This project by students at the University of Talca has a great simplicity and whimsical nature through the transformation of a vernacular object into a larger collective and mutated program. The installation defines the plazas and performance spaces without an intervention at the pedestrian level and gives the plazas an enclosed space without restricting exposure to light and air. I think it’s a great idea and I wish the PS1 court installations were lighter like this one is, instead of mossy and furry blobs.

A lot of the comments on the ArchDaily site talk about the students copying other people’s ideas of umbrella installations. I have said it before, there are no new original concepts architecture – the same principles have been in use for thousands of years, just with different skins. So be careful what you claim.

via A+U and images via ArchDaily.

Who knew architects could conceive of films that weren’t about themselves? A long time ago, Lebbeus Woods wrote a fiction about how architecture influences society. The film was never made, but his screenplay and storyboards can been seen in this post.

I love the slatted facade of the Sunset Cabin by Taylor Smyth Architects (and think it is anything but primitive). From the website:

“Nestled into a slope on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe, this one room sleeping cabin is a simple but sophisticated Canadian bunkie, evoking the “primitive hut” of branches constructed in the wilderness. The clients desired a private retreat from the main cottage further up the hill that would also enhance their enjoyment of the surrounding landscape in a location previously used to watch the sunset.”

Via Design Milk.

BNKR Arquitectura’s La Estancia Chapel sits in a colonial garden in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The facade is composed of structural glass channels, spaced 10cm apart, to allow for a visual connection between the exterior and the interior, and to allow for ventilation. The symbolic cross is created from the negative space of the structural glass.

Via CoolBoom.

Dellekamp Arquitectos sent over their La Capital project – the facade is divided into three parts – a glass base, a patterned screen, and a solid, white band – a gradient of transparency. I kind of wish that the layers weren’t so defined, but I still think it works nicely, and I love what the pattern in the facade does for the interior space.

Photo Credits: Iwan Baan

Expo 2010, held in Shanghai, is racing towards being ready for the opening ceremonies. Countries are invited to build pavilions to showcase their cultural character toward the central theme of the Expo: Better City, Better Life. Above is the UK pavilion, with its fiberoptic ‘needles’ that light the pavilion and site. Below is the China pavilion. Called the ‘Crown of the East’, it draws from ancient building types but modern materials and methods.

Take a look around the Expo 2010 site for more pavilion designs. Honestly, some of them are quite terrible, but some are worth a look.

It’s interesting how two people can have different ideas about a city and formalize them in two different ways, but still have (almost) the same name. Another nice similarity is that they are both self-published works. Above is Tobias Frere-Jones’s project Alphabet City and below is the cover and a page from Steven Holl’s Pamphlet Architecture #5: Alphabetical City. The first observes the typographic range of the city’s old storefronts and signage, while the latter observes the city’s plan typologies.

Alphabet City via Noisy Decent Graphics.

This is a beautiful project by 4 Plius Architects. The Pašilaičiai Parish Church is located in Vilnius, Lithuania. I like the exaggerated scale and the quiet facade. I can’t tell if these are actual photographs or if they are renderings…any thoughts?

Via Arch Daily.

The Outpost, by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen, is a place for art sited in the sparse setting of central Idaho. At first, I thought the relationship of the house to its site was odd. The exterior is bare CMU block with just the few penetrations for glass. And the long and high garden wall separates a tree colonnade from the principal site, even though there is not a lot to separate from in the area.

Then the photographs draw you inside the house, and the connection to the landscape becomes more clear. The large glass on the elevated level provides expansive views of the low and open landscape. The tree garden, surrounded and separated by the high wall, is place-less and retains no connection to the infertile site. As much as the exterior has a nice form, to me the project is about the experience of seeing one’s connection and disconnection from the site. This quality makes a perfect place to be quieted for the creation of art.

Sean and I finally made it to walk the Highline a few weekends ago (it’s taken me forever to get our photos together – sorry!). The Highline is being built in phases, and the Gansevoort St. – 20th St. section opened on June 8th. The Highline is an amazing asset to NYC – it offers great views of the city that you don’t normally get, and is a truly urban park experience. It also interacts with the Standard Hotel in a great way (unfortunately, our camera chip died, so all of my photos of the latter half of our walk are gone, including the photos of the Standard).

Diller Scofidio + Renfro did a wonderful job designing an interesting architectural experience within a very small space, by creating a series of events – a meandering concrete path, wildflower gardens, the 10th Avenue square/viewing portal…James Corner Field Operations did the landscape design. The Highline is only 1/3 done, so there are still a number of architectural pieces missing – the sundeck water feature and rail preserve, the Chelsea thicket, the 23rd St. lawn, the woodland flyover, the 26th St. view spur…Can’t wait for those portions to be done! My one criticism is that the park is so streamlined (this may change when the rest of the park gets built) – while there are some benches and stopping spots, they fill up pretty quickly, and you aren’t encouraged to sit anywhere except on those benches, so most of the time you keep moving. This detracts somewhat from the park experience, but I suppose it is an urban park, after all.

All renderings are by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and all photos are by Sub-Studio, except where noted otherwise.

Some shots of the concrete path and the way that they mesh with the plantings. To me it references the way that old railroad tracks often become overgrown by their surroundings.

Shots of the various types of benches. I love how the concrete planks are peeled up to become the wooden benches.

I thought the water fountains looked pretty haphazard…It would have been a lot cooler (although maybe impossible?) if the fountains were made out of the same material as the concrete. Would have been nice to have seen the water fountains treated in the same way that the benches are – as integrated pieces of the landscape.

Some of the larger lounging areas – I love the construction of the benches and lounge chairs – layered pieces of wood. They are beautifully made!

The 10th Avenue square/viewing portal is amazing – the path twists its way down to the viewing portal in a series of ramps. A series of steps allow you a space to sit and look out at 10th Ave. (That’s Sean hanging out on the steps below.)

Beautiful wildflowers…

Above are renderings of some of the areas that have yet to be built – the sundeck water feature and rail preserve (I think I’m most excited for this water feature/wading pool), the 23rd St. lawn, which will provide more rest area along the Highline, and the 26th St. view spur.

The woodland flyover, which looks like it will be amazing…

Some detail shots of artists’ installations, and remnants of the existing Highline conditions.

Sean and I are definitely going to have to make a trip back to the Highline to see it at night – I’m pretty sure it will be an entirely different experience.

Photos of the construction of the Highline (via thehighline.org).