UMEÅ ART MUSEUM BY HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS

Umeå Art Museum is located at the 15,000 m2 new Arts Campus at Umeå University in northern Sweden. The new campus also comprises the Academy of Fine Arts, the Institute of Design and the School of Architecture.

The consolidation of artistic institutes and exhibition facilities is based on a close collaboration between various companies with a view to allow art, design and architecture to benefit from one another.

Umeå's position as a centre of art and education is strenghtened with a new silhouette by the Umeälven river. In its previous facilities, the museum has displayed international contemporary art and classic art-historical exhibitions side by side since 1981.

The new museum more than doubles the exhibition area and, with its protruding, visible location by the river, it will become a new landmark in the area.

The museum comprises three exhibition halls placed on top of each other. The large, square halls are free from load-bearing structures and are supported by four legs, with one leg placed on each side of the square rooms.

Around the exhibition halls, the legs create an outer, narrow gap towards the facades – a niche, which lets the cool sun and sky light pour into the space and merge with the warm artificial light.

In addition to the light effect, the niches allow for natural breaks from the artistic exploring, and the higher up you go, the more you are drawn towards the view of the river, city and landscape. 

The four legs not only support the building but also serve as wells for all vertical movement: elevators, stairs, pipes and ventilation ducts. The entrance and foyer span across the three lower levels and comprise a museum shop, a children’s workshop and an auditorium.

A partly triple-high room serves to connect the spaces. As the other buildings at the Arts Campus, the facade features vertical louvres in Siberian larch, which supports its verticality – only broken by the large windows and the glass floor in the middle.

Umeå Art Museum wishes to attract international artists. This imposes high requirements on museum safety and climate control. The museum connects to the local district heating system and features maintenance-free materials.

 

Location: Umeå, Sweden

Architect: Henning Larsen Architects

Project Team: White Arkitekter, Tyréns, WSP Group, TM-Konsult

Gross floor area: 3.500 m2

Year: 2009 - 2011

Client: Balticgruppen AB

PARAMETRIC INTERACTIONS MULTIFUNCTIONAL BENCH BY KAYGORODTSEV, MOGYLNYI, ZABAVSKA, TSUMAN, SAKH

In Kyiv National University of Architecture and Construction was hold a workshop within the framework of conference “Contemporary education”. It was organized by the team of KG’MGarchitects studio. The main topic of workshop was using Autodesk Maya software for the design of architectural objects.

The first step served as a series of lectures designed to provide participants with tools (software), such as: modeling, the basics of direction of particles by the action of external forces and also the methods of simulation of physical processes in Maya. Lectures held by Iurii Kaygorodtsev, Tanya Zabavska, Andrew Mogylnyi and Kirill Tsuman.

The principal aim was to acquire skills in using of digital methods to optimize the architectural spaces and structures. Examples were given by Frei Otto method of minimizing the ways (simulation sticking threads) and receiving of minimal surfaces (simulation of physics of materials). Frei Otto’s method was used in first task to identify the pattern of spots which are more free from flows of people.

Participants were invited to use one of the chosen spots to situate their own version of the bench. The second task was to design the form of public space in the backyard of the university. To do this participants used the method of minimal surfaces. Assignments were performed independently of each other. Participants provided a number of options from which by the general vote has been selected the best one option in both tasks for future distribution.

The project of multifunctional bench was designed by students of KNUCA Roman Sakh and Konstantin Kuchabskyi . The main idea in the project was to create the object which includes a variety of different functions of the public space in the university hall. Starting points in modeling of the bench were different scenarios of using the object.

The variety of chosen scenarios formed the basic of creation of geometrical sections of the object. Sequence of the sections made it possible to create a single volume subordinate (which depend to) fluid geometry. To streamline the production process there was chosen the method of splitting the object layer by layer.

The segments were cut by CNC technology from plywood sheets by prepared vectors. Resulting elements are fastened together with thread rods which are uniformly distributed over the cross section segments of the bench to ensure its sustainability. The project of public space was designed by Anastasia Fedan, Anastasia Tkachenko and Liubov Titarenko.

In this project were used the method of minimal surfaces. Starting with simple form was created the element that determined the shape of the final structure. Physical simulations by using rest length scale allowed to choose the best option of the geometry. The general structure of the object was created through the popularization of the resulting element. Due to the geometry final structure received a variety of leisure activities in a public space.

Workshop: Contemporary education

Project: Multifunctional Bench

Authors: Iurii Kaygorodtsev, Andrew Mogylnyi, Tanya Zabavska, Kirill Tsuman, Roman Sakh

Year: 2012

KNOX INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY AND SUSTAINABILITY CENTRE BY WOODS BAGOT

KIOSC, Knox Innovation Opportunity and Sustainability Centre, has established a centre of excellence training hub for the delivery of green education and training, focusing on environmental sustainability and responsible management.

The centre presents an exciting opportunity to combine both sustainable practice in building design along with secondary and TAFE (Technical and Further Education) curriculum.  Engaging with seven different schools, the building will also be used by Swinburne University TAFE students.

The design of the building reflects its purpose of operation - sustainability, inclusion and innovation. It includes sustainable materials, energy efficiency through correct building orientation and integration of siting and building fabric with engineering services.

The design comprises a two story building with the main functional areas grouped and separated on each floor. The lower ground floor incorporates five VET/TAFE labs, while the first floor (and main entry point) accommodates the Discovery Centre. The Discovery Centre has been conceived as an immersive environment for students in years 7 to 12, engaging them with the concept of sustainability utilising technology and innovation. 

The circulation space at the upper level includes displays such as interactive models, climatic experiences, and touch screens, showcasing sustainable technologies and developments. The main simulation/presentation space is central to the design of the KIOSC Discovery Centre. It accommodates 100 students for a variety of teaching and learning modes, enriched by multiple touch screens – conceived for use in groups of four students – and an immersive curved projection wall.

Custom designed games and programs have been developed especially for the curriculum. Movable informal furniture enables the space to change with ease for different educational modes. A smaller simulation space features an interactive floor surface and a ceiling-mounted screen to encourage students to move around and engage with technology in different way.

Two discovery labs have been designed to enable the delivery of a science curriculum, including chemistry and physics. They are flexible in design, allowing for different table configurations. Glazing to adjacent spaces has been utilised to showcase the teaching and learning taking place. An external terrace provides a thermal buffer to the eastern-most discovery lab. The terrace has a sustainable landscape which can be used as an external ‘classroom’, further contributing to the sustainable theme of the building.

Glazing has been optimised to the building’s north and south elevations to maximise the potential for natural lighting and to minimise artificial lighting. Solar shading has been provided to glazed walls, minimising direct solar loads and reducing glare. East and west facing glazing has been minimised and where necessary is protected by deep reveals or building overhangs.

Natural ventilation is optimised by the use of operable windows to a minimum of 5% of the building floor area, while the majority of external walls are heavily insulated to minimise heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter.

The themes of ‘reflection’ and ‘refraction’ have informed the design of the northern elevation of the building. A series of cranked vertical sun-blades provide an active overlay to north facing glazing, providing an ever-changing composition to passers-by.

 

 

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architects: Woods Bagot

Principal In Charge: Sarah Ball

Design Architect: Bruno Mendes

Project Architect: David Ley

Project Team: Matt Si, Richard Galloway, Claire Gardiner

Collaborators: Swinburne University and Schools Consortium

Engineer/Consultant: Meinhardt Group

Builder: Harris HMC

Area: 1,800 sqm

Year: 2012

Client: Swinburne University of Technology & KIOSC Schools Consortium 

Photographs: Peter Bennetts

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

SHOFFICE BY PLATFORM 5 ARCHITECTS

Shoffice (shed + office) is a garden pavilion containing a small office alongside garden storage space located to the rear of a 1950's terraced house in St John’s Wood with the brief requiring the shoffice to be conceived of as a sculptural object that flowed into the garden space.

The glazed office space nestles into an extruded timber elliptical shell, reminiscent of a wood shaving, and forms a small terrace in the lawn.

The interior is oak lined and fitted out with a cantilevered desk and storage. Two rooflights - one glazed above the desk with another open to the sky outside the office bring light into the work space.

The lightweight structure, formed with two steel ring beams, timber ribs and a stressed plywood skin, sits on minimal pad foundations.

Much of the project was prefabricated to reduce the amount of material that needed to be moved through the house during construction.

 

Location: London, England

Architect: Platform 5Architects

Structural engineer: Morph Structures

Design development & Fabricators: Millimetre

Client: Private

Year: 2012