madrid and tenerife

After completing my internship at BIG, I took some time to travel and research for my upcoming thesis project. This took me to Madrid and Tenerife to see two of the buildings I have been investigating by Swiss architects Herzog & De Meuron. The first being a renovation of an old power plant in the heart of madrid. Here, the architects used the existing shell an envelope from which they could carve from and add to in order to accommodate the new gallery functions. The base of the old structure is almost entirely removed leaving a levitating brick box over a public plaza. The existing roofscape was adapted into a sculpted corten steel penthouse restaurant.




standing under the the corner of building brings on an intense feeling of weight. the choice to bring the landscape and ceilingscape within such a close proximity resulted in a very clear understanding and sense of the primary architectural move

next stop Tenerife. a small island off of the west coast of Africa within the Canaries, and still technically part of spain. the capital city of Santa Cruz is home to several H&dM projects- most recently the TEA. the project is a concrete slug... fantastic. one of my favorite buildings I have ever seen!

so this is the new year

copenhagen skyline as seen from Christopher Carlsen's rooftop on New Year's Eve

louisiana

a sunny snowy day at louisiana. admiration of masonry.

Raveonettes

In december I finally got the chance to see a band that has been on my radar for the past few years- The Raveonettes. The news of the show came as a bit of a surprise, but a last minute booking landed us some great seats at a theater venue called Bremen. The psych-garage sounds seemed to have a western feel straight out of the film Dead Man.

heading north- november 2010

took some time away from cph to enjoy the cold, dark weather even further north! stockholm. (notice the time on the digital sign)

slussen madness...

amazing gamla stan



the accommodations for the weekend...

november & hamburg

november brought a new project; a competition in hamburg, germany. the project brief called for a mixed-use medical facility with a nursing home and several clinics in a new development just outside of the city center. the project would be part of a new building exposition, highlighting contemporary design in both architecture and landscape design.





initial responses to the context of the adjacent railway and highway lead to an interest in closing the perimeter block for sound mitigation and privacy. by bringing the building to the edges of the site the interior of the block is opened up to function as a courtyard which could serve the nursing home and medical facilities. wrapping the program around the perimeter also provided a strong edge which in relation to the adjacent buildings, could be understand as a threshold or gateway to the entire exhibition. programmatic requirements pushed the building to expand vertically, so the continuous building mass is bent upwards at the northwest corner- further emphasizing the gateway condition.

october & shenzhen

in early october i joined a new team to work on the development phase of a skyscraper to be built in shenzhen. the project operates on very simple set of principles aimed at minimizing direct solar gains to the office spaces within. the facade becomes a zig-zag folded skin with glass to the north and east and highly insulated panels to the south and west.













deformations within the overall geometry allow for optimal views, entrances and public space.




joining the project in design development was challenging to say the least, this meant becoming fluently familiar with a large scale project in a matter of weeks. my days were filled with material research, product specifications, presentation reports, and landscape design.