© Filip Dujardin

• Architects: Marc Koehler Architects
• Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Architects In Charge: Marc Koehler, Chun Hin Leung
• Area: 67.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Filip Dujardin

• Builder: Bouwbedrijf Siemensma
• Photoshoot Furniture: Friday Next, HAY, Fabrikoos
• Consultant: Breed Integrated Design

© Filip Dujardin

In this corner house, all floors are interconnected in a continuous flow. The house takes maximum advantage of the exceptional views of its rugged, industrial environment. Loft House 1 is the first implementation of a series of durable, wooden loft houses. 

© Filip Dujardin

The house is based on a reversed principle: its owners decided to sleep downstairs and live upstairs. This allows them to fully enjoy the views of the harbour from the kitchen, the lounge and the dining room. The owners’ wish was to connect the areas on the upper floors with the lower floors in one, continuous flow. A solution was found by incorporating a staircase that serves as an atrium and has become a central design element. The atrium has been designed so that each vertical walk becomes an attractive adventure. Another classification principle is the split-level structure: each floor is half a floor higher or lower in relation to the previous or the next. This allows the owners to look easily from one floor to the other. This creates a gradual transition from one floor to the next, unlike the clean break between each floor in a standard terraced house.

© Filip Dujardin

Surprising Sightlines
Thanks to the combination of the atrium — the staircase — and the split-level structure, the different levels of the house are truly interconnected in a single, continuous flow. This also goes for the workspace on the ground floor, which is located adjacent to the garden and the two bedrooms. The bedrooms are designed like small houses within a house, and are experienced as such. They were also given windows on the staircase side, resulting in some surprising sightlines. It was decided to position the openings in the façade in a playful manner, offering different views of the remarkable surroundings from different areas in the house. 

© Filip Dujardin

Section

© Filip Dujardin

Sturdy and Serene Atmosphere
This industrial location inspired the architect to design a sturdy framework with large glazed surfaces and black opaque, painted hardwood frames. Besides being sturdy, the house also emanates a serene atmosphere. The house has a refined wooden wall cladding, the transition from coarse to fine resulting in a façade with a layered and surprising appearance. The façade is covered with a preserved Radiata Pine softwood — NobelWood from Foreco. This type of wall cladding requires no treatment and is completely maintenance-free. NobelWood, a wood type resulting from responsible forestry, is a sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood. It has durability class 1, which is similar to teakwood, ages beautifully and colours with the seasons. This makes it not only a sustainable choice but also an aesthetic one. 

© Filip Dujardin

Evolutionary prototype
What is so special about this house is its prefab wooden construction. The design was based on the Superlofts concept by Marc Koehler Architects, situated on the Houthaven quay in Amsterdam. In Loft House 1, the building system was optimized and further expanded, resulting in an evolutionary prototype. The wooden structure serves as a framework in which floors can be installed in any position, giving the entire house a flexible layout. In addition, the prefab wooden structure shortens the construction period considerably, to just six months. The construction of the prefab elements in a closed workshop took two only weeks, and assembly at the building site took no more than four days.

© Filip Dujardin

Product Description. Foreco – Nobelwood
The house has a prefab frame completely made of timber. For the wooden façade elements the product NobelWood has been used which gives the villa a warm and natural look. Besides the limited environmental impact, the steady aging has been an important aspect for choosing NobelWood within the application in the Lofthouse I. The cladding at ground level has a dark coating for a beautiful contrast with the weathering timber.

© Filip Dujardin

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Throughout history, simple structures have constituted one of the most common forms of human expression. Small-scale housing, shelters, and viewpoints have been shaped by myriad materials that effectively created – depending on the techniques used – different forms of response to the same need.

Here is a compilation of 20 small-scale projects that stand out due to their small size and their simple, practical structures.

01. Buijtenkeuken / Studio Elmo Vermijs 

via © Studio Elmo Vermijs

02. Garrison Treehouse / Sharon Davis Design 

via © Sharon Davis Design

03. The “PopCraft Kiosk” / André Vieira + Flávio Serpa 

Courtesy of © André Vieira, Flávio Serpa, Carlos Vieira e do Centro Regional de Apoio ao Artesanato dos Governo Regional dos Açores

04. Colorado Outward Bound Micro Cabins / University of Colorado Denver

via © University of Colorado Denver

05. Pinohuacho Observation Deck / Rodrigo Sheward 

via © Grupo Talca

06. Tricycle House and Tricycle Garden / People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s Industrial Design Office (PIDO) 

Courtesy of © People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s Industrial Design Office (PIDO)

07. Cabaña-torre Karadya BIO-RESERVA 

via © Estudio Borrachia Arquitectos

08. 4×4 Studio / Teresa Mascaro 

via © Teresa Mascaro

09. Lookout / Angus Ritchie + Daniel Tyler 

via © Angus Ritchie + Daniel Tyler

10. Beach Modules / Màrius Quintana Creus 

via © Màrius Quintana Creus

11. Mirrored Beach Hut / ECE Architecture + Creative Forager 

via © ECE Architecture + Creative Forage

12.  5CUBE Energy Pavilion / de Siún Scullion Architects 

via © de Siún Scullion Architects

13. Writing Pavilion / Architensions 

via © Architensions

14. Habitable Polyhedron / Manuel Villa 

via © Manuel Villa Arquitectos

15. Casa No Muro / Saperlipopette les Architectes + Martial Marquet 

via © Saperlipopette les Architectes + Martial Marquet

16. ‘Noun.1 Unavailability’ / Gartnerfuglen Arkitekter 

via © Gartnerfuglen

17. Renaixement / Pink Intruder 

via © Pink Intruder

18. Shed / NARTARCHITECTS 

Courtesy of © NARTARCHITECTS

19. SKY GARDEN / SO? Architecture and Ideas 

via © SO? Architecture and Ideas

20. Sombras del Salto / Cristián Palma Ramírez 

Courtesy of © Cristián Palma Ramírez

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Architecture depends on its time. It is the crystallization of its inner structure, the slow unfolding of its form. – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

In 1951, Mies van der Rohe designed the Core House, a participative design structure which could be completed by its inhabitants.

This flexible model challenged certain architectural concepts, explored new industrial technologies, and proposed a modular system to improve the quality and affordability of housing.

In a 2011 article by Luciana Fornari Colombo, entitled “Mies van der Rohe’s Core House – a Theoretical Project on the Essential Dwelling,” she states:

“The Core House can be considered an outstanding example of a theoretical project, that is, of a project undertaken independently, as a self-imposed challenge. This type of project allows the architect to more freely test and develop generic architectural ideas for no one and nowhere in specific, which are able to inspire future designs. In this sense, theoretical projects are not only unbuilt projects. They provide an appropriate opportunity to put architecture in front of its disciplinary limits.”

According to Myron Goldsmith, who collaborated in the design of the Core House, as quoted in Fornari’s article; “the main ideas that Mies van der Rohe speculated and tested in this project were: architecture as background for people, absolute minimum use of elements, how far one could go in a unified space (what had to be closed, what could be opened), how far one could go in simplifying the unconventional living idea and how to live within it.”

Courtesy of Archilogic

What exactly is the Core House?

In 1945, the magazine Arts and Architecture announced an extraordinary opportunity for experimentation in domestic architecture: the twenty year “Case Study Houses” Program. The aim was to provide solutions for the design and construction of simple, inexpensive architectural models worldwide. Subsequently, the program addressed a need to help people rebuild their lives in the post-war era in the United States, as millions of soldiers returned to their homes after World War II.

Six years later, Mies van der Rohe designed the Core House (1951) as a personal research project, without any financial support from a client. Myron Goldsmith and students of the Illinois Institute of Technology were involved in the design process. The project consisted of a square space enclosed with a glass façade with four exterior H-shaped columns supporting the flat roof. The interior space was free to be arranged around the service core, utilizing furniture, partitions and curtains as opposed to installing permanent walls.

Fornari states, “The Core House was intended to adapt to different families and sites. To accomplish that, the house could be built with sides in 40, 50 or 60 feet square (12.19, 15.24 or 18.28 meters) and receive different service core arrangements.” Fornari also says, “opened in all directions to the surrounding nature through large glass panels, the house has minimal visual obstructions… besides the slender columns. These columns are dislocated from their usual position, the corners, emphasizing the sense of space continuity and creating the perception of the roof as a light floating plane.”

For a rough idea of how individuals could adapt the design, Mies van der Rohe also proposed some variations in the size of the models and arrangement of the service core. (Now we have Archilogic!)

The following year, the Chicago Daily Tribune published an important article on the Core House, written by Anne Douglas (1952) entitled “Dinner in Yesterday’s Bedroom – It’s Possible in this Flexible Plan,” in which Mies is quoted:

“…A dozen people have come to us in the last few years and asked for a modern house in the range of $30,000 to $40,000. We told them it was difficult to work out individual houses, for the work has no relation to the cost of the house… Since there seems to be a real need for such homes, we have attempted to solve the problem.”

Although the project has not gained much attention in the discussion of the Case Study Houses program or architectural theory in general, Fornari concludes her article by stating:

“Besides innovating and influencing later designs as much as many built works, the Core House can also be considered a crystalline exemplar of modern architecture, expressing the historical and cultural context in which it was developed. Still, as it happens to outstanding works of art, this project transcends its own generation. After many decades, this house did not lose its innovating qualities, offering, still today, a modern appeal to the daily need of shelter. Besides all the influences and repercussions it had, the value of this work also lies in itself, in its purifying and resolving effect in the fundamental questions of architecture. This unique proposal represents the achievement of a beautiful vitreous apparition, almost immaterial and infinite.”

Courtesy of Archilogic

Archilogic

Once the exclusive domain of programmers, code is now being used by a new generation of designers, artists, and architects, eager to explore how software can enable innovative ways of generating form, and translating ideas. Archilogic has built Mies van der Rohe’s design on the web. Click through the configurations and choose your favourite layout.

And if you’re ambitious, using the software’s built-in tools, you can alter the interior layout of the house, and even insert furniture or art.

Participate in the process of design and show us your ideas!

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Bibliography

• Douglas, A (1952). “Dinner in Yesterday’s bedroom – It’s possible in this flexible plan.” Retrieved from archives.chicagotribune.com.
• Colombo, L.F (2011). “Mies van der Rohe’s Core House, a Theoretical Project on the Essential Dwelling.” Retrieved from vitruvius.com.br.
• Van der Rohe, M (1952). ‘The Core House’ Retrieved from Moma.org

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© Thijs Wolzak

• Architects: Moke Architecten
• Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Lead Architect: Ludo Grooteman
• Area: 18000.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Thijs Wolzak

• Client: Amsterdam Waterfront i.s.m. Biesterbos
• Structural Design: Diocon
• Installatio N Design: Viac
• Environmental Design: LBPSight
• Construction Firm: Kondor Wessels Amsterdam

© Thijs Wolzak

The site of NDSM Nieuwdok site is a former ship dock area at the waterfront of Amsterdam Noord in the Netherlands. The area is currently largely derelict and used by early adapters, like Greenpeace, Red Bull and MTV. The remaining monumental industrial buildings allocate small creative businesses and workshops, while new bars and hip festivals indicate the potential attraction of the area. They are signs of what is about to happen, as in the coming years the area will be transformed into a diverse urban area, with housing, office space, hotels and the like, all with a staggering density. Surrounded by the IJ River and some remaining docks, the water has a strong impact on the site and provides beautiful views.

© Thijs Wolzak

NDSM Nieuwdok houses the first school in the area and 380 studios for university students. Situated in close proximity of the last remaining ship dock, noise proved one of the key determining factors during the design process, as the noise level is too high for living to be allowed. 

© Thijs Wolzak

Together with specialists architect Ludo Grooteman developed a double glass and aluminium façade. Each studio has both a thermal façade and an acoustic façade, the latter providing an exterior climate while reducing the noise level significantly. Thus all students have an extra bay window for relaxing or other activities. As all bay windows are rotated towards the waterfront it results in a rough, scaled façade.  

© Thijs Wolzak

The school is allocated in the double storey plinth. With interior spaces of up to 5,6 meters height, we made the plinth spacious, while double concrete columns sandwich bay windows and give it a robust expression. Together with the brown-red facetted top the building obtains a sort of autonomy that suits the area well. It connects to the strong industrial monuments while having its own autonomous expression. 

© Thijs Wolzak

Floor Plan 00

© Thijs Wolzak

Floor Plan 01

© Thijs Wolzak

Floor Plan 02

While the building shape on street side is orthogonal and simple, the courtyard is terraced and more complex. The terrace on ground floor functions as exterior space for the students of the school, who can reach the second terrace via a large staircase. The top terrace is the exterior space dedicated to the studios. The wooden floor, benches and tables and the corten steel planters give it a soft and more intimate atmosphere, emphasised by the ship building prints on the glass cladding.  

© Thijs Wolzak

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© Bajura Oleg

• Architects: LINE architects
• Location: Chisinau, Moldova
• Architect In Charge: Dmitrii Petrov
• Area: 264.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Bajura Oleg

© Bajura Oleg

A single-storey pavilion of glass, concrete and wood, located in the suburbs of Chisinau.Flat plot of a trapezoidal shape, with three sides surrounded by the existing low-rise buildings, which dictated the shape of the house, but in spite of this plan forms the inner courtyard of regular shape with a swimming pool above which hovers home construction.Clear and concise exterior lines flow into the interior of the house.The house is spread over most of the area, all areas of the house are built around a courtyard.In addition to the common area in the house are three bedrooms of which two children and one master bedroom with bathroom en-suite bathroom and dressing room, as well as auxiliary facilities and a games room.Space home minimalist and restrained. 

© Bajura Oleg

Floor Plan

© Bajura Oleg

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© Julien Lanoo

• Architects: JDS Architects
• Location: Lille, France
• Author: Julien De Smedt
• Project Leaders: Kamile Malinauskaite, Renaud Pereira
• Area: 6.98 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Julien Lanoo, Courtesy of JDS Architects

• Project Team: Valentine Gruwez, Wouter Dons, Sandra Fleischmann, Weronica Wojcik, Felix Luong, Lea Fournier, Adrien Mans, Boris Tikvarski, Bartolomiej Zaboj, Mateusz Góra, Edgar Rodríguez , Lionel Roullet, Mathilde Dutilleul, Olfa Kammoun
• Structural Consultant: Egis Bâtiments Nord
• Façade: Demathieu & Bard

© Julien Lanoo

The competition for a new mixed-use building in Lille piqued our interest both in its unprecedented mixture of program and its prominent triangular site in the heart of the new district of Porte de Valenciennes. The brief outlined a 70-cradle nursery, a 200-bed youth hostel, and an office dedicated to social and economic innovations all collected under one unified roof; a tall order even by multifunctional building standards. Rather than simply dividing horizontally by level or vertically by mass, our solution combines efficient organization with a programmatic strategy that converts the geometric constrictions of the site into social amenities, and resolves the seemingly contradictory functions in an intertwined social spiral.

© Julien Lanoo

Ground Floor Plan

© Julien Lanoo

Over the past twenty years Lille has become a European hub; a destination for business and congress, a great place to study and live and also a tourist destination. It is a city with a turbulent history of conquest and reconquest, a heritage as an important medieval city and later on enjoyed and sometimes suffered the title of Northern France industrial capital.

Courtesy of JDS Architects

Courtesy of JDS Architects

Courtesy of JDS Architects

The Maison Stéphane HESSEL  emerges from the idea of creating an urban catalyst, designed to accommodate the three ages of mankind, from birth, through adolescence, and into adulthood; a volume that captures the stages of human growth. 

© Julien Lanoo

By placing each program at a separate point of the triangle, we maximize privacy at the edges with a continuous gradient of programmatic overlap towards the central, uniting courtyard space which becomes a calm cloister of retreat from the city. The corners of the building are lifted to invite neighborhood interaction and provide spaces for public activities, extending the function of the building beyond its walls and intentionally blurring the line between private and public. 

© Julien Lanoo

Designed to meet strict energy efficiency targets, the Maison Stéphane HESSEL is an environmentally conscious and socially responsible intervention which responds to an ambitious brief with an equally ambitious solution; a hybrid structure that facilitates the life of its users, from nursery to nursing home.

Courtesy of JDS Architects

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© Nguyen Thai Thach

• Architects: SMA Studio
• Location: Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam
• Area: 10.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Nguyen Thai Thach, Courtesy of SMA Studio

© Nguyen Thai Thach

Context
SMA254, located on an area of just 10m² in Cau Giay District (Hanoi), is the remnants of Hanoi’s rapid development. Its narrow facade overlooks a 1- meter-long alley and other sides are neighbors’ houses. Its small surface area, with a size of 2.5×4 meters, causes many difficulties. The status quo is deteriorated and needs renovating with low costs and fast construction that does not affect the surrounding neighbors. 

© Nguyen Thai Thach

Diagram B

© Nguyen Thai Thach

Concept
It poses a question for the architects of SMA Architecture Studio of how to ensure a small yet flexible house that uses both natural light and ventilation for maximum energy savings. The original idea was to use stacked-up cubic modules with different proportions to create spatial interactions from every direction and to make it possible those living in the house to see each other from any floor.

© Nguyen Thai Thach

Materials
Materials such as iron, sheet metal and steel are painted white. Not only does this make the house look airy and spacious but this also has a reflective effect, helping to spread the light throughout the floors and mezzanines. The mezzanines are made of rubber wood combined with white sheet metal and grey concrete floor, creating a contrast between modern and rustic.

Space
All spaces in the house are flexibly linked together from floor to roof. The house consists of 2 main floors. In-between is mezzanines with different heights so as to create ventilation and to ensure the compliance to building regulations. The spaces are shared to avoid stuffiness. There are floor ventilation and glass floors between the spaces to help raise interactions and create airiness for the house. Thanks to the natural light and ventilation, lamps and air-conditioners are not needed, which saves a lot of energy. The facade area is windows which can open up to 70%. These windows are combined with balconies, turning the indoor space into an open one to create maximum interactions with the outside, especially in nice weather. Since we are young architects, we use iron ladders not only to save space but also increase physical activities.

© Nguyen Thai Thach

The house is currently a workspace of an architecture studio, however, it can be turned into a family house when needed. The first floor consists of a reception room and a restroom; the second floor a working space, a versatile space and a kitchen. The rooftop is a relaxing space with a garden and a BBQ area.

The pots on the house’s rooftop use the automatic irrigation system made of lightweight materials with different heights and sizes. These pots help shadow the house and are a place for the architects to relax during working hours.

© Nguyen Thai Thach

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© Xia Zhi

• Architects: penda
• Location: Beijing，China
• Design Team: Chris Precht, Dayong Sun, Jing Wang, Li Pengchong, Wen Xu, Bai Xue, Mingxue Sun
• Area: 270.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Xia Zhi

© Xia Zhi

From the architect. Penda recently finished a Project for an Art Auditorium on the Southern 3rd Road in Beijing. The venue is located at Xi Da Wang Lu, an upcoming cultural area with Galleries and Museums in its neighbourhood. Next to it Art Auditorium, penda completed the “Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts” in 2013.   

© Xia Zhi

Penda was asked by Residential and Cultural Developer Hongkun to design a meeting space that hosts lectures, readings, small exhibitions and and area for trading artworks. Within this cultural district, there was a desire to connect the public to artists as well to create a direct link to art itself. Visitors enter the Art Space through a monolithic facade that connects its appearance to the neighbouring Museum. From outside, the facade is mirrored in its centre offering identical doors through the solid exterior on the left and right side. 

Model

Model

The topic of a centred and mirrored space continues to the interior. Penda inserted a lively box of arches, mirrors and steps that can host lectures or team meetings, and is used as a grand entrance to guide visitors to the lower floor. Here the space accommodates an exhibition and art-depo area. Walking around the box on the left side, guests will reach a art-selling lounge on the first floor, where paintings and art-pieces are traded and a small bar invites costumers to an informal talk. On the right side of the box, a staircase lead employees to an office space on the second floor.  

© Xia Zhi

The solid centre-cube offers a warm, wooden contrast to its grey concrete-plastered background.  The wooden cube is seen from every space in the building and has round cutouts for visitors to peak into the main lecture space. 

© Xia Zhi

© Xia Zhi

Within the box, visitors immerse into a landscape of wooden arches and circles that are mirrored on each sides and on the ceiling. Inspired by artworks of Dali and Escher, the reflective landscape creates a skewed and distorted reality and connects visitor to art in a direct and interactive way. Rather than looking at an artwork, people can experience the artwork physically to widen their imagination

© Xia Zhi

The use of arches is a signature element in many of penda’s projects. The neighbouring Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts features Arches and Counter-Arches as one inviting entrance-ribbon to guide people into the Gallery. To connect the Gallery and the Auditorium, penda continued this formal expression of arches  and counterarches into the auditorium.

© Xia Zhi

 “Our love for arches as a structural element, but also as a welcoming gesture and symbol of entrance manifested itself in this project. With the reflective walls, the arches transform from a physical to a intangible element and connect with each other to one endless swing. A space that connects reality and imagination.’ 

© Xia Zhi

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© Aaron Pocock

• Architects: SCDA Architects
• Location: Singapore
• Architect In Charge: Soo K. Chan
• Design Team: Malcolm McCulloch, Edward Lau, Lee Kit Hung, Lilian Dirgantoro, Steve Kan, Ivan Soh Chermink, Lois Kok, Janice Kwa, Wahyuni Kurniawati
• Area: 24440.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Aaron Pocock

• Developer: Asplenium Land Pte Ltd
• Main Contractor: Rich-Link Construction Pte Ltd
• Structural Engineer: WEB Structures Pte. Ltd.
• M&E Engineer: Bescon Consulting Engineers Pte Ltd
• Quantity Surveyor : Rider Levett Bucknall Pte. Ltd.

© Aaron Pocock

From the architect. A meaningful engagement with nature was the driving thought behind the conceptualization of Seletar Park Residence. Upon arrival at the site, the entrance is lined with mature rain trees, greeting the visitor almost ceremoniously before the space extends onwards to open into a clearing embraced by the surrounding terrain. This theme is recurring and impressed – preserved in the design to create a home that first welcomes and lateroffers experiences with nature. Providing a backdrop of simple elegance, the fine edges and sharp lines of the rectilinear forms break down the massing of the blocks while offering a textured fabric through repetition of frames, sun-shading ledges, façade fins and trellises. Rigorous in its application, this fabric lines the site boundaries, forming a canvas onto which a central landscaped court is strongly expressed.

© Aaron Pocock

Plan

© Aaron Pocock

To create intimacy in the vast court, the ground plane is separated into two, one of which is sunken and leads down into the basement level via a set of landscaped stairs. The main pool is placed on the higher plane, creating a reflecting vista towards the feature clubhouse, which is furnished for the residents’ enjoyment.

© Aaron Pocock

Section

© Aaron Pocock

The water element then breaks down into cascading pools in the sunken half, with large planters interspersed to appear as floating landscapes, and culminates in a tranquil reflective pool and shaded court shared with the other communal facilities of the clubhouse. Spatially, each apartment is provided with a balcony or private enclosed space stretching across the entire length of the unit, thus extending the interiors to the outdoors. These intermediate spaces are finished in timber, allowing the palette of natural materials and colours to flow from private to communal spaces. The interaction of the living spaces with the lush gardens and water courts engenders a sensuous engagement with the elements, resulting in a calming, peaceful environment.

© Aaron Pocock

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© Onnis Luque

• Architects: Miguel Montor
• Location: Huixquilucan, Estado de Mexico, 53598 Naucalpan de Juárez, Méx., Mexico
• Team: Mónica Mateos, Francisco Iván Bustillos
• Area: 1335.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Onnis Luque

• Collaborators: Regina De Hoyos, Paloma Envila, Juan Manuel Armendáriz, Aremi Miranda, Ana Laura Cardoso, Sebastián Bidault.
• Construction: Lorenzo Farfán Villegas
• Landsacpe: Taller de paisaje entorno. Tontatiuh Martínez, Hugo Sánchez, Renata Gallegos.
• Client: Eduardo Hermosillo Fuster

© Onnis Luque

Walden Dos School is located in northwest Mexico City, near the border between Huixquilucan and Naucalpan, in the middle of Interlomas, a highly commercial and constantly growing area; its facilities offer daycare and kindergarten.

© Onnis Luque

Sketch

© Onnis Luque

Even though the site provides the project with an incredible commercial potential, it also represents a big challenge, due to specific conditions. It is an urban node, limited by one of the most important avenues of the area on the front and by a river on the back, which makes pedestrian transit almost impossible. Additionally, the surroundings include many vertical-housing buildings that block natural sunlight from the project, at different times of day. These are just some of the determining points that led the way to a proper design for the school.  

© Onnis Luque

The project is based on the renovation, recovery and enlargement of a pre-existing school that needed a new architectural design to fit the new owner’s educational program. This became the perfect opportunity to come up with a fresh design for the site, providing not only a new image, but also a better response to the difficulties of its location.

© Onnis Luque

Children are the main character in this project because they are the ones who inhabit the space. They travel across courtyards, halls, classrooms and gardens, weaving the pre-existing spaces with the new ones. These spaces are constantly flooded with natural light, which allows them to transform throughout the day and become different places every hour. Such spaces are replacing old and dark hallways that are now sunbathed gardens that offer a variety of experiences.                                         

© Onnis Luque

Ground Floor Plan

© Onnis Luque

By means of multiple perforations made along the building, we provided a sense of orientation, allowing constant visual connection between the inside and the outside, thus giving its users a feeling of safety, which is essential for the proper function of any school.

Sketch

Most of the classrooms were designed to have direct connection with the courtyard – gardens, thus enabling outdoor activities during any class as well as keeping in touch with nature.  

Without a doubt, another important element in the design was betting on a palette of low maintenance materials with low environmental impact, which added to the landscape design and defining this project as being more sensitive to it natural context.

© Onnis Luque

The chosen color palette is meant to contribute to the school´s educational model. It is subtle and simple and it lets children relate its colors to the ones they see natural context like wood, stone, water, vegetation and light, replacing the classic bright and pastel colors found in most schools.

We believe that all these intentions define Walden Dos School as an elegant and simple project, committed to improving its student’s lives and their environment. 

© Onnis Luque

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