Learning from... Hong Kong
Self-built settlements on the roofs of high-rise buildings have been an integral part of Hong Kong’s history for over half a century. Rooftop structures range from basic shelters for the disadvantaged to intricate multi-storey constructions equipped with the amenities of modern life. Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham use the tools of an architect and a photographer to document(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
3 May 2012 , 7pm
Learning from... Hong Kong
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Description:
Self-built settlements on the roofs of high-rise buildings have been an integral part of Hong Kong’s history for over half a century. Rooftop structures range from basic shelters for the disadvantaged to intricate multi-storey constructions equipped with the amenities of modern life. Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham use the tools of an architect and a photographer to document(...)
Paul-Desmarais Theatre
textual records
AP075.S3.SS2.047
Description:
Original folder entitled: "PLAY - OKANAGAN LANDING COMMUNITY".
1971
Assistance request from the Okanagan Landing Committee for the development of a park on Okanagan Lake, British Columbia
Actions:
AP075.S3.SS2.047
Description:
Original folder entitled: "PLAY - OKANAGAN LANDING COMMUNITY".
textual records
1971
textual records
Lysander Notes
ARCH153557
Description:
Handwritten notes for report on Lysander New Community, 1968
1968
Lysander Notes
Actions:
ARCH153557
Description:
Handwritten notes for report on Lysander New Community, 1968
textual records
1968
Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor—also known as Bonjour Tristesse—in Berlin and Punt en Komma in The Hague are Álvaro Siza’s first built works outside his native Portugal. The two projects resemble one another in size, scale, program, and ambition: both were built in the 1980s, both are results of a distinct attitude towards the city, and both were social housing projects(...)
Octagonal gallery Keyword(s):
Álvaro Siza, Punt en Komma, The Hague, Bonjour Tristesse, Berlin
24 September 2015 to 22 May 2016
Corner, Block, Neighbourhood, Cities. Álvaro Siza in Berlin and The Hague
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Description:
Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor—also known as Bonjour Tristesse—in Berlin and Punt en Komma in The Hague are Álvaro Siza’s first built works outside his native Portugal. The two projects resemble one another in size, scale, program, and ambition: both were built in the 1980s, both are results of a distinct attitude towards the city, and both were social housing projects(...)
Octagonal gallery Keyword(s):
Álvaro Siza, Punt en Komma, The Hague, Bonjour Tristesse, Berlin
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
AP084
Synopsis:
The Gardiner & Thornton architects fonds, 1924-1987, documents the built projects of Vancouver-based firm, Gardiner & Thornton, architects, and its successive firms. Over 300 architectural projects are represented in this fonds. Materials in this fonds include approximately 3925 drawings (including reprographic copies), 908 photographic materials and 3.06 l.m. of textual records.
1924-1987
Gardiner & Thornton architects fonds
Actions:
AP084
Synopsis:
The Gardiner & Thornton architects fonds, 1924-1987, documents the built projects of Vancouver-based firm, Gardiner & Thornton, architects, and its successive firms. Over 300 architectural projects are represented in this fonds. Materials in this fonds include approximately 3925 drawings (including reprographic copies), 908 photographic materials and 3.06 l.m. of textual records.
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
1924-1987
textual records
AP075.S3.SS2.068
Description:
Submittal by Resources for Community and Equity Community Builders, possibly used as documentation by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. Original folder entitled "OXFORD PLAZA AND DAVID BROWER CENTRE SAN FRANCISCO".
2002
Proposal for the Oxford Plaza and Brower Center in San Francisco
Actions:
AP075.S3.SS2.068
Description:
Submittal by Resources for Community and Equity Community Builders, possibly used as documentation by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. Original folder entitled "OXFORD PLAZA AND DAVID BROWER CENTRE SAN FRANCISCO".
textual records
2002
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
This exhibition features British architect Will Alsop’s preparatory work for the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art Design (OCAD) in Toronto and explores the role of painting in his design process. Completed in 2004, OCAD’s Sharp Centre for Design was designed by Alsop Architects in collaboration with the Toronto-based firm Robbie/Young + Wright. The(...)
Octagonal gallery
13 June 2008 to 5 October 2008
Will Alsop: OCAD, An Urban Manifesto
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Description:
This exhibition features British architect Will Alsop’s preparatory work for the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art Design (OCAD) in Toronto and explores the role of painting in his design process. Completed in 2004, OCAD’s Sharp Centre for Design was designed by Alsop Architects in collaboration with the Toronto-based firm Robbie/Young + Wright. The(...)
Octagonal gallery
articles
Shooting the Breeze
Shooting the Breeze
Mae-ling Lokko and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Biney-Amissah on the interconnectedness of energy, materials, and rebuilding community
Actions:
Forces of Friction
Project
Casal das Figueiras, Setubal
CD034.S1.1975.PR02
Description:
This project series contains seven reproductions of drawings displayed in the exhibit to document the Casal das Figueiras neighbourhood, in Setúbal, south of Lisbon, Portugal. The exhibit text explained that: ... the Setúbal port-city experienced the political vibrations of the revolutionary year with great intensity. The Casal das Figueiras neighbourhood was designed for a fishing community living in a difficult area to build on due to its steep incline. The challenge that the project architect Gonçalo Byrne faced was to maintain the structure of single-family housing with the outhouse or courtyard, the typology that the local populations requested, while making a large urban gesture. The proposal was based on two types of housing (the square and rectangular plans). This overcame the problem of the 36 percent slope in an architecturally striking manner, while it also managed to fulfil the major requirement inherent in any SAAL operation of minimizing costs. (The SAAL Process, Housing in Portugal 1974–76) Gonçalo Byrne worked for SAAL/Lisbon and Central South with Ana Ferreira Rebocho, Berta Sá Caetano and the residents' association Casal das Figueiras, that was founded on October 30th, 1975. The project included 420 dwellings. The operation began in July 1975 , with a construction date in October 1976. This project series contains reproductions of implementation plans and design development drawings. The original drawings were produced in 1978-1979 and were reproduced in 2015 for the exhibit.
1978-1979
Casal das Figueiras, Setubal
Actions:
CD034.S1.1975.PR02
Description:
This project series contains seven reproductions of drawings displayed in the exhibit to document the Casal das Figueiras neighbourhood, in Setúbal, south of Lisbon, Portugal. The exhibit text explained that: ... the Setúbal port-city experienced the political vibrations of the revolutionary year with great intensity. The Casal das Figueiras neighbourhood was designed for a fishing community living in a difficult area to build on due to its steep incline. The challenge that the project architect Gonçalo Byrne faced was to maintain the structure of single-family housing with the outhouse or courtyard, the typology that the local populations requested, while making a large urban gesture. The proposal was based on two types of housing (the square and rectangular plans). This overcame the problem of the 36 percent slope in an architecturally striking manner, while it also managed to fulfil the major requirement inherent in any SAAL operation of minimizing costs. (The SAAL Process, Housing in Portugal 1974–76) Gonçalo Byrne worked for SAAL/Lisbon and Central South with Ana Ferreira Rebocho, Berta Sá Caetano and the residents' association Casal das Figueiras, that was founded on October 30th, 1975. The project included 420 dwellings. The operation began in July 1975 , with a construction date in October 1976. This project series contains reproductions of implementation plans and design development drawings. The original drawings were produced in 1978-1979 and were reproduced in 2015 for the exhibit.
Project
1978-1979