Modular architecture central to Christchurch's urban regeneration
"Martin Trusttum, from CPIT's Faculty of Creative Industries, likens his ArtBox project to a game of Tetris. 'It's just like Tetris but in slow motion. They are cubes and eventually they will come together to form a precinct.'
ArtBox will be located on the corner of Madras and St Asaph streets on the old Southlander Tavern-Jetset Lounge site opposite Anton Parsons' sculpture Passing Time.
It is a rare collection of mobile and flexible modules designed by Sydenham-based F3 and will offer about 18 spaces suitable for galleries and studios. It offers a practical, timely solution to the many low-cost premises used as galleries and studios destroyed by the February 2011 earthquake. "
(Vicki Anderson, 07 September 2012, Stuff.co.nz)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
BTS Design d'Espace Toulon: Junk Playground
"Lors des bombardements allemand de la seconde guerre mondiale, Londres à été une des villes les plus détruite. On y trouvait fréquemment des espaces vide crée entre deux immeubles démolis et bourrés de gravats. Ces espaces vides, terrains vagues, en friche, "poubelles" en attente d'être reconstruit furent pendant une période des espaces de terrains de jeux consacré exclusivement aux enfants. L'idée était de donner un lieu spécifique pour que les enfants à la fois s'exprime librement, évite l'ennuie et l'inactivité qui peuvent conduire à la délinquance et participe à leurs façon à la période de reconstruction.
Ces terrains d'aventures, appelés Junk playground (terrains vague) ont été des espaces de libertés encadré ou les enfants construisirent à partir des gravats des "sculptures installation et autres inventions".
La fabrication par lui même (de l'enfant) de ses propres jeux par la maîtrise des outils (marteau, scie...) furent une expérience inédite et fondamentale dans l'approche citoyenne et pédagogique du rôle du jeu comme source d'épanouissement et d'éveil des consciences. La liberté quasi anarchique de ces terrains, laissant à l'enfant la responsabilité de ses actes, en étant acteur de sa propre aventures comme facteur de régénération pour une société pacifié, sans violence ou chacun peut s'exprimer et trouver sa place de citoyen. Cette expérience éphémère n'a pas survécu aux règles de sécurité, aux normes. Mais aussi aux formatages d'équipements modulaires produits en masse ou l'enfant n'est plus l'acteur (car exclu du processus de conception) mais simple utilisateur, spectateur, consommateur et non plus comme citoyen."
(Éric Malaterre, 03/01/2011, BTS Design d'Espace Toulon)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Nakagin Capsule Tower
"Kisho Kurokawa can't seem to catch a break these days. Just days after the Japanese architect lost his bid for the governorship of Tokyo, the Nakagin Capsule Tower, his best known building and one of the few built examples of the Metabolist movement, was given a date with the wrecking ball.
The Capsule Tower, completed in 1972, stands in the centre of Tokyo's affluent Ginza neighbourhood. The building is actually composed of two concrete towers, respectively 11 and 13 stories, each encrusted with an outer layer of prefabricated living units. It has long been appreciated by architects as a pure expression of the Metabolist movement, popular in the 1960s and 1970s, which envisioned cities formed of modular components. But in recent years residents expressed growing concern over the presence of asbestos. On April 15, the building's management association approved plans calling for the architectural icon to be razed and replaced with a new 14-story tower. A demolition is yet to be determined.
For his part, Kurokawa has pleaded to let the Capsule Tower express one of its original design qualities: flexibility. He suggested 'unplugging' each box and replacing it with an updated unit, letting the base towers -which he calls 'timeless'-remain untouched. Japan's four major architectural organisations, including the Japan Institute of Architects, support this scheme. But the building's management remained unconvinced and raised concerns regarding the towers' ability to withstand earthquakes, as well as its inefficient use of valuable land. The new building will increase floor area by 60 percent.
Following the board's decision, only Kurokawa continues to raise protest. If the Capsule Tower is destroyed as planned, it will join a growing list of losses. His Sony Tower in Osaka, completed in 1976, came down last year; Plantec Architects designed a glass-walled commercial building that will replace it."
(Yuki Solomon, Architectural Record)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
