a Gaudi paraBolic

The design follows methods used by Gaudi for his church projects. This specific approach involved hanging the chains upside-down, showing the most opportune rib disposition and letting the gravity determine the strongest shape for the future building. Used in the chair design, the chain-models are combined with a software script to generate the structure of the ribs, informing of the complexity of the forces in a chair’s backrest. The chair is created by Studio Bram Geenen,  for their online Open Design Platform. The project was developed as part of the Furnistructures initiative, which involves extensive researches into structural systems, as found in nature and architecture, and the possibilities of designing lightweight furniture using such systems.

The script used to determine the structure of the ribs is based on three steps: the distribution of forces across the surface of the chair, the direction of the forces defines the direction of the ribs, and finally, the amount of force specifies the height of the rib. A thin shell made of carbon fiber deals with compression forces. The white beam-grid substructure resists bending of the shell. The substructure was made using rapid-prototyping techniques to achieve the required complexity. Carbon fiber was chosen for its lightness and strength.

a Scenario rooF

This project conceived by Design With Company contends with the competing and overlaid desires for the site of the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago by creating a new tourist destination and scenario-planning infrastructure from the existing architecture. On the roof, a 1:25 miniature replica of Chicago is constructed. A clear mound protects the model, provides space for artificial weather equipment and creates unexpected visual connections between both Chicagos. Within the mound, the model acts as a simulator for various future scenarios. Consequences of global warming, new construction, earthquakes, fires, asteroid impacts, tornados, blizzards etc. are tested repeatedly while appropriate action plans are calculated. On the exterior, the mound presents a new urban landmark along Lake Shore Drive, provides space for new lake shore activities, and redirects views through and around the existing building.
The desire and plan to secure the waterfront for public access and parkland is directly attributable to Daniel Burnham and the 1909 Chicago Plan. At the time, nature and the city were conceived as separate, complementary entities. The opportunity to get away from the city and into nature was believed to cleanse the spirit and the attempts to “aerate” the urban fabric were to let it “breath.” Nature injections within the vast artificial construction were thought to cure urban ills. This proposal updates this urban operation manual with a new unnatural natural landmark. A 1/25th scale snowglobe enhancement surgery for the city.
The story of the project is primarily told through the visitor information documents. These include maps, promotional material and merchandise catalogs. It is a National Geographic exploration of an urban nature, archeology and anthropology.
Team: Stewart Hicks, Allison Nemwmeyer w/ Min Chen

a Metaplasis Form in Greece

Christos Koukis designed this project at the University of Patras, Department of Architecture under the advice of professor Vasilis Stroumpakos. Metaplasia comes from the greek word ‘μετάπλασις’ (mĕ-tap′lă-sis) which means change in form. As a scientific terminology is being used in cases where a cell type is not robust enough to withstand a new environment and so it mutates in another type more adapted to it.

The definition matches the aim of this project; the conversion of an existing situation (site & concept ‘stadium’) to another one, more adapted to the reality of the area and the era. Located in Nea Philadelpheia, a suburb of Athens, where immense urban density and natural beauty (grove of N.Philadelpheia) coexist, and designed in the same place with a demolished stadium, metaplasia becomes a new system, building, entity that through simulation techniques, time-based mutation, gradual metamorphosis and adaptive logic becomes a new species.

to Act like an Airport

Designed by Andrew Bromberg of Aedas, the Terminus is a 430.000 square meter structure, equipped with 15 high speed rail tracks that connect Hong Kong to Beijing. The project won the Best Futura Mega Project in MIPIM Awards 2012. Construction will be completed in 2015.It will be the largest bellow ground terminus station in the world. Situated in Hong Kong, the building acts more like an international airport, as it includes custom and immigration controls for departing and arriving passengers.

“Being a gateway to Hong Kong, the Terminus was designed to be an architecture that connects with the surrounding urban context as much as it makes visitors aware of the city’s character whether arriving or departing. To achieve this, the design efficiently compacted all of the supporting space to allow for a large void down into the departure hall below, with added apertures going down to the track platforms. The outside ground plane bends down to the hall and the roof structure above gestures toward the harbor. The result is a 45 meter high volume which focuses all attention to the south façade with views of the Hong Kong Central skyline, Victoria Peak and beyond.”
 

a Mesh of Steel Beams

The Containers Skyscraper is an idea to provide nomad housing to this specific type of urban dweller. It consists of an exoskeleton where regular shipping containers transformed into apartment units plug-in. The main structure provides basic infrastructure as well as recreational areas while the habitable units can be transported by ship, truck, and train to almost every large city worldwide providing a sense of “home” to these modern urban nomads.

The structures will consist of a dense mesh of steel beams. Every 100 feet there will be platforms that, in addition of providing rigidity to the structure, they will create a micro-city inside the skyscraper -an indoor /outdoor space used for recreational and social activities.
 

to Capture plastics

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean sits a mass of garbage that is 8.1% the size of the entire sea. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), and is estimated to contain over 100 million tons of waste. The debris gathers in that particular location as ocean currents convene in the Subtropical Convergence Region, and is causing grave harm to the immediate ecosystem and those within a broad surrounding swath.

The Plastic Fish Tower, a circular structure floating on the ocean surface within the GPGP, will collect and reprocess plastic, which estimates say comprises 90% of the GPGP and is often ingested by birds and fish, causing their demise. A large fence will circle the structure underwater in a 1 km diameter to capture all the plastic that floats its way. The plastic will be recycled within the structure and processed into plastic patches that can be assembled into fish farms to restore the ecosystem. In addition to helping mitigate the pollution, the fish farm will also have two added benefits: the buoyancy of the plastic fish farm elements will be enough to keep the entire structure afloat since plastic is in fact so buoyant, and it will position the structure as a tourist attraction. Bringing tourists to the GPGP would greatly help in disseminating widely the reality of this manmade ecological catastrophe. The tourists will be transported to and from the site by ships that are fueled by chemicals that will be collected from the processed plastics within the skyscraper in an as-of-yet-undiscovered method of chemical extraction.

The structure itself is a ring that rises above the water and also goes below, but is largely hollow. The outer ring holds residential and leisure spaces, and is connected at intervals by bridges that are enclosed underwater (and one that is open on the water’s surface). Fishing banks made from the recycled plastic funnel up through the middle of the ring, helping to keep the structure buoyant.

the Poetry in a Chair

The internationally acclaimed Studio Aisslinger, with offices in Berlin and Singapore, uses new materials in a way that emphasizes utilitarian and organic aspects of design, and manages to reconcile high aesthetics criteria with contemporary nomadic lifestyles. Their monobloc chair was created for the “Poetry Happens” exhibition in Ventura Lambrate. What is innovative about the design is the fact that it is made of natural fibers, using production methods widespread in the automobile industry to achieve lightness and strength.

The sustainable sheet material of the Hemp Chair allows the use of more than 70% natural fibers in combination with BASF’s water-based acrylic resin Acrodur. Unlike with classic reactive resins, this method releases no organic substances such as phenol or formaldehyde during the cross-linking process. The only by-product of the curing procedure is water. Furthermore, the industrial process of compression molding accounts for low-cost mass production of three-dimensional objects with high mechanical resistance and very low specific weight.

The Hemp Chair is eco-friendly, lightweight and stackable. It is made from a thin layer of material, shaping a soft curved structure reminiscent of automobile aesthetics. It’s a product that aspires to answer some of the current design demands: sustainability, sophisticated appearance and possibility of mass production.

an Energy to Draw

The Tena Tower is a massive 640,000 square meter development project for the town of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Designed by Paris based architect Manuelle Gauntrand, the Tena Tower project is meant to be an entirely energy self-sufficient oasis to draw in foreign and internal investments to Burkina Faso.

Gauntrand began her design by establishing a 180,000 square meter man-made lake to design the complex about. Although visually dominated by the 96 ft. tower on the northwest side of the development, the Tena Tower masterplan includes 80 villas, a park system, and a number of mixed used facilities to be built around the new lake.

Surrounding the lake in an emulating pattern are 14 massive groves of photovoltaic cells to power the villas and facilities. The pattern of the lake and groves were inspired by the feathers of a peacock. Parks, recreation areas, and promenades surround the lake and weave in and throughout the villa complexes.

The tower itself will house a hotel, 50 apartments, offices, and restaurants. A lace of metallic panels is extended beyond the facade, twisted to efficiently filter light but maintain views to the surrounding landscapes. Between the lace and façade will be periodic terraces to further emphasize viewing. Like a woman’s dress at the ankles, the lace lays outward at the base of the tower to cover the lobby and lower facilities.

The Tena Tower complex is the winner of a 2010 design competition for the site by real estate investment company REAL TACAMA FZE. The shear scale of the project should create hundred of construction and service jobs in the area, but the lasting effect of high end hotels and residences in developing countries is still quiet unclear. It is currently in the study phase and site work is expected to begin in 2013.

to Trike True

Today, more cities and urban centers are building dedicated bicycle lanes on city streets. Cycling is becoming an increasingly viable way to commute to work and make short, local trips around town.  However, cycling is also a fair- weather transportation option and often carrying groceries or other items is relegated to a small wicker basket perched precariously on the handle bars. The reality is that most climates and most cities need a viable alternative to make short distance commuting a reality for self propulsion. The TrikE is designed to be a true alternative to the car for local transportation.

to Cross over Fire

Prechteck’s design for the extension of the National Library of Austria located at the Hofburg in Vienna contains a number of cultural facilities including a 1200sqm underground core exhibition hall, a smaller 600sqm multifunctional hall, creative studios, a restaurant, and shops.

The design is to be seen as an extension of the bordering park and takes off at its north-west end to cross over the fire / drop-off lane with a twist that after crossing arches back to the ground level to melt into the landscape. All the  facilities are housed in one seamless structure, creating at each point a different spatial experience towards the Hofburg and directing its visitors intuitively to the foyer and to the different programs.
 

a Plywood to Mensa

Part of a distinctive plywood collection of furniture designed by Lazerian, the Mensa Collection includes models that use various connecting methods of bolting and self-interlock. With the use of CNC router, these models are further advanced to find structural forms capable of supporting weight. This specific collection uses both raw and laminated birch plywood. The Mensa table is constructed and held together with stainless steel fixings. The modular pieces are bolted onto a stainless steel base and a 6 mm piece of toughened glass.

The name for the collection is derived from two Latin words: mēns, which means ‘mind’, and mēnsa, which means ‘table’ symbolizing the original conception of the society, ‘a round table where no one has precedence’. These light and sophisticated plywood-objects, which get their stability by the artfully patterned and flexible structure, are engaging examples of computer aided design.


 

a Kuma Kengo

Placed second at the Taipei City Museum of Art Competition, the proposal designed by Kengo Kuma+Associates derives its iconicity from emphasizing two distinct design tendencies. The first relates to the idea of connectivity: the museum is a cultural and communication hub, providing a space for gatherings, exhibitions and workshops. An urbanistic attitude is noticeable in the configuration of the structure. The skin acts as a canopy- accessible and welcoming, it shelters a public space below. The pavilion-like programmatic distribution contributes to the overall impression of the museum being part of the cityscape. The main hall is connected to a nearby train station, cable car, riverbank trail, demystifying the museum culture, interpreting it as an integral part of the urban experience.

The Museum’s other striking feature is the double skin system. It has an important role in the sustainability of the building. It is designed as a steel mesh of the structural framework, capped with diverse elements including EFTE cushions, LEDs, ventilation louvers, solar panels and green roof. This highly breathable envelope extends all the way to the ground in places to create shaded spaces. And at night, the building is illuminated by energy-efficient LEDs, creating an impressive lighting effect.

to Art an Egg

Kokuy Housing

This project is a redevelopment idea for the waste grounds in the suburbs of the Russian city of Kokuy. The majority of the existing houses will be restored and three new egg-shaped buildings will provide the new necessary housing. These structures will be covered with solar panels that will move according to the sunlight. Movable screens cover the entire outer skin and are used to regulate the temperature and the illumination. The main structure is formed by four columns that support a secondary structure around the ‘eggs’.

The project will be constructed in four stages and will accommodate recreational areas for the community. A new transportation system will communicate the new development with the city in less than ten minutes. Artists will be invited to decorate the facades and contribute to exhibitions in the new galleries.
 

to Green the Clouds

Imagine a skyscraper which is not an apartment block or an office building. Instead it is a vertical park that rises into the sky having its head in the clouds.

It’s a place for dreaming, playing and breathing. A peaceful place where in the middle of the hectic city on the 22nd floor there is room for birds chirping, rustling of leaves, lying on the grass and hearing your heart beat.

The vertical park is not a solitary skyscraper. It is a new urban typology which would emerge in several places from the midst of monotonous blocks of the city. Any city of the world lacking green space, but with an abundance of asphalt streets and concrete blocks would be an ideal location for vertical parks. Where there is no place at all at ground level they would anchor on top of buildings and simply rise into the sky.

The height of a vertical park would depend on the density of population in a particular neighbourhood and a number of people missing a green place to dream and play in. Everyone would have a chance to find their own little world.

The vertical park does not intend to compete with the surroundings. It enriches the modern city environment by bringing back nature into the artificial urban world. It’s an ecosystem in symbiosis with the city infrastructure.

As a piece of nature it completes the city and its inhabitants, thereby spiritualizing and elevating both.

to Sunlight a Room

This remodeling project was executed within a Hong Kong’s public rental building, in the attempt to merge two typical existenzminimum units and enhance their spatial qualities, regarding natural lighting, ventilation and privacy.

The project was designed by Kwok Tung Chun. He elaborates on the process:

“On the original plan, it is not possible to create two rooms which have widows toward outdoor, so I curved the new created wall for setting a window and door on a 45 degree in order to introduce sunlight and air flow into one of the rooms. In the other room, I patterned the wall with specified openings which insulating the sight but light and air-flow still be able to get into the room. Therefore the nature lighting and ventilation are able to happen in these two rooms.

The entire creation is consisted of customized furniture, reflective wall penals and a hollow partition wall. All of them were fabricated in factory and then assembled in site, especially the partition wall which was assembled from wooden boards and manufactured by CNC machine as a outcome of contouring process. All the pieces of boards would be assembled into several large components, and finished with polishing and painting before shipment to the site. Hence, this is a low budget and experimental project which testing the capacity of pre-fabrication in a interior design by utilizing CAD and CAM tools.”

to Live above Seven Rivers...

Housed within 55,000 glaciers in the Himalaya Mountains sits 40 percent of the world’s fresh water. The massive ice sheets are melting at a faster-than-ever pace due to climate change, posing possible dire consequences for the continent of Asia and the entire world stand, and especially for the villages and cities that sit on the seven rivers that come are fed from the Himalayas’ runoff as they respond with erratic flooding or drought.

The “Himalaya Water Tower” is a skyscraper located high in the mountain range that serves to store water and helps regulate its dispersal to the land below as the mountains’ natural supplies dry up. The skyscraper, which can be replicated en masse, will collect water in the rainy season, purify it, freeze it into ice and store it for future use. The water distribution schedule will evolve with the needs of residents below; while it can be used to help in times of current drought, it’s also meant to store plentiful water for future generations.

The lower part of the Himalaya Water tower is comprised of six stem-like pipes that curve and wind together and collect and store water. Like the stem of a plant, these pipes grow strong as they absorb their maximum water capacity. In each of the six stems, a core tube is flanked by levels and levels of cells, which hold the water. The upper part of the building – the part that is visible above the snow line – is used for frozen storage. Four massive cores support steel cylindrical frames that, like the stems below, hold levels that radiate out, creating four steel tubes filled with ice. In between the two sections are mechanical systems that help freeze the water when the climatic conditions aren’t able to do so, purify the water and regulate the distribution of water and ice throughout the structure.

At the bottom of the structure, surrounding the six intertwined water tubes is a transport system that regulates fresh water distribution to the towns and cities below. The curving channels connect the mountains to the villages, and are also hold within them a railway for the transport of people and goods.

water Sky earth

This project is a winning entry conceived by architects Chi Wai Chan, Xinyu Wan, and Geng Ke for a competition to design an arts and cultural square at Lake Sanyon in Daqing, China. The project examines the relationships between the elements of water, sky, and earth. A waterfront promenade that ensues the formal attributes and fluidity of the water, a 1,394 m long canopy with LED display that transpires the form of the clouds, and a ground condition of self-similar marine lifeform that establishes view corridors to the lake. These three design elements serve as the organizing  apparatus for the design of the square.

The architecture of the individual buildings experiments with a contemporary aesthetics attainable  through digital design.  Tools such as Maya, Rhino and Grasshopper were utilized during the  design process. But considerations were also given to achieving a balance between buildability and creativity. The architecture and the aesthetic affects were shaped by the materials and construction methods available, and by considerations of the process and fabrication technologies available in translating a digital model into reality.
 

the Landscape of an Opera

How do we rethink an Opera? There is no lack in ambition.The constant all consuming urge for innovation can be destructive and self serving. But there is no mistaking the impact of creative processes fuelled by these seemingly undesirable traits . To dissect the traditional opera, gnawing away at the foundations of the sacred opera house till that threshold is reached when the hierarchies are disintegrated, when the instrument becomes the artist, and artist the facilitator.

The attempt was to transform the notion of a designed space into that of a designed intent. Performative spaces were achieved through articulations of the skin, the surface and the structure. Starting from a simple module, the articulations rise in complexity and hierarchy to sprout a new opera and concert hall in the middle of the Stadtpark in Vienna. The landscape is a manicured english garden which is transformed by the growth of the bionic music pavilion progressively mutating into an Opera. A relationship fluctuating between symbiotic and parasitic exists between the landscape and the opera in such a way that the boundaries are blurred.

The interstitial spaces are colonized by a matrix of semi flexible biotic cell which undergoes mutation according to its specific situation. These cells exist in a state of flux between calcified structural cells, transparent circulation clusters, and lush botanical cells.

The opera as a music instrument that has a kaleidoscopic effect on the performances. The sound is selectively propagated into 4 quadrants based on the urban conditions. The opera is also an urban condenser, facilitating the streamlining of the multi modal flows surrounding stadtpark. Creates new vistas and flow patterns and thus sculpts the urbanscape.

The project was designed by Hend Almatrouk as part of the Urbanstrategies Excessive studio at the Universität Für Angewandte Kunst, Wien.

the Future of Housing

Architecture Redefined

All throughout history people have attempted to redefine the basic meaning of life.  How do you design for the future?  What is the future of housing?  When looking back on history, pre-fabrication became a popular process of mass production of similar units that could be easily assembled.  This process was invented during the industrial revolution when it became crucial for guns to have inter-changeable parts. Now, in an era of mass customization what does being pre-fabricated really mean?

In the past, machine like processing has always had a direct correlation to human musculature, and making things easier and quicker to build.  Could a machine be based on conscience instead of muscle… like a computer science program?

Changing the role of the architect is a possibility as well; instead of an architect designing a specific building, the architect develops the interface for people to interact with.  This design machine creates a constraint and a new born freedom.  The design machine becomes the interface system with which home owners can customize a home without an architect by their side.   

Computation based design and morphological processes allow for many different kinds of variations and mutations which can easily adapt to different constraints set forth.  What will tie these iterations together?  The answer is topology.  Houses written of the same base original equation will always have the same topological relationships, even when it is mutated, as long as the equation is always additive, without subtraction of original elements.  The Classic Klein Bottle seems like an ideal topology as it already begins to create openings and spatial continuity.  The way in which it is one continuous surface suggests certain structural performances.

What kinds of spaces will be in this mutated Klein bottle?  The machine will not design bedrooms, family rooms or any specific programmatic room. Instead, a home will consist of soft spaces, hard spaces, transparent spaces and wet spaces.  Depending whether a surface is sin-clastic or anti-clastic will determine what kind of structural system will be implemented. 

Another question that one must consider when designing for the future is where people will be living in the future.  How can one develop a new lifestyle of the future?  With global warming increasing and dense populations continuing to rise, where will people live?  With fewer desirable climatic regions and with an increase in population, the areas of inhabitable land diminish.  The new suburbia will not be on land but on water.  Mobile house ships may become the lifestyle of the future.

rainbow Panorama

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Denmark’s second largest city’s is newly crowned with a glass rainbow ring that transforms the cities vista into ever changing hues. Olafur Eliasson’s “Your rainbow panorama” is the final level of the museums symbolic ascension through Dante’s 9 circles of hell in the Divine Comedy. The circle, set above the rooftop, is the crescendo of that journey into light. Measuring 52 meter in diameter and 150 meters long the skywalk is entered from a roof deck. The full spectrum of colors is achieved by sandwiching up to 6 colored sheets in-between two plates of glass. The effect of the circular walk and slowly transitioning changing in color acts as a visual meter of the city view.

Eliasson’s intention is to blur the distinction between contemporary art and architecture, using the entire city as an active part of the experience. His goal of mixing the inside with the outside is further emphasized by using natural light to power the retinal experience, where intensity is sensed by hue and sunlight levels. At night the ring is internally lit from the floor, becoming a beacon in the city.

“Think of ‘Your rainbow panorama’ as an expectation machine. Even before entering ARoS and ascending to the work, you may look upon the city as if through coloured glass. Your expected gaze. What you know from the street then emerges from above as strangely real, in a continuous interplay of colour saturation and desaturation. Suspended between the city and the sky, this viewing platform insists on your sensory engagement. You feel the view. Perhaps your memory of the art collections below, through which you just made your way, infiltrate your experience.”- Olafur Eliasson.

to Sound San Lorenza

The Soundscape Towers, the creation of Roman architects Alessandro Di Clemente, Martina Mattia and Carmen Pia Scarilli, are proposed for a very specific and historic location. Nestled into the dense urban fabric of the San Lorenza neighborhood of Rome will be three modern skyscrapers, and their design will not be entirely unwelcome, say the artchitects: though the neighborhood is part of the once walled-in old city, the building stock today is a mixture of history and modernity as much of the town was bombed in WWII (and subsequently rebuilt).

San Lorenza is located near the busiest train station in southern Italy and is home to the largest university campus in Europe, giving the towers a diverse array of community needs to meet. The architects studied the estimated growth rate of the region to calculate the use of the towers. Each tower has a different blend of units within: the buildings house a mixture of offices, student and family housing, commercial spaces for shops, restaurants and pubs, post offices, pharmacies, museums, theaters, a library, and relaxation areas, such as parks and sport fields. The towers are all accessible from the ground, but are also connected to one another with “sinusoidal bands.”

The towers also serve another purpose: they both absorb and dampen urban noise, and transmit is as well, as if giant speakers. The concept, say the authors, is to filter the urban noise pollution into serene sounds city dwellers wish to hear, to rework startling sirens and alarms into harmonic sound waves.

Using the ideas of energy transmission, sound wave traveling and complex geometry, Di Clemente, Mattia and Scarilli have created towers that help make urban life more peaceful for residents of the San Lorenza neighborhood both inside the buildings and out.
 

de Facto eCology

The student housing on rue Amelot designed by Stephane Malka is a project that inserts itself into an urban interstice: the thickness of a blind wall. It’s within the thickness of these walls that this thin building is constructed. The urban form is a strict extension of the blind walls, which houses using the existing. No building is destroyed, and no pollution generated. The skin consists of an existing module: the wooden pallet.

Held using horizontal hinges, the pallets contract towards the top, allowing privacy or large openings. The modularity of the various palettes creates varied geometries, which are based on use and constantly regenerated. The reappropriation of materials recycles the existing without additional processing, which would cost energy in terms of production and create byproduct pollution.

The real environmental approach consists not in destruction, but in superimposing interventions upon our built heritage. It consists of a new land strategy, unreferenced on a parcel, constructed in a de facto “ecology” of means.

folded CITY

How to live vertically? Building higher and higher does not seem to change the way we live. Most people wish to live in single-family residences, but the problem is the lack of diversity and density. How to have the benefits of suburbia combined with the intensity of living in the city?

The history of the skyscrapers goes back to Elisha Otis, who invented the elevator in the 19th century. This invention promoted the conquest of the sky with projects competing for prowess and size.  What would happened if within a house the elevator is used as a remote control to move from one floor to another, from one program to another?

This new “object” would challenge the function of living. The house becomes smart and incorporates multiple applications – one application per floor. The elevator is for the house what that Internet is for a smart-phone. A necessary parameter! Now you can “zap” your life spatially. Imagine yourself in your room, put on your slippers, go in your elevator, and zap! You will be in your living room, your garage, your favorite bar or business place; the park where you go jogging!

The new tower is born, or rather, the first cell. We must now find the idea of “Tower”. This cell is only anecdotal, but multiplied and intensified, it marks its existence. It is now clearly identifiable as an “object”.  The idea of “Tower” is inseparable from the idea of city, so we have now an object in the city, which looks like a city.  Perceptions are distorted. The object in the city became literally the “city-object”.

toxic Garden in Continuum

Toxicity/contamination/mutation/distortion is a hybride which synthesizes a library and garden into a one spacial continuum. The project designed by Kadri Kerge at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is located in the Burggarten, Vienna – which served as a private royal garden for the Habsburg family. It is situated between the Austrian National Library and a large greenhouse called Palmenhaus that sits at a right angle to it. The roots of the plants from the greenhouse grow out of the container, break the sealed ground and as a mutants combine nature and building. They overlap with the context in housing part of the program of institutions nearby like The Austrian Film Museum, the National Library, and the Albertina Museum.

Toxic Garden is a self-sustainable building generating heat and power through the plants which are growing in the building. The energy design concept provides a range of microclimatic conditions as interfaces between user, information and nature. The building of the Austrian National library is an opulent baroque structure that has housed the Imperial book collection between 1721 and 1918, that was then nationalized.

Since 2011 the National Library archive has been fully digitized, and therefore the physical space of books has been abstracted. The extension of the library is a new type of social environement. It creates different types of atmospheres forreading, working, discovery and community.

The Toxic Garden is an integration of nature and the artificial, of garden and information that has no body. The vegetation of the Burggarten becomes part of the library space and according to the four seasons it transforms atmospheres and functions. In the could season when the Burggarten is naked, the library becomes a green house. In summer the building is naked and opens the program to park activities .
 

a Plant to Read

LAVA has unveiled their EVOLUTION lamp in collaboration with Philips, the global leader in lighting. The lamp is on display at Handmade during the fair.

Chris Bosse, Asia Pacific Director of LAVA says: ‘the challenge was to re-imagine an object that everybody knows, to break up preconceived ideas. The playful reinterpretation of a sculptural table lamp resembles a plant rather than a desk light’.

Rogier van der Heide, Chief Design Officer at Philips Lighting, says: “With the EVOLUTION desk light, Chris Bosse of LAVA has created a new design language in luminaire design. The desk light is also a great representation of Philips’ people-focused approach to lighting: a friendly product, based on a humanistic design concept while delivering state of the art LED technology, all of this in a very attractive way. The design posed many technical challenges such as thermal management and a complex double curved shape – however, close collaboration between LAVA and Philips has ensured that the EVOLUTION lamp exceeded our expectations in terms of design and engineering.”

EVOLUTION is inspired by the growth in plants. LAVA’s design and architectural concepts emulate the structural principles of nature such as cells and leaves in order to be more efficient – lighter, stronger, and ultimately more beautiful.
LAVA imagines the design at many scales, from a living room lamp of human height to a desk light.

LAVA has designed a number of furniture and lighting objects on various scales. ‘But design in that sense is scale-less, the scale can be transferred up and down. The organisational pattern of a leaf can be the same as that underlying a plan for an entire city,’ adds Bosse.

The Handmade show at the Brioni Palazzo celebrates collaboration with leading international designers, manufacturers and craftsmen creating a unique collection – cape suits, jet seats, bottled books, a very modern makeup kit, a pop-up barbers shop and a lunch box.

the Ocean as a Living organism

The Oceanic Pavilion designed by Emergent Architecture and Kokkugia for the Yeosu 2012 Expo in Korea is a structure “which celebrates the ocean as a living organism and the co-existence of human culture and ocean ecosystems. The building is based on an aggregation of soft membrane bubbles merged together with a hard monocoque shell. The two systems are characterized by patterns of surface articulation which are specific to their materiality”. Deep pleats and mega-armatures that create structural stiffness are generally associated with the fiber-composite shell, while fine, double-pleated ‘Air-beams‘spread over and stabilize the vaulted ETFE membranes. Micro-armatures transgress thresholds between shell and membrane, creating structural and ornamental continuity between systems.

to Produce oXygen

Natural disasters, the threat of technological meltdown and even the possibility of visitors from space all present a need for cities and even countries to reorganize to implement infrastructure that can protect people from possible catastrophes.

The “Citadel Skyscraper” project is imagined for Japan because of the numerous natural and manmade disasters that have struck the region in recent years. The project proposes a three-part implementation of new structures with an end result of protecting the island with a fortress-like defense shield. The first part involves a restructuring of the land use of all of the country’s major cities as residents are moved out of the city proper. Businesses and commercial endeavors will stay located within the cities, but residents will move out to sea and live in self-supporting residential skyscrapers, or citadels. The second part specifies the location of these citadels: They will be lined up as a single “sheet”, creating a barrier 2-3 km from the shoreline that can protect the mainland from tsunamis. The skyscrapers themselves are connected by a system of breakwaters and drainage channels, and are able to withstand waves up to 50 meters tall. These are further bolstered by a connected series of fiber sails, buried as deep as 1,200 meters, that surround the island. When the waves hit the sails and meet the oscillations of its stretched fibers, such a dissonance is created that the wave is reduced to nothing.

The third part of this plan involves a skyscraper design that can protect its inhabitants. The prototypical skyscraper for this project has a metal frame; its foundation is poured at a depth of 1,200 meters and it reaches 500 meters into the sky. By burying the structure so far into the earth, it is protected from seismic activity (earthquakes up to a magnitude 11), waves (up to 40 feet tall) and man-made disasters (such as the explosion of atomic weapons). A system of bars forming a single, one-piece shield around the building serves as its protection system. They are energetically self-sustaining, using wave power for energy generation, and they have live fish tanks to provide food for residents.

The citadels mainly function as residential structures, but every 50 meters there are recreation areas and mini parks. The buildings also feature restaurants, cafes, shops, cinemas and laundromats. If the citadel’s outer shield is closed completely in anticipation of disaster outside, the building is ventilated by blowers located every 100 meters that are connected to a system of niches filled with hydroponic algae that produce oxygen by absorbing carbon dioxide. The citadels are connected with the city and the coastal zone by above ground, high-speed trains that run through 4 systems of tunnels.

platonic Space

Russian architects Gagarinskaya Anastasiya and Gaydukova Varvara from the Moscow Institute of Architecture propose a three-hundred meter tall space station on the western side of Moscow. The strong architectural forms are inspired by the Russian Constructivists of the early 20th Century with the use of platonic forms and clean lines. It consists of a main multifunctional round platform with additional horizontal landing strips. The station is linked to the city on the other side of the Moscow River by a pedestrian bridge where a hotel and other amenities would be located.

between Public and Private

The project attempts to integrate the homogenous structure of public housing with the urban fabric by blurring out the boundary between public and private. It uses the example of Seoul as the architectural paradigm for a contemporary Asian city. The program of the project relates to a unique building typology in Korea called “Keunseng” (community building), which consists of retail spaces, after school classes, and various “Bangs” (rooms). Both are unique to Korean culture. Since there is limited space for leisure activities inside the apartment, different kinds of Bangs emerge to provide space for leisure and entertainment.

The design involves three ways in which Bangs are assembled. Each of them directly engages with a particular condition and at the same time, draws people into the in-between plaza where the most intensive interaction take place. Each building transforms its internal programs into a public plaza, activating interaction within the community. The diversity of Keunseng is therefore disassembled and reorganized into a larger context. It is deployed as an instrument for connecting the residential unit to the street, landscape and adjacent buildings.

By triggering the latent network between homogeneous apartment buildings the project rethinks the concept of urban habitation and reestablishes the sense of community. The bathing Bang penetrates through the apartment tower, creating a unique space where residents and bathing customer and interact. The street interface transform the typical Karaoke room into different typologies from typical room into loft space, to auditorium and final an outdoor performance space.
 

Περαιτέρω Πτώση στα Ακίνητα

Περαιτέρω πτώση σημείωσαν το 2011, σε σχέση με το προηγούμενο έτος, οι τιμές των ακινήτων σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία του δικτύου της RE/MAX. Συνοπτικά, οι μέσες τιμές των μεταχειρισμένων / παλαιών ακινήτων ήταν κατά 18% χαμηλότερες σε σχέση με το 2010, ενώ των νέων / νεόδμητων κατά 10%. Το 2011 αποτέλεσε μία από τις πιο δύσκολες, αν όχι τη δυσκολότερη χρονιά για την ελληνική οικονομία. Αναπόφευκτα επηρεάστηκε σημαντικά και ο κλάδος της διαμεσολάβησης ακινήτων.

Σημαντικοί παράγοντες που επηρέασαν αρνητικά την κτηματαγορά ήταν το πάγωμα των στεγαστικών δανείων από πλευράς τραπεζών, καθώς και η πορεία της οικονομίας με την οποία σχετίζεται τόσο η ψυχολογία των αγοραστών όσο και η αγοραστική τους δύναμη. Η επιβολή έκτακτων φόρων και το κλίμα ανασφάλειας για την περαιτέρω πορεία της οικονομίας ενίσχυσαν την αναβλητικότητα εκ μέρους των αγοραστών και δημιούργησαν υπερπροσφορά ακινήτων.

Στην Αττική οι μέσες τιμές των παλαιών ακινήτων έπεσαν κατά 21%, ενώ των νέων σε ποσοστό 7%. Στη Θεσσαλονίκη η πτώση στα παλαιά ήταν 20% ενώ στα νεόδμητα 10%. Στην υπόλοιπη Ελλάδα η μείωση τιμών για τα παλαιά κυμάνθηκε γύρω στο 13%, ενώ για τα νεόδμητα στο 17%. Όπως έχει αναφερθεί και σε αντίστοιχες έρευνες προηγούμενων ετών τα επίπεδα τιμών διαμορφώνονται από πολλούς παράγοντες.

Ιδιαίτερα τη συγκεκριμένη περίοδο οι τιμές επηρεάζονται από τις διαπραγματεύσεις και από τις ιδιαίτερες συνθήκες που δημιουργούνται εξαιτίας της οικονομικής κατάστασης, όπως επίσης και από τα χαρακτηριστικά της κάθε περιοχής, τη ζήτηση αλλά και τα ποιοτικά χαρακτηριστικά των ακινήτων.

Προοπτικές αγοράς

Για τους επόμενο χρονικό διάστημα, η πορεία της κτηματαγοράς θα εξαρτηθεί σημαντικά από την πορεία της ελληνικής οικονομίας. Η σταθεροποίηση της οικονομίας και η αποφυγή εντονότερων πιέσεων προς τους καταναλωτές θα δημιουργήσει κλίμα ασφάλειας και θετική ψυχολογία, παράγοντες που θα δώσουν ώθηση στην αγορά ακινήτων. Επιπλέον παρουσιάζονται ιδιαίτερα ελκυστικές ευκαιρίες σε πολλές περιοχές, τόσο στα αστικά κέντρα όσο και την περιφέρεια και σε συγκεκριμένες κατηγορίες ακινήτων που θα τονώσει ακόμη εντονότερα το αγοραστικό ενδιαφέρον.

Το 2011, το ενδιαφέρον των αγοραστών επικεντρώθηκε όπως και τα δύο προηγούμενα έτη σε παλαιές κατοικίες / διαμερίσματα τα οποία πωλούνται σε πιο χαμηλές τιμές σε σχέση πάντα με τα αντίστοιχα νεόδμητα και σε ακίνητα μικρότερου εμβαδού. Από την άλλη πλευρά, σε χαμηλά επίπεδα κινήθηκαν τόσο τα επαγγελματικά ακίνητα (γραφεία, καταστήματα κτλ.) όσο και τα οικόπεδα / αγροτεμάχια.

Την ίδια χρονιά, τα ακίνητα που πωλήθηκαν πανελλαδικά μέσω του δικτύου της RE/MAX ήταν σε ποσοστό 80% κατοικίες (διαμερίσματα και μονοκατοικίες/μεζονέτες), ενώ τα οικόπεδα/αγροτεμάχια έφθασαν το 12%. Τα επαγγελματικά περιορίστηκαν σε ποσοστό 8%.

Στην Αττική η συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των πωληθέντων ακινήτων (88%) αφορούσε σε κατοικίες. Το 9% επί του συνόλου ήταν επαγγελματικά ενώ το ποσοστό των οικόπεδων / αγροτεμάχιων στο 3%. Στη Θεσσαλονίκη οι αγοραπωλησίες επικεντρώθηκαν σχεδόν αποκλειστικά (97%) στις κατοικίες και το υπόλοιπο ήταν επαγγελματικά ακίνητα.

robotic Arms Behind

We have seen the financial outcome of the Real Estate crash in 2008. What sometimes we overlook are the urban voids left by unfinished buildings. That is the case of the Filene’s development in downtown Boston which construction was halted in November 2008.  Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design Lab think this as an opportunity to explore new ways of producing architecture. They have designed a prefabricated ‘Eco-Pod’ that proposes to stimulate the economy and the ecology of downtown Boston. “The pods serve as bio-fuel sources and as micro-incubators for research”. The idea is that these pods will generate enough energy to control a series of robotic arms that will continue the construction of the building – once it is completed, the pods could be transported to other sites to build more structures.

a Pokadotted lawn

The venerable 200 year old Städel Museum has just reopened after a major 3 year remodeling which, from the exterior, is a no more than a modest if not unique pokadotted lawn. Frankfurt’s hometown architecture firm schneider+schumacher used a subterranean program to provide 3,000 square meters of space for post war and contemporary art. Like massive portals the 195 circular skylights connect the underground space directly with sky creating a tension between landscape, form and light.
The new exhibition space is further exploration of a new urban topography which blends new with old in fortuitous arrangements. The addition is designed to avoid competition with the original building and subsequent wings but nearly doubles the institution’s size. The small hill inserted as the contemporary art annex’s roof and central grass courtyard softens the original building’s simple massing and restrained façade.

A large white descending staircase leads to even more white which finishes the walls, floors, and ceilings. The dominate architecture feature is the circular grid of skylights in the ceiling, providing context to the interior’s position in the surrounding environment. During daylight hours the galleries are dominated by a soft glow, ever changing throughout the day. Evening reverses the effect with the roof /courtyard illuminated from below in the dotted landscape.

into Light, into Cathedral

Architect Nir Ben Natan  unveiled a generic proposal for a cathedral. The envelope of the structure is composed of repeated elements relying on a central arc which constitutes an avenue for the system of skylight windows which penetrates natural light into the interior of the building.

The inspiration for the structure was derived from the body of an oyster, which in itself was designed to protect and nurture the precious pearl developing within it. Thus, this cathedral expresses the church and the pure belief, which nurtures the belivers during assembly for prayer. In this way, the structure serves the believers by creation of a space intensifying the emotional experience and spiritual elevation at prayer time.

Ц:СА

Архитектура, являясь зеркальным отражением социальной, культурной и экономической жизни общества, переживает радикальные перемены в постперестроечной России и особенно в Москве. Формирование архитектуры обновленной России в условиях стихийного перехода страны к капитализму – процесс сложный и противоречивый. Для поддержки актуальных тенденций и явлений новой российской архитектуры был создан Ц:СА / Центр современной архитектуры.

В центре внимания Ц:СА< проблемы качества современной архитектуры, развивающейся в условиях стихийно складывающегося рынка.

Основные задачи Ц:СА< содействовать внедрению современной российской архитектуры в мировой культурный процесс, развернуть общественное сознание в сторону архитектурных проблем, развивать международные профессиональные связи, поддерживать архитектурное сообщество российской провинции.

Цель деятельности Ц:СА< формирование информационного и культурного пространства, способствующего продвижению актуальной архитектуры.

a Disaster Zone

The Rescuer Skyscraper is an algae hydrogen-powered floating skyscraper proposal to be used as temporal shelter for disaster zones. It could also be used during the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected areas.

The project is based on the idea of producing bio-fuels through an ingenious algae farm that covers the top part of the structure. The algae will absorb CO2 as its main nutrient for photosynthesis and will produce hydrogen to be used in bioreactors.

The geometry of the project resembles a vertical blimp with an open structure where housing units could be located.
 

to Transform into Habitable Structures

This design tackles current environmental issues, specifically at abandoned oil rig structures all around the world. The idea is to revitalize these structures and transform them into livable hubs. This activation process will use green energy and create a sustainable urban habitat. Solar energy will be harvested with a large photovoltaic membrane located on the roof while wind turbines will be located at strategic places along the four façades and tidal energy collectors at the bottom.

This design explores the possibility of living on the oil rig, above and below the ocean level. The general population can live above the water while specialized researchers such as marine biologists will work in underwater labs. The in-between zone will be used for housing and recreational areas. The existing structures could be strengthen with the use of peripheral steel beams that allow for high velocity wind to filter through the platform without obstructions.
 

underGround Architecture

Imagine a landscape where the predominant colors shift from yellow to brown, where the only materials are sand and dry clay, and where variations are determined by slight differences in shades. Imagine yourself in a place characterized by contrasting elements; bright light, strong shadows, total darkness, torrid heat, and intense cold.  You will inhabit a place without references or variations. 

We propose a new kind of residence named ‘Well House’, a universally applicable dwelling or refuge with all the characteristics of hipogeos architecture. Our project is based on the Italian St. Patrizio’s sink, characterized by a series of spaces around a central space that contains water.
The ‘Well House’ is closed to the outside world and environment, and opens to an inner core surrounded by the living room, kitchen, aquarium, hydroponic green house, and bedrooms. 

There are two more levels with a water recollection cistern for rain and ‘foggare’ (a south Italian way to capture underground condensation through linear canalizations) and a geothermal plant that regulates the dwelling temperature while providing the necessary electricity through a serpentine system
 

Chilean Architecture

Material selection in design is indicative of connection with physical and cultural geography, attention to technological changes, environmental concerns and the project’s budget. In Chile, when and how materials are selected in the design process illustrates differences in philosophy. With its new economic and social openness, experimentation in architecture and design has exploded. Some architects emulate vernacular styles or local materials as a basis for finding new forms, some use standardized sizes and particular materials in order to cut construction costs and others begin with used or recycled materials as a premise for determining form. Still others use the materials themselves to reflect their landscape. Among all these precedents are a Spanish colonial adobe hotel in the Atacama Desert, a vacation home whose varied wood siding imitates the striations on the adjacent cliffs if the coast, a church that imitates roadside sculpture-shrines and a grass-roofed hotel that allows for a continuous vista of Patagonian pastures. The treatment and selection of material can be seen as a lens through which to examine the varying design precedents of current architects in Chile.

Several current architects take their example from regionalism. Their selection of materials naturally progresses from the use of local form. In his plea for a more sensitive architecture, Kenneth Frampton writes that building “must become the embodiment of habitable places” rather than a “misguided concern to assimilate the technical and processal realities of the 20th century.” Accordingly, many of these buildings take precedent not from urban industrial structures or the imported grandeur of the Spanish colonial style, but from the smaller scale, craftsman built structures farm buildings and homes that scatter the countryside.
 

an Anemone is Waving

Anemone is an art installation aimed at waving together aesthetic experience and tactile engagement- a combination generally considered off limits within the world of contemporary art. All too often, art installations are considered precious, almost sacred objects; while they are meant to be appreciated for their aesthetic beauty, they offer little in terms of human interaction. In other words, they are meant to be seen, not felt. Recognizing that human engagement is one of the key factors in creating a rich experience, Anemone has been designed with the idea of interaction as one of its key design objectives.
Upon first glance, the piece is meant to be viewed as a relatively simple, elegant object, with subtle undulations that wrap its walls and smooth bent corners. Given a closer look, however, one discovers that, like the bristling tentacles of its namesake, the sea anemone, the surface is actually a build-up of thousands of transparent rods. Each of the rods is inserted to gradually changing depths, creating the undulating effect. This undulation is meant to evoke a sense of curiosity about its construction, use, tactility and materiality, encouraging different forms of interaction. Elements are designed with that interaction in mind, incorporating a simple wall that might be brushed, and benches used for seating. At the center of the installation is a table/bed like element that sits bellow a cantilevered canopy of bristles.
 

forWard to Anthropogenic Climate

Buildings are currently the highest single contributors to anthropogenic climate change accruing to approximately 45% of the world’s current energy consumption. Projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate that advancements in buildings’ energy efficiency could potentially reduce anticipated global carbon emissions up to 30% by 2030. Yet, emerging global economies are projected to increase exponentially energy, water consumption and toxic emissions due to the unforeseen density and scale of new constructions.

Next-generation building technologies thus bear undeniable responsibility to streamline accelerated innovation of building technologies to diminish the ever growing pressures on ecosystems. We anticipate that in this pursuit, architecture will shift into considering new models of energy self-generation and material degradability to further approximate autotrophic built environments designed to balance resources’ inputs and outputs.

This proposal addresses the opportunity of developing an internal (Part A) and external membrane system (Part B) that through live (algae/lichen) and synthetic matter integration can process matter, and contribute significantly to decrease energy consumption.
Detox Tower opens a new frontier that through multi-scalar material interdependencies that controls at the micro scale transformation processes aims to pioneer on next-generation sustainable building systems opportunities posited by live matter integration in Skyscrapers. We aim to contribute through this proposal to the discussion and analysis of new methods to control energy exchange, storage and processing of matter through microscale actuation that deploys bio-synthetic building integration in high rise towers that provide human comfort internally and externally.

The embracing of live matter vis-à-vis resistance to biological agents can unfold unforeseen opportunities of sustainable architecture efficiency. In tandem to a reactive/adaptable structural system that enables air detoxification and light transmission control, we propose a radically new programmatic occupation of Residential Skyscrapers trough a flexible floor/wall system. By purchasing a lot (sky voume) of space equivalent to a typical lot on the ground owners can create their own layouts that change through time through an expansive/contractile composite (elastomer/thermoplastic) floor/wall system. Self-regulation based on micro engineering principles thus serves a dual purpose bioclimatic synergy (air detoxification/light transmission control) and as a means to open new inhabitation opportunities.
 

a Metamorphic inSect

The conceptual idea for the Cocoon Lamp design comes from drawing parallels between the PolyJet fabrication technology and the metamorphic behavior of insects. The cocoon is a shell, which larvae of various insects, particularly caterpillars, are building for their metamorphosis. The liquid secreted during this process is compared to a liquid photopolymer that is applied out of nozzles and hardened through UV-light.

The adaption of the construction and the clean design of a cocoon lead to the emergence of the inner element. Its geometry is formed by spun threads, which wind around the light source. The white and hard material “VeroWhite“ is perfectly suited for this construction, because it provides the required rigidity and disseminates, through its reflective surface, the light further into the space. A dark layer „TangoBlackPlus“, which is applied to the surfaces of the side of the lamellae, provides the desired color contrast and protects the surface. At its lower end a special fitting is formed, to which the holding element can be connected to.

This way the cocoon can be connected to the mounting element. This organic form proceeds in swings around the cocoon enclosing it. Being printed out of the PolyJet matrix technology, based on the mixture of  materials, results in a gray, neither completely stiff nor completely flexible construction. Additionally, very soft, linear elements follow the surface and assure protection, skid resistance, and a comfortable haptic, when applied around the luminaire. This can be turned, laid or hung up in different positions. The optical appearance or the desired effect can be defined by the user.

to Harvest Water

A fictional narrative conceived by John Becker at the GSAPP, Columbia University exploring the potential of the dew collection though the past, present, and future.

Dating back to the 18th century the Harnham Estate, located a short distance outside Salisbury England has documented regional techniques for harvesting water providing a rich history of the practice and the subsequent effects. The methods applied through the centuries reflect regional limitations, a shift in intention and attempts to amplify efficiencies. Although many of these techniques are specific to the region and time period, they are not necessarily unique to the site; it is the extent of the documentation of these exercises and the entrepreneurial achievements intent on monetary gain that make the subsequent story so fascinating.

After acquiring the Estate in 1786 following the death of his Father, Sir Edward Harnham commissioned a series of engraved maps to be produced of the Estate. Cataloguing the boundaries of the Estate, as well as all landmarks within the terrain in a series of 4 maps and 2 scenic prints one depicting the manor, and the other the view of the Salisbury Cathedral from the manor. The 2 remaining images both display the dew ponds contained on the site. The large number and proximity of these dew ponds is rare, and is considered to be the largest concentration of dew ponds known in the South Downs.

Located on large deposits of chalk the South Downs is essentially a large aquifer making the retention of water a difficult task. For hundreds of years residents of the South Downs have used a technique known as puddling to construct dew ponds which allow water to be drawn from the atmosphere and retained on the surface for long periods to provide drinking water for cattle. In the Early 20th century a catastrophic failure exposed a previously forgotten cistern located beneath the dew ponds. A local architecture firm was hired to survey the cistern and assess its potential threat to the existing manor. The conclusions presented stated that once the water had evacuated the cistern it was no longer a structural threat to the residence.

Providing premium bottled water harvested from the now locally known Harnham dew ponds, Ethereal 1 entered the market June 11th, 1991 at £14 a litre. After a slow start Ethereal 1 finally met with success in 1995 as the market for bottled water grew exponentially. In order to meet growing demands, a series of dew collecting nets were pioneered by a London based architecture firm MJB Architects which allowed for a 25 fold increase in production. Due to peak production vs. bottling time, storage bladders were constructed on the hillside to provide short term storage for water during the process. The Bladders were placed under the surface of the earth to provide protection from the sun, and to retain the water’s desired temperature.

This new system now mirrored the previous system of harvesting, storing, and distorting the landscape, except on an exaggerated time scale. The success of Ethereal 1 is largely credited to the history of water collection from the Estate. Inversely this success in turn encouraged the use of these techniques in the region to meet growing demands for water during periods of drought. Once these techniques were spread over a larger region their success caused the near collapse of the water table in the territory north of the South Downs. In 2026 a bill failed to pass that would have banned all acts of poaching the aerial aquifers within Southern England. By 2035 desalination became the leading source of water for England followed closely by atmospheric stripping techniques such as dew harvesting. At present 3000 cubic miles of water exist in the atmosphere at any given time. 98 percent of this resource is replenished every 2 days, and most importantly only 2 percent of this moisture exist in clouds, the vast majority is found in ambient air. Since 2028 atmospheric aquifers have been tracked and traded as an asset in the global stock exchange.

As water’s value increases many countries inflate their economies based on water futures. Recognized as one of the most prestigious water companies in the world, Ethereal 1 began to capitalize on their long standing history of water collection. In 2001 the company began selling vintage bottles of water, allowing customers to hand pick select days in which their water was collected.

an Extension to a Metro

In the international competition for the new Sofia Metro Line extension and Metro station, Amsterdam-based ShaGa Studio, in collaboration with Margherita Del Grosso Architects, was shortlisted out of over 130 entries. The Lantern Metro station showcases ShaGa’s inclination towards combining architecture with infrastructure, ecology with computation, maintaining the idea of sustainability as backbone of the design process. The project ultimately received an honorable mention.

The project develops a new metro station typology through a time based sustainable approach and with special attention to day/night lighting conditions under and over ground. Nested along the future extension of Metro line 1 and at the local crossroad of Druhzba I and II residential areas, The Lantern transportation hub weaves together the district infrastructure needs with a series of unique local open public spaces .Through an emphasis on the natural light condition below ground and the integration of lighting features (back-lit LED ‘mood walls’) in the station interior and facade, the design enhances visitors orientation, visual connections and an optimized orchestration of public flows, seamlessly connecting the immediate urban context to the station’s concourse level and further to the train platforms.

developing Prototypes

This project is a 55,000 square foot research lab, designed by award-winning office Brooks + Scarpa, office and industrial testing facility serving an automotive industry client who designs and manufactures automotive and heavy truck chassis. The first phase encompasses a total of 15,500 square feet, including 5,500 square feet of office space and 11,000 square feet of research labs and warehouse space for testing and developing prototypes. The second phase consists of an additional 5,500 square feet of office space and 34,000 square feet of research labs and warehouse space.

Industrial buildings are rarely a place that anyone is happy to visit or work. They are typically a direct, and often nefarious programmatic response to the function inside with little consideration for the occupants needs. The approach to this project was to preserve the integrity of a high bay industrial facility and program, while providing a model environment for the users and visitors.

A saw-toothed roof draws from the geometry of old factories and the surrounding Monterrey Mountains. The angled elements of the roof provide abundant natural daylight to the spaces below at the building’s northernmost elevations. By modulating space and light thru a fractured roof geometry, the building is able to maintain a rational plan to meet the rigorous requirements of the program, while providing a strong connection to the landscape both visually and metaphorically.
The second major feature of the building is the perforated metal skin that clads the entire façade. Manufactured by the client in their auto manufacturing facility nearby, the custom aluminum skin is both perforated and etched. It incorporates interplay of solid and void, orchestrating areas of both light and shadow, while limiting views into the research areas, necessary to protect proprietary trade secrets. Thus, the industrial program has been transformed from a black box environment to a light filled space with a strong visual connection to the outside.

Each of these strategies and materials, exploit the potential for performance and sensibility while achieving a rich and interesting sensory and aesthetic experience.

Programmatically, the building is divided into two volumes – warehouse/labs and offices functions. The upper story of the offices cantilever over the lower story to the west and is clad in a highly perforated metal skin and is the main entry facade. The lower story is mainly glazed and open to reveal portions of the research laboratory, machine room and other industrial functions not requiring visually security. From the exterior, the warehouse appears to float lightly over the mechanical and intellectual heart of the program, reversing the notion that an industrial building should be solid and protected. Rather, the building seems very open and is intended to feel vulnerable revealing parts of its inner program to public view.

The main entry of the building is located at the northwest corner under the cantilevered volume. It is flanked by a sunken garden to the north, which is overlooked by the surrounding offices. The garden is a natural bioswale that connects to the adjacent water reclamation wetland for the entire PITT campus. A large industrial overhead door located off the entry in the main public space opens to the garden outside.

to Perform Ideas

SOFTlab produced a hanging installation for the entrance to School Nite, an exhibition of site-specific installations, performances, and discussions. The installation was curated by Nuit Blanche New York as part of Flash:Light 2011 along with the Festival of Ideas for the New City sponsored by the New Museum.

The installation was in the entrance of St. Patrick’s Catholic School at the corner of Prince and Mott Streets in NYC. The form was generated through a gravity driven process and then prepped for production. The surface contains more than 1400 battery powered LEDs. The piece was designed to light up the entrance for the night time event. The main formal expressions of the installation are the hanging pieces that flicker and blow in the wind, with the intention of slowing down traffic through experience and effect rather than typical barriers. Visitors are meant to co-mingle and interact with the piece, not unlike a clown fish and the sea anemone.
Photos: Alan Tansey

Materials: Mylar, Acrylic, LEDs, Conductive Thread, Lithium Batteries
Area: 270 sq.ft.
Date: May 7th, 2011

molecular Atomic scales

NanoArt is a new art discipline at the art-science-technology intersections. It features nanolandscapes (molecular and atomic landscapes which are natural structures of matter at molecular and atomic scales) and nanosculptures (structures created by scientists and artists by manipulating matter at molecular and atomic scales using chemical and physical processes). These structures are visualized with research tools like scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes and their scientific images are captured and further processed by using different artistic techniques to convert them into artworks showcased for large audiences.

NanoArt should not be confused with Microphotography which is performed using an optical microscope with a photographic camera attached to it and renders flat images at low magnification. The depth and three dimensions achieved in NanoArt sets this imaging process apart from Photography where images are created by photons (particles of light) rather than by electrons (electrically charged particles). The electrons penetrate deeper inside the structure creating images with more depth, more natural 3D-look than the photographic images.

In Italy, artists Alessandro Scali and Robin Goode are creating nanometric artworks like nanosculptures and nanolitographies, invisible to human eyes. Artworks are made with the collaboration of a team of scientists from Politecnico of Torino, Italy.
 

cocoon FS

Part of a worldwide research network conducted by PlanktonTech Institute, the COCOON_FS is a structure that integrates architectural sculpture, new technologies and biomimetic principles. As the Institute’s focus is on basic research of marine plankton organisms such as diatoms, the intention of the project is to develop as a material efficient construction by learning from natural lightweight composite structures. Pohl Architekten created a technical solution by translating natural lightweight constructions into technical prototypes using highly efficient technical fibers. It is a floating system that embodies the activities of PlanktonTech.

COCOON_FS visualizes both – natural lightweight construction as well as highly efficient technical design solutions. With its weight of only 750 kg, the pavilion can easily be transported to any location. In the sense of stability the floating construction is able to withstand thunderstorms. The self supporting shell of COCOON_FS is made of FRP (fiber reinforced polymers) that forms the skin and the supporting structure in one. The FRP composite design is optimized by all design parameters including broad iterative research of parametric design, production needs. Compared to biological solutions in nature, COCOON_FS is to be seen as morphogenetic design.

a Building moves Beyond itself

Even before the first pueblo fire was lit in the Los Angeles basin and the first cars arrived in Shanghai, the atmosphere was toast. The dirty yellow glow of Beijing and southern California, although capable of producing beautiful sunsets, stands as a troublesome reminder of an atmosphere in demise. Mere neutrality is not enough. The sheer mass of ineffective and bad building technologies has to be recalibrated and an over-correction applied. We are developing a building that moves beyond itself, and through an act of supererogation, attacks the more global conditions. One building can only have so much of an impact but a collective, that leads by examples and inspires other progressive green thinking, can truly make a difference.

This tower takes an active stance and attacks the problem of dirty air by aiming to help purify the air of our cities. The tower pulls dirt, grease, and bacteria out of the air, producing only oxidation and water as a result. The reaction is triggered by the use of a nano-coating of titanium dioxide on the outer skin of the project. The reaction is naturally powered by sunlight acting on the titanium dioxide during the day and supplemented by ultra violet light at night. These UV lights are powered by energy collected through PV panels during the day. The tower will be a glowing indigo object at night varying in intensity according to the amount of solar energy collected during the day. The indigo glow will become symbolic of the cleansing, counteracting the yellow haze that dominates the daytime hours.

The formal design moves of the tower are shaped by basic passive solar ideas that are amplified in magnitude, by a focused analysis of wind and light. Every twist and pull in the massing is set off by a series of interrelated environmental considerations. The passive solar attributes are enhanced by the additional layer of technological innovation provided by the titanium dioxide. Keeping the technology as simple as possible, we avoid the inherent traps of technological problems by piling on more technological solutions. We realize that the liberating aspects of the technological solution are often tied to the imprisoning traits that follow as a result of the solution.
The tower is split into three bars to 1) increase the amount of surface area, 2) provide southern light to the south face of each bar, and 3) focus and increase wind speed. The added surface area allows for maximizing the amount of titanium dioxide that can be placed on the building—enhancing the amount of air being cleaned. The focused and increased winds speed not only power a series of vertical wind turbines, but also pushes the air across the titanium dioxide panels and provides cross ventilation for every room of each unit in the towers. A positive pressure is created on the southern face of the towers and the resulting negative pressure on the northern facades creates optimal conditions for cross ventilation. A series of wind turbines are mounted on bridges connecting the three towers. The air flow is compressed and directed by the form of the building to generate maximum wind pressure at the location on the turbines. The bridges are all two-story spaces, each containing a small garden to help mitigate the buildings internal humidity levels. The units are also two stories to reduce the amount of elevator stops needed for the building while creating a natural separation between living and sleeping. Each unit has both north and south facing facades to take advantage of the beneficial light and heat gain potential. The east and west facades have minimal glazing to neutralize low-angled and uncontrollable light.

The skin design is inspired by the pocketed and cellular texture of the titanium dioxide molecule (TiO2). A series of organic cells cover the building and are tapered to naturally collect the water, a byproduct of the skins chemical reaction, and to collect and slowly release rain water. The skin pulls off of the building on the south facades to provide natural shading and pushes into the inner skin of the north façade to maximize daylight and provide fifty percent coverage to reduce heat loss during the winter months. The skin also floats off the building to conceal the UV lights which can be harmful to humans who are directly exposed to it, and further maximizes the building’s envelope.

A series of gardens are located at regular intervals all the way up the tower. They become public gathering spaces as well as marsh lands to collect the water from the chemical reactions of the skin and to filter and process grey water from the towers. The plants also turn the carbon dioxide, created in the chemical reaction of the skin, back into oxygen. It is paramount to have the plants help maintain the base-level carbon neutrality. A large pool around the base of the tower is the final collection point of the filtered water which goes to support a large amount of animal and plant life. Water is also pumped back up the towers from the pool to service toilets. Furthermore, the pool at the base acts as a heat sink for the release of the heat generated from a back-up air conditioning system. Here, the heat is released slowly, thus helps reduce the heat island effect.

We also propose the use of self-cleaning windows and bathroom tiles, which are available in the market for more than a decade. Scientists have been working on a solution on developing a “smart coating material” which can wash away dirt and keep the surface clean. However, it is not sufficient for the rapid urbanization we face. The ultimate challenge is how we can destroy the molecules of the pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which are mainly the effects of heavy industries and automobile emissions.

The density of our large cities brings the additional complication of transmittable disease. The nano-material we propose can also be used on internal hallways, trash rooms, and elevators to remove or reduce bacterial agents. In an age of globalization with more potent infectious diseases, a building that can help neutralize bacteria within it can help curb infection rates. SARS and now H1N1 have demonstrated to us that our buildings are not ready. A sanitized walk-off mat is simply not going to prevent the next global pandemic. The air streams that blow out of each individual unit, as a result of cross ventilation, are designed to disperse the contaminated air away from the building and prevent back flow into adjacent units.

With the advancement on today’s nanotechnology, scientists can now modify and enhance the coating technology on building facade panels for incorporating the light activated nano-titanium dioxide (TiO2). The TiO2 based photo-catalysts can trigger a series of chemical reactions to generate hydroxyl radicals when exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet (UV) light.  The artificial near-UV light source will give the maximum power on the photo-catalyst reaction. These radicals will oxidize and degrade most of the airborne urban pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or nitrogen oxides. They can even assist in deactivation of bio-contamination. This technology can make any surface anti-bacterial and mold-free. It can purify our ambient air and protect our buildings from bio-aerosol contamination.

The building is an explorative exercise aimed at taking full advantage of passive solar technique carefully married with the benefits of a titanium dioxide skin. The location of the project is set in Qingdao, China. Profitability will play a key role amongst investors in the shift towards our sustainable solution. We believe that coming out of a global recession, the consumer will be looking for a stable investment. The choice between purchasing a residential unit with a positive environmental attitude and not, will hopefully become a simple one. To get the product to market, significant tax breaks will be needed to help secure the positive direction the developers and consumers are looking for. Such architecture should be backed by progressive policy.

Designed by: Ted Givens, Benny Chow, Mohamed Ghamlouch

opens in Keppel Harbor

Daniel Libeskind’s first residential development in Asia, opens in Singapore. Prominently situated at the entrance to Singapore’s historic Keppel Harbor, the project is the architect’s largest such development to date. Its roughly 900,000-square-foot, 20-acre site comprises 1,129 luxury apartments divided among six high-rise towers and 11 spacious low-rise villas of six to eight floors each. No two floors are alike in shape in size, giving each a distinct look and feel. In a feat of design and engineering, the soaring towers gently bend toward one another as if in conversation.

Daniel Libeskind’s design artfully avoids the uniformity and feeling of congestion often found in residential developments. It also deftly tackles the challenge faced by architects when working in Singapore, where high-density construction is often the only way to recoup the high cost of real estate. By placing the low-rise villa blocks along the water and the high-rise towers behind them, the design succeeds in creating an airy, light-filled grouping.

Every detail of the design heightens the buildings’ connection to land, sea and air. The high-rises are sheathed in modern anodized aluminum panels intermixed with large, glass windows. When combined with the towers’ alternating heights (three are 24 stories, three are 41), the exterior creates a striking interplay of shifting planes and shimmering, seemingly infinite, reflections. Adding to the visual impact are openings among the structures that yield perfect views of the horizon. Finally, rooftop gardens offer verdant, serene spaces unusual for apartment towers, while the nine landscaped “sky bridges” connecting the towers offer almost panoramic views of the nearby mountains, sea and lush foliage.

an AirFlow of Plants

The Active Phytoremediation Wall System is a modular system of pods, housing hydroponic plants. Its main purpose is to encourage airflow and contribute to the quality of life through its air cleaning capacities. The project is a result of a collaborative research between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

It is a bio-mechanical hybrid system that produces ‘fresh air’ from within buildings, thereby reducing the energy consumption. Because the plants’ roots are exposed, instead of being buried in soil, the plants’ air-cleaning capacity increases by 200 to 300 percent. The pods themselves are made from vacuum-formed plastic, and the form allows the maximum amount of air to reach the root rhizomes while using the minimum amount of material. It also creates a beautiful base for the plants. The wall system can be installed in large commercial interiors, but works equally well in small settings—a four-module system in an apartment would have the impact of 800 to 1200 house plants.
Researchers: Emily Rae Brayton, Ahu Aydogan

Testbed Site: Public Safety Answering Center II, Bronx, N.Y.

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, New York—Carl Galioto (technical partner); Gary Haney (design partner); Peter Magill (managing partner); Rob Rothblatt (senior designer); Joseph Sacco (project manager); Carl Brown (technical coordinator); Julie Hiromoto (project team)

a Contemporary Architecture

Succulent House demands a systemic and structural reorganization of contemporary residential architecture. It explores possible solutions to water shortage issues and environmental consciousness  by treating the water collection capacities of houses as integral part of the design, instead of reducing it to a foreign body- an artificial addition to our, otherwise unburdened everyday lives. The large plastic curtains expand as they’re filled with water, enabling the whole process to be seen from the interior. Besides becoming a renewable energy source, this mechanism creates a continuous experience of sustainable action that is etched into the subconscious.

The roof surface is divided in two and is maximized for water collection, storage and distribution. It collects gray water used for showers, toilets and washing. The roof planes direct rainwater into storage cores around which program is distributed. Made of elastic material, the curtains act as “bladders”, accumulating water and distributing it further. Designed by LA-based Murmur, the Succulent House is a proposition for future sustainable building. In this experimental piece, Murmur captured the essence of frequently mentioned principles such as biomimicry, organic and flow. What the House obviously accentuates is that the implementation of those ideas has to be systemically and structurally necessary in order for them to become valid architectural Principles. In other words, it has to work.

 

a Digital Roof

The main feature of patterns and parametric surfaces addressed by architects at Atelier Manferdini is using the principle of repetitiveness to play with the figurative and structural role of computational design. Versatile applications of those motifs are explored through a wide variety of the Studio’s work, ranging from fashion and lighting design to architectural projects. Somewhere between ornament and structure, the lacy metal roof of the Malpensa Airport seeks to find common ground between decorative aspects of patterns and their role in the digital optimization of architecture.

The project involved the replacement of the connecting tunnel between the Express Train Station and the Terminal 1 of the Milan Airport, all in preparation for the World Expo in 2015. The designed segment comprises a covered area that will serve as an exhibition space as well as a pedestrian trajectory, connecting the sides with roof gardens. The part of the roof overhang on the west side is clearly visible from the street lanes that flank the underlying construction of the new Hotel Malpensa.
The roof is supported by a metal frame to ensure lightness and limit the weight, and avoid compromising the existing structure of the parking lot below. The north side of the structure is adjacent to the hard deck of Terminal-1, which connects the foot to impart the necessary lateral stability against wind and seismic loads.

The cover is made of a modular system of metal bent brush anodized in 3 shades (gold, natural and mirrored). The geometry of folded panels and reflective surfaces of the metal create rich effects in light and color that change with the angle of the light source and with the observer’s viewing angle, giving dynamism and lightness to the new port of Milan. During daylight hours, the geometry of the modular system and its openings are less frequent at the ends of the cover and act as tree branches by creating a play of light and shade. During the night, the perforations in the cover spread interior lighting onto the pedestrian crossing.
 

Karmelita Opera in Art

How to integrate an opera theater into the historic urban fabric of Vienna? This project seeks to develop a middle ground between excessive un-architecture and conventional opera theater. One of the strategies is to create a new vertical transition part as the coherent between the opera theater and the concert hall. It was designed as a solution to the substantial decrease of earth specially which site is located in a high density residential district. This tower proposes an intensive, yet ivy romantic environment with an Opera Theater, a Concert Hall and a Panoramic Restaurant where you will be able to find little squares, picturesque sightseeing to this city, parks, hanging garden, and many cultural facilities.

Tang Fei experimented with form production at the Excessive Studio II, Urban Strategies, Die Angewandte Vienna in Austria to produce an Opera Theater or a Concert Hall in the Karmelitermarket.
 

a Gateway to The Sky

Award-winning firm Snøhetta has been commissioned by the Ras Al Khaimah investment Authority and RAKEEN to undertake the architectural design for the Gateway project in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. Situated in the desert 150 km to the east of Dubai this landmark project will mark the gateway to the emirate and form the entrance to the new planned capital city of Ras Al Khaimah. The urban master plan for the city is currently being under taken by the Netherlands based architectural practice OMA. The Gateway project is situated at the entrance to the city and will form a landmark for the city entrance.

The architectural expression for our proposal is inspired by the surrounding desert and mountain landscape. This concept provides for an infinite variety of naturally shaded, intimate and protected spaces, around which the multiple uses associated with the development are woven. The undulating architectural landscape is resolved in a dramatic landmark tower marking the main gateway plaza. This 200 m high tower will be the setting for a 5 star plus hotel affording panoramic views across the emirate, to the gulf and mountains beyond.

The programme calls for a mixed-use development comprising a conference centre, exhibition centre, hotels and retail space. In total it is expected to be 270 000m2 of build area. In addition there will be substantial areas of associated garden and landscape. Externally the building will be clad in ceramic panels, this will be developed together with Ras Al Khaimah ceramics, one of the world leading producers of ceramic products.
 

to Feature a Snail

The Snail Pavilion is a competition entry for the Ceramic Tiles of Italy trade show pavilion. The purpose of the pavilion is for the trade association to represent its member companies’ products at a series of shows over a three-year term. Instead of selecting just a few sample products to feature, the scheme uses hundreds of tiles from Ceramic Tiles of Italy member companies to create giant “creatures” that bristle with the range and depth of Italian ceramic products. In this way the pavilion is more like a library with tiles stacked on shelves than it is a surface against which tiles are set in a rigid grout bed. Visitors can literally occupy the entire history and product catalog of the member companies. An innovative stacking system uses a simple assembly method to produce the appearance of feathers or scales – arraying tiles in a variety of sizes and colors into complex, visual seductive plumage, bristles, and whorls. The tiles are organized into loose color groupings that anticipate different sizes and tones, so the system can accommodate a broad diversity of sample products.

The creatures organize the pavilion into a diagonal shortcut path that funnels visitors to a pinch point where the tiles stick out and invite tactile exploration. Open figures in plan make the creatures occupiable for food service staging and VIP dining. To encourage the sense of adventure while patrons browse the pavilion, unfolded maps of each creature will be provided to point out the locations of tiles that member companies would like to feature. Browsing floor coverings becomes a safari!

Size: 3,000 square feet
Project Team:
Andrew Holder,
Claus Benjamin Freyinger, Yilip Kang, and
Noah Rubin
Materials: Ceramic Tile, MDF

Bloodletting Scales

It often happens that the small-scale, programmatically simple design tasks tap into the basics of the practice and remind of what is the initial creative act in designing – Asking Questions. To most with formal architectural education, designing trade show pavilions presents starting challenges that help solidify their understanding of space. By returning to questions, small competitions act as a bloodletting treatment for the current global discourse. These also take on a didactic role for architecture beginners, reminding them of the complexity of the design process that can be revisited, but certainly not avoided by relying solely on the abstract art of mathematics.

The winning proposal for the Ceramics of Italy Competition is a recognizable, functional and versatile space, achieved by using the design elements organically and making them part of a clear, cohesive architectural thought. The project marries archetypal spatial preoccupations with modern technologies and computational design.

The 3,000 square feet rectangular trade show pavilion comprises a café, information and reception desks and storage spaces. Lifted at the opposite corners are two seating areas, reminiscent of Italian piazzas. These are progressively transformed into information and reception desks. Layering of the platform into gradual steps allowed the architects at e+i Studio to extensively showcase the Italian tile palette through variations in color. The gridshell wood structure supporting tile mounds creates service areas below, leaving the space between the slopes for gatherings and dining.

Piazza Ceramica can be recreated in many different configurations. The structure, manufactured with CNC and water jet technologies, consists in producing one module and its mirror counterpart, which can be combined and reused in multiple assemblies.
 

Light Future Stations

The proposal for Sofia’s new Metropolitan Station 20 on line one was designed by Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates. The design strategy seeks to take advantage of the intense relationship between Obikolna Street and the future station. Organized along a glass spine that covers the space below ground level, the station is meant to capture as much natural light as possible.

Architects state:” The sun penetrates down through sculptural skylights illuminating the entire station in a warm glow. The use of daylight as an architectural element assists orientation for passengers and provides a sense of security.   It allows for the atmosphere of the station to be transformed by the color of the sky.  Underground the station is efficient, easy to read and comprehend through its organized masses.  The descent down to the metro is designed as an elegant, modern addition to the street life above. Public access areas on B1 contain places to sit, shop, and dine. Open to all, this level has direct access to both sides of Obikolna Street through a new pedestrian underpass.  Ticketed areas on B2 including the platforms are separated by a series of turnstiles that lead to zones of vertical transportation.
This design demonstrates a spatial coherence between the two worlds above and below.  Gracefully shaped glass geometries define a modern sculptural addition to the outdoor-indoor environment. During the day the outside is brought into the station and at the night the glowing illumination from within becomes part of the street scene.”