Seven years ago this week, a team of Green Berets with the 7th Special Forces Group was enroute to mud-walled villages run by members of the Afghan Local Police.

An ALP leader they worked with, Sultan Mohammed, had been recently gunned down by the Taliban. The assassination was retribution and a warning to others. Days later, four U.S. soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device near the base.

The Green Berets were on their way to visit the checkpoint Mohammed had patrolled, in Kandahar, the province where the Taliban was born one of the most restive places in Afghanistan. The plan was to drink some tea with the commander there and find out what he needed.

The soldiers loaded up in MRAPs named Batman, Joker, Bain and Riddler so called because its easier to remember those names than the serial numbers, said the team sergeant and headed outside the wire.

The small team of commandos and support troops who left the base in Kandahar were working with Afghan villagers to help the local population resist the Taliban once the majority of U.S. and NATO troops pulled out a year later.

The goal was to create a patchwork of areas across the country where indigenous forces made up of members of the local tribes and clans make it difficult for insurgents to operate.

Part of the Village Stability Operations (VSO)/Afghan Local Police program, it was a classic mission for special operations, especially Green Berets.

Get the military's most comprehensive news and information every morning

(please select a country) United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Subscribe

By giving us your email, you are opting in to the Early Bird Brief.

But in September, at the end of this fiscal year, the U.S. is pulling the financial plug on what remains of that mission, which had success but at times was mired in controversy about extrajudicial killings, helping warlords and using children as troops.

In a recently released Operation Freedoms Sentinel lead inspector generals report to Congress, it was announced that the NATO Special Operations Component CommandAfghanistan (NSOCC-A) confirmed plans to dissolve the Afghan Local Police. Not only that, but the Afghans are supposed to gather up all the weapons and integrate the remaining 18,000 ALP members into the larger Afghan national security forces. Neither will be easy tasks.

Resolute Support continues to work closely with Afghan partners to provide train, advise, assist support on a wide variety of institutional issues, to include ALP dissolution, as noted in the IG report, a defense official told Military Times. We refer you to the Afghan Ministry of Interior. ASFF funding for the ALP will culminate at the end of FY2020.

Afghan officials could not be reached for comment.

But its a move that leaves those who helped create the program concerned that the weapons roundup and integration will be a disaster and worried about the Afghans who risked their lives to help America.

If we had maintained the VSO and ALP Program, the situation in Afghanistan today would be much different, retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, dubbed the Godfather of the ALP program, told Military Times.

The Afghan government would be negotiating from a position of strength, the Taliban would be neutralized, AQ would be neutralized, and ISIS would never have seen an opportunity to join the fight. The Afghan people would be experiencing advanced social reform, safety and stability. The focus would be on strengthening their economy, governance, and regional stability. More importantly, the United States would be in a position to responsibly transition from combat operations to non-combatant operations.

Instead, bad political policy by the Obama administration, poor strategy, and the wrong operational approach by our senior military civilian and military leaders has led to the Taliban controlling the peace talk narrative, a weak Afghan government, continued regional instability, and a more effective AQ and ISIS, Bolduc said.

The genesis

VSO and ALP was designed in 2010 and implemented in 2011.

The VSO and ALP was the most successful bottom-up COIN program implemented in Afghanistan, said Bolduc. It was not perfect, but it was effective. It did what it was designed to do. The SOF teams with augmentation did a superb job organizing, equipping, training, advising and assisting our Afghan partners to disrupt, degrade, and neutralize the Taliban.

Gens. Stanley McCrystal, David Petraeus, and John Allen saw the effectiveness of the VSO and ALP Program and ensured we had the resources needed to expand VSO and the ALP, said Bolduc, now running as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. Adm. William McRaven also supported this program and ensured SOF component commanders resources the effort.

The program used the Afghan historical model of defending its nation by uniting villages and connecting districts by using villagers and organizing them to protect their village, family, and livelihood from the Taliban.

"This is how they defeated Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, the British, Russians, and now an international effort, Bolduc said.

When we started the program, the Taliban controlled the rural area in Afghanistan, said Bolduc. By the middle of 2013, the Afghans controlled over 80 percent of the rural Afghanistan. It is no secret, control rural Afghanistan and you control Afghanistan. In 2011, Mullah Omar (leader of the Taliban) declared that we cannot defeat this new American strategy.

Unfortunately, said Bolduc, by 2013 the Obama administration wanted to downsize in Afghanistan and change strategy. This resulted in a return to top down SOF CT approach and using the police and Army to defeat the Taliban. This was a transition from combat operations to non-combatant support operations.

Bolduc said he respectfully communicated to my superiors and the ISAF and IJC staff that changing strategy at this time is a bad idea.

"My staff assessed that by changing strategy now would have detrimental effects on the security situation. That is exactly what happened. I failed in my attempts to drive a different outcome. I was sent to Africa Command and the SOF 2 Star command began its transition to a CT focus command, leaving the VSO and ALP program to function in name only.

Trouble in the program

What started off as a promising effort to build up a bulwark against the Taliban eventually encountered serious problems.

A minority of villagers describe it as an indispensable source of protection, without which their districts would become battlegrounds or insurgent havens, but it is more common to hear complaints that ALP prey upon the people they are supposed to guard, according to a June 2015 report by the Crisis Group. The report argued that: Too often, the Afghan Local Police (ALP) has preyed on those it is meant to guard. Some members are outright bandits, exacerbating conflict. Rogue units should be disbanded, and better ones integrated into the armed forces. This must be done carefully and slowly, or else insurgents will win a new military edge.

Such behavior, according to Crisis Group, often provokes violence: in 2014, an ALP officer was three to six times more likely to be killed on duty than his ANSF counterpart.

At times, the report argued, this reflected the way ALP units have become a central part of the war, singled out by Taliban as important targets. In other places, the high rate resulted from abuses extortion, kidnapping, extrajudicial killings that instigated armed responses.

The local police are being used a lot as security guards for the local warlords," said John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in an October 2015 report. We dont know how bad it is because we and I mean the U.S. government really dont have a presence out in many of the areas where the Afghan Local Police are operating.

The Afghan government has made progress on the issue, of child soldiers, said Leila Zerrougui, the U.N. representative for children and armed conflict, the Associated Press reported in February 2016. But she said the Afghan Local Police government-allied groups that often operate as independent militias and are widely seen as unprofessional and corrupt are major perpetrators.

While the ALP "have gained some local support as a result of recent reforms, in many localities these forces have been responsible for numerous abuses against civilians, as well as summary executions of captured combatants and other violations of international humanitarian law, according to a 2017 Human Rights Watch report.

The proposed Afghan Territorial Army would ultimately replace the Afghan Local Police as a defense force at the local level, according to that report. There is concern that existing Afghan Local Police units could remain armed as militia forces.

The U.S. government initiated three specialized police programs after 2005: the Afghan National Auxiliary Police, the Afghan Public Protection Program, and the Afghan Local Police, SIGAR reported in 2017.

With limited oversight from and accountability to the Afghan government and the United States, these police forces were reported to have engaged in human rights abuses, drug trafficking, and other corrupt activities, ultimately serving as a net detractor from security, the report stated.

Yet, while the United States stopped supporting two of the programs due to these issues, the Afghan Local Police continue to operate today, according to the report.

Bolduc acknowledged there were problems.

Yes, it is not a perfect program, but it did what is was intended to do, he said. There were administrative issues, there were abuses by district and provincial governors and chiefs of police. Some ALP abused their power. We acted on these issues and did see our best to mitigate these issues.

Bottom line, the cost of this program was one-sixth the cost a soldier and one-eighth the cost of a policeman, said Bolduc. The return on investment was significant. This was a program the Afghan government could afford."

The program, he said, accomplished what the police and military could not:

1. Neutralized the Taliban

2. Established security in the rural areas

3. Allowed development and good services to be delivered to the populace.

4. Legitimized the Afghan government.

5. Allowed justice to be enforced by village elders and not the Taliban. Allowed farmers to farm. Allowed business to open and run.

Most of the issues with the ALP have been due to a lack of supervision, said retired Green Beret Lt. Col. Scott Mann, another key architect of the VSO/ALP program.

You can walk back the instances of abuse of power and there was usually a violation of VSO tenant, he said in a text message. In other words, ALP were brought in from outside areas, ALP were pushed beyond their community zone, or again lack of supervision. This is very typical when local, bottom-up programs like VSO become conventionalized into programs like ALP. The two are far from synonymous.

Better to end it

Mann is not mourning the death of the ALP program. Given the current status of U.S. troops in Afghanistan fewer than 10,000 now drawing down to 8,600 by July as halting peace negotiations with the Taliban fumble along Mann told Military Times that the program wouldnt work without the requisite oversight of teams like the one I was with out there visiting the ALP

I am OK with it being over and let me tell you why, said Mann, now an author and playwright who writes and speaks extensively about stability operations. I am a purist on the whole advisory piece. I believe, if you are going to advise irregular forces, you have an inherent responsibility to be in close proximity to them.

Programs like the VSO/ALP are a long-term endeavor, not a flash in the pan advance to cover a withdrawal, he said.

Now the hard work begins

As the program ends, the Afghans are going to have to round up the ALPs weapons and help integrate the ALP into other Afghan security agencies.

In the inspector generals report to Congress, NSOCC-A said that to mitigate potential security risks, the Afghan government has tentatively scheduled a plan for post-dissolution employment options for ALP members and for recovering ALP weapons and equipment.

The command reported that in order to prevent the creation of future insurgents, it is working with the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Office of the National Security Council to identify and encourage recruiting of ALP members into the Afghan National Army (ANA) and ANA-Territorial Force (ANA-TF), and the Afghan National Police.

All that may be easier said than done, according to Bolduc and Mann.

The integration will be a disaster and so will the weapons round-up, said Bolduc. I doubt very much the villagers want to be in the army or police. They would have already joined. They are mostly farmers and shop owners and need to be home.

Disarming them now will leave them vulnerable to attack by the Taliban, he said. ISAF tried this in earlier years along with a buy-back program and it was a disaster. It could also result in violence due to resistance and the Afghan government and international forces will be conducting operations against the populace. Now you got the Taliban, AQ, ISIS, and the populace against you.

Mann agreed.

Oh man, he said. Demobilization is always, in my opinion, the trickiest part of standing up an irregular force. My initial inclination is that this is very, very challenging. The military is not in the position to have any responsible oversight. We can say all day long that we are going to demobilize, but if you are not in a position to be in the rural areas, how can you do that?

Taking their guns away is also going to be a tremendous challenge, Mann said.

This is a heavily armed population, he said. Lets assume there is positive intent. These are still decent folks who do not intend to do harm. Well, they are going to face retribution for their activities in those rural areas by bad actors. To willingly give up their weapons is probably a hard sell.

The recent IG report seems to back up this gloomy assessment. The concerns also echo warnings issued by the programs critics that ending it could prove difficult, even dangerous.

DoS officials reported that implementing this strategy will be challenging, as ALP leadership has stated that they have limited ability to carry out the strategy and there is a lack of coordination with civilian public and private sector organizations that could help to find employment opportunities for former members of the ALP.

Previous Lead IG reporting" raised questions about whether well-armed but newly unemployed ALP members would join the ranks of violent extremist groups or local power brokers, who have previously used ALP units as their own private militias," the report states.

Left on their own

Seven years ago, the ODA commander and some of his men sat cross-legged underneath shade trees blocking out the hot sun. They sipped tea and talked with the ALP commander about his wants and needs.

The ALP commander, wanting to let bad guys in the area know he was protected, asked for a show of force. The TACP traveling with us made a call and a short while later, a Navy F-18 roared over the valley, putting a big smile on the ALP commanders face.

But now the ODA is gone and with it, such shows of force, leaving the ALP commander, who risked everything to stand up against the Taliban, all alone. There are thousands like him across Afghanistan.

And that troubles the men who helped create the VSO/ALP program.

Yes, I do worry about the ALP, said Bolduc. Especially since we will leave them vulnerable.

Mann said that to some degree...yes, he is worried about the ALP, too. But Ive been worried about those ALP since we pulled Special Forces and other operators out of the villages back in 2012 and 2013.

Follow this link:
Why dissolving the Afghan Local Police program troubles its American architects - Military Times

In another time, not long ago, an elevator was a conveyance to reach a higher floor, an open office was a spot to clock eight hours while hoping your boss didnt catch you checking Facebook and a doorknob was one of those banalities of architecture that seemed to warrant attention only when it needed replacing.

What a difference a virus makes.

To live through the COVID-19 pandemic is to see the surfaces of our cities rewritten by invisible narratives of contagion. Elevators now seem like intolerably small spaces to share with a stranger. The open-plan office, with its recirculated air and countless shared surfaces, feels like a flu buffet. And that humble doorknob? It could play a starring role as a protagonist named Critical Vector in an over-the-top summer movie about an outbreak.

The pandemic has changed everything about the way we live. It is bound to change architecture too.

If you take the great architectural inventions of the 20th century: the airport, the high-rise, the freeway those are the things that are challenged the most right now, says Brett Steele, dean of UCLAs School of the Arts and Architecture. They have great density or they promise movement at high speeds. Those are exactly the things that sit at the crux of the crisis we are going through.

Architects say new ways of traveling through airports will be part of the coronavirus reset. Above, a masked traveler at Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Its a reset button for the entire world, says Mark Lee, co-founder of the Los Angeles firm Johnston Marklee and chair of the architecture department at Harvards Graduate School of Design. Do we need so many new buildings? Do we need such specific programs? It raises questions that are really helpful.

Already the pandemic has had architects and architecture schools (which spent their spring semester improvising classes and project reviews over the internet) considering the nature of buildings at a time in which one of architectures core purposes creating containers that bring people together seems almost inconceivable.

Im working on a synagogue, and that is a crazy problem, says Barbara Bestor, founder of Bestor Architecture, a 25-person firm based in Silver Lake. How do you do High Holidays after COVID with 2,000 or 3,000 people?

The solution may involve segmenting larger spaces and segregating the most vulnerable in a separately ventilated environment the virus version of the glassed-in cry rooms contained within some churches and movie theaters. Or it may involve designing a physical space that, Bestor says, features a robust video component so that people can watch remotely.

The virus version of old-fashioned cry rooms coming to your neighborhood cineplex?

(Jiaqi Wang / For The Times)

Mark Lee, co-founder of Johnston Marklee, chair of the architecture department at Harvards Graduate School of Design

Gatherings via videoconference could become a way of life. Architects could find themselves designing spaces just for that purpose.

In the early 20th century, concerns about tuberculosis and sanitation helped shape Modernism consider Richard Neutras influential design for the Lovell Health House, filled with windows and sleeping porches tailored to promote air circulation in Californias dry, sunny climate. Similarly, COVID-19 is likely to reshape the ways in which todays architects design houses and offices, transit hubs and medical facilities. It will have architects reaching for new technologies and reintroducing old ones say, a little less air conditioning and a lot more cross ventilation.

Barbara Bestor in May at her Bestor Architecture office in Silver Lake. She says smart density is more than just designing a single building.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Barbara Bestor, founder Bestor Architecture

But first, architecture firms, like all other businesses, must weather the pandemic. Design studios have atomized, with staffs working remotely from home. And though construction on existing projects remains underway in many locations, including California, where it has been deemed essential, the design of new buildings has largely halted, threatening the economic stability of many firms.

A rendering of the Sixth Street Bridge by Michael Maltzan Architecture. Construction on the bridge, which connects downtown L.A. with Boyle Heights, has continued through the pandemic.

(Bureau of Engineering, City of L.A. / Michael Maltzan Architecture / HNTB Corporation)

Every month, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) reports on architectural billings for an estimated 700 U.S. firms an index that can generally be used to project construction spending over the following nine to 12 months. From February to March, billings tumbled dramatically according to the April report. (An embedded graph looks like a literal cliff.) The most recent index, published in May, showed a continued plunge the steepest decline on record.

Of the 12 Los Angeles firms contacted for this story including a small seven-person shop, studios that employ dozens and the L.A. outpost of a global design office with more than 1,200 employees 11 reported having projects suspended. For now, they are holding onto most of their employees. Only two studios reported laying off employees and two reported furloughs.

The majority of architects interviewed, however, expressed anxiety about what is to come. We might not, said one architect, have any new starts in the fall.

An interior rendering of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, designed by wHY. Founder Kulapat Yantrasast is looking into how museums might safely reopen when the lockdown orders lift.

(wHY / Academy Museum Foundation)

Kermit Baker, who serves as the AIAs chief economist and helps produce the organizations various economic reports, says he has seen a couple of major downturns in his 25 years at the AIA but never anything like the pandemic. The first was the 9/11-dot-com bubble, and the other was the recession of 2008 and 2009, he says. There is little meaningful comparison.

The economics are dire. And yet there is a determination to not waste the moment.

Every crisis is an opportunity, says Hernn Daz Alonso, director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). The optimist in me believes that this will force us to reevaluate everything that we do.

This is a time, he says, to ask the big metaphysical questions about architecture and its purpose. Its also about considering the nuts and bolts. If we dont get a vaccine, what does that mean? What does that mean in terms of physical space? What do you do with a doorknob?

Fewer people, more lounge space? Architects say office layouts need to adjust for the coronavirus era of design.

(Jiaqi Wang / For The Times)

Paul Danna, design partner for Skidmore Owings & Merrill

Some of those immediate questions revolve around the office.

In 2015, almost a quarter of the U.S. workforce was already doing some or all of its work from home, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In early May, Twitter announced it would make remote working a permanent option for its employees. Later in the month, Facebook announced a similar move. If others start doing the same, it will have a tectonic effect on commercial real estate markets. It also means that the office as we know it is about to be transformed.

Bob Hale is partner and creative director at L.A.-based RCH Studios, a 160-person architectural firm that has worked on office projects around the U.S. He says that some of his recent office designs called for densities that were twice what it was 20 years ago. COVID-19 is likely to put the brakes on that trend. Densities of offices will change, he says.

Densities of offices will change, says Bob Hale of RCH Studios, seen here at the Music Center in 2019.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

This raises questions about one of the most popular and widely reviled workplace designs: the open-plan office, in which rows of workers are jammed around long bench desks.

These are settings that have a poor track record when it comes to producing actual work. They also, according to a Danish study from 2011, account for significantly higher rates of sick leave a phenomenon that played out in a study published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April, which showed the ways coronavirus hopscotched around an open-plan call center in Seoul. (Also, is it too much to want to sit at your desk and eat a sandwich without feeling like youre on display?)

For years, design writers have penned obituaries for the open office. And some are certain coronavirus will put another nail in the open-plan coffin. But Lawrence Scarpa, a founder of Brooks + Scarpa, a 22-person firm with offices in L.A. and Fort Lauderdale, says the open office is not going away.

Headquarters for a 60,000-square-foot tech company designed by RADAR, an architectural office founded by Rachel Allen. The office was completed just weeks before the governors safer-at-home order shut down most offices.

(Jim Simmons Photography)

For one, real estate in cities like L.A. is too valuable. Moreover, office culture is increasingly casual, and therefore architecture is unlikely to go back to the formal, private dens of Mad Men.

It satisfies a younger generation who wants a spatial equality in the office space, says Bestor. People do not want the executive holed up in the corner office.

That said, Bestor does not see a triumphant return for the cubicle, which at least gave the illusion of privacy. Cubicles are nasty, she declares.

Instead, many of the architects I spoke with visualize once-cavernous spaces segmented into more intimately scaled settings with small clusters of desks. We work in teams, so its easy to think of people in groups, says Paul Danna, a design partner in the L.A. office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, a global firm at work on an office development in Pasadena. Its a matter of putting barriers between groups as opposed to every individual.

A rendering of the Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine at USC, with interior design by RCH Studios.

(Kilograph)

Ultimately, most architects said the office of the future will likely be less focused on desks and more on meeting and gathering spaces.

Its a future that some designers are already envisioning for their own firms. Im meeting with my associates and we are planning a radical shift in how we work, says Thom Mayne, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who founded Morphosis, the 90-person studio that designed the CalTrans District 7 headquarters in downtown L.A.

He says the pandemic has been a great test of remote working for his office, one that has offered a bevy upsides: more flexible work schedules, hours gained by not sitting in soul-crushing traffic and the improved air quality that comes with less car commuting.

I am moving two-thirds of the desks out of the office and it will be more of a meeting place, he says of his Culver City office. We need couches and tables and comfortable chairs instead of just desks. It redefines the idea of everybody has a desk.

Architect Thom Mayne at a panel discussion at MOCA in 2013.

(John Sciulli / WireImage)

Thom Mayne, architect

In fact, the office of the future may look like the office of the 1990s: Scarpa says that once fears of transmission have passed, we may see a return to hot desking a flexible, more space-efficient environment in which people no longer have their own desks but a shared rotating desk and plenty of sanitized wipes, we assume.

Access to fresh air is no longer a luxury in a time of coronavirus quarantines.

(Jiaqi Wang / For The Times)

Barbara Bestor, founder Bestor Architecture

Change is also coming to the home. Certainly, the coronavirus has made glaringly evident L.A.'s shortcomings in the areas of housing construction and design. Single families in single-family homes have been waiting out the governors safer-at-home orders in relative comfort; others, not so much. The pandemic, says Mayne, makes extremely clear the importance of urban housing at multiple economic types. That is the biggest urban problem in Los Angeles.

Nearly 60,000 people in L.A. County are without permanent shelter a figure that is unconscionable on an ordinary day but at the moment represents a public health tinder box. Countless other Angelenos have been crowded into small apartments with little access to fresh air.

I have one employee who lives in an apartment without any outdoor space, says Rachel Allen, founder of RADAR, a 10-person firm with offices in Chinatown. Shes the one going the most crazy. She hangs out in her parking lot.

Architect Rachel Allen, outside her Chinatown office in May, says the design of housing is likely to evolve as a result of the pandemic.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)

Rachel Allen, founder RADAR

For starters, L.A. needs to build more housing, faster and more efficiently. The design solutions for that may already be at hand.

Prefab construction, in which a buildings key components are manufactured in a factory and then assembled on site, is already going mainstream in places like Japan, Germany and Sweden. In Los Angeles, Michael Maltzan Architecture used prefab techniques in its design of the Star Apartments for the Skid Row Housing Trust in 2014. Now Lorcan OHerlihy Architects (LOHA), is doing the same for a 54-unit project for Clifford Beers Housing that is under construction in South L.A.

Isla Intersections, designed to serve formerly homeless individuals and families, is being crafted from custom-built shipping containers. If it had been constructed as a regular apartment complex, the development would have taken four years to complete. By employing prefab, it will take two. Says the firms founder, Lorcan OHerlihy: Speed is the essential issue.

Its a method that can be applied to other housing types as well. LOHA is also at work on a pair of modular homes crafted from wood. We think, he says, this will really be of interest.

But to use these time-saving methods with more regularity, the citys Department of Building and Safety will need to be more open-minded about permitting prefab designs.

Its still challenging, says OHerlihy, of contending with the red-tape. The city is better at it now, but they are still apprehensive about it.

A photographic illustration shows Isla Intersections highlighted to the right of the freeway. The prefab housing complex for formerly homeless people was designed by Lorcan OHerlihy Architects.

(LOHA)

The pandemic, likewise, has put a spotlight on the need for residential design that is more humane especially when it comes to multifamily units and apartment buildings. Balconies should be a human right, says Bestor. Shade and balconies.

Cross-ventilation, roof decks, balconies, courtyards, gardens and other outdoor spaces have been considered luxury amenities. OHerlihy, who has long applied these principles to his work, even in his affordable housing designs, says the pandemic could make them essentials.

There is an opportunity to give more gravitas to our clients about passive design, about greening up buildings, he says. One can imagine that all of those aspects will now be taken far more seriously.

With all of this, the shape of the home as we know it is also liable to change.

Lorcan OHerlihy, in 2018, at an L.A. housing complex designed by his firm. The architect is a big proponent of passive design techniques that bring air and light into buildings.

(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)

Lorcan OHerlihy, founder Lorcan OHerlihy Architects

For one, the average middle-class home will likely include a home office as a standard feature. It will mean adjusting homes in other ways too.

Already, over the last decade, the so-called Boomerang Generation adults in their late 20s and early 30s have increasingly returned home to live with their parents. For architects, this has meant thinking about designing multigenerational homes that serve children when they are small but also as adults. Now the pandemic has added work-from-home to the mix, creating a scenario in which multiple adults may be working in a home at one time.

Home design may, as a result, shift to incorporate larger bedroom spaces that children can inhabit over time and also use as a remote workspace. Something like a loft within a family home, says Allen.

And every home may need a corner or two that functions as a ready-made Zoom backdrop (or risk having your decor deconstructed on Twitter). There is this intersection with built and virtual space, says Daz Alonso. That will be a factor moving forward.

In late April, urbanist Joel Kotkin wrote an op-ed for The Times in which he noted that L.A.'s dispersed urban pattern has proven a major asset in the midst of the pandemic, noting that infection rates were below that of denser cities like New York. Its probably wildly premature to be doing any end-zone dances in favor of sprawl, given that the pandemic has yet to fully play out. And, as Scarpa notes, sprawl, with its traffic and attendant accidents and pollution, is killing us slowly.

In fact, almost every architect I interviewed for this story says that it remains essential for L.A. to move forward on increasing density. But, says Milton Curry, dean of the school of architecture at USC. We need to do it smartly.

Currently, the model for density in L.A. consists of podium apartments: two stories of concrete parking structure, topped by several stories of apartments. Or as Bestor likes to describe it: Parking, followed by three stories of crap. Outdoor space may consist of a few decorative hedges at the perimeters. Only the most high-end ones feature courtyards or roof decks.

Bestor says the pandemic has revealed the urgency for better models.

Barbara Bestors firm has undertaken a research project that looks at how L.A. might bring density, outdoor spaces and walkability to a neighborhood near San Fernando Road along the L.A. River.

(Bestor Architecture)

In a development that occupies a whole block, for example, parking could be relegated to one corner, apart from the residential structures, she says. You put the parking in one corner and then you walk to your apartment through an open space. From there, you have groupings of three- and five-story buildings with their own entrances. Thats a good form of density for L.A. she says, and its easier to manage COVID situations because its not one lobby for a million people.

Ideally, urban planners would then find ways to incentivize the connection of green spaces so that these outdoor areas arent happy accidents but a continuous green lung.

This is the moment to push for pocket parks and other things that allow us to exist together in a dense environment, says Sharon Johnston, cofounder of Johnston Marklee. (Its a strategy her firm deployed in its renovation and expansion of UCLAs graduate art studios, which has a courtyard and open-air work areas.)

Is there anyone out there who does not like fresh air and cross-ventilation or views? asks Lawrence Scarpa. A housing development for disabled vets by Brooks + Scarpa maximizes light and air.

(Tara Wujcik)

In the interim, the efficient use and reuse of our existing infrastructure will be critical. If fewer buildings are used as commercial office space (which looks highly likely), that could make way for those buildings to be turned into housing. We are already seeing some office-to-housing conversions in Koreatown, says Allen.

And in January, California relaxed rules for constructing ADUs accessory dwelling units, or granny flats which continue to bring smart density to the city. Nursing homes are going to be very unpopular for a long time, adds Allen, whose firm has worked on many of these. More folks than ever are going to want Grandma in the backyard where they can keep eye on her.

Excerpt from:
Architects on reopening cities in the coronavirus era - Los Angeles Times

designed by 1+1>2 architects, this single-storey house in vietnam is topped with a thatched roof that protects the building from the regions varied weather conditions. titled mothers house, the project forms part of jackfruit village, a community of new residences in a western suburb of hanoi. surrounded by natural trees and other vegetation, the property was designed to exist in harmony with the bucolic landscape, allowing residents to immerse themselves in nature.

all images by hiroyuki oki, courtesy of 1+1>2 architects

1+1>2 architects, led by hoang thuc hao, approached the project as a potential model for contemporary rural housing in vietnam. sloping down towards the lake, the terrain on which the house sits undulates with the ground floor responding to the changes in elevation. the adobe bricks used for the walls were sourced from the land itself, while the thatched U-shaped roof canopy protects a secluded interior courtyard. here, a foot path provides access to the propertys interior.

internally, each area of the house has been designed to offer a range of different spatial experiences. protected from the sun, a curved corridor connects all areas of the home, with rooms facing the lake receiving fresh air and ventilation. meanwhile, outdoor terraces allow occupants to spend as much time outdoors as possible. the residence has two bedrooms, with all areas designed to convey a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere where humans can coexist with nature.

Link:
1+1>2 architects tops 'mother's house' in vietnam with thatched roof - Designboom

When a couple in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, tapped Will Gamble Architects to design an extension for their Victorian home, they expected the adjacent stone wall ruin would have to go. But the firm came back with an entirely different idea: instead of demolishing the centuries-old remnants, the architects proposed celebrating the crumbling structure with a reinforcing steel, brick, and glass volume.

Locatedabout an hour northwest of London in Northamptonshire, a Grade II listed Victorian home was extended to encompass an adjacent cattle barn and historic ruin.

"Despite falling into disrepair, the ruin was very important within the community and further afield," says director Will Gamble. "It once produced parchment paper and was rumored to have made paper for members of the royal family. The ruin was also very much part of the character of the building as a whole, and we felt strongly that it needed to be preserved."

The disorderly nature of the ruin is juxtaposed against the modern extension and Victorian-era residence. The facade brickwork was largely completed using reclaimed materials, allowing the new section to sensitively blend into its surroundings.

Nestled between the existing Victorian home and the crumbling masonry section sat an unused cattle shed. To connect all three sections, Gamble proposed a "building within a building" using materials reclaimed from the site. "[The ruin] ended up being the driving force behind the entire scheme, and the change in approach was eventually well received by the client, the planners, and Historic England," Gamble says.

A new brick staircase leads up to a rooftop terrace above the new section. A portion of the Victorian home was also remodeled to tie the old and new spaces together.

New retaining walls and landscaping help to further harmonize the stepped areas.

One half of the ruin footprint is now an enclosed living room and kitchen for the homeowners. Cor-Ten steel beams reinforce the formerly crumbling sections while reclaimed brick and floor-to-ceiling glass fill in the rest. The new volume was limited to one story to allow remaining remnants of the ruin to dominate the overall visual appearance.

One half of the ruin was enclosed and is now part of the kitchen and dining area. The other half of the ruin encloses a new patio, which is accessible from the former factory entrance.

Internally, timber joists inside the old cattle shed were left exposed and stone walls were washed in lime to create a mottled effect. Painted steelwork distinguishes the new section while white-washed oak floors help to connect the entire space. Contrasting with it all is a strikingly contemporary kitchen, which plays on the theme of a modern intervention set within a historic context.

The firm also designed the new kitchen space, opting for a contrasting darker palette.

An original timber post stands beside the new sleek cabinetry and stainless-steel countertops.

"The concept behind the interiors was to go for an honest palette of materials that celebrated the architecture of the cattle shed and the ruin," explains Gamble. "We tried to preserve the character of the ruin and the cattle shed as much as possible by leaving most of what was already there uncovered."

Painted wood and steel beams subtly mark a separation between the former cattle shed and ruin footprint. The two areas now seamlessly flow together as a kitchen, dining, and living area.

The new dining area looks out onto the front garden. Will Gamble Architects designed a concrete plinth to run along the base of the stone walls as a monolithic 'skirting' design.

Opposite the dining room and around the corner from the kitchen, a small living room looks out directly onto the ruins. Sliding glass doors provide access to the new enclosed patio.

Yet another discovery during the restoration was the original parchment factorys location on top of a natural spring. According to Gambles research, hides used to make the parchment were cleaned by lowering them into a series of spring-fed baths located underneath the building. The firm reopened one of these underground baths as part of the project, creating a new water feature and dry well for water runoff.

J67 was designed by Ejvind A. Johansson in 1957 when he was head of FDB Furniture. With a fine balance between light and heavy, feminine and masculine, J67 is a simple piece of wooden furniture that harmonizes function, aesthetics and durability.

Industrial, organic charm - Juxtaposing the unique, rustic features of reclaimed wood with the clean, contemporary shape of Parsons design, our Rio Dining Collection is crafted with an industrial, minimalist aesthetic.

The Carronade Pendant by Illuminating Experiences uses an organic blend of raw materials to create a pleasant, yet functional fixture. Its body resembles that of a spotlight, featuring a closed cylindrical Aluminum head and a wooden arch with sleek metal hinges.

A view of the historic water feature, which is now integrated into a new patio surrounding the ruin and modern extension.

See more here:
A Victorian Home Takes Over the Ruins of an Old Parchment Factory in England - Dwell

Home Design

Brought to life by Flavin Architects and designer Lindsay Bentis, the house takes cues from destinations like Turks and Caicos and Jackson Hole.

An Eilersen sectional from Lekker Home and a purple swivel chair from Ligne Roset bask in the light afforded by the family rooms sliding glass doors, which open to a bi-level patio. / Photo by Nat Rea

When it came time to build their dream home, a boisterous Newton family of five took cues from places theyd stayed during their travels. They count among their influences beach resorts on Turks and Caicos, ski resorts in Jackson Hole, and hideaways on the rugged coast of Big Sur. The use of natural woods, stone, concrete, and metals [in those properties] were all relevant when defining the architecture we have come to love, the husband says.

The couple commissioned Flavin Architects to design their house. The firm, known for its natural, contemporary aesthetic, was the perfect fit. We wanted modern, but also warm, the wife explainsa house that would still fit in with its traditional neighbors. In other words, something different, but not too different. We can be as different as desired, says principal architect Howard Raley, who worked alongside firm founder Colin Flavin. They didnt turn that dial way up.

The recessed front entrance creates a sheltered porch, while adding visual interest. / Photo by Nat Rea

At 8,885 square feet, the house has clean lines and lots of glass, but doesnt feel austere or out of place, Flavin says, thanks to the teams nods to New England design. There are divided-light windows rather than single expanses of glass, for instance, and hipped roofs rather than flat ones. Flavin also melded Northwestern-esque materials with wholly Northeastern ones: Stained western-red-cedar boards compose the shingled faade, while raw-concrete retaining walls juxtapose the foundations local ledgestone veneer. The houses galvanized steel gutters are no stranger to New England either, yet evoke a modern, industrial flavor.

Organic materials were the jumping-off point for Lindsay Bentis, who designed the homes interiors. Throughout most of the first floor, walnut and oak windows are earthy accents against white walls. Rooms, meanwhile, are made cozy with wood ceilings, textured tiles, trails of burnished-brass details, surprise moments of pattern, and sumptuous textiles. We spent a lot of time sourcing lighting [together, too], Bentis says. The fixtures act as sculptures in these rooms.

A wallcovering by MissPrint lends a playful, feminine feel to the wifes office. / Photo by Nat Rea

The powder room includes a textured, ceramic-tile backsplash and a custom concrete countertop. / Photo by Nat Rea

The husband worked closely with the architects to develop an ergonomic design for the staircase in the entry. The low, deep tread makes it easy to go up and down, he says. A painting by a family friend, Rubin Gold, hangs nearby. / Photo by Nat Rea

A cloud-like pendant light by Apparatus, for one, provides a warm welcome in the 19-foot-high foyer, where porcelain floor tiles echo the feel of the retaining walls out front. The star of the space, however, is the single-stringer staircase with steel-edged glass rails and white-oak treads. Flavin and Bentis credit the husband on his vision for the piece, which looks spectacular at night through the wall of double-height windows, lit from within.

Off to the right, the kitchencreated in collaboration with Tone Amado, of Design Group 47is a study in spare design, with grainy wood cabinetry that softens the effect of a room with many hard surfaces. A trio of walnut windows frames a leafy view above matching base cabinets, topped with porcelain slabs. A tall wall of stained cabinetry that matches the island hides appliances. [The husband] hates clutter, Bentis says. Everything has a place.

In the kitchen, spun-aluminum pendant lights by Louis Poulsen hang above the island. A pass-through window to the screened porch makes grilling easy. / Photo by Nat Rea

Bentis chose purple for accents throughout the house, including the dining room rug, because it was one of the few colors the husband and wife both liked. / Photo by Nat Rea

The public living spaces, oriented around the kitchen, are where organic materials, sculptural furnishings, and saturated colors coalesce. The couple, who regularly entertain family, needed the dining room to seat many, but feeling crowded wasnt an option. Bentiss solution? A glass table that takes up little visual real estate and doesnt obscure the purple carpet, slim side chairs, and a Larose Guyon light fixture, discovered during a designer/client field trip to a furniture fair in New York. Sunlight bounces right through the room, Bentis says.

The dining room opens into the living room, a moody, womb-like space with charcoal walls, velvet swivel chairs, a built-in bar, and curtains that wrap the room at the press of a button. The bar at the 11 Howard hotel in SoHo, where the wife and Bentis stayed on a trip to New York, served as the inspiration. She wanted that dark and smoky atmosphere, Bentis says.

To achieve a moody feel in the living room, designer Lindsay Bentis chose Benjamin Moores Blue Note for the walls and trim work. / Photo by Nat Rea

The gold-tone legs of the coffee table in the living room echo the brass finish on the base of the dining room table. / Photo by Nat Rea

The family room furniture faces a massive television and linear gas fireplace surround, clad in steel plates that weigh about 1,000 pounds and sport a hand-rubbed wax finish. / Photo by Nat Rea

From there, custom steel doors open to a large family room: the heart of the home and the soul of this materials-rich project, with its rift-sawn, white-oak floor, walnut ceiling, and monolithic marble coffee table. To satisfy the couples request to incorporate metal elements that reflect architectural styles they admired on visits to the West Coast, Bentis commissioned Loki Custom Furniture to create a hot-rolled, steel-paneled surround for the fireplace. The metal has a patina with blue, purple, and silver tones that feels very organic, Bentis says.

The rooms flow easily from one to the next, as well as to the outdoors, which was an important consideration for these frequent hosts. A bi-level patio offers more space to entertain and easy access to the lawn, where the kids are in a constant state of motion. Theres also quite the setup in the basementan impressively outfitted sports court, complete with a flat-screen television. Were down there every day, the husband says. Raley calls the subterranean project, which involved removing more than 10 feet of ledge, a tremendous feat.

He and Flavin, along with Bentis, marvel at the familys involvement. Everywhere we go, we look at design details, inside and out, the wife says. There are cool elements everywhere; you just have to look.

Landscape architect Michael DAngelo helped the design team refine the scheme of the patio off the family room. / Photo by Nat Rea

The screened porch, which has a cedar ceiling and window trim, exudes a modern, rustic vibe. / Photo by Nat Rea

A sports court in the basement offers the couples three kids a distraction from electronic devices, especially in the winter. Their friends are here all the time, the wife says. / Photo by Nat Rea

The mudroom, which connects to the front entry, the garage, and the basement stairwell, features a walnut-lined wall with hooks and a bench. An inky wallcovering from MuralsWallpaper adorns the hall beyond. / Photo by Nat Rea

A gray wallcovering creates a cozy backdrop for the Hupp bed from Casa Design Group in the master bedroom. An industrial-style Vortice chandelier with a black enamel finish by Lucent Lightshop pops against the oak ceiling. / Photo by Nat Rea

Etched marble tile lines the master bath. / Photo by Nat Rea

ArchitectFlavin Architects

ContractorsDerba Construction, MB Development

Interior DesignerThread by Lindsay Bentis

Landscape ArchitectMichael DAngelo Landscape Architecture

See more here:
Flavin Architects Designs a Home Inspired by the Owners' Travels - Boston magazine

William Duff, founder of San Francisco firm WDA

Architects are spending a lot more time at home and its giving them a new perspective on design.

For architects who designed their own homes, stay-at-home orders mean theyre putting their own designs to the test. Some are thinking of making changes, according to the Wall Street Journal.

William Duff, founder of San Francisco firm WDA, designed his own home around large open communal spaces. It wasnt until he was forced to work from home beside his wife and two children that he realized the open floor plan allowed sound to bounce across the house, making phone calls and video conferences difficult.

Hes forced to take calls and work in his isolated basement. Cooking at home more often has him thinking of expanding his kitchen and food storage.

Architect Marlon Blackwell wants to build a separate structure on his Arkansas property for family members to use when they need some space from the rest of their clan.

The realities of pandemic living have inspired others to dream up new amenities for future projects. Tucson, Arizona-based architect Rick Joy is exploring a no-contact delivery system, something like a mailbox with two open ends for food delivery drivers and the like to drop deliveries without having to come into contact with residents.

I know my clients are going to ask for that in the future, he said. [WSJ] Dennis Lynch

Read more:
In isolation, architects are putting their own designs to the test - The Real Deal

anchor

David Baker Architects has been recognized with 2020 AIA California Firm Award. Photo_AnneHamersky.

San Francisco-based practice DavidBakerArchitects has been recognized with the 2020 AIA California Firm Award.

The award is presented to an architecture firm each year, according to theAmerican Institute of Architects, California Council (AIA CA), that has "consistently produced distinguished architecture for a period of at least 10 years." The award, AIA CA adds, recognizes "the firm not only for the quality of its work, but also for its impact-driven design philosophy dedicated to helping solve the housing crisis."

Regarding where he thinks the firm is headed over the next five to ten years, David Baker told Archinect last year: "We are transitioning to our third generation of leadership. Architectural practice continues to evolve, and we will continue to adapt. Our practice has decentralized to three offices in the past few years, and I think that trend, enabled by new technology, will continue. The diversity of leadership will broaden our practice areas, from custom fabrication to interiors to research to larger-scale planning. But the only thing certain about the future is that your predictions wont be quite right."

More:
David Baker Architects receives 2020 AIA California Firm of the Year award - Archinect

Architecture and the building industry are one of the most essential industries as they fulfill the need of shelter for humans. Architects who have worked in the industry have pointed out several drawbacks and lack of tech penetration.

To help bridge the gap in the industry, these women architects turned into entrepreneurs to provide solutions for fellow architects and designers.

Here is a look at women who are creating innovative tech products and creative solutions to help architects grow in the industry.

Vijayadurga Koppisetti, an architect from Hyderabad believes greener solutions are not only important to safeguard the environment but also the health and wellbeing of occupants. In 2018, she founded Architude, an infra-tech startup to provide green buildings with solutions that are affordable and easily adoptable.

By leveraging new age technologies, Architude is developing products and services to help foster sustainability and reduce the construction industrys carbon footprint by providing green solutions. The Hyderabad-based startup has built an AI (artificial intelligence) product called KNOWYOURBUILD that suggests lists of suitable and sustainable materials tagged with time, cost, energy efficiency and maintenance information.

The virtual prototype models built using Architude products behave exactly like real buildings. The cost of the construction, time schedules, energy efficiency of the building and the data needed to maintain the building can all be extracted from these models.

Working in the industry for close to two decades, Tithi Tewari had witnessed several problems and situations while communicating design intent to clients through traditional tools and mediums that did little to aid their overall understanding. Despite the extensive use of 3D renders and walkthroughs, she realised that clients had trouble visualising the end-product.

Tithi and her husband Gautam Tewaris startup SmartVizX launched Trezi, a fully-immersive VR product for the construction industry in 2018. The startup claims it is Indias first such product for this industry.

Trezi is a SaaS product, which transforms design communication in the building construction industry. It allows users to step into the virtual world with co-designers and clients to interact with their design, and each other, in real-time, within immersive environments and over desktop systems alike. It allows users to explore, review, and modify their designs at full scale and colour.

It was Minal Dubeys childhood dream to become an architect. However, when she became one, she says people around her did not really understand what the work of an architect entailed.

Turning to entrepreneurial solutions, Minal identified that the key was to encourage architects and interior designers to document their work. Her startup Spaciux creates content for an online community of architects and interior designers.

Realising the potential of documentation for architects and designers, she began to offer services to architects to document their work. After the documentation process, the startup makes the best of social media sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube to showcase their work and help architects connect with potential clients.

A major milestone has been producing a web series called Spaciux Incredible Architects which showcases various types of Indian architecture on Amazon Prime, which was released in the US and UK as well.

With a background in the design industry and having worked with many firms as an architect, Tanya saw a gap in designers, their practice, and business communication. She realised that design and architecture firms were only focusing on their work, and not using communication to ensure growth.

Keen to bridge this gap, Tanya started Epistle Communications in 2011 from her home, a one-of-its-kind agency that offers bespoke strategic communication consulting for design, architecture, and allied industries.

The startup has more than 30 design and allied brands as clients. The list includes Indias top 10 architecture firms. It has helped clients get featured in over 1,800 online and 1,500 print publications and has helped small and big firms get global recognition and access to new business opportunities.

How has the coronavirus outbreak disrupted your life? And how are you dealing with it? Write to us or send us a video with subject line 'Coronavirus Disruption' to editorial@yourstory.com

Read more from the original source:
These architects-turned-entrepreneurs are building innovative products and solutions for architects - YourStory

in district 2 of ho chi minh city, nha dan architects has carved out an introverted yet voluminous living space called bunker house. spanning five floor levels, including a basement and roof terrace, the interior spatial experiences are designed around the concrete structure, resulting in a sense of robustness and an honest expression of materiality.

all images courtesy of nha dan architects

in previous projects by nha dan architects, a system of concrete beams and columns was used to free the floor plans of columns, better connecting the different spaces while letting the outdoors in. in bunker house, they employed this concrete system not only as structure, but also as spatial partitions and the projects guiding aesthetics.

a series of concrete columns grouped into 3 legs serve as structural anchor points for the cantilevered waffle slabs. these 3 legs define the spatial experiences throughout the house: on the first floor, the first leg protects the living spaces from the outside world; the secondessentially an elevator coreand the third leg together delineate a soft border between served and service spaces. the first and second leg accentuate the living and dining room with the added height. on the upper levels, these legs merge with non-structural walls to define the limits between the interior and the outdoors, and partition off the upper level into smaller rooms.

the raw aesthetic and texture from the waffle slabs ribs are continued onto the concrete and metal pergolas on the outside, and also the ceilings and walls. the resulting interior space feels contained and sturdy, like a bunker, and yet fluid, airy and full of natural light.

project info:

project name: bunker house

type: residential

location: district 2, ho chi minh city, vietnam

architect: nha dan architects

status: completed

design: 2018

construction: 2019

construction area: 9493.77 ft2 (882 m2)

architects in charge: nguyen dinh gioi, tran minh phuoc

contractor: nhadan co., ltd

Originally posted here:
the bunker house by nha dan architects exposes the raw texture of concrete in vietnam - Designboom

Reopening Schools

With the school year ending soon, schools across the country are looking ahead to the fall. The CDC recently released a one-page checklist for administrators to consider when reopening schools that include screening students and staff upon their arrival, increasing cleaning and disinfecting throughout facilities, social distancing, promoting regular hand washing and employees wearing face coverings.

These guidelines, along with input from state and local health officials, will impact the learning environment moving forward. We asked designers and architects from across the country what they anticipate classrooms will look like in the fall if they were to reopen, how the coronavirus will impact school design in the long-term, and suggestions on design concepts schools can implement right away to help with social distancing in facilities. Their answers offer insight to available design options and possibilities that can help school leaders plan and make the best decisions for their students and staff.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Within classrooms, there may be a need to create physical distance by making operational decisions such as staggering the number of students within the physical space. Perhaps by deploying remote learning tools and strategies, students can join the classroom instruction from another location within the school building. James E. LaPosta Jr., FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, Chief Architectural Officer at JCJ Architecture

Because schools dont have the time or the funding to build additional classrooms or make the ones they have bigger, they are left with options that strategically alter how existing space is being utilized. For example, schools could use colored tape to mark circulation patterns and six-foot queueing distances on the floor (as were now seeing in grocery stores) around offices, lunchrooms and other locations. Other strategies may require enacting changes in social design, such as dividing the students into groups on a rotating schedule of in-person and distance/online learning. As for classrooms often already challenged with overcrowding schools may need to make tough choices. In classrooms where there is a support area, temporarily removing the support area furnishings may allow desks to be sufficiently separated. Alternatively, larger classes could be moved into the gymnasium or the cafeteria, or even outdoors should weather permit. Julia McFadden, AIA, associate principal and K-12 sector leader for Svigals + Partners, New Haven, CT

As students return to K-12 classrooms in the fall they will be greeted with the next normal a classroom hyper-focused on hygiene, social-distancing, and enhanced air filtration. Most, if not all of these next normal will become routine but will they take away from the learning experience, after all they are bolt-on measures born from reaction rather than proactive design thinking. Billions will be spent by schools all over the world to react in this way and it will not improve the learning environment for our children. After all we are social creatures and we learn by doing in an interactive, socially engaged environment. Jason Boyer, AIA, LEED AP, Principal at Studio Ma, Phoenix, AZ.

The Fall (of 2020) is way too early to anticipate meaningful, long-term, changes of any kind, in life, or in anything at all as planning, design and building take significant time; months, years. Sure, Fall 2020 will be a different experience for the class of 2024 and maybe the classes of 2025, 2026 and 2027.

But will it stay that way? There is no telling. So, in what ways might it change? This remains to be seen.

The shift in thinking the COVID19 crisis will precipitate will likely take five years or more to manifest itself in measurable ways certainly that long in new buildings; most likely more time than that. John Kirk, AIA, Partner, Cooper Robertson

Schools will likely step up the level of monitoring of each individual students health with daily (or more frequent) symptom checks while promoting hygiene in the daily routine. The latter will probably include handwashing stations at building and classroom entrances coupled with increased cleaning and sanitizing protocols for students, faculty and staff. Mark A. Sullivan, AIA, LEED AP, partner with JZA+D

Read the original post:
Here's What Designers and Architects Anticipate Schools Will Look Like in the Fall and After COVID-19 - Spaces4Learning