SIAP Architectural Discourse

56 Leonard Street by Herzog & de Meuron

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:28:26 -0800

56 Leonard Street by Herzog & de Meuron

www.56leonardtribeca.com

Work has started on the construction of 56 Leonard Street, a 56-storey residential tower in New York designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron.

The tower, the architects' first, will be built on the corner of Leonard Street and Church Street in Tribeca.

A specially commissioned sculpture by Anish Kapoor will sit at the corner of the building at street level.

All images are Copyright Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, 2008, and used with permission.

The following information is from the developer:

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON HERZOG & DE MEURON'S 56 LEONARD STREET

Since its formation in 1978, the Basel, Switzerland- based architecture firm of Herzog & de Meuron has achieved international renown for buildings -- houses, libraries, schools, stores, museums, hotels, factories, arenas -- that strike an uncanny balance between strict refinement and pure invention, practicality and the sublime.

Their recently completed Beijing National Stadium in China, for billions of worldwide spectators the single most enduring image of the 2008 Olympic Games, has redefined the sports arena for the future, while museums like the Tate Modern at Bankside in London and the de Young Museum in San Francisco ambush expectations of what makes a building ideal for art.

With such commissions, Herzog & de Meuron has aimed not for virtuosity but innovation, looking always to the broader culture and art for inspiration. Referring to Andy Warhol, Jacques Herzog has said, "He used common Pop images to say something new. That is exactly what we are interested in: to use well known forms and materials in a new way so that they become alive again."

On the threshold of its fourth decade, Herzog & de Meuron is poised to reinvent another great architectural prototype as construction begins in New York City on the first hi-rise tower of the firm's career. 56 Leonard Street will be a 57-story residential condominium building at the intersection of Church Street and Leonard Street in the Tribeca Historic District of downtown Manhattan, where it will rise above cobbled streets and historic 19th century neighbors.

The tower will house 145 residences, each with its own unique floor plan and private outdoor space, in a veritable cascade of individual homes that the architects describe as "houses stacked in the sky," blending indoors and outdoors seamlessly together.

With its articulated surfaces, dramatic cantilevers, profiled slab edges, profusion of balconies, expanses of glass, and views from downtown Manhattan to as far as the Atlantic Ocean, Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard Street breaks down the old image of the high-rise as a sleek, hermetically sealed urban object to propose instead a thoughtful, daring and ultimately dazzling new alternative -- the iconic American skyscraper re-envisioned as a pixilated vertical layering of individually sculpted, highly customized, graceful private residences opening to the atmosphere.

The architects' design for 56 Leonard Street also updates the relationship between private tower and public streetscape with an articulated base whose cantilevers generate a sense of movement and permeability. Here, the building's defining corner will be the site of a major commissioned sculpture by internationally celebrated London-based artist Anish Kapoor.

Fully integrated into the architecture itself as if to say that culture and the city are indivisible, Kapoor's massive, reflective stainless steel piece - an enigmatic balloon-like form that appears to be combating compression from above - will be a new cultural landmark in Tribeca and the artist's first permanent public work in New York City.

Kapoor's sculptural contribution to 56 Leonard Street extends his ongoing exploration of physical and psychological space, as in such works as the "Cloud Gate" in Chicago's Millennium Park and the recent mammoth temporary installation "Sky Mirror" at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan.

Homes available at 56 Leonard Street will range in size from 1,430 square feet to 6,380 square feet, and will include two- to five-bedroom residences and 10 penthouses. Prices for the residences at 56 Leonard Street range from $3.5 million to $33 million.

56 Leonard Street has been developed by Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias of Alexico Group LLC, New York City, developer of such acclaimed Manhattan projects as The Mark by Jacques Grange and 165 Charles Street by Richard Meier.

Costas Kondylis & Partners of New York City is serving as executive architect for the building. Construction manager for 56 Leonard Street is Hunter Roberts, New York City. Exclusive sales and marketing agent for the project is Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Occupancy at 56 Leonard Street is anticipated in late fall 2010.

"We are extremely pleased and honored to be able to create a tower of true global character at a moment when great architectural ferment is reshaping New York City," said Izak Senbahar of Alexcio. "With 56 Leonard we aspire to make a unique contribution to the fabric of our town with a building that relates directly to the city but is also an outstanding international address."

THE BUILDING

At 56 Leonard Street, the architects' intention is to preserve the celebratory spirit of traditional skyscrapers while introducing new structural possibilities and suggesting fresh ways for people inside such towers to relate to their city.

Inspired by the permeability and spatial qualities of Modernist houses and the great American dream of a customized home, Herzog & de Meuron has replaced the usual extrusion of standardized skyscraper floor plates with a staggered progression of structural slabs turning slightly off axis by degrees as they ascend, creating constant variety among the apartment floor plans.

This structural arrangement of floor plates at 56 Leonard Street will create an irregular flurry of cantilevered terraces up and down the building, making plays of light and shadow that give the tower a shimmering, animated appearance on the skyline and widely varying interiors. 56 Leonard Street contains five key zones ascending from street to sky: lobby, "townhouse" residences, amenities, tower residences, and penthouses.

Appearing to rest upon Anish Kapoor's sculpture, the base of 56 Leonard Street will have the appearance of a stack of cantilevering volumes with varying degrees of transparency and opacity. This section of the building contains a dramatic double-height, 1,600 square foot lobby with an entrance on Leonard Street adjacent to a verdant exterior vertical garden to the west.

Sheathed in gleaming black granite, the lobby space includes stations for a 24-hour doorman and concierge, with custom designed reception desks by Herzog & de Meuron; private residents' mail, package and refrigerated storage room; custom-designed visitor seating fixtures; and two separate elevator landings with a total of seven elevators featuring interiors designed by the architects.

Above the 18 foot-high black granite-walled lobby are several floors of residences that relate very directly to the immediate scale and panorama of the neighborhood (homes known by the architects as "the townhouses") and two full floors of amenities spaces custom designed to the last detail by Herzog & de Meuron.

These include an indoor/outdoor 75-foot infinity edge pool, one of Manhattan's largest, surrounded by a black terrazzo deck inlaid with spherical glass aggregate. An adjoining outdoor sundeck cantilevers 20 feet over the block to provide extraordinary Tribeca views and a sense of connection to the district.

Other amenities include a fitness center with yoga studio, wet and dry spa features and terrace; a library lounge (above); a screening room; a private dining/conference room; and a Tribeca Tot Room for children's play and family activities. Every angle and structural element has been designed to create visual access to the cityscape for those inside the building and aesthetic excitement for passersby on the street.

Floors eight through forty-five at 56 Leonard Street containing the building's one- to five-bedroom residences. In each residence, grand glass doors of up to 12 feet in height lead to private outdoor spaces outfitted with travertine pavers, a frameless balustrade and custom designed handrail. Balconies and terraces are arranged in varied schemes that provide uninterrupted views of the city, its flanking rivers and New York Harbor, and saturate living spaces with light. Interior details, sharply refined by Herzog & de Meuron, enhance the perception of spatial flow and an atmosphere of harmony. The building's exposed exterior concrete is complemented indoors by a subtle neutral palette of extremely sensual materials. Champagne colored window mullions, satin etched glass, natural pale solid woods, travertine, Thassos marble, polished metals, black granite and high gloss black lacquer accents are part of a super-customized, luxurious package of finishes chosen to complement furniture and art.

Extending the assertive sculptural character of the building's exterior to key interior details, Herzog & de Meuron has conceived several signature sculptural fixtures for the homes at 56 Leonard Street. Fireplace hearths soar from floor-to-ceiling, crafted by the architects in high gloss white enameled steel. Derived from pragmatic architectural functions, this monumental freestanding sculptural element anchors the great room and provides a dramatic focal point while reflecting and diffusing ambient light.

For 56 Leonard Street kitchens, Herzog & de Meuron have designed a special prep and dining island fitted with a high gloss black lacquer base and enhanced honed black granite countertop - a feature with the alluring curves of a grand piano or an elliptical lozenge - accompanied by a custom hood either sculpted from the wall or descending from the ceiling.

Generous cooking and entertaining spaces are complemented by top line appliances integrated into custom cabinetry, and sleek, minimal glass cabinets designed by the architects. Bathrooms at 56 Leonard Street are similarly meticulous in detail. Curving spaces enclose custom Herzog & de Meuron marble mosaic tiled walls, vanities, cast six foot oval soaking tub, shower, cabinetry and fixtures, all planned in relation to expansive windows framing views in the most private area of the home..

The building's dramatic nine-story crown contains its apex penthouses - eight occupying full floors and two occupying half floors - will appear on the Manhattan skyline as a chimerical geometric sculpture of stacked, glimmering glass volumes. Ranging in size from approximately 3,650 to almost 6,380 square feet, these aeries embrace the outdoors through expansive private terraces of up to 1,700 square feet. Penthouses are accessed by private elevator. Soaring window walls rise to 14 feet and open onto panoramas of the city and sky.

Summarizing their design, Herzog & de Meuron has said, ""We approached the design process for 56 Leonard Street from the inside out, from the homes themselves. But we also considered the outside in terms of the Tribeca neighborhood. Here you have the small townhouses, the old manufacturing buildings, and the high-rise buildings, but also a lot of little corners and surprising things between. The different scales characterize the neighborhood and we wanted to establish a dialogue among them. For us, creating a building is a research process. We call it a journey."

Additional public information about 56 Leonard Street is available online at http://www.56leonardtribeca.com

Liz Diller: Architect @ TED

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:26:35 -0800

To view the video please click on the link below or simply copy and past this link into your browser address box: http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/liz_diller.html
Speakers Liz Diller: Architect

Liz Diller and her maverick firm DS+R bring a groundbreaking approach to big and small projects in architecture, urban design and art -- playing with new materials, tampering with space and spectacle in ways that make you look twice.

Why you should listen to her:

Liz Diller might just be the first post-wall architect. From a mid-lake rotunda made of fog to a gallery that destroys itself with a robotic drill, her brainy takes on the essence of buildings are mind-bending and rebellious. Her firm, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, partakes of criticism that goes past academic papers and into real structures -- buildings and art installations that seem to tease the squareness of their neighbors.

DS+R was the first architecture firm to receive a MacArthur "genius" grant -- and it also won an Obie for Jet Lag, a wildly creative piece of multimedia off-Broadway theater. A reputation for rampant repurposing of materials and tricksy tinkering with space -- on stage, on paper, on the waterfront -- have made DS+R a sought-after firm, winning accounts from the Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall and the School of American Ballet, as part of the Lincoln Center overhaul; at Brown University; and on New York's revamp of Governer's Island. Their Institute for Comtemporary Art has opened up a new piece of Boston's waterfront, creating an elegant space that embraces the water.

(See the DS+R website for upcoming work and installations -- even the spec work electrifies.)

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

Beijing National Swimming Center: Blue Cube

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:31:36 -0800

National Swimming Center
Beijing, China
PTW Architects, CSCEC+Design, and Arup
By Clifford A. Pearson - This is an excerpt of an article from the July 2008 edition of Architectural Record.

They started with the idea of a box made of bubbles enveloping a set of swimming pools. The concept came quickly and earned everyone's support. Figuring out how to make it work turned out to be more difficult. For three months in the spring of 2003, a team from the Australian architecture firm PTW, Arup, and China State Construction and Engineering (CSCEC) explored evolutionary biology, arcane 19th-century geometry, and the latest computer-modeling technology, racing against a competition deadline for the design of the National Swimming Center, the main venue for swimming events at the 2008 Olympics.

The team had already learned that Herzog & de Meuron's bird's-nest scheme was selected for the National Stadium next door. "We wanted to do something different from Herzog & de Meuron's design," recalls Tristram Carfrae, the leader of the Arup delegation.

Looking at forms and patterns found in nature, the group started designing the skin. They quickly focused on soap bubbles and what happens to their geometry when they congregate. At first, the designers tried clustering cylinders to create a flat roof and walls, but weren't happy with the gaps between the cylinders and the awkward shift from vertical cylinders (to support the roof) to horizontal ones (to support the walls). In their search for the most efficient way to divide space into cells of equal size with the least surface area between them, the designers explored solutions proposed in the 19th century by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and British mathematician William Thomson Kelvin, and by the Irish physicist Denis Weaire and his assistant Robert Phelan in the late 20th century. Eventually, the team adapted Weaire and Phelan's ideas, developing a building skin made of cells with either 14 or 12 sides. "We wanted the bubble pattern to seem random, not repetitious," explains Chris Bosse, who was one of the project architects for PTW and now runs his own firm in Sydney called the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA). Using the Weaire-Phelan geometry, the group created a skin made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles, some as large as 30 feet across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.

A space frame assembled on-site from 22,000 steel tubes welded to 12,000 nodes holds the cells in place and provides a column-free structure with spans of 396 feet in either direction. The three-dimensional frame is nondirectional--meaning it has no up or down, left or right--making it perfect for a high-seismic zone such as Beijing. The chemically treated water in the pools and the air pollution outside the building, though, are both corrosive. So the design team placed the steel frame inside a cavity made of two layers of ETFE pillows. For the roof, the cavity is 25 feet deep, and for the walls it is 12 feet.

Please read the entire article in Architectural records' July 2008 issue.

درجستجوی برگردان فارسی برای واژۀ دیکانستراکشن

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:03:14 -0800

نوشتۀ زیر چند سال پیش نگاشته شد و در شمارۀ چهارم نشریۀ "پایه" از انتشارات "انجمن معماران و شهرسازان ایرانی" به چاپ رسید.

درجستجوی برگردان فارسی برای واژۀ دیکانستراکشن

Deconstruction

نگارنده: ایرج یمین اسفندیاری

دیکانستراکشن واژۀ نوینی است که هنوز گوش و کنارهای آن به خوبی روشن نگردیده و در واژه نامه های زبان های لاتین جای بجای خود را نیافته است. بخش بیشتری از این رهنیافتگی بخواست بنیانگذاران این بینش بویژه ژاک دریدا بانی نخست آن است. زیرا اینان با هرگونه تعریفی که مرزبندی روشنی بسازد در ستیزند و آن را با خواست مرزگشایی نهفته در دیکانستراکشن ناسازگار میپندارند (1).

با این همه برای یافتن برابر فارسی این واژه میتوان از دو آبشخور یاری گرفت. نخست برداشت از هرآنچه که در بارۀ این گفتمان گفته و نوشته شده است. دوم روبرو کردن آن با واژه هایی که از دیدگاه دستور زبان همگونی نزدیکی با این واژه دارند.

در آبشخور نخست به کوتاهی میتوان گفت که این نگرش به مبارزه با مرزبندی هایی برخاسته که دستاورد ساختارهای استوار بر پایۀ رودرویی های دوگانه Binary opposition مانند: فرم و محتوا/ طبیعت و فرهنگ/ منطق و احساس/ اندیشه و ادراک/ قاعده و استثناء/ تن و روان/ نر و ماده/ گفتار و نوشتار هستند که شالودۀ فرهنگ و متافیزیک غربی را ساخته اند (2). این بینش براین باور است که این ساختارها از گسترش دامنۀ اندیشه جلوگیری میکنند و میکوشد راه برای برون رفتن از این پابندهای اندیشوری پیشنهاد کند. اما این مبارزه آماجش نه فروسامانی بلکه فراسامانی است و از این رو دارای باری سازنده و آری گوی Affirmative (3). دیکانستراکشن گوشه چشمی نیز به برداشت از گفتمان معماری دارد (4). پس در این آبشخور برگردان دیکانستراکشن باید دارای ویژگی های مبارز, گشاینده, فراسامان, سازنده, آری گوی Affirmative و اندکی معماریگونه باشد.

در آبشخور دوم میتوان گفت که واژۀ دیکانستراکشن

Deconstruction

از آمیزش واژۀ

Construction

و پیشوند De زاده شده است. واژۀ Construction بروشنی در واژه نامه های لاتین شناسایی گردیده و بنابراین برگردانهای فارسی آن مانند ساخت, ساختن, ساختمان و ساختار نیز روشن و گویای خواست آنند. اما سختی در جستار برگردانی برای پیشوند De است که باید در آمیزشش با برگردان Construction بایستگی های آبشخور نخست را نیز برآورده سازد. بررسی برگردان های پیشنهاد شده و پیشنهادهای نوین به گزینش برگردانی پسندیده و گویای ویژگی های بایسته یاری میرساند.

1- "شالوده شکنی" که بابک احمدی در کتاب "ساختار و تأویل متن" آن را بجای دیکانستراکشن Deconstruction نشانده با این که از آوایی خوش آهنگ برخوردار است چندان رسا نیست زیرا "شالوده" برای برگردان Foundation شناخته شده است که بخشی از ساختمان و نه تمامی آن است. از سوی دیگر پسوند "شکن" که از فعل شکستن گرفته شده است باری ویرانگر دارد وبار آری گوی Affirmative پسندیده وبایسته را دارا نیست.

2- "ساخت شکنی" که در "واژه نامۀ انگلیسی-فارسی برای علوم انسانی" نوشتۀ داریوش آشوری در برابر دیکانستراکشن Deconstruction آمده است و "ساختمان شکنی" و یا "ساختارشکنی" از همان نارسایی پسوند "شکن" رنجور هستند. این واژگان آمیخته به خوش آهنگی "شالوده شکنی" نیستند ولی در رساندن مفهوم گویاترند.

3- پسوند دیگری که میتوان بکار گرفت "زدایی" است مانند "استعمارزدایی" Decolonization - "راززدایی" Demystification - "اسطوره زدایی" Demythologization - "فردیت زدایی" Deindividualization" و پس "ساخت زدایی", یا "ساختمان زدایی", یا "ساختارزدایی". بار ویرانگر در این پسوند از "شکن" کمتر است بنابراین بکارگیری آن پسندیده تر ولی هنوز به آن میزان از آری گوی بودن Affirmative که بایسته این آمیزش است دست نیافته است.

4- پسوندی که بیش از پسوندهای نامبرده از بار آری گوی Affirmative برخوردار است و با خواست دیکانستراکشن

Deconstruction

همخوانی دارد "گشایی" است. مانند "ضابطه گشایی" Deregulation , "رمزگشایی" Decoding , "مشکلگشایی", "کارگشایی", "گره گشایی", و پس ساخت گشایی یا ساختمان گشایی و یا ساختارگشایی که نیازهای برشمرده در بالا را برآورده میکنند و نامزدهای شایسته تری برای برگردان فارسی واژۀ دیکانستراکشن هستند. از آنجاییکه بخش بزرگی از کوشش دیکانستراکشن در کشاکش با "ساختارگرایی" Structuralism که بنیانگذار آن لوی استروس Levi Strauss است بکاربرده میشود (این اندیشه سالها بر گسترۀ فلسفی-فرهنگی غرب سایه افکنده بود) برگزیدن "ساختارگشایی" برای برگردان فارسی واژه Deconstruction نمایندۀ گویاتری برای باورهای این اندیشه است.

پانوشته ها:

1- نگاه کنید به کتاب

"What is Deconstruction?"

Christopher Norris and Andrew Benjamin

از انتشارات

ACADEMY EDITION

Derrida himself has made a point of refusing all requests for a snap definition. If there is one "truth" about deconstruction, he asserts, it is the fact that no statement of the form "deconstruction is x" can possibly claim any warrant or genuine explanatory power. Definitions are reductive in the sense that they assume some ultimate, one-for-one match between signifier and signified.

2- نگاه کنید به پیش درآمد گفتگوی ژاک دریدا با کریستوفر نوریس که در همین سایت پدیدار است. همچنین نگاه کنید به یادداشت شمارۀ 15 از بخش دوم کتاب

"What is Deconstruction?"

Christopher Norris and Andrew Benjamin

از انتشارات

ACADEMY EDITION

3- نگاه کنید به پرسش و پاسخ پنجم از گفتگوی ژاک دریدا با کریستوفر نوریس که در همین سایت پدیدار است.

I insisted from the beginning that Deconstruction was not simply a method, was not a critique, or not simply critical. The concept of critique or criticism deconstructive somewhere.... It is not negative--it was linked from the beginning with affirmation, with the "yes".

برگردان "آری گوی" از "واژه نامۀ انگلیسی- فارسی برای علوم انسانی" نوشتۀ داریوش آشوری برگرفته شده است.

4- نگاه کنید به پرسش و پاسخ سوم از گفتگوی ژاک دریدا با کریستوفر نوریس که برگردان فارسی آن در همین سایت یافت میشود. همچنین نگاه کنید به نوشتار

Derrida, Architecture and Philosophy

نوشتۀ اندرو بنجامین در سال 1988 در نشریۀ

AD. Deconstruction in Architecture ACADEMY EDITION

درآمیختن هنرها: شعردرمعماری و معماری درشعر

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:55:20 -0800

نوشتۀ کوتاه زیر پیش درآمدی بود بر سخن میرزاآقا عسگری در نشست پنچشنبه 14 اوت 2008 در انجمن معماران و شهرسازان ایرانی.

نگارنده: ایرج یمین اسفندیاری

درآمیختن هنرها: شعردرمعماری و معماری درشعر

سالها پیش از شاعرگرانقدراسماعیل خویی شنیدم که در تعریف شعر چنین گفت:

"گره خوردگی عاطفی اندیشه و خیال در زبانی فشرده و آهنگین"

نمیدانم این تعریف از خود اوست یا نقل قول میکرد. زیرا گونه ای نزدیک به آن را در کتاب "ادوارشعرفارسی: از مشروطیت تا سقوط سلطنت" نوشتۀ محمدرضا شفیعی کدکنی دیدم.

باری من براین باور هستم که این تعریف برتمام هنرهای هفتگانه انطباق دارد منتها با واژگانی دیگرگون برای هر یک از هنرها. در شعر و داستان نویسی واژگانٍ زبانٍ گفتار و نوشتار بکارگرفته میشود و آفرینش هنر در معماری, مجسمه سازی و نقاشی با ترکیب هنرمندانۀ مصالح بوجود میآید. از این روست که اگر در یک کار معماری میان اندیشه و خیال پیوندی عاطفی و آهنگین باشد نتیجه آن کاری هنرمندانه وشاعرانه خواهد بود و یا به گفته ,میس وان دررو, یکی از بزرگان معماری در قرن بیستم, تبلور موسیقی میشود. از سوی دیگر هنگامی که شعری از توازنی مناسب در بکاربردن عوامل یاد شده در تعریف بالا, یعنی عاطفه, اندیشه, خیال, زبانٍ فشرده و آهنگ برخوردار باشد گفته میشود که دارای ساختمانی زیباست. از این جا میتوان درآمیختن این دو هنر, یعنی شعر ومعماری, را در یکدیگر دریافت.

دختران خیال آلاچیق نو در آلاچیق هایی که صد سال

از زره جامه تان اگربشکفید

باد دیوانه

یال بلند اسب تمنا را

آشفته کرد خواهد

(احمد شاملو)

همه میدانیم که کار معمار و معماری ساختن فضا است. اما فضاسازی لازمۀ همۀ هنرهاست. هر هنری برای رساندن پیامش به بیننده یا شنونده و یا خواننده نیازمند کشاندن او به فضایی است که تمامیت پیام را قطره قطره در جان او بچکاند. در معماری فضایی که انسان به جان حس کند و شوروشوق در او برانگیخته شود شاعرانه است, تبلور موسیقی است و نهایت هنر معماری. آثاری مانند مسجد شیخ لطف اله, خانۀ بروجردی, شاپل رونشامب و دیسنی کنسرت هال از این دستند.

اما در شعر فضاسازی راه های گوناگون دارد. یکی ار این راه ها اشارۀ مستقیم به فضای معماری است.

خانه از پای بست ویران است خواجه در بند نقش ایوان است

ویا

یکی تیشه بگرید پی حفرۀ زندان چو زندان بشکستید همه شاه و امیرید

(مولانا)

ویا

به طواف کعبه رفتم به حرم رهم ندادند

که برون در چه کردی, که درون خانه آیی؟

(عراقی)

ویا

شهر پیدا بود:

رویش هنذسی سیمان, آهن, سنگ.

سقف بی کفتر صدها اتوبوس.

(سهراب سپهری)

ویا

بر بساطی که بساطی نیست

در درون کومۀ تاریک من که ذره ای با آن نشاطی نیست

و جدار دنده های نی به دیوار اتاقم دارداز خشکیش میترکد

قاصد روزان ابری, داروگ! کی میرسد باران؟

(نیمایوشیج)

ویا

در گذشت پرشتاب لحظه های سرد

چشمهای وحشی تو در سکوت خویش

گرد من دیوار میسازد

(فروغ فرخزاد)

ویا

نه به خاطر دیوارها, به خاطر یک چپر

نه به خاطردنیا, به خاطر خانۀ تو

به خاطر یقین کوچکت

که انسان دنیایی است

(احمد شاملو)

ویا

جان به دستی و

به دستی عشق

پله

به ایوان بلند بر می شود

تا چهره به جوبارۀ نسیم واگذارد

(میرزاآقا عسگری)

2008 Olympics Stadiums, Beijing, China

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:37:10 -0800

2008 Olympics Stadiums, Beijing, China

Alamoot Village, Qazvin Provice, Iran: 2008 MIPIM DESIGN COMPETITION AWARD

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:12:49 -0800

The plan is intended to be a self sustaining project and eco measures include saving water and snow-melt for multiple re-use, earth pipe cooling , solar heating , through ventilation , the use of building form to maximize energy conservation and waste management.

Two young architects from Iran, Somayeh Rokhgireh and Ali Pooladi, designed a sustainable rural residential pattern for a small mountainous village in 100 miles North West of Tehran and won two prestigious award from the 6^th year MIPIM architectural review future project awards in Cannes, France on March 2008. Even they surpassed large US architectural firms like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, USA or UK based Mann Architects, London.

For this project, they won both SUSTAINABILITY as well as REGENERATION AND MASTERPLANNING awards. See official Link! or www.demaniore.com/

Project Description
Location : Alamoot , Qazvin Province ,Iran Area : 13500 acre
Designer : Somayeh Rokhgireh Co- designer :Ali Pooladi
Client : UNDP/GEF

Alamoot village is designed as a small mountainous village allocated mainly to residential, cultural and economical activities in Alamoot region .

Considering historically and aesthetically significant potentials of the region ( As the historical capital of Ismailie and Hasan Sabah ) and following the economical stagnation as well as migration in the rural areas ;experts took the position that a project based on the principles of eco-tourism would make positive contribution to the local community through locally defined initiatives .

The village proposed plan consist of 8 major parts :

1- Residential part which is allocated to the accommodation of groups comprising : Eco-tourists , archeologists , experts of environmental , agricultural and demography issues and etc..

2- planting , processing ,exhibiting and selling of herbal medicine workshop

3- Permanent indoor and temporary outdoor markets of selling local community products including dairy , foods , agricultural products as well as handicrafts .

4- Restaurants of organic food made by local cook .

5- Indoor sport and restaurant recreational center .

6- An auditorium to hold seminars of scientific issues as well as committing traditional and ritual local ceremonies.

7- ICT center as a center for engaging the local community with the international world . In order to demonstrate and trade their products via the net market .

8- courts as the centers for outdoor social activity , communication and holding ceremonies .

9- underground parking beneath the village for daily services and an open space parking outside the site of the village ( cars are not allowed to enter on the site surface

Planning principles and sustainability strategies :

As the main principle it can be claimed that the design aims to lay down an integrated view of man living in harmony with nature , culture and economy of the context ;which are considered as three realms of sustainable design .

1-The village is targeted to be as self -sustaining as possible in terms of water , waste , food and energy Relevant strategies explained below would be regarded as provisions concluding this goals .

2- typologically , cascading terraces form of the village follows the slope on the site and hence the orientation of the terraces face the south . Advantages of this strategy include :

A- the village would merge into the landscape

B- Reaping the benefits of south sunlight via the south facing windows

C- making use of soil as natural insulation , hence reducing heating and cooling load .

3- cascading terraces around the village are used to grow crops and plants that have been used for food , medicine and traditional ceremonies. Advantages of this strategy include :

A- promoting sustainable agriculture and perma-culture practices for local community as well as experts and agri-tourisms participating in the agricultural activities .

B- Integrating architecture and cultural activities by including visitors participation in the traditional passive cultivation and gathering of native plants .

C- making the village self-sufficient incase of food and herbal plants

4- Allocating the landscape in front of the entrance to outdoor daily market of the local community product and handicrafts as complementary market to the indoor exhibition Advantages of this strategy include :

A- the income from the tourism would be intended to support local community .

B- Juxtaposition of the local people and tourist would encourage formal and informal interaction .

5- Utilizing several methods for regulating interior temperature as well as providing village with clean energy including :

A- making use of tubes channeled through the earth as a passive strategy of making benefit from the earth as an accumulator

B- developing an array of passive and active solar strategies . A set of solar collectors settle in the southern fields to harvest electricity from the sun

C- Provision of cross ventilation as a passive energy strategy .

D- making use of shading devices which have been locally used to control glare , and thermal load - including secondary wooden netted windows and grape vine in front of openings .

6- Developing Ice-box method to assist and reduce cooling load in summer as well as purifying grey water pollutants

7- Saving and recycling water and snow melt according to the contemporary and traditional means . After treatment , grey water would be reused for farming irrigation.

8- Developing dry and wet waste disposal management strategies :

A- composting organic waste into a fertile soil and burning gas for eco-tours

B- utilizing not recyclable waste to make retaining walls capable of growing plants on them .

9-Utilizing local and recyclable materials -wood , stone , soil,..- as a key strategy to make the village environmentally responsible and responsive .

Press Report :
Iran village won double prize at future project awards in the big event of MIPIM in Cannes, France

The 6^th year MIPIM architectural review future project awards recognize the role that design quality plays in the creation of successful developments .the competition is held in 7 catagories namely : Big urban project , Master planning & regeneration , Mixed use , Tall building , Retail & leisure ,Residential Office and all categories competed in the field of sustainability . This year^,s 200 entries including professional firms such as SOM , KPF , Atkins ,Aedas ,... covered a wide range of approaches , and were well up to standard in terms of quality .

At this year competition , Alamoot village was known as the only project that was awarded two prizes : as the winner of Master planning & regeneration and also the most sustainable projects amongst all 200 entries .

The Best of show projects during the previous 5 years competition included :

2003 - Swiss Re Project -Firm/ practice : Norman Foster & Partners

2004- Central Bank of Kuwait -Firm/practice : SOM( SKIDMORE , OWINGS& MERRILL LLP )

2005- Turning Torso -Firm /practice : Santiago Calatrava in conjunction with SAMARK Arkitekture & Design AB

2006- Dohe Gardens -Firm/practice : Nabil GHolam architecture & planning

2007- Residential project by Peter Marino Architect - PLLC

MIPIM is the annual international conference and exhibition event for the property industry which is hold every year for more than 20 years .The event is known as one of the biggest event for everyone involved in building tomorrow ^,s world . This year event included 29318 participants comprising architects , investors , contractors and any other groups related to the issue from 89 countries around the world .

Press Report of the annual catalogue of MIPIM architectural review future projects award :

The proposal of Alamoot village is based on the proposition that eco - tourism will make a positive contribution to a stagnating local community suffering effects of rural migration .

The plan is intended to be a self sustaining project and eco measures include saving water and snow-melt for multiple re-use, earth pipe cooling , solar heating , through ventilation the use of building form to maximize energy conservation and waste management

The judges were impressed by the care and attention brought to a relatively modest project but one where environmental design principles can be deployed and tested .

This Iranian rural development was the judges unanimous first choice to win the sustainability award.

The architects have addressed everything possible in their desire to create a model for successful development in difficult circumstances, thought the judges . " The proposal makes the most of both natural and human resources ".

About Designers of Alamoot village :

Architect: Somayeh Rokhgireh - M Arch - Graduated from Shahid Beheshti University in 2007 email: <...somayeh.rokhgireh@,,,,,gmail.com,,,,,>

Co-Architect: Ali Pooladi - M Arch - Graduated from International university if Imam in 2000 - Director of 3plus4co

The two named architects have established 3plus4co office in Tehran since 2002. WWW.3plus4co.com

3plus4 architecture & interior design group claims to be a responsive designer and executor group that creates innovative environment with a sustainable and local style architecture focus. In order to nourish our design concepts in case of aesthetic & decorative aspects we established 3plus4 gallery to create a wide range of unique handmade artful pieces and furniture designed upon customers order

We try to span arts of different eras & styles to create an innovative &artistic diversity in the contemporary living spaces. We have already held projects of offices ,hotels, residential and public buildings, in Iran , UK , Dubai .In order to be more informed about our projects and art gallery

Outside Links :
www.siap.org
www.summitpost.org
www.wikimapia.org

Prepared: Majid Falamaki

A Dialoge on "Persian Architecture

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:38:38 -0800

A Dialoge on "Persian Architecture" Religious symbolism or functional realism A panel discussion conducted by SIAP members: Mahmood Naraghi, Shahram Shokoufandeh, Iraj Yamin Esfandiary:

Vancouver's Spring 2008 sketches

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:09:38 -0800

Some sketches from Iraj's recent trip to Vancouver.