I See a Red Door and I Want It Painted Black Stella Paul 6 Black: Architecture in Monochrome 14 Index 220 Homeless Shelter Larraz Arquitectos Roads and Waterworks Support Center Neutelings Riedijk Architects Pamplona, Spain Harlingen, The Netherlands 2010 1998 This “silent box,” a homeless shelter, located in a semiurban area residents and administrators, while avoiding feeling like a prison. As a regional support center for a busy public works department, this feature of the landscape that surrounds this building. The ziggurat of Pamplona, Spain, is constructed of black corrugated aluminum, The 10,225-square-foot (950-square-meter) building is comprised low-slung trapezoidal structure was designed to support a number of shape of the central volume allows for integration of both interior ga- offering minimal inward visibility in order to protect and nurture of a series of stacked rectangular boxes in which a central interior disparate functions under a single continuous volume. The tapered, rages and workshops, which have high ceilings and expansive rooms, the dignity and privacy of the temporary residents. Aluminum lattice nucleus holds administrative functions, while spaces that extend single-story building is clad in black corrugated metal panels so that and administrative offices, whose lower ceilings achieve an intimacy structures over the windows serve to further respect the privacy of from it contain the living, dining, communal, and leisure spaces. The the structure itself becomes a backdrop for the fluorescent painted that the industrial portions of the center lack. occupants and maintain security, while also continuing the build- homeless shelter serves the needs of both short- and long-term resi- roadwork vehicles that are constantly moving about the perimeter ing’s uninterrupted black rectangular form. Though a homeless dents who occupy different sections of the building, and who enter and docking in the large niches carved from the sides of the building. shelter may seem to be a straightforward architectural program and exit the structure on opposite sides. On the ground and first Though black might seem like a surprising choice for a government requiring places for residents to temporarily sleep, bathe, and dine, floors, short-term users have access to eighteen double rooms, while agency, The Netherlands has a long history of black buildings, most this building illustrates just how complex an undertaking it is to long-term residents, housed in a smaller volume, have access to nine notably the black rural barns that were once a common site. The design a shelter that functions efficiently, serving the needs of its double rooms. building echoes the height and shape of the typical dike, a common 4 5 Faber Headquarters Gri e Zucchi Architetti Associati Daily Express Building Ellis and Clark with Owen Williams Udine, Italy London, England, UK 2013 1932 In order to create an enhanced sense of presence, this complex of help to ventilate the structure. During the day, sunlight reflects across The Daily Express Building, which served as the Fleet Street head- glasses and chromium, in addition to a large ground-floor entrance interconnected rectangular volumes, built as the headquarters for the buildings, rendering most details irrelevant, while at night, interior quarters for the eponymous newspaper until 1989, is a rare surviving with a distinctive chrome canopy designed by Robert Atkinson, which Italian steel cylinder manufacturer Faber Industrie, was constructed illumination reveals the airy interior, erasing weight of the heavy con- example of the Streamline Moderne style of the age. Originally, the welcomed visitors beneath the iconic Daily Express signage. The of black elements. Positioned among farmlands, just at the edge of a crete. Composed of two elongated and flattened volumes connected building was intended to be a traditional steel-framed structure faced building’s innovative steel and glass curtain wall was radical for its growing industrial park in Udine, Italy, the architects accommodated by an enclosed hallway, the industrial campus centers around two in Portland stone, in keeping with the style of the neighboring build- time. Shiplike in its curvilinear shape, the structure was meant to be the massive surrounding warehouses and factories by reconciling semi-enclosed courtyards, one on either side of the connecting hall- ings. The constraints of the narrow site, however, prohibited moving as striking during the day as the night. sheer size with a sense of gravity and mystery. Facades are built of way. On one side, the so-called “hard” courtyard is a concrete forward with the original plans, which did not account for a continu- black concrete and black glass, each installed as equally sized common area lined with black poplar trees. The second “soft” court- ous basement space to house the printing presses. Sir Owen Williams, 13-foot by 28-inch (4-meter by 70-centimeter) panels and are connect- yard is covered with grass and affords views of the farmlands and an architect and engineer, was brought on to the project to solve ed by ¾-inch (20-millimeter) joints. The equality of paneling blurs the mountains beyond. these problems. Williams’s new scheme included the distinctive black distinction between glass and concrete, while the gaps between them and mirrored exterior glazing, comprised of opaque and black Vitrolite 6 7 Black Desert House Oller & Pejic Concrete House II A-cero Yucca Valley, CA, USA Madrid, Spain 2014 2011 Built on an isolated 2.5-acre (1-hectare) site, in a niche carved between room, defined around the client’s mandate that it was to be a “chic This family home, cast entirely in tinted grayish-black concrete, is the house look out on to a contemporary pond. Sweeping lawns rock formations in the California High Desert, Black Desert House was sleeping bag,” is built into the sloping site and affords panoramic located just outside of Madrid in Pozuelo de Alarcon. Comprised of surround the entirety of the building, with greenery extending up a inspired by the client’s elegant goal to build a house like a shadow. views of the landscape. Rooms wrap around a central inner court- a series of interconnected trapezoids, the monolithic residence is sloped exterior wall onto the roof where a garden is placed. The dark Observing that in the desert a shadow is often the only resting place yard that acts as an intermediate space before entry, and provides placed at the peak of a terraced plot. A contiguous central volume grayish-black and white interior features built-in furniture, including for the eye, the intention of a black house was to act as a similar re- protection from the sun and climate. In the evening, the house com- forms the cavernous interior, which appears to be supported on one a dining room table and bar, fashioned in trapezoidal shapes that echo spite, not only from the relentless desert sun, but from the stress of pletely disappears into the night, with only the faintest impression side by six triangular concrete extensions—like flying buttresses—that the overall structure. An underground multicar garage is partially illu- urban life. In order to mitigate the heat absorbed by the black con- of structure lit by the moon and stars. Interiors are also executed in together act as exterior dividers between sections of the interior minated by strips of blue lighting that delineate parking spaces. crete exterior, deeper and wider insulation cavities were combined black and gray so that even the inside of the house recedes into the program: living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms. The uniform, with sprayed foam insulation. Spread out over a single level, rooms shadows during the day. dull concrete coupled with its low-slung, partially underground profile are arranged along a linear program, with the kitchen and dining looks as if a wartime bunker had been unearthed and refashioned room as the central space from which bedrooms radiate. The living for luxury living. Large sliding glass panels on the opposite side of 8 9 Funningur Church Funningur, Eysturoy, Faroe Islands, Denmark Tutukaka House Crosson Clarke and Carnachan 1847 Matapouri Beach, New Zealand 2011 Located on a windswept promontory on the northwest coast of the wooden cladding. The protective black tar treatment is coupled with Wrapped in a skin of black-stained shiplap cladding, this holiday views of the landscape. A number of translucent panels in the walls island of Eysturoy in the small village of Funningur in the Faroe Islands a high degree of craftsmanship demonstrated in the delicate metal home is built for weekend retreats. The owners wanted a home that and roof increase light in hallways and throughout the house. When chain, Funningur Church is typical of Faroese parishes as it features hardware and ornamentation. The intricately carved interior wood- felt open and unfettered, while also secure when not in use. Like an Tutukaka House is in use, a series of sliding panels and hinged the distinctive black tar timber construction topped with an energy work, motifs and styles which resemble techniques used in boat- old sailing ship, docked eternally on a windswept dune, the deep, shutters, also black, disappear to reveal large windows and outdoor efficient turf roof. Constructed in 1847, this church traditionally sepa- building, is due to the fact that the local craftsmen were, and still black, weathered exterior gives the residence the appearance of an spaces. When needed, the home can be closed off like a bunker to rates parishioners by gender: it contains ten pews for men and nine are, maritime builders by trade. Each church is distinctive in its color ancient mariner’s vessel as filtered through a contemporary lens. mitigate unwanted intrusion. pews for women. The church is the newest of the ten old wooden palette or interior motifs—some feature whales and other ocean The wooden timber walls, constructed of milled Eucalyptus Saligna, churches still standing in the Faroe Islands.