Landscape Experts Sunnyvale

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Terminal / APOLLO Architects & Associates

Architects: APOLLO Architects & Associates
Location: Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Architect In Charge: Satoshi Kurosaki
Area: 285.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Masao Nishikawa

Structural Engineer: Masaki Structure
Mechanical Engineer: Naoki Matsumoto
Lighting Design: SIRIUS LIGHTING OFFICE

From the architect. The site is located at Aoyama in Minato ward, which is an area residential and commercial uses are mixed in Tokyo. The client couple sought to build a housing complex on the back lot of a dead end street, and earn their livings by renting a part of it. The plan was to provide an office for rent on the basement floor and a part of the first floor. The residential space for the owner is allocated on the second and the third floor.

The facade is kept simple as office architecture. The reinforced concrete wall constructed with Japanese cedar boards for form, the louver made of hot-dip galvanizing with zinc phosphate coat, and the half-mirror glass are combined to give a refined expression. The office space on the basement floor is filled with diffused light through the areaway. The first floor with a huge glass window functions as a gallery open to the street in front.

The dog-leg staircase penetrates through the center of the building. The continuity from the entrance hall of the first floor to the penthouse allows the natural light to pour into the interior space through the stairwell. The symbol tree on the south courtyard may be viewed from the main bedroom and the guest room on the second floor. This makes it possible to have a contact with the nature while staying in the city. The living room and the kitchen on the west, and the dining area with a library on the east of the second floor are placed continuously in an open space, so the family can feel each others' presence and enjoy the rhythm of everyday life. The space is loosely divided by the structural wall along the staircase in the center. This gives the flow to the space, and creates an intimate relationship while keeping a moderate distance. The rooftop, covered with wood deck, offers a panoramic view of the neighborhood. It serves as an outdoor living room where the family can enjoy BBQ and other activities.

How to Restore Terrazzo Floors

This Old House host Kevin O'Connor heads to Del Ray Beach, Florida, to restore terrazzo floors

Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY Constructs Self-Supporting Perforated Pavilion at Miami Art Basel

In light of the recent kickoff of Art Basel Miami, Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY has shared its Labrys Frisae Pavilion, which was installed at Art Basel Miami from 2011 to 2014. Constructed from aluminum less than one millimeter thick, the installation sought to blur the distinction between edge and space through “an immersive, multisensorial experience.”

“The structure’s interior leads a visitor to lose their time as they peruse the curves and try to understand the space,” which changes as viewers move throughout, especially at night, when shadows emerge through the shell’s intricate perforation.

Labrys Frisae was a part of the “striped morphologies” collection by Fornes—“in this body of research, projects are described as stripes, nested on flat sheets of material and cut, then attached to one another with thousands of rivets, finding curvature as they are joined to the their neighbors. The design process is an exhaustive series of trials, errors, conclusions, and reboots, met by an assembly process that is meticulous and hands-on.”

In its completion, the installation is self-supporting, though it wraps around a central column that does not contribute to structural integrity.

Location: The Rotunda Space – 3252 NE 1st Avenue, Suite 101 – Miami, FL 33137, 2011-2014
Overall size: 28′-10″ x 29′-9″ x 17′-5″
Holes: 202, 290
Rivets: 101, 145
Total Parts: 10,322
Weight: 1642lbs / 744kg
Materials: 256 Sheets of Aluminum, 74 Nodes, 6 missing parts that had to be recut – 0.05% missing

News via MARC FORNES/THEVERYMANY.

How to Stencil An Accent Wall

A bold pattern on just one wall can anchor focal-point furniture

Archiposters Feature Minimalist Representations of Contemporary Architecture

Bergamo, Italy-based architect and artist Francesco Ravasio has launched Archiposters, a series of minimalist architecture posters, on Kickstarter.

Drawn from his own point of view and style, Ravasio has utilized graphic design to represent architecture from 1931 through 2013, featuring buildings like I.M. Pei's Louvre Pyramid and Zaha Hadid's Riverside Museum.

The Archiposters project is not only comprised of A2 sized posters, but also includes A5 sized postcards. 12 buildings are featured on the designs:

Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier, 1931

Neue Nationalgalerie / Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, 1968

Nakagin Capsule Tower / Kisho Kurokawa, 1972

Pyramide du Louvre / Ieoh Ming Pei, 1989

Eden Project / Nicholas Grimshaw, 2001

Seattle Central Library / Rem Koolhaas, 2004

Zollverein School of Management and Design / SANAA, 2006

Hearst Tower / Foster & Partners, 2006

Eden Project / Nicholas Grimshaw, 2001. Image © Francesco Ravasio

O-14 / Reiser + Umemoto, 2009

VitraHaus / Herzog & De Meuron, 2010

Riverside Museum / Zaha Hadid, 2011

Library of Birmingham / Mecanoo, 2013

Learn more about the project, or contribute to the kickstarter here.

News via Francesco Ravasio.

Home Inspection Nightmares XXXIII

Perilous deck supports, chickens on the loose, and other curious findings made by home inspectors, from The ASHI Reporter

Plywood Apartment / Alexey Rozenberg

Architects: Alexey Rozenberg
Location: Moscow, Russia
Project Year: 2014
Photographs: Victor Chernishev

From the architect. The interior space is comprised of an entrance hall, hallway, living room and a kitchen, plus a small separate bathroom.

The feeling of unity is achieved through the common decoration technique. This technique uses two basic materials, which are distributed along the planes in accordance with the concept of antigravity: ceiling and walls are finished with plywood; walls and floors are finished with tile.

Both materials are similar in color and the black metal frame is superimposed on top. The metal has both decorative and structural functions: it serves as the basis for kitchen furniture, fixtures and lamps, and glass partition.

The guest bathroom volume is made low in height, similar in the feeling to the Dutch-oven. It's tile trim further promotes this association. The guest bathroom helps with zoning, but does not divide the space completely, keeping the overall feeling of air.

The kitchen is raised on a podium, which creates a place for storage underneath. A box container is placed over the border of the podium – to be easily used from the kitchen – creating a feeling of comfort and privacy in the sitting area.

Plywood from coniferous trees was consciously chosen as a finishing material: unfinished, construction quality, rough texture; then it was covered with multiple layers of colored oil and rubbed in, so that its surface became picturesque.

Tile was selected on the same principle of picturesque painting. Light is organized with the variety of scenarios possible. All fixtures are designed by the architect and are made of black metal.