If you are familiar with Design Addict, you surely noticed that there are a lot of talented people who express their opinion and questioning in our Forum. We have decided, every now and then, to draw your attention on subjects which seems to us worthy of interest.
An eco-friendly home in a Cotswold nature reserve in United Kingdom was designed by London architect, Sarah Featherstone, whose office will be designing part of the Olympic athletes' village. The 'Orchid House’ was inspired by the Bee Orchid that is found on the reserve.
One of the many green features of the 'Orchid House' will be to produce more energy than it uses with an underground heat pump, geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater and solar and wind power.
"Our inspiration for Orchid House comes from the wildlife and landscape at Lower Mill Estate. A number of Orchid species can be found here, but it is the camouflage of the Bee Orchid that specifically generated our design."
"The house will blend with its landscape and environment. The organic form is created from laminated veneer lumbar (LVL) ribs and clad with timber shingles (tiles). The camouflage pattern is burnt to the timber."
"The house offers flexible living spaces, adopting a layout which we have pioneered in our house designs. The kitchen is at the heart of the house with the living and dining wings fanning out to create an intimate open courtyard around which the house orientates. It is like a 'whorl' of leaves encircling the seed of the flower."
The house has been sold off-plan and will be completed in 2011.
French architect Jean Nouvel has been chosen as the 2008 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The
formal ceremony for what has come to be known throughout the world as
architecture’s highest honor will be held on June 2 in Washington,D.C.
at the Library of Congress. At that time, a $100,000 grant and a bronze
medallion will be bestowed on the 62-year old architect.
Photo by Gaston Bergeret
Nouvel who came to international attention with the completion of his Institut du Monde Arabe in 1987 in Paris, now has several projects in the United States, including the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis completed in 2006, a 75-story tower (Tour Verre) next door to MOMA in New York, and recently announced plans for a high rise condominium (Suncal Tower) in the Century City district of Los Angeles. In Europe, some of his other important works are the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (Paris 1994), the Branly Museum (Paris 2006), the Agbar Tower (Barcelona 2005), a Courthouse (Nantes 2000), a Cultural and Conference Center (Lucerne 2000), an Opera House (Lyon 1993), and Expo 2002 (Switzerland). Also currently under construction is a concert hall in Copenhagen.
Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA or Arab World Institute) 1981-87 Paris, France (photo by Philippe Ruault)
In announcing the jury’s choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, quoted from the jury citation, “Of the many phrases that might be used to describe the career of architect Jean Nouvel, foremost are those that emphasize his courageous pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field.” And further, Pritzker added, “The jury acknowledged the ‘persistence, imagination, exuberance, and, above all, an insatiable urge for creative experimentation’ as qualities abundant in Nouvel’s work.”
Tour de Verre, New York City, NY - 2007-in progress - Guthrie Theater Minneapolis, Minnesota - 1999-2006 (photo by Roland Halbe)
In Nouvel’s own words, “My interest has always been in an architecture which reflects the modernity of our epoch as opposed to the rethinking of historical references. My work deals with what is happening now—our techniques and materials, what we are capable of doing today.”
Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris, France 1991-94 (photos by George Fessy)
LivingHomes®, a premier developer of modern, sustainably designed,
prefabricated homes, is announcing a new collaborative relationship
with Philadelphia-based architecture firm KieranTimberlake.
KieranTimberlake is a nationally recognized firm known for its research, innovation, and inventive design. Over the past two decades, they have designed beautifully crafted, thoughtfully made buildings which are holistically integrated to site, program and people. Kieran and Timberlake’s book, refabricating Architecture, investigates how transfer processes from aerospace, auto and shipbuilding manufacturers are poised to transform architecture.
“We’re very excited to be working with KieranTimberlake,” says LivingHomes Founder and CEO Steve Glenn. “Our collective prefabrication experience allowed us to design a completely new kind of building system, one that will allow us to make our homes faster, with less cost and a smaller ecological footprint. In addition to lower cost single family LivingHomes designed by KieranTimberlake, we’re introducing our first multi-family homes, which allows us to better serve the urban infill market. With these homes, we begin to fulfill our mission to make our homes affordable and accessible to people around the country and world.”
Combining their respective expertise and knowledge, LivingHomes and KieranTimberlake have developed the LivingHomes Building System, a proprietary platform that combines modules for kitchens, baths and utility cores, and ”Smart Panels™”, that integrate mechanical ducting, electrical and plumbing. With complexity and cost concentrated in particular panels and modules, this flexible building system allows for high-volume fabrication, assemble and easier transportation. “We see the LBS as an important tool and a great opportunity to make quality, environmentally responsible design available to more people,” explains Steve Kieran, Partner at KieranTimberlake. Each home is virtually constructed using high-tech parametric modeling software before anything is actually physically built either at the site or at the factory. The virtual assembly process even further reduces construction waste and allows the design team to map out the construction process in precise detail. “James Timberlake and I have long argued that there is a pandemic lack of productivity and quality control in the design and construction industry today,” said Kieran. “With this belief structure, we see working with LivingHomes as an exceptional and welcome opportunity to bring a new level of quality, productivity, affordability, and sustainability to housing development.
Further to my post about Swedish passive houses, here is a very interesting project about passive houses using renewable resources.
Sustainable construction can be defined as follows: Not only the building concepts but also the components and materials which are used have to meet the present needs of the users without burdening future generations with waste disposal problems or prolonged use of an out-dated building design. Thus sustainable architecture means: form follows ethics, i.e. the design is the result of a careful consideration of functions, materials and their life-cycle performance including long term perspectives, present and future human needs and social aspects. This is the basic principle under which the S-HOUSE, a passive solar house made of renewable resources, is constructed.
Passive solar house technology is already well known. Building materials based on renewable resources are present in some areas (e.g. wood). But the combination of both is quite unique. This combination is made visible by the S-HOUSE, an office and demonstration building at the Center for Appropriate Technology in Böheimkirchen / Austria. After a careful planing phase the building was put up in early 2005.
The challenge of the S-HOUSE-project consists in combining the high energy standard of passive solar house technology (less than 15 kWh/m²a) with the use of renewable resources and herewith to benefit from the advantages of both.
Architecture studio Kjellgren kaminsky and their client Emrahus have presented Sweden's first series of prefabricated passive houses at the Hem & Villa housing fair in Malmö from March 6 to March 9.
Passive houses are extremely well-insulated buildings that are largely heated by the energy already present in the building - people and our household equipment generate a lot of energy.
Did you know that you can lower your energy consumption by placing bookshelves and wardrobes by the facade? They will work as an extra layer of insulation and save both energy and money. Thats why all the storage are placed along the facades in this house.
Between the shelves and wardrobes there are high windows giving contact to the nature outside and letting in light.
The Sustainable Habitat Challenge (ShaC 09) is a national collaborative project for teams around New Zealand to design, develop, and build sustainable housing in their local community.
Its aim is to make ideas and methods for low-energy, low-resource housing a reality for New Zealand. By building better homes, ShaC hopes to show that a more sustainable life is practical, achievable and desirable. ShaC recognises that today’s students, researchers, educators, planners and trade and industry professionals are vital to our shift towards sustainable living.
This project will provide a stimulating framework for research and innovation – both inside and outside universities and polytechnics – by drawing on the combined strengths of those in our communities.
• Get your team together, and register your proposal by noon, 8 May 2008. ShaC will even contribute to costs to help you prepare a great proposal. • Teams can be made up of people from all walks of life and with all sorts of skills and expertise. Each team will need to be led and supported by a tertiary organisation. • Do you know homeowners or developers keen to pursue a philosophy of sustainability with upcoming projects? They may provide opportunities ShaC teams are looking for.
Sustainability is about using what we need, living well, and leaving enough for future generations. Sustainable homes support a sustainable lifestyle.
DesignBuildBLUFF, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide architectural students with a real-world educational experience in physically connecting on-site to both the experimental and standardized aspects of design, announces its 2008 architectural projects.
Founded by professor Hank Lewis in 2000, DesignBuildBLUFF is affiliated with the University of Utah’s College of Architecture + Planning and designs and builds low cost, off-grid houses on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. Because of organizational needs, a Navajo home will not be built in 2008. Instead, a workshop/student housing dwelling and bathhouse will be built and DesignBuildBLUFF is fundraising to provide design/build assistance for the construction of a medical housing center for AIDS-orphaned children in the Ugandan village of Bira.
For the past eight years, DesignBuildBLUFF has worked with the Navajo Nation to create homes for Native American families in need. Thanks to a steady increase in enrollment, the student participants themselves are now faced with a housing shortage. To ensure that DesignBuildBLUFF is able to sustain itself and continue to grow, the focus this year will be on creating a new student housing facility.
Designed around three discarded steel shipping containers, the structure will incorporate a workshop, kitchenette, bathroom, and sleeping quarters for eight. Not only will this new facility create needed housing for students, but it will also facilitate DesignBuildBLUFF’s long-term goal of being able to prefabricate pieces in the workshop (such as passive solar rammed earth and trombe walls and water reclamation roofs) that can easily be transported to building sites on the reservation.
Also, the students are designing and building a bathhouse. Made partially from the sandstone earth that covers the reservation, this quiet retreat will provide two additional showers and toilets for students, as well as a warm, relaxing sauna and saltwater tub that will help students to ease their aching muscles after long, hard days of construction.
Kengo Kuma develops the traditional teahouse architecture further, while at the same time venturing onto entirely unexplored territory with regard to his design. In search of flexible buildings - Kuma uses the term “weak architecture” - he has arrived at a truly ephemeral structure with this project.
The teahouse does not rise up from the ground as a fixed wooden construction, but unfolds as an airborne form. When a ventilation system is activated, the teahouse swells into shape like a white high-tech textile blossom. In its interior, comprising a surface of approximately twenty square metres, are nine tatami mats, an electric stove for the water kettle, a tokonoma niche and a preparation room. Integrated LED technology allows the use of the teahouse at night; the interior can be heated by way of the membrane.
What if the White House, the ultimate architectural symbol of political power, were to be designed today?
On occasion of the election of the 44th President of the United States of America, Storefront for Art and Architecture, in association with Control Group, challenge you to design a new residence for the world's most powerful individual. The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will be selected by some of the world's most distinguished designers and critics and featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture in July 2008. All three winners will be flown to New York to collect their prizes at the opening party.
The original White House design, by James Hoban, was the result of a competition held in 1792, wherein George Washington, quickly selected Hoban's design over the other 8 entries. He was not overjoyed at the design, and recommended it by made larger, with more detail, and added a grand reception hall, the East Room. Over the centuries, presidents have added other rooms, facilities and even entire new wings, turning the White House into the labyrinthine complex it is today. In light of Washington's hasty review of the proposals, White House Redux entries will be carefully considered in historical, modern, and future context, by the most critical minds and acclaimed thinkers in design today.
What would a White House designed in 2008, election year for the 44th President of the United States, look like?
Register now and send your ideas for the Presidential Palace of the future! Deadline: April 20, 2008
2008 will be a great year for the miniHome! It has been selected to participate in the Milan Triennale in October 2008.
Although, technically, the miniHome is a recreational vehicle (it is on wheels), it is designed to work as a permanent, comfortable vacation retreat.
Designed by Canadian architect Andy Thomson, the miniHome produces all the energy required for its onboard electrical loads by solar panels (located on a pivoting aluminum canopy over the front door) and an optional 400Watt wind turbine can help with more intense usage. There is also an onboard propane system for space heating, hot water, cooking and refrigeration.
The studio has set out a very exclusive set of criteria for their manufacturer: no vinyl, no formaldehyde, no toxic adhesives or finishes, all water-based, or plant oil-based finishes, no CFC’s or HCFC’s, all woods to be certified from sustainable sources (FSC certification), high natural ventilation rate (windows open), constant fresh air supply (windows closed) via heat-recovery-ventilator, durability and low-maintenance.
Picture by Brent
