Bordeaux-based atelier d’architecture King Kong has unveiled their design for the new NH hotel at the Toulouse Blagnac airport in France. Both elegant and inviting, the hotel’s warm atmosphere is achieved through the acoustic and thermal qualities of the sweeping ground floor area, which opens onto the exterior spaces.
The building consists of 150 hotel rooms, a business center, restaurant and fitness center. The bar, restaurant and terrace, located on the upper levels of the building, are “intimate in feel,’’ while offering unrestricted views.
An expansive terrace unfolds around the building’s prow. Its base, distinguishably surfaced with gabions, houses the building’s service facilities. A partially cantilevered volume above the base accommodates MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) activities.
The “Razzle” pattern employed on the front/face of the building aims to “dispel the monotony of an unbroken façade,’’ atelier d’architecture King Kong states in a press release. The pattern, positioned vertically, is thus in a “syncopated rather than serial fashion.” “Each hotel room corresponds to 3 strips in the pattern, of which two comprise windows,” explain the architects. This gives each room a unique character.
Y-shaped columns rise from the base of the building, echoing the design of the façade. Atelier d’architecture employ an “elegant’’ color palette throughout – black, white, gold and red – to voice the expansion of the NH brand, and that of Blagnac airport. Thus, the building functions as a “showcase for the airport’s shimmering horizons.’’
Despite being located within close proximity to the airport, the building reflects its surrounding environment with hanging gardens, green roof terraces and gabions, a natural habitat for plant growth. The gravel-covered rooftop houses several solar collectors, designed as a ‘‘fifth façade’’ to be experienced by those flying overhead.
News via atelier d’architecture
Urine consists of urea, water, sodium, potassium, and other chemical compounds. For a long time, people who watched too many survival shows and even doctors thought urine was germ-free. As it turns out, urine isn’t sterile when it leaves your body.
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Myvathan volcano by Peppe Mancuso / http://www.exploras.net http://flic.kr/p/hAxkyQwww.exploras.net http://flic.kr/p/hAxkyQ
Graduate shows 2016: architecture student Evan Wakelin has produced drawings that juxtapose the old and new homes of migrants in Toronto, to convey the emotional and physical upheaval these people experience (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. The evolution of living in our cities more and more tries to embrace nature, almost negating the urban character of neighborhoods. The design for a renovation and additions to a townhouse in Brooklyn is generated from the idea of fusing the interior space with the outdoor landscape through the creation of ground-up pavilions with specific experiential qualities.
Two main pavilions have been juxtaposed to the existing building— in a way to have an unobstructed view of the garden through the windows and also blurred views — obtained from the partial over imposing of a wooden screen to the addition facades. The exterior cladding is achieved layering vertical wooden slats of Shou Sugi Ban (or Yakisugi), an ancient Japanese exterior siding technique that preserves wood by charring. The two volumes are devoted to sound/vision and smelling/tasting activities and they complement the existing functions with natural light being the main component of the white bare interiors minimally furnished.
The experience is extended to the landscape outside where the original bluestones have been restored and reused as the material for the hardscape that leads the user to a third volume: a shed-like typology balloon frame construction. This third programmatic element is providing the function of isolation for meditative activities and it serves as a winter plants shelter for the garden.
The sectional shape of the three pavilions revolve around the presence of skylights with different configurations that capture the sun and the diffused light reflecting from the trees, making the interior changing with the seasons and further connecting with the exterior.
Sig Nordal 