Missix by Di Marzio Design_Where opposites attract – even in design: Missix is a small armchair made of rotational moulded polythene and featuring a fully modern and clean design. And yet its soul looks back at the mysterious Minoan spirals from Santorini.

Missix, image courtesy Di Marzio Design

Missix's name comes from its unique heavy-rounded, number six shape. This small armchair looks compact and monolithic together, yet its sinuous and enveloping line shows its minimal nature, enhanced by a light and soft shape. The chair is made of rotational moulded polythene. This fully recyclable material makes Missix a robust, lightweight and handy chair, which is both easy to clean and impact and weather-resistant. Missix is suitable for both residential and contract environments, in both indoor and outdoor areas.

Missix, image courtesy Di Marzio Design

Missix, image courtesy Di Marzio Design

The intuition behind Missix comes from the mysterious perfection of the Minoan spirals from Santorini, which date a thousand years earlier than the geometrical figure commonly attributed to Archimedes.

+ Design: Di Marzio Design | www.dimarziodesign.com

GOETTSCH PARTNERS DESIGNS NEW MUSIC BUILDING FOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Groundbreaking for new home of Bienen School of Music to be held in May

Music Building for Northwestern University, render courtesy Goettsch Partners

Architecture firm Goettsch Partners (GP) has designed the signature building that will be the new home of Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music and provide additional space for the School of Communication on Northwestern's Evanston campus. The university is planning to break ground and begin construction this spring. The building is located just south of the school's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on the southeastern edge of campus. Connecting with the Regenstein Hall of Music, the building enables the Bienen School to consolidate its programs for the first time in more than 35 years. The project is slated to be completed and ready for move-in in fall 2015.

Music Building for Northwestern University, render courtesy Goettsch Partners

The new 152,000-square-foot building features a 400-seat recital hall, a 150-seat opera rehearsal room/black box theater, and a 2,400-square-foot choral rehearsal room and library. The project also includes classrooms; teaching labs; academic faculty offices; teaching studios for choral, opera, piano and voice faculty; practice rooms; student lounges; and administrative offices. The building design emphasizes a sustainable approach throughout, with a minimum of achieving LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Music Building for Northwestern University, render courtesy Goettsch Partners

The five-story structure will be directly east of the Theatre and Interpretation Center, fronting a new Music and Arts Green on one side and Lake Michigan on the other. The dynamic, Z-shaped plan of the main building mass runs along the eastern edge of the new arts green, then jogs to continue along the western edge of the lake. A large atrium defines the main entry, creating a feature space for public events, connecting the academic and performance functions, and offering clear views that slice through the building. The showcase facility is the recital hall, an intimate, two-level space with undulating walls of wood that provide optimal acoustics and lead to the stage, as well as a 50-foot-high wall of cable-supported, double-skin glass. During performances, this backdrop features dramatic views of the lake and the Chicago skyline.

The building symbolizes many things—the excellence of the Bienen School of Music and its students, faculty and alumni, and the university's significant investment in the arts. We look forward to moving into the Bienen School's new home.

Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the Bienen School of Music

Music Building for Northwestern University, render courtesy Goettsch Partners

An integral part of the project is the new Music and Arts Green. Connecting the Block Museum, Theatre and Interpretation Center, and Pick-Staiger Concert Hall with the new music building, this landscape centerpiece helps create a cohesive arts complex. The 120-foot-wide, pedestrian-friendly green provides the new gateway for the complex while also defining a setting for special events and passive recreation. Spectacular views of the lake and Chicago from the area are also preserved and enhanced.

In addition to serving the School of Music, the new building will provide a home on the fifth floor for the School of Communication administration, including the dean's office and additional offices for faculty members. Space in the new building will enable the school to bring faculty from different departments together to promote further opportunities for collaboration in the performing arts.

Music Building for Northwestern University, render courtesy Goettsch Partners

Goettsch Partners (GP) is an innovative architecture firm with a global perspective, emphasizing a singular design approach across offices in Chicago, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. Focused on combining exceptional design, technical expertise and unmatched service, the firm creates measurable value and environmentally responsible solutions. Services include architecture, interiors, planning and building enclosure design. Diverse projects around the world share a consistent emphasis on bringing bold design clarity to complex challenges.

Music Building for Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois, USA
Goettsch Partners | http://www.gpchicago.com/

Recent news coverage for the 7-acre parcel, Manhattan’s biggest undeveloped, publicly owned development site south of 96th Street, has provided the chance to contemplate many important urban issues.

Manhattan Mountain, courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim

Firstly, are we taking full advantage of this great opportunity to develop a vast land in the heart of Manhattan, or just limiting our imagination under current NYC zoning resolution (which is 50 years old)? Secondly, is the hot debate over big box retailers heading to the right direction?

What is certain is that a "big idea" is needed for this site.

Manhattan Mountain, courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim

A combination of buildings on each lots based on current zoning regulations (or minor ULURP revisions), is not enough. Conventional podium with commercial programs and tower with the residentials are no longer attractive in the 21st century metropolis. Creating unique urban features will come from the idea which breaks the boundaries of each lot lines.

The answer for the first question didn’t come up until developing the thoughts of the second question.

Manhattan Mountain - Site plan, courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim

Big box retailers are often regarded as something "evil" in the discussion about locality, contextual design, etc. However, scraping out the introduction of big box retailers is not fair for the Lower East Side community because they not only provide a variety of choices of goods and services at the lower prices, but create jobs and stimulate local economy. Walking down the streets of Manhattan, it's common to come across empty stores these days. If Lower East Side cannot claim itself as a unique destination, these phenomena may also happen there. Discount stores where New Yorkers can save money and time in shopping can be one element in making a unique destination in Manhattan. Big box retailers will function as an engine for growth and development in the region. Just as the arrival of Home Depot in some NYC regions has spurred the growth in the locals as a whole, partly because big box retailers bring more foot traffics into existing urban fabrics.

Manhattan Mountain - Diagram, courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim

However, just having discount stores won't be enough for making a unique destionation. Here, there should be a gigantic park—a natural setting—as a key, dominant element of SPURA development:"Mountain" –which will hide the presence of big box stores and dissolve ugly architecture into the cityscape.

Manhattan Mountain, courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim

The Mountain will provide natural environments with the forest, a habitat for birds and insects such as butterfly. At the same time, Manhattan will provide activities that a metropolis didn't dream of accommodating before: hiking, mountain biking, picnic on the hills, rock climbing, snowboarding, etc.

This will be the substantial, unprecedented public space which is car-free, noise-free and full of winds and sun. Even after big snowfall, snow will not be cleared out the day after just as ordinary streets in NYC. The residents of skyscraper residential tower in Mountain complex, which meets all the necessary housing requirements, will have direct access to this elevated park.

Just as Lower East Side has been a starting platform for many immigrants, it needs to import new typology of public space in metropolis: MANHATTAN MOUNTAIN.

+ Project fact

Manhattan Mountain
Re-Imagining Seward Park Redevelopment (SPURA) on the Lower East Side, New York

Project Location: Seward Park Urban Renewal Site(SPURA) in Lower East Side, New York, USA
Architect: Ju-Hyun Kim, AIA | http://www.juhyunkim.com
Status of Project: Research
Collaborators: Euno Cho, Bohyun Kim

+ All images courtesy Ju-Hyun Kim