“Global Ends – Towards the Beginning” will feature site-inspired works located in Tokyo, Melbourne, the Madeira Islands (Portugal), Santiago, Seattle, Singapore and Olot (Spain). This exhibit aims to illustrate the dormant potentials at the “global ends,” from which various new values can emerge. The concept behind Global Ends is to shine a light on architectural practices that are uniquely rooted in local regions, cultures and environments. The exhibit hopes to inspire architects, designers, and individuals to break away from the uniformity brought upon the environment by the Modernist movement and to instead pursue diverse paradigms while questioning their meanings. Global Ends wants to awaken at least one new architectural value that’s both sustainable and able to take hold in the 21st century world of design.
The Toto Gallery MA is a 25 year-old institution located in Tokyo, Japan, led by world-renowned architects Tao Ando, Waro Kishi, Hiroshi Naito, Kenya Hara and Tokujin Yoshioka. This exhibit will open November 19, 2010 and will run until February 26, 2011. Tom Kundig will also be participating in a panel discussion at the gallery on Friday, November 19, moderated by the exhibition’s curator and architectural historian Ken Tadashi Oshima.
+ Olson Kundig Archtects
+ Toto Gallery MA
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Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects has created a remarkable body of work in the world of sustainable architecture. Founded in the late 1960’s, the architecture firm has focused on exploring the relationship between dwellings and the landscape in each and every one of their designs. Their structures form natural extensions to the preexisting site, and each design gesture is grounded in two simple ideas: that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture and people, and that inspiring…
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Chicken Point Cabin
The idea for this cabin is that of a lakeside shelter in the woods — a little box with a big window that opens to the surrounding landscape.
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Chicken Point Cabin
The cabin’s large window-wall (30 feet by 20 feet) opens the entire living space to the forest and lake. Materials are low maintenance — concrete block, steel, concrete floors and plywood — in keeping with the notion of a to
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Delta Shelter
This 1,000 square-foot weekend cabin, basically a steel box on stilts, can be completely shuttered when the owner is away.
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Delta Shelter
The 20’ x 20’ square footprint rises three stories and is topped by the living room/kitchen. Large, 10’ x 18’ steel shutters can be closed simultaneously using a hand crank.
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Delta Shelter
The cabin is situated near a river in a floodplain, withing an incredible landscape of tall trees and open, natural space.
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Montecito Residence
The Montecito Residence is a single-family home set in the fire-prone Toro Canyon. The owners wanted a house that minimized its use of scarce natural resources and recognized the challenging environmental conditions of the area. The design solution is a structure that functions as an umbrella to shield the house from the sun and allows cool offshore breezes to move through the space.
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Montecito Residence
The house is made of simple, fire-resistant materials. Steel will be allowed to oxidize and concrete will be toned to allow the house to blend into the landscape.
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The Outpost
Set in the remote, harsh, high desert landscape of Idaho, Outpost is a residence and studio/workshop for making and displaying art. An important aspect of the complex is the protected “paradise garden,” which is separated from the wild landscape by thick concrete walls.
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The Outpost
The materials used in the structure, including concrete blocks, car decking, and plywood, require little or no maintenance, and are capable of withstanding the extreme weather conditions that characterize the desert’s four seasons.
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Rolling Huts
Responding to the owner’s need for flexible space for visiting friends and family, the Rolling Huts strike several steps above camping, while remaining low-tech and low-impact in their design. The huts sit lightly on the site, a flood
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Rolling Huts
The huts are grouped as a herd: while each is sited with a view of the mountains (and away from the other structures), their proximity unites them. They evoke Thoreau’s simple cabin in the woods; the structures take second place to nature.
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Studio House
A combination home and photographer’s studio, the project is an exploration of memories and their potential to resonate over time. Remnant landscape elements, building geometries, and materials from the previous home on the site in the
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The Brain
The Brain is a 14,280 cubic-foot cinematic laboratory where the client, a filmmaker, can work out ideas. Physically, that neighborhood birthplace of invention, the garage, provides the conceptual model. The form is essentially a cast-in-place
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