Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

• Architects: Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska
• Location: Abrahama 58, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
• Design Team: arch. Maciej Jaśkowiec, arch. Maria Stankiewicz, arch. Agata Szymańska – Pietrusz, arch. Michał Radzimierski
• Area: 8900.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

• Interior Architecture: Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska
• Landscape Architecture: mgr inż. arch. krajobrazu Piotr Kujawski
• Construction: inż. Antoni Gronek
• General Contractor: BLOCK Sp. z o.o. 
• Investor: Uniwersytet Gdański

Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

From the architect. The form of the building is determined by two main assumptions; The new building of the School of Biotechnology of the University of Gdańsk has to meet all the complex functional requirements that influence the quality of scientific work and the building has to be both a coherent part of the new university campus and an example of modern architecture that represents advanced, specialized field of science.

Plan

The site is a well located part of the university complex, situated along its south border and the newly designed road. In accordance with the guidelines to the project, the new building uses the technical resources of the existing building of the School of Chemistry, such as the central reagents magazine, technical gases magazine and special wastes containers.

Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

The geometry of the building is a combination of two different forms; a spacious, light mirror form determined by soft lines and curves, that comprises auditorium, seminar room and the rest of ground floor. A clear form of rough surfaces for offices and laboratories on the upper floors, made in an aluminium system with narrow vertical windows of high level sun protection.

Section

Technical equipment situated on the roof is concealed behind steel shutters. 
A representative entrance zone was created in front of the main entrance to emphasize the range and quality of the building.

Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

The form of the building is very simple and effective. Its situation on the site and overall volume complements the existing university campus and is an example of smart and well balanced architecture. The new building meets all the requirements set by the faculty and comprises lecture halls with separate auditory hall, study / scientific laboratories, special laboratories meeting BSL3 standard and office spaces.

Courtesy of Warsztat Architektury Pracownia Autorska

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Courtesy of Gensler

• Architects: Gensler
• Location: 32nd St, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines
• Architect Of Record: AIDEA
• Owners: Daiichi Properties Inc.
• Area: 49374.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of Gensler

• Developers: Daiichi Properties Inc.
• Structural Engineers: Sy˄2 + Associates, Asian Institute of Technology
• Mechanical: R.J. Calpo & Company Inc.
• Electrical: R.A. Mojica and Partners
• Plumbing And Fire Protection: NBF Consulting Inc.
• General Contractor: Megawide Construction Corporation
• Electrical Contractor: Jomsar Trading & Engineering Services
• Mechanical Contractor: L.M. Camus Engineering Corporation
• Leed Consultant: Flowforth Ventures Inc.
• Façade: Benedicto Limjap Gaviño Jr.

Courtesy of Gensler

From the architect. Located in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), One World Place represents a standard for innovative design inManila’s booming financial district. Over the last ten years, Philippines economy has grown dramatically, positioning itself as one of the strongest in the South East Asia region, and is now expected to be one of the largest global economies over the coming decade. Bonifacio Global City, with its evolving skyline, is representative of this growth.

Courtesy of Gensler

Completed in late 2015, One World Place’s success is essential in repositioning the Daiichi Properties as a modern and inspiring new developer in the Manila market, basing their core values on lasting client relationships and continuously providing value to generations of future business leaders, thus supporting Philippines growth.

Courtesy of Gensler

Once the site of a United States Army base, several attempts at creating a comprehensive master plan for the Bonifacio Global City area resulted in a unique overlay of orthogonal and round circulation grids. This arrangement created challenging geometric configurations, with small and often times irregular individual parcels, for future development.

Courtesy of Gensler

Blending form to function, One World Place stands at 143.50 meters tall, contributing to the city’s already compelling skyline. Rooted with four levels of basement parking and six levels of podium parking, the 32-story tower features ground floor retail space, 22 levels of office space, a penthouse level, executive offices and a mechanical deck floor. The building’s mixed-use components accommodate a wide range of tenant activities, including retail banking, spaces for small businesses, cafés, and corporate work spaces. The majority of tenants are service-outsourcing oriented, as BPO and KPO service types occuping single floors at the lower building portion. Corporate offices occupy the upper part of the building. The facade is fully covered in a unitized curtain wall.

Plan

The tower was planned on a 1,790 square meters site, with a floor plate of about 1,100 square meters, an offset core and the total gross floor area is 49,374 square meters. Efficiently fitting a building program within such a relatively small floor space posed a significant challenge.

Courtesy of Gensler

One World Place has been certified as LEED Gold. The design team integrated multiple high-performance building design concepts—including daylighting, natural ventilation, and highly efficient insulated glass with solar-reflective coating, a high-glazing ratio and glass visible light transmittance, and exterior and interior shading devices. Additionally, efficient Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) mechanical systems, onsite rainwater collection, and gray water use was also incorporated into the design of the building. This level of sustainability will help mitigate the region’s unique climatic and economic challenges, providing natural ventilation in a typhoon-dominated area, while creating high-energy efficiency in Manila, a city with some of the highest electric rates in Asia.

Courtesy of Gensler

Details

Courtesy of Gensler

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© Kuo-Min Lee

• Architects: CJ Studio
• Location: Taipei, Taipei City, Taiwan
• Architect In Charge: CJ Studio
• Design Team: CJ Studio/Shi-Chieh Lu
• Area: 364.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Kuo-Min Lee

From the architect. The house is located on the top floor of a high rise building in downtown Taipei. Due to the shift of the family member and the passing of ten years since its completion, the house is in need of a renovation. The main layout remains the same, but two single bedrooms are converted into another master bedroom with a walk-in closet and an adjoining bathroom. Additionally, the upper roof floor is designed for a roof garden and a lounge space.

© Kuo-Min Lee

The most unique feature for this project comes from the idea of “sky villa”, which brings the encounter of nature and manmade environment within a courtyard above the ground. To achieve this goal, one third of the roof was eliminated and replaced with a skylight through which light sprays all over the lobby and its surrounding area. The skylight is supported by a series of thin columns which also defines the edge of the lobby where furniture and plant pots are arranged in an organic order to implicitly guide the circulation without completely hiding the space behind. The lobby, as a courtyard of a villa, is treated virtually as an exterior space organizing the spatial configuration as well as regulating the nature into the interior.

© Kuo-Min Lee

Besides the courtyard that plays the crucial element to regulate the space, the ceiling as well conducts the flow in the space. By removing the old ceiling and partially adding new ones, the original concrete structural material is revealed with more texture in contrast to the new added smooth white ceiling, as a dialogue between the past and the present, the old and the new. The newly added ceiling which hides the wiring facility splits into multiple layers to guide the dynamic meandering like passing circulation or sight movements, as well as enrich the spatial hierarchy by separating space into differentiated parts. In addition, lights are installed along the fracture of the ceiling to transform space into a furniture and merge the role between them. The design strategy by reduction rather than adding, such as the ceiling and illumination, sometimes brings even more attractive features that sit on the experiential edges.

© Kuo-Min Lee

A lit court is formed due to that part of the existing roof was taken out. Better resolution download address:

Wide window and a long bench frame a vista to the outdoor landscape. The newly added curvy ceiling that is arranged for the purpose of wiring utility dispersal as well as the original upper concrete floor together imply the idea of tearing a surface into multiple layers which further implicitly reveals the spatial relationship.

© Kuo-Min Lee

With a view from the living room towards the lobby, a tranquil scene emerges out of the contrast juxtaposition of the dark Chinese ink-like Pandomo floor and the surrounding lit environment.

Lower Plan

The fully penetrable lobby next to the living space opens various visual dimensions  linking to different areas. In addition, the winding array of columns also lead fluid circulation with repetitive rhythm.

© Kuo-Min Lee

Adopting a sky villa image, the lobby is transformed into an interior courtyard, which is embraced by an array of thin columns that not only signify a space but also support the sky window on top through which light sprays on plants.

Upper Plan

On the other side of the lobby places the kitchen where the layout follows the existing plan. However, its new composition is the combination of geometric and organic forms.

© Kuo-Min Lee

A platform behind the staircase, like a lifted terrain, extends from the courtyard as a continuous landscape in the interior space.

Along the staircase up to the upper floor, there exists a frame-like window that links the interior to the exterior garden. Plants are arranged randomly by genus, height and size to achieve a natural environment with vital wildness.

© Kuo-Min Lee

The glazed canopy extends to the garden to shield against the rain, ease the sunshine but does not degrade the light quality in the inner space.

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© José Fernando Vazquez

Architects: Coleman-Davis Pagán Arquitectos

Location: 2009 Calle McLeary, San Juan, San Juan 00911, Puerto Rico

Area: 300.0 sqm

Project Year: 2014

Photographs: José Fernando Vazquez, Carlos Esteva, Shellar Garcia

Design Team: José R. Coleman-Davis Pagán, Yadira Adorno Pomales, Shellar M. García Córdova, Edgardo D. Ocasio Roig, Yanitza Maldonado González, Víctor Nieto Villalón, Wilfredo Pérez Espino, Valorie Alicea Chinea, John Santos Ríos, Tamaris Alvarez Custodio, Edward Ramírez Saez

Client: Dream Inn Puerto Rico, Inc.

Mechanical Consultant: Francisco Maté

Electrical Consultant: Raymond Amaral

Structure: Daza Struct. Eng. Services / Luís Daza (structural)

Contractor: Julio Vega Figueroa

© Carlos Esteva

From the architect. A family of long-time Ocean Park residents took on the task of constructing a thirteen(13)room guesthouse, oriented to the family and group traveling market.

© José Fernando Vazquez

Located on McLeary Street, the principal artery bordering this coastal / capital sector, the Inn is conveniently located between the tourist zones of El Condado and Isla Verde (with it’s international airport) – where eateries abound and public transportation is close by.  It is also privileged with proximity to a superb beach, only a three (3) minute walk thru the San Juan’s premier residential community.

Diagram

The tropical modern-minimalist architectural design, emphasizes surface textures and artisan craftsmanship.  The frontal and East facing facades – with its red -tinted concrete referencing traditional architectural filigrees – act as permeable membranes that filter air and sunlight and at the same time buffers outside sound.  This delicate geometry – reduced to simple pre-cast concrete members following a calculated pattern – creates an interesting light and shadow interchange.

© José Fernando Vazquez

The rooms are efficiently accommodated on two (2) main levels oriented to the north and south sides.  They are equally separated by a central corridor that allow natural lighting and ventilation to enter the structure.  All levels are reachable by way of a carefully articulated stair and accessible by elevator.

Section

The key perimeter patios are defined by exposed-textured concrete walls and become sensible extensions of the interior areas, a linear pool enhances the rear terrace. The roof terrace serves as a sundeck and a semi-covered observatory for attractive views of the mountains (to the southeast), the beach (to the north) and the rest of the low-density neighborhood.

© José Fernando Vazquez

Environmentally responsible building technologies have been implemented, such as rainwater collection/distribution system, vacuum-tube solar water heater and LED lighting.

Diagram

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“Invisible Borders” / MAD Architects. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

With the 2016 Salone del Mobile now behind us, Romanian photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has shared his photos from Milan Design Week, along with his ranking of the top five architectural installations. Read on to see his exceptional collection of images accompanied by short descriptions of each project.

5. BIG, “Alphabet of Light” with Artemide

Alphabet lamp for Artemide / BIG. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

BIG’s collaboration with Artemide is an installation of wall-mounted, light-up letters based a typeface designed by the firm. Each letter is constructed with a group of simple elements that are joined together by electromagnetic joints that become invisible when illuminated. The system allows for any shape to be created, either a letter or not.

4. Francis Kéré, “Courtyard Village” at Palazzo Litta

Courtyard Village / Kéré Architecture. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Francis Kéré’s installation “Courtyard Village” at the Palazzo Litta is meant to evoke a traditional African village with an elevated central pavilion and high grasses on the perimeter. A bamboo and wild grass canopy shelters three semicircular, slatted stone enclosures, which are used as an exhibition space.

3. MAD, “Invisible Borders” for Interni

“Invisible Borders” / MAD Architects. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

MAD’s “Invisible Borders” installation for Italian magazine Interni is a canopy of ETFE ribbons in gradient colors situated in the Cortile d’Onore courtyard of Università degli Studi di Milano. According to the architects, “The installation reflects the hues of the sky during the day, leaving glimpses of the columns and loggias. In the evening it becomes a luminous surface that brings the courtyard to live with new colors.”

2. Nendo, “50 Manga Chairs” for Friedman Benda

Manga Chairs / nendo. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Nendo’s 50 Manga Chairs for New York based design gallery Friedman Benda, located in the courtyard of the Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Settentrionale, is a grid of stainless steel chairs inspired by the linework of manga. In the Japanese comics, flat or abstract lines are used to animate gestures such as ‘sweat’, ‘tears’, or ‘speech bubbles’, which the chair designs seek to emulate.

1. Sou Fujimoto, “Forest of Light” for COS

“Forest of Light” for COS / Sou Fujimoto. Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Sou Fujimoto’s “Forest of Light” for COS is a room of ceiling mounted spotlights creating cones of white light in a darkened space. As visitors pass through the venue, the lights pulse and darken making for an experience of perpetual flux.

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© Lorena Darquea

Architects: Dear Architects

Location: San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Dear Architects: Rubén Octavio Sepúlveda Chapa, Abel Salazar, Ana Paulina Reyes, Jorge Jiménez, Cinthia Cavazos, Marcela Martínez

Area: 250.0 sqm

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Lorena Darquea

© Lorena Darquea

What is quality in architecture? How can we measure such an open concept?

If every turn, every detail, every sequence that gives form to an architectural experience it is thought throughly, can we say it has quality? Can we really measure the amount of thought that gets put into a building? I think we can. I think we are capable of at least exploring the idea to perceive the process of thinking behind a material solution that conforms space. When someone thinks of a window, a threshold, a hallway or a set of stairs like it was the first time, we can be sure that a bridge between thought and matter has been constructed. And such an experience at least takes us near the concept of quality in design.     

Casa Taller Tampiquito is a house tailored for a very particular person: an industrial designer, a creative woman that works with ceramics. She asks Dear Architects for a simple house for herself. She wants to rest, work, cook, and be with friends. 

A descending lot suggests a solution for separate functions but also an opportunity to build a relation between the existing public stairway and a possible order for the new house. 

© Lorena Darquea

The solution: an ascending spiral that rises from this underground level into an open space where you rediscover the mountains. The house is built from this simple principle.

Section

If the basement level feels part of the street and open to the neighborhood once you enter the house the experience is quite different. We are struck by an uncanny association: a stairway that runs over a kitchen, it literally steps over a blender, some mangos and bananas. The diagonal traced by the stairs pulls our body upstairs. We can’t wait to climb up.

© Lorena Darquea

The sequence of the stairs inside the house has 3 main moments: a narrowness that emphasizes a vertical space, a continuum diagonal space that runs through the opposite back corners of the house, and finally, the openness of the terrace.  

© Lorena Darquea

But it’s in the middle of this sequence where one experiences the second striking moment of the house: a double set of diagonal views that transforms the space of a stairway into a much richer relation to the whole house and to the site. One diagonal opens up towards the level we just left: the entry hall. And the second diagonal pulls us even more towards the sky. Light and ground bounded together through a simply but very well built relation between two vertical planes and 3 different materials. 

© Lorena Darquea

The geometry of this two rotating planes gives place to diverse ways to play with the idea of a mirrored space. We find the same formal principle even in the reduced enclosed spaces. Does this extreme formalism have any sense?? Is this quality? Repetition, relations between the parts and the whole.

Once we reach the end of the sequence everything gets fixed again. The vastness of the landscape and the presence of the mountain give the whole sequence all the sense it needs.

The house really feels without a ceiling. There is a suspended white box that occupies the east end of the whole space where the main bedroom is. But it does not emphasize the horizontal plane that covers the kitchen area. This illusion it’s important. A spiral without ceiling. Without ending.

© Lorena Darquea

One of the architects argues that there is a cavity or enclosed space in each of the 3 levels, a core you may say, but I personally didn’t find it. Each stillness or encapsulated space it is pulled out and expanded towards the exterior, searching for that open hole that connects your gaze to the sky.

You also find that each line, each vertex has an echo, it expands to something else; a change of color or texture, or a simple line drawn over the floor. Another gesture that connects with the whole.

© Lorena Darquea

Site and body, drawn together by a constant extension of each. 

If the ability to use of matter to create this connections is a relevant issue in terms of quality measurement, then we can assure this little house in Tampiquito has quality. 

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