ORANGE, Ohio -- Bialosky & Partners Architects of Cleveland has been selected to perform design services for renovations and additions to Village Hall.

On Wednesday (May 3), Village Council authorized Mayor Kathy U. Mulcahy to enter into an agreement with Bialosky to perform the services at a cost not to exceed $48,500.

Village Law Director Stephen Byron said Mulcahy recommended the firm based on good work it has done in the past in the village and other area municipalities, including Pepper Pike.

He noted that Bialosky performed the design services for the villages service department facility, which opened in 2013, and did the police, fire and service building renovations for Pepper Pike.

In a letter to Mulcahy from Paul Deutsch, principal and chief operating officer of Bialosky, he said the renovations and additions are being done to accommodate the current and future growth needs of the villages administrative, police and fire departments.

Orange Village has experienced dramatic growth and development since the Village Hall facility was completed in 1995, Deutsch said in his letter. The primary goals of this planning and conceptual design phase are to help unlock the potential of this 28-year-old facility and prepare it for its next generation of service.

The total budget for the project has been estimated at $5.5 million, which includes soft costs, Deutsch said in his letter. The remaining costs for hard construction are estimated at $4.1 million to $4.4 million, he said.

The design process is expected to take about eight weeks, the letter indicated.

Mulcahy has said the village needs more space at its municipal center for police officers and firefighters due to the limitations of Village Hall.

The village has been expanding its police force since last year, partly due to a significant increase in violent crime in the villages commercial district on Orange Place since early 2020.

The needs of the fire department also have changed greatly since 1995, resulting in the need for more space for firefighters as well, Mulcahy has said.

The villages administration had been considering placing a safety forces levy -- which would have helped defray the costs of the renovations -- on the Nov. 7 ballot. But Mulcahy said in April that it has been determined thats not possible, for various reasons.

In January, Mulcahy noted that the village has about $2 million in the general fund that will be moved into a capital improvement fund dedicated to future upgrades of Village Hall.

Firefighter appointed

In other action, council confirmed the appointment of Mitchell Tikkanen as a part-time firefighter/paramedic.

Assistant Fire Chief Larry Genova introduced Tikkanen, who was then administered the oath of office by Mulcahy.

Tikkanen, who grew up in the Youngstown area, earned a bachelors degree in biology from John Carroll University in University Heights in 2019.

He attended the Cuyahoga Community College Fire Training Academy and completed his paramedic training through University Hospitals. He currently works as a paramedic at a UH facility in Lakewood in the emergency department.

Tikkanen, a Berea resident, was accompanied during his swearing-in ceremony by his fiance, Paige Bidinotto. They plan to be married in May of next year, he said.

New Bedford Municipal Court judge

Also on Wednesday, Mulcahy noted that the likely election of Nick Papa as a Bedford Municipal Court judge could have an interesting impact on the village.

Papa, of Solon, defeated Solon Councilman Robert Pelunis in the Democratic primary election for that office Tuesday (May 2).

According to final, unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Papa received 2,536 votes (69.2 percent) to Pelunis 1,128 votes (30.8 percent).

There was no Republican primary in this race, so Papa advances to the Nov. 7 election with no opposition.

Bedford Municipal Court oversees cases from 14 municipalities, including Orange.

Papa would replace incumbent Bedford Municipal Court Judge Brian Melling, who cannot run again due to mandatory age requirements. Judges in Ohio are not permitted to seek re-election after they have reached their 70th birthday.

Its interesting to us in Orange Village because our prosecutor (Blair Melling) is the brother of the judge who Nick Papa will be replacing, Mulcahy said. I dont know if its going to change anything for the police department, but we can now go to both judges.

Its just different than what its been for a long time.

Mulcahy explained that since the Mellings are brothers, Blair Melling was not permitted to represent the village in the Bedford Municipal courtroom of Judge Brian Melling. Those cases had to be tried before Judge Michelle Paris, the other Bedford Municipal Court judge.

Byron reminded Mulcahy that Papa will not take office until January, if as expected he is elected in November. He would serve a six-year term.

Brian Melling, a Solon resident, has served on the bench of the Bedford Municipal Court since 2000.

Papa, 56, was a longtime registered Republican before switching parties. He is an attorney with 30 years experience practicing law, including 17 years as a part-time magistrate on the court. He is also a substitute acting judge.

Pelunis, 49, has served as Solon City Councils Ward 2 councilman for 21 years and has been an attorney for 24 years. He has his own law practice.

Upcoming events

Mulcahy also spoke about some upcoming events in the village.

The annual Community-wide Garage Sale will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 24-25. Its open to all village residents, and the sale takes place at homes in Orange. Residents may participate one or both days. There is no fee.

The deadline for registration is June 14. Registration can be done via the village website, orangevillage.com, or by calling Village Hall at 440-498-4400.

Music at the Amphitheater, sponsored by the Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce, is slated for June 27. The villages second annual Party in the Park will be July 22.

Both of these events will be at Community Park.

Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.

Read more here:
Bialosky & Partners Architects to design renovations for Orange Village Hall - cleveland.com

The May 2023 issue of The Architects Newspaper is out today. In addition to architecture news and reviews from across North America, the issue includes features about ecology and a Focus section on facades. The following Editors Note fromANs Executive Editor Jack Murphy introduces the issue with a reflection on the recent symposium The World Around.

At the outset of her recent Aga Khan Program Lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Tosin Oshinowo defined the term aas the power that makes things happen and produces change. The word, also the title of the architects presentation, comes from the Yoruba religion. (Oshinowo, from Nigeria, is Yoruba.) She related this force to the intention or contextuality of material in architecture and shared how the close study of environmental context is important in her work.

Oshinowo told the story of designing new structures for a village in northeast Nigeria whose residents had been displaced in 2015 after being attacked by Boko Haram. (AN covered the project last summer.) Educated as an architect in London, Oshinowo worked there for SOM and in Rotterdam for OMA before returning to Lagos and eventually founding her practice, cmDesign Atelier, in 2012. For this project, she had to apply her skills to a new cultural context, as she had never been to northeast Nigeria. The architect set to work understanding the familial structures, weaving practices, and traditional compound-house layouts of the Kanuri people. That research, joined with an attention to cost and the speed of construction, shaped the complexs architecture.

The effort captures two ideas that are central to contemporary architectural practice: a close attention to local environments and users, and the deployment of design in response to crises. These ideas are valid everywhere; see, as one example, this issues Studio Visit with Duvall Decker.

Days later, Oshinowo was the leadoff presenter at The World Around, a one-day symposium in New York on Earth Day. Those two aforementioned ideas were on full display during the afternoons presentations, organized by curator Beatrice Galilee, about architectures now, near, and next, which had a consistent focus on the climate crisis. Additionally, winners of the groups Young Climate Prize Awards were recognized. There were friendly New York faces, including Andres Jaque (whose Reggio School won ANs Project of the Year last year and was reviewed in ANs previous issue), Dominic Leong (whose firm, Leong Leong, was named one of AN Interiors Top 50 Architects and Designers in 2022), and Vishaan Chakrabarti (whose office, PAU, remains a part of shaping the fate of Penn Station.

Other international speakers were less familiar to me: Ana Maria Gutierrez presented a new bamboo building realized at Organizmo, a center for regenerative training and the exchange of intercultural knowledge in Colombia; Deema Assaf, of TAYYUN, is attempting to rewild Amman, Jordan, through the planting of new forests; Fernando Laposse, a designer based in Mexico City, is researching avocados, a conflict commodity as their production in the Mexican state of Michoacan is largely controlled by drug cartels; and Joseph Zeal-Henry, from London, shared Sound Advice, a platform for exploring spatial inequality, ahead of its curation of the British Pavilion at the fast-approaching Venice Architecture Biennale.

I was inspired by the days sessions. They made me think about the venues entanglement with larger issues. We were gathered on the Upper East Side in the basement auditorium of the Guggenheim Museum, an institution that has faced criticism for its handling of race and, earlier, the working conditions at the construction site of a new outpost in Abu Dhabi. Inspired by the days lessons and fatigued by their pace, my mind drifted upward into the museums rotunda. With ecology on the brain, I thought of how Frank Lloyd Wrights spiraled void summoned less the image of the Tower of Babel or a concrete funnelas Lewis Mumford wrote in 1959and more that of an open-pit mine, the kind of excavation from which the Guggenheim family extracted their fortune in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Ecological concern also powers this issues features and in part the Focus section about facades. Facade design matters because it largely establishes a buildings thermal performance and is often layered in specialized assemblies sourced from around the world. Continued innovation within this part of the construction industry will aid efforts to reduce architectures carbon emissions.

Planetary relations are top of mind as I prepare for this months Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Lesley Lokko with the theme of Africa as a laboratory of the future. AN will, of course, provide thorough coverage of the main exhibition and assorted national pavilions. (As a teaser, see my interview with the curators of the American pavilion). AN will also host an event on May 18 at Carlo Scarpas Fondazione Querini Stampalia to celebrate the life of William Menking and mark the importance of architectural criticism through a symposium with five critics: Erandi de Silva, Mohamed Elshahed, Davide Tommaso Ferrando, Inga Saffron, and Oliver Wainwright. Please join us if you will be in Venice this year.

One voice almost missing from the action is that of Aaron Seward, who departed his role as ANs editor in chief last month. We at AN wish him continued success. But AN readers arent fully bereft of Sewards wisdom: His swan song, which appears in this issue, will be published online later this month.

Read more:
The May 2023 issue of The Architect's Newspaper is out today - The Architect's Newspaper

8 Products Designed by Architects for Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile 2023

Facebook

Twitter

Mail

Pinterest

Whatsapp

Or

Milan Design Week is an annual festival that returned to Milan this April, with as a main event, The Salone del Mobile, which runs from April 18 to 23, 2023, at the Fiera Milano exhibition venue. Over 370,000 people attended the furniture fair this year, while thousands of design studios presented furniture, lighting, appliances, kitchen, bathroom, outdoor and workstation products. To highlight furniture and object design and the broader context of Milanese architecture and culture, many architectural offices collaborated with various businesses to make architect-designed items and construct architectural installations.

Reputable architects participated in the week-long event as they do every year, using products, furniture, and installations to share their expertise, address some of the most pressing issues facing the field, and demonstrate how their work can benefit the environment and society. Many firmly established architecture studios, from Foster + Partners, Mario Cucinella, and Hassell, designed various products. Furthermore, architects such as The New Raw, Snhetta, and Studio Etienne Bastormagi have designed products focusing on efficient and sustainable systems that can inform future decision-making.

+ 8

Read on to discover 8 products designed by architects for Milan Design Week, with a description from the architects.

Knotty a collection of playful benches with a bold and tactile texture. Inspired by knitting techniques, the project treats plastic waste as a continuous thread of material that folds, twists, and loops to create an intriguing tactile surface that resembles textiles and invites users to touch it. The sculpted material texture, consisting of thick and seemingly soft knots, creates a tactile, permeable, and load-bearing surface for outdoor and indoor furniture or other architectural applications. Knitted patterns that increase functionality by allowing water drainage and avoiding internal structures can be upscaled and become ornaments and building units that embody a new digitally crafted materiality.

Social is designed for the Norwegian ergonomic-focused furniture manufacturer Varier and is a dining chair informed by movement and interaction. The role and purpose of our homes have drastically changed during the last few years, and the kitchen and dining tables have become places where every aspect of life happens. Social adapts to this ever-changing context by facilitating movements for more natural interactions in work, play, creation, and social settings.

The structures single unitary shell, reminiscent of an upturned architectural cupola, houses the upholstered part of the seat and backrest, to which two further cushions are added by way of ensuring correct ergonomic support. The 3D printing technology already tested for the inhabitable space is now employed to create the furniture version of Tecla using recycled plastic. All processing and finishing stages are environmentally sound.Tecla represents a new generation of chair design, not only through the innovative technologies and sustainably sourced materials used in its production but in the way it evokes the idea of a self-contained carved-out space. It is an inherently architectural approach to furniture design.

Made from sustainably sourced ash timber, the lightweight chair is solid and enduring. SETA, a stackable and armless timber chair, brings together an honesty of materiality with a deep understanding of CNC technology to create a unique piece of furniture Each surface is machined and curved to define its form. SETA offers solutions for various settings, from office and commercial to domestic uses. Well-being in the workplace has come into sharper focus as the desire for warmer, more tactile furniture.

The MA range is defined by the pure volumetric geometry of various primary elements - basins, baths, storage cabinets, or mirrors - interconnected by fine stainless-steel stems. By deconstructing its constituent elements and distilling the essence of a bathroom down to the minimum, MA creates a flexible architectural framework onto which different elements can be added and reconfigured to suit a range of living spaces. Water is transported through an adaptable system of brushed steel stems, which can also serve as a stand for an illuminated mirror or a place to hang clothes or a towel. The timber storage elements have an efficient and tightly defined form. Drawers can be mounted on the front or sides, and the internal configuration can be flexibly planned according to personal preference. Other complementary elements, including a choice of mirrors and platforms, complete the range.

Named after its distinctive x-shaped timber or aluminum post that forms the primary structure, the X shelving units can reconfigure any workspace, producing open partitions that allow clear lines of sight. The timber shelves bring warmth and tactility to any space, while the aluminum version has a clean, contemporary aesthetic. The Y Table is a lightweight, reconfigurable system that uses minimum material while offering maximum support. Its Y-shaped steel legs can be easily reconfigured to accommodate different seating arrangements and removed entirely for transportation or storage.

Cast Poems is an exploration, a tactile journey between a material aluminum- and all its potential. It is a reference to the melting point, which becomes the starting point of the conceptual approach of the collection. The objects presented include several lamps and a mirror, entirely made of metal. These large, folded metal sheets offer multiple proposals and a technical challenge to defy gravity and maintain the desired weightlessness. Stainless steel is used as structural elements rods and cables supporting aluminum casting made from CNC router molds.

The ALE.01 pendant light exemplifies sustainability throughout its life cycle, both recyclable and made from recycled materials. The shell is made of a biocomposite material containing 30% natural wood fibers, mixed with a base of recycled polymers. The design salvages and reuses FSC-certified wood waste from the production of bottle stoppers for the spirits industry, reducing waste and use of natural resources while offering an environmentally conscious material replacement for plastic.

We invite you to check out ArchDaily's coverage of Milan Design Week 2023.

Continue reading here:
8 Products Designed by Architects for Milan Design Week and ... - ArchDaily

Architect Rob Zoelle has joined the ranks at OHara-based PWCampbells full-service firm, Studio 109 Designs, LLC.

Zoelle has LEED AP credentials, meaning he has advanced knowledge in green building principles. He has won awards for his projects, including those from the AIA Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Construction Award and from Pittsburgh Magazine for Best Renovated Home.

He is a resident of the citys South Side and earned a Masters in Architecture from Kent State University in Ohio.

He has more than 10 years experience in the design and construction industry, most recently working for Margittai Architects as director of operations.

Our design-build clients will value the award-winning creative skills and all-encompassing collaborative approach he brings, said Jim Caliendo, President and CEO.

PWCampbell, headquartered along Zeta Drive in RIDC Park, was founded in 1910 as a general contracting company building verandas throughout Pittsburgh.

Tawnya Panizzi is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tawnya by email at tpanizzi@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Read the original here:
LEED AP architect joins PWCampbell in O'Hara - TribLIVE

Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!

GREENMYERS Eco Bothy has been awarded a top architectural award.

The community space won the Conservation/Regeneration award at a March event hosted by the Aberdeen Society of Architects.

Efforts at Greenmyres, which transformed the site by Huntly into a "welcoming, bright space" through extensive renovation and regeneration work, were led by Jill Andrews from the Huntly Development Trust.

Ms Andrews attended the event in person to accept the award.

Announcing the project's win on social media, a Huntly Development Trust spokesperson said: "We're delighted to say that our work at Greenmyres Eco Bothy has won this award."

Greenmyres' entry was submitted in December 2022 and award judges came face-to-face with the Bothy during a February 2023 site visit.

The judges offered the project glowing praise and congratulations for a "well deserved win".

One judge said: "My citation to the judging panel was: 'The exquisite nourishing of a deep-rooted regeneration programme the Architects kiss of life has transformed this ugly building into a handsome and healthy meeting place.'"

Along with work to the building itself, projects around the Eco Bothy also included enhancing biodiversity and increasing opportunities for improving mental and physical health.

As part of the development 6500 native trees have been planted and new wildlife ponds created.

The creation of access paths to both Gartly Moor and Huntly have increased rural accessibility and encouraged wellbeing activities.

Visit link:
'Exquisite' Greenmyres Eco Bothy wins architects' award - Grampian Online

To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.

The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.

The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.

The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.

Read this article:
Glenn Howells Architects re-brands as 'Howells' - Architect's Journal

COVINGTON, Ky. The Devou Good Foundation, a local philanthropic group, along with architecture firm Hub+Weber hosted an event Wednesday evening to promote what they would like to see for the 4th Street replacement bridge project.

The event was well-attended, with guests from the foundation, several public officials and community members.

Neither group is officially connected with the bridge project and the designs on display are not endorsed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the state agency responsible for administering the project.

Jake Ryle, a public information officer with the cabinet, said in a phone call with LINK nky that the agency would regard the event and the designs as a form of public comment.

The current bridge was built in the 1930s, and the cabinet has classified it as functionally obsolete, although heavy vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic continue to travel over the bridge daily. Sidewalks on the bridge are small, and the narrow drive lanes and concrete barriers separating the road from the walkways make the bridge dangerous for cyclists.

Pedestrian and cyclist safety was on the minds of many at the event. Expanded pedestrian areas, more room for cycling and even a lane for an electric streetcar were all features of the proposed designs. The bridge would contain two lanes for cars.

Hub + Weber

Still images of the proposed design and videos showing its details adorned the office walls for people to view. Additionally, attendees could personally explore a 3D model of the design by donning special virtual reality headsets, which simulated what it would be like to walk around the bridge.

Our ask is that Covington and Newport work together with KYTC to elevate all of the best ideas that the citizens have kind of pushed forward through this process, said Matt Butler, who serves on the Devou Good Foundations Board of Directors.

Butler described the foundations actions to persuade the cabinet of its design choices.

Hub + Weber

Weve had survey feedback from about 1,600 people. Weve had an open house in Covington. We had one in Newport last year. We had a petition that about 600 people signed. We were able to customize it ourselves, and now were having this, Butler said. So were gonna continue to bring feedback forward. We share everything that we receive with Covington and Newport and KYTC. So as long as people are coming out and saying we want to be a part of the process, well continue to have events like this.

At the beginning of the planning process for the replacement project, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet contracted with Stantec, a private engineering and architecture consulting group, to examine the state of the bridge and make recommendations. Stantec delivered its report in Nov. 2016 with some preliminary recommended designs for bridge improvements, two of which are pictured below.

Stantec

Since then the cabinet has been soliciting public input on the bridge project from residents, businesses and other consulting groups through various means, notably through public comment sessions held at government sessions, which one event attendee characterized as inconveniently scheduled and inaccessible.

The projects budget is $65 million.

In a statement emailed to LINK nky, Ryle laid out the plans for the bridge.

After a procurement process that included team interviews and technical proposal reviews, KYTC selected the project design build team of PCL Construction, Inc., Stantec Consulting Services, Inc., and Rosales + Partners, Inc. to partner in the aesthetic and structural design and construction of the KY 8 bridge replacement, the statement read.

Ryle said on the phone that members of the public could continue to submit comments and suggestions about the project, which the design and aesthetic committee would consider.

He also noted that the projects progress on the cabinets website was not up to date and that the cabinet was working on making necessary changes. Visitors can still use the online contact form to leave comments.

The statement concludes by saying, KYTC is committed to building a bridge which will be safe for all users We hope to have a bridge type selection finalized by October 2023, and were looking forward to sharing the selected design with the public at that point.

One event attendee, Joe Mak, a student at the University of Cincinnati who bikes the bridge frequently when traveling between Newport, Covington and Cincinnati, admired Hub+Webers design and appreciated that it granted more room for cyclists.

Still, the design was, as he put it, extra, and he wondered aloud how much such a build would cost.

When asked how much the designs on display would cost to build, Matt Butler and Jim Guthrie, Hub+Webers Principal, responded in the same way: Were not bridge engineers.

Guthrie was hesitant to give a figure for fear of devaluing the proposal. Butler was more hopeful.

Weve tried to be mindful of cost, he said. The drive lanes are plate and girder, which is a basic bridge. Thats what KYTC is proposing as well. So, the underlying foundation is very similar to what theyre proposing.

He added that he hoped the proposed design would fall within the projects budget constraints.

If you would like to comment or give a suggestion on 4th Street bridge replacement project, contact Kentucky Transportation Cabinets Public Information Officers Jake Ryle and James Healtherly at jake.ryle@ky.gov or james.heatherly@ky.gov. You can also leave comments and suggestions using the cabinets online contact form.

Watch Live:

WCPO 9 News Headlines

Link:
Covington architecture firm, Devou Good Foundation showcase 4th ... - WCPO 9 Cincinnati

Oslo, Norway

Designs by Haptic Architects, Oslo Works, and BOGL landscape architects have been unveiled for the first time for the regeneration of Fornebu Brygge, a fjord-side location just outside central Oslo that will transform a disused parking lot into a global center for pioneering a sustainable ocean economy.

The scheme has been designed for developer Selvaag and technology investor, We Are Human, who collaborated on the initial concept, property development and detailed planning proposals through their dedicated development company, Fornebu Brygge AS.

The proposed plan facilitates a 45,000 m2 waterside scheme that features an iconic visitor attraction, the Fjordarium, a local, ethical aquarium, with underwater galleries focused on discovering the fjord, and its future.

This forms part of a wider knowledge hub of flexible workspaces for the marine industry and ocean-tech businesses, researchers and start-ups.

The proposed scheme also features a marine centre, water sports centre, restaurants and cafes and a new ferry terminal, set within a newly landscaped waterfront.

Overall, it would extend the publicly accessible shoreline by 1,000 metres, and create two new bays, including an 8,000 sqm public park.

The Fornebu Brygge redevelopment plan forms an important part of the urban development of the wider peninsula, which will include new residential neighbourhoods, office buildings, social and cultural functions, including the new school and cultural centre, Trnkvartalet, by Haptic Architects in partnership with PIR2.

An extension of Oslos Metro line connecting the neighbouring destinations on Fornebu to each other, and to Oslos city centre.

The design proposal for Fornebu Brygge features three key areas Fjord, Wharf, and Urban.

Each carries a distinctive architecture and scale, to give the overall development a varied silhouette.

The scheme would provide the region with a range of waterfront interactions and experiences, and an arena for innovation in marine life preservation, sustainable food and energy production, and green ocean transport solutions.

Fjord is envisaged as the educational centre of the scheme, and home to the Fjordarium which will provide a window directly into the fjord, giving way to an immersive visitor experience.

The Wharf, also on the shoreline, is designed as an innovation arena, with low-rise workshops and conference facilities, from one to three stories, along with a marina with floating saunas.

The Urban area, slightly set back from the water, consists of mid-rise workspace buildings ranging between one and nine floors, with publicly activated ground floor levels, interconnected by a fine mesh of public spaces and an accessible quayside promenade.

The Fjordarium building has been designed in close dialogue with the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) to best preserve marine biodiversity, both underwater and along the shoreline.

The building is designed to withstand the fjords waves and currents and bring natural light into the spaces below water level.

Enabling unique exposure to the Oslofjord will focus on challenges andsolutions for cleaning the fjord, which has been heavily polluted as a result of agricultural waste.

Project: Fornebu BryggeArchitects: Haptic Architects Ltd. and Oslo WorksLandscape Architects: BOGL landscape architectsStructural Engineers: NODESubmarine Structural Engineers: Core MarineSustainable Consultants: Vill EngergiClient:Fornebu Brygge ASPhotographers: Aesthetica Studio

Read more here:
Haptic Architects and Oslo Works unveil their designs for the ... - Global Design News

"One day, after getting overwhelmed by the negativity of Hostile Architecture, I started a subreddit to collect all of the good things," Honor says. "I posted a picture of a picnic table designed with an overhang on one side, made to accommodate a person in a wheelchair. The table encourages everyone to sit together. It doesn't stop behaviors, it starts them."

"Slowly people found the sub from my posts as a mod on Hostile Architecture. I think that other people needed a chaser after seeing some of the awful, mean design in the world. I separated the posts into categories of thought and catalogued things that are accessible, social, promote sharing and coexisting with nature, provide shelter, food/water, rest, information, sanitation, or are about saving lives. I also included architecture for Pure Fun."

"It's been amazing seeing it grow and seeing others bring in Friendly Architecture from their world into the sub," Honor told Bored Panda. "It can be hard to find Friendly Architecture, but when I do, I feel so good about the world."

More:
50 Times Architects Outdid Themselves And Came Up With Something So Thoughtful That It Could Only Be Labeled As 'Friendly Architecture' - Bored Panda

Nestled like a red question mark in the hills of rural Japan, the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre is a recycling facility like no other. A chunky frame of unprocessed cedar logs from the nearby forest supports a long snaking canopy, sheltering walls made of a patchwork quilt of 700 old windows and doors, reclaimed from buildings in the village. Inside, rows of shiitake mushroom crates donated by a local farm serve as shelving units, while the floors are covered with cast terrazzo made from broken pottery, waste floor tiles and bits of recycled glass, forming a polished nougat of trash.

It is a fitting form for what is something of a temple to recycling. In 2003, Kamikatsu became the first place in Japan to pass a zero-waste declaration, after the municipality was forced to close its polluting waste incinerator. Since then, the remote village (with a population of 1,500, one hours drive from the nearest city) has become an unlikely leader in the battle against landfill and incineration. Residents now sort their rubbish into 45 different categories separating white paper from newspapers, aluminium coated paper from cardboard tubes and bottles from their caps leading to a recycling rate of 80%, compared with Japans national average of 20%. Villagers typically visit the centre once or twice a week, which has been designed with public spaces and meeting rooms, making it a social hub for the dispersed town. It even has its own recycling-themed boutique hotel attached, called WHY which might well be your first response when someone suggests staying next to a trash depot.

The question mark shape can be perceived only from high up in the sky, says the buildings architect, Hiroshi Nakamura. But we instil our hope that this town questions our lifestyles anew on a global scale and that out-of-town visitors will start to question aspects of their lifestyles after returning home.

The project is one of many such poetic places featured in Building for Change, a new book about the architecture of creative reuse. Written by the architect and teacher Ruth Lang, it takes in a global sweep of recent projects that make the most of what is already there, whether breathing life into outmoded structures, creating new buildings from salvaged components or designing with eventual dismantling in mind. The timing couldnt be more urgent. As Lang notes, 80% of the buildings projected to exist in 2050, the year of the UNs net zero carbon emissions target, have already been built. The critical onus on architects and developers, therefore, is to retrofit, reuse and reimagine our existing building stock, making use of the embodied carbon that has already been expended, rather than contributing to escalating emissions with further demolition and new construction.

While the urgency of the issue has been occupying the industry for some time the Architects Journal leading the way with its RetroFirst campaign the topic recently made national headlines when Michael Gove, then communities secretary, ordered a public inquiry into the proposed demolition of the 1929 Marks & Spencer flagship store on Oxford Street. Whereas heritage conservation would once have been the primary reason to retain such a building, the conservation of the planet has now taken centre stage. Campaigners argue the development proposals would release 40,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, whereas a low-carbon deep retrofit is eminently possible instead. They point to examples such as the former Debenhams in Manchester, a 1930s building which is being refurbished and extended. To put the scale of the emissions in context, Westminster city council is currently spending 13m to retrofit all of its buildings, to save 1,700 tonnes of carbon every year; the M&S demolition proposal alone would effectively undo 23 years of the councils carbon savings.

The retailers bosses might do well to thumb through Langs book for some inspiration, and see how creative reuse is not just crucial for the planet, but can be even more alluring than the promise of a shiny new-build. Along with office and retail refurbs, the projects include a rusting steel factory in Shanghai reborn as a striking exhibition centre, a water tower in Norfolk that was cleverly converted into a panoramic house in the clouds, and a childrens community centre in a converted warehouse, complete with a vertiginous new landscape that ripples its way around the building.

The strategies on show range from the ad-hoc to the forensically planned. One German architect, Arno Brandlhuber, invited friends to bash out holes in the concrete walls of a former underwear factory near Potsdam using a sledgehammer, to create the windows of his gritty new weekend home wherever they saw fit. In Barcelona, meanwhile, architects Flores & Prats spent three months meticulously cataloguing every single door frame, mosaic tile and wall moulding of a 1920s workers co-operative, creating an inventory of components to reuse in their conversion of the building into a theatre. The duo compare their process to altering secondhand clothes: You have to unstitch and so recognise the pattern used before, cut on one side to add on another, they write. We may have to sew some pockets, and so on, until the garment responds and identifies with the new user. It is an exercise, they add, that requires confidence and time until you get to feel it as your own.

The resulting Sala Beckett is a spellbinding place, encrusted with the traces of its previous lives, creating a series of richly layered spaces that would have been impossible to make from scratch. It brims with one of retrofits chief free gifts, which so many new buildings struggle to conjure: character. Over the years, the co-op had hosted shops, a cafe, cinema and gym, and echoes of these functions are kept on in a kind of bricolage of fragments.

The 44 doors and 35 windows retrieved from the project were carefully restored, repainted and relocated to different rooms, arranged in enlarged openings and in new combinations, as if choreographed in a dance around the new building, Lang writes. The architects term their approach situational architecture, allowing the space to surprise and guide its development, suggesting alternative uses and evolving into its new form. While other architects had proposed to demolish the building and start afresh, Flores & Prats saw the social value in retaining the structure, beyond the environmental benefits alone. You inherit it, Ricard Flores said in an interview, you use it because you like what you see and you think there is a treasure there. And not only as regards the material qualities. The social inheritance was as important as the physical inheritance.

Similar principles guide the approach of French couple Lacaton & Vassal, the Pritzker prize-winning architects who work under the rallying cry: Never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform, and reuse! Their rehabilitation of postwar housing blocks in Paris and Bordeaux has set a new bar for low-energy retrofit, improving the thermal performance of the buildings while, crucially, allowing the existing residents to live there while the works are carried out.

From social housing to art centres, the pair always begin with a fastidious assessment of the existing fabric, asking how it could be improved with the bare minimum of resources. In the early 00s, when the French state was allocating 167,000 for the demolition and rebuilding of each apartment, they argued that it was possible to redesign, expand and upgrade three flats of the same size for that amount. They proved it, working with Frdric Druot to transform the 1960s Tour Bois-le-Prtre, by removing the old precast concrete cladding and wrapping the flats in a three-metre-deep layer of winter gardens, providing additional amenity space and a thermal buffer to the living spaces. As Anne Lacaton puts it: Demolishing is a decision of easiness and short-term. It is a waste of many things a waste of energy, a waste of material and a waste of history. Moreover, it has a very negative social impact. For us, it is an act of violence.

It is a light-touch philosophy that can also be found in the work of London studio DK-CM, particularly in their masterplan for Harrow Arts Centre, set in a Victorian school campus, which features in the book. Rather than decant the existing uses into temporary structures at vast expense, to enable the creation of new arts facilities, the architects carefully reorchestrated the site and developed a phased approach over six years. Architectural decisions were made according to how they would reduce overheads and minimise the environmental impact of construction and future maintenance, with a programme of strategic repairs and lightweight insertions a design process with more in common with surgery than construction, says Lang.

The momentum for retention and reuse is catching on. No longer perceived as the last resort of economic necessity or a fringe eco-pursuit, refurbishment has become the desirable choice for progressive clients. This month, the London School of Economics unveiled the winner of its latest international competition, for a 120m last set piece addition to its campus. After a recent run of building gargantuan brick, glass, steel and concrete behemoths, designed by a roster of star architects, the LSE appointed David Chipperfield precisely because he proposed to keep as much of the sites existing 1902 building as possible. Retention should be seen not as an obligation, said Chipperfield, but as a commitment to a more resourceful and responsible approach to our future, based on intelligent use of existing material and cultural capital. Will M&S take note, and reconsider its carbon-hungry plans?

See the rest here:
Demolition is an act of violence: the architects reworking buildings instead of tearing them down - The Guardian