This account of the excavation of the city of Heliopoli has temporarily ceased operations, but there is plenty to explore. Sit in a ribbon chair, drink some Tang and take the tour.
And don’t forget the fountains.
Photo by ACF
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The Slideway People Mover
Of all the aspects of Heliopoli, the nexus, the catalyst, the encapsulation of the entire city resides in the Slideway People Mover.
Nowhere else in the city can one find the sense of progress, of modernity, of forward progression (yes, literally), of comfortableness, of sussurant silver contemporary grounding in a promised future more than in the Slideway People Mover.
And there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Photos by ACF
A Study in Glass
If we are to continue to look for Heliopoli outside of the city itself, we can’t ignore the Apple company’s plans for its new campus in Cupertino, California.
On June 7, Apple CEO Steve Jobs presented to the Cupertino City Council his proposal for a new Apple campus. The building will cover 2.8 million square feet over four stories. Amenities will include a cafe, a corporate fitness center and an auditorium seating 1,000 people. Parking will be provided under the main building and one multi-story parking structure. The office will accommodate 13,000 employees. The site will have its own power plant that will generate a portion of the campus’ energy needs to minimize reliance on electricity provided by the grid.
The project objectives include creating “a distinctive and inspiring 21st-century workplace” and providing “an expanse of open and green space for Apple employees’ enjoyment.” It seeks to promote “shared creativity and collaboration” in “a single distinctive office.”
The circularity, the glass, the greenspace, the “shared creativity,” the underground parking even (can we remember Le Corbusier’s City of Tomorrow?), cannot be unacknowledged or unadmired. Besides, the chief archivist is a hopeless sucker for architectural concept designs. Can dreams really come true?
The proposal documents, available on the City of Cupertino’s website at Cupertino.org, include an introduction, site plan and landscaping, floor plans, and renderings, from which the images here are taken.
Mantra
“Calligraphy is the physical manifestation of an architecture of the soul.”
– Attributed to Plato
The Minimalist House
If we are to continue to wish for the wish that is (or was) Heliopoli, we might do well to continue to see (or wish to see) its design elements outside of it, and one would be hard-pressed not to see the wish of Heliopoli in every inch of the Minimalist House.
This house in Japan, designed by Shinichi Ogawa & Associates, is laid out in three strips. The building is 18 meters wide and each section is 3 meters deep. It is essentially three rooms that are 18 by 3 meters each. The first section is a courtyard, open to the sky. The next serves as a bedroom, living room and workspace, separated from the courtyard by a glass wall. The third is the kitchen, bathroom and utility spaces.
The chief archivist is speechless: the open space, the white walls, the recessed lighting, the stark utility, the uncompromising peacefulness, the … well, minimalism. The sheer bliss.
As a bonus, the architects note that the exterior is coated in photocatalyst paint (whatever that might be), which evokes an impression that light makes the house come alive; or that the walls absorb images from their surroundings, releasing them at night; or that the house looks different in every photograph of it, an Impressionist’s dream.
The chief archivist would move in in a Heliopoli minute.
(Seen on Dezeen)