rising sea-ty

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The project wants to draw attention to the humans behaviour in relation to climate change and sea levels rise. Following the construction of taller and taller skyscrapers over the past decades, cities have grown fast and increasingly moved away from the human dimension. On the other hand, the first effect of sea levels rise will probably be a modification of the urban layout of coastal cities. Cities are called to rise, building higher streets and readjusting existing buildings while nature reclaims the lower spaces of the old city. It’s a race against time: will humans be able to reconcile with Nature? Men have to reconvert their life in a more sustainable way as quickly as possible.
I imagined Hudson Yards’ exterior of the future as a layered space where the lower part has already been covered by water and is reachable by boat. The upper part is occupied by reconverted buildings and ongoing building sites. In this context the Vessel becomes an underwater aquarium.
I wondered how the new architecture of Hudson Yards would be In my concept’s scenario. The new architecture should be adaptable to the fast-changing urban layout. The new architecture should also be modular and based on sustainability, reuse and recycling. It reminded me of Bjarke Ingels project for Copenaghen harbour, where old container ships are reused to create residential architectures. I studied the base module of the composition that will be assembled in my project in different ways to create more complex buildings. Those modules (consisting in two joined containers) will create new residential possibilities, green and sustainable spaces bringing back architecture to an human – and Nature – focused scale.

– the building site: I would like to represent the site under de-construction where the lower parts of the buildings are being dismanteld and just the structural frame remains visible. At the same time new modular containers are placed on the roof of the shed and a new footbridge is built on the upper part of the Vessel. I’d like to show the idea that in a few years’ time a recently built site is brought back under construction due to the pressure of Nature.

– the new layout: the second image represents the new layout of the square. I would like to show the attempt to change people’s lifestyle in a greener way. Obviously it won‘t be easy, especially due to the widespread of cars (I represented this difficulty with the highway in the upper part of the image).

– the new Vessel: in this scenario the Vessel becomes an underwater aquarium where people are reminded every day of the beauty of Nature and frailty of human condition With tihs image we are litterally put on the side of Nature.

Gunnar Asplund Library

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TOMORROW CHALLENGE 2019 – STOCKHOLM PUBLIC LIBRARY – GUNNAR ASPLUND, ARCHITECT
SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
This was an interesting and difficult project. The knowledge that I gained through experimentation and advice from colleagues made it a worthwhile endeavor regardless of outcome. After reading about the subject matter and investigating the building, I found that the building and setting presented a number of interesting and thought-provoking challenges.
The fact that the library is in a densely urbanized environment abutted by a park with a reflecting pond immediately indicated to me that the majority of the exterior renderings that would be submitted would be shot from one location, arguably the most attractive, being across the pond and looking up towards the building. Indeed, Gunnar Asplund’s own renderings of the building feature a shot from this angle.
The building also features numerous retail establishments along its main street face, and I am of the opinion that while utilitarian, they would distract from the visual impact of the final image if featured with too much detail.
I wanted to present something that would stand out as well as tackle the challenge of rendering the site from a bird’s eye view while adhering to the stylistic guidelines of a more realistic aesthetic.
This effort proved to be more difficult than I first imagined! The masses of buildings in the near vicinity made it difficult to decide how to depict the surroundings without using the tried-and-true “white block buildings” that are most often utilized for context in large-scale architectural renderings.
I approached this challenge from several angles. My first thoughts were to use photogrammetry of the surrounding area to create a “real mesh” from the surrounding buildings. This was a big effort, requiring the compilation and rendering of several hundred aerial images to form the final model.
I was not happy with the outcome of this attempt, and while I learned from this, I would not attempt it again, as the final mesh file was huge and when rendered revealed too many of the imperfections of the photgrammetric process. The mesh looked too lumpy and organic to be of any real use.
What’s more, the sheer size of the base model when imported into Sketchup and the fact that the software decided to smooth all of the surfaces made editing the model and applying texture a time-consuming and difficult process. I also had to prioritize, as time was not going to allow for a full rendering of the interior with its millions of books, unusual shapes and high-relief textures. I finally found a reference image of the main entry shot from inside the rotunda that I found had sufficient tension and material variability to serve as a basis for a shot from the inside.
In the end, I am grateful to have been given an opportunity to participate in this process and would like to thank Ronen for hosting yet another interesting and educational challenge. These challenges force me to look at new methodologies and techniques to attempt to submit something on-par with the exemplary work of my fellow competitors.

SHANNON MCVEY

CABINS / rickr : Cold Hands, Warm Heart

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The concept derived from the idea warming cupped hands in the winter. To warm your hands you create an enclosed environment to retain the heat while you are experiencing the environment. You offer yourself the comfort of being warm while inserting your self in the wilderness. This cabin concept offers the benefits of cabin life while providing dramatic views in a beautiful wilderness.

CABINS / sebregall : THE BOW HOUSE

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When I started to work on that challenge, I thought it would be easy and quick to create a simple hut in the woods… But it turned out to become pretty more complex after a few days of reflexion and modeling ! At that point I virtually jumped into not only an archviz contest, but a real architecture and design competition.

THE PROJECT :
I finally designed a complete house, able to host a whole family and occasional guests for weekends and vacations, and all along the year.
I chose to locate it into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, in front of an altitude lake, and backed onto a slope, so as to enjoy the most breathtaking view during the whole day.
Its grounded basement is made out of three 40ft modified shipping containers. This allows to store all the technical equipment of the house, but also all the leisure and outdoor stuff that goes with the house, plus extra beds for the guests.
On the top of it, a second structure made out of wood hosts the living room with a kitchen, and the upper floors. These ones are split in 2 clear areas : the back one for the kids, and the front one for the parents, both linked by a common bathroom. The kids dispose of a nice playground, while the parents have a lightful workplace on their side.
Thanks to a generous height, each side has also it own mezzanine, allowing the kids to have a “cabin into the cabin”, from where they can observe nature on the back side of the mountain, and the parents to enjoy a high placed bedroom up above the lake.
The small roof is accessible from the inside, and serve as an observation point.
Two massive decks surround the frontzone, giving sunlight on the top, and shadow on the bottom.

THE WORKFLOW :
I modelled the whole house into Sketchup, and imported it into Lumion 8.3, into which I was able to create the context from scratch and then scatter it with the internal libraries.
I made a full 3D environment, which allowed me to make a video showing almost every part of the house, and on the other hand reduce consequently the post-processing phase and totally skip a 2D compositing pass. I rendered everything with a single Alienware workstation.

THE FINAL RENDERS :
I made 3 major still images as required, plus 7 bonus views. Completed by 3 VR points in Yulio : https://www.yulio.com/dOa0G8PScm, and a video on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzhYmx1KroE

I want to thank Ronen for this challenge topic, which made me so enthusiastic about, as I’ve always been a great fan of cabins making in my childhood. But it has also been a great occasion to conceive and develop a concept involving prefabrication and quick construction processes.
I also want to congratulate the competitors, as many of the entries are very impressive…
So, good luck to everybody, and may the best one win !