source: nysun
One of New York’s most synergistic and urbanistically conversant buildings is going up on Cooper Square. Though the new structure contains laboratories, studios, and classrooms to accommodate the art, architecture, and engineering programs at Cooper Union, it’s hardly academic. It also represents the stunning New York debut of its architect, Thom Mayne, a 64-year-old Pritzker Prize laureate who is the principal of the Los Angeles firm Morphosis.

MIXING IT UP The Cooper Union Building for the Advancement of Science and Art will open in February 2009, coinciding with Cooper Union’s 150th anniversary.

“It’s not a one-idea building,” Mr. Mayne said during a recent interview at his New York office. “The easy ones are just one big idea — you look at it and get it. This building is much more complicated.”

With ground broken and construction underway, the $130 million building’s opening will coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in February 2009. With a scale similar to the nearby 1859 Foundation Building, it faces Third Avenue between 6th and 7th streets, its glassy back facing the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on Taras Shevchenko Place. Many in the Ukrainian community were initially opposed to nine floors replacing the drab, two-story 1912 Hewitt Building, but the renderings showed the structure to have such lightness, permeability, and transparency that the community eventually surrendered to it, amicably.

A sneak peak of what’s to come from renderings expose a playful, quirky façade of glass and perforated metal skin that changes throughout the day. The building senses sunlight and adjusts the interior climate. The porous panels, which can also be controlled by students and teachers in classrooms, were modeled after the mechanical screens that have worked so well at Morphosis’s previous project, a California Department of Transportation district headquarters in Los Angeles. The lovely luster of the Cooper Union building offers a contrast to the dull bricks of the surrounding 19th-century buildings (although there are soaring glass neighbors — Charles Gwathmey’s condominium tower on Astor Place and the upcoming Cooper Square Hotel one block south).

The ground floor of the soon-to-rise university building, dedicated to community retail space, is set back from the street; the rest of the building is hoisted atop V-shaped pillars and appears to float. The dynamic façade caves in and features a glorious gash revealing the building’s most arresting feature: a curvaceous atrium. The architect refers to it as a “stacked vertical piazza,” and the atrium swirls all the way up to the skylit ceiling.

There’s a sinuous grand staircase, but sky bridges crisscross above. Sure, there are elevators, but they only stop on the 4th and 7th floors, where there are lounges and meeting areas. “It produces interactions so that three departments are all mingling together,” the architect said. “It’s going to promote lots of activity.”

Mr. Mayne, who teaches architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles, has already designed other academic buildings — his most famous being the breakthrough Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, Calif. A fragmented building that feels like a futuristic playground, it’s quite simply the coolest place to be for acne-ridden adolescents. The building was used in several big-screen films, including “The Cell.”

For the high school, and as a starting point for all of his projects, Mr. Mayne said he asks himself the question: “How does our work challenge existing paradigms and expand ideas of what architecture is and isn’t?”

His process thrives on context — he is always thinking in terms of connective tissue, so that his buildings’ boundaries reach well beyond their physical sites and allow the cityscape to seep in.

“I’m not a tabula rasa type,” Mr. Mayne said. “In some ways, the more constraints I have, the work is more interesting to me. I think some of our best work has been with projects that come with complicated conditions.”

Mr. Mayne, who spent most of his career in Los Angeles, said he identifies strongly with New York, where he now resides. “New York is this cacophony — a collection of radical differences, an agreement of non sequiturs.” Mr. Mayne, who’s as good with words as he is with buildings, said. “The diversity and intensity are startling.”

The energy of the Cooper Union structure, he said, should spill out into the streets. “One of the things about working here in New York is that you want to be one of the people that mixes up the status quo, and it’s an incredible challenge,” he said. “We want to hit all the right notes precisely because it’s our first building here.”
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source: designmagazincz

Město New York se může pochlubit novou pozoruhodnou architekturou. Brzy se totiž otevře nová univerzitní budova Cooper Union, kterou s chladně kovovou rozervanou fasádou navrhlo studio Morphosis. Devítipatrová budova ukrývá posluchárny, galerii, laboratoře i administrativní a počítačové centrum.

Držitel prestižního ocenění Pritzker Prize z roku 2005 Thom Mayne se svým losangeleským architektonickým studiem Morphosis, vyhrál v roce 2004 mezinárodní architektonickou soutěž na výstavbu multifunkční univerzitní budovy Union Cooper. Mezi 150 přihlášenými návrhy zaujal nejen pozoruhodným řešením fasády, ale i interiéru.

Dokončovaná budova Cooper Union v New Yorku od Morphosis Dokončovaná budova Cooper Union v New Yorku od Morphosis Dokončovaná budova Cooper Union v New Yorku od Morphosis Dokončovaná budova Cooper Union v New Yorku od Morphosis

Thom Mayne je znám svým chladným technicistním přístupem k architektuře. Návrh univerzitní budovy podepřené několika šikmými sloupy a nabízející přes 16 tisíc metrů čtverečných užitné plochy, působil velmi futuristicky už z exteriéru. Fasádě, která je skleněná a přikrývají jí kvůli chlazení částečně průhledné kovové plátys možností jejich odklopení, dominuje obrovská trhlina skrze celou čelní plochu. Ta je následně zaslepena zlomenou skleněnou stěnou, která rozptyluje světlo do chodeb v interiéru.

Vizualizace budovy Cooper Union z roku 2004 Vizualizace budovy Cooper Union z roku 2004 Vizualizace budovy Cooper Union z roku 2004 Vizualizace budovy Cooper Union z roku 2004

Cooper Union je jedna z nejstarších univerzit ve Spojených státech amerických. Budova je navržena tak, že i fasáda odráží více jak 150 let starou myšlenu otevření vzdělání pro všechny. Stejně jako exteriér je dost otevřený i interiér plný ocelových konstrukcí a skla. Na dvou podzemních a devíti nadzemních patrech najdeme velkou posluchárnu až pro 200 lidí, malé posluchárny, komunitní a administrativní prostory, počítačové centrum, výstavní galerie a několik malých obchodů. Celou budovou se pak jako ústřední prvek táhne různě vlnité široké schodiště, které by mělo být využíváno více než výtahy.

Architekti se soustředili na propojení objektu s okolím a přízemí proto zpřístupnili široké veřejnosti. Novostavba by měla být podle propočtů a použitých technologií poměrně ekologicky nenáročná. Dokončení budovy se nejprve plánovalo na rok 2008, ale to se muselo z více důvodů posunout. Budova je nyní téměř dokončena a její otevření je plánováno na několik příštích měsíců.
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source: archiportale

Il 15 settembre scorso ha ufficialmente aperto le porte a New York “41 Cooper Square”, la nuova sede dell’università statunitense “Cooper Union” progettata dall’architetto Thom Mayne dello studio Morphosis. La nuova struttura ospita la facoltà di ingegneria nonché ampi spazi per le facoltà di Scienze sociali ed umanistiche, di Architettura e dell’Accademia delle belle Arti.

“Internamente – spiegano dallo studio Morphosis – l’edificio è concepito come mezzo per incoraggiare la collaborazione e la comunicazione interdisciplinare fra i tre dipartimenti universitari precedentemente ospitati in strutture differenti”.

Il nuovo campus è un edificio di nove piani articolato attorno ad un atrio centrale, illuminato da un lucernario, che si sviluppa per l’intera altezza dell’edificio ed è attraversato da passerelle che collegano l’edificio alla Third Avenue. Un involucro reticolare racchiude la scala principale che si estende sino al quarto piano attraversando l’atrio centrale.
Il cuore sociale del “campus verticale” è una piazza verticale, uno spazio centrale creato per uno scambio informale di tipo intellettuale e creativo.
Gli spazi istituzionali principali – sale convegni, spazi dio aggregazione, aule per i seminari e sale computer – sono sistemati nelle sky lobby che circondano l’atrio centrale al quarto e all’ottavo piano.

In armonia con l’idea di istituzione orientata ad un tipo di educazione aperta e facilmente accessibile, l’edificio stesso risulta simbolicamente aperto alla città. L’involucro semi-trasparente consente infatti una “permeabilità” visiva della struttura che rende più facile l’integrazione del campus nel quartiere urbano. La trasparenza della facciata esterna consente infatti ai passanti e al vicinato di osservare le attività che si svolgono all’interno. Molte funzioni pubbliche sono collocate al pian terreno; tra queste anche una galleria espositiva ed un auditorium per 200 posti a sedere.

La struttura è inoltre esempio di architettura sostenibile. Con una efficienza energetica pari al 40% in più rispetto ad un edificio standard della stessa categoria, 41 Cooper Square è il primo edificio accademico newyorkese ad ottenere la certificazione americana LEED.
La “doppia pelle” in vetro e acciaio migliora le prestazioni dell’edificio attraverso il controllo della luce solare, dell’energia e della ventilazione naturale.
I pannelli perforati in acciaio che disegnano la pelle dell’edificio insieme al vetro e all’alluminio contribuiscono a ridurre la propagazione di calore durante i mesi estivi e ad isolare gli spazi interni durante l’inverno.
L’atrio centrale a tutt’altezza facilità la circolazione d’aria e consente l’illuminazione naturale degli spazi interni. Il 75% degli spazi utilizzati è illuminato naturalmente.
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source: archiru

Его автор, калифорнийский архитектор Том Мейн, глава бюро “Морфозис”, отдал в нем главную роль общественным пространствам, местам общения и взаимодействия студентов. Его подход заключается в том, чтобы наполнить энергией традиционно закрытый и тихий мир академической науки. Внешние стены девятиэтажного здания стоимостью $105 млн. будут состоять из стеклянных панелей, чередующихся с перфорированными металлическими пластинами, которые можно приоткрывать, регулируя доступ света. Это особенно актуально, так как в здании, в основном, расположатся художественные мастерские и технические лаборатории. Панели, зафиксированные под разными углами, придадут фасаду еще большую энергичность. Первый этаж займут магазины, которые свяжут сооружение с жизнью улиц Нью-Йорка. Также ориентирована на активное взаимодействие с окружающей застройкой и сама форма здания: мягкие, слегка изогнутые контуры сочетаются с оригинальными приемами, такими, как обширная ниша на главном фасаде, отмечающая место расположения атриума. В то же время, размеры постройки согласованы с соседними зданиями.Огромные стеклянные окна вестибюля и атриума свяжут внутреннее пространство учебного корпуса с пространством города снаружи.