dos54

[dos54]

2017 recap

The year is almost over and besides the obvious best wishes for everyone (Christmas, new year and such), we would like to throw a brief (maybe not that brief) summary of our 2017.

We were done with Brasil by the end of may, coming back to Barcelona with an almost two years experience of new ways of building, managing and struggling. IMS [1], the project that made us cross the ocean was finally inaugurated in august with a decent amount of success and a very positive reception from laymen and experts. We have already posted some cool photos of the finished building on our site [2], but here are a couple of extra links with additional photos and info:

folha de são paulo [3]

unique fashion closet [4]

archdaily [5]

Defining our time in Brazil as a huge success would be an overstatement, but we did have the chance to tackle some projects in there besides IMS. One of them is the P.E. Residence [6] (check the finished project photos!), already on our site. Another important one is the YouTube Space in Rio de Janeiro [7], which, unfortunately (due to NDA things beyond our control), we are not allowed to showcase in our site. However, we invite you to check this google link with a bunch of photos [8].

 2017 supposed the end of our Brazilian run, but it also has been the starting point of a new transoceanic adventure: dos54 México.  México has always meant good experiences for us, personally and professionally, and we decided to take it to the next level by opening a self-managed office in México City. So far, we have an address and the buracracy is on track in order to move there in the first half of 2018. We'll let you know how it all works out!

 Finally, we would also like to summarise the new projects that we are working on and showing some pics about them, even though they are not ready to be featured on our site. Here they are:

Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona (self-explanatory), where we have been hired as a consultant on the development of some tricky windows (automated, tilted and triangle shaped), following up the providers selection and project development.

América Centro de Negocios, in Bogota [9], a GVA [10] design developed by Aldea Proyectos [11], consisting of two towers with 50.000 m2 unitized curtain wall façade. Working along with Colombian facade contractor Ventanar [12], we were hired to develop system, structural calculations and shop drawings.

Príncipe de Vergara 112, in Madrid [12], by Spanish office Ortiz León [13] and developed by Inmobiliaria Colonial [14], is a multi-faceted office glass building. We are developing shop drawings, calculations and full productive project for Spanish facade contractor Moyser [15].

L'Esplanade, in Abidjan, a single glass volume public building for the Ivory Coast Government by French office Bollinger + Rohmann [16]. Hired by spanish contractor Tecalum Sistemes [17], we are developing shop drawings, calculations and full productive project.

Dublin City Quay, in Dublin, a rather simple but classy office glass building by local office Henry J Lyons Architects [18]. Not a lot of work to do in this project, where we are just developing calculations and shop drawings for a glass railing for Folcrá [19], but it's a project we particularly like.

Via de los Poblados 1, an office building by Fenwick Iribarren Architects [20] and our first collaboration with Portuguese fine contractor Martifer [21], where we were hired to develop shop drawings.

And that's pretty much it! Let's hope 2018 will bring us all new opportunities and new interesting projects as the ones we had the chance to take part this year. And as, anticipatd earlier, best wishes for everynone!

[dos54]

it's been 4 months... (winter update)

Time has fled since the last post, and even though none of our current projects has reached a conclusion, lots of things have happened during this span of time.

One of the most important in terms of presence of dos54 in the Spanish market is the affiliation to ASEFAVE [1] (Spanish window and façade manufacturers association) as a collaborator member, being the second consulting/engineering office joining the association, and the only one in Barcelona. With this step, dos54 is getting involved in the decision making progress when it comes to develop the façade ambit in Spain. As part of this new set of actions, dos54 has also sponsored the Máster de Arquitectura en Fachadas Ligeras [2], a master degree on façade design by Madrid Polytechnical University [3], that Maria (founder Maria) is currently taking part of.

On the project sides, new ones have come to our hands and the existing ones are getting closer to being finished. The site has been updated with new photos of the following new and ongoing projects:

ims, that is planned to be concluded in march/april

youtube space in rio de janeiro, a small project with pretty serious complexity in terms of geometry and logistics

p.e. residence, and the p.e. residence library, which are also coming to an end in the next few weeks

cuarzo reforma, with new pictures borrowed from the guys in skyscrapercity [3]

casino supermarket in Brazzaville, where Lluís, our Barcelona based engineer, had to go to take all the measurements for the shop drawings

tocumen and lyon airports: same work from our part, really different results (we're not very amused with the looks of the Panamanian airport)

kawneer headquarters in Montpellier, our newest biggest ongoing project

palais de justice de Paris, featuring new photos of the façade erection

fipoi, a project we were just involved in schematic design phase and that we just found out it has been already built (with our proposed solutions? who knows...)

Here you have a set of pics, so that you can check some of the new additions to the site without leaving this entry:

 Expect new updates (we hope we have something to update...) from our incursions in Colombia and Mexico!

[dos54]

it's been 3 years!

Yeah, that's right, it's been three years since the 254 adventure kicked off, and we had to celebrate!

254 was a decission made from the heart. At the time, Maria and I were working at a fine firm, with pretty good prospects and an ensured (as ensured as the 2013 situation in Spain allowed) future, but something just didn't feel right. Many people would talk about those trains you cannot let pass. Well, we jumped from one of them.

We were never certain about how 254 would work, or if it would just work at all. Even today after these three years, our medium-term (forget about long-term) future is uncertain, so every milestone is a hughe win for us, and a perfect excuse to celebrate.

The venue, a terrace in Sant Pere borough. The landscape, Barcelona's skyline. The menu, mean fideuà and arros negre by Jesús Miranda [+34605256688]. The company, our closest friends.

Truth is, there's not much more to say. Just let us thank all the pople that has trusted us during this time, before you feast you eyes with some of the finest pics we gathered from the party!

A great day that we hope we can repeat next year and many more to come. 

Thank you! 

[dos54]

La Maison de L'Histoire Européenne

the House of European History [1] is a project funded by the European Parliament, which goal is to host a museum of Europe’s history in Brussels, European Union's institutional capital.

in June 2009, the Institute Dentaire George Eastman [2],  a late art deco (1935) building from swiss architect Michel Polak, that had been donated by philantropist George Eastman, was set as the location of the future museum. the following July, it was launched an international architectural competition that awarded paris based Atelier d'architecture Chaix & Morel et associés [3], german office JSWD Architects [4] and belge TPF [5] with the renovation and extension of the building. 

the awarded project featured a glass box (walls and ceiling) riding on the existing building, and a glass fins and beams grid self sustained structure, developed by german engineering office Werner Sobek [6].

the façade execution was awarded to spanish contractor Laguna Belvis [7], a traditional workshop from Madrid with vast experience in museums and monumental works.

the façade development works began in mid 2013 (before the foundation of dos54), spanned until mid 2015, when production became the most prominent aspect of the engineering works. during tose two years, tons of designs, calculations and tests were made in order to carry out the most complex project that dos54 has been involved in.

full disclosure, when we first started working on this project, it was way beyond our capabilities. mostly by arrogance and lack of experience in complex works, no one saw the difficulties of such a project, and it was the hard way (revisions, revisions, revisions, and a week workshop in Werner Sobek's hq in Stuttgart with dr Lucio Blandini [8]) that we managed to make things work. while we weren't able to pass the calculations for simple brackets under Werner Sobek's criteria, in the early months, by the end of our run we provided, besides and insane amount of drawings :

a global model of loads for the whole façade

calculations for the most complex brackets

calculations for lateral buckling in glass and steel fins

load transfers to the main structure

connections between glass structure elements

a report on tolerances and adjustment of the façade elements considering: concrete casting and inserts placement tolerances, fabrication tolerances and erection tolerances, effect of the structure dead loads, façade dead loads and life loads, effect of thermal movements and brackets design and adjustment methods

an erection procedures report describing every single connection and assembly in the façade

it was certainly a huge struggle, but after all the stress caused suffering, our ways and methods were improved drastically and made of dos54 a way better office.

 source for the displayed images: Laguna Belvis

[dos54]

arnold katz state concert hall

located in south siberia, near the border with kazakhstan, novosibirsk is the third largest city in russia, and the scientific, economic, financial and cultural center of the region.

among the huge network of cultural organisations, the state philharmonic [1], founded in 1937 and with 15 companies under its umbrella, shines with its own light. in 2012, the novosibirsk phillarmonic received a new concert hall [2] named after Arnold M. Katz [3], who was its  permanent artistic director and principal conductor since its inception in 1956.

the new hall, that covers an area of 21.5 thousand square meters and has a capacity for 1,100 spectators opens onto spartacus street through an about 100 square meters curved glass façade supported by a mixed steel structure and cable truss system.

we find no pride in admitting that we were not able to find whether who were the architects behind the design or the contractor that built the façade, however, back in 2012 (even before the foundation of dos54), we had the chance to work in this project along with catalan pioneer in curved and special glass cricursa  [4].

due to production limitations and in order to meet the architect desires, the approximately 4x2m glass panes couldn't rely on any heat treatment, which, combined with the high absorptivity of the selected coating, made them susceptible to thermal breakage.

novosibirsk climate is rather extreme, with recorded high temperatures up to 40ºC and low ones down to -45ºC. it is also a rather sunny place, which makes a dangerous combo in cold winter mornings: cold glass gets direct solar radiation and the shadows projected by the flat sun trajectory prevent the whole surface to be heated equally.  a mathematical model, considering glass thickness, temperature, direct solar radiation and heat absorption was used in order to establish a limit absorptivity for the coating, making feasible the float glass solution.

even though it was a small collaboration, it was a cool one. 4 years later, and with many differences with the original project that we worked on, the façade stays, and google shows no news on broken glass.

source for the displayed images:

1: http://www.wikipedia.com

2: http://www.artefakt-berlin.de (photo by ivan osintsev)

3: http://rinolevi.tumblr.com

4: http://news.ngs.ru

: http://www.classica.fm

[dos54]

summer recap

it has been a while since the last post, and lots of things happened since then. summer brought new projects, new opportunities, important developments in ongoing projects, and above all, brought the dos54 team to Brazil.

mid july was the date for the field trip to são paulo, for the whole team to visit the ongoing works dos54 is working on in the city. this trip saw the official farewell to adrià (our QS intern), that after almost a year with us, has decided to go a step forward and study architecture, but it also meant the official welcome to gianluca who, hopefully, will stay with us for a long time.

unfortunately, IMS façade was not advanced as we would have liked, and the site only worked as a cool background for the new team photo.

p.e. residence, however is walking  (more or less) much on schedule, and the skylight was pretty advanced for being worth to pay a visit.

a week is not much, though, and the time flew between feasting, driving and sunbathing.

in the professional side, these three months have taken dos54 to panama and argentina in the pursuit of new projects and opportunities, the façade works for blue towers galeria and isidora el bosque have been concluded, the works for the maison de l'histoire europeènne has been almost completed, and we managed to get some photos of the process of the façade erection for the project cuarzo reforma, one of the very firsts projects we developed under the dos54 name.  

dos54 was also awarded during these months with four different projects with different scopes.

in cooperation with catalan aluminium supplier tecalum [1], dos54 had the chance to work in africa, with two projects in algeria providing, mostly, calculations, and another one in congo, where the whole package was offered, including taking measurements on site, in brazzaville.

along with barcelona based architecture office alotark [2], dos54 is developing the façade for the new hq of french aluminium spplier kawneer [3]. the project features different façade types, including double skin, polycarbonate claddigns, and cable truss system.

expect new updates on these new things in the following entries.

[dos54]

p.e. residence mock up

the erection works for the p.e. residence façade have already started, being the first step the execution of the mock up, featuring minimal sliding doors by otiima [1], folding doors by extrugasa [2] and terracota baguettes by tempio [3].

[dos54]

lina bo bardi and the masp

when talking about são paulo's architecture, one of the things that steals the attention is the concrete architecture: the most anodine reflective glass curtain wall façades share space with the most exciting concrete structures all over the city.

there's no need to go deep into the megalopolis or look for the niemeyer's [1] works to find great examples, just a quick walk along the paulista avenue is enough: from the elegant extrusion of the bank of brasil hq, the massive hall structure of the fiesp, or the discreet italian consulate.

these three fine buildings find themselves two blocks away from, probably, the most spectacular structure in são paulo and, also, the excuse for this piece: the museum of art of são paulo, the masp [2], where 254 had the chance to work.

the architect behind this sao paulo's landmark is lina bo bardi [3]. born in italy in 1914, lina bo bardi developed most of her early career in milan and moved to brasil in 1946, where she rapidly retook her career in architecture among other disciplines such as theatre, cinema, sculpture, furniture design... leaving a legacy that can be roughly summarized as one iconic building per decade from the 50's until the 90's (roger m. buergel's article for afterall journal [4] about the social consciousness of them is definitely worth the read).

focusing in the surface, materials in bo bardi's works are not afraid to show their true nature, and concrete was essential part of them no matter the decade. 20 years separate the masp from the sesc pompeia [5] but a common link between the two of them feels very present.

the very glass house, that was the residence for bo bardi and her family, looks like a smaller escale attempt for the upcoming masp, with elevated volume and the everything but monumental stair case.

      inaugurated in november of 1968, the masp building is superb. conceived as a two volume building below and above the side-walk (not to block the view to the down town was one of the main project restrictions), the masp features two massive concrete portico holding a 74 m long suspended volume, le largest free span concrete structure at that time (it's worth to say that the structure system alone from brazilian architect josé carlos de figueiredo ferraz, with the tensor rod network running from floor to floor deserves its own piece).

it feels dated and out of place (the building was supposed to be ugly, in her own words [6]) but not in a diminishing way, in a way that makes you wonder how they managed to pull it off.

it's not everyday that one has the opportunity to leave a mark, even a tiny one, in such an iconic piece of history and, probably, making the mark the most imperceptible as possible is the main goal. dos54 was asked to redesign the new flame resistant safety path enclosures based in the original project.

time doesn't wait for anyone, and the masp is not an exception. the main stair case is enclosed in a glass box that doesn't meet the current regulations regarding fire prevention and that had to be remade respecting the original aesthetics.

before the solutions, the materials had to be fixed: the glass box was originally built with with simple glass and only the fins (due to the hardware fittings) are tempered, and the hardware was brass made with stainless steel caps providing the finishing with no performance concerning fire whatsoever. plain float glazing  is replaced by borosilicate glass panes, and brass by stainless steel. the sealing had to be rethought, as well, being compulsory to add a perimetral steel physical barrier that, in the end, was the only major change from the original project.

the pictures below display the final proposal in which minor aesthetic changes were introduced. luckily, during this year, the renovation works will be held and 254's work will be part of brazilian architecture history.

 source for the displayed images:

1,5: http://www.arcstreet.com

2: http://www.wikiwand.com

3: http://rinolevi.tumblr.com

4: https://google.es/maps

6: http://blog.dip16.net/

7: http://circolare.terra.com.br

8, 10, 11, 12, 13: dos54

9, https://pt.wikipedia.org/

[dos54]

andrade morettin arquitetos

it's not until the third page that a non portuguese reference is found when googling on andrade morettin arquitetos [1].

after, barely, three years of flying casually to the biggest country in the world, it appears a bit risky talking about being a connoisseur of the contemporary paulista architecture (how about brazilian?) so, it might be just ignorance what makes us expect a larger international repercussion from this rather cosmopolitan office, although it certainly seems surprising.

after digging (just a bit) in the matter, it's possible to see that google not showcasing the true international impact of this office it's just due to the amount of portuguese written info about it.

andrade morettin's work has been covered by numerous publications in japan, italy, argentina, france, usa, spain, uk...  in a pretty regular basis, and the effect of their work is reflected in up to six international awards, four of them promoted outside Brazil (two of these four in europe).

the first personal contact with andrade morettin was held in 2012following the project for the new museum of the instituto moreira salles [2] in the paulista avenue in são paulo (brazil).

their approach set a huge distance between them and são paulo's (corporate) architecture pattern, clearly leaning to the vastly common reflective glass curtain walls as a consequence of the tropic regions climate casuistic.

their strategy was far way bolder, relying on newer techniques and technologies in order to set themselves far away from the aesthetics boundaries of the paulista capital.

brazilian magazine arquitectura & urbanismo published an interview in february of 2014 [2] in which the couple talks on how the brazilian architecture is, generally, too conditioned by  "[...] a formula, a response to the legislation, efficient from a marketing point of view, and very repetitive[...]". if something cannot be said of the ims museum is that it's repetitive.

however, it's not the ims museum which drives this modest piece on andrade morettin, but the beginning of the façade works for the p.e. residence.

being a long and low structure, with large presence of steel and glass, one cannot help but recall the fansworth house [4], on more argument for this foreign influences in the office work that is trying to bring up this text.

very marcelo morettin speaks about about the farnsworth house as the project in an interview published by brazilian site of arcelor mittal [5] so, our first conclusion  (even though it's consequence of a superficial analysis carried out by façade professionals focusing their analysis in the surface) doesn't seem completely out of place. 

however, trying to reduce the p.e. residence to just a modern reinterpretation of the german architect's project would be diminishing to andrade morettin's work, for it has it's own lots of shares of personality: from the building entrance (underneath the main room with the enormous door) to the gentle library hiding in the trees (a structural glass cube custom designed for the occasion).

the residence features more than a thousand m2 of cladding material between glass, terracotta and stainless steel provided by grupo galtier [6] , deserving special mention the huge skylight by extrugasa [7] that covers the living room, and the magnificent sliding door by otimAH! [8] without side pillars that generates a semi open space between room and patio connecting the inside and outside of the residence in this vast plaza.

despite the prodigious amount of coating-less glazing, thermic confort is ensured by two different systems for solar protection (both of them apart from the glass).

first, a vertical folding system by expanded stainless steel panels, reducing the impact on the external view when open, second,  a lattice compound of more than  three thousand meters of extruded terracotta baguette

the skylight, on its own, comes with a system of fixed louvres that thanks to a specific solar study allows to maximize the income of light reducing the direct solar radiation in a 98 to 2 ratio.

when speaking earlier about the tropic regions climate casuistic, we spoke on the usual way to deal with it but, like when dealing with so many other things, the usual way is not the only way: by placing the solar control elements apart from the façade, the heat flux (whether by direct solar radiation or the very solar control element radiation) does not reach the glass, being able to turn what should have been a glass green house into a comfortable balcony where to enjoy the exuberant environment.

definitely a cosmopolitan project, that could be located anywhere in the world as the rest of the most prominent works from andrade morettin.

google should take some notes.

  source for the displayed images:

http://www.archdaily.com.br/br/office/andrade-morettin-arquitetos-associados

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[dos54]

La millor manera de pensar, és dibuixar. The best way to think is drawing!

[dos54]

#newstudio ! #dos54