Archinect - News

Harvard GSD details Gund Hall renovations

2023-12-21T12:06:00-05:00

Harvard’s Graduate School of Design has unveiled plans for a slate of renovations that will culminate next year and are aimed at improving the user experience for students and faculty at 51-year-old Gund Hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The project will help preserve the familiar John Andrews design for new generations while serving as a model for the sustainable redevelopment of midcentury structures, the school announced. Boston-based Bruner/Cott Architects will be leading the process, leaning on its past renovation and remodeling of the Harvard Holyoke Center with Hopkins Architects that was completed in 2019.

The first phase of construction will insulate the building envelope in order to reduce energy costs and increase occupational comfort. Gund Hall’s iconic ‘trays,’ the terraced glass structures covering studio spaces will be reglazed. The GSD is testing out prototypes in Gund Hall’s 'The Pit' multiuse area and says they are especially hopeful for a hybrid vacuum-insulated ...

PARTISANS opens new 11,000 sf studio in Toronto

2021-01-14T13:32:00-05:00

Located in Toronto’s west end in the Geary Corridor, PARTISANS’ new studio space spans a single-level and covers 11,000 square feet, providing ample room for the practice to grow to over 100 team members. The group took a collective approach in designing the new space, pulling from their community of architects, interior designers, researchers, and other professionals.

Photo by Thomas Bollmann.

The original space was a former gear and machine factory and is located in Toronto's old industrial neighborhood, now an area with a thriving arts and music scene, along with some of Toronto's newest restaurants, bars, and breweries.

Photo by Thomas Bollmann.

In addition to four meeting rooms, and 40 desks, an additional 1,500 sq ft is dedicated to the workshop -- a space for research and in-house development, including a 3D printing room and archive and material library.

Photo by Thomas Bollmann.

Social space was an important aspect of the design, introduced to facilitate group brainstorms an...

Arquitectonica unveils new design laboratory for University of Miami School of Architecture

2018-11-16T19:53:00-05:00

In their latest project in their Miami home base, Arquitectonica designed the new Thomas P. Murphy Studio Building for the University of Miami School of Architecture. Opening on November 29, the 20,000 square-foot building will serve as a design laboratory and collaborative space for students, providing digital fabrication facilities, exhibition areas, and plenty of space for social and public functions.

Photo: Robin Hill.

Located at the center of an intersection, the building creates a plaza and pathway that links the campus to the Miami Metrorail. Topped by a warped concrete roof, the building was designed like an oversized shed, Arquitectonica describes. “The curve of the roof interacts with the curve at the entrance to demonstrate the plasticity of concrete.”

Photo: Miami In Focus.

Photo: Robin Hill.

The building can operate without any artificial light during the daytime and it also features 18-foot-high hurricane-resistant glass panels. The main entrance le...

Inside the MVRDV House, the firm's new family home-style office

2016-07-22T19:25:00-04:00

MVRDV settled into their new office headquarters inside the remodeled Het Industriegebouw, nestled in the heart of Rotterdam. Now dubbed by the firm as the MVRDV House, the building was originally designed by iconic Dutch architect Hugh Maaskant in 1952. The new 2,400 square-meter interior is modeled like a family home, filled with ample working and gathering spaces that reflect the “work hard, play hard” balance many firms strive for in their office's design.

Now with 140 employees based in Rotterdam, “[t]he expanding MVRDV family needed a new house,” says MVRDV co-founder Jacob van Rijs. MVRDV's new office has “everything that [a] home requires, a living room, a dining room, a sofa for the whole house to sit together,” he described. Surrounded by various creative start-ups and design firms, MVRDV believes they fit right in their new neighborhood.

The Family Room serves as the firm's main communal space for social interaction...

Domus visits Maio at their nice Barcelona studio

2012-12-10T13:50:00-05:00

It is divided into two sections. One of these, the working area, is dominated by its single central desk, which is 12,5 metres long, without any divisions or boundaries. This desk is shared by graphic designers, architects, data visualisation experts, video artists and anyone who the team can share experiences and collaborate with.

The architects have shared the following images and text about their project with us...

The project, designed by architects Anna Puigjaner and Guillermo Lopez, members of MAIO design team, involves the conversion of a space that formerly housed a washing place into an open studio for professionals from different fields of architecture and design.

The existing 40-meter long building was a continuous space, with variable sections and extremely poor lighting. Hence, the proposal focuses on the opening of a patio, literally conceived as an outer room, to improve the interior lighting. This outer room divides the 40 meters of the initial space into two areas. The front area is open to the street and left empty to accommodate activities related to the public, such as meetings, events, exhibitions ... - while the rear side houses a 12,5-meter long table and is intended as the main workspace.

The thickness and warmth of the three new, large windows opened in the patio has b...