February 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
National Tourist Route Trollstigen / RRA
Architects: Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Olso Norway
Location: Romsdalen – Geiranger Fjord, Norway
Project team: Reiulf D Ramstad, Christian Fuglset, Anja Strandskogen, Christian Dahle, Nok Nimakorn
Client: Norwegian public roads administration
Structural Engineer: Dr Techn. Kristoffer Apeland AS, Oslo Norway
Mechanical Engineer: Erichsen & Horgen Engineering AS, Oslo Norway
Electrical Engineer: Norconsult, Norway
Contractor: Christie Opsahl AS, Norway
Landscape: Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Oslo Norway
Constructed Area: 200,000 sqm (the landscape area)
Design year: 2004-2010
Construction year: 2005-2010
Photographs: Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Oslo Norway
The project will enhance the experience of the Trollstigen plateau’s location and nature. Thoughtfulness regarding features and materials will underscore the site’s temper and character, and well-adapted, functional facilities will augment the visitor’s experience. The architecture is to be characterised by clear and precise transitions between planned zones and the natural landscape. Through the notion of water as a dynamic element –from snow, to running and then falling water- and rock as a static element, the project creates a series of prepositional relations that describe and magnify the unique spatiality of the site.
information taken from arch daily.
Location: Romsdalen – Geiranger Fjord, Norway
Project team: Reiulf D Ramstad, Christian Fuglset, Anja Strandskogen, Christian Dahle, Nok Nimakorn
Client: Norwegian public roads administration
Structural Engineer: Dr Techn. Kristoffer Apeland AS, Oslo Norway
Mechanical Engineer: Erichsen & Horgen Engineering AS, Oslo Norway
Electrical Engineer: Norconsult, Norway
Contractor: Christie Opsahl AS, Norway
Landscape: Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Oslo Norway
Constructed Area: 200,000 sqm (the landscape area)
Design year: 2004-2010
Construction year: 2005-2010
Photographs: Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Oslo Norway
The project will enhance the experience of the Trollstigen plateau’s location and nature. Thoughtfulness regarding features and materials will underscore the site’s temper and character, and well-adapted, functional facilities will augment the visitor’s experience. The architecture is to be characterised by clear and precise transitions between planned zones and the natural landscape. Through the notion of water as a dynamic element –from snow, to running and then falling water- and rock as a static element, the project creates a series of prepositional relations that describe and magnify the unique spatiality of the site.
information taken from arch daily.
Huanacu Warehouse & Office / tFPS
Architects: tFPS
Location: Santiago, Chile
Project team: Eduardo Fam Mancilla, Diego Pinochet Puentes, Leonardo Suárez Molina
Structural engineer: José Manuel Morales
Site area: 3,128 sqm
Constructed area: 1,670 sqm
Project year: 2006-2009
Photographs: Nicolas Saieh & tFPS
This Project, our first project as architects, started in 2006. It sets as the perfect projection of three recently graduated (in fact… graduating) architectural student´s concerns, about the discipline´s approach to the architectural project: One related to the formal exploration, a playfull one that can lead us to a differentiation to historical types of common architecture (typical boring boxes). Another, related to a rigorous technical approach (so the formal exploration can emerge in the reality), and finally a strong commitment, with elemental life situations that define the architecture (formal and technical approaches).
Location: Santiago, Chile
Project team: Eduardo Fam Mancilla, Diego Pinochet Puentes, Leonardo Suárez Molina
Structural engineer: José Manuel Morales
Site area: 3,128 sqm
Constructed area: 1,670 sqm
Project year: 2006-2009
Photographs: Nicolas Saieh & tFPS
This Project, our first project as architects, started in 2006. It sets as the perfect projection of three recently graduated (in fact… graduating) architectural student´s concerns, about the discipline´s approach to the architectural project: One related to the formal exploration, a playfull one that can lead us to a differentiation to historical types of common architecture (typical boring boxes). Another, related to a rigorous technical approach (so the formal exploration can emerge in the reality), and finally a strong commitment, with elemental life situations that define the architecture (formal and technical approaches).
The assignment
A big warehouse (with administrative offices and showroom), a “cool one”( just as the client request), one that can “stands out” in contrast to the typical industrial architecture of the close context of the project, but… as cheap as we can produce it (aprox $430 USD/sqm). A form that could respond to the internal logics of the company´s operation (charge and discharge of products, exhibition of these products in the showroom, administrative operations, etc).
The restrictions
- A limited budget (enough to build a typical warehouse)
- Strict regulations of the zone (an industrial park near to the main airport of the city)
- About the internal operations of the company
This led us to a fundamental question: How can we operate on the form, responding to the requirements of the client and the building regulations of the zone, and beside fit into the small budget?.
The equation that defines the problem was clear: client demands + building regulations demands + tight budget = a cool and unique building. Clearly , not an easy one…
The first approach to the problem solution, came from the idea of concentrate all the efforts to the exposed facades of the building (The site was defined by two streets), generating “perimeter activated by the program”(where liberties about building regulations were less strict) and leaving the production activities protected to the inside of the site.
The formal operation or “where final architecture emerge”
How to operate on the form, then?, Where to start?. Taking the basic idea of a normal box (basically, a typical storage building …a big shed) inverted. We started to think about this strong image , and the formal logic that we can explore and explode , to transform ( starting from the same surface area of the initial box), the most exposed faces of the building to receive the critical activities demanded for the client.
We use of a typical structure of industrialized steel frames (to let us have less cost in structural calculations), but operating from the folding of the skin (finally, the cheapest and more workable object in technical terms).
A series of foldings (mainly three operations), allowed us to generate the two fronts, that in terms of proportions and surface area, are the same of a regular industrial building, so in that way we can insert the different activities of the program and elemental situations (showroom, administrative facilities, truck access, etc):
Access: A first folding that allowed the access to the showroom through the corner, recognizing from a single view the two folded facades of the building.
Work and view: A second folding of the west facade generates the office volume, allowing the views (the main demand of the client) to the future “los maitenes” park (hoping it will be ready in a year or two), separated from the industrial activities and with as much natural light as possible.
Work and production: Generating the larger folding to “rio itata” street, a big five meter overhang that forms the roof protecting the loading and unloading activities from rain and strong sun, connecting this space fluidly with the rest of the building.
information taken from arch daily.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Evanston History: Rail Town
Evanston is a Railroad Town
The first tent was pitched here in November of 1868 as crews building the Union Pacific Railroad approached from the east. Named after UP Surveyor James A. Evans, the town quickly became a major stop on the railroad. Coal mines opened in nearby Almy to fuel the steam engines and Chinese laborers arrived to both work on the tracks and mine the coal. Locomotives were repaired at the Evanston roundhouse until 1925. From 1926 until 1971 items for the entire Union Pacific system were repaired or manufactured at the railyards here. But modern diesel engines eventually made most of the railroad facilities obsolete and passenger service was discontinued in 1994. This is a guide to some of the reminders of Evanston’s proud railroad past.
Depot Square
The Union Pacific Passenger Depot was constructed in 1900, replacing a wooden structure just to the northwest. The building is architecturally unique among depots on the UP line in Wyoming. On the inside were separate waiting rooms for men and women. The Depot served passengers until Amtrak service was discontinued in Wyoming. This public building now is used for community events and private parties.
Roundhouse + Railyards
Union Pacific built this 28-stall brick roundhouse in 1912 to service steam locomotives running between Green River, Wyoming, and Ogden, Utah. It replaced a smaller stone roundhouse. Other buildings in the railyards include the recently restored machine shop and the powerhouse where steam heat was generated for the complex. This is the last remaining complete roundhouse on the old Union Pacific line between Omaha and Sacramento. Restoration is underway.
Railroad Worker Housing
Many of the houses along Main Street facing the Roundhouse and Railyards were built between 1895 and 1910. The modest homes were owned by railroad workers, in contrast to the larger homes higher up the hill in the historic residential district where engineers and company officials lived.
Ice Ponds
In the late 1890s, Pacific Fruit Express teamed with Union Pacific to create a series of icing stations along the UP line so produce being shipped from the West Coast could be kept chilled. Evanston was one of those stations. The Bear River was diverted into two ponds where ice was harvested in the winter and stored in several long narrow "ice houses." The icing operations were abandoned in the early 1920s when electric refrigerator cars came into use. The ponds were restored in the late 1980s to serve as a recreation area.
Old Steam Engine at Railroad Park
A 1915 steam engine is the main attraction in Railroad Park, located near the corners of Elm and Oak streets in north Evanston. There also are two boxcars, one of which has been converted into a picnic area. The engine eventually may be moved indoors at the roundhouse but for now you can climb aboard and imagine you are an engineer.
Chinatown Archaeological Site
There is nothing left of Evanston’s Chinatown, which was located just across the tracks from the Union Pacific Depot. But an archaeological dig is underway in an open field across the street from the recycling center, at the intersection of County Road and China Mary Road. A small plaque marks the spot. Some of the artifacts discovered here can be seen in the Joss House Museum at Depot Square. The Joss House is a reproduction of the Chinese temple that once stood near this spot.
Above information found at http://www.evanstonwy.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=164
All photos courtesy of Evanston City.
http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/Research/Maps/OnLineMap.asp
The first tent was pitched here in November of 1868 as crews building the Union Pacific Railroad approached from the east. Named after UP Surveyor James A. Evans, the town quickly became a major stop on the railroad. Coal mines opened in nearby Almy to fuel the steam engines and Chinese laborers arrived to both work on the tracks and mine the coal. Locomotives were repaired at the Evanston roundhouse until 1925. From 1926 until 1971 items for the entire Union Pacific system were repaired or manufactured at the railyards here. But modern diesel engines eventually made most of the railroad facilities obsolete and passenger service was discontinued in 1994. This is a guide to some of the reminders of Evanston’s proud railroad past.
Depot Square
The Union Pacific Passenger Depot was constructed in 1900, replacing a wooden structure just to the northwest. The building is architecturally unique among depots on the UP line in Wyoming. On the inside were separate waiting rooms for men and women. The Depot served passengers until Amtrak service was discontinued in Wyoming. This public building now is used for community events and private parties.
Roundhouse + Railyards
Union Pacific built this 28-stall brick roundhouse in 1912 to service steam locomotives running between Green River, Wyoming, and Ogden, Utah. It replaced a smaller stone roundhouse. Other buildings in the railyards include the recently restored machine shop and the powerhouse where steam heat was generated for the complex. This is the last remaining complete roundhouse on the old Union Pacific line between Omaha and Sacramento. Restoration is underway.
Railroad Worker Housing
Many of the houses along Main Street facing the Roundhouse and Railyards were built between 1895 and 1910. The modest homes were owned by railroad workers, in contrast to the larger homes higher up the hill in the historic residential district where engineers and company officials lived.
Ice Ponds
In the late 1890s, Pacific Fruit Express teamed with Union Pacific to create a series of icing stations along the UP line so produce being shipped from the West Coast could be kept chilled. Evanston was one of those stations. The Bear River was diverted into two ponds where ice was harvested in the winter and stored in several long narrow "ice houses." The icing operations were abandoned in the early 1920s when electric refrigerator cars came into use. The ponds were restored in the late 1980s to serve as a recreation area.
Old Steam Engine at Railroad Park
A 1915 steam engine is the main attraction in Railroad Park, located near the corners of Elm and Oak streets in north Evanston. There also are two boxcars, one of which has been converted into a picnic area. The engine eventually may be moved indoors at the roundhouse but for now you can climb aboard and imagine you are an engineer.
Chinatown Archaeological Site
There is nothing left of Evanston’s Chinatown, which was located just across the tracks from the Union Pacific Depot. But an archaeological dig is underway in an open field across the street from the recycling center, at the intersection of County Road and China Mary Road. A small plaque marks the spot. Some of the artifacts discovered here can be seen in the Joss House Museum at Depot Square. The Joss House is a reproduction of the Chinese temple that once stood near this spot.
Above information found at http://www.evanstonwy.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=164
All photos courtesy of Evanston City.
http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/Research/Maps/OnLineMap.asp
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