a+t architecture publishers

Why Density? is a set of tools created by a+t research group in order to build the dense city. These involve practical urban-level concepts applied to specific collective housing buildings. All the illustrations have been done specifically for this publication.

This book forms part of the Density series, initiated by a+t in 2002, which became a reference for publications about collective housing worldwide.

This town block containing four bars was built in a residential area 15 km north of Copenhagen in 1963. The plot contains 284 apartments over four floors and one basement, car parking on the perimeter and shared units in a separate building. The solution has added a storey of penthouses onto the existing blocks and lengthened the shorter block to enhance the feeling of protection from the interior gardens.

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The main issue with installing a work space in a basement is the lack of daylight and the low height of the ceilings. The strategy adopted by the architects to offset these two issues was to fit a section of galvanized steel trays hanging from the ceiling, into which LED lamps were inserted. There are no interior partitions and the work stations are only differentiated by the furniture.

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The existing four-storey blocks with no lifts were built in the early 1950s and no longer met the accessibility and flexibility requirements for contemporary living. While the existing buildings are being renovated, the plan is to build four timber-framed prefabricated modules, linked by 9-metre-long bridges. The floor plan for these new cubes is 12.40 x 12.40 metres. The residents will be able to temporarily relocate to these new constructions while renovation work is being done on their hom.
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Converting a former patents office into a coworking centre led the developers to rethink the circulation atrium as a space for users to socialize and relax. On the other hand, the area between the building entrance and the atrium also had to accommodate the programme of uses.

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Due to planning regulations, the owner of this building was more interested in redesigning the existing building than in demolishing it to build a new one. The facade contained gas piping and electrical wiring which it was necessary to conceal. A steel-plate panel with an insulation core was used to create an inverted reflective cornice.

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The Atlantis Building is part of an old brewery in East London and houses the offices of a digital company with over 500 staff working on-site. To fit in so many staff and to enhance the liveability of the space, the authors focused on adding and removing structural elements. In terms of adding, they took advantage of the original 10 m height between floor slabs to insert two new levels hanging from the structural elements.

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This block is part of a high-rise complex designed in the 1960s which looks run-down and is unliked by residents. This type of situation normally leads the authorities to destroy the existing structure and rebuild it with no concern for those living there. The Lacaton & Vassal team believe demolition to be a mistake and that another way is possible, that existing elements have their own intrinsic values and that a positive long-term transformation, with the aim to redesign the area in a r.
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Nosigner is a group of designers who aim for social innovation through their creations. Using readily-available standard elements, they make surfaces, partitions and furniture which adapt to both offices and other environments. In this project for the Tokyo offices of the Mozilla browser they designed raised flooring made from plastic pallets and pine floorboards as well as a system of tables and polycarbonate sheet dividers. Each of these items is scaled in detail so that free downloads of t.
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This project addressed the conversion of former offices into a new work space. This was one of the derelict buildings that had been part of the Vacant NL exhibition presented in the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2010. Originally designed for one single company, the financial situation made it necessary to rethink the project and convert part of the building into offices to let with shared access. Given the change to the programme, the project architects put forward the idea of creatin.
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This is a country house, one of the many farmhouses which form the typical 20th-century backdrop to most Korean towns. The houses would often be designed by the local builder and modelled on either timber- or brick-built Western houses, with little concern for the setting or for the bamboo forests. The client was not happy in this brick house as he felt it did not match the landscape. The source of the project was the drawing of a line. A line drawn in space where the built environment meets .
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