Architecture and design company Ultramodere recently asked the question: What would Frank Gehry's 1980s concept of “cheap architecture” look like at the moment? Coprincal Yasmin Vobis has been worked out: “How can standard construction methods be at the core of a progressive approach for architecture? And how can this attitude enable architecture to be more general accessible to the public? “The studio offers an answer with its latest residential project with two families, friendship. Ultramoder applied ingenuity and cooperation with the community in the development of a new sustainable blueprint that can be used for future projects.
The 4,300 square meter duplex is a previously free property next to the I-95 in the Friendship Street in Central Providence. Although the friendship is similar in the area in the area, friendship attracts the attention of passers-by with its black facade made of corrugated iron metal. The slim outer is a quiet base on which the windows and light monitors are placed over the building. The latter offers a unique anatomical view of the structural bones of the building, while they have the wooden frames behind translucent acrylic panels. The device is used in one place to refer to the bright pink glass fiber on the street. These touches offer playful, abstract sensitivity to friendship and at the same time contribute to the high R-value of the building.
Ultramoding Coprincipal Aaron Forrest shared A This friendship began when he received a tip from the project manufacturer that the design team thrown away materials from local construction projects could receive and use them for friendship. Although Forrest was initially skeptical, this idea ultimately stimulated the success of the project. “In the end, all wooden floors, tiles and skylights were covered in this way, and it enabled us to reach a much higher end of the project than the budget otherwise allows it,” he explained. The new experience and strategy from friendship are used for future efforts, added Forrest, including a new apartment project with 12 units with the same developer.
Vobis – who, like Forrest at UC Berkeley, has found that the process of friendship changed the designs of ultramoders. “We had to examine the basic ingredients of architecture – organization and typical construction methods in this city – to find generosity in the spatial design and at the same time keep things as cost -effective as possible,” she said. “This challenge and this constant exchange with the customer was ultimately the most rewarding part of the project and has caused us to rethink the way we approach projects in the future.” Ultramoerne also examined the creative potential of mixed material architecture by studio courses with the structural engineer Brett Schneider, and the results were recently published by Birkhaüser in the book heterogeneous constructions.
Everywhere Providence is the expression “what cheers” in companies and in government utensils such as the city's seal. It results from the original greeting – “What a jubilation, netop!” – From the Narragansett Indian Americans to Roger Williams, founder of the city, at the beginning of the 17th century. Translated from Narragansett and English it means “hello, neighbor” or “greetings, friend”. Ultramodere friendship takes up the friendly part of this ethos. The sensitivity is even formal, as can be seen in the loose symmetrical arrangement of the two houses that reflect on a death wall. In the following you share a garage and a terrace on the roof that promotes the commitment among the residents.
How the future neighbors of this friendship project, which could meet each other on the outdoor deck, sometimes we need a thrust to make things happen. In the case of friendship, a little push went in a different direction and ultimately answered the first question of ultramoderne: innovative architecture is still possible in today's economic climate – it only requires a new approach.