ARCHITECTURE REFERENCES - Mirror House, MLRP

Mirror House
Copenhagen, Denmark
MLRP, Denmark

Year: 2012
Area: 140 sqm
Photos: Laura Stamer

Descriptive memory on the project's article in ArchDaily.com:
"Funhouse mirrors are mounted on the gabled ends of this playground pavilion in Copenhagen, as well as behind the doors. This engages a play with perspective, reflection and tranformation. Instead of a typical closed gable facade, the mirrored gables creates a sympathetic transition between built and landscape and reflects the surrounding park, playground and activity.

Windows and doors are integrated in the wood-clad facade behind facade shutters with varied bent mirror panel effects. At night the shutters are closed making the building anonymous. During the day the building opens up, attracting the children who enjoy seeing themselves transformed in all directions. With simple means it has succeeded to transform an existing, sad and anonymous building to a unique and respectful installation in the newly renovated park. The roof and facade is clad with heat-modified wood and the gables and shutters are clad with mirror polished stainless steel. The Mirror House is a flexible space and restrooms, used by kindergarden classes."

The Architecture illustration of André Chiote

To "simbolize and summarize" was the challenge that the Portuguese architect André Chiote proposed himself - his illustrations isolate the differentiating elements of several reference Architecture projects.

After being contacted by our blog, André Chiote kindly gave us a brief statement about his work: "Taking architecture as a motto and as an icon, I developed a set of images where I intended both to underline the unmistakable and iconic side of a building, and to create a graphic composition whose presence takes hold beyond the building itself." To the Portuguese newspaper Público André had said that "the choice of buildings to work relates to the recognition that they have in the collective memory of architects, and with the graphical capability that certain building contains."

Below we publish the architecture illustrations ceded by André Chiote. Consult the architect's blog to have access to other of its projects.

 

ARCHITECTURE REFERENCES - The Shard, Renzo Piano

The Shard
London, UK
Renzo Piano, Italy

Year: 2012

"Renzo Piano, the project's architect, met criticism from English Heritage, who claimed the building would be "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London", giving the building its name, the Shard. Piano considered the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline, recalling the church steeples featured in historic engravings of the city, and believed that its presence would be far more delicate than opponents of the project alleged. He proposed a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive façades of angled glass panes intended to reflect sunlight and the sky above, so that the appearance of the building will change according to the weather and seasons. The building features 11,000 panes of glass, with a total surface area of 56,000 square metres (600,000 sq ft).

Following the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, architects and structural engineers worldwide began re-evaluating the design of tall structures. The Shard's early conceptual designs were among the first in the UK to be progressed following the publication of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report into the collapse of the WTC. The building was designed to maintain its stability under very onerous conditions.

The Shard contains premium office space, a hotel, luxury residences, retail space, restaurants, a five-storey public viewing gallery, and a spa. The public viewing gallery is located between the 68th and 72nd floors, with its highest section at a height of 245 metres (804 ft), and is expected to draw over two million visitors a year. In addition, a shorter building, known as London Bridge Place, will be built nearby, replacing the former London Bridge House and completing the London Bridge Quarter development.

In addition to the tower, major improvements are underway in the London Bridge rail and Tube station and the surrounding area. As part of a Section 106 legal agreement, these improvements will include a new public concourse, as well as a public piazza, a museum, and local housing and regeneration programmes."
- text from Wikipedia.com

ARCHITECTURE REFERENCES - Platform of Arts and Creativity, Pitágoras Arquitectos

Platform of Arts And Creativity
Guimarães, Portugal
Pitágoras Arquitectos, Portugal

Year: 2012
Photos: José Campos

Descriptive memory by Pitágoras (text from Archdaily.com):
"The buildings that make up the Municipal Market and the space defined by them, commonly referred to as “the square”, a name inherited from market square are, as a unit, characteristic elements of the urban landscape of the city of Guimarães. The grounds of the old municipal market boasted a privileged and very central location with excellent accesses, very close to the Toural Square and the historic center.

With this project, the transformation of the marketplace into a multifunctional space dedicated to artistic, economic, cultural and social activities within the scope of European Capital of Culture 2012, allowed for the physical and functional reintegration into the urban fabric, to become a reality and so, to recover one key area of the city space. In addition, the operation extended to adjacent plots, enabling the regeneration of the interior space of the block, which was completely uncharacterized, as a result of its occupation by a marble processing industry.
The program provided a clear concept and defined the objectives intended to achieve with this infrastructure, listing a series of skills and spaces that constitute the functional program for both the new and the existing buildings, as well as the adjacent plots of land. For this purpose three major program areas were defined:

• Art Center, which houses a permanent collection, in this case the Collection of José Guimarães, temporary exhibition area, a multipurpose space for additional activities, performances and shows, in addition to a series of complementary services.
• Creative Labs (business support offices) for the reception and installation of activities related to creative industries, allowing the development of business projects.
• Workshops to Support Emerging Creativity, consisting of workspaces and creative vocation for young creators in various areas, hoping to develop projects on a temporary basis.

Finally, the intent to recover the existing building on the eastern side, trying to promote the installation of additional commercial activities that could enhance the creation of a space with a broad scope in regards to multidisciplinary cultural activities. The whole structure, according to the program would complement the existing equipment in the city, as well as those which are under development within the European Capital of Culture.

When interpreting the program, we aimed to allow for the possibility of each one of its components to function independently and simultaneously, creating accesses to each of the various services and support areas, as well as to the outdoor square and garden. We opted for a methodology of intervention that involves the rehabilitation of the existing building to the east, keeping the materials and textures, but redoing the entire inside at level 0. For the building at north, and for reasons previously mentioned, the façade towards the Avenue, which characterizes the building, is renovated, but its interior and façade facing the square were object of and almost complete demolition and redesign. Although it is intended to maintain the scale and the existing formal relations, we propose a new solution for the building that promotes a strong relationship with the square and emphasizes the relationship of this structure with the outer space.

The new building takes a radically different language, by contrast with its surroundings, both from the standpoint of their language and image, discrete, repetitive, as well as by the succession of volumes, with full and empty, marked by the juxtaposition of contrasting surfaces. The coatings, a grid of metal profiles in brass and glass surfaces chromatised on ventilated façades, accentuates a range of textures that is intended display, more dense and opaque in the majority of faces in the case of the metal structure, and transparent when it covertly comes to glass surfaces that intentionally conceal the few openings that the building comprises. This series of volumes and dissonant elements, which result from decomposition of the initial volume, was originated by the need to create a variety of different spaces in the exhibition area, creating a tension evident in the volume of the building and the relationship with the space of the square, making it the main feature of its design.

For the square, we formulated a proposal with a drawing significantly more aseptic and a coating with large concrete slabs, as a counterpart to the surrounding buildings, characterized as a large reception and a multifunctional meeting area, translated into a physical platform, summing its vocation as public space by nature. It will be an area purposely under fitted, with the preservation of the large trees to the east, by introducing some elements of vegetation along the north building, but leaving most of the free space allowing for the development of numerous spontaneously or organized activities, in the scope of the Platform or not. The urban furniture used in the square comprises moveable elements, allowing for a more versatile use."