Eighty percent of Australians live within 80 miles 

of the sea;50 percent of the country’s houses sit

less than 8 miles froma beach.When Sean Godsell

Architects began its latest experimentwith an

ecofriendly, rectangular residential form, the
Glenburn House, it naturally built a first prototype

on the coast. Theprecursor to this scheme, the St.

Andrews Beach House, located on apeninsula south

of Melbourne, is raised up on stilts above the dunes,
oriented at right angles to the sea, and acts as a

telescope to the horizon,where sky and ocean meet.

At Glenburn, a rural area 90 minutes northeast ofMelbourne,
the relationship between the house and the water is reinterpreted. The
box is presented as a ship slicing through swells of earth. Instead of facing
water, here the house’s long, northeastern flank provides views from
the living areas and the guest room to the distant heights of Australia’s
Great Dividing Range—the mountains that separate the populated
eastern littoral from the desert interior of the island continent.

This entrance cuts
through the plan along a central axis
and leads to another opening, which
allows access to that long gully earlier
glimpsed. Inside, the program of the
residence should be simple—the
living, dining, sleeping, and bathing
areas are meted out within a rectangle—
and yet,much as the procession
to the house plays with your perception,
the interior is equally surprising.

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How Gehry, Hadid, Nouvel, and Ando envision their cultural venues on Saadiyat Island.
By ArchNewsNow
February 2, 2007
Architecture and art pundits are already chiming in (see below) with optimistic/pessimistic takes on the recently introduced plans for a multi-billion-dollar, 670-acre (271-hectare) cultural district in Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Frank Gehry: Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Approaching the design of the museum for Abu Dhabi made it possible to consider options for the design of a building that would not be possible in the United States or in Europe. It was clear from the beginning that this had to be a new invention, and in my discussions with Tom Krens, the director of the Guggenheim, we explored what those inventions might be. We did not have a pre-conceived plan or an idea for a building, a museum of contemporary art, in place like Abu Dhabi. The landscape, the opportunity, the requirement to build something that people all over the world would come to, and the possible resources to accomplish it, opened tracks that were not likely to be considered anywhere else. The site itself, virtually on the water or close to the water on all sides, in a desert landscape with the beautiful sea, and the light quality of the place suggested some of the direction.

 

We started with very basic plan organization. The center core galleries are laid out forming a courtyard. Those galleries, of various height and sizes, are placed one on top of another to create four floors. These will be the more classical contemporary galleries, completely air conditioned with skylights where possible and a sophisticated lighting system. The next ring of galleries surrounding the core then radiating out of the center will be larger galleries in a variety of shapes and less formally constructed. The third ring of larger galleries would be less finished and more like raw industrial space with exposed lighting and systems. These galleries would be spawning homes for a new scale of contemporary art - art that would be, perhaps, made on site and of a scale that could not be achieved in other museums around the world.

 

This idea is based on the experience that Tom has had visiting artists' studios in large industrial spaces. They have been able to create works that are way beyond the experience any of us have within the normal museum spaces. So in the end you create a cluster of galleries that allows for a tremendous amount of flexibility in organizing a great variety of shows. The different heights, shapes, and character of the galleries are something that will be studied and refined as the progress of the design continues.

 

We have been exploring with our consultants, TransSolar, a method of cooling outdoor spaces based on the very old idea of the open-top tepee that draws hot air out of the space. This led to a series of conical shaped tubes that becomes an element of focus for the surrounding galleries, creating an outdoor space. In some cases, the conical shapes are used as entry pavilions: a main entrance to the museum, a boat entry to the museum, and then as walkways out into the desert landscape. The use natural ventilation is inspired by its historical use in the region for many, many generations. Water walls in the main c