Architects: at103 / Julio Amezcua + Francisco Pardo
Project Team: Tiberio Wallentin, Aida Hurtado, Gerardo Pérez, Mauricio Valadez, Daniel Ortiz
Location: Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Contractor: Desarrolladora Espacio 5
Project year: 2004
Construction year: 2006
Photographs: at103, Espacio 5

“Tijuana is Television Town. At one point 75% of all television sets in the world were assembled in Tijuana. Thousands of people work in San Diego and live in Tijuana. Culture is mixing both ways. People in Tijuana have revolving door minds. Tijuana is a cold yet family-oriented beach literally a few meters away from the American Patrol and American helicopters fly over a three-fenced border town. First world meets third world” Heriberto Yépez

Set on a hill with slopes of the 30-35%, the housing complex incorporates 84 houses and a 36 apartment’s-tower. The project aims to negotiate with the site establishing programmatic housing variation by reducing the amount of roads and giving to each unit open views through the city of Tijuana and the border line with San Diego.

The original topography is modified by paths of movements, organization and aggregation, in order to create a field of hybrid systems where private and public life is mixed. Housing variations emerges from the need of habitable landscapes, units are distributed and oriented in order to get advantage of views, 3 housing prototypes are proposed for accentuating variations.

Architect: OFIS arhitekti
Location: Izola, Slovenia
Design Year: 2003
Construction Year: 2004-2006
Design Team: Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik with Martina Lipicer, Nejc Batistič, Neža Oman, Florian Frey, Marisa Baptista
Structural Engineering: Valide d. o. o.
Mechanical Engineering: Oves d. o. o.
Electrical Engineering: Winky d. o. o.
Contractor: Makro 5 gradnje, d. o. o and Kraški zidar d. d.
Client: Slovenian Housing Fund and Community of Izola
Site Area: 2,294 sqm
Constructed Area: 5,452 sqm
Apartments: 30/block
Budget: 1,54 M EURO (US $2.42 M) /block
Photographs: Tomaz Gregoric

The project is a winning entry for two housing blocks in a competition convoked by the Slovenia Housing Fund, a government-run programme that is providing low-cost apartments for young families.

The proposal won for economic, rational and functional issues but mostly for the ratio between gross vs. saleable surface area and the flexibility of the plans. When signing the contract we were obliged to prepare construction documentation for the building cost 600€ per m2 of net surface area.

The blocks are set out on a hill with a view of Izola Bay on one side and of the surrounding hills on the other. The given urban plot was 2blocks of 60×28 meters.

The brief required 30 apartments of different sizes and structures, varying from studio flats to 3-bedroom apartments. The apartments are small, with minimum-sized rooms according to Slovenian standards. There are no structural elements inside the apartments, thus providing flexibility and the possibility of reorganising things.

The blocks are set out on a hill with a view of Izola Bay on one side and of the surrounding hills on the other. Since the blocks are subject to a Mediterranean climate outdoor space and shade are important elements.
The project proposed a veranda for each apartment, thus providing an outdoor space that is intimate, partly connected with the interior, shady and naturally ventilated.

A textile shade protects the balcony and apartment from prying eyes, yet due to its semi-transparency allows the owner to enjoy the views of the bay. Perforated side-panels allow summer breeze to ventilate the space. The strong colours create different atmospheres within the apartments. Boxes at the side of each balcony provide room for air-conditioning units.

The small rooms become visually bigger because the textile shade creates a perspective effect that connects part of the exterior with the interior.

Sustainability issues:

Balcony modules are designed as efficient system providing shading and ventilation for the apartments. Textile elements fixed on the front of the balconies block direct sunlight and accumulate “air buffer” zone. In the summer hot accumulated area behind the shadings is naturally ventilated through (10 cm holes) perforated side partitions of the balconies. In the winter the warm air stays in the area and provides additional heating to the apartments.

Architects: BIG Architects27
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Architect: Jakob Lange
Project Leader: Finn Nørkjær
Project Manager: Jan Borgstrøm
Construction Manager: Henrick Poulsen
Contributors: Annette Jensen, Dariusz Bojarski, Dennis Rasmussen, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Joao Vieira Costa, Jørn Jensen, Karsten V. Vestergaard, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Leon Rost, Louise Steffensen, Malte Rosenquist, Mia Frederiksen, Ole Elkjær-Larsen, Ole Nannberg, Roberto Rosales Salazar, Rong Bin, Sophus Søbye, Søren Lambertsen, Wataru Tanaka
Collaborators: JDS, Moe & Brødsgaard, Freddy Madsen Rådgivende Ingeniører ApS
Client: Høpfner A/S
Engineering: Moe & Brodsgaard
Construction: DS Elcobyg A/S /PH Montage
Project year: 2008
Constructed Area: 33,000 sqm
Photographs: Dragor Luft, Jacob Boserup, Jens Lindhe, Ulrik Jantzen

28 29 30 31

How do you combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density?

The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses - same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing - like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other - a parking and a housing block - we decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship. The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighbourhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-storey building - suburban living with urban density.

32

The roof gardens consist of a terrace and a garden with plants changing character according to the changing seasons. The building has a huge watering system which maintains the roof gardens. The only thing that separates the apartment and the garden is a glass façade with sliding doors to provide light and fresh air.

33

The residents of the 80 apartments will be the first in Orestaden to have the possibility of parking directly outside their homes. The gigantic parking area contains 480 parking spots and a sloping elevator that moves along the mountain’s inner walls. In some places the ceiling height is up to 16 meters which gives the impression of a cathedral-like space.

34

The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminium plates, which let in air and light to the parking area. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At day the holes in the aluminium plates will appear black on the bright aluminium, and the gigantic picture will resemble that of a rough rasterized photo. At night time the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different colours as each floor in the parking area has different colours.

35

The Mountain Dwellings is located in Orestad city and offer the best of two worlds: closeness to the hectic city life in the centre of Copenhagen, and the tranquillity characteristic of suburban life.

TBODY>

		situation plan 01	situatino plan 02
site plan	ground floor	3rd floor plan	roof plan
aprtment A1 plan	apartment J1 plan	east elevation	north elevation
south elevation	west elevation	section 01	section 02
sectino 03	section 04	detail 01	detail 02
detail 03	detail 04	detail 05	section 05
diagram 01	diagram

In Progress: Mountain Dwellings / BIG

Right next to their VM Housing project, BIG is currently finishing their new project: Mountain Dwellings. But this time, the client asked for a specific program with 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. Rather than doing 2 separate buildings, BIG decided to combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density, resulting on a terraced housing over the parking area.

The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighbourhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-storey building - suburban living with urban density.

The residents of the 80 apartments will be the first in Orestaden to have the possibility of parking directly outside their homes. The gigantic parking area contains 480 parking spots and a sloping elevator that moves along the mountain’s inner walls. In some places the ceiling height is up to 16 meters which gives the impression of a cathedral-like space.

The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminium plates, which let in air and light to the parking area. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At day the holes in the aluminium plates will appear black on the bright aluminium, and the gigantic picture will resemble that of a rough rasterized photo. At night time the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different colours as each floor in the parking area has different colours.

Architect: BIG
Project: Mountain Dwellings
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Partner-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Leader: Finn Nørkjær
Project Architect: Jakob Lange
Project Manager: Jan Borgstrøm
Contributers: Annette Jensen, Dariusz Bojarski, Dennis Rasmussen, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Henrick Poulsen, Joao Vieira Costa, Jørn Jensen, Karsten V. Vestergaard, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Leon Rost, Louise Steffensen, Malte Rosenquist, Mia Frederiksen, Ole Elkjær-Larsen, Ole Nannberg, Roberto Rosales Salazar, Rong Bin, Sophus Søbye, Søren Lambertsen, Wataru Tanaka
Client: HØPFNER A/S, Danish Oil Company A/S
Collaborators: JDS ARCHITECTS, MOE & BRØDSGAARD, FRODE MADSEN RÅDGIVENDE INGENIØRER ApS
Size: 33.000 m2
Expected completion: June 2008
Photos: All photos credited under their thumbnails.