House of children

House of Children in Saunalahti / JKMM Architects
http://www.archdaily.com/420348/house-of-children-in-saunalahti-jkmm-architects/

27AUG2013
Educational Selected Works EspooFinland JKMM Architects 
Mika HuismanArchitects: JKMM ArchitectsLocation: Espoo, Finland
Project Team: Katja Savolainen, Christopher Delaney, Päivi Meuronen, Edit Bajsz, Aaro Martikainen, Ilona Palmunen, Merita Soini
Area: 1,750 sqmYear: 2011
Photographs: Mika Huisman   

Motto of the competition entry for House of Children was “Mato Matala” (Lowly Worm by Richard Scarry). First floor houses day-care centre containing five groups of children and common spaces for all users. The day-care home areas open out on the playing yard that is formed between the rising pine covered hill slope and the new building. The street side contains common and staff facilities. Ground floor contains children’s nursery and technical spaces.

The rendered, curved southern wall forms the public façade of the building. Rest of the façades are made of timber. Building locates at a difficult, rocky site near Saunalahti gulf seashore. Playground forms a safe, unobstructed and exhilarating artificial landscape. Motives, materials and colours of the building have been inspired by the excisting landscape.

The main structure of the building is made out of concrete. Southwest facade is light masonry with overspread joint sealing. Other facades are plastered with wooden frame windows. Skylight windows open down to the entry hall of each unit and contain images from sea, earth and space. Interior materials are wooden ash parquettes and filler floorings, green tufted carpet and plastering on the walls and light acoustic papercoating on ceilings. Special light fittings and fixtures as well as pieces of furniture are individually designed and customized for this building. The design of the building is intended to stir fairytale images in the world of playing children.First Floor Plan

Smart materials for spaces

Catarina Mota: Play with smart materials #TED : http://on.ted.com/pMz5

5 modern edible gardens

Urban gardens are cropping up everywhere, from the country to the city. To follow are five modern ways to grow your own.

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and his partner, Amy Elaine Wakeland, rely on their backyard garden at their home in Echo Park for a good deal of their produce.Photo by Misha Gravenor

At her Craig Ellwood–designed duplex in Hollywood, architect Linda Taalman and her family plant their winter garden, which includes beets, cauliflower, and fennel.

With the help of Fritz Haeg of Edible Estates, Jennifer and Michael Foti dumped the browning lawn of their house in Lakewood, California, in favor of a garden offering a bounty of veggies.Photo by Fritz Haeg

Nestled in an apple grove in Sebastopol, California, the Orchard House is a rural idyll. And with the voracious design appetites of a family of gastronomically inclined clients, this concrete prefab construction is quite literally a moveable feast of a home.Photo by Dave Lauridsen

Katherine Bovee pauses in the front yard of the house in Portland, Oregon she shares with partner Matt Kirkpatrick—tonight, it’s leafy arugula and radishes with dinner.Photo by John Clark

More info on:
http://www.dwell.com/outdoor/article/5-modern-edible-gardens

An abstract of my treatise

The Urban Interface
Anke de Wit, s20428740    
Imagine a space where the seeming boundaries between the Urban landscape and Agricultural vegetation is merged in a centre, with an end goal of producing interactive experiences that will unlock the principals of sustainability to a community.

The following design proposal is of a centre that will be home to a new type of community. A community forged with careful consideration to the sensitive contradictions, which exist between nature and manmade structures. A community that fully understand both spheres and has a desire to protect and prolong the resources available.

For such a community to be relevant it cannot only exist in the physical or in real time, it should encompass the virtual spheres of web-based communities, which exist in boundless, timeless cyber space. For such a space/centre to be relevant, and usable, it should form a successful integration between the natural and Urban, as well as the virtual and physical worlds. In essence, an interface where these contradictory elements not only exist together but jointly synthesize a new space. In search of formulating the principals that will guide the structure of such a space one can turn to nature and the basic physical principals hidden within.  

The WORD and IDEA of photosynthesis is the rather captivating principal, which might find application in such a centre, for example photosynthesis. Photo - meaning light; and synthesis meaning to create from. The interface will resemble the interdependence that exist between the physical and the virtual by creating volumes, spaces and boundaries organised and synthesized by light, and optical illusions achieved by the manipulation of light within the proposed centre. In essence, a PHOTO-SYNTHETIC space that is both synthesised and defined by the manipulation of light and that can synthesize and cultivate valuable agricultural produce.

Imagine the varied interactions in such a space, connections with nature, man, community, virtual experiences, reality obscured by the invisible reality of light, which becomes the witness that provides testimony of the proof and existence of life.   

A clever, shape shifting bag inspired by origami

A CLEVER, SHAPE-SHIFTING BAG INSPIRED BY ORIGAMI

AN UPGRADE ON THE TIRED, PLASTIC LAUNDRY HAMPER.BY: MARGARET RHODESinShareThe market for reusable tote bags not only now exists but is brimming with choices: Ripstop nylon, or leather? One hue, patterned, or with a catchphrase?The Omni bag by Kumeko, a Prague-based design studio, is one of the most architecturally interesting examples to date. “A big part of the Kumeko ethos is the focus on preserving old-fashioned handcrafting techniques,” says designer Alexandra Fefelova, who recently “rediscovered a passion for origami,” which led to this geometric bag.

Omni comes in four sizes: the smallest is essentially a purse, and the largest is sized for laundry or storage. Considerate user details will be seen, especially for city-dwellers in small apartments, in the Omni’s Transformer-like versatility. The smaller two bags can transform into three different shapes, and the larger two have four possible iterations. And once emptied, they all pack flat and stow neatly away.

Dj decks made of paper

http://www.ted.com/talks/kate_stone_dj_decks_made_of_paper.html