Archive for the ‘Noticed’ Category
Showplace Triangle shows up in a clothing ad
Rebar’s Showplace Triangle is featured in a recent commercial for LRG Clothing called Letting the Kids Play Part 2. Although it wasn’t designed for skating, the plaza occasionally ’stacks functions’ as urban oasis and adventure playground.
Los Angeles’s Temporary Architecture for Schools
Above, SLO’s design with changeable exterior building skin. (Photo SLO)
Many of Los Angeles’ classrooms exist in temporary or portable structures, established to save money and act as a quick fix to the need for expanded classroom space. Of the LA Unified School District’s 9,300 temporary classrooms, most are drab, poorly designed for student engagement, and are in need of repairs or replacement.
As part of a larger effort to rethink education, The Los Angeles’ Unified School District recently invited three LA-based architecture firms (Swift Lee Office or SLO, Hodgetts+Fung, and Gonzalez Goodale) to rise to this design challenge. The firms designed pre-fab, temporary school structures that feel like permanent spaces, and create inspiring learning environments for kids. The designs include a sustainable focus, with features like natural lighting and air flow, and use of renewable energy and materials (which also integrates lessons on environmental design into the physical classroom). The designs can be built cheaply, quickly, are easy to assemble, and can be produced en masse. Designs range in size from 6,000 to 30,000 square feet.
Hodgetts+Fung’s prototypes, built mainly of fiberglass, are lightweight and easy to replace. (Photo Hodgetts+Fung)
Gonzalez Goodale’s modular prototypes. (Photo Gonzalez Goodale)
More in The Architect’s Newspaper article.
DIY, Swedish style
Rebar recently had the pleasure of briefly hosting Clara Åhlvik who was traveling through San Francisco on west coast tour through the USA. Clara is a curator and artist with the Jönköpings läns museum in Sweden, and has developed several DIY manuals with collaborator Otto von Busch that remix couture, food, and activism. These were featured in Craftwerk 2.0: New Household Tactics for the Popular Crafts, which you should check out if you’re in Sweden.
