Toronto Modular Timber Tower Designed by Penda

[caption id="attachment_992" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

Penda, collaborating with wood consultants from CLT-brand Tmber, has unveiled the design of ‘Tree Tower Toronto,’ an 18-story timber-framed mixed-use residential skyscraper for Canada’s largest city. Drawing inspiration from the distinctly Canadian traditional modular construction, including Moshe Safdie’s iconic Habitat 67, the tower is envisioned as a new model of sustainable high-rise architecture that can establish a reconnect urban areas to nature and natural materials.

[caption id="attachment_993" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] 3D Constructed[/caption]

“Our cities are a assembly of steel, concrete and glass. If you walk through the city and suddenly see a tower made of wood and plants, it will create an interesting contrast. The warm, natural appearance of wood and the plants growing on its facade bring the building to life and that could be a model for environmental friendly developments and sustainable extensions of our urban landscape,” states Chris Precht, partner at penda.

The ‘Tree Tower Toronto’ will continue Canada’s pioneering efforts in timber-framed tall building construction, taking advantage of the significant credits (10-20% of total funding) made available by the Canadian government for projects exceeding certain carbon footprint standards.

[caption id="attachment_994" align="aligncenter" width="887"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_995" align="aligncenter" width="738"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

The tower will reach a height of 62 meters (203 feet) and will comprise over 5,000 square meters (53,800 square feet). The majority of the tower (4,500 square meters) will house residential units, while 550 square meters (5,920 square feet) will be dedicated to public areas including a cafe, a daycare center and community workshops.

Pre-fabricated CLT panels will be assembled off-site and craned into place once the foundation and base core is set. This construction method will allow the building to be built quicker, quiter and with reduced waste than traditional construction techniques. Minor concrete and steel-elements will support the CLT panels as necessary, but even those pieces have been designed with the building’s life cycle in mind.

“Elements of a building like wires and copper will be a scarce resources in future. To demolish a tower in an conventional way, buries most valuable elements of a building. To think about down-constructing a tower secures for a sustainable life-cycle of a building,” explains Dayong Sun of penda.

[caption id="attachment_996" align="aligncenter" width="808"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_997" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

Large outdoor terraces will support large vegetation systems capable of supporting food gardens, shrubbery and even trees, all of which will help to passively cool the building and offer privacy to teach of the units. By placing trees directly adjacent to the structural wood panels, a kind of symbolic symbiosis of nature and built environment can be observed.

‘This connection helps further to develop a true ecological high-rise, supplies its residents with fresher air and provides a lower carbon footprint,” said Tmber CEO Mark Stein. “The extensive use of wood will set ambitious sustainability targets and will be a catalyst for similar developments in Canada.”

News via Penda.

[caption id="attachment_998" align="aligncenter" width="727"] Courtesy of Penda[/caption]

Garden House / Ho Khue Architects

[caption id="attachment_970" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

From the architect. The house land dimensions are narrow 4 meters (w) x 40 meters (l).   Key elements and challenges are related to the ratio of the length to the width which effect natural lighting and ventilation. Breakthrough design solutions created two separate blocks with a natural green garden located in the central core.

[caption id="attachment_971" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

From the architect. The house land dimensions are narrow 4 meters (w) x 40 meters (l).   Key elements and challenges are related to the ratio of the length to the width which effect natural lighting and ventilation. Breakthrough design solutions created two separate blocks with a natural green garden located in the central core.

[caption id="attachment_972" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

Beautiful bridges connect the two blocks through corridors landscaped with trees and          decorative brick.   This centralized open garden area allows breathing and ventilation throughout the house in addition to allowing natural light into all rooms.

[caption id="attachment_973" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

Facade

The façade of this 4 story home covered with trees and planter boxes with captures the imagination of people travelling on this very busy commercial road Dien Bien Phu near the recently completed overpass. The concrete slabs and rustic tiles are stacked close together with just enough trees growing to reduce dust and noise from the street.  This offers natural and ongoing purification of the air inside the house.

[caption id="attachment_974" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

Open Central Core

The 3rd floor garden space connects the parent’s master bedroom and the family room. The path that leads through the central core garden is peaceful, cool, and quiet.  The cooling air and natural light provides ideal living conditions throughout the house.

[caption id="attachment_975" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

Sky garden: Beauty, Entertainment, and Cooling

The idea and design solution of the “Green House” includes a 4th floor space with an  open "sky garden" planted with tall trees and lush grass, wanting to put a Green  Space  into a townhouse which is situated in a noisy and cramped area.

[caption id="attachment_976" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_977" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

The entire roof of the house will also be planted with clean vegetables and flowers providing the family with food and flowers throughout the year.  The rooftop garden is created to reduce heat radiation into house and drastically reduce home heating. Solutions for the roof garden began as phase 1 (completed) of the technical construction. Plans to complete the rooftop garden are expected to be completed early next year.

Natural Materials: Strong and Beautiful

The house is a “Green House” because of design solutions for natural ventilation and cooling, natural lighting, green trees and plants covering the entire house and roof.  Environmentally friendly materials like unburned brick, concrete slabs, natural stone, and plantings produce a beautiful and strong surface.

[caption id="attachment_978" align="aligncenter" width="667"] © Hiroyuki Oki[/caption]

YKK Windows and Products

YKKap Green Certified Windows and doors are used throughout the project.  These are lightweight, beautiful, extremely strong, and are the most advanced windows available today.

 

• 
  

  Architects

  
  
  Ho Khue Architects


• 
  

  Location

  
  


• 
  

  Architect in Charge

  
  
  Ho Khue


• 
  

  Design Team

  
  
  Huynh Thanh Hai, Huynh Van Khanh


• 
  

  Area

  
  
  700.0 m2


• 
  

  Project Year

  
  
  2016


• 
  

  Photographs

  
  
  Hiroyuki Oki


• 
  

  Manufacturers

  
  
  Jotun, YKK AP, Tremcon

[Google_Maps_WD id=34 map=18]

 

The One Big Problem That Advocates of Copenhagen



This article was originally published on Common Edge as "What We Can (and Can’t) Learn from Copenhagen."

I spent four glorious days in Copenhagen recently and left with an acute case of urban envy. (I kept thinking: It’s like... an American Portland—except better.) Why can’t we do cities like this in the US? That’s the question an urban nerd like me asks while strolling the famously pedestrian-friendly streets, as hordes of impossibly blond and fit Danes bicycle briskly past.

Copenhagen is one of the most civilized cities on the planet. The world’s “most livable,” it’s often called, with some justification. (Although a Danish relative did caution me, “Spend a few weeks here in January before you make that pronouncement.”) But the seemingly effortless civility, Copenhagen’s amazing level of grace, is not an accident of place or happenstance. It’s the product of a shared belief that transcends urban design, even though the city is a veritable laboratory for pretty much all of the best practices in the field.

A group of us had been invited to the Danish capital by the Gehl Institute, founded by Jan Gehl, the renowned architect and urban visionary. Our mandate—a pleasant one, to say the least—was to observe, to reflect, to think about ways in which the Copenhagen success story might be replicated in cities back home.

There was much for our hosts to be proud of. Copenhagen is justly renowned for its bicycling culture. Half of its residents commute to work on bikes (snow or shine), a large number even for Europe and an utterly unthinkable one for visiting Americans. Even with big gains recently, less than 1 percent of US employees cycle to their jobs.



Copenhagen’s bike lanes are extensive, and most of them provide something critical for safety: physical separation. But even the unprotected lanes possess a strange, almost ethereal equilibrium, as if the bikes and cars had come to some sort of cultural understanding. It feels unspoken and unconscious and utterly safe, but it’s actually learned behavior on the part of cyclists and drivers alike. School children in Copenhagen start bike safety lessons early and the training continues through the upper grades.

Our hosts from Gehl were quick to point out that the bike lanes, great as they are, mesh with a larger, holistic approach to urban design. The objective isn’t cycling, per se, but transportation. It’s about building a network of options, with the overriding goal of creating a more livable city. The equation is fairly simple: more bikes equal fewer cars, less noise and less pollution. (According to our hosts, the city is expected to become carbon-neutral by 2025.)

This farsighted approach to place-making isn’t limited to transportation. All of the initiatives that we observed—the parks, public spaces, walkable streets, bike lanes, comfortable street furniture, the adaptive reuse of old buildings, even the planting of trees (which eliminated parking spaces! Imagine the uproar in Park Slope!)—were connected to a larger civic purpose: creation of a shared public realm. Copenhagen feels, in a way that no other American city does, like a group effort.



And that’s where the idea of “learning from Copenhagen” became trickier for a visiting American and maybe a bit sadder, because the key word here is shared. We can use bits or even large pieces of the Gehl toolbox. US cities, such as New York and Pittsburgh, already have. No surprise there, given that Gehl’s thinking is rooted in Jane Jacobs’ vision of urban scale and eclecticism. But rapid urban transformation—of the kind that we’ll desperately need in the future—requires a systemic approach: the Copenhagenmodel. All of the initiatives must reinforce each other. And getting that level of buy-in, that level of consensus, is ultimately not a design problem, but a political and cultural challenge.

Copenhagen of course is not a perfect place, as residents are the first to tell you. The city is struggling with gentrification and displacement; it’s confused and conflicted about its response to immigrants and immigrant families; it’s becoming far less economically diverse.

And not all of Copenhagen’s urban lessons, however inspiring, are easily transferable. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to compare a city of just 600,000, to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. But perhaps there’s one precept that we can take back to our local communities: Copenhagen still operates on a set of collective assumptions about equal access to the city. This is a shared civic value, and it underpins decades of work by people like Jan Gehl. More than curb heights or bike lanes, this is the real secret behind Copenhagen’s success.

Martin C. Pedersen is executive director of the Common Edge Collaborative. A writer, editor and critic, he served as executive editor at Metropolis magazine for nearly fifteen years.

 

Prahran Hotel - Interior Design & Techne Architecture



The Prahran Hotel is a substantial two storey corner pub with a striking streamlined art deco facade. The rear of the venue had a poorly proportioned, internalised single storey extension and the clients brief for the project called to demolish and replace it with a dramatic double height space with a central courtyard.

The use of large stacked concrete pipes for the street facade of the addition struck a chord for multiple reasons: they have a depth and can be interactive, they have a dramatic, sculptural quality, they reference existing internal circular motifs and they suggest stacked kegs or barrels.



 

A steel glazed courtyard cuts through the interior, connecting both levels and allowing ample natural light to flood the space. A floating booth made of half pipes is supported on steel posts and accessed via a steel gantry that traverses the room. Much of the steel structure is exposed and the concrete finish of the pipes and precast form the base of the interior palette of materials, contrasting this is the warmth of recycled spotted gum and leather upholstery and the freshness of the planting that is woven throughout the interior.



Whilst the space has the appeal of some spatial drama, the design’s success will be measured by the quality of the ambience and intimacy of the interior. Much effort was made to ensure that patrons have a variety of ways of gathering: private spaces contrast more social areas, there are places for couples and larger groups, and the circulation loops through both levels which encourages a voyeuristic procession through the old and new areas of the pub.

Architects

Studio Gang's "Hive" Opens at the National Building Museum

Hive, Studio Gang’s 2017 Summer Block Party installation, has opened to the public at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Constructed from 2,551 silver-and-magenta wound paper tubes, Hive invites visitors to explore their senses in a series of dome-shaped chambers, each scaled to reflect a unique sound signature.

Utilizing structural paper tubes commonly used in construction as concrete formwork, Hive takes its form from the catenary physics that have inspired some of the world’s great structures such as the the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Brunelleschi’s Dome at the Florence Cathedral in Italy, and vernacular buildings such as Musgum mud huts in Cameroon.

Projects Modernism in America Awards

Nine projects have been announced as winners of Docomomo US’ 2017 Modernism in America Awards, honoring projects within the United States that highlight and advocate for the restoration of postwar architecture and landscapes.

Now in its fourth year, the Modernism in America Awards were founded to celebrate "the people and projects working to preserve, restore and rehabilitate our modern heritage sensitively and productively. The program seeks to advance those preservation efforts; to increase appreciation for the period and to raise awareness of the on-going threats against modern architecture and design."

Design Award of Excellence

Bell Works
Holmdel, NJ

The Commercial Design Award of Excellence is given for the restoration of the former Bell Laboratories, which has been transformed into Bell Works, the two-million-square-foot mixed-use “metroburb”, located in Holmdel, New Jersey. Designed by world-renowned modernist architect Eero Saarinen and constructed in stages between 1959-1982, the enormous mirrored glass-enclosed structure (the first of its kind) was home to Bell Laboratories, later known as AT&T, Lucent, and ultimately Alcatel-Lucent. Within its walls, researchers made a number of monumental discoveries, including the development of the cell phone and fiber optic technology. Rumblings of demolishing the site after Alcatel-Lucent vacated the building sparked concern from architects, historians, and design professionals around the globe.

After acquiring the famed building in 2013, Somerset Development, along with Alexander Gorlin Architects - with the aid of public-private collaboration - began a multi-faceted approach of reviving and reinvigorating the space as a “dynamic, collaborative workplace of the future, complete with a blossoming ecosystem of technology, traditional office, retail, dining, and hospitality.”

Speaking on behalf of the jury, architectural historian Robert Nauman noted, “This is an adaptive reuse project on a grand scale. Instead of merely turning this into office space, Bell Works re-envisions this corporate headquarters building as a mixed use, self-contained town center incorporating retail and shopping and dining options, health and wellness uses, a hotel and conference center, educational facilities, an upscale spa and public facilities.”

Nauman continues by pointing out, “social gathering areas were established, and the entire project was envisioned and completed with an eye toward sustainability, including a solar roof. This is an ambitious project that has reconfigured what was once the largest vacant commercial building in the country into a dynamic urban center.”

Yale Center for British Art
New Haven, CT

The Civic/Institutional Design Award of Excellence is awarded for the restoration of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. The Yale Center for British Art and its collection are the gift of philanthropist Paul Mellon. After nearly forty years since its opening in 1977, the Yale Center faced escalating conservation pressures. In response, Amy Meyers, the Center’s current director, commissioned a detailed conservation plan for the building titled Louis I. Kahn and the Yale Center for British Art: A Conservation Plan and published in association with Yale University Press. This pioneering document, the first of its kind in the United States for a building completed after World War II, identified the Center’s most culturally significant attributes, established policies for the future care of the building, and formed the basis for the building conservation project. The project was phased strategically as the majority of construction was completed in a ten-month period in 2015. In selecting the project the jury noted, “The renovation of the Yale Center for British Art is a case study for how to approach the preservation of modern architecture appropriately. The complex, multi-phase project paves the way for future projects through its thoughtful conservation plan and publication of those findings detailing elements of the building that were once hidden and sensitively bringing the building into the 21st century.”

The Bubeshko Apartments
Los Angeles, CA

The Residential Design Award of Excellence is given for the restoration of the Bubeshko Apartments. Located in Los Angeles, California the Bubeshko Apartments is one of the few realized and intact multi-family dwellings designed by Rudolph M. Schindler. Designed for mother-and-daughter Anastasia and Luby Bubeshko, Schindler’s vision was that of a “Greek hillside” – a framework for individuated apartments, each with a direct connection to the outdoors, that work collectively. Though the financial viability of the project presented a challenge, the new owners sought to sensitively restore the complex in the original spirit of both the architecture and life of the buildings. Speaking on behalf of the jury, Justin Davidson said, “Restoration of the Bubeshko Apartments is interesting not only because of what was done but because of what was not done. Instead of transforming the complex into luxury condominium pods, the owners and restoration team gave careful consideration to both the original intent of the architect and original owners thus insuring this unique addition to the cultural life of Los Angeles will be admired and enjoyed for years to come.”

Heroic Project & Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston
Boston, MA

An Advocacy Award of Excellence for is given to the Heroic Project and subsequent book Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston. The project is an eight-year research initiative into the concrete architecture of Boston from 1960 until 1976. It developed into a wide-reaching advocacy effort that has included exhibitions, design studios and research seminars, lectures and interviews, tours, landmark preservation campaigns, and culminated in the publication of the acclaimed book Heroic (Monacelli Press, 2015). In selecting the project, the Docomomo US Board of Directors commented, “Through carefully crafted public outreach, engagement and a beautifully designed book, the Heroic Project brings awareness and new appreciation to the significance and beauty of a style that is often demonized. By celebrating the artistry and design of concrete architecture in Boston and beyond, the Heroic Project redefines Brutalist architecture locally, nationally and internationally.”

Save the Reactor Campaign
Seattle, WA

The Advocacy Award of Excellence is given to the Save the Reactor Campaign. The Docomomo US Board of Directors commented, “The role and impact of nuclear science during the Cold War is starting to be forgotten and thus the sites associated with the period are increasingly threatened as younger generations have little sense of this important period in our nation's history. Though the Nuclear Reactor building on the campus of the University of Washington was ultimately demolished, it is important to recognize Historic Seattle, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and Docomomo US/WEWA’s collaborative education and advocacy efforts that epitomize issues that Docomomo US and its Chapters and colleagues continue to encounter.” Results of the dispute will be precedent-setting  as the Washington State Supreme Court is expected to rule on the bearing of local preservation ordinances over state institutions of higher learning who claim exemption.

Citations of Merit Winners

The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
Grand Island, NE

The jury awards a Citation of Merit for the conservation of the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer designed by Edward Durell Stone. The open plains provided Stone and his son, landscape architect Edward Durell Stone, Jr., with a blank canvas resulting in a quintessential example of New Formalism that became one of Stone’s most unique works in terms of setting and integration between building and landscape. Speaking on behalf of the jury, Barbara Campagna, FAIA, LEED AP BC+C stated, “the project showed sensitivity to the original concept, restoration of significant features and materials while balancing new interventions that were needed to make the building and site more efficient and useful for the present day.” Theodore Prudon added, “the museum is an important example of regional modernism and played a significant part in the progressive history of Grand Island, Nebraska.”

American Enterprise Group
Des Moines, IA

The jury awards a Citation of Merit for the restoration of the American Enterprise Group national headquarters building. The venerable building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and completed in 1965. Upon opening the building was featured in LIFE magazine and deemed “the talk of the Midwest,” The American Enterprise Group received an Honor Award for Architecture from the American Institute of Architects in 1967. In response to aging materials and systems, the owner and restoration team approached the renovation with “the hope that its work would be nearly impossible to detect – a testament to the consideration given to the building’s defining features.” The jury commented, “A great example of the rich heritage of modern architecture across the United States, this is a loving rehabilitation of a beautiful example of commercial architecture designed by a renowned architect, that is still serves as the home of the original company.”

[caption id="attachment_409" align="aligncenter" width="664"] The fully restored east façade with its repaired and patched concrete walls, new windows and painted ventilator panels (in Sert’s original bold colors) has brought back the brilliance of Sert’s 1960 design for all to appreciate. The newly glazed entry to the tower adds a vibrancy that was lost for decades.[/caption]

Boston University School of Law
Boston, MA

The jury awards a Citation of Merit for the innovative approach to the conservation of the concrete of Boston University’s School of Law Tower and thoughtful addition of the Sumner M. Redstone Building. Speaking on behalf of the jury, Mark Pasnik, AIA commented, “This is a powerful example where the architects acted as preservation advocates, successfully changing the University’s and public’s perception of a building, while bringing significant details back to life in a way that reinvigorates the entire School of Law complex.”

Vincent G. Kling Mid-Century House
Gladwyne, PA

The jury awards a Citation of Merit for the restoration of the Smith Residence designed by Vincent G. Kling. Celebrated as one of Philadelphia’s most notable architects and better known for his commercial and institutional projects, Kling completed the Smith Residence in 1960, one of the few examples of his residential work. The jury notes, “The project highlights an important and lesser-known dimension to Kling’s professional career. The project is sensitively realized and its inclusion in a well-needed future monograph dealing with Kling’s work underscores the importance of this house in discussions of midcentury modernism and domestic space in Pennsylvania.”

The 2017 Modernism in America Awards will be awarded on the night of Friday, October 6, 2017 at the Design Within Reach Third Avenue Studio in New York City. Learn more about the award and this year’s winners, here.

News and project descriptions via Docomomo US.