Architecture

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Pugh + Scarpa
Step Up on Fifth
Santa Monica, California


A striking yet light-hearted exterior makes the new
building a welcome landmark in downtown Santa Monica.



Custom water jet anodized aluminum panels
on the main facade creates a fantastics screen



Community rooms are located on every other floor of the project overlooking the private courtyards
protected from the street. These community rooms along with the private courtyards serve as the
principal social spaces for the tenants of the building.







The planning and design of Step Up on 5th emerged from close consideration and employment of passive
solar design strategies. These strategies include: locating and orienting the building to control solar cooling
loads; shaping and orienting the building for exposure to prevailing winds; shaping the building to induce
buoyancy for natural ventilation; designing windows to maximize day lighting; shading south facing
windows and minimizing west-facing glazing; designing windows to maximize natural ventilation; shaping
and planning the interior to enhance daylight and natural air flow distribution. These passive strategies
alone make this building 50% more efficient than a conventionally designed structure.

The new structure provides 46 studio apartments of permanent affordable housing. The project also
includes ground level commercial/retail space and subterranean parking






http://www.arcspace.com/architects/p...p/step-up.html

[amalgamate]

that's one weird building...

i had to reread the description a couple times before I understood this is just a fancy studio-appartment complex. I didn't quite understand the whole 'emotionally sensitive occupants' description. It confused me to think that this new building is a clinic for the mentally challanged.

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Álvaro Siza
Iberê Camargo Museum (ICM)
Porto Alegre, Brazil

“Because of the steepness of the slope,
the museum had to be developed as a vertical construction.”
Álvaro Siza




Settled into the lush green hillside like a giant sculpture, the first building in Brazil by Álvaro Siza
preserves the collection of more than 4000 works by Iberê Camargo, the master of Brazilian expressionism.
The base of the building is a long platform, 0.90 meters above street level, under which part of the program
areas are located. The main building volume cuts through the escarpment.





Siza chose white concrete as the main construction material as a means to establish a dialogue with modern Brazilian architecture.

"Concrete allows for great flexibility in the organization of volumes and shapes.
In Brazil there is an important tradition of concrete utilization. Modern Brazilian
architecture is so rich and varied, and it pushes its own limits when using this
material, that it would make no sense to use anything else instead."
Álvaro Siza

You enter the museum under the concrete ramps that define the vertical space,
open to the sky, in front of the museum.








The nine galleries and circulation ramps surround a towering central atrium, with the ramps
extending to the exterior as enclosed walkways cantilevered across the front facade.
Vertical circulation, two elevators and two sets of stairs, are located at each end of the building.







###############################################################################





Drawing courtesy Álvaro Siza Vieira
Section

Building Area: 8,326 square meters

Completed: 2008

Client: Fundacao Iberê Camargo
Architect: Álvaro Siza Vieira
Principals in Charge:
Barbara Rangel
Pedro Polonia
Project Team:
Michele Gigante
Francesca Montalto
Atsushi Ueno
Rita Amaral

Project Management: José Luiz Canal
Enterprise Coordinator: José Luiz Canal
General Contractor: Camargo Correa
General Consultants: Pedro Simch
Structural Engineering: Gop
Jorge Nunes da Silva
Ana Silva, Raquel Dias
Filipa Abreu
HVAC: Gop
Raul Bessa
Electrical: Gop
Raul Serafim
Maria da Luz
Alexxandre Martins
Hidraulic: Gop
Raquel Fernandes
Acustical: Gop
Higini Arau

Photographed by Fernando Alda

MORE # DETAILS # HERE #

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G Living | Dark Twisted Space Monkies Go Green

Architecture / Design
Sunday, July 12, 2009

Join G Living As A Blogger

Small Living Makes Giant Strides

In a super-sized obsessed age, we’ve now fallen into the gap where we believe our home should also
reflect a shift toward the grandiose. Yet this obsession with gigantism has completely dwarfed our sense
of self. Whereas even meals used to be an art form, the rising trend on bigger (and ultimately considerably
ridiculous creations) is aimed at promoting a consumer culture that ironically strips us of culture.




Some would even argue that in addition to relinquishing culture, we rescinded our identity as we grow
increasingly lost amidst a rising expanse of materialism. With consumer culture, it’s no longer about what
we have, but about how much we can stuff into ourselves, pile on ourselves, and collect around
ourselves. An inflationary ideology that compromises quality for quantity, the idea that more is better and
less is miserly can be traced back to Hollywood and celebrity, two groups that promote a culture of excess
that majority of star gazers flock to emulate.



Yet an undercurrent movement referred to as “small living” is creating waves as a chic counter culture
against wasteful consumption. An increasing number of global citizens are realizing that bigger is not
better, that more is not necessarily feasible, and that a continued practice of parasitism is not in our mutual interest.

MORE.. ICI..




This all began with a green movement, ironically enough kindled by the very same group that initially made it popular to be wasteful. It was Hollywood and celebrity that made it trendy to be environmentally aware, and while they were not the first group to practice earth-friendly habits, they are the group that got it mainstream attention. Still, the green movement has taken off considerably since its infant days where recycling was the height of eco-culture. The newest trend is in sustainable living, a striving effort to live a lifestyle with a minimal or reduced carbon foot print.

Thinking green has spread a new leaf. While in the early stages of sustainable living, eco-friendly decisions centered on what could be different in the home, the trend now is to change your home itself. Quickly gaining momentum, the small living movement is leading a greater number of people to realize the personal and communal benefits of conscientious consumption.

From small houses to yachts-turned-homes, people across the country are completely rethinking their
approach to living. And with the rise of do-it-yourself shows and home makeovers, we’re all realizing that
we can have the comforts of a larger home, even the aesthetic appeal, without having to scrape out our
wallets for that last little penny to fund it all. Whether it’s a boat, mobile, or studio living, the fact is a majority
of Americans are downsizing their dwelling space. This in light of the recent recession mixed with a rising
awareness to cultivate positive eco-friendly living solutions, has left the market saturated with a number of
alternatives to conventional living.
The emphasis here is not just on saving the environment, but also on saving a green resource of another
variety. Conscientious about carbon foot prints and wasteful spending, many global citizens are down
scaling from a humble abode to perhaps an even more humble abode in an attempt to salvage hard-earned
dollars. With that, the trend these days is perhaps not even just to get a smaller apartment, but to get the
most compact home possible for your lifestyle. The idea of compact living has not only gotten many people
to downgrade the number of services they use (i.e. cable, internet, dry cleaning, gourmet coffee), but it’s
also raised a new crop of spatial economists that have traded in expansive lofts for more resource-friendly spaces.

MORE.. ICI..








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PICTURES , COPY RIGHTS ARE FOR : Small Living Makes Giant Strides G Living | Dark Twisted Space Monkies Go Green

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Black Pyramid
House by Suppose Design Office

Suppose Design Office designed a black pyramid in Saijo, Japan, inspired by
the earliest house in Japanese architecture called pit dwelling or “tateana jukyo”.

A young couple and their three children wanted a unique house, in which the open public part would preserve
privacy. The site which was formerly an open field was excavated and the house was sunk a meter into the
ground. The soil from excavations was used to create a protective barrier around the perimeter of the site,
and acted as the organic base of the house.

The sunken level is open and consists of the living, kitchen and dining areas. Although it is a meter below
ground level it has a lot of natural light. A timber staircase without handrails leads to the first floor where the
master bedroom and bath is found. The master bedroom enjoys a terrace, which is cut into the surface of the
pyramid-like construction, allowing natural light into the master bedroom.

A minimal steel staircase leads to the most revealing and striking space of the house, the second floor where
the children’s bedroom is located. The walls ascend and converge to meet at the skylight where light
vigorously pours through into the rest of the house through the central opening where the staircase is located.











Via yatzer

Black Pyramid House by Suppose Design Office | CoolBoom

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Parron home-Ortiz,
Olivares (Sevilla)






The project stems from the commissioning of which require some grandparents in their
retirement years a place for them, their sons and granddaughters. Some children with
different conditions, married with a daughter and another single. One earring and another
independent. Some grandparents who love the game of its third generation and giving them
love reading.










Books and more books legacy of its past teachers.
The intense light, is the main material with which rose this house,
which is an area traversed by light diagonal slash.








Parron home-Ortiz, Olivares (Sevilla) | Melendo Diego and Francisco Parron, architects | Jesus Granada | architectural photography

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July 17, 2009....
Links Roundup of the Week: Public Art

Now that we are spending more time outdoors, we thought we’d take a poke around the internet to see
what interesting public art projects are taking place around the world. Look what we found in this week’s content!

Notcot features this curvaceous plywood structure located in Bedford Square, London.

We also liked this grass planted temporarily in a train station — from a milk commercial filmed in NewZealand!

Pruned highlights a shimmering “wave garden” that we would love to stumble upon in San Francisco.

Core77 proves that you don’t have to waste gas on going away with a structure designed for urban camping in Copenhagen.

Treehugger reports on the latest guerrilla gardening effort in Toronto.

SOURCE
Inhabitat Links Roundup of the Week: Public Art