Mass in the Tio chapel

An unique documentation of an ancient sacrificial ritual in the visiondivision designed chapel in Potosi, Bolivia. See http://thegoldbrain.blogspot.com/2008/06/capilla-para-el-tio.html for more information.

Capilla para el Tio was by far the most physically challenging project we ever done so far.
The project took five days to complete and was extremely demanding and dangerous.
We couldn’t work while the miners were inside of the mountain because we couldn’t be an obstruction for them in the narrow passages, and at some periods of the building process we definitely would have annoyed them if we would have been there at the same time. When we detonated our dynamite for example or spray painted the cave with highly toxic paint, which was the only alternative in this remote and underdeveloped part of the world.
The only time when the mine was empty was at night time, so we had to cope with extreme cold which in combination with the altitude on 4200 meters makes you uncomfortable. Luckily we had the coca leaves, hard liquor and a great companion in our Bolivian guide and dynamite specialist.
Half of the time we spend in the mines was to give our respect to the older Tio inside of the mine.
We had to offer him great amounts of coca leaves, cigarettes, liquor, and we also had to drink to his name.
Inhaling all that toxic paint inside of a mine is of course not good for you, especially if your only protection is a coffee filter for your mouth. We both got very sick after this project but we are proud and happy that we built it.
We came in contact with a professional sculptor that were supposed to do the Tio, but something came up and he couldn’t deliver it in time, we therefore contracted a local woman who at first didn’t want to do the Tio because she thought it was an inappropriate motive, but after some raise in her salary, she accepted.
To sit next to the hardworking miners on the opening party of the chapel and see how they gave offerings to the new Tio and thanked us for the project, was a great reward after all our efforts put into this project.
Some people haven’t fully understood this project, rejecting it as something trashy, and not belonging to the stylish family of architecture perhaps. We can clearly see that it is hard in a western world to fully take it in if you are not aware of the circumstances.
But sitting in this highest located chapel in the world with your fellow miners, imbedded in a spellbinding red color that glitters in the light of the headlamps, as a contrast to all the blackness and misery in the cave, is a profound experience that you almost cannot feel in the developed world nowadays.

Rejected Wikipedia submission

The modern Swedish Architect (Architectus boringus)

Living: The Swedish architect lives and breeds on the island Södermalm in Stockholm.
You can easily spot the modern architect by wearing a black turtleneck and trendy glasses, often with a characteristic fragile walk to enhance their appearance of being an emotional human being.

Behavior: Swedish architects tend to group in big formations whenever there are free food and drinks around. Architectural wise they follow interior programs on TV or old Swiss trends from the mid90s.

To get a positive interaction with a Swedish modern architect you should name drop different Herzog & deMeuron projects and complain about the shallowness of Frank O Gehry.
Overall the Swedish modern architect has a strong flock behavior, having the advantage that they are easily replaced at work.

Unfortunately this leads to a monotone architecture production with no highs and no lows in it what so ever.


Architectus boringus

Ultra Cheap Guesthouse

An old vd project is finally finished, a scrubby storage that has been transformed into a guest-/weaving house.
The house can accommodate four to eight guests depending on comfort.
Due to the lack of money, new inventions had to be made, as well as material purchases from Blocket, a Swedish second hand site.

Plexiglas door "Sigurd Lewerentz style”.

Interior with multifunctional beam, notice that the door is closed.

Magic shelf detail.

Because this is a summer residence, the need for insulation are not vital, so all the new windows are made in plexiglas, a much cheaper material than glass, and it is also possible to make the appearance more slick.

Shelves can also be drilled right through the plexi for that patented vd look.

Loft with custom made bed

Exterior

Plan and section

Burn

The architecture school of Delft was burned to the ground after some misfortunes with a microwave, and a competition for a new school was held. Visiondivision reused one thing from the former school for their new design; the fire itself.
Click on the images to magnify them and to read the story about a naive youngster with architecture ambitions and his journey to a greater understanding of Architecture.

Superhero Ambition

Visiondivision are involved in the design of a garage for a private client.
The client wants to do a tunnel 40 meter inside of a mountain to be able to park his car there and take an elevator six floors up to his private house.
The ambition alone demands a design for a superhero.
We cannot tell you more about this project right now, but we can give you a sneak peek of a possible outcome.

Cauldron Claw - The Movie

Visiondivision makes a flaming bathtub for an old man.

An old welder wanted a bath in his childhood creek in the deep forests of Northern Sweden.
Old metal scrap was welded together and fused as legs to a bath tub from the WWI.
Custom made metal hooks carry a perforated steel plate that hangs over the creek, where you put logs to heat the water inside the tub.
A metal sheet regulates the flow of water from the creek to the tub.
The project was carried out during winter time so that we could transport the heavy structure on the hard snow all the way to the site.
The old welder will take a bath in his cauldron claw as soon as the snow melts away.
Drawings and additional images will come soon.

The visiondivision game

We have made you a Christmas gift; a game where you must fight pointless architecture that threatens to ruin our planet.

To play the game, go to www.visiondivision.com click on the extra button and then you will eventually see the game icon.

Happy holidays dear friends!

The visiondivision team

Two projects, Two old men

visiondivision are going to the Northern regions of Sweden to build two projects for two different clients. They have the thing in common that they have a site in a very delicate contact with nature and the clients are both old men.



AB is going to a harsh and isolated island to build a house for a fisherman/duck hunter; the house must shelter a boat during the nordic storms and also handle the occasional owerflows on the site. The building will feature new innovative doors and an overflow system among other things.
UM is going to the extreme north into the wild black forrests to help an old man fulfill his last wish in life, to be able to bath in his childhood forrest while waiting for the bear that he once met during dramatic circumstances.
The VD-team will live and work close with them to take advantage of their craftmanship and life experience to make the uttermost tailor made solutions for these two highly regarded old men.
We will brief you when we are back in civilization while filling up on the food suplies.

We have also made a Christmas gift for all you 10.000 people that has visited this site during this year. You will get it soon.

Early Christmas

Visiondivision has been doing a lot of competitions in various countries lately, and that explains the abscense on this page for a while now.
Finland, Holland, Dubai and Rwanda is some of the lucky ones to get an early christmas gift this year.
We havent forgotten about you guys though and we can promise you that a lot of architecture candy and wise words will emerge here very soon.


Christmas gift to Helsinki

Financial Crisis

The financial crisis has now showed its ugly face to the hardworking visiondivision team.
They are now living as outcasts at the outer rims of the known civilization to maintain a decent living standard as well as keeping up the highest quality of architecture production that the world has ever seen.
Take a look at the video and give a thought to your hero architects the next time you open that bottle of expensive champagne.
And Leif; keep your head up, everything is going to be all right.