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Venice Architecture Biennale 2010: the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale presents possibilities for the re-use of vacant factories in former industrial towns across Russia.

The project focusses on the town of Vyshny Volochok, situated halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

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Architects were invited to design conceptual redevelopment schemes for each of the town’s four disused industrial zones.

Visitors to the pavilion watch a movie examining life in the Vyshny Volochok area, before progressing to a cylindrical room where a panoramic painting depicts the proposed redevelopments.

A third room displays detailed information about each of the four sites and projects.

The curators argue that the re-instatement of these spaces as centres for the town’s development through use as cultural educational and social destinations could be rolled out to revitalise similar post-industrial towns across Russia.

Entitled The Russia factory, the pavilion was curated by Sergei Tchoban, Pavel Khoroshilov and Grigory Revzin.

See all our stories about Venice Architecture Biennal in our special category.

Photographs are by Patricia Parinejad.

The following information is from the curators:

The Russia Factory

In the last 20 years Russian towns and cities have been undergoing a period of de-industrialization: old factories in industrial towns have been closing down while new ones have yet to spring up in their place. This presents serious problems for urban planning: Russia today has many towns and cities in which factories that were formerly the core of a place’s development are now at a standstill and constitute disused and ruined urban space. Industrial zones can occupy up to a third of the territory of a town or city and their current condition has a depressive influence on the environment and inhabitants.

Existing industrial zones have already had resources (energy, materials, labour) invested in them, and their destruction requires further investment – confronting us with the prospect of endless expenditure of resources since each cycle in the development of a site begins from scratch. From the point of view of urban design, factory buildings in small towns are the foundation of the urban fabric. Factories shape the scale of the towns in which they stand. It is they that store the town’s memory and determine its identity.

The idea on which the Russia Factory project is based is to treat industrial zones as historical landscape that is open to universal transformation. Curators propose a strategy of preserving surviving architectural structures, with close attention being paid to opportunities for converting these buildings for use for all kinds of urban functions – housing, education, medicine, trade, public space, management, hotels, etc., etc. The project involves re-conceiving the industrial zone as a mixed-use urban environment which is reincorporated in the town and serves as a focus for the latter’s development.

The Russian pavilion at this biennale is for the first time showing not an ‘exhibition of achievements’ by a single architect or a group of architects, but a conceptual project created specially for the biennale and oriented on the future. As the basis for the project the curators have selected the town of Vyshny Volochok in Tver Province. Vyshny Volochok is situated halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg and has a system of canals created by Peter the Great. This situation has strong similarities with that of Venice (to give visitors to the biennale a better idea of the town’s position). Were it to be modernized and the surrounding small towns to be revitalized, this could lead to a denser network of centres of culture, science, and tourism lying between the two major cities – which in turn would serve to bring Russia closer to Europe. Vyshny Volochok developed as a centre of the textile industry. It contains four large industrial zones – the Tabolka Factory, the Paris Commune Factory, the Integrated Cotton Factory, and the Aelita Factory. All these factories are within walking distance of the town centre. The town centre, which contains buildings erected in Petersburg architectural styles from the Classical and Empire periods, has degraded and is in a partly ruined state. No new factories or infrastructure serving the railway, main road, or waterways, have been built.

The curators‘ project was executed in two stages. To begin with, we analyzed potential functions for the town’s industrial zones on the basis of the needs and capabilities of the town’s residents, as well as on the basis of possibilities for incorporating ‘external’ functions that might take advantage of the town’s location. We drew up a possible brief for a reconstruction project on the basis of social and economic parameters. Next, Sergei Tchoban supervised the creation of a master plan for reconstruction of the town, and then specific industrial sites, together with potential functions for these sites, were offered as design projects to five architecture firms – two from Moscow (Vladimir Plotkin and Sergey Skuratov), two from St. Petersburg (Evgeny Gerasimov and Nikita Yaveyn), and architectural firm SPEECH Tchoban/Kuznetsov, which designs buildings for both the major cities between which lies the town of Vyshny Volochok.

The Russia Factory is a model project. There are more than 300 towns like Vyshny Volochok in Russia today. It is fundamentally important that architects today should form their own agenda and offer society an idea that can serve as an aspiration.

The Russian Pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale in Venice was built in 1913 to a design by Aleksey Shchusev. In 2010 it has been completely restored by architect Clemente di Thiene. The restoration was financed by OAO Alfa Bank.

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Commisioner: Vasily Tsereteli
Curators: Sergei Tchoban, Pavel Khoroshilov, Grigory Revzin
Architects: Evgeny Gerasimov, Vladimir Plotkin, Sergey Skuratov, Sergei
Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov (with Alena Akhmadullina), Nikita Yaveyn
Exhbition design: SPEECH Tchoban / Kuznetsov

Primary sponsor: VTB
Sponsors:
ALUTERRA
ASTEROS
CONCEPT
DORMA
HUNTER DOUGLAS CIS
OKALUX GmbH
TOP GLASS

blogged by: Jake Shea

This house by Spanish architects Subarquitectura spirals down a sloping site in Madrid.

The sweeping form overlaps at one point and gradually ramps down to accommodate the slope of the terrain.

360 House has continuous fenestration along the east-facing side to offer panoramic views of mountains in the distance while descending through the house.

Where the form overlaps a staircase offers direct access between the two storeys.

The house’s exterior has been finished in black slate tiles, while the interior has whitewashed walls and ceilings throughout.

All photographs are taken by David Frutos.

Here’s some more from the architect:

A unique opportunity for us in reality a problem that’s been posed thousands of times: to construct a house with a public programme of social relation, associated with the prívate life of a numerous family on a sloping plot of land with priveleged views of the mountains outside Madrid.

It has no one solution, there are many, they’re even cataloged in books about houses of a slope.

We try not to think of domestic spaces.

On the contrary, we take as a point of reference works of engineering, motorway intersections, changes of direction.

We proceed from generic solutions to the problem of descending , solutions that conceal great plasticity.

We seek the poetic in all the seems to have been considered from the merely pragmatic point of view.

The result is the literal construction of a use diagram.

In this instance, form does not follow function, but is instead function itself.

Cyclical movement, routine and surprise turn into a way of living.

Its formal complexity offers the possibility of reaching all points of the house through two different routes, which multiply the possibilities of use and enjoyment.

It has the form of a loop, 360º, like the shapes skaters make, like those of gymnasts, as artistic as they are precise.

An extreme shape, the house is curved, generating the greatest quantity of linear meters towards the good views.

It is shored up in the landscape and turns back on itself, completing the revolution.

The degree of intimacy increases as the distance to the ends increases.

At the midpoint, a mediatheque, isolated and completely dark, 100% technology, 0% landscape.

With a single gesture two ways of moving are generated: going down and looking outwards.

The long house, a sinuous movement, a descent by ramp and ample turning radii tangential to the setbacks of the plot of land generate a panoramic vision.

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The short house, the quick way in a straight line, stairs of direct descent and a dep view towards the landscape.

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A building that is black outside, absorbent, of slate, a material specific to the location, almost imposed as an aesthetic specification of the area.

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White inside, reflective, generic, neutral and luminous.

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Life incorporates colour, outside with the vegetation and inside with the people.

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Location: Urbanización Roncesvalles. C/ Roncesvalles, 33 Galapagar, Madrid
Architects: SUBARQUITECTURA ( Andrés Silanes + Fernando Valderrama + Carlos Bañón)
Design years: 2007
Construction: 2008 – 2010

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Structural design: Subarquitectura
Building services: Daniel Rodriguez
Client: Arco Design and Projects
Surface area: 385 m2
Photographs: David Frutos Ruiz

blogged by: Jake Shea

Venice Architecture Biennale 2010: Dutch firm OMA have unveiled their design for the renovation of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice.

Located by the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, the building dates from 1506 and has been used as a trading post and customs house.

OMA’s restoration will convert the building into a department store with a cultural program.

Two sides of the roof will be removed to create a public terrace with views over the Grand Canal that can be used for events and screenings.

The scheme was unveiled at the Venice Architecture Biennale, where Rem Koolhaas has been awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement (see our earlier story).

More about Venice Architecture Biennale 2010, which opened yesterday, in our special category.

Here’s some more information from OMA:

OMA today unveils its design for the major restoration and redefinition of one of Venice’s largest and most iconic buildings: the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a property owned by the Benetton family, adjacent to the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal.

First constructed in 1228, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi began as a trading post for German merchants and became a customs house under Napoleon in 1806. Its use as a post office has diminished in recent years, leaving much of the building unused and inaccessible for the first time in centuries. The latest evolution of the Fondaco will create a thriving contemporary trading post in the form of a culturally-programmed department store.

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi, twice rebuilt completely, with its current configuration dating from 1506, has undergone many radical transformations since then. To accommodate new uses, its towers have been removed, courtyard covered with glass, structure rebuilt, façade restored, and new windows added, among many other interventions. For the Fondaco, preservation is a history of change.

Commissioned by the Benetton family’s property group, OMA has designed a range of architectural modifications and developed a cultural program to reactivate the building as a vital public space, from top to bottom. A terrace with rare views of the Grand Canal will be created by removing two sides of the existing roof, leaving the building’s profile intact while unlocking exciting potential for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi as a major destination and vantage point for tourists and Venetians alike. The rooftop, together with the courtyard below, will become a public venue for events including exhibitions and film screenings. A year-round cultural program will be aimed at locals and tourists – the 20 million who visit the city each year, as well as the 900,000 who come specifically for the Biennales and festivals.
The new Fondaco dei Tedeschi, as both prestige department store and public event space, aims to reestablish the historic Venetian connection between culture and commerce. The Benetton family has always demonstrated this twin spirit, uniting the innovative and international with profoundly local, Venetian roots.

New entrances to the Fondaco will be created from the Campo San Bartolomeo and the Rialto to encourage circulation, escalators will be added to create a new public route through the building, rooms will be consolidated in a way that respects the Fondaco’s structure, while crucial historic elements like the corner rooms will remain untouched. Historic aspects of the building, lost for centuries, will be resurrected: the walls of the gallerias will once again become a surface for frescoes, reappearing in a contemporary form.

OMA’s renovation scheme – both ambitious and subtle – continues the Fondaco dei Tedeschi’s tradition of vitality and adaptation. Venice will acquire a landmark department store that will become a shared civic facility and a crucial element in the cultural fabric of the city.

blogged by:  Jake Shea

Danish architects C. F. Møller have won a competition to design a new ferry terminal in Stockholm, Sweden.

The terminal will service Stockholm’s ferry connection to Finland and the Baltics.

The massing of the new building is inspired by traditional maritime architecture and its exterior will be clad in expanded mesh.

The new terminal will form part of Norra Djurgårdsstaden, a residential and commercial development in the Stockholm city suburb Hjorthagen.

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The terminal will be raised to the same height as the neighbouring development and linked to it via a bridge.

The roof of the terminal will be landscaped to become a public green space and embedded with solar cells to generate power for the self-sufficient structure.

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Here’s some more from the architects:

The new terminal for Stockholm’s permanent ferry connections to Finland and the Baltics will be a landmark for the new urban development Norra Djursgårdsstaden – both architecturally and environmentally.

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The terminal, which will have a facade covered with expanded mesh, recalls the shape of a moving vessel and the architecture – with large cranes and warehouses – that previously characterized the ports.

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At the same time, the terminal has an ambitious sustainable profile, characteristic of the entire development.

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The main idea has been to create natural links between central Stockholm and the new urban area in connection with the terminal, so that city life will naturally flow into the area.

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Therefore the terminal is raised to be at level with the urban zone, so it is easy for both pedestrians and traffic to access.

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At the same time the roof of the terminal building is designed as a varied green landscape with stairs, ramps, niches, and cosy corners, inviting both Stockholmers and passengers for a stroll or relaxing moments, while enjoying the view of the ferries, the archipelago, and the city skyline.

The aim is that the ferry terminal will be predominantly self-sufficient in energy and thus stand as an environmental model for public construction.

Therefore the architecture of the terminal will integrate i.e. solar and wind power, for example the terraced landscape on the roof will integrate beds of solar cells along with the planting.

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The plan is to communicate the sustainable efforts to the people in the building by using i.e. centrally placed television screens, helping to raise awareness of the potential of sustainable construction.

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blogged by: Jake Shea

Dezeen are in Venice for the opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 where Lisbon firm Aires Mateus Architects are exhibiting these houses with sandy floors, photographed by Nelson Garrido.

Called Casa Areia, the project comprises seaside accommodation made of wooden frames covered in natural fibres.

Sand covers the floor in the kitchen and living space, connecting them to the beach and landscape outside.

Bedrooms are housed in separate structures.

The Venice Architecture Biennale runs 29 August – 21 November 2010.

Here’s some text about the Casa Areia project from Garrido:

They where reconstructed with traditional methods using wood and a traditional stem.

This project was build on the sand that is a natural and abundant material that was transported to the interior of the common places (the living room and the kitchen) giving this way the connection between the environment and the new and totally integrated construction.

This is the most spectacular on this project, being on the living room with your feet on the sand, this is a totally comfortable construction even with warming floor that warms up the sand.

blogged by: Jake Shea

Rotterdam architects OMA have announced their proposed masterplan for a new cultural district in Hong Kong.

The 40 hectare site would comprise three ‘urban villages’ situated within a park connected to the existing Kowloon Park, forming the largest public green space in Hong Kong.

One of three contenders for the site, the scheme consists of a museum and exhibition space, performance venues, a market and an open-air amphitheatre seating 15,000.

Explore the proposal in detail on the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority website.

Here’s more from OMA:

Hong Kong, 20 August 2010 – The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority unveiled today OMA’s conceptual masterplan for a major new arts district in Hong Kong. Under OMA’s plan – one of three competing proposals – the 40 hectare waterfront site facing Victoria Harbour would become an authentic environment of three urban villages embedded in a new public park, Hong Kong’s largest.

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OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas commented: “Using the village – a typology every citizen of Hong Kong is familiar with – as the model for our plan allows us to absorb the massive scale of WKCD’s ambition into manageable portions and forge deep connections with Kowloon, whose vital urban energy will be the lifeblood of WKCD.”

In 2009, OMA established a new office in Hong Kong to study local conditions and consult with a wide range of stakeholders and experts in the fields of culture and finance. Out of this research, we generated a cultural masterplan, working in tandem with architecture, for establishing a creative milieu that can fully ‘inhabit’ WKCD’s plethora of new arts facilities and make the neighbourhood come alive.

OMA’s three villages each have a strong emphasis on vibrant street life and cultural production where all aspects of the creative process – from education to rehearsal to production to performance – are nurtured and made visible.

Art in the east

One of the key elements of OMA’s proposal for WKCD is M+, an experimental new museum interpreted as a barcode of overlapping bands featuring visual art, film, design and popular culture. Embedded in M+ is an Art Factory, where education, artist studios, a hotel and shops intersect and interact with the museum itself. Beneath M+, the Exhibition Centre is a venue for auctions and conventions, a further intermingling of culture and commerce. M+ links to Kowloon Park and to the surrounding neighbourhood with pedestrian bridges – one of them an

extension of the park, one an extension of the museum itself – into Jordan and to Temple Street, and across Canton Road to an outpost of the museum in Victoria Towers.

Market in the middle

The Middle Village is conceived as a continuation of Kowloon’s street markets, with small-scale entertainment, local shops, restaurants, street markets, artist studios, production spaces, and galleries. The Middle Village is flanked by a Xiqu Theatre (and a Xiqu School) for Cantonese performance and, to the east, a premiere movie theatre celebrating Hong Kong’s film industry.

Performance in the west

With views over the water and Victoria Harbour, the focal point of Theatre Village is the Uni- versal Theatre, a network of four interconnected performance spaces: chamber music theatre, street theatre, grand theatre and a concert hall. Each venue is embedded in a single, continu- ous outdoor lobby stretching the length of the village. Below the lobby, the public can tour the shared rehearsal, production and technical spaces for all four theatres.

The Mega Performance Venue

Located in parkland between the West and Middle Villages, the Mega Performance Venue is an open-air amphitheatre based on the ancient Greek and Roman model. It seats 15,000 people for large scale entertainment ranging from pop concerts to New Year’s celebrations with views over Hong Kong Island as its natural backdrop.

Park of the New Horizon

All three villages are embedded in a single park, which connects with Kowloon Park via a planted green bridge to form the largest public green space in Hong Kong. WKCD’s Park of the New Horizon offers a space liberated from the commercial, and also from the wealth of interdic- tions familiar in most of Hong Kong’s open space. We draw from tropical agriculture and the fishponds of the Mai Po wetlands not only as a repertoire of species and cultivation methods, but as a mechanism for organizing communal action. Forest gardens, orchards, ponds, mead- ows, and even communal urban farming are all connected by paths for pedestrians and cyclists.

OMA’s conceptual plan will be discussed in a series of public forums in the coming three months, in which OMA is represented by Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten and Betty Ng. The project is also on display in roving exhibitions across Hong Kong from 20 August until 20 November and at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice from 29 August until 21 November.

blogged by: Jake Shea

This house in Hiroshima by Japanese architects Suppose Design Office is surrounded by an offset concrete shell to create a series of triangular terraces between the inner and outer walls.

On the first and second storeys the spaces between the wall and house have been filled with perforated steel, creating terraces that allow light into the courtyards below.

Rooms sit at an angle to the surrounding wall, giving the terraces and courtyards their triangular shape.

The external wall is made of reinforced concrete while the house is a steel frame construction.

The house was designed for a couple with two children, and has a garage, master bedroom and entrance hall on the ground floor.

The first floor is a kitchen and living space, while the second houses the children’s bedrooms.

All photographs are by Takumi Ota.

Here’s some more from the architects:

House in Minaminachi 3 is a residence for a couple with 2 children.

It is standing at a place where an old shopping street and houses are still kept.

The site area of the dwelling is only 55 sqm, and it has a square form.

Also, houses at the area are sitting closely next each other, so the condition is quite difficult to make the residence open to outside keeping its private.

The unique design of the house is a relationship between the building and its exterior elements.

There are extra walls along the site, and they fully covered the dwelling that has only 29 sqm as building area.

The house is standing with angle, not parallel to the exterior walls and site.

Through the gap between the walls and the inside construction, sunlight is coming down well reflecting between the two structures.

The walls create well lighting condition, and also more open environment to the outside in protecting its privacy.

Moreover, the exterior structure succeed embody the gap area as a part of the residential space.

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Because of re-designing exterior elements that usually stay as separated materials from a house, the dwelling could create more rich life environment with well engaged outside elements.

House in Minamimachi3
Location : Hiroshima city,Japan
Principal use :parsonal house
Site area: 54.56sqm
Building area :28.92sqm
Total floor area :79.23sqm ( 1F:26.41sqm 2-1F:26.41sqm 2-2F :26.41sqm )
Completion : April. 2010
Design period: March.2008-May.2009
Donstruction period: June.2009-April. 2010
Structure: Steel structure, external wall: Reinforced concrete
Client: a couple and two children
Project architect: Makoto Tanijiri [suppose design office]+ Kenji Nawa [Nawakenji-m]
Project team: Makoto Tanijiri [suppose design office]+ Kenji Nawa [Nawakenji-m],
In-charge;Hiroshi Yamagami
Lighting: GLO-BALL S1[FLOS]
Chair: None
Products:Original table
Flooring:oak flooring
Internal Wall:Vinyl crossing
Ceiling:Vinyl crossing

blogged by: Jake Shea

Spanish architect Andrés Jaque has completed this house on a sloping site in Ibiza with a jumble of cascading terraces supported on stilts.

House in Never Never Land has been built in and among the site’s existing features, with trees growing up through the interiors of some of the rooms.

As well as the main house, two rentable cabins sit on the 1300 square-metre site with access via bridges.

The main part of the house is supported on a concrete structure while the elevated terraces are supported on a metal frame.

All photographs are by Miguel de Guzman.

Here’s some more from the architects:

The young Madrid based architect Andrés Jaque has designed the House in Never-Never Land, the project cascades down a 1300 m2 sloping plot in Ibiza.

The area where this house is placed is a picturesque natural hill far from the island’s major tourist attractions.

The idea of the project is based on three main concepts: integration with the natural surroundings, incorporation of desire society, and getting financial security for the future.

The architect’s primary aim was to adapt the geometry of the house to the existing vegetation and to carve out the construction in the open spaces between the trees and bushes, even to the extent of incorporating trees at certain points.

The house opens up completely to its environment in a typically Mediterranean lifestyle where areas such as the terrace or the pool become hubs of activity.

The search for desire is based on the way Andrés Jaque has imagined different possible everyday situations in the house.

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In the current economic climate, buying property is seen as a way of guaranteeing one’s future financial security – a sort of investment fund that grows in value with every passing year.

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With this in mind, the architect designed an ensemble of three distinct elements: a main house, plus two independent cabins that could be rented out in the future.

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Each building meets the requirements of the holiday rental market and has separate access and facilities.

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The slope of the land ensures that each unit enjoys an unimpeded view of the sea and its own piece of garden.

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The motivation behind the House in Never-Never Land is to create an environmentally responsible project that respects the beauty and biodiversity of the valley, to provide a means of financial security for the owner, and to construct a space for possibilities and desires, related to the traditions of the island.

Architects: Andrés Jaque
Client: private
Address: Cala Valdella, Ibiza, Spain
Info: www.andresjaque.net
Photography: Miguel de Guzman. www.imagensubliminal.com
Text: Gonzalo Herrero Delicado and Maria José Marcos,

blogged by: Jake Shea

credit: Dezeen

American firm Choi + Shine Architects designed these conceptual electricity pylons shaped like human figures to march across the Icelandic landscape.

Top: background image supplied by the Association of Icelandic Architects.
Above: background image © Thomas Ormston used under the cc license

Each pylon would be assembled from modular parts, which could be adapted into various positions to given the impression the the statues are walking, climbing or crouching.

The 30-metre tall statues would be supported on concrete footings and are an alteration of the steel frame used by existing pylons.

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Called Land of Giants, the project was originally submitted for a 2008 competition held by Icelandic transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects. See our earlier story on the competition.

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The design was one of four winners at the recent 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Awards.

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All images are copyright Choi+Shine Architects unless other wise stated.

Here’s some more from the designers:

This design transforms mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape.

Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon- figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.

The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill, the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person. Over long spans, the pylon-figure stretches to gain increased height, crouches for increased strength or strains under the weight of the wires.

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In addition, the pylon-figures can also be arranged to create a sense of place through deliberate expression. Subtle alterations in the hands and head combined with repositioning of the main body parts in the x, y and z-axis, allow for a rich variety of expressions. The pylon-figures can be placed in pairs, walking in the same direction or opposite directions, glancing at each other as they pass by or kneeling respectively, head bowed at a town.

Despite the large number of possible forms, each pylon-figure is made from the same major assembled parts (torso, fore arm, upper leg, hand etc.) and uses a library of pre-assembled joints between these parts to create the pylon-figures’ appearance. This design allows for many variations in form and height while the pylon-figures’ cost is kept low through identical production, simple assembly and construction.

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The pylon-figures are designed to provide supports for the conductors, ground wires and other cables all within required clearances. These clearances are maintained in the various shown positions. The towers are largely self-supporting, sitting on concrete footings, perhaps with the addition of guy wires, depending on requirements of the loading wires.

Like the statues of Easter Island, it is envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night, sunshine or snow.

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Project Type: High-Voltage Pylon Competition
Location: Iceland
Type of Client: A public company (that owns and runs the electrical transmission system in Iceland).
New or Reno: New – Pylon design competition.
Special constraints & site description: The pylons were intended to be constructable, affordable and durable.
Design challenges & solutions: We sought to make an iconic, unforgettable pylon, that created an identity for Iceland and the power company.
Original/Adaptation: The design is original.
Unusual/innovative building components: Each structure is composed of a kit of parts, minimizing construction costs.
Sustainable design elements: The structure is predominantly recyclable
Material use: Steel, glass and concrete
Completion date: 2008
Others involved: None

blogged by: Jake Shea

A central staircase rises through split levels in this narrow house in Osaka by Japanese architect Shintaro Fujiwara.

Located in the residential Showa-cho area of the city, the project aims to create a spacious atmosphere by leaving gaps between each floor and maintaining sight lines from front to back.

The street outside is visible from all levels through a glazed facade, while a tree planted in front of the property will grow to provide increasing privacy.

Here’s some more information from Fujiwara:

Showa-cho is a quiet place even though it is downtown. There are many people residency from a long time ago. The design of the residence has a narrow frontage, which is a part of a row house (17.89m ×3.94m).

The design of the residence is that the street in front of the house could be a part of scenery rather than to be closed towards the street.

A big problem in the progress of the planning was that it could take only less than 3 meters for effective flange width inside when it was built in such a long narrow lot.

According to this condition, it was studied many times on how it could have an expansive feeling and continuity from the street side to the end of the back of the house.

The main solution was to use cross section construction.

From the south side that faces the street, a tree (Ternstroemia gymnanthera) was planted.

The living room has 5.6m of ceiling height”, “stairwell and stairs spaces”, “4 layers of construction from basement to 3rd floor each rooms”, “a small outside stairwell”. Each floor is not piled up, but adopted the skip floor method, which made a gap.

This method made it possible to see the outside street from the back rooms so, that it could be unified with outside of the house and create a larger atmosphere.

Despite the stairs being in the center of the house it is not blocking the view of outside. Glass was used for every partition wall. Slits were also made on the floors and ceilings. From these effects, the house can be unified with the outside and therefore create a larger atmosphere within the house.

In general, when constructing on a small plot of land, planning tends to take on the idea of making the property spacious, but keeping privacy inside within the property. In such a case, the façade would normally be built with a wall, but then it would create an enclosed and pressured atmosphere.

Since the Showa-cho property is a small plot of land, the house was constructed with a courtyard to follow the building coverage ratio by using almost all of ratio.

In this case, the house in Showa-cho, deliberately included the city side to scenery and made façade by planting a tree in the space in front of the house that made it could be seen inside of the house, too.

blogged by: Jake Shea

credit: Dezeen