LITTLE FACTORY BY FLORENTIJN HOFMAN

Artist Florentijn Hofman, famous for his Rubber Duck (2007) and many other projects, has once again tapped into his reservoir of caprice and whim. 

 

Little Factory is a three-dimensional oversized pictogram of an industrial zone made out of steel frame and corrugated steel roof sheets.

It is situated at the Azeven Noord (along the N31) an industrial site in progress at Drachten (NL).

The work questions the architecture on business parks as well as the use of those sites. It's not only a landmark but it could be also used for an artist in residence program.

Little Factory is a cartoonized version of an industrial factory, and features three white “windows” and two chimney stacks.

The steel structure is simply built from a frame and corrugated roof sheets, and the comic look gently prods at the relationship between building and site.

The metal frame building, wrapped in black corrugated steel roof sheets, represents a landmark next to the highway.

The interior contains a wooden loft and stone pavers that make up the floor, with retractable rolling shutters over the three large windows that illuminate the 5 x 12 x 14 meter construct.

Location: Drachten, Holland

Architect: FlorentijnHofman

Year: 2012

THE DIANE MIDDLEBROOK MEMORIAL BUILDING BY CCS ARCHITECTURE

“The project consists of four new studios for The Djerassi Resident Artists Program, a place where visiting artists from around the world are provided room and board to concentrate on their work for an extended period of time.

The property consists of over 600 acres of rolling hills, forests and meadows high in the coastal hills of Woodside, CA.

The new building extends the existing campus over a meadow approximately 100 yards from the main building, which was originally a cattle barn dating back from when the property was a working ranch.

The project was conceived as a memorial to Diane Middlebrook, an accomplished writer and teacher, and late wife of program founder Carl Djerassi.

Though the studios are designed to be used by artists of all disciplines, special attention was made to cater to the specific needs of writers, where quiet contemplation, free from distraction, is a welcome amenity.

The building itself is actually a cluster of four separate one-room studios, grouped together under a fifth structure, a free-standing steel canopy supporting a solar panel array over the eastern ends and pedestrian pathway connecting the four studios.

The siting of building takes advantage of uninterrupted views of the Pacific coast to the southwest, and the coastal ridgeline to the east.

These views are captured within each studio by the strategic placement of doors and windows, where the distractions of the everyday movement of cars and people are unseen.

This siting was also designed to address energy consumption by positioning the largest wall openings within the units to the southwest for passive solar gain, and by tilting the canopy roof plane toward this same direction in order to optimize exposure of the solar panel array.

The building materials are designed and selected to achieve the highest ratings for green construction, exceeding the recommended guidelines of the county of San Mateo’s “Build-it-Green” program.

The exterior walls and roof are all FSC-certified clear cedar boards, laid out to follow the unique slopes and tilts of the roof and wall planes.

Interior finishes consist primarily of materials collected from within the architects sample library to the effect of creating a patchwork pattern in the main room and bathroom floors, while the walls are kept simple and painted white, so as not to compete with the views beyond.”

The mission of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program is to support and enhance the creativity of artists by providing uninterrupted time for work, reflection, and collegial interaction in a setting of great natural beauty, and to preserve the land on which the Program is situated.

Sculpture by Bruce Johnson at Djerassi Resident Artists Program

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program is internationally recognized as one of the eminent artist residency programs. We strive to provide the best possible residency experience for artists of superior talent from a diverse range of backgrounds and geographical locations.

Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi

As stewards of a unique and beautiful property, we also seek to preserve the land and use our facilities wisely and efficiently for maximum benefit to the artists and with the least impact on the environment. 

Location: Woodside, California, USA
Architect: CCS Architecture

Area: 280 sqm
Photographs: CCS Architecture

ARTIST RESIDENCE AND STUDIO BY CALIPER

Set in historic Greenwich Village, the residence is composed of two low buildings, originally one was a metal shop and the other a garage.

Roy Lichtenstein

In the late 1980s artist Roy Lichtenstein moved into a two-story warehouse that was converted to a residence and studio by 1100 Architect. Lichtenstein died in 1997, and the building, located across the street from Westbeth Artists Housing, is now occupied by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation,

Dorothy Lichtenstein

The mission of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation is to research, document, protect and share Roy Lichtenstein’s art and creative legacy. The Foundation has been actively involved in 20 Lichtenstein solo exhibitions, via loans, documentation and assistance with institutions throughout the United States and in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Moscow, Japan and Puerto Rico.

In 2007 the Foundation hired Caliper Studio for restoration and renovation work.

The buildings had between them eight roof surfaces totaling 6,000 square feet of  aging roof.  The two larger surfaces were transformed into a quiet landscape of wall to wall sedum plants within which are set two of Roy Lichtenstein’s sculptures—Brushstrokes and Endless Drip.

This newly formed urban sculpture garden is framed by the tall rugged neighboring buildings of Manhattan’s west side. The kitchen and penthouse were rebuilt with dark reflective brick, connecting them is a black locust wood deck curving and stepping above the landscape.

This warm wood surface forms a path, a viewing platform and a resting area to enjoy the new garden.  The sedum planting continues onto two new concrete shell skylights whose curved form gently diffuses light into the studio below.

Preservation of the artist’s studio was a primary design objective of the project. Careful technical detailing of the building’s envelope along with new climate controls help ensure the longevity of the studio.

The quality of the space and its character have been maintained through original artifacts including the artist’s built-in wall easel system and paint splattered floor.

The most overt outcome of the process happens on the 6,000-sf (557-sm) roof, where "a quiet landscape of wall to wall sedum plants" now exists. The L-shaped roof is crowded in by buildings on three sides, but it does reach toward Washington Street on the west, in the direction of Westbeth (photo at right).

People walking up and down the street can glance atop the one-story garage to get a glimpse of one of two large-scale Lichtenstein sculptures installed on the roof, in this case "Endless Drip."

"Brushstrokes" sits at a remove from the street, between a rebuilt penthouse office and new concrete shell skylights. A locust-wood deck snakes its way from the office to a rebuilt kitchen; the gray bricks of each volume stand out from the original building, marking these as new constructions.

Further, Caliper Studio -- which is comprised of Caliper Architecture and Caliper Fabrication -- is responsible for much of the fabrication: skylights, canopy, trellis, planter, window frames and grates, railings. Their construction documentation is worth a look, particularly for the forming of the skylights.

Below the roof level, much of the work carried out was in keeping with the original conditions of Lichtenstein's studio and residence. According to the architects, "The quality of the space and its character have been maintained through original artifacts including the artist’s built-in wall easel system and paint splattered floor".

This leaves the roof as the canvas, if you will, for the architects, who chose sedum as their primary medium, even as they crafted other pieces in wood, metal, and concrete. The roof landscape softens the space between the various buildings and gives Lichtenstsein's sculptures a contrasting background, something akin to a sculpture garden in the middle of the city.

General Contractor: Riverside Builders

Structural Engineering: GMS

Landscape and Planting Design: VertNY

 

INFO: www.lichtensteinfoundation.org

         www.caliperstudio.com

           www.archidose.org