FOLDING
I'm going to attempt to post a building a day for the rest of the month. This can be a record for my own reference, and a place for me to get some thoughts and ideas sort of jotted down.
This NUMERO UNO post is a building in Melborne. It's the Honorary Consular of Monaco from what I understand. The site is "postage stamp" sized, presents this building with a footprint of less than 101 square meters. After the "narrow lot house challenge" of our first studio assignment last semester, I am immediately drawn to buildings that have particularly small sites to see how the architect has solved the puzzle of piecing the program into the limited space. The meeting ground between design concept, program and site seems to be the problem I grappled with in my mind all term.
The program that unfolds within four stories on this tiny lot includes a cafe, meeting area, offices for consular activity and a rooftop garden. The design is a deliberate break away from the perhaps banal or traditional architecture that has dominated the urban landscape of Melborne. The building attempts to revitalize the concept of an inner-city building. It is bold, it teeters on the realm of public art as it reaches out to pedestrians and begs to be noticed, questioned and admired. It is described on www.openbuildings.com as a "hidden treasure" and goes on to say it "enlivens the area" and "intrigues passers-by".
So here's the part where, like the COMMENTS section at the bottom of the site, I put in my two cents about it. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?" it asks. (It also asks that the comments be constructive, and not mean. I wonder if that's a specific jab at overly critical architects). In the most unacademic description, and probably the first reactions of those city dwellers who stroll past this building daily, or a child seeing it for the first time... it's pretty cool. It's a bit of a refresher on a dense lane-way, no? It's unexpected, it's whimsical and it's proud to be an uber-contemporary design. I can appreciate the process in which the design was conceptualized. Well, I think I can. To me, it's an exercise in folding. One of the basic design exercises we were asked to deal with in Graphics class. Although at the time, the exercise did not seem "basic", and the confinements of our site were a box with a geometric egg smack dap in the middle. Maybe it would have been more basic if I had "folding" instead of "bifurcating". I digress.
So, the Monaco House uses a concept of design similar to folding, and overcome structural challenges associated with this, that respect the site (including the larger site, Australia, which demands that buildings be as sustainable as possible, so it includes features such as a rain capture system that is stored in the stairwell) and fulfill the program. Simple right? yeah, .... right. I'll get there. Pretty cool, it works for what it is. It might be too bold for some, and I'd love to hear some really great criticisms.
Monaco House / McBride Charles Warren
Architect: McBride Charles Ryan - Rob McBride & Debbie-Lyn Ryan
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Trevor Mein
http://www.mcbridecharlesryan.com.au/#/news/
http://www.openbuildings.com/buildings/monaco-house-profile-421.html
This NUMERO UNO post is a building in Melborne. It's the Honorary Consular of Monaco from what I understand. The site is "postage stamp" sized, presents this building with a footprint of less than 101 square meters. After the "narrow lot house challenge" of our first studio assignment last semester, I am immediately drawn to buildings that have particularly small sites to see how the architect has solved the puzzle of piecing the program into the limited space. The meeting ground between design concept, program and site seems to be the problem I grappled with in my mind all term.
So here's the part where, like the COMMENTS section at the bottom of the site, I put in my two cents about it. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?" it asks. (It also asks that the comments be constructive, and not mean. I wonder if that's a specific jab at overly critical architects). In the most unacademic description, and probably the first reactions of those city dwellers who stroll past this building daily, or a child seeing it for the first time... it's pretty cool. It's a bit of a refresher on a dense lane-way, no? It's unexpected, it's whimsical and it's proud to be an uber-contemporary design. I can appreciate the process in which the design was conceptualized. Well, I think I can. To me, it's an exercise in folding. One of the basic design exercises we were asked to deal with in Graphics class. Although at the time, the exercise did not seem "basic", and the confinements of our site were a box with a geometric egg smack dap in the middle. Maybe it would have been more basic if I had "folding" instead of "bifurcating". I digress.
So, the Monaco House uses a concept of design similar to folding, and overcome structural challenges associated with this, that respect the site (including the larger site, Australia, which demands that buildings be as sustainable as possible, so it includes features such as a rain capture system that is stored in the stairwell) and fulfill the program. Simple right? yeah, .... right. I'll get there. Pretty cool, it works for what it is. It might be too bold for some, and I'd love to hear some really great criticisms.
Monaco House / McBride Charles Warren
Monaco House / McBride Charles Ryan
31
OCT 2008
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Trevor Mein
http://www.mcbridecharlesryan.com.au/#/news/
http://www.openbuildings.com/buildings/monaco-house-profile-421.html
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