Evelyn Grace Academy

The Evelyn Grace Academy, is a new secondary school in Brixton, south London located at 255 Shakespeare Road. It opened in September 2008. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which was awarded the £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 for the best new European building built or designed in the United Kingdom. From Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announcement

A highly stylized zig-zag of steel and glass, the Evelyn Grace Academy is squeezed onto the tightest of urban sites (1.4 hectares - the average secondary school is 8/9 hectares). The architects received a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella with the need to express both independence and unity. The architects were strongly encouraged by the client to 'think outside the box'. With such a small space and with sport being one of the Academy's 'special subjects' (each Academy school has one), the architects needed to be highly inventive. They succeeded, for instance by cleverly inserting a 100m running track into the heart of the site taking pupils right up to the front door. By dramatically celebrating the school's specialism, the RIBA Stirling Prize judges noted 'this is a design that literally makes kids run to get into school in the morning'.

The Evelyn Grace Academy is the first school to win the RIBA Stirling Prize, with seven schools shortlisted in previous years. It is the first time that Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a school and their first large-scale project in the UK. Previously they designed a Maggie's Centre in Scotland and more recently they have completed the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics.

Read more.

Design as described by the architect

Following the principle of ‘schools within schools’, the design generates natural patterns of division within highly functional spaces which give each of the four smaller schools a distinct identity, both internally and externally.

Photo by Luke Hayes (via Zaha Hadid Architects website)

Video by RIBA


See reporting by BBC News.

It is an inspiring building, which hopefully will in turn inspire students in what is considered to be a disadvantaged socio-economic area.

La Sagrada Familia - finally consecrated, but still unfinished

Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, usually referred to as la Sagrada Familia, designed by renowned architect Antoni Gaudi in the neo-Gothic style, has been under construction in Barcelona since 1882. The Roman Catholic church is not expected to be completed until 2026.

Today, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the yet unfinished church, and the main nave is now open for daily Mass for the first time.

See BBC News

Reporting by Al Jazeera (in English before consecration)


Reporting by RTVE (in Spanish during consecration)

La Sagrada Familia es desde hoy una basílica

La Sagrada Familia is one of my favourite buildings in the world. The detail on the facade outside is amazing to observe. Of course, there are a number of Gothic cathedrals in Barcelona that are also worth visiting including Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia.

Strata tower gets carbuncled

Strata SE1 was designed by architects BFLS (formerly Hamilton’s Architects), led by Robin Partington and Ian Bogle, and built by developer and contractor Brookfield Europe.



Strata SE1 is the tallest residential building in central London at 148 metres (485 feet) and 43 storeys. There is also a five-storey pavilion building with a mix of residential and retail facilities, together both providing 408 apartments.

According to BFLS, it is the "first building in the world with integral wind turbines" (which look like clocks to me).

The three five bladed nine metre diameter wind turbines are rated at 19kW each and are anticipated to produce 50MWh of electricity per year. To put this figure into context, it is enough energy to meet the total annual demand from 30 two bedroom apartments (based on current 2006 Building Regulations) or 20 two bedroom apartments (based on 2001 Building Regulations); approximately 8% of Strata SE1's estimated total energy consumption.

The electricity generated by the turbines will be used to supplement the landlords supply for the common areas of Strata SE1. The actual energy output of the wind turbines will only accurately be known after they are fully commissioned and 2 years of comprehensive wind data analysis has been completed.

The building has been described as a 'Giant Philishave' and its local nickname is Isengard, the tower of evil Saruman in Lord of the Rings.

On 12 August 2010, Building Design magazine awarded the building the Carbuncle Cup for 2010, for the ugliest building in the United Kingdom.

See also Daily Telegraph x2 (UK) and treehugger.

I think it looks alright actually.

Hamburg house boats

From Deutsche Welle, a fascinating report on a new style of housing in Hamburg

Space for ten floating homes was reserved on the Eilbekkanal in Hamburg back in 2006. Now, five of these homes are already finished, the sixth is being moved into its place, and the others will be completed by the end of the year. The homes feature unusual architecture thanks to Hamburg's unqiue laws: everything that floats must comply with maritime law and not according to normal building law as is the case elsewhere. Architects can let their imaginations run riot.

English narration


More information (auf Deutsch)

Innovative.

Council House 2 visited

In early 2008, I wrote about CH2, the administration building of the City of Melbourne.

During the weekend, I finally found the building (it was next to the hotel) and had a closer look.













Quite impressive really.

Centre Pompidou-Metz

As part of cultural decentralisation in France, the Paris-based Centre Pompidou (and one of my favourites) built a new cultural centre in Metz, capital of the Lorraine region in the north east and near the German border.

Designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, the centre was built by Demathieu et Bard.

The Centre Pompidou-Metz building is a superstructure curving at both sides, held together by wooden slats forming hexagonal units, and supported by a central metallic spire and four conical pillars.

The structure is covered by a membrane in Poly-Tetra-Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE –fibreglass covered in teflon). The facades are made of retractable glass panes and vast picture windows. The three galleries and the support function areas (storage, offices, etc.) are concrete.


photo by AP via Der Spiegel - more


photo from BBC (see also report)

Built at a cost of €70 million, Centre Pompidou-Metz was officially opened on 12 May 2010, with free admission on 16 May.

In addition to the artwork exhibited, the building is worth a visit.

and higher it goes

Burj Khalifa's crown of being the tallest building, indeed human-built structure (at 828 m or 2,717 ft) is now under threat. There are plans for a building in Miami that will surpass this mantle.

Miapolis has been proposed for Miami, at 975 m (3,200 ft). From the developer's website

The design by architect Kobi Karp for Watson Island was inspired by the natural forms of the Florida landscape, with its undulating forms reflecting the motion of its multi cultural context and the surrounding ocean.

Miapolis is about innovation and creativity. The Pan-American plaza with Dancing Fountains will offer free daily shows, a major indoor theme park for the whole family, a full service trade center for the “Gateway of the Americas,” an exciting public amphitheater and the stunning promenade 30' high on Biscayne Bay.

The observatory and rotating sky-lounge will offer to millions of people an unsurpassed view of South Florida and the Caribbean from the top of the world (see the Design page).

Miapolis is an economic engine, and a sensible and rational solution for the local economy by resolving the Jungle Island debts while producing $942 million annually in tax revenues, and no taxpayer funds required. More importantly, Miapolis creates 46,000 construction and 35,000 permanent jobs (see the Proposal page).

Miapolis would provide constant and free worldwide exposure of Miami, increasing tourism, international trade, passengers and cargo for the airlines, MIA and the Port of Miami, and will benefit all of Downtown by attracting millions of visitors annually (see the Economic Impact page).

The height approval by MIA/FAA is required, but our arguments are powerful and undeniable. The safety issue affect all of the people of Miami. Our proposed solution should be adopted, as it is a flight procedure in use at R. Regan International Airport and already approved by the FAA. A no fly zone over South Beach, the Port of Miami and Downtown should and must also be adopted now to protect the present and future core of our economy and to allow for the approval of Miapolis. The benefits to MIA and the airlines are vast. The County has the power to mandate these changes (see the Overview page).

Reported in Miami Herald, 2010 January 08.

Locating the huge building on an island would avoid the casting of a massive shadow over downtown. No doubt, somebody is already planning a building 25 metres taller to reach a tidy numbered one kilometre high. Someone who may feel the need to compensate for other inadequacies.

The tallest, but for how long?

Burj Khalifa (برج خليفة‎ "Khalifa Tower") was officially opened overnight (8pm Dubai time, Monday 04 January 2010). It is the world's tallest human-built structure at 828 m (2,717 ft) (those deep sea platforms anchored towards the sea-floor apparently don't seem to count).

Associated Press vision of the opening


Burj Khalifa towers over the previous tallest, Taipei 101, which was only 509.2 m (1,671 ft). Of course, there was a high price paid for its construction, particularly by migrant workers from southeast Asia (see BBC News report).

The National (United Arab Emirates) has reported that there are plans to build an even taller structure, at 1.1 km tall, in Saudi Arabia called Kingdom Tower.

Aqua Tower in Chicago

Under construction in Chicago at 225 North Columbus Drive is a mixed-used building tower, Aqua Tower, designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects and developed by Magellan Development.

Aqua Tower will stand 250 m (819 ft) tall with 82 floors, containing a mix of apartments, hotel rooms, offices and retail space.

From the Studio Gang website

In an increasingly dense city like Chicago, views from a new tower must be negotiated between existing buildings. Aqua tower considers criteria such as views, solar shading and function to derive a vertical system of contours that gives the structure its sculptural form. Its vertical topography is defined by its outdoor terraces that gradually change in plan over the length of the tower. These terraces offer a strong connection to the outdoors and allow inhabitants to occupy the building façade and city simultaneously. The result is a highly sculptural building when viewed obliquely that transforms into a slender rectangle from further away. Its powerful form suggests the limestone outcroppings and geologic forces that shaped the great lakes region.

I think it would have been more appropriate to call it Iceberg. According to the UK Guardian, it is also the tallest building in the world to be designed by a woman.

The balconies do not look safe and it would be a nightmare to people suffering from acrophobia. The railing should be as high as a person's shoulder.

The question remains, how energy efficient is the building?

The Bridge Academy

The Bridge Academy is a new school in South Hackney, London that has just moved into its permanent building on Laburnum Street. The building was designed by Building Design Partnership (BDP). The challenge was to make use of the site space that was available, described as 'tight'.

From the school description

Its innovative design and sense of light and space makes it friendly and welcoming. The first class facilities for students and staff makes it a fantastic place to learn. The building helps create the school community and to make the school part of the wider community.

The school’s central square is its social hub where activities take place to bring students and staff together as well as hosting events for the community and visitors.

Many of the teaching areas on the upper floors look out over the Regent’s Canal. The classrooms vary in shape and size and a number of them can be adapted quickly for small or large groups. This flexibility will help the school as the number of students grows.

From BDP description

The academy forms a seven level interactive learning environment in a dense inner city multi ethnic site alongside the Grand Union Canal.

Galleried learning space is set around a social gathering area and learning hub. A sweeping structural arch supports the centre of the school, allowing the learning space to be column free and totally flexible.

Teaching terraces extend the internal learning space as outdoor classrooms overlooking the canalside environment.

The form of the building has been designed to minimise energy use by maximising daylight to the teaching spaces and it is predominantly naturally ventilated.

The building is one of 24 finalists for the 2009 Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award.



I like the almost surrealist nature of the design on the outside.

Musée Hergé

Musée Hergé was officially opened to the public on 2 June 2009 in the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve 20 miles south of Brussels. The building was designed by architect Christian de Portzamparc.





More from CONTEMPORIST

Definitely one not to be missed on the next trip to Brussels.

Dubai Towers - Dubai

Dubai Towers Dubai is currently under construction in Dubai by developer Sama Dubai.

A series of four towers, inspired by the movement of candle light, the tallest will be 400 metres when completed in 2009.



In the meantime, Dubai municipality is cracking down on expats sharing rental properties, who do so due to high rents.

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I wonder why I find Gossip Girl addictive.

Jørn Utzon 1918-2008

Jørn Utzon (9 April 1918 – 29 November 2008)



Utzon gave Australia and the world one of the most iconic buildings of the 20th century, finally World Heritage listed in 2007 (I also blogged about this at the time).

The Sydney Opera House constitutes a masterpiece of 20th century architecture. Its significance is based on its unparalleled design and construction; its exceptional engineering achievements and technological innovation and its position as a world-famous icon of architecture. It is a daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th century. Utzon's original design concept and his unique approach to building gave impetus to a collective creativity of architects, engineers and builders. Ove Arup's engineering achievements helped make Utzon's vision a reality. The design represents an extraordinary interpretation and response to the setting in Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Opera House is also of outstanding universal value for its achievements in structural engineering and building technology. The building is a great artistic monument and an icon, accessible to society at large.

Reported by Associated Press

Utzon's earliest buildings were private homes. It came as a surprise to many when he won the competition for the Sydney Opera House in 1956. The building, with its distinctive white roof shells resembling sails, is perched on the edge of Sydney Harbour.

Utzon received the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003 for his design of the opera house. The jury singled it out as among the most iconic buildings of the 20th century, saying it "proves that the marvelous and seemingly impossible in architecture can be achieved."

See also
- Sydney Morning Herald
- ArtDaily



It is still one of my favourite buildings. I love going to the opera there. Aside from the superb performances by Opera Australia, being at the Sydney Opera House is part of the experience.

Perhaps I should forgo a football game next year and go to the opera instead.

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Aside from some gardening and having Kim over for dinner, this weekend has been a restful one.

Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias

Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) located in the Spanish city of Valencia was designed by Santiago Calatrava.



The complex comprises of L´Hemisfèric (opened in 1998), Prince Felipe Science Museum (2000), L´Umbracle (2000), L´Oceanogràfic (2003) and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (2005).

L´Hemisfèric resembles a giant eyeball floating on water, the inside of which includes a planetarium and Imax theatre.



See also - spanish-living.com



Absolutely stunning.

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Today was mostly a do nothing day.

The Chicago Spire

A super skyscraper/tower under construction in Chicago is the Chicago Spire, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and being developed by Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development Group, Inc.

When completed, it will be 609.6 m (2000 ft) tall with 150 floors, and the ninth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. It will contain 1200 apartments/condominiums with a price range from $800,000 to $40 million (US dollars).





I think it looks like a drill bit. The Giant Drill Bit.



The design is rather phallic. I wonder if the architect has any issues.

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Emily came over for dinner tonight. I made baked pork ribs (with bbq sauce), with mash potatoes and broccolini.

Decagon House

The Decagon House is a residential house in Oxford (UK) built by Henry Chopping. It featured in the Channel 4 series, Grand Designs, which is being rebroadcast in Australia on ABC1.

The finished interior of the living room shows off the ceiling feature of the main decagon design.






Too many houses are just too square.

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I don't know of any bureaucrats/civil servants who look forward to going in to work because they enjoy it.

Oslo Opera House

The new Oslo Opera House (in Norway) opened on 12 April 2008.



It is meant to resemble an iceberg rising from the sea.

See more here - www.norway.org.au

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This week is going to hectic.

the green building

The Ann Demeulemeester shop in Seoul, (South) Korea is a remarkable building, designed by Korean company Mass Studies.

The site is located in an alley, at a block’s distance from Dosandae-ro – a busy thoroughfare in Seoul’s Gangnam district – in close proximity to Dosan Park. Primarily residential in the past, the neighborhood is undergoing a rapid transformation into an upscale commercial district full of shops and restaurants.

The building is comprised of one subterranean level and three floors above. The Ann Demeulemeester Shop is located on the first floor, with a restaurant above and a Multi-Shop in the basement.

This proposal is an attempt to incorporate as much nature as possible into the building within the constraints of a low-elevation, high-density urban environment of limited space (378㎡). The building defines its relationship between natural/artificial and interior/exterior as an amalgamation, rather than a confrontation.

Diverse interior spaces designated for its three main programs were made to be perceived and utilized as a part of the outdoors in a variety of ways. This building is not meant to be just another ‘object’ to be experienced externally, but rather as a synthetic organism of nature and artifice.

The parking lot/courtyard is at the center of the site, exposed to the street on the southern end. The entrance to the Ann Demeulemeester Shop is located on the western side of the courtyard, and stairs that lead to the other two programs are located on the eastern side. Landscaping of dense bamboo form a wall along each of the remaining three sides that border neighboring sites. Inside the first floor shop, undulating dark brown exposed concrete forms an organically shaped ceiling. Round columns on the edges of the space continue the ceiling surface while providing the necessary structural support. This structural system creates arched openings of varying sizes that are open and as exposed as possible to the outside road and the bamboo hedges. This organic formation is not only a dynamic space but a flexible rectangular one (11.2m x 14m). The additional wing on the eastern side contains support functions such as fitting rooms, storage, and a bathroom, efficiently divided and connected at the same time.

The restaurant’s main entrance is a staircase that runs alongside the entire eastern side of the building. The shape of the ceiling below influences the restaurant space above, comprised of a three-level skip-floor formation. The two open-air spaces inside, a hidden terrace toward the rear of the building that extends from the top level, and a rooftop space accessible by stairs form a restaurant with intimacy, varying in spatial characteristics. The stairs leading to the basement shop begins as a narrow, white, architectural space that gradually enlarges to become another organic shape—like a moss-covered subterranean cave—and serves as an entrance. This space is open to the outside, while at the same time is a composite garden buried 5.5m below ground.

The outside building material is primarily a geotextile planted with a herbaceous perennial to form a living façade, while the other three sides that face bamboo borders are clad in steel sheets are finished with propylene resin.

I wonder what the herbaceous perennials planted are - obviously not plants that would require constant pruning like mint. There must be some form of automated watering mechanism. Still, the plants should form an efficient insulation.

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Wearing sunglasses at work is not an ideal situation. I can't see much with them on and I can't see much without them. I seem to be having a run of bad luck - not only did I lose my glasses, but my bottle of brandy ordered on 4 February never arrived (but the winery kindly sent a replacement which I received today), and all my Firefox bookmarks disappeared yesterday. Hopefully, the series of three misfortunes is it.

This evening, Margie and Liz came over (see Kane's Tails blog). After our walk with Kane, we went to the Dumpling Inn for dinner, which Liz treated (and she's the visitor). The food was great, as usual, and I've ended up with the doggy bag (for me, not Kane!).

It's cold tonight.

doors in Tunisia

Many of the houses in Tunisia are simple whitewashed but they feature amazing doors. Of course, they need to be well framed behind a nice arch.



















Definitely worth visiting, but not just to see the doors. For a north African country, Tunisia has a European feel, with French and Italian influences. Of course, it was also part of the Roman Empire at one stage.

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Food Safari tonight featured Hungarian cuisine. Hmmm... I haven't made gulyás for a long time, perhaps when the weather is cooler.

Council House 2

Council House 2 (CH2) is a City of Melbourne (formerly Melbourne City Council) office building, designed by Mick Pearce and DesignInc, that was opened on 30 August 2006. The excellent environmentally sustainable features include

• a water mining plant delivering 100 000 litres of recycled water per day;
• a low energy cooling system;
• automatic windows that open at night to cool the building;
• vaulted concrete ceilings to improve air circulation, cooling and natural light;
• a facade of louvres to track the sun to shade the Western side; and
• roof mounted wind turbines to draw hot air out of the building.

I like how functionality is built into the design.

How it works

west facade with the wooden louvres (from Swanston Street)


west facade with wooden louvres open


interior office fitout


roof terrace, with yellow wind turbines


See also
- review in Architecture Australia (Jan/Feb 2007) - lots more photos there
- guided tour with ABC TV Catalyst (19 April 2007)
- 'Green offices that slash absentism' Sydney Morning Herald (16 January 2008)

I only learnt about CH2 from the SMH article last month. I will have to visit the building during one of my forthcoming (football) trips to Melbourne.

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I was intending to meet up with Emily this evening at the Australia Day Live 08 free concert, but decided that being amongst 35 000 other people might be a bit much. I only wanted to catch The Basics and Gotye numbers. In any case, I watched it on tv and their sets were very short - two songs from The Basics and Hearts a Mess from Gotye.