Seasons Greetings from the team at LHA.
Happy summertime reading.
-Suki
henceforth | our blog
Friday 20 December 2013
Friday 29 November 2013
Hidden Treasure
Holy Family Catholic Church
94 Taikata Road
Te Atatu Peninsula
Architects: KRTA (Kingston, Reynolds, Thom & Allardice)
Built: 1964
An absolute stunner of a building we came across en route to a site measure last week. The church was designed by a leading Kiwi firm from this period who were well renowned for their integration of architectural and engineering expertise, and responsible for many of the original buildings on the University of Auckland city campus. The acceleration in technological development following the Second World War lead to the use of new construction techniques and materials, including the introduction of precast concrete systems as both structure and cladding. KRTA were quick to employ these methods and take advantage of factory-made components, as visible through the incredible finesse in which they have been applied in the design of this church.
The visually dynamic A-frame structure minimises obstruction caused by internal supports, allowing for an undisturbed void within. The use of a moat-like external drainage system collects and removes rainwater from the building.
Light floods in through a series of openings located on the bottom side of each angled wall, with a large decorative partially-coloured glass end wall. The repetition, alignment and variation in thickness evident in both the sculptural precast concrete panels and openings combine to provide us with a thoughtfully designed visual feast.
Worth stopping by if you're ever out that way...
henceforth
suki
94 Taikata Road
Te Atatu Peninsula
Architects: KRTA (Kingston, Reynolds, Thom & Allardice)
Built: 1964
An absolute stunner of a building we came across en route to a site measure last week. The church was designed by a leading Kiwi firm from this period who were well renowned for their integration of architectural and engineering expertise, and responsible for many of the original buildings on the University of Auckland city campus. The acceleration in technological development following the Second World War lead to the use of new construction techniques and materials, including the introduction of precast concrete systems as both structure and cladding. KRTA were quick to employ these methods and take advantage of factory-made components, as visible through the incredible finesse in which they have been applied in the design of this church.
The visually dynamic A-frame structure minimises obstruction caused by internal supports, allowing for an undisturbed void within. The use of a moat-like external drainage system collects and removes rainwater from the building.
Light floods in through a series of openings located on the bottom side of each angled wall, with a large decorative partially-coloured glass end wall. The repetition, alignment and variation in thickness evident in both the sculptural precast concrete panels and openings combine to provide us with a thoughtfully designed visual feast.
Worth stopping by if you're ever out that way...
henceforth
suki
Thursday 8 August 2013
bacon stone
We went to Italian Stone the other day is search of beautiful stone.
We found this...
It's name: Onice Fantastico
While it is fantastic - we're calling it Bacon Stone.
Anyone been thinking about opening that steak house or speciality butcher?
We think we can help you...
Monday 5 August 2013
casting
I've always wanted to sneak inside the hallowed doors of Millar Paterson Metals...
Today we did just that. And the experience was just lovely.
Saturday 27 July 2013
fabricated place
title:
FABRICATED PLACE
program:
An architecture that catalyses meaningful collaborative exchanges and assists in the formation of community by providing a site for shared experiences.
key collaborator:
original image courtesy auckland airport
project vehicle:
Auckland Airport wish to fabricate place to augment ‘The District’ and operate as a nucleus of collaborative work space within The Quad Precinct.
Auckland Airport have a 20 – 30 year vision for the Quad Precinct however they wish to build community and provide extraordinary collaborative work amenity in the short to medium term. The brief of this project is to explore and present strategies both at an urban design scale and a particular scale for how Auckland Airport can develop The Quad Precinct to provide this amenity.
This is a live project with a real client and has real intentions for a built outcome.
design intentions:
Fabricated Place studio explores the role of architecture in catalysing meaningful exchanges and the formation of community through shared experiences. The studio will also analyse and extrapolate through design action the possibilities inherent in offsite construction.
The design agenda is:
fabricated landscape + fabricated shelter = fabricated place
Auckland Airport wish to fabricate place to augment ‘The District’ and operate as a nucleus of collaborative work space within The Quad Precinct.
Auckland Airport have a 20 – 30 year vision for the Quad Precinct however they wish to build community and provide extraordinary collaborative work amenity in the short to medium term. The brief of this project is to explore and present strategies both at an urban design scale and a particular scale for how Auckland Airport can develop The Quad Precinct to provide this amenity.
This is a live project with a real client and has real intentions for a built outcome.
design intentions:
Fabricated Place studio explores the role of architecture in catalysing meaningful exchanges and the formation of community through shared experiences. The studio will also analyse and extrapolate through design action the possibilities inherent in offsite construction.
The design agenda is:
fabricated landscape + fabricated shelter = fabricated place
original image courtesy Holgar Lippmann
generative art
based Peter De
Jong map equations
Through active research, drawing, modelling and writing, the stories of the site and context will be represented, reviewed and opportunities for nodes of congregation and the interstices that link them will be offered. Through a distillation of the environment’s context, a site strategy will be formed.
original image courtesy SHoP
CAMERA OBSCURA
Fabrications [off site systems of manufacture]
The studio group will undertake a series of site visits to a number of fabricators. These visits paired with further research and a extrapolative design process will result in at least two fabrication strategies being explored in terms of qualities for fabricating landscape and shelter to produce elegant systems of construction.
Details are strategies for how materials, forms and stories meet – these fabrications will be worked – collusions and corroborations made and presented.
The studio group will undertake a series of site visits to a number of fabricators. These visits paired with further research and a extrapolative design process will result in at least two fabrication strategies being explored in terms of qualities for fabricating landscape and shelter to produce elegant systems of construction.
Details are strategies for how materials, forms and stories meet – these fabrications will be worked – collusions and corroborations made and presented.
Thursday 18 April 2013
what we're watching and listening to
We live in fantastic age.
Information is abundant and is often packaged in delicious ways.
Our favoured information snacks are podcasts and here's our sweetest sources...
99%invisible
This is 'a tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world.' Roman Mars, Sam Greenspan and their team of collaborators create aurally complex, informative and often humourous revelations on all aspects of our built environment.
These podcasts are all beautifully produced and well worth a listen.
We like...
This is 'a tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world.' Roman Mars, Sam Greenspan and their team of collaborators create aurally complex, informative and often humourous revelations on all aspects of our built environment.
These podcasts are all beautifully produced and well worth a listen.
We like...
All things we're really into.
Here's some proponents who we quite like...
Here's some proponents who we quite like...
Debbie Millman leads us via her extremely well researched and cut to the chase manner through a series of notable 'graphic designers, change agents, artists, writers and educators.'
Humorous and not afraid to ask the tricky questions, these are a delight and a must for anyone who cares.
Our choice selection...
Alexander Isley
Massimo Vignelli
Stephan Sagmeister
Maria Popova
James Victore
Tim Brown
Marian Deuchars
Find them in the iTunes store...
Monocle
A world watch news feed: covering magazine, radio and film genres.
We like their short and informative films. The narrators all have beautiful enunciation.
Here's an assortment of their recent offerings:
House Vision
Sharpen Up
The how to generation
The High Life
Needless to say these are all available through iTunes... go get them, you'll love your commute for it.
A world watch news feed: covering magazine, radio and film genres.
We like their short and informative films. The narrators all have beautiful enunciation.
Here's an assortment of their recent offerings:
House Vision
Sharpen Up
The how to generation
The High Life
Needless to say these are all available through iTunes... go get them, you'll love your commute for it.
Saturday 13 April 2013
folk...
The American Folk Art Museum is set to be demolished a mere 12 years after its completion.
This is a crying shame.
The Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects designed building is a stunning example of a purposeful and beautifully crafted space that once housed an eclectic collection of Folk Art and is a lovely public building.
As an exposé of circulation - it is delicious.
There are critics who believe that the gallery spaces are poor for showing art. Possibly a fair call if you are trying to house multiple Mark Rothko or Anselm Kiefer paintings. However the American Folk Art Museum's collection pieces were of a much smaller scale. The almost living room scaled spaces allowed a close, personal interaction with these pieces.
We can only hope MoMA have very good intentions for the site and that the wonderful cast white bronze facade elements are reintegrated somewhere...
Friday 29 March 2013
ilam shed - sketch design
Part of a
conceptual proposal undertaken in 2011 for the University of Canterbury
to revitalise a series of relocatable buildings into a temporary post-quake
campus.
Lloyd Hartley’s
brief was to create a student-friendly café within this campus that
doubles as a function space. By extrapolating the shed form of the original building
an outdoor courtyard was formed beneath a whimsical and ethereal canopy.
Tuesday 19 March 2013
christchurch | memorial + resilience + colour
Not far from the site of the CCTV building devastation;
The work, by Pete Majendie, pays silent homage to those who lost their lives in the earthquake of February 2011.
This is the installation's second place of repose and is well sited to take in the construction of the Cardboard Cathedral.
The principal driver behind this work is the indomitable Shigeru Ban and I for one, am pleased there is such a display of Christchurch's resilience being carried out.
I look forward to a moment of reflection within what I'm sure will be an exquisite condition of light.
Not far away, in the thick of the concrete jungle, Ash Keating is bringing some serious colour into play with his work concrete propositions.
henceforth...
Sunday 17 March 2013
Monday 11 March 2013
unfinished stairs...
'A stair not worn hollow by footsteps is,
regarded from its own point of view,
only a boring something made of wood.'
Franz Kafka
Soon to bear witness to a thousand hellos and goodbyes, this almost-complete insertion to an existing Waiheke beach house transforms a previously innocuous entrance into an exhibition space, a promenade and a stage for holiday theatre.
Monday 25 February 2013
skyline
This semester, I'm assisting Judy Cockeram with her design 5 paper:
I just love Jack's line in Croupier - 'Hang on tightly, let go lightly.'
Sounds a little like drawing to me.
We've noticed that there doesn't appear to be a lot of really beautiful BIM extrapolated vector drawings out there. Not renders, but line weights so pretty that you'd want to hang them on your wall.
Can it be done? BIM to lovely line drawings? I gave it a quick bash... Here's a selection of maquettes from my investigations into the the paper's title image.
Maybe these aren't the most fantastic digital sketches but I'm happy to say it can be done and that it needs further work. I'm sure Piranesi took a moment to work up his etchings.
So that's some of what we're going to be interested in this semester. Beautiful drawings extracted directly from BIM models. Wouldn't be nice to get something that illustrates Paul Klee's take on a drawing?
Oh, and we quite like mobiles too...
title:
SKYLINE
program:
BOUTIQUE CASINO
I just love Jack's line in Croupier - 'Hang on tightly, let go lightly.'
Sounds a little like drawing to me.
We've noticed that there doesn't appear to be a lot of really beautiful BIM extrapolated vector drawings out there. Not renders, but line weights so pretty that you'd want to hang them on your wall.
Can it be done? BIM to lovely line drawings? I gave it a quick bash... Here's a selection of maquettes from my investigations into the the paper's title image.
Possibly a little too influenced by James Bond, no?
Maybe these aren't the most fantastic digital sketches but I'm happy to say it can be done and that it needs further work. I'm sure Piranesi took a moment to work up his etchings.
So that's some of what we're going to be interested in this semester. Beautiful drawings extracted directly from BIM models. Wouldn't be nice to get something that illustrates Paul Klee's take on a drawing?
'A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.' - Paul Klee
Oh, and we quite like mobiles too...
 |
| Alexander Calder | Vertical Foliage 1941 original image courtesy Calder Foundation website |
henceforth...
mike
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