STEEL FRAME

Steel frame assembled at Kullman in Lebanon, NJ

RADIANT FLOOR

Radiant floor tubing installed

FLOOR AND ROOF SIPS

Concrete floor and roof SIPs installed

WALL SIPS

Wall and parapet SIPs installed

INTERIOR FINISHES

Interior constructed. Finishes completed

DOORS AND SHADES

Curtains, sliding glass doors and Eclipsis System (insulating panels, and shutter shades installed)

PV PANELS

Photovoltaic panels (PVs) installed

DECK AND LANDSCAPE

Deck and landscape assembled on site

PLAN (CLOSED)

LUMENHAUS features an 800-square-foot, open floor plan meant to be oriented with the entry facing north. The pavilion plan is completely open with a bathroom core providing a barrier between public and private space. When the glass doors and the Eclipsis System is closed, the owner can nestle in the naturally lit space.

PLAN (OPEN)

Covering the glass doors is the Eclipsis System, comprising two independent sliding layers that operate automatically to maximize energy efficiency. These screens can be closed even if the glass doors are open so the house receives fresh air while blocking out unwanted hot direct light in the summer. When the doors and screen are both completely opened, interior and exterior meld into a seamless transition, delivering a rich transparency of space.

DETAIL SECTION

This detailed section shows LUMENHAUS’s many sliding layers, from the outside in. All layers operate completely independently of each other, permitting multiple potential combinations according to energy efficiency and homeowner mood.
1. Shutter Shade, part of the Eclipsis System. Redefining the traditional shutter as a spatial element and a technological component. The mechanical pattern is generated by an algorithm to simulate mini solar eclipses. Different sized circles are cut out of long-lasting stainless steel with a laser, and then bent forwards and backwards into tabs of different angles, tailored to the location of the screen on the house and site-specific requirements for optimal sunlight dispersion and privacy. When it is closed, its design will be cast into the house as a light-and-shadow pattern to intensify and enrich the space.
2. Insulating Panel, part of the Eclipsis System. A translucent polycarbonate panel filled with Nanogel, a translucent aerogel that is highly insulating, protects LUMENHAUS in inclement weather conditions. The insulating panel also holds light literally and phenomenally, symbolically radiating back the energy collected during the day through a low-energy LED lighting system embedded in the screens.
3. Sliding bug screens keep unwanted insects out of the house.
4. Sliding glass doors. Two full walls of glass maximize the amount of natural light that fills the house during the day. The doors can be opened independently of the Eclipsis System, allowing fresh air to filter through the house without harming energy efficiency.
5. Sliding muslin curtains provide an additional layer of beauty and privacy.

SHUTTER SHADE ELEVATIONS

South Façade. The south façade’s Shutter Shade perforations are designed to block direct sunlight while maintaining views to the exterior and privacy to those inside.
North Façade. The north façade’s Shutter Shade perforations are designed in a more porous fashion to allow more indirect, natural sunlight into the house while maintaining views to the exterior and privacy to those inside.

Service design

Service design is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between service provider and customers. The purpose of service design methodologies is to design according to the needs of customers or participants, so that the service is user-friendly, competitive and relevant to the customers. The backbone of this process is to understand the behavior of the customers, their needs and motivations. Service designers draw on the methodologies of fields such as ethnography and journalism to gather customer insights through interviews and by shadowing service users. Many observations are synthesized to generate concepts and ideas that are typically portrayed visually, for example in sketches or service prototypes. Service design may inform changes to an existing service or creation of new services.

RENZO PIANO

Pedregal Shopping Center by Pascal Arquitectos

This project comes to set a new architectural statement in the Pedregal area of Mexico City which has been neglected, because nothing new and important had happened since its beginings when “Cuidad Universitaria” was built. Nowadays the real-estate pressure and the need of services are beginning to promote significant changes.

The way that this building relates with its context, is by breaking up with what is common to the zone, which are big houses in big areas surrounded by very high stone walls which do not let anybody know what is happening outside and vice versa.

This goal is achieved with the main facade that consists of two elements: one of them linen with a zinc plate with large irregular perforations to which a different shades of yellow and translucent laminated glass section is inlay. It allows the view of the interior event from the outisde, and at the same time allowing the view of the exterior event from the inside; in such way the public social spaces mix and the limits within the urban and the private become frontiers.

The project consists of two commercial levels and a roof garden and two underground parking levels.
Mobility impaired individuals access and areas are included: ramps, special parking spaces, elevators, etc.; car reception area at the entrance and the exit to avoid parking in the public way, numerous garden areas, including the roof; car delivery zone inside the first parking basement floor.

This is a sustainable and intelligent development project with an automation and control system that contemplates passive and active energy saving resources: lighting and extraction control, opening and closing façade rolling doors, air conditioning, security and control access, prevention signage, CCTV, all of them scheduled and synchronized.

The main facade consists of two elements: one is covered with a zinc plate with large irregular perforations, the other one is a laminated glass box with different shades of yellow and translucentness.

The jail in future

What is the relationship of art to nature?

Throughout history nature has acted as inspiration and subject matter for artists and designers.


The Golden Ratio

Perhaps the most important link between nature and art is the concept of The Golden Ratio.
The Golden Ratio is a number aproximately equal to 1.618 and is derived from forms found throughout nature. It relates to geometry, art, architecture and many other fields.
It began during the Renaissance in literature written about aesthetics and it is here that the concept was developed. Since this many artists and designers have used the golden ratio in aspects of their work as they believe it makes the most beautiful and visually pleasing shapes.

It appears in many buildings and works of art. Perhaps the best architectural example of this is The Parthenon in Rome.

Mountain Biker’s Paradise

Proposed by design firm Philip Modest Schambelan + Anton Fromm, Hiding in Triangles is a new hotel for bike enthusiasts that clings to the side of a mountain. Located approximately 500 meters above the northern tip of Lake Garda, Italy, the hotel seeks to attract extreme sports enthusiasts visiting the Alps.
While there are no stairs to get inside, the hotel is accessible on every floor by a series of angled ramps that flow off of the natural curve of the mountainside and into different parts of the hotel.