In Brisbane, architects Nettleton Tribe have tranformed an old elevated parking facility into thirteen stories of office space above 9 levels of parking and teamed up with artist Jennifer Marchant to beautify the exterior of the building. The new art piece creates made up of 549 laser cut powder coated aluminum that were custom formed into a lovely mesh that disguises the parking facility while allowing for continual air flow and therefore saving money on mechanical air ventilation.
The artist chose to design a topographical piece called “Landlines”, that depicts the contours of Brisbane’s own Cunningham’s Gap and the Main Range. The inspiration came from the very nature that urban environments tend to be cut off from the surrounding landscape and few people get to take advantage of the views seen by tall buildings that look out from the urban core. Marchant brings the contours of the landscape in and adds a twist by debicting the 2 dimensional graphic traditionally used in the professional world to depict 3 dimensional land forms and show it on a vertical building.
With the long winter months of the post holiday season setting in I can’t help but have thoughts of how lovely it would be to get away and lounge in a hot steaming thermal bath in the mountains of Switzerland, in particular, a certain masterpiece hidden in the mountains of the southeastern state of Graubünden designed by Swiss architect and 2009 Pritzker Prize winner, Peter Zumthor.
The Therme Vals is a hotel and spa built over natural thermal springs and partially embedded into the mountainside, surrounding by gorgeous views of snowcapped mountains in the winter and lush green and colorfull hillsides during the warmer months. The structure itself is build from the exquisite layering of Valser Quarzite slabs from a nearby local quarry. From ArchDaily, “The idea was to create a form of cave or quarry like structure. Working with the natural surroundings the bath rooms lay below a grass roof structure half buried into the hillside. This stone became the driving inspiration for the design, and is used with great dignity and respect.”
“This space was designed for visitors to luxuriate and rediscover the ancient benefits of bathing. The combinations of light and shade, open and enclosed spaces and linear elements make for a highly sensuous and restorative experience. The underlying informal layout of the internal space is a carefully modelled path of circulation which leads bathers to certain predetermined points but lets them explore other areas for themselves. The perspective is always controlled. It either ensures or denies a view.”
From Pete Zumthor, via Arch Daily, “The meander, as we call it, is a designed negative space between the blocks, a space that connects everything as it flows throughout the entire building, creating a peacefully pulsating rhythm. Moving around this space means making discoveries. You are walking as if in the woods. Everyone there is looking for a path of their own.”
The thermal spa sits as part of the mountain, an extension of the landscape. The roof of the structure looks as though the ground plane has been lifted up with the same vegetation as the surrounding landscape that even blooms with the same springtime color.
Below is a tour through a virtual model of the Therme Vals…
While I am not wild about the turf in this courtyard of a residence in Bangalore, Inida, I am however intrigued by this space, especially that it is above the ground level. Cadence, an architectural group from India, has chosen to abandon the traditional thought of what a courtyard is, typically in the center of a dwelling and instead here the court is shifted to one of the outer quadrants to create a stronger relationship with the outdoor world rather. This enhances an outward connection versus creating a introverted dwelling. The light streaming through the perforated walls exhibits a characteristic similar to light streaming through trees, enhancing the effect of being at a higher level. Perhaps like a tree house.
A sculptural element creates the centerpiece to the open air court. This flexible element houses the tree and allows for an informal outdoor eating and sitting space. I quite like the fluid lines of this piece.
