Just received Issue 9 of CONDITIONS, Independent  Scandinavian Magazine on Architecture and Urbanism which focusses on the theme of New Knowledge  - New Practices.  There are some good articles in this issue. The interview with Kristian Kreiner of the Copenhagen Business School is particularly interesting.  Titled The Special Generalist, it reflects on some of the business models which architects might consider adopting as we chart the difficult path “between being an architect and being a company”.

Here are a few highlights from our latest site inspection at lavender bay

blog – site walkthrough 22-12-2011 from Stephen Collier Architects on Vimeo.

The Lavender Bay Boatshed progresses further.

Stucco walls in the ground floor master bedroom (1m above sea level) with reveal for glazed floor light (above) ready for glass installation this week.

Wall reveals in the bathrooms (both of which draw in natural light from two storeys above) are waterproofed in preparation for tiling. The tiles, originally made for & used by Carlo Scarpa, have arrived in Australia and are due to be installed as soon as the cornflower yellow concrete topping slab is laid.

A few images from Stephen Collier Architects’ entry for the Future Proofing Schools Design Ideas Competition, proposing a new prefabricated classroom for Australian schools.  David, Jordan, Justin, Christen & Stephen worked on this one.

Our idea was that the classroom of the future should have all the characteristics of a room in a garden, that is; spacious, light, airy, fragrant and verdant. But with all the thermal benefits of being inside.  The learning experience we wish to promote is one that enhances curiosity, in a space that is joyous to be in. A classroom that allows different learning methods (kinesthetic, auditory and visual), interaction between groups and individuals, a mix of inside and outside, both dark and well lit, degrees of warmth and coolness.   The process of application to different sites is conceived in the form of a pinwheel. This allows the rotation of modules to suit different northerly aspects, climatic conditions (requiring either shading, mass, cross breezes) and existing building configurations. The in between spaces that result create new connections to existing sites and landscapes.  Classroom modules can squeeze in to residual space where necessary and stretch out on vast sites. This ensures that existing green space and playing fields are not gradually subsumed as schools are forced to grow. New gardens are also made (both external and partly internal).  This allows an infinite number of groupings: pairs of modules can pivot or shift alignment, be stacked with an additional level and/or multiply into larger clusters. It also ensures that the prefabricated classroom has the capacity to both strengthen (and if needs be redefine) the urban form of different sites.

We’ll upload more onto the website in the coming weeks.

Designed by Massimo Vignelli in 1972 and ultimately discarded (for being too diagrammatic) before being recently reinstated in revised form, an excellent and striking map of the New York subway which 80 year old Vignelli now says was “BC (before computers) for the AC (after computers) era”.

http://nyti.ms/oott8d

Day 10

Rome

Baths of Caracalla

The third architectural highlight of the journey: the ruins of the Roman thermae, completed in the early 2nd century and covering 11 hectares. The parts of the imperial baths that are still standing consist of vast brick walls, vaults and arches in a state of semi ruin. They have provided continual inspiration to architects right up to the 19th and 20th centuries, providing the model for New York’s Grand Central Station (Mckim Mead and White) and for much of Louis Kahn’s monumental work.

Day 7

Rome

Sant I’vo a la Sapienza
Architect: Borromini

St Luigi de la Francesi
Paintings by Carravagio

San Carlino alle Quartre Fontana
Architect: Borromini

Maxxi
Architect: Hadid

Palazzo Barberini
Architect: Borromini (staircase)

San Andrea al Quirinale
Architect: Bernini

Borromini is extraordinary; a totally absorbing revelation. The way he played with light; directed it, washed it across surfaces, that splay, twist, turn, drop, that rise can bulbs and cannons of surprising and beautiful light. The scale of his work is so considered and well modulated. The promenade from inside to outside; one space into the next, layers of space, complex geometries. A procession from outside to inside: sometimes gradual & other times abrupt. Long stepped ramps linking one side of the building to the other; a through space, washed in light, two flights of steps leading round and up on either side – changing direction slightly 5 m up then up extending the space below into tubes of light to the sky above. Grand and yet intimate. Sadly, I was too young in the past to appreciate him but it seems that so much which has transpired in the 20th century has borrowed from him, Miralles being one notable example. Bernini on other hand is all bombast. Beautiful, rich, and sensory but much more decorative, heavy in symbolism (which can be a good thing) and less spatial. Carravagio amazing to actually see; tight gold tinted space richly scented with incense, chiaroscuro colour dark and light transfixes.

Day 4 Umbria

Spoletto
Assisi

Aquaduct in Spoletto: Roman engineering and architecture combine in this structure, with tall brick arches stretching down into a dry valley floor. On the side (to the south) from which you arrive it appears inaccessible but concealed on the north is a 3m wide path that runs along the top, leading to an arched portal in the centre.

The Basilica of St Francis in Assisi: An extraordinary ensemble of public spaces leads to the Basilica, adjusted to the steep terrain; ramps, high stone walls, a grand double-sided staircase, a sloping colonnaded square (that conceals a view of the valley beyond). There are two entries: one to the Upper Basilica (defined by a generous expanse of sloping lawn) and the porch of the Lower Basilica which is tucked in to the corner at the nexus of a sloping street and the lower piazza.
Inside the Basilica, frescoes by Giotto show the first tentative discovery of perspectival representation in an astounding palette of rich colour: (Carmine) reds, blue, gold and white.

Day 3 in Tuscany
Sienna

Piazza di Campo and the Duomo

A lesson in junctions and corners; of colour, light, mosaics, gold, celestial figures, of the sublime, walls of travertine and basalt, marble floors of different colour and type, Christian stories of sacrifice, suffering, stoicism, the angels, disciples, stories of the first testament described in (seemingly) uncontestable and magnificent glory.

Day 2 in Umbria
Orvieto

Duomo

Masterpiece of the late middle ages and constructed between 1290 and 1607.

Pozzo di San Patrizio

Engineering and architecture combine in this Well built in 1527 by Pope Clement VII whilst seeking papal refuge in the city from the marauding Imperial army. A vast cylinder 53.13 metres deep and 13 metres wide, shaped in the form of a double helix: 248 ramped steps to descend and another completely independent set to ascend.