Erupting Stability \ Ted Givens AIA

Erupting Stability – (Tornado Proof Suburb)

By Ted Givens AIA (Design Partner at 10 Design Hong Kong)

Isn't the Wizard of Oz a clear example of the awesome force that a tornado can muster? How can Jaws drive people out of the ocean screaming when a house blown through the sky brings back nostalgic memories? Please stay out of the water… but feel free to build your home below flood level and out of cards in the wind. There is an urgent need to shift from an outmoded logic, ignorant of the forces of nature, to a point where the unabashed rush for profit and development can be balanced against the basic goal of providing shelter. Humanity is inexplicably driven to build in places where it should not-accepting the unavoidability of this folly is the first step to breathing in a new vision. We sought a way of turning the seemingly destructive acts of nature into creative blooms.

Kinetic architecture is the innovation which we believe will form the foundation for the habitation of the future. This type of architecture learns from technological innovation and amps up its incorporation into the home, custom tailoring existing mechanisms in new ways. The revised conception of the home finds itself somewhere between garage doors, flowers, and the survival mentality of a turtle. A series of simple hydraulic levers are used to push the home in and out of the ground and deflect and warp the outer skin in response to external stimulation. The key activators of this motion being the high velocity winds associated with thunderstorms and tornadoes. A series of solar cells on the outer skin rotate and flex to attain maximum solar intensity. A translucent outer skin consisting of clear insulation sandwiched between two layers of Kevlar provides the weather barrier and lets diffuse light into the structure. We are also exploring the application of photocatalytic coatings and carbon nanotubes on the skin to absorb and clean pollution turning it directly into fuel for the home to power the hydraulics.

A water tight seal locks the roof of the collapsed home making the structure water and wind proof. There have been a series of studies since the mid 90's showing homes that float up and out of harm's way. This solution does not anticipate the velocity of the water, and more importantly the grinding power of the debris contained in the water. The safest place is down.

Neighborhoods will become interwoven and connected together through sensor networks that interpret weather data. After warning sirens entire suburbs can be collapsed in seconds. The whole neighborhood will behave as an organism fit for a collective response to the challenges brought by the natural environment. The image of technology as a fire breathing train slicing a trail of black smoke through the innocent forest painted by Hawthorne is slowly replaced by a desire to respond to nature and not seek to dominate it. The tornadoes and storms can burn and blow with all their fury while the suburb safely sleeps.

Can we spin this violent ever present soup into a stabilizing direction? We seek a new mobility for the home that is controlled not left to "chance" (there is nothing accidental about 100 year old weather patterns). We are currently working on the development of a prototype with a group of ship builders in the US and Africa.

+ Design Team: Ted Givens, Trey Tyler, Mohamad Ghamlouch, Shane Dale, Dougald Fountain 

Indigo Tower \ 10 Design

With a focused look at sustainability, the Hong Kong-based architecture firm lO has been developing a series of research projects aimed at improving the quality of the built environment. One project, the Indigo Tower, takes an active stance and addresses the problem of urban pollution by helping purify the air of our cities through a combination of passive solar techniques and advanced nanotechnology.

The high-rise tower pulls dirt, grease and bacteria out of the air. The cleansing reaction is triggered by the use of a nano coating of titanium dioxide (TiO2) on the outer skin of the tower. TiO2 is a very strong oxidation agent triggered by a photocatalyst reaction.

During the day the reaction is naturally powered by sunlight acting on the titanium dioxide skin. At night the reaction is maintained by a series of ultraviolet lights that are powered by energy collected from photovoltaic panels during the day.

Glowing indigo object

The tower will be a glowing indigo object at night varying in intensity according to the amount of solar energy collected during the day. The indigo glow will become symbolic of the 24-hour cleansing; counteracting the haze that often dominates more and more cities around the world.

The tower is split into three bars to increase the amount of surface area, provide southern light to the south face of each bar, and focus and increase wind speed. The added surface area allows for maximizing the amount of titanium dioxide that can be placed on the building—enhancing the amount of air being cleaned.

The focused and increased wind speeds maximize the amount of air pushed across the titanium dioxide panels, provide cross ventilation for every unit in the towers, and power a series of vertical wind turbines. Positive pressure is created on the southern face of the towers and the resulting negative pressure on the northern façades creates optimal conditions for cross-ventilation. Careful attention has also been placed to prevent the backflow air from one unit into another. The nano coating has the added benefit of neutralizing bacteriological contamination.

The skin design is inspired by the pocketed and cellular texture of the TiO2 molecule. A series of organic cells cover the building and are tapered to naturally collect the water, a byproduct of the skin's chemical reaction, and to collect and slowly release rainwater.

The skin pulls off of the building on the south façades to provide natural shading and pushes into the inner skin of the north façade to maximize daylight.

Public gathering places

A series of gardens are located at regular intervals all the way up the tower. They become public gathering spaces as well as marsh lands to collect the water from the chemical reactions of the skin and to filter and process gray water from the towers. The plants also turn the carbon dioxide, created in the chemical reaction of the skin, back into oxygen.

It is paramount to have the plants help maintain the base-level carbon neutrality. A large pool around the base of the tower is the final collection point of the filtered water, which goes to support a large amount of animal and plant life. Water is also pumped back up the towers from the pool to service toilets. Furthermore, the pool at the base acts as a heat sink for the release of the heat generated from a back-up air-conditioning system. Here, the heat is released slowly, thus helps reduce the heat island effect.

If all the buildings in a central business district followed the indigo technology, airborne pollution could be drastically reduced by up to 80 percent. Mere neutrality is not enough—new buildings must work together to enhance the quality of the physical environment. The lO team is currently working with manufacturers to construct a mockup of the skin for further testing.

The research projects are used as a means to advance sustainable designs within the firm and the results are often incorporated directly into current projects. Beyond the obvious environmental benefits, lO has realized the commercial value of advanced green technology. The sustainable technologies are catching on especially well in large-scale residential projects because they bring a better value to the individual units and gain tax credit from local governments.

+ Architect: 10 Design | http://www.10design.co

+ ALL IMAGES AND DRAWINGS COURTESY 10 DESIGN

Broadway House \ Marcus O’Reilly Architects

This pavilion at the rear of the large Edwardian house faces directly west, a striking colourful screen was devised to filter the heat load, views to neighbouring properties, provide privacy and to animate interior spaces with a lovely warm afternoon glow through the coloured glass louvres.

The copper clad building was designed to graft onto the existing red brick structure in a complementary yet contemporary way.

A linear 35 metersuspended light fixture spans from the entry hall of the existing house through the new kitchen to the rear garden in order to dramatically link the interiors of old and new.

The new kitchen was floated in the middle of the ground floor space in order to create separate living and dining zones while still maintaining an open spatial flow.

+ PROJECT CREDITS / DATA

Architect: Marcus O'Reilly Architects | http://www.marcusoreilly.com/

Location: Elwood, Victoria, Australia

Type: House

+ ALL IMAGES AND DRAWING COURTESY Marcus O'Reilly Architects

Northern Beaches Christian School Multi-purpose Hall \ Jones Sonter Architects

As part of the Federal Government's BER initiative, this small private school, in Sydney's northern suburbs, identified the need  for a multi-purpose hall to serve both primary and secondary students. The project had a very tight budget. However, the Client requested that the multi-purpose hall be designed in such a way as to create opportunities for expansion to meet the rapidly growing need for further space on the school campus.

The architects, Jones Sonter, developed a concept for the project which elevates the main hall floor, thus unlocking a multitude of possibilities for the core building and its future potential for additional learning spaces. The key to the design solution was the  discovery of unstable ground conditions, which required piling to support a suspended ground slab. The design logic that followed from this was that if structural necessity dictated that the concrete slab was suspended anyway, it may as well be suspended well above the ground so that the resulting undercroft space could be available for future expansion.

From this it was evident that by simply lifting the main floor on columns, a grand stair and stepped seating could be designed at the entry to the building and by extending the roof over this space, an external shaded assembly area was created. In this way the school got a bonus space that served a variety of functions: a shaded and stepped seating area; a sheltered outdoor assembly space; a place for staging theatrical events; a grandstand for the adjacent sports area; a highly visible point of orientation and an entry which conveyed an imposing sense of arrival for events in the hall.

The site is located on a plateau overlooking Sydney's northern beaches and as a result it benefits from regular ocean breezes. As sustainability and low energy use was a central concern of the project, the hall was designed with both low and high level windows, primarily to allow for good cross-flow ventilation at the floor level and natural discharge of warm air at the ceiling level. Sensitivity to natural ventilation is complemented by high levels of natural light, which further assist in reducing energy consumption.

The main hall interior incorporates a sports floor, marked for eight games, including  basketball and badminton. Viewing floors are provided at two levels along one side of the courts. At the ground level, amenities and stores are provided, together with a gymnasium for senior students and staff.

The design for future expansion proved to be a worthwhile exercise, as it was decided, prior to completion off the main building programme, that the undercroft area would be immediately in-filled with new student learning spaces for design technology, with an outlook to the neighboring golf course.

Jones Sonter are an award winning Sydney based firm of architects and urban designers with a range of clients in the government, institutional and private sectors.

+ PROJECT CREDITS / DATA

Northern Beaches Christian School Multi-purpose Hall

Architect: Jones Sonter Archhitecture + Urbanism

Design Team: Kim Jones, Brad Sonter, Julianne Hughes & Jasmine Yeung

Photographer: Simon Wood

+ ABOUT Jones Sonter Architecture + Urbanism

Jones Sonter is a firm of chartered architects with particular expertise in urban design, strategic masterplanning and project management. The firm is committed to a design approach that integrates the practice of architecture and urban design with principles of social and ecological sustainment.

The firm believes that excellence in architecture and urban design rests on a comprehensive understanding of human needs and  aspirations within a specific context of environmental conditions and requirements. The firm has found that each project has a solution that is unique to its time and place. Hence it does not align work with stylistic trends, preferring instead to let the project reflect its own particular origin and process.

We subscribe to the simple philosophy that 'design is common sense', and we bring a logical and rigorous approach to each individual design task. With every project the firm is committed to a design outcome that is comprehensively informed by the clients brief, guided by a strong central idea, conditioned by the demands of the program and budget, and shaped by the character of the site and logic of construction.

Jones Sonter is a partnership practice based around a core team of experienced professionals with a range of complementary skills acquired in major planning and development projects. The strengths of the firm lie principally in two areas. One is the ability to integrate the needs of multiple stakeholder client entities through an accountable brief development process. The other is the experience to coordinate, manage and creatively harness the skills of multi-disciplinary design teams on large scale projects.

Casa Culver City \ DLFstudio

The original house was a massive monochromatic, cavernous, almost windowless building that was remodeled to create spacious, bright interiors with warm contemporary exterior finishes including hardwood for the roof eaves. The cozy interior consists of a living room, kitchen, dining, office, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, master ensuite and appointed with wood veneers + natural-colored tiles. The To help conserve water, a xeriscape was designed for the front of the house while the side and rear yards are artificial grass.

+ PROJECT CREDITS / DATA

Casa Culver City

Type: Residential

Location: Culver City, CA

Date: 2008

Land Area: 6225 ft² (578 m²)

Built area: 3400 ft² (315 m²)

Design project: DLFstudio | Doug Esparza + Eliza Costabel | http://www.dlfstudio.com/

Landscape design: DLFstudio

Structural Engineering: Mid-Cities Engineering

+ ALL IMAGES AND DRAWINGS COURTESY DLFstudio