Divisare - Projects — Top Favorites of the Week

Today, the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Bavaria is inaugurating its new archive in Nuremberg with a special ceremony. The new building, which was designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), took three years to build and is located on a former factory site in the direct vicinity of the existing main building. With 34 kilometres of shelving, the State Church archive now has more than twice the storage space compared to previously and, in addition, accommodates a restoration workshop and enough space for visitor rooms. In the “Memory of Evangelical Bavaria”, the Church is archiving – amongst many other original documents – letters by Martin Luther and documents by popes and emperors, as well as numerous historically important books and paintings. The State Church archive has been designed to include passive air conditioning of the archives.

The new building consists of two intersecting solid cubes which seem to float above a transparent receding ground floor. The structure rises from a basement floor about one metre high along the road, which develops into full storey height along the downward slope towards the south, including a large terrace which offers views of the Wöhrder See lake. The ensemble consists of a solitary building sculpture with main facades on all sides. It thereby confines the adjacent Zeissstrasse on the one side, and the garden of the Theological Seminary to the east on the other side. Seen from across the garden, the new archive appears as a continuation and extension of the Theological Seminary. The plinth of the reinforced steel structure is clad with reddish sandstone which forms a continuation of the existing sandstone wall and anchors the building in the landscape context. The external walls of the archive are finished in a shiny copper facade with a subtle vertical structure. The natural metal surface will undergo various oxidation stages and colour changes until it finally develops a velvety, brownish appearance.

Visitors enter the public areas of the archive via Veilhofstrasse. From there they also reach the lecture hall, which can also be used for exhibitions. This hall faces the corner of Veilhof-/Zeissstrasse in a manner that welcomes the public. The reading room faces both east and west and is located on the quiet garden side. The offices are located above, on two levels surrounding the archive areas, and provide easy access for members of staff to the repository. The repository areas themselves occupy four floors above the ground floor, as well as the two lower ground floors. Since the first lower ground floor extends out on the slope towards the south, access is available from Zeissstrasse to the workshop and functional rooms.

7-storey wooden structure residential building in Esmarchstrasse 3 Berlin.

Beim Projekt e3 auf dem Berliner Grundstück Esmarchstraße 3 handelt es sich um die erste 7-geschossige Holzkonstruktion im großstädtischen Zentrumsbereich Europas.
Die drei Kernelemente des Brandschutzplans Esmarchstrasse 3 sind die sehr kurzen und komplett rauchfreien Fluchtwege, die signifikante Erhöhung des Feuerwiderstands der tragenden und aussteifenden Holzbauteile durch eine lücken- und hohlraumlose Brandschutzbekleidung (Kapselung) mit Gipsfaser-Platten sowie eine Rauchmeldeanlage.

Abgesehen von den beiden vorelementierten Brandwänden zum linken und rechten Nachbargebäude sowie zwei Ortbetonkernen für die haustechnischen Installationen besteht die Konstruktion des Wohnbereichs komplett aus Holz. Die tragenden 320×360 mm dicken Riegel und die ebenso dimensionierten Brettschichtholzstützen in den Außenwänden sind mit 160 mm starken Massivholzwänden ausgefacht, wodurch schwer zu beherrschende Hohlraumbrände zuverlässig ausgeschlossen werden. Gegen eine Entzündung schützt zusätzlich die lückenlose Bekleidung aller tragenden Bestandteile, die innen aus zwei jeweils 18 mm dicken Gipsfaser-Platten besteht und nach dem Abspachteln der Fugen auf der Sichtseite sofort die malerfertige Oberfläche bildet.
Auf der Außenseite benötigt die Konstruktion eine 12,5 mm dicke einlagige Beplankung mit Gipsfaser-Platten und eine 100 mm dicke Steinwollelamellen-Platte mit einer erhöhten Rohdichte von 70 kg/m3 sowie einem Schmelzpunkt von >1000 oC.

Die industrielle Vorfertigung der Holzkonstruktion in der Zimmerei unter den kontrollierten Bedingungen einer klimatisierten Halle garantieren eine große Ausführungs- und Qualitätssicherheit sowie sehr kurze Bauzeiten: Nach rund 9 Monaten Gesamtbauzeit konnte die Bauherrengemeinschaft e3 im Frühjahr 2008 ihr Haus beziehen.
Die Nichtsichtbarkeit des Werkstoffes Holz an der Außenfassade war für uns von Anfang an ein städtebaulicher Imperativ. In dieser urbanen innerstädtischen Situation könnten wir uns keine langsam verwitternde Holzfassade vorstellen. Bei diesem Projekt betrachten wir Holz in aller ersten Linie als ein Konstruktions- und Dämmmaterial mit ausgesprochen positiven bauphysikalischen Eigenschaften und einer sehr guten Energiebilanz.
Bewiesen ist damit zweierlei: Holzkonstruktionen mit 22 m Höhe und sieben Geschossen lassen sich konstruktiv sicher und unter Beachtung aller Brandschutzvorgaben in Deutschland realisieren. Sie müssen im Allgemeinen und in innerstädtischen Lagen im Besonderen keine historisierend bzw. anheimelnde Assoziationen wecken. Und die Gebäudeklasse „Hochhaus“ ist nur noch wenige Zentimeter entfernt!

Location: Esmarchstraße 3, 10407 Berlin – Prenzlauer Berg
Realisation: 2007-2008
Surface: 970 m²

Previously, this health facility complex consisted in a main building, and two auxiliary buildings apart from the first. The proposal links both auxiliary pre-existing buildings maintaining its use as a workshop in the ground floor and adding rooms in the first floor. Thus, a single L-shaped geometry dialogues with the main building. Between both shapes a patio is defined as a relation space and the main outdoor space of the complex.

The functional programme defined by the owners consists mainly in the extension of the auxiliary pre-existing buildings through the coverage of the patio between them. A corridor is proposed as a system for the entrance and exit of the workshops and the room on the first level. It surrounds the central space of the courtyard. This corridor is a transition between the inner part of the workshops and the patio.

The addition of rooms in the programme will allow concentrating the internal activities and the management of the main building, apart from giving the patients more spaces in the new building.

The proposal establishes a great difference between what is maintained and what is newly built. Therefore, the façades and the gable roofs of the old buildings are refurbished with the minimum interventions.

On the other hand, the exterior T-shaped gallery which links both buildings has a very different tectonic appearance. It is supported by a metallic structure covered with multilayer panels. The new intervention is built with a dry process, with semi-industrial materials which build the corridor, a filter between the rooms and the exterior.

The use of the winery’s name as a concept driver (Cuna de Tierra / Soil Cradle), and its connection to the context, shows an exploration on the relationship between wine development and the site where these grape fields are.

The soil as one of the main elements for the growth of the vine trees becomes the main material for the construction of a group of built spaces that intend to merge with its landscape.

By working with independent structures, the project explores the possible interactions and tensions created between the volumes, the voids between them, and their relation with the functional process of the winery.

The approach on designing a high standard winery with a less-than-average number of high-tech constructive systems, show different solutions to the project. These are revealed on the design of natural lighting and ventilation cavities around the spaces of the winery.

The mix of the soil walls, with the wood and concrete ~~gathered natively~~ tends to transmit to Cuna de Tierra’s workers and visitors a clean man-made construction taken out of the richness of its natural context.

Es handelt sich um ein direkt hinter dem Deich gelegenes Grundstück im Außenbereich einer Ortschaft im Oderbruch, das mit einem Stall und einem ehemaligen, inzwischen verfallenen Fischerhaus bebaut war. Jenseits des Deiches eröffnet sich die Flusslandschaft der Oder. An Stelle des Fischerhauses wurde innerhalb des vorgefundenen Volumens ein neues Haus gebaut. Wegen einer unter Naturschutz stehenden alten Ulme wurde die Position des Baukörpers leicht verschoben. Um den Bau des Hauses und die Bewilligung des Bauantrages zu ermöglichen, wurde seitens der Gemeinde die Außenbereichssatzung geändert. Das neue Haus folgt in seiner räumlichen Disposition und manchen Details lokalen Traditionen und eröffnet der vierköpfigen Familie und ihren Freunden dennoch ein ausgesprochen helles, großzügiges und komfortables Feriendomizil. Der Grundriss folgt dabei einer grundsätzlichen Drei-Teilung, wobei die beiden zweigeschossigen Randfelder im Erdgeschoss Küche und Bad, sowie zwei Schlaf-zimmer aufnehmen, während das mittlere Feld bis in den Giebel reicht und einen Kamin mit angeschlossener Sitzbank zum Thema hat. Dabei lässt sich der zentrale Wohnraum durch die Verwendung von raumhohen Schiebetüren in der Diagonalen um Küche und Bad erweitern.

Photo by Maximilian Meisse . Published on September 20, 2013.

Die mit schwedischer Schlammfarbe anthrazit-grau gestrichene Holzfassade korrespondiert mit den farblich verwandten Biberschwanzziegeln des Daches. Die Fassade wird von vier gleich großen, raumhohen Glasfeldern unterbrochen, die sich in den Längswänden und den Dachflächen befinden, und von hölzernen Rolltoren verschlossen werden können. Kleine Fenster, die mit fassadenbündigen Fensterläden versehen sind, dienen der Belichtung der Zimmer und Nebenräume. Der Boden besteht in großen, nämlich den öffentlichen Teilen des Hauses, und auch im Bereich der Terrasse, aus Ziegel. Die Böden der Schlafzimmer und der Räume im Obergeschoss, sowie die Schränke, Schiebetüren und Elemente in Küche und Bad, sind in Eiche ausgeführt.

Photo by Maximilian Meisse . Published on September 20, 2013.

The Winery at Podernuovo is located near San Casciano dei Bagni, in the outskirts of Siena, in Southern Tuscany. It overlooks a vineyard named after the agricultural estate it belongs to. The vineyard, designed to contain spaces accessible to the public, spaces of production, and offices endeavors to reduce as much as possible its impact on the environment.

The winery can be accessed from two points: the first situated by the service entrance near the loading docks, the second by the parking lot used by both visitors and staff. The main county road diverges, branching off into a local road (Strada delle Vigne, “of the vines” in English) which curves left, and intersects the access that leads all transport to the main terrace. By planning the entrance in this manner, the architects managed to avoid the overlap of flows between general and specialized traffic. This zone, on the Eastern side of the winery, is where the first parking area is found. The access road continues uphill towards a secondary parking area and ends at a third parking area, intended principally for staff and visitors. At this point the entrance used by the workers is also accessed, only separately, merging with the office spaces and the production areas, as well as passing by the changing rooms. This split access was intentionally designed in this manner to once more avoid interference with production.

Upon access through the principal loading dock, on the left are located three main program areas: the vat cellar, the barrel cellar, and the wine cellar where the bottled wine is stored and left to mature; on the right of the corridor, instead, the architects placed the zones where the final stages of wine production are undertaken (i.e. the main bottling area, a storage for oenological products, a secondary processing area where wine is fined in steel barrels), the staircase to the upper floors, the water reserves (intended for sprinklers, irrigation, flushing) and the warehouse space where the barrels are cleaned.

A height of +6.10 meters creates a series of interstitial zones amongst the intermediate programs, like the mechanical rooms above the main production space, the staff changing rooms, the toilets for visitors and the laboratories. The latter are accessed via a private staircase which also leads to the offices. At a similar height of +5.30 meters above the fermentation areas, a wine tasting room overlooks the program. Large panels of glass compose two sides of the room, allowing incredible visibility into the barrel storage area and into the garden, which is enclosed by two of the concrete walls and slopes towards the upper levels of the project. A ramp also at this level allows access to the exterior of the winery and continues the plane out towards the landscape. A large entrance serves as a vestibule for both the people who access the space via the staircase and those coming from the outside. By means of a glass door, the main corridor overlooking the terrace is once more accessed. The wine tasting room, the meeting rooms, the offices with six workstations, and toilets, can be entered from both sides of the axis. The production zones and the meeting rooms are enclosed by large glass walls that overlook the terrace which was partly tiled, whilst the rest forms a distinctive green roof over the program areas.

The shades are a distinctive detail throughout the building. Conceived as a light metallic frame structure, they cover the entrance, act as a roof in specific locations and protect the offices from direct sunlight. On the ground floor the large glass panels span the entire width of the rooms and visually connect the vat cellar with the exterior whichm during harvest, is transformed into an incredibly dynamic space and is one of the most fascinating sights to oversee.

The materials for the building were chosen to integrate the architecture, as much as possible, with the landscape of its surroundings. Exposed concrete, brick, klinker, varnished steel, glass are all the materials that characterize the envelope of the winery. The long walls that traverse and anchor the project are exposed and painted in a color similar to the hue of clay which characterizes the earth in Tuscany; it is as if they had just emerged from the ground to house a process older even than the Etruscan antecedents of the land. The building is further embellished by a green roof and shades over the offices and main production areas.

PROJECT DATA AND CREDITS
architectural design: Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners
client: Podernuovo a Palazzone of Giovanni and Paolo Bulgari
structural engineering: ESAPROGETTI– Eng. Cianfrini / TECNO STUDIO– Eng. Lattini
mechanical and electrical engineering: Studio Tecnico Emanuele Mucci and Fabrizio Corridori
other consultants: Ing. Pupo (process systems) / TOSCANA PROJECT Srl (project management)
contractor: ALTO soc. coop
photos: Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia de arquitectura (http://ultimasreportagens.com)

Cutting resort environment out of urban environment

Nowhere resort is the resort program that is renting out weekly vacation house. Suggesting new urban life style by making shorten the distance to weekend house from standard 3 hours up to 1 hour. The environment must get close to urban when shorten the distance, the issue comes to how to cut off resort environment out of there. Therefore Nowhere but Sajima comes to build long and thin tube-like spaces that bundle them into one home unit. The tube-like spaces are facing toward the ocean and at the same time intercept the sight from the next condominium. The building is controlling both privacy and scenery.

Principal Use: House
Completion: Jun/2009
Structure: RC 3 stories
Site Area: 132.09 sq.m
Building Area: 63.88 sq.m
Total Floor Area: 176.65 sq.m
Max Height: 9,459 mm

See more photos of Fernando Alda

La construcción responde estrictamente al programa funcional de atención médica según normas y recomendaciones del Servicio Andaluz de Salud.
Entendemos que la obra pública tiene carácter de referencia.

El edificio asume su condición protagonista frente a un entorno urbano amorfo y desequilibrado: un vacío heterogéneo rodeado por bloques de viviendas. Entendimos podía tratarse de una propuesta revitalizadora que supusiera un revulsivo urbano en ese espacio excedente, periférico e impreciso y degradado.

Dos gestos fueron decisivos: acotar un recinto de privacidad en el centro de ese espacio, con un muro continuo de hormigón y vidrio, e introducir dentro de su perímetro, un prisma resplandeciente, visualmente pesante, que se incorpora por encima del muro reclamando su papel de elemento referencial. Levitando.

La piel brillante de cerámica vidriada, conforma una carcasa suspendida que envuelve un interior hermético accesible desde un solo punto. Sus perforaciones evocan tradiciones constructivas: celosías vinculadas a la tradición islámica, palomares ó secaderos de tabaco, que consiguen una definición del edificio. Pieza de carácter autónomo que resuelve la necesidad privada de luz y reserva adquiriendo hacia el exterior un aspecto hermético.

Envoltorio identificable que privatiza. Vibrante en su expresión exterior y algo conmovedor por dentro. El gran vacío estructural ordena las funciones en las tres plantas del edificio. Visibles al tiempo que oxigena los lugares de espera. Estos se elevan como caverna hasta el lucernario. Es el principio generador de toda la estructura. Deambulatorios alrededor del vacío y una pasarela diagonal que lo cruza, convierten este espacio en recorridos que vinculan a las diferentes funciones.

En Planta Baja, en su frente, bajo un dintel masivo, desde un atrio cubierto, se dispone la entrada principal atravesando una franja/puerta horizontal de vidrio hacia el interior. Rotundo, desnudo y palpitante.

Durante el día, el interior queda irradiado desde el lucernario y desde la celosía envolvente, que filtra la luz y reverbera el color que llega del exterior.

En la noche, más allá de sus aspiraciones funcionales, utiliza su condición material como lámpara urbana. La luz artificial se incorpora a la arquitectura con voluntad expresiva, y aparece desde el interior, para convertirse en un referente.

See more photos of Fernando Alda

La adhesión total al programa y a las exigencias de la pequeña ampliación de un Centro de Salud en funcionamiento, constituye el móvil del proyecto.

Entendimos que la ampliación no debía ser una mera prolongación de lo existente en sus límites temporales de caducidad y desposeído de cualquier interés que justifique una ampliación mimética o contextualizada. Su imagen responde a un periodo de arquitectura pública sin “afectos”. Nos integramos por divergencia, proponer otras formas de usar, de confrontar y entender estas características, como expansión de nuevos registros.

Se coloca con levedad una pieza, sin alterar el entorno, asumiendo y adjudicándonos todos los elementos y formas que encontramos. El edificio encaja dejando intacto su paisaje y evidenciando de igual forma nuestra discrepancia. Se propone el programa requerido en dos plantas, tratando de aproximar todos los usos en su interior, distribuyendo desde un espacio central en cada planta, encajándose como pieza aislada, cerrada sobre sí misma. De apariencia clausurada, hermética; responde a elementales razones que velan prioritariamente por la característica de privacidad del acto médico y al mismo tiempo el imprescindible control de la intensa luminosidad.

Se partía de un presupuesto muy bajo, por lo que las soluciones constructivas debían ser fácilmente ejecutables por una pequeña constructora local y los materiales elegidos, muy económicos, perdurables, de fácil mantenimiento y quizás paradójicos. Esta elección tiene voluntad expresa de no identificarse con los del edificio colindante. Revestimos todo el edificio de piedra caliza de la zona, recorriendo paramentos y huecos que en sus mismos despieces hendidos, dejan el necesario paso de luz. Lamas fijas pétreas, procurando una continuidad hacia el interior, alternadamente recogido e íntimo.

El edificio, es facetado, “poliedro de piedra esculpida” de manera que la luz provoca vibraciones y sombras al incidir en sus planos. Y busca recursos estructurales livianos, mostrándose en su interior con apariencia de planos, que recogen y encierran, logrando, en algún caso, soluciones formales expresivas, creando episodios atractivos, como la bóveda artesonada de hormigón visto que cubre la escalera. La cubierta es prolongación de las fachadas y se proponía que la misma piedra de revestimiento, buscando una unidad en un elemento tan concreto.

Verificar contrastando, entre un exterior terso, continuo en un matiz que envuelve, muy pulido y un interior despejado, conciso en sus funciones, introduciendo leves planos de expresión, sensibles en espacios claros y fluidos. Detrás de la parcela existe un colegio público y el espacio de juegos es colindante con el edificio. Existía la posibilidad de que desde el espacio interior se observara ese mundo infantil de niños jugando como si fuera un monitor sin sonido, lo cual proporciona una nota visual alegre en un espacio habitualmente aséptico.

The city of Essen invited to an Europe-wide competition in 2005 with the goal to accomodate the insufficient and at different places stored archival documents of the city, the administration of the city archive, its public library, an auditorium and a museum for the recent history of the city. An important point was to keep the architectural monument Luisenschool from 1906, which was only partially used as school, as a cultural heritage of the city and to employ it still useful. The requested utilisations could be well integrated into the historic building structure. The new extension of the needed archive is built as a massive four-storeyed building. The new building closes an urban cut of the former block structure, which was a result of the war. It accomodates the necessary 17 rack kilometers via movable rack systems.

School building
The listed existing building is refurbished according to the regulations for historical monuments. The groined vaulted hall form the common foyer for students, guests and employees of the „Haus der Essener Geschichte“ and is the prelude of the exhibition, which is situated in the former class rooms. According to the demands of the city archive, the offices are also placed in the former class rooms. The auditorium is located close to the foyer facing the Bismarkstraße. The reading room and the administration are situated in the calmer extension from the 1950s. In connection to the archiv the basement floor houses the take-over of the archival documents with their workshops. The air raid shelter, left nearly original since 1945, is integrated with its authentic condition as extension of the exhibition „Resistance and persecution during the Third Reich“.

Depot building
The four-storeyed depot building is connected with the extension of the 1950s by a glazed gap. A new disabled friendly lift balances the differences of elevation. The facades of the new archive building are covered with Corteen-steel. This material, that constantly alters, communicates the change of time and appears safe-like conserving. Furthermore it is a reference to the history of the former steel city Essen. The structure of the openings in the facade playfully reflects the flexible used movable rack systems inside. Room-high aslant embedded ventilation openings in the facade penetrate the facade, decrease direct insolation and support the air circulation because of their different positions. The building has an outdoor temperature sensor and meters, installed on every floor. Every floor is supplied with cross ventilation and heating with conventional radiators by an intelligent regulation. A natural, regulated ventilation was planned for the depot. A ventilation and air conditioning is not necessary.

Completion: 2010
gross floor area: 6700 sqm
cubature: 24900 cbm
construction cost: 5,23 m euro
awards: – Essener Architekturpreis 2010, acknowledgement
- Auszeichnung vorbildlicher Bauten NRW
- Auszeichnung guter Bauten des BDA 2010, acknowledgement

The site, located in a pronounced slope, comprises a parcel of terrain with mischaracterized surroundings, sprinkled with single family houses, wildly deployed in the area, that as a whole, are unable of stating a clear principle of spatial planning of the area they occupy. This context, marked by discontinuities and unbalances, was perceived as an incentive for a brainstorming in the construction of an architecture idea. Given this framework, we contrast a design able to confer to the new set its own identity, recognizable in a spatial planning where each housing unit is to be assumed as a part of the same indivisible whole. Therefore, we adopted a combination of row houses in order to obtain volumes whose dimension clearly detaches them from the surrounding area. Furthermore, and to better ensure the integrity of such volumes, we decided to arrange them in different leveled platforms, spaced throughout the slope.

This is how we sought to ensure the stability of the volumetric set, through a planned monitoring of elevations and limits, essential to regulate the overall picture from as many points of view as possible, thereby trying to establish the planning principle for a balanced appropriation of the slope. The composition of the exterior volumes, based on the presence of the discrete structure and the modular and functional complicity among the solid spaces and voids, rehearses a balance between the unity of the whole and the individualized reading of each parcel, transforming the sum of the several fractions in large compact blocks where we sought to express the inseparability between individual and collective.

From an abandoned and anonymous office building to a vibrant multi-tenant complex. That’s De Burgemeester, a commercial property in Hoofddorp renovated by Studioninedots and opened on 5 November 2013. The secret of the transformation? A vertical lobby featuring an open staircase where people meet face to face, a space that brings people together both literally and figuratively.