Month: December 2017

Minoru Yamasaki (December 1, 1912 – February 7, 1986) has the uncommon distinction of being most well known for how his buildings were destroyed. His twin towers at the World Trade Center in New York collapsed in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and his Pruitt-Igoe complex in St. Louis, Missouri, demolished less than 20 years after its completion, came to symbolize the failure of public housing and urban renewal in the United States. But beyond those infamous cases, Yamasaki enjoyed a long and prolific career, and was considered one of the masters of “New Formalism,” infusing modern buildings with classical proportions and sumptuous materials.

FIL house is a one and a half story single family home. The most characteristic aspect of the house is its roof, divided along its longer axis into two sections of different heights, creating a sense of two intersecting solids. It is an effect of the home owners wish to have a house that is both open to the outside, and still privately enclosed. To fulfill this wish, the house had been divided into a closed, dark southern block, and a higher light grey northern block. Main openings are located in places of intersection between the blocks, and are strongly framed and directed by outside free standing walls which follow the buildings main shell.

In the rolling dune landscape on the north side of Vlieland there is a rich collection of summer houses built since the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the summer houses were built by private clients for their own use. An arbitrary order in which there was room for choice. In dunes and dunes, the pioneers had the choice. Mostly the outdoor space oriented on sun with shelter for the wind. Meanwhile, regulations have been laid down precisely what may and may not be built.

The CSDB complements the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, which was also designed by our office and completed 15 years ago. The institute brings together computer scientists, physicists, and mathematicians focused on quantitative biology, with expertise in biophysics, image analysis and high-performance computing; for instance, from cell samples it is possible by means of lasers and computers to image analyse research material at several times the speed of traditional laboratory work.

On the island of Bali, Indonesia, the activity of collecting recyclable waste is not institutionalized. Because of that, it attracts people looking for a mean of subsistence, who collect materials in homes and companies to sell them later, by weight. However, the activity is not seen with good eyes by the local population. To improve this image, IBUKU was commissioned by a large company to develop a project that would create healthy, well organized housing compounds for garbage collectors while becoming a mean for social transformation.