http://variousarchitects.no/site/rss_2.0/ en jim@variousarchitects.no Copyright 2010 2010-03-15T15:23:01+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/new_nrvasund_school_competition_underway/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/new_nrvasund_school_competition_underway/#When:15:23:01Z Our second invited school competition of 2010  The same day as we delivered the Eikefjord School Competition drawings, we are starting on a new school competition with our friends and collaborators from Kant Arkitekter in Copenhagen. We are also working with Grindaker Landscape and Engineers from SWECO. 5 teams were selected out of 35 applicants for this new 9000m2 1-7 grade school with 3 parallel classes.   The competition is underway. Images will not be posted until after the jury has announced a winner in order to maintain anonymity.     Jim Dodson, Aleksandra Danielak, Carlos Gonzalez Arruego, Arne Reisegg-Myklestad, Francois Chevalier, Leif Houck 2010-03-15T15:23:01+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/eikefjord_competition_delivered/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/eikefjord_competition_delivered/#When:14:59:00Z Winner to be announced in June 2010   Various Architects, Kant Arkitekter, and Grindaker Landskapsarkitekter have successfully completed and delivered our entry for the Eikefjord School. Now, the jury and city council of Eikefjord will use the coming weeks to choose a winner among the 4 competition teams. We wish the jury luck in picking the best project, and congratulate our fellow competitors. Final announcement of winners is scheduled for sometime in June 2010. Due to strict rules of anonymity, we will not present the project until after the jury has made their announcement. Jim Dodson, Anna Nowogrodzka, Carlos Gonzalez Arruego, Arne Reisegg-Myklestad, Francois Chevalier, Leif Houck 2010-03-15T14:59:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/new_faces_in_the_oslo_office/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/new_faces_in_the_oslo_office/#When:13:17:00Z from Spain, France, Poland, Norway, and the USA  Various Architects partner Jim Dodson and associate architect Leif Houck have recently been joined by Arne Reisegg-Myklestad who has been hired as a full-time architect. Arne has worked with us previously as a freelance architect on the Skagen ØKOntor project and Storgata 25. Increasing work loads and new projects have made it possible to hire Arne full time starting in February 2010.   In addition, we have also added a few new architectural interns into the rotation. Our previous intern Sara has gone back to school at AHO and Jonathan is finishing up his education back in Copenhagen. This spring we have been joined by two Leonardo scholars - Francois Chevalier from France and Carlos Gonzales Arruego from Spain. Anna Nowogrodzka from Poland will also be with us for 10 weeks as a part of her work-placement program.   VA partner Ibrahim Elhayawan will be stationed in Hong Kong as project leader for OMA's Taipei Performing Arts Centre until September this year. Jim Dodson, Anna Nowogrodzka, Carlos Gonzalez Arruego, Arne Reisegg-Myklestad, Francois Chevalier 2010-02-19T13:17:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/eikefjord_school_competition_underway/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/eikefjord_school_competition_underway/#When:15:53:00Z In collaboration with Kant Arkitekter and Grindaker Landskap  Florø Kommune has invited 4 teams of architects to a compete for the redesign and renovation of Eikefjord School. Out of 35 applying teams, Various Architects have qualified for the competition together with Kant Arkitekter in Copenhagen and landscape architects from Grindaker Landskapsarkitekter in Oslo for this exciting project. The existing school is to be completely rethought and expanded to house 10 parallel classes, a new gymnasium, and improved facilities for the teachers and staff.   The competition has begun, and representatives from Various Architects took part in the start-up visit to the school in January 2010. Competition deadline is March 15. We look forward to the collaboration with Kant and Grindaker, and to presenting our designs here once the competition winner has been announced. Jim Dodson, Leif Houck 2010-02-01T15:53:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/planning_approval_in_stabekk/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/planning_approval_in_stabekk/#When:18:52:00Z Villa project receives support from city planners  Our Villa in Stabekk project has reached a new milestone by receiving planning approval from Bærum Kommune this week. During the planning phase the project has been the subject of criticism from three of it's neighbors throughout the process. Their main concern being that the project "just doesn't fit in". In the approval statement, the Chief Planner for Bærum Kommune makes it clear that in the opinion of the city planners and city preservationists the project is in fact well integrated with the landscape and the surrounding buildings.   In the planning approval, the Bærum Planning Department (BPD) makes the following comments in their assessment: (shortened and translated to english)    "The application was received on 07/07/2009. The BPD is generally positive that you have chosen to follow the new TEK (2007) directive for energy.   The BPD comments on the neighbor complaints that the proposed design is placed relatively far away from neighboring buildings. The distance from this proposal to neighboring buildings varies from 21 to 41 meters. Between the new building and neighbors to the north-east there is an existing garage and a double row of tall shrubbery which functions as a wall. Between the new building and the neighbor directly east, which is the only house lower than the proposal, there is a relatively large open area in front of the historical building which is the proposal owner’s existing house. The neighbor across the road to the south-east is placed well away from the road. New buildings in areas of existing small scale buildings will necessarily cause a change in insight, views, and sun conditions. In this case, the BPD believes that the requirements for light, air, openness, and good outdoor spaces to be adequately safeguarded   The proposed house is lower than all of the surrounding houses except for one. In this way the new building is subordinate to it`s environment. During an on-site inspection it was noted that the most visible house in the area is the historical monument to the north seen from the road. The proposed building will be much lower than and clearly subordinate to this building historical building as well.   The facades of the proposed design are deemed well thought out and resolved in accordance to the planning regulations, both in relation to itself and the surroundings. The BPD believes that the proposed building shows sufficient respect to the special architectural and environmental character of the neighborhood. The area has some registered historical monuments, but is not regulated to a special area for historical preservation. The building is subordinate to the nearest historical buildings in relation to height, roof height, the use of wood and glass in the facades, placement in the terrain, and it’s division into several volumes which step down the terrain toward the road without making major changes in the existing terrain. All of the existing houses in the area have different forms, roof form, volume, footprint, number of floors and heights. The area has been built up over a long time and therefore there is not a uniform existing building structure or typology for the proposed house to break with. The proposed building has a size and volume within the norms of the area. The BPD does not believe that a two-family house of modest size can be seen to change the character of the neighborhood. Through it’s height, volume, and material use the proposal interacts with the existing buildings and terrain in the area to a satisfactory degree and in a satisfactory way. The BPD agrees with the statement from the historical preservation office and believes that the project’s architecture will form a contrast that will enrich the neighborhood.   The planning department does not find that the proposal is in conflict with the regulations.   Application Approved"     Jim Dodson, Ibrahim Elhayawan, Sara Normann Lund 2010-01-15T18:52:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/happy_new_year/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/happy_new_year/#When:12:04:00Z Looking forward to 2010!  Various Architects would like to thank our collaborators, clients, friends, and family for an eventful 2009! We look forward to the developments of 2010 and to new and exciting projects!   In our second year, we have worked with some of the best known architects in the business. In February we delivered a competition entry for the Munch + Stenersen Museum together with New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. In June and July we collaborated with our former colleagues at Snøhetta on an exciting project in Mecca. In August we were interviewed by Rem Koolhaas and asked to join OMA's team as consultants on the Taipei Performing Arts Centre in Taiwan.  Ibrahim Elhayawan and his family moved to Hong Kong in September where he is representing Various Architects as project leader for the OMA team in their new Hong Kong Office. In Norway we have successfully qualified for an upcoming school competition together with Kant Arkitekter from Copenhagen and applied for two cultural building competitions together wth Bjarke Ingels' BIG also from Copenhagen.   Various Architects have also continued to make a name for ourselves internationally in 2009 by winning the "Future Projects - Experimental" Award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona. This was the second design award won by the Mobile Performance Venue, the first being the Spark! Award in 2008. We ended 2009 with a focus on the environment and the announcement of Skagen ØKOntor - Norway's most energy-efficient office building. Earlier in the year we won second-place in our category for the Schiphol Sound Barrier Competition, and another second place with the Yorkshire Diamond Pavilion.   In addition to our international work on cultural buildings and competitions, we have enjoyed working on a number of smaller scale projects in and around Oslo that are working their way towards construction. At the moment we are awaiting planning approval for the Villa in Stabekk. Thorvald Meyers Gt. 89 is also up for review by the planning authorities in Oslo to allow for the complete renovation of this historically important corner of Grünerløkka. In December we have also submitted planning documents for a subtle but dramatic underground addition with swimming pool overlooking the Oslofjord from Ulvøya. Even closer to home, we have made several designs for Storgata 25 where we share our office space with other creative professionals. Our latest design will be reviewed by the building owners on monday.   2009 was a year frought with financial uncertaintly as the global economic crisis took it's toll on architects and architecture world-wide. We feel fortunate to have made it through this difficult time through hard work, the diversity of our projects, and our willingness to explore new opportunities in collaboration with others. We look forward to the challenges of 2010 and the new collaborations and ideas that are yet to come!   Happy New Year in 2010!   Jim Dodson & Ibrahim ElHayawanVarious Architects, Oslo           Jim Dodson, Ibrahim Elhayawan 2010-01-01T12:04:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/skagen_kontor_norways_most_efficient/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/skagen_kontor_norways_most_efficient/#When:08:42:00Z Norway's most energy efficient office building  To demonstrate our commitment to the environment and support for the COP15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Various Architects AS of Oslo, Norway together with engineers from Ramboll UK in Bristol and Pollen Architecture in Austin, Tx have designed the Skagen ØKOntor (“eco-office”) as a model for sustainable low-energy/low embedded carbon office buildings that are suited to the nordic climate. With a calculated net energy consumption of 72 kWhr/m2/yr* the ØKOntor is the most sustainable office building currently planned in Norway.   “We wanted to present the developer with an environmentally friendly alternative for their site that was both innovative and buildable. This design is site specific, but it contains many concepts that can be applied elsewhere in the Nordic countries.” - Jim Dodson, Partner at Various Architects   The building’s wooden facade of individually operable insulated shutters is it’s most visible and dynamic feature. Floor height shutters can be opened during the day to allow in daylight and passive solar heat, or closed after sunset on cold days for added insulation. The shutters can transform the facade from 60% to 20% window area. The inside surface of the shutters are tiled with LED lights to produce artificial daylight during the dark winter months to help provide a well-lit and healthy working environment year round. The insulated shutters are calculated to provide an additional 15% savings on heating yearly.   The natural resources of the seafront site are all carefully utilized by the design. 4 Quiet Revolution wind turbines on the roof provide 24.000 kWhr of clean energy (10% of the building’s energy demand). The windy and often overcast weather on the norwegian west coast, combined with long dark winter nights made wind a more efficient alternative to solar panels in this case. The sun is controlled for solar shading and passive heat in the west facing atrium space, and through the many south facing windows. Sea water is used as an energy source for both heating and cooling via water cooled heat pumps and sea water free cooling. This, coupled with high efficiency air heat recovery, demand led controls, and high levels of thermal insulation have significantly reduced the thermal plant demand. Natural ventilation is possible for most of the year, with cooling through refrigeration only necessary when sea water temperatures are at their peak (no more than 4-8 weeks a year). Green roof surfaces collect and filter the area’s prodigious rainfall in rooftop water tanks for use in low-water fixtures and fittings, reducing the need to waste treated water.   Low embodied carbon materials were chosen where possible to reduce the project’s overall CO2 footprint. A structural system of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel walls and floors was chosen for being locally sourced with a high level of carbon sequestration. CLT represents a significant reduction in embodied CO2 compared to a traditional concrete or steel frame. The building exterior and insulated shutters are clad in Kebony, a norwegian wood product that is sustainable, low-maintenance, and suitable for the exposed seaside climate.   The newly implemented TEC2007 norwegian building directive requires the energy marking of all new buildings. From 2010 office buildings have a maximum allowable energy use of 165 kWh/m2/year (Energy grade C), a typical office building today uses around 270 kWh/m2/year. At 72 kWh/m2/yr the ØKOntor would achieve a Grade A energy rating, less than half the required maximum. Norway does not have a Passivehaus certification system yet, but the ØKOntor complies with the certification principals of heat recovery, excellent airtightness, summer solar shading, high levels of thermal insulation, using useful passive solar/equipment heat gains and a net energy use of less than 75kWh/m2/yr.   Various Architects and Ramboll believe that the ØKOntor project demonstrates that architects, engineers, and developers of new office buildings should push harder to develop highly energy efficient buildings with a zero net-carbon construction. We should not accept the minimum reductions required by law as standards, but should see them as a challenge to do better. Good luck to the COP15 representatives.   *Energy estimates calculated by Ramboll using IES dynamic modeling software.   Press: for high-resolution images send a request to: contact@variousarchitects.no Jim Dodson, Arne Reisegg-Myklestad, Sara Normann Lund 2009-12-08T08:42:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/drawings_of_the_oslofjord_pool_and_guesthouse/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/drawings_of_the_oslofjord_pool_and_guesthouse/#When:21:08:00Z Planning application submitted this week  Our latest residential project in Oslo will be sent to the planning authorities for approval this week. The project started with the client's desire for an extra bedroom for guests, an upgrade to the existing swimming pool, and a small room to be used as a wine cellar. The current house has been added on to several times in it's lifetime, so instead of tacking on yet another piece to the puzzle, we wanted to create a new addition that was all but invisible from the house itself, yet added new functionality and possibilities for the family. The solution is instead integrated into the hillside next to a new swimming pool with an amazing view over the Oslofjord.   By creating a new basement level connected to the house by a winter garden, the project creates a whole new set of living and sleeping spaces for the family and their guests. The basement provides an informal new setting for the family to relax, while also providing a home-office and guestroom. You can never get enough storage, so one whole wall is filled with integrated storage cabinets, and the wine-cellar is hidden behind the bookshelf just like all wine-cellars should be. The basement room has an unobstructed view over the fjord and an outdoor terrace that connects to the path back to the swimming pool. The guest room bathroom also doubles as a bathroom for the pool with it's own door to the outside.   Jim Dodson, Jonathan Evensen, Sara Normann Lund 2009-12-07T21:08:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/sneak_peak_skagen_kontor/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/sneak_peak_skagen_kontor/#When:10:53:00Z A Model for Sustainable Office Buildings in Norway  Various Architects are in the process of designing an extreme low-energy / low-carbon office building for the west coast of Norway. The project is an internal research project with a real site and a real potential client. We are developing the project, together with sustainability consultants from Ramboll UK, as a model for a sustainable office building system that is appropriate to the norwegian climate.   The newly implemented Norwegian Technical Directive TEC-2007 requires the energy calculation of all new buildings. TEC 2007 has an energy requirement of 165 kWh/m2/year (Energy Grade C) for office buildings. The ØKOntor has been calculated at 72 kWh/m2/yr (Energy Grade A+), which potentially makes it the lowest energy office building in Norway.   Energy reduction is important, but carbon emissions are also an important factor in sustainable building. With an all-wood structure of cross-laminated timber floors and walls, high levels of insulation, and both active and passive energy capture from sun, wind, and sea the Skagen Økontor has a calculated carbon emission of only 40 kg CO2/m2/year.   The above image is a work-in-progress rendering of the building on site in Haugesund. Concept design phase will be completed in December 2009. More images and information to come, soon!     Jim Dodson, Sara Normann Lund 2009-11-27T10:53:00+01:00 http://variousarchitects.no/site/world_architecture_festival_winner/ http://variousarchitects.no/site/world_architecture_festival_winner/#When:15:25:00Z Future Projects - Experimental  The Arts Alliance Mobile Performance Venue project continues to get attention and win international design awards. This time at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain.   Jim Dodson of Various Architects and Stephen Melville of Ramboll UK presented the project to a live jury and audience of fellow architects. The jury says the following about the project:   With very different kinds of projects in this category, the winner we selected was the Mobile Performance Venue, submitted by Various Architects office. This is a project that uses an inflatable skin to create a striking image for temporary events. It is designed straightforward in application and there is a well-defined demand.   The World Architecture Festival was a great opportunity to meet other architects, and to see some great lectures. We congratulate Peter Rich for winning the WAF Building of the Year award for the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre.We also enjoyed the great work of Woha, winners of the Housing category with their project The Met in Singapore. All of the winners on the second day of the festival were invited to dinner in the Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion, which was a great treat in itself.   More information about the World Architecture Festival on their website: www.worldarchitecturefestival.com   Photos courtesy of: Ethel Baraona Pohl / Various Architects   Jim Dodson, Ibrahim Elhayawan 2009-11-13T15:25:00+01:00