Hiding House is a private home located in Sydney, Australia. It was designed by Jackson Clements Burrows in 2014. Hiding House by Jackson Clements Burrows: “This compact house is composed of a series of interlocking rooms and gardens that create spatial variety, while allowing the house to adapt to changing needs. Doors and windows slide open and closed, revealing views and protecting privacy on a site that was once a..
Maison Stéphane Hessel / JDS Architects
© Julien Lanoo
- Architects: JDS Architects
- Location: Lille, France
- Author: Julien De Smedt
- Project Leaders: Kamile Malinauskaite, Renaud Pereira
- Area: 6.98 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Julien Lanoo, Courtesy of JDS Architects
- Project Team: Valentine Gruwez, Wouter Dons, Sandra Fleischmann, Weronica Wojcik, Felix Luong, Lea Fournier, Adrien Mans, Boris Tikvarski, Bartolomiej Zaboj, Mateusz Góra, Edgar Rodríguez , Lionel Roullet, Mathilde Dutilleul, Olfa Kammoun
- Structural Consultant: Egis Bâtiments Nord
- Façade: Demathieu & Bard
© Julien Lanoo
The competition for a new mixed-use building in Lille piqued our interest both in its unprecedented mixture of program and its prominent triangular site in the heart of the new district of Porte de Valenciennes. The brief outlined a 70-cradle nursery, a 200-bed youth hostel, and an office dedicated to social and economic innovations all collected under one unified roof; a tall order even by multifunctional building standards. Rather than simply dividing horizontally by level or vertically by mass, our solution combines efficient organization with a programmatic strategy that converts the geometric constrictions of the site into social amenities, and resolves the seemingly contradictory functions in an intertwined social spiral.
© Julien Lanoo
Ground Floor Plan
© Julien Lanoo
Over the past twenty years Lille has become a European hub; a destination for business and congress, a great place to study and live and also a tourist destination. It is a city with a turbulent history of conquest and reconquest, a heritage as an important medieval city and later on enjoyed and sometimes suffered the title of Northern France industrial capital.
Courtesy of JDS Architects
Courtesy of JDS Architects
Courtesy of JDS Architects
The Maison Stéphane HESSEL emerges from the idea of creating an urban catalyst, designed to accommodate the three ages of mankind, from birth, through adolescence, and into adulthood; a volume that captures the stages of human growth.
© Julien Lanoo
By placing each program at a separate point of the triangle, we maximize privacy at the edges with a continuous gradient of programmatic overlap towards the central, uniting courtyard space which becomes a calm cloister of retreat from the city. The corners of the building are lifted to invite neighborhood interaction and provide spaces for public activities, extending the function of the building beyond its walls and intentionally blurring the line between private and public.
© Julien Lanoo
Designed to meet strict energy efficiency targets, the Maison Stéphane HESSEL is an environmentally conscious and socially responsible intervention which responds to an ambitious brief with an equally ambitious solution; a hybrid structure that facilitates the life of its users, from nursery to nursing home.
Courtesy of JDS Architects
5 Ways To Be More Productive In The Morning (Even If You’re Not A Morning Person)
You’re reading 5 Ways To Be More Productive In The Morning (Even If You’re Not A Morning Person), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Maybe you jump out of bed each morning like the energizer bunny. Or maybe you think mornings are just plain evil. They say that “to win the morning is to win the day”, so if you want to be productive throughout the day, it has to start with a productive morning. Here are 5 ways to be more productive in the morning (even if you’re not a morning person.)
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Wake up earlier- just by 15 minutes.
This might be the most cliche productivity advice but stick with me for a minute. It’s not about waking up at 4:30 in the morning (although that does work well for some people). It’s about giving yourself a little extra time at the start of your day to set yourself up for success.
If you’re a night owl, waking up at the crack of dawn isn’t going to help you. It’s probably just going to frustrate you and make you less productive. However, waking up just 15 minutes earlier than usual gives you an advantage over your day. It’s also be a much more doable change.
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Eliminate decision making in the mornings.
Mornings are hard. Don’t make them harder than they have to be. If you’re looking for a way to make your mornings more enjoyable and less stressful, get rid of as much decision making as you can.
You know that feeling – lying in bed thinking “Ugh, I have to pick out what to wear today.” and “Oh man, what am I gonna take for lunch?”. It makes it so much harder to actually get out of bed and get moving.
Try to eliminate those decisions by planning them the night before, or even earlier in the week! I pick out of all my outfits and plan my meals on Saturdays for the next week. This saves me tons of time about thinking about decisions in the morning. It helps me get out of bed and let myself run on autopilot for a bit.
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Just get moving.
Everyone says “work out” in the mornings, but that’s probably not the best advice. It just doesn’t work for everybody, and it’s also not always an option. While there’s definitely merit to that advice, it’s not mandatory. The principle is that you should get moving in the mornings, and that’s something you can do in a variety of ways.
You can do yoga, walk the dog, do a few sit-ups, go for a ten-minute run… whatever you want to do, even for just a few minutes! There are so many options. Moving around definitely helps get your day started, but it doesn’t have to be an hour long work out at your gym.
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Write your to-do list.
If you start the day in charge, you’ll find that you’re more likely to finish the day in charge. If you start with a plan, you’re less likely to let anything interfere with your most important tasks.
But the only way you can prevent those interruptions and distractions is to know what your most important tasks are! Spend a few minutes in the morning thinking about (and writing down!) what you’re going to focus on for the day. For bonus points : Visualize yourself actually doing those things, and they’ll be even more likely to happen.
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Pause and reflect for a few minutes.
You might think the word “meditation” sounds too new-agey and not something you’re into. I didn’t think I was into it either. But then I tried it. I found that spending a few minutes in the morning to pause and focus actually helped me gain clarity throughout my entire day.
You don’t have to do anything fancy. Just spend a few minutes focusing on your breath, or “watching” what you think about. You might be surprised by just how busy your brain is.
Having a busy morning and tempted to skip? Experts say that those are the days you should spend even MORE time meditating. Those are the days you’ll need it the most.
Conclusion
By waking up earlier, removing willpower and decision making from your morning, and focusing on your day, you’ll propel yourself into the best day possible. And you can do this every day!
So now that you know how to be more productive in the morning, make sure to use that extra time to achieve your biggest goals. Make sure that you’re making the most of your time all throughout the day and not just in the morning.
Brittany Joiner is the founder of Project 1440, a resource that helps people be more productive so they can reach their goals and make every minute count for something great.
You’ve read 5 Ways To Be More Productive In The Morning (Even If You’re Not A Morning Person), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Isle of Skye, Scotlandphoto via michele
SMA254 / SMA Studio
© Nguyen Thai Thach
- Architects: SMA Studio
- Location: Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Area: 10.0 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Nguyen Thai Thach, Courtesy of SMA Studio
© Nguyen Thai Thach
Context
SMA254, located on an area of just 10m2 in Cau Giay District (Hanoi), is the remnants of Hanoi’s rapid development. Its narrow facade overlooks a 1- meter-long alley and other sides are neighbors’ houses. Its small surface area, with a size of 2.5×4 meters, causes many difficulties. The status quo is deteriorated and needs renovating with low costs and fast construction that does not affect the surrounding neighbors.
© Nguyen Thai Thach
Diagram B
© Nguyen Thai Thach
Concept
It poses a question for the architects of SMA Architecture Studio of how to ensure a small yet flexible house that uses both natural light and ventilation for maximum energy savings. The original idea was to use stacked-up cubic modules with different proportions to create spatial interactions from every direction and to make it possible those living in the house to see each other from any floor.
© Nguyen Thai Thach
Materials
Materials such as iron, sheet metal and steel are painted white. Not only does this make the house look airy and spacious but this also has a reflective effect, helping to spread the light throughout the floors and mezzanines. The mezzanines are made of rubber wood combined with white sheet metal and grey concrete floor, creating a contrast between modern and rustic.
Space
All spaces in the house are flexibly linked together from floor to roof. The house consists of 2 main floors. In-between is mezzanines with different heights so as to create ventilation and to ensure the compliance to building regulations. The spaces are shared to avoid stuffiness. There are floor ventilation and glass floors between the spaces to help raise interactions and create airiness for the house. Thanks to the natural light and ventilation, lamps and air-conditioners are not needed, which saves a lot of energy. The facade area is windows which can open up to 70%. These windows are combined with balconies, turning the indoor space into an open one to create maximum interactions with the outside, especially in nice weather. Since we are young architects, we use iron ladders not only to save space but also increase physical activities.
© Nguyen Thai Thach
The house is currently a workspace of an architecture studio, however, it can be turned into a family house when needed. The first floor consists of a reception room and a restroom; the second floor a working space, a versatile space and a kitchen. The rooftop is a relaxing space with a garden and a BBQ area.
The pots on the house’s rooftop use the automatic irrigation system made of lightweight materials with different heights and sizes. These pots help shadow the house and are a place for the architects to relax during working hours.
© Nguyen Thai Thach
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