Gas Station on Nuns Island

Design: Les Architectes FABG

English text (scroll down for French):

Conversion of Mies van der Rohe gas station on Nuns Island

Montreal, February 16, 2012 – Nun’s Island is part of the Hochelaga archipelago located immediately southwest of Montreal. It’s urbanization followed the opening of the Champlain bridge in 1962 under an ambitious master plan carried out by Metropolitan Structures, a real estate giant who had built numerous projects in Chicago with the collaboration of Mies Van der Rohe. The new community included three high rise apartment buildings by Mies office and it led, in 1966, to a commission from Standard Oil to design a prototypical gas station.

The station consists of two distinct volumes, one for car servicing and the other for sales, with a central pump island covered by a low steel roof that unifies the composition. The beams and columns were made of welded steel plates painted black that contrast with the white enamelled steel deck and bare fluorescent tubes.

Over the years, the interiors have been modified to incorporate a car wash on the sales side, the finishes, built-in furniture and equipment have been replaced and the custom made pumps removed. It ceased to be commercially operated in 2008 and the city of Montreal listed it as a heritage building in 2009 before initiating the project of a youth and senior activity centre. This simple program requires an open space for each group to congregate and participate in communal activities.

The senior group occupies the larger volume to the benefit of its sixty members who play bridge, prepare communal meals, dance or invite lecturers. Stacking chairs and tables allow multiple configurations of the room.

The younger group occupies the smaller volume. Teenagers meet there daily to play games, listen to music, organize parties and events under the supervision of educators.

The first architectural task was to meticulously restore the envelope of the building by dismantling and repairing the corroded curtain wall, repointing the brick work and repainting the structure.

The second architectural task was to develop strategies for the new mechanical and electrical needs that would not affect the integrity of the heritage values. We choose to implement solutions originating from the sustainable development field of research to achieve this goal. The new geothermal wells under the asphalt around the building provide the major part of the energy required to operate the building but they also radically diminish the size of the equipment and eliminate the need for a cooling tower on the roof of the building. The new stainless steel gas pumps are in fact air in take and out take devices that are linked by underground ducts to the HVAC system. They replace the louvers that we would have had to install on the building and this solution contributes to the pre-cooling or heating of the fresh air admitted, the canadian well effect.

The third task was to radicalize the building with the new interventions in order to emphasize its inherent qualities and the essential values that it embodies. Formal unity and simplicity is enhanced by making everything black (teenagers side) or white (elders side). The strength of the roof as a unifying device is reinforced by using the same rhythm of linear fluorescent lighting into the interior spaces (T-5 tubes on dimmers). Transparency is augmented by opening completely the view from one end to the other on the long axis and by using low-iron glass. Specific uses and functions have been integrated into freestanding built-in units that are formally mute to dissimulate the contingencies of daily life.

The project is not about the faithful restoration of a monument. It is an interpretation trying to touch and communicate the essence of an artistic vision formulated by someone else in response to a world that is no longer the same. Musicians do this every day.

Mies van der Rohe Gas Station Conversion – Building Information

Project’s name: Reconversion de la station service de Mies van der Rohe à l’Île des Soeurs Localisation: 201 rue Berlioz, Verdun, Québec
Client: Arrondissement de Verdun
Architect: Éric Gauthier
Team: Marc Paradis, Dominique Potvin, Jaime Lopez, Steve Montpetit
Engineers: Aecom
Builder: Norgéreq
Cost: 1.4 M $
End of project: Septembre 2011
Photographer: Steve Montpetit
Source: v2com.biz

French text:

Station Service de Mies van der Rohe

Reconversion de la station service de Mies van der Rohe à l’Île des Soeurs

Montréal, le 16 février 2012 – L’urbanisation rapide de l’Île-des-Sœurs, consécutive à l’inauguration du Pont Champlain en 1962, a été largement dirigée par Metropolitan Structures qui fût l’un des principaux clients américains de Mies van der Rohe. L’agence de celui-ci fût ici impliquée dans la conception de trois immeubles résidentiels et d’une station-service pour la Standard Oil, qui fût opérée commercialement jusqu’en 2008.

Le statut patrimonial qui lui fût conféré en 2009 par la Ville de Montréal a orienté la définition d’un projet de restauration et reconversion en centre communautaire intergénérationnel.Les aînés occupent le pavillon de mécanique automobile transformé en salle multifonctionnelle pour des activités de groupe variées incluant danse, bridge, yoga et banquets. Les jeunes obtiennent le pavillon de ventes pour tenir des activités sociales en présence d’éducateurs.

Il a tout d’abord fallu restaurer l’enveloppe du bâtiment puis mettre en œuvre des stratégies pour intégrer les nouveaux équipements mécaniques et électriques sans affecter la valeur patrimoniale du bâtiment. De nouveaux puits de géothermie fournissent la majeure partie de l’énergie requise pour chauffer et climatiser le bâtiment. Les gaines de ventilation circulant sous dalle sont également raccordées aux pompes à essence qui sont en fait des prises d’air frais. En tirant parti du principe du puits canadien, l’air est préchauffé (ou pré-refroidi) en circulant sous terre avant d’être admis dans le bâtiment.

Les interventions architecturales tentent de radicaliser les qualités inhérentes du bâtiment en accentuant la simplicité formelle, la continuité du toit et la transparence des pavillons. Les nouveaux équipements sont dissimulés à l’intérieur de blocs d’armoires, noirs chez les jeunes, blanc pour les aînés.

Mies van der Rohe Gas Station Conversion – Fiche Technique

Nom officiel du projet : Reconversion de la station service de Mies van der Rohe à l’Île des Soeurs
Localisation: 201 rue Berlioz, Verdun, Québec
Nom du client: Arrondissement de Verdun
Architectes: Éric Gauthier
Équipe: Marc Paradis, Dominique Potvin, Jaime Lopez, Steve Montpetit
Ingénieurs: Aecom
Entrepreneurs: Norgéreq
Coût des travaux: 1.4 M $
Date de finalisation du projet: Septembre 2011
Photographe: Steve Montpetit

Reconversion de la station service de Mies van der Rohe à l’Île des Soeurs, Montréal images / information from Les architectes FABG

Les Architectes FABG

Mies Van der Rohe

Project: Taipei Performing Arts Center
Status: Competition: 2008-2009.
Construction begins: 2012.
Scheduled completion: 2015
Client: Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government

Budget: Estimated: 5.4 billion Taiwan Dollars (around €140 million)
Program: Total 50,000m2. One 1,500-seat theatre and two 800-seat theatres
Height: 63m

Partners-in-charge: Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten
Associate-in-charge: Adam Frampton

Design team: Ibrahim Elhayawan with: Yannis Chan, Hin-Yeung Cheung, Jim Dodson, Inge Goudsmit, Alasdair Graham, Vincent Kersten, Chiaju Lin, Vivien Liu, Kai Sun Luk, Kevin Mak, Slobodan Radoman, Roberto Requejo, Saul Smeding, Elaine Tsui, Viviano Villarreal, Casey Wang, Leonie Wenz

Competition team: partners / designers: Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten, Ole Scheeren, and senior architects: André Schmidt, Mariano Sagasta and Adam Frampton, with: Erik Amir, Josh Beck, Jean- Baptiste Bruderer, David Brown, Andrew Bryant, Steven Chen, Dan Cheong, Ryan Choe, Antoine Decourt, Mitesh Dixit, Pingchuan Fu, Alexander Giarlis, Richard Hollington, Shabnam Hosseini, Sean Hoo, Takuya Hosokai, Miguel Huelga, Nicola Knop, Chiaju Lin, Sandra Mayritsch, Vincent McIlduff, Alexander Menke, Ippolito Pestellini, Gabriele Pitacco, Shiyun Qian, Joseph Tang, Agustin Perez-Torres, Xinyuan Wang, Ali Yildirim, Patrizia Zobernig

COLLABORATORS

Local architect: Artech Architects
Theatre consultant: dUCKS scéno, CSI
Interior designer: Inside Outside
Landscape designer: Inside Outside
Acoustic consultant: DHV
Structural engineer: Arup Structure, Evergreen
MEP engineer: Arup MEP, Heng Kai, IS Lin
Fire engineer: Arup Fire, TFSC
Lighting consultant: Chroma 33
Facade engineer: ABT, CDC
Sustainability consultant: Arup Building Physics, Segreene Geotechnical engineer: Sino Geotech
Traffic consultant: EECI Traffic
Model: Vincent de Rijk, RJ Models
Photography: Frans Parthesius, Iwan Baan
Animation: Artefactory

Nearly two years after OMA was announced winner of a two-stage international competition, the construction of the new Taipei Performing Arts Center has commenced. This ambitious project, led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, generated a lot of debate among architects when it was announced back in 2009 due to its particular form. Morphed by a series of programatic operations, the form intersects three types of theater in order to accommodate a variety of performances.

The main theater, which seats 1,500, is expressed on the exterior as a large sphere while the two smaller theaters, each capable of seating 800, are represented as peripheric cubes. All the stage accommodations are brought together within the central cube, allowing for more flexibility as theaters can be used independently or combined, thus expanding the possibilities for experimental performances – an art which is very strong inTaiwan. At the same time, and in a similar way as OMA’s CCTV building in Beijing, China, a “public loop” channels circulation through the building, exposing the spaces that make the TPAC work, areas typically hidden from the public but are as revealing as the performances themselves.

In this aspect, the building is like a machine at work with its engine exposed, somehow reminding me of OMA’s Prada Transformer – a machine-like building (the anti-blob) that changed its configuration to host different types of events.

The 180 million dollar project is set to be completed in 2015. More details, including sections and updated renders, after the break:

Why have the most exciting theatrical events of the past 100 years taken place outside the spaces formally designed for them? Can architecture transcend its own dirty secret, the inevitability of imposing limits on what is possible?

In recent years, the world has seen a proliferation of performance centres that, according to a mysterious consensus, consist of more or less an identical combination: a 2,000-seat auditorium, a 1,500-seat theatre, and a black box. Overtly iconic external forms disguise conservative internal workings based on 19th century practice (and symbolism: balconies as evidence of social stratification). Although the essential elements of theatre– stage, proscenium, and auditorium– are more than 3,000 years old, there is no excuse for contemporary stagnation. TPAC takes the opposite approach: experimentation in the internal workings of the theatre, producing (without being conceived as such) the external presence of an icon.

TPAC consists of three theatres, each of which can function autonomously. The theatres plug into a central cube, which consolidates the stages, backstages and support spaces into a single and efficient whole. This arrangement allows the stages to be modified or merged for unsuspected scenarios and uses. The design offers the advantages of specificity with the freedoms of the undefined.

Performance centres typically have a front and a back side. Through its compactness, TPAC has many different “faces,” defined by the individual auditoria that protrude outward and float above this dense and vibrant part of the city. The auditoria read like mysterious, dark elements against the illuminated, animated cube that is clad in corrugated glass. The cube is lifted from the ground and the street extends into the building, gradually separating into different theatres.

The Proscenium Playhouse resembles a suspended planet docking with the cube. The audience circulates between an inner and outer shell to access the auditorium. Inside the auditorium, the intersection of the inner shell and the cube forms a unique proscenium that creates any frame imaginable.

The Grand Theatre is a contemporary evolution of the large theatre spaces of the 20th century. Resisting the standard shoebox, its shape is slightly asymmetrical. The stage level, parterre, and balcony are unified into a folded plane. Opposite the Grand Theatre on the same level, the Multiform Theatre is a flexible space to accommodate the most experimental performances.

The Super Theatre is a massive, factory-like environment formed by coupling the Grand Theatre and Multiform Theatre. It can accommodate the previously impossible ambitions of productions like B.A. Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten (1958), which demands a 100-metre-long stage. Existing conventional works can be re-imagined on a monumental scale, and new, as yet unimagined forms of theatre will flourish in the Super Theatre.

Architect: Ooze – Eva Pfannes & Sylvain Hartenberg
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Site Area: 2,500. including water
Completion: 2010
Photographs: Jeroen Musch

Living in a Structure
The project is a redevelopment of a villa located in a green neighbourhood of Rotterdam. The existing villa was composed of an eclectic set of buildings stuck together forming a strange architectural patchwork: An original building from the early 20th century, a first extension built in 1991 mirroring the house and a final touch in 2003 to add 3 rooms and several facilities just before the current owner moved in.

Although the existing house proved to be highly inefficient with a set of substantially unusable spaces, the clients really enjoyed the feeling and “the soul of the house”, in other words the task became providing a new house in preserving the spirit of the old house.
The only possible expansion of the foot print were the permission free extension from the two side walls of the original house and to extend to a new maximum height of 11m.

We have decided to use this given maximum envelop as a guide line to form the skin wrapping around the old house and shape new spaces for inhabitation.

The layout has been totally reorganized around a central void. A new staircase on the north wall is servicing first and second floor. Folds and facets were generated by an intuitive rationalism following what was permitted and what would benefit the space inside. This skin became the structure which sits like a hat on top of the existing and works as a load carrier to bring down the additional weight induced by the new floors and roofs.

The only construction method able to perform the precision and the speed of delivery requested by the client was prefabricated solid timber panel (Lenotec) used for the structure of the skin (roof, walls and floor).

This structure is expressed on the inside as well, it gives a sense of the new and the old: living in a new a structure together with the old walls. The transition between the 2 is subtle and gradual. As you go up in the house the relationship is changing. The new is gradually taking over the old. The spaces generated for inhabitation became very different and very specific enriching the life within in the house.

The outside makes reference to traditional Dutch farms using sedum green roofs and black stained ACCOYA* planks in a standard width. The lines of the cladding wrap around the house like a continuous new skin.

Beyond style or architectural aesthetic, our aim was to engage in a process of rediscovery of the vernacular, to introduce a dialogue between the old preserved next to the new and to explore a new language which reinterprets the old.

In the days of “Vacant NL” we are convinced that reclaiming the past is a form a rediscovery of a different future, away from the tabula rasa, a more sustainable and inspiring way of enriching the environment we live in. High-technology fast growing, sustainably-sourced wood more durable than teak

Die Elbphilharmonie – eine Vision wird Wirklichkeit from Elbphilharmonie Hamburg on Vimeo.

credits:
location: hamburg, germany
cost: 241.3m
project start: april 2007
sponsor: rege hamburg projekt-realisierungsgesellschaft mbh,
free and hanseatic city of hamburg
architect: herzog & de meuron, hˆhler + partner, werner kallmorge
contractors: IQ2, hochtief construction corporation, commerzleasing

The Elbe Philharmonic Hall, Hamburg, designed to house a concert building, a 250 room five-star hotel, a wellness and conference zone and 47 owner-occupied apartments, is expected to begin operations in 2012. The apartments will enjoy a spectacular view eastwards down the Elbe.

The Kaispeicher A factory building (constructed in the 1960s) upon which the hall is being constructed will maintain its original façade structure and house many of the new facilities. The roof of the larger auditorium will be constructed to look similar to a series of large glassy waves floating above the distinctive Kaispeicher A building (used to store cocoa beans).

The design of the new building (tent-like superstructure, sheathed in glass) was produced by Herzog & de Meuron in conjunction with Höhler and Werner Kallmorgen.

Hamburg city centre is undergoing redevelopment and expansion and the Hafen City is the new link to the River Elbe. Together with the International Maritime Museum Hamburg and the planned cultural facilities in theOberseequartier, Elbe Philharmonic Hall Hamburg will be the cultural heart of the HafenCity and a further highlight in the largest inner city urban development area in Europe.

In October 2005, the Hamburg Parliament voted to construct the Elbe Philharmonic concert hall. The decision followed a feasibility study, which concluded that it was both economically and technically viable to build a new concert hall on the top of Kaispeicher A. Generous support for the project has comes from patrons. The building will be completed by 2011. The entire complex, along the warehouse docks on the Elbe River, will occupy over 700,000ft².

Elbphilharmonie – Elbe Philharmonic Concert Hall, HafenCity

The house is situated on a corner plot with some good views over the distant landscape. In order to enjoy these views and avoid the neighboring buildings, the ideal configuration for the house was to create a compact form of cross which is placed at the center of gravity of the plot. The four wings are oriented in a way that ensures the selected views from inside the house.
The whole volume is supported by four pillars and cantilevers out over the garden level at a hight of one meter. The pillars itself are based on the lower ground floor of 8×8m that contains access to housing, the porch, garage and laundry. On the top floor, the cross-shaped plan organizes the four wings around a central space, an exterior courtyard, that provides sunlight Into the heart of the house.
The four wings contain the different functions of the house with the living room area and the kitchen-dining area connected with each other through the transparency of the courtyard. Distributed on both sides of this main space there is the master bedroom with it’s own bathroom and the two children’s bedrooms also with a bathroom hidden by a concrete wall. The use of concrete in its natural colour and made with wood slats all over the house reveals visibly the powerfull construction that is needed to realise the idea in a coherent way.

Architect: SsD
Location: Heyri Art Valley, Korea
Team: Jinhee Park AIA + John Hong AIA, LEED (principals in charge), Frederick Peter Ortner, Donguk Lee, Jiseok Park, Taesoo Kim, Christoph Schäfer, Juho Lee, Marcela Delgado, Soojung Rhee, Aleta Budd, Okhyun Kim, Eli Allen, Jeff Niemasz, Eunkyoung Cho, Brian Vester, Ryan Welch, Jeong Jun Song
Associate Architect: Dyne Architects
Structural Design: Matt Johnson, SGH Inc.
Structural Engineer: S+RC
Lighting Consultant: Project Concept K
Construction Manager: Hanmi Parsons Co., Ltd
Photographs: Chang Kyun Kim

The White Block Gallery is a 1500m2 exhibition and cultural space at the heart of the Heyri Art Valley in South Korea. A matrix of 3 solid gallery volumes carefully positioned creates 7 additional galleries in a compact but open ended configuration. Designed to showcase global contemporary art from super sized sculpture and paintings to multi-media installations, the spaces are unique in proportion and lighting allowing curators to accommodate new future forms of art and media.

Integration with the landscape of the prominent lake-front site is also of crucial importance: The result places the intense and controlled experience of art side-by-side with informal social and landscape interactions. Passive heating and ventilation are integrated into the art house’s high efficiency environmental systems and runoff control measures become part of the spatial experience of art.

Architects: Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp
Location: Sydney, Australia
Landscape: FJMT
Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon Australia
Structural & Civil Consultant: Taylor Thomson Whitting
Mechanical & Electrical Consultant: Lincolne Scott
Hydraulic Consultant: ThomsonKane
Environmental consultant: Advanced Environmental Concepts
Acoustic consultant: Arup Acoustics
Facade Engineer: Connell Mott MacDonald
Builder: AW Edwards Pty Ltd
Project Manager: Capital Insight
Project Area: 14,480 sqm
Project Year: 2006
Photographs: Andrew Chung courtesy by FJMT

The School of Information Technologies building (SIT) transforms a derelict site adjacent to one of Sydney’s major arterial roads into a new campus gateway. It also sets a new benchmark for the University of Sydney with respect to environmental initiatives and excellence in the provision of contemporary workplace and teaching environments.

The building is a sophisticated integration of multimedia, technology, communication, architecture, arts, landscape and ecology. It evokes a strong sense of identity for the school and the university as a whole, and projects a contemporary image of technology, openness and engagement with the campus and wider community.

On the north side of the building, a layered glazed facade counteracts the noise and pollution of Cleveland Street and a unique ‘frit’ within the glass minimises solar gain. These create appropriate indoor workplace conditions whilst presenting a contemporary image of transparency and interaction. On the south, a curved stainless steel facade integrates a unique perforated metal screen to protect against unwanted solar gain and glare. The building’s unique form allows for the creation of generous landscape zones for passive recreation and ‘extend’ the use of the building into adjoining campus areas.

SIT is predominantly a building accommodating the contemporary workplace environment of the School of Information Technologies and allied private industries. The building lends itself to a mixture of individual offices, collaboration areas and open-plan work spaces — mirroring those typically encountered in private enterprise. Excellence is sought in providing state-of-the-art work environments with a particular emphasis on health and sustainability, collaboration and interaction.

The floorplate is configured as two wings about a central atrium and interconnecting stair. Social hubs are located within the naturally ventilated atrium / support zone and aids in knowledge transfer through informal interaction and meetings.

A holistic and integrated approach to sustainability was developed with reference to the Green Star Office Rating Tool. The building uses active chilled beams to provide an energy efficient approach to environmental control as well as furthering a commitment to health and productivity, and individual task lighting is provided to reduce levels of ambient light.

The main foyer is centred within this atrium allowing the extension of Engineering Walk into the School and visually connecting Cleveland Street. Vertical connections are located within the foyer, facilitating easy access to upper levels and interconnecting the public facilities. Each level has a “bridge” connecting the eastern and western sections across the Engineering Walk axis. The building incorporates a strong commitment to sustainability.

The form developed to foster links with Engineering Precinct, Seymour Centre and external environment. The form constitutes a layered facade along Cleveland Street (a buffer to the noise and pollution). This is broken at the Engineering Walk axis to visually connect the precinct with the neighbourhood and announce the main entrance, then extends to the west to embrace the Seymour Forecourt. To the south, the building’s curved stainless facade incorporates a screen to refine the proportions and assists in controlling glare. This creates zones for passive recreation and extends building usage to the adjoining campus areas, and forms a new forecourt to the adjacent Seymour Centre.

Environmentally Sustainable Design

The building sets a new University benchmark, with respect to environmental initiatives and excellence in the provision of contemporary workplace and teaching environments. Design intent has been benchmarked against the GBCA GreenStar office model. Although the rating initiative currently only exists for offices, the University showed great vision in adopting it for the project and achieved a 4 star GreenStar credit rating, placing the building within the top quartile of ESD office developments within Australia. Below are listed some of the many initiatives:

• Holistic and integrated approach providing a new benchmark in sustainability for the University
• Approaches and initiatives developed with reference to the GreenStar Office Rating Tool
• Active multi service chilled beams with enhanced ventilation provide throughout all offices and open plan workspaces
• Mixed mode mechanical ventilation, through the use of automated louvers providing natural air flow in the large atrium spaces
• Natural ventilation provided to central atrium and social hub collaborative zone
• Glazed interconnecting stair creating a ‘vertical street’ to reduce reliance on lifts
• Enhanced access to natural light and view
• PVC minimisation and use of recycled materials
• Sophisticated layered glazed facaded and integrated external shading to control solar gain
• Reduced levels of ambient artificial light by incorporation of individual task lighting
• Considered material selection in relation to embodied energy and whole of life costing analysis
• Incorporation of solar hot water, energy efficient fittings and zoning
• Incorporation of bicycle parking and shower/change facilities

Architects: Giancarlo Mazzanti
Location: Santa Marta, Colombia
Design Team: Susana Somoza, Andr√©s Sarmiento, N√©stor Gualteros, Oscar Cano, Lucia Largo
Structural Engineer: Nicolas Parva
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Jorge Gamboa

Starting from the special understanding of Malaguzzi Loris pedagogical philosophy, was born the idea of creating an element that suggests 3 interrelated centralities, and which cause a range of situations and experiences among children, teachers and family.
Moreover, in pragmatic terms there is a need to generate progressive growth for future linkage more children to the Center, is thought to employ a modular system (based on the 3 centers) which can be added modules depending on the needs and expansion possibilities in terms of available area.

Following the morphology of the site, a chain system is created, based on a module type that holds the architectural program requirements and spatially follows the education center. Therefore creating meeting places for the free entertainment that involves learning.

The module type is characterized as a flexible and neutral space that allows the development of multiple activities within it. It relates with the nearest external surroundings [indoor and outdoor yard] allowing a close relationship among all children and teachers.

This property adjoins a large lake in a small town situated a few hours from Mexico City. To take full advantage of the relationship with the surroundings, a system of elongated rectangular volumes was used, with one side of each completely open toward the lake. The sloping plot and the amount of surface to be realized led to the creation of three volume stacked in a zigzag pattern, generating spacious open terraces and irregular, sheltered patios between them. From the street, the residence looks like a traditional construction; the use of roof tiles, wood, natural stone, and the plastered facade with small openings, grants it the regional character that is required by urban planning requirements. From the lake, the home becomes a composition of rectangular elements with large glass surfaces; like a series of typical modernist volumes, stacked in a dynamic configuration.

Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Location: 2-294 Torii Matsu Machi, Kasugai-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Client: GC Corporation
Site Area: 421.55 sqm
Built Area: 233.95 sqm
Total Floor Area: 626.5 sqm
Cooperation for Design: Design Department of Matsui Construction
Structural Design: Jun Sato Structural Design
Photographs: Daici Ano

This is architecture that originates from the system of Cidori, an old Japanese toy. Cidori is an assembly of wood sticks with joints having unique shape, which can be extended merely by twisting the sticks, without any nails or metal fittings. The tradition of this toy has been passed on in Hida Takayama, a small town in a mountain, where many skilled craftsmen still exist.

Cidori has a wood 12 mm square as its element, which for this building was transformed into different sizes. Parts are 60mm×60mm×200cm or 60mm×60mm×400cm, and form a grid of 50cm square. This cubic grid also becomes the grid on its own for the showcase in the museum.

Jun Sato, structural engineer for the project, conducted a compressive and flexure test to check the strength of this system, and verified that even the device of a toy could be adapted to ‘big’ buildings. This architecture shows the possibility of creating a universe by combining small units like toys with your own hands. We worked on the project in the hope that the era of machine-made architectures would be over, and human beings would build them again by themselves.