Projects Wanted - Manitoba University Restructuration and Expansion, by IAD

"Manitoba University" is the second project published in our blog among those that were sent by IAD (Independent Architectural Diplomacy), an architecture office with double location - Madrid and Paris. IAD was recently awarded with this project, being chosen (in the second phase) among other three architecture offices, all of them from Canada, country in which the project will be implemented. The competition asked for proposals for the restructuration and expansion of Manitoba Campus, in the Winnipeg region, Canada. The first phase contemplated about 45 proposals, from 17 different countries.

We are open to receive projects from all around the world, regardless of their dimension or typology. Please send us high quality photos (indicating their authors), drawings and descriptive texts in English to our Marketing e-mail - david.cardoso@dimscale.com. It will be our pleasure to help spreading new Architecture concepts and ideas.


ABOUT THE COMPETITION (by IAD):
"The goal of this international competition organized by the University of Manitoba with the support of “Manitoba Hydro” the provincial Crown-corporation company specialized in hydro-electric energy, was to suggest a new vision of the Campus through a Masterplan that integrates the challenges of growth, comfort and environmental quality and that will allow the positioning of the Campus as an exemplary space in terms of innovation, environmental values, variety and worldwide integration. 

This veritable urban challenge includes the development of 4.200 housing units as well as 21.000m2 dedicated to businesses and facilities in the «Southwood Precinct» extension along with a general reflection devoted to the flows and complementary elements to be integrated within the Campus core « Fort Garry Campus » as well as its peripheral areas, including the Technological Park and the Sports Complex.   IAD was the only European architect team among the 4 finalists along with 3 Canadian teams. The 4 of them should now cooperate in a process of thought for the development of a detailed Masterplan, corresponding to the schedule in the context of the project VISIONNARY (re)GENERATION that should start at the beginning of 2014."

- IAD

All the following texts were provided by IAD:

CAMPUS INTEGRATION, CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PRECINTS
Our proposal’s starting point is the principle of global intervention through an active fabric generated upon the two main areas of the campus. This “Open system”, as you have coined it, allows a more chirurgical intervention on the important spaces of both the existing and future campus. The interstitial spaces of the existing campus core as well as the articulation spaces of the Southwood Precinct are treated in a personalized way that offers solutions that are adapted to each particular situation. We wished to reinforce this viral activity within the campus by zooming in on each thematic area defined in our first proposal and by offering an urban, programmatic and architectural solution for each of the areas.

UNIVERSITY PRESENCE ALONG PEMBINA HIGHWAY
Remaining faithful to our philosophy of active intervention, we have conceived the marked presence of the university along the principal limiting axes only when this presence is linked to one or more uses that provide a purpose to the intervention. Thus, we have used the architectural typology created for the Campus regeneration and have moved towards the creation of a whole set of uses and subtypes as veritable small-scale architectural projects, which form an active and multimodal border, apt for the marking of the university’s presence on the main axes and connections with the city of Winnipeg through the new entrances illustrated below.

HIGHRISE BUILDINGS MODIFICATION
Having received the encouragement to persevere in the further development of the other buildings typologies, particularly the BERM building, we have conceived this high-density residential building not so much as a volume but as the extension of a movement or path. Therefore, in the circuit traced by the “large cluster” we have introduced a break in a new direction, in this case rising to the sky and creating a sloped roof that protects the terraces, that are resultant of the superimposition of the housing modules forming a linear albeit diagonal progression as a reminder of the elevations of the villages that are placed along this same path.



SYSTEM OF ROADS BETWEEN THE CLUSTERS
Despite our concerns regarding the local transport customs of the inhabitants of Winnipeg and the generalized car culture of North America, we have decided to drastically minimize the roads along the Southwood precinct in order to ensure the continuity of the landscape for the whole site. These roads, reduced to their simplest expression, are the residual spaces between two landscaped areas rather than a superimposed system of defined spaces that leave residual pockets of landscaping. It is worthy of note that this choice does not affect in any way the public, bicycle and pedestrian transport networks of the Southwood site, that now achieve a much greater density.

GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE BUILDINGS STRUCTURE
The University of Manitoba Campus is a complex characterized by its integration into the site and its low environmental impact. All structural designs developed for the campus try to follow the same strategy. The environmental policy is the key of all projects.

All buildings have followed the same guidelines:

> Simplicity of the construction methods. The structure of all buildings consists on steel beams and columns manufactured in workshop and assembled on site and slabs composed of timber panels. The use of concrete on site is difficult due to the climatology of the area so all buildings have incorporated precast elements in their designs.
> Every structure is transported from workshops and assembled in a very short time, reducing energy and CO2 emissions.
> Low environmental impact of structures. The strategy is the use of materials which respect the environment such as timber slabs or precast elements.

elevation (east)

elevation (north)

elevation (south)

elevation (west)

levels - housing

levels - lofts

levels - retail

levels - shielding circuit

 

 PROJECTS WANTED is a DIMSCALE's initiative to communicate new Architecture from all around the world.

Send us your projects to david.cardoso@dimscale.com.

Projects Wanted - Colas Headquarters, by IAD + Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos

The Spanish architecture office kindly sent us a number of projects to be published in our blog. Today we publish IAD's proposal for a company headquarters in Paris - a project composed by 7 floors, a total built area of about 8,000 sqm and prepared for 400 workplaces. The project was designed by IAD in close partnership with Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos.

We are open to receive projects from all around the world, regardless of their dimension or typology. Please send us high quality photos (indicating their authors), drawings and descriptive texts in English to our Marketing e-mail - david.cardoso@dimscale.com. It will be our pleasure to help spreading new Architecture concepts and ideas.

"The aforementioned definition of "headquarters" leads us straight to the very heart of this project, to the strategic reason of why the COLAS Group initiated the process to construct a building that will in its every shape and form, be in line with the values that the company has lived by and conveyed to others, ever since it was founded back in 1929:

Ethics | Security | Human Resource Management | Respect for the Environment | Profitable Growth | Innovation | Social Responsibility | Culture

Throughout this document we will strive to illustrate and work to guide the project toward these values, meeting the criteria of visibility, accessibility, autonomy, compact design and efficiency.

The COLAS headquarters must be unique without being ostentatious. By making a clear architectural statement, it will become part of the Parisian skyline and stand out in the visual memory of everyone that comes in to contact with the group. Above all, this building will be an ambassador, an interactive envelope, which will naturally and elegantly communicate a message, the unique COLAS message.

One of the main features of a headquarters is that it naturally stands out from its surroundings. Whether incorporated into a dense urban area, free of all constraints on a campus, or in an urban fringe area under development, the project must be able to draw on part of the area’s intrinsic dynamics to then stand out from the existing landscape, whilst at the same time retaining a sense of openness and accessibility.

A property for Road Constructors should be a building with an irreproachable clarity of function. A building that is ergonomic and fluid, that avoids pitfalls and constrictions, a truly open and smooth road. This is how we envisaged the building, in order to give the group the utmost organisational flexibility, whilst at the same time taking advantage of research into compact building design, orientation and natural ventilation, in order to create an environmentally responsible property.

These 3 principles shaped the general guidelines for the creative process. We believe that a leading company’s headquarters should be measured and evaluated based on these 3 aspects. All subsequent analyses and approaches, whether contextual, functional or aesthetic, are defined by this requirement.

[IMPLEMENTATION & CONTEXT]

The project will be built in a strategic location: in a developing area next to the Paris ring road. For us, the disparate and irregular urban fabric does not seem to be highly influential, therefore only the following 6 elements detailed below will have a major influence on the future COLAS headquarters. These fixed points form the factors that will have a real influence on how the project is developed.

1_ The Paris ring road

2_ The tramway

3_ BFM TV’s headquarters

4_The housing adjacent to the plot

5_ The COLAS site

6_ The Trigone Tower site

[PROCESS & INFLUENCES]

1>      EVOLVING FROM THE EXISTING SITUATION

As indicated in the above analysis, the location chosen for the project is ideal thanks to its central location, which is a gateway into an area that is being fully restructured, as well as its proximity to another state-of-the-art headquarters. However, the project must adapt to the two volume restrictions on the existing site, avoiding this constraint and not ignoring it, in compliance with town planning regulations.

2>      LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The first step is vertical, to orient the project toward the future location of the triangular plot, in order to isolate the future building from nearby housing. This element could also integrate the building’s entire service and vertical transportation centres. The second step is horizontal, to find a visual relationship with the ring road. To somehow function as a pedestal for the office building, by locating it above the limit of the great ring road around the city. The third proposal provides a more constructive way of doing things, by exploiting the empty space. An easement adjacent to the plot by incorporating an initiative, whether for housing or the service sector. The transitional building becomes an architectural statement as it unfolds on the borders of the plot, this will comprise the project’s first level of tertiary office space and this will be the permanent base that the subject property will be built over.

3>       VOLUMETRIC RESEARCH: THE PROCESS

 Once the building’s positioning within its surrounding area had been decided, a volumetric research process was carried out in order to define the characteristics of the property. The research process confirmed the need for a detached property, which interacts with this base, this right-angled geometric foundation. The linear frontage and the amount of daylight required, made the project more complex, incorporating either a central atrium or a setback in order to provide views.

4>      VOLUMETRIC RESEARCH: THE INFLUENCES

The position of the building means that it appears to lean towards the ring road and thanks to the setback between the the Trigone tower and the subject property, there is room for a green space, which makes the project truly one of a kind in this urban area. The idea of an aerodynamic object creates an image of this concept for future users of COLAS roads.

We want to promote this image of innovation and technology via the property’s strong lines, which will be accomplished by a double skin that acts like the moving folds of a garment."

- IAD 

PROJECTS WANTED is a DIMSCALE's initiative to communicate new Architecture from all around the world.

Send us your projects to david.cardoso@dimscale.com.