside. For those inward-focused homes, the intention is to block out all potential intrusions into the privacy of the home, even just from the casual glances of people passing by, disguising a hidden sanctuary for the exclusive view and use of the residents.

Those types of homes might be more closely associated with the word “lair,” another descriptive word used by the architects, in the sense of villainous activity. But there’s something sweet and simple about investigating its other meaning instead, as that of a natural home to animals. “The Burrow” feels cozy and secure tucked within its forested setting, focused on the comfort of the people inside. It’s introverted, but in a way that suggests that if you happened upon it in the woods like something out of a fairytale, the inhabitants would probably invite you in for a cup of tea.

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It’s that parasitic quality of contrasting new additions that can make them either fascinating or repulsive, depending on your personal perspective. A new structure by OMA manages to capture that feeling, but you wouldn’t know until you get close to it that the base structure isn’t old and historic at all.

“Galleria in Gwanggyo” is an upscale department store set within the brand new town for which it’s named, just south of Seoul, South Korea. From afar, it looks like an old brick or stone industrial building that’s been sitting on the corner for many decades, perhaps vacant and abandoned for a while. The mottling of its facade suggests age and weathering. But against this neutral, textural surface billow strange new glass volumes. There’s a sense that they’re emerging from inside, too, expanding through openings like over-proofed bread dough.

Amazingly enough, the building isn’t old at all. It’s brand new construction, like the rest of Gwanggyo. A new development in a newly built town has no past or cultural heritage to draw from, and in a way, that gives it a sort of soullessness that’s entirely its own. OMA envisions the Galleria as a “natural point of gravity” for public life in the area, with a little bit of faux history bringing a touch of depth.

The firm adds that the building “evokes [the] nature of the neighboring park. Appearing as a sculpted stone emerging from the ground, the store is a visual anchor in the city. A public route is excavated from the stone volume and connects the public sidewalk to a rooftop garden — including both retail and cultural activities. It introduces an innovative element to the traditional typology of a department store.”

“The public route has a multifaceted glass facade that contrasts with the opacity of the stone. Through the glass, retail and cultural activities inside are revealed to the city’s passers-by, while visitors in the interior acquire new vantage points to experience Gwanggyo. Formed with a sequence of cascading terraces, the public loop offers spaces for exhibitions and performances.”

The triangular shapes within those futuristic glass elements are echoed in the textured mosaic stone facade, giving the whole project a sense of cohesiveness that doesn’t quite come together until you’re standing right in front of it. It’s an interesting reflection on the trend of pairing historic and ultramodern architectural elements, and the question of whether inventing a sense of history for new developments can ever really be effective. Do you think the architects achieved their goal?

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Inside the old part of the house, you’ll still find the original finely crafted crown molding and millwork, though now its complemented by contemporary elements and furniture. But when you look out the windows, you’ll find the view has changed dramatically thanks to the addition of a curving backyard volume full of arches and round windows. A new courtyard containing an appropriately circular swimming pool separates the two structures. It’s been imagined for year-round use: swimming pool in warm weather, and beautiful decorative water feature in the winter.

The main house used to be highly compartmentalized, fitting all of the necessary functions into a small footprint. Now, all it contains are two generously sized bedrooms. The new addition offers an open plan living space complete with sitting area, dining area, and kitchen on the first floor, and a master bedroom and study upstairs. The courtyard-facing wall of the addition arcs to embrace the shape of the pool, with tall windows gazing out at the reflective water. Inside, custom wooden furniture wraps itself to fit the curves of the wall.

The architects say they wanted to take a “whimsical formal approach” to creating a balanced relationship between the interior and exterior spaces. This is clear in the contrasts glimpsed within the addition, like a green stairway that cuts a diagonal line across a wall of square windows, and the curving facade looming in the foreground.

They add that “the design approach of the Caroline House is best characterized by an eccentric formal quality which accommodates the complex program of a family home efficiently and comfortably. Functional aspects are not compromised by the playful forms — the courtyard is able to fulfill the conventional requirements of passive solar design: cross ventilation, north orientation to rear rooms, and multiple garden aspects. The inclusion of a swimming pool in the courtyard augments it’s function — having a decorative presence all year round, but also providing evaporative cooling effects in summer.”

“The principle curved wall allows for a layered and nuanced interior and a dramatic and compelling exterior space. The first floor is monolithically clad in charred timber as a counterpoint to the abstracted planes of white brickwork and includes a balcony using the principles of the Jali — a sequestered zone with veiled views. A meticulous and complete approach to the interior allies old rooms to the new and results in a narrative experience which provides moments of delight and discovery within a singular aesthetic. This architecture is unexpected formally and visually, playfully referencing many things in our collective memory whilst avoiding the specific so that new memories can be created.”

The post Curves and Arches Make Melbourne’s Caroline House a Visual Delight first appeared on Dornob.

Adding to an existing structure can be a tricky undertaking, especially when there’s historic value attached to it. After all, it’s nearly impossible to find the exact same materials that were originally used, let alone materials that have aged and weathered in a similar way. Designers might find themselves attempting faux finishes in an effort to camouflage the addition, or having no choice but to accept imperfect matches.

Still, chances are they aren’t going to fool anyone. That’s why so many architects choose to design additions in contrasting styles, with no attempt to hide the transition between the old and new. But what happens in the future, when those additions look dated and are no longer desirable?

That’s where modular systems come in, like the flat pack U-build kit by Studio Bark. Designed to make the construction process “truly affordable and truly self-built,” the system consists of slatted wooden panels that are delivered to a client’s doorstep in flat-pack form. They come with easy-to-follow instructions, and they can be assembled with little more than a mallet and a drill. The wooden boxes bolt together to create a rigid frame. Crucially, it’s all easy to disassemble when its presence is no longer desirable.

In Essex, England, the first extension to be built using the U-Build system has just been completed. “The Mill Lane Project” is a first-floor extension of an 1830s Georgian cottage facing a garden. Once the prepwork was finished on the existing house by local building renovation specialists Francis Builders, the clients took on the delivery and assembly of the new components themselves.

Externally, the extension is clad in black-stained slatted wood. Internally, the elements of the U-Build system are left raw for a clean contemporary effect. It contains a new guest bedroom, bathroom, open plan kitchen, and dining space for guests of the retired owners.

“We think that buildings should be affordable and adaptable. Why pay to have a new wall built, then pay again to knock it down in the future when your needs change? U-Build allows you to take control of the whole build process: designing, creating and adapting your own spaces.”

Studio Bark, the creator of the U-build kit, explains: “U-Build takes a circular economy approach to building. The system uses a selection of durable non-toxic materials — choose cost-effective OSB, robust spruce, or refined birch. The walls are insulated with natural sheep’s wool insulation, and can be clad in a variety of materials.”

The clients say they had a great experience working on the project, even though they had no prior building experience.

“Carrying out our recent build project with Studio Bark has been an amazing experience. We wanted to add a first-floor extension to our 1830s cottage to provide an upstairs yoga space and bedroom with an en-suite shower room and a landing space to accommodate all our books. Studio Bark came up with an innovative design with high ceilings vaulted in birch. It managed the difficult task of sitting well with the existing building while not attempting to copy it. They managed the planning application process, kep[t] us informed, and worked with us to ensure that we understood the proposals. To our delight, they told us that if we wished we could have some involvement in the build process, and we happily agreed.”

If your interest is piqued but you don’t feel quite ready to take on a U-Build projectt of your own, you might be interested to hear that you can also use the system’s accompanying design software to help design your own space. Check it out here.

The post First Home Addition Made with Studio Bark’s Flat-Pack U-Build System first appeared on Dornob.

Massive quantities of the toxic substance, which was present in the cathedral’s spire and roof, are said to have been dispersed into the air and deposited on the ground. Environmental groups in France have banded together with a top labor union to demand that the Notre Dame be covered and sealed while lead concerns are addressed.

“The 440 tonnes of lead that went up in smoke during the fire represent more than four times the annual lead emissions in the atmosphere for all of France,” said Annie Thébaud-Mony, a researcher and spokesperson for the environmental health group Association Henri Pézerat during a press conference outside the 850-year-old cathedral.

Lead is a neurotoxin, and its effects include decreased intellectual capacity in children, male fertility, and transmission to new generations. It’s stored in the bones for decades, too, and can be released back into the bloodstream during pregnancy, greatly endangering the fetus.

The proposed process would involve enveloping the entire building in airtight plastic sheeting draped over a metal scaffolding, which would drop the air pressure within the tent to keep lead particles from leaking inside while decontamination work is carried out.

Under pressure from the groups, the City of Paris has temporarily paused decontamination work to do an assessment of the cathedral. It was initially said that work would resume this week, but even that start date has now been postponed while more drastic decontamination measures are considered — despite Deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire’s insistence that there is no risk around the damaged landmark.

Some of the techniques that could be used include spreading a gel on the ground that absorbs the lead, which has to sit for three days before it’s removed, or using high-pressure water jets with chemical agents to decontaminate the soil.

At the end of July, two schools southwest of the cathedral, which were downwind of the fire, were closed over lead fears. About 175 children were tested, and so far, two have been found to have high levels of lead in their blood, while another 16 are considered borderline and require monitoring.

Workers, police officers, firefighters, street cleaners, and staff at the hotel across the street are also at risk, says Benoit Martin, leader of the Paris CGT Union. He urges all responders, clean-up crews, and people who live and work nearby to get blood tests.

“If the calendar for Notre-Dame’s reconstruction is delayed a few months, that isn’t a problem to us,” Martin said. “What’s important to us isn’t the calendar some people want to go quickly. One has to take the time to treat the problems one after the other: contain, decontaminate, rebuild.”

Gregoire says the sites will be “rigorously cleaned” before the school year starts in September, and that children will only be allowed to return if the schools are deemed safe by health authorities. Still, he rejected the idea of containing the cathedral in plastic, calling it unnecessary.

The public can view updates on lead test results at the City of Paris website.

The post Notre Dame Restoration Halted Due to High Lead Levels first appeared on Dornob.

Looking almost parasitic in nature, an amorphous, ballooning silver volume stretches out to envelop a more traditional building in new renderings of Steven Holl Architects’ “Encased.” Chosen as the winner of an international competition to design a new concert hall in Ostrava, Czech Republic, the design adds to the existing House of Culture, itself an austere travertine-clad complex completed in 1961.

The new 1,300-seat concert hall is described by the architects as “a perfect acoustic instrument in its case,” hence the name. It’ll soon house the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, too — the nation’s leading orchestra for commissioning contemporary music.

The metallic, vaguely alien nature of the exterior is softened by an interior lined with warm maple wood. Built on both sides of the House of Culture’s wings, the structure features dramatic cantilevered elements with a wide base at the rear and a slender, neck-like volume in the front. If you’re prone to seeing the shapes of living creatures in architecture, you might imagine the addition as either embracing or biting down upon the existing building, depending on how you look at it.

“The smooth case of zinc holds an ‘instrument’ in an extended vineyard-type plan made of concrete and maple wood,” explain the architects. “Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s theories of time will guide and give order to the concert hall’s interior geometry. Acoustic wall panels are organized according to scasovani, or rhythm, in three variants: znici = sounding, scitaci = counting, and scelovac = summing.”

They add that the hall faces the existing park at the rear of the building in order to soften urban traffic noise, while a new entrance on the promenade “rises to glide over the top of the existing historical Cultural Center in a sky-lit lobby for the new hall… a dramatic complimentary contrast between new and old creates a cultural landmark for Ostrava.”

Of the winning design, jurist Rafi Segal says, “It’s not the size of the building, but the importance and significance of it.” Another jury member, Krzysztof Ingarden, says “it is a fantastic piece of architecture [that considers] very well the relationship between the City of Ostrava and the park behind the existing building. I believe the winning project will be an emblematic piece of architecture for Ostrava [and revitalize] the city as well.”

Steven Holl Architects is known for taking risks with unconventional architectural shapes and forms like Maggie’s Centre Barts in London, monolithic metal-clad desert homes, and the delightful organic modernist “Ex of In” House. Most of the time, those risks pay off in spectacular fashion, with finished projects feeling fresh and unexpected.

Sometimes, their radical vision for architecture unconstricted by rectilinear norms hits predictable engineering snags, however, like their so-called Copenhagen Gate: the bike lane in the sky that might have been but got canceled due to safety concerns.

Construction hasn’t yet begun on this project, but it’s unlikely the new Ostrava Concert Hall will be plagued with similar problems. It’s set to open in 2023 and will be produced in collaboration with the Czech firm Architecture Arts.

The post Encased: Amorphous Metallic Addition Hugs a Czech Concert Hall first appeared on Dornob.

In November of 2017, St. Mary Mercy Livonia began construction of a new, 2,600-square-foot chapel — one that would not only serve the same purpose as the old one, but also cater to the needs of the broader religious community that used the hospital. After all, St. Mary is a Catholic hospital, but the new chapel also provides spaces of worship for Protestants and non-Christian Abrahamic worshippers.

To create this blend of faiths within a single space, the chapel had to be given an irregular shape. Indeed, it does not have the symmetry of a conventional chapel from the outside, but an organic form that’s simultaneously subtle and expressive. The curves of the north elevation are formed by an intricate pattern of brickwork.

On the inside, the walls do not entirely follow the footprint of the plan, which makes for even more odd spaces and peculiar relationships between rooms. The architects behind the redesign, PLY+, did this so that each faith would not feel disturbed by the presence of the others. Whether or not that works from a deeply spiritual perspective is a personal question for each worshipper. However, it is understood by everyone that the chapel is a place for miracles, regardless if it is a Muslim, Jew, or Christian coming to pray. At the front of the main hall is the altar, which itself is hewn from Wisconsin Corastone.

The front of the chapel faces north, with skylights positioned for southern solar orientation. Clerestory windows hidden high in the ceiling draw light downwards onto the cherry wood pews and walnut liturgical chairs. The structure also boasts a healing garden with a Japanese maple tree and a crucifix that was handcrafted in Germany.

When construction of the new chapel first got under way, David Spivey, president and CEO of St. Mary Mercy Livonia, said: “The new chapel is an important addition that will allow us to meet the needs of our patients, visitors, staff, and community members who seek healing for their body, mind, and spirit.”

In these polarizing times, chapels like these prove that no matter what we believe, we all have moments when we cannot control the outcome of our lives. In hospitals everywhere, there are moments of great weakness to overcome, and sometimes even grief to live with. When those times do come around, it’s comforting to know that there are spaces where we can seek out strength.

Once again, architecture has shown us that when used correctly, it can be used to bring people together, not drive them apart.

The post Different Faiths Find Hope Under the Same Roof at New Hospital Chapel in Detroit first appeared on Dornob.