Studio David Thulstrup has turned a former factory building in Copenhagen into a house for a photographer, featuring a plant-filled atrium and walls of brick, wood and steel (+ slideshow). (more…)
“Ario Choob” project, which is an office & show-room for presenting imported lumbering machines, is located in the industrial town of “Behsazi Sanaye Choob”. Constructions in this industrial town are usually built from prefabricated concrete panels and each block is divided into four parts, with the height of 12 meters. Unlike the common appearance of these industrial towns, this town looks like a garden and the street network is constructed carefully in order to save the trees from any damage.
The project was referred to us when it was under construction. The whole project had the same two-level type. As we discussed with the client, we detected requirements and priorities of the project and we decided to change the routine typology, which consequently changed the number of levels and the location of the administrational part.
The lumbering machines should be presented and observed from above height by costumers. Instead of defining extra mobile stairs as a typical method and solution in such showrooms, we transferred the whole project to a multi-story observation deck. Adding different bridges and stairs among defined floors and mezzanines of the project was mainly supported this idea. The negative spaces and voids enriches our concept more. Therefore we could present a constant tour for costumers among project levels.
The main circulation scenario starts from manager’s office on the administration’s 3rd floor to different parts of the project, takes place through bridges which make a three- dimensional full flow to different floors, and finally accesses the sales rooms on the ground floor.
One the other hand, we had a simple cube that we could experience the space in an unlike ordinary way by defining a circulation loop that emanates from the functional scenario which provides different eye-levels and presents various visual perspectives of the space for users. It will simultaneously fulfill the functional purpose of the exhibition and make the space active and memorable.
Fallsview Residence is a private home is located in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. It was designed by Setless Architecture. Fallsview Residence by Setless Architecture: “Sited above the intersection of Tew’s Falls and Webster’s falls on the Bruce Trail, this house makes a strong connection to a singular landscape. The Bruce Trail follows the edge of the Niagara escapment – a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve – from the Niagara River, almost 900..
From the architect. The house is located in a Vietnamese Central Highland district, well known for its tropical climate with a dry and wet season. Client needs an accommodation for a comfortable life of a young spousal relationship and assure the domestic microclimate, although the budget is tight.
An one-storey house stretches along 5-meter width and 23-meter depth boundary, in which scattered light wells and plants. These natural figures are distributed to every function area, such as planting bed under light apertures for living room, bedroom with window opens to small courtyard also with plant beds, therefore is the restroom located. From almost every interior view, natural light and green lush are to be seen.
The front elevation suffers from harsh sunlight as it faces the west, so the façade is composed of a rigid veil of patterned concrete blocks in front and glass curtain wall behind. Double skin façade reduces the heat of western sunlight, also decorates the interior with lighting dots as it passes through the patterned concrete blocks. The glass curtain wall behind can be easily opened or closed to adjust the amount of inhale wind.
White is the main ambient color of the house, mean to distinguish other natural colors of local materials, such as grey of concrete floor, handicrafted moulded patterned blocks, natural wood colors of furniture, lush green of plants under light well. All these simple characters mingle together for a content living space of a young family.
Graduate shows 2016: Central Saint Martins student Mi Zhang has used dust from a prominent quarrying town in China to create a collection of colourful vessels (+ movie). (more…)
From the architect. The Library for a university is so self-evidently important that It is often the core, the symbol and spirit symbol of a university building. It also has a pivotal position for the new campus, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Anji campus, so at the first begining of the design, we choose the most important land in the campus for the library. And in the meanwhile, architects hope to perform and shape the core construction from inside to outside, with the most pure colors and design skills.
White is elegant and noble, so the architects make an important decision to choose white as the theme of the facade. As The library is only about 4200 square of construction area and the volume is not large, architects design a very pure and simple cube for it. Light white marble of external wall material goes so well with the simple and square building body, which creates an elegant and pure white tone character for the whole building.
On the premise of meeting the internal daylighting need, architects try to open large windows, great depth of vertical window apertures and upper inclined walls as far as possible in the facades of the reading room area which are towards southern and eastern water, which can make strong contrast between light and shadow and strengthen dimension sense, and provide a comfortable reading space for the readers as well, Merging with nature. While the vertical windows in the western and the northern facades of the stack room and offices are reduced appropriately. These two kinds of facades form harmonious combination and contrast.
The whole building is designed in the waterfront. The real building and the illusory reflection in the water are mutually extending, docking and echoing. The surface of the water is like a mirror which makes the white library more graceful and pure. The white library produces a ethereal and changable building picture with the reflection, which surprises the architects and is beyond the architects’ imagination.
The relationship of Light and interior space is also an important element of the design. The interior of the library is a L- shaped high court which connects exterior facade and leads the natural light at the top to the entire buildings. The light becomes softer through the adjustment of the atrium, and provides ample light for the stacks of each layer, corridors, and reading space of the first floor through the vertical holes of the indoor space. The matrix of the interior facade divided modulus corresponds to the arrangement spacing of the shelves in the stacks, and also “divides” the atrium light into each unit projected into the library. The entire library is such a container accommodating and guiding light.
The selection of materials and colors indoor contrast with the elegant white facade is also an important content of the design. The interior space is sedate brunet attune, and the material is local bamboo of Anji. The dark wood texture provides a simple friendly touch, and forms a kind of harmonious perfect collocation simultaneously with wooden bookshelves, desks, and the color and texture of books. All of them mixed produce a special library interior space atmosphere and a kind of artistic appeal.
From the architect. Situated on a small site abutting a road junction, this single level office building creates a sculptural presence.
Overlapped curvilinear volumes orient each of the internal spaces towards the north in response to the location of the site while creating a semi enclosed north facing courtyard between the office spaces.
The site is located in Surat city in India where temperatures are in excess of 35°C for 8 months of the year and the sun is always on the southern side.
The north facing courtyard infuses the inner spaces with indirect light with vertical north facing incisions for the internal spaces thus reducing the heat gain substantially.
A curvilinear path along the courtyard links the office spaces while seamlessly integrating the internal circulation with a shallow pool of water within the courtyard.
Built entirely in a steel frame structure with a metal roof and corten steel sheets forming the external walls, the entire office structure was completed within 3 months.
The design creates an energy efficient building in response to the climate of the location and a distinct identity.
The Royal Institute of British Architects has revealed the 46 winners of its national awards, including a library covered in weathering steel, a bulbous blue drawing studio and Damien Hirst’s London gallery (+ slideshow). (more…)
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the 2016 RIBA National Awards. The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building of the year will be drawn from these 46 award-winning buildings.
51 Hills Road / Gort Scott Ltd; Cambridge, England
8 St James’s Square / Eric Parry Architects; City of Westminster, London, England
Turnmill / Piercy & Company; Clerkenwell, London, England
61 Oxford Street / Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Soho, London, England
A Private House in Cumbria / Bennetts Associates; Cumbria, England
A Private House in Northamptonshire / James Gorst Architects Limited; Northamptonshire, England
House of Trace / Tsuruta Architects; Lewisham, London, England
Murphy House Edinburgh, Scotland / Richard Murphy Architects; Edinburgh, Scotland
Outhouse / Loyn & Co Architects; Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England
The Cheeran House / John Pardey Architects; Reading, Berkshire, England
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital / BDP; Liverpool, England
New QEII Hospital / Penoyre & Prasad LLP; Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England
ARK All Saints Academy and Highshore School / Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Camberwell, London, England
Banbridge Health and Care Centre / Kennedy FitzGerald Architects; Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland
Blavatnik School of Government / Herzog & de Meuron; Oxford, England
Bob Champion Research and Education Building / Hawkins\Brown; Norwich, England
Drawing Studio / CRAB Studio (Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau Limited); Poole, Dorset, England
Essex University – Albert Sloman Library and Silberrad Student Centre / Patel Taylor; Colchester, England
Heart of Campus, Nottingham Trent University / Evans Vettori; Nottingham, England
Laidlaw Library, University of Leeds / ADP LLP; Leeds, England
Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute / Allies and Morrison; Denmark Hill, London, England
National Graphene Institute / Jestico + Whiles; Manchester, England
The Investcorp Building / Zaha Hadid Architects; Oxford, England
Weston Library / WilkinsonEyre; Oxford, England
City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus / Michael Laird Architects / Reiach and Hall Architects; Glasgow, Scotland
Wirral Metropolitan College / Glenn Howells Architects; Wallasey, Merseyside, England
Corner House / DSDHA; Fitzrovia, London, England
Derry Avenue / Bell Phillips Architects; South Ockendon, Essex, England
Ely Court / Alison Brooks Architects Ltd; South Kilburn, London, England
Royal Road / Panter Hudspith Architects; Elephant & Castle, London, England
The Avenue / Pollard Thomas Edwards; Saffron Walden, Essex, England
Trafalgar Place / dRMM Architects; Elephant & Castle, London, England
Davenies School / DSDHA; Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
Gloucester Services / Glenn Howells Architects; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Greenwich Gateway Pavilions / Marks Barfield Architects; Greenwich, London England
Greenwich Housing / Bell Phillips Architects; Greenwich, London England
Hebburn Central / FaulknerBrowns Architects; Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, England
HOME / Mecanoo; Manchester, England
Newport Street Gallery / Caruso St John Architects; Vauxhall, London, England
The Portland Collection / Hugh Broughton Architects; Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
York Art Gallery / Ushida Findlay Simpson Brown; York, Yorkshire, England
Regent High School / Walters & Cohen Architects; Somers Town, London, England
Saunders Centre, Science & Technology Building / Page \ Park Architects; Glasgow, Scotland
Sir John Soane Museum / Julian Harrap Architects LLP; Holborn, London, England
Stanbrook Abbey / Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; York, Yorkshire, England
Wilton’s Music Hall / Tim Ronalds Architects; Wapping, London, England
News via the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
From the architect. The 1980s condominium is on Charoen-Krung Road, located along the Chao-Phaya River in Bangkok, Thailand. This old building faces the river and is set in a prime location close to the Asiatique Riverfront, sky train, highway, ferry terminal and influential node, Silom.
The original layout was simple but did not fit to the new family’s lifestyle. The owners are a mother and her youngest son, who want different things. There used to be a regular 38.5 square- meter studio unit with one bathroom, balcony and open-plan living area, where they had been living for over twenty years. They then decided to move to another unit in the same tower, where four units were combined together.
This double-duplex sits on the twelfth floor with an upper level, and has a city and river view on each side. The design was based on the client’s requirements for separate living spaces. By rule, the main entrance and exterior facade of the old dwelling can not be changed. I fixed two bathrooms next to the main service shaft position, however the sizes were adjusted. Next to the main entrance, the staircase was demolished and relocated to the left side of the living room. A quarter of the floor has opened into a double-height, exposed living room with a dining and kitchen area. The downstairs bathroom was shrunk down into a powder room. Beneath the stair, there is an L shape concrete bench with drawers and storage spaces. The upper floor is divided into two personal living areas, connected by a single corridor that leads to two bedrooms, two shower rooms, two walk-in closets and two private balconies.
In the end, the pair still live in the same unit as before, but it is more suitable for them now. It is flexible enough to allow more family members to live there with them in the future.
