AIDS Memorial Park, 1st prize (Competition)New York, NY
THE MEMORIAL
The act of memorializing the AIDS epidemic with a physical gesture goes beyond remembering and honoring the dead. AIDS is not a war, nor a disease conquered. There are no definite dates or victims. In our design process, we emphasize the changing and varied ways through which AIDS affects us personally and as a society. It is important to create a space that conveys our sense of solemn respect, remembrance and loss, without resorting to symbolism around a date, image, or names.
THE PARK INSIDE
An infinite forest, generated by having 3 facing mirror walls along each side of the triangular block, defines the park and the memorial. There are no separate statues, sculptures or plaques. The memorial lives within the infinite reflection of the white birch trees. We hope this park will be all things to all people: the children playing in the bounds of the mirrored forest, the weary commuter seeking a respite in the midst of the city and those visitors coming in memory of their loss.
THE IN-BETWEEN CENTER
The walls isolating the park from the city act as light wells and access to the Learning Center below. By bringing sunlight into the basement via skylights, the raw utilitarian space can be transformed into a welcoming and open area for exhibition, learning and performance. The walls also taper in width, housing stairs and ramps. The main entrance is located along Seventh Avenue, continuing the now lost storefront and bringing pedestrian activity to the street through the inclusion of a bookstore and café.
THE OUTSIDE
Along the sidewalks, three walls clad in slate create a forum for the voice of many. Through an ephemeral nod to the chain link fence at Greenwich and 11th Street, visitors are able to give life to the stone walls through messages and images written in chalk, creating an ever-changing mural which is refreshed with every rain.
This development re-investigates the urban space of the typical Buenos Aires block and in the process of design, created a new building typology that takes the row-house that opens to the street and inverted it. The increased density in half the lot allows an inner-street, turning the focus away from the busy street into a private interior corridor. The design also nestles smaller units into the forms of larger one, creating open larger living areas with soaring ceiling, while still maximizing building area.
2,300 square foot retail space in the heart of New York City’s fashion forward Soho neighborhood will reflect the glamour, edginess and originality of the shoes and accessories that are always at the base of the philosophy of the brand. With high ceilings, plaster walls and a mix of wood and metal displays and furniture, the New York flagship store’s modern, architectural design allows customers to focus on the product.
Renderings: by-encore
Completed in late 2010, this corner terrace house was demolished to the structural elements and extensively renovated. The entire bulk of the existing footprint was cladded with wood louvers to provide privacy, shading and to minimize the visual chaos of the existing structure. A back extension is marked by a solid form with round windows. The project also allows for large parts of the living area to be completely open to the elements to make full use of the year-round summer weather of Singapore.
VPL’s very first flagship store consists of a 800sf retail space inspired by a 1920’s gymnasium. With the use of hanging manila ropes, stretch bars and exercise rings, the space has a playful spirit with a vintage feel mixed in with some modern elements like the plywood lightbox signage and the Donald Judd inspired cashwrap table. The remaining 1000sf is split into an office space and a showroom in the back.
Photos by Timo Kuhn
This is our second project working with the French high end casual wear brand Zadig & Voltaire. The new store, that opened in June 2010, is their second New York store located in the heart of SoHo on Mercer Street.
The store design consists of Zadig & Voltaire’s signature style, featuring series of polished white lacquer millwork display units and collages of graphic images, within a raw New York loft style backdrop with exposed brick perimeter walls, exposed ductwork and track lighting.
This is a thorough renovation of a loft space in the West Village. The 2200 sf space was completely gutted and redesigned with a contemporary feel. The living/dining/kitchen area which occupy half of the floor plan was designed with exposed brick walls and wood structure in an open plan layout to keep with the loft living concept. The rest of the apartment in the private quarters was designed with materials and colors unique to each rooms. Each rooms have extensive built in millwork for various storage needs to preserve the modern minimalist look.
Stephen Talasnik’s Stream: A Folded Drawing, commissioned by Storm King Art Center on the occasion of it’s 50th anniversary. A site-specific construction consisting of about 3,000 bamboo poles tied together to form a monumental yet delicate structure some 12 feet high by 90 feet long, which appears to be rolling down the hill on which it is sited. studio a+i in collaboration with Structural Engineer Carlos Soubie provided constructability services.
Photo 1 from stormking.org
This renovation for the Steven Alan Flagship store in New York gives a facelift to a well loved shopping destination in the TriBeCa neighborhood. The design balances the “found-objects” with selected new, clean displays, all within the context of a flexible retail space with distinct designer wares.
This is the first store in New York for the frenchy and arty brand Zadig & Voltaire. This high-end store keeping with the design philosophy of all the other ZV stores worldwide is a perfect white box with the feel of an art gallery. All custom millwork, large display areas and oversized center table covered by floating mirror box ceiling are the main features of the design.
The store, the fourth in the Los Angeles area for Steven Alan, was designed to embrace the SA sprit and maximize the space so that it can serve as a retail store and as the LA area office. The use of everyday objects to fit-out the space allowed us to keep the cost down and allow the sense of casual simplicity to come thru.
Steven Alan’s first store in Brooklyn was designed with a “guerilla” operation in mind. Simple light fixtures and a canvas backdrop anchors the exposed pipe fittings, keeping the space simple on this busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn.
The best ideas often happen when there are many design criteria and even more design latitude. With Shilo, we were able to take the conventional ideas of an open workspace and really make an open space without walls. The desk that stretches through the entire space is a true collaborative process at work. The design is a testament to how they work and play.
In this renovation of the house that was originally designed by and for Ezra Stoller, the clients want to bring back the original spirit of the Stoller House, while at the same time update it for modern living and a growing family. Research into archival photos and a detailed design process with involved clients brought forth a design that allowed the new owners to live in a place of their own, while still respecting the legacy of the Stoller House.
Photos by Timo Kuhn
This is a thorough renovation of a loft space in Tribeca. Design features included updating of an old kitchen to a modern open plan kitchen with a large marble countertop island and an oversized walnut sliding door to open and close off the master bedroom to the living space, maintaining the spirit of the open loft plan with clean modern elements.
How to create a fresh new look to the old fashion dairy store experience? Combining retail, take-out and bar seating, the design embraces the idea of organic dairy product from upstate New York using recycled materials from the farm and making it accessible to all ages. Designed with Ronnybrook Milk Bar owner and graphic designer Mark Sarosi.
Photos by: Fran Roberts
Located in Tribeca, this wine showroom had to accommodate both a large display of premium wines, as well as function as a wine tasting event space. By creating a movable office box in the center, the design allows the display and event space to vary in size depending on the store’s needs.
Photos by Timo Kuhn
This small multi-family building houses three generation of the same family under one roof. The owners wanted to have a distinct design from the standard wood frame-siding houses in the neighborhood within a limited budget. Under the constraints of zoning rules, the two houses maximizes allowable building area while allowing distinct apartment for each nuclear family in their large extended lives.
The Robbins Elementary School is situated in one of poorest sections of a once vibrant city. The old stately building is not only overcrowded but scarred after years vandalism and fences and bars have been erected to fortify the school against the neighborhood. The proposed design more than doubles the classroom areas all in one floor in the existing carpark and playground and creates a new elevated playground area on the roof, eliminating the need for ugly fencing and security features.
This interior renovation provided a much needed update for both the gallery functions and the living quarters in this landmarked Soho loft.
The design of a waterfront museum is also part of the larger context of integrating the waterfront into part of the city’s new expansion of cultural and recreational use in what used to be a port and industrial neighborhood. The proposal museum is a series of open/closed boxes connected both by outdoor and indoor pathways, creating a cultural space that becomes part of the surrounding park, unhindered by the physical constraints of the usual art-in-box museum setting.
This house is designed to be built by local tradesmen by using local materials and the simplest construction methods, at the same time it responds to a unique site and program with a minimalist design.
Competition entry for the New England Biolab 150,000sf headquarter. In order to minimize the building foot print and reduce the impact of the new building in this beautiful site, the design intent was to create a linear extrusion with a series of labs, offices and public space following the natural curve of the landscape. Raised above the grounds it shelters the staff parking and the loading dock, and at the same time is low enough as to not obstruct the views from the existing Main Mansion. A bridge becoming a tunnel connects to the existing Main Mansion.
California housing trends are headed towards disaster with increasing water scarcity, tillable land scarcity, farmland scarcity and influx of residents. This study looks at the problem from a larger context, investigating the use of marginal farmland for use, and creating a new density to support public transportation. On the micro level, the design uses the most abundant parts of California – sunshine and dirt – to create the housing units that are low in ecological footprint.
Location:
Greenwich Village
Date of Competition:
January, 2012 (1st Prize)
Project team:
Mateo Paiva, Lily Lim, John Thurtle, Insook Kim, Esteban Erlich
Rendering:
Guillaume Paturel, by-encore