GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

Urban Office Architecture

THE HELSINKI GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM                                                                                                                               

THE INVERTED COURTYARD = VIEWS THROUGH

The Concept for the Helsinki Guggenheim Museum departs from the idea of the traditional museum courtyard type. By rotating the typological court 90 degrees , the Guggenheim acts as a Framing Device which integrates Helsinki  Skyline within the Form of the Building. Its aim is to connect with the physical landscape and operate as a testing ground for artists, architects and designers, as it provides unique opportunities to create overlapping installations against the surrounding architecture. The Museum is thus present on the  Bay front as both an memorable shaped architecture as well as a porous interface, allowing views to and through from all points surrounding it.

G- SHAPED = OPEN AND CLOSED TERRACES

By adding a third supporting bay to the Inverted Courtyard, the building achieves both a covered deck as well as an open-air terrace. This promotes the greatest possible number of events and public activities. Especially focused on the mission to provide a venue for Nordic Design and Architecture, the open air courtyard is meant to allow for a showing stage that will expose installations to the local weather. The covered stage will be used by those shows which require some protection from rain and snow such as concerts, sculptures and outdoor theatre. The Building can be seen from across the bay as a symbolic flipped “G”, both symbolic for its Institution and Iconic for the city of Helsinki.

MAXIMUM SPACE = MAXIMUM LIGHT

The Building shape is further defined by adapting to the importance of Natural Daylight (both direct sunlight and overcast weather) as exterior surfaces are being slanted to allow for Solar exposure. Skylights are created to permit indirect uniform natural light to the top floor Main Galleries, while large high efficiency glass reflective surfaces are located towards the bay to permit light bounce and views towards the water.

URBAN INTEGRATION = ICONIC FRAMING

Taking into special consideration the importance of the Park views, the building shape and angled surfaces are further defined by the alignment with the Main and Usbenski Cathedrals so that their view is both perceived and framed via the Guggenheim vertical courtyards from the elevated view of the park.

EXHIBITION DESIGN = FOCUS ON  UNREPEATABILITY

Inside the spaces fully exploit the three-dimensionality of the vertical and horizontal structure creating dramatic and innovative opportunities to envision ne  The Museum is thought as a provoking  counterpart to traditional exhibition design.  Featuring a combination of interactive glass, Nordic wood and plaster the spaces are in tune with Finnish avant-garde and technology driven life. It is expected that a fully customized digital environment will be designed in collaboration with the museum during the final design stages.

Conceived as a series of angular planes, the interior path is both linear and organic, offering a variety of options to circulate and explore. Stairs, escalators elevators and ramp-like planes allow visitors to dictate how to view the spaces, recreating at each visit a new experience.


Urban Office Architecture
Carlo Enzo, Principal Architect
Massimo Marinelli, Principal Architect
Team:
Wamaris Rosario
Xia Fan
Arash Fattahi
Emre Goktay

Simge Gungor

AVIATOR'S VILLA

Aviator's Villa
Named a "Top Modern Home" and "Best Modern Villa" by Architecture and Design Magazine ["...Awesome House With Unique Astonishing Design...], published in over 100 hundred magazines, books and blogs, including Designboom, Curbed, A AS Architecture, Morphae and Inhabitat, UOA's Aviator's Villa is definitely the quintessential Modern House Retreat.
This project explores the idea of flight as a powerful motivator for architectural darings.
The house, designed for a retired Pilot, the Aviator, is organized as an analogical continuum of dis-assembled flight components. Similarly to how the “Air Body” wraps an airplane all around, and completely, so is the House “exposed” to air on all its sides, in an orbital fashion.

The House, sited on a hilly parcel next to a small lake in the New York area of Duchess County, plays on the concept of being fully surrounded by water as well, as the swimming pool to the south side of the house mirrors the water body of the lake on the north side. The Architecture is thus imagined as a floating piece between two water bodies and fully surrounded by air.

Similarly to how a plane would steer and point through currents, simultaneously aimed at its destination and navigating the prevalent currents, the House turns and torques to face both the sky, the surrounding views and the waters. The House looks south, north and west predominantly. Articulated as a vertically extending volume and a cantilevered prow, the main house is oriented to allow maximum daylight in. Large open glazed panes are mounted on riveted metal frames, further screened by perforated metal paneling or brise soleils. These elements are meant to replicate the texture of clouds of one plane fending through the skies, while mitigating the high sun rays and producing soothing shadows within the home interiors.

The house is thus designed as a minimal sequence of three primary spaces: the large 30 feet tall living/study and kitchen/dining area, the cantilevered 40 feet bedroom, and the Library. This last floating volume is imagined a “Memory Box”. Accessible only through and directly from the Bedroom, the Library is thought both of as a container of memorabilia of the Owner’s past, as well as a space for reflection and study. Its large window opening faces the wooded areas outside, while a more secluded area in the rear is lit by a zenithal skylight whose view is directed to the cantilevered volume of the bedroom above.

The house for an airplane pilot (the aviator) is both expressive and simple in its architectural morphology. A series of hidden spaces are tucked between the two main spaces and are revealed through the monumental circulatory staircase ascending to the bedroom at the top. The path through the house rooms is articulated via a sequence of programmatic functions: living, bath, sleeping and studying. This sequence is imagined vertically and one- directionally, inviting the Owner to follow a disciplined and timed journey through the house. In some way the arrival at the upper level bedroom and sitting room is viewed as a daily final retreat, a long lasting time which won’t require the descent back into the lower floor kitchen and living room. Spaces are meant to be lived independently and uniquely, as a counterpart to standard living where all spaces are directly adjacent.

Credits:
Urban Office Architecture
Carlo Enzo, Principal Architect

Team:
Wamaris Rosario
Morteza Ramezani

Contact:
Urban Office Architecture
Carlo Enzo
66 west broadway suite 306, New York, NY 10007
Email: uoa@uoa-architecture.com
www.urbanofficearchitecture.com