Landscape House sans Landscape

Ok, maybe this is a conceptual gap or just landscape architectural griping (similar to the use of the term 'architectural plantings', or 'value engineering' perhaps) but there's nothing remotely 'landscape' about the Landscape House for an Ecologist, seen via Inhabitat. Designed by Raphaelle and Alfredo Maul, of Maul Dwellings in San Sebastian, Spain, the project is: "...a site-sensitive, passive solar dwelling designed to fuse environmental performance with aesthetic integrity, building science with architectural excellence." Not to say the project isn't cool and saavy in including such elements as rainwater harvesting and water conservation, passive solar, pv panels, and design for disassembly - it makes site reference to landscape. Perhaps site and technology house would be more apropos...?


:: image via Inhabitat

A winner of a 2006 AIA Committee on Design competition, the Landscape House offered some compelling ideas for the jury: "Things seem to be in balance with this particular scheme. It represents what a house for an ecologist needed to be—it wasn’t privileging one system over another but used a number of systems—photovoltaic, etc.—beyond the disassembly. I think it took the premise of the program: house for an ecologist, a single person, and said all of those givens were OK to work with." Um, still no landscape...




:: images via Inhabitat

Well a bit of landscaping - I guess the closest we get is the verdant, yet meaningless backdrop of greenery... oh well. I'd guess an ecologist would like a little be more in terms of integrated nature into the architecture, but perhaps not part of the brief. I'd still live here... :)


:: images via Inhabitat

Veg.itecture #28

It's spring, and there's been a bumper crop of vegetated architecture examples from around the globe. I've been neglecting the posting - and now they've piled up into a major collection of projects - and it's inevitable to be a multi-part series of Veg.itecture posts to get all of the great projects in there. So, here goes.

First out of the gates, a tennis dome/distaster management park (there's a combo) in Japan, designed by Shuhei Endo - which is clad in green wall to complement the organic form.






:: images via Treehugger

As Endo points out, via Treehugger, the use of organic vs. euclidian form is purposeful: "Square buildings are too strong,” explains Endo. “Rounded, curved forms are more continuous and blend in better with nature." No where is this more true than the final pic above of the entry - a bright yellow tennis ball shape that screams enter...

Continuing on, a similar idea of organicism with a different twist, a variation of using vegetated forms and patterns that evoke habitat, the Elephant House at the Copenhagen Zoo, designed by Foster+Partners, is geared towards the particular habitat needs of it's residents... including spatial arrangement for some alone time, as well as a canopy-esque fritted glass enclosure that provides a hint of dappled savannah shadows. More info via Dezeen.






:: images via Dezeen

A variation on Dutch amphibious architecture, the garden barge is a way of extending green space beyond the water's edge - and also make it mobile. Treehugger offered some views of these floating gardens in London, particularly Garden Barge Square, as one of stops on the London Open Squares Weekend.




:: images via Treehugger

Another couple of smaller projects via World Architecture News - showning the definite trend towards greening buildings in a variety of stylistic, and somewhat functional ways. First is the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive from Toyo Ito - with an egg-crate aesthetic and tiers of roof 'garden' along the facade.




:: images via WAN

Another example from WAN is by EPR Group Ltd. for a mixed use assemblage at Croydon Town Centre in the UK. A stair stepped building with roof terrace is a compelling image from within and from the ground level. More intriguing is the overall plan which contains a range of extensive and intensive rooftop spaces - all woven into a patchwork of greenery through the urban fabric.




:: images via WAN

The final WAN example is some rooftop vegetation tidbits on the New World Symphony building in Miami Beach, which tops a, well, Frank Gehry building of tumbling shapes. I assume this is a rooftop terrace, and the project is adjacent to a new 2-acre park as well...


:: image via WAN

Finally, spanning urban ag and veg.itecture, and a whole different theme - a bit of corporate green washing via Treehugger, with a living sign from McDonalds: "Fast Food News ... says "the creative team worked closely with a horticulturalist to create a billboard that could start with 1½-inch spouts and grow into lush leaves. The garden appears to be safe from being plucked apart by birds because there is no place for them to perch and peck."

Yummy, but I'm still not going to McDs... :)


:: image via Treehugger

Why Architects Shouldn't Design Outdoor Furnishings

Everything from Steven Holl lately seems to evoke 'porosity' not just in concept buy also in name. A new furniture addition to this is the 'Porosity Bench' - seen a number of places recently on the web. This prototype was destined for Design Miami/Basel where it was shown to the masses. It's like a little snippet of Holl's Architecture in miniature... that you can sit on...




:: images via Dezeen

There's a long history of cross-over architecture/furniture contributions - some good, some bad. I file this fussy, overdone, and brittle example into the latter... 2 weeks in a outdoor public spaces and it's toast. Plus it doesn't look terribly comfortable either... style yes, substance, maybe? I guess it is a reflection of architectural trends as well.

For some other examples follow the link from Architectnophila had a recent post of Architect-design furniture, mostly focusing on indoor varieties. There are also some new forms of outdoor furnishings designed by Landscape Architects... time to do some digging and see how these fare.