School Archives

frank gehry designs new center for young artists at LA’s colburn school

frank gehry-designed school: breaking ground ceremony

The Colburn School in Los Angeles, one of the world’s leading schools for music and dance, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by Frank Gehry. The new Colburn Center will dramatically increase the school’s elite training and performance facilities and provide much-needed performance space, including a 1,000-seat, state-of-the-art concert hall, for young artists across LA. The groundbreaking ceremony took place adjacent to the construction site at 130 Olive Street, located within Downtown Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill area diagonally across the street from Colburn’s existing campus on Grand Avenue. The expansion will stand as an important addition to the cultural corridor which includes Gehry Partners’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed broad. Anticipated completion is expected for the first quarter of 2027.

left to right: Sel Kardan, Carol Colburn Grigor, Andrew Millstein, Jerry Kohl, Terri Kohl, Maeesha Merchant, Toby Mayman, Merle Mullin, and Terry Greene at Colburn Center groundbreaking ceremony, April 5, 2024 | image © Loreen Sarkis

a hall for all

Designed by Frank Gehry (see more), the Colburn Center at the Colburn School (see more) will be a ‘hall for all,’ giving artists and students a place to shine. the center will stand at the crossroads of culture, education, and landmark architecture — marking frank gehry’s third project within three blocks to become the world’s greatest concentration of his architecture. The colburn school welcomes over 2,000 students from across los angeles and around the world, with ages ranging from seven months to adult. the new center will make the colburn campus an even livelier hub of artistic activity and enable the school to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public, which include performance and educational collaborations with acclaimed local and touring artists and ensembles. it will also provide much needed performance space in a mid-sized hall for the region’s established and emerging performing arts organizations.

view from hill street west towards dance school entrance | image © Gehry Partners

the 1,000 seat theater, ‘terri and jerry kohl hall’

Frank Gehry’s Colburn Center will welcome students and audiences alike, with a dynamic composition of transparent and opaque interlocking blocks that step down into the natural contour of the site. A 1,000-seat concert hall uses an in-the-round design to create intimacy between the performers and the audience and removes the stage lip, putting front-row seats at eye-level with the performers. Orchestra, opera, dance, and musical theater will all be at home in the hall, which is equipped with an orchestra pit and a stage large enough to accommodate the grandest works and the largest orchestrations.

branded shovels used for groundbreaking ceremony | image © Loreen Sarkis

the theater and dance studios

Four professional-sized dance studios and a 100-seat flexible studio theater are enveloped in glass and provide a literal window into the beauty and rigor of dance training and performance. Qith a separate entrance and distinct architectural character, the light-filled dance facilities will have their own identity while harmonizing with the larger project. The Colburn Center will be equipped to take a modern approach to multi-media technology and production. The facilities include commercial-quality recording and streaming capabilities, and performance spaces will be outfitted with state-of-the-art lighting. Public spaces include an outdoor plaza, giving visitors a front-row seat to the performing arts, and gardens which provide much-needed green space and pedestrian access to nearby public transit hubs.

view from Hill Street and 2nd Street intersection

colburn president sel kardan comments: ‘With great joy and excitement, we share the design of Frank Gehry’s multi-dimensional project, which will welcome our students, performing artists, and audiences from across los angeles.The Colburn Center is a physical manifestation of the school’s founding principle of ‘access to excellence,’ allowing Colburn to continue and expand our educational and performance activities in a design which breaks down barriers between audience and performer and reveals the educational process. We look forward to collaborating with our artistic partners in Terri and Jerry Kohl hall, which complements the other stellar performance spaces in Downtown Los Angeles.’

performance by the Colburn Conservatory’s Pep Band | image © Loreen Sarkis

inside the 1,000-seat Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall | image © Gehry Partners

Reference

Architecture

TO Arquitectura creates vaulted Mexico music school with reclaimed masonry

By Zarkon Group,12/10/2023

Mexican studio TO Arquitectura has worked with the local community to create a music school that features a vault made from recycled and donated masonry in Mexico City.

Known as the Kithara Music Kiosk, the 645-square foot (60-square metre) project sits on an 860-square foot (80-square metre) corner lot in the Yuguelito neighbourhood. TO Arquitectura completed the project in March of 2022.

An arched stone music hall made of stone with cacti — TO Arquitectura has built a music pavilion in Mexico City

Yuguelito is located in Iztapalapa, an area that experiences high levels of conflict due to violence, poor soil quality and water scarcity.

Set along the base of the Xaltocan Volcano, an earthquake in 1985 reduced Yuguelito to rubble, and the community has been working to improve the soil for construction and to re-establish the residential area for the last forty years.

A woman pours out water next to a music kiosk — It is made of recycled and donated materials

In 2015, the Kithara Project – a classical guitar education program based in Boston, Massachusetts – arrived in the area to offer free music lessons to the community using one of the most popular instruments in the world.

To show their appreciation, the community members donated a small plot next to the local library for a guitar classroom, and TO Arquitectura held a workshop with the guitar students to develop the designs for a music school.

Hall with wooden ceiling and large doors — It was built for a community recovering from an earthquake that occurred more than 40 years ago

The resulting structure is a rectangular space that sits diagonally on its site, orienting toward the volcano and the intersection rather than the street grid. This allows the building to be opened up to the views when it serves as a stage for events in the neighbourhood.

The team employed recycled and donated materials and labour from three local builders.

Guitar man playing for audience — The vault was oriented towards the volcano and town

The open-air, pavilion-like vault is composed of different types of donated masonry, including red brick, cement blocks, volcanic stone, and a red stone called tezontle.

The two-storey vault serves as a shelter for a wooden stand made of reclaimed lumber. A set of concrete stairs climbs up to a set of raked, wooden bleachers that form the classroom space.

Aerial view of Kithara Music Kiosk — It sits on a small, donated plot

A small restroom is tucked underneath the staircase and the landing is used as a teaching platform.

The underside of the bleachers functions as a bandstand with double-height wooden doors swinging open to the community. The reclaimed wood was cut into small sections and assembled like tiles over the doors to create a varied pattern.

Light and airflow through the ground-floor space from doors on each end, while mismatched ceramic pendant lights serve as a small suspended detail.

The combination of wood and masonry creates “an acoustic balance between sound absorption and reverberation,” the studio said.

An arched music school in Mexico City — It employs rainwater capture techniques

Integrated metal scuppers run along the intersection of the vault and the wall and capture rainwater that is piped into a collection chamber and a small garden.

“Nowadays Kithara Music Kiosk has surpassed its intended uses, and the community has used it for making different events like theatre arts presentations, choir concerts and different types of social gatherings,” the studio said.

“It has a personal space scale but it definitely resonates as a collective space.”

Kithara Music Kiosk has been shortlisted in the small architecture project category of the Dezeen Awards 2023.

TO leaders Carlos Facio and José Amozurruita are also members of Mexico City’s Colectivo C733 with Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, and Israel Espín. Together they have created a brick music school with a coconut wood roof in Nacajuca and a market with an inverted trapezoid-shaped roof structure in Matamoros.

The photography is by Jaime Navarro and Santiago Arau.

Project credits:

Architecture: TO (Carlos Facio, José Amozurrutia)
Project team: Lizeth Ríos, Úrsula Rebollar, Lena Arsenijevic
Client: Matthew Rode, Kithara Foundation
Structural: Armando Pelcastre
Construction: TO, maestro Pablo Escobar
Landscape: Entorno, Tonatiuh Martínez

Reference

Architecture

five wooden house-shaped volumes compose nursery school in tokyo

By Zarkon Group,25/09/2023

himawari nursery school reimagines early childhood education

Akaike Tohyama Architects designs Himawari Nursery School in Musashimurayama City, Tokyo, relocating and expanding the original structure. Situated in the residential expanse extending toward the Musashino Plateau and Sayama Hills, the project reimagines early childhood education.

Departing from the previous two-story RC structure that segmented children’s activities, a single-story wooden structure rises to enrich interactions among children of varying ages. To achieve this, the design strategically places the nursery room, hall, and childcare functions on the first floor, while staff facilities, including the reception desk, are arranged on the second floor. This zoning strategy eliminates the division of children’s activities and fosters an environment conducive to cross-generational interaction.

all images by Kawasumi & Kobayashi Kenji Photo Office

nursery school becomes a dynamic playground

The entire site becomes a ‘playground’ where children are encouraged to explore both indoor and outdoor realms. Given the necessity for a single-story wooden structure, coupled with considerations for bicycle parking, childcare areas, and site conditions, the design team forms a compact schoolyard. Rather than opting for a single expansive playground, the approach scatters smaller play areas across the site. This arrangement integrates the ‘playground’ within the architectural volumes, culminating in a circulation system that seamlessly connects the interior and exterior. The plan offers a variety of play activities facilitated by accessible openings from nursery rooms and the hall, uneven terrain, diverse yard pavement textures, and pockets of green.

Himawari Nursery School is situated in a residential area of Musashimurayama City in Tokyo

House-Shaped Volumes Embrace a Child-Friendly Atmosphere

At the heart of the School’s plan lie five wooden house-shaped volumes that echo the scale of surrounding detached houses. The design maintains a low flat roof height, complemented by high ceilings, creating a gentle structure that seamlessly blends into the local townscape. Exposed wooden beams envelop the space in warmth, and each volume boasts a distinct structure, lending character to individual areas. Wood extends to the exterior and walls, enveloping the entire building in a child-friendly, inviting ambiance.

To seamlessly integrate the kindergarten into the neighborhood, the building’s volume is thoughtfully dispersed throughout the site, with the yard nestled within the architectural margins. The design introduces a walkway that connects the small garden with an alley-like path, allowing children to roam both indoors and outdoors. The small yard fosters unrestricted play for daily childcare. Himawari Nursery School redefines early childhood education, promoting childhood exploration and community integration.

five wooden house-shaped volumes that echo the scale of surrounding detached houses

the site becomes a ‘playground’ where children are encouraged to explore both indoor and outdoor realms

the small yard fosters unrestricted play for daily childcare

exposed wooden beams envelop the space in warmth, and each volume boasts a distinct structure

Reference

Architecture

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects creates low-energy school in California

By Zarkon Group,09/09/2023

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects has designed a school building that prioritises low-carbon solutions and water retention on restored woodlands outside of San Francisco.

Called The Science and Environmental Center, the structure is an expansion of the campus for the Nueva School in Hillsborough, Silicon Valley.

The campus comprises an 11,600-square-foot (1,077 square-metre) two-storey building on a 33-acre site, with an oak forest that was restored as part of the project.

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects Environmental School — Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects has created an expansion to a California primary school campus

“The design integrates straightforward, appropriate, and cost-effective sustainable design solutions that provide practical and poetic connections between people and the natural world,” Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects told Dezeen.

“The building shape echoes the landform, following the topography of the hillside to minimize excavation and maximize outdoor education space that extend ground floor classrooms.”

“The narrow floor plate minimizes impacts to the existing natural features of the site, while maximizing daylighting and natural ventilation within the classrooms.”

Solar array on semi-circular school — It includes a number of passive and electric energy strategies

The building has a semi-circular form that allows for the eight classrooms to be exposed to light from two sides. With the inclusion of ceiling fans, this form allowed for mechanical heating and cooling to be mostly eliminated from the project, according to the studio.

Wood cladding wraps one side of the structure almost completely, and was also used generously for the classroom interiors. The wood was chosen based on FSC certifications.

Elevated walkway with school in background — An elevated walkway connects the new structure to the other campus buildings

The inside of the semi-circle was clad in steel and aluminium. As much as 15 per cent of these materials – as well as the cotton insulation – were garnered from recycled materials, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects said.

In order to connect the new structure with previous school buildings on the site, the studio included an elevated walkway called the Canopy Walk, which connects to the upper level of the centre and expands outward into the forested site to provide a vantage point for the students.

This second-floor circulation also acts as a sunshade for the classrooms below.

The Science and Environmental Center was designed to be a net zero campus and the school runs only on electricity, with much of the power generated from a 70-kilowatt array of solar panels placed on its roof.

Wood lookout — It features FSC-certified wood cladding

In response to the water shortage issues in California, the design also features a number of water retention strategies.

“As climate change continues to impact California’s potable water supply, the project takes an active role in reducing potable water use by 89 per cent below baseline,” said the studio.

Classroom in environmental school — It has eight classrooms for young students

The goal of the centre, which serves the school’s 500 students, is to “foster social acuity and environmental citizenship”, according to the studio.

The Nueva School‘s Hillsborough campus serves primary school children, while its San Mateo campus serves high school students.

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects has designed other buildings in the region that prioritise strategies geared towards environmental and social ends, including a design centre in Berkeley and a housing complex for people with autism.

The photography is by Richard Barnes and Bruce Damonte.

Reference

Architecture

Colectivo C733 tops brick music school with soaring timber roof in Mexico

By Zarkon Group,06/06/2023

Mexican studio Colectivo C733 has created a brick music school in Nacajuca, Mexico that includes two structures and a lofty, cantilevered roof made of coconut wood.

The Mexico City-based collective completed the 1,325-square metre (120-square metre) Casa de Música in 2021.

Exterior of the brick Casa de Musica school by Colectivo C733 with cantilevered timber roofs — Colectivo C733 added a soaring coconut wood roof to the music school

The facility is part of the state’s urban development program and “provides a space for social gatherings with warm materials and natural ventilation, while musicians benefit from spacious, isolated classrooms with state-of-the-art equipment,” C733 told Dezeen.

Casa de Música is composed of two volumes connected by a public boulevard.

Exterior of the brick Casa de Musica school by Colectivo C733 with large windows and a cantilevered timber roof — The school is located in the Mexican city of Nacajuca

The larger volume – an open-plan community centre built on the foundations of a previous structure – boasts a large offset gable roof with one roof plane extending past the ridge line and cantilevering over a skylight and the opposite roof plane.

The north and south sides are supported by a series of double brick walls that hold the 24-metre trusses. The west end is transparent with rectangular glass panels shielded from the street by a porous brick screen, while the east end holds a service core.

Exterior of the Casa de Musica school with extended brick walls and cantilevered timber roofs — Double brick walls support the roof structure

The social space also holds a mezzanine stage for workshops and local musicians.

The smaller volume is the music school — consisting of eight classrooms, a cafeteria, restrooms and management offices — that reflects the rhythm of the community centre’s structure through compact spaces arranged in a line.

“The sloping roof of the building creates a double-height space in each of these areas, with an upper terrace offering views of the treetops,” the team said.

Both buildings feature local coconut wood, brick partitions, and clay tiles that provide warmth, natural freshness, and acoustic control. Wooden doors open between each structural bay, creating a loggia-like complex that opens the facility to the public.

An expansive interior space with a large pitched timber roof and glazed gable end — The larger of the two structures is a community centre

“The project draws inspiration from the traditional Mesoamerican pocho dance and contemporary expressions, incorporating warm materials, natural ventilation, and a focus on local resources to create a space that pays tribute to its location and enhances existing elements,” the team said.

The team looked beyond the site to prioritize the land on which the centre sits.

A covered exterior walkway with a brick floor and timber walls next to a glazed gable-ended building — Brick, wood and clay materials were chosen to add warmth

“It is essential that projects pay tribute to their location, particularly when they have the potential to highlight what already exists,” the team said.

The project faces a polluted creek; but the roof directs and collects rainwater, filtering it for use in restrooms, passing it through biodigesters and biofilters in a wetland-type treatment and discharging clean water into the local river as a water management alternative.

Two external brick walls topped with pitched timber roofs — A boulevard connects the school’s two structures

The locally sourced coconut wood captures carbon dioxide, generates a smaller carbon footprint than other materials and promotes both craftsmanship and employment for the local workforce.

C733 includes designers Gabriela Carrillo, Carlos Facio, Eric Valdez, Israel Espín and José Amozurrutia

In Matamoros just off the Texas-Mexico border, C733 created a brick shopping centre with inverted trapezoidal roof forms. Other projects with timber roofs in Mexico include a holiday home in Avándaro by Estudio MMX.

The photography is by Yoshihiro Koitani.

Project credits:
Colectivo C733: Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, Israel Espín, José Amozurrutia, Carlos Facio (TO)
Design team: Álvaro Martínez, Fernando Venado, Eduardo Palomino
Executive architect: Leticia Sánchez, Victor Arriata
Structures: LABG (Eric Valdez), GIEE, GECCO Ingeniería
Electrical and mechanical engineering: Enrique Zenón
Landscape architects: Taller de Paisaje Hugo Sánchez
Other consultants: Carlos Hano, Laurent Herbiet
Contractor: Francisco Tripp – Grupo Plarciac
Client: SEDATU, Municipio de Nacajuca

Reference

Architecture

Is This the Most Beautiful Architecture School Project Ever Designed?

By Zarkon Group,25/03/2023

“Artisanal” is a word one hears a lot these days, especially in Brooklyn. Consumers are getting tired of the same old same old and long for one-of-a-kind products, preferably those made by hand. Artisans themselves are looking to escape a mainstream workforce where workers rarely get to take ownership over their own projects.

When she was an architecture student, Joanne Chen seized on this trend in an imaginative manner, designing a factory where master craftsmen could work alongside one another. Her drawings are the kind that would be perfect for Architizer’s inaugural Vision Awards, a competition that gives talented creators — including architectural photographers, filmmakers, visualizers, drawers, model-makers and more — a chance to showcase their work. With categories for students and professionals, the awards recognize emerging and established talent.

Pre-launch Registration is open today — sign up for the Vision Awards to be the first to receive updates and begin preparing your entries:

In Chen’s vision, artisans would not only ply their trades but would also have access to recreational and educational facilities. It is a unique facility designed for those who wish to find enjoyment in their work.

“The project raises a critique on the contemporary view of work as compensatory toil rather than fulfillment and pleasure,” said Chen. “The building adopts an interwoven spatial language, interspersing production spaces with gardens and waterscapes to create a multi-orientational experience while preserving the building’s sense of transparency.”

The proposal places the factory on the picturesque banks of the river Thames in London and includes workshops for stained-glass-makers, weavers, furniture designers and more. Courtyards featuring pensive lily ponds are laced throughout the scheme. Although this is a workplace, beauty is integrated into the functional spaces. Decorative doorways connect rooms with stunning glazed ceilings, and walls are lined with wallpaper featuring intricate vegetal motifs.

“The ornate design is a reaction against the minimalist Scandinavian design that is ubiquitous in today’s homes thanks to furniture manufacturers like Ikea,” explained Chen.

Readers might be surprised to learn that disenchantment with mass production is nothing new. In Victorian England, members of the Arts and Crafts movement called for an integration of the arts with everyday life.

They privileged the handmade over the factory-made and wrote treatises that romanticized the medieval guilds of centuries past, an age in which the products of daily life were built by master craftsmen who honed their skills over a lifetime.

One of the most interesting figures of the Arts and Crafts movement was the writer, textile designer and socialist thinker William Morris (1834–1896). In essays like “Art and Life,” Morris outlined his proposal to transform society in a way that would eliminate drudgery.

His dream was a world in which work was a sphere of life where people could feel independent, creative and fulfilled. “The true secret of happiness,” he once wrote, “lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”

Morris’s idealism was a major inspiration for Chen, whose factory is modeled on design principles set down in one of Morris’s texts. Like Morris, Chen wishes to reimagine the factory as a space for joy and exploration, rather than mere industrial efficiency. Many of the details of her proposal — including the striking wallpaper designs — are inspired by Morris’s own sketches and textile designs.

In terms of architectural inspirations, the project possesses a resemblance to Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery, a moving project defined by pristine concrete forms and reflecting pools.

Chen’s project was completed as part of her Masters program at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. She worked in collaboration with the architect Niall McLaughlin as well as Michiko Sumi and Yeoryia Manolopoulou.

Architizer’s Vision Awards seeks to honor theoretical works that, like Chen’s imaginative drawing, might never result in a built project, but deserve recognition for the inspiration they spark. From fantastical renderings to intricate drawings, conceptual works tell powerful stories about architecture and form a creative catalyst for the profession:

All images courtesy of Bartlett School of Architecture

Reference

Architecture

Henning Larsen uses natural materials at Feldballe School in Denmark

By Zarkon Group,11/03/2023

Straw, eelgrass and wood feature in this bio-based extension that Danish architecture studio Henning Larsen has added to Feldballe School in Denmark.

The angular timber-clad extension, which contains science classrooms, is intended to demonstrate the potential of natural materials in architecture.

It was designed by Henning Larsen with the aim of having the carbon sequestered in the construction materials help to offset the building’s lifetime emissions.

Aerial view of Feldballe School in Denmark — Henning Larsen has extended the Feldballe School in Denmark

“At the core of this project is investment in education,” lead architect Magnus Reffs Kramhøft told Dezeen.

“We wanted to show the school pupils that there is a better way to build, that it’s possible to design a non-toxic building.”

The locally sourced biomaterials used in the project were chosen for their ability to sequester, or store, carbon from the atmosphere.

Aerial view of Feldballe School extension by Henning Larsen Architects — It has an angular form

“These materials are viable alternatives to concrete, brick and steel, and crucially, materials that sequester rather than emit carbon dioxide, are totally free of toxic chemicals, fire-safe, and offer both efficient insulation and a great indoor climate,” said the studio.

Among them is a wall panel system made of compressed straw in wooden cassettes, along with a timber roof.

Timber-clad school building — The building makes use of bio-based materials

Inside, untreated plywood is used for built-in furniture and is also left exposed on the walls.

The classrooms, which sit under pitched roofs, feature timber beams and straw-panel ceilings that are left visible throughout too, helping to help create a warm atmosphere.

Wood-lined facade of Henning Larsen-designed building — Timber lines its exterior

Solar panels on the roof of the building generate electricity to help power it, while its interiors are naturally ventilated.

This natural ventilation system is aided by eelgrass, a type of fast-growing seaweed, which is used in the form of filters that pull in air through the facade.

Wood-lined building with solar panels on the roof — Solar panels provide electricity for the building

“The natural materials lend the extension a warm, welcoming expression, and because there is no need for large ventilation ducts or suspended ceilings, the rooms are spacious and high-ceilinged,” said Henning Larsen.

“The permeable characteristics of straw allow humidity to escape, and the interior walls consist of clay plaster, supporting its diffusion qualities.”

According to Henning Larsen, the building’s carbon footprint will equate to six kilograms of carbon dioxide per square metre every year, over a lifespan of 50 years.

This surpasses Danish standards, which currently require all construction projects to keep below 12 kilograms of carbon dioxide per square metre every year.

Interior of Feldballe School extension by Henning Larsen Architects — It contains science classrooms inside

“These targets refer to a project’s entire footprint from operational emissions to those associated with the manufacturing of materials and their installation,” said the studio.

“For reference, the European average amounts to between 500 to 1,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide per square metre.”

Classroom interior with wooden walls — Plywood is used on the walls and for furniture

Henning Larsen also said that the extension has the potential to be easily disassembled and reused or recycled in the future.

“The true measure of the project’s impact lies in what it will offer to the many children of Feldballe School as well as the local community through the years,” concluded Kramhøft. “So far, the choice of materials has proven conducive to a healthy and pleasant learning environment for students and teachers.”

Based in Copenhagen, Henning Larsen is an architecture studio founded by the Danish architect Henning Larsen in 1959. It was awarded the European Prize for Architecture in 2019.

The studio also recently completed a mass-timber centre for car manufacturer Volvo and a timber church with trapezoidal roofs in Copenhagen.

Bio-based extension by Henning Larsen Architects — Straw panels cover the ceilings

The studio hopes that its use of bio-based materials will encourage their uptake in the industry and lead to more efforts to reduce carbon emissions in construction.

“We know that we cannot wait for policymakers to push the green agenda, we must face the weight of our design decisions headfirst, altering our practices, bettering ourselves, and pushing our industry,” concluded the studio’s director of innovation Jakob Strømann-Andersen.

The photography is by Rasmus Hjortshøj.

Reference

Architecture

triangular metal roof crowns elevated sports hall in taiwan school extension

By Zarkon Group,05/02/2023

Office aaa attaches ‘Shui Yuan Assembly Hall’ in Taiwan school

Office aaa undertook the design of ‘Shui Yuan Assembly Hall’, a 2-story building on the north side of the campus in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. Occupying 1,894 sqm, the scheme hosts two badminton courts, a performance stage, and three multi-purpose classrooms. The site of the building is situated on the boundary line between Hsinchu City and the suburbs, surrounded by a picturesque landscape.

The design team raised the main building on colorful columns, thus creating a semi-outdoor playground below. This high-ceiling pilotis enables a smoother transition from the courtyard to the sports field, allowing for visual communication between the spaces. A vast triangular metal roof crowns the sports hall attachment, generating a generous space inside.

all images by Yu-Cheng Chao, unless stated otherwise

office aaa’s sports hall captures the picturesque surroundings

The architects at office aaa sought to create a protected space that at the same time frames a sweeping view of the surrounding greenery. Thus, a large amount of glazing surrounds the building, forming a well-lit and protected arena.

Construction-wise, the raised structure follows the original configuration of the school complex, connecting the yard directly to the main building through an external staircase. The stair is encased by a red mesh which visually matches a red A-shaped column at the corner of the building and adds some vibrant splashes to the otherwise muted palette. This column rises and penetrates the slab above, holding the roof in place.

‘The structural system and column spacing are optimized for the function of different spaces. The classrooms have small spans and are constructed with a simple concrete frame; the 2nd floor is a thick solid concrete slab with lattice beams to provide a bigger span lifting the stage and courts above; the big angled roof supported by slanted steel beams, the angle has been strategically designed to accommodate the flight path of badminton balls,’ explain the architects. The symbolic column, triangular roof, and red staircase become the key features of ‘Shui Yuan Assembly Hall’.

vast triangular metal roof tops the sports hall attachment

image by Tze-Chun Wei | red grid wraps the external staircase

Reference

Interior Design

Ten Bauhaus interiors that draw on the principles of design school

By Zarkon Group,13/11/2022

A hotel that pays tribute to early German modernism and an apartment within a ski resort designed by architect Marcel Breuer are among the projects collected in our latest lookbook, which explores interiors informed by the Bauhaus.

The most influential art and design school in history, the Bauhaus’ was established in Germany in 1919 and although it closed just over a decade later continues to influence interior designers today.

Work produced by students and teachers during the school’s 14-year history, centred on founder Walter Gropius’ ethos that art and craft should marry to create a new architecture.

The below projects feature distinctly Bauhaus elements including chrome tubular chairs, geometric shapes, primary colours and abstract textiles.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring living rooms that use warm neutrals to create a cosy ambience, bedrooms with wardrobes that are disguised as walls and contemporary living rooms in Georgian and Victorian homes.

Interiors of Flaine holiday apartment, revamped by Volta — Photo is by Arthur Fechoz

Cassiopeia Apartment, France, by Volta

Tasked with reviving the “Bauhaus spirit” of this apartment set within a Breuer-designed ski resort, architecture studio Volta added soft furnishings in mustard yellows and royal blues, referencing the colour palette of movement.

Armchairs with steel frames that resemble Breuer’s Wassily Chair have also been used to decorate the living room.

“The Bauhaus movement was predominant in the design of the project,” said the studio. “It has influenced its history, its choice of materials and its furniture. The challenge was to revive its influences in a contemporary context.”

Find out more about Cassiopeia apartment ›

De Maria by The MP Shift — Photo is by Nicole Franzen

De Maria, US, by The MP Shift

Design studio The MP Shift wanted De Maria, a contemporary American restaurant in Manhattan’s Nolita neighbourhood to look like an artist’s studio, complete with white brickwork and pink-tinted plaster.

The studio paid tribute to Bauhaus and 1970s Soho style by adding sofas upholstered in tan-coloured leather, orb-shaped pendant lamps and simple pieces of art with triangular shapes.

Find out more about De Maria ›

Nadzieja restaurant designed by Agnieszka Owsiany Studio — Photo courtesy of Agnieszka Owsiany Studio

Nadzieja, Poland, by Agnieszka Owsiany Studio

Design influences from the Bauhaus collide with Israeli flavours at Nadzieja, a restaurant in Poznań, Poland designed by local studio Agnieszka Owsiany Studio.

Filled with brown-leather chairs with tubular steel frames, high granite ivory counters and spherical pendant lights, the eatery has a bright and warm interior that draws parallels with the large number of Bauhaus buildings found in Tel Aviv.

Find out more about Nadzieja ›

Schwan Locke hotel Munich by Fettle — Photo is by Edmund Dabney

Schwan Locke Hotel, Germany, by Fettle

Influenced by the work of proto-Bauhaus association Deutsche Werkbund, design studio Fettle wanted the interiors of aparthotel Locke to be at once nostalgic and distinctly contemporary.

Its 151 apartment rooms feature a combination of light timber, raw plaster, chrome, steel and mohair materials set against a colourful yet muted pink and green backdrop.

Find out more about Schwan Locke hotel ›

A living room with a geometric rug — Photo courtesy of Kasthall

Quilt by Ellinor Eliasson

In this living room, Swedish designer Ellinor Eliasson’s tufted rug acts as a centrepiece and gives the space a warm and richly textured look.

The graphic, modernist rug recalls the work of renowned Bauhaus weaving workshop teacher Anni Albers, who is best known for her textiles and recognisable lines, colours and forms.

Find out more about Quilt ›

Members' Club areas divided by metal shelving — Photo is by Andrew Joseph Woomer

Soho House Nashville, US, by Soho House

At the Soho House in Nashville, guests can enjoy a taste of the city’s musical heritage while uncovering the building’s industrial past as a knitting mill.

Designed to feel warm and rich, much like the rock and roll, jazz and blues music that Nashville is known for, the accommodation features bespoke lamps, brassy industrial finishes and plenty of tubular decor to create an industrial interior that still feels modern.

Find out more about Soho House Nashville ›

53 West 53 by Andre Fu 36B — Photo is by Stephen Kent Johnson

53 West Apartment, US, by André Fu and AFSO

Architect André Fu and his Hong Kong studio AFSO referenced the geometric designs of the Bauhaus school for 53 West Apartment, a model unit set within architect Jean Nouvel’s New York tower block.

The two-bedroom apartment is peppered with sculptural pieces of furniture such as a room divider comprised of dark wood and rods, which compliments the existing walnut doors and oak floors and cabinets.

Find out more about 53 West Apartment ›

RP House by Estudio BG — Photo is by Fran Parente

RP House, Brazil, by Estúdio BG

Inside this stripped-back two-storey residence called RP House, black steelwork, bare walls and simple white volumes stacked on top of each other come together to create a sparse yet light-filled Brazilian home.

São Paulo studio Estúdio BG said that the design referenced the principles of repeatability and standardisation advocated by designers of the Bauhaus.

“This 1920s movement was characterised by the replication of design in an industrial format,” the studio said. “The simple geometric volume, the elimination of decorative elements and the use of the roof as terraces reinforce the principles adopted in the project.”

Find out more about RP House ›

Dome House by Pavlina Williams — Photo is by Krista Jahnke

Palm Springs Dome House, US, by Pavlina Williams

Los Angeles-based architect Pavlina Williams added multiple windows and knocked down several walls in her renovation of this Californian house, transforming it from a gloomy residence into a desert sun trap.

In the open-plan living area, a caramel leather Wassily Chair by the Hungarian architect and designer Breuer sits alongside a spiral stainless-steel staircase that leads up to a loft.

Find out more about Palm Springs Dome House ›

KaDaWe department store in Berlin — Photo is by Derek Hudson

KaDeWe, Germany, by India Mahdavi

French architect India Mahdavi borrowed from the Bauhaus’ preoccupation with strong graphic lines and shapes in her renovation of department store KaDeWe by adding sweeping black, white and grey stripes of Santa Margherita to the floor of the womenswear section.

Elsewhere in the 2,000-square-metre shopping space, pink carpeting is set off against triple-tiered, brass clothes rails and olive green and dusty pink velvet curtains.

Find out more about KaDeWe ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bathrooms where the sink takes centre stage, homes with arched openings that add architectural interest and bookshops designed to enhance the browsing experience.

Reference

Sustainable News

Farmland informs design of school building by Eskew Dumez Ripple

By Zarkon Group,18/10/2022

American studio Eskew Dumez Ripple has used features of vernacular architecture in creative ways to form a sustainable, multipurpose school building.

The Home Building is part of the Thaden School, a private school in Bentonville, Arkansas, that serves students in grades six to 12.

Rainwater in pond — Rainwater is collected and stored in a pond, or “water lab”, at the Thaden School. Photo is by Tim Hursley

With a focus on learning by doing, students engage in activities such as filmmaking, constructing bicycles, and growing and preparing food.

The school is backed by the Walton Family Foundation, which is led by the founders of the retail giant Walmart.

The school’s 26-acre (10-hectare) campus was master-planned by Eskew Dumez Ripple – a studio based in New Orleans, Louisiana – in collaboration with local firm Marlon Blackwell Architects, landscape architects Andropogon and engineering firm CMTA.

School building in Arkansas — The team took cues from the area’s pastoral heritage for the architecture. Photo is by Dero Sanford

Eskew Dumez Ripple was tasked with designing the Home Building – a 34,000-square-foot (3,159-square-metre) facility that holds a dining hall, teaching kitchen, bookstore, library and lounge/study spaces.

“The Home Building serves as both the social and spiritual center for students,” the architects said.

Eskew Dumez Ripple study room — Eskew Dumez Ripple added a study room to the project. Photo is by Dero Sanford

While designing the facility, the team took cues from the area’s pastoral heritage, including its vernacular architecture.

“The design reconciles seemingly contradictory notion: lofty ambitions for the building’s design with the humble nature of local, vernacular architecture,” the firm said.

Gabled slatted canopy — A gabled, slatted canopy made of poplar wood features in the dining room. Photo is by Tim Hursley

Zigzag in plan, the wood-framed building stretches across the site, bending at several points to create porches and courtyards.

Facades are clad in shiplap cedar siding and board-and-batten siding made of white, fibre-cement Hardie panels.

The building’s different parts are topped with either single-slope or gabled roofs, all of which are covered with standing seam metal.

Within the building, the team used basic finishes such as concrete flooring and white-painted sheetrock, and incorporated special accents like custom millwork in the study hall and a live-edge wooden table in the teaching kitchen.

Eskew Dumez Ripple interior space — Eskew Dumez Ripple used basic finishes within the facility. Photo is by Dero Sanford

At the heart of the facility is the dining room, which rises to 38 feet (12 metres) at its highest point and features a glazed wall. Hung from large, exposed trusses is a gabled, slatted canopy made of poplar wood.

“The design employs common materials and methods in uncommon ways,” the team said.

The building has a number of sustainable features, including low-flow plumbing fixtures, a geothermal well and an energy recovery wheel.

Rainwater is collected and stored in a pond, or “water lab”, that serves as a teaching tool for students. The landscape is filled with native species like prairie grass and pecan trees.

The building has a number of sustainable features. Photo is by Tim Hursley

“Sustainability is placed at the forefront of the students’ education, and the landscape functions as a botanical textbook rife with plants that represent a microcosm of the region’s native species,” the team said.

With plans to install a photovoltaic array in the future, the building is designed to achieve an Energy Use Intensity score of 23. A score of 25 or less for a school building indicates that the building is “zero energy ready”, according to the architects.

Thaden School building is located in Arkansas. Photo is by Dero Sanford

The Home Building at Thaden School was a recipient of the 2022 AIA Architecture Awards.

Other projects there include the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, designed by Sadie Architects, and a co-working, dining and recreational venue by Brand Bureau and Modus Studio that is located within a former industrial building.

The photography is by Tim Hursley and Dero Sanford.

Project credits:

Architect: Eskew Dumez Ripple
Landscape architect: Andropogon Associates
Civil engineering: Ecological Design Group
MEP engineering: CMTA Consulting Engineers
Structural engineering: Engineering Consultants
Project management: Aegis Property Group | WEI
General contractor: Milestone
Irrigation: Aqueous
Signage and wayfinding: Tom Zetek

Reference

School

frank gehry designs new center for young artists at LA’s colburn school

frank gehry-designed school: breaking ground ceremony

a hall for all

the 1,000 seat theater, ‘terri and jerry kohl hall’

the theater and dance studios

TO Arquitectura creates vaulted Mexico music school with reclaimed masonry

five wooden house-shaped volumes compose nursery school in tokyo

himawari nursery school reimagines early childhood education

nursery school becomes a dynamic playground

House-Shaped Volumes Embrace a Child-Friendly Atmosphere

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects creates low-energy school in California

Colectivo C733 tops brick music school with soaring timber roof in Mexico

Is This the Most Beautiful Architecture School Project Ever Designed?

Henning Larsen uses natural materials at Feldballe School in Denmark

triangular metal roof crowns elevated sports hall in taiwan school extension

Office aaa attaches ‘Shui Yuan Assembly Hall’ in Taiwan school

office aaa’s sports hall captures the picturesque surroundings

Ten Bauhaus interiors that draw on the principles of design school

Farmland informs design of school building by Eskew Dumez Ripple

Get in touch

about us

Company info

Useful Links

Newsletter