Sentral Godkjenning – tiltaksklasse 3

 

Various Architects has received Central Approval – Class 3 – from The Norwegian National Office for Building Technology and Administration in three categories: accountable applicant, acountable designer, and accountable controller of design. Class three is the highest category, reflecting an ability to work on projects of high complexity and consequence.

 

This implies that applicants must have relevant practice and education in addition to a quality management system based on the PBA´s provisions. A certificate of approval is granted to those companies that can document their competence accordingly. The certificate serves as an indication for what the companies are qualified to do in a construction projects. An approval is valid for three years. When this period has expired, companies need to apply for a renewal.

Schematic design completed in Stabekk

Various Architects have recently delivered a set of drawings for a new two-family house in Stabekk, Norway. The project has been developing throughout 2008, and we look forward to carrying the design forward, and hopefully begin construction in 2009.

 

VA visit Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Jim and Ibrahim took part in three consecutive days of workshops in NYC together with Ricardo Scofidio, Elizabeth Diller, Charles Renfro and the rest of the DS+R team. The meetings were exciting and the energy levels high. We are looking forward to submitting the completed scheme at the end of February 2009.

 

Currently exhibited at the Bienalle Internationale Design in St. Etienne

The Hable Con Ella chair is Aleksandra’s diploma project from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. The chair is a piece of city furniture designed to encourage interaction between people. The backs of the seats face each other, instead of away, promoting face to face contact and interaction. The chair will be on exhibit at the Bienalle Internationale Design until November 30.

Congratulations Aleksandra

Various Architects invited to present at DogA

«Pecha Kucha Night, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show. Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a† demand that seems to be global – as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 100 cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation.»

DogA is arranging it’s 8’th Pecha Kucha Night on November 27, 2008 at 19:30. Jim and Ibrahim will present 20 slides from our first 11 months as a new office. Short, sweet, and to the point. The 27’th is also the deadline for phase two of the Schiphol Sound Barrier competition, so the whole office will be celebrating delivery of that project as well.

Tickets: 80 NOK. For reservations send email to info@doga.no.

One of 20 teams participating in the international competition.

Various Architects have been asked by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (NYC) to collaborate on the planning and design competition for a new Munch + Stenersen Museum in Oslo, Norway. Hav Eiendom has invited 10 architects and prequalified another 10 (out of 199 applicants) for this prestigious new competition. Diller Scofidio + Renfro were among the 10 prequalified offices. Various Architects will be the local contact architects for DS+R and will collaborate with them throughout the design process.

The new museum will combine two well known cultural institutions in Oslo on an exciting fjordside site, just behind the new Oslo Opera. In addition to the 16,000m2 museum, the competetors will plan and design 20,000m2 of commercial and residential area on the site.

The complete list of teams for the competition is as follows.

Munch-museum and Stenersen museum – invited architects:

Tadao Ando – JAPAN

Zaha Hadid Architects – ENGLAND

Abalos Herreros Arquitectos – SPAIN

Foreign Office – SPAIN/ ENGLAND

Tony Fretton Architects – ENGLAND

Gigon/ Guyer Architekten – SWITZERLAND

REX Architects – USA

Henning Larsen Tegnestue – DENMARK

Kristin Jarmund Arkitekter – NORWAY

CODE Arkitektur – NORWAY

Munch-museum and Stenersen museum – prequalified architects:

NONAME 29 – SPAIN

Heneghan Peng Architects – IRELAND

Nieto Sobejano – SPAIN

Diller Scofido Renfro – USA

Kengo Kuma Associates – JAPAN/ FRANCE

ALA – FINLAND

Christ Gantenbein Architects og Lie Øyen Arkitekter – SWITZERLAND/ NORWAY

Sauerbruch Hutton – GERMANY

Ghilardi Hellsten Arkitekter – NORWAY

Manuelle Gautrand Architecture – FRANCE

 

One of five finalists out of 87 entries.

Various Architects’ project «Yorkshire Diamond» was chosen as one of five finalists in the RIBA competition for a new Mobile Pavilion for Yorkshire Forward.

From the RIBA Press Release

«Yorkshire Forward and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire are delighted to announce the five short listed schemes for the Renaissance Pavilion competition.

The judging panel reviewed 87 entries, including submissions from across Europe, Japan, India, USA and New Zealand and short-listed the following schemes;

Arbour –  Andrew Lock & Jonathan Rennie, London UK

Foundry – 67 Design, Bristol UK

Mollusc – ShedKM Architects, Liverpool UK

Yorkshire Diamond – Various Architect, Oslo Norway

Yorkshire Rise – What Architecture, London UK

Competitors were invited to develop an inspirational and demountable structure, providing flexible spaces to host community, cultural and civic events, which will enable greater community engagement, continue to promote the role of design quality within economic development in the region, and promote ownership and pride in our public places.

The Renaissance Pavilion is envisaged as an exciting opportunity to maintain the momentum and demonstrate the principles of Yorkshire Forward’s successful renaissance programme. It will build on the approach to quality and place demonstrating the achievements of recent renaissance projects such as the Castleford Bridge (Benedetti + McDowell Architects), Barnsley Digital Media Centre (Bauman Lyons Architects) and Scarborough Promenade (LDA).

Panellist Geoff Shearcroft of AOC Architects commented; «I was delighted with the diversity of the entries and feel that we have five high quality schemes short-listed. Demountable structures require a particular blend of design aspiration and operational practicality, and we feel every one of our short listed schemes can achieve this»

The short-listed teams will be interviewed by the judging panel in November to determine a winner and will be working to a tight schedule in order to ensure the winning scheme can be completed within 12 months.»

 

Project images will be released once the winner has been announced.

22,000 have experienced the performance since it’s premiere in Ramallah

Arts Alliance Productions have embarked on a tour of Palestine with the world premiere of the ID: Identity of the Soul performance. The show has been met with rave reviews and glowing media coverage in the Arabic press and beyond. Requests to bring the show to Austrailia, USA, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany are pouring in.

 

For this tour they are using a set of improvised screens and projectors. In 2009 the show will have it’s own Mobile Performance Venue designed by Various Architects for further travels worldwide. We would like to congratulate our friends at Arts Alliance on their success with the show so far!

Click here for video from YouTube

ID: Identity of the Soul official website

 

Images from performances in Ramallah, Jericho, and Bethlehem courtesy of Arts Alliance Productions. Photo credits: Chris Williams and Annie Mosebach

 

The newly refurbished entrance to the Art Academy in Oslo is completed

In an event with students and faculty of the school, artist Marianne Heier opened her «gift to the kunstakademiet». Her project Promess de Bonheur sets a new focus on the institution of the Kunstakademiet by turning the previously disfunctional and cluttered entrance into a work of art

Various Architects, together with interior architect Aleksandra Danielak (now an employee) designed a set of custom furniture in plexiglass framed by painted wooden frames. These elegant and simple objects on two walls maintain the functions of the rooms old pin-up boards in a new and more user friendly way.

The VA Mobile Performance Venue wins top design award.

The Spark Awards Exhibition 2008 put more than 360 entries under the microscope last month, with the best being selected by a jury of prestigious names in global design. The winners are now on display until January at America’s most exciting new design hot spot – the dazzling Autodesk Design Gallery, at One Market Street, San Francisco.

«All the Spark entrants and entries tell wonderful stories,» explains Peter Kuchnicki, executive director of Spark. «There were a great number of designs in the competition and it was very competitive. The 14 jurists had a daunting task and did a fine job.»

Spark is a fresh, modern qualification system that recognizes new processes and technology and seeks to involve people and ideas from untapped sources. Designers from all levels and skill-sets are invited to participate, be they professional, novice or student. This year’s competition attracted designers, art directors, architects, design firms, manufacturers, institutions and ad agencies.

84 designs won bronze, silver, gold or the ultimate Spark! Award. The Mobile Performance venue was among 17 winners that secured a Spark! commendation.

Spark! Press Release

The Jury has chosen a winner for the Wroclaw Contemporary Museum competition. Various Architects was not among the prized projects, but we congratulate the winners and wish them luck. All submitted projects are on exhibit at the Wroclaw Architecture Museum which is next door to the competition site.

The Winners Are:

1st Place – Nizio Design International (Warsaw, Poland)

2nd Place – Vicente Guallart Furio (Barcelona, Spain)

3rd Place – Pysall Ruge Architekten (Berlin, Germany)

Honorable Mentions – Bieniasz – Nicholson Architect (Poland), M.I.A. Domicz – Pracownia Architektury (Poland), Pracownie Architektury Glowacki (Poland)

Click on the images above to see our project on exhibit in Wroclaw or see the Project Page for more images of Various Architects’ project.

 

*Exhibition images courtesy of Wojciech Szubinski

Two of Various Architects’ projects are featured in the window display of Ramboll Whitbybird’s offices in London.

We are very pleased to see that Ramboll Whitbybird have chosen two of our projects for their changing window exhibit at their London office in 60 Newman St, near Tottenham Ct. Rd. A photograph of the printed 3D model of the Cheongna City Tower and a wireframe image of the pneumatic skin of the Arts Alliance Mobile Performance Venue are displayed next to images of the geometry of the Gazprom tower, and an image of a diagrid structure from Bournemouth & Pool College.

Various Architects have collaborated on several projects with Ramboll Whitbybird, including the Cheongna City Tower competition, the Arts Alliance Mobile Performance Venue, Schiphol Sound Barrier competition, and the recently delivered Wroclaw Contemporary Museumcompetition.

Images courtesy of Ramboll Whitbybird