Project Name: Levine Hall at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte

Company Name: KWK Architects

Project Location: Charlotte, North Carolina United States

Project Information/Details:

On most university campuses throughout the United States, you will find traditional residence halls, and you will find honors halls. But what happens when the two types of residence halls are combined into a single Living/Learning Community?

Such a unique configuration was implemented nearly two years ago with the opening of the $38.5 million Levine Hall at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte. KWK Architects designed the university's newest residential building to house 435 total students - a combination of honors and traditional students. Currently, Levine Hall houses 136 honor students, about 31% of the Levine student community.

The 160,000-square-foot Levine Hall includes four-bedroom suites and apartments, plus large central lounges and study areas at the end corridors of each floor. Community spaces include a lobby, lounge, resident kitchen, laundry and meeting spaces.

The hall's extended "Z" shape creates a significant open lawn which leads to a large arched opening. At this opening are entries to both the residence hall and the honors college zone to provide a separate identity and allow independent operation while encouraging regular use by residents.

"The design of Levine Hall at UNC-Charlotte had a very specific directive - the inclusion of an honors and scholars program inside a traditional residence hall. This unique challenge required different unit types, such as suites and apartments, to be embedded within each RA community, as well as academic and administrative support exclusive to honors program students," said KWK Architects Principal Paul Wuennenberg.

Two years after Levine Hall's opening, the student housing experts at KWK and UNC Charlotte are analyzing the results of their unique design and seeking answers to their questions: "Are the honors students successfully integrating into the traditional community?", "Is the rest of the community accepting of these students?", "What tools have been used to improve the sense of community within these two groups sharing the same space?" and "Are there opportunities for mentorship from the honors students?"

Aaron J. Hart, Ed.D., Associate Vice Chancellor & Director, Housing and Residence Life at UNC Charlotte, says the Levine Hall community has been deemed a success on many levels.

"The Levine Residence Hall staff shared and acknowledged that the honor students on the third floor thoroughly enjoy the connection of home to classroom. The relationship has successfully connected the housing community and the unique academic relationship for honors students," said Hart. "This semester the honors college has opened its doors up to late night homework and study hours that are only accessible to honors students and friends. This has been really beneficial for students because they can utilize the smart classrooms for homework purposes, instead of walking to the library. In my opinion, students have greatly benefited from the physical proximity of the offices. Our department has also seen development in relationships through the close proximity of the honors college."

Through analysis of the Levine Hall design, KWK's design experts plan to further their understanding of designing a residence hall that incorporates an honors program, with heavy emphasis on academic and administrative support; learning ways to improve the interactions between honors students and the rest of the RA communities; as well as understanding how honors program administrators and faculty interact with residence life professionals in the same residence hall.

"While the honors program supports the honors student, there have been measurable benefits for the traditional students in this type of Living/Learning Community," said Wuennenberg. "We will continue to look at this design further and whether this type of building configuration can be a benefit to other institutions."

Project Name: d’Arenberg Cube

Company Name: Chester Osborn

Project Location: Adelaide, Australia, Armed Forces Pacific United States

Project Information/Details:

For leading Australian winemaker Chester Osborn, pictured below, it’s the realisation of a 14-year dream, but for the McLaren Vale wine region 40km south of the South Australian capital of Adelaide, the Cube could bring tens if not hundreds of thousands more wine tourists to visit one of the world’s most unusual and dramatic cellar doors.

The five storey AUD$15 million glass-encased steel and concrete structure was inspired by Rubik’s Cube – an architectural puzzle four modules wide, four high – seeming to float above the entrance ground floor, and four deep. The architectural twist is that the two top floors are askew, rotated on their axis, just as if you’d twisted your Rubik’s Cube – which both architects and builders agree have made it the most difficult project on which they’ve ever worked.

As visitors approach the entrance there’s a haunting background sound, created by a local DJ but the instrument making it is a weather station. As the weather changes each of eight parameters (temperature, humidity and so on) talk to a unique musical playback system along a range of keys, tones and volume.

But it’s inside the d’Arenberg Cube where Chester’s colourful imagination has run riot, stretching the limits of technology and challenging visitors from the moment they enter through mirrored stainless steel doors that fold back, origami-style.

Immediately guests are confronted by an upended black and white bull cradling a polygraph (lie detector) control panel, the first exhibit in what Chester describes as an Alternate Realities Museum in which everything has more than one meaning, and everything is wine focussed.

“I never wanted it to be compared to MONA (Hobart’s famous Museum of Old and New Art),” Chester says.

Project Name: Harugei Malchut

Company Name: HQ Architects

Project Location: Tel Aviv, Israel, Armed Forces Pacific United States

Project Information/Details:

HQ Architects in collaboration with developer Yarden Gilan of Ram Aderet Group, today unveiled plans for Harugei Malchut, an innovative and forward-thinking residential project spearheaded and designed by leading architect firm HQ Architects, led by architect Erez Ella. The project will transform a nondescript building with eight units in northern Tel Aviv's affluent Ramat HaHayal district into a reimagined residential structure measuring 40m long by 18m wide with 21 gorgeous residences. The project is slated to be completed in 2019.

Harugei Malchut will be designed under Israel's innovative urban renewal policy of "Tama 38," which allows architects to redevelop a building and add additional floors for new inhabitants, while updating existing apartments and infrastructure for longtime inhabitants. Harugei Malchut will consist of a lush residential building with open-air facades and 21 stylish apartments that host spacious balconies, along with several penthouse options varying in size, but with uniform quality and stylish design by HQ Architects.

The main challenge in urban renewal projects is to keep the local community in their original building and create higher-quality apartments within the same structure. The Harugei Malchut project changed the typical Israeli typology of a multi-family building by transforming the plot through material and spatial design. The new building will be adorned in a combination of white local stone and exposed concrete, emphasizing the separation of each floor and fixing the original building's poorly aged plastered covering. Additionally, an inner-courtyard is introduced creating an internal space for existing dwellers to come back to their local community, while introducing a variety of sized apartments above.

A large opening was introduced to spatially reinforce the inner-courtyard and allow natural ventilation and light to come in. The open arrangement functions as an entrance lobby and private common space and allows two internal balconies to be created for the penthouse apartments. The property features lush vegetation with more than 25 planted trees, including Citrus trees, Olive trees, Maish trees, and Cypress trees.

Harugei Malchut is part of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's expanding city limits and infrastructure upgrades rejuvenating the municipality and neighboring towns and districts. It is located just a 10-minute drive from the urban center, in Ramat HaHayal. The Northern neighborhood is home to the research and development offices of leading global high tech firms and suburban-style residential developments.

"Harugei Malchut is an innovative architectural project that gives way to the distinct natural characteristics commonplace in Tel Aviv: stunning light from both east and west; balmy weather that allows for materials and finishings to breathe; and lush Mediterranean horticulture that is both colorful and provides privacy and distinction of space," said Erez Ella, Lead Architect and Partner at HQ Architects. "With the rapid evolution of the city's urban periphery, Harugei Malchut is set to be a flagship project that is definitive of the zeitgeist of modern day Tel Aviv."

About HQ ARCHITECTS

HQ ARCHITECTS (HQA) was founded in Israel in 2008 by Erez Ella, formerly of OMA and REX. Focusing on a strong pragmatic and programmatic approach, HQ ARCHITECTS strives to question conventions and create culturally challenging buildings, while compounding client resources to achieve maximum utility through design.