March 25, 2013
Monday means “Real Or Rendering” day. This latest installment features a serpentine brick home “in” Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a great little project, one set amid a small, but vibrant cluster of trees that shield the home from its neighbors. Mirrors mounted on the brick walls endlessly reflect the grass and trees, extending what is a suburban lot into a sprawling country lawn. But wait a minute, is there something off here? Is the brick relief too flat, or is it just about right? What about those shadows and how they play off the shoots of grass? Do the reflections off the mirror look right? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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February 25, 2013
Architecture makes space material. Traditionally, it has done so through stacking, curving, and pouring of stone, brick, concrete, or dirt. Latest advancements in technology have made possible to manipulate materials like never before. Given the right amount of tooling, nearly any material can be accommodated to any form or shape, however outlandish they may be.
The five finalists for the Architizer A+ “Materials” award each investigate new paths for materials old and new. Click through for the slideshow!
Spot a favorite? Make sure to vote for it over at the A+ Public Voting site!
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February 18, 2013
Project: House Van Leeuwen
Architect: JagerJanssen Architecten BNA
Location: Meppel, Netherlands
JagerJanssen designed the House Van Leeuwen for a Dutch family living in an area dominated by traditional residential architecture. To tie the thoroughly contemporary design with the surroundings, the architects clad the house with distressed-surface brick, referencing the area’s extensive use of masonry. The faceted form of the structure introduces visual interest and character, in the same fashion as the gable-roofs of the neighboring houses. The back yard is delineated by vine-covered fencing, forming a screened garden “room” at the rear of the residence.
Read more about this project in the Architizer database!
Images courtesy Ossip van Duivenbode
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January 18, 2013
Project: De Zeester Day Care Center
Architect: Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer
Location: Noordwijk, Netherlands
Function: Situated on a gently rolling lawn, the De Zeester Clinic melds clear geometric form with playful detailing—an insightful architectural approach to creating a welcoming and comfortable environment for developmentally challenged guests. A regular pattern of porthole windows creates visual connectivity to the surrounding woodland, and provides intimate exterior views at multiple heights. The building centers on a large interior courtyard, which gives guests free access to a safe open-air garden. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.
Think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!
Images courtesy Daria Scagliola/Stijn Brakkee
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January 17, 2013
Project: Jacobs University Sports and Conference Center
Architect: Max Dudler Architekten
Location: Bremen, Germany
Function: The mixed-use sports facility and conference center form a dramatic new focal point for Jacbos University in suburban Bremen. The simple rectangular form encircled by brick-clad columns is strongly reminiscent of the Parthenon and the modernist projects of Mies van der Rohe, among others, that it influenced. Drawing from the simplicity of classical form, the basic structural logic allows maximum transparency for the conference and mixed-use spaces, as well as open expanses for athletics. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.
Think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!
Images courtesy of Stefan Müller
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November 28, 2012
Frank Gehry will bring his paper-crumbling touch to Sydney for what will be the architect’s first project on the continent. The design for a business school building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has been imaginatively described by the press as a “melted chocolate castle” and, less palatably, “sagging skin”, a barb aimed at the showy folded facade. To most, the crinkled ensemble looked like a paper bag in the hands of a wheezing asthmatic, a likeness that provoked a response from Gehry himself (not about the asthmatic, just the paper bag). Interestingly, the billowing facade will be built out of hand-laid brick arranged in a bespoke pattern, a decision that has contributed to steep budget increases. Continue.
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October 24, 2012
Photo: courtesy of klg19
What New Yorker hasn’t dreamed of owning a brownstone? In addition to handbags and chauffeurs, the brick-alternative buildings are one of the city’s biggest social markers, announcing things like “I’ve made it” or “I’ve grown up” or “I’m just like Carrie from Sex and the City.” They also are beautiful, full of rich history, and quintessentially New York. Sadly, the Times has reported that New York is completely out of brownstone. Yup, the local quarries in Pennsylvania and Connecticut that have long supplied the Big Apple with the material are tapped out. And while other places around the world produce brownstone, as the Times puts it: there is really nothing quite like the local stuff. Read more!
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October 5, 2012
The Dutch firm MVRDV has just completed its latest project: the Book Mountain and Library Quarter, both part of a larger plan to breathe new life into the town of Spijkenisse, located within the Rotterdam metropolitan area. Read more!
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October 26, 2011
How many pop history books exist that identify a single intimate object as the thing that “birthed” civilization? Guns. Germs. Steel. If we had a book deal, we’d propose yet another: the humble brick. Bricks were the building material of the first permanent structures, almost eight thousand years before the birth of Christ. They were invented independently by nearly every large civilization in the pre-Modern world. Because of the brick, cities could rise above flooding, and because of the brick, homes were cleaner, safer, and stronger. Perhaps most importantly, brick is relatively inexpensive to produce, and are incredibly environmentally efficient.
Amazingly, bricks are still being reinvented and improved, even today: architects are programming robots to lay complicated patterns, while others are experimenting with size and joinery, while still more designers are experimenting with the ingredient ratios, transforming the very manufacturing process. We’ve aggregated a typological series of projects from the last few years that use brick in new, interesting ways.
After all, what do we know that the Mesopotamians didn’t know? Read on.
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April 19, 2011
Ganey Tikva Center for Community Services by Doron Sheinmann Architect in Ganey Tikva, Israel.
Aerofoam! Transparent concrete! Living walls! Robot columns! Brick, in the face of never-ending newness, seems almost novel, right?
Using brick nowadays is like using Edison lightbulbs. There’s something implicitly comforting about it — a tactile familiarity (see this classic Walter Benjamin essay for a more verbose explanation) absent from our usual routine of slick touch-screens, LEDs and high-tech textiles.
The charm of the old, used in new ways, in today’s Editor’s Pick.
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