© Takumi Ota

• Architects: Schemata Architects
• Location: Nakameguro, Meguro, Tokyo 153-0061, Japan
• Architect In Charge: Jo Nagasaka / Schemata Architects
• Project Team: Ryosuke Yamamoto, Yui Matsushita
• Area: 397.32 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Takumi Ota

• Construction: TANK
• Collaboration: SOUP DESIGN(sign), hoshizaki(kitchen), WHITELIGHT.Ltd(sound plan), 1lux(lighting plan), GRANSCAPE Inc.(plant plan)

© Takumi Ota

From the architect. It was such a great honor for me to design the renovation of my favorite building that I used to see every day. About nine years ago, we had co-established a shared office HAPPA across the street from the building and relocated our former office there; we employed to observe the neighborhood through the glass and this building was my most favorite among others on the street.

© Takumi Ota

Incidentally, Blue Bottle Coffee decided to open their fifth shop there and we were commissioned to renovate the building to accommodate cafe/office, spaces used for barista training and workshop. It was a three-story steel structure formerly used as an electric factory, and we intended to hereby create a “fair relationship” between all people present, which is our basic spatial concept for Blue Bottle Coffee.

© Takumi Ota

Floor Plan

© Takumi Ota

Section

© Takumi Ota

Since this neighborhood is located far from the station, the streets are lined with many unique and small-sized shops. In order to continue the sense of small scale into the space, floors are divided in a stepped-floor style, while utilizing the existing openings formerly used for loading/unloading and storing. Horizontal pivot windows installed on the front glass façade help defining the boundary between the interior and the surrounding environment, while establishing a visual relationship of “see and be seen” so that people become aware of each other’s presence wherever they are in the space.

© Takumi Ota

http://www.archdaily.com/799007/blue-bottle-coffee-nakameguro-cafe-schemata-architects

© Richard Glover

• Architects: Shiro Architects
• Location: Carrara QLD 4211, Australia
• Architect In Charge: Hiromi Lauren Shiraishi
• Team: Hiromi Lauren, Selina Qiu, Jian Wang, Sven Ollman, Michael Smith
• Area: 3600.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Richard Glover

• Collaborators: MBMO Architects (BIM and documentation)
• Consultants: Grummitt Planning, Cactus and Hill landscape architects, CRWP structural
• Engineers: Alder Constructions
• Clients: KDV Sport

© Richard Glover

From the architect. Opened in October 2016, the KDV Golf and Tennis Academy project is located near Nerang, on Queensland’s Gold Coast in Australia, and comprises an extensive overhaul of the previous Carrara Gardens Golf Course facility.

Ground Floor

The initial inspiration for its design came from Mies van der Rohe’s “architecture of silence”, and in that tradition, we aimed to bring to life a free-standing building open to many sides, linked to nature.

© Richard Glover

We created a single, flexible plan accommodating diverse multi-functional spaces which we believe give the building a modern elegance.

Section

Transparency and reflection bring the outside environment into the building, to which exposed concrete creates contrast, with the mirrored soffit drawing the image of the sky onto its glass walls.

© Richard Glover

The reflections enable the building to announce itself from a distance, giving it a presence greater than its envelope and clearly framing the activities of sports people, community members and students taking place within.

© Richard Glover

The scheme’s external pavilion pods comprise the buffer zone between serious sporting undertakings and those of simple relaxation.

© Richard Glover

Product Description. Using Vitrabond Aluminium Composite mirrored finish panel as the building’s soffit strengthens the building’s architectural concept and helps it to blend with its natural surrounds.

http://www.archdaily.com/799006/kdv-golf-and-tennis-academy-shiro-architects

Dubai Design District. Image Courtesy of Dubai Design District

Dubai Design District (d3) has announced the opening of offices by 4 of the world’s leading architecture firms – Zaha Hadid Architects, Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers, Foster + Partners and Benoy – marking another step towards the city’s goal of becoming a global design hub.

Since first launching in April 2013, d3 has become the region’s preeminent destination for artists, designers and creative types of all kinds to work and collaborate. So far, d3 has welcomed in over 30 architecture firms of medium to large size, including RMJM, SSH and Viktor Udzenija, Wanders Wagner and Grimshaw Architects.

Foster + Partners' Design for d3 Stage 2. Image Courtesy of Dubai Design District

‘We are extremely proud that Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners and Benoy have chosen to make d3 their new home,” said Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, Chief Operating Officer at d3. “d3 is fully committed to supporting the development of the region’s design industry and the architecture market is a key component of this.  We currently have over 30 architectural practices located at d3 but we are dedicated to ensuring that each and every brand that joins us – ranging from small design start-ups to iconic global brands – is part of a fully-fledged creative community that sits at the heart of our architectural design scene.”

All four firms have ongoing or future projects in Dubai: ZHA’s Opus Office Building and Hotel, currently nearing completion; Benoy’s mixed-use development, The Beach; the Santiago Calatrava-designed future world’s tallest tower at Dubai Creek; and Foster + Partners’ masterplan for Dubai Design District’s stage two.

The news reflects an increased presence of top architecture firms in the Middle East and Islamic regions, as seen in the recent popularity of events such as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in Al Ain, for which ZHA partner Patrik Schumacher was in attendance.

“A recipient of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, ZHA marries concepts of connectivity with the tremendous advancements in design technologies, material development and construction practices. ZHA is working with the many diverse histories and cultures of the region to address important issues in a meaningful way – contributing to the development of more ecologically sustainable and integrated built environments,” said ZHA in a press release.

“Opening on 7 November, 2016  ZHA’s office in Dubai has been established in response to the solid growth in demand from new and existing clients across the region; providing even greater levels of assistance, coordination and communication with our increasing client base throughout the Middle East.”

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To learn more about Dubai Design District, check out the 3D video walkthrough of the campus above, or visit their website, here.

News via Zaha Hadid Architects, Dubai Design District.

Here’s How Dubai Plans to Become the Design Capital of the Middle East
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© Carlos Díaz San Pedro

• Architects: dmp arquitectura
• Location: Playa Copacabana 40, Militar Marte, 08810 Ciudad de México, D.F., Mexico
• Area: 290.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Carlos Díaz San Pedro

• Collaborators: Ignacio Santos, Manuel Bernal, Hein Yap, Mauricio Morales
• Structural Engineering: José Luis Ponce
• Construction: dmp arquitectura

© Carlos Díaz San Pedro

The building takes place in a neighborhood with popular social features and with middle incomes, thanks to that the project develops formally discrete and in harmony with the context. It is located on the Playa Copacabana st, in the Iztacalco municipality.

Diagram

The spatial arrangement is a consequence of the recycling of an existent two-story house, which was reconfigured by the reuse of the structure.

© Carlos Díaz San Pedro

After the access we find a pure, homogenous symmetry, both in material and proportions, then stands up a latticework based on prefabricated elements all in white with some ecru highlights, such lattice escorts all the building as a solar regulator for the living areas.

Section

The project is composed by three apartments, one for each level. The access is through a wooden deck which comes together with a green wall, these lead to the circulations core.

© Carlos Díaz San Pedro

Once inside, we find one by one the halls, and in turn, the apartment type; which has a conventional scheme: living-dining, kitchen, services area and two bedrooms in the back naturally ventilated and illuminated by a backyard.

© Carlos Díaz San Pedro

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© Wikimedia CC user GeographBot. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Tadao Ando’s only project in the United Kingdom, the ‘Japanese Pavilion’ at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, is slated for demolition as part of a £10m redesign of the park and plaza.

Built in 2002 as part of a makeover for the square, the pavilion takes the form of a long, gray concrete wall along the park’s southwestern edge, which critics have argued divide the public space, describing the design as “bleak and depressing” and comparing it to the Berlin Wall.

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The plans follow several years of public calls to reenvision the gardens. Six months ago, a 20,000-signature petition to knock down the wall was presented to the Manchester city council.

In 2013, Ando himself admitted that the project could use some livening up, suggesting covering the structure in greenery.

© Flickr user wojtekgurak. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

“For me, just because the building is built does not mean it is completed and it is in the final form,” he said at the time.

In the new plans, the pavilion would be replaced with a similarly sited but much more open structure housing a row of new bars and restaurants and featuring a planted green roof.

© Flickr user wojtekgurak. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Learn more about the project and see renderings for the wall’s replacement here.

News via Manchester Evening News.

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