Urban Design: Den Haag Square

Here is the presentation I made today for an Urban design of a city square in the heart of The Hague, The Netherlands.

GIDE 2012 + Other Business

mind maps + scribblin'

I have been rather quiet as of late on this blog, as I have been beavering away so to speak at several other things.

GIDE is one of the main things on my mind at the moment - for more information see my separate blog for all related posts over on the dark side at Wordpress!

Aside from that I have been working away in the studio, and have taken well to the new course structure, including my new module entitled Critical Making. I shall post separately on this.

I have also this year become a student ambassador for the University of Dundee, attending visitors days and helping the University promote itself to potential future students by providing tours. This has been a fantastic opportunity to meet other students as well as learn more about how our campus operates.

We have of course also moved to our new studios, which, although are having heating issues at the moment look set to be brighter and more spacious than our old location - and I also have a wall space to populate, which I can't complain about!

Sketchup and AutoCAD however, are calling...I have to admit I've missed the project buzz!

Oslo, Norway

Last weekend myself and Kirsty of JMD took a short trip to Oslo, Norway. Amongst visiting the Architecture Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, Ice Bar, sculpture gardens, and general city centre, we also visited Snøhetta's Opera House. I was first made aware of their work when they were one of the six finalist architects bidding for the V&A Dundee project, to which Kengo Kuma won.

Upon getting home and reading up further on them, I have realised we also unintentionally visited another of their builds, in the form of Lysaker Stajon - a train station on the outskirts of Oslo.

I was very impressed with their work, as the Opera House in particular had a fantastic mix of architecture coming inside, as well as the roof becoming a fully open walkway for sightseeing. Upon walking up to the highest point (the walk ways were a series of flat angular planes that acted as "tiers" for visitors to meander around) you were able to see quite a distance, unfortunately a  lot of building work was currently going on in the immediate vicinity, causing quite a bit of visual obstructions. Aside from allowing visitors the ability of distance sights, it also allowed a view into the central glass atrium, housing the staircase to and from theatres, along with a general open space for crowds. This in particular was where you could see that the architects and interior designers had worked extremely closely to create a streamlined design from exterior to interior - without creating a mirrored shell of textures on the interior. On entering the reception area you are fronted with a large, somewhat overwhelming wooden organic structure, which is quite the contrast to the angular white slabbed exterior. It does not however feel too much of a contrast, as the floor flows from outside to inside, becoming a constant.

Their website informs me that Snøhetta have another company called Snøhetta Design, who provide (to quote):

"Snøhetta Design is a multidisciplinary graphic design agency incorporated within Snøhetta. Our services are based upon designing brand relations between corporate identity and architecture, between people and brands.

Snøhetta Design clients have projects integrated with Snøhetta Architecture or without any relation to architecture. They all, regardless of grapihic design, interior, landscape or architecture, are projects where we nurture concepts."

So basically, they are an all round design house who provide a service from start through implementation to execution and beyond.

I love them!

London: Snap Happy

I thought I'd take the time to share a few photos I took while visiting London:

Ai WeiWei's Sunflower Seeds

They make me happy! A mix from The Design Museum, The Tate Modern & The Millennium Bridge.

Nicoll Russell Studios

Nicoll Russell Studios are an architecture and interior design firm based in Broughty Ferry, on the outskirts of Dundee. They have had many successful projects, including The Dundee Rep Theatre, several Dundee University buildings, contemporary private homes, The Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee and Dundee Sheriff Court, along with many other builds.

Garry Farquharson who is an architect for Nicoll Russell Studios, kindly gave us his time last week for a workshop, in which he took us through the building process. This included explaining site analysis of one of their recent sustainable builds in the Dundee area - the Hillcrest HQ. He said they had been lucky to get such a forward thinking client, as when designers mention the horrid "S" word of sustainability, a lot of clients recoil in confused disgust. He went on to tell us that usually you have to be tactful in the way you approach eco building, but with Hillcrest, they wanted to be as green as possible.

artists impression of the Hillcrest HQ
source: nrsarchitects.com

I learnt quite a lot from him, particularly about how a real project can go. I was interested to find out more about geothermal cooling systems, and about on site generation of electricity - something they used for the Hillcrest HQ, which meant enough electricity was generated to sell back to the national grid.

The relationship between your own project and the surrounding land is something that he spoke to us quite in depth, and made me consider this further for our current project. While designing the Hillcrest HQ there was another on-going build on the same piece of land, so the two firms worked closely to ensure both builds would work together. Although this is not quite the same situation for my hypothetical build, it is a site that has a close relationship to the surrounding buildings - particularly the football stadium. I added a psychological aspect into my site analysis to cover what effects the surrounding buildings in the relatively close proximity would have on such a space.

He also mentioned the cradle to cradle theory, as opposed to cradle to grave - which is a book I have been meaning to read for a while, despite buying it a ages ago.

I think I've just found my reading material for the train on Monday!

EcoOffice: Site Analysis

The necessary evil that is Site Analysis is now complete! 

I have included this on my blog to document everything that I have been doing for my current project - which covers an array of things. As I have already said though, site analysis is just one of the necessary evils associated with such a project. We have to document every aspect of the location, with regards to how these aspects will affect a potential build. 

Trawling census statistics is far from fun.

image from google images

EcoOffice: Location, Location, Location!

Here are a few photographs I took when we visited the site for our current project last Thursday. It's quite big but due to it currently acting as a storage space, it is difficult to visualise the full space that would be available to us. At the moment I am considering keeping as much of the original features as possible - mainly the partial floor to the right and perhaps the windows on the roof, although I am also considering a green roof. 

The owner of the building also kindly offered to give us access again in the future if needs be, which may be helpful once we have developed our designs further and need to perhaps go back to check specific things.

EcoOffice: Material Research

I thought I would just take the opportunity to share with you all some images I have been collecting for my current project.

The areas I have been directing my research towards include renovation, loft and warehouse apartment conversions, old freight elevator cages (mostly wooden), factory conversions, reclaimed wooden railway sleepers, industrial renovations and a lot of other stuff down the more technical route, such as smartglass and various eco-insulation brands. 

factory conversion

although these are eco friendly, I'm not sure I could take any more pallets!

this is one of my favourites so far, although I had more space in mind!

incorporating 'living spaces' within the office I think will prove valuable, as not only
will it increase the feel good factor having an impact on staff morale, but it will reduce the
carbon emissions

Terramac is an ingenious product from Japan which is essentially an indoor
living carpet

Kubala-Washatko Architects in Wisconsin, USA have converted an old
factory for their sustainable offices

the open plan space keeps the air circulating, exactly what is needed in a
communal area such as a reception and waiting space

this type of structure on show is how I envision the offices to be, although
with more platforms creating partial floors

bringing nature indoors serves as a reminder to protect the environment

Further to this research, I looked at freight elevators to provide disabled access. I want to keep the industrial factory-esque theme, and a salvaged fright elevator would be ideal. These are commonly seen in loft or warehouse apartment conversions, seem most often in the likes of Boston, New York, San Francisco, and London. 

these old industrial freight cage elevators are highly sought after
for warehouse conversions, and can be salvaged from old
factories and warehouses

We are set to visit the site on Thursday, however as it is close to my house I took a wander there this morning armed with my DSLR. Unfortunately however, aside from the rather overcast sky, it is right next to the stadium for Dundee United Football Club - and today happened to be a day where they are playing at home. Aside from police cones along the road, the road being blocked off, a man from Sky Sports wandering around, and a coach in the way, the Hibs coach turned up - so I decided to call it a day. Hopefully Thursday will be more successful - and at least we will get a look inside the building as well, as it is currently under lock and key.