Since when, human habitation and architecture, indoor space, and materials have been infinitely related, and at the same time, the relationship between people and society, with others, and with nature is constantly changing. The broken laws of nature are "counterattacked", and the abused substances also "force" everyone to reflect: what kind of "coexistence" should we uphold with the environment and space in which we live?
◉Italian Pavillion at the 17. Architecture Biennale, Venice 2021. Photo © Marco Menghi
The 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale responds to its theme "How will we live together?" in 115 different ways. Among them, countless works have raised "Who is 'we'?" "Living with 'who'?" "How to live?" "What do we share?" " sub-question. The answers to these questions may not be known to us today, but this year's exhibition features the concept of NFT works, interdisciplinary research labs, space exploration themes, and smart communities.
photo © Sergio Grazia
"We need a new kind of space contract"
Curator Hashim Sarkis called on architects to reimagine the new spaces in which humans live together.
◉Architecture Biennale, Venice 2021.
Starting from the host country's Italian Pavilion exploring community transformation and resilience trying to find practical solutions to current global challenges, the Nordic Pavilion's "Cohabitation Program", to Israel's harmony with natural creatures... Nature's reflection on the resilience of human urban expansion, human exploration of future prospects and visions has become a mystery within a mystery.
Cohabitation, sharing, coexistence, will be our next way of living?
Under the trend of fleeing the city and the global housing crisis, the growth of low-rise and low-density development projects, rural land development, and the renovation of old buildings have brought new inspiration to people's living spaces, and modern housing projects are exploring new models of living together in nature.
As a leading urban builder, the popular construction of "island apartments" (no more than 18 meters high) in ancient Rome led the way of urban living in the world at that time. The "cohabitation" approach proposed by "The Island" once provided a solution to the problem of excessive urban population. Today, we can still see from the organization of the two post-war urban reconstructions the "cohabitation model" that has been further developed on the basis of the "island": people enjoy separate bedrooms, but share common areas such as living rooms and kitchens. In the society at that time, to some extent, this did alleviate the housing pressure and social distancing of urban residents.
In the next 20 years, in Landscape Society, the bauhaus-influenced international figure of situationalism, Guy Debord described the crisis in material society due to technological alienation caused by technological revolution, the hypocritical landscape of consumer society construction, and the changing media of youth communication in the mass media. Based on this, the integrative artist Constant proposed the construction of the "Neo-Babylonian" aerial city. Constant and Guy Debord hit "Unitary Urbanism" off the hook, creating the hitherto influential concept of "the combination of technology and art", which seeks to dissolve the urban environment that lines work and leisure, public and private.
Rem Koolhaas interviewed Constant in his early years and described him as "a model of courage." ”
"Habitat 67"
Earlier, Habitat 67, designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, consisted of a set of 1 to 4 600-square-foot "boxes" with different amenities. Each apartment can be reached via a set of walkways and bridges, while three vertical core tube elevators serve the top floor. The service and parking facilities are separated from the tenant's streamline and are located on the first floor.
It was originally an experimental solution for high-quality housing in dense urban environments. Safdie explored the use of prefabricated unit modules to reduce housing costs and form new housing types that incorporated the quality of suburban housing into urban high-rises. It integrates two residential types – suburban garden homes and economic high-rise apartment buildings.
The "modular, prefabricated and electronic" urban concept proposed in the "Neo-Babylonian" model has been practiced by generations of architects and has now been almost realized in modern society. The way of "sharing modules" is not uncommon nowadays, and the co-working, office shopping space in the city, and the café office space represented by Starbucks in Japan have now become the preferred office space for the younger generation.
Shared office is actually based on the "share-to-work" philosophy. The concept of sharing that it demonstrates is a link between multiple elements. This is both internal and external, based on different levels and contexts.
Now the creative block
Located in Shanghai's Jing'an Temple, Shanghai's new landmark, Shanghai's new landmark is a creative neighbourhood that combines office and retailers, with a total area of approximately 5,831 square meters over four floors (not counting half-storey space). The main building of the firm has five floors, and the 1st and 2nd floors are open to the public retail stores, which integrate coffee shops, bookstores, record stores, art galleries, design brand stores, boutiques, clothing stores, plant shops and restaurants. Above the 3rd floor is the office, which is a comprehensive space.
The current building space is rebuilt from the old factory building, the whole building is gray and white as the main color, the interior of the building, white as the main color, the log color as the embellishment, the space is clean, natural. Shops with different themes coexist harmoniously with each other, and the semicircular spiral staircase between floors breaks the single floor structure. Natural light from the overhead sunroof blurs blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. The whole space is close to the consumption habits of young people. Co-working spaces range from 34 square meters to 375 square meters, and almost every office has a balcony where you can take a break. The shared space also has two large terraces and an oversized roof on the top floor where you can socialize during your lunch break. The office area is equipped with three pantries, including a seating area and sports area, to promote the communication of the office crowd. The entire layout both maintains appropriate "social distancing" and implements the principle of sharing.
Starbucks co-working store
Starbucks has opened a co-working store in Japan, a new "Smart Lounge" concept store launched by Starbucks and rail operator JR East, designed for office people and business traveler customers. The entire café covers an area of approximately 185 square meters and contains a total of 43 seats. In terms of space division, the concept store is divided into a single seating area by the window, a semi-enclosed private room, a paid private box, and a shared conference table for multiple people to discuss. There are 15 single seats by the window, separated by partitions. On the other side are 6 semi-open work boxes. The green velvet walls and metal lampposts blend vintage and modern.
For the first time, the store also introduced two fully enclosed co-working space Station Booths made by JR East for better soundproofing and privacy. At the same time, it is Starbucks' first "cashless" smart store in Japan, which can use The Starbucks Rewards Card, Suica and other Japanese transportation cards, mobile payment platforms to pay, and can also pick up goods at the mobile phone.
The concept of coexistence is actually based on sharing, now a lot of retail industry is gradually turning to online, offline experience stores are gradually decreasing, those "vacant" out of the prime location space has become a city landmark because of the convenience of transportation and the advantage of the environment, and now how will they coexist with the disappearing shopping crowds?
Art House
In 2019, New York retail giant Barneys New York, a high-end department store, filed for bankruptcy. Barneys' flagship store on Fifth Avenue was once one of New York's landmarks. Now, after a three-member founding team, the ancient building has been combined with art and will officially open to the public in November this year. This new integrated art exhibition space aims to bring a flexible solution to the gallery's display space.
◉ The 96-year-old Barneys department store is a thing of the past
◉ The brand new Art House is about to open
Renamed Art House, the building was redesigned by KULAPAT Yantrasast, creative director at WHY Architects, to provide another outlet for galleries in New York and around the world to showcase their work outside of the fair. At the same time, a VIP hall dedicated to serving collectors was set up in the building, aiming to transform the former department store into a comprehensive art building.
H Queen's
H Queen's in Hong Kong is also a vertical art building, a prime location designed by CL3 Architects. Due to the lack of land in Central, when the land was first acquired, it was originally intended to be built as a general office building, but the founder of Silian Building, Lin Wei, persuaded the owner to build an art building instead.
It is not easy to create a vertical gallery settlement, Lin Wei has put a lot of effort into the design, first of all, the height of the ordinary building is about 3 meters, but the gallery needs at least 3.8 meters to display the works, so H Queen's is set at 4 meters 65, and all floor loads are required to be at least 5KPA, if there is a special need, it can be increased to 10KPA, which is much higher than the general 3KPA standard. In addition, considering the needs of the exhibition, a high-altitude boom transport device is specially set up, which can directly suspend large-scale works, and send works safely to the designated floors through the 3.65 meters X 4.65 meters glass curtain wall that is freely opened on each floor.
Bars, open-air gardens and restaurants are readily available throughout the building, and the elevators are directly accessible to the entrance halls of various galleries, not only satisfying art consumers, but also becoming the largest art gathering place in Hong Kong.
From utopians to experimental explorations, these spatial structures have aroused social concern and discussion. Even today, our architects and designers are still trying to advance social change. But the spatial structure of all design works is inseparable from the renewal of the social environment.
With the gradual change of social structure, just like the "cloud" of FMCG retail brought about by the popularity of "smart" and electronic products, more smart products are also further entering the space where we live, whether it is "cohabitation" or "solitary living", whether it is "sharing" or "exclusive", eventually we will "coexist" in different spaces at a certain time, which is the moment we cannot avoid "sharing with people, connecting with nature, and connecting with society".
In essence, we are already living on this earth as independent individuals and all things, the Internet connects our work and spiritual worlds, and the Internet of Things will also cover our living space. In the future, more ways to share will emerge, the boundaries of cities will become more and more blurred, and living in places closer to nature is also a good choice.
Topic
The intersection of urban and rural areas will reduce the central population density, and our design will also face the challenges of more urban old property transformation, rural construction and exquisite housing, while being limited by the highest requirements of green materials and environmental protection, after all, we live under the same sky, as if we cannot avoid breathing with others, we must think of others, spiritual "sharing" will make our sky cleaner, in order to jointly "reduce the age" of our planet.
END
Some of the pictures come from the Internet (invasion and deletion)