A million thanks to everyone who supported us!

bastard store wins the ArchDaily Building of the Year Award

ArchDaily is for sure the most visited Architecture blog out there. On the 10th of May 2009 ArchDaily published a very comprehensive and beautifully edited post about our project bastard store and created a huge link between studiometrico, bastard and the world. That was just the beginning…

On the 18th of January the ArchDaily Building of the Year 2009 Award, an invitation to all readers to select the best projects posted in 2009 according to 13 different categories, was launched. bastard store was selected as ‘eligible’ in 4 categories. But there’s much… much more!

After the first round and thanks to the support of many, bastard store is  now one of the 65 finalists and will be challenging 4 other projects to become the number 1 in the category Interiors!
So… now it’s up to you, friends, lovers, colleagues, clients, visitors, relatives, Facebookers and Twitterers! Vote for us and spread the new if you think that the bastard store deserves the title of ArchDaily Best Building of the Year 2009!

There are still 5 left, but there’ll only be 1 winner…

Pics by Giuliano Berarducci and Beatrice Sugliani

Last June we published a first post about this project for the transformation of an industrial building into offices to rent in Milan. Then we have been silent… but not idle.

Last fall we have been busy with the tender, in October Cometal S.p.A. has been appointed by the client as the main contractor and  in December the project eventually went on site! We are now able to publish some pictures showing the result of the main demolition phase and we hope to keep on posting as the works progress through the whole year.

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli

Design Consultant:

Gennaro Postiglione

Structures:

Marco Clozza (Atelier LC)

previous posts about this project:

ZUM – 1

SEA – the company that runs Italian Airports – launched a 2 phases competition for the ‘new gate’ of the Airport of Malpensa. The brief, addressed to teams composed by architects and artists, defined a site between terminal and train station, a budget and some programmatic ambitions. The ‘Gate’ had to be conceived both as transit and pause space, function as infrastructure, be perceived as a landmark and behave as an exhibition space. Together with Massimo Bartolini and VudafieriSaverino we developed our (losing) proposal…

Premise

Novalis noted that “The curve is the triumph of the freedom on the rule”, and Oscar Niemeyer keeps on explaining: “I am attracted by the free and sensual curve.The curve I encounter in the mountains and in the rivers of my Country, in the clouds of the sky, in the waves of the ocean, in the body of the favourite woman. The universe is made of curves, the curved universe of Einstein.”

A gate for Milan

Our proposal is a permeable and autonomous space, defined and circumscribed by a curve with constant radius: a circle. The curve is strong in this context because is completely unusual among the surrounding infrastructures. The curve introduces a dynamic and relaxing ‘field strength’ that becomes the focus of its environment. The ‘perfect’ shape of the circle gains another significance at the architectural scale. The 2-dimensional perimeter carved on the territory is extruded into the flat volume of a 44 m wide and 5 m tall cylinder. The interior become organized space and, therefore, architecture: a circular room with a 30 m diameter flanked by two curved corridors that meet were the space opens to the terminal on one side an to the train station on the other.

Revolving door

This circular space is occupied by a revolving door tied to a structural pillar and constituted by 5 wings, each wing is 14 m long and features few colored glass panels. The revolving door is the metaphor of a transition, and of the world. It’s an open boundary and recalls the image of hotels, theaters, public spaces, meetings and travels… but it’s also the alias of a compass tracing a profile on a sheet of paper, of a radar scanning the sky and monitoring the airplanes traffic.

Fast curves

The curved corridors around the central room work – paradoxically – as fast connections. The outer boundary is composed by a bearing structure combined with colored glass panels. A screen saver is constantly projected onto the boundary of the central room: landscapes, movies, fragments and memories of Milan and the Milanese territory. The shadows of the passengers melt in this images as in a magic lantern.

5:PM

When the mechanical movement of the revolving door stops, 5 rooms materialize and become available spaces for art exhibitions, the ‘kaleidoscope-like’ space become background, the transit turns into pause. 5:PM is the name of our proposal for the ‘New Gate’ of Milan, it’s a revolving door with 5 wings, it’s the time when labor ends a leisure starts, it’s when computers are shut down and people goes out, it’s the right time for departures… and arrivals.

Plan (click to open, then right-click to zoom)

Competition panel (1.272MB)

The Competition Team

Massimo Bartolini
Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli
Roberta Rizzi

Norwegian friends Brendeland & Kristoffersen arkitekter have invited  6a architects, JCLA and studiometrico to team up and join a challenging urban design competition in Oslo, Norway.

A 70.000 sqm area – part of the dismissed Fornebu airport – will be transformed to host 575 new dwellings. IT Fornebu – a Norwegian developer – has first launched the competition and then short-listed 6 teams to compete and produce a design proposal by the end of January. Here the complete list of the competitors:

• April Arkitekter (NO), Helinco Architects (FI), Marjamaa Landskap (NO)
• Brendeland & Kristoffersen Arkitekter AS (NO), 6a architects Ltd (UK), studiometrico (IT), Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects (UK)
• Code Arkitektur AS (NO), Aurora Landskap AS (NO)
• Arkitektkontoret GASA AS (NO), Askim/Lantto Arkitekter AS (NO), Grindaker AS Landskapsarkitekter (NO), Erichsen & Horgen AS (NO)
• MVRDV (NL), Tupelo Arkitektur AS (NO), Bjørbekk & Lindheim Landskapsarkitekter (NO), Sweco
• Arkitektfirmaet C.F. Møller (DK)

On the 19^th of November the five teams that will compete for the 2^nd phase of the Architecture Competition for the new Piazza G. Verdi in La Spezia (Italy) were announced. studiometrico and artist Massimo Bartolini had developed a design proposal that was not short-listed by the Jury…

The Project

The competition challenge to organize a new urban square without giving up cars has been undertaken with a visionary proposal that consisted in the realization of a 200 m long infrastructural building able to manage traffic in a flexible way and to become a powerful and iconic element for the city. The superimposition of a new square on the existing one on ground level would have provoked – in the vision of the designers – a variety of uses and situations.

aerial view of the new square

the lower square

the upper square

the new square

the new building

The Competition Panel

download pdf [3.120 KB]

The Competition Team

Artist
Massimo Bartolini

studiometrico

Lorenzo Bini
Francesca Murialdo

Erica Borsa
Claudia Brunelli
Corinne Gallotti
Roberta Rizzi

Berlin_los Angeles. A Tale Of Two (other) Cities has opened on the 12 of November at the Massimo De Carlo Gallery in Milan. The collective exhibition explores new trends in contemporary art through the work of young artists like Klara Liden, Josef Strau, Klaus Weber, Dan Rees, Kirstine Roepstorff, Maximilian Zentz Zlomowitz, Simon Fujiwara, Scott Olson, Frank Benson, Elad Lassry and Kaari Upson. studiometrico has designed a platform with two reading tables that allow visitors to browse through catalogs, books and magazine about the two cities.

The Project

The 4×5 m wooden platform divides the main exhibition space in two parts and features two reading tables (one for each city) and 8 small benches. The structure has been realized in MDF fibreboard panels that were pre-cutted according to given dimensions and quickly assembled on site.

the platform (click to open, then right-click to zoom)

The Construction

Once assembled, the platform, the reading tables  and the benches have been covered with a fibre glass wall covering to level and make uniform the surfaces. The material – called Gavatex – is produced by the Italian company Gavazzi and has been glued on the MDF panels and then painted with a warm grey color that matches the one of the concrete floor of the exhibition space.

The Opening

Since 2005 we have been working and posting on this project. Once it was completed, our clients announced they were not interested in publishing on magazines and expressed big concern about their privacy. The gardens we designed and the farmhouse (refurbished by Vudafieri Saverino Partners) host numerous artworks from the collection of the owners, so we were asked to maintain our absolute discretion.
We understood and even learned to appreciate this attitude… In the end it dismissed us from those usual efforts to document and photograph properly our work.
Later we realized that a project – to a certain extent – always belongs to the designer and decided that, as long as we wouldn’t have crossed ‘that boundary’, we could still be free to disclose our work. So we made an attempt…

1. Rammed earth

Taking inspiration from the nearby mountain pathways we used rammed earth to pave two long stripes that provide occasional access to cars and tractors around the house.

2. Larch wood

The main access to the house is a small area paved with larch wood bricks of standard size laid directly on the soil according to a simple geometrical pattern.

Larch wood planks were used for this small deck connected with the kitchen of the guest house.

To retain the slightly sloping terrain with steps and to define edges between different areas we used thicker larch wood planks and wooden pegs.

3. Resin-bound gravel

The road that leads from the entrance to the underground garage was paved with a layer of resin-bound gravel adapt to endure the cold winters of the area.

4. Porphyry stones

An area adjacent to the house and the garage has been conceived as a small piazza and paved with local porphyry stones laid according to the tradition by expert hands.

5. Reinforced soil

We borrowed this system of reinforcing the soil on the sloping edges of highways and railways to mould the terrain and define a small living area near the house.

6. Weathering steel

Numerous elements like kerbs, steps, poles and profiles have been realized in weathering steel to match the color and the feel of other natural materials.

The main gate to the property has been designed as a solid and massive element that provides privacy and embeds the entry phone, the counter and the gas meters.

7. Steel wire mesh

To blend into the surrounding landscape of apple tree rows, the boundary fences of the property have been realized in steel wire mesh and concrete poles.

Few vegetable gardens have been inserted into the terrain and enclosed, according to the local tradition, with rusted hexagonal wire mesh and T profile vertical elements.

A Lace Fence Pergola has been designed by Joep Verhoeven from  Demakersvan, built in Bangalore, transported on site and previously described here.

8. Exposed concrete

To host an artwork by Danish artist Jeppe Hein we have built a concrete pavillion with a concrete door that provides access to a supporting engine room.

9. Chestnut wood

Together with the wise local peasant we designed a chestnut wood Pergola to support a beautiful old vine that survived the site works and flanks the main entrance to the house.

When the Pergola was completed, the eperienced team could undertake the challenge to design Green Monsters…

Previous posts about this project:

Gardens between apple trees

Gardens between apple trees – 2

Gardens between apple trees – 3

How to ‘build’ Green Monsters

In December 2007 an Italian art dealer decided to expand his business in the prosperous land of Albion. He found the right location in the heart of London, and made a deal with an Irish man who owned the property. He then appointed us to develop a project to transform the 250 sqm building into a new contemporary art gallery. Then came The Crisis…

Click on the image to view the building as found

The existing building was organized on four floors (basement, ground, first, second and third) and divided in two blocks: the main one facing the street, and the rear one toward a courtyard surrounded by other houses. The split levels of the two parts of the building were connected by a steep staircase placed in the middle and inside the perimeter of the main block.

Situation plan (click to open, then right-click to zoom)

To make the building adapt to its future use, we needed more generous and regular rooms. To achieve a more flexible and open space – that was considered necessary to display art works – we proposed to demolish the existing staircase and to use the rear block to build a new and more relaxed one that could serve fewer, but bigger, rooms placed in the front.

Part of the brief was also to add a new storey to the building according to a planning permission that had been previously submitted and accepted by the authorities. This expansion of the building could enable the building to host a new office for the landlord as well. The art gallery would then occupy basement, ground, first and second floor while the office would use third and fourth floor.

The combination of these two activities within the same building provoked a logistic problem and an architectural challenge for us. The available space was limited, therefore the two functions could only be served by an unique circulation system. The two activities were not related, therefore the staircase, the corridors and the lobbies had to be treated as a common space and the thresholds to the ‘private’ areas had to be secure and controlled.

For these reasons our design proposal was organised around the new circulation system that, despite the reduced dimensions of the building, was conceived as an articulated sequence of corridors, lobbies, ramps and flights of stairs constantly switching angles: a winding pathway that vertically connected the different floors and horizontally separated the enclosed rooms assigned to the two different activities.

Plan 00-02 (click to open, then right-click to zoom)

A long corridor was necessary to reach the staircase from the entrance of the building on the ground floor, and even if this element reduced the width of the main exhibition room on the street side, we achieved a sequence of relatively generous rooms – both on this and on the other levels – that could be used as small exhibition spaces and that presented always different proportions and heights.

Plan 03-04 (click to open, then right-click to zoom)

On the second floor the ‘public’ staircase reached a lobby that gave access to the top floor of the gallery and, through a small corridor, to the last rotated flight of stairs leading up to the third floor occupied by the office of the landlord. The fourth floor was conceived as a mezzanine facing the lower level and the street in front of the building.

Section a-a (click above the image to open)

Section b-b (click above the image to open)

Section c-c (click above the image to open)

The different parts of the building have been treated, in our proposal, with different materials and details. The exhibition rooms of the gallery had been conceived as neutral and clean environment, while the ‘common spaces’ and the more private rooms -both of the gallery and the office – have been characterized with the use of warmer, domestic finishings.

The entrance from the street

The entrance from the street

Gallery – ground floor

Gallery – ground floor

Gallery – first floor

Gallery – second floor

Gallery – second floor

Office – third and fourth floors

Since we have presented our first design proposal – which consists in the materials showed here – the development of this project has been long, complicated and contorted. The goals that our client (the Italian art dealer) and ourselves were sharing with great enthusiasm have been made impossible by the way the Landlord had carried on the operation. The British local architects – that we had involved – acted in a very ambiguous and ungrateful way and even now – that this project is ‘dead’ – they are trying to promote themselves with the feathers they have been stealing…

It might also be because the so-called ‘economical crisis’ that this very good opportunity to work in England has vanished.  Anyway we consider this project another fundamental bit of ‘good experience’, and we are very happy to disclose – as we always do – the outcome of our work.

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Francesca Murialdo
Valentina Cocco

Note: the works of Maurizio Cattelan, Simone Berti, Yan Pei Ming, Elmgreen & Dragset, Sam Samore, Rudolf Stingel, Steven Parrino, Gelitin and others that are featured in our photo-montages have nothing to do with the real facts but have been captured on the web and used just because we sincerely admire them.

Are we going commercial? Could be… Matter-of-factly last autumn we have started to work on this very pragmatic project for the transformation of a 2.000 sqm industrial building into offices to be let out next year on the Milanese market.

Overall Plan

To transform the existing building and to optimise the usable surface, all the existing structures of the courtyard will been demolished. The Main building (Block A) will be preserved and completely refurbished while a new smaller building (Block B) will be built from scratch. Block A sits on the corner of two urban streets and is characterised by a pitched roof and a regular clean facade. Block B stands on pilotis to enable car parking, has a flat green roof and will only be visible from the inner courtyard.

First floor plan (click to enlarge, then right click to zoom)

Second floor plan (click to enlarge, then right click to zoom)

To comply with the planning regulations, the overall volume of Block A will not been modified. A new mezzanine will be inserted above the top floor and suspended from a the new steel structure of the roof to exploit usable floor surface. To provide access and light to each office a new external corridor with a steel mesh and a suspended fire staircase will be added.

Sections (click to enlarge, then right click to zoom)

The project will employ mostly prefab elements and reasonably cheap materials, Block B bearing structure as well as Block A corridors and staircase structures will be in steel. The new facades of both buildings will be clad with prefab sandwich insulating panels with metallic outer layer.

View of the courtyard (click to enlarge)

Block A - corridors (click to enlarge)

Block A - office (click to enlarge)

The fact that we don’t know our final users (the offices will be let out after the refurbishment) determined the overall ‘mood’ of the interior office spaces. Colours have been basically avoided, bearing structures, partition walls and floor finishing have been deliberately distinguished and characterised with different (mostly black and white…) materials.

Block A - office (click to enlarge)

Block A - office (click to enlarge)

Block B - office (click to enlarge)

Block B - office (click to enlarge)

After some months of work the planning application has been submitted to the municipality and the few contractors invited to tender. The project should go on site after the summer, the refurbishment is supposed to be concluded before summer 2010.

Block A - existing situation

Block A - existing situation

Block A - existing situation

Block A - existing situation

Block A - existing situation

The courtyard - existing situation

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli
Roberta Rizzi

Design Consultant:

Gennaro Postiglione

Structures:

Marco Clozza (Atelier LC)