OCADU is Canada’s largest and oldest known art and design university so it’s no surprise that when it comes to the architecture of the building, the approach is novel and unexpected amid a city skyline that is known for striking design.

The Sharp Centre for Design that makes up this quirky structure was designed by the British architect Will Aslop, of Aslop Architects, in conjunction with the Toronto-based Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc.  Aslop’s work is as distinctive as it is controversial.  This English architect has amazed and infuriated onlookers with his modernist designs, loud colors and unconventional forms.

Aslop told the CBC Canada his use of color and shape worked to aerate Toronto, and said the problem with most cities is a lack of refreshing color.  His work on the Sharp Centre served as a launch pad for other Toronto architects, like Frank Gehry, who revamped the Art gallery of Ontario and Bruce Kuwabara, designer of the National Ballet School’s 2005 expansion.

Aslop’s prominent Sharp building has won numerous awards for design including the Royal Insitute of British Architects Worldwide Award, an award of excellence in “Building in Context” in the 2005 Toronto Architecture and Urban Design Awards and was also noted as the “most outstanding technical project overall in the 2005 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards.

The Sharp Centre was built to accommodate an expansion of the growing campus.  The college, the Province of Ontario and Rosalie and Isadore Sharp, who the building was named after, funded the unconventional structure.  The striking building houses art studios, exhibit spaces, lecture theaters and faculty offices.

The Centre straddles the college’s existing buildings, creating a unique contrast between the conventional classroom structures and modernist space.  Located on a modest side street sandwiched by two main commercial thoroughfares, Sharp Centre is surrounded by mid-rise housing, the Art gallery of Toronto, Gardner Museum of Ceramic Art, a community park and a food court.  All of this adds to the tight-knit feel of a true artist community.

One of the best views of the building is from Grange Park, where the black and white structure seems to hover above the trees, creating a surprisingly beautiful contrast with the vibrant green grass of the park.

With his design, Aslop tackled the challenge of developing an urban setting and creating new space while preserving the old. The Sharp Centre builds a connection between existing buildings, but also provides additional civic space.

The Sharp Centre for Design was the College’s $42.5 million redevelopment project that was completed in September 2004. The Centre includes a striking “table top” parallelepiped structure that stands atop angled mutli-colored pillars. The face of the building appears to be pixellated as it is made up of a multitude of black and white squares. The Centre houses OCAD’s studio and teaching spaces and is connected to the older part of the campus by an elevator and stair core with a newly created entrance hall that marries the two styles of architecture. The new appears to float above the old, complimenting and building upon the design knowledge of generations.

The School and lifestyle

Established in 1876 by the Ontario Society of Artists and was the “first school in Canada dedicated exclusively to the education of professional artists in fine and commercial art.”  Today it is the third largest art and design university in North America. The environment of the university creates a creative hothouse for ideas and inspiration amplified by the unique architectural style of the buildings. The structure itself challenges students to take risks and explore new ideas.  Despite the university’s long history, it has proven that it can modernize, develop and stay on top of the latest artistic trends.

As impressive as the design itself, OCADU offers a wealth of creative educational programs with a variety of design and art programs unrivaled in Canada.  Students here hone their craft in the heart of culturally rich Toronto.  This thriving artistic community attracted professors whose work has been shown in the most renowned galleries in the region.

The college is a destination for Canadian artists, designers, creative thinkers and strategists.  The campus architecture itself represents a philosophy of staying on the forefront of artistic creation while preserving the integrity of generations past.

OCADU offers Bachelor of Fine Art and Bachelor of Design degrees in industries from advertising to sculpture and printmaking.  The liberal studies courses explore theories and ideas behind art while providing students with a historical context that applies to modern-day studio work in art and design.

The college bills itself as an institution that builds on traditional artistic strengths, but adds new approaches to cross-disciplinary collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies.

Both the design of the school itself combined with the educational philosophy and coursework proves that tradition and the cutting edge can mingle in a community that seems handcrafted for artists.

Taylor Drauden is a cosmetology college graduate but currently focuses her time freelance writing and blogging. Taylor tends to focus her writing on topics that interest her regardless of how bizarre they are but mainly focuses on covering college life topics and esthetician school advisement.

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That wall she’s leaning against?  Yep.  Made out of hemp.  Hemp and lime, pressed into a form.  The substance hardens and ta da!  You’ve got hempcrete.  The advantages of this method are numerous.  The building material is resistant to mold, is fire resistant, recyclable, sound-dampening, resistant to rodents and other pests, and would stand up great in an earthquake.  Second best of all, it’s cheap and you can do it yourself.  Best of all, it’s crazy good for the environment.  It doesn’t look so bad, either.

Klara and a guy named Paul Benhaim have written an e-book called Build A House of Hemp wherein they tell you all the ins and outs of building a hemp house for yourself.  If you have 2.5 acres of land and a hardware store nearby you can grow and cultivate the hemp and process it yourself, and build your own house.  Klara has actually built her own house out of hemp, and I think that’s the one seen directly above this paragraph.

In April of 2009, Fast Company did a small write up on hemp houses, saying that a hemp house leaves  no carbon footprint – that the small footprint left by the lime in the mixture is negated by the “negative” footprint of the the hemp.  Fast Company does bring up the one sticky wicket – it is illegal for American farmers to grow industrial hemp.  So, a big old law would have to pass to make this type of building a viable, local option.  What do you think?

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That’s what Vincent Callebaut Architectures envisions for New York.  An almost 2000 foot high structure that would contain what is needed to produce fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy on its 132 floors.  Not only would the structure be a source for fresh food that was produced right there in the city, but it would also be a totally sustainable building that was powered by wind and sun, and would purify liquid waste into compost, fertilizer and water for the crops.

The structure would also contain houses for the people who tended the different crops, herds, etc., and research laboratories for testing product quality, ensuring that all the scientific mechanics are functional, and obviously providing a place for process improvement and environmental responsibility.

We might not see it in our lifetime, but the Belgian architect is certainly on to something.  Shouldn’t some of our research efforts and future expansion include projects where we can rely on solar and wind power rather than electricity and oil, and where we can grow and produce food that is safe and free of chemicals and scary hormones?

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First off, there’s the exterior.  It’s hard to believe that it used to be a standard post-war California bungalow, because this house’s exterior is the furthest thing from that.  It’s totally black, with a barrel-curved roof (and of course, the ceiling inside is curved as well) and it looks very, I don’t know, black and barrel-like.  And shiny.

Well, shiny in parts.  The original listing said that the “rock musician” took advantage of the Southern California weather, and Farrell has always been a bid of an environmentalist, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this dark exterior has something to do with solar heat and a wicked-efficient indoor heating and cooling setup.  In addition, there is also one whole wall that slides open (like a sliding glass door) so that the indoors can incorporate some outdoors.  There is also a rooftop deck.

The first floor of the house features an open floor plan.

Open floor plan with a barrel ceiling

The master bath has a sunken tub (and by sunken we mean directly in the floor) and cool floating sinks.  Two vanities are key, no matter if you’re a rock star or not.

The property also features a three-car garage, a rock and cactus garden.  One drawback?  Laundry in the garage.  Even the wives of rock stars (and the rock stars themselves) have to schelp to the garage to do the wash.

Either way, it’s a pretty cool house, and I bet you’re sorry you didn’t know to save up $1.425 million to buy it.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Do you like learning about celebrity homes?  If so, I’d be happy to find some more for you.  Comment below!

photo by satguru

The Huf Houses come, for lack of a better term, in a box.  All the pieces are prefabricated at the factory in Germany, and shipped to the final location along with instructions to put them together.  Of course, most people hire contractors to do the work.  So, in essence, the Huf House is a kit house, but it’s a very, very high quality kit house.

The company was founded in 1912 as a carpentry company that build churches and other structures.  In the seventies, with the help of an architect named Manfred Adams, the Huf Haus company designed the prototype for today’s Huf Houses, and a whole new type of business was born.  In 1996, Georg and Thomas Huf took over running the company (their grandfather, Johann Huff, was the founder) and they started marketing the Huf House to markets other than Germany.  It caught on, and now there are lots of people in Switzerland and the UK who are proud owners of Huf Houses.

What’s the appeal?  Obviously, since they come in a kit, they are easy to put together.  They have lots of windows, so they let in a lot of natural light.  Another bonus is that they don’t have a dependency on load-bearing walls like traditionally-built houses have, so there is a lot of opportunity for open floor plans.

Also, since there are so many windows and skylights, there is a great deal of solar energy going on.  The houses are well-insulated – those windows and skylights are not drafty, and because so much natural light makes it into the home it certainly cuts down on heating costs.

In fact, there are lots of things about a Huf House that are “green.”  The U.S. company that acts as the distributor for Huf states that the materials used are sustainable and that the Huf Haus provides “ecologically friendly” living through these sustainable materials and furthermore claim that by living in a Huf Haus you can avoid carbon emissions.  As with most companies who partner with Huf, the people there have such a thorough knowledge of Huf’s offerings that they can offer ways to put the materials together that will make your Huf house one-of-a-kind.

And truly, the people that live in Huh Hauses love them.  There is also an independent site for owners that offers tips on where to find compatible furniture, and even how to prevent bird strikes on the windows.  It is a commitment, however, and it isn’t cheap.  But if you’re in the market to spend a half mil on a house, why not make it a Huf Haus?

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