Giving a facelift to an otherwise aged 1960s Malibu Canyon track home, Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) creates a sparkling contemporary gem.
Located all too near the notorious Piuma Canyon Brush fires, executive television producer Ted Gold and his wife Cara Hall, a graphic designer, took on the challenge to purchase an all wood-sided shed-roof modern home and transform it into something original and beautiful.
Working with a minimal budget one step at a time, they hired local California architect Phillips to make a series of strategic surgical design procedures to update, rejuvenate, and fortify their painfully drab house with elegance and style.
As the original home had no front entry (it was originally accessed alongside the garage off the side-yard driveway) Phillips most notably created a two-story wrap-around balcony and deck that directed arriving guests to the front of the house. A dramatic new entry hall to the upper living level was added featuring a floating steel staircase with glass and stainless-steel guardrails alongside solid-white oak-wood treads.
On the interior, the kitchen was completely renovated opening up towards the family room, dining room, breakfast nook, and entry hall. The baths, bedrooms, and living spaces were all reconstructed with new carpeting, tile, fixtures, and paint. Hall lent her design sensibility to provocatively update all the interior rooms.
Phillips’s angular-roof entry becomes the central organizational figure within the overall design. It brings visitors up from the garden to the living area, and uses glass extensively, shaded under a series of shifted and folded roof and wall planes that extend out to the canyon while framing distant mountain views. The new entry creates a dynamic yet relaxing contemporary space that reconfigures an otherwise rambling wooden shack with unclear floor plan into a strong well-organized contemporary dwelling. The family room, kitchen, and main hall all overlook the entry stair that provides views clear out to the mountains and easy access to the yard below.
Fortifying the exterior the architect proposed a combination of cement board and metal panels alongside exterior cement plaster (stucco) wall surfaces to ensure a flame-resistant contemporary new look. The cement board panels serve as a light backdrop to a stunning use of dark metal seam roofing material that folds down, wraps up and around the roof, walls, and balcony. Carefully composed to highlight or diminish existing apertures and disparate housing forms, Phillips created a continuous well-composed design that compliments the pitched roof areas at the front and back of the existing canyon home.
What was formally a lackluster wood developer track house becomes a sparkling jewel through only a few carefully designed elements that add bold dynamism alongside much needed value and protection to this unique and contemporary Malibu Canyon home.
Product Description:
Built in a high-fire zone adjacent to the significant Malibu Fire of 2007, the architect fortified the exterior surfaces with a combination of cement board and metal panels alongside exterior cement plaster (stucco) to ensure a 1-hr flame-resistant contemporary new look. The cement board panels serve as a light backdrop to a stunning use of dark metal seam roofing which folds down, wraps up and around the roof, walls, and balcony.
In preparation for their grand opening on January 11/12, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg has released an interactive drone video that lets you experience the Herzog & de Meuron-designed building at two different speeds: adagio and presto (slow or fast). Using the spacebar to switch between speeds, the footage takes you on a tour up the curving escalator, on to the elevated terrace, around the building and finally into the main concert hall, where the drones meet back up in a dramatic finish.
Pop some headphones in and check it out for yourself, here.
(Warning: don’t turn the volume up too loud before you hit the spacebar for the first time!)
News via Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Herzog & de Meuron’s Elbphilharmonie Finally Gets Opening Date
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Herzog & de Meuron’s Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg Photographed by Iwan Baan
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Check out this breathtaking photo following a winter storm in December at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. Weather in the park can change quick – last weekend’s warm wet weather has melted the snow leaving this photo as a beautiful memory. Photo courtesy of a park visitor.
The largest of the Caribbean islands, Cuba is a cultural melting pot of over 11 million people, combining native Taíno and Ciboney people with descendants of Spanish colonists and African slaves. Since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, the country has been the only stable communist regime in the Western hemisphere, with close ties to the Soviet Union during the Cold War and frosty relationship with its nearby neighbor, the United States, that has only recently begun to thaw. While the architecture in the capital city of Havana reflects the dynamic and rich history of the area, after the revolution Havana lost its priority status and government focus shifted to rural areas, and the buildings of Havana have been left to ruin ever since. Iwo Borkowicz, one of three winners of the 2016 Young Talent Architecture Award, has developed a plan that could bring some vibrancy, and most importantly some sustainability, back to Havana, the historic core of the city.
After half a century of poor maintenance within Havana Vieja, buildings are reported to be partially, or even entirely, collapsing at a rate of 2 every 3 days due to flooding, salt water corrosion, and overloading; as many as 20 families can be living in a villa originally designed for one. Despite a Cuban law preventing people from migrating into the capital, Havana is still struggling with a major housing crisis. According to a 2010 study, the island lacked around 500,000 housing units to adequately fulfil the nation’s needs, but due to the collapsing buildings, this number is currently estimated to be somewhere between 600,000 and 1 million. Havana alone has over 100,000 people without an apartment to live in. In other words, suitable housing is high up on the list of the Cuban people’s needs.
Existing alongside the country’s housing crisis is its rapidly expanding tourism industry. Due to the country’s communist rule, privately owned businesses such as hotels are essentially non-existent, in spite of the nearly 3.5 million tourists expected to visit the country in 2017 – with 90% of them, according to Borkowicz, expected to visit Havana. However, the government has allowed Cuban people to rent out rooms in their own homes since 1997, commonly known in Cuba as “casas particulares,” responding to the touristic demand without having to build large hotels alien to the Havana landscape. This concept, as well as the desperate need for housing and possible local economic gain from tourism, is what inspired Borkowicz to develop a proposal to combine social housing with tourism in Havana Vieja.
The idea is to merge the two by renovating existing, partially collapsed buildings around Havana Vieja, and adding vertical extensions to fulfil Borkowicz’s plan to build with an average of 4 floors. Occasionally structures are designed from scratch when the existing building has collapsed beyond repair. As Borkowicz envisions the use of space in a 3:1 ratio of permanent versus temporary inhabitants, these buildings need to not only accommodate for the existing housing shortages in Havana Vieja, but must supersede them. Currently the housing shortages require 9,200 new housing units, with an assumed floor space of 70 square meters per unit. Borkowicz looked at 12 housing blocks already existing in Havana Vieja, using their volumes as a benchmark for calculations on his proposal of an average of 4 storeys per building and concluded that the total generated floor space from his project could amount to 105,812 square meters – 3 times as much space as is currently needed.
Not only will this proposal provide more housing for the Cuban population, it will also serve as a source of income for the inhabitants, as they will be able to rent out more rooms to tourists. One of the main reasons for Cuba’s housing crisis is the lack of financial support, however Borkowicz proposes that residents could repay loans over an estimated 10 year period, while still keeping around 10% of the revenue for personal use (estimated to total around 4 times as much as the average salary in Cuba). For locals, this sum of money can often buy them far more value for money, as some business run two pricing systems – one for locals and one for the foreigners. For example, Borkowicz has noted ice cream selling for 24 times the price when bought by a tourist.
As part of his research project, Borkowicz has established 6 prototypes, each responding to the individual situations on their site: Prototype 1 and 3 take place on existing plots housing single storey buildings in very bad condition that will be completely replaced; Prototype 2 addresses a similar pre-existing condition, but with a building still in good shape that can be built upon; Prototype 4 is an empty corner plot with only partial remains of its previous occupant, making it necessary to design the house from scratch; Prototype 5 connects two parallel streets by joining two existing buildings back-to-back, one on each street. Finally Prototype 6 is not a social housing project, but is suggested to take an empty corner plot and addresses the need for a co-working space that promotes small businesses.
These houses are designed in such a way that the structural support, as well as the sewage or gas infrastructure, can remain entirely unchanged. Instead the transformation of space takes place by rearranging non-load-bearing walls, allowing for flexible floor plans whenever possible so that residents can arrange different combinations of hotel rooms, or alternatively expand their own apartment.
“Casa particulars is not a hotel nor a guest room in somebody’s house but a formula in-between. This significantly changes the way guests and hosts look at each other,” explains Borkowicz in a booklet documenting his research. “Tourists can experience a more in-depth Cuban culture and Cubans won’t feel like simple servants, but partners in an exchange of services and money – but also an exchange of stories, daily routine, and experiences. Both parties will hopefully get a chance to… learn from each other, while at the same time having access to a fully private zone in their rooms or flats.”
This kind of architecture requires a lot of common spaces that both permanent and temporary inhabitants can take advantage of; much more than in an ordinary Cuban apartment or AirBnb. Each of Borkowicz’s prototype buildings is individually designed with respect to the existing situation on the plot, however all five residential plans include an open space with planted areas, often in the form of large inner courtyards. Also included are an open kitchen and living room; a “collective zone” on the roof, including a laundry station and an urban farming space; a zone for tenants to keep chickens, vegetables and herbs; and an “extension” of the space into the surrounding community around the entrance zone.
In his designs, Borkowicz prioritizes natural ventilation, using both the main wide courtyard and smaller secondary courtyards to create cross-ventilation through rooms not directly connected to the street. Open space within the building is above the government’s requirement of 15% of the total area, and the windows and courtyards are protected by permeable solar protection to allow for the passage of wind. In addition to this the design specifies staircases and railings that generate maximum airflow, using traditional Cuban wrought iron elements. The passive cooling system, taking place through underground pipes that suck air through the patios, are stabilized by the constant temperature below ground level of around 15 degrees Celsius.
In addition to the traditional wrought iron railings, Borkowicz’s plan would support the production of Cuban ornamental ceramic tiles, which would be used to cover the roof, reflecting sunlight to prevent overheating. One of the more important choices in Borkowicz’s design is to maintain the existing characteristics of Havana Vieja, with facades that reflect the classical, brightly colored and decorated buildings of the Cuban culture, preserving the tourist appeal of the area. No choice of color is specified, leaving the housing cooperative to personalize each house, hopefully helping them to identify more strongly with the project through the use of shapes, materials and colors that are so abundant within the Cuban culture.
Social, cultural and economic support that can be brought through architectural design is no easy task to accomplish, making the symbiotic relationship that arises from such a project a fantastically beautiful thing to witness. If the predicted deluge of US tourists is to find much more than rubble and homelessness in Havana Vieja, Borkowicz’s proposal is not only beautiful, but desperately needed.
Correction update: This article originally stated that the “casas particulares” system was introduced in 1959. It was actually introduced in 1997.
Have you always loved the thought of living in a beach villa, but your personal tastes and styles are actually quite different than the more whimsical seaside designs you usually encounter in beach living options? Then we think you’ll take more inspiration than usual from this ultra modern home in Oostduinkerke, Belgium! Villa CD is a residential project that was designed and built by OOA | Office O Architects in..
The post OOA | Office O Architects Design a Contemporary Villa in Oostduinkerke, Belgium appeared first on HomeDSGN.
From the architect. After many years of complete abandonment, the Riviera Grand Hotel, a historical complex in southern Italy Salento area, comes to a new life after a challenging renovation and a radical interior redesign.
The property, located along one of the most extraordinary coast stretch of Ionian Salento, just close to the sea, is a sort of village made by thin coastal “towers” connected at the base by a plate of services and common areas. The towers, looking at the nearby gulf of Gallipoli, accommodate rooms offering stunning panoramic views over Mediterranean Sea.
Outside, spectacular environmental terraces on different levels feature pools, tennis courts, belvedere, cafes and open-air restaurant, banquet facilities, solarium, meadows of lush Mediterranean vegetation and scented pine forests inhabited, here and there, by rocky outcrops.
The project, silent and delicate, regenerates the splendor of the complex without upheavals, retaining the overall essence of the original rationalist composition, indeed pushing the architectural vocabulary to an elementary and almost “archaic” simplicity. The built bodies are sheathed in seamless white plaster; porous borders in golden local stone intervene decisively in defining profiles and silhouettes; painted terracotta decorations dot the theories of loggias and balconies, giving the façade the appearance of an elegant three-dimensional embroidery.
The results of a few but strong design choices are amazing: from the coastline cliffs, as well as the waters of the sea, the complex appears in the guise of a tiny but dense “white city” perched on rocky slopes and masses of trees. The hotel exudes the dreamy charm of the candid Apulian historic settlements, so deeply rooted in the collective spirit and exercises over places the magnetic power of the great Mediterranean architecture.
Once reached, the Riviera reveals an articulate spatial composition made by architectural scenes and changing altitude levels offering visitors continuous discoveries of views, forests, panoramas, horizons and unforgettable landscapes.
Interiors, similarly rigorous and essential, reinterpret in a contemporary way the traditions of the coastal Salento architectures: chromatic freshness, glazed ceramics, canopies, almost impalpable fabrics, local stones and surfaces where white descends as liquid build a soft and iridescent perceptive scenario.
The settings, freed from any excessive densification as well as the predominance of dark colors as legacy of the past, explode with light and colors.
Soft ceilings, evanescent curtains and rains of flying “lanterns” draw cozy and tranquil spaces; build up the impression of magical places and yet so familiar, embracing, domestic in a way.
Architectural choices, constructive and specific technological solutions and expedients, give the complex an attitude of high responsibility as regards the protection of the environment and the reduction of energy consumption.
Product Description:
Mapei Silancolor Base Coat and Silancolor pure white have been used to pre-treat and then paint all the outer façades of the hotel complex. These products are specifically utilized wherever “complicated” environmental conditions (in this case salty marine aerosols) can lead buildings to a rapid deterioration of colors and plaster vertical surfaces.
A huge cathedral with tall towers and a magnificent dome rises slowly in the municipality of Mejorada del Campo, 20 kilometers from Madrid. It seems like a common occurrence, but it is not. The building has been under construction for 50 years – brick by brick – by one man: Justo Gallego Martínez, farmer, ex-monk and a self-taught architect of 91 years of age.
Learn about his life’s work (literally) after the break.
Without any previous knowledge of architecture or any experience in the construction industry, Martínez has spent five decades collecting garbage and leftover building materials to build the 50 x 25-meter surface structure with a 60-meter high tower.
After working as a farmer and bullfighter, Martínez spent eight years in a Trappist monastery – the Cistercian convent in Santa María de Huerta – which he was forced to abandon when he was struck by tuberculosis in 1961. In honor of the Virgin Mary, he began the construction of a chapel that he describes as his great act of faith. The former monk says that if it wasn’t for his faith he would never have had the strength to try to build a cathedral.
Despite the skepticism of the inhabitants of the city, Don Justo – as the neighbors call him – has managed to progress the construction considerably without using even a crane, his only help was from some friendly workers. The process began without any kind of permission – because he was sure he would not get it – the plot of land is 4740 square meters inherited from his parents that today is worth more than one million euros.
The Cathedral
The large columns of the structure are made from empty oil drums, while the lining of one of the domes is made of discarded food tubes. The arches are tires from trucks and buses, the rest of the building consists of woods and bricks collected from other demolished works. He has received gifts such as iron doors and glass cutouts to close the openings. Its design inspiration comes from St. Peter’s Basilica, with its huge central dome in sight, in addition to inspiration from European castles and churches.
Some years ago Martínez told the BBC: “When I see what I have created, I am overwhelmed and I thank the Lord. If I could live my life again, I would like to build this same cathedral but twice as big, because, to me, this is an act of faith.”
The church has never received permission to be build and although it may never be worshipable in it, the authorities have allowed it to go ahead as it has become a tourist attraction for the city. Recently, Martínez has received donations from German organizations and advertising sponsorship from the energy drink Aquarius, who paid him 40 thousand euros to tell his inspiring story, as well as organizing a campaign to raise funds through text messages.
The building has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Justo Gallego Martínez has been interviewed by the world’s largest television networks.
News Via: Daily Mail UK, BBC
Images Via: Flickr, users Guillermo Malon, Santiago López-Pastor
San Francisco – California – USA (by Sonny Abesamis)
💙 Patricia on 500px by Luis Valadares, Viana do Castelo,… http://ift.tt/2bigobO
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