MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opens, giving the public access to 151,000 artworks

Glass display cases filled with artworks take centre stage in the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, an art storage building designed by MVRDV, which is now open to the public in Rotterdam.

Billed as the "world's first publicly accessible art depot", the building brings together the entire 151,000-piece art collection of the neighbouring Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

The Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen has opened to the public a year after the building was completed

Unlike most museum storage depots, this one is open to the public. It allows the museum to reveal its entire collection, whereas most other museums can only present around 20 per cent or less at any given time.

Visitors are able to explore the building's different storage facilities, which showcase paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics and more.

Circulation spaces weave between large display cases that showcase the museum's collection

MVRDV gave the building a bowl-shaped form, which is clad in mirrored glass, while its roof is a garden filled with trees. Inside, it combines storage spaces with restoration studios and galleries.

"As an architecture firm, it was our mission to allow a special art experience to go hand-in-hand with a building that takes an equally special form," said studio co-founder Winy Maas.

The Depot allows the museum's full collection to be viewed by visitors

Located in Rotterdam's Museumpark, the Depot officially opened on Saturday 6 November, more than a year since the building was completed.

Revealing its art-filled interior to the public for the first time, the building now contains 63,000 paintings, photographs, films and objects, and 88,000 prints and drawings.

A central atrium extends up the building's full 35-metre height

At the heart of the interior is an atrium that extends all the way up through the building's 35-metre-high volume.

As well as being framed by glass, this atrium is filled with display cases created by designer Marieke van Diemen.

Panels display paintings, drawings, prints and sketches

Some of these cases line the sides of the space, while others form bridges that people can walk over and under. They are all filled with different objects from the museum's collection, giving visitors a different experience of the art.

Highlights include Untitled (Manhole), a sculpture by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan that was previously not exhibited in full, as the piece is designed to be partially concealed beneath a floor. Here, it's possible to see it all.

Storage areas are divided into five different "climate zones"

The interior is organised over seven main levels, containing 20 different depot departments. Fourteen of these are used by the museum, while an additional six are leased by private collectors.

These storage areas are divided up into five different "climate zones", organised by their specific temperature and humidity requirements.

Glass walls allow views of the storage areas from the atrium

Glass walls make it possible to see inside these areas from the atrium, giving a more dynamic feel to the interior.

Artist John Körmeling has fitted out the building's entrance lobby, using neons lights and sculptural elements to create a high-tech aesthetic. This is enhanced by the entrance doors, which lift up "like a gadget out of a James Bond film".

Neon lights illuminate the lobby

The upper level features a restaurant and events space designed by Amsterdam-based design studio Concrete. This connects with the building's rooftop garden, which features birch trees, pine trees and grasses.

"I hope that visitors will soon enjoy the interior, the rooftop forest, and the experience of being in direct contact with the art without the mediation of a curator," said Maas.

"Our ambition was to give the Museumpark a new dimension, and to bring different target groups – from schoolchildren to Feyenoord fans – into contact with the Boijmans collection in an innovative way."

A restaurant and events space opens onto the rooftop garden

To announce the building's opening, Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist has created a light installation that brings the exterior to life at night.

Called Wasting Life On You, the installation sees the building and its surroundings filled with colour.

The mirrored bowl-shaped form reflects the surroundings in Rotterdam's Museumpark

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is not the first major building that MVRDV has designed in Rotterdam, where the studio is based.

In 2014, it completed Markthal Rotterdam, a covered market shaped like a giant arch and wrapped by apartments.

The studio – which is led by Maas with Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries – was recently in the news following issues with its plant-covered Marble Arch Mound in London.

Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist created a light installation across the exterior for the opening

The studio has been working on the Depot since 2004, when it won the design competition for the project.

The project was delivered through a collaboration between Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the municipality of Rotterdam and the De Verre Bergen Foundation.

Photography is byOssip van Duivenbode, unless otherwise indicated.

Project credits

Architect: MVRDV
Principal in charge: Winy Maas
Partner: Fokke Moerel
Project team: Sanne van der Burgh, Arjen Ketting, Fedor Bron, Gerard Heerink, Elien Deceuninck, Jason Slabbynck, Rico van de Gevel, Marjolein Marijnissen, Remco de Haan
Competition team: Sanne van der Burgh, Marta Pozo, Gerard Heerink, Elien Deceuninck, Saimon Gomez Idiakez, Jose Ignacio Velasco Martin, Jason Slabbynck, Mariya Gyaurova, Lukasz Brzozowski Strategy & Development: Jan Knikker, Irene Start
Contractor: BAM Bouw en Techniek
Structure: IMd Raadgevend Ingenieurs
Cost engineering: BBN
Installations: RHDHV
Facade consultants: ABT
Building physics: Peutz
Landscape architect: MTD Landschap architecten
Restaurant designer: Concrete
Art collaborations: John Körmeling, Marieke van Diemen, Pipilotti Rist

The post MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opens, giving the public access to 151,000 artworks appeared first on Dezeen.

#cultural #all #architecture #mvrdv #netherlands #rotterdam #museums #galleries #culturalbuildings #mirroredbuildings

Bourgeois Lechasseur completes pair of prefabricated glamping cabins in Quebec

Quebec architecture firm Bourgeois Lechasseur has included full-height mirrored walls in these secluded cabins to reflect the surrounding forest.

The pair of rentable Forest Glamp cabins were completed as part of hospitality concept Réflexion, and are located in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François – a popular ski destination roughly an hour outside Quebec City.

Bourgeois Lechasseur Architects built the pair of glamping cabins in Quebec

The project follows Bourgeois Lechasseur's previous work on glamping or short-term rental projects in the region, and the studio sees this a continuation of the same type of work.

"The challenge for the architects was to engage guests in an intimate relationship with nature, rather than dazzle them with the overwhelming views nearby," said Bourgeois Lechasseur. "Key to the design was a focus on creating accommodations that would almost disappear among the trees."

The cabins were constructed using wood that was stained black across the exterior

The black wooden cabins have identical layouts and are placed back-to-back roughly 50 metres apart, ensuring guests' privacy.

Each of the structures contains two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchenette, and an open living and dining area with a fireplace.

Reflective glass stretches across one side of the cabin

In the communal area, a full-height glass wall runs the length of the building, providing unobstructed views of the surrounding forest.

When seen from outside, the reflective glass helps to blend building volumes with the trees.

To prevent confusing and injuring wildlife, the large panels have a coating that is invisible to the human eye, but that birds can see clearly.

In order to reduce construction timelines and improve build quality, each cabin was pre-fabricated offsite in two sections, and assembled together in the field.

The fully glazed wall provides views of the forest from inside

"Two operations had to take place on location: the pouring of the radiant concrete slab, and installation of the long, reflective glass walls," Bourgeois Lechasseur said.

"Meticulous site coordination was required during final assembly."

The interior of the cabins are also lined in wood

The cabins interiors have an airy palette of pale wooden ceilings, light concrete floors, and monochrome furniture.

Bourgeois Lechasseur aimed to create a contrast with the typical "rustic log cabins" that most people still associate with the Canadian wilderness. "Today's travelers seek comfort and poetry," the architects said.

The cabin interiors have a light and airy look

Bourgeois Lechasseur have completed several residences throughout Quebec.

Others include a home on the Magdalene Islands that takes cues from local traditional materials and a lakeside residence with stepped, stadium-style seating outside leading down to the water.

The photography is byMaxime Brouillet unless otherwise indicated.

Project credits:

Design team: Olivier Bourgeois, Régis Lechasseur, Alexandre Côté, Valérie Gauthier
General contractor: Charlevoix Acoustique
Window markers: FeatherFriendly

The post Bourgeois Lechasseur completes pair of prefabricated glamping cabins in Quebec appeared first on Dezeen.

#hotels #all #architecture #canada #québec #prefabricatedbuildings #mirroredbuildings #cabins #bourgeoislechasseurarchitects #glamping

Studio Libeskind completes angular Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam

A labyrinth of brick walls and angular mirrors define the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names, which Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind's studio has completed in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Located on Weesperstraat street close to the Jewish Cultural Quarter, the memorial was realised by Studio Libeskind with local studio Rijnboutt to commemorate 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust.

Studio Libeskind has completed the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names

The victims, who were largely Jews, Sinti and Roma people, were killed by the Nazis during the second world war and have no known graves.

To honour each of these victims individually, the walls of the memorial are constructed from 102,000 bricks that are inscribed with the names of the victims – giving the project its title.

Alongside these bricks, 1,000 extra bricks were left blank to memorialise those who remain unknown.

The bricks are inscribed with the names of Dutch Holocaust victims

The bricks are arranged in a series of two-metre-high walls across the site, which are crowned by four mirrored stainless steel volumes.

Studio Libeskind's arrangement of the brick walls gives rise to a dynamic labyrinth of passages across the site for visitors to explore.

A labyrinth of brick walls make up the memorial

The mirrored volumes were designed by Studio Libeskind to emulate four Hebrew letters, which form a word that translates as "in memory of" when viewed together from above.

They are also designed to appear as though they are floating above the walls, which the studio said represents "an interruption in the history and culture of the Dutch people".

[

Read:

Studio Libeskind completes Canada's first Holocaust monument in Ottawa

](https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/02/studio-libeskind-completes-national-holocaust-monument-ottawa-canada/)

The combination of brick and stainless steel at the memorial is also symbolic.

"Brick, a ubiquitous building material in the Netherlands and cities of Western Europe, paired with the highly reflective and geometric forms of the steel letters reference the connection between Amsterdam's past and present," Studio Libeskind said.

The walls are crowned by mirrored volumes

Woven around the brick walls are crushed stones, trees and monolithic seating that complement the geometric angles of the memorial, while the border of the site is lined with hedges and bronze-coloured panels.

The Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names was commissioned by the Nederlands Auschwitz Comité and officially inaugurated on 19 September 2021.

The mirrors appear to hover above the walls

Studio Libeskind was founded by Libeskind with his partner Nina Libeskind in Berlin in 1989. Elsewhere, the studio has designed Holocaust memorials in the United States and Canada.

It has also designed several Jewish museums, including the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen and San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum. It is currently also designing one in Lisbon.

Bronze-coloured walls line the edges

Dezeen recently spoke to Libeskind as part of its 9/11 anniversary series to explain his experience of working on the Ground Zero masterplan.

The architect said that "everything changed in architecture" after the tragedy and that it "gave people a sense that architecture is important".

The photography is byKees Hummel.

Project credits:

Architect: Studio Libeskind
Team: Daniel Libeskind, Stefan Blach, Johan van Lierop and Alex Tahinos
Architect of record: Rijnboutt
General contractor: Koninklijke Woudenberg
Project management: Paul Rohlfs
Construction management: Aumento bv
Construction: IMd Raadgevend Ingenieurs
Brick manufacturer: Rodruza
Masonry: Metselwerk Adviesbureau Vekemans
Stainless steel: AIP partners BV, ABT
Engravings: Reijnders Engraving and Laser Engineering B.V.
Installations: Swart installatietechniek

The post Studio Libeskind completes angular Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam appeared first on Dezeen.

#cultural #all #architecture #amsterdam #netherlands #mirrors #culturalbuildings #memorials #mirroredbuildings #studiolibeskind

Tubular holiday home cantilevers over hill in Russian art park

Moscow's chief architect Sergey Kuznetsov has completed a pipe-shaped cabin, constructed like the hull of a ship and balanced on the edge of a slope in Russia's Nikola-Lenivets Art Park.

The holiday home was conceived for the annual Archstoyanie festival, known as Russia's Burning Man, and will remain in place after the event to provide accommodation for visitors of the outdoor art gallery, which is set in a nature reserve near the city of Kaluga.

Sergey Kuznetsov designed a tubular house for the Archstoyanie land art festival

Clad in a single, continuous sheet of stainless steel that reflects the surrounding forest, the building is 12 metres long and weighs around twice as much as a fully-grown elephant. But Kuznetsov claims its structure is held together using only six bolts.

"The idea was to create something with an element of magic," he told Dezeen.

The holiday cabin is cantilevered from the top of a small hill

To create the impression of the cabin hanging in mid-air, its foundation is concealed inside a small hill that had to be almost completely demolished during excavation, before being rebuilt and reinforced with sand cushions.

Kuznetsov and construction company Krost devised the cylindrical structure mounted on top by drawing on a shipbuilding technique known as transverse framing.

The kitchen and bathroom are located above the foundations, close to the plumbing and electricity supply

In lieu of traditional wall studs, this involves a system of closely spaced, circular ribs that run along the length of the entire building.

Cut from sheets of stainless steel and connected by horizontal guides known as stringers, they create a strong yet lightweight frame that is able to support itself without breaking.

The bedroom occupies the far end of the tube

"The entire structure consists of six cylindrical modules, simultaneously manufactured and then connected to each other," Kuznetsov explained. "The same thing happens in shipbuilding. Separate sections of the hull are made in the workshop before being assembled into a single structure on a dry dock."

"The biggest challenge at this stage was to put the cylinders together – precisely, coaxially, with virtually no tolerances," he added.

Underground, a concrete slab foundation extends in the opposite direction of the cabin to act as a counterweight.

This also houses the plumbing and electricity, with the kitchen and bathroom located directly above while the bedroom occupies the far end of the building that floats above the forest floor.

Cladding is formed from a single, continuous sheet of stainless steel

Kuznetsov says no one on his team knew whether the structure was going to hold up in its cantilevered position until it was physically installed on-site, due to the complexity of the construction.

"The designers calculated potential deformations but due to the lack of relevant experience, no one could say with confidence how the structure and most importantly its cladding would behave when installed," Kuznetsov said.

"After removing the supporting structures, the bottom of the console dropped by 22 millimetres within a calculated maximum tolerance of 30 millimetres, which caused an incomparable feeling of joy and relief for everyone involved."

The cabin will provide accommodation for visitors of the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park

Kuznetsov is one of the co-founders of Russian practice SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov alongside Sergei Tchoban. Before leaving the firm in 2012, he completed a number of international projects including the Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin, as well as representing Russia at the Venice Architecture Biennale on four separate occasions.

In his role as chief architect of Moscow, Kuznetsov has overseen the refurbishment of the city's Luzhniki Stadium by SPEECH as well as Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Zaryadye Park, which Russian government officials have accused of corrupting the local youth after a number of couples were caught having outdoor sex.

The photography is byIlya Ivanov.

_Archstoyanie is a festival for large-scale landscape art and architecture that takes place in the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park every year. _SeeDezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Tubular holiday home cantilevers over hill in Russian art park appeared first on Dezeen.

#residential #all #architecture #cantilevers #holidayhomes #russia #mirroredbuildings #cabins #roundbuildings #stainlesssteel #sergeykuznetsov

Doug Aitken creates kaleidoscopic catwalk for Saint Laurent show in Venice

American artist Doug Aitken has designed a plant-filled mirrored installation for the Saint Laurent menswear spring summer 2021 fashion show in Venice.

Called Green Lens, the kaleidoscopic catwalk is located on the Venetian island of Certosa.

Green Lens is a mirrored installation by the artist Doug Aitken

Planters full of foliage have been placed between the faceted reflective surfaces of the 10-pronged pavilion.

"The installation is a living artwork," Aitken told Dezeen.

"I wanted to design something that was physically alive," he added. "Much of the work is botanic, it is actually vegetation, almost creating a lush forest-scape."

The decagon is made of Alucobond, a composite panel of two aluminium cover sheets combined with a fire-retardant.

During the show, smoke machines and colour-changing lights turn Green Lens into a shifting backdrop, soundtracked by nature sounds that were recorded on the island.

The installation is filled with vegetation

Green Lens was commissioned by Saint Laurent's creative director Anthony Vaccarello for the fashion house's menswear spring summer 2021 show, which took place in Venice last night.

Guests to the show sat on long white benches as models showcasing the collection walked through the reflective archways.

The installation will remain on Certosa Island until the end of July as an artwork in its own right for the public to experience, which Aitken said was crucial to the work's aim of being inclusive.

A soundscape of nature sounds from the island plays inside the installation

Aitken chose a reflective material for Green Lens to represent the idea of remaining in the present moment while reflecting on what the future might hold.

"I was working on this project for almost the entire of Covid," he said.

"I think that one of the things the pandemic did to us as a society was to really force us to look at the present, or the future, where we're going from here, and to question ourselves as individuals and as a society," he continued.

"I became very interested in the idea of an artwork really being a space for the present. A space for ideas for reflections, not looking at existing narratives but instead looking within oneself."

The work was designed for a Saint Laurent menswear show

According to Aitken, Green Lens aims to ground visitors in the present moment and encourage them to engage with the physical object in front of them.

"I wanted to create an artwork that could be a tool to activate our perception," said the artist.

Green Lens as seen from the water

Saint Laurent said that carbon emissions related to the project will be offset through reforestation programmes dedicated to the island.

After the work is dismantled, the plants will be donated to the island, while the fashion house has also pledged to restructure damaged cloister ruins on Certosa.

"It was this little destroyed forgotten island," said Aitken.

"We wanted to create something there that would bring life back to it."

Green Lens is located on the island of Certosa in Venice

Doug Aitken is an American artist who works across a range of mediums. Other projects by Aitken that feature reflective materials include a mirrored building in the Swiss Alps that reflects a shifting display of scenery and sky.

Saint Laurent is an Italian fashion house founded in 1961 by designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. A museum dedicated to the designer in Marrakech was created by Studio KO.

The imagery is courtesy of Saint Laurent.

The post Doug Aitken creates kaleidoscopic catwalk for Saint Laurent show in Venice appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #design #installations #fashion #italy #venice #dougaitken #mirroredbuildings #saintlaurent #catwalks

Ten mirror-covered buildings that reflect their surroundings

From bubble-like workspaces in an ancient Chinese hutong to an art installation in the Swiss mountains, we've rounded up 10 of the best mirrored buildings from Dezeen's archive.

Hutong Bubble 218, China, by MAD

While renovating a courtyard house in one of Beijing's historic hutongs, MAD added two curved workspaces to the roof that are enclosed by smooth, mirrored stainless steel.

The studio's aim was to introduce a contemporary aesthetic to the site without "interrupting the existing urban fabric", so reflective steel cladding was chosen to help the new structures blend in with it.

Find out more about Hutong Bubble 218 ›

Maggie's Southampton, UK, by AL_A

Polished stainless steel cladding with a hammered surface wraps around portions of Maggie's Southampton, a cancer care centre designed by AL_A to camouflage within the surrounding gardens.

The distortions in the surfaces create impressionistic reflections of the planting while also preventing the optical illusion of continued space, stopping birds from colliding with the structure.

Find out more about Maggie's Southampton ›

Mountain and Cloud Cabins, China, by Wiki World and Advanced Architecture Lab

This pointed spaceship-like cabin is one of 18 dwellings that Chinese architecture studios Wiki World and Advanced Architecture Lab designed for a hotel scattered on a mountainside in Yichang.

They are all built from cross-laminated timber in various shapes and sizes, and were finished with reflective cladding to help them reflect the verdant mountainscape.

Find out more about Mountain and Cloud Cabins ›

Mirage, Switzerland, by Doug Aitken

American artist Doug Aitken used mirrors to cover almost every surface of the Mirage house – an art installation in the Swiss mountains. This includes the interiors of the structure, which creates a kaleidoscopic viewing effect for visitors.

The structure is modelled on the Californian ranch houses developed in the 1920s and 1930s. To protect birds from colliding with the house, horizontal black lines are installed every three centimetres on the facade to counter the distraction of the reflective surfaces.

Find out more about Mirage ›

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Netherlands, by MVRDV

Over 1,500 curving mirrors enshroud the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the world's "first publicly accessible art depot" that MVRDV recently completed in Rotterdam.

The idea behind the cladding was to help the building become "fully integrated into its surroundings" by reflecting passersby, changing weather and the surrounding city skyline.

Find out more about Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen ›

Invisible House, USA, by Tomas Osinsk and Chris Hanley

This long steel-framed dwelling near Joshua Tree National Park is clad in a mirrored, tempered glass that is typically used for skyscrapers. It is elevated above the ground on concrete columns, forming a cantilever at one end.

From the inside, the glass walls provide panoramic views of the surroundings to be enjoyed from a 30-metre-long indoor swimming pool that runs through the dwelling.

Find out more about Invisible House ›

La Madriguera, Spain, by Delavegacanolasso

Mirrored sheets of methacrylate – a type of thermoplastic – envelop this residential extension in Madrid and take on the green tones of the surrounding leafy foliage.

The extension was designed by architecture practice Delavegacanolasso to be almost indistinguishable within its setting. Its only noticeable element is a large porthole in its front elevation.

Find out more about La Madriguera ›

Casa Etérea, Mexico, by Prashant Ashoka

Casa Etérea is a holiday home hidden on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Mexico. Its main facade is covered in mirrors and it relies on solar power and harvested rainwater to function.

It was designed by Prashant Ashoka to act as an extension of the environment by reflecting changing light and seasons. However, a patterned, ultraviolet coating makes the structure visible to passing birds while remaining invisible to humans.

Find out more about Casa Etérea ›

Cowes, Belgium, by TOOP Architectuur

Cowes is one of two mobile studios that TOOP Architectuur built for itself in Belgium from repurposed shipping containers.

Located in Westouter, it is covered almost entirely in mirrors excluding two large glazed openings. According to the studio, this is intended to reduce the office's visual impact and let the "landscape speak at its maximum".

Find out more about Cowes ›

The Woodland House, USA, by Altus Architecture + Design

In a wooded site in Minnesota, Altus Architecture + Design built a mirrored shed alongside a low-lying house clad in cedar.

The shed is covered in folded panels of polished stainless steel and is described by the studio as a "counterpoint to the house that dissolves into the woods".

Find out more about The Woodland House ›

The post Ten mirror-covered buildings that reflect their surroundings appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #roundups #mirroredbuildings

Mirrored cladding reflects gardens surrounding Maggie's Southampton by Amanda Levete

The indoors are "in permanent dialogue with the garden" at the latest Maggie's Centre for cancer care, completed by Amanda Levete's studio AL_A.

Maggie's Southampton is a low-lying pavilion hidden within Southampton General Hospital's car park by a verdant garden that covers three-quarters of the centre's plot.

It was designed by AL_A with Sarah Price Landscapes to bring greenery and "a piece of the nearby New Forest" to the otherwise grey site, according to the studio's director Maximiliano Arrocet.

Above: AL_A has completed Maggie's Southampton. Top image: it is a low-lying pavilion surrounded by gardens.

"The site for Maggie's Southampton was a challenging one, a set of nondescript buildings surrounded by a sea of car park," Arrocet told Dezeen.

"We wanted the Maggie's to be easily identifiable in this expanse of grey, and bring to the hospital what it needed most, a garden," he said.

It is divided into four zones

"We wanted everyone to see a garden, not another building," Arrocet continued.

"We planned the building as if there were no distinction between the inside and outside spaces, we wanted the interior to be in permanent dialogue with the garden."

Large ceramic walls are used to separate the spaces

Maggie's Southampton was built to support the hospital's specialist oncology unit. It is one-storey in height and has a pinwheel-shaped plan comprising four spaces that stem from a central point.

As with all Maggie's Centres, at the heart of the building is the communal kitchen and dining table. It is lit by a circular skylight, which is the only curved element in the entire building.

Ceramics were chosen for an earthy aesthetic

The four zones are defined by four "blade walls", which extend outwards from the building and also loosely divide the garden into separate areas.

Each one of these walls was built with pastel-coloured ceramic blocks, chosen for an earthy aesthetic that looks as though they have "appeared to come from the soil of the garden".

Mirrored cladding helps blend the building in with the gardens

AL_A frequently use ceramics as cladding in their projects, with other examples including the MAAT in Lisbon and the V&A Exhibition Road Quarter in London.

However, in this scheme, the ceramics were designed in collaboration with Ceramica Cumella to double as load-bearing and insulating structural elements.

A kitchen and dining table form the heart of the centre

Running parallel to the four ceramic-clad walls are four rectilinear boxes. These contain the centre's private rooms and offer visitors to the centre both acoustic and visual privacy.

According to AL_A, these "are the only recognisable building forms" from the outside, and they have therefore been covered in reflective stainless steel surfaces to help them blend in with the gardens.

However, rather than using flat mirrors, each stainless steel element has undulations on its surface to create distorted, impressionistic reflections.

This also prevents an optical illusion of continued open space, preventing birds from becoming confused and colliding with them.

There are private rooms for visitors

Each private room has direct access to one of the four garden areas through full-height glazed sliding doors. The gardens are uniquely landscaped but each nod to the ecology of the New Forest.

Inside, the spaces between the walls and private rooms are left open as flexible communal areas that can be adapted to the centre's needs.

Large sliding doors open the interiors to the outside

The interiors have deliberately pared-back finishes to offer visitors a calming environment that retains focus on the surrounding gardens.

There are large sliding windows throughout, while a polished concrete floor has been introduced to softly reflect the colours of the planting outside.

Interior finishes are pared-back to retain focus on the outside

Maggie's Centres are run by Maggie's charity, which was established by Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks in 1995. The first centre was completed by Richard Murphy in Edinburgh in 1996.

More recently, Steven Holl completed a luminous centre next to Britain's oldest hospital and Heatherwick Studio designed a plant-filled venue in Leeds.

In 2019, Benedetta Tagliabue and Patricia Urquiola became the first designers to create a building for the charity in mainland Europe – the Maggie's Barcelona at Sant Pau Hospital.

The photography is byHufton + Crow.

The post Mirrored cladding reflects gardens surrounding Maggie's Southampton by Amanda Levete appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #health #uk #england #amandalevetearchitects #maggiescentres #mirroredbuildings

Arcana mirrored cabins will blend into the forest in Canada

Architecture office Leckie Studio and design agency Aruliden have released designs for a series of mirrored structures that will be built in a forest in Ontario, Canada.

Called Arcana, the secluded cabin rentals will be built in an area of woodland two hours north of Toronto.

The Arcana mirrored cabins are designed to blend into the surrounding forest

Their exact location is being kept secret and will only be revealed to guests once they have booked. With their reflective outer walls, the cabins have been designed to merge into the landscape.

Leckie Studio and Aruliden plan to build the cabins with a wooden frame and cladding covered in sheets of polished stainless steel.

Each cabin's interior will be lined with pine and feature floor-to-ceiling windows by the sleeping area.

Each cabin is clad in stainless steel to reflect the trees

The 275-square-foot buildings are designed to be almost invisible in the deciduous forest, allowing guests to feel as close to nature as possible.

The metal cladding will offer a slightly distorted reflection to prevent birds from being hurt by accidentally flying into it.

The reflective surface will be treated to prevent bird strike

"As a brand that's rooted in respecting the power and beauty of nature, it's been a priority to design our structures so that they aren't a hazard to birds and other creatures that reside in Arcana's habitat," Leckie Studio and Aruliden told Dezeen.

"It's difficult to distinguish in the artist renderings, but the reflective cladding is an imperfect mirrored surface, which is naturally a deterrent to birds."

"Additionally, we are applying film to all reflective surfaces that is unnoticeable to the human eye but can allow birds to identify the cabin as an object in the landscape," they added.

The beds in the cabins will look out on the forest through floor-to-ceiling windows

The cabins will have electricity and running water, but the designers have created an off-grid version that they could build in more remote locations in the future.

"To ease the transition from the hinterland to the heartland, we've designed them with basic luxuries, such as electricity and running water," said Leckie Studio and Aruliden.

"There's a contemporary kitchen, a custom-built fire pit with grill situated on the private deck for all-weather alfresco cooking, and a private bathroom with a rainfall showerhead, and a carefully curated selection of amenities supplied from Sangre de Fruita."

Each cabin will feature its own kitchen and bathroom

Guests will be able to access the cabins with a contactless check-in, and the site will include facilities such as a sauna.

Tours of the 15 kilometres of wooded hiking trails around the cabins will be available, including foraging expeditions and guided forest bathing. Forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, is a Japanese health practice that combines mindfulness and walking amongst trees.

The cabins will be built in an area of woodland two hours north of Toronto

Construction is due to begin on the Arcana cabins later this year.

Vancouver-based Leckie Studio is also the founder of a company that makes flat-pack wilderness huts.

More mirrored buildings that blend in with nature include an off-grid cabin in Mexico and a hotel in China made from 18 mirrored cabins on a mountainside.

Images courtesy of Aruliden.

The post Arcana mirrored cabins will blend into the forest in Canada appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #hotels #architecture #canada #ontario #mirroredbuildings #cabins #leckiestudio

SOM and Phillip K Smith III install light-up mirrored sculpture in Santa Monica

Engineering firm Skidmore Owings and Merril collaborated with American artist Phillip K Smith III to create Santa Monica Linear, a mirrored glass installation that lights up at night.

Santa Monica Linear sits on a sloping landscaped site on the grounds of a house designed by celebrated Californian modernist Ray Kappe.

Santa Monica Linear is 30 feet long

Made of steel and glass, the 30-foot-long (nine metres) artwork is a horizontal slash that reflects the sky and trees.

At night, LEDs turn it into a shifting light display that echoes the famous sunset of the beachfront California town.

Its mirrored surface reflects the sky and surrounding plants

Architect-turned-artist Phillip K Smith III worked with SOM's director of structural engineering Eric Long to design the site-specific piece and install it on a steep-sided hill.

"The simplicity of Smith's concept and beauty of the site posed direct challenges to the perfect implementation of the artwork," said SOM.

"Of particular importance was the 42-degree sloped site and the necessity of the 30-foot-long mirrored plane to be a perfectly level extruded form, free from internal structural elements."

An LED screen displays shifting colours

During the day, the mirrored surface reflects the light and scenery. As night falls, the LED display shows a shifting array of light and colour like an artificial sky.

"At sunset, the reflection of the glowing sky and onshore moving clouds merges with floating, shifting gradients of light across the surface of the work," said Phillip K Smith III.

A red haze echoes the coastal sunset

Santa Monica Linear sits amongst lush planting and tall eucalyptus trees, bracketed by an early Skyspace chamber by the artist James Turrell and a 40-foot-tall (12 metres) piece by the sculptor Nancy Rubins.

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in Los Angeles county, California. Local architecture includes this cactus-filled greenhouse by Part Office and the headquarters of Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop.

Phillip K Smith III is an artist that trained as an architect

Smith grew up in Palm Springs, California, and trained as an architect at Rhode Island School of Design before becoming an artist.

His previous works include mirrored posts installed along Laguna Beach, a wall of mirrors in an Italian piazza and a light-up skybridge in Detroit.

Photography is by Lance Gerber Studio.

The post SOM and Phillip K Smith III install light-up mirrored sculpture in Santa Monica appeared first on Dezeen.

#all #architecture #design #installations #usa #california #art #skidmoreowingsmerrill #mirroredbuildings #santamonica #phillipksmithiii #mirror