Garden Museum: Dow Jones Architects

from archdaily:

In October 2007, Dow Jones Architects won an architectural competition to redesign the museum. The competition brief asked for a new gallery space where temporary exhibitions could be housed in secure and environmentally-controlled conditions.

The designers say:

"It appeared to us that creating a dedicated place for the museum’s permanent collection was equally important, as the exhibits were frequently moved to make space for events. We developed a strategy which addressed both issues.

Our idea was to create a belvedere within the existing building. This houses the new galleries and provides a raised ground from which a new perspective of the existing building is attained.

The belvedere structure enables us to place the temporary gallery at ground floor level and move the permanent collection, from its former location in the nave, up to the new first floor level."

This museum is about a five minute walk from Beaconsfield.

Invitation: Pavilion of Protest

Organizers are looking for volunteers from University of Westminster to take part in a project at the RIBA, where students are asked to draw for 2 hour slots about architectural education. They are particularly looking for volunteers to fill daytime slots i.e. before 4pm, between now and next Thursday.

Click poster above for opening times and booking details.


addition:  Btw, I just stopped by this morning and this is what the drawing desk looks like at the Pavilion:

Building as Register: ICA Media Center by Diller + Scofidio + Renfro

From http://www.dillerscofidio.com/ica.html:

"The new Boston Institute of Contemporary Art is located on the harbor at Fan Pier in south Boston. The 62,000 square foot building includes 18,000 square feet of galleries, a performing arts theater, a restaurant, a bookstore, education/workshop facilities, and administrative offices.

The Boston Harborwalk borders the north and west edges of the ICA site. This surface is metaphorically extended into the new building as a pliable wrapper that defines the building’s major public spaces.  Above the wrapper sits the "gallery box": a large exhibition space on one level that dramatically cantilevers over the Harborwalk toward the water."

There are a lot of interesting and successful parts of this building.  The Media Center room there is particularly interesting for our discussions of "building as register" because of the 'fold' that exposes a specific view to the water below.

The Media Center is the wedge-shaped protrusion below the ICA’s distinctive 80 foot cantilevered top floor and as one visitor describes it "really shows what happens when you allow talented architects to do what they want: space is transformed. Water fills the front edge of the room’s view and the sensation of hanging is palpable."

Above: Design Drawing for Media Center room at the ICA by Diller + Scofidio + Renfro

 Above: Media Center room under construction in 2006

Above: Media Center room completed by Diller + Scofidio + Renfro

Stephane Malka

Boombox in Barcelona

Stephane Malka  is a French architect who, influenced by graffiti, is interested in how the skins of buildings can be re-thought with temporary, low cost materials. He can be found at http://www.stephanemalka.com.

Boombox 
This scenographic installation was at Santa Monica Arts Centre, Barcelona.     'An explosion of the Art Center, it transforms the existing architecture in order to change the perception and experience of the site. The basic module .. is the cardboard box. Appropriated from its original use, it... retains the symbol of an ordinary container for the nomad.'

Ame-Lot
'Ecological strategies often generate an over-production of materials....
The real ecological combat is in ...the re-appropriation of materials and experimentation with ready-made objects.....
The project for student housing on rue Amelot (Paris) inserts itself into an urban interstice: the thickness of a blind wall.'

Ame-lot project for student housing: Stephane Malka

burble: haque design and research

burble in Singapore: Haque design and research

The first Burble ever, launched at the open ceremonies of the Singapore Biennale 2006, was known as Open Burble and consisted of a 15 storey structure designed, assembled and controlled by members of the public. The purpose of the project was to explore how people could design and contribute to their urban environment at a massive scale, albeit just for one night.

Haque design and research are well known for creating the Burble, but are responsible for many other interactive works. They can be found at http://www.haque.co.uk.

factory fifteen

Factory Fifteen is a new animation company formed by architecture graduates (yes, from Nic Clear's Unit at the Bartlett) which generates imaginative and fantastical imagery. Find it at http://www.factoryfifteen.com

Machine Installation: HEYHEYHEY video

Zuzana found this video by Dutch design studio HEYHEYHEYon dezeen; very fun and similar to the Fischli and Weiss film that we watched in studio a few weeks ago.  Enjoy!


Other cool (and pertinent) videos that she found:

http://www.dezeenscreen.com/2011/10/20/tales-of-the-hunt-tom-price/

 

http://www.dezeenscreen.com/2011/08/05/good-ideas-glow-in-the-dark-by-bruketazinic-and-brigada/