Series
CD041.S5
Description:
This series documents nine projects by the firm Vecsei Architects. In 1984, Eva Hollo Vecsei and André Vecsei opened a joint practice, Vecsei Architects. Both architects retired in 2005. Together they worked on several major planning studies, such as Les Hautières du Mont-Royal, Montréal, Québec (circa 1983-1988) and the Genome Centre and the Lorne M. Trottier Building, Montréal (1999-2000), documented in this series. Les Hautières du Mont-Royal was a residential complex adjacent to Montréal's Golden Square Mile, on Cedar Avenue. The project consisted of nine staggering buildings (29 villas) around a landscaped European-style courtyard on a sloping site facing Mount Royal while also preserving a turn of the century landmark situated within the Mount Royal Heritage Site . The project is also known as "Projet Cours Cedar". Through the Genome Centre, McGill University sought to fill a need for a modern and cross-disciplinary research space in genomics and proteomics. Vecsei Architects submitted a joint proposal with Dupuis, Le Tourneaux, architects, and NFOE et associés architectes. Ultimately, KPMB Architects and Fichten Soiferman et Associés, Architectes' proposal was chosen and built. The Lorne M. Trottier Building is a building for popular electrical engineering, computer science and telecommunications programs at McGill University. Vecsei Architects submitted a joint proposal for this project with Julian Jacobs Architectes and Architectes Lemay et associés. Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes and Marosi Troy's proposal was chosen and built. Also documented in this series are the following projects: Elementary school for College Marie de France, Montréal, Québec (circa 1984-1986); High-rise office tower, underground commercial centre tied to Montréal’s underground mall and subway network, Christ Church Cathedral, Montréal, Québec (circa 1987-1988); Seniors condominium, Manoir Montefiore, Côte-Saint-Luc, Québec (1988); Ark and artworks for the Beth Zion Synagogue, Côte-Saint-Luc, Québec (1989); Municipal library, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec (circa 1990), Cultural Centre and extension of sport centre, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec (circa 2001-2003); Renovation and new elevation for Schneider house, Montréal, Québec (2002). Collection material in this series was produced between 1983 and 2006. Documents include architectural records, such as presentation, conceptual, and design development drawings, and as well as photographs of facades and interior views. This series also includes digital material (mainly photographs), and a few project proposals and publications. The level of documentation varies greatly from project to project, from a single presentation drawing to complete project proposal.
1983-2006
Vecsei Architects (1984-2005)
Actions:
CD041.S5
Description:
This series documents nine projects by the firm Vecsei Architects. In 1984, Eva Hollo Vecsei and André Vecsei opened a joint practice, Vecsei Architects. Both architects retired in 2005. Together they worked on several major planning studies, such as Les Hautières du Mont-Royal, Montréal, Québec (circa 1983-1988) and the Genome Centre and the Lorne M. Trottier Building, Montréal (1999-2000), documented in this series. Les Hautières du Mont-Royal was a residential complex adjacent to Montréal's Golden Square Mile, on Cedar Avenue. The project consisted of nine staggering buildings (29 villas) around a landscaped European-style courtyard on a sloping site facing Mount Royal while also preserving a turn of the century landmark situated within the Mount Royal Heritage Site . The project is also known as "Projet Cours Cedar". Through the Genome Centre, McGill University sought to fill a need for a modern and cross-disciplinary research space in genomics and proteomics. Vecsei Architects submitted a joint proposal with Dupuis, Le Tourneaux, architects, and NFOE et associés architectes. Ultimately, KPMB Architects and Fichten Soiferman et Associés, Architectes' proposal was chosen and built. The Lorne M. Trottier Building is a building for popular electrical engineering, computer science and telecommunications programs at McGill University. Vecsei Architects submitted a joint proposal for this project with Julian Jacobs Architectes and Architectes Lemay et associés. Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes and Marosi Troy's proposal was chosen and built. Also documented in this series are the following projects: Elementary school for College Marie de France, Montréal, Québec (circa 1984-1986); High-rise office tower, underground commercial centre tied to Montréal’s underground mall and subway network, Christ Church Cathedral, Montréal, Québec (circa 1987-1988); Seniors condominium, Manoir Montefiore, Côte-Saint-Luc, Québec (1988); Ark and artworks for the Beth Zion Synagogue, Côte-Saint-Luc, Québec (1989); Municipal library, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec (circa 1990), Cultural Centre and extension of sport centre, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec (circa 2001-2003); Renovation and new elevation for Schneider house, Montréal, Québec (2002). Collection material in this series was produced between 1983 and 2006. Documents include architectural records, such as presentation, conceptual, and design development drawings, and as well as photographs of facades and interior views. This series also includes digital material (mainly photographs), and a few project proposals and publications. The level of documentation varies greatly from project to project, from a single presentation drawing to complete project proposal.
Series
1983-2006
Series
AP185.S2
Description:
This project, 1994-2001, contains material related to the Ost/Kuttner Apartment, a built residential project in New York City. Described by its clients as “Cleopatra’s submarine,” the O/K Apartment converts two adjacent units in a pre-World War II building in New York into a single but divisible space. The Apartment is organized into areas defined less by their programmatic identity—bathroom, bedroom, living room—than by a series of undulating landscapes made up of custom, function-bridging forms, which KOL/MAC developed by digitally compositing cross-sections of everyday domestic objects. To produce the pieces, the architects worked intensively with contractors in a process directly informed by computer-aided fabrication in a variety of fields including ship-building, bobsled design, and stage design. The digital project records are largely in word processing formats, namely Microsoft Word for Mac and ClarisWorks, as well as images in TIF, JPEG, and Mac Pict image formats. There are also a large number of Microstation CAD drawings. There are two major groupings within the digital material: First, there is a body of video and still images. These consist of screen captures of renderings and other digital models. There are also images and HTML for a related website, a photograph viewer showing pictures of a built, physical model of the apartment. Of note, there are two videos which document the early construction of the Apartment, as well as the construction of the shower/bed. The second grouping consists of construction and design documentation. This consists of correspondence, invoices, and other word processing documents which show KOL/MAC’s work with the client, contractor, engineer, and other stakeholders. They also contain a large number of design files and images which document the evolving design of the Apartment. KOL/MAC versioned their working files at certain intervals, and each version represents a snapshot of the working files at a particular time. There is a substantial amount of duplication across these files. There is also a physical component to the records, including three material samples from the apartment, as well as 28 floorplans for the bid set, 6 floorplans, and 2 blueprints. There is also .3 linear meters of textual records which document KOL/MAC’s work with the client, contractor, and sub-contractor during construction.
1994-2001
O/K Apartment (New York, N.Y.)
Actions:
AP185.S2
Description:
This project, 1994-2001, contains material related to the Ost/Kuttner Apartment, a built residential project in New York City. Described by its clients as “Cleopatra’s submarine,” the O/K Apartment converts two adjacent units in a pre-World War II building in New York into a single but divisible space. The Apartment is organized into areas defined less by their programmatic identity—bathroom, bedroom, living room—than by a series of undulating landscapes made up of custom, function-bridging forms, which KOL/MAC developed by digitally compositing cross-sections of everyday domestic objects. To produce the pieces, the architects worked intensively with contractors in a process directly informed by computer-aided fabrication in a variety of fields including ship-building, bobsled design, and stage design. The digital project records are largely in word processing formats, namely Microsoft Word for Mac and ClarisWorks, as well as images in TIF, JPEG, and Mac Pict image formats. There are also a large number of Microstation CAD drawings. There are two major groupings within the digital material: First, there is a body of video and still images. These consist of screen captures of renderings and other digital models. There are also images and HTML for a related website, a photograph viewer showing pictures of a built, physical model of the apartment. Of note, there are two videos which document the early construction of the Apartment, as well as the construction of the shower/bed. The second grouping consists of construction and design documentation. This consists of correspondence, invoices, and other word processing documents which show KOL/MAC’s work with the client, contractor, engineer, and other stakeholders. They also contain a large number of design files and images which document the evolving design of the Apartment. KOL/MAC versioned their working files at certain intervals, and each version represents a snapshot of the working files at a particular time. There is a substantial amount of duplication across these files. There is also a physical component to the records, including three material samples from the apartment, as well as 28 floorplans for the bid set, 6 floorplans, and 2 blueprints. There is also .3 linear meters of textual records which document KOL/MAC’s work with the client, contractor, and sub-contractor during construction.
Series
1994-2001
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
AP167
Synopsis:
The ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] NSA Muscle project records, 1995-2013, contain approximately 5,000 digital working files for the NSA Muscle, a built prototype commissioned for the Non-Standard Architecture exhibition at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris in 2003. The NSA Muscle is a programmable structure that changes its shape and content in real time. The records are entirely digital, and include administrative files, CAD files, Virtools files, publicity materials and photographs. They document the planning, design development, construction and exhibition of the NSA Muscle and related projects.
1995-2013
ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] NSA Muscle project records
Actions:
AP167
Synopsis:
The ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] NSA Muscle project records, 1995-2013, contain approximately 5,000 digital working files for the NSA Muscle, a built prototype commissioned for the Non-Standard Architecture exhibition at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris in 2003. The NSA Muscle is a programmable structure that changes its shape and content in real time. The records are entirely digital, and include administrative files, CAD files, Virtools files, publicity materials and photographs. They document the planning, design development, construction and exhibition of the NSA Muscle and related projects.
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
1995-2013
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
Bernard Tschumi fonds
AP214
Synopsis:
The Bernard Tschumi fonds, dating from approximately 1965-2015, documents the professional activities of Bernard Tschumi including Tschumi’s career in academia and his professional practice as an architect through approximately 75 projects dating from the late 1980s to 2012.
circa 1964-2015
Bernard Tschumi fonds
Actions:
AP214
Synopsis:
The Bernard Tschumi fonds, dating from approximately 1965-2015, documents the professional activities of Bernard Tschumi including Tschumi’s career in academia and his professional practice as an architect through approximately 75 projects dating from the late 1980s to 2012.
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
circa 1964-2015
Series
Projects
AP144.S2
Description:
Series documents Cedric Price's projects from his early work in the late 1950s to work dating from the time he founded his own practice in 1960 until 2000. Material includes numerous competition entries, planning and building projects, transportation-related projects, exhibitions, conceptual projects, furniture and interior designs, and monuments, follies, and decorations. Some projects also reflect his teaching, research, lecture and publication activities. Price also worked on several competition juries (see projects Musique, Elephant). Many of Cedric Price's projects in the series are unexecuted. Significant unrealized projects from the 1960s and 1970s include Fun Palace (1961-1974), Potteries Thinkbelt (1963-1967), Oxford Corner House (1965-1966), and Generator (1976-1980). Significant built projects from the same period include the New Aviary (1960-1966), his first major realized project (with Lord Snowdon and Frank Newby), and Inter-Action Centre (1971-1979). Other realized projects include an office building (BTDB Computer, 1968-1973) and restaurant (Blackpool Project, 1971-1975). Planning projects from the 1960s and 1970s include Potteries Thinkbelt, Detroit Think Grid (1969-1971) and Rice University's design charette, Atom (1967). In the 1980s and 1990s, Cedric Price worked on several building proposals including greenhouses (Serre, Serre (2)), museums, galleries, and pavilions (Trafalgar, Pertpavs, Snake), a railway station (Strate (2)), a cultural centre (Tiff), houses (Perthut, Castel), a bus station (Walsall), an aviary (CP Aviary) and office buildings (Domain, Berlin). Planning projects from the same time include parks and cultural complexes, (Parc, South Bank), urban areas, (Strate, Stratton, IFPRI, Haven, Mills), university campuses (Frankfurt, Unibad, Bedford), and rural areas (Stark, Arkage). Transportation-related projects include railways (Strate, Control, Rink), roadways (Stratton) and pedestrian links (Magnet, Halmag, South Bank). Only a few of his projects from that period were executed and those include the renovation projects Congress and SAS 29; a mobile market stall design for Westminster City Council (Westal) for which prototypes were built; a coffee cup design (Crowbar); and building conversion projects Gatard and Juke. Exhibition projects in the series include some devoted to Cedric Price's works (AA Exhibition, Aedes, AFX, Afella), some designed by him (Strike, Food for the Future, Topolski/Waterloo, Ashmole, Mean, AFX), as well as projects designed for exhibition (Citlin, Castel). The series also contains self-financed research and client-less projects, which form a significant part of Cedric Price's practice. Undertaken in anticipation of future clients or new planning needs, they include research into air structures and lightweight enclosures as well as integrated construction and transportation solutions (Trucksafe Air Portable Dock Ahoy), and housing research. South Bank, Magnet, and Duck Land represent a few of the client-less projects. The material in this series documents Cedric Price's work in the United Kingdom, in particular England (the Greater London area, and other areas) and Scotland, Germany, France, Austria, Australia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States and other locations such as Canada, Nigeria, and Norway. Major clients include J. Lyons & Co. (Oxford Corner House), David Keddie (Two Tree Island, Southend Roof), Howard Gilman (Generator), British Railways (Strate and Strate (2), and others), the McAlpine family , particularly Alistair McAlpine, and their company Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd. (McAppy, Perthut, Trafalgar, Pertpavs, Ashmole, Perth, Obeliq, McVance); Établissement Public du Parc de la Villette (Parc, Serre, Serre (2), Musique) and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (IFPRI, Mean). He collaborated with several architects and engineers during the course of his career, his closest association being with engineer Frank Newby and quantity surveyor Douglas Smith. Some of his other collaborators include engineer Max Fordham (Strate (2), Tiff, Berlin), engineering firms Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Partners (Stratton, Rink, Control), and Sir Frederick Snow & Partners (South Bank), cybernetician Gordon Pask (Kawasaki/Japnet), architectural firm YRM/Yorke Rosenberg Mardall (Unibad), and architect Richard Rogers (Marman). He also collaborated with members of Archigram on the Trondheim Competition, (1972-1974), and with John and Julia Frazer who provided the computer modelling for Generator. David Price, Cedric Price's brother was the model maker for several projects. The series contains conceptual drawings, design development drawings, reference drawings and maps, presentation drawings (particularly for competitions), and working drawings. A significant amount of textual records are included, especially for projects involving a large amount of research or publicity (Air Structures, Lightweight Enclosures, South Bank, CP Aviary, Stratton), for executed projects, and for the larger unrealized projects like Fun Palace and Generator. Also includes photographic materials of project sites and models. Some models included in the series are made from durable materials (wood, metal, plastic), while others are in-office constructions made out of paper, cardboard and Fome-Cor (TM). Of particular note are the 11 models for Magnet, and a full-size prototype of a market stall for Westal. Series also contains publication layouts, including material for the "Cedric Price Supplement", 'Architectural Design' vols. 40- 42 (1970-1972). Changes in office practice are noted around 1971, evident in the Blackpool Project and later, including the adoption of the metric system, and the creation of working and detail drawings on A4 size paper and filed with textual records (e.g. approximately 300 such drawings are included in the textual records for Blackpool Project). At the same time fewer preamble drawings that relate to site sensing, progress and life-cycle graphs and tables are created for the projects (a common feature from the 1960s), although project progress tables are still used. Of particular interest is material in the Early Work and Miscellaneous Records file (AP144.S2.D1) that relates to office work methods and programmes.
1903-2003, predominant 1960-2000
Projects
Actions:
AP144.S2
Description:
Series documents Cedric Price's projects from his early work in the late 1950s to work dating from the time he founded his own practice in 1960 until 2000. Material includes numerous competition entries, planning and building projects, transportation-related projects, exhibitions, conceptual projects, furniture and interior designs, and monuments, follies, and decorations. Some projects also reflect his teaching, research, lecture and publication activities. Price also worked on several competition juries (see projects Musique, Elephant). Many of Cedric Price's projects in the series are unexecuted. Significant unrealized projects from the 1960s and 1970s include Fun Palace (1961-1974), Potteries Thinkbelt (1963-1967), Oxford Corner House (1965-1966), and Generator (1976-1980). Significant built projects from the same period include the New Aviary (1960-1966), his first major realized project (with Lord Snowdon and Frank Newby), and Inter-Action Centre (1971-1979). Other realized projects include an office building (BTDB Computer, 1968-1973) and restaurant (Blackpool Project, 1971-1975). Planning projects from the 1960s and 1970s include Potteries Thinkbelt, Detroit Think Grid (1969-1971) and Rice University's design charette, Atom (1967). In the 1980s and 1990s, Cedric Price worked on several building proposals including greenhouses (Serre, Serre (2)), museums, galleries, and pavilions (Trafalgar, Pertpavs, Snake), a railway station (Strate (2)), a cultural centre (Tiff), houses (Perthut, Castel), a bus station (Walsall), an aviary (CP Aviary) and office buildings (Domain, Berlin). Planning projects from the same time include parks and cultural complexes, (Parc, South Bank), urban areas, (Strate, Stratton, IFPRI, Haven, Mills), university campuses (Frankfurt, Unibad, Bedford), and rural areas (Stark, Arkage). Transportation-related projects include railways (Strate, Control, Rink), roadways (Stratton) and pedestrian links (Magnet, Halmag, South Bank). Only a few of his projects from that period were executed and those include the renovation projects Congress and SAS 29; a mobile market stall design for Westminster City Council (Westal) for which prototypes were built; a coffee cup design (Crowbar); and building conversion projects Gatard and Juke. Exhibition projects in the series include some devoted to Cedric Price's works (AA Exhibition, Aedes, AFX, Afella), some designed by him (Strike, Food for the Future, Topolski/Waterloo, Ashmole, Mean, AFX), as well as projects designed for exhibition (Citlin, Castel). The series also contains self-financed research and client-less projects, which form a significant part of Cedric Price's practice. Undertaken in anticipation of future clients or new planning needs, they include research into air structures and lightweight enclosures as well as integrated construction and transportation solutions (Trucksafe Air Portable Dock Ahoy), and housing research. South Bank, Magnet, and Duck Land represent a few of the client-less projects. The material in this series documents Cedric Price's work in the United Kingdom, in particular England (the Greater London area, and other areas) and Scotland, Germany, France, Austria, Australia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States and other locations such as Canada, Nigeria, and Norway. Major clients include J. Lyons & Co. (Oxford Corner House), David Keddie (Two Tree Island, Southend Roof), Howard Gilman (Generator), British Railways (Strate and Strate (2), and others), the McAlpine family , particularly Alistair McAlpine, and their company Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd. (McAppy, Perthut, Trafalgar, Pertpavs, Ashmole, Perth, Obeliq, McVance); Établissement Public du Parc de la Villette (Parc, Serre, Serre (2), Musique) and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (IFPRI, Mean). He collaborated with several architects and engineers during the course of his career, his closest association being with engineer Frank Newby and quantity surveyor Douglas Smith. Some of his other collaborators include engineer Max Fordham (Strate (2), Tiff, Berlin), engineering firms Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Partners (Stratton, Rink, Control), and Sir Frederick Snow & Partners (South Bank), cybernetician Gordon Pask (Kawasaki/Japnet), architectural firm YRM/Yorke Rosenberg Mardall (Unibad), and architect Richard Rogers (Marman). He also collaborated with members of Archigram on the Trondheim Competition, (1972-1974), and with John and Julia Frazer who provided the computer modelling for Generator. David Price, Cedric Price's brother was the model maker for several projects. The series contains conceptual drawings, design development drawings, reference drawings and maps, presentation drawings (particularly for competitions), and working drawings. A significant amount of textual records are included, especially for projects involving a large amount of research or publicity (Air Structures, Lightweight Enclosures, South Bank, CP Aviary, Stratton), for executed projects, and for the larger unrealized projects like Fun Palace and Generator. Also includes photographic materials of project sites and models. Some models included in the series are made from durable materials (wood, metal, plastic), while others are in-office constructions made out of paper, cardboard and Fome-Cor (TM). Of particular note are the 11 models for Magnet, and a full-size prototype of a market stall for Westal. Series also contains publication layouts, including material for the "Cedric Price Supplement", 'Architectural Design' vols. 40- 42 (1970-1972). Changes in office practice are noted around 1971, evident in the Blackpool Project and later, including the adoption of the metric system, and the creation of working and detail drawings on A4 size paper and filed with textual records (e.g. approximately 300 such drawings are included in the textual records for Blackpool Project). At the same time fewer preamble drawings that relate to site sensing, progress and life-cycle graphs and tables are created for the projects (a common feature from the 1960s), although project progress tables are still used. Of particular interest is material in the Early Work and Miscellaneous Records file (AP144.S2.D1) that relates to office work methods and programmes.
Series
1903-2003, predominant 1960-2000
Series
AP193.S1
Description:
Series 1, Water Flux and Scrambled Flat, 2002-2010, documents the conception and evolution of a project that was originally a farm building and later became a geology and glaciology museum and research center focused on the Swiss Alps. The project was never realized. R&Sie(n) conceptualized Scrambled Flat as an experimental farm. The project goal was to reconcile European Union’s agricultural regulations, imposing a separation between animal and human living, to the community of Évolène traditional way of living, contiguously with animals, benefiting from the resources they offer. As conceived, Scrambled Flat creates an environment where fluidity between the existence of the animals and the humans is materialized. The size of the form is also adapted from a typical local rural house and exploits the heat of the animals and the insulation of the hay. For this project, R&Sie(n) approached the mayor of the community with the design proposition. The mayor then called for a competition, while also changing the program to an ecology museum and research center illustrating the local effects of global warming and the thawing of the Alps. R&Sie(n) won the competition with Water Flux, a reinterpretation of Scrambled Flat. The project was intended to uncover and exorcise the anxieties of ecological disaster, and the principle of flux related to seasonal change and, more broadly, climate change. The firm designed rooms that reproduce the geological and meteorological environment of the high mountains making it visible and experimental, offering refrigerated spaces for art installations and scientific demonstrations. The concept was also to build with the use of new technologies such as digital modelling, point scanning, and computer numerical control (CNC), combined with ancient local knowledge of knocking on trees to decide which specific pines have the best wood for construction. The building is designed to be constructed with local lamellar wood milled by nearby CNC. The resulting parts would be used for the structure, the insulation, the waterproofing and both the interior and exterior finishes. The design includes a grille wrapping the building, reproducing the profile of traditional houses and enclosure and making it possible to hold the snow inside a typo-morphological imprint. Therefore, the transformable envelope of the building reacts to the rhythm of the seasons. In the winter, the structure would appear like a solid cut-out of ice and snow, with cavities similar to those found in glaciers. In the summer, it would resemble piles of stones used in these areas to make borders. A small pool would collect rainwater and supply it to an interior artificial snowmaking system designed for the gallery. Transformation of the water is an integral part of the design. The records contain images of plans, sections, details for the structure of the façade, renderings, plans of the engineered structure, and photographs documenting the conception of the models with the CNC machinery. The Rhino 3D modelling files are also part of the records along with AutoCAD models and a video documenting the process. The records contain two physical models: a smaller polymer model at 1:20 scale representing the whole structure of the building, and a larger 1:1 latch wood fragment representing detail of the structure in its integrality.
2002-2010
Water Flux and Scrambled Flat
Actions:
AP193.S1
Description:
Series 1, Water Flux and Scrambled Flat, 2002-2010, documents the conception and evolution of a project that was originally a farm building and later became a geology and glaciology museum and research center focused on the Swiss Alps. The project was never realized. R&Sie(n) conceptualized Scrambled Flat as an experimental farm. The project goal was to reconcile European Union’s agricultural regulations, imposing a separation between animal and human living, to the community of Évolène traditional way of living, contiguously with animals, benefiting from the resources they offer. As conceived, Scrambled Flat creates an environment where fluidity between the existence of the animals and the humans is materialized. The size of the form is also adapted from a typical local rural house and exploits the heat of the animals and the insulation of the hay. For this project, R&Sie(n) approached the mayor of the community with the design proposition. The mayor then called for a competition, while also changing the program to an ecology museum and research center illustrating the local effects of global warming and the thawing of the Alps. R&Sie(n) won the competition with Water Flux, a reinterpretation of Scrambled Flat. The project was intended to uncover and exorcise the anxieties of ecological disaster, and the principle of flux related to seasonal change and, more broadly, climate change. The firm designed rooms that reproduce the geological and meteorological environment of the high mountains making it visible and experimental, offering refrigerated spaces for art installations and scientific demonstrations. The concept was also to build with the use of new technologies such as digital modelling, point scanning, and computer numerical control (CNC), combined with ancient local knowledge of knocking on trees to decide which specific pines have the best wood for construction. The building is designed to be constructed with local lamellar wood milled by nearby CNC. The resulting parts would be used for the structure, the insulation, the waterproofing and both the interior and exterior finishes. The design includes a grille wrapping the building, reproducing the profile of traditional houses and enclosure and making it possible to hold the snow inside a typo-morphological imprint. Therefore, the transformable envelope of the building reacts to the rhythm of the seasons. In the winter, the structure would appear like a solid cut-out of ice and snow, with cavities similar to those found in glaciers. In the summer, it would resemble piles of stones used in these areas to make borders. A small pool would collect rainwater and supply it to an interior artificial snowmaking system designed for the gallery. Transformation of the water is an integral part of the design. The records contain images of plans, sections, details for the structure of the façade, renderings, plans of the engineered structure, and photographs documenting the conception of the models with the CNC machinery. The Rhino 3D modelling files are also part of the records along with AutoCAD models and a video documenting the process. The records contain two physical models: a smaller polymer model at 1:20 scale representing the whole structure of the building, and a larger 1:1 latch wood fragment representing detail of the structure in its integrality.
Series
2002-2010
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
AP177
Synopsis:
The RUR Architecture Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library project records, circa 1996, document the New York based firm’s competition entry for the Kansai Science City branch of Japan’s National Diet Library. Records show integration of landscape in the building’s design, exploration of the relationship between structure and surface, and a multimedia approach to building design. Records include 169 digital files, mostly CAD models and images; 42 drawings and printed renderings; and 5 models and casts.
1996-2015
RUR Architecture Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library project records
Actions:
AP177
Synopsis:
The RUR Architecture Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library project records, circa 1996, document the New York based firm’s competition entry for the Kansai Science City branch of Japan’s National Diet Library. Records show integration of landscape in the building’s design, exploration of the relationship between structure and surface, and a multimedia approach to building design. Records include 169 digital files, mostly CAD models and images; 42 drawings and printed renderings; and 5 models and casts.
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
1996-2015
audio
Computation is Computation.
Description:
1 online resource.
[Place of publication not identified] : Disintegrator, 2024.
audio
[Place of publication not identified] : Disintegrator, 2024.
journals and magazines
Mathematics of computation.
[Providence, R.I.] : American Mathematical Society
journals and magazines
[Providence, R.I.] : American Mathematical Society
books
Description:
1 online resource
[Place of publication not identified] : Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2019., [Place of publication not identified] : Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2019.
Computation as Design: : Ron Resch and the New Media of Geometry.
Actions:
Description:
1 online resource
books
[Place of publication not identified] : Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2019., [Place of publication not identified] : Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2019.