URBAN SKY LINK

The history of the skyscraper is inherently linked to that of the elevator. It is interesting to note that although structurally speaking the skyscraper has evolved enormously, it is still a vertical structure, dictated by the elevator, which in its effort to go up, it only meets a dead end. The lack for alternative methods of moving through floors (the elevator’s refusal to bend) has determined the typology of the skyscraper for the last hundred years or so.

This proposal wishes to expand the understanding of high-rises, beyond a high FAR structure, or an extrusion of a plan. The proposal’s main concept is simple: that the idea of moving up in a building can also mean moving to somewhere else in the urban fabric, taking the pedestrians’ relationship to the city as decisive design factor.

The concept converts the traditional structure into a double-ended skyscraper, making it rise and fall again, linking two sites and transforming the structure into a wormhole in the city. As thus, the building also becomes a public transport system, and accessible landscape. The skyscraper could link unconnected sites, or salvage topographic barriers such as rivers, or link different levels with in a city.

MOBILE MEDIA-CENTRIC UNIT

David Garcia Studio and architect Alanna Baudinet collaborate on a competition for a mobile arctic unit. The design is to be an open source mobile architecture system capable of functioning in extreme as well as temperate climates and containing mass, industrial and amateur production and manufacturing potential. The unit is to serve as a model for mobile research in extreme cold environments, designed to incorporate high tech solutions while utilizing sustainable resources.

The ARCTIC PERSPECTIVE – THIRD CULTURE project is supported by the European Commission Culture 2007-2013.

NATIONAL WILDFLOWER CENTRE

COMPETITION SHORT LISTED

The architectural competition for the National Wildflower Centre in Leeds, England, desired an extension to their existing installations, that expressed nature's mathematical order that is not necessarily immediately apparent in nature, but found upon closer inspection. To test how this building could become an expression of this, Fibonacci series based curves were placed on the site to test the interaction with the available site. From these curves and the site area constraints, the floor plan geometry of the building was derived. A well to collect rainwater was then placed within each of the floor plans. An arch with optimal bearing section was then drawn between the outer curve and the well, and then swept between the two, to create the three dimensional structure of the buildings.

Pragmatically the public and operational areas of the centre are separated into two buildings. Although these two areas are physically distinct from one another, the dialogue between the two forms and paths through the public building invites visitors to view the processes involved in seed production.

It was the explicit desire of the program to work with non-linear surfaces. Natureʼs geometry is an example of how spaces are developed by surfaces growing into spaces. Sections through plants, reveal pockets created by single surfaces and the separation of layers into cavities. This same concept was overlayed onto the forms of the buildings, to solve the succession of functions under one single roof.

Secondary skins were added to each building and pulled away from the outer walls as much as necessary to create spaces for functions that require defined areas. In the public building, the remainder of the area has been kept open to allow maximum flexibility of the space with the minimum of intervention. The classroom areas became floating volumes within the overall structure that define spaces of different sizes.

By choosing this methodology of defining spaces the flow through both buildings is uninterrupted. This is particularly heightened in the operational building where connections from seed sowing all the way through to dispatch have been created as one single path.

Visitors are invited into this public building through the walled garden. By choosing this entry a strong dialogue is created between the two new buildings and the existing visitors centre and the walled garden of wildflowers. The flow of visitors is then directed out adjacent to the production building where they are invited to walk around the building to learn how seeds are produced, cleaned and packaged.

The building has been devised as a single structure but double clad. This reduces the amount of structural material required for the project whilst ensuring excellent thermal insulation. Each building becomes more opaque to the north where less light intensive functions have been located. The buildings open to the south to allow good solar access. Solar cells would be incorporated into the fabric of the external cladding where appropriate.

ARTFUND PAVILION

As this pavilion will be constructed each summer, we chose to work with elements that could create a different configuration of spaces each time the structure was erected, basing our concept in simplicity and flexibility. We began with a standard sheet of plywood. By stacking these and allowing each element to become a sliding panel, an infinite arrangement of spaces to suite various exhibitions and gatherings could be created.

The location of the panels not only creates interior spaces, but also reflects the inverse space to the outside, inducing a dialogue with the surroundings and defining outdoor areas. The tracking system allows doors to be moved from the centre to the extremity of the roof space, which permits openings all the way along the pavilion as desired.

The interior of the building is not isolated from the elements, although the spacing of the boards ensures that artworks can be locked inside when required. This openness enhances the quality of the pavilion as a contrasting outdoor space in which to view art, from the typology adjacent gallery. Each sliding panel is top hung and has not been fixed to the ground to give the sensation of levitation. Once an exhibition or gathering space has been created, the panels can be locked into position and the pavilion is secured. This concept allows the pavilion to emerge anew each summer, each exhibition and each gathering.

ZOO NETWORK

The competition guidelines called for "An environmental zoo where consideration should be given to a symbiotic environment that includes the activities of humans with animals." The proposal aimed to enrich both humans and animals by closer contact, while using the same environment.

If the contemporary aim of zoos is to understand how animals and humans can be enriched by each other, then the proximity between animals and people is essential.

This can be done by sharing simple rituals, like eating, resting or training. If these activities are done in the same architectural space, the spatial environment becomes important to both, animals and humans.

Architecture is the perfect language to solve the physical challenges of such a proposal. This has to be understood as a serious undertaking and a way to enrich each other’s social necessities while creating new spaces.

Imagine your self, reading in a cloud of butterflies in the central library, swimming with dolphins in the public pool or eating close to grazing giraffes in a restaurant.