Studio ST&AR: 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

Green Goal Project 2010

Photo By Stephen Lamb

2010 FIFA World Cup™ Host City Cape Town Green Goal Expo for

FIFA Fan FEST ™ on the Grande Parade 11 June to 11 July 2010

A proposal was submitted for a pavilion at the Fifa Fan Fest to accommodate Cape Town’s Green Goal 2010 Programme. The brief called for a proposal to create an exhibition of roughly a 100m² area.

Conceptual Perspective of Green Goal

Early Stages of Design for the Green Goal

Initial Plan Layout Drawn by Andre Rademeyer

The City required something unique and memorable that would convey their Green Goal 2010 message about hosting the FIFA™ World Cup responsibly, and reducing the environmental impact of World Cup on the environment.

Precedent Page + Conceptual sketches

It was to be a temporary exhibition, operational for the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The structure was made entirely from recycled and reusable materials to produce zero waste after deconstruction. All materials were to be sourced within the tightest possible radius of the site to minimize the carbon footprint. Scaffolding was an obvious choice as a structural system.

Construction Stage 1: Scaffold Buildup

Construction Stage 2: Addition of milk crates and lighting to scaffold skeleton

Stage 3: Interior finishes and Landscaping

The concept was to clad a scaffold cube in waste, in the form of multicoloured re-usable plastic milk crates filled with empty milk bottles, all tied to the scaffolding frame. The cube announces itself as a singular and iconic form. Low energy lighting behind the crates would illuminate the entire structure at night turning it into a glowing ‘jewel box’ promoting sustainability. The interior would contrast with the exterior waste world, being clad entirely in timber from trees pruned and felled during the construction of the Cape Town Stadium, fixed with twine to allow later re-use.

Construction material. All materials used for the green goal will be re-used and re-distributed for their use as milk crates and bottles

Construction of the Green Goal

Construction of milk crate facade

Rear View of Green Goal at night

At roof level the organic interior metaphorically ‘grows’ out of the crates in the form of a forest of wooden poles which wave in the breeze giving the structure a kinetic and sculptural presence.

The finished product. Cape Town City Hall in the background

Interior View of milk crates tied to scaffolding. Light fittings can be seen top right of the image

The organic timber interior ‘folds’ outwards at the cantilevered corner entrance to meet with the exterior and present a ‘sectional cut’ of the building. The interior is lit from above with translucent roof panels and is filled with fragrant Fynbos from the Cape Floral Kingdom (the smallest floral kingdom with the highest biodiversity on the planet).

Photo by Stephen Lamb

Green Goal at night

Front view of the Green Goal at night

Woman Soccer tournament playing during the South African Soccer World Cup 2010. Mist has entered the city and blends the Green goal into it surroundings

Photo by Stephen Lamb

Structural Engineer: Willie Van Schoor

Construction / Project Management: Touching the Earth Lightly

Client: FIFA 2010 World Cup™ Host City Cape Town Green Goal Programme

For more information on the Green Goal Project visit:

ST&AR Website

Touching the Earth Lightly

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tri-Star Printers

Aerial Perspective of Tri Star

TriStar approached ST&AR to do a study on the feasibility of developing their current premises into a new mixed use building to accommodate the print works and a small commercial component on the ground floor with offices and residential apartments above.

Aerial Perspective of Context

The proposal defined for the client the buildings form in terms of the allowable building envelope as defined by the City’s land use requirements. Access, parking, space planning and fire escapes were taken to a level where they informed the buildings overall function and their impact on the useable areas could be assessed.

Rear View of Tri Star

The building was modelled as a translucent box with solid slabs and the vertical circulation as coloured stacks. Setbacks on the various levels at the street and common boundaries needed to be well understood at this level of design and the block model worked to reveal these.

The site footprint is an L-shape combination of 3 smaller sites. The model revealed that while development of the wider side of the site was feasible, the thinner side would lose bulk due to setbacks increasing with height and this reduced the overall feasibility of the project.

Approach

Departures from the building line setbacks for this section were a possibility, but not guaranteed. The client preferred a departure free design proposal and therefore sought to acquire the adjacent site in order to build a more regular efficiently shaped building.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Site Safety Inspection

Problem Solving Chart

When to Say No

Image of the Architect

Thursday, October 28, 2010

House Duval, Cape St. Francis

Building description

The house designed for a family of six, is situated on a constrained triangular shaped beach front plot. The site is protected from the shifting beach sand by Fyn-bos covered dunes. Raising the living areas for sea views over these dunes became the guiding design challenge.

House Approach

To maintain its connection to the main living areas, the pool was therefore elevated on the north side by building it above ground and wrapping water storage tanks and service rooms around it. Reflecting this at first floor level, the pool court is enclosed by the house and veranda, protecting it from the prevailing onshore winds. From here one has views through the living room to the sea and lighthouse.

Ground Floor Plan

1st Floor Plan

The house itself is split into three parts at angles to one another other with the staircases locating at the junctions. The roofs are flat at these points with mono-pitches over the three main volumes lifting to the north, allowing the rooms to focus on bay views to the South while keeping warm and well lit. The interrupted roofscape and wood cladding control the scale of the house from the approach as do the various decks and pergolas from the beach. Ground floor decking covers a second rain water storage tank and connects the games room and surf wet room to the garden, dunes and surf beyond.

Main Decks

Views Through

The kitchen, open in part to the living room, anchors the layout and communicates with all sides of the house. Next to this the main stair draws one up through a sun screened double volume entrance hall onto the main landing - where one is greeted by the living room and views in all directions.

The hardwood decking, pergolas, balustrades and cladding, untreated and exposed, are all left to fade. Crisp white plastered forms are held between wood clad facades. The garages and landscaped terraces around the elevated pool are finished in a bagged red brick forming a rusticated plinth to the street facade.

Section A-A

Section B-B

Water wise and energy efficient the house harvests rain water, recycles grey water and runs on solar hot water. An inverter with back up power manages the electrical loading and is ready for the future addition of photovoltaic panels. Solid fuel fireplaces on both levels warm the well insulated house from their central positions.