Internalising Doshisha

Structure for the Doshisha Chapel Complex project has now largely finished.

Majority of the construction team has moved inside to work on the interior fitout - great timing as true winter weather kicks in!

I have been more than excited about seeing the photos, here they are for your viewing pleasure!

looking towards Chapel side from Student Lounge side.  This is view in the perspective we submitted to the original competition, so happy to see it coming to reality!!

 

windows are up!

installation of the ceiling feature has started

above the scaffolding..

custom made hollow blocks to the sides of the Chapel

 

 

 

 

 ...as if it extends indefinitely....

 

 the calculated randomness of the tiles.....

articulation of the different volumes are clear now...how exciting!

Sydney Architecture Festival - "Behind the Lens" Exhibition

Sydney Architecture Festival is on!

On the weekend it was Sydney Open, with 50+ Sydney's best loved buildings opening their doors for people.  During these 2 weeks there are numerous architectural talks, exhibitions, activities for anyone and everyone interested in architecture.

I went to see the "Behind the Lens" photographic exhibition.  Our work Sneakerology was included in the exhibition by photographer Katherine Lu. Beautiful photography works of Opera House, Apple Store, Sydney architecture / cityscape and more are also on exhibition by 5 of the Sydney architectural photographers.

"Behind the Lens" is on at The Rocks Pop Up until NOV 10, don't miss out!

The Rocks Pop Up

 

Sneakerology spotted!

 

Today on Doshisha site

After typhoon in Japan, construction has resumed as normal.

Some walls are up, some are going up.... 

The Doshisha project can be largely divided into 2 areas: 1. Chapel and 2. Student Lounge.

Chapel side includes chapel hall, meeting rooms, function spaces, whilst the Student Lounge side includes student lounge, exhibition hall, administration office, choir room.   

Construction completion is 2015 March in order to meet University semester opening (APR 01 in Japan), but the staff members need to be operational by then! 

It means the area for offices need to be prioritised in the construction, so it will be finished first - which is why the Student Lounge side is more advanced.

Here are photos from the weekend.

compare with August, we have gone up one storey..

 

footings no longer visible from the Student Lounge side

walls are up at the Student Lounge side

reinforcement and formwork are coming together for the Chapel side

...checking...more checking...

formwork for windows

this is the future administration office!

To find out more about Doshisha Chapel project click HERE

Behind architecture

Perfect weather...
ok I was busy last week so photos for this entry was taken before the typhoon reached Japan.
But isn't it beautiful!

Lets look at things we don't normally pay attention to when we drool over architecture...

notches in the footing beams are to allow flexibility in services ductwork under floor. Yes it adds to the construction cost, but considering how long a building will need to last, flexibility takes priority.

If you look hard enough, under the plastic covers the footings are lined with blue foam board insulations, ensuring temperature is not transmitted via structure and reduce efficiency of air-conditioning hence adding to environmental cost.

stair being casted in the last entry was already in use

formwork already up for next round of concrete pour.
Rigorous reinforcement throughly checked with tolerance of 2mm maximum.

More greys....

I have decided that this is my favourite view of the Doshisha site, so I will open the blog entry with it.

Looking from Chapel Building towards the Student Lounge Building
Footings are all poured, beautifully rectilinear.

So what is going on?
After variations of grey tones in the tile, now we need to decide on colour (a grey...which grey?...) of the grout.
The fine line of 4mm grout between tiles, when applied over 8m high, contributes quite substantially to the overall appearance of the wall.

 

 

The standard grout dimension is 5mm, we wrestled (mentally) with the contractor to get it down to 4mm (ok we wanted 3mm but that was not going to happen).
Does the 1mm matter? YES! 

Another important matter is casting stair going up to the Student Lounge.
The site boundaries are about 1m in height difference, as the result the ground level of the buildings are raised quite a lot above surrounding levels.

Very neatly wrapped to ensure surrounding walls do not get splattered concrete (which will make later tiling difficult)

 

 I  like how things are so dramatic on site.. there is a sense of urgency.

Doshisha growing taller and picking outfit

So it is hot, hot, HOT! in Japan on site.
Doshisha is growing growing GROWING! on site.

3 months went past in a blink, what has happened?
Foundation reinforced concrete poured, 8m+ tall columns craned in and fixed during last week...
March 2015 this is scheduled to be finished.... I think it will be!

One important thing happening at the moment parallel to the structure work, is the "picking outfit" for Doshisha - deciding facade colour.
During competition stage it was nominated a mixed shade of grey....but there are hundreds (if not thousands and millions) shades of grey...

So rather than adding colour pigments (of which we have seen the not-so-pretty prototypes) we decided to go with natural cobalt pigments.
By changing the percentage of cobalt content in the clay, different shades of grey and blue are achieved.
Because of the manual process, even within the same shade there are variations - and it adds to the sophistication of the facade colour.  I like.  I like very much.

The randomness of the facade - in module width, combination, and colour shade differences - have been calculated with lots and lots of mathematics.
I know it sounds crazy .... but there is logic in randomness, otherwise we can not instruct the tilers on site to make sure this effect can be achieved!
....Maybe that is why we started to get shades of grey in our hair too?

craning in...

scaffolding around the 8m+ tall columns to protect them during construction
They need to be in place now rather than later because there can be no joint within the length (weakness in structure) and the bottom of the columns need to be connected directly to the foundation

columns seem to continue across between the chapel building and the student lounge building, which is the foundation of our design concept - the two buildings are "as one"

standing in front of the student lounge building (chapel building to the left)
Part of the foundation is one person high

different combinations of shades in grey ... can you tell the difference between panels? ... I can...

"OK, so this one....and this one....."

"NOW........which one......?!"
(do you know the math behind this? hehehe)

........contemplating project team........

To find out more about Doshisha Chapel project click HERE
Doshisha Chapel project was won over 379 international entries in open design competition in 2012.

Photographing Takara

We photographed Takara at last.

The small Japanese Restaurant at Sydney's Chinatown is a project of experiments.  We tested new ways to consider structure, new materials, new spatial layering...

A lot of newness led to a space very much out of the ordinary.

Looking forward to the finished photos.

softly wrapped seating area

 

Photographing Eki

Today we photographed Eki.

It was completed just before I took off to Japan to join the team for Doshisha in November... Just made it in time.

It is a strange feeling to photograph a project, like making a mental note that the project is in fact, completed.

Looking forward to seeing the finished photos.