MERRY XMAS 2013

One year has passed since the first Xmas post on our blog. By the end of 2012, DIMSCALE was recovering from a difficult year, marked by the market slowdown in the areas of architecture and real estate. At this point new strategies were drawn, namely targeting our services to the real estate developers and exploring new markets abroad.

2013 brought new challenges and the accomplishment of the major part of the defined objectives for this period - DIMSCALE started to work directly with a set of real estate developers safeguarding their interest regarding the cost optimization and control; we took the first steps in the internationalization process and we're now exploring markets that give us good perspectives of participation in reference projects worldwide. Our team grew up, which has allowed us to give a faster response to our clients' needs and to improve the company by adding talented people to its team.

We'll continue to work hard in order to take the Architecture Cost Management concept to an even wider set of real estate professionals and to be able to establish even more ambitious goals for 2015 one year from now.

We wish a MERRY XMAS to everyone and a great 2014!

Architecture References - Writing Studio, by Andrew Berman Architect

Writing Studio

Bellport, NY, USA

Andrew Berman Architect, USA

Area: 2000 sqm

Year: 2008

Photos: Michael Moran

Project's description on ARCHDAILY [by the architect]:
"This building was commissioned as a library and writing studio for a historian. It is located on a property adjacent to the client’s home, and is approached on foot through a stand of trees. There is no drive or path. The library sits at the threshold of an open field and a wood. A tidal stream is visible through the woods, at the rear of the property.

A twelve-foot tall door is the entry façade. Due to the siting and geometry of the building, little else of the building is visible on approach. A wood staircase is immediately seen on entering, leading up to an unrevealed but glowing space. The library space is at the top of the stairs, apparently set in the tree canopy of the woods. The library was conceived as a tranquil day-lit space for reading, writing, and thought. Light fills the room from above, and animates the space with the changing brightness and color of the day.

The walls of the study are lined with books. The windows are integrated into the bookcases, creating a sense of being enveloped by books and the surrounding foliage. The kitchens, bathrooms, storage and dumbwaiter are all concealed in a core structure within the single volume of the building. The staircase, interior wall lining, bookcases, cabinetry are straight grain Douglas fir.

The structure of the library is a series of parallel steel portal frames that were shop built and delivered to the site. Wood framing spans between the steel frames. All of the exterior facets of the building are sheathed in copper. The copper and geometry of the building work in concert to create a building whose form and presence change in the shifting light of the day and color of the seasons. The copper can be both reflective and matte, depending on the viewing angle and light. It can be brilliantly reflective as well as deep velvety brown and violet. Eventually, the copper will patina to green. It is a simple structure with a mutable presence in the landscape."

- Andew Berman Architect 

Architecture References - Office Renovation in Hangzhou, by Daipu Architects

Office Renovation in Hangzhou

Zhejiang, China

Daipu Architects, China

Area: 640 sqm

Year: 2013

Photos: Xia zhi

Project's description on ARCHDAILY [by the architect]:
"This office renovation is located in west of Ba Gua field, Hangzhou, China. The site possesses excellent landscape; however, it was dark and gloomy in the old building. The existing structure had a floor-height of 3.3 m for the ground floor, and the clear height below the beam is only 2.6m, which is comparatively depressing for open office. The height of the second floor was ok, however it did not have enough connection with the ground floor. The old structure layout could hardly exhibit advantage of a double-deck.

So the first consideration was to build up a connection between 2 floors, the connection not only on physical space aspect, but also on psychological perception of people who will work here.  People who will be working downstairs or upstairs could feel the existence of the other part of colleagues, thus to create an ambient of teamwork.

A lot of attempts have been made. Finally the Barcelona Pavilion of Mies and the painting works of Morandi give a breakthrough. The work of Mies only offered the idea for the 2-dimensional design, whilst the approaches of Morandi were good examples for seeking the 3-dimensional solutions. In Morandi’s late works, the relations between the main object and the background and their colour relations were becoming assimilated and simplified; it can see that the boundaries of many objects merged into the background in many of his works.

The approach is, if we take the furniture as the object, while taking the structural components like the walls and stairs as the canvas, then to make the object (furniture) merged into the canvas (structure), it can easily pass the perception of flowing to the people as the furniture is the very thing which most connected to the people. The space upstairs now is connected to the space downstairs due to this assimilated effect happened between the building structure and the furniture. In order to imply the space concept and work with the atmosphere, a few works of the Morandi’s paintings have been redrawn and placed in some particular corners.

There is not any regular partition wall (plaster wall or brick wall) has been built. The new partition is composed of very light cabinet and 1cm semi-transparent polycarbonate panel. The furniture, stairs, handrails and bar counter all comes up to constitute the partition system.

The prefabricated partition system saved the cost of on-site work, and it also avoided wet operation meanwhile it saved the time. The partition system, as the most important part of the construction had been put into furniture factory which has advanced equipments; this is also a solution to improve the perfection of construction here."

- Daipu Architects

Underdogs - urban art exhbition in Lisbon

Underdogs is a collaborative platform composed by international urban artists based in Lisbon. The group recently opened an year-end exhibition called "Timeline" in Underdogs' gallery in Lisbon (Rua Fernando Palha, Armazém 56), in which are gathered the works conducted over this year. Some exclusive works can be purchased in the exhibition, as well as on the collective's website. Underdogs is formed by Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), Cyrcle (USA), MAISMENOS (Portugal), Pixelpancho (Italy) and How and Nosm (Spain/USA). The exhibition is open until December 21st, Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 2PM to 8PM.

Thanks to Underdogs for having kindly sent us the contents for this post.

"Underdogs is an international working platform based in Lisbon, Portugal that aims at creating space within the contemporary art scene for artists connected with the new languages of urban visual culture. Its purpose is to reflect with precision what we see as an important segment of contemporary visual and graphic culture by fostering the establishment of connections, partnerships and collaborative efforts between artists, cultural agents and venues, while helping to bridge the gap between these and the public." - Underdogs

Interesni Kazki (Ukraine)

Interesni Kazki is a duo of Ukrainian artists – AEC & Waone – who developed their collaborative street-based work from the more elementary forms of classical graffiti into a unique universe of symbolic, complex and dreamlike large-scale mural compositions which they have been painting around the world.
In 2010 they also started showcasing their narrative “interesting fairytales” in exhibitions.

Photo credit: Interesni Kazki

Pixelpancho (Italy)

Italian artist Pixelpancho has been developing original street work under this name since 2001, gaining prominence in the last few years for the large-scale paintings and sculptures he has been producing in urban environments around the world. His work frequently offers visions of a forgotten, futuristic and surreal world inhabited by decaying, humanised robots which create an ongoing narrative that offers a poignant reflection on the human condition imbued with historical and contemporary references.

 

Photo credit: Elisabetta Riccio

Pixelpancho/Vhils collaboration

How and Nosm (Spain/USA)

How and Nosm are identical twin brothers (Raoul and Davide Perre) known for their large-scale graffiti-based murals that adorn city walls around the world.
Their red, black, and white-based imagery is instantly recognisable and commands attention through the impressive size and intricate detail.
Initially the colour palette was limited for practicality but instead has become a distinct calling card and formal choice that has allowed these artists to push spray paint to a new level.

 

Cyrcle (USA)

Cyrcle started out as a collective of three American artists, but is currently reduced to members Rabi and Davey. 
In a very short time the group became renowned for its use of eclectic media, creating arresting, often abstract visual compositions presented in both the public space and in exhibitions, from interactive installations to graphic paste ups which reflect more than the sum of all parts.

±MAISMENOS± (Portugal)

±MAISMENOS± is an intervention art project by Portuguese artist Miguel Januário which offers a critical reflection on the model of political, social and economic organisation that manages contemporary urban societies.
Its programmatic expression is conceptually reduced to an equation of simplicity and opposites: more/less, positive/negative, black/white. He has been producing thought-provoking, cutting-edge work both indoors and outdoors since 2005.

 

"Timeline” is a group show that takes stock of the work created by the artists invited to visit and work in Lisbon over the past year as part of the programme of exhibitions and street interventions organised by the Underdogs platform.

The exhibition features a selection of original artwork produced by each artist or collective following their short artist residency in Lisbon, while also taking a look at the various public art interventions created by them in the city during 2013, along with the exclusive screen print work they produced for the Underdogs.

Both the works created in the public space and those presented at the Underdogs Gallery shows have aimed at contributing towards promoting the work of each artist while also blurring the boundaries between indoor art and outdoor art and bridging the gap between different locations, concepts, and publics." - Underdogs

Underdogs Gallery

Address: Rua Fernando Palha, Armazém 56 – Lisbon, Portugal

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Press contact and further information:

info@under-dogs.net