U7 Term 2 Crit

U7 Term 2 Crit

Presenting work in progress for Project 2 | Short Stay.

Date | Tuesday 01 April 2014

Location | Wates House Room 1.01 

Time | 10am

Guests |

Adam Atraktzi | Davis Miller Architects

Matthew Butcher | Post-Works | BSc Programme Leader | Unit 12 

Mollie Claypool | BSc Programme Leader | Unit 19 

Dr Nick Dunn | Professor of Urban Design | Imagination Lancaster

Kate Davies |  Liquid Factory | Unit 23 | AA Diploma Unit 6 

Dr Guan Lee | Grymsdyke Farm | Unit ADS6 RCA | 

Luis Fernandez | Chris Matthews | Atelier One Engineers

Bob Sheil | Head of Dept | Professor in Architecture and Design Through Production

Ensamble Studio's Concrete Cavity Accommodation

This project involves a technique of casting called lost-mould casting. It involves casting around an object and then removing the object to achieve an internal space within solid casting material.

The beauty of this project is that the objects to be lost in this cast are hay-bales and the method of removing such hay is to allow a single cow (over the span of it's lifetime) to eat away at them it is satisfied to move on.

This video documents the process and the resulting accommodation that they were able to produce from the resulting spacial cavity. They cut two flat openings in the casted boulder-like form and fully furnished it with a bed, running water, a fire place and large window glazing.

Adrian Forty wrote that: "Concrete is not a material, it is a process. As well as the ingredients of water, cement, reinforcement and sand, it contains the essential ingredient of human labour". Ensamble Studio have used the ingredient of a cow's appetite as a construction solution.

The process of lost-mould casting isn't limited to concrete, it can be a solution for any material use which requires the shaping of one material upon and around another that is to be removed. 

U7 Group Site Model

U7 have been trialling the CNC milling of phenolic faced plywood in the making of the group site model. The 1:500 model aims to explore individually selected Bowery sites and local street networks to test emergent design strategies.

Image D. Brown

Image D. Brown

Giant Inflatable Balloons Temporarily Transform Spaces

Barcelona-based Penique Productions is an artist collective founded in 2007 that creates transformative installations in public spaces. To do this the group utilizes massive plastic balloons that are inflated inside buildings and other interior areas. Coupled with exterior lighting that illuminates the colored plastic, the results can be beautifully dramatic, making the new environment almost unrecognizable from the actual space.






This technique can be used to define spaces from the parameters around them as well as create temporary barrier during events.

Their unrealized project 'Clouds #2028' is a set of plastic inflatables hosting the 2013 New York Storefront for Art and Architecture Street Fest. The proposal has been addressed from immediacy criteria and a high-speed assemblage concept. 

U7 at Atelier One Engineers

Thanks to Chris Matthews and Luis Fernandez at Atelier One for introducing some of their recent innovative structural engineering projects with U7.

Look out for the Sochi Winter Olympic opening ceremony on the 7th Feb 14.

Chris Matthews presenting AT1 for London Olympics 2013 

U7 at David Miller Architects

Thanks to David Miller Architects for hosting the U7 visit to their innovative design practice.
An interesting introduction to the use BIM technology for the design and construction of cross laminated timber for a new build school project.

Check out the DMA blog for news of the visit and practice updates.

A+U Magazine: Urban Innovation, New York

 The current issue of A+U magazine available in the Bartlett library is featuring New York City.
It contains essays and analysis of the current social problems, ongoing architecture projects and vision of NYC. It may be very helpful to your project. You can borrow it overnight or for the weekends.

 

There features the project My Micro NY by nARCHITECTS. It is the first multi-unit Manhattan building developed using modular construction. Check out the magazine for more details!

U7 Visit to Atelier One Engineers

Atelier One has built a world-class reputation for ingenuity and innovation in the field of structural engineering, working with some of the world’s most talented architects, artists, designers, musicians and engineers. Diverse and recent projects include ‘World Building of the Year’ Gardens by the Bay, Singapore, the National Stadium, Slovenia the Om Man for the Take That Progress Tour and the Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

With | Luis Fernandez, Associate Engineer and Chris Matthews, Project Engineer

Date | Thursday 30 January 2014

Location | 3 Charlotte Mews, London, W1T 4DZ

Time | 17:30

U7 Drawing Workshop

U7 drawing workshop investigating New York urban infill sites with reference to cultural | physical and programmatic conditions of 'Short Stay'

FRAC Naturalizing Architecture

Check out the 9th ARCHILAB exhibition at FRAC entitled Naturalizing Architecture.

Marc Fornes & Theverymany | Double Agent White 2012 

The FRAC online archive of seminal architectural drawings and models is worth checking out too.

David George Emmerich | Agglomeration 1958-1960 | FRAC

U7 visit to DMA

nbs.com

U7 to make practice visit to David Miller Architects leading adopters of Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Date | Wednesday 16 January 2014

Location | 41-42 Foley Street, London, W1W 7TS 

Time | 14:00

Happy New Year 2014!

Grand Central Station | Chrysler Building | Dec 2013

9 Hours Capsule Hotel Japan

Kyoto's Futuristic Nine Hours Capsule Hotel Offers a First Class Sleeping Experience in Tiny Pods

The futuristic Nine Hours hotel in Kyoto is a minimalist capsule hotel equipped with state-of-the-art sleeping pods that are available for only nine hours. The hotel is the brainchild of Fumie Shibata’s Design Studio S, Masaaki Hiromura and Takaaki Nakamura, and it provides guests with one hour to get ready for bed, seven hours of sleep and one hour to get up in the morning before checking out - and absolutely nothing else.

The coffin-sized rooms are not a novelty in Japan. Capsule hotels have been there since the 70s but have gotten a bad rap as the last resort of drunken workers that missed the last train home. Nike Hours hotel is completely different-it’s sleek design, monochrome décor, and the fact that it’s located near the city’s traditional geisha Gion district, it is proving to be a perfect choice for tourists looking to a clean, stylish place to spend the night.

 The seven-story hotel has separate floors and elevators for men and women, offers immaculately designed sleeping clothes and accessories. A special built-in Panasonic system relaxes guests into sleep and wakes them up at a set time by changing the light. The nine hour stay limit speaks more of the minimalist concept of the place, as guests can actually stay up to 17 hours-soon it will be 24 hours according to the hotel’s website- which costs $49. The hotel closed in October but is scheduled to reopen this month.

From: http://inhabitat.com/futuristic-nine-hours-hotel-in-kyoto-offers-first-class-sleeping-in-coffin-sized-pods/

UME Architecture Magazine (Free online resource)

What is UME?  UME is an independent international architecture magazine edited, produced, published and wholly owned by Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper. Between 1996 and 2007, 21 issues of UME were published: UME 1-7 are out of print but UME 8-21 are in stock. In 2007 UME went online, with all 21 issues available – free – as PDF downloads. From 2008 UME will be a digital magazine available only online as high-res downloads, again free.

A key intention of UME is to present the drawings architects make to build their designs – usually the working drawings – and through them to elicit cultural and critical commentary.

Here's the link: http://www.umemagazine.com/issues.aspx

Photos