The demolition of the original extension and its replacement called for an intervention that can be a part of the original main building without replicating classical vocabulary or gestures. Our intent was to keep a sense of everyday memory, while simultaneously allowing the new intervention to have its own identity. The original extension had no distinct historical or architectural value and was structurally unsound, but it had a sloping roof profile typical of those found in terrace house back gardens. We chose to incorporate this banality in the new face of the rear garden – in a way preserving it's charm to carry some sense of associated memory to those who know it or those who see it new.
One of the existing walls had been leaning at a displacement of about one brick thick towards an adjacent building. These significant old movements were registered as cracks on the leaning wall, and have now been revealed and retained within the corridor.
The structures of the new envelope have been exposed internally wherever practically possible so that these surfaces will register the future stories of the house. The hand marks of bare plaster finish are left exposed in the bedrooms, are now recorded on the internal faces of the building’s fabric. The slow patination of bespoke copper and brass fittings shows the passage of time as they change from their original color. By registering these notions of memories and stories, the clutters of daily life could fully inhabit the space.
Location: London
Client: Private
Floor area: 110 sqm
Photos: Tim Crocker
Building Design The Architect of the Year 2018 , Refurbishment Architect of the Year Award winner.
Nominated for European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2017.
RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2016.
RIBA National 2016 award winner.
RIBA London 2016 award winner.
RIBA London 2016 Small project of the year winner.
NLA Don't Move Improve 2016, Overall winner.
NLA Don't Move Improve 2016, Most innovative award.
BDA Brick Award 2015, Best refurbishment project.
AJ small project award shortlist.
Wienerberger Brick Award 2016 nomination.
RIBA House of the Year 2016 longlist.
Dragon Flat is a refurbishment project for a flat within a 1950s council block. It was built in a run-down area of London for low-income households after the war, the area has since been transformed into one of the most affluent in the city. The block retains its original concrete structure. The low floor-to-ceiling height of just below 2.4m also remained in the flat, and we needed a strategy to reconcile it. As with many London flats, complications with the separate ownership between the flats and their structure constrained our response to the client brief for a contemporary flat. The dual aspect of the flat was one of the given gifts, but due to the kitchen, dining, living, and stairwells being all subdivided, this gift wasn't apparent. We liberated the entire lower level from its post-war austerity configuration by removing the non-load-bearing partitions through diligent, painstaking structural surveys.
Now the space is rich with natural light coming in various intensities throughout the day. The large-scale engraving of the River Thames draws attention away from the low ceiling space, and this wall-to-wall full-height cabinet unifies the space and corresponds to the corner sofa with the built-in projector screen. All utilities: kitchen, storage, seating, and toilet are set into the perimeter walls, leaving space in the middle for a floating perforated timber stair leading upstairs in the 1950’s original stair position. On the upstairs, we went against the norm of “the higher the ceiling the better the space” and lowered the ceiling further instead of attempting to make it look higher than it actually was. The tatami bedroom is raised with a storage platform on the floor that leaves the new floor-to-ceiling height just around 2m, revealing a uniquely intimate space within the original council flat room size.
We also focused on surfaces within these constrained structures. OSB boards, which pay homage to the humble beginnings of this flat, are used as wallpaper, they are brass clipped and engraved. Unlike the Arts and Crafts movement, which rejected rapid technological advances, here we simply embraced the available technology as a tool. An army of engraved peony flowers on the walls was shaped out of our selection following AI prompts. Irrelevant to such a process, they calmly greet the real flower head of a peace lily in this intimate room.
On the floor below, we again use this everyday building material, OSB to form walls alongside large Carara marble slabs in a small toilet, the focus of all our efforts was to enrich the lives of occupants.
” Why the Thames River?” Such a question would evoke a conversation between occupants and visitors, which we hope adds colour to everyday life.
Location: London
Area: 95 sqm
Architect: Tsuruta Architects
Engineers: Format Engineers, Structure-Lab(Stair)
Photo: Tim Crocker
The wooden roof was constructed to form a conservatory in this north-facing London garden that has strong afternoon light from the west on sunny days. Natural light within the built environment is appreciated and desirable in northern European climates, this being where the conservatory was originally invented.
Traditionally, conservatories tend to have a pitched roof, with glazed panes creating a fall for the rainwater to run off, which reduces watermarks on the glass and maintains good visibility to the sky. However, the traditional roof pitch requires height, which was not an option at the rear of this London semi detached Grade 2 listed house. Our solution was to create a series of higher pitches in short lengths that push rainwater rapidly to the longer gentle primary valley fall. Consequently, the overall roof height was kept to a minimum, yet it has a well-drained glass surface with a deeper floor plate below.
The dia-grid geometry of the roof structure was derived simply from the existing site boundary and helps to segment the Four Seasons glass roof into practical unit sizes. With the deep profiles within the grid, the beams cast palpable shadows of the dia-grid into the space and sometimes onto the beams themselves throughout the year, this emphasises the presence of natural light in this northern European climate.
Once the roof was formed, the dining space below was developed in relation to the garden, which is higher than the conservatory floor level. In order to mediate this topological condition, we inserted an 'empty stage' at table height between the garden and dining room. The primary purpose of the stage is to be 'empty' so that the garden merges into the background within a framed view. For the occupiers, the space below the roof feels as if it is expanding into the garden.
We took full advantage of the natural structural capacity and low thermal conductivity of wood. The entire conservatory, from the roof, to the window and door, was made from the same species of acetylated wood components, which is known for its durability and dimensional stability. From our digitally transferred design models, the wooden beams, posts, and window frames were processed to within a millimeter of accuracy with a 5 axis CNC router. This enabled the planned roof falls to be installed correctly and easily on-site which also minimised waste and offcuts. All of the cross junctions of the beams were structurally designed with no requirement of glue or any mechanical fixings (although glue was used for the ease of positioning during the assembly process).
Externally the wooden faces are fully exposed and charred to protect against rot and fungus decay and internally they were oiled so that it breaths. Both treatments allow the wood extended longevity. The empty stage, adorned by a red maple tree, remains devoid of activity except for the occasional play of dappled light on the stone surface by the large European ash tree in the garden.
Location: London
Client: Private
Year: 2019
Architect: Tsuruta Architects
Structural engineer: Webb and Yates
Contractor: JK London Construction Ltd
Digtal fabrication: Tomasz Barszcz, Tsuruta Architects
Garden concept: 1moku
Photograph and video: Ståle Eriksen
Video edit: Stephen Connolly
RIBA National Award, winner, 2021
RIBA London Small Project of the Year, winner, 2021
RIBA London Regional Award, winner, 2021
Honor Award from Wood Design and Building Awards 2019 by The Canadian Wood Council.
Winner of Wood Awards 2020 under the small projects category.
We fully refurbished the existing 1950s end-of-terrace house and extended it with a single-story timber annex. The large garden had 9 different adjacent landowners and three beloved mature trees, all of which influenced the proposal. The tree root protection zones on the site determined the use of screw piles and the idea of an entirely timber building, including the foundations.
Our client’s wishes initially didn't fit with the existing long and narrow site. They wanted to interact with people in the dining area and the living room while cooking in the kitchen. So, we placed the kitchen next to the living area through a new large side opening from the existing house and positioned the dining area in front of the kitchen, projecting it out of the main house and setting it in the garden.
The main house was reconfigured with new stairs, significantly improving circulation to the upper level and providing more spacious bathrooms. We customised the structure and set out the construction sequence at the design stage instead of using the more common CLT system, prepared by a manufacturer or a conventional wood frame system. Our structure, a stud wall arrangement, uses a waffle roof slab fabricated from plywood sheets that span in both directions. This reduces at least 30% of the volume of timber used for the roof compared to traditional timber joists or a CLT slab. Between the posts, a ply-formed cassette containing insulation and a vapor sheet is inserted for bracing, built using a prefabricated flat-pack assembly method. This structure is laid over the acetylated wood foundation ground beam, avoiding the need for concrete foundations. The same wood was used to form the external envelope, posts, feather edge boards, windows, and roof copings, allowing for the sharing of off-cut pieces between components. Over 1222 individual pieces were produced digitally for the structure and envelope, which were assembled on-site using traditional carpenters' skills.
If the annex had been built using conventional brick and steel construction, the embodied CO2 would have been 70% more. It also used less timber compared to conventional methods. Our positive step is marginal, but small domestic projects dominate the majority of the UK construction output, so the communal contribution could be significant.
10386 Kg CO2 (brick, steel, concrete footing version) against 3075 Kg CO2 (Wooden Annex)
Location: London
Client: Private
Year: 2019
Architect: Tsuruta Architects
Structural engineer: Karsten Weise
Landscaping: Barbara Samitier Landscape and Garden Design
Photography and video: Tim Crocker
Video edit: Ramon Bloomberg, Raitis Petrovs
Sound: Seiko Tsuruta
A pre-regeneration housing project in Catford town centre in South London.
Five apartments have been created within a micro development on a small infill site. Located on Catford Broadway, the new residences have been squeezed above and behind two existing shops by refurbishing and extending a pair of terraced houses. The commercial centre is struggling but it is hoped that this project will demonstrate that change is possible and therefore act as a catalyst for future development. The building has been designed to transform an alleyway into a small boulevard, with large windows at ground level to enliven the pedestrian route through to a car park. This is where the Council has future aspirations for a transformation into a mixed-use quarter and in addition, more openings across the façade to provide ‘everyday theatre’. An external staircase ascends the development, it is wrapped in a metal screen that has been perforated with hundreds of cat-shaped holes, revealing the movement within. Laser-cut cat-face steel plates are used to create a zigzag-shaped balcony that projects out over the street below. Internally we have deployed our plywood digital fabrication method to create furniture, storage, mezzanine stairs and kitchens. This has provided us with the rare opportunity for a local authority job to oversee every part of the building and allow us to provide some highly unique homes, to attract tenants that care about contemporary design. Door handles, coat hooks and kitchen cabinet, concrete pad stones, even the pointy ears on the chimneys and more are all shaped with a cat motif, with 26,672 such references across the development’s interior and exterior, paying homage to Catford’s famous fibreglass feline. To help develop the regeneration aspect of the project, we have collaborated with local writer and tour guide Chris Roberts. We conceived a fictional narrative, The Queen of Catford, rooted around the area’s film industry that existed 100 years ago. It follows the lives of two young girls who meet on the Broadway and share their hopes, fears, and dreams - www.thequeenofcatford.org. Two blue plaques were specially commissioned to honor the characters we created, Raven Bjorn and Katherine Ford. This installation project immediately links fiction and reality, the past and the future. By anchoring this story to a specific building in the regeneration project, we hope to present a focal point around which others can investigate the heritage of SE6, while also imagining alternative pasts and futures for the area.
Location: London
Client: Catford Regeneration Partnership Limited (wholly subsidiary of Lewisham Council)
Floor area: 510 sqm
Architect: Tsuruta Architects
Structural engineer: Webb Yates
Photo: Ståle Eriksen
An impressive large staircase in a turn of the 20th century house made the circulation generous, light and airy, but its dominance compromised the entire layout. The challenge was to replace this once favoured staircase whilst enhancing this previous spacious quality.
The perforated timber treads and risers, and balustrade of the new staircase let through light and air, but in a more compact overall configuration and an essence of the airines from the original staircase can still be experienced.
We retained a stair landing sash window, and together with other original windows and new plywood framework created a screen wall for two new bathrooms and utility room. Light continues to flow into the stairwell via this screen wall and new external windows. Engravings of the e-mail dialogues on the framework support the presence of these original windows beyond structurally. By recomposing these old objects, we aim to keep the past tense in a new form, giving it new life rather than just conserving old.
A large, cantilevered balcony anchors the kitchen and dining to the back garden but registers as no more than an ordinary steel railing detail. The new intervention lifts the age of the masonry against gravity and rebalances itself in its own weight.
Location: London
Client: Private
Floor area: 214 sqm
Photos: Tim Crocker
Building Design The Architect of the Year 2018, Refurbishment Architect of the Year Award winner.
RIBA London Regional Award 2017 winner.
Room No Roof is situated on a prominent corner of West London. It is a house extension and refurbishment of a 1950s residential building on Portobello Road that reacts to the surrounding environment, including the local property market. Despite building a new extra floor, for Room No Roof, we sought to challenge these impressions of “going up to a roof attic” by omitting the roof from one of the new rooms situated in the heart of the space, between the two other new private rooms (a bedroom and bathroom). Creating “Space” – does not contribute to the total net lettable area for the property, however it does contribute more to the physical wellbeing of the occupier. The new tree in the centre of this space forms a pair with an existing tree in the square outside, through the dormer opening making a living connection between the rhythms of life outside the house and of the lives of the occupants inside.
The design also brings in a new kitchen extension constructed over the existing ground floor(hair salon) – a sort of urban fisherman’s hut. The hut opens to a balcony overlooking the square with a full height pivot window. This space further connects the living room to the exterior “Porto-bello” (a beautiful harbor) via an internal window. On the weekend, the street market brings the tide of pedestrians and becomes one of the busiest streets in London, but by Monday it recedes as the market closes. With new enlarged windows added to all façades, this tidal change, marking a start and end to every week, is made especially visible from the living and kitchen areas. The first floor has thus been designed as the most active and public space in the house, with a series of vertical paneled walls to conceal the domestic functions of the floor (such as the WC and utility space), so that the emphasis here remains on the outward views and connection with the street
The second floor above the living and dining spaces includes two bedrooms with a shared bathroom. This floor serves as a sort of mediation space between the more active first floor (the house’s common areas) and the third floor with Room No Roof (the most intimate space of the house). With each ascending level the degree of privacy increases. Furthermore, the third floor is symbolically disconnected from the rest of the house at the floating third step of this upper stairwell. Crossing this threshold, the boundary between the occupants on the top floor and below is established while still maintaining a sense of openness and intimacy throughout the home.
Location: London
Client: Private
Floor area: 140 sqm
Photos: Tim Crocker
The proposed site area is currently segmented into 5 parts. As though parks 2 and 3 are simply separated from the street but the river and the land behind the swimming facility add layers of complexity and separation between South Park 2 and 3, more than it actually is. Our proposal has two pillars of intervention. The first one is to maintain and enhance the existing nature and topography, in particular, the river bed and minimises the impact on the environment as much as possible. At the same time, we identify each segmented area and enrich the character of the park where the two parks meet. Whilst on the ground level we respect the existing nature and contour, we provide a utilitarian yet imaginative solution above ground level for the pedestrian link. Our solution to the existing pedestrian network condition is to provide a loop bridge -called Martenitsa that connects four of the segmented areas where foot and vehicle traffic cross over between the two parks also the river runs through where the layer of the separation increases. Martenitsa unifies the segmented lands of Park 2 and 3 to the neighborhoods around and it provides access with the eight symbolic staircases and 6 lifts that provide access for wheelchair users and cyclists. These staircases are called, Zmey, Ispolin, Orisnizi, Lamya, Raskovnik, Karakonjul, Hala, and Samodiva names from Bulgarian folklore of supernatural phenomena.
Our intention here is to bring a humorous spirit to this urbanised part of the park where nature and the artificial environment coexist in order to create a symbolic relationship between them.
Parks 2 and 3 are both enhanced within the proposed site, a new bank is formed at Park2 with a series of Vratza stone steps to give access directly to the water, and visitors can enjoy, appreciate and experience the circannual rhythm of the river which changes its level and width in one season. Behind the existing hard landscape of the fountain, bus stop, and restaurant, the existing canopies of tall matured tress provide shade and protection whilst the floor is formed of hard landscape surface which can receive chairs and tables to enjoy the extended terrace under these trees that merges into the park. The rear of the existing swimming pool at park 2 is planted with evergreen trees to form a glade which is linked with the rest of the four-segmented area with a new bridge of the same profile as the Martenitsa.
Byala Cherkva (the street) runs below the middle of Martenitsa, drivers can also enjoy driving through the park where more trees are densely planted on both sides and the loop demarcates the start and end of this brief transition between the urban neighborhoods via the spacious woodland experience. Our proposal will not only connect the two parks effectively and resolve the current pedestrian access issues at the junction of the park and urban neighborhoods but also enhance the existing character of the park and enrich the experience of the visitors.
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Competition
Year: 2022
Architect: Taro Tsuruta, Masunami Shimoda,
Structural Engineer: Structure Workshop
Landscape design: Meeuwsen Muldoon
Peckham Toymaker is a narrative based project exhibited at the forecourt of the Richard Hoggart Building at Goldsmiths, University of London as a part of London Festival of Architecture 2017.
The story is based on an urban legend that there was a toymaker who lived in a house beside the old Surrey Canal in Peckham and ran a toy shop on Rye Lane. The shop was so famous and its toys so exquisite that people came from across London to buy their children gifts from there.
The project is multi-layered exploring the past and present and reflects, to some extent, Peckham's changing fortunes and image. The main body of the installation represents these changes through a portrayal over time of the site where the Toymaker allegedly resided. The installation is covered with written interpretations of the Toymaker's story by dozens of different people who have read it or heard of it.
The installation also contains depictions of events from the Toymaker’s life made in scale models featuring locations which actually exist in Peckham but these re-enacted scenes only exist in memory and legend.
The project intends to present a core version of the myth of the PeckhamToymaker whilst at the same time opening the door to alternative narratives which blend truth and fiction, rumour and personal observation. All of these come together to form the basis of place memory.
Location: London
Sponsor: FINSA
Photos: Tim Crocker
Hare To Ke (ハレとけ) is a concept of time and space defined by a Japanese folklorist in the 1930s to describe a traditional view of the world. ‘Hare’ is a word for special days and places used for celebratory events and ‘Ke’ refers to an ordinary everyday life. Events like trade shows, should come under 'Hare' and materials used for these events should also be equivalent to these 'Hare' occasions. However, these days trade shows and exhibitions happen every year, in the same locations, with very similar participants and they start to feel mundane and could almost fall into 'Ke'.
The client is a manufacturer of construction materials which are normally hidden behind the surface, such as MDF, chipboard and hollow core planks, and are commonly used across building sites, these materials may be defined as 'Ke'. The manufacturer also makes surface products, such as floor finishes, kitchen worktops and decorative surface panels available in thousands of choices, which are normally exhibited at 'Hare' occasions, like exhibitions and trade shows. For this project we challenged the 'Hare' occasion with 'Ke' materials, not to be cynical, but to stimulate and create a contrast in the context and importantly to appreciate how materials defined as 'Ke' support our everyday life. We created a space representing a living environment; living room, dining, kitchen and study/bedroom, all made in materials normally behind the surface, MDF and chipboard, all left exposed. The other surface products such as floor finishes, kitchen worktop and decorative panels are concealed within a digital environment. The visitor will have an understanding of both environments when they wear virtual reality goggles and can enjoy choosing from thousands of surfaces and applying them to the virtual living environment which corresponds to the living environment made of the exposed materials. Our stand is totally demountable and can be reassembled in just one and half days for a show. The 72 individual pieces are light enough to be handled, transported and erected by two people using simple tools.
11,000 trade shows are held each year in Europe and the majority of them last for a duration of from just 3 days and up to one week with each exhibitor disposing of their exhibits after one occasion.
Considering the amount of wastage each year, it is our hope that our 'Ke' approach may be an alternative to the mundane 'Hare' situation of these trade show environments.
After London the stand will travel to Europe for other shows starting in Poland and later to the Netherlands.
Location: London and other European cities
Client: FINSA
Floor area: 23 sqm
Concept, Design and Fabrication: TSURUTA ARCHITECTS
Virtual Reality: Roel Deden
Site assembly: Alex Goacher
Photograph : Ståle Eriksen
In a tight slice of urban plot in Covent Graden, the ground floor of a Listed Building had been vacant for a long time. The width of the shop, 2.5 m which widens at the end to 3.1m, with a length of 9.0m, didn’t stop the shop owner to start their first venture in Central London in the time of austerity.
The spine of the space is 8m long, resin based solid continuous counter turns from food displays to host customers in the form of a table top. The counter top contains an integrated ice sink and integrated flower pot with an orange tree at the transition step. White washed plywood fittings lift space within the plaster finished wall contracts the blackness of shelving notice board.
Location: London
Client: Private
Floor area: 25 sqm
Date: 2012
Photos©Tim Crocker
The proposal was made for a swimming pool complex to include an Olympic size outdoor swimming pool and indoor swimming pool, gym and wellbeing facilitates as well as a cafe and restaurant which would replace the existing outdoor pool and facilities in the eastern part of Ljubljana.
Concept: The warehouse of the paper mill, which is adjacent to the site, was burnt down during WW2. In response to this, the original pool was created on the plateau as a precaution against future fires and to provide cooling for the machinery. We were intrigued by the history of the site, about how the original pool was built and the practical reasons behind it. Since the pool was built, there has not been a fire; instead, it has been enjoyed by the public as a popular leisure pool.
We intended to maintain this unique story of fire and water in some form in our proposal.
Proposal: For its long length, the site runs almost North-South and it is parallel to the river Ljubljanica on its east side. On the west side, across the street, is the paper mill factory with the silos along the road giving the dominant appearance. These are the most significant elements of the site, which is in between two contradicting characters, the natural landscape of river and woodland on the east side and the industrial landscape of the paper mill factory on the west side.
We responded to this site condition by prioritising 4 primary facilities – an outdoor Olympic size swimming pool, an indoor swimming pool, Wellness with Jacuzzi, and a gym to be laid out alongside the riverbank so that the layout could benefit the North-South axis orientation which minimises building shade cast toward the outdoor pools and also users of the complex can enjoy the connection with the riverside nature.
On the street ‘the sun tower’ is our response to the immediate industrial landscape of the paper mill factory. The tower shows the activities of people and their movement is visible from the street in contrast to the anonymous character of an automated modern factory.
The sun tower with its small footprint and multiple levels frees up space for the entrance courtyard to form a public realm and provides a platform for the wooden slide.
Structure and envelope: The structure and the envelope material are integral to our design. Almost the entire construction for both buildings is designed with a timber frame and glulam walls. The beam component is a solid timber panel with insulation in a ´log’ style sandwich structure, so the component can be the structure as well as insulation and cladding. All other components like windows and doors are also formed from the same species of wood.
Externally it has a charred finish and internally it is oiled. The carbonized wood gives excellent durability against rot and fungi attack. Through the burnt face of the building’s timber facade and the building structure, our project recalls the association with fire.
Sustainability: The indoor swimming pool has a series of trees in pots suspended from the roof structure. This natural light coming through the glass roof lights into the swimming pool will be naturally softened and controlled by these evergreen trees and reduce the amount of artificial light usage. The trees also act as a cooling device during the summer and would reduce the amount of air conditioning needed particularly when the indoor swimming pool is open to the outdoor pool. Our design narrative of the main building is symbolized by the raindrop shaped tree pots in the roof. Like raindrops falling from the sky, some of them falling to the fire that charred the wood, some drops formed the pool below and some stayed in the roof and trees have grown out of them.
The proposal takes advantage of the riverbank for an efficient energy solution. As once the pool was used for cooling the paper mill machinery and warming the pool water, the closed-circuit water source heat pump device is equipped below the river deck and used as alternative renewable energy to feed power to the complex.
In addition, from the installation of solar panels on the flat roof of the main building, we would expect the energy efficiency to be 18% when compared to a conventional electricity supply.
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Competition
Year:2019
Architect: Tsuruta Architects, Taro Tsuruta, Masunami Shimoda, Kyung Kuk Kang,
Local coordinator: Petra Ostanek
Structural Engineer: Structures Lab, Karsten Weise
Service Engineer: XCO2 , Tom Kordel, Vincent Lam, Anni Fox
This mixed use development is located in front of Spitalfields Market. Four storeys and an extended basement were created after demolition of an existing three storey terraced house. The new residential unit is comprised of five self-contained units (two studios and three one bedroom flats).
All five units have their own features: one has a garden, another with a terrace, a mezzanine and movable walls. The size of all flats are extremely compact yet functional. In close proximity to the City, all flats are catered for professionals who require convenient and efficient living spaces.
Location: London
Client: DSM development
Floor area: 406sqm
Date: 2010
Photos©Tim Crocker
The proposal was made to accommodate 140 asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland. The centre consists of 65 bedrooms and classrooms for asylum seekers and administrative offices. Our objective for this design proposal is to provide the residents with safety, comfort, and enjoyment at this centre in a sustainable building that would be well integrated and welcomed within the neighborhood and passers-by.
Proposal:
We made our proposed building volume into three distinctive parts in order to create three outdoor spaces each with its own character. In the front garden, allotments are provided along the street where the residents are encouraged to grow their own plants and vegetables, and the seasonal changes may be seen by passers-by and neighboring residents. The middle garden locates between the administration/ education facility and accommodation units. This garden is a semi-public area, dedicated to residents as well as the administration, education, and management staff of this complex encouraging their natural exchanges. The rear garden, with a series of mature trees on natural land, is the best asset of the site. A BBQ area and a children’s playground are planned here at the sunken part of the rear garden. The step benches provide a division for privacy with the level difference to the bedrooms.
Accommodation units and flexibility:
The accommodation units generally have an identical arrangement of being dual aspect, the south west facing street side caters for the living and dining area. Most of the bedrooms are facing to the east, the riverside and all service facilities are in the middle of the accommodation buildings. All accommodation units are accessed via external balconies so that entry to each unit is visible from the outside that provides safety and security to all residents. The balconies are to be used as the essential part of community living and the external staircases encourage residents to engage with the activities and amenity space on the ground level.
Structure:
The entire complex is constructed with an elemental timber structure by use of CLT panels. All of the accommodation units are planned to be structurally identical to each floor so that all levels are stacked up vertically which simplifies the structure and service arrangement that reduces the construction period which greatly contributes to cost-saving. The administration and education facilities are planned in a simple two-level construction again with CLT panels system. The accommodation building has a spine corridor with internal load-bearing walls in the middle of the floor in both floors which means this two-level structure can be built cost and time efficiently. Basement and ground floor slab together with the service channel are to be built with conventional reinforced concrete retaining walls and raft foundations. The areas of excavation are minimised as much as possible with efficient planning.
Location: Adliswil, Switzerland
Competition
Year: 2020
Architects: Taro Tsuruta, Masunami Shimoda, Jeannette Geissmann, Yves Raschle,
Structural Engineer: Webb Yates engineers
Services Engineer: Kegel Klimasysteme
Expert consultant: Blumer Lehmann
Textilmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
Pantograph, a Tsuruta Architects and Jeannette Geissmann Architektin collaboration created this proposal to respond to a competition for a new roof extension and complete refurbishment to the world-renowned Textilmuseum St. Gallen,- the textile museum in St Gallen.
The topology of St Gallen inspired our concept. Situated in a valley, there are two visible hills, Freudenberg (hill of happiness) and Rosenberg (hill of rose), which can be reached by foot, are important to the identity of the St Galileans and an integral part of their life.
The existing museum was designed by the Swiss architect, Gustav Gull and has a distinctive floor layout, an L-shape plan but with a two-wing form which makes the front elevation in a symmetrical arrangement. The existing roof corresponds to the floor plans below by having two independent pitched roof profiles.
We interpret these two roof profiles as if corresponding to the two hills and the space in between them that could be seen as a valley, as representing St Gallen. St Gallen was historically a mecca for the latest textiles, particularly their embroidery products made by the Saurer embroidery machine. There were 20,000 machines in the city which produced fifty percent of global embroidery.
The existing roof is to be replaced with a new roof construction but with the essence of the original design, which is maintained with new gilded brass tiles. The valley, St Gallen (the space between the newly constructed roof) is glazed with a diagrid structure providing a direct visible link to Freudenberg (hill of happiness) and Rosenberg (hill of rose) from the new roof extension. Our proposal seeks to use the Sauer embroidery machine to symbolise St Gallen itself and exhibits it in the valley of the new roof profiles. This gives new visitors the joy of appreciating this unique topology and for local visitors a strong sense of connection to their full history and heritage.
This new roof extension provides an additional exhibition area of 437 sqm. The exhibit area under the Freudenberg and the Rosenberg is enclosed by internal walls and ceiling slabs so that all light-sensitive objects are protected within a controlled environment. Above part of the exhibit area, the new mezzanine level offers flexibility for a variety of possible uses, as a temporary exhibition space, or space for training and education, and open lecture area, or a self-service canteen. Along with a regular event to showcase the operation of the Saurer machine, visitors would enjoy a lively, bright space in the new roof extension.
Location: St Gallen, Switzerland
Competition
Year: 2020
Architects: Jeannette Geissmann, Yves Raschle, Masunami Shimoda, Taro Tsuruta
Structural engineer: Merz Kley Partner, Konrad Merz,
Service engineer: XOC2, Tom Kordel
Visualization: Francesca Bergamini
Coming soon
Location: West Sussex
Client: Private
Year: 2021-
