AUSTRALIA HOUSE BY ANDREW BURNS

Australia House is a gallery, studio and atelier in the 'snow country' of Niigata Prefecture, approximately three hours north of Tokyo. The building replaces a previous structure which collapsed in a powerful aftershock on March 12, 2011.

The Australian Embassy Tokyo, Tokamachi City Government and the Echigo-Tsumari Triennale resolved quickly to construct a new building and it stands as a symbol of healing and transformation in this beautiful area of Japan.

During winter, the site can experience 1.5m of snow during one day, and this was a key consideration in the design, with the roof pitching steeply. The building alternates between a familiar domestic presence and that of an art object.

The interiors form a large 'perception device', heightening views of the surrounding landscape and creating opportunities for art installation. The artist Brook Andrew is exhibiting his work 'Mountain Home - dhirrayn ngurang' in Australia House during the 5th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, and the unique collaboration between architect and artist has refined the building, suggesting new ways for a permanent collection to be embedded within a gallery.

The proposal received first place from a field of 154 entries in an international design competition chaired by Tadao Ando. Of the design, Ando commented:

'It is difficult to form a triangle. However, it could create interesting architecture since it is difficult. I find the approach to the house attractive and different elements well arranged.

The idea of dealing with snow is thoughtful, considering that the site is located in a heavy snowfall region. It would be fantastic if only the triangular roof was visible as the rest of the house is covered with three-metre-high snow.'

The project has been supported by the Tokamachi City Government, the Australia-Japan Foundation, International Culture Appreciation and Interchange Society, Inc., the Australian Embassy Tokyo and local residents. It will serve as one of the main attractions of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2012.

 

Location: Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Architects: Andrew BurnsArchitect, assisted by Casey Bryant

Project Team: Souhei Imamura (Design development / documentation), Atelier Imamu; Sotaro Yamamoto (Construction phase administration), Atelier Sotaro Yamamoto

Structural Engineer: Taro Yokoyama, Low Fat Structure Inc.

Area: 106,00 square metres

Client: Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Australian Embassy Tokyo, Tokamachi City Government

GOLDEN WORKSHOP BY MODULORBEAT

The architects at modulorbeat, Marc Günnewig and Jan Kampshoff, along with students from the Münster School of Architecture (MSA), was commissioned to design the pavilion for the exhibition “Golden Glory. Medieval Treasury Art in Westphalia”.

The exhibition presents some of the finest goldsmith’s work from the late medieval period in Westphalia. Some 300 secular and sacral pieces may be seen across 1500 square meters: symbols for the infinite, the magical and the divine, expression of and testament to the power and wealth of their owners.

The brief was to design a temporary pavilion to sit beside the LWL State Museum. The pavilion hosted workshops discussing the craftsmanship of the gold artifacts being exhibited in the Museum.

The pavilion has a cross-shaped layout with four “wings”. Each wing open inwards like a funnel, so that the layout is more reminiscent of an abstract windmill than a crucifix. The effect is an inviting gesture to visitors, as the inside path opens up onto the central workshop area.

The walls are made of full wooden plywood panels. Indoors, the wood is visible, lending the foundry area a robust, resilient atmosphere. From the outside, the compact pavilion seems similarly robust, but here the façade is covered in eye-catching, gold-copper metal panels.

Full height windows were located at the termination of each wing, allowing a visual conversation with the general public. Although appearing regular in plan, that regularity was dissolved at eye level, translating into an experience of constantly shifting, sculptural geometry.

Pair this geometry with that shimmering cladding and you have yourself a winning combination. Surprisingly, the materials were largely sourced from ordinary hardware stores. You’d expect a structure of this nature to be a little more agricultural in its detailing but no, not here.

The architecture reflects the theme of the exhibition not only with its brilliant encasement, but much more in the fine workmanship and meticulous details that are unusual, especially for a temporary pavilion.

 

Location: Münster, Germany

Architects: Modulorbeat Ambitious Urbanists & Planners

Design Team: Marc Günnewig and Jan Kampshoff with Hélène Bangert, Andre Becker, Rainer Borgmann, Daniel Gardeweg, Anne Gerling, Marta Hristova, Frederick Rode, Eric Sievers

Client: LWL State Museum for Art and Art History, Münster (D)

Structure: Bauunternehmung Herbort, Münster Building

Cost: € 160,000

Area: 95 sqm

Photographs: Christian Richters

GATHERING CIRCLE AT THE SPIRIT GARDEN BY BROOK MCILROY AND RYAN GORRIE

The Gathering Circle is an open-air pavilion located within the Spirit Garden at Prince Arthur’s Landing on Thunder Bay’s Downtown Waterfront. The Spirit Garden is a headland extending into Lake Superior and is one component of a larger revitalized public park.

The Gathering Circle is the main structure within the Spirit Garden, and gives expression to the deep cultural and historic roots that link Aboriginal peoples to the Lake Superior shoreline. Its design reflects an adaptation of a traditional Aboriginal bentwood building technique, using modest means of construction and sustainable building practice.

Young spruce trees were harvested in the spring by a local Aboriginal craftsman and were bent and lashed to create twenty arched, truss-like column supports. The trusses were then mounted along the circumference of the circular platform and layered with a pattern of curved cedar strips creating a semi-enclosed shroud.

The platform is a circular drum-shaped concrete retaining wall that also provides seating for viewers into the circle. Four radiating tentacles emanate from the drum into the undulating landscape. The pattern echoes imagery associated with Anishinabe woodland art.

The design was created as a collaboration between Brook McIlroy and a young Aboriginal intern architect/artist, Ryan Gorrie from Thunder Bay. The outer wall of the drum is lined with ten weathering steel laser-cut panels designed by local Aboriginal artist Randy Thomas.

The Gathering Circle tucks into the south hillside providing a natural amphitheater configuration. Large ash tree logs drape across the hillside – recycled from a nearby park. The eighty-foot diameter Gathering Circle provides the City’s residents and visitors with an event space for ceremonies, blessings, music, story telling, theatre and gatherings.

A main pedestrian path connects with the Circle’s archway entrance at the cardinal east and west points inviting visitors in, while a circular footpath circulates between the twenty bentwood arches. The shroud is a ‘light-catcher’– a patterned surface of overlapping, divergent planes that enables views through its wooden frame onto the adjacent waterfront as well as the City’s downtown.

By night, a network of soft lighting highlights the curving, luminous shell form that can be seen from many vantage points throughout the City. The bentwood shroud transforms depending on the season and time of day - reflective of the profound beauty and spiritual resonance of Lake Superior’s north shore. 

Thunder Bay has a significant Aboriginal population, yet the presence of this founding culture (which has inhabited this shoreline for 9,000 years) in the fabric of the cityscape is virtually invisible. The design evolved from a series of workshops hosted by the City of Thunder Bay that drew together community representatives from Fort William First Nation, communities of the Robinson Superior Treaty and Red Sky Métis.

The Gathering Circle gives expression to a rich culture and strives to serve as a common ground – a place of meditation, mediation and celebration – gathering together all cultures. The Gathering Circle reflects Aboriginal concepts of the inclusive circle, peaceful co-existence and respect for the natural world created through adaptations of traditional building methods. 

Location: Thunder Bay, Canada

Architect: BrookMcIlroy and Ryan Gorrie

Engineer:Blackwell Bowick 

Client: City of Thunder Bay

Awards: Ontario Association of Architects Award, Artifact Category, 2012 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada National Urban Design Award, Medal, Urban Fragments Category, 2012 

North American Wood Design, Award Citation for Gathering Circle, 2012

PUUR PAVILION BY EMMA ARCHITECTEN

Fort Diemerdam è uno dei 42 forti e batterie che fanno parte della “Stelling vam Amsterdam” una linea di difesa eretta tra il 1880 e il 1920 a protezione della capitale olandese.

Una linea d’acqua ad anello lungo 135 chilometri disposta intorno al centro della città, distante tra i 10 e 15 chilometri, composto da terreni allagabili per impedire l’avanzata nemica e difendersi dagli avamposti armati di cannoni. Una soluzione nata obsoleta, vista la crescente tecnologia bellica e l’uso di aerei da combattimento nella prima guerra mondiale.

La “Stelling vam Amsterdam” non venne mai usata e nel 1996 è stato inserita tra nella lista del patrimonio mondiale dell’UNESCO. Oggi è un’attrazione turistica con percorsi ciclabili ed escursioni nella cintura verde e nei forti visitabili e riutilizzati a fini cultuali, sociali e promozionali.

Nel 2006 fu avviato un piano di ripristino degli edifici esistenti come nel caso di Fort Diemerdam, con una ricostruzione storicistica che rispettava le forme ed i volumi originari.

L’idea fu abbandonata a favore di una riqualificazione con uno sguardo rivolto al contemporaneo attraverso un progetto che reinterpretasse la storia del luogo con un adattamento più consono ad un uso culturale, ricreativo e per eventi anche all’aperto.

Il progetto di Emma Architecten reinterpreta l’impronta del passato, dell’avamposto militare, nel luogo esatto d’origine con un nuovo spazio che prende spunto dal paesaggio circostante e si ispira alla legge dei cerchi o “kringenwet” che imponeva a tutti gli edifici entro un chilometro dalla linea difensiva di essere costruiti in legno in modo da poter essere bruciati in caso di necessità.

Riferimenti che emergono da una ricerca archeologica ed interessano anche la struttura architettonica come l’abbassamento di 60 cm, dalla quota del terreno circostante e le strutture in legno a costole che rivestono l’edificio.

Un edificio che coniuga passato e presente in grado di divenire un luogo d’incontro, con sala eventi e mostre, e punto di ristoro con bar e cucina con una perfetta integrazione con il contesto da cui trae colori e sfumature adattandosi alla luce naturale.

 

 

Location: Amsterdam, Holland

Architects: emma Architecten

Year: 2012

Photographs: John Lewis Marshall, John van Helvert

BOEKENBERG PARK BY OMGEVING

Working in a historical context, of the continental Europe where the architecture of the past is still very much present, architects are often faced with the question of whether they should restore the physical or rehabilitate the conceptual.

This question came to the fore in response to the combined decision of the city of Antwerp and the heritage committee to rehabilitate the historical Boekenberg Park in Deurne. Within the framework of a public-private partnership, the office OMGEVING was appointed to give shape to the new ambitions of the city.

Based on historical analysis of the site, architects and landscape designers have proposed to approach the new development within the conceptual framework of 18th century English Garden.

The concept was to bring the visitor to the already narrated and carefully arranged romantic natural setting and to confront him with emotionally charged dramatic “events.”

Therefore the degenerated landscape had to be brought to its ideal form and 20th century concrete pool, transformed into a forest pond merging gently into its surroundings.

Keeping in mind that the water quality must correspond with the current health and safety regulations, it was proposed to use an ecological water treatment technology which in turn allowed for a new aquatic ecosystem to be created.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the water three pavilions emerge. Designed as a group of independent artifacts, their forms evoke images of the dramatic rock formations seen in 18th century paintings of Hans Gude or Peter Balke.

The gaps between them, like chasms between cliffs, gently frame the views of the old woods on the opposite side of the water. This creative reinterpretation of the history allowed the architects to take action whilst maintaining respect for a site’s history, catering to the modern standards of comfort and sustainability.

 

Location: Deurne, Belgium

Architects: OMGEVING

Location: Deurne, Belgium

Year: 2012

Photographs: Courtesy of OMGEVING

source: Archdaily