© Ieva Saudargaite

• Architects: L.E.FT Architects
• Location: Beirut, Lebanon
• Design Team: Ana Conchan, Alex Palmer, Valeria Fervorari, Rafah Farhat, Elias Kateb
• Area: 900.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Ieva Saudargaite, Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects

• Main Contractor: MEC Consultant
• Manufacturers: ACID

© Ieva Saudargaite

The design for the new art gallery, one of the largest and most prominent in Beirut, is an adaptive reuse of a historic theatre, Masrah al Madina, which is converted into a space dedicated to showcasing prominent as well as up and coming Lebanese and Arab artists.  Before being transformed in the 90s into a theatre, the underground space was as early as 1969 one of the first cinemas in the Middle East to project art and experimental movies of Fellini and Gavras as well as Soviet films.

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Located mostly underground, the attempt was to create a smooth transition from the ground level to the lower gallery level, from the sidewalk to the catwalk, while bringing natural light to the buried space.

© Ieva Saudargaite

Starting with the existing theatre space, the intent was to preserve essential characteristic elements of the space, and introduce new elements that allude to the history of the space while serving its new program.

© Ieva Saudargaite

A new staircase, reminiscent of theatre promenade staircases, cascades its way down to the underground main gallery space from the ground floor, going through secondary office spaces. The cascading nature allows visual continuity between upper and lower levels, and daylight to pierce its way down to the basement.

© Ieva Saudargaite

© Ieva Saudargaite

The ceiling of the theatre has been renovated to highlight its steel catwalks, and transforming it into a repository for the gallery lighting, both ambient and accent lighting. A new electric chain hoist, usually hidden in the back of house, is fore fronted in the ceiling of the ground floor when needed, and is supported on exposed I beams that continue the industrial look of the gallery ceiling into the ground floor ceiling. The hoist would carry the art work crates down to the main gallery space, showcasing the back of house logistics and foregrounding them into the entry level.

Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects

Along the same lines, storage aisles on either side of the main gallery space were turned into intimate art galleries, the back of house becoming part of the foregrounded experience of art. A large archive gallery in the lower basement was also introduced for private client meetings.

© Ieva Saudargaite

From the mezzanine floor, the administrative offices, and that of the gallerist, have a full view of the gallery space.

© Ieva Saudargaite

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© Shannon McGrath

• Architects: Matt Gibson Architecture + Design
• Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
• Area: 200.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2010
• Photographs: Shannon McGrath

© Shannon McGrath

From the architect. This compact double fronted Victorian workers cottage in set within a gritty one way street in Richmond – a stone’s throw from the MCG and just down from the corner of the infamous Royal Hotel. Unlike other boom style Victorian double front dwellings in Australian cities this cottage is compact and quaint. This area of Richmond (in a process of gentrification) contains mostly compact and heterogeneous building types built up to the street with comparatively narrow or short lot sizes and in many cases not designed for the long term.

© Shannon McGrath

The conceptual drive for the interior of this house is largely in response to a brief which crystallised into a need to be connected with ‘green’ space. Beyond the heritage front the project wanted to not necessarily increase floor area but to increase amenity. To make spaces feel bigger, more functional, to be light filled, and to visually extend &borrow from within and beyond the site.

Diagram

‘Shakin’ Stevens’ is not only about a coloured front door but the experience of what’s beyond it. Conceptually beyond this green door, there are no doors; the newer space is about flow and continuity where delineation of space is soft and less finite than expected from the street.  In a clear formal idea the rear composes 3 extruded white cubes that look essentially like they have been let go, landing like dice randomly on top of each other next to a Victorian (monopoly) house. The 3 cubes, as with the existing villa, are composed so as to be immediately deciphered internally or externally and in clear programmatic zones all house different functions. The cubes which are opened at their ends (or sides where required) are utilised as devices to orchestrate views to green elements within the structure and to greenery within or beyond the site.

© Shannon McGrath

At just over 200sqm & 25m depth, opportunities arose from site constraints. The site boundary walls were conceptually designated as internal and lined with perimeter greenery set for maturity. The existing building was seen as an endearing element worth retaining, to be celebrated and re-programmed through colour and detail into the whole.

Ground Floor Plan

1st Floor Plan

The rear spaces both internal &external are about volume & enclosure and conversely lack of it, flexibility to be undefined, spaces you move through rather in or out of. Definition is brought through the allocation of detail- ensuring structural tolerances mean cubes don’t  touch, concealing fixed window framing so materials run flush continuously through thresholds. Variation of volume, material and colour similarly assist the clarity and expression of the formal idea whilst also being practical to particular spaces – living is more open, dining more intimate. ‘Non-cube’ materials are deliberately recessive – recycled timber floorboards line circulation areas while glazed panels conceal into cube walls.

© Shannon McGrath

‘Shakin’ utilises many micro level ESD principles – siting, sun protection, thermal mass, passive temperature regulation, low embodied energy (& cost @ $550k) construction techniques& materials, structural depth with high R values. A grey water system, 2 side water storage tanks, fake grass & ‘succulent’ planting temper water usage whilst providing intrinsic features of the colour scheme.

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Beyond these at a macro level this interior is about future robustness meaning users now have the amenity to avoid suburbia using up precious planet resource and transport time. They have borrowed what was previously laying dormant within and beyond their walls. This is the real ‘sustainability’- a model for space/s that can sustain user types (a couple, 2 couples, a family with teenagers, guests) through separation of sleeping zones about a flexible living zone that they can up-size (externally). This interior proposes to extend beyond its enclosure & embrace its ‘green-ness’!

© Shannon McGrath

The structures of different periods are connected yet seemingly separated by a central courtyard and vertical stair chasm. Colour & detail variation are utilised tactfully to exaggerate the settings & temporal divisions of the structures. Although clearly a strategy of ‘viva la difference’ the different structures are married by shades of green chosen to adorn feature elements within each.

© Shannon McGrath

The client requested a predominantly white interior with a feature highlight colour. Green became an obvious choice, working in combination with the proximity of the garden. The green spaces within and beyond the site -instead of being the backdrop to the white interior – became the focus. The white cubes became the lens for these events– effectively assisting in bringing the green inside and dissolving barriers of enclosure. Interior, exterior and landscape -through colour- all inform each other with equal importance. Colour was vitally important in adding glow and clarity to this expression.  

© Shannon McGrath

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Courtesy of CNADRI

• Architects: China Northeast Architectural Design and Research Institute
• Location: Taoxian International Airport, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
• Architect In Charge: REN Bingwen
• Main Architecture Designer: SHAO Mingdong, YAN Yi, ZHI Yu
• Photographs: Courtesy of CNADRI

Courtesy of CNADRI

From the architect. The target year of Terminal 3 is 2020. On the basis of T1 and T2 with existing 7.5 MAP, T3 is supposed to meet the 17.5million passenger demand in 2020 with 6,430 passengers in peak hour (5,130 domestic passengers and 1,300 international passengers). Combined together, T1, T2 and T3 can meet the demand of 25 million passengers in 2020.

Courtesy of CNADRI

Plan 3

Courtesy of CNADRI

Shenyang Taoxian Airport is one of the key airports in North China, and the new T3 will not only enhance the capability of air transportation and service quality, but also improve the integrated transportation system in Shenyang. It will also expand the economic exchange, improve environment for investment and facilitate rapid economic growth and development in Northeast old industrial base. Meanwhile, the passenger friendly designing philosophy has strong demonstration effect and will inspire the designing of terminals in the future.

Courtesy of CNADRI

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© Peter Bennetts

• Architects: Studio Nicholas Burns
• Location: Western Australia, Australia
• Area: 450.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Peter Bennetts

© Peter Bennetts

From the architect. Located and hour and a half north of Perth in the Chittering valley. The landscape is a combination of cleared areas for farming and bushland. Gently rolling hills and the patch work of vegetation under the vast Western Australian sky provide a great context for the project.

The climate is one of extremes, hot and dry in summer and cold and damp in winter.

© Peter Bennetts

The house nestles into the steeply sloped hill, providing both a refuge and a frame to connect the occupants to the landscape. The materiality and detailing seek to create a stillness and a neutral backdrop, intensifying the interconnection. The design provides a series of interrelated experiences rather than an static aesthetic response.

Floor Plan

Materials are chosen to be low maintenance and left unfinished; gradually weathering and forming a patina over time-becoming integrated with the landscape. The intent is a sense of dematerialisation both as an object in the landscape and from within.

© Peter Bennetts

Open living spaces connect to the natural landscape as well as courtyards and a decking area, framing and abstracting nature. Providing contrasts and a variety of connected outdoors areas to sit and or eat.

© Peter Bennetts

These contrasts; of open views, framed views, abstracted courts as well as thin light apertures enliven space and describe the diurnal flow in a series of shadows and hues over the seasons.

© Peter Bennetts

Sounds of nature and the waterfall are a design element given equal importance layering experience in the outdoor spaces.

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The house provides a private retreat for the owners and also a meeting place for extended family. The north west east wing opens up revealing beds and bathrooms that provide habitation for extended family. When the owners, a retired couple are home alone this area is closed. Leaving a surprising intimacy where the couple’s paths of life unfold.

© Peter Bennetts

The courtyard garden in raised corten beds is productive; producing fruit, herbs and vegetables. An essential element especially when in an isolated location.

© Peter Bennetts

Rammed earth walls huge thermal mass ameliorate temperature fluctuations over the seasons. High performance glazing, ventilation and a geothermal convective system ensure that comfort is maintained and energy consumption is very low.

© Peter Bennetts

Museum grade LED lighting not only displays art at it’s best; the rendering of space and reflected light give the spaces an essential quality without hinderance even without natural light.

© Peter Bennetts

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Courtesy of Perkins+Will

The Boston office of Perkins+Will has been selected to design a new mixed-use sports complex in Dubai. The development’s centerpiece will be the 60,000-seat Mohammed bin Rashid Stadium, which when completed will become the largest stadium in the UAE. Other facilities will include training facilities, a practice pitch, warm-up areas, a 5,000 space car park, a museum, and a multi-purpose sports hall, as well as retail, restaurant and public plaza areas.

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Perkins+Will set out to create a stadium unlike any built before, but one that ties back into its context through a regionally-inspired aesthetic. To give the structure a minimal footprint and to create a shaded entry plaza below, the playing field has been raised 60 feet above ground level. A diagrid seating bowl rises from that level, supported by a polar array of v-shaped columns. The entire structure is then wrapped in a permeable skin that allows for airflow while simultaneously blocking out undesired sand and sun.

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Water features beneath the stadium create a natural thermal sink, cooling the incoming air as it is pulled into the stadium, while the public plaza utilizes shade trees and vegetation to block the hot sun and mitigate hot winds.

The playing field at Mohammed bin Rashid Stadium is designed to be FIFA-compliant, with additional FIFA-approved fields surrounding the stadium for practice and recreation. The project is part of Dubai’s “Sports Innovation Lab” initiative, a government-backed program aimed at increasing the country’s profile as an international sports destination.

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

As design lead on the project, Perkins+Will will be responsible for architecture, interior design, urban planning and landscape architecture roles. The project is currently in the planning and design phase.

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

Courtesy of Perkins+Will

• Architects: Perkins+Will
• Location: Dubai – United Arab Emirates
• Architect In Charge: Perkins+Will
• Lead Designers: David Dymecki, Stephen Sefton
• Area: 120000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Perkins+Will

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