The Left-Over-Space House

Architects: Cox Rayner Architects
Location: Paddington, QLD, Australia
Architect In Charge: Casey, Rebekah Vallance
Year: 2012
Photographs: Casey Vallance, Courtesy of Cox Rayner Architects, Christopher Frederick Jones



From the architect. This narrow private house demonstrates what can be achieved on the myriad of ‘left-over’ spaces in inner cities, such as disused easements or parking lots.  In this case, a 3 metre wide tiny caretaker’s cottage, adjoining a Heritage Hall has been recycled and linearly extended into a family house for parents and two children. Although challenged by its site, they set about grafting old with new elements that belie its constraints and pursuing their philosophy of making everything count.



In the three metre wide frontage to the old cottage is a new study designed through its portals and window boxes to engage the street.  Where the site slightly opens up behind the cottage to an open, roofed and screened staircase atrium forms the primary social space.  A small bridge is a library connecting it to kitchen and living room, and beyond to stacked bedrooms and a stair to a roof deck.



Privacy from close placed neighbours is gained by a series of iron screens whose perforations for light are the patterns of peeling paint of weatherboards on one of the neighbouring cottages.  The screens slide or swing out to engage the neighbours when desired and to mediate different solar positions.  They are one of an array of details rethinking the typology of the private house, no matter how small, as both sanctuary and communal participant.


© Casey Vallance

The project recycles an existing small cottage as a piece of the house to which extensions in front and back are grafted in 3 metre and 5 metre wide portions respectively. The forward portion is a single level study room for architectural practice, or if later to be used by a new owner, a potential small office. The former cottage is opened up to form a conduit to the rear portion, it also comprising the dining space.  As the site falls steeply to the rear, two levels of bedrooms are attached to the old cottage piece, with a staircase atrium running longitudinally beside a library which also bridges the front and rear parts of the house.


© Casey Vallance

The atrium belies the narrowness of the site, the stairs being seating treads, and scale generated by volume.  This space manages the climate of the subtropics with layers of perforated iron screens which alternatively project and open up to the external conditions. The mobile screens are intrinsic to an approach to private house design that facilitates sanctuary and engagement of the community as desired.  A series of inserted window boxes, a side door to an easement and sliding downstairs doors each play a role in participation in or closure off from other spaces or to neighbours and passers-by.



http://www.archdaily.com/439260/the-left-over-space-house-cox-rayner-architects/

YAYA

http://www.archdaily.com/436824/young-architect-of-the-year-award-shortlist-announced

This week the shortlist for this year’s Young Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) was announced. The YAYA, organized by BD and now in its 15th year, has become a high-profile springboard for many practices led by architects under 40.For the first time, this year the award is open to architects from outside the UK, allowing any practice based in the EU a chance to apply. The shortlist reflects this new opportunity, featuring practices from Belgium and Spain among the list of five.The 2013 YAYA Shortlist includes:

HAT ProjectsHAT Projects work at a range of scales, from individual arts and community buildings to urban mapping and planning. Founded by Tom Grieve and Hana Loftus, their Jerwood Gallery in Hastings won a RIBA Award earlier this year.

[ARQUITECTURIA]Based in Girona near Barcelona, Josep Camps and Olga Felip’s practice[ARQUITECTURIA] has produced designs such as the Ferreries Cultural Centre and theMuseum of Energy.

Studio WeaveMaria Smith and Je Ahn founded Studio Weave in 2006 and have already gone on to realize 25 built works. Their approach combines craftsmanship with a sense of playfulness.

ONO ArchitectuurThe Belgium-based ONO Architectuur was founded by Gert Somers and Jonas Lindekens after winning a competition for De Steen, a multifunctional building in Bocholt.

RCKaRCKa have appeared on the YAYA shortlist before in 2011, however this time the practice led by Tim Riley, Russell Curtis and Dieter Kleiner returns with more projects under its belt, such as the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool (pictured).

Cite:Stott, Rory. "Young Architect of the Year Award Shortlist Announced" 10 Oct 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 12 Oct 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/436824>"">

In Tokyo. Vertical indoor and outdoor farming

As young people migrate to cities in ever growing numbers, so grows the concern for the future of agriculture. Prototypes for urban/vertical farms have been developed and, considering projected urban growth, seem a likely forecast for our future.In the offices of Pasona, the future has already arrived. The Tokyo based recruitment agency has dedicated 20% of their 215,000 square foot office to growing fresh vegetables, making it the largest urban farm in Japan.

The gardens utilize a mix of hydroponic and soil-based farming, and require very specific climate control within the building. This often means keeping these spaces warmer than is considered comfortable for office spaces, and is arguably the building’s greatest downfall.The food grown in the office isn’t meant to just feed the employees at Pasona. Kono Designs, the architecture firm behind the project, is hoping that this new type of office will inspire the young urbanites to reconsider agriculture and possibly even to reinvigorate rural areas.At the very least, the project seems poised to inspire other offices to embrace this new design trend.

http://www.archdaily.com/428868/in-tokyo-a-vertical-farm-inside-and-out/

3D printed shoes

Fashion X Technology: Naim Josefi

Custom 3D-printed shoes look to microbiology for inspiration

by Meghan Killeen in Style on 11 September 2013

Blending minimalism with a touch of whimsy, Swedish designer Naim Josefi has broken new ground on the runway. Drawing comparisons to icons like Alexander McQueen, Josefi has already established himself as a name synonymous with incredible innovation. Back in 2012, Josefi won an opportunity to showcase his collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week as a winner on fashion design reality show Project Runway, and has continued to inspire and amaze. Exhibiting an innate ability to stay one step ahead of the careening fashion curve, Josefi isn't afraid of experimenting with new materials and technology. Josefi collaborated with designer Johan Walden for his premiere collection, Wana, a collection of hand-jewelry with sensual and interwoven accents made out lace.

In sharp contrast to the soft textural interplay of his hand-jewelry, Josefi turned the fashion world on its heel with his debut of the first ever 3D-generated shoe, printed by Materialise. Referencing Josefi’s background in microbiology, the porous design of the Melonia heel is at once anatomical and architectural.

Josefi joined industrial designer Souzan Yusouf to create the Melonia heel; a structural feat of technology customized to fit your feet. First, your foot is scanned to establish its shape, angles and contours. Then, a 3D model is rendered to fit the exact shape of your foot. The design file is submitted to the 3D printer where the shoes are built, layer by layer. The shoes are then ready to be worn instantly. Although Josefi explains that they’re "not made for a stroll in town," the shoe's customizability leaves room for real comfort. Labeled a "product of ecology," the Melonia's seamless material is conducive to recycling through duplication. These shoes' ingenuity has been endorsed by radical fashion enthusiast, Lady Gaga, and earned a nomination for the prestigious Brit Insurance Award.A fitting complement to our collaborative exhibition with Moondial and Motorola, Josefi describes the shoes as a sort of futuristic vision of an ideal society, where the individuality of each person is in focus but simultaneously united.Images courtesy of MaterialiseFashion X Technology is a show of innovative, tech-driven couture created in collaboration with Dr. Sabine Seymour of Moondial, presented at New York's OCBTW and brought to you by Motorola.

Computers class...movie maker

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.