LEVRAT DESIGN

Project:

A “materialization of Information” pavilion in Mumbai.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Frederic Levrat’s design studio designs and builds a “materialization of Information” pavilion in Mumbai.

‘our environment today is increasingly influenced by nonmaterial conditions, from which we interpret material equivalences. from the stock market to urban regulations law, the tension between the virtual and the physical is increasingly richer and complex. most of the time, the rules defining architecture are based on the physical condition of gravity and the economical condition of construction cost. but other forces are shaping our society, from social to informational. are there other forces to be expressed in architecture than responding to gravity?’ these are the thoughts posed by professor frederic levrat and director phillip anzalone of columbia university. with these questions in mind, a group of six students from thegraduate school of architecture, planning, and preservation (GSAPP) and narsee monjee institute of management studies (NMIMS) developed ‘space + image pavilion’, a small structure which would explore the relation between the virtual, the visual, and the physical.

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/columbia-gsapp-mumbai-nmims-space-image-pavilion-08-12-2014/

Project:

A jeanswear showroom in the Garment District of New York City.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Reliq, an international manufacturer of jeanswear, launched a new showroom in New York in 2005 as part of a global brand re-development. For this project, Frederic Levrat and Farnaz Mansuri collaborated to create a sculptural space to house the showroom’s lighting and display system.

WHITE ON WHITE

A fragmented and faceted monolithic wall functions as the main animator and divider of the space, and also provides the surface from which all supporting furniture and display mechanisms protrude. The thickness of the wall is carved into, allowing a dynamic system of display using extruding rectangular shelving. Each face of the wall relates to the room it simultaneously occupies and divides. The floors and ceiling connect to the monolithic wall and are washed in a bright white finish appropriate for their surface material. The all-white surfaces respond to the varied exposure of light throughout the day, changing shades as the direction of sunlight moves, and illuminating the different depths and surfaces of the room.

Project:

A 2,500-square-foot restaurant and bar, located in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Located at 425 Troutman Street, The Rookery lies at the heart of Bushwick—a former industrial neighborhood which has been transformed into a popular arts and entertainment district. In this post-industrial landscape of rough steel and brick structures, the rezoning of old, industrial warehouses to mixed-use buildings has seen a number of bars, restaurants, shops and galleries emerge. The Rookery is housed in a former truck storage building, with an 18-foot-tall ceiling, and an additional 40 feet of open space on the side of the street. The unbuilt front space on the street was transformed into an enclosed garden, screened off from the street by a porous fence, which leads from the sidewalk, through the indoor portion of the restaurant, and into the rear outdoor space.

The existing exposed steel beams were the aesthetic inspiration for a new layer of structure which encloses the kitchen and bathroom on the ground level, while providing a mezzanine space for the office and storage. The new columns and beams, which wrap around the indoor space on all sides, are also exposed, and continue the expression of an architectural style. The industrial aesthetic of the large, horseshoe-shaped bar and the 18-foot-tall steel cladded back wall contrasts with the refinement of the Moroccan patterned tile floor and the antique wallpaper applied around the banquettes. The Rookery was designed to express the power of architecture, while still maintaining a relaxed and comfortable environment for socializing, drinking and dining.

Project:

121 E 37 Street Townhouse

Phase:

Renovation Under Construction

Description:

The townhouse in Midtown Manhattan is located between Lexington and Park Avenue on 37 Street. Its central location next to the headquarter of the United Nation and Grand Central Terminal makes it a very valuable residential project. The five stories building has 12 apartments to be entirely renovated. The gut renovation replace all the mechanical and plumbing system, while reconfiguring the distribution of most of the floor plans. The first floor has 14 feet tall ceiling, allowing the inclusion of a mezzanine for the apartment 2A, 2B and 2C. The generous double height space over the living room is spatially impressive, while the denser space of the kitchen, bathroom and the loft bedroom is rationally designed to offer a maximization of the usable space.

The renovation tries to reveal the historical features of the original building, by exposing one brick wall in each apartment, exposing the wooden ceiling joist over the living rooms and restoring the original chimneys. Working through contrasts, the new mezzanine floor steel structure is revealed to offer a strong dialogue with the existing framework.

Project:

University of Geneva/European Space Agency Research Office

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The first planets discovered outside of the solar system were found by a group of scientist using an ISDC System in the Versoix/Geneva Observatory. To further their research, the European Space Agency has sponsored the construction and launch of a new satellite. The data provided by the satellite would need a new high-tech satellites data analysis building. This new program is integrated into an old existing wooden barn, where the vertical structure, the roof and the upper floor had to be preserved. 

The addition of a new façade, based on a rigorous repetitive module, permeate the entire project. It operates as a rhythmic raw data, from which all part of the project are defined. The module is clearly visible on the façade, but also operate on the inside partitions. The new rigorous texture offers a strong dialogue with the existing wooden structure. The moments of exception, such as the stair space offers a double height space and a curvilinear movement activating the modular intervention.

Project:

Bagrami Industrial Park in Jalalabad Highway, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

To develop Afghanistan economical infrastructure, an Industrial Park has been proposed at the periphery of the capital by USAID. Two hundred lots were offered to investors with the common amenities such as the main access road, guard house, parking, electricity, waste and water provided by the Park management. ArX Kabul involvement with the project was the design and the illustration of the future development.

The design included the definition of the lot partition strategy, the relation between the private spaces and the public spaces, the design of the shared spaces such as the front wall, the entrance gate, the guard house, the sidewalk and main access road. Three dimensional rendering and architectural plans, sections, elevations and details were provided by ArX Kabul.

Project:

Spreebogen Masterplan

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Following the re-unification of Germany, a single administrative center had to be created instead of the two political capitals, Bonn and east Berlin of the divided Germany. The program of the competition was to recreate a new political center for the united Germany in West Berlin. The new Parliament, Senate, Prime minister Residences, all the administrative offices of the different Ministries, the press offices as well as a new high speed train station and a highway had to be planned for the now void center of Berlin. This project of 35 buildings, including monumental representation of power for the State, was also to be understood as the new center of Berlin, Germany and potentially Europe.

ARX theory, developed around the possibility to communicate through a multiplicity of different culture - with the help of fax machines and computer internet - felt that such a program had respond to heterogeneity of inputs. The competition scheme responds to that multiplicity of decision maker, as well as including the multiple relatives center s already present on the site - with the spree curve and the Sbahn. The configuration of a void center accepting a multiplicity of periphery, address the necessity to construct a new representation of power while refusing to give it a static formalism. It was one of the largest competitions ever organized with 835 teams from 44 different countries. ARX was a finalist and was awarded the 8th place. It received international publication and was exhibited in New York, Lisbon, Bonn and Berlin.

Project:

A proposed multi-­use urban tower located in Aznavour Square in Yerevan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The proposed Yerevan City Center Tower, the tallest building in the country if built, is composed of a twenty-­five­-story hotel and seventeen-­story office, both of which are covered by a veil of modulated horizontal louvers. The layering of the glass curtain and the louver system allows for a separation of functions. The glass curtain wall is made of simple vertical elements, effectively protecting the building from external weather conditions. The modulated louver system operates as a shading device, allowing winter and morning sunlight to penetrate the building, while filtering out summer sunlight. The horizontal louvers change density in relation to the accessibility of views, as the layering of bands opens to allow a full view of the Opera House to the Northeast, and Mount Ararat to the Southwest. Additionally, because the louver system is not responsible for providing a complete weather enclosure, it can more freely stand as an iconic design element.

The City Center Tower operates as a reflection of the city’s visual landscape, as the gaze of the pedestrian is redirected back to the viewpoints indicated by the pattern of the tower’s skin. Though the outer layer of the louvers is highly decorative and expressive, it also effectively reflects this simple process of transformation. It operates as a covering overlaid on the mass of the two towers, akin to the style of traditional Armenian interlaced embroidery (also referred to as Marash embroidery), in which a fine layering of decoration is applied onto a fabric.

Project:

Residential Renovation of a Brownstone Apartment in Manhattan

Phase:

Completed

Description:

An entire floor of a brownstone residence on 49th street of New York City was redesigned. The long and narrow typology, offering light at either end of the building called for an elongation of the central spaces to reach both sides for access to natural light and ventilation. A single very large piece of build-in furniture crosses the entire residence as an organizing spine. Tilted with a three degrees angles from the existing walls the “Grand Meuble” affirm its spatial and geometrical autonomy. Opening slightly towards the public space it invites the visitor towards the living room, while constraining the space in the directions of the bedrooms. It also creates a slight visual ambiguity, as the tapering of the space creates a cone of vision forced perspective, questioning the precedence of the visual or the physical perception of space. The single linear Grand Meuble incorporate all the elements of the house, from the dining table, projecting into the living room, the kitchen counter, the storage and display of the many musical library of the owner, while the inner side of the Grand Meuble becomes the bathroom closet and linen closets for the master bedroom. The Grand Meuble defines all the spaces in the residence, but visually try appear as an object, not touching the ceiling or any other walls. The few perpendicular walls are therefore constructed in glass blocks letting light go through, while the top of the spine is also reaching the ceiling with the help of glass blocks. The small three degrees angles is enough to generate a strong dynamic and fluid circulation to the apartment.

Project:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in Dubai.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in a new development zone of Dubai was designed in response to the demand for balconies and external shading devices. The integration of balconies into a gridded facade pattern allows the residential building to operate as a large abstract sculpture. The triple layers of the balconies correspond to the triple layers of the grid. The grid extends from the balconies beyond the top floor, creating a frame for the sky. The distribution of space within the building is pragmatically-­oriented, with a central corridor offering each apartment unit a private balcony and view. The abstract and puzzle­like nature of the facade offers an interesting contrast to the building’s domestic function.

Project:

Addition to an existing house - South Mountain Road - Gardiner

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The addition to a modest existing house in Gardiner was an opportunity to reposition the house with the landscape. On a large flag lot, the new project duplicates the existing two story house with a similar volume and add a long single story connection. The intermediary space is low and horizontal, establishing a link between the two residential volumes. But more importantly it constitutes a link between the natural landscape and the interior landscape. A large terrace extends the entire front of the house to the generous garden, swimming pool and the forest in the background. The horizontal and resolutely modern element operates as a transition layer, with transitional programs such as the entry foyer, the open studio and the Argentinian “quincho” or barbeque space.

The verticality of the existing trees contrast nicely with the horizontal layers of the new roof, terrace, and swimming pool, all slowly negotiating as large plateaus the gentle slope of the existing terrain.

Project:

A proposed 35-story residential tower on Shams Island in Abu Dhabi.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This project consisted of a new, 35-story tower to be built on Shams Island, a new development zone off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Located on a unique corner at the edge of a park, the site demanded a striking design. The idea of an inscription of rising movement inspired the design, as the horizontal and vertical planes give the impression of a tower soaring toward the sky. The notational system of the window grid registers the multiple positions of the five repetitive volumes, establishing an internal dialogue which suggests a vertical displacement. The incremental shift does not end at the vertical position, but rather continues upwards and begins to tilt backwards, presenting a dynamic, seemingly uncontrolled inertia.

Project:

Barcelona Logistical Zone

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The project takes into consideration the geographic characteristic of the delta as well as the programmatic of the future build environment. Both systems on the notion of Flow and Aggregation. The configuration of the delta and its multiple position of the river traces as well as the constant flow of merchandises, people and material that would transit the logistic zone of the harbor are factors of transformation and movement. The Flow - of the river - of the delta - of land, The flow - of material and people, The Flow - of merchandises, This multiple and unstable situation based on movement and transformation refer to a transient or nomadic type of organization rather than a sedentary one.

Our project proposes a dynamic system flow based on the pre-existing - as well as the future - river position in the delta. It also proposes a new set of datum artificial ground planes. Minimal divergent slopes provide major displacement of the newly defined “nature,” and the multiple artificial datum start to overlap in some major three dimensional connecting interfaces. The old river bed is converted into a transportation trench comprising the merchandise train and the highway and the new artificial datum becomes a multifunctional interface.

Project:

Residential Building in Dubai 

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

In Dubai, the “Image-surface” of the building is the essential component for its materialization. The façade is what allow the developer to pre-sale the apartment and sell a dream for a vacation residence for investors who do not really need such a home. The design of a fluid façade, which operate as a balcony layer and a shading device layer, allow the inner façade to be a relatively simple glass wall, while the outer concrete façade express the image of the building while protecting the apartment from the direct sunlight. A continuous curvilinearity design offers a protective veil while showing a strong identity and playfulness for a very compact and economical floor plan layout.

Project:

Villa in Italy

Phase:

Completed

Description:

In a tiny Italian village, overlooking the Calabrian sea, the house is part of a contiguous fabric of very modest houses, build partially in stone and in compacted mud. The very thick walls of about 60 cm of compacted mud are a necessary thermal insulation for the hot summer climate. Build around a continuous street front and a carved out courtyard, the semi-public sharing spaces are as important as the interior space. Faced with such strong cultural tradition, the transformation of the house is merely to reinforce the existing cultural spatial usages, opening the courtyard and reviving a traditional space and way of communal life. Simple expression of the stone base is respected, white traditional stucco covers the mud blocks while the terracotta roof tiles merge seamlessly with the continuous village roofscape.

Project:

Hotel at Abu Dhabi

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

In a world where the Logic of the Image is competing with the Logic of the Volume, we decided to explore the minimum volume for a maximum surface. The strategy of folding a bi-dimensional surface, increasing its surface presence as a set of nooks and folds, where space could be occupied, was explored to the limits of a geometrical context. The Canal Hotel, located in Abu Dhabi, is the result of very short charette design –with the invaluable participation of Alberto Garcia and Angela Sanbuchi – but reflecting on a well developed theory of increased surface/image culture.

The slightly undulating surface of the hotel is covered in an abstract patterns of glass and solids, while the modulation of the surface allows the lower floors to jump over the street, providing a restaurant, lounge and other amenities to the extended ground floor connecting to the beach.

Project:

Design and construction supervision of Eight Schools in Northern Afghanistan

Phase:

Completed - Designed and Built

Description:

Eight Primary Schools – Northern Afghanistan

After forty years of war, the public institutions of Afghanistan are thoroughly destroyed. Under the sponsorship of USAID a program to rebuild primary schools was launched by the Ministry of Education and the International Office of Migration. Frederic Levrat worked with a construction company which was producing an interlocking brick system, initially developed in Bangkok Institute of Technology, Thailand. The interlocking brick system is made of pressed earth bricks, containing only 10% of cement. The bricks are part of a modular system, where the Lego-like brick interlock precisely, without the use of mortar. Internal void columns are created by stacking the bricks and reinforcement as well as a minimal pour of cement is integrated within the bricks. The main advantage resides in the production of a reinforced concrete structure – essential in a earthquake prone region like Afghanistan – without the need to have large wooden planks for the formwork. Special U-shaped bricks were used for the lintels, integrating horizontal reinforcement steel bars. The small construction company produce also reinforced concrete beams, which works with the exact module of the interlocking bricks dimensions. Levrat was instrumental on drawing and supervising the entire construction set, solving the connection of the interlocking bricks with the stone foundations, as well as the village urbanism. Since the large classrooms were requiring a longer span than what the prefabricated concrete beam could achieve, an intermediary pour-into-place beam was build to reduce the span in half.

Eight Primary school were designed and build by Levrat’s office in Kabul, in the Northern part of Afghanistan. There are school in Pul-e-Khumri, Baghlan, Kunduz, Samangan, Mazar-e-Sharif and Balkh.

As qualified professionals, applying our knowledge to humanitarian work is quite important and, in many ways, satisfying.

Project:

Singapore Management University

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This proposal was submitted to an international competition for the design of a new university campus, located in Singapore’s city center. Frederic Levrat’s team considered the challenge of the program, interpreting the notion of the campus as a new typology based on maximum connectivity and synergy. The design of the campus master plan, including the seven different plots of land for faculty and administrative buildings, was based on this idea of interconnectivity. The buildings were arranged in a linear fashion within a generous circulation of space. Informal meeting points along the pedestrian promenade were reinforced by the numerous intersections of different volumes of the building, as well as the surrounding parks and streets. 

Project:

Transformation of an abandoned industrial site into a new residential and hotel complex at the edge of Zurich City.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The site is conveniently located next to the main ring highway and has access to a tram stop at the back of the site. The old graphite industrial hall is to be preserved as an important artifact of the industrial era, and its enormous dimension and structure becomes the backbone and the rhythm of the new intervention. The Old industrial hall becomes the lobby for the new group of towers inserted within its structure, delivering a number of semi-private programs such as the reception, conference rooms, lobby and restaurant.

The new project proposal takes the old industrial structure rhythm to grow vertically and horizontally. A new residential linear aggregation continues the existing massing, while the large open-space located in front of the new residential bar becomes a sculpted and striated garden, sometime staying as a garden, sometime emerging as a community space- such as a library, kindergarten, community hall.

The continuing technological progress have allowed us to extend our control over the dimensions of time and space. The “mechanical machine” made progress in compressing the space with the acceleration of speed, but the step proposed by the “electro paradigm” is even stronger in its influence of compressing the spatial and temporal understanding of our environment. The “non-immediacy” condition in which we are more and more involved have forced us to re-think our spatial relations. The possibilities offered by such a mediated condition is not fundamentally unpleasant: we can actually listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra “live” from our bath tub, as well as watching the american landing in Somalia “live” from our living room. The electronic transportation of information has

allowed us to have a partial view of just everything, all the time. It seems that the present desire for an ideal urbanism would be to include this paradoxical “everything, all the time” notion, which need to be addressed in the real physical world, but not at the level of the remote controlled media environment. A continuous mode of “zapping” seems to shape some of our urban landscape and our shopping malls to respond to a clear desire of ideal urbanity of “Everything all the time with a remote control.” The desire of trying to devise strategies for an actual physical construction that would respond to these virtual conditions is the impossibility to resolve the problem. but rather to propose new scenarios and relations of habitation. The strategy to offer an urban density with a spark as well as a totally private set of space, combined with historical traces and new buildings seems to be a constant state of paradoxical conditions or a striation and compression of events.

Project:

Exhibition at the Van Alen Institute

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The Swiss Exhibition, at the Van Alen Institute, is an original installation design, supporting the content collected by Nina Rapapport. The premise of the show is in regard to the complex topography of Switzerland, influencing the architecture and urban condition of Swiss cities in a positive three dimensional way.

The exhibition design follows this concept by challenging the flat space of the exhibition wall, folding it into space. The entire folded surface becomes its own structure, interlocking itself with its adjacent components. The hundred of pieces were all drawn in the computer and automatically produced through laser cutting. The translucent effect of the Plexiglas questions our perception of the space, its depth, the surface and the volume of the exhibition.

Project:

Museum

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The Museum of the Craft art of the Islamic Knot is designed to house a world famous collection of woven art, cutting through hundred of years of Persian, Turkmene, Afghan and Uzbek masterpieces. As much as museum for paintings and sculpture are common throughout the western world, museums of the Craft Art of the Knott are rare. The initiator of the program – Maurice Lidchi – desired a museum which would express the value and the art of what is regarded too often as “carpet” in the western world. The project addresses the issue of the transformative condition of a horizontal surface onto a vertical surface. As Rosaline Krauss mentioned in an essay on Jackson Pollock, the horizontal art is too often misinterpreted as a functional surface to walk onto, while the Vertical art is to be consume by the eyes only.

Five strands of a rectangular section curve upwards at different speed creating a transformation form the Horizontal space to a vertical space, from an entry to a vertical gallery. The five different strands repeat themselves, but their intersections are multiple, complex, and unexpected. The rich compositional “knot” that result in the process driven design is unique and impressive. Initially planned for Al Ain, the project location is in Singapore marina bay area. The circulation and the program takes full advantage of the horizontal spaces, for the lobby, the restaurant and the archiving, while the vertical gallery brings the visitor into a complex sequence of cascading spaces.

Project:

A large white Y sculpture in Zurich

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The large white Y sculpture has recently become a well-known public art element of a culturally rich city.  Zurich had decided to improve one of its toughest neighborhood, by building an urban park and a new school. The Hardau is mostly populated by Balkan refugees and to animate the park they invited Balkan related artists to a Design Competition. The New York based conceptual artist, Sislej Xafa was invited and decided to work in association with Frederic Levrat, an architect and a Swiss citizen. Xhafa and Levrat won the competition with a very large sculpture, a 20 meter tall Slighshot, entitled ”Y”. The translucent sculpture is refusing to be clearly quantifiable, too big to be a swing, too small to be a catapult, too playful to be a visual symbol, too bright to be solid.

It is an exercise in “escapism” and “deconstructivism”, continuously diverting the possible meaning of the build object, oscillating between its representational meaning and its physical presence. It is an unusual design strategy where physical elements are resisting what they appear to be. The visual symbol of street resistance is transformed into a comfortable swing, illustrating the trajectory that some refugees have been forced to take. At the urban scale, the trajectory of a hypothetical projectile launched with the Slingshot would land straight at Zurich City Hall, which at the local scale explains the 6-degree angle shift between the sculpture and the rest of the surrounding buildings. The 66-meter-tall sculpture – as tall as 6 stories building -  needed serious engineering and is built in robust steel on a concrete base, to absorb the generous swing movement of the users. Nevertheless, the translucent outer shell appears as a soft urban light, colored in the pastel yellow, white and orange inspired by the typical children “rocket” ice cream, as the user activate the light sitting in the giant ludic swing.

Project:

Las Vegas Europe

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

With the Industrial Revolution, the human species were able to produce machines to take care of its survival need. At the end of the XX century two elements came to shape the organization of our society. 1. Leisure Time For the first time the majority of the society was not obliged to continuously work for its survival, and we had time to look for "something else". 2. Constitution of a virtual desire/reality: The new media started to constitute an entire fictional set of value, accessible only through mediated means.

A new city, accepting its fictional reality and basing its development on it has every chance to become highly successful. Examples such as the Disney World/Epcot Center in Orlando Florida, The Las Vegas Strip, or Eurodisneyland are highly successful examples, not only as theme parks but also for the development of the "real reality" city surrounding it. Currently, Las Vegas is the fastest growing town is the United States, and Orlando is following from not so far.

Located at the border between the former Eastern and western blocks it can certainly capitalize on the exoticism and projected desire of each former block on the other side.

Multiple Fictional Centers - Visual/virtual attractor

Project:

Residential Building in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This tower for a new development in Dubai was planned for the center of an entirely new neighborhood. The operating process in Dubai resides in the fascination for the image and the visually consumable surface, which can be transported, advertised, and sold to generate the actual physical building virtually represented. Following this ambiguity between surface and volume, the design strategy is to produce a complex surface, connecting the different parts of the building. The parking garage, entry lobby, shopping galleries, the main residential body as well as the crown are all linked as one meandering surface, which takes on the role of linking as well as expressing the specificity of the building. The 32 stories tower is also based on a folded plan, which offers maximum surfaces for views and balconies. The image identity of the tower is generated through a criticism of the notion of the image, trying to resist a simple consumption of the image with slightly ambiguous appearance from one side or the other, from a single tower to a double tower.

Project:

Awarded Project - Library for the University Institute of the International Studies

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The library for the University Institute of the International Studies was awarded to Peter Eisenman and Frederic Levrat after they won the second place in an invited competition to redesign the Place des Nations, as the new entry to the United Nations in Geneva. Located on the norther tip of the Campagne Rigot, the Library insert within itself a public path which would connect the Place des Nations to the open green spaces of the Rigot park. Set as a repetition of Electroencephalography signals the projects operates within this repetition and difference of complex sections, integrating the inside and the outside spaces. The resulting triangulated surfaces emerges from the landscape, providing an access ramp from the center of the library, distributing the user from an entry bridge onto the two main wings of the library. The butterfly plan allows the mezzanines spaces to overlook onto the double height spaces of the reading rooms, while its underside houses the specialized book collection.

The precast concrete panels were to rest on a steel structure, while some of the triangulated surfaces would become openings for natural light and views. Fred Levrat was the project manager for the design in New York and later established his office in Versoix – Geneva to operate as the Local architect responsible for the design production within the Swiss legal standards. The project was fully developed from a technical and cost dimension, but a referendum against the entire Place des Nations restructuration ultimately cancelled the project.

Project:

Orphanage in Nepal

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The Foundation A House with a Heart based in New York operates an orphanage mostly for orphan girls in the capital city of Nepal. The small compound already has a few buildings operating but wanted to add a new dormitory as well as an open ground floor for a small clinic for members of the larger community. With this sectional difference, the clinic being open to the street while the upper floors are open to the members of the orphanage only, a large stair in inserted into the program, offering a place to congregate. A secondary façade made of wood continue the tectonic of the transition started in the section, offering variability and settle progression, rather than an orthogonal extruded block. The double façade offers some privacy to the orphanage bedrooms and some personalization of the spaces as the stacked floor plans repeat vertically, while the external envelop vary slightly for one level to the next.

Project:

Showroom for Auster in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located in the Dubai Industrial Zone, this fashion brand needed a storage warehouse combined with a display showroom. The design attempts to merge these two different programs by developing a tectonic of blending, resulting on curvilinear boundaries. The project stayed on a fairly conceptual basis as the client was not clear on the logistics of these dual programs in the Dubai Industrial zone. The project attempts to blend the simple orthogonal cube of the industrial requirements with a more complex and expressive geometry, representing the fashion shows which would occasionally take place in the front part of the projected building.

Project:

Levrat Design Exhibition in Pratt Institute main Gallery

Phase:

Completed

Description:

A large exhibition of Fred Levrat and Zolaykha Sherzad’s research and buildings was held in the main Gallery of the Pratt Institute School of Architecture. Following the concept that images are questioning our understanding of spaces, where the primacy of the physical world is challenged by the consumption of visual material, the exhibition display refuse the conventional hierarchy of the display walls. The conventional structure would be for the wall to be there first, and the images hung onto its surface respecting the hierarchy of structure and gravity. Instead, the display is the space, where continuous bands of information are hung from the ceiling with transparent nylon threads. Liberated from gravity, the display can then be following a radically different geometry, flowing into space at a diagonal angle, moving up and down freed from any wall, floor or traditional construction constraints. The long linear display is structurally mounted on foam-core panels. In opposition to the free flowing and floating space of the image, the models are rooted to the ninety degrees geometry of the gravity, perpendicular to the floor and aligned to the orthogonal geometry of the walls. The combination of these two systems of geometry creates an intricate flow for the visitor of the exhibition.

Project:

The National Museum of Afghanistan

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The concept for the National Museum of Afganistan operates between the ‘CONTAINER & CONNECTOR’ accumulating and preserving material as well as disseminating the image of its content to the visiting public.   The vertical wall embodies that mission becomingthe element  able to negotiate this paradoxical condition, offering a separation and a protection for the content as well as a system of exhibition for the collection. The perimeter wall's is used for security to solidity, the separator provides the space for displaying niches of the gallery wall.   

In Afganistan 2012, the architecture of a National importance must provide a ‘SEPARATION & PROTECTION’ for the museum, its contents and its guest.  The design strategy is one of Peeling the walls to find the galleries at its nucleus. Within this multiple layering of perimeter wall, space is defined sometimes as an inside as well as an outside. The potential reversal between the inside and the outside, is inherent in the traditional Afghan architecture, where gardens are walled in and courtyards are the inner center of the "Qala". The garden becomes an active part of the building and successive courtyards offer light and protection to the galleries. In the proposed museum, at the end of the exhibit sequence , the central courtyard becomes the most inner space of the museum, while remaining open to the sky,  distributing natural light throughout the adjacent spaces. Within the layers and in the interstitial spaces between inside and outside is the garden. The primary exhibit space is framed by a ramp that wraps around this gallery

Presence of the Absence

The void making the courtyard is the central space in the National Museum, mirroring somewhat the current contextual condition of Afghanistan. The courtyard and the void becomes a positive and insular exterior space.

Carving from the land

The National Museum is an expression of the national identity, directly emanating from the depth of its land. While integrating the garden into the design of the museum, the visitor enters  right into a garden, slowly immersing the visitor into the earth and into the layers of its walls and exhibit space. 

 Sequence of Spaces

From the entrance into the lobby, the visitor moves slowly up in a spiral form, transgressing the basic logic of the containment walls. Passing from the Hypostyle foyer to the double height space of the Main Gallery, the sequence continues with a ramp enclosure where smaller artifacts are displayed until one arrives on to the next level, where the Archaemenid, the Great Kushans, the Early Islam, the Timurid, the Ethnographic and the Contemporary galleries are displayed in succession, before reaching the intense light of the Central Courtyard.

Project:

Residential Project

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The initial design project for a family house was based on a reactive condition to the typically efficient orthogonal boxes found in the neighborhood. A large vertical wall would separate and protect the house from the street, while the garden side would be open to free geometries emerging from this boundary wall. The attempt at not layering the plans in a structural way, but rather exploring specific views, and individual programs generated some very free and playful facades. The double height space of the glazed living room would blend with the surrounding nature, while the cantilevered bedroom balconies would project themselves withing the direction of specific viewpoints.

Project:

High Rise in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Based on a odd shaped site the thirty stories Liwan tower is formed around a cruciform floor plate. The high intensity of the sunlight in Dubai requires a double façade while the cruciform plan allows to bring some shaded light to the central space of the tower. The tower is not a direct extrusion as the volume expend progressively in its midsection to taper again towards the top of the building. The Podium is too large to be fully integrated in the design and only one side of the façade’s layer merge horizontally to become the entrance lobby of the tower. The metallic mesh operates as a shading device in front of the large floor plate, but as they continue past the occupiable volume, the shading secondary façade becomes the crown element of the tower, free standing sculpturally in the busy Dubai skyline.

Project:

Exhibition for League Against Cancer

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Located inside an old turbine hall at the center of Geneva, the Exhibition for the League Against Cancer consisted mostly in the design of some free standing walls for the display of the panels. Two full length of sheet of polycarbonate were attached together at their end with a metal stud. The flexibility of the large sheet of polycarbonate allowed a gentle curvature to augment the width of the temporary wall in the middle. A simple existing structural element was inserted in the middle of the double layer to create a free standing stable translucent wall. Due to the material quality of the translucent polycarbonate, lights were inserted inside the structure to allow the walls to have a gentle glow. The content panels were hung at the top of the polycarbonate sheets. A meandering passage was provided to lead the narrative of the exhibition content.

Project:

Residential Project

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located in a farmland outside of Kabul the design wants to optimize the views of the surrounding green fields of fruit trees and grape wines. A stone platform is covered by a large roof, held by a four by four grid of columns. The ample shade provided by the simple structure allows the full perimeter of the house to be covered by a wooden and glass continuous window. Three stone walls penetrate the perfect square geometry to define program elements on the inside as well as the subdividing the outside gardens. The natural texture of the stone walls represent the outside landscaping character, pulling the outdoor spaces towards the inside. By not reaching full height, the walls never fully enclose the space, but rather qualify the space and its programs. Additional glass partition would protect the private rooms acoustically from the rest of the house.

A large pool of water would also transgress the inside outside boundaries, bringing another natural element into the more controlled environment of the house. The farmland is enclosed within large mud walls which defines the outdoor spaces in combination with the stone walls.

Project:

High Rise in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Two twin thirty stories towers were designed for a new development in Dubai. The main design concept is the superposition of three different grids, operating at slightly different scale. The primary grid is based on the floor to floor dimension, while the two larger grids are three times as large. The large grids protrude from the façade providing balconies spaces. One of the grids protrude one meter twenty while the other grid is extending the façade only by eighty centimeters. The overlay of these three grids provides a playful reading of interaction between a recognizable pattern and a more complex superposition. The usage of only a glass and a solid material allow a relatively abstract geometrical reading while the massing reflects the maximization of the allowable FAR with the inclusion of commercial spaces in the podium.

Project:

Renovation of a residential building located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, this residential building is being renovated constantly. Small interior transformations on the hundred and twenty apartments are happening on a rotating basis, upgrading the prewar infrastructure. The bathrooms and the kitchens are usually the elements that need the most renovation, but the overall living configurations are also being re-planed. The larger living room and hall ways are demolished to make space for an additional bedroom, transforming studios into one bedrooms or one bedrooms into two bedrooms.
The use of movable partitions and frosted glass allow to create flexible spaces with higher densities, where the diurnal and nocturnal programs can coexist in the same space. Open kitchens overlap with the living room and the dinning space, while sliding doors allows the living room to expend into the bedrooms.

Project:

Hotel Project in Venezuela

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A large site in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo was designed to house a mixture of programs. To respond to the complexity of the various programs – shopping center, office space, hotel – the design follows a strict geometrical cubic volume. Within this perfect cube, where the horizontal dimension is paired by the vertical dimension, the center is voided to allow light and air. The different vertical volumes provide holes and partial heights to define enough the essence of the cubic volume, while at the same time being playful in the association of the different programmatic pieces. The result is a balance of geometries and variations similar to a three dimensional puzzle, where the presence of the voids are as important as the solids.

Project:

Theater for The Foundation for Culture and Civil Society

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The Foundation for Culture and Civil Society needed a new theater space. The site, located on a hill in the center of Kabul consisted of an old retaining wall, with traces of habitations dating at least two hundred years back. The design intent was to preserve the old wall by placing five new concrete columns alongside the wall and covering the theater space with as many open-webs steel beams. The contrast between the existing traditional methods of construction and the required more modern structural elements created a contemporary theater space, respectful of the local traditions and culture. A proscenium in brick for the stage and a domed smaller poetry room completed the cultural compound of the extension of the Foundation for Culture and Civil Society. The outdoor courtyard space operates as the lobby and is part of the entry sequence. Working for the reconstruction of a war torn country doesn’t only involve rebuilding housing or schools and clinics, but also some important creative and educative space for the community.

Project:

Studio Apartment 

Phase:

Completed

Description:

With its entry on a half level, the studio apartment needed a resolution of its circulation. The client - through a renovation of the Brownstone due to a violation related to an oil tank buried under the building - had excavated a deeper basement, providing more room to be exploited. The upper Mezzanine becomes the bedroom while under the mezzanine a compact block of utilities houses the kitchen and the bathroom. The path of the stairs, meandering around the room, with a large landing at the entrance of the apartment, becomes the main element of the studio. The handrail is the only important element, detailed precisely, to allow a swift and sensuous transition between the half levels. A single large window is added to the façade, providing plenty of sunlight to the half-buried space.

Project:

Al Bustan masterplan in Al Bustan, Muscat Province, Oman.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

On the Indian Ocean off the coast of Oman, a small hillside was to be developed into a residential vacation village. The gently slopped hill is only a few hundred meters from the ocean and the combination of the dry mountains with the immense ocean is inspiring. The project proposes three row of houses parallel to the slope, arranging fourty six houses, grouped in cluster of three or four.

At the center of the development, a small clubhouse, a restaurant and a swimming pool provide for collective amenities. The architecture is inspired by a modernist design as well as a respect for the traditional Oman architecture. The simple white geometry of Masquat are quite sculptural under the brutal sun of Oman. The project proposes a number of traditional attributes – such as the accessible rooftop, the white façade, the small openings – while adding an internal courtyard which brings natural light without the direct sunlight and the heat resulting from it.  A strong geometrical frame defines the perimeter of the house, from which a number of opening are allowed to exist. The development is composed of four different variations, combining within the diversity of the site and the slope.

Project:

Pavilion

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The project is a culmination of the Knowledge City Studios developed by Fred Levrat at Columbia University. Exploring the relationship between the Virtual – Visual – Material logics, the project assimilate the multiple layers of our constructed reality. The project was located in a large bus station in the northern periphery of the capital city of Jordan. The proposal for a Materialization of Information pavilion asked for a research into the unknown, looking for an interaction between information space and material space.

The Information space is reduced to a flat two-dimensional linear surface, which diverge and multiply as the physical requirement appears. The linear band of information twist and turns, from a horizontal band to a vertical wall for projection and information transmission. A covered waiting area emerge under a roof, as horizontals band from the wall transform into a horizontal canopy. The extension lines become benches and simple direction line on the floor, as the emerging linear elements dissipate. In a collaboration with a local Jordanian producer of Alucore - an aluminum façade surface material – the project was detailed for construction. A system of 3” vertical steel columns would support the folded metal sheets. Prototypes were made and the vertical structure erected on the site. Unfortunately, the Alucore/Alucobond provider did not deliver the material and the structure was temporarily build with bands of white fabrics.

The exploration into the materialization of information went much further than in usual research studios, where the final product is only a well polished digital rendering. The actual construction and detailing of the structure offered a new perspective on the overlapping relation between information and material, constituting a multi layered special device.

Project:

A proposed design submitted to the Far Roc competition in 2013.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

In 2013, the Far Roc competition called for the planning, design and construction of resilient and sustainable developments in waterfront areas, following the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. While development thus far has generally maintained a distinction between the natural and built environment, the context of this competition begs us to rethink that boundary. With climate change, severe storm events and rising sea levels, our logic of, and capacity for, stable development has been thrown into question.

Our proposed design is centered around two strategic arcs which, at different elevations, blur the distinction between the natural landscape and the constructed environment. The first arc involves the development of a dense community infrastructure attached to the existing elevated A-train. Connected to the train datum by a series of bridges and elevated pathways along a concrete viaduct, the spine contains two rows of mixed-use apartment buildings. These three-to-ten-story buildings are aggregated sectionally at the train datum, as well as at the lower datum of the street grid. At street level, all structures are elevated a minimum of 11 feet above sea level by the use of compacted earth and pilotis; here, a new commercial strip is proposed to revitalize Edgemere Avenue. Above this at 36 feet, public facilities including a school, daycare and nursing home are transformed into potential refuge centers in the case of extreme weather conditions.

With open land comprising 64% of the proposal, the second arc contains zones of permanent dune preserve, low-lying parkland suitable for temporary structures, as well as elevated green spaces which serve as potential sites for future development. Directly engaging with the logic of the boardwalk, the section of protective dunescape responds and connects to the development of the first arc, thereby establishing a cooperative condition that necessarily unites the built environment with the surrounding natural landscape.

Project:

Performance Theater

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The city of Athens organized a Cultural Olympics, to be held in parallel to the Olympic Games festivities in 2000. The program of a temporary performance theater, with projections, lectures and mostly theater performances was proposed as an architectural competition. The subject of the temporary performance offered another attempt to explore the relationship between the logic of the image and the logic of the material world. A system of continuous two-dimensional surfaces defines the space. The surfaces inflections slowly wrap the space into an entry, a set of seating and a covered roof. The functions are loosely defined as appearing as potentialities between the three main folded surfaces. The lightness and versatility of the folded surfaces respond well to the notion of a temporary building, while offering a large range of potential usage.

The theoretical exploration between surface and volume, between precisely defined programs and emerging event spaces become visible in this theater. The logic of the eye related to a minimal surface become a partially defined volume for the body to occupy and activate. The tension and transition between the folded surface and the volume could be expressed in the simplified equation 6x2D > 1x3D. Nevertheless, the openness of the street theater in the warm climate of Athens doesn’t require a fully enclosed surface and the volume is only partially enclosed and the precise definition of the space is subject to the viewer’s experience and interpretation.

Project:

Clinics at Afghan 

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The humanitarian project for twelves primary care clinics located throughout the norther region of Afghanistan was designed within the development of a larger system of Interlocking bricks material development. Residing and practicing in Kabul for a year and a half, the extent of the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan required an approach beyond the usual scope of a conventional architecture practice. Modern construction materials such as reinforced concrete were too costly – requiring imported cement, steel and wood for the framing. A system of interlocking bricks, developed by the Asian institute of technology in Bangkok, provided an affordable while earthquake resistant structure. The role of the architect expanded to manufacturing bricks made of ninety five percent of local soil, three percent sand and two percent cement. Compressed by hand, the interlocking bricks provided a “Lego” system which would stack up without any required mortar, while at the same time providing vertical cavities for the metal reinforcement bars to be inserted without any external framing. The production of small concrete beams would allow us to produce all of the necessary construction material in situ, a tremendous advantage considering the very poor condition of the road system in rural Afghanistan.

Respecting the basic requirements of the Ministry of Health for a Primary Care Clinic, as well as the structural requirement required by USAID, the clinics are redesigned to integrate the material specificities of the interlocking brick system. Twelves such Primary Care Clinics have been designed and build in the northern provinces of Baghland, Kunduz and Balkh. Each clinic follows a similar set of plans, but the integration into the landscape, the slope and the access direction constitute each time a unique variation.

AFGHAN SCHOOLS

A front portico leads to a centrally loaded corridor with the classroom distributed on either sides. Due to the larger dimensions of the classroom then the self-produced small concrete beams could span, a poured into place concrete beam is inserted into the middle of the classroom, reducing the span in half to accommodate the smaller structural system.

Project:

Tower in Dubai

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Proposed as a variation in Dubai for a developer who was interested by the initial design of the Shams tower, the Millenium tower proposal is a rationalized variation of the rotating section tower. Rather than incrementally rotating five degrees, the Millenium tower has a repeated mid-section. The design is far from the most interesting, but the negotiation with the developer forced a large number of compromises. The grouping of levels into blocks of seemingly rotating angle offers and interesting identity to the thirty stories tower. The positive side of the compromises with the developer was for the tower to be entirely presold to a real estate marketing office who pretended to have sold every single apartment to private investor, allowing for the tower construction to be fully financed. Unfortunately, a severe economic crisis hit Dubai as construction plans were finalized and the project ultimately was cancelled.

Project:

Darulaman new neighborhood masterplan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

After decades of war there is a major necessity for rebuilding large number of residential houses. Nevertheless, designing a new neighborhood is more than just designing a place to be sheltered. It is designing a place for families and a community to live and thrive. Constructing a new part of town is constructing a new place, a place with an identity shared among its resident. A place proposing a better future, a new, constructed modern society, anchored in a local culture and tradition. The quality of the private houses is important, but the semi-public shared spaces - such as the park, the Mosque and the recreational activities - are just as essential in the quality of life. A well planned infrastructure, consisting of well build roads, efficient electricity distribution and water are just as essential.

The project is based on the new technology of Interlocking Bricks, allowing modular high quality houses to be constructed for a modest price. The quality of the houses are complemented by the quality of the urbanism, where the quality of life of the resident is enhanced by the generous design of the shared green spaces, the recreational space as well as a clear security system, providing a peace of mind in a complex context.

Project:

A project proposal for Ministry of Interior building in Jeddah.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

"...like dolphins jumping from the ocean, or dunes emerging from the desert..." 

The project proposal for Ministry of Interior building in Jeddah is following a clear program distribution, with one volume for the Minister office, the second volume for the Ministry reception and the third volume for the administrative offices. The three volumes respond to a similar design strategy, operating as a system, generating a shared open space between them. Nevertheless, each one has its own specificity, creating an ensemble of differentiated elements.

The iconic inspiration for the buildings is its emergence from the very own land of Saudi Arabia. The buildings are rising from the landscape, emerging from the mineral context to materialize into a set of inclined structures. The dynamic condition of emergence, inspired by the relation between the function of the Interior Ministry and the land it organizes, is expressed through three strategies.

1.     In plan, the shape of the masterplan, are highly dynamic, following segments of spirals, converging to form the buildings, as well as expending to defines the landscape. Water features, green spaces and paved area all converge and diverge following these dynamic lines.  

2.     In section, the emergence of the building from the landscape, offers a dialogue between the build and the unbuilt, as a dynamic process of materialization. Almost like dolphins jumping from the ocean, or dunes emerging from the desert, the buildings relate to their environment.

3.      The composition of the facade express a similar condition of emergence and dynamism with a sun protective shell. The outer facade filter the light in a pattern of dense aggregation, protecting the building from the intense environmental impact of the sun, while at the same time offering a playful composition of abstract elements.

Project:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The ministry of Foreign affair is located at the center of the city, within a generous green garden. Levrat Design was asked to provide new modern office spaces for the ministry. The choice of the location, on an existing parking, allowed the new volume to constitute a strongly defined green courtyard in front of the existing ministry. The ground floor provided a generous arcade to allow the movement of the users along the open green space, while the above office floors would benefit from the serene view.

The modern treatment of the glass façade complemented the urban treatment of the long rational bar of office space. The three stories building was supported by exposed concrete columns, which were exposed on the ground floor to provide the external protected space of the arcade.

Project:

Manhattan Housing

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A minimal intervention in the densely compressed landscape of Manhattan housing. The existing last floor studio wanted to claim an access to the rooftop, with a stair. The opportunity to open up the roof and to constitute a duplex was an ambitious proposal, even if the actual amount of surface added to the apartment would have been very limited.

Project:

Airport road masterplan in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The Great Massoud Road Land Development Proposal is projected for a portion of the main road axis connecting Kabul International Airport to Kabul City center. The zone concerned by the project described in this proposal extends from Charai Masoud to the new “Gate of Afghanistan”, stretching itself on 2,480 meters. It is an important project, on the symbolic level as well as the infrastructural level. 1. New gate to Kabul and to Afghanistan, 2. Spine for the urbanization of the land behind Bibimaroo, 3. Improved Road connection to the Airport, 4. Proposing a new image for Kabul and Afghanistan for the XXI century.

The 2.5 kilometers of the Great Massoud Road urban development is strategically located, and should be considered very carefully as it will represent the first impression visitors will receive entering the Country, when travelling by air. Its location between the Airport and the City Center is obviously essential. Nevertheless, it is reinforced by the actual programs along the axis, attesting of the prestigious neighbors currently lining it, such as: the Royal Palace, the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court, the American Embassy etc. The portion of the land for which this study proposes a Land Use Development is currently mostly empty, or occupied by informal structures. It represents a formidable opportunity to concentrate high quality programs along this unique Urban Corridor.

Project:

TechnoPark Headquarter – Dubai World

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The expansion of the natural coastline has simultaneously produced new surfaces for viable real-estate ventures that are marketed by position in this artificial fractal; and served to export the vision of Dubai abroad: mega-projects that capture the imagination and promise unparalleled experiences.

The Menger-Sierpinski Sponge is an example of a fractal that approaches infinite surface and zero volume. As the static volume is eroded, voids are created; defined by a set of new surfaces. In this model, every surface is activated and contains information. This information can be read either on the surfaces, through the surfaces or between the user and the surfaces (anti-void inhabitable spaces).

When Applied to a building, the Sponge operates by taking the traditional volumetric enclosure and reducing its capacity.

This has the benefit of increasing surfaces.

These surfaces distinguish between disparate information types: bio-fuel and solar power for example; or between employees and public observers; etc.

In a traditional space for receiving information from a point source (a book, a TV or movie screen, a computer terminal, etc.) the user's position has no great importance; whereas in a fragmented fractal space, the user must recompose the information for himself. In a fractal space of endless surfaces proliferating unique yet related data streams, the user becomes integral to both the reception and production of information.

Just as Dubai's coastal expansion has generated a marketable reality and produced an exportable virtuality for Dubai, the Landmark Tower will develop new realities between disparate, yet parallel sets of information surrounding renewable energy technologies and project the virtual image of that innovation and collaboration beyond the TechnoPark.

Project:

Afghan Embassy to Pakistan

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The Afghan Embassy to Pakistan is a touchy subject as the two nations have been in an undeclared war for a number of decades. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul wanted to build a new embassy, while expressing the traditional and historical culture of the country. A set of plans for the Consulate, the Embassy and the Ambassador’s residence were developed, mixing a traditional architecture with modern technology. The traditional construction technology of the rammed earth combined with the central courtyard typology offered a cultural identity for a country in search of its roots in a tumultuous recent past.

Project:

Exhibition at The New York Institute of Technology 

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The New York Institute of Technology asked Fred Levrat to exhibit his work and research at their main campus gallery. The strategy of the information image shaping the physical space of the exhibition is necessary as the walls of the exhibition room are not suitable for hanging artwork. Two existing walls are glass panels while the other two walls are wood paneled storage cabinets. Hanging the double-sided strip of information form the ceiling, the visual content is liberated from the rigor of gravity and can find a new folded geometry, intrinsic to its adjacency, rather than its structural dependence on an anchoring display wall. The heavier models and their bases are attached to the logic of gravity-based objects, aligning themselves to the orthogonal geometry of the room and its vertical extrusion. The multiple study models of the Museum of the Knot were well displayed as the project represented the latest work developed in the office.

Project:

 Kabul

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

After 30 years of war, initiated by a Russian invasion continued into a lasting civil war, followed by an American invasion, Kabul was finally going through a reconstruction phase in 2004. The large site located at the base of a fancy neighborhood was to be developed as a mixed use of commercial and residential spaces. The split-level entry, allowing a maximization of the commercial space on the street level, offered an interesting set of stairs anchoring the building into the site. A generously glazed ground floor offered some transparency for the lobby as well as the upper levels shops, while being recessed to provide some shade and some open space around the upper terrace. The upper levels featured generous balconies, which operated as shading devices for the mostly glazed recessed façade.

Project:

Housing in Sharja

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A high density luxury housing on a newly constructed Island in Sharja, United Arab Emirates, was designed as a rapid request from a developer. The large outside walls transform slightly form one building to the next, starting as vertical extrusions, which slowly bend as they progress towards the see. The increasing curvature of the party walls give a distinct identity to the new compound, while keeping the design to a minimal level. The two main facades, in opposition to the mostly blind party walls, are all glazed and open to the view, with a system of linear balconies to provide some shade and protection to the enclosed part of the residence.

Project:

New Museum Streetfest 

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Every year the New Museum organize a temporary street festival. The design is changed yearly through a design competition. The entry we proposed for the competition is an inflatable module of translucent pillows. The wide section of the pillow allows it to be structurally robust. A few compressed-air ribs would solidify the system, which can be used as a wall, a canopy or a smaller piece of furniture. The wide footprint allows the pillow shaped element to stand freely on its side to become a wall. The assembly of these fluid inflatable and translucent shapes reflects a condition of temporality and playfulness, suitably appropriate to the New Museum Streetfest.

Project:

 Axon Chair

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The Western civilization has become so cerebral, we have to build object for the pleasure of the mind, as it is impossible to build only object for the pleasure of the body, however functional they are intended to be. Ambiguously operating between the logic of the Virtual, the Visual and the Material, the Axonometric chair is a simple functional object anchored in a large philosophical theory. Accepting the increasing value we give to the visual world over the physical world, the design of the chair responds partially to the logic of the representation of a third dimension compressed into a two-dimensional support. The angle suggesting the depth in space in a representation is taken as the plan for an orthogonal projection in the materialization of the object, responding to the necessity of gravity. The combination of both logics, the visual and the physical logic creates an object that can have multiple readings. Frontally appearing as a heavy metal chair, the object changes in our mind as we perceive it differently depending on our viewing point, becoming an angled thin sheet of folded metal. The barely credible transformation happening as we move through the space confers a very dynamic quality to the object, even if it is entirely static, and the only transformation occurs within our own perception and representation of the multiple-logics designed object we try to comprehend.

Project:

Restaurant on Saint Marks Place

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Saint Marks Place is one of the most active pedestrian street in Manhattan, with dozen of restaurants and coffee shop lining both side of the East Village main cultural axis. Taberna is occupying the lower floor of an old building with direct frontage on the street as well as a generous garden space. The space is used intensively over a 24 hour period, with a catering business from the early morning hours until noon, and a Portuguese restaurant during the afternoon and the evening.

Project:

New Housing Project for the Underprivileged in South Africa

Phase:

Completed

Description:

72 housing units have been built in one of the most dangerous and underprivileged shantytown of the planet. Over a period of ten years, involving the participating community, Frederic Levrat and Urban Think Tank have developed a model of incremental improvement for the local residents.

Housing becomes much more than just a roof over one’s head. Housing is the generative fabric of the city and the starting point of the urban community. The constitution of a community is a complex multi-parameter process, and it builds up slowly and incrementally. The “Community Fabric” is typically not included into the financial equation of a housing development, accepting that it will emerge somehow spontaneously. Urban_Think_Tank values and respects the immaterial but essential human cultural fabric of the urban citizens and wants to empower these existing human communities. Even if these communities are not sanctioned by the city’s authorities and invisible to the conventional real estate business calculations.

Project:

Community Center for Underprivileged Community in South Africa

Phase:

Currently Under Construction (2024)

Description:

Urban_Think_Tank_Empower is offering a higher density of housing then the single story shack or the proposed government housing, constituting a more integrated community, allowing the existing complex community of the shantytown to continue its development within a sound environment. By densifying the housing structures, space is freed for communal activities such as a children’s playground, green spaces with trees, a children creche, and a community center. Collectively, with solar panels on the roofs, the neighborhood can become a sustainable power plant.

The Community Center is built on three levels, with a generous double height space for the main ground floor space. The main space program will vary from an indoor soccer pitch, theater and music performance, allowing the youth of the community to generate creative activities rather than hanging out in the street. A Creche, changing rooms and bathrooms, will occupy the side of the main space, with offices on the second floor. On the third level, an urban aquaponic farm will allow the local community to grow fresh food and empower their participants in self-sustainable practices.

Project:

Residential House Extension

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Architecture is a language of elements that relate to each other, in rhythms, repetitions, iterations and transformations. The sculptural quality is ever present as the triangular roofs dance gracefully above the natural landscape, connecting the existing house to the new pool house addition. Due to the legal regulations and the narrow plot of land, beautifully located above the beach of the Long Island sound, the new house needs to be an extension of the existing one. The legal requirement of the enclosed pathway connecting both structures is used to its full advantage, stretching the new building as a set of flying roofs, emerging into a larger volume as it culminates by the top of the ridge. The triangulated roofs insert themselves under and above the adjacent one, creating an angular wave, emerging from the floor with a grand diagonal stair and a large outdoor terrasse encasing the outdoor swimming pool. The trapezoidal plan is framed on both sides by two solid walls while in the direction of the sea, from the entry stairs to the outdoor terrace, the façade is entirely glazed. The composition feels dynamic as the triangular roofs express an unknown language of pure geometry, a tectonic rigor which would house a most pleasant pool house, connected between the natural landscape and the roofscape.

The project was developed in collaboration with the client: Helene Calle-Lin and Local Architecture.

Project:

Terrace Housing Overlooking the Caribbean

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located on the south side of Antigua Island, perched on the hillside above Old Road village, the project offers fantastic views of the Caribbean seascape. The steep slope is carved into terrasses for the insertion of eight concrete volumes. The simple cubic volumes are duplexes with the entire face of the cube facing the sea glazed. A mezzanine above the double height living room offers a bedroom with a generous view. Each volume adjusts to the slight angle of the topography creating a repetition and variation, while the roofs of the lower volume become the framed terrasse of the next residence. The contrast between the dramatic natural topography and the artificial geometry of the rigorous repeated simple volumes generates a dialogue full of tensions and subtle adaptations.