BLOG ENTRY - 12 CASE STUDIES 3,4

 Lady Bird Lake Hiking Trail Restrooms

LOCATION - Austin, Texas, USA 
ARCHITECT - Miró Rivera Architects

(1) Elevation 

Site conditions -


- Hike and bike trail 

- Along the Colorado River


Concept -


-  dynamic sculptural landmark complimenting the scenic beauty of the active trail. 

- Integration -  building’s organic form and the natural mineral tones of the materials. 


Materiality - 


COR-TEN weathering steel-

                                    - cladding, roof, and one door

                                    -  sculptural element -  freestanding upright staggered plates - to form the coil of the restroom enclosure. Varying heights of the plates - gives a natural appearance. 

Spaces - 

Interior -

- polished stainless-steel toilet and sink create a stunning contrast with the rough steel cladding. 

-Concrete flooring 

Exterior -

- galvanized steel - drinking fountain and rinse shower

- orange-hued crushed granite exterior




(2) Interior space 


Technicality -


- Alloy steel - used in its raw and planar state. 

- Weathering steel -  left bare

                                 - very few visible welded COR-TEN connections -  can weather unevenly compared to the panel faces.

- Foundation - continuous shallow concrete footing

- Restroom’s stout door - CNC cut COR-TEN panel (commemorative inscription) - no finishes needed. 



Kunst-Depot, Henze & Ketterer Art Gallery

LOCATION - Wichtrach, Switzerland
ARCHITECT - Gigon /Guyer Architekten


(3) Front Elevation 


Site conditions -


- bell-shaped plot of land

- historic center of the village

- setting - surrounding farmhouses


Concept - 


To reinterpret the vernacular forms of contextual farmhouses and make them fit appropriately within the gallery’s program. 


Planning -


-  Simple and open

- Optimizes the space inside and outside the building. 

- appropriately modern artistic composition

- Artwork storage unit that doubles as a showroom- for a nearby gallery.

- Two floors above ground level - 3 uses - Artwork storage, showroom and as a gallery. 

- Staircase - Adjoins the sanitary block and the kitchen.  

- Open galleries - Service wall defines this space. 

- Windows - 2 in the ground floor and 2 in the top level - Daylight for viewing the art and capturing views outside.

- Wall and roof assemblies are massive and tightly sealed to assure a stable interior climate. 


(4) First floor of gallery


Materiality - 


Corrugated steel sheeting - Distinctive look divides the cladding into 2 perforated layers:

                                               - Outer layer - curtain wall and

functions as a sunscreen 

                                             - smooth metal roofing rectangualr sheets - folded over the edge of the roof at an angle such that they echo the irregular, trapezoidal plan of the building. 


Technicality - 


-  heavy concrete and masonry structural system.

-  ventilated enclosure system (to maintain the art collection inside the Depot in a controlled microclimate) - wrapping mineral wool insulation covered with a colored fiberglass air and water barrier, under the perforated steel cladding. 

- perforated metal panel on the wall -  profiled to a deep trapezoidal shape in the centre -  maintains strength and stability.

-  unperforated profiled metal roofing hovers above the insulated concrete roof assembly - near the edges - the profiled panels are covered with giant peices of the same material.  Impermeable covers - prevent water intrusion, allows ventilation. 


REFERENCES:

(1) , (2)  - https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/22/trail-restroom-miro-rivera-architects-public-toilet-weathering-corten-steel-walls-lady-bird-hike-trail-colorado-river-texas/#:~:text=The%20Trail%20Restroom%20is%20the,sit%20comfortably%20in%20the%20parkland.

(3) - https://archello.com/story/44419/attachments/photos-videos 

(4) - http://www.henze-ketterer.ch/en/gallery-contact/wichtrach-bern/






Signing off, 
Tejashri Kumaresan 

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