Musashino Art University Museum & Library / Sou Fujimoto

One of the most interesting projects I’ve seen in a while, the Musashino Art University Museum & Library proposes a new relation between the user and the books, surrounded and sheltered by them. We had the chance to ask Sou Fujimoto about the challenge of designing this program in the information age, as you can see on the above video.

More info after the break:

This project is a new library for a highly distinguished art universities in Japan. It involves designing a new library building and refurbishing the existing building into an art gallery, which will ultimately create a new integration of the Library and the Art Gallery. The project described hereinafter is the plan of the new library which sits within the first phase of the total development.

Acting as a huge ark, a total of 200,000 units, of which 100,000 will be in an open-archive, while the other half, within a closed-archive, rests within this double-storey library of 6,500㎡ in floor area. It is a library made from bookshelves.

When I thought of the elements which compose an ultimate library, I imagined books, bookshelves, light and the atmosphere. I imagined a place encircled by a single bookshelf in the form of a spiral. The domain encased within the infinite spiral itself is the library. An infinite forest of books is created from the layering of 9m high walls, punctuated by large apertures. This spiral sequence of the bookshelf continues, eventually wrapping the periphery of the site as the external wall to allow the external appearance of the building to share the same elemental composition of the bookshelf as the library.

concept

1600-1830: BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

Verssailes , france

n Italian, the word barocco means bizarre, and Baroque architecture certainly was extravagant. Buildings in the Baroque style have many of these features:

• Complicated shapes
• Large curved forms
• Twisted columns
• Grand stairways
• High domes
• Trompe l'oeil paintings

Elements of the elaborate Baroque style are found throughout Europe and also traveled to Latin America and European settlements around the world. While Baroque architecture was always highly decorated, it found expression in many ways.

Italian Baroque: Catholic Popes in Italy wanted architecture to express holy splendor. They commissioned churches with enormous domes, swirling forms, huge spiraled columns, multicolored marble, and lavish murals. The same exuberance was expressed in non-religious buildings. Example: The Trevi Fountain in Rome

French Baroque: The Baroque style became more restrained in France. While lavish details were used, French buildings were usually symmetrical and orderly. The Palace of Versailles shown above is a landmark example.

English Baroque: Baroque architecture emerged in England after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Architect Christopher Wren used restrained Baroque styling when he helped rebuild the city. Example: St. Paul's Cathedral

Spain and Latin America: Builders in Spain, Mexico, and South America combined Baroque ideas with exuberant sculptures, Moorish details, and extreme contrasts between light and dark. Called Churrigueresque after a Spanish family of sculptors and architects, Spanish Baroque architecture was used through the mid-1700s, and continued to be imitated much later. Example: Casa del Prado in California is a lavish re-invention of Spanish Baroque, or Churrigueresque, architecture.

Rococo: In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Russia, Baroque ideas were often applied with a lighter touch. Pale colors and curving shell shapes gave buildings the delicate appearance of a frosted cake. The term Rococo was used to describe these softer versions of the Baroque style. Learn about Rococo Architecture

Renaissance Architecure Style

1400-1600: Renaissance

 

Between 1400 and 1600, Classical ideas were reborn in Italy and northern Europe. This period is known as the Renaissance, which means born anew in French.

Before the dawn of the Renaissance, Europe was dominated by asymmetrical and ornateGothic architecture. During the Renaissance, however, architects were inspired by the highly symmetrical and carefully proportioned buildings of Classical Greece and Rome.

Features of Renaissance Buildings:

• Symmetrical arrangement of windows and doors
• Extensive use of Classical columns and pilasters
• Triangular pediments

Pediment over old Carnegie Library entrance, Traverse City, Michigan

• Square lintels
• Arches
• Domes
• Niches with sculptures

Phases of the Renaissance:

Artists in Northern Italy were exploring new ideas for centuries before the period we call the Renaissance. However, the 1400s and 1500s brought an explosion of talent and innovation. During the early 1400s, the painter and architect Filippo Brunelleschi designed the great Duomo (cathedral) dome. Brunelleschi also rediscovered the principles of linear perspective.

During the 1500s, the great Renaissance painter Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and designed the dome for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

 A Classical approach to architecture spread through Europe, thanks to books by two important Renaissance architects:

• The Five Orders of Architecture (compare prices) by Giacomo da Vignola
• The Four Books of Architecture (compare prices) by Andrea Palladio

As Renaissance approaches to building spread to France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, and England, each country incorporated its own building traditions and created its own version of Classicism. By the 1600s, ornate Baroque architecture emerged and became the dominant style in Europe.

Long after the Renaissance period ended, however, architects were inspired by Renaissance ideas. At the turn of the twentieth century, American architects like Richard Morris Hunt designed grand Renaissance Revival style homes that resembled palaces and villas from Renaissance Italy

Gothic Architecture Style

1100-1450: Gothic

Early in the 12th century, new ways of building meant that cathedrals and other large buildings could reach soaring heights

How Gothic Architecture Began
Gothic architecture began mainly in France where builders began to adapt the earlier Romanesque style. Builders were also influenced by the pointed arches and elaborate stonework of Moorish architecture in Spain. One of the earliest Gothic buildings was the ambulatory of the abbey of St. Denis in France, built between 1140 and 1144.

Originally, Gothic architecture was known as the French Style. During the Renaissance, after the French Style had fallen out of fashion, artisans mocked it. They coined the word Gothicto suggest that French Style buildings were the crude work of German (Goth) barbarians. Although the label wasn't accurate, the name Gothic remained.

Gothic architecture has many of these features:

• Pointed Arches. Gothic builders found that pointed arches could support more weight than perpendicular walls. With pointed arches supporting the roof, walls could be thinner.

 

• Ribbed Vaulting. Instead of solid walls, builders used a series of columns that branched up into arches. With fewer solid walls, buildings appeared lighter and more delicate.

• Flying Buttresses. Free-standing brick and stone arches helped support exterior walls, allowing them to reach greater heights.

• Stained Glass Windows. Since the walls were no longer the only supports, Gothic buildings could include large areas of glass.

• Elaborate Sculptures. Gargoyles and other sculptures had both practical and decorative functions.

3,050 BC-900 BC: Ancient Egypt

Architecture History : Ancient Egypt

 

Construction in Ancient Egypt
Wood was not widely available in the arid Egyptian landscape. Houses in ancient Egypt were made with blocks of sun-baked mud. Flooding of the Nile River and the ravages of time destroyed most of these ancient homes.

Much of what we know about ancient Egypt is based on great temples and tombs, which were made with granite and limestone and decorated with hieroglyphics, carvings, and brightly colored frescoes. The ancient Egyptians didn't use mortar, so the stones were carefully cut to fit together.

Pyramids in Egypt
The development of the pyramid form allowed Egyptians to build enormous tombs for their kings. The sloping walls could reach great heights because their weight was supported by the wide pyramid base. An innovative Egyptian named Imhotep is said to have designed one of the earliest of the massive stone monuments, the Step Pyramid of Djoser (2,667 BC - 2,648 BC).

Columns in Egypt
Builders in ancient Egypt didn't use load-bearing arches. Instead, columns were placed close together to support the heavy stone entablature above. Brightly painted and elaborately carved, the columns often mimicked palms, papyrus plants, and other plant forms. Over the centuries, at least thirty distinct column styles evolved. Learn more:Egyptian Column Styles

Influences of Egyptian Architecture
Archaeological discoveries in Egypt reawakened an interest in the ancient temples and monuments. Egyptian Revival architecture became fashionable during the 1800s. In the early 1900s, the discovery of King Tut's tomb stirred a fascination for Egyptian artifacts and the rise of Art Deco architecture.

850 BC-476 AD: Classical

Architecture History Photo Guide: Classical Architecture

How Classical Architecture Began
From the rise of ancient Greece until the fall of the Roman empire, great buildings were constructed according to precise rules. The Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius, who lived during first century BC, believed that builders should use mathematical principles when constructing temples. "For without symmetry and proportion no temple can have a regular plan," Vitruvius wrote in his famous treatise De Architectura, or Ten Books on Architecture(compare prices).

The Classical Orders
In his writings, Marcus Vitruvius introduced the Classical orders, which defined column styles and entablature designs used in Classical architecture. The earliest Classical orders were Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

Classical Periods
700 BC-323 BC: Greek. The Doric column was first developed in Greece and it was used for great temples, including the famous Parthenon in Athens. Simple Ionic columns were used for smaller temples and building interiors.

323 BC-146 BC: Hellenistic. When Greece was at the height of its power in Europe and Asia, the empire built elaborate temples and secular buildings with Ionic and Corinthian columns. The Hellenistic period ended with conquests by the Roman Empire.

44 BC-476 AD: Roman. The Romans borrowed heavily from the earlier Greek and Hellenistic styles, but their buildings were more highly ornamented. They used Corinthian and composite style columns along with decorative brackets. The invention of concrete allowed the Romans to build arches, vaults, and domes. A famous example of Roman architecture is the Roman Colosseum. To learn more about architecture in Ancient Rome, see: Architecture of the Ancient Roman Empire. To view 3D images of Rome as it looked in 320 AD, download the free Google Earth.

From Classical to Neoclassical
More than 1,500 years after the Roman architect Vitruvius wrote his important book, the Renaissance architect Giacomo da Vignola outlined Vitruvius's ideas in a treatise titled The Five Orders of Architecture (compare prices). Published in 1563, The Five Orders of Architecture became a guide for builders throughout western Europe.

In 1570, another Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio, used the new technology of movable type to publish I Quattro Libri dell' Architettura, or The Four Books of Architecture(compare prices). In this book, Palladio showed how Classical rules could be used not just for grand temples but also for private villas. Palladio's ideas spread across Europe and into the New World, giving rise to a variety of Neoclassical styles.

History Of Architecture

Architecture in Prehistoric Times 
Before recorded history, humans constructed stone circles, megaliths, and other structures.

Ancient Egypt 
3,050 BC to 900 BC In ancient Egypt, powerful rulers constructed monumental pyramids, temples, and shrines.

Romanesque
500 to 1200 AD As Rome spread across Europe, heavier, stocky Romanesque architecture with rounded arches emerged.

Gothic Architecture
1100 to 1450 AD Innovative builders created the great cathedrals of Europe.

Renaissance Architecture
1400 to 1600 AD A return to classical ideas ushered an "age of "awakening" in Italy, France, and England.

Baroque Architecture
1600 to 1830 AD In Italy, the Baroque style is reflected in opulent and dramatic churches with irregular shapes and extravagant ornamentation. In France, the highly ornamented Baroque style combines with Classical restraint. Russian aristorcrats were impressed by Versailles in France, and incorporated Baroque ideas in the building of St. Petersburg. Elements of the elaborate Baroque style are found throughout Europe.

Rococo Architecture
1650 to 1790 AD During the last phase of the Baroque period, builders constructed graceful white buildings with sweeping curves.

American Colonial Architecture
1600 to 1780 AD European settlers in the New World borrowed ideas from their homelands to create their own breed of architecture.

Georgian Architecture
1720 to 1800 AD Georgian was a stately, symmetrical style that dominated in Great Britain and Ireland and influenced building styles in the American colonies.

Neoclassical / Federalist / Idealist
1730 to 1925 AD A renewed interest in ideas of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio inspired a return of classical shapes in Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

Greek Revival Architecture
1790 to 1850 AD These classical buildings and homes often feature columns, pediments and other details inspired by Greek forms. Antebellum homes in the American south were often built in the Greek Revival style.

Victorian Architecture
1840 to 1900 AD Industrialization brought many innovations in architecture. Victorian styles include Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Romanesque and Second Empire.

Arts and Crafts Movement in Architecture 

1860 to 1900 AD Arts and Crafts was a late 19th-century backlash against the forces of industrialization. The Arts and Crafts movement revived an interest in handicrafts and sought a spiritual connection with the surrounding environment, both natural and manmade. The Craftsman Bungalow evolved from the Arts and Crafts movement.

Art Nouveau Architecture
1890 to 1914 AD Known as the New Style, Art Nouveau was first expressed in fabrics and graphic design. The style spread to architecture and furniture in the 1890s. Art Nouveau buildings often have asymmetrical shapes, arches and decorative surfaces with curved, plant-like designs.

Beaux Arts Architecture
1895 to 1925 AD Also known as Beaux Arts Classicism, Academic Classicism, or Classical Revival, Beaux Arts architecture is characterized by order, symmetry, formal design, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamentation.

Neo-Gothic Architecture
1905 to 1930 AD In the early twentieth century, medieval Gothic ideas were applied to modern skyscrapers.

Art Deco Architecture
1925 to 1937 AD Zigzag patterns and vertical lines create dramatic effect on jazz-age, Art Deco buildings.

20th Century Trends in Architecture
1900 to Present. The century has seen dramatic changes and astonishing diversity. Twentieth century trends include Art Moderne and the Bauhaus school coined by Walter Gropius, Deconstructivism, Formalism, Modernism, Structuralism, and Postmodernism.

Diamond Arena

Do you remember with olypic beijing? There is a stadium as an icon it's called bird nest. But now there is a new stadium ,It is so unique even not spectacular like bird nest .The stadium name is Diamond Arena

With the grand opening of China Open 2011 on September 25 in Beijing, the China National Tennis Center designed by Beijing-based architectural practice Atelier 11 is officially completed and ready to welcome the top players from the world, including Robin Soderling, Li Na, and Caroline Wozniacki, and hundreds of thousands of tennis fans from China and abroad.

Courtesy of Atelier 11

Following a coherent design approach, 16 sets of V-shaped columns are used to form the structure of the Center to support the grandstand and outdoor maintenance facilities and at the same time create a simplistic triangular motif for the overall design. By extracting the visual elements out of the structure itself and eliminating unnecessary decorations, the architecture displays its grace and beauty with a pure balance between form, material, and construction. Built with concrete for the main body, the architecture is given a solid volume and magnificent perception value.

Section

Called as Diamond Arena for its shape and important status in China’s sports field, the Center can seat 15,000 audiences with its state-of-art facilities. A collapsible steel roof is designed to react on the weather change during the games. With a maximum opening of 60x70m towards the sky, it has the biggest opening scale in Asia and takes 12 minutes to perform an opening procedure. Divided into 2 layers and 4 units, the roof can be opened in the direction of east and west, and then be stacked in the storage space built under the fixed part of the roof on both ends. Using a material with good light perviousness for the roof, the center will use natural daylight to provide the lighting required by the games during the daytime; so that the requirements both on energy-saving and management cost control can be satisfied.

Courtesy of Atelier 11

Besides the regular seating rows spreading around the stadium, two floors of glass boxes are placed around the bottom part of the grandstand to seat important guests or be used for special group activities. The boxes provide more exclusive seats for a better view within the limited space.

Courtesy of Atelier 11

Another significant feature of the design is a circular observation deck on the 7th floor of the Center where the highest seats are located. With an open space running around the whole building, the deck allows the audience to enjoy a 360° sightseeing to the Olympic Park next to the Center, which would be an exclusive attraction to the audience during the break of the games.

Courtesy of Atelier 11

The Center takes full advantage of the site to cope with the traffic issues in and outside the stadium. Audience can enter the venue via the terrace on the second floor; while staff, VIPs and players can directly get into the Center from under the terrace. So the possible conflict in the flow lines is reduced to its minimum and the comfort in the interior space can be achieved. Outside the Center, the entry and exit channels for each group are carefully divided without interference, which guarantees a well-organized traffic flow inside the stadium even if with its maximum capacity.

Plan

Text provided by Atelier 11