Tag: architecture

• rain gravity heat cold

  

  Today I got a copy of rain gravity heat cold. It’s a book by the Toronto-based architecture firm superkül and it’s meant to celebrate their first 10 years of practice. 

  The book itself was put together by Blok Design. Blok has also done a new – yet to be rolled out – identity for superkül. (Definitely worth a click through.)

  One thing I wanted to highlight from the foreword of the book (written by Kiel Moe) is this line: “Great design does not respond to a static sense of context but rather perhaps transforms its flaws into assets and certainly amplifies the potential of site.”

  We often talk about contextual architecture. That is, architecture which responds to and is sensitive to its surroundings. But here’s the idea that responding is, in fact, not enough. The ambition should be “amplification of site through design.” 

  I like that a lot.

  If you’d like a copy of the book, it can be found on Amazon, at the University of Toronto bookstore, as well as, I’m sure, other places.

  2017.04.01

• Fifth floor retail

  

  I spent a bit of time this afternoon photographing 1111 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. For those of you who aren’t familiar, 1111 is a parking garage that’s so well designed that people throw events – like weddings – in it. It was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.

  I’ve been through the building before, but one thing I missed the last time around was the 5th floor retail space pictured above. Conventional wisdom would tell you that upper level retail doesn’t really work all that well. But here you have a boutique shop with nothing around it besides parking stalls.

  What makes this case different? Is it the architecture? The desirability of this particular structure? Or is it that the store has enough of a following that it can draw people up and into it?

  2017.03.25

• Studio Gang joins effort to re-imagine Yonge + St. Clair

  

  Today I am excited to announce that we (Slate) have retained Studio Gang Architects to design a new mixed-use residential tower at Yonge + St. Clair in midtown Toronto. 

  Alex Bozikovic was first to break the news in the Globe and Mail, but you can now also read about it at UrbanToronto.ca, in ArchDaily, and likely some other places.

  Here is something I said to Alex that we feel strongly about:

  “We’re considering the whole community,” Donnelly says. “By thinking of city-building rather than individual tower buildings, it opens up new possibilities.”

  This is particularly true because of Slate’s broader position at Yonge + St Clair.

  And here is something that Stefan Novakovic wrote over at UrbanToronto.ca that we were happy to read – thank you:

  With no renderings, no precise indication of height, scale, or programming, and no hint at the building’s aesthetic—yet—it’s already a lock to be one of Toronto’s most anticipated upcoming developments. That’s because Studio Gang is no ordinary firm.

  I’ve also pasted the full press release at the bottom of this post. 

  One thing you may notice is that we’ll be hosting a public consultation later this spring. This will be before we submit anything to the city. It’s part of our research and information gathering phase, and it will be used to inform the ultimate design.

  I’ve been admiring Studio Gang’s work from afar for well over a decade. So it’s personally very exciting to be starting work with them on an actual project. We are thrilled about this announcement and I hope that many of you are as well.

  Image: Folsom Bay Tower, San Francisco

  —————————————————————

  Slate Asset Management commissions acclaimed architecture practice’s first building in Canada

  March 10, 2017 (Toronto)—Slate Asset Management announces it has selected internationally celebrated architecture practice Studio Gang to design a mixed-used tower at the south-west corner of Yonge and Delisle. The announcement is the latest in a series of high-profile commissions by Slate, including an eight-story mural by international street artist Phlegm. The project will be Studio Gang’s first building in Canada, and is part of Slate’s overall effort to reimagine Yonge + St. Clair through the use of public art, world-class design, vibrant streetscapes and open spaces.

  “Yonge + St. Clair is on its way back. Having occasion to bring Studio Gang’s first project in Toronto to the neighbourhood signals to the rest of the city that we would like to create something special here,” says Brandon Donnelly, Vice President of Development at Slate Asset Management.

  The announcement comes just as Studio Gang Founding Principal, Jeanne Gang, is set to receive a 2017 Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) in May. The Honorary Fellowship is the latest in a series of accolades for Gang including a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship and the Architectural Review’s 2016 Architect of the Year.

  “As our practice’s relationship with Canada grows, we’re excited to explore Toronto and to understand the unique DNA of the Yonge + St. Clair neighbourhood,” says Jeanne Gang. “We hope to design a building that will strengthen relationships within the neighbourhood and the city.”

  Based in Chicago and New York, Studio Gang is widely recognized for elevating the urban environment while building connections between people and their environments. This ethos is visible throughout Studio Gang’s diverse portfolio, which includes Aqua Tower in Chicago, Folsom Tower in San Francisco, and 40 Tenth Avenue along the Highline in New York—each of which emphasizes connections between people, the city, and nature.

  With a practice rooted in research, engagement, sustainability and the innovative use of materials, Studio Gang will work with Slate to host a public consultation later this spring to gather community input prior to a design submission to the city. The final building will be primarily rental, with retail space at grade, in keeping with Slate’s long-term vision for the area. And while the design for the building is not finalized, Donnelly says a couple of decisions have already been made.

  “It’s not going to be a typical all-glass tower,” says Donnelly, citing a need to introduce material variety into Toronto’s ever-booming skyline. “We want to push boundaries in terms of sustainability and building efficiency, which means we are thinking carefully about the building envelope and its materials.”

  The decision to commission Studio Gang was made after an exhaustive selection process emphasizing design methodology, site context, and Slate’s aspirations for world-class architecture and a fresh vision. Yonge + St. Clair is a transit-rich node with a subway and dedicated streetcar tracks. At the same time, the dense urban realm is a short walk from some of the city’s most beloved neighbourhoods and a ravine system, offering direct access to quiet green space. This juxtaposition of natural and built environments will serve as an inspiration for the project.

  “There is a hill that crests at Yonge + St. Clair, which means the build site acts as both a pedestal and a view terminus from way uptown,” says Donnelly, detailing another unique advantage of both the site and the neighbourhood. “The challenge will be to develop a building worthy of being showcased, but we feel confident that we have the right team in place to do just that.”

  Over the last four years, Slate has purchased ten properties in the area, including all four corners of the intersection at Yonge and St. Clair. The Studio Gang commission will be the first ground-up tower in the area by Slate, marking a unique collaboration that combines global experience and high design with a serious investment in the neighbourhood. The area’s transformation kicked-off last summer with the introduction of the eight-story mural by Phlegm.

  Gang is being honoured at the RAIC/OAA Festival of Architecture in Ottawa, May 24–27. She will be named an Honorary Fellow of the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and will deliver the keynote address at the festival.

  -30-

  For more information and images please contact kg&a
  Vakis Boutsalis
  Vakis@kga-inc.com
  416-537-0954

  About Slate Asset Management L.P.

  Slate Asset Management L.P. is a leading real estate investment platform with approximately $4.0 billion in assets under management. Slate is a value-oriented manager and a significant sponsor of all of its private and publicly-traded investment vehicles, which are tailored to the unique goals and objectives of its investors. The firm’s careful and selective investment approach creates long-term value with an emphasis on capital preservation and outsized returns. Slate is supported by exceptional people, flexible capital and a proven ability to originate and execute on a wide range of compelling investment opportunities. Visit slateam.com to learn more.

  About Studio Gang

  Founded by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang is an architecture and urbanism practice based in Chicago and New York. Known for creating innovative buildings that enhance the public space around them, Studio Gang has completed award-winning projects such as the Aqua Tower and Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. The Studio is currently designing towers in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and Amsterdam. In addition, Studio Gang is currently engaged in cultural and educational projects across the Americas, from the new United States Embassy in Brazil to the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a consolidated campus for the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 2016, Studio Gang was recognized as Firm of the Year at the Architizer A+ Awards and Jeanne Gang was named Architect of the Year by the Architectural Review. Visit www.studiogang.com to learn more.

  2017.03.11

• Short term, lasting impact

  

  NXT City and Pavilion Project are hosting an event on March 23, 2017 here in Toronto (at the Drake Hotel) called Short Term, Lasting Impact. 

  It’s all about how “temporary, low-cost and scalable [urban] interventions” can bring about lasting / meaningful change within our cities.

  Here’s some info on the panelists / topics:

  Matt Rubinoff, Tusk Global // STACKT

  This temporary shipping container market proposes a visionary complex with everything from retail and restaurants to studio spaces and a brewery. What are some of the challenges of bringing an unconventional project to life?

  Rui Pimenta & Layne Hinton, Art Spin // IN/FUTURE ART FESTIVAL

  This art experience reclaimed a beloved Toronto space, transforming it briefly through a multidisciplinary art and music festival. What opportunities can site-specific events bring to celebrate underused spaces?

  Michael McLelland, ERA Architects // PORTLANDS PROJECT
  

  There are many long-term and competing visions for Toronto’s Portlands. How do we make best use of this prime city site today? How can short-term planning inform a future agenda and create critical cultural space in the near-term?

  I know the folks behind both of these non-profits (NXT City and Pavilion Project), and so I am happy to support this event. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.

  2017.03.09

• 121 E 22nd

  My friends in New York tell me that if you want to sell a luxury residential building, you need a name brand architect. People care about architecture and it’s part of the buying process: “Oh, it’s a Herzog building.”

  To that end, Toll Brothers City Living just released the following video for their 121 E 22nd project in New York. If you can’t see it below, click here. What’s notable, is that it is OMA’s first full building in New York. So the story is: star architect + first building in the city.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQq8W8od9g?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

  But there’s more. It’s almost unbelievable that, until now, OMA hadn’t designed and constructed a full building in New York. I reread this Dezeen article 5 times just to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

  So much of Rem Koolhaas’ career (founding partner of OMA) is centered around New York City. In 1978, he published Delirious New York, where he both dissected and celebrated the city’s “culture of congestion.” Oysters at the downtown athletic club, anyone?

  This book was so influential that I bet you’d be hard pressed to find an architect that doesn’t have it in their collection. I have his approximation of New York hanging on my wall. So this was clearly overdue. Kudos Toll Brothers City Living.

  Note: OMA’s New York office is led by Shohei Shigematsu.

  2017.02.25

• Die Es

  

  To celebrate the launch of their Guide to Cosy Homes (2015), Monocle Films produced a number of home tours. 

  Die Es, pictured above, is the home of South African architects Gawie and Gwen Fagan. They started building their home in 1964, just as they were starting their practice. 

  Because of this, they had little money and had to do a lot of the work themselves. They sold their car to buy a concrete mixer.

  Although they didn’t set out to explicitly design a “Cape” house, it ended up that way, with heavy thermal masses, white walls, and so on. 

  The architecture also relates very closely to the surrounding landscape – as it should – in the way in which it frames views of the water and mountains. 

  The mediterranean climate also really comes through in the materiality of the home and the connections to outside.

  If you’d like to watch the 5 minute tour of Die Es, click here.

  2017.02.17

• The Art of Design

  I don’t actually have Netflix, but they have a new original documentary series out called, Abstract: The Art of Design. It’s a look at “eight of the most creative thinkers” working in art and design. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

  Here are those 8 people:

  1. Es Devlin (stage designer)
  2. Ilse Crawford (interior designer)
  3. Ralph Gilles (Chrysler head of global design)
  4. Bjarke Ingels (architect)
  5. Platon (photographer)
  6. Christoph Niemann (New Yorker cover illustrator)
  7. Paula Scher (graphic designer)
  8. Tinker Hatfield (Nike sneaker designer)

  The trailer feels unnecessarily dramatic for a documentary, but I’d still like to watch it. The reviews also seem to suggest that it’s pretty good. Below is the trailer. If you can’t see it below, click here.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYaq2sWTWAA?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

  If you’ve already seen it, what did you think?

  2017.02.11

• Photographing architecture studios

  

  Marc Goodwin – who is part of a photography studio called Archmospheres – has an ongoing project where he photographs the studios of architects. 

  He has photographed well known practices such as MAD, Renzo Piano, and David Chipperfield, as well as a number of geographic niches such as Paris architecture studios, Nordic architecture studios, and London architecture studios. 

  He also varies the size of the firm. Some of them only have a few people working out of a small streetfront retail space.

  As an architect, you are pretty much required to have a cool studio space. So this is certainly an interesting photography project to take on. The photo at the top of this post is 3xn in Copenhagen.

  Image: Marc Goodwin via Designboom

  2017.02.08

• And the award for the tallest building of the year goes to…

  The Guardian recently published an article on vanity height in skyscrapers. What this is referring to is the unoccupied portions of tall buildings which are built purely for vanity reasons – that is, to increase the face height of the building and claim some superlative title.

  Example: 

  The tallest building in the world is currently the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It’s 828m tall. To put that into perspective, the CN Tower in Toronto is 553m. But according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, 29% of the Burj Khalifa’s height is actually unoccupied or “vanity space.” In other buildings, such as the Burj al Arab (also in Dubai), the amount of unusable space is as high as 39%. 

  For the purists out there, this of course raises the question of what should should be counted when assessing building height. Should it only be spaces where humans typically inhabit? The CN Tower has a lot of unoccupied space, which is why it is frequently excluded from these sorts of ego rankings. 

  But semantics aside, this is obviously not a new phenomenon and it’s interesting to think about this race to the sky as a proxy for what’s going on in the world. Below is a chart showing which regions have been able to lay claim to the “tallest building of the year” since 1900. 

  Since 1990, it has been all about Asia and Oceania and China and Taiwan…

  

  2017.02.05

• Japan Unlayered

  

  If you happen to find yourself in Vancouver between January 27th and February 28th, you may want to check out an exhibition being held at the Fairmont Pacific Rim called Japan Unlayered. 

  It is a celebration of Japanese architecture, design, and culture, curated by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and developers Westbank and Peterson.

  The exhibition is in support of a new project in Vancouver by Kengo Kuma called 1550 Alberni. Pictured above. It will be his first in North America. 

  The architecture is a 43-storey (residential) tower formed by two “scoops” that carve out the building in response to its urban context. Some of those relationships start to become apparent when you see the building rendered into the skyline (below toward right).

  

  I’ll be in Vancouver next month and so I’m hoping to stop by.

  2017.01.27