ICCA - Approach Architecture Studio

Iberia Center for Contemporary Art is a re-development project by Approach Architecture Srudio, located in the 798 art district, Beijing. The original site was composed by a group of industrial buildings. The biggest one is around 1000 square meters area with 8 to 11 meters ceiling height. The concept of the re-development was to convert these separated buildings into an integrated art exhibition space while keeping the industrial appearance as much as possible.▪

A 50-meter-long brick wall was introduced to the street interface in order to join the 3 old individual buildings into one single continuing facade. The new facade, however, is not completely replacing the old facades, rather, interacting with the old one by its shape and tectonic concept. The interior wall was preserved while a few new function boxes were inserted into the lofty space. Besides the exhibition space, it has offices, library, auditorium, cafe, art shop, etc.

Approach Architecture Studio

Julius Popp Installation

This 2005 installation by Julius Popp displays words selected from the internet via drops of falling water in precise configuration, each word visible only for a second. The artist makes the correspondence between the medium of flowing water to the constant stream of information.

Invisible Streetlight by Jongoh Lee

I think this design could be extremely beautiful when aggregated hundreds of times...Nice Work.

'invisible streetlight' by jongoh lee has been designed to depict the processes of photosynthesis conducted by plants using solar energy. by saving energy from sunlight during the day like actual trees, it emits light at night. the lights' flexible body can be directly wrapped around a tree branch with no support required, blending into the surrounding environment.

via: designboom

Objectified: A New Film by Gary Hustwit Director of Helvetica

Objectified - A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit from Selectism on Vimeo.

And for my readers in Minneapolis there with be a screening at the Walker Art Center on April 30th. Q&A with Gary Hustwit and Andrew Blauvelt

Video: David Chipperfield in Paris

HEC Paris from Uniform on Vimeo.

Exclusive video of David Chipperfield Architects' plan for a new gateway building at HEC School of Management in Paris, one of the most prestigious business schools in Europe. The 9,000m² project will accommodate the MBA programme and house a large auditorium

Help Save Cornell's Milstein Hall by OMA

Help Save Cornell School of Architecture....Don't Let Rem Lose Two Projects in One Week

Cornell School of Architecture is teetering on the edge of yet again delaying a new architecture building (designed by OMA). This would be the third attempt they've backed away from; they've already fired Steven Holl and Barkow Leibinger who were involved in earlier iterations. The complaints about the current project are that it is only targeting LEED certification rather than LEED Gold and that it fails to properly integrate into the historic fabric of the campus. Also there are budget concerns. Of greater concern to Columbia's School of Architecture, however is the fact that NCARB is threatening to pull their accreditation for both their BArch and Masters programs if they fail to update their facilities.

Della Hansmann

Following Text from Archinect's Article

Hi -- we've just learned that a few members of the University, supported by a few alumni and who knows whom, have made a motion to the faculty senate to stop Milstein Hall. This, after we just received the final approval for proceeding with construction.

These faculty members cite concern over the university's budget, the fact that the design so far is not a gold Leeds rating, and (the real reason for some of these folks, who have been fighting us every step of the way), the design. Against the latter, they cite Sage & Lincoln hall as exemplars of 'context-sensitive' design. (You might recall the corporate, pseudo-gothic-victorian pastiche that served as additions to the business and music schools).

n their vocal publicity efforts, the faculty group and their few supporters are giving the university and Ithaca community the impression that this is the opinion of many of our alumni. Having broadcast their views to various media outlets, and now to the full faculty senate, they want the University to stop the building, and for Arch. go back to the dwg boards to create a cheaper, more 'contextual' design.

Even before debating the uninformed opinions noted above, I should point out what any delay at this point would mean. THe NAAB has warned us for over a decade, and have explicitly stated that the last accreditation we got is the FINAL one they will grant without compliant facilities. They have just denied us an accreditation review for our new M.Arch 1 program this spring because of delays to the final approval process. When they return next year, they plan to review both the M1 and B.Arch programs -- if we don't have a building in process at that point, the B.Arch will LOSE its accreditation, and the M1 will be denied the same.

As you can imagine, losing accreditation will be catastrophic. Enrollment will decline precipitously, students will transfer out, operating budgets will decline in turn, and our hard-won reputation will be tarnished irreparably. Very few schools sink to this depth, and no one will stop to ask the reasons for us osing accreditation. The word on the street will be that something is very wrong at Cornell. Our hard-won efforts in the new grad programs will be crushed -- it took us 4 years to build the M1 program to #4 standing against wealthier and long-established Ivy-peers. Imagine how long it would take to disperse the stigma of failure.

If you disagree with the opinions stated above -- and with the representation of Architecture alumni opinions -- please help us make countering views known. The well-being, if not survival, of our design programs depends on quick and vociferous response (the Senate meeting is scheduled for this Wed.).

To help, please do 1 of the following as soon as possible:

1. Send a letter to the editor of local media outlets.
- Cornell Daily Sun: News-editor@cornellsun.com
- Cornell Chronicle: SSL4@cornell.edu
- Ithaca Journal: atutino@ithaca.gannett.com
- Ithaca Times: editor@ithacatimes.com
- News10 Now: news@news10now.com
- WHCU: gdunn@cyradiogroup.com
- WVBR: wvbrnews@yahoo.com

2. Post your online comments to articles already written. Go to the article and add your comments where indicated at the end of the page.
-Cornell Daily Sun: http://cornellsun.com/
- Ithaca Journal: http://www.theithacajournal.com/

I've attached a letter by some of our colleagues in AAP and on campus protesting Milstein Hall to the Cornell Sun. I've also attached 2 responses, one by an Arch. grad student (draft form), another by a Cornell prof on campus (copied below). Zachary's letter offers a good, brief rebuttal for the budget and Leeds arguments by Architecture's opponents. Your letter need not be long & time-consuming -- Adrian Lewis's letter below is just a couple of paragraphs.

Please forward this message to others you think may want to contribute. We urgently need your help, and the more response the better.

_____________________________________________

Sent to the Cornell Daily Sun - Sunday

Dear Editor,

A group of Cornell professors and other members of the University have expressed vigorous opposition to the forthcoming construction of Milstein Hall, an addition for Cornell's Architecture program. Plans for the hall were presented in public two years ago by the architect, Rem Koolhaas. The group's opinion appeared in a February 6 letter to the Cornell Daily Sun, and in a motion to be debated by Faculty Senate on February 11.

I was surprised by the group's opinion, and disappointed. Despite the challenging financial environment, President Skorton has commendably deemed the Milstein project critical to the University. The group, by contrast, while engaged and well-meaning in its worries, is prosaic in its thinking. I find this failure of imagination distressing in a great and dynamic university.

Cornell is proud to host the top-ranked undergraduate architecture program in the US. The program has suffered in grossly inadequate facilities for decades, and as a direct consequence has been at constant risk of losing its professional accreditation. It is surely self-evident that, to a greater degree than any other University project, this desperately-needed architectural work needs to do more, intellectually, than simply "house" Architecture. Koolhaas is among the world's most brilliant and respected architects; the design he unveiled is effective, cost-conscious, and bold.

The group finds the Milstein design "provocative and setting-discordant", "atavistic", and a "flamboyant individual statement". They hope for a building "respectful of... historical setting". I do not. The books I read, the music to which I listen, the art I admire, none of these are "respectful of historical setting". Should students at a great university learn to think for themselves in a mundane neo-gothic pastiche? I urge the group to think again.

Sincerely,

Adrian Lewis
Professor
Operations Research and Information Engineering

Thanks for the heads up Della...

Videos of the TVCC Fire...Sorry for your loss Rem

What Could Have Been....And What Really Is.

TVCC Fire Beijing 2009 from Tom van Dillen on Vimeo.


TVCC Fire Beijing from Tom van Dillen on Vimeo.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light by SOM

The Cathedral of Christ the Light provides a sanctuary in the broadest sense of the word. Located in downtown Oakland, this house of worship offers a sense of solace, spiritual renewal, and respite from the secular world.

The Cathedral employs a non-linear approach to honor the church’s 2,000-year history without forcing a specifc point of view. By stripping away received iconography, the design positions symbolic meaning within contemporary culture. The approachable result remains open to the region’s ever-changing multi-cultural makeup and to the future.

As its name suggests, the Cathedral draws on the tradition of light as a sacred phenomenon. Through its poetic introduction, indirect daylight ennobles modest materials-primarily wood, glass, and concrete. With the exception of evening activities, the Cathedral is lit entirely by daylight to create an extraordinary level of luminosity.

The lightest ecological footprint was always a core design objective.

Through the highly innovative use of renewable materials, the building minimizes the use of energy and natural resources.

The structure’s concrete makes use of fy ash and slag, a waste byproduct of coal combustion and steel production, to reduce the amount of cement, a resource-consuming material. An advanced version of the ancient Roman technique of thermal inertia maintains the interior climate with mass and radiant heat. Douglas fr, obtained through sustainably harvesting processes, has proven to be aesthetically pleasing, economically sound, and structurally forgiving-the wood’s surfaces add warmth while its elasticity allows for the bending and returning of shape during seismic activity. Through the use of advanced seismic techniques, including base isolation, the structure will withstand another 1,000-year earthquake. The Cathedral of Christ the Light, a building for the ages, will endure for centuries rather than decades.

The main Cathedral superstructure consists of a hybrid structural system of reinforced concrete, pre-fabricated glued laminated wood timber members, high-strength structural steel rods paired with glued laminated wood compression struts, and a steel friction-pendulum seismic base isolation system. The superstructure is supported atop an eighteen-foot-high mausoleum substructure of reinforced concrete extending to a reinforced concrete mat foundation.

via: Archdaily

Zumthor's Kolumba Museum & Thermal Vals Video

Kolumba Museum from Jörn S. Park on Vimeo.

TURRELL SKYSPACE

A collaboration with the visual artist James Turrell, this cylindrical skyspace is situated on a hilltop site at a vineyard in Sonoma, California. The 18’ diameter by 35’ high skyspace incorporates an existing water tower on the lower level and is nestled in a hilltop stand of trees overlooking the Sonoma valley.

LAN keeps impressing

The analysis of client ambitions, the specificity of the plot, which presents exceptional qualities due to its bordering position to the park facing South and West, as well as the outstanding direct sights on Paris, drove our researches towards a compact and vertical morphology.

The project compactness, inherited from urban choices, is the occasion to reach very high thermal performances. The envelope is like a thermos flask, with a minimum of accidents interrupting insulation continuity. The volume simplicity opposes a rich and meticulous work of the facades treatment. The facade consists of two superimposed layers. The first layer, drawn by metallic structures, allows energy production through photovoltaic panels, works as a balustrade and plays the role of a sun breaker, regulating solar contributions all year long.

This double skin creates a climatic zone playing a thermal role thanks to air preheating and the limitation of intermediate floors linear thermal bridges. A particular care will be brought to the hanging treatment of the double skin on the facade to limit the punctual thermal bridges formation.

LAN

New Marriage Bureau by Johannes Knoops

Soaring about like a wedding veil, this dramatic addition to the Municipal Building houses all the functions of a new Marriage Bureau. Made of translucent panels, diffused light floods its interior to create a transcendental, ethereal... almost heavenly interior. Thanks to its commanding position, an absolutely majestic view of the city surrounds the chapel space... so as the city bears witness to a couple's contractual union, so can the wedding couple witness the city.

"Witty, poignant and appropriate, this concept is both a charming veil on the McKim, Mead and White landmark and an incredible place to imagine a ceremony high over downtown Manhattan. It is clever and somehow believable. This project should be built. It provides the spirit and hope that a wedding day should embody."