Ann Hamilton + Jensen Architects

AIA, San Francisco 2008 Merit Award for Excellence in Architecture:
” The tower is the most recent addition to a collection of artworks designed and installed at the Oliver Ranch. Designed by the renowned artist Ann Hamilton in collaboration with Jensen Architects, the 78 foot tower is an elegant monument that is neither about views nor prominence in the landscape. Fundamentally conceived as a performance space, double helix stairs both separate and connect the performers and audience while openings in the tower allow occupants to inhabit the massive walls in various positions–sitting, standing, or laying horizontal— without giving views of the surrounding landscape. ”

” We collaborated with the artist Ann Hamilton on the development of this site-specific sculpture in the rolling hills of Sonoma County. More than a sculpture, the project is a 24′ diameter concrete tower, several stories tall, inside of which winds a double-helix spiral staircase. The structure is partially submerged below grade and is open at the top. The artist describes the project as an “un-tower”: there are no panoramic views of the landscape. Instead, the project “promises to take the visitors’ mobile eye and its corporal housing on a spiritual journey toward the light, moving progressively and incrementally away from the details of the observed world.” Jensen Architects

photo by Stephen Vincent
———————————————————————

Popularity: 6% [?]

NEXT GENE20 + FERNANDO MENIS

” The Aurum House is composed by two stony modules which visually appear as strong volumes. The landscape turns around them, embracing the indoor spaces with its sinuous shapes. One of the pieces lays on the field while the other one floats and covers up the family life. Water becomes one of the main elements of the project, sliding down the golden wall and flowing through the house. This way water and rocks, fluidity and geometrical force define a house where every element is designed in order to better the inhabitants`life and create sensations. Every space guides you to a controlled sensation. The volumes are connected independently to the other facilities so that the house can function as a whole but also with a large autonomy of the two modules. A conciousness of the place adds to all these Concepts because the project is designed with respect for the situation and the environment. The project aims to create a sustainable house which consider the orientations, the winds, the sun, the light; the project not only lies inside the nature but it understand s it also, Works with it and does no harm to it.” Read the full story

Popularity: 6% [?]

Looking Skyward in Lower Manhattan
from The New York Times

New York has never been very nice to the Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry. Mr. Gehry first tried to break into the city’s architectural scene in the early 1980s, when he was hired to design a town house for the Upper East Side doyenne Christophe de Menil. The project ended in tears for Mr. Gehry when she fired him over a glass of Champagne. [...] Read

Popularity: 1% [?]

We just caught wind of a beautiful new prefab that takes an innovative approach towards its own structural life-cycle. The Canada based Énóvo House features a sleek modular assembly that’s designed to evolve as the needs of its inhabitants change. [...] Read

Popularity: 3% [?]

We are midwesterners, so we understand how fragile most of these structures are. They are remote. [...] Read

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wired

Death Chamber: Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary (largest prison in the United States), 2005
A new book by photographer Richard Ross: Architecture of Authority, examines the way institutional buildings exert power over people. Ross managed to gain impressive access to all kinds of secretive or high-security buildings, from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, to the supermax high-security Pelican Bay prison in California. Ross credits his unprecedented access to a combination of persistence and sincere curiosity. “Many of these people want to show you these places once they know that you’re interested in their world,” he says.

To question the pervasiveness of intimidating, “disgusting” architecture, the images in Ross’ book are both striking and inviting. Ross intentionally makes the photos of oppressive structures look seductive. “You can convince people a lot easier by whispering in their ear rather than hitting them over the head,” says Ross.
Read the full story

Popularity: 15% [?]

For a couple of years now a developer called ‘Indoor Golf Project’ is talking to the municipality of Amersfoort, a small city located in the middle of the Netherlands. The project he wants to realize there: an indoor golf course of 140.000 square meters. [...] Read

Popularity: 1% [?]

“Platinum Will Be a Yawner”, And Other Notes from Friday’s Green Building Forum
from Portland Architecture

“Last Friday at the Gerding Theater I attended the panel discussion about green building in Portland moderated by Metropolis editor Susan Szanasy as part of PNCA’s “Idea Studios”. My notes aren’t comprehensive, but hint at the 90-minute long conversation. [...] Read

Popularity: 1% [?]

“‘no sign’ was the first independent exhibition of the japanese designer, nosigner. the show was held at tokyo’s living design center from april 10-22. [...] Read

Popularity: 2% [?]

Olympic Choreography
from BLDGBLOG

The visually underwhelming London Olympics stadium, designed by HOK Sport, might actually be broken down into its constituent parts once the 2012 Summer Games are over and shipped off to Chicago – where it will be partially reassembled. [...] Read

Popularity: 1% [?]