© Josema Cutillas

Architects: ACXT Arquitectos
Location: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Client: Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council
Project Team: Jesús Armendáriz Eguillor, Amaia Los Arcos Larumbe, David Resano Resano
Building contractor: UTE SERIDOM / ZIKOTZ
Envirionmental Enegieneering: Juan Luís Geijo Angulo, Iñigo Aguirre Armentia, Elena Gezuraga Torrecilla, Camino Lopez Uriarte
Project Year: 2009
Project Area: 14,200 sqm
Photographs: Josema Cutillas

Ibaiondo Community Centre has a 14,000 sqm area and is located in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain). These types of buildings bring together sport, leisure and administrative services for residents living in different parts of the city.

Floor Plan

Once all interior functional, spatial and organizational requirements were defined, the architects designed an extroverted look to appeal the citizens, with the outside communicating and representing the services that are provided inside: theatre, leisure and sports swimming pool, solarium, café, indoor sports centre, library, workshops, council citizens help points, etc.

© Josema Cutillas

The Project avoids forms of an elaborate façade composition, and shows itself as irregular and polyhydric, with a leisure personality. Because of such diversity at interior layouts, the exterior catches the visitor’s eye, specially the polymer concrete facades, with a multidirectional groove to create an optical polychromatic illusion.

Section

The building interior layout follows an extensive and strict functionality criteria defined by the Council technical team at competition phase. Sport services (Swimming pool and Indoor sports centre) are located to the north following a ‘cartesian’ geometry, due to their size and scale. The rest of services are placed to the south, with some sort of volumetric anarchy facing the residential area. Other uses are organized along a corridor separating and linking together different services. From this corridor, through glass enclosures, the visitor can recognize the different activities inside the building, as a suggestive ‘showroom’.

© Josema Cutillas

Energy sustainability in the building is ratified by a high energy efficiency qualification, obtained by ensuring good thermal isolation and high equipment performances. Also an approximate 700 sqm area of solar thermal collectors provide energy to heat water for both swimming pool and building hot running water. This dedicated design generates an estimated C02 emissions saving of up to 1,900 Ton.

Text provided by ACXT Arquitectos

© Aitor Ortiz

Architects: ACXT Arquitectos / Iñaki Garai
Location: Beijing, China
Collaborating Architects: Jose Cavallero (IDOM – ACXT), Inés López (IDOM – ACXT)
Client: CEIBS
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 18,000 sqm
Photographs: Aitor Ortiz

CEIBS (China Europe Internacional Business School) is the Business School leader in Asia. As part of it´s growth has taken the decision of building a new Campus in Beijing contracting AXCT-IDOM Group as design architect.

Site Plan

The new Campus occupies about 19,000 sqm in a three floors building and a basement floor in a plot 33,000 sqm in the Zhong Guan Cun Science Park in Beijing. The project is conditioned by the teaching function, the Zhong Guan Cun Science Park master planning which proposes a series of compact buildings scattered in the forest as small islands in the ocean and finally by the client´s needs of building it in two phases and making it look as good and as finished also at the end of phase 1.

© Aitor Ortiz

A basement, which occupies completely the plot permitted with the more public, composes the building in phase 1 and main uses as the lecture hall, the amphitheaters classrooms, discussion rooms and bar. It is full of courtyards that like the Chinese traditional architecture give as a very good climate control and let us prioritize the relationship among different spaces not losing the complete vision of the building as it happens in the forbidden city in Beijing.

Floor Plan

In the other two floors we have some more discussion rooms and flat classrooms and other more not so public uses as professors and staff working spaces and organized as fingers linked to a long corridor. Each floor has a different shape and a different relationship with the forest. Basement relationship is with the trunk of the tree and with the courtyards full of green bamboo creating a introvert space, second floor with the crown with a similar ambient and is the third floor the one occupied by the staff and professors is the one that looks over the forest like a metaphor of a ship lookout.

© Aitor Ortiz

The traditional Chinese architecture and philosophy already fascinated us, and it has been the engine of our architectural ideas helping us to shape the project, and it is easy to recognize it in the election of the colors and materials as, mainly, in the spatial configuration of the building. This is the way the building represents CEIBS spirit of encounter between China and Europe.

Section

Now we can see finished the phase 1 ended but it will be in phase 2 when the building will be able to express the dynamic concept of balance of the Chinese yin yang in the Chinese architecture thanks to the feng shui art and, in this case, interpreted from our European respectful point of view.

© Aitor Ortiz

Text provided by ACXT Arquitectos

© FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Architects: Ricardo Bak Gordon
Location: Ferreira do Alentejo, Portugal
Client: Elaia Lagar
Collaborators: Luís Pedro Pinto, Nuno Velhinho, Pedro Serrazina, Sónia Silva, Vera Higino, Walter Perdigão
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 47,723 sqm
Photographs: FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

The olive oil factory Marmelo Mill, was designed in order to answer all the functional requests to become the largest olive oil mill in Portugal, but also to reveal the attitude of the company regarding its cultural strategy respect to their clients and landscape.

© FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

The mill was designed in a way that it is as close to the olive trees as possible, and it is easy to recognize two different horizontal layers.

Plans

The one that attaches to the ground, which is dark and appears together with the peripherals walls of the property and the roads that involve the building.

© FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Then, another layer, light and white that stands on top of the lower one, and extends itself to both sides, creating two cantilever structures that correspond to the external protected areas.

© FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Here, during day and night, workers are protected from the winter rains and a kind of a huge lamp lights the whole working area. From faraway this lamps act like a lighthouse, a reference to the landscape.

© FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

© Magda Biernat

Architects: a + i architecture
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Project Team: Dag Folger – Principle, Bradley Zizmor – Principle, Sommer Schauer – Senior Associate, Anastasia Amelchakova – Project Manager, Amy Mielke – Designer, Phil Ward – Designer
Client: Horizon Media
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 115,000 sqf
Photographs: Magda Biernat

Horizon Media, the largest privately held media company in the country, needed a drastic change to their office space due to immense growth. Situated on 9 different floors of inherited space, in 3 different buildings in midtown up to 10 blocks apart.

Floor Plan

a+i’s work with horizon began with an intensive programming phase, concurrent with the real estate search, which concluded with the determination that moving downtown was both the right real estate and cultural move for the company. An old printing building, 75 varick street has 360 views, light, high ceilings, and beautiful existing concrete structure that could not be found in midtown. The company’s growing new media focus required the company to present an innovative face to both clients and prospective talent alike.

© Magda Biernat

Opening the 3 floors with an internal open stair was the most important move in literally connecting the company. Because both flights of stairs are configured in a straight run, from the 16th reception one can see all the way to the 14th floor social space, so visitors and employees get an immediate sense of the working environment of the company, not just the usual reception and boardroom. To democratize the space and to encourage employee circulation through areas outside of their department, important functions are located throughout the 3 floors. Reception and executive suite are on the 16th floor, the glass presentation room on the 15th floor is visible to all from the stair, and the main pantry, terraced seating area, and secondary presentation room are on the 14th floor. The entire staff can gather in the “dunes” seating area and around the stair for pep talks or presentations, a function that had previously required horizon to rent out hotel conference facilities.

© Magda Biernat

Also of key cultural importance was transitioning horizon from an environment of almost 50% offices and high workstation partitions, to a 20/80 office to workstation ratio with glass office fronts and low partitions. Offices are situated on the core with workstations at the perimeter, allowing light into the core of the building. To ease the transition for those leaving offices, varied functional amenities were supplied in close proximity to all: “huddle rooms” for quick meetings or focused calls, phone booths for private conversations, open lounge areas of various sizes, counters for standing meetings, as well as the usual large enclosed conference rooms for presentations and video conferencing.

© Magda Biernat

Technology plays an important role in the space. A retractable 10-monitor screen above the main presentation room table allows the presenter to sit face-to-face with his or her audience while presenting, and gauge reactions immediately. A 50′ long “media wall” flanking the reception passage senses and exhibits physical and digital activity within Horizon, as well as tracking the stock market, internet traffic and other metrics. The executive screening room seats 20 people, and can be used for a variety of functions.

© Magda Biernat

Materially, a+i took advantage of the inherent qualities of the space and built on those resulting in a neutral palette with bright color accents in furnishings and millwork. The polished concrete floor provides a refined yet industrial finish. Steel finishes take cues from the existing steel column reinforcements visible at reception and other areas of the space. Spalted maple veneer, sourced from Vermont from felled trees, brings the warmth of wood with the delicate scale of the black lacy lines of the spalting. The largely white furniture and paint palette is bright, clean, and light. Solid surfaces of workstations front main circulation paths, minimizing visual clutter.

© Magda Biernat

Text provided by a + i architecture

Psychological Tsunami

The Effects of Domestic Violence

By:  Haleh Banani, MA Clinical Psychology

As Huda slowly gained consciousness on the floor, she became aware of her surroundings. She felt the cold tile beneath her and the taste of blood in her mouth.  The thundering sound of her husband, yelling and cursing at her, became disturbingly clear and his menacing image slowly came into focus.  Fear filled her heart that he may strike again. Her trembling body felt so weak, helpless and vulnerable.  He ruthlessly kicked her in her gut one last, fatal blow.  Huda was pronounced dead later that evening along with her baby girl who had survived 6 months of brutality in the womb.

There are millions of desperate women like Huda who live their life in constant terror, feeling trapped and unworthy of love.   Many of them suffer silently, too immobilized by fear and too consumed with shame to expose their husbands.

Domestic violence transcends socioeconomic status, affecting all levels of income, education, ethnicity, religion and occupation. This tragedy poisons our societies worldwide. The first simple and necessary step is awareness.

Shocking Statistics:

• 2,000 to 4,000 women are beaten to DEATH annually in the U.S.
• According to the Center for Disease over 300,000 PREGNANT WOMEN report suffering abuse during pregnancy. 1
• Every day, at least three  women are killed in the U.S. by their partners. 2
• Nearly 6 million women will be battered in any single year
• Battery is the SINGLE MAJOR CAUSE of injury to women exceeding street rape, muggings or auto accidents
• In the U.S., a woman’s chance of being assaulted at home by her partner is greater than those of a police officer being assaulted on the job.

Domestic violence affects the psychological and emotional well being of a woman the way a tsunami brings colossal destruction  and unparalleled devastation to a metropolitan city. The unpredictability and dangerous nature of men who abuse their wives creates terror, anxiety and depression in women, the way a storm indiscriminately destroys  without warning; leaving  inhabitants in a state of shock and constant fear.  The deep, emotional scars last much longer than the superficial bruises and broken bones that usually demand our attention and provoke our sympathy. The emotional debris will take years to completely be cleared causing emotional bankruptcy and  vulnerability which can lead to suicide.  The ferocious waves of violence cause a series of long lasting, psychological damages:

Depression
Domestic violence floods women with feelings of sadness, hopelessness and despair which generally lead to depression. 60% of battered women reported having depression which is the most common symptom of domestic violence.3  Depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or longer.  Sadness affects every aspect of life: thoughts, feelings, sleeping, eating, physical health, relationships and the ability to function at work.  When victims experience interpersonal violence from a spouse or family member, they are at  high risk for mental and emotional illnesses. There is a strong feeling of abandonment, betrayal and instability when they are abused by someone who should be protecting and nurturing them.

Although it is natural to feel sad when faced with difficult tests, but as a believer it is critical to understand that there is wisdom in everything that happens.  Understanding and accepting divine destiny does not mean tolerating abuse by any means.  It simply means that life is filled with tests and that trust needs to be placed in Allah while searching for the right solutions.

It was narrated by Suhayb that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “How amazing is the condition of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If something good happens to him, he gives thanks for it and he is rewarded; if something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience, and he is also awarded.”  Narrated by Muslim (2999).

Do not despair of solace from Allah.  No one despairs of solace from Allah except for people who do not believe.  (Surah Yusuf 87)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
After the devastation of domestic violence, most women experience the aftershock of abuse: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder which can occur after you’ve seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. It is very common for victims of domestic violence to continue to fear their spouse even if they have separated.  PTSD is characterized by symptoms such as flashbacks, intrusive imagery, nightmares, anxiety, emotional numbing, insomnia, hyper-vigilance and avoidance of traumatic triggers.  There are many factors that affect the intensity of PTSD:  severity of the violence, the duration of exposure, early-age onset and the victim’s cognitive assessment of the violence (perceived degree of threat, predictability and control-ability).

The way to cope with any form of anxiety is turning to Allah and trusting His plan while striving hard to overcome the fear.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “No exhaustion, pain, anxiety, grief, harm or distress befalls a Muslim, not even a thorn that pricks him, but Allah will expiate some of his sins with them.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (5318) and Muslim (2573).

Anxiety
Fear and anxiety consume a victim of domestic violence the way a tidal wave engulfs a city.  The fear lingers in a woman’s psyche long after the abuse has taken place.  This anxiety can prevent her from concentrating, falling asleep and performing at home or work.  Paranoia and inability to trust others are the most frequent traits of the victims of domestic violence.  25 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders which are the most common of emotional disorders. Some of the symptoms may include:

• Overwhelming feelings of panic and fear
• Uncontrollable obsessive thoughts
• Painful, intrusive memories
• Recurring nightmares
• Physical symptoms such as feeling sick to your stomach, “butterflies” in your stomach, heart pounding, startling easily and muscle tension

The most beloved people, the prophets, were tested the most.  It is essential to keep the stories of the prophets in mind and recall that instead of feeling anxious when faced with threat, oppression and harm, they put their trust in Allah.

We will test you with a certain amount of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and life and fruits.  But give good news to the steadfast (Surat al-Baqara, 155)

“Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: Without a doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction. (Al-Raad 28)

Low Self-Esteem
Verbal and emotional abuse are like earthquakes that brutally shake the foundation of a woman’s self-esteem.  They shatter her self- confidence, tear down her sense of security and destroy her self-respect .  Each degrading remark, criticism and profanity is like a bulldozer that vehemently annihilates her sense of self-worth.  The deep, emotional and psychological scars that are burned into her heart from the cursing, name-calling and humiliation will disable her from achieving her potentials, nurturing her children and attaining peace. She becomes so crippled emotionally that it is next to impossible to leave.

Suicidal
Like the victims of natural disasters that discover they have nothing left to live for, victims of domestic violence feel so overwhelmed with grief and hopelessness that many attempt suicide.  The feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that many victims fall prey to has a profoundly undermining effect on their mental and emotional wellbeing. 4 Many times these women simply give up on life and they experience learned helplessness where they lose the will to live.  Here are some of the signs of suicide contemplation:

• Talking about killing or harming one’s self
• Expressing strong feelings of hopelessness or being trapped
• An unusual preoccupation with death or dying
• Acting recklessly, as if they have a death wish (e.g. speeding through red lights)
• Calling or visiting people to say goodbye
• Getting affairs in order (giving away prized possessions, tying up loose ends)
• Saying things like “Everyone would be better off without me” or “I want out.”

If you think a friend or family member is considering suicide, express your concern and seek professional help immediately. Talking openly about suicidal thoughts and feelings can save a life. 6

See Suicide Prevention: Signs of Suicide and How to Help a Suicidal Person.

The problems and difficulties that people endure are known and for a temporary period of time.  Compare that to being faced with the unknown punishment in the hereafter for committing suicide for all eternity.

O you who have believed, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful. 4:29

After a psychological tsunami that ruthlessly destroys feelings of self-worth and security, there needs to be massive action taken to recover from the lasting damages.  The first step is to clean up the emotional debris and the shattered feelings. Time and money needs to be invested to reestablish self-worth.  If the amount of damage is overwhelming, seek the support  and guidance of professionals to overcome the devastation.   Next, focused effort needs to be put in rebuilding self-esteem.  By not internalizing the negative, destructive comments of others and reconfirming all positive traits, self-respect and dignity will be rebuilt.  Trust in the self and in others will be essential in creating a strong foundation for developing lasting relationships.  Perhaps the most important aspect of recovery is to gain hope in the future.  Once the fire of hope is ignited it will shine so brightly and provide the necessary motivation to overcome all obstacles and to help others facing the same challenges.

If you or someone you know is a VICTIM of abuse know:

1. You are NOT ALONE
2. There are avenues for HELP
3. Ensure the SAFETY of you and your children
4. You are a VALUABLE person who is worthy of love
5. It is NEVER ACCEPTABLE to be physically, verbally or emotionally abused

Narrated Abu Ma’bad, that the Prophet said, “… and be afraid of the supplication of an oppressed person because there is no screen between his invocation and Allah.” Sahih Bukhari: Volume 2, Book 24, Number 573.

If you or someone you know is the ABUSER:

1. Seek professional help to MANAGE YOUR ANGER
2. It is not too late to CHANGE YOURSELF and CHANGE YOUR LIFE
3. Find an OUTLET (sport or other activity) to release stress and frustration
4. Seek the SUPPORT of family and friends
5. REAL MEN DON’T ABUSE!

“Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed.” The Prophet was asked: “It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” He replied: “By preventing him from oppressing others.” Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 624

References:

1. http://www.womensweb.ca/violence/dv/pregnancy.php
2. Types of Trauma: Domestic Violence – San Francisco depression | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/depression-in-san-francisco/types-of-trauma-domestic-violence#ixzz1ZstUJQB9
3. http://www.aardvarc.org/dv/effects.shtml
4. Types of Trauma: Domestic Violence – San Francisco depression | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/depression-in-san-francisco/types-of-trauma-domestic-violence#ixzz1Zsu4uQTE
5. http://www.examiner.com/depression-in-san-francisco/types-of-trauma-domestic-violence
6. Suicide Prevention: Signs of Suicide and How to Help a Suicidal Person.