hanrahan Meyers architects BLOG

Bridge-House / Studio: In ConstructionJoe Amrhein and Susan Swenson, Artist Studio design; green design; Easton PA

hanrahan Meyers architects are pleased to present photographs of their new Amrhein-Swenson studio, or 'Bridge-House'.  Bridge-House is a new artist studio building designed for artist couple Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson.  Bridge-House will house a painting studio for Joe on the East side, and a writing studio for Susan on the west.  Bridge-House features a breezeway in the center, between the two studios, with an outdoor fireplace.  The new studio is entered by walking up a bridge, into the open breezeway, overlooking the Delaware River, approximately 100 feet below the edge of the site.

front view : Amrhein-Swenson Studio in construction

The outdoor filreplace hearth houses a flue for a second fireplace in Susan's writing studio, and for a third fireplace, in the open outdoor area below the 'Bridge'.  In addition to producing their own bodies of work, Joe and Susan own Pierogi Gallery in Williamsburg, New York, and regularly entertain artists from their New York gallery at their home in Pennsylvania. The couple's desire for an appropriate setting to entertain artist friends created part of the program for the new studio building. For more about 'Bridge-House', visit hMa's website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com, under 'New and in Progress'. 

Bridge-House by hanrahan Meyers architects : in construction January 2010

  view through breezeway looking out toward the Delaware River

 

New Buildings by hMaBattery Park City Community Center; Infinity Chapel NY; Won Buddhist Center; Green Design; Campus Design; Masterplan Architects

In Construction : New Buildings by hMa

hanrahan Meyers architects are pleased to announce the upcoming openings of three projects currently in construction. Infinity Chapel is scheduled for completion, and will be officially opening to the public this Spring, 2010.  The Won Buddhist Retreat is scheduled for completion in 2011. The Battery Park City Community Center is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Battery Park City Community Center : aerial view, construction progress shown at right

  Infinity Chapel : Chapel view, in construction at right 

  Won Buddhist Center : Meditation Hall and Administration Buildings, construction progress shown at right

Battery Park City Community Center is on target to earn a Platinum LEED certification – the highest level certification for Green construction.  The Buddhist Retreat will include five new wood-frame buildings, including five courtyard buildings with linked ‘infinity’ shaped diagrams.

Infinity Chapel will feature a unique exposition of glass surfaces and light, as well as wood insertions from Miya Shoji, wood artisans.  Infinity Chapel is located at 171 MacDougal Street in Lower Manhattan.  Visitors will be welcome to stop by, after March 15, 2010.

We look forward to seeing friends and colleagues at the openings of all three buildings!

  Won Buddhist Center : view of Permanent Residence (left) and view of site from Permanent Residence

Won Buddhist Training Center : Construction Photographscampus master plan; master plan design; won buddhist retreat; buddhist retreat design

 view of site in Claverack, NY: Administration Building on the left, Meditation Hall on the right

The Won Buddhist Training Center in Claverack, New York designed by hanrahan Meyers architects includes five buildings. A Meditation Hall;  Administrative Building;  and three Residential courtyard buildings.

The Administrative building and the residential buildings are complex courtyard shapes, with openings placed to incorporate maximum views and solar gain.  The Residential buildings are built with a complex circulation diagram that allows maximum circulation from courtyard to courtyard, in the shape of an infinity sign, or klein bottle.  This complex circulation from courtyard to courtyard allows a continuous circulation loop as a programmatic consideration.  The Buddhists practice walking meditation, and the formal qualities of infinity signs and klein bottle shapes allow that circulation to proceed indefinately.

  view of Administration Building (l) and Medititation Hall (r)

The Meditation Hall is the first and most prominent building in the compound to greet Visitors to the new Retreat. A 6,000 square foot plaza in front of Meditation forms a formal area for gathering, and establishes the main public outdoor space in the compound.  The courtyard is bounded by Administration to the east, Meditation to the north, opening toward Visitors approaching the site from the south.  The western edge of the courtyard opens toward the major view from the site, looking toward mountains in the background.  The buildings are designed as minimalist boxes, using natural local woods, so that the landscape becomes the main focus.

site view : Administration Building and Meditation Hall

Visitors enter the project site @ a formal entry gate located approximately 3,000 feet southwest of the Meditation Courtyard.  Driving northeast, Visitors pass through various formal landscapes developed by hMa, including tree grids, and natural water features.  Midway up the hill to the Meditation Hall site, Visitors will reach a small parking area.  All cars are left here, and Visitors will walk or be transported by staff to the public buildings / Residential Halls. 

  Won Buddhist Training Center : Meditation Hall

The site is over 700 acres.  In addition to developing the architectural designs for the buildings, hMa designed an overall campus plan for the site including walking paths, site drainage incorporating natural water features, planted areas, courtyards, and carefully placed low lighting. Won Buddhists are a Korean sect of Buddhism, and the clients are from Korea.  hMa tried to incorporate the Won Buddhists regard for the Natural realm into the design of the site and the buildings.

  Administration Building

Site plan / master planning considerations included energy efficiency. An 8,000 square foot area on the site, just East of the Permanent Residential building, is developed for future PV Panel installation. 

  Interior view : Administration Building

All construction is timber frame, using local materials and local labour.  Site disturbance was kept to a minimum. 

  Interior view : Administration Building

Whereas the site encompasses over 700 acres, the architects were given a maximum buildable area of just 250 acres for siting the new buildings.  The rest of the site is left untouched, as a Nature Sanctuary.  hMa sited all buildings in a small area that was elevated sufficiently to maximize views toward mountains to the west.  The siting also places buildings as far as possible from the public road to maximize the Retreat's privacy. The new Campus covers around 1/40th of the available area for building, minimizing the overall construction footprint.

  Administration Building

Simple wood-framed buildings were designed to be least intrusive on a beautiful, naturally wooded site.

  view from Administration Building

Final buildings will have natural wood finishes.  The residential buildings and the Administrative Hall will have pitched roofs with wood shingles.  The Meditation Hall will have a flat roof, and take a more abstract cube form, to denote its special status as the most important public building in the compound. all buildings will be clad with simple tongue-in-grove natural finish cedar.

  site view : Meditation Hall

All buildings include wood screens that help fuse the buildings to the landscape - creating a sensibilty of trees around the buildings.  The screens are an important sustainable design feature - acting as sun screens on hot summer days, and allowing maximum light penetration in winter.  The details of the buildings is minimalist, so that the main focus of the project will be the wood materials and the site.

Click here to read about and view more photographs and renderings of the Won Buddhist Training Center on hanrahanMeyers.com

The Education of the Architect: Bio-morphism vs. Anthropomorphism

Holley House by hanrahan Meyers architects: bio-morphic design: bringing outside inside and using glass to connect interior to the exterior space. built using sustainable, local materials and minimalist design

ON THE EDUCATION OF THE ARCHITECT

This past December I sat on juries at a few different schools of architecture, a bi-annual rite of passage that happens across the country in December and again in May.  For those who never studied architecture, this bi-annual event is a time of maximum anticipation and anxiety for students of architecture, when they are all required to withstand the rigours of a ritual not unlike defending a Ph.D.

After a full semester of sorting through issues of an investigation set by a studio critic - either a life-long academician, or a practicing architect who has chosen to return to academia for a semester or two of intellectual renewal -  students are required to draw up a building based on a program and site, and defend their designs.  Inevitably, after visiting these reviews, visitors leave with a profound appreciation for a younger generation of architects coming through the ranks.

As I visited various programs and studios, what struck me was the work of one student who had chosen a highly anthropomorphic language of design.  For me it was a non-starter from the get-go, and I had to recuse myself from the discussion.

  left: a biomorphic airplane design; right: Philip Johnson's AT&T Building in midtown Manhattan

For me, anthropomorphism in design (not to be confused with bio-morphism - an area of research that hMa endorses and pursues in their work) is akin to religious fundamentalism.  That sort of design takes me back to Post-Modernism and its worst sins against intelligent design.

I started my practice in architecture as an engineer, after growing up reading and believing the writings of Frank Lloyd Wright, my hero.  I had the fortune or handicap of knowing who and what I wanted to do and be from the time I could speak.  I announced that I was going to be 'an architect' by the time I was 5 years old. I collected and read through the writings of Wright, the most famous architect when I was growing up, and it was through Wright that I determined how I would pursue my architectural education.  Wright never went to architecture school but instead graduated from an engineering program because he was convinced that schools of architecture were places of brain-washing, and not very good at educating future architects.  Following in Wright's footsteps, my undergraduate degree was in Civil Engineering / Art History. 

Which takes me back to my experience at the recent reviews and my reaction to that anthropomorphic project.

  left: Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, a building floated over water
right: hanrahan Meyers architects' Pratt Design Center, a building floated over the lobby below

For me,  the strongest educational stance a student in architecture can take today is to leave the architecture studio, walk over to the engineering quad, and engage the engineers in a discourse around materiality, energy use, and ways that we might envision taking architecture toward a future that is moving -  much like the car industry - toward a model based less on hype and fashion -  and more on a maximization of sustainable techniques for energy use and materiality. 

Whereas hMa will always support the intelligence of bio-morphic design - we oppose academic fashions whenever they rear their ugly heads and take charge of the field of architecture.  When the academicians rule, there is no longer an appreciation for intelligent areas of investigation.  Architects can and must lead the way into a sustainable future.  This is my advice to the architecture students of today.  Read widely, experience the world first-hand, and design environments that respect our limited resources.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Best Wishes for 2010!

  hMa's Infinity Chapel is currently under construction in New York, NY click here to view more photos of Infinity Chapel on hanrahanmeyers.com

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Happy Holidays from hanrahanMeyers architects.  2009 has marked a very successful year for hMa.  In 2009 hMa had more projects in construction than we've ever had in one year.  hMa broke ground on the new Buddhist Training Center in Claverack, New York in November.  The Won Buddhist Training Center is a remarkable project where hMa designed five buildings, including residential halls, a Meditation Hall, and a 200-acre landscaped campus.  Battery Park City Community Center is in construction, and scheduled to be complete in 2011 with a Platinum LEED rating, the highest Green rating available. Infinity Chapel, featured above, is a 10,000 square foot chapel scheduled for completion in February 2010. We hope to see you at the opening for the Infinity Chapel.  Best wishes from hMa for 2010!

 

ONLINE

Fans and Friends can now follow hMa on Facebook and Twitter!

www.facebook.com/hanrahanmeyers

www.twitter.com/hanrahanmeyers

Holley House and Battery Park City Community Center featured on www.designitgreener.com
Ash 4 Ways featured on www.apartmenttherapy.com
Holley House on www.houzz.com
Victoria Meyers featured in BuildBLOG's Women Making an Impact Series www.blog.buildllc.com
Pratt Pavilion on Architect WORLD
Visit an interactive floorplan of hMa's Holley House on Wallpaper*.com
http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/holley-house-new-york/2622

 

ON AIR

In September 2009, Victoria Meyers was interviewed for Art on Air Radio
http://blog.hanrahanmeyers.com/2009/09/artonair_corwin_meyerstst.html

 

IN PRINT

Pratt Pavilion in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture

Pratt Pavilion in 101 Cool Buildings by Richard McMillan

Holley House, Pratt Pavilion, WaveLine and Ash 4 Ways in Architecture Highlights 2 published by Shanglin A&C Ltd.

 

IN CONSTRUCTION

Won Buddhist Retreat

Infinity Chapel

Battery Park City Community Center

Singer Residence, Florida

 

VISIT US

View hMa’s body of work on our website : www.hanrahanMeyers.com
Keep up with hMa’s current events with our blogs:  www.blog.hanrahanMeyers.com and www.culturalconversations.com

Holley House: An hMa 'roman a clef', featuring Holley House

It was winter - nearly christmas -  and he still had made no decisions about whether or not he would be visiting Moscow in January.  His friends were impatient - but he just could not decide.

In the meantime, there was plenty to do here, gathering wood, getting the house ready for the holidays...

  Holley House:  view looking south, toward the living room pavilion.  In winter, the house features two stone fireplaces: one in the living room, and a second in the master bedroom.  For decision making, there's nothing better than a walk in the woods, followed by time by the fire. 

To see more views of the Holley House in Garrison, New York, visit our website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com.

hanrahan Meyers architects: Architecture and Nature, featuring Natural LightNew York Architects; Modern Minimalist Design; Natural Architecture; Green Architecture

hMa: hanrahan Meyers architects
hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) believe that abstract and minimal form is part of an ongoing transformation of design as a global practice of universal forms, as well as a local practice that values essential human experience by accomplishing the most with the least means.

Architecture and Nature
hMa’s architecture of abstract and minimal form is open and sympathetic to nature, as well as revealing of nature. It is open to nature by allowing natural spaces and materials to come into buildings. It also reveals nature by contrast, where the single architectural gesture frames complex topographies and views. In this way, the architecture of hMa both absorbs and measures nature.

Holley House, Garrison NY, 2006

Trajectories
These two statements place hMa in the school of designers and artists who conceptually integrate art, architecture and nature by means of essential forms and experiences, including such figures as Carl Andre, Mies Van Der Rohe and John Cage. This conceptual integration is a complex cultural phenomenon belied by the simplicity of forms that are employed, relying both on the invented and the found, the new and the contextual, and the abstract and the natural.

hMa has teamed with artists on several projects. Composer Michael Schumacher and sculptor David Teeple have been in-house consultants on a number of hMa projects. For hMa’s new Community Center adjacent to Ground Zero, Michael Schumacher composed the composition, ‘Birdsong’, that establishes the formal language for a ‘frit’ pattern that will go on the glass façade of the building. David Teeple’s sculptural vision was part of the formal discussion both for Holley House, as well as Dune House (currently in design). hMa has served as an ongoing advisor to Mark di Suvero and Socrates Sculpture Park.

hMa’s value that they place on abstraction in their architecture is exemplified by their design of the Holley Loft in Manhattan, featured in MoMA’s ‘Un-Private House’ show. Holley Loft was included as a demonstration of hMa’s concept of ‘liberated living’. The Holley House in Garrison, New York is their second commission for the same client and is the rural counterpart to the urban loft.

Ecological Form
By integrating nature and minimalism into their work, hMa accomplishes the most with the least means: extensive natural light, buildings set into topography, renewable energy sources and local materials . hMa’s practice began when partners Victoria Meyers and Thomas Hanrahan came to international attention after designing the winning entry in the design competition for Chattanooga Nature Interpretive Center. hMa’s winning entry was arguably the first ecologically designed museum in the world, and set the tone for their practice and their ongoing dialogue between nature, art, and minimalism.

Office Research
Research by hMa include investigations into sound and sound waves (WaveLine; Ojai Festival Shell); research into techniques for stone wall construction (Holley House); research into vision and sight as they relate to formal constructions (See-Thru House); research into light and shadow to coordinate the placement of architectural program in space (Queens Museum of Art; Won Buddhist Retreat); Research into the fabrication of sound waves into visual patterns in order to allow visitors to inhabit sound, visually (Battery Park City Community Center); Research into the development of pre-stressed and failed materials in the design of a dwelling (Dune House); Research into the use of pre-fabricated elements to create dwelling (Pre-Fab House). The firm’s researches into these areas are in the process of being collected for hMa’s next book.

Natural Light

Light is a special focus of hMa research. hMa published the firm's research into Natural Light in 2006 with their book 'designing with light'.  To see a preview of the book, go to the book's website:  www.designingwithlight.us.

hMa is a certified WBE.

White Space/ Ash 4 Ways, NYC, 2005

Sculptural and Dynamic Form in ArchitectureArchitecture and Mathematics; Infinity Chapel; WaveLine; Guarino Guarini

  the bent roof of hanrahan Meyers architects' WaveLine in Queens, NY takes inspiration from patterns of sound frequencies click here to view more photos of WaveLine on hanrahanMeyers.com

  the curvilinear forms of the Infinity Chapel by hanrahan Meyers architects are based on a hypercube concept click here to view more photos Infinity Chapel on hanrahanMeyers.com

The influence of mathematics in architecture has varied over time, but its influence can be found in Greek temples laid out as demonstrations of the golden section rectangle.  In medieval Europe, cathedrals were laid out by stonemasons using 'sacred numbers', generating forms according to principals handed down within free-mason families. 

Guarino Guarini, a 17th century mathematician, designed baroque cathedrals using ideas from contemporary mathematics.  His use of the calculus to create baroque forms within cathedral oculi earned Guarini, an Italian monk, a greater place in history than his treatises on descriptive geometry. 

Contemporary architects have taken an interest in forms that defy logic by creating bounded, but infinite spaces.  These interests have resulted in architectural investigations of klein bottles and moebius strips.  Many of the cutting-edge architectural investigations in recent years have incorporated these bounded but infinite forms.

 Guarino Guarini's Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin

hMa's Infinity Chapel was designed as a built example of a square deforming into an infinity sign and a cube deforming into a hypercube.  The square and the cube stood as examples of a more static approach to design;  with the infinity sign, the moebius strip, the klein bottle and the hypercube representing a more active idea about space.  Infinity Chapel is a project that uses these dynamic mathematical forms - deforming through the action of light - to create a unique, sacred space.

The current trend in architecture has been toward sculptural and dynamic forms, similar to the Baroque period.  Contemporary architects including Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid have designed buildings with highly dynamic forms to invoke movement and drama.  Working in that tradition, hMa's Infinity Chapel employs dramatic mathematically based forms and light to embody contemporary ideas from science and mathematics.  

hMa references mathematical forms in their works, using classic formal shapes:  circles, lines, and squares (Light Score;  Holley House;  Inside-Out House);  as well as dynamic forms:  moebius strips, klien bottles, hypercubes and hyperspheres (Infinity Chapel;  Ojai Festival Shell;  WaveLine)  - to construct their projects.  Every hMa project depicts a projection in the physical world of a set of theoretical concepts.  By giving clients physical access to these forms in physical spaces that they occupy on a daily basis, hMa's projects become physical bridges to a cerebral interpretation of Nature and the universe beyond. 

In Construction : Won Buddhist Training Centercampus master plan; buddhist retreat design; modern campus design

hMa is pleased to announce that construction has begun on the Won Buddhist Training Center in Claverack, NY.  The Won Buddhist Center will be a Green campus designed with sensitivity to Nature and issues of Sustainable design.

Here are some current photos of the Won Buddhist Center campus under construction:

Administration Building : Won Buddhist Training Center in construction click here to view all photos of the Won Buddhist Training Center at www.hanrahanmeyers.com
 
  site view from Guest Residence Buildings click here to view all photos of the Won Buddhist Training Center at www.hanrahanmeyers.com

 

 view through office window : Won Buddhist Training Center in construction  click here to view all photos of the Won Buddhist Training Center at www.hanrahanmeyers.com

Victoria Meyers featured on BUILD Blog : "Women Making an Impact"

BUILDblog is a discussion of modern design from the Northwest. It's authored by the team at BUILD LLC who also run a furniture and cabinet shop and keep a modern list of city recommendations.

Victoria Meyers is featured in a November 18th post on BUILDblog as part of their "Women Making an Impact" series.  In this post, the 4th in the series, BUILDblog showcases the work of ten women in architecture creating "hot, forward thinking work."  Other architects in this series include Amanda Levete (UK), Louisa Hutton (Germany), Momoyo Kaijima (Japan), Anne Lacaton (France), Dorte Mandrup (Denmark), Victoria Meyers, E.B. Min (U.S.A.)., Toshiko Mori (U.S.A.), Patricia Patkau (Canada), and Carme Pinos (Spain).

From BUILDblog:

Victoria Meyers, U.S.A.

"Meyers has a good handle on the ‘everything it needs to be and nothing more’ aesthetic and her work hits all the right chords with us.  There is a nice range of challenging projects on her website and she also keeps a blog –big points from team BUILD."

Click here to view the entire post at BUILDblog

Click here to view more of Victoria Meyers' work at hanrahanMeyers.com

 left to right:  Victoria Meyers, JCT Pratt Design Center Pavilion in Brooklyn, NY and Holley House in Garrison, NY by hanrahan Meyers Architects