© Lucrezia Alemanno

• Architects: Tomas Ghisellini Architects
• Location: 73050 Santa Maria al Bagno, Province of Lecce, Italy
• Architect In Charge: Tomas Ghisellini, Alice Marzola with Lucrezia Alemanno, Daniele Francesco Petralia
• Client: CDS Hotels Ltd
• Area: 10200.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Lucrezia Alemanno

Site Plan

From the architect. After many years of complete abandonment, the Riviera Grand Hotel, a historical complex in southern Italy Salento area, comes to a new life after a challenging renovation and a radical interior redesign.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

The property, located along one of the most extraordinary coast stretch of Ionian Salento, just close to the sea, is a sort of village made by thin coastal “towers” connected at the base by a plate of services and common areas. The towers, looking at the nearby gulf of Gallipoli, accommodate rooms offering stunning panoramic views over Mediterranean Sea.

Outside, spectacular environmental terraces on different levels feature pools, tennis courts, belvedere, cafes and open-air restaurant, banquet facilities, solarium, meadows of lush Mediterranean vegetation and scented pine forests inhabited, here and there, by rocky outcrops.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

The project, silent and delicate, regenerates the splendor of the complex without upheavals, retaining the overall essence of the original rationalist composition, indeed pushing the architectural vocabulary to an elementary and almost “archaic” simplicity. The built bodies are sheathed in seamless white plaster; porous borders in golden local stone intervene decisively in defining profiles and silhouettes; painted terracotta decorations dot the theories of loggias and balconies, giving the façade the appearance of an elegant three-dimensional embroidery.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

The results of a few but strong design choices are amazing: from the coastline cliffs, as well as the waters of the sea, the complex appears in the guise of a tiny but dense “white city” perched on rocky slopes and masses of trees. The hotel exudes the dreamy charm of the candid Apulian historic settlements, so deeply rooted in the collective spirit and exercises over places the magnetic power of the great Mediterranean architecture.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

Once reached, the Riviera reveals an articulate spatial composition made by architectural scenes and changing altitude levels offering visitors continuous discoveries of views, forests, panoramas, horizons and unforgettable landscapes.

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Interiors, similarly rigorous and essential, reinterpret in a contemporary way the traditions of the coastal Salento architectures: chromatic freshness, glazed ceramics, canopies, almost impalpable fabrics, local stones and surfaces where white descends as liquid build a soft and iridescent perceptive scenario.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

The settings, freed from any excessive densification as well as the predominance of dark colors as legacy of the past, explode with light and colors.

Soft ceilings, evanescent curtains and rains of flying “lanterns” draw cozy and tranquil spaces; build up the impression of magical places and yet so familiar, embracing, domestic in a way.

© Lucrezia Alemanno

Architectural choices, constructive and specific technological solutions and expedients, give the complex an attitude of high responsibility as regards the protection of the environment and the reduction of energy consumption.

Product Description:

Mapei Silancolor Base Coat and Silancolor pure white have been used to pre-treat and then paint all the outer façades of the hotel complex. These products are specifically utilized wherever “complicated” environmental conditions (in this case salty marine aerosols) can lead buildings to a rapid deterioration of colors and plaster vertical surfaces.

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© Flickr user: santiago lopez-pastor, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

A huge cathedral with tall towers and a magnificent dome rises slowly in the municipality of Mejorada del Campo, 20 kilometers from Madrid. It seems like a common occurrence, but it is not. The building has been under construction for 50 years – brick by brick – by one man: Justo Gallego Martínez, farmer, ex-monk and a self-taught architect of 91 years of age.

Learn about his life’s work (literally) after the break.

Without any previous knowledge of architecture or any experience in the construction industry, Martínez has spent five decades collecting garbage and leftover building materials to build the 50 x 25-meter surface structure with a 60-meter high tower.

© Wikipedia user: Dirección General de Turismo, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

After working as a farmer and bullfighter, Martínez spent eight years in a Trappist monastery – the Cistercian convent in Santa María de Huerta – which he was forced to abandon when he was struck by tuberculosis in 1961. In honor of the Virgin Mary, he began the construction of a chapel that he describes as his great act of faith. The former monk says that if it wasn’t for his faith he would never have had the strength to try to build a cathedral.

© Flickr user: santiago lopez-pastor, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Despite the skepticism of the inhabitants of the city, Don Justo – as the neighbors call him – has managed to progress the construction considerably without using even a crane, his only help was from some friendly workers. The process began without any kind of permission – because he was sure he would not get it – the plot of land is 4740 square meters inherited from his parents that today is worth more than one million euros.

© Flickr user: santiago lopez-pastor, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The Cathedral

The large columns of the structure are made from empty oil drums, while the lining of one of the domes is made of discarded food tubes. The arches are tires from trucks and buses, the rest of the building consists of woods and bricks collected from other demolished works. He has received gifts such as iron doors and glass cutouts to close the openings. Its design inspiration comes from St. Peter’s Basilica, with its huge central dome in sight, in addition to inspiration from European castles and churches. 

© Flickr user: gmalon, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Some years ago Martínez told the BBC: “When I see what I have created, I am overwhelmed and I thank the Lord. If I could live my life again, I would like to build this same cathedral but twice as big, because, to me, this is an act of faith.”

Los planos. Image © Richard Morley

The church has never received permission to be build and although it may never be worshipable in it, the authorities have allowed it to go ahead as it has become a tourist attraction for the city. Recently, Martínez has received donations from German organizations and advertising sponsorship from the energy drink Aquarius, who paid him 40 thousand euros to tell his inspiring story, as well as organizing a campaign to raise funds through text messages.

The building has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Justo Gallego Martínez has been interviewed by the world’s largest television networks.

News Via: Daily Mail UK, BBC
Images Via: Flickr, users Guillermo Malon, Santiago López-Pastor

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© Philipp Kammerer

• Architects: Philipp Kammerer
• Location: 39042 Brixen, Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, Italy
• Area: 90.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Philipp Kammerer

© Philipp Kammerer

From the architect. In the project the attic apartment of an apartment house was expanded by an additional room. The apartment is conformed over 2 floors. On the upper floor there are the living-room and the kitchen, on the lower the bedrooms.

Axonometric

Due to the client’s wish that the  extension should meet several uses, this expansion was consciously left without precise function.

The additional space must therefore be able to accommodate various functions such as (guest room, study, office). The furniture is integrated into the wall element of the new timber construction. It contains the required areas for wardrobe, storage space and open shelf.

© Philipp Kammerer

There is also an empty, reduced space that can be used by the user in various forms and  is currently used as an office.

In order to provide a suitable answer to the problem of the high density of the residential complex and to meet the desire for privacy, it was necessary to pre-construct an introverted volume. The new construction backs up to the front edge of the terrace, creating a new access to the residential unit. Apart from the lateral access, the extension has no opening to the outside.

Floor Plan

Care was taken to keep the existing structure as far as possible. Only the sloping part of the roof had to be demolished and rebuilt. A new design of prefabricated mass timber construction elements. The rest of the roof was maintained.

© Philipp Kammerer

Between the existing living room and the new room, the roof is cut out. The courtyard provides the interior with daylight and serves as an organizational element in the open space floor plan of the residence. The visual relations between the public living functions and the new space can be controlled by the user thus providing a buffer between the private building and the public housing functions.

The intervention is perceptible from the inside. The new wood and concrete components were left untreated.

© Philipp Kammerer

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© Chibi Moku

• Architects: Wohlgemuth & Pafumi Architekten
• Location: 4411 Seltisberg, Switzerland
• Architect In Charge: Carmelo Pafumi
• Collaborator: Marc Straumann
• Area: 150.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Chibi Moku

© Chibi Moku

From the architect. If you like homes that are designed for close family lifestyle, then you’ll find that “Swiss Simplicity” brings comfortable family living to near perfection. By using simple shapes and forms and bringing them together in a unique architectural layout, this modern-meets-traditional home gives you the best in all areas of design. Elements such as wood, concrete, stone, & steel come together harmoniously to balance the interior pallet as well as the overall architecture.

© Chibi Moku

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© Chibi Moku

Located in Seltisberg, Switzerland, this residential home follows the strict Swiss construction guidelines while artistically breaking away from them. In this film, we speak with the homeowner, Tina, and the architects at Wohlgemuth & Pafumi Architekten, about the design of this home. With the use of 3D renderings, sketches, & walkthroughs, we learn about the interior layout of this home as well as the incredibly cute lifestyle lived within.

Sketch

WP Architekten is one of the most thorough firms we have come across in all of our travels. They take a deep holistic approach to design and explore pretty much every avenue of technology the market offers to create and convey their ideas.

© Chibi Moku

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