© Nguyen TienThanh

• Architects: H&P Architects
• Location: Van Quan urban zone, Ha Dong district, Hanoi, Vietnam
• Architect In Charge: Doan Thanh Ha & Tran Ngoc Phuong
• Project Team: Pham Linh Chi, Trinh Thi ThanhHuyen, Chu Kim Thinh, Nguyen Hai Hue, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, Nguyen Duc Anh, Nguyen Xuan Khiem, Pham Nang Toan, Ha Van Phu, Nguyen Ba Dan, Dao Hong Duong.
• Area: 85.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Nguyen TienThanh

• Manual Woodwork: Mành Mành salon, H&P Architects, volunteers

© Nguyen TienThanh

Plan Renovation

From the architect. Mành Mành salon is renovated from a deteriorated hair dressing salon in a populous community in Van Quan urban area. The project develops an approach to reuse available materials such as door, glass, table and chair, brick, low-quality wood,.. to create a fresh and distinctive but friendlier space to the nature.

© Nguyen TienThanh

Diagram

The ordinary and simple charm at street hairdresser’s in Hanoi, which is closely associated with Trees giving wide shade and Old brick walls, inspires designers to create an unusual but familiar space- a space suggesting the idea of A long hair as well as Mành Mành climbing plant garden or Cissus sicyoides pergola (a quite popular climbing plant in Vietnam, also known as Princess vine, Millionaire vine and Curtain Ivy) with its long roots covering the space underneath.

© Nguyen TienThanh

Highlights of the project are some 200 thousand wooden beads (diameter d=2.7cm) recycled from low-quality wood (of 2 types: colorless and color of vine fruits at their ripeness). These wooden beads are chained into strings of various lengths (11 beads/ string in average) to produce effects on human senses of zigzag–styled ceiling and beaded curtain separating the space underneath. 

© Nguyen TienThanh

Five human senses will be awoken in Mành Mành climbing plant garden by gentle light (sight), soft rustle among the beads (hearing), blend of light fragrance of leaves and beads (smell) while one is there, sipping at his tea (taste), and hairdresser’s skill fulness that brings about comfort (touch) and relaxation to customers upon their experiencing the hair service.  

Like Architecture, Human will become more Beautiful and Healthier once he lives in a harmony with the Nature.

© Nguyen TienThanh

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© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

• Architects: MU Architecture
• Location: Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard, QC, Canada
• Architect In Charge: MU Architecture
• Area: 3600.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

• Project Team: Jean-Sébastien Herr, Charles Côté, Jean-Philippe Bellemare, Pierre-Alexandre Rhéaume, Floriane Deléglise
• Contractor: Paul Lalonde et fils

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

From the architect. Located in the verdant Laurentians in Quebec, the Estrade Residence reveals itself discretely on the shores of Lac de la Cabane in St-Adolphe d’Howard.

It is by studying the steep and rocky topography of the place that MU Architecture decided to highlight the peculiarities of this site with an adapted and captivating architectural intervention. The first objective was to design a house in total harmony with its environment.

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

Floor Plan

The singular topography of the project takes the form of a rocky crest that plunges into the lake. In order to create a discovery path, a series of animated volumes come to anchor, skirt or levitate on this unevenness. Their staggered and superimposed layout generates a multitude of terraces that embrace the site. This deployment creates a rich dialogue between architecture and the wild landscape.

The Estrade gives birth to long walls of natural stones which seem to be born from the depth of the ground. As they seem to project themselves towards the landscape, these long walls generate and protect the apartments on the ground floor while giving users direct access to the land bellow. The rocks extracted during excavation were reused in the landscaping around the house, becoming also actors of this architectural narrative.

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

Discreet and intriguing thanks to its blind masses; the Estrade Residence is revealed slowly, volume after volume. A wide recess under what seems to be a floating cube invites us to penetrate into the place. From the entrance, an aerial and magisterial staircase welcomes the visitor and unfolds in a vast luminous space. Lined up precisely on large openings, it connects all levels in asymmetric flights. The absence of columns in the design makes the glass railings levitate, thus giving the impression of great lightness. Minimalism and attention to detail bring to the residence a certain purity and comfort that immediately gives the tone to the project. Each corridor leads to a luminous opening and makes us discover a larger and more complex residence than at first sight. The spaces offer both conviviality and intimacy through a different atmosphere at each level.

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

At ground floor level, the open space is well defined and offers breathtaking views of the lake. Bathed in natural light the main floor ends with a veranda that extends the kitchen to the outside. This large volume of the ground floor stretches perpendicularly to the natural ridge so as to maximize the panorama over more than 60 feet in length. The black ash coloured kitchen and integrated furniture contrasts with the whiteness of the walls and breaks the monochromy. In addition, the double-sided fireplace located in the center of the common room accentuates the warm feel of the place. The floors, covered with natural wood as well as the terrace allows for a seamless and subtle transition from the interior to the exterior. This main volume cladded with natural cedar forms the heart of the project and brings the family together. It marks the transition between the activity of the lower spaces devoted to children and the calm of the parental suite upstairs.

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

At the top, a second black cedar mass dramatically overlooks the entrance and dominates the surroundings. It houses the master’s apartment, complete with a bathroom and a large walk-in.

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

The volumetric and vernacular aspect of the Estrade residence combined with its materiality testifies to an architectural writing that composes with its environment. This tripartite composition, spread over several levels, blends with nature following the seasons. Moreover, the articulation of its areas within its masses integrates the house softly and reduces the impact of its 3600sq.ft. Its spatial quality is due to the comfort and feeling of well-being, reflecting the image of the tranquility of the place.
via v2com

© Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard (YUL Photo)

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The site of the future Amavarati. Image

Foster + Partners has been selected as the winners of an international competition to design a new £500 million capital for the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeastern India. The brief calls for a new 365 hectare masterplan that will serve as a new municipal capital for India’s eighth largest state, which lost its previous capital, Hyderabad, when state lines were redrawn two years ago.

A photo posted by Deepthi (@deepthi94) on Dec 27, 2016 at 10:57pm PST

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The new 740,000 square meter civic core will be located on the southern bank of the Krishna River near the existing cities of Guntur and Vijayawada, and will feature an assembly building, a secretariat,  and offices for departments leaders, as well as ministerial residences and guest houses.

Following the competition win, Foster + Partners will now work with Mumbai architect Hafeez Contractor to finalize plans. The project is expected to be completed by 2022.

The new capital complex will serve as the centerpiece of a ground-up 200 square kilometer settlement to be known as Amaravati, which is expected to take up to 25 years to complete.

News via Architect’s Journal.

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© Fernando Alda

• Architects: Studio Wet
• Location: Castilleja de la Cuesta, Sevilla, Spain
• Other Participants: Daniel Yusty, Pedro Lobato, Víctor Silveira, Sharifa Haidari, Manvir Hansra, Anna Thomaidou, Julián Calvo, Simona Lupo
• Area: 161.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Fernando Alda

© Fernando Alda

From the architect. We have designed the extension for a single family house, which is settled in an urban fabric that has been consolidated since long ago. The existing atmosphere of the neighbourhood -facades, colors, materials, trees- is legally protected by urban regulations.  The design also faces the wishes of the client to take the maximum profit from the spare square meters, always within a low budget and some reasonable programmatic requirements. There are also some specific urban regulations on regard  to the new volumes and its aesthetics that we have to deal with, along with the inherent technological restrictions of a small construction company from Southern Spain. All these issues come together to build up a way of working, a way we feel comfortable with, which we use to call “Critical Pragmatism” 

© Fernando Alda

Through this approach we build a project of the tangible matter, a project that regards all contingencies as new possibilities and potentialities, and never as an abdication. We then combine all contingencies into one which is the construction itself.

© Fernando Alda

Our proposal respects the personality and context of the existing building by either changing nothing (we avoid modifying its original structure and external aesthetics) or changing everything (adopting a completely different language for the design of the extension). Through the reverberation of curves we also gain visual coherence, some coherence that works for us in the design process, but also for the client in the understanding of the project. To simply put it, the curves help to  indicate the new elements and spaces added.

Sections

The result is a project slowly developed and slowly built. Too slowy probably, and we are perfectly aware of the fact that this is some kind of luxury nowadays. This methodology of work, within the current economical situation of the profession, heads unavoidably towards extinction. 

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View from City Center. Visualization by Brick Visual. Courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, with associate architect Arkkitehdit m3, has won a competition for the design of a new Travel Services Center and residential block to be located in the city of Oulu, Finland. Located between the low-lying neighborhood of Puu-Raksila and the high-rising city center, the complex will connect districts through large, arching openings puncturing through a dynamic, horizontal profile, while providing new housing for the city.

View from Puu-Raksila. Visualization by Brick Visual. Courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki

The heart of the development will be the Travel Services Center and its two public open urban spaces. Here, two large openings in the triangular profile provide access to a bus terminal, train and bus passenger services, a multipurpose hall for sports and culture, a hotel, and shopping and restaurant areas.

“The curvilinear shapes of the Travel Services Centre and the multi-arena belonging to it radiate the impact of their urban image far beyond both sides of the railway,” explain the architects. “The Travel Services Centre also forms a natural hub of public transport, where it is made easy to change from one transport mode to another.”

Inside the Travel Service Center. Visualization by Brick Visual. Courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki

Extending from the southwest end of the Travel Services Center, three courtyard typology housing blocks will combine the scale of nearby apartment blocks and the architecture of small-scale residential buildings. The blocks will reach up to eight floors, creating wind-protected communal spaces within.

Employing a significant change in elevation, each face of the building responds to its corresponding neighborhood in scale: towards Puu-Raksila, the building meets datum lines established by existing buildings, while to the city, the hub’s distinctive profile will stand out along the skyline.

Site Plan. Visualization by Brick Visual. Courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki

Gross floor areas

Residential blocks: 65,000 square meters (700,000 square feet)
Office buildings: 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet)
Travel Services Center: 32,800 square meters (353,000 square feet)

News via Lahdelma & Mahlamäki.

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