Adore A Door: Neve Tzedek, Israel
October 25, 2012 § 1 Comment
A lovely combination of blue painted wrought iron, cream colored stone, natural wood shutters, and bright pink flowers. This entrance can be found along the old streets of Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv, Israel. To where does this door lead?
Adore A Door: Climbing Up The Walls; Neve Tzedek, Israel
October 23, 2012 § Leave a comment
The narrow streets of Neve Tzedek are picturesque, filled with century old structures that house little shops, cafes, and stunningly beautiful homes. Though technically a part of Tel Aviv, this neighborhood actually predates the urban hub. It was established in 1887 by a group of Jewish families looking for relief from the bustle of Jaffa. The area fell into disarray in the middle of the 20th century, but went through a period of revival after many of its buildings were placed on preservation lists in the 1980s. Nowadays, Neve Tzedek is quite the popular destination.
For an area overflowing with charm, one house seems to attract more attention than the rest. This structure sits on a street corner, where figures sit on benches and cling to railings; some even seem to hang out of windows.
The sculptures are beautiful: chubby and cheerful. Of course, I couldn’t help but notice the ornate bright red door at the entrance.
Adore A Door: Jaffa, Israel
October 21, 2012 § Leave a comment
A collection of doors in the ancient port of Jaffa (or Yafo), Israel. The details are beautiful; check out the locks, windows, grating, and of course, the colors. I wonder how old they are? Interesting how the pointed arch, also known in Gothic architecture as a lancet arch, frames the window.
Doors in Jaffa, Israel
Adore A Door: Kingston, New York
May 21, 2012 § Leave a comment
This dutch door is the entrance to the Senate House State Historic Site, found in New York’s first capitol, Kingston.
Senate House, Kingston New York
“Built in 1676 only 12 years after the British assumed control of New York from the Dutch, the house reflects both the building traditions of the original Dutch colonists and the gradual acceptance of English construction styles.*” The wooden door is fastened with a ring pull, knocker, and door strap hinges of varying lengths, all most likely made of iron. The transom window above allows light into the entryway vestibule. A seam can be seen extending across the door’s center, splitting it into two parts that can be opened separately or together.
In October of 1777, after the Battle of Saratgoga, the British army burned much of Kingston to the ground. The Senate House, along with much of Kingston, was rebuilt a hundred years later. “In 1887, the State of New York paid $8,000 to acquire the property, which quickly became a central community museum.^”
Enjoy — Livin’ Love
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*"Senate House." NPS.Gov. May 21 2012. <http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/k2.htm>
^The Palisades Park Conservancy. May 21 21012. <http://www.palisadesparksconservancy.org/historic/9/>
Reaching For Greener Heights
May 16, 2012 § Leave a comment
The Gwanggyo New Premium City is a ground-up approach to reenvision the urban model. Currently under development in South Korea, this advancement in urban planning is certain to change the way we live in the future. These winning renderings that feature a green, nodular city were submitted by Amsterdam based architecture and urban design firm, MVRDV.
Rendering of The Gwanggyo Green Power Center – Photo Courtesy of Inhabitat
MVRDV are known for their progressive and out of the box solutions to challenges in modern design. Their Green Power Center concept includes a self-sufficient city that can inhabit up to 77,000 people. The community is concentrated into an easily walkable urban area, making the conducting of business and pleasure less expensive, more sustainable, and all around more convenient.
Close-Up Rendering of Gwanggyo Green Power Center – Photo Courtesy of Inhabitat
The circular design promotes a deep relationship with nature. Each floor will have an outdoor terrace lined with box hedges. The shrubbery will be watered by an internal irrigation system. The terraces themselves are connected by ramps and walkways, making the entire city that much more accessible and park-like. Combined with the reservoir and nearby lake, the infrastructure of this proposed new city allows for improved air quality and ventilation, ultimately reducing energy use.
Night Rendering of Gwanggyo Green Power Center – Photo Courtesy of Inhabitat
Since the new millennium, nodular shaped, mixed-use buildings have become quite popular in South Korea. The “Power Centre Strategy” uses this dynamic grouping of housing, retail, business, culture, and education to encourage further growth and development in the surrounding areas. This site in particular will have two main districts, the new Power Center and a new Central Business District, and in total, will cover 117,511 square meters.
Rendering of Gwanggyo EconHill, as shown on the GICO website – Photo Courtesy of SkyScraperCity.com
The Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation (GICO) have incorporated MVRDV’s original concept into their larger plan. This greater proposal is to contain “a total of 11 Specially Planned Zones icluding an administration town, hotels and convention centers, business parks, commerce and culture districts, amusement parks, well-being counties, and education towns.” Though the development of this project took a hit when the economy slowed in 2008, GICO recently signed a project financing agreement, and are now on track for completion in 2017.
The greatly anticipated Gwanggyo New Premium City will not only transform the region, it will most certainly set a new example for green urban development.
“Gwanggyo New Premium City.” Gyeonggi Urban Innovation Corporation. May 09 12. <http://www.gico.or.kr/english/business/02_01_01.jsp>
“Gwanggyo New Town to Accomplish Country’s First 2 Trillion Won PF.” EUCCK. May 09 12. <http://www.eucck-rec.org/market/market_view.php?code=176>
Kain, Alexandra. “MVRDV Designs Gwanggyo Green Power Center,” Inhabitat. Dec 08 08. May 03 08. <http://inhabitat.com/gwanggyo-city-center-by-mvrdv/attachment/17229/>
“‘The Green Peaks’ Design for the Gwang Gyo Power Centre by MVRDV in Kyunggido, Seoul, Koreo.” Morfae. May 09 12. <http://www.morfae.com/0364-mvrdv/>
Adore A Door: The Moxie Spot
May 6, 2012 § 1 Comment
This clever door, located on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, NY, is intended for people of all sizes. What was once an old hardware store has found new life as The Moxie Spot, a family restaurant offering food, games, and entertainment. The entrance is a door within a door within a door, each made of copper and each having its own porthole window. Patrons can choose their entry based on their size or mood. Perhaps you’re feeling adventurous and want to try squeezing your way in the bottom, or maybe you’ll stand on your tippy toes and enter with the grown-ups. Makes you think — where did door size standards come from? Who decided and what was this decision based on? How has this changed throughout time? Either way, this door certainly breaks from monotony.
The Moxie Spot – Photo Courtesy of Vandeberg Architects
Adore A Door: A Revolving Revolution
April 24, 2012 § Leave a comment
In honor of Earth Day, today’s post sheds light on a recent sustainable innovation. Two companies have separately conceived of a way to turn the kinetic energy expended on pushing a revolving door into electricity.
The Energy-Generating Revolving Door at Driebergen-Zeist Station — photo courtesy of Boon Edam
Driebergen-Zeist railway station in The Netherlands sets quite an example for green design. The station has undergone a recent renovation headed by RAU, an architecture firm specializing in ecological buildings. What is particularly special here is the installation and implementation of the first working, public, electricity-generating revolving door, by Boon Edam. How does it work? By simply pushing through it! Energy is created by turning the panels, which are wired to a monitoring system and output source. The end result: the illumination of the LED lights in the ceiling of the station.
LED scales can be found inside the revolving door, indicating the amount of energy being produced at any one time. Inside the station, a large display exhibits the total amount of energy generated, helping encourage passengers to utilize the alternative energy source and feel accomplished by their contribution. The device had been calculated to save around 4600 kWh per year, about the same amount of energy needed to run a water heater for a family of four for an entire year.
FluxxLab, of New York City, is trying its hand at an energy-generating door in the United States. Their ‘Revolution Door’ can be installed in any new or previously existing revolving door by using their newly conceived central core, mechanical/electrical system, and output device. A prototype was demonstrated at the Eyebeam’s FEEDBACK Exhibition, which took place in March 2008. The turning of the Revolution Door lit up the entrance to the exhibit.
Fluxxlab Revolution Door – photo courtesy of Inhabitat
If only we could install such devices in every building in a city like New York! Just think how much non-fossil fuel based, human powered, “renewable” energy we could harness! The opportunities abound.
Is The World’s Most Expensive Home Also The Greenest?
April 20, 2012 § 1 Comment
If we are only referring to the exterior, the answer is probably yes. Antilia, a 27-story mega mansion, was built for India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, in Mumbai, India. The project cost over one billion dollars and is being credited for having the worlds tallest living wall and tallest garden. At first glance, it seems an exciting step forward in environmental design. However, upon further examination, this initial feeling of awe quickly turns to horror.
Antilia, photo courtesy of Indian Skyscraper Blog
I do give Ambani and the architects, Perkins + Will, credit for helping propel innovation in green design forward. The folding technique with its continuous surfaces provides good support for living walls and hydroponic planting, an environmental plus. Covering so much of the buildings exterior with vertical gardens lowers its overall carbon footprint. Living walls provide natural insulation, which can help reduce surface temperature fluctuations and decrease energy usage. They help filter pollution, reduce carbon dioxide, and let’s be real, they look pretty awesome. But don’t let the green exterior fool you. There are plenty of reasons to subtract major points from this project.
Antilia Exterior, photo courtesy of The Daily Mail
The house is equipped with three, you heard right, three helipads, a separate traffic control and six floors of parking. Sounds like some heavy fuel consumption for one family. There are nine elevators, a health spa, a small theater, and multiple swimming pools. Not to mention a ballroom with a ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers (I wonder if there is a single LED or CFL lightbulb in any one of them). There have been no attempts to use more sustainable materials in the construction of the building itself or its interiors (which have that typical over-styled, old world chateau look). Nothing modern. Nothing eco-friendly. Interesting for a home once being promoted as “The Greenest of All Buildings.” It’s more like a house within a house within an apartment building within a skyscraper. And perhaps worst of all, it remains uninhabited.
Antilia alternative views, photo courtesy of Inhabitat
Ambani, who is the chairman of Reliance Industries and consistently ranks in the Forbes top 20 wealthiest people in the world, decided the home failed to satisfy the guidelines of vastu shastra, an ancient doctrine that emphasizes the relationship of form and nature in Hindu architecture (similar to Feng Shui). Some of these design “flaws” include a lack of windows facing east, the direction of the rising sun. Out of fear of succumbing to bad luck, the family has never spent the night. They only use the space for formal parties, dinners, and move screenings.
Antilia has been further criticized as “an ostentatious display of wealth in a country where most people live on less than $2 a day” (The Daily Mail). There are also rumors that the land upon which Antilia sits was unfairly acquired. “In 2007, the Maharashtra government declared the multi-storeyed mansion to be illegal after it received complaints that the Waqf Board — the previous owner of the land — had no right to sell it” (Breaking News Online). According to an article on Overseas Property Mall, the original owners “had earmarked the land for construction of a school for the underprivileged.” Instead, Mumbai now has the world’s largest, most expensive single family home ever built. And there it sits. Abandoned.
Perhaps said best by Sarah Rich in her article for Inhabitat, “Living walls are lovely, but they’re not a free ticket to environmental integrity” (Inhabitat).
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