VEX | Chance de Silva

Designed by Chance de Silva, Vex is a unique architecture/sound collaboration. It is an in situ concrete house which arose out of the collaboration between musician Robin Rimbaud (known as ‘Scanner’) and architects Chance de Silva.
Music and architecture both take as their starting point Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations’ – a looping, repetitive piano work that lasts around 18 hours in continuous performance.

Photography: Hélène Binet

This is to our knowledge the first architecture/sound collaboration of this type since Le Corbusier/Xenakis/Varèse’s Philips Pavilion of 1958. (In that it was envisaged as an integrated design collaboration, with the music and architecture symbiotic and made in parallel, rather than the sound added later as an installation in an existing building).
Creating the continuously changing, fluted exterior concrete required formidable craftsmanship in making the boat-like formwork.

Photography: Hélène Binet

Internally, exposed concrete ceilings, elements of a wall and a single elliptical column create a warm, cave-like feel – although the building is paradoxically very light with window positions responding to Satie’s musical score as well as contextual and sunlight parameters.
Wherever an upper floor is ‘pulled back’ from the one below a crescent-shaped rooflight results. Where an upper floor overlaps the one below, there is a reflective soffit of galvanized steel.

First Floor Plan

The building is a very bold addition to a London conservation area (of predominantly Victorian houses). It nudges forward of the historic building line to give views down the street, capture sunshine around the clock, and look out towards a local landmark church.
The building is triple-glazed, highly insulated and, with very good thermal mass from the concrete, has a simply-controlled internal environment using an efficient condensing gas boiler and underfloor heating.
The sound is incorporated in a hardwired Sonos system controlled from iPod or mobile phone.

Photography: Chance de Silva

Project Info:
Architects: Chance de Silva
Location: Greater London, United Kingdom
Architect in Charge: Stephen Chance
Area: 115.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Hélène Binet, Chance de Silva
Project Name: VEX

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MONARCH | Oyler Wu Collaborative

MONARCH designed by Oyler Wu Collaborative, When it comes to large-scale residential buildings, a complex set of economic, urban, and regulatory systems sometimes seem to have left little room for architectural exploration.   Architects often struggle to find a point of entry for inserting their creative perspective in a way that would rethink or progress the typology.  The resulting buildings typically reflect the reality of the efficiency-driven market – maximized footprint, relentless repetition, and lowest common denominator design appeal.

Photography: Poyao Shih

When we were first approached by a prominent Taiwanese development company to work on the design of a brand new residential high rise, they expressed interest in finding an architectural approach that challenged these conventions. They were interested in a building that pushed architectural boundaries while simultaneously meeting their economic requirements.
Cautiously optimistic, the developer proposed an arrangement that separated the development of the interior floor plans from the exterior elements, which included balcony floor plans, the front lobby, and all facade design.  This left us with 2.5 meters at the front elevation and 1.5m on the side elevations.  While it certainly wasn’t what most architects would consider ideal, it was just enough to be our point of entry into what would be our office’s biggest project to date.

Photography: Poyao Shih

Our proposal utilizes subtle variations in the geometry of the exterior paneling and layering of material to create a scheme that is not based on repetition but still accommodates the needs of the client. We deployed a strategy of “pixilated lines” by applying a set of exterior paneling in varying materials and different geometries to run along the façade of the building as a series of pixilated lines. We also deployed a system of incrementally shifting balconies in conjunction with the panels to add more depth to the facade.

Line Diagram

These “lines” of panels extend from the ground to the top floor to give the illusion of depth and movement as well as formal continuity to the overall project. These “lines” often split in order to change material and the voids between “lines” of panels to add depth to the reading of the façade.  By shifting sections of fritted glass, expanded aluminum screen, solid panels, and steel structure, the buildup of these small differences create large variations in the façade of the building.
The building includes a carefully considered weaving of four materials: 1) expanded aluminum mesh, 2) fritted glass, 3) solid panel, and 4) steel structure. This is to disrupt the repetitious and occasionally quirky floor plans, while still allowing for views beyond and providing a sun-shading system.

Photography: Poyao Shih

The interplay between metal screens, glass, and solid panels is not merely aesthetic but it also performs functionally. This strategy simultaneously allows for natural light while reducing heat gain, provides privacy for rooms beyond, and it creates a buffer between the interior of the building adjacent elevated highway.  And importantly, the exterior of the building communicates a more dynamic building- one that captures the spirit, scale, and multi-layered nature of the city.

Line and Panel Diagrams

Project Info:
Architects: Oyler Wu Collaborative
Location: No. 79, Section 1, Minquan East Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan
Principal Architects: Dwayne Oyler, Jenny Wu
Design Team: Huy Le, Sanjay Sukie, Shouquan Sun, Yaohua Wang, Lung Chi Chang, Richard Lucero, Chris Eskew, Mike Piscitello
Client: JUT land Development
Area: 9333.37 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Poyao Shih
Project Name: MONARCH

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