Friday, July 20, 2007

Wall House


I've always really loved buildings which incorporate textiles into their construction. The Wall House, by Frohn & Rojas, is described as a 'design investigation into how the qualitative aspects of the wall, as a complex membrane, structure our social interactions and climatic relationships and enable specific ecologies to develop. The project breaks down the “traditional” walls of a house into a series of four delaminated layers ( concrete cave, stacked shelving, milky shell, soft skin ) in between which the different spaces of the house slip.'


The outer layer of the house consists of a skin derived from greenhouse technology, which climatically controls the interior and provides diffused light. There's a lovely balance between the skin, the slightly more permanent wood, and the concrete base underlying the project. It's quite a nice thought that eventually the skins might be modified to contain photovoltaic porphyrin dyes....

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Foster + Partner's Siberian Tower


From Norman Foster + Partners- in Khanty Mansyisk, Siberia, a 280m tall mixed-use tower. The overall scheme entails twin podiums containing residential, retail, office and hotel space. The tower itself refracts and directs natural sunlight in the winter months, via the beautfiul crystalline faceting. Truly inspiring.



I'm practically breathing microscale wind turbines at present, so I'm slightly disappointed the tower has none. Nonetheless, there are some aesthetic imperatives shared by the concept I'm working on and the structure above.

From Foster + Partners