Thursday, December 20, 2007

Bird Bridge

2007-11-01

Second Prize in a bridge competition.
The VD crew extended the program with a modernistic mega-block for birds as railings.
For more details and in-depth coverage click on to http://www.visiondivision.com

The site is located in a beautiful untouched forest with old leaf trees in a small rift with a stream at the bottom.
This patch of forest lies between The Botanical Gardens and Sahlgrenska, the major hospital in Gothenburg.
The hospital wants to link to the peaceful environments of the botanical gardens with two pedestrian bridges.
The rift is the setting for one of these bridges that will have the longest span and it is also dealing with a more delicate environment.
This calls for a sensitive solution, both in appearance and production.

Fallen trees lie on the ground here and there like it usually does in a natural forest.

We erect these fallen heroes that were left for oblivion, and let them be the proud pillars for the bridge through the forest where they once used to grow.
Because why should we cut down other trees from another forest and transport them to the site when we have these resources here?



The bridge will appear as a white hovering line made in plexiglass that slightly reflects the beautiful landscape, which is carried by the tree pillars that disappears in the surrounding nature.
At night time, the truth of this bridge reveals itself.
Welcome to bird city!









Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Secret Sauna

2007-07-01
Visiondivision helps a client to escape the oppression from the local regulations by building a Secret Sauna.
Feautured at http://www.archidose.org/, http://www.mimoa.eu/, http://www.mocoloco.com/, http://www.monogocoro.jp/ to mention a few.


If you want to build something in Sweden, you have to neglect your architectural aspirations and desires, and build something comprehensible and conventional to please the Swedish building regulations.

So at a first glance this sauna may appear to be an anonymous wooden cabin, with no architectural features or ambition. The front façade is windowless; a water proof drape covers the façade on the other side. The sauna has a pointed traditional roof as well, to accomplish this intriguing scam.

The front façade is actually a door, and when it is opened, the cabin changes its appearance completely.
Now you have a magnificent view over the archipelago, and the door/wall creates an intimate space with the guest hut next to the sauna. The wall prevents the neighbours from peaking in as well.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The VD Guide - part I

Visiondivision gives you a brief tour of inspiring projects and phenomenon around the world.
If you have more suggestions, dont hesitate to contact us at: visiondivision@gmail.com
For more VD Guide >>> www.visiondivision.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Waw An Namus -Black Volcano in Sahara-

Birth: A long time ago
Location: Libya
Architect: Magma

Waw an Namus is an exotic volcano deep in the desert of Libya. A low caldera about 4 km in diameter is surrounded by a 5 - 10 km wide dark black deposit of ash that stands out starkly against the yellowish desert. The few people who have visited have been struck by its beauty: The Italian geologist Angelo Pesce wrote that as seen from the rim, one is "overwhelmed by a scene of rare beauty....Inside, the only thing one wishess is to be alone and wander in admiration from one end to the other."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lalibela Churches -11 Rock-cut churches-

Birth: 13th century
Location: Ethiopia
Architect: Gebre Mesqel Lalibela by a vision from God

Lalibela was intended to be a New Jerusalem in response to the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims, and many of its historic buildings take their name and layout from buildings in Jerusalem.This rural town is known around the world for its monolithic churches which play an important part in the history of rock-cut architecture.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Korowai Houses -Buildings in tree-tops-

Birth: A very long time ago
Location: Southeast Papua New Guinea
Architect: The Korowai tribe

The Korowai live together in small family groups in treehouses. These treehouses can reach heights up to 50 meters but only if there is a disput with the neighbours, or if they live in an hostile area. Their normal treehouses are around 6 to 25 Meters high. A Korowai family with up to eight persons live in such kind of houses. But there is a strictly separatism between men and women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cretto -Monument after volcanic eruption-

Birth: 1981
Location: Gibellina, Sicily, Italy
Architect: Alberto Burri

An earthquake shook the western edge of Sicily in the Belice river valley. Gibellina was among twelve towns completely destroyed, though rebuilding happened differently here than in other towns. Instead of building atop the ruins of the old town the Gibellina was built approximately 20 km away, near a train line and highway. In 1981 Burri visited Gibellina, proposing the massive Cretto over the ruins of the old town.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The French Communist Party headquarters -Masterpiece in true Bond-style-

Birth: 1967-72
Location: Place du Colonel Fabien, Paris
Architect: Oscar Niemeyer

The Communist headquarters by Oscar Niemeyer can be visited by appointment via e-mail message to Vincent Benoit at vbenoit@pcf.fr or by calling him at (33-1) 40.40.12.12

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Black Rock City -Temporary city with radical events-

Birth: 1986
Location: Black Rock City, Nevada, USA
Architect: Larry Harvey

Burning Man is an eight-day-long annual festival that takes place in Black Rock City, a temporary city on the playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, 90 miles (150 km) north-northeast of Reno, ending on the American Labor Day holiday in September. The event is described by organizers as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance[1] and takes its name from the ritual of burning a large wooden sculpture of a man on the sixth day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mayon -Volcano-

Birth: A long time ago
Location: Philiphines
Architect: Magma

550 kilometers from Manila, rises a near perfect cone volcano; the famous Mayon Volcano. Its symmetrical form at any horizontal direction makes this volcano a truly scenic wonder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Giza Pyramid Complex -The only remaining Wonder of the world-
Birth: 2000 BC
Location: Giza, Egypt
Architect: Various

The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments is located some eight kilometres inland into the desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 25 kilometres southwest of Cairo city centre. The pyramids are the only remaining monuments of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pamukkale -natural phenomenon-

Birth: A very long time ago
Location: Denizli Province, Turkey
Architect: Mother Nature

Hot springs with a high level of minerals leaves thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall. One form of these formations consists of crescent-shaped travertine terraces with a shallow layer of water, lying in a step-like arrangement down the upper one-third of the slope, with the steps ranging from 1m to 6 m in height. The other form consists of stalactites, propping up and connecting these terraces. Pamukkale means "Cotton Castle" in turkish.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pepsi Pavilion -Pavilion for the '70 Expo held in Osaka-

Birth: 1970
Location: Osaka, Japan
Architect: E.A.T.

E.A.T.'s ambition was to create a laboratory environment, encouraging ‹live programming› that offered opportunity for experimentation, rather than resort to fixed or ‹dead programming›, typical of most exposition pavilions. The Pavilion‘s interior dome –immersing viewers in three-dimensional real images generated by mirror reflections, as well as spatialized electronic music–invited the spectator to individually and collectively participate in the experience.The pavilion also emits thick vapour, three decades before the blur-building.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aurora Borealis -Natural Phenomenon-

Birth: A Long time ago
Location: Around the polar zones
Architect: The solar wind

Auroras are natural colored light displays, which are usually observed in the night sky, particularly in the polar zone.Auroras are now known to be caused by the collision of charged particles (ions (+) (-) ) found in the magnetosphere, with atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). These particles travel into space with speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometers per second. A cloud of these particles is called plasma, and a stream of plasma coming from the sun is called solar wind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shwedagon Pagoda -A 98-metre gilded stupa-

Birth: 500 B.C.
Location: Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
Architect: Taphussa and Bhallika after recieving 8 hairs from Lord Buddah

"Then, a golden mystery upheaved itself on the horizon, a beautiful winking wonder that blazed in the sun, of a shape that was neither Muslim dome nor Hindu temple-spire. It stood upon a green knoll, and below it were lines of warehouses, sheds, and mills. Under what new god, thought I, are we irrepressible English sitting now?"Rudyard Kipling

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tindaya -Cubic excavation inside a mountain-

Birth: Expected around 2010
Location: Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Architect: Eduardo Chillida

Mount Tindaya is located on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. It was chosen by artist Eduardo Chillida, after a long and exhaustive search, as the location for a large-scale sculpture, a carved space of roughly cubic proportions (50m per side) inside the mountain that would be capped by two skylights.The three-phase project (I-feasibility, II-drilling, III-construction) is expected to be completed in 2010

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sanzhai resort -Abandoned futuristic resort-

Birth: 1960s
Location: Sanzhai, Taiwan
Architect: Unknown

This little resort area in sanzhai was build by local contractors commissioned by the government, but a series of work related accidents left people dead, and pretty soon the whole country considered it haunted. now its abandoned, but they won't demolish it because destroying the home of spirits is serious taboo.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Treasure Caves

A hill in central Gothenburg acts as an urban barrier, something that we got as an assignment to investigate.
We discovered a lot of unused hidden bomb shelters in the hill and decided to interconnect them with eachother, creating a network of tunnels that we filled with activities like concert halls, baths and shopping.


Existing hill


Excavation


Section


Section close-up


Cave interior

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Salvation

A developer wanted a proposal on how to build on a 90 x 14 meter site, the company wanted a corridor solution for a house that only should have one floor and be adapted for the 55+ sector.
The proposed typology would mean that they had to broaden the flats to let in sunlight and thus quickly filling up the plot, leaving them with a poor development rate and institution like housing units.
VD was perplexed over the proposed typology and gave the developer a proposal on how to maximize the plot, give the housing units more qualities and the tenants a far more humanistic living standard.
The plan is simple and zoned with a cube of functions that separates the private from the representative and that also creates circulation possibilities and points of views.
On top of the cube is a loft that can be used for visiting grandchildren and so on.
A storage screens of the bedroom and creates a calm small patio.


Freddy Kruger perspective


Interior with the light wall


LIGHT:
A light wall made of polystyrene and semitransparent insulation soaks up sunlight from the roof and lights up the apartment from both sides.
VIEWS:
To be able to see long distances in a dwelling makes the apartment more open and airy and is a good incitment for well-being.
CIRCULATION:
To increase the different ways you can move in your apartment you also makes it feel bigger and more spacious.



Plan and section

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Plastpantaren

A machine that recycles plastic bags into trendy items

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Contact

The easiest way to contact visiondivision is by email that we read on a daily basis.

Email:
visiondivision@gmail.com

Address:
Granits väg 2
171 65 Solna
Sweden

Anders:  +46(0) 73 7315821 Ulf +46(0) 73 9988996

Monday, September 10, 2007

Nice Price Slice

A perfect solution for a difficult plot with a demanding budget and constraints.
An old path flanked with high leaf trees is re-used as the driveway to the house.
A weather protected verandah functions as a second livingroom that can be closed off by large drapes.
The most beautiful spot of the site is seen from a panorama window from the living room.
The shape of the house creates a slope that becomes a stair to the upper floor, but also a relaxation ramp with a big screen for cozy movie nights.
The ramp ends in a terrace with a magnificent view of the surrounding farmland.
Work in progress, more info coming soon.


Diagram


Entrance that can be closed off with drapes


View towards the livingroom


Overlooking the surrounding farmlands from the roof terrace

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

VD Saves the World

Visiondivision has done some experiments to make our planet better;
Crater of Peace - a massive peace action
Glow - a state-of-the-art experiment to save energy and make the planet more beautiful
P.O.P. - an emergency kit consisting of a house that you can eat.


The team discussing

Crater of Peace

FUCK THE PYRAMIDS, HERE COMES THE CRATER OF PEACE

Mere scale can overwhelm you, but also a great purpose and meaning, brave history or supreme beauty.
All these factors together can take your breath away and make your heart skip a beat.
We present: THE FINAL MONUMENT
Big monuments are often built after great victories or as a manifestation of a great achievement.
We can ask ourselves how great the victory for humankind would be if all the bombs would go away and the declaration of a lasting world peace was proclaimed.
We propose that all the bombs in the world could make a monument; a crater immense in scale and meaning, to reminisce these juvenile and immature periods of warfare in human evolution and be sure that it never will happen again, and later on be filled with pleasure, beauty and joy.

The plot:
A perfect circle with the measure of 150km in diameter is laid out over the South Pole,
Every country with an army takes turns to drop their remaining bombs over the circle until there no longer would exist any heavy weapons in the world.
After the dust has settled and the necessary handling of the remnant pollution from the bombs is taken care of, a unique place has been created.
The crater would be 30km deep, going deep into the crust of the earth to create a warm temperature down at the bottom.
Now we have a span from arctic coldness at the rim of the crater to an almost tropical situation in the lower level.
In the middle of the ground level a circle of 10km is formed and raised to make this place an island when the bottom naturally gets water filled.
This island will be a tropical resort, filled with all pleasures known to mankind.
The money you save on warfare will be put into various vacations for the people on Earth to this paradise.
On the slopes of the crater, a whole eco-system is designed with all plants in the world and also various animals of every species, like a great Ark.
Polar bears and penguins (finally together) in the upper parts of the slope, Reindeers, buffalos, wild horses, rabbits, llamas, coyotes, ostriches, hippos, camels makes a gradient of animals down to the bottom.
The variety of this place is enormous; trekking, skiing, partying, and relaxing in the enormous pool with warm water all year around, even winter time when the South Pole lies in darkness all day.
This does of course not stop the resort and the slopes to be lit up even then, because of the waterpower that can be accumulated from a fall of 30 km.
The resort would connect the world and bring people from different cultures closer to each other in a relaxing atmosphere in a neutral zone with unmatched scenery and activity program.
Quite opposite to all the wars that shattered and distanced the mankind for so long, but now Babylon is rebuilt in a much more grandeur form and setting.


Crater of Peace

Glow

High tech research seems to be the main drive in medicine, cars, telecom, nail polish, well, everything except architecture. The building industry has taken the roll as the constant number two, something is developed for the car industry and ten years later, if lucky, it is used in buildings, meaning that there is hardly ever an attempt to make high tech architecture , it just happens if we are lucky.

What if high tech research forgot about the clumsiness of architecture and saw it as any other field with an open mind for high tech research?
What if such a stupid thing as beautiful spaces was the aim for this science?
Well maybe we're being arrogantly optimistic and over confident but in this project we will assume that this is the case.

The project starts in a laboratory, the gene that makes glow-worms glow has been found. Scientist clones the gene in to a birch tree. Suddenly the world became so much more beautiful.
Remote villages in Mongolia for example can be illuminated gently with these no-energy consumptive trees.

Well we're pretty confident that this project will be done in the future, the question is only how long it will take. Ill guess it depends on the architects attitude towards high tech solutions, The glimmering trees is however my idea and it deserves at least to take me to the second round of this competition., In round two we will be more optimistic that architects and juries all around the globe are interested in new science, enough confident to contact the right scientist to make this project a overwhelming architectural experience.


Glow

P.O.P

In the modern age where it’s possible to manipulate genes to benefit the humankind we should seek beyond the regular usage and rethink the possibilities a bit to get even further.
Today the technology is that advanced that we can crossbreed different species to get the benefits from these, combined into one that suits the purpose better than the original one. Within 10 years from now, we will probably be able to create plants that can live in different climates to make them be able to grow there and increase the areas on earth that is suitable for crops of this kind, or perhaps a multi-plant with a number of vegetables on the same plant. But why stop there when we can give the world so much more. Imagine for example if we can combine the genes of a watermelon with a corn. To give the corn the size, the water resistance and the possibility to grow alone as the watermelon has, combined with the unique qualities of the corn to instantly blow up its size by approximately 125 times and that it is lightweight and insulated in this popcorn state.
The manipulated corn can be produced on the site and due to its size it can easily be transported. When it’s on location the locale people make up a fire around it, which with the time makes it explode to become a temporary home for a small family that also is 100% totally recyclable and ecological.
Each house will get a unique shape and the rooms can easily be dug/eaten out due to the requests.
In countries where building materials is a lack this could be a perfect solution to grow it directly on the spot. As well as it could be quickly used in emergency situations such as natural catastrophes, famine and poverty all over the world.
The thing that also is a bit different from an ordinary slow construction is that you actually can eat it as well, with vitamins and key fibres that are injected in the corn, this aspect can mean the difference between life and death in some situations. The intention of this project is that it is kind of temporary and used mostly in a situation that demands a high speed in construction and low cost to transport it.

Making meaning
In many rural areas in the developing world this could turn out to be a huge success, a house, a food source, or a valuable item to sell.
A high-tech material that can be grown in an old-school manner by anyone.
A meaningful product in many ways.
Structural wise this project is certainly very interesting; organic, flexible for demands (the tenants designs the rooms instantly and on the spot), insulated, self bearing, low weight, eatable, a soft hardness to lie on like a perfect bed.


Taking melon DNA to combine with the DNA of corn


Inspecting the corn



The corn is cultivated in developing countries



In emergency situation, the corn can be dropped by air



The locals can heat the corn until it pops

Popcorn house

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Big Bear

The lighthouse Big Bear (Stora Björn) is to be replaced by a more modern one .
The function of a lighthouse has almost lost its use since new navigation systems, such as GPS, has made navigation easier. However the spot where Stora Björn is located still contains great value as the most remote outpost of the stockholm archipelago. we suggest a platform that contains more then just a lighthouse.

The platform contains research on the BalticSea, churches for sailors, luxury restaurants and neutral meeting point for the countries around the Baltic Sea. To have a flexible platform we made a very simple building system where parts easily can be added, subtracted or modified with a helicopter.