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Editorial 6–ANSWER: What’s an Object?
CLUE: This is NESS 3, the web version. Like in the iconic US quiz show Jeopardy!, giving answers in the form of questions is a way of going beyond common sense, cheating facts, or serious categories. It changes perspective and opens the game of NESS 3, this time in the context of algorithms, interfaces, and scrolls. As an augmented version our printed issue, this editorial explores the many-faceted sides of objects as they change shapes and dialogues throughout 2020 but also from print to digital. In the issue we included a quote by the new media theorist Wendy Hui Kyong Chun that says “New media live and die by the update: the end of the update, the end of the object,” but what traces of the object remain as we move online? Join us as we explore this question, more questions and architectures, and reveal glimpses of the publication thought for this online format.
In NESS 3, we compiled an eclectic list of quotes about objects and this is its continuation.
We decided to keep our playful theoretical spirit and reverse the rhetoric of the iconic quiz show Jeopardy by making the answer “What’s an Object?” as the title of this issue’s Dossier.
The subtle extension on the south façade, which adds new interior spaces, made it possible to adapt this almost 300-year-old house in Sarnen, Switzerland, once again to today’s needs.
Located in the northern area of the city, close to its ancient core, the project represents the new gateway to the city, a focal point of the Priel area, hosting public facilities such as the Acquarena municipal swimming pool, and the Vertikale climbing wall.
Designed by DS+R—the firm responsible for the 2009 expansion of Juilliard’s iconic NY home—the Tianjin Juilliard School is a center for performance, practice, research, and interactive exhibitions, with communal spaces that are designed to welcome the public into the creative process and musical performances.
The project consists of a room that can also be used as a psychologist office. A wall, a roof and a gutter that gathers rainwater define the project.
The articulation of two construction systems, one industrial and one handcrafted, defines the character of this periurban dwelling by architect Fabrizio Pugliese, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cosmos is a small house placed nearby Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Jon Lott / Para Project, completes the Brugge Diptych –a temporary pavilion for the 2021 Brugge Triennale, TraumA, Brugge, Belgium. The Diptych will serve as an event space for the Triennale’s programming, addressing issues in urban trauma, and is one of several international commissions open within the city through late Fall.
Ruby City is a 14,000-square-foot contemporary art center located in San Antonio, TX, and dedicated to providing a space for the city’s thriving creative community to experience works by both local and internationally-acclaimed artists.
The exhibition organized by Martino Stierli, Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, and Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator, Department of Architecture and Design highlights a new generation of Chinese architects and their commitment to social and environmental sustainability.
The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is an icon of twentieth-century architecture. Planned and built from 1963 to 1968, the steel and glass structure is the only building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Europe after his emigration to the USA. After almost fifty years of intensive use, the listed building required a comprehensive refurbishment.
The brief responds to the needs of four different families, 14 people in total, that decided to build a second home together. Therefore, multiple and divergent preferences of the different owners are congregated in one single volume.
With a simple but effectively organized floor plan, this cabin located in a privileged natural environment takes advantage of the views and blends in with its surroundings through a robust construction that contrasts the black cedar siding exterior with the white oak forms the interior carpentry.
By incorporating a single large lightweight roof in total contrast to the historic building on which it sits, PRODUCTORA created a new terrace space –in addition to protecting the three existing courtyards from the rain– at this cultural center located in Mexico City.
Seilerlinhart Architekten is an architecture studio based in Lucerne and Sarnen, and was commissioned by Küng Holzbau to design their offices. The four-story building combines tradition and innovation by using finely detailed works.
This home is an exercise of limited resources, in which the reduction of spatial, material and technological solutions allows the maximum flexibility of use.
On the shore of one of the largest lakes in South America, is located this vacation home, with a central courtyard, designed by Chilean architects Guillermo Hevia Garcia and Catalina Poblete.
Spanish office zigzag arquitectura, together with Rodrigo Delso, made the transformation of an old industrial building into the offices of an audiovisual production company in the city of Madrid.
Rotterdam-based architecture firm, studio AAAN, designed a patio house in a new neighborhood in their city
Re-House is the result of the reform of an agricultural house in the 80s for its conversion into a dual home for its owners, an older couple and their daughter.
The new Kunsthaus Zürich extension, designed by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, expands the existing Kunsthaus museum, situated between the Grossmünster church and the university.
Ideally located opposite the “Bird Island” at Préverenges, the new Maison de l’Île aux Oiseaux aims to raise awareness among the public and the region’s schoolchildren of issues around nature protection, the climate and the impact of human activities on the loss of stopover sites for migratory waders.
The São Paulo office Terra e Tuma built a two-room apartment building that seeks to have differential values such as cross ventilation, double facade, privacy and also expansion spaces.
The latest single family house of Montreal´s office Nature Humaine, is located on a steep lot on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. The project, composed of three volumes topped by sculptural roofs with diagonal ridge, takes full advantage of its surroundings through the views and the lighting that floods every space.
Two active exhibitions that address local and global interests while reconciling with their cities heritage.
The building, located in the old town of Badalona, is made up of four flats of 60 m2, with outdoor spaces of patios, terraces and intermediate spaces.
Works realized in North and South America between January 2018 and June 2021 will be eligible for the prize.
Two organizations initiated a daycare for children and an exhibition space, designed by Marazzi Reinhardt and located in the Swiss city of Winterthur.
The iconic department store La Samaritaine in Paris has a new chapter in a history of more than 150 years. The restoration and renovation project results in a mixed-use building that houses a department store, offices, residences, a gallery, a nursery, and a hotel
Rigid geometry and undulating lines fuse in Six Square House, a new residence by Young Projects
The Extension of the MACBA by swiss office Christ & Gantenbein, together with Barcelona-based H Arquitectes will transform Barcelona‘s preeminent cultural institution into a permeable and participative cultural campus.
Located in the historic Orchard Road Neighborhood of Singapore and commissioned by Swire Properties, the 104.5 meters-high building offers a unique response to its location that entwines nature with city apartment living.
Located in Ancram, New York, this barn functions as garage and storage space but also as a semi-covered recreation area with beautiful views of the landscape.
The monumental Gare Maritime on the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels has been transformed into a new city district by Neutelings Riedijk Architects in cooperation with Bureau Bouwtechniek. Once Europe’s largest railway station for goods, Gare Maritime is now turned into an inspiring place for companies, ranging from start-ups to renowned brands, and a public space for all kind of events.
The house, composed of three volumes defined by a concrete base and wooden elevations, opens to the surrounding landscape of Lake Michigan.
MAD’s Second Hutong Bubble emerges out of one of Beijing’s historic neighborhoods. This project is part of an ongoing investigation of the office whose objective is to give new life to the historical centers.
Using pre-cast concrete elements, Santiago and Los Angeles-based office FAR frohn&rojas, design a 6-story building in Berlin housing live/work ateliers.
Joint building ventures are a good innovation: a number of occupants band together to collectively acquire a property to execute a design according to their common interests but these can vary widely. Most joint building ventures simply want good-quality and affordable housing. Others want to jointly establish commercial and creative areas. The task of JWA was to design a building for a joint building venture composed of various social-democratic institutions, their roots stretching back over decades, indeed in part over centuries.
Inspired by a forest, Suzuko Yamada designed this very complex house in Tokyo, which has a scaffolding-like metal structure on the outside and wood on the inside.
Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects won the competition to transform two brick warehouses into the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art. The intervention preserved the spirit of the original building, but the addition of a new golden roof generates a whole new contemporary dimension.
The archetype of a house is combined with low-cost construction for a sustainable dwelling in Germany, resulting in a project of great spatiality, constructive simplicity and extreme care in the details.
On the historic campus of Franklin & Marshall College, the new Winter Visual Arts Building takes shape as a raised pavilion formed by the site’s 200-year old trees, the oldest elements of the campus. A new campus destination for all students, the building’s spaces aim to evoke the creative energy involved in teaching and making art.
London-based architects Nex- unveil a new restaurant and roof garden in Chelsea’s Duke of York Square. Designed for Cadogan, the building forms the final element in the redevelopment of the square.