“Cancer City”, a built underwater city for a crayfish community in a river.

A country gentlemen once bought 10000 crayfishes in the 90's to plant in a stream running through his land. In the autumn he would capture about a hundred of them to eat at the annual Swedish crayfish parties. The crayfishes however slowly started to emigrate to another nearby lake outside the patron's estate. Desperate of seeing his neighbors feast on his crayfishes, he contacted visiondivision to solve his problem.

Visiondivision decided to help the patron by building him a refugee where the crayfishes could imigrate back. By investigating the condition of the stream we soon found out that it was the lack of stones, hiding places and the lack of calcite that probably had made the crayfishes emigrate. The city planning would focus on solving these issues.

Cancer City, image courtesy Visiondivision

Cancer City, image courtesy Visiondivision

The design became an undulated concrete landscape where the crayfish live inside the hills. The hills are equipped with lids so the gentleman can walk on top of the landscape, capturing his yearly crayfish quota. A white path runs on the construction so the hunter can hunt at night time when the crayfish are as most active. Water proof LED lights are attached inside the hills that attract the crayfish and make them visible for the hunter. The hills have several escape holes and underground safe zones so the hunting won't be too easy which would be unjust to the crayfishes.

Cancer City, image courtesy Visiondivision

The choice of material was crucial for the success of the project. The construction obviously should be water resistance, the city should be strong enough to carry some full grown persons or animals walking on it, the city should also provide shelter to the crayfishes and the construction should not be too heavy since it should be moved to a remote place where no machines can go. The choice of material became “Butong”; a lightweight slightly transparent concrete invented by the firm with the same name.

Cancer City, drawing courtesy Visiondivision

Butong is only two centimeters in depth without any metal reinforcement that can rust and the mould could be bendable after casting which enabled us to make an undulated landscape of concrete without having to build time consuming casting forms. Another attribute with Butong is that it includes calcite; a substance that attracts crayfishes.

The exquisite concrete endeavour is now resting in the stream waiting for its inhabitants to arrive. Walking on the flawless craftsmanship just one week after inauguration we met one of the first inhabitants staring at us from its new nest.

+ Project credits / data

Design: visiondivision through Anders Berensson & Ulf Mejergren
Butong team: Lars Höglund & Benjamin Levy
Website: www.visiondivision.com www.butong.se

+ All images, drawing and description courtesy Visiondivision

Ferry Terminal - Connection diagram, drawing courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

C. F. Møller Architects won the competition for the new terminal for Stockholm’s ferry connections to Finland and the Baltics. The terminal will be a landmark for the new urban development Norra Djurgårdsstaden – due to a significant architecture and a significant sustainable profile.

As a transit zone the terminal is one of Stockholm’s major thresholds, and we – along with the port and the municipality – viewed the building as a golden opportunity to expose good, energy efficient solutions to a wide audience, e.g. by using centrally located television screens communicating the terminal’s sustainable efforts.

Mads Mandrup, partner of C. F. Møller Architects

Ferry Terminal - Concetual diagram, drawing courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

Ferry Terminal - Section diagram, drawing courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

Ferry Terminal, render courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

New terminal for Stockholm's permanent ferry connections to Finland and the Baltics

The new terminal for Stockholm's permanent ferry connections to Finland and the Baltics will be a landmark for the new urban development Norra Djursgårdsstaden – both architecturally and environmentally. The terminal, which will have a facade covered with expanded mesh, recalls the shape of a moving vessel and the architecture – with large cranes and warehouses – that previously characterized the ports. At the same time, the terminal has an ambitious sustainable profile, characteristic of the entire development.

Ferry Terminal, render courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

Ferry Terminal, render courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

The main idea has been to create natural links between central Stockholm and the new urban area in connection with the terminal, so that city life will naturally flow into the area. Therefore the terminal is raised to be at level with the urban zone, so it is easy for both pedestrians and traffic to access. At the same time the roof of the terminal building is designed as a varied green landscape with stairs, ramps, niches, and cosy corners, inviting both Stockholmers and passengers for a stroll or relaxing moments, while enjoying the view of the ferries, the archipelago, and the city skyline.

Ferry Terminal - Sustainability diagram, drawing courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

The aim is that the ferry terminal will be predominantly self-sufficient in energy and thus stand as an environmental model for public construction. Therefore the architecture of the terminal will integrate i.e. solar and wind power, for example the terraced landscape on the roof will integrate beds of solar cells along with the planting. The plan is to communicate the sustainable efforts to the people in the building by using i.e. centrally placed television screens, helping to raise awareness of the potential of sustainable construction.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Ferry Terminal in Stockholm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Architect: C. F. Møller Architects
Client: Stockholms Hamn AB
Address: Värtahamnen, Stockholm, Sverige
Size: 16,500 m2 and a new costums area of 1,100 m2
Year of competition: 2009-2010

+ All images, drawing and description courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

The loft really is a hybrid space; as much a private museum as a living space. Because of that, flexibility is all; few rooms are actually fixed and most are interchangeable, so that in the end the areas devoted to living and to art are completely merged.

Ben van Berkel

Living with Books and Art: a loft in New York, USA 2007-2010

The UNStudio design for an existing loft located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan explores the interaction between a gallery and living space. The main walls in the loft flow through the space, and together with articulated ceilings create hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas.

Art Collector's Loft - Layout plan, drawing courtesy UNStudio

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

History
The collector and the architect became acquainted several years ago when UNStudio was involved in the renovation and expansion of the Wadsworth Atheneum. That project was never realized, but soon after the collector spoke of his intention to have a house designed by his new friend, the architect. Over the years, the pair regularly visited possible sites for this new house in the suburbs of Hartford.

Then, in a phone call to Amsterdam in the early spring of 2007 the collector announced he had bought a loft space in Manhattan. The architect finally received his commission: not for a house, but for a home for the collector and his art and books.

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Unifying Art and Urban Living
The design of the loft in downtown Manhattan mediates between art gallery and living space.

The existing loft space was characterized by challenging proportions: the space is long and wide, but also rather low. Gently flowing curved walls were introduced to virtually divide the main space into proportionally balanced spaces. This created zones of comfortable proportions for domestic use, while simultaneously generating a large amount of wall space for the display of art.

The meandering walls frame an open a space that privileges long perspectives, with more sheltered corners and niches nestled in the curves. In this hybrid space exhibition areas merge into the living areas; a floating exhibition wall blends into library shelves on one side and into a display case on the other side. The client as collector had sought a space in which he could live comfortably while interacting with the many paintings, objects and books he has brought together over the years. The loft aims to merge life and art by facilitating these daily interactions, and by making clearer his own unusual way of seeing

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Field of Light
While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas.

The opaque part of the ceiling consists of subtly arched elements that give a notion of an limitless ceiling which disguises the real height of the space.

The luminous part of the ceiling is backlit by 18,000 led lights. This extensive membrane of light serves multiple purposes; it balances the proportions of the loft by creating an illusion of height, functions as unobtrusive space divider, and can be programmed to illuminate the space with various shades of light, from the coolest, most neutral daylight, to warmer tones. By interchanging between luminous and opaque, the ceiling becomes a field of ambient and local lighting conditions.

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Art Collector's Loft, image courtesy UNStudio

Framing the view
The third element that the architect has added to this mix is the appreciation of the city which is expressed in the ‘framing of the views’. The former windows in the South wall have been replaced by full floor to ceiling glass panes that frame and extend compelling views, over a full glass balcony, toward downtown Manhattan.

Materialization
The main walls and ceilings flow through the space, creating hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas; an exhibition wall blends into led illuminated library shelves on one side and a display case on the other. To enable this uniform and seamless space, partly double curved glass fiber reinforced gypsum paneling is used. Within these curved wall elements most of the technical installations like HVAC and lighting have been integrated.

As a last element a Douglas fir floor with 1½ feet wide planks covers the entire loft. The subtle, even-toned floor unifies the space and allows furniture and art to be positioned as floating elements in changeable constellations.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Art Collector’s Loft
Location: Greenwich Village, Manhattan New York, USA
Building area: 550 m2
Building Programme: Loft renovation into Apartment / Private gallery
Status: completed 2010
Design: UNStudio |  Ben van Berkel with Arjan Dingsté, Marianthi Tatari and Collette Parras
Photographer: Iwan Baan

Advisors

Executive architect: Franke, Gottsegen, Cox Architects, New York. Team: Matthew Gottsegen, Bruce Harvey, Matt Shoor
Structural engineer: Wayman C. Wing Consulting Engineers, New York
MEP: P.A. Collins PE Consulting Engineers, New York
Lighting design: Renfro Design Group, Inc., New York
Contractor: 3-D Laboratory, Inc. New york