The week on Dezeen, graffiti artistBanksysketched a memorial to slavery, architects and designers created a public Google Doc to promote black-owned studios and Michael Ford warned architects away from designing prisons.

In America architects and designers aimed to build on the increased awareness of racial inequality propelled by the protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody bycreating a public Google Docs spreadsheet to highlight design, architecture, engineering and planning studios founded by black, indigenous and people of colour.

In an interview with Dezeen architectural designer Michael Ford said that architects should stop designing jails and prisons, which are representations of systemic racism, if they want to really impact the fight forracial equality.

"The future is now!" said Ford. "Architects can immediately stop working on spaces which disproportionately impact the lives of African Americans, and inhumanly treat people in general, such as prisons and jails!"

In the UK a survey conducted by Architects' Journal magazine found that over the past two years racism has increased in UK architecture industry.

Protesters at a Black Lives Matter march in the city of Bristol tore down a statue of 17th-century slave trader leading to arguments over the statue and its plinth's future. In an opinion piece, Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft said that thestatue's removal provides the opportunity for the city to acknowledge its slave trading past withan appropriate memorial.

Graffiti artistBanksy responded with a sketch for a slavery memorial in Bristolthat would incorporate slave-trader Edward Colston and the protesters who tore his statue down.

The increased focus on the legacy of slave traders in the UK led toLondon Metropolitan University announcing that it will be renamingThe Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Designto remove the name of the prominent slave trader.

In America another architecture design school also announced that it would be changing its name. TheSchool of Architecture at Taliesinis set to move away from its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes and relocate to buildings designed byItalian-American architectPaolo Soleriin Arizona. It will find a new name in line with its new home.

In architecture, Dezeen looked at the work of John Wardle, who was recently awarded theAustralian Institute of Architects2020 Gold Medal for his work that restored"faith in what architects do best".

The architect gave his thoughts on 12 key projects that have defined his career.

We focused on the trend of bloated furniture, which was first identified by Dezeen columnist Michelle Ogundehin in her predictions for 2020, by rounding up ten chubby chairs and bloated benches.

Jak Studiowas also pushing the boundaries of furniture design by creating an L-shaped sofa that can transform into a bed into or a work pod.

Other popular projects on Dezeen this week include a charred-wood house in Mexico designed by Magaldi Studio, a London loft extension that is focused on a timber bath and ablack housewith expansive balconies within a wood in Oregon.

This week on Dezeenis our regular roundup of the week's top news stories.Subscribe to our newslettersto be sure you don't miss anything.

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This week, architects and designers responded to racial inequality - Dezeen

MORRISTOWN, NJ Project architects of the M-Station East, LLC application vied for the support of the Morristown Planning Board for the better part of two and a half hours on Thursday evening as they testified on the aesthetics and functionality of the proposed development, which includes over 350,000 sq. feet of office space, promenade, and retail area spacein two separate structures six-story and seven-story buildings.

Project architect Peter Wang, a principal of the New York-based Gensler firm and Gensler Design Director Roger Smith, hired by the applicant Scotto Properties and SJP Propertiespitched their concept of the development, which they likened to a smaller scale of Rockefeller Center that embodied the culture of Morristown. The inspiration of the buildings exterior design came from George + Marthas American Grille, which encompasses a red brick and dark metal window trim.

In life you can say that when things come in pairs they somehow seem more significant, Wang suggested. We want to create a more significant collection of buildings that would add in a meaningful way to Morristown.

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From top to bottom, the design factored not only the tenants and its occupants, but the Morristown community, according to the architects testimonies.

We wanted to design a people-centered project, Smith said in his opening statements to the board. We wanted this to be a welcoming experience to everyone. It is not only about designing for the future tenants of the building, but more importantly to fit into the community, citizens of the town and visitors alike.

The architects also outlined a terrace plaza on the development site, which could be used for a variety of gatherings such as concerts and other events. The plazas features would also include a pedestrian space with freshly planted greenery to boost sustainability. .

We consider our site as a bridge that sits at a very important crossroads one that links the train station, the Morris Street itself and up to the Morristown Green, Smith added. Our goal is to create a dynamic new destination that brings optimistic new energy and vitality to Morristown. This design seeks to create a strong contextual identity that provides a vibrant new destination.

As with most large parking decks, they are not typically nice to look at as they serve a more practical purpose of cramming as many spaces as possible in the lots. However, the architects had a solution to that problem through fabric polyester murals with screens that encompass depictures of Morristowns rich history. It was defined as a way to introduce art that enhances public life, placemaking, and cultural significance.

However, planning board member Debra Gottsleben expressed her concerns for the longevity of the murals. While the fabric polyester screens come with a 10-year warranty, she inquired on the obligations that the applicant would have to maintaining the integrity of the aesthetics.

The architects agreed with the notion, but assured that it would be in the best interest of the owner to keep a properly maintained building and that a maintenance stipulation could be implemented in the development plan.

One of the issues outlined by local residents in the previous planning board meeting was with the applicants request for a waiver of the environmental impact statement during civil engineer witness Sony Davids testimony.

Sustainability was among the areas of focus during the architects presentation on Thursday evening and Smith describe the plan in detail to the board. Among the key items the witness testified to integrate in the architectural plan included:

An unconventional use of architectural terracotta, a quality fired mixtures of clay and water was highlighted as a cornerstone of the buildings exterior. While it is a technique more commonly used in European buildings, it is also found on some of New York Citys iconic facades from the Flatiron building to The Plaza Hotel near Central Park.

Morristown Mayor Timothy Dougherty had an array of questions about the use of the architectural terracotta and whether the architects had considered other designs. Wang testified that this had been the plan since Day One, although they had considered other options.

Thats whats really great about the (redevelopment guidelines) that are written it forces the architect to respect what is there and what is around town, Wang explained. We cant just plop something in that looks like it was dropped from outer space and think that its going to work. It has to feel that it belongs in the place that we are trying to create.

Mayor Dougherty didnt seem convinced and expressed his desire to see buildings with terracotta in person himself ahead of the next planning board meeting to investigate himself. He also expressed his desire for the promenade of the building to be flexible with the tenants on the retail space side.

The promenade is key to the beginning of the success of this overall development, said Mayor Dougherty, who inquired about how the retail space will be utilized. I agree with some other people in the town that want to make this promenade a destination.

Wang agreed, he acknowledged that they would likely be glass doors and based on what the tenant wants.

The architects concluded with a virtual tour of the project overseeing vantage points from the neighborhood encompassing the thought process behind the master plan configuration, shape and placement on the site. They testified as leveraging the Morristown Central Business District Faade guidelines as their guiding light of building and faade.

While the hearing was open for public comment, there were no questions from residents asked despite more involvement at the last planning board meeting where several residents pressed engineering witnesses on the application.

The Planning Board will meet again in a virtual Zoom meeting on Thursday, June 11 at 7:00 p.m. and the public is invited. A meeting has also been tentatively scheduled for the following which in which a decision could be made. Next weeks meeting expects to see testimonies on the overall staging of the proposed development by the applicant.

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M-Station East Architects Seek to Bring 'Optimism and Energy' to Downtown with Vibrant New Destination in Morristown, But Planning Board Has Questions...

A century-old tree soars up through the roof of this restaurant in Beijing, which C+ Architects has decked out with rammed-earth tiles, travertine and timber.

Restaurant Ya is nestled amongst the houses, temples and office buildings of the Dafangjia Hutong in Beijing, serving up dishes inspired by the cuisine of China's Yunnan region.

It previously had nondescript white walls and paved floors, but C+ Architects wanted the new interior to better reflect the streets surrounding the restaurant, where "old and new, traditional and modern coexist".

The practice first made a focal point of the 100-year-old Jujube tree that rises up through the restaurant's roof the base of it had been cluttered with potted plants.

It's now simply enclosed by a series of black-framed glazed panels, forming a small courtyard.

One wall of the restaurant has been clad with large bricks made from rammed earth. It's punctuated with a large opening that accommodates a drinks bar, behind which glassware is displayed on rows of open shelving.

A rough stone column has also been erected at the centre of the floor plan, while slabs of reddish travertine have been used to line a wall on the opposite side of the venue.

Other decor elements have purposefully been crafted from more contemporary materials, like blackened steel. This includes a secondary V-shaped drinks bar and the upper half of the staircase the first few treads are made from concrete.

It leads to an open-air roof terrace which has been finished with a reflective water feature.

Some elements of the restaurant are informed by the Chinese character "" pronounced as "ya" which translates to cliff in English.

For example, the main dining space has been sunken below ground level to create a "vertical interaction" between the elevated courtyard and seating area at the restaurant's rear.

The space is also topped by a skylight so that, when diners glance up, "they can feel the blue sky and white clouds within easy reach".

Timber tables and jet-black dining chairs have been dotted throughout.

C+ Architects is based in Beijing's Dongcheng District, and was founded in 2014 by Cheng Yanchun and Li Nan.

This isn't the only dining space designed by the practice in 2019 it also created Floating Island Restaurant, which cantilevers off a grassy hillside in Chongqing, China.

Photography is courtesy of Xu Xiaodong and C+ Architects.

Project credits:

Design firm: C+ ArchitectsArchitect in charge: Cheng YanchunProject team: Xu Liyuan, Tian Yuting, Zhou Qirui, Lee Kang ChanSecondary design and construction of rammed earth wall: Onearth ArchitectureStructural design: Zhang Jinbin

See more here:
C+ Architects mingles old and new inside Restaurant Ya in Beijing - Dezeen

AN has learned that the college formerly known as the School of Architecture at Taliesin will change its name and move summer classes to Cosanti and Arcosanti, with plans to try to make Cosanti its permanent home.

The move comes after a protracted back-and-forth with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation that spilled out into public view earlier in January when the school announced it would be closing after 88 years. After an outpouring of support from alumni and funding commitments, the school reversed its vote to close at the beginning of March but will need to vacate both Taliesin campusesWest in Scottsdale Arizona and East in Spring Green, Wisconsinand can no longer use the Frank Lloyd Wright or Taliesin name, though it will retain its accreditation and students. The last time the school changed its name was in 2017 after it split from the foundation as part of the accreditation process, and after July 31 of this year, any remaining association will be formally severed.

So where will they go from there? In a recent call with Dan Schweiker, the chairperson of the schools Board of Governors, and Jon Kelley, a lawyer at Chicago-founded law firm Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, which is representing the school, the two laid out where things are headed.

The school will survive and have a bright future, said Schweiker, but not without some restructuring. For the summer semester, classes are in the process of moving to Paolo Soleris Cosanti, just a few miles from Taliesin West, as well as to Arcosanti, though learning is taking place remotely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (it should be noted that the school will also receive $500,000 in coronavirus-related aid under the CARES Act).

The Ceramic Apse at Arcosanti. Along with the Foundry Apse, where bronze wind bells are still made by hand, it is one of the campuss most distinctive features. (Jan Pauw/Flickr)

The school is currently working to get approval from the state of Arizona and the Higher Learning Commission to formally hold in-person classes across both Soleri projects on a permanent basis, although Schweiker also raised the possibility of renting space back at both Taliesin campuses for special occasions. The prospective move makes sense; the same hands-on ethos is present in Soleris studio-slash-former-residence, and space on the five-acre property will be reserved for Taliesins historic student shelter-building program.

Regardless of whether the relocation is ultimately approved, the schools board is also turning over and taking on a more international bent, and the administration will shift. Joining the board will be the following new members:

Curator and critic Aaron Betsky, who departed as the schools president in May, will be temporarily replaced by current dean Chris Lasch of ArandaLasch until a permanent replacement can be found.

As for what will happen at both Taliesin campuses, the foundation, which at the time claimed financing the school made it unable to maintain the historic structures its responsible for, will offer education across both campuses, as required by Frank Lloyd Wrights will. What form this might take is still up in the air, though the foundation has put out virtual K-through-12 STEAM classes for parents stuck at home with children during the pandemic.

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Exclusive: School of Architecture at Taliesin will change its name, move to Cosanti - The Architect's Newspaper

Demands for climate action have largely faded into the background as the covid-19 pandemic, the economic meltdown, and widespread protests over police brutality have seized the worlds attention.

But for Rhiana Gunn-Wright, the director of climate policy at the Roosevelt Institute and one of the architects of the Green New Deal, the issues are inextricably intertwined. You cant appreciate the real toll of the fossil-fuel sector if youre not looking at it through the lenses of racial justice, economic inequality, and public health, she says in an interview with MIT Technology Review.

People of color are more likely to live near power plants and other polluting factories, and they suffer higher levels of asthma and greater risks of early death from air pollution. The coronavirus death rate among black Americans is more than twice that of whites. And global warming and factory farming practices will release more deadly pathogens and reshape the range of infectious diseases, Gunn-Wright argued in April in a New York Times op-ed titled Think This Pandemic Is Bad? We Have Another Crisis Coming.

The people most likely to die from toxic fumes are the same people most likely to die from Covid-19, she wrote. Its like we are watching a preview of the worst possible impacts of the climate crisis roll right before our eyes.

One critique of the Green New Deal was that it took on too much, multiplying the difficulty of making progress on any one of the deeply polarized issues it addressed. But Gunn-Wright argues that this was its strength: tying together these seemingly distinct causes into a sweeping policy package underscored the connections between them and helped build a broader coalition of supporters behind them.

In the interview that follows, she says everything thats happened in 2020 has only deepened those convictions.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Thats such a big question, because the way I feel about how 2020 is going depends on the day. In a lot of ways, Im more scared than Ive been in a long time, just because of the scale of the crises.

Were facing a recession that could be a bad recession or worse than the Great Depression. And then we also have a public health crisis. And then obviously we have an ongoing crisis around white supremacy and racial injustice that is coming to the fore. And of course were also facing the climate crisis.

But then Im also more hopeful than I have been, with the uprising and the protests that have happened, because I feel like its a reminder that actually everyone in government serves at our pleasure.

Mostly it made me realize that we were right. When the Green New Deal came out, I did a fair amount of press, and it felt like I spent six months answering the same set of questions. What role does equity have in this? Why attach it to a climate proposal? Wont this actually make it harder?

People were nervous that attaching climate change and climate policy to calls for racial justice or economic justice was too much, that we were actually going to make it harder to make progress on climateas if they arent all connected, which they are.

We were essentially saying that climate change is not just a technical problem. Its not just an issue of emissions. Its an issue of the systems that have allowed an industry that essentially poisons people to continue, and to do so even as it further and further imperils our survival, both as a nation and as a globe. It comes down to issues of race and class and place.

And so this moment actually makes me glad that we did that work before. Because it has meant that some groups that are seen solely as climate, like the Sunrise Movement, have invested in this set of uprisings. Theyre working with the Movement for Black Lives to get their members out to protest, to connect them to actions, to help them understand how climate is connected to this.

The Green New Deal helped push the conversations around climate away from a purely technocratic space. The increasingly popular stance on itat least among climate experts, wonks, activists in the climate spaceis about the nexus of jobs, justice and environment. And I think all of that actually makes it a lot easier for climate change to continue to be talked about in this moment and not be shoved aside.

Yeah, I can say Im not seeing enough for sure. Im saying it was from nothing to, you know, something. And I have noticed before that when other big things happenednot quite this bigthere will always be a silence. But then I would watch people have, like, three-day-long conversations about utility tariffs.

So I do think that theres still that divide. Theres still a fair amount of people who think of climate as something thats outside of our social systems.

I think part of it is the discipline silo. People have fought back against climate change in the public sphere by questioning if it was really happening. So it has become a really technical and scientific space, because one way to fight back against that is to continually produce more data, and new ways to prove whats going on.

A downside is, sometimes it can feel like if its not scientific, you shouldnt talk about it. Unless you have reams of data to support it, you shouldnt introduce it. Which is a problem, because data doesnt tell us whats true; data tells us what we decided to measure.

And especially when youre talking about race, and racial justice, there are a lot of lived experiences that havent been quantified.

Theres a growing consensus that for an economic recovery from covid to be robust, decarbonization has to be a significant part of it. In my estimation, it should be centered around decarbonization.

Its not, like, a nice thing to have. It makes economic sense. Investments in clean energy have better multipliers, right? They give you more bang for your buck. They create more jobs. They catalyze more innovation.

And most of all, they help stabilize the climate, which is crucial economically speaking, particularly given the levels of temperature increases were looking at by the end of the century. Fixing that is an incredibly stabilizing force.

Were going to be left with an economy where you have to generate huge numbers of jobs, and where you have to offset a really significant drop in demand. And decarbonization is one of the only spaces that can do that. Its one of the only spaces where we can generate that many jobs, where theyll also create new industries, and where you have the chance to spark new innovations that essentially help continue to grow the economy even after the initial investment is made.

And so you have all those arguments stacking up for a green stimulus. It by far makes the most economic sense. Really, the only reasons to not do it are political reasons.

But in the US, thats not whats happening so far. A lot of our recovery money is going to oil and gas industries, and renewables are losing ground. Theres no targeted support for them in the CARES Act [the economic relief bill passed in late March].

One is hire people of color. And particularly people of color who dont have the same educational background as I think is common in climate or policy work in general.

If we want to actually be serious about supporting other movements that are aligned around justice, we have to make sure that the inside of our organizations actually looks like that. And that means not just hiring people of color, but also not just hiring people of color from the Ivy League. Hire people who have been activists for a long time and have learned about a topic from being in it.

Even if people are deep in this discipline, its important to not silo ourselves off intellectually. Its always important for us, particularly if were not activists out in the street, to remember that the ways that we theorize around or think of a problem is not actually necessarily the way its happening.

Read more:
A Green New Deal architect explains how the protests and climate crisis are connected - MIT Technology Review

IT automation began as simple scripts passed to a system's command-line interface, but became much more sophisticated -- and programmable -- with infrastructure virtualization. IT staff members have had to broaden their skills accordingly.

IT automation can now exploit powerful APIs and intent-based systems, which add another layer of abstraction, enhanced by machine learning models that adapt to changing conditions. The integration of highly automated IT and application development requires careful planning, design, product evaluation and testing. This has fostered a new IT role within many organizations, and particularly DevOps shops: the automation architect.

The IT automation architect role is new enough that there isn't a widely accepted definition for the job. The role undoubtedly gained IT executives' attention amid the costly proliferation of often-redundant automation tools and processes -- a trend identified by analyst firm Gartner. The firm contends that this proliferation hinders infrastructure scalability, and that by 2025, the most sophisticated IT organizations will have a formal strategy to address ad hoc automation issues.

In general, an automation architect is one of the most senior positions in IT, overseeing all decisions related to IT and development automation strategy and policy. As such, architects must work with a variety of technical teams and business units to assess needs, define projects, win support for key initiatives and manage them to completion.

Specifically, IT automation architects have the following responsibilities:

IT automation architects are typically found in DevOps organizations. It's fruitless to focus on a comprehensive automation strategy without a cooperative, integrated DevOps structure already in place. Because of the specialized nature of the job, architects are typically found in larger enterprises or those, like many cloud-native startups, that have mature DevOps practices.

There's a wide variety of job titles and associated skills found under the DevOps umbrella. For example, a recent DevOps skills report from the DevOps Institute, a learning association for DevOps professionals, identified more than a dozen DevOps job titles for which organizations are hiring. "DevOps engineer/manager" was the most common title, cited by 51% of survey respondents -- who were comprised of IT professionals, DevOps practitioners, HR managers and consultants. "Automation architect" was the 9th most cited job title at 15%. The following chart summarizes other notable job titles and their response rates.

When the same group of survey respondents was asked to rate the importance of various skills to DevOps work, proficiency at automation ranked at the top, with 66% citing it as very important and only 1% listing it as optional or unimportant. Of equal importance were process skills and knowledge, with only 3% listing these as unimportant. It's not surprising that these are ranked as the most essential DevOps skills; you can't automate a process you don't understand and haven't fully defined.

Aside from a thorough understanding of DevOps processes, other valuable skills for the automation architect and engineering role include:

The automation architect role is an excellent career path to upper management, as it exposes practitioners to a variety of technical problems, business requirements and management situations.

Automation architects are still a rare breed in enterprise IT organizations. Nevertheless, with the rising complexity of cloud infrastructure, a desire to deliver new products and services more quickly, and current financial requirements to do more work with fewer resources, holistic process automation will become a critical component of top IT organizations.

As the leader of automation strategies and projects, architects will emerge as some of the most valued members of IT leadership teams. Indeed, Gartner predicts that more than 90% of enterprise infrastructure and operations organizations will have an automation architect by 2025 -- up from less than 20% in 2020.

The benefits of automation to IT are many, including higher efficiency and process repeatability. However, the benefits to individuals pursuing the architectural role are equally great. For example, recent data from job site Glassdoor suggests the average salary of automation architects is about $80,000, with many listings in six-figures. As more IT and development tools add AI automation features, it will only increase the value for highly trained and experienced automation architects.

Read more here:
Prepare for the rise of the IT automation architect - TechTarget

7 Seventy House is defying the odds in Hudson Countys rental market, recording a high level of spring velocity thats propelled the luxury new. apartment building in Hoboken, N.J. past the notable mark of 70% leased.

While much of New Jerseys Hudson River Gold Coast has experienced slowed activity as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, The Marketing Directors, the exclusive leasing and marketing agent at 7 Seventy House, has reported steady leasing at the 424-home building.The landmark Marchetto Higgins Stieve Architects (MHS Architects)-designed building features a 14-story high rise tower with multiple terraced setbacks, a glass and brick exterior and a distinctive columned entryway.

The uninterrupted pace has been fueled by the large pool of renters exclusively seeking brand new apartments, and the implementation of a comprehensive digital presentation that allows prospects to remotely view 7 Seventy House with one-on-one interactive virtual tours of the fully-furnished model apartments and world class amenities.

The newsworthy leasing mark was achieved simultaneously with another significant milestone at 7 Seventy House. Developer Bijou Properties and partner Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation have announced the building is now over 50% occupied.

7 Seventy House was developed in conjunction with a two-acre public resiliency park right outside the building. The 7th and Jackson park features a public plaza with step seating and tilted lawn panel, large plaza to accommodate vendors and seasonal markets, a childrens playground, a one-acre green space designed for active and passive recreation uses and a state-of-the-art 6,835 square-foot community gymnasium.

7 Seventy House boasts a comprehensive 90,000 square-foot resort-style amenity package that includes its residents-only outdoor spaces. Theres also a penthouse pool with lounge seating, expansive amenity deck with BBQ stations, bocce ball court, state-of-the-art multi-level gym, play room, game room, indoor bike storage, on-site dog park, dog grooming room, alcove with coworking lounge and coffee station and a conference room with access to an outdoor lounge with a fire pit. Many of the amenity spaces boast views of the Manhattan skyline.

Beyond the private amenities, 7 Seventy House will offer services that include a 24-hour attended lobby, Hello Alfred concierge service and covered parking. Theres also approximately 24,000 square feet of ground floor retail space that will serve residents and the Hoboken community.

Studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom residences at 7 Seventy House feature open floor plans with red oak engineered wood floors and expansive windows that bathe the homes in natural light. Kitchens boast Quartz countertops, white ceramic tile backsplashes, custom cabinetry, and a premium GE stainless-steel appliance package, with in residence Bosch washer and dryers. Luxury baths are outfitted with grey mineral stone tile and Kohler fixtures.

Monthly rents start in the $2,600s, with limited-time incentives that include six weeks free on a 13-month lease.

Situated just steps from the 9th Street Light Rail Station, 7 Seventy House blends an upscale living experience with the convenience of quick access throughout New Jerseys Hudson River Gold Coast, including Hobokens PATH, New Jersey Transit and Ferry terminals with service to Manhattan. Closer to home, theres a wide range of services and cultural attractions available in the Monroe Center, the premier arts and business community in Hoboken, which boasts artist studios, childrens activities, fitness facilities, eateries and much more.

7 Seventy House has launched a newly produced virtual tour program to remotely accommodate prospective residents. The tour is part of one-on-one interactive presentations being conducted by leasing agents through personal Zoom meetings. Please visit the buildings website atwww.7SeventyHouse.comor call 201-795-0770 to schedule a virtual tour.

Original post:
Over 70% of Luxury Apartments at MHS Architects-Designed 7 Seventy House in Hoboken, NJ Now Leased | Dean Marchetto Architects, PC (now Marchetto,...

Transformation The Hinge / Niels Olivier Architect

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Text description provided by the architects. In the woods just north of the city of Arnhem a new neighborhood is being developed under the name 'Buitenplaats Koningsweg'. This former military site will be transformed into a cultural enclave. The complex is known as 'De Scharnier', or in English 'The Hinge', is situated at the heart of the enclave. These interconnected buildings, erected at right angles to one another, used to accommodate the military theater in one 'leg' and the restaurant in the other, but have now become the home, workshop, and studio of a well-known artist.

Most buildings on the military site date back to the 1960s and 70s and are in a bad state, but for reasons of sustainability, it was decided to reuse and repurpose the buildings as much as possible. When it comes to The Hinge, were forced to renew the facade or the roof we chose contrasting materials like steel and timber. All exterior walls are now insulated in compliance with Dutch building regulations. The colors used in the transformation, different tones of gray, were prescribed by the main urban plan, but also the use of industrial, bold materials. This also meant that all the original brickwork had to be painted gray. The whole complex is heated by means of an energy-saving pellet installation. With solar panels on the roof of the House, it will ultimately be almost energy neutral. The swimming pool is unheated, being purified by natural filters such as plants and gravel.

In its original state, the southern 'leg' of the building was strikingly unsuitable to house a family. The building comprised a block of toilet rooms, a restaurant kitchen with a bar, and a dining area, spread over two floors. Therefore, we introduced two major interventions. Firstly we designed a void in the center of the building, linking the living room on the first floor to the garden by means of staircases. This void also divides up the former large restaurant area on the first floor into two well-defined spaces: the family kitchen and the living room. The bedrooms and bathrooms are situated on the ground floor on either side of the void. Secondly, we added an extension at the head of the House, which provides the first floor with a dining room and a balcony. The roof is supported by beautiful wooden trusses. These were cleared of several layers of paint and were treated with a transparent coating to bring out the warm color of the wood.

The facades of the House were partly renewed. The north side looks out on the quiet, enclosed private garden. Slim aluminum window framing was placed within the original structure. Plenty of daylight comes in without the problem of overheating in Summer. On this side the charm of the original sixties architecture is evident. The south side of the building, looking out on a public road and a small restaurant, is much more closed, so as to guarantee privacy. The decayed original facade and the roof were replaced by contemporary well-insulated versions consisting of wood and steel. A quirky composition of large square windows and elongated horizontal ones symbolizes the transformation. The windows are equipped with electrically operated folding panels, perforated to filter the sunlight and designed to prevent people from looking in. The main entrance hall is a divergent mass that links up the House with the office and workshop. Facing southwards, the large windows as well as the front door are covered with horizontal louvres in a vertical framework made of thermally preserved Accoya wood.

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Transformation The Hinge / Niels Olivier Architect - ArchDaily

Architect Alex Josephson, co-founder of Toronto studio Partisans, speaks to Dezeen in a live Screentime talk sponsored by Enscape as part of Virtual Design Festival. Watch the broadcast live from 2pm UK time.

Toronto-based architect Josephson will speak to Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about the work of Partisans, the studio he co-founded alongside Pooya Baktash and Jonathan Friedman.

Amongst the studio's recent projects is The Orbit, a futuristic masterplan for the rural Canadian town of Innisfil that includes drone ports and infrastructure for autonomous vehicles.

Last year, Partisans collaborated with Google's urban planning wingSidewalk Labs to create a prototype for a 'raincoat' that extends from a building's facade to protect the pavement in front of it in harsh weather.

The prototype was developed as part of Google's recently abandoned plan for Sidewalk Toronto, a smart city proposed for Toronto's waterfront.

Partisans also created The Grotto, a wooden lakeside sauna with a burnt-timber exterior and a cavernous cedar interior, located on the shore of Lake Huron, north Toronto.

The studio is also behind the mahogany interior of Toronto's Bar Raval, which references Barcelona's art nouveau pintxos bars.

Other creatives featured in our Screentime series includedean of the Pratt Institute School of Architecture Harriet Harriss,trend forecaster Li Edelkoort,UNStudio founder Ben van Berkel,The World Around curator Beatrice Galilee,filmmaker Gary HustwitandBritish-Israeli architect Ron Arad.

This Screentime conversation is sponsored byEnscape, a virtual reality and real-time rendering plugin for architectural design programmeAutodesk Revit.

Virtual Design Festivalis the world's first online design festival, taking place from 15 April to 30 June. For more information, or to be added to the mailing list, contact us atvirtualdesignfestival@dezeen.com.

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Live interview with Partisans architect Alex Josephson as part of VDF - Dezeen

The M Station office/retail redevelopment will be both functional and beautiful, project attorney Frank Vitolo told the Morristown planning board on Thursday.

For nearly three hours, architects pitched a people-centered design for a vibrant new destination in town.

They said elements will include a green wall and polyester scrim murals, possibly depicting local historical scenes, on the six-story parking deck.

Two terra-cotta sided office buildings, standing six- and seven stories, will be in slightly different shades of umber, to appear less monolithic.

A terraced plaza will be suitable for concerts and poetry readings, the board was told. Light-colored pavement, new trees near the deck, and plantings in the proposed traffic roundabout should prevent the four-acre site from becoming a heat island. Low-reflection windows should prevent birds from killing themselves.

The overall look is informed by George & Marthas American Grille, across Morris Street, and an apartment building under construction at 45 Market St., according to project architect Peter Wang of the Gensler firm.

Youre filling in a piece of land that has meaning and context to it it forces the architect to respect what is there, what Morristown looks and feels like. You cant just drop something in like its from outer space, Wang testified.

Slideshow screenshots by Kevin Coughlin. Click / hover on images for captions:

Scotto Properties and SJP Properties aim to replace Scottos Midtown Shopping Center strip mall at Morris and Spring streets with nearly 400,000 square feet of offices and retail, a parking deck, promenade, plaza and traffic roundabout.

Big Four accounting firm Deloitte has been announced as an anchor tenant.

Approved by the town council last October, M Station needs site plan approval from the planning board.

Thursdays meeting, conducted via Zoom because of the pandemic, was M Stations third before the board. An engineer and a traffic consultant testified previously.

When everyone Zooms back on June 11, 2020, Vitolo intends to present details on stagingwhen each piece will be built, and how those pieces will function as construction unfolds.

A fly-through by project consultant Roger Smith showed board members renderings of M Station as viewed from Morris and Spring streets; Spring Place; the Spring Hills assisted living center behind the site; and from the post office, near the Morristown Green.

Board Chairman Joe Stanley described it as one of the better design presentations hes seen. Wang insisted the real thing will surpass the drawings.

PENTHOUSES?

There were some questions. Board member Dick Tighe asked about lost revenue from metered parking spaces that will be eliminated on Morris Street and Lackawanna Place. Vitolo said he will discuss that next week with the Morristown Parking Authority.

Mayor Tim Dougherty said hes not convinced that 11-percent reflective windows and dimmed lights at night will avert bird strikes. He also sounded lukewarm about the terra-cotta design, saying he wanted to observe New York offices in that style.

And what happens when the murals 10-year warranty expires? inquired board member Debra Gottsleben. Wang said he hoped it would be a matter of pride for any future owner to maintain the scrims.

Renderings showed mechanical equipment atop the two buildings shielded from view by boxy structures Wang called penthouses.

To me, that doesnt look like a penthouse, said Board Planner Greer Patras.

And despite the architects efforts to create texture with cornices, colors and contrasting window patterns, Patras felt the buildings still appeared flat. She also contended the bright white parking deck clashed with the rest of the color scheme.

Morristown requires major developments to underwrite public art on their properties. Questioned by Patras, Wang said the murals are not meant to satisfy that obligation.

Project art will be discussed at a future meeting, said Vitolo, the M Station attorney.

Patras also wanted to know if M Station will include non-binary (gender-neutral) bathrooms (it wont), and whether the coronavirus, with its emphasis on social distancing and low-touch fixtures, has prompted any design changes.

Were still in the throes of the pandemic its definitely an ongoing dialogue we are having, Wang said.

A reporters questions about Deloittes lease status, and the viability of office buildings in a COVID-19 world, were not entertained; public questions were limited to specific testimony.

Large audiences brought plenty of questions to last years council hearings. Nobody watching from home on Thursday posed any queries to the board.

Responding to board questions from last weeks hearing, Vitolo said the developers have agreed to extend water lines to the roundabout for plantings. They also will monitor on-site air quality during construction, for the benefit of the Spring Hills assisted living center, he said.

In one of the Thursdays more interesting exchanges, Wang explained why windows represent 45 percent of the two buildings facades. Sunlight makes for happier, healthier employeeshe claimed hospitals with more sun have better patient outcomes.

Windows also symbolize transparency for companies like Deloitte, he asserted.

We want you to see us, and we want to see you, Wang said.

MORE ABOUT M STATION.

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Here's what architects say M Station will look like in Morristown - Morristown Green