Cool Modern Architecture

[Tom Servo]

Yasuhiro Yamashita of Atelier Tekuto
Tokyo_Japan
Parabola House

Parabola
completion // 10_2007
total area // 134.85m2
floor space // 81.93m2
The site is located in a quiet residential area surrounded by nature. 6m in width and 27m in length, it is a long and narrow site, which has been constructed 3m above road-level so that on clear days, it enjoys views of Mount Fuji.

As the client’s family spends the most part of the day in the living room, this room has been situated on the top floor, which benefits from scenic views. In order to fully exploit the length of the site, a cantilever has been constructed on to the front of the building.

Minimal design and a parabolic ceiling on the top floor are the building’s distinctive features. Splashes of colour provide a contrast to the undulating white surroundings, giving rhythm to the space.

The flowing “three dimensional” ceiling, which dips and rises to varying levels of height, arouses contrasting feelings of “tension” and “release” and gives the room a sense of boundlessness.

Thus, even when observing the room from a fixed position, the fluctuating density invokes a sense of movement, which unconsciously guides the observer right through and beyond the room’s boundaries, as if following the flow of air, giving the impression of endless space.

It is normally the floor and the walls that delineate the boundaries of the interior space but in this case, it is the parabolic ceiling that defines its essence.

Project Website

[Tom Servo]

these japanese houses are architectural porn! i could post hundreds of these...

[Tom Servo]

Kiyonobu Nakagame + Associates
Sendai_Miyagi_Japan
House in Sendai-Kasumi

Parabola
completion // 09_2007
total area // 522.31m2
floor space // 148.95m2
The house sits on the hill top that overlooks the city of Sendai, situated within the area called Yakiyama offering the magnificent views of cliffs that rise from the Hirose River running at the bottom. The site has elongated configuration in North/South direction, adjoined by existing houses at the both sides. The site planning was conceived in relation to the density of neighboring houses, consisted of the elongated volume placed along the site and the large garden accompanied to it. While the site descends towards the cliff side, on contrary the house volume is lifted up, creating the gap between them, in which the garden, the living room and even the marvelous view of Sendai integrate one another and further become a large unifying site as a whole.

In terms of HVAC, we contrived effective heating systems. Although Sendai is not fully a cold district, adequate heating devices were still necessary, considering the frequent strong north winds blowing up the hill. Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating was applied to the entire floor area in the large room on the 1st floor, furthermore, Hydronic Heating are also provided on the walls in each room, creating comfortable spaces with the radiant heats.

Project Website

[honte]

^ Finally I see something new that I like here. Thanks for posting those.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by honte

^ Finally I see something new that I like here. Thanks for posting those.

wait... my other 400 posts in this thread weren't good enough??? or is that a comment about the last few pages of *not-mine* posts?

[Tom Servo]

btw, did you see page 1?

it's your boyfriend...

[honte]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

wait... my other 400 posts in this thread weren't good enough??? or is that a comment about the last few pages of *not-mine* posts?

Sorry, I had the words "recently posted" in there but I deleted them on accident.

Tell me about the Goldberg... I don't recognize the proposal off-hand. Was this the one over on Illinois or so?

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by honte

Sorry, I had the words "recently posted" in there but I deleted them on accident.

Tell me about the Goldberg... I don't recognize the proposal off-hand. Was this the one over on Illinois or so?

yeah... i think that is the 'Lakeshore Grand Apartments' proposal from the ??late 80s?? or at least that is what i read from saic's goldberg project list.








is there a book that compiles all of goldberg's work?

[Tom Servo]

btw, honte, you might like this... the funniest thing goldberg ever did:


Jack-in-the-Box Restaurant 1967-68

[Jibba]

Those houses are incredible. Particularly the second one; that roof shape provides for some incredible spaces.

[Nowhereman1280]

See now those houses I can dig, their odd shapes actually play a role in their functionality; shoving lots of house onto a tiny lot while maintaining light and views.

That Goldberg is awesome, if I ever make it as a developer I want to find some of the sweeter proposals that never got built and put them up as best as I can.

[Cirrus]

I've only gone through about the first half of this thread, but I have to say that "cool" and "progressive" aren't the same thing. Neither neo-brutalist geometric sculpturalism nor glass curtain walls are the least bit progressive, unless "progressive" means "the exact same game we've been playing for about 50 years now". Many of the buildings posted in this thread are not the least bit progressive. If you like them, cool, fair enough (I like many of them too), just don't call the likes of this, this or this progressive (unless they were proposed prior to 1960), 'cause they ain't.

This is progressive, no doubt about it. It's a totally new idea. It may not work; it may even be an awful idea, but it IS progressive. On the other hand, this is the same shlock we've been seeing for decades.

And for the record, architecture is NOT art. Buildings are not sculptures (except very rarely). Artists are merely concerned with beauty, while architects are concerned with making functional things beautiful. Architects are artisans. The difference is not semantic.

[amor de cosmos]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

these japanese houses are architectural porn! i could post hundreds of these...

you got that right!

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

this

That is actually progressive, its a Bertrand Goldberg who designed some very stunning departures from traditional architectural thinking. Look up his Marina City or River City designs and you will recognize it. Though apparently the above design is relatively late compared to Marina City.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

Heinrich Mossdorf:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fna...e_mossdorf.jpg

This building is total win. I've never actually laughed out loud at a building before, but here it is.

What it really needed was another skyscraper of similar design, only with a cowboy and a gun on top.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by dchan

This building is total win. I've never actually laughed out loud at a building before, but here it is.

What it really needed was another skyscraper of similar design, only with a cowboy and a gun on top.

loos's was funnier... have you seen it?

[honte]

^ But no one is completely sure if he was joking...

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

btw, honte, you might like this... the funniest thing goldberg ever did:



Jack-in-the-Box Restaurant 1967-68

That was actually built....

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've only gone through about the first half of this thread, but I have to say that "cool" and "progressive" aren't the same thing. Neither neo-brutalist geometric sculpturalism nor glass curtain walls are the least bit progressive, unless "progressive" means "the exact same game we've been playing for about 50 years now". Many of the buildings posted in this thread are not the least bit progressive. If you like them, cool, fair enough (I like many of them too), just don't call the likes of this, this or this progressive (unless they were proposed prior to 1960), 'cause they ain't.

This is progressive, no doubt about it. It's a totally new idea. It may not work; it may even be an awful idea, but it IS progressive. On the other hand, this is the same shlock we've been seeing for decades.

And for the record, architecture is NOT art. Buildings are not sculptures (except very rarely). Artists are merely concerned with beauty, while architects are concerned with making functional things beautiful. Architects are artisans. The difference is not semantic.

let me first start by say: HAHAHAHA... wow...

and who ever said architecture was art? i didn't.

and let me get this straight... the OMA [REM KOOLHAAS] is not progressive, rather, it is an office for reproducing old ideas? huh...

did you read arup's journal on how advanced of a structure the CCTY headquarters building is? more importantly, in what way is this an exhausted form of architecture? it's breaking down the notion of what an office building is and how it functions... from KOOLHAAS:

CCTV will be one among many towers in Beijing's new Central Business District, all striving to be unique - all different expressions of verticality.

Skyscraper
The tragedy of the skyscraper is that it marks a place as significant, which it then occupies and exhausts with banality... This banality is twofold: in spite of their potential to be incubators of new cultures, programs, and ways of life, most towers accommodate merely routine activity, arranged according to predictable patterns. Formally, their expressions of verticality have proven to stunt the imagination: as verticality soars, creativity crashes.

Concept
Instead of competing in the hopeless race for ultimate height - dominance of the skyline can only be achieved for a short period of time, and soon another, even taller building will emerge - the project proposes an iconographic constellation of two high-rise structures that actively engage the city space: CCTV and TVCC.

CCTV combines administration and offices, news and broadcasting, program production and services - the entire process of TV-making - in a loop of interconnected activities. Two structures rise from a common production platform that is partly underground. Each has a different character: one is dedicated to broadcasting, the second to services, research and education; they join at the top to create a cantilevered penthouse for the management. A new icon is formed... not the predictable 2-dimensional tower 'soaring' skyward, but a truly 3-dimensional experience. The consolidation of the TV program in a single building allows each worker to be permanently aware of the nature of the work of his co-workers - a chain of interdependence that promotes solidarity rather than isolation, collaboration instead of opposition. The building itself contributes to the coherence of the organization.

While CCTV is a secured building for staff and technology, public visitors will be admitted to the 'loop', a dedicated path circulating through the building and connecting to all elements of the program and offering spectacular views across the multiple facades towards the CBD, Beijing, and the Forbidden City.

The Television Cultural Center (TVCC) is an open, inviting structure. It accommodates visitors and guests, and will be freely accessible to the public. On the ground floor, a continuous lobby provides access to the 1500-seat theater, a large ballroom, digital cinemas, recording studios and exhibition facilities. The building hosts the international broadcasting centre for the 2008 Olympic Games. The tower accommodates a five-star hotel; guests enter at a dedicated drop-off from the east of the building and ascend to the fifth floor housing the check-in as well as restaurants, lounges, and conference rooms. The hotel rooms are occupying both sides of the tower, forming a spectacular atrium above the landscape of public facilities.

On the block in the south-east, the Media Park is conceived as an extension of the proposed green axis of the CBD. It is open to the public for events and entertainment, and can be used for outdoor filming.


...i kind of think that your comments are beyond outlandish... and i kind of think it'd be futile to go any further...

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by honte

^ But no one is completely sure if he was joking...

of course he was joking... he was making a farce of the whole thing...


this is a pretty good book, if you don't already have it:
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Tribun...4896696&sr=8-1

[honte]

^ There's been some debate about that.

In any case, there can be no debate that this is not helping your thread devoted to progressive architecture.