The first of the Clover Restaurants is open at Harvard Square at 7 Holyoke.  Not only was it a privilege collaborating with Clover on a new concept for fast food, it was also a privilege working in the Holyoke Center, the Harvard owned building designed by Josep Lluís Sert.  Our approach was to combine the minimum-footprint-aesthetic of the Clover brand with the abstract spatial concepts of Sert’s space:  Like a minimalist art installation, fluorescent ‘cloud canopies’ are suspended below the original waffle ceiling.  A void cut into the existing mezzanine brings natural light from a skylight above while a wire trellis will allow climbing ivy to eventually reach this light source.  The idea of transparency is both literal and figural: The boundary between ‘kitchen’ and ‘customer’ is dissolved to reveal the workings of the food-making while the use of glass railings also allows visual communication between spaces while reflecting and multiplying the light.

Clover is part of a larger concept for tasty, vegetarian fast food. Their (and our) mission is to revolutionize the way food is produced, distributed, and ultimately consumed - because if we can do so, it will have an enormously positive impact on the environment.  This is not just ‘greenwash,’ in fact if you look at modern food systems you will notice enormous dysfunction on many interrelated levels.  Because of the sheer scale of our current state of affairs, a slight shift will make revolutionary change.  The clover food trucks which rolled out earlier last year are part of this larger network.  Also check out Clover on the web.

BLYP is a non-profit studio dedicated to offering yoga practice as a transformational tool, particularly to those suffering from post-traumatic stress. Budgetary constraints were taken as an opportunity to explore and express the client's elemental approach to yoga as a 'simple, well-intended, and imperfect practice.' The design solution was to abstract the site into two materials: the ground and the sky. Like the practice of yoga, the ground (bendable cork) and the luminous sky (fire-retardant tyvek) merge in the space between (the body) in ways that are both functional and symbolic.

The horizontal floor merges with the vertical wall forming both symbolic and functional spatial divisions (left).  The practice of yoga becomes an egalitarian part of the urban streetscape (left).

Views out to the streetscape extend the experience of yoga practice (left).  A mirror expands the 'horizon' while providing a learning tool for yoga practice.

The curved cork flooring becomes analagous to petals of the black lotus.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA, John Hong AIA/LEED (principals in charge), Anne Levallois

contractor
Luther Child, Ltd.

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Most are familiar with Boston's ongoing "Big Dig." Few, however, give thought to the massive amount of waste that accompanies construction on this scale, namely the dismantling of the existing and temporary roadways. The Big Dig Building proposes to relocate and recycle these infrastructural materials as building components, adapting them to uses ranging from structural members to cladding. Furthermore, as these reused materials can withstand much higher loads than conventional building elements, the social ramifications of "heavy" in relation to "dwelling" can produce new and innovative results.

From Highway to Housing:  What happens to the millions of tons of discarded materials from obsolete infrastructures like Boston's Big Dig?  Destroying it costs millions to tax payers as well as wastes the embodied energy already stored in the materials.   Dismantled and relocated, concrete and  steel sections can become structural building modules adaptable to a variety of sites and programs.

Load Comparisons: Standard framing (left) can withstand 40 psf – only standard residential objects and programs can be accomodated. The existing highway overpass (middle) is designed for HS20-44 military loading and can withstand 250 psf. The Big Dig Building using salvaged materials could withstand 200psf – How might a structure that can sustain 4x the load of standard residential construction change the way we dwell?

Highway panels are shifted to create an elevation that reads as a vertical landscape.

Like a prefabricated system, differing typologies from low to high densities can be created from the same salvaged infrastructural materials.  In this light, should not all infrastructural materials be more strategically designed with the second use already in mind? This 'pre-cycling' of structure would save them from become obsolete (and thus regarded as trash) and would conserve their massive amount of embodied energy for the lifespan of the material.
 

Cross section:  The assembly of infrastructural materials provides advantages such as long span undergroung parking, the integration of water filled trombe walls, and the ability to incorporate full scale landscapes on roofs and balconies.
 

Because of the ability for the materials to carry heavy loads as well as span long distances, new programmatic freedoms can evolve.  Family playgrounds can be introduced into upper level units to provide immediate access to the outdoors (left), libraries and other heavy loads can be sustained within each unit (middle), and long spans making continuities between inside and outside can be achieved (right).
 

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
John Hong AIA/LEED,  Jinhee Park AIA (principals in charge), Erik Carlson, Gentaro Miyano

structural design
Paul Pedini, Jay Cashman, Inc.

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This recording studio for prominent recording engineer and musician Pete Weiss, solves specific issues of acoustics while engaging the site and context. An extension of an existing century-old barn, the new structure utilizes a transformation of the pitched roofs in the area: a simple 'scissor' truss is mirrored to create both east and west skylights while on the interior, the asymmetrical space allows for a positive scattering of sound. The open end-bay of the structure telescopes views into the rural landscape and creates a rest area for musicians.

A prefabricated  scissor truss is repeated and mirrored to allow for constant illumination throughout the day.
 

An inset front wall creates a porch-like space for musicians to take breaks within the verdant landscape.  The roof forms echo the existing house on the site.

The project takes a deferential role to the larger natural context.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
John Hong AIA,LEED,  Jinhee Park AIA (principals in charge), Andy Hong, Erik Carlson

contractor
Don Clark Construction

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