Human body museum in France BY BIG

BIG architects designed this beautiful museum in 2013 and it has been a lot on my mind lately. I am just so in love with the facade system and the design of the museum itself. What a great design.

It is not for nothing BIG has become the most popular and sought after architect office in the world.

I was first exposed to the project and all its details in 2015... if i remember correctly and fell in love with it... that does not happen to me with just any nice looking building.

It was in 2013 that BIG was announced the winner of an international design competition for the new Cité du Corps Humain (Museum of the Human Body) in Montpellier. Rooted in the city’s long medical history and world renowned medical school, which dates back to the 10th century, the 7,800 sqm museum will “explore the human body from an artistic, scientific and societal approach through cultural activities, interactive exhibitions, performances and workshops.”

It’s design, orchestrated by eight undulating forms which “weave together” to create an underlying continuous space. Stunning views, access to daylight and critical internal connections will all be revealed by the Museum’s shifting form.'

“Like the mixture of two incompatible substances – oil and vinegar – the urban pavement and the parks turf flow together in a mutual embrace forming terraced pockets overlooking the park and elevating islands of nature above the city. A series of seemingly singular pavilions that weave together to form a unified institution – like individual fingers united together in a mutual grip,” explains Bjarke Ingels. 

The museum’s roof functions as an ergonomic garden – a dynamic landscape of vegetal and mineral surfaces that allow the park’s visitors to explore and express their bodies in various ways – from contemplation to the performance – from relaxing to exercising – from the soothing to the challenging.

The façades of the Museum of the Human Body are transparent, they are as we call it designed with parametric design. That is, parameters such as the sun in this case and orientations are used to measure and design each louver precisely to provide the shades needed and to maximizing the visual and physical connection to the surroundings. On the sinuous façade that oscillates between facing North and South, East and West, the optimum louver orientation varies constantly, protecting sunlight, while also resembling the patterns of a human fingerprint – both unique and universal in nature.

One of my favourite projects by BIG architects, I hope it will one day see the light of day in more than beautiful visuals.

Here are more pictures:

Marshallhúsið/The Marshall house

Meðan allir voru heima á íslandi á fullu á hönnunarmars þá missti ég af herlegheitunum.

Hef búið erlendis í 10 ár núna og hef einungis einu sinni náð að vera á íslandi yfir þennan viðburð :/ en ég ég mun skipuleggja ferð heim á næsta ári.

Ég fylgist samt allfar stíft með og þá sérstaklega fylgist ég með Svönu vinkonu á Svart Á Hvítu þar sem hún er alltaf með puttan á púlsinum. En einnig var margt mjög spennandi arkitektúr tengt sem ég hefði svo viljað sjá.

Eitt af því var túr um Marshallhúsið á Grandagarði 20. Kíkti þarna inn síðast þegar ég var á landinu og skil vel að þair haf i hlotið Hönnunarverðlaun Íslands 2017 fyrir uppgerð hússins. Þetta er mjög heilstreypt og vel gert. Hrátt og elegant á sama tíma.

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While Design march was going on in Iceland last weekend I was here in Copenhagen... wishing to be there... I have been living abroad for 10 years now and only once have I planned a trip to be at this great event.

I will definitely be there next year!

I follow what is going on ... and my friend Svana covers much of it on her blog. But there were so many interesting architecture events this year I would have loved to see... including a tour in the Marshall house.

The Marshall house was the winner of The Icelandic Design Awards 2017 and is for sure worthy of it.

MARSHALLHÚSIÐ / The Marshall house

Listamiðstöðin Marshallhúsið opnaði í mars 2017 og hýsir Nýlistasafnið og Kling & Bang en auk þess er þar vinnustofa og sýningarrými Ólafs Elíassonar og veitingastaðurinn Marshall Restaurant + Bar. Arkítektarnir Ásmundur Hrafn Sturluson og Steinþór Kári Kárason frá stofunni Kurt og pí, önnuðust hönnun breytinga á húsinu í samstarfi við ASK arkitekta.

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The art center opened in march 2017 and is hosting the Modern art gallery and Kling & Bang gallery, it is the home of the Icelandic/Danish artist Ólafur Elíassons office and showroom as well as housing the Mashall Restaurant + Bar.

The architects Ásmundur Hrafn Sturluson and Steinþór Kári Kárason from Kurt og Pí were in charge of the design of the new Marshall house in collaboration with ASK architects.

Þetta fallega hús var byggt árið 1949, sem hluti af síldarbræðslu, og var starfsemi þar í rúma hálfa öld. Húsið stóð autt í nokkur ár eftir að fiskmjöls og -lýsisvinnsla var aflögð á vegum HB Granda í Reykjavík. Húsið er á fjórum hæðum, samtals 1.839 fermetrar að stærð.

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This beautiful house was built in 1949, as part of herring smelter, and was there for over half a century. The house remained empty for a few years after fishmeal and fish oil production was discontinued by HB Grandi in Reykjavík. The house is on four floors, total of 1,839 square meters.

Í rökstuðningi dómnefndar við Hönnunarverðlaun Íslands, segir að verkið kristalli vel heppnaða umbreytingu eldra iðnaðarhúsnæðis fyrir nýtt hlutverk í samtímanum. „Arkitektarnir hafa þróað verkefnið frá hugmyndavinnu til útfærslu og leitt saman breiðan hóp aðila til að skapa heilsteypt verk. Í verkinu er vel unnið með sögu byggingarinnar og samhengi staðar og til verður nýr áfangastaður fyrir samtímalist í Reykjavík á áhugaverðu þróunarsvæði í borginni. Marshall húsið er gott  dæmi um hvernig með aðferðum hönnunar verður til nýsköpun í borgarumhverfinu.“ Hönnunarverðlaun Íslands 2017.

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According to the jury's verdict at the Icelandic Design Prize; the work crystallizes the successful transformation of old industrial buildings for a new contemporary role. "The architects have developed the project from conceptualization to implementation and brought together a wide group of people to create a holistic piece. The work carefully respects the history of the building and context, and creates a new destination for contemporary art in Reykjavik in an interesting development area in the city. The Marshall House is a good example of how design methods will be innovative in the urban environment. "The Icelandic Design Prize 2017.

Þessar flísar eru bara beautiful... / gorgeous tiles...

Þangað til næst...

The Icelandic Architect

Carbon Fiber the Revolutionary material __________ Koltrefjar Byltingarkennda byggingarefnið

ICD/ITKE RESEARCH PAVILLON 2016-17

For those who dont know ICD (The Institute for Computational Design and Construction) it is one of the most prestigious research university in Europe amongst IAAC in Barcelona and few other.

ICD and ITKE (the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design) at the University of Stuttgart complet every year a new research pavilion. In 2017 they were exploring building-scale fabrication of glass and carbon fibre-reinforced composites. The new process is based on the unique characteristics of fibre construction. Because these materials are lightweight and have high tensile strength, a radically different approach to fabrication becomes possible, which combines low-payload yet long-range machines. This collaborative concept enables a scalable fabrication setup for long span fibre composite construction.  The research builds on a series of successful pavilions, which investigate integrative computational design, engineering and fabrication, and explores their spatial ramifications and construction possibilities. The project was designed and fabricated by students and researchers within an interdisciplinary team of architects, engineers and biologists. 

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Fyrir þá sem ekki þekkja ICD (Stofnun fyrir tölfræðilega hönnun og byggingartækni innan Stuttgart háskóla), er ein sú virðingafyllsta ransóknardeild á vegum arkitektúr og byggingarlistar í Evrópu meðal skóla eins og IAAC í Barcelona og nokkrir fleiri.

ICD og ITKE (Stofnun fyrir byggingartækni og byggingar hönnun) í Stuttgart háskóla, kláruða á hverju ári nýjann rannsóknar skála. Í fyrra 2017 var áherslan að rannsaka möguleika gler- og kol-trefja samsettum í byggingum. Þessi nýja byggingartækni byggist á sérstökjum eiginleikum þessara trefja í byggingartækni. Þar sem trefjasamsetta er mjög létt byggingarefni og hefur mjög háann togstyrk, er hægt að nálgast framleiðslu á allt annan máta, þar með er hægt að sameina lágmarksvinnu og langvarandi sjálfvirkar vélar.

Þeð þessu konsepti hefur þeim tekist að gera sveigjanlegt byggingar kerfi fyrir langt-span trefja-samsetta byggingu. Rannsóknin byggist á röð árangursríkra skála, sem rannsaka fjölþætta tölfræðilega hönnun, verkfræði og framleiðslu, og kannar staðbundnar afleiðingar og byggingar möguleika. Verkefnið var hannað og byggt af nemendum og fræðimönnum innan þverfaglegs hóps arkitekta, verkfræðinga og líffræðinga.

Meira um verkefnið - verkið on site

More about the project - LINK to PROJECT on site

-The Icelandic Architect