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.
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.
From the architect. Camping Mon Perin is located in the municipality of Bale, Istria Peninsula in Croatia and is spread over 9 km of coastline, halfway between towns Rovinj and Pula. The whole area is protected as valuable natural environment and also as an archaeological site. That resulted with very strict construction conditions that permitted reconstruction but within the existing spatial parameters. That condition has been an extremely aggravating circumstance knowing the standards that had to be met in terms of categorization. The project task was to raise Camp categorization from 2 ** to 4 **** between two summer seasons by reconstructing the main facilities: reception, restaurant and 8 toilets. It was also aimed to create a modern camp with facilities and architectural language that suggests a new direction of services development within the camp. Existing facilities were mostly “reconstructed reconstructions”, too small in size and inadequate aesthetics.
Reception Axonometric
The reception is located at the entrance between the two Mon Perin camps (San Polo and Colone) where guests register and collect basic information on the services Camp. Besides the reconstruction of the existing plan of the reception of an outer pergola was added as a sort of antechamber for the gathering of guests. Reception pergola also embraces and 3 “coated” containers for the camp administration purposes during the season. The triangular floor plan came from the shape of the existing roads that direct visitors to one or the other camp.
Restaurant Porto Buso is located in an attractive location on the coast and is its primary form was also defined by the existing building. The reconstruction kept the basic structural system with a complete change of interior and the facade. Next to the restaurant is a large terrace, playground and space for mounting the stage.
Sanitary facilities were particularly challenging precisely because of the need for a large number of sanitary facilities and supporting facilities to meet the categorization requirements. The goal was to design all toilets in similar form. Four bathrooms located in San Polo are made with brushed stone precast while bathrooms at Camp Colone are finished with HPL boards. They consist of closed parts and covered area for washing dishes and clothes.
Without the excellent collaboration with the client Mon Perin Ltd. who recognized the importance of such interventions in the camp and the project manager Ivana Fabris (IF Project Ltd.) it wouldn’t be possible to complete this project in a short period of time and under difficult conditions.
The project received ARTUR Award (by Zagreb Society Of Architects) for the best tourist project realization in 2016.
Product Description. FunderMax Exterior Panels were used as a facade of the sanitary facilites because they have great characteristic and are durable in costal areas with high level of salt in the air.
From the architect. The project allows access to one of Denmark’s archaeological gems, while offering and intricate spatial experience. Previously inaccessible, the visitor can enter and climb the main space of the tower, perceive the archaeological layers and view the landscape. Culture and nature, at a small and large scale, are united by this spiral access.
Site Plan
This 700 year-old medieval ruin is key in Danish history. Built on an isthmus projecting from the coast, it is a local reference, a social anchor and major national tourist attraction in the northern part of the Jutland peninsula. Three stories high and two stories deep, the brick tower has been empty of its internal structure for centuries, with a single small opening at its base as the only source of visual access to the interior. The project, a zig-zagging staircase, allows the visitor to enter, experience the archaeological layers at hand’s reach, walk upwards to access façade openings and balconies, while offering at each landing the opportunity to view the magnificent landscapes surrounding this historic site.
While being minimal in its detail, the staircase creates an intricate space within the cubic emptiness, culminating at its top open to the sky.
The desire to allow the visitor to “touch” the archaeological layers of the tower, and simultaneously “leave” the ruin and “levitate” in the landscape was pivotal. The architectural gesture is the geometric result of connecting openings and landings, while aiming to offer the richness of the archaeological site and the surrounding landscape. Being an archaeological site, the challenges of supporting the structure given the few anchor points allowed was substantial.
Axonometric
Characteristic of MAP Architects works, narrative and technology are merged to solve extreme challenges. An in-house constructed portable 3D scanner was a decisive in permitting a digital 3D of every single brick, reducing tolerances to a minimum while allowing for a design that would “fit” the site.
By the constant shift of landing size, step and rise ratios, the design of a continuous handrail without height variations was achieved, greatly reducing the formal and visual clutter.
Plan 02
What otherwise seems like a simple staircase, it has bound landscape and archelogy in an incredibly tight space, increasing the visitor experience and doubling visitor numbers overnight.
The project has recently been nominated for the 2017 European Mies van der Rohe Award.
Product Description. The Staircase is based on a steel frame construction, supported on the ruin at only four points to minimize damage on the historical monument. The sides and underside are clad in ash wood, specially treated with heat to maximize durability to up to 60 years without paint. The stairs and handrail are metal, painted in matt black to ensure maximum durability, since the site is at the coast and therefore under tough weather conditions. The stair was constructed in 7 large pieces in a workshop normally used for off-shore elements, and mounted in the tower ruin by crane. The building site was extremely challenging since the whole area is a cultural heritage and strictly protected, therefore, no damage to the tower was allowed and the process was closely monitored.
Designed by Düsseldorf-based interior architecture practice Falkenberg Innenarchitektur, House Rheder II is designed as a serene retreat, shedding inessential features and integrating itself within the natural landscape. Framing views of the idyllic greenery of East Westfalia and gentle waters of the river Nethe, the project aims to dissolve the chaos of modern life.
“In a time of excess we have built a house that makes the essentials tangible,” said the client. “It should not be big and important, but small and correct.”
Originally a holiday home from the 1950s, the house was rebuilt starting in 2015, preserving the original floor slab and terrace over the water as a foundation to pare down to 90 square meters of essentials: light, air, and tranquility. The structure is minimalist, with exposed steel supports and a steel frame supporting fully glazed facades. Filigree floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors open to a timber deck on the water-facing side of the building, cantilevered into panoramic views of Rheder country park.
A reflecting pool on the southeastern side of the house reflects the sky and sunlight onto the ceiling inside, further dissolving the separation between interior and exterior. From the opposite wall a fireplace protrudes, bringing warmth to the heart of the house. The living room is finished with minimal furnishings, allowing residents the flexibility to personalize their sanctuary.
The new, great task of our time is to leave the unimportant and to give more space to the essential. To feel connected with nature is an integral and essential part of our lives. It gives us peace and structure, space for thought and grounding in the hectic of our age.
A ceiling-height sliding partition divides the living room and conceals two intimate bedrooms and a bathroom, all of which feature skylights. A small technical room beyond houses all technology, which can be controlled by an app.
Great architects are like great writers. Our abilities to observe the world around us down to the tiniest details, and then make the most remarkable connections, have in time given humanity great stories and experiences – whether through imagined or real spaces. As Charles Eames put it, “Eventually everything connects – people, ideas, objects. The key to quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”
As architects, we have a nearly endless succession of connections to make, from materials, to geography, to time, to people, to experiences and statements of our own beliefs, all coming together in the design of a space. Novels are therefore a great way to remind yourself of the creative possibilities that architecture holds, encouraging you to dream about what architecture could be; and what experiences could be. These 7 non-architectural novels each have their own qualities that could open up the architectural world (and provide you with an enjoyable reading list in your time off). Enjoy!
Following a motorcycle journey of a father and son through the American Northwest, the novel is woven into a philosophical discovery of the true concept of Quality, something architects are constantly battling with. Is quality reached through perception, or rationality? Does it emerge from material properties; form; the designer? Pirsig begins to draw his own conclusions about quality and its necessity for a personal identification and relationship between creator and creation. In other words, quality can’t be faked, just as genuine investment can’t be faked. “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” doesn’t just take you along on an exciting story; it will cause you to think deeper about what Quality really means to you, and in turn, to your architecture.
Roy pays intense attention (as its title suggests) to the small things in life, but more importantly, how they connect to the bigger things. This understanding of the deep relationship between details and context is surely influenced by her education at The School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, also contributing to her decisions on structure and space in the novel. As Roy explains, “The stories you love the most are the stories you already know… structurally as an architect, you don’t start designing a house with the entrance and end with the exit. There was a layered structure, narrative, that in itself was a challenge.” This cyclical thinking results in a textured, wholesome plot that through words aims to materialise the intangible, creating her own language through which to process the world. Hopefully it will inspire you to do the same.
“The Little Prince” is known for looking beyond the world at first glance, made obvious on the first few pages, where “the grown-ups” mistake a drawing of “a boa constrictor digesting an elephant” for a hat. Saint-Exupéry takes you back to the beauty and wonder of being a child, and the power of emotions that can come with certain experiences. It’s a short read in comparison to the rest of the books on this list, but is successful in reminding us of what’s important to people, relationships, a healthy psyche, and what we should be contributing to all of this. “The Little Prince” encourages you to “think outside the box,” or rather, “think outside the hat” and re-embodies the fascination with the world that is sometimes diluted with age.
Sebald constructs a story that revolves around the creation of identity through memory, born from the relationship between Austerlitz and the narrator that arises from their common interests in history and architecture. Hence, it’s not only the descriptions of memory, place and identity that are moving and complex, but also the descriptions of architectural spaces with images and illustrations to match. The novel is a tour through elements of architectural history with a personal story, making it informative as well as engaging.
A take on Rand’s ideal moral person is manifested in her depiction of architect Howard Roark, a man beyond corruption’s reach. It is a novel fighting for integrity and honesty, and against conformity and prestige. Whether one agrees with Rand’s philosophy of morality or not, “The Fountainhead” forces you to think deeply about the honesty of your practice, and communicating your beliefs on what you think is of importance in this world, through architecture. It questions everything about history, authority and tradition, in favour of uncompromising authenticity.
“A rose is a rose is a rose…” The layers that accumulate over a rose, an object, or a place over time working to shape something new is central to Ondaatje’s novel, where layers of time, place, history and culture slide over and around each other with immense fluidity. Following the narrative of a man whose identity and history is questionable, the relationship between space, memory and time is undeniable. These memories encapsulated within architecture are not only beautiful, but also thought-provoking from an architectural perspective. How do we use history and time to give form? How does the mapping and organization of space, nations, borders and labels fit into architecture?
Imagining the unimaginable spaces, such as the infinite experienced in one point, Borges pushes the boundaries of what space, and consequently architecture, could be. Is it possible to create the experience of an endless space? Of a shifting space? The worlds that exist within “The Aleph and Other Stories” twist reality, perhaps beyond the point of what is possible, but open up to the potential evolution of our experiences and perceptions of space.
HAUT, a proposed 240-foot timber-framed tower to be built in Amsterdam. Image Courtesy of Team V Architectuur
The key to engineering wood strong enough to support skyscrapers may lie in the interaction between molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair.
A new study by researchers at the Universities of Warwick and Cambridge has solved a long-held mystery of how key polymers in plant cells bind to form strong, indigestible materials such as wood and straw. By recreating this ‘glue’ in a lab, engineers may be able to produce new wood-based materials that surpass current strength capabilities.
The discovery lies in the bond between the Earth’s two most common polymers, cellulose and xylan, both of which are found in the cell walls of wood. For some time, scientists have pondered how xylan, a long, winding polymer coated in ‘decorations’ of sugar and other molecules, could adhere to the thicker, rod-like cellulose molecules.
“We knew the answer must be elegant and simple,” explained research lead Professor Paul Dupree from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. “And in fact, it was. What we found was that cellulose induces xylan to untwist itself and straighten out, allowing it to attach itself to the cellulose molecule. It then acts as a kind of ‘glue’ that can protect cellulose or bind the molecules together, making very strong structures.”
The scientists believe this understand may have a dramatic effect on wood-related industries such as paper and biofuel production by greatly reducing the amount of energy required for their processes to occur, as well as allow for innovation that could create stronger engineered-wood materials.
With timber-framed skyscrapers already appearing around the world, these new materials could potentially solidify wood as the standard for tall building construction for years to come.
Uniting school and kindergarten in one complex, it comes with a new educational model – directed towards the child and encouraging creativity, which is also reflected in the architecture of the building.
The ground floor of the kindergarten is a circle around which four age groups are located, starting with the youngest and ending with the older groups from which the children proceed further to school. In each age group, children learn several pieces of world literature that help them to understand the surrounding world. Successively the children till their school age live in several environments: forest, village, town, world – the Universe. These literary works and their themes are reflected in interior solutions as well as utilities of the courtyard: mosses and trees, meadow,lawn and yard, sand – the dust of Universe.
On the first floor of the same building the general classrooms of the school – verandas are built. They form a continuous relationship and development bond between the youngest and already older students. From the corridor of the first floor, the playground of the little children is open to the view, as well as the little ones can see the bigger children’s school activities.
On the ground floor of the school volume, there is the public part of the school life; events- the large hall, sports, wardrobe for children, meanwhile the first floor is for specialized classes – languages, art, craft, computers, chemistry, physics, as well as the library. Both volumes are connected by “a dream bridge”. The school has its own entrance, and it is emphasized by a large opening in the facade, which gives the opportunity to gather outside the school under the roof, as well as run 100 meters during the sport classes running through the school.
Both while designing the building and creating the concept of interior and furnishing, the main aim was that the children should feel themselves at home and free. Both the younger and the older students are the main in this house. The buildings an interior are designed attractive but ‘light’, putting the main emphasis as it was already mentioned, on the inhabitants of the house, so that it is convenient, comfortable and also interesting to study and work at International School Exupery.
The volume of the building A is designed circular in order to create a patio for kindergarten to play and walk, where the children are protected from wind as well as the noise from the highway. In its turn the volume of building B is designed as a marking off barrier between the highway and kindergarten thus creating a large courtyard between the two buildings with amphitheatre. The construction of large sides of the roof, which copy the passing of the sun around the perimeter and passively protect the rooms from overheating under direct rays of the sun.
1. The vertical constructions of the aluminum constructions of the facades act alike – permitting the sun to shine for a moment directly into some of the glass segments of the façade. In South Façade of the school volume the higher glass have higher reflection of the sun light (warmth) inside creating the feeling of partly closed blinds.
2. White and isn’t transparent, but at the same time lets light in.
From the architect. It is located in the expansion area of the University of Aveiro, in Agra do Crasto, a territory of salines, with an open orthogonal grid, in which preference in the urban rule and the boundaries between built space and empty space and the network of relationships that the system provides, wich in built system.
It is a revisiting of the students residence built a decade earlier; Spartan project in the implantation and typology, in spaces and materials, in the construction. In the tipology; with clear references to russian constructivism and the republics of Coimbra.
The tunnels passages are the elements of relationship between the two territories, interrupt the continuous front; Identify the modules and solve these entries domestic and collective houses.
In the east side, the brick continues to remain as a constructive identity of the university, based on dry vertical joint and horizontal joint with invisible mortar.
In the west, slat national pine wood covers all plans and covered passages, in reference to the place and in protection to the aggressive and saline winds from the west; Continuous and uniform, gives movement and change the forward shutters setting sun.
From the architect. How can you make a motorway section attractive and functional for the local residents? This is the question MoederscheimMoonen Architects set to work on for the Municipality of Schiedam. They devised a unique solution for a stretch of the A4 motorway between the Dutch cities of Delft and Schiedam. The result is wonderful green park and a new sports location that will definitely appeal to the imagination. Located some six metres above the motorway, the sports fields are enclosed by one of the largest canvases in Europe. Together with Lace Fence, the architects created no less than 8,500 m² of colorful fencing that consists of over 1.6 million life-like ‘pixels’.
Initially, the tunnel and the motorway formed a barrier between the two adjacent residential areas. But the new design has now achieved the opposite. By realizing the park and sports fields on top of the tunnel itself, it has literally created new connections between the two residential areas. They offer an environment for everyone living in the area – young and old – to exercise and relax in.
Render Section
Section
Exercising above the motorway
The complex and multidisciplinary nature of this assignment is reflected in the multiple use of space on top of and around the tunnel. The design features concrete canopy structures on both sides of the tunnel – creating a large enough surface area to realize sports fields on the roof of the tunnel section. Below these awnings, one finds space for car parks and an indoor athletics, baseball and cricket facility.
The main building is situated in the heart of the park, between the elevated sports fields. As such, it has a direct relationship with the surrounding athletic activity. The building houses a sports hall, changing rooms for various indoor and outdoor sports, rooms for dance and ballet and a large catering establishment with terrace seating. The terrace takes the shape of a plateau. ‘Hovering’ between the building’s different levels, it forms a transitional zone between the different street levels. The building’s overall design is characterized by the prominent expressive qualities of the fresh green roof and terrace awnings that emphasize the complex’s layered nature.
The fields are enclosed by a screen that not only guarantees safety at the location but also mitigates the negative effects of the wind. For its design, the architects teamed up with the specialist firm Lace Fence, known for its innovative architectural woven fabrics. They jointly developed a new product consisting of colorful ‘pixels’, named Dedots. These pixels are far more than just a pragmatic solution: they lend the environment its own identity, with every square meter in the 1.2-km screen realized according to a unique design. This has resulted in a functional work of art that presents an exciting combination of transparency, permeability to air and imagination. It merges everything that the project is about: nature, sports, connections and energy.
From the architect. Seclusive Jiangnan Boutique Hotel is located in Dadou Road Historic District, Hangzhou and adjacent to Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Before the renovation, the existing structures are two dilapidated affordable housings. Since get the commission, within less than a year, gad tried to use design as a tool to regenerate space in the historic district and balance the “preservation” and “demolition” as well as “inheritage ” and “innovation”, which are two seemingly contractions.
Before
The project aims to convey the idea to the public that “spatial quality is the key for living experience in residence”. The new design keeps the original form of the buildings, but reorganizes the circulation and spatial divisions. The No.188 building is in I-shape and along the canal while the No.190 is in L-shape and next to the historic neighborhood. Designers insert a glass box as hotel lobby and main entrance that connects the two separate buildings. In this way, it forms a courtyard as a 3-side enclosed space. The further design demolished the excess volume so that to keep the façades clean and straight.
The design of the façade adopts two different means. For the facades facing historical neighborhood, they are in bricks locally sourced and the old windows have been replaced with glass. The design tries to match the feeling of the vernacular architecture from materiality perspective and keep the consistence of the appearance of historic neighborhood. For the façade along the canal, architects use staggered pattern of brick wall and ceiling windows so that reflects the water at the same time responses to the context materially.
The previous basement parking space being reprogrammed and renovated into library and gallery. This action regenerates the space and bring new public space indoors. A large public space from lobby opens up to third floor that creates new communication space and increases the flexibility of the space. The roof space is redesigned into LOFT guest rooms. The previous balconies are connected and transformed into public party place.
Section
The interior majorly uses wood material. The design pursues a more intimate and home-like environment. The first two floors are mainly flowing public space divided by bookshelves.Seclusive Jiangnan Boutique Hotel is equipped with restaurant, café, library, gallery and residence to provide an enjoyable experience. It regenerates the space within the historic neighborhood and comes up with a different modern lifestyle with the most traditional feelings of Hangzhou.
Sig Nordal 