111: 01/04/14

A very wise man, Homer Simpson, once described alcohol as “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” While this may not necessarily be true for all problems, fifty years ago it seemed that beer was going to play a part in solving a housing shortage on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, thanks to a bizzare, yet socially conscious, piece of design.

Upon visiting Curaçao during a world tour of his factories in 1960, brewing magnate Alfred Heineken was struck by two things: the beaches were littered with beer bottles – many bearing his name – and there was a shortage of affordable building materials, which meant the lower-classes were consigned to poor quality housing.

In a stroke of either genius or madness, Heineken realized that both problems would be solved if people could build their houses with his beer bottles. Intent on realizing his vision, he enlisted Dutch architect N. John Habraken to design a glass brick that he could also sell beer in.

While Habraken’s first few attempts were dismissed for either being too costly and difficult to produce or not pretty enough to sell beer in, he eventually settled on the design known as the Heineken WOBO (World Bottle) - a piece of emerald green glassware tailor made to serve as both a beer bottle and a building material.

In 1963, the brewery produced a test run of 100,000 bottles. The design was, of course, first and foremost a functioning beer bottle, but when emptied and laid on its side, it became a self-aligning, interlocking, glass brick. Habraken’s design allowed the neck of one bottle to be fitted into the base of the next, while the sides were lined with rows of small bumps that made it easier for both people and mortar to grip them. With this design, a basic 10 by10 foot hut could be built using one-thousand bricks. To overcome the problem of creating corners and openings without having to modify the bottles, they were designed in two sizes: a 500mm version and a 350mm ‘half-brick’.

The WOBO was not without its problems; while normal glass bottles can take up to 50kg standing on end, these ones were laid horizontally, which required thicker glass. In addition, their square physique made them prone to chipping in transit and during construction, and there was no way to join two bottles if they happened to meet end to end.

Despite its shortcomings, the concept was revolutionary; as author and architecture critic Martin Pawley describes, it was “the first mass production container ever designed from the outset for secondary use as a building component”. Heineken was so insistant that they be used as bricks that he planned on printing building instructions on the side each bottle. Habraken even suggested shipping the bottles on special plastic pallets which could be reused as roofing.

However, despite Heineken’s optimism, the brewery’s marketing department was less than impressed. Worried the company would be held liable if a house were to collapse, not to mention and the consequences of relating their premium brand with poverty, the company consistently rejected plans to fully adopt the design.

The idea unfortunately fell from the spotlight and, despite a brief resurgence of interest in the 1970′s, only two of structures were ever built: a small glass hut and a shed – both of which were retrofitted with WOBO walls located on the Heineken estate in Noordwijk near Amsterdam. The bottles themselves are few and far-between today, and instead of being the mass affordable building material they were intended to be, they have become rare collectors items.

Architectural considerations

1/04/2014

pompidou centre

Work, leisure and domestic activities are becoming interchangeable, leading to the creation of open-ended, flexible structures such as the Pompidou Centre and Barajas Airport in Madrid. These buildings, with their legible facades and logical form, relate directly to both the user and passers-by. Buildings such as these make legible the historic forces of the time: how they are constructed, their relationship with their context, and what they are used for, and in doing so, bring a new dimension to the way people interact with the built environment.

Barajas Airport

The structure of buildings set the scale, form and rhythm of the architectural environment, within which change and improvisation can take place. Scale is given as much by the design of the details as the building as a whole. Lightness of structure, transparency and layering are dominant design factors in the work of the practice. Colour is used for a variety of reasons, including to affect the mood of the building, and to humanise and change the apparent nature of materials.

Richard Rogers is searching for a more subtle world between solid and transparent, a sequence of spaces where the eye is lead through overlapping strata, where light and shadow enhance the impression of transparency, for example in works such as the Bordeaux Law Courts, the Antwerp Law Courts, Lloyd's Register in London, Madrid Airport and Hesperia Hotel in Barcelona.

The practice endeavours to employ technologies that sustain rather than pollute, that are durable rather than replaceable, and that add value over time rather than falling prey to short term economies. Structure and the conservation of energy play a major role in giving form to our buildings. Speed, cost and energy efficiency often contribute a lightness of structure, transparency and clarity of design. Many projects have been developed that explore to a very high degree the use of alternative sustainable energy solutions.

The most beautiful house in South Korea

1/04/2014

From the architect; About 20 years ago, government held “the house expo” in GangNam and constructed this “expo town” of low-rise residences, and every site of this town were designed by selected architects who had been famous in Korea at that time. The site of “GaOnJai” was one of this monumental town, but the owner of this house who purchased house of this site, has built, newly, after tearing down the old house of this site.

REQUIREMENT OF CLIENT

Useful landuse, ecology: To maximize the efficiency of landuse, to be ecological spaces were important requirements, because the owner thought exterior spaces of demolished old house were narrow, useless and circumstance of inner spaces were dark and blue.
Introvert space: To keep privacy and security, to block noise, smoke and other’s eye, introverted layout of this house was required.
Absorbing landscape of surrounding mountain: The living room where has dynamic, picturesque view of landscape of near mountain had been required.

RESPONDENT OF THE DESIGN.

CULTURAL IDENTITY

The house which has it’s own Identity of Korean culture has been required because I think this town is representative town of desirable planned residences in Korea.

By introducing “Madang” which is Korean inner court, we have solved the requirement of introvert space, ecological environment, useful outdoor space and have got the nature which has healthy, live environment and landscape.

By introducing “Ru” which is Korean-pilotied architecture, we absorbed the dynamic and picturesque landscape of near mountain, according to turn the axis of mass of living room to top of the surrounding mountain. Void space under “Ru” is the beginning of approach part of dramatic sequence of strolling course in spaces of this house, like cave.

By introducing curved “Cheoma” which is cantilevered roof of Korea for the floating roof of this house, we got, not only the resistance to rough weather condition, but also, to revive the traditional language of architecture in translated language in modern. By introducing oval patterned concrete wall which was derived from traditional stone wall, we expected it would be reminder of past.

TOPOGRAPHICAL LAYOUT OF PROGRAMS

By adapting topography of existing site, lower Madang, higher Madang, various skip-floored inner spaces were designed as different level each other and they produced interesting route of stroll in every place of this house. This natural adaptation to nature has been basic character of Korean culture of architecture.

STROLLING

All the programs of spaces of this house were laid out as the touring course that has dramatic interest of “strolling” through the inside and outside of this house, visually and spatially. Thereby we expect the living in this house will not be tired for long time by giving enjoy of strolling in their own world.

Heydar Aliyev Center

1/04/2014

Zaha Hadid Architects was appointed as design architects of the Heydar Aliyev Center following a competition in 2007. The Center, designed to become the primary building for the nation’s cultural programs, breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that is so prevalent in Baku, aspiring instead to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture and the optimism of a nation that looks to the future.

Design concept

The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza and the building’s interior. The plaza, as the ground surface; accessible to all as part of Baku’s urban fabric, rises to envelop an equally public interior space and define a sequence of event spaces dedicated to the collective celebration of contemporary and traditional Azeri culture. Elaborate formations such as undulations, bifurcations, folds, and inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions: welcoming, embracing, and directing visitors through different levels of the interior. With this gesture, the building blurs the conventional differentiation between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope and urban plaza, figure and ground, interior and exterior.

Fluidity in architecture is not new to this region. In historical Islamic architecture, rows, grids, or sequences of columns flow to infinity like trees in a forest, establishing non-hierarchical space. Continuous calligraphic and ornamental patterns flow from carpets to walls, walls to ceilings, ceilings to domes, establishing seamless relationships and blurring distinctions between architectural elements and the ground they inhabit. Our intention was to relate to that historical understanding of architecture, not through the use of mimicry or a limiting adherence to the iconography of the past, but rather by developing a firmly contemporary interpretation, reflecting a more nuanced understanding. Responding to the topographic sheer drop that formerly split the site in two, the project introduces a precisely terraced landscape that establishes alternative connections and routes between public plaza, building, and underground parking. This solution avoids additional excavation and landfill, and successfully converts an initial disadvantage of the site into a key design feature.

Geometry, structure, materiality

One of the most critical yet challenging elements of the project was the architectural development of the building’s skin. Our ambition to achieve a surface so continuous that it appears homogenous, required a broad range of different functions, construction logics and technical systems had to be brought together and integrated into the building’s envelope. Advanced computing allowed for the continuous control and communication of these complexities among the numerous project participants.

The Heydar Aliyev Center principally consists of two collaborating systems: a concrete structure combined with a space frame system. In order to achieve large-scale column-free spaces that allow the visitor to experience the fluidity of the interior, vertical structural elements are absorbed by the envelope and curtain wall system. The particular surface geometry fosters unconventional structural solutions, such as the introduction of curved ‘boot columns’ to achieve the inverse peel of the surface from the ground to the West of the building, and the ‘dovetail’ tapering of the cantilever beams that support the building envelope to the East of the site.

The space frame system enabled the construction of a free-form structure and saved significant time throughout the construction process, while the substructure was developed to incorporate a flexible relationship between the rigid grid of the space frame and the free-formed exterior cladding seams. These seams were derived from a process of rationalizing the complex geometry, usage, and aesthetics of the project. Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (GFRP) were chosen as ideal cladding materials, as they allow for the powerful plasticity of the building’s design while responding to very different functional demands related to a variety of situations: plaza, transitional zones and envelope.

In this architectural composition, if the surface is the music, then the seams between the panels are the rhythm. Numerous studies were carried out on the surface geometry to rationalize the panels while maintaining continuity throughout the building and landscape. The seams promote a greater understanding of the project’s scale. They emphasize the continual transformation and implied motion of its fluid geometry, offering a pragmatic solution to practical construction issues such as manufacturing, handling, transportation and assembly; and answering technical concerns such as accommodating movement due to deflection, external loads, temperature change, seismic activity and wind loading.

To emphasize the continuous relationship between the building’s exterior and interior, the lighting of the Heydar Aliyev Center has been very carefully considered. The lighting design strategy differentiates the day and night reading of the building. During the day, the building’s volume reflects light, constantly altering the Center’s appearance according to the time of day and viewing perspective. The use of semi-reflective glass gives tantalizing glimpses within, arousing curiosity without revealing the fluid trajectory of spaces inside. At night, this character is gradually transformed by means of lighting that washes from the interior onto the exterior surfaces, unfolding the formal composition to reveal its content and maintaining the fluidity between interior and exterior.

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