Kenzo Tange's Kuwait Embassy "looks like a person carrying two water buckets" says YouTuber Martin van der Linden

In his second video selection for Virtual Design Festival, Martin van der Linden explains the metabolist characteristics of Kenzo Tange's Kuwait Embassy, which the video blogger describes as one of his favourite buildings in Tokyo.

Van der Linden has produced a host of short videos about Tokyo architecture for his One Minute Architecture channel on YouTube, eight of which he has selected for Virtual Design Festival.

In this video, he said that he ranks Tange's 1970 Embassy of Kuwait as one of his favourite buildings in the metropolis.

"People often ask me: 'What's your favourite building in Tokyo?'" Van der Linden said while standing opposite the seven-storey concrete structure in Tokyo's Minato ward. "The building here behind me is definitely one of my favourites."

Designed by renowned Japanese architect Kenzo Tange in the late 1960s and completed in 1970, the embassy building comprises a series of stacked, cantilevered concrete boxes. These house offices on the lower floors, while the ambassador's residence occupies the upper levels.

Embassy "has a metabolist feeling"

According to Van der Linden, the building features many of the characteristics of the metabolist architecture movement, in which Tange was a key figure.

Emerging in Japan after the second world war, the movement explored concepts around modular architecture and megastructures.

"On a 923-square-metre site, Tange started the design in 1966 for a seven-storey concrete building," Van der Linden explained. "The building has a Metabolist feeling to it. It might look like a stack of boxes, almost haphazardly stacked on top of each other. But you're wrong."

Van der Linden compares the building to modular structures designed by Kisho Kurokawa, the architect behind Nakagin Capsule Tower, perhaps the best-known metabolist building.

"Typical metabolist plug-in technique"

"The building is built around two central cores," he said. "We can see that the main building looks as if it is hanging from these two central cores. We can see two steel suspension rods, cantilevered from each core, holding what appears to be the main three-storey box. A typical metabolist plug-in technique."

"I don't know if this was Tange's idea, but structurally this looks like a person carrying two water buckets," Van der Linden added, before going on to describe some of his favourite features of the building.

"On the ground floor, a wall holds a plinth, leaving a double-height space underneath for the main entrance," he said. "On the right side is a glazed box, floating above the underground parking entrance, and penetrating through the plinth into yet another cantilevered box."

"An architectural theme I have personally tried to explore"

As well as running the One Minute Architecture YouTube channel, Van der Linden is an architect himself and is founder of Tokyo-based firm Van Der Architects.

"I really like these stacked spaces with gardens on them," he concluded in the video. "This is an architectural theme I have personally tried to explore as well."

Virtual Design Festival has teamed up with Van der Linden to present a selection of his best short movies about Tokyo architecture.

"Even after 28 years, I found Tokyo endlessly fascinating, and I enjoy making videos of its architecture, and its rather mysterious urbanity," he said in a specially created video introducing the collaboration.

Van der Linden describes Kengo Kuma as "Japan's Walt Disney" in the first video in the series, which explores Kuma's SunnyHills cake shop.

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It is a platform that will bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

VDF will host a rolling programme of online talks, lectures, movies, product launches and more, complementing and supporting fairs and festivals around the world that have had to be postponed or cancelled and it will provide a platform for design businesses, so they can, in turn, support their supply chains.

Find out more here or email vdf@dezeen.com for details or to join our mailing list.

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North Bondi House in Sydney fronted by angular white gabled screens

James Garvan Architecture has added gabled timber-batten screens to the facade of this house in Sydney, which is meant to mimic the form of a neighbouring property.

The two-storey house in the back streets of North Bondi, a coastal suburb in eastern Sydney, has been overhauled by local studio James Garvan Architecture.

It was previously fronted by an obtrusive garage in the driveway and needed to be visually reconnected with homes along the street.

Its owner, a young man that often invites friends and family over, also wanted the house to have a more welcoming appearance on approach.

The garage has been knocked down to open up the house to the streetscape.

Its facade now comprises a series of gabled and half-gable screens made from white-painted timber battens. They've been specifically arranged to mimic the geometry of the property next door.

"The unadorned frontage gives primacy to the purity and clarity of the three staggered gabled forms whilst still maintaining a formal connection with its neighbour," founder of the studio James Garvan explained.

"The crisply-detailed simple forms of the front facade offer an alternative to the traditional Bondi semi and along with it, a sense of advancement."

The openness of the house front is playfully contrasted by the fact that the screens simultaneously hide the home's interior.

Part of the first gabled screen can be slid back to reveal a front door and porch. Other panels discretely incorporated in the screens can be pushed back for additional fresh air.

Inside, the studio has improved the formerly gloomy living spaces by creating a large void in the kitchen ceiling. Sun rays that stream in through new skylights in the home's roof are now able to reach the ground floor.

A majority of surfaces, including the original exposed-brick walls, have also been painted white to keep a bright and airy atmosphere.

Lisa Tackenberg was brought on board to help develop the aesthetic of the rooms, which have been decked out in simple materials.

Wood has been used to make the treads of the stairs and the kitchen cabinetry, which is fluted to match the appearance of the gabled screens on the exterior.

Concrete has been used for elements such as the breakfast island and bathroom sink.

"The restrained material palette relies on variety in texture and pattern, and their interaction with light and space to provide a level of richness and vigour to the project," added Garvan.

A large opening has also been created in the rear of the house to give inhabitants easier access to the pool and garden.

James Garvan Architecture is based in Double Bay, Sydney. The Australian city is host to several homes with striking facades – others include Glebe House by Chenchow Little Architects, which is punctuated by upside-down arches.

Brougham Place by Smart Design Studio also boasts a stripy exterior composed of brightly coloured louvres.

Photography is by Katherine Lu.

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Project credits:

Architect: James Garvan Architecture
Client and builder: Tom Cull of TC Build
Interiors in collaboration with: Lisa Tackenberg

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Nanna Ditzel's 1980s Arkade Chair goes into production for first time

Furniture brand Brdr Krüger has launched a chair developed by the late Danish architect Nanna Ditzel in 1983.

Arkade Chair was one of several furniture designs that Ditzel, who passed away in 2005, created for Brdr Krüger over her career.

Unlike more well-known pieces, like the Flower Table and Lulu Cradle, the piece was never put into production. But now, 37 years later, the Danish brand is launching the chair for the first time.

The name Arkade Chair, which translates as "arcade chair", references a type of architecture characterised by recurring arches.

Similarly, the chair itself is made up of curved and circular forms, picked out in different colours and materials.

"The Arkade Chair bears the hallmark of Nanna's design," said Dennie Ditzel, Nanna's daughter. "It is a bold and different chair that doesn't go unnoticed."

Although Nanna was an architect, she initially trained as a cabinetmaker. She partnered with first husband Jørgen Ditzel on many early designs, before he passed away in 1961, and later collaborated with second husband Kurt Heide.

She earned particular acclaim for her children's furniture designs, as well as for Hallingdal 65, the very first textile launched by Danish brand Kvadrat and one of its bestsellers.

Ditzel developed the Arkade Chair with Niels Krüger, a descendant of Brdr Kruger founders Theodor and Ferdinand Krüger.

The design comprises three main elements: a pair of turned and steam-bent wooden arches form the legs, curved circles create the upholstered seat and backrest, and slender metal elements provide the supports.

Each of these elements is available in different finishes. The legs come in natural or stained oak, the frame can be brass, chrome or black, and the seats come in various textiles and leathers.

"We want to stay true to Nanna's colourful character and unfold the Arkade Chair's full potential," said Brdr Krüger creative director Jonas Krüger, "especially for interior architects, who can work with a chair full of personality, materiality, and customisation possibilities."

Brdr Krüger is one of many Scandinavian brands that regularly digs into its archive for new product launches. Other design reissues from the past year include Finn Juhl's Grasshopper chair and Verner Panton's Pantanova chair.

The trend is usually for midcentury pieces, but Brdr Krüger's move suggests there is a growing market interest in the 1970s and 80s.

Arkade Chair is making its debut at Brdr Krüger's new showroom in Copenhagen.

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BCHO Architects merges seaside guesthouse with the landscape

The concrete rooms of Jipyungzip, a guesthouse by BCHO Architects in South Korea, are sunk into a grassy shttps://admin.dezeen.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1485288&action=edit#edit_timestamplope with flat roofs that form terraces overlooking the sea.

Jipyungzip, also called Horizon Earth House, sits between a winding road and the coastline in South Gyeongsang.

Seoul-based practice BCHO Architects built Jipyungzip for a local woman to accommodate guests from across South Korea.

Six cuboid forms are arranged around a central open space, with smaller studio-style accommodation blocks to the south.

Long, thin bedroom blocks to the north facing out to sea, flanked by concrete walls that merge into the landscape.

"The predominant mode of seaside development in Korea has ravaged the natural coastline," said BCHO Architects. "This project instead seeks a healing embrace where the building meets the earth."

BCHO Architects used jets of high-pressure water to erode areas of the concrete, carving deep veins out of the surface of walls and floors to create areas for plants to grow.

"Sunken within the terrain, these walls become a verdant expression of a relationship with nature predicated on humility and softness," said the studio.

Three blocks are divided into two en-suite bedrooms, which open onto external decked areas with outdoor baths through sliding glass doors.

Rooms are oriented so that the sea is the first thing guests see when they wake up.

Floating concrete staircases lead up to small mezzanine viewing areas.

Each unit is accessed via wooden steps that cut into the landscape, leading to a porch-like structures clad in thin wooden slats.

The porches are topped by a corrugated metal roof, with concrete roofs separated by a strip of clerestory glazing.

Opposite, the smaller blocks to the north are divided by sections of angular concrete wall that create sunken courtyards, divided by wooden screens and overlooked by windows in the adjacent blocks.

In the centre of these blocks, the communal dining room can be opened up to a low-walled terrace via a full-height concertina glass door.

The raw concrete of Jipyungzip's interiors is tempered by pale wooden ceilings and wall panels to create simple, open spaces.

BCHO Architects has previously explored the idea of sinking structures into the landscape, with projects including a holiday home in Gyeonggi Province nestled into a mountainous terrain.

Photography is by Sergio Pirrone.

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Project credit:

Client: Jeong Park
Architect: BCHO Architects
Project team: Yoojin Jang, Sookjung Kim, Javier Campoy
Construction: Chaeheon Construction & Engineering

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A Ridiculously Long Chain Reaction Brings Social Distancing to the Dinner Table

The latest humorous invention by Joseph Herscher designed to maintain social distancing practices during a meal might abide by the six-foot rule, but it definitely requires a little bit of patience, especially for those who are super hungry. The Rube Goldberg-esque sequence in “Pass The Pepper: Social Distancing is Nothing to Sneeze At” spans about five minutes in a ridiculous series of reactions that include balls rolling down shoots, spaghetti cooking half-way, and a horrifying coffee spill on an open laptop.

Herscher bills the comical system as a “fool-proof method for completely safe, germ-free passing of condiments across the table.” To see more of the New York-based creator’s eccentric machines, head to Instagram and YouTube. Check out his salt sequence, too.

 

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