Interesting class trip down to the biggest tiles showroom in Europe. Loads of information about natural and man made stone and all the process behind an impeccable tiling...
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Number 21
Visit to Tile Style.
Interesting class trip down to the biggest tiles showroom in Europe. Loads of information about natural and man made stone and all the process behind an impeccable tiling...
Interesting class trip down to the biggest tiles showroom in Europe. Loads of information about natural and man made stone and all the process behind an impeccable tiling...
Number 13
Daintree building
Short stroll down to Pleasant place to look at the most sustainable building in Ireland.
Short stroll down to Pleasant place to look at the most sustainable building in Ireland.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Number 8
For my thesis research John suggested I'd go visit the buildings at the Botanic Gardens and this time...I did have my camera,yaaay!
I had already been at the Gardens in first year, loooooong time ago, so it was good to go there again! They were as beautiful as I'd remember them, although I didn't see any fluffy pretty squirrel this time!
The tour they gave us was about the big green houses, in particular the restoration of the Palm House built by James Boyd.the biggest challenge with green houses is that they expand with the heat and the change in temperature. When I say they expand I mean they expand A LOT! We're talking over 15 cm!!! So they invented a system of heating the glass over and over till it reached enough elasticity to cope with the unpredictable Irish weather and the humidity coming from the plants inside. Brilliant! In the past the interior tropical climate (oh, it was so nice to stand in there...!) had caused metal corrosion leading to a state of dangerous decay and instability of the columns. So they took the challenge: the whole complex was dismantled, removed off- site for restoration, returned to site, re-erected and new services were installed!In the finished building the rear stone building was retained and restored with new visitors access for the disabled and renewed service access to the internal Palm house gantry walkway (which plays an important structural role as it is used as reinforced lateral support that transfers the load onto the reconstructed rear wall, taking some stress away from the columns). The two side wings of the house were simultaneously restored along with the work to the central Palm House. To protect against new possible corrosion they used advanced modern painting technology which is more environmentally friendly and has a low permeability rate. The tour then moved on to the library, unfortunately they did not give us access but we stayed in the atrium and learnt about the very valuable collections they have (there's a book which , ten years ago, was worth over 10 millions Irish pounds....!) the thing that I liked the most about it tho it was - obviously - the use of the Golden Ratio in the glass partition of the facade. No wonder it looked beautiful...!
Number 5
Open House weekend, Saturday - Dublin
The festival for us architecture lovers! A number of buildings all over town will literally open their doors and let visitors in! We would normally not have this chance, so we had to grab it then and there!The festival started off on Friday but unfortunately we were in class till 5 :( On Saturday we met with John and Moni outside the Henry J Lyons architects building in Pearse street.Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring the memory card of my camera - silly me - so I have no pictures from the day! One of the architects gave us a very good tour. The design feeling can be sensed immediately coming in through the reception where you are welcomed by an amazing reception desk and a spectacular atrium with a void spanning the full height of the building. We later learnt that the atrium is essential to the correct functioning of the ventilation system. there's no mechanical ventilation in the building: the right and constant temperature is provided by computer- automated vents which opens on the north facade to let the cool air in: this is heated up by the filter and vents in the floor and goes all the way up through the atrium where it then leaves the building through other vents positioned on the very top there. The big fat chunky exposed concrete slabs act as a thermal mass, keeping the building at a constant temperature. A very clever and sustainable system! The building is used by a number of different companies, including Henry J Lyons architects and Benetton Ireland.The architects' studio are down in the basement that had been dug down to 12 meters below ground. The studio level has got lots of natural light coming from the unplanted garden on the north side. On the lower ground level there's a meeting room which receives natural light from the skylight in the roofs and has got a partition system that allows for a bigger space if needed. There's also the plotting and printing room and a model - making room. the -1 level is the car park where we could see how the building "fights" constantly against the water coming in. It was a great trip and going out passing thru that spectacular atrium again really reminds you of the importance and the effect of great designed spaces!
Second stop the Oktoberfest on the Docks! No seriously, we all wished...!
Second real stop was the Criminal Courts of Justice off Heuston station. Impressively massive circular building, a bit intimidating at first but really elegant and timeless. Designed by the above mentioned Henry J Lyons studio, the building is designed to deal with something like 400,000 cases every year!The real challenge for the architects was the design of the circulation space, as they had to provide different circulation paths for the public, jurors, persons in custody, judiciary and staff. The colour palette is very muted with ebonized ash wood and limestone floor. we got to go in one of the courtrooms: doors were heavy because they had to provide adequate sound insulation, but the architects chose the right ironmongery so they were actually light enough to open even for a person with disabilities. Inside we were told how the different seats work to let the different parts to a case work with each other. Again, sound insulation is essential and they actually managed to achieved the same insulation you find in recording studios! It was interesting to see how the different circulation paths work even in case of emergency.The glazing panels are so oriented at an angle to provide privacy and allow no visibility from the outside. the glass panels are 7 meters high giving the impression there's only 4 floors in the building,whereas there are actually 10! I like it when a building manages to trick people into thinking it's bigger/smaller than what it actually is!
The festival for us architecture lovers! A number of buildings all over town will literally open their doors and let visitors in! We would normally not have this chance, so we had to grab it then and there!The festival started off on Friday but unfortunately we were in class till 5 :( On Saturday we met with John and Moni outside the Henry J Lyons architects building in Pearse street.Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring the memory card of my camera - silly me - so I have no pictures from the day! One of the architects gave us a very good tour. The design feeling can be sensed immediately coming in through the reception where you are welcomed by an amazing reception desk and a spectacular atrium with a void spanning the full height of the building. We later learnt that the atrium is essential to the correct functioning of the ventilation system. there's no mechanical ventilation in the building: the right and constant temperature is provided by computer- automated vents which opens on the north facade to let the cool air in: this is heated up by the filter and vents in the floor and goes all the way up through the atrium where it then leaves the building through other vents positioned on the very top there. The big fat chunky exposed concrete slabs act as a thermal mass, keeping the building at a constant temperature. A very clever and sustainable system! The building is used by a number of different companies, including Henry J Lyons architects and Benetton Ireland.The architects' studio are down in the basement that had been dug down to 12 meters below ground. The studio level has got lots of natural light coming from the unplanted garden on the north side. On the lower ground level there's a meeting room which receives natural light from the skylight in the roofs and has got a partition system that allows for a bigger space if needed. There's also the plotting and printing room and a model - making room. the -1 level is the car park where we could see how the building "fights" constantly against the water coming in. It was a great trip and going out passing thru that spectacular atrium again really reminds you of the importance and the effect of great designed spaces!
Second stop the Oktoberfest on the Docks! No seriously, we all wished...!
Second real stop was the Criminal Courts of Justice off Heuston station. Impressively massive circular building, a bit intimidating at first but really elegant and timeless. Designed by the above mentioned Henry J Lyons studio, the building is designed to deal with something like 400,000 cases every year!The real challenge for the architects was the design of the circulation space, as they had to provide different circulation paths for the public, jurors, persons in custody, judiciary and staff. The colour palette is very muted with ebonized ash wood and limestone floor. we got to go in one of the courtrooms: doors were heavy because they had to provide adequate sound insulation, but the architects chose the right ironmongery so they were actually light enough to open even for a person with disabilities. Inside we were told how the different seats work to let the different parts to a case work with each other. Again, sound insulation is essential and they actually managed to achieved the same insulation you find in recording studios! It was interesting to see how the different circulation paths work even in case of emergency.The glazing panels are so oriented at an angle to provide privacy and allow no visibility from the outside. the glass panels are 7 meters high giving the impression there's only 4 floors in the building,whereas there are actually 10! I like it when a building manages to trick people into thinking it's bigger/smaller than what it actually is!
Number 3
Visit to St Peter's church and parish centre - Bray
Last week we took a morning trip to the pretty seaside down in Bray to go have a look at one of the renovation projects our dear John has been working on.
The project comprises an extension to the parish centre and the renovation of the interior of the church and its sacristy. The focus was on the beautiful use of local materials - slate, Irish oak - and a subtle palette - greens and other country colours. I particularly enjoyed the intervention in the church and I think the design team did an excellent job, hats off! The seats were very original and unlike to anything I've seen in Italian churches, where everything looks so dark, and grand, and...! Here there's a sense of community, openness, everything is so light and simple. The altar still had lots of marble, but that's essential to a Catholic church I believe! Attention was given to universal design and to provide access for all, thing which you rarely see in a church.An amazing restoration job had been done with the original paintings that were there, bringing them back to a life of vibrant colours! As for the extension to the parish I really liked what they did with the glass balustrade along the staircase and also liked the use of wallpaper. It was really interesting to see how they approached the renovation process on such a community-loved space: you have to be careful to please everyone and to make something that will last for another, let's say, good century. Again, hats off!
Last week we took a morning trip to the pretty seaside down in Bray to go have a look at one of the renovation projects our dear John has been working on.
The project comprises an extension to the parish centre and the renovation of the interior of the church and its sacristy. The focus was on the beautiful use of local materials - slate, Irish oak - and a subtle palette - greens and other country colours. I particularly enjoyed the intervention in the church and I think the design team did an excellent job, hats off! The seats were very original and unlike to anything I've seen in Italian churches, where everything looks so dark, and grand, and...! Here there's a sense of community, openness, everything is so light and simple. The altar still had lots of marble, but that's essential to a Catholic church I believe! Attention was given to universal design and to provide access for all, thing which you rarely see in a church.An amazing restoration job had been done with the original paintings that were there, bringing them back to a life of vibrant colours! As for the extension to the parish I really liked what they did with the glass balustrade along the staircase and also liked the use of wallpaper. It was really interesting to see how they approached the renovation process on such a community-loved space: you have to be careful to please everyone and to make something that will last for another, let's say, good century. Again, hats off!
Number 2
A bit of summary over the past couple of weeks. Only starting to get familiar with the blogging emisphere,so please be patient with me and have faith!! :)
okidoki, we start off with our dear Hanover quay building.
Currently working on this project to give a new imaginary family of 6 a brand new home in Ireland.
We were given freedom to choose whatever vertical/ horizontal layout we'd prefer. I'm going to have only 5 apts spread over three levels to create a triple height space: reason for that being that I was given a huge Mark Rothko's canvas as one of my art/ furniture pieces and I' d really love to emphasis that and to make people coming in go Wooow! I also got a couple of Mackintosh chairs and a Prouve's side table. The overall style is very decadent and dark which I really love.
There was an issue with the sun orientation of the site. We were given a north point which we later discovered to be the wrong one. I had initially chosen the apts on the west side overlooking the canal and the theatre view, but now apparently that side is the actual south, which is great news. We honestly suspected that from the day we went there to have a look at the building. Me and a couple of friends (Hege's interior corner and KGB interiors, aka Hege and Karoline) arrived there around 1 pm when the sun was almost at its highest and the light was coming from what we thought being west, but it was actually south. Long story short, my project is now facing south. Yaaaay!
Libeskind's jewel and
Our project building
Proving the south side!
okidoki, we start off with our dear Hanover quay building.
Currently working on this project to give a new imaginary family of 6 a brand new home in Ireland.
We were given freedom to choose whatever vertical/ horizontal layout we'd prefer. I'm going to have only 5 apts spread over three levels to create a triple height space: reason for that being that I was given a huge Mark Rothko's canvas as one of my art/ furniture pieces and I' d really love to emphasis that and to make people coming in go Wooow! I also got a couple of Mackintosh chairs and a Prouve's side table. The overall style is very decadent and dark which I really love.
There was an issue with the sun orientation of the site. We were given a north point which we later discovered to be the wrong one. I had initially chosen the apts on the west side overlooking the canal and the theatre view, but now apparently that side is the actual south, which is great news. We honestly suspected that from the day we went there to have a look at the building. Me and a couple of friends (Hege's interior corner and KGB interiors, aka Hege and Karoline) arrived there around 1 pm when the sun was almost at its highest and the light was coming from what we thought being west, but it was actually south. Long story short, my project is now facing south. Yaaaay!
Libeskind's jewel and view of the square
Our project building
Proving the south side!Thursday, 29 September 2011
Number 1
Design theory research on how the design principles can be found in interior spaces.
Accent light
Decorative light
General light
Line
Planes
Point
Task light
Unity/ variety
Volumes
Accent light
Decorative light General light
Line
Planes
Point
Task light
Unity/ variety
Volumes
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