c.Luna

Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Architect: Thomas Phifer & Partners
Landscape Architect: The Office of James Burnett
Civil Engineering: Walter P. Moore
Lighting Design: Fisher Marantz Stone
Client: Rice University
Project Year: 2006-2007
Construction Year: 2007-2008
Constructed Area: 557.5 sqm
Photographs: OJB, Paul Hester & Scott Frances

Conceived as a landmark destination for Rice University’s campus, the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion demonstrates the ability of landscape architecture to foster social interaction and improve the human condition. A study in restraint and the purity of form, the garden at the Brochstein Pavilion creates a powerful spatial framework that has transformed an unstructured, underutilized quadrangle into the center of student activity on campus.

Founded in 1912, the Rice University campus is noted for its eclectic Mediterranean architecture, mature southern Live Oaks and a classical campus plan that emphasizes long, formal axes. After engaging students, faculty and alumni in a dialogue throughout 2005 regarding the future of the university, the Board of Trustees approved “A Vision for the Second Century.” An aggressive strategic plan that recognizes the importance of placemaking in campus culture, the Vision acknowledges the need to “provide the spaces and facilities that will cultivate greater dynamism and vibrancy on the campus and foster [a] sense of community.” Inspired by the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, Houston architect Raymond Brochstein and his wife Susan provided a generous donation that allowed the University to achieve this goal.

The University challenged Thomas Phifer and Partners of New York and the Office of James Burnett to develop a scheme that responded to the constraints of the Central Quadrangle. Originally the primary east-west axis of the campus, the quadrangle was disrupted by the addition of the Fondren Library in 1940. Following a significant library expansion in 1968 and the construction of adjacent buildings, the quadrangle became ancillary space. Waiving the stringent architectural guidelines that typically apply to new construction on campus, the design team was charged with the creation of an iconic campus landmark that would offer flexible, non-programmed space that would become the social hub of the campus.

The Brochstein Pavilion is capped by a steel and aluminum trellis structure which protects the building and extends in all directions to cover and shade the surrounding seating terrace. The trellis, consisting of an aluminum tubes, protects the building from the harsh Texas sun. Hovering over and shading the entire structure, the trellis cuts the direct sun by an average of 70%. This extensive shade protection reduces the required mechanical cooling load by 30% and allows the structure to be open and naturally ventilated throughout much of the year. A series of wide double doors at the pavilion connect the interior seating areas with the surrounding terrace, opening the pavilion to the landscape and welcoming students and faculty.

The openness of the curtain wall system establishes a strong connection to the landscape, encouraging activities within the Pavilion to flow out into the surrounding Quadrangle. Daylight is carefully filtered through skylights by perforated aluminum sunshade diffusers at the exterior and by a perforated metal ceiling system at the interior, infusing the space with carefully controlled, soft natural lighting and further connecting the pavilion to the environment. The interior of the Brochstein Pavilion is activated by vibrant, casual seating groups and a seamless Corian kiosk. The interior Pavilion plan designed for small impromptu gatherings as well as large public functions such as concerts which are planned for the central Quadrangle.
Rather than focusing the majority of their energy on the quadrangle west of the building, the landscape architect instead chose to address the interstitial space between the Fondren Library and the pavilion. Responding the grid of the building, a bosque of 48 specimen Allee Lacebark Elms rise from a plane of decomposed granite and provide an organizational framework that humanizes the scale of the space. A generous concrete walk connecting the library and the pavilion bisects the grove into garden rooms whose perimeters are defined by plantings of African Iris. Long black concrete fountains filled with beach stone occupy the center of each space, filling the garden with the murmur of running water and reflecting the filtered light through the canopy. Movable furniture and subtle site lighting allow impromptu gatherings of visitors to enjoy the oasis created by the dense shade and running water day or night.

Respecting the lightness of the building, the landscape architect made minimal interventions elsewhere. New concrete walks and a row specimen Live Oaks reinforce the existing spatial framework of the quadrangle. Although the floodplain requirements necessitated a finish floor elevation considerably higher than existing grade, the architects favored a solution that would not isolate the building on a dramatic plinth. Carefully considering the existing trees, the landscape architect subtly manipulated the grading of the approach walks so that building feathers into the landscape and overcomes the tragic flatness of the campus.

Architects: x Architekten
Location: St. Oswald, Austria
Client: Golf und Tourismusförderung
Contractor: Passivhaus
Constructed Area: 757 sqm
Project Year: 2003-2004
Photographs: Dietmar Tollerian

The golf course as an integrated design landscape and topography nestles up to the soft downs of the Mühlviertel. The club house merges with the landscape and integrates consistently into the natural surroundings, almost being completely absorbed by it. Its outer and inner rooms are designed as a seamless transition into the golf course and become one with the surrounding sports grounds. The inner court offers possibilities for multi-functional activities in a sheltered atmosphere - as a garden for visitors as well as a location for events and award ceremonies. Towards the south west the court opens up into a covered terrace as far as the driving range. On the northern side, it serves as a reception area for players returning from the 18th Hole. The inner court presents itself as the “19th Hole” and the club house as the “19thGreen” of the golf course and they resemble the Start as well as the Finish in the movement of club members and visitors.

Ecology

Openness and responsible action, not an elitist club life, are most important for the building project. This vision is implemented through the integration of the golf course into the landscape, through ecological care of the lawns and the concept of Zero Energy in the club house.

The concept of Zero Energy

The club’s existing area which is being restored produces unusually high energy surpluses. Therefore the use of this thermal waste with regard to the energy concept seemed to be a natural and logical consequence. The waste heat from the systems and devices in the restaurants is used optimally in the form of a multiple energy cascade. Warm and polluted air from the hottest points of the restaurant kitchen are sucked into a ventilation system, which is already a necessary part of the design, and which filters the air and sends it through to a hypocaust. This hypocaust heats the floor in the bar and restaurant area. A heat exchanger then releases 50% of the heat content of the slightly cooled air into the incoming fresh air. As the now considerably cooled exhaust air still contains a lot of energy, heating energy and warm water for the heating of the supply air and the floor heating in the changing rooms is won with the help of another air/water heat pump.

An ecologically reconcilable golf lawn The golf lawn is kept free from weed in terms of a broader ecological approach solely through mowing and mechanical treatment without the use of herbicides - surely a unique method on Europe’s golf courses.

Architect: Smolenicky & Partner Architektur GmbH
Location: Sempach, Switzerland
Project year: 2005
Construction year: 2007
Client: Sempachesee Golf Club
Site Area: 4,500 sqm
Photographs: Walter Mair

The largest golf course in Switzerland

The expansion of the Sempachersee Golf Club to include a second 18-hole course has made it the largest golf club in Switzerland. It is located approximately 15 km from Lucerne in the very heart of Switzerland.

The architectural office Smolenicky & Partner was commissioned to design two new buildings in connection with the enlargement of the course - the club house and restaurant building and the new maintenance building.

The topographical situation

The club house is situated precisely on the topographical crest where the level plateau of the golfing green breaks into a steeply falling slope. At exactly this point the vista opens out into a view over the lake and the Alps of inner Switzerland. The public footpath that transverses the golf club also runs along this topographical ridge.

Expression as stylistic strategy

Both the architecture and the interior design of the new building aim to combine two distinct atmospheric phenomena of the site into a single effect. This new manifestation is moulded on the one hand out of the country character of the golfing culture of the Sempachersee course, and on the other out of its worldly sophistication. To this end the appearance oscillates between the rural warmth of a timber barn and the clear lines of a Masserati sports car. This is the attempt to embody both the reality of the dualism of the site and its potential within the building itself.

Interior spaces

The three main functions of the project are centrifugally grouped around the centrally located kitchen - the invisible fulcrum of the project - namely the public restaurant, the members’ dining area and the two large entertainment rooms, the latter stacked one over the other.
Each of the two restaurants has three large viewing windows, which due to the geometry of the rooms together form a sequenced 180° panorama over the landscape. The mirror over the bar constitutes in effect a fourth window, multiplying and refracting the panoramic impressions.
In marked contrast to the two restaurants, the large entertainment hall is dominated by a single over-dimensional window, forming an almost 20 meter-long, wide-screen panorama over the perennially snow-covered Alps. This deliberate staging of the of the sheer grandeur of the landscape gives it a cinematic quality akin to a Sergio Leone Western.

Exterior spaces

The expressive, seemingly object-like overall form of the club house building is created by the definition of the two U-formed exterior spaces. The two-dimensional, dark-orange wall encloses the public forecourt - the main entrance to the building - like a partition, while the dark-blue lacquered “screen” defines the exclusiveness of the outside space for club members.