Swooping steel-clad walls support the cross-shaped roof window of Kenzo Tange‘s 1960s St Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo, documented in these new images by architecture photographer Edmund Sumner (+ slideshow). (more…)
London fashion store Hostem has launched its first guesthouse – a refurbished Georgian house with furniture from Pierre Jeanneret, Faye Toogood and Max Lamb, and accessories that guests can buy (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. House P is a holiday home for a family of seven from Hamburg. The house takes ques from traditional Allgäu architecture, but results in a unique, contemporary building.
House P’s geometry was generated by maximizing the property’s allowable building envelope, a classic Allgäu House with a shallow gabled roof and a full lower level, and then slicing an oblique section from that volume along its center axis. From one building emerge two: a house and a storage shed. The space between offers the family a protected courtyard for outdoor activities. The resulting slanted rear facade together with a cantilevering stair in turn allow one to reach the main entrance on dry ground. The building’s canted shape also results in an impressive and generous interior space. In the main living room, a large picture window offers majestic views of the surrounding mountains. The upper and lower floors are linked by a double-height living and dining room with a gallery. A fireplace provides comfort and warmth. A loft at the upper level invites one to relax, read or star-gaze through windows positioned to afford direct views of the sky. The basement offers an additional place to retreat with two private bedrooms, a bath and a sauna.
Wood, a regional building material, comprises both the building’s main construction and facade. The facade’s timber shell is charred before assembly. This gives wood a natural and environmentally friendly weather protection and the house its unusual black appearance. Core-insulated exposed concrete at the house’s lower level contrasts the wood. It provides a solid plinth for the timber house above.
Three Level Penthouse is a residential project designed by Space Dynamix. It is located in Mumbai, India. Three Level Penthouse by Space Dynamix: “This 4000 sft. sea facing triplex is blessed with splendid 180 Degree views of the Arabian Sea and the focus of the space plans was to capture this in all its glory from as many areas as possible. The spaces are designed in a muted aesthetic of..
From the architect. The brief was to design a family house on a north facing triangular promontory, overgrown with pine and blueberry bushes, covered with large boulders. The first sketches were made in 2010 and were put on hold until 2013. The project was completed in 2015.
Connected with the water front in all directions; except on one side, due to the risk of flooding.
We wanted to take advantage of the site’s unique conditions and make a dwelling with maximum contact with the surrounding nature and water but with respect to privacy.
The entrance to the south welcomes the visitor as the building’s wings stretch out.
The spine like upper floor forms an axis through the house. This line continues to the footbridge in the north where it connects to the lake.
To reduce the scale and to allow clear definition of the functions of the building, the wings end with patio spaces that allow you to take advantage of the light and views in different directions.
Wherever you are in the house, you have access to framed views.
Just inside the sheltered entrance, the kitchen is to the left, which flows on to a patio that provides sunlight in the morning, mid-day and evening.
A dining room is orthogonal to the main axis of the building. The living room with a fireplace faces the evening sun and a framed patio offers protection from the evening light. The media rooms window captures the beautiful terrain.
Towards the east lies a sauna, guest rooms and utility rooms.
The bedrooms are located upstairs.
An existing log cabin has been remodeled to function as a garage and a storage yard.
The wood facade and ‘faltak’ roof is treated with iron sulphate that corresponds with the materiality of the pine trees and boulders.
Graduate shows 2016: Central Saint Martins graduate Julius Breitenstein has created a device that performs the activities an intern would usually do in a design office. (more…)
From the architect. The project is located next to Thu Bon river, Dien Ban district, Quang Nam Province. This river has a huge interaction to local life on both side of it. Majority of the resident live depending on agriculture, besides with variety of traditional craft villages such as terra cotta, mat or silk.
This terra cotta workshop has its life follow the movement of this river. The Terra Cotta Studio is a working space of the eminent artist Le Duc Ha. The project is a cubed-shape building with the dimension of 7m x 7m x 7m. Surrounding the studio is a bamboo frame scaffold used for drying terra cotta products. It’s also designed with two big bench for resting, relaxing and having tea. At the same time, this scaffold also function as a fence to separate the studio with the whole space of workshop.
The exterior layer of the studio is made by clay solid brick, which reminds people about Vietnam traditional furnace. This area was also a part of Tra Kieu which was Champa Kingdom capital from 4th to 7th century, and the studio has a certain influence of Champa culture spirit.
The bricks were built interleaved creating holes which help the wind ventilating and air conditioning. This layer is not the wall preventing outside environment from inside the studio, so the artist can feel the wind, the cool from river and sound of nature in surrounding area. Meanwhile, it also creates a certain privacy for the artist.
The interior of the studio is the three-floors wood frame system creating many space with dimension of 60cm x 60cm, which is function as the shelves to put terra cotta works, hallway and stairs. The height of the frame is 7 meters. Follow the hallways, people can observe the workshop, river banks and the whole garden through windows.
The centre of the studio has 2 floors.In ground floor, there is a turning table that the artist works. The artist and his works can interact with the sunlight, from the sunrise to twilight. Here, people can find the conversation of the artist and his works; and himself with his shadow in the silence.
At the same time, people can feel and see the time passing terra cotta artworks by the movement of the sunlight.
On the mezzanine, people can see many different space inside and outside the studio, as well as observe the artist working by the round void in the centre. This is also used for leaving stuffs of the workshop and the artist’s works in the flood which happens every year in this area.
The design team desires the studio will be a place containing, contemplating and spreading emotion of the artist with his both finished and unfinished artworks. The project is a destination to meet and share for people who love terra cotta and want to have the experience with the clay.
Single Floor Hanok : Hanok 1.0
The first generation Hanok is a low density housing type built on a single floor. The whole house is made up of multiple buildings: the main building, a second bedroom building, and the guest bedroom building. A Hanok has two distinct void spaces: first, the yard opened to the sky is a passageway inviting nature and daecheong, the second void is a well ventilated space, which has character of both interior and exterior space. This kind of Hanok was recreated in an urban style by the house sellers in the 20th century. This is the first floor type Hanok 1.0
Three-bay Apartment : Hanok 2.0
Ever since the period of rapid urbanization, many Korean households chose to move to apartments. The universal three bay apartments are known as Hanok 2.0. A roof was placed on the top of the existing Hanok plan, creating a new space called the ‘living room’. The only difference is that the outdoor yard is turned into an interior living room, and kept a similar composition to the old Hanok. The daecheong is replaced by a dining space. Three bay apartments are a successful transformation of the Hanok, suited to the high-rise structure.
3 Types of Daecheong : Hanok 3.0
Recently, many households are leaving apartments for detached houses. However, the single floor Hanok cannot withhold the density required for the contemporary life. The house was designed to maintain both high density space of two or more floor levels and also have a daecheong-like space, which can be a transition space between interior and the exterior. This house adopted ‘three types of void space’ in between the living room, master bedroom, guest bedroom, parent’s room, and the children’s room. This is the Hanok 3.0 version, which has adopted a multi-floor type, an open type, and a variable type.
Dutch firm Mecanoo has completed a library and cultural centre in Kongsberg, Norway, which centres around an atrium with concrete staircases running across its walls and through its centre (+ slideshow). (more…)
Studio Symbiosis Architects is amidst the construction process for Punjab Kesari Headquarters, an 18,000 square meter office space in Delhi NCR, India.
Designed as a fusion of traditional Indian architecture and contemporary office space, the main objective of the project is “to reduce heat gain and optimize façade opening ratio, ensuing no artificial lighting is required on a typical day.”
With this in mind, the design centers on an animated façade, which features a variation of opening ratios based on orientation, and that same time it reflects Indian culture, through its resemblance to the traditional “Jali” screen pattern. In a press release the architect explains:
A hexagonal pattern was used as a base and through iterative process various porosity patterns were generated from it to create different light conditions. This resulted in a variable opacity condition in the facade that had a dual purpose of creating performative architecture and also created variable openings on the facade in various orientations generating a design for the facade that is animating and has an inherent meaning. This resulting pattern morphs from 81% opacity on the north facade to 27% opacity on the south facade, with an intermediate opacity of 54% on East and 62% on west facade respectively.
Through this façade, a Lux level of 500 is achieved on each floor plate at a workstation height, as well as a daylight factor of two over 80% of the floor plate. This optimized natural lighting plays a major role in the sustainability of the project.
Since the design looks at no artificial lighting it makes the user feel closer to nature by allowing office workers to use natural light. Furthermore, sustainability features of the project include cross ventilation and a reduction of heat gain.
Punjab Kesari Headquarters was commissioned in 2014, and began construction in August 2015. The project is set to open in January 2017.
News via Studio Symbiosis Architects.
