© Pedro Kok

This article is part of our new series “Material in Focus“, where we ask architects to share with us their creative process through the choice of materials that define important parts of the construction of their buildings.

Casa dos Caseiros was designed by architectural firm 24.7. The project is 70 meters square and was a private order for a large-scale social steel framed housing project to be built in some cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We talked with the architect Giuliano Pelaio to learn more about material choices and challenges of the project.

What were the main materials used in this project?

GP: Concrete building blocks, aluminum frame, glass, and thermoacoustic tile.

© Pedro Kok

What were your main sources of inspiration and influence when you were choosing the materials used in the project?

GP: Streamlining the construction process, labor, ease of construction, and price.

© Pedro Kok

Describe how decisions on materials influenced the design of the project.

GP: In this case, the modulation using concrete blocks required by the family determined the whole structure and the dimensions of the living spaces.

© Pedro Kok

What were the advantages that this material offered for the construction of the project?

GP: Increased mobility during construction, labor, and reduced costs.

© Pedro Kok

Did the choice of materials impose any kind of challenges to the project?

GP: Not necessarily a challenge, but the choice of material did need to be interpreted properly and use the volume to its maximum capacity to make the most of their flexibility for modulation, which really helped the construction time. 

© Pedro Kok

Did you ever consider other possible materials for the project? If so, how would that have changed the project?

GP: At first we wanted to build the house with a steel frame. Due to the scarcity and expense of that type of skilled labor, we had to adapt to a more popular system while still keeping its intended purpose in mind.

© Pedro Kok

How did you research suppliers and builders suitable for materials used in the project?

GP: All suppliers for this project were already our partners.

Casa dos Caseiros / 24.7 arquitetura design
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Join friends and colleagues for Tabula Rasa, the 2016 Architectural League Beaux Arts Ball taking place at A/D/O, a new design space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This year’s theme celebrates the creative act of fresh thinking and innovation and New York’s own ceaseless reinvention. The Ball will offer a rare inside look at the raw and in-progress 23,000 square-foot A/D/O space designed by Brooklyn-based nARCHITECTS. Responding to this year’s theme, Ultramoderne will design a site-specific installation and Wild Dogs International will develop projection-mapped installations to be displayed throughout the space. Fredrik Berselius of Aska will create a menu of light fare.

Friday, September 30, 2016 | 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

A/D/O | 29 Norman Avenue | Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY

Since the League’s revival of the event in 1990, the Beaux Arts Ball has become the premier annual party of the architecture and design community in New York with over 1,000 architects, designers, artists, and their friends attending. Located each year at a different venue of architectural importance somewhere in the five boroughs of New York, the Ball hosts installations, performances, or other engagements with designers and artists. The Beaux Arts Ball helps support the programs of The Architectural League.

For more information visit: archleague.org/BAB16

Tickets start at $100. You must be 21 years of age or over to attend. Buy tickets here.

Festive dress

#BAB16 @archleague

• Title: The Architectural League’s Beaux Arts Ball 2016: Tabula Rasa
• Type: Event
• Website: http://ift.tt/2cHMPQ8
• Organizers: The Architectural League of New York
• From: September 30, 2016 09:00 PM
• Until: October 01, 2016 01:00 AM
• Venue: A/D/O
• Address: 29 Norman Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

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Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Form4 Architecture’s project, Innovation Curve Technology Park, has been honored by the Green Good Design Awards presented by The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies, in collaboration with The Chicago Athenaeum’s Museum for Architecture and Design.  

The project, which recently broke ground in Palo Alto, California, “celebrates the creative process of invention” through its sweeping metal curves, which represent the highs and lows of exploratory research and development. The tall, two-story curves “rise to represent the crescendo of the creative spark and pragmatic analysis of ideas, and descend to transition into long, horizontal bands symbolizing the implementation phase of invention.”

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

The 13.5-acre campus will feature four buildings, totaling 265,895 square feet, which will be arranged around a central landscaped courtyard crossed by diagonal pedestrian paths.

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Each 35-foot-tall structure comprises two offset wings flanking a central, glass-faced lobby to break up the building mass. In the lobby, both the concrete courtyard paving and metal curves of the building exterior extend through the two-story space to create a sculptural portal connected to the outdoors – described the architects. 

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Painted, recycled aluminum will clad the projecting roofs and deep overhangs of the building exteriors. These projecting planes will furthermore support outdoor balconies, offering vistas of the campus.

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

The overhangs will additionally serve to control solar heat gain by shading the building exteriors. The buildings will also feature deep horizontal sunshades, as well as solar-controlled skylights that augment the daylighting scheme to reduce the need for artificial illumination.

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

Courtesy of Form4 Architecture

To achieve its goal of LEED-Platinum certification, the project will incorporate several other sustainable elements, such as high-efficiency mechanical and electrical systems, solar photovoltaic power generation, recycling of construction waste, locally sourced materials, and bioswales landscaped with native plants.

Anticipated completion of the project is set for 2017.

News via Form4 Architecture.

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© Eugeni Pons

• Architects: Dominique Coulon & associés
• Location: Rue de la Source, 14290 Orbec, France
• Architects Assistants: David Romero-Uzeda, Olivier Nicollas, Chang Zhang, Javier Gigosos Ruipérez, Pedro Rodríguez Ruipérez, Ania Klukowski, Gautier Duthoit
• Area: 5833.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Eugeni Pons

• Construction Site Supervision: Emilie Brichard, Jean Scherer
• Structural Engineer: Batiserf Ingénierie
• Mechanical Plumbing Engineer: BET G.Jost
• Electrical Engineer: BET G.Jost
• Cost Estimator: E3 économie
• Acoustics: Euro sound project
• Kitchen Expert: Ecotral
• Landscape: Bruno Kubler

© Eugeni Pons

This care and retirement home has been built in the heart of the Normandy bocage near the village of Orbec. The building follows the sloping curve of the hillside, and is visible from the valley.

© Eugeni Pons

Diagram

© Eugeni Pons

To reduce the visual impact of this imposing building, we felt it preferable to divide it up. We achieved the desired effect by using the colour green, with the result that the building both blends into the larger landscape and reflects the rural nature of the site. The under-faces of the overhangs and the white walls of the base produce a feeling of lightness.

© Eugeni Pons

Plan

© Eugeni Pons

Each of the living units fits into one section of the building, and all are connected to a south-facing street, backed by the hill. This arrangement gives views through the building from one side to the other, with light punctuating the traffic routes and achieving maximum variety. The colour red destructures the space and adds dynamic. We have avoided using the conventional colours of the hospital environment.

© Eugeni Pons

 The building has been designed to enhance the living and walking areas. Its strength lies in its relationship with the landscape.

© Eugeni Pons

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© Markus Linderoth

• Architects: Förstberg Ling
• Location: Linköping, Sweden
• Area: 135.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Markus Linderoth

• Structural Engineer: Structor, Ronny Malm

© Markus Linderoth

“House for Mother” is the first house completed by Förstberg Ling, a project started in 2013 as a part of the housing exhibition in Linköping, Vallastaden 2017. The house is conceived as a dwelling and studio for Björn’s mother Maria, librarian and an enthusiastic weaver.

© Markus Linderoth

“House for mother”  is a house that balances spatiality with intimate rooms – formal simplicity with strong materiality. The facade in raw corrugated aluminium creates a variable play with light and shadow during the day, a rich materiality contrasting with it’s simple expression. The wooden beams and trusses along with the walls lined with plywood give warmth to the interior. The concrete floor is a durable and beautiful surface for everyday use, folded to a low bench along the perimeter of the building.

© Markus Linderoth

Floor Plan

© Markus Linderoth

The division of the house into two volumes, slightly shifted from each other, emphasizes how narrow the plot is. While standing in the open for now, the future urban context will eventually not expose much more than the gables to the neighborhood. 

© Markus Linderoth

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© Leo Torri

• Architects: Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners, Beretta Associati
• Location: Milan, Italy
• Area: 15500.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2008
• Photographs: Leo Torri

• Structure: Redesco
• Lighting Design: Metis lighting
• General Contractor: Colombo costruzioni
• Facades: Tosoni

© Leo Torri

The former Riva Calzoni re-conversion, in Milan, has produced a business district, almost entirely dedicated to the fashion field, through a new interpretation of  industrial areas of a peculiar worth.

© Leo Torri

Plan 0

© Leo Torri

This project, studied out for Ermenegildo Zegna, substitutes an existing shed, impossible to be preserved because of  the complexity of its structures, with a completely different space which, with its two buried levels of parking lots, takes up the previous disposition of volumes. The brand new building, even if reproducing the profile of a shed roofing, gives a fresh interpretation of spaces organisation.

Section

Totally set in a courtyard system, the structure overlooks the street only by a long glass tunnel which opens itself on via Stendhal through a narrowed foyer. The long tunnel, on four levels, holds flights and footbridges connecting the showrooms’ area to the offices’ building.

© Leo Torri

As a matter of fact, Zegna’s headquarters in Milan have a showroom for each of its collections, the commercial offices, the public relations and a presentation area on the ground floor, conceived as a real theatre. All the functional spaces develop around an inside court-terrace which corresponds to the covering of the theatre and gives an inside overlooking to the different activities.

© Leo Torri

The external front of the building comes out to be a very closed one. Only partly glazed and treated with reflecting materials, this façade exploits the inclined plane shapes to reflect the surrounding industrial scenery, creating, this way, a strong effect of abstraction that “dissolves” the new building outline into the surrounding context.

© Leo Torri

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© Shao Feng

• Architects: X+Living
• Location: 4th floor, Réel Mall, Jing’an District, Shanghai, China
• Architect In Charge: LI Xiang
• Design Team: LIU Huan, FAN Chen, TONG Ni-Na
• Area: 1000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Shao Feng

© Shao Feng

From the architect. Background of a busy city is always the randomly standing neon lights. Hurried pedestrians cross the street from one side to the other, from one block to another block by passing through the street. When viewing from above, you could see people come and go, the streets are crowded with pedestrians and vehicles, only the zebra crossings stand still to offer convoy and guidance. Réel Mall is at such a street corner filled with traveling and short stay, which is located at the centre of Shanghai – Jing’an district, and Zhongshuge is at the end of the 4th floor of Réel Mall.

© Shao Feng

On the floor, there are painted white zebra crossings linking to the book tables, which give clear guidance to the path between book tables. On the wall, it is fully covered with white circular tubes. Each of the white circular tubes spread over the wall could retract into or stretch out of the wall freely, in this way, different array patterns could be formed with such flexibility. While this flexible design acts as book shelves, it also reflects the quick changed social status quo. Here, readers enter into a city space where there is no heavy traffic, but only quiet “roads and zebra crossings” and mountains of books on the books tables. Zebra crossing is like books that accompany our growth. Get the correct guidance at the right time. The spiritual connection between books and readers is thus expressed.

© Shao Feng

What connects to this space is a long corridor for leisure reading, where there is a long row of park benches. The book shelves are placed at the two sides of the corridor, and there is a street lamp at a regular distance from one another. This is not only a reading corridor but also an interior reading park. Walking slowly in the world of books, when you get tired, you could sit on the chairs under the street lights and relax your mind by reading your favorite books- this is the reading environment that this space intended to create for readers.

© Shao Feng

Walking through the quiet park of books you will arrive at the castle of books in the sky. A winding path gets through the 4 architecture-like book shelves which are built with shelves, bringing the reader with an experience of walking through a real city of books.  Along the path, you will notice that exterior walls of every “house” are built with book shelves, and on the wall there are big windows through which the interior of the “house” could be seen. From the inside of the “house” you will find out that the “houses” are book libraries with different themes of culture and art.

© Shao Feng

The interior area of the 4 “houses” are very different, the small one is like a quiet study while the big one could hold a small reading party. Here, the designer builds a city with books. Different from the outside bustling streets, this place is a spiritual world where readers could communicate with authors quietly through the books. The width of the path between book shelves is changing, and on this winding path you can see zebra crossings, you may dimly feel that you  were walking in the centuries-old Shanghai streets where you can feel the romance and mood of Shanghai.

The world of mortals is a temptation that everyone could not escape from. Shanghai, in particular, a “top-ranked romantic and rich place within the world of mortals”, is saturated with far more desires and helplessness. Thus people who struggle within this world of mortals always long for a quiet place where their body and mind could be set free! Zhongshuge (Réel Mall) uses the concept of zebra crossing to penetrate and lead the plot of the story, which expresses the idea that under the busy and impetuous pace of city, books, being a companion to life, is acting as association between all kinds of functions of the city and our life; and that books give convoy and guidance to our growth just like what zebra crossing does!  

© Shao Feng

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© Mario Wibowo

• Architects: DP+HS Architects
• Location: North Jakarta, North Jakarta City, Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia
• Architect In Charge: Don Pieto, Henny Suwardi
• Area: 600.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Mario Wibowo

• Structural Engineer: Anwar Susanto, Cipta Sukses
• Interior Design: DP+HS Architects
• Lighting: DP+HS Architects
• Landscape: DP+HS Architects

© Mario Wibowo

Located in a residential area in North Jakarta, Indonesia, the 600 sqm house occupies a 440 sqm plot of land. This project’s site is facing a main road on the west side, and an alley on the other side (south side). We noticed that this site, particularly the one facing the main road, has a considerably large building line. And we are aware that the building line will decrease the building’s size. Based on that observation, we attempt to locate the main door on the side which facing the alley (south side); thus allowing the reduced area in the west side, to be utilized as an open-space gathering place. The open-space gathering place itself is an extension of the main living room that is purposely designed to be slightly away from the main door to keep it private.

© Mario Wibowo

This house is inhabited by a small family. However, both the husband and wife come from a big family. Consequently, the potential for such large family to come to visit, spend some quality time and even stay overnight affects the space program of this house. Hence, causing the space program to be quite compact. Considering the compact programming, the concept proposed is “compartment box”. The idea is to position the spaces into two big mass boxes. Then, each box is given a bold treatment through the materials used at the façade.

© Mario Wibowo

These two mass boxes come from one mass box that is subtracted by the open space. This open space is placed on the 3rd and 4th floor (rooftop); it serves to soften the rigid shape of the box and creates a lot of potential openings, so the building can breathe and get enough natural light. A reflecting pool is also built on the rooftop to help lower the building’s temperature.

Section

In accordance to the owners’ preference, their relatively young age, and budget consideration, the structure is designed as a modular structure, combined with modern architectural language throughout the building details. We set the building’s tone to be monochrome, with black lines element, such as the door and window frame,  to help define the space. Meanwhile the accent colors are presented through the use of loose furniture and decoration. Exposed materials are also brought consistently into the interior part of the building, such as  exposed cement in the living room, exposed painted brick in the study room, and solid wood in common spaces.

© Mario Wibowo

Several existing big trees, which are on the west side facing the main road, are preserved as they are to give some shades to the big garden behind them. With enough shade trees, the garden is designed to be a big pool area with a deck functioned as a gathering spot and as the extension of the living room.

© Mario Wibowo

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© Youtao Cao

• Architects: LATITUDE
• Location: Beijing, Beijing, China
• Principal Architect: Manuel N. Zornoza
• Project Architect: Jorge Cortés de Castro
• Team: Manuel Coves Botella, Lucía Bravo Guinea, Zhang Wen
• Client: Beijing Pengyouquan coffee (Beijing) Co., Ltd
• Budget: 140,000€
• Area: 350.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Youtao Cao

© Youtao Cao

Copper is the main material applied to create craft beer experience for the customer

Dongli Brewery was created to surprise and indulge patrons with a unique craft beer tasting experience.The concept delivers the expertise gained from working with traditional craft beer fermentation techniques to a contemporary and cozy gathering place.

© Youtao Cao

In 2015, the founder of Dongli Brewery decided to open a bar chain in China to provide patrons with a venue to better taste and enjoy craft beer. Among his requirements a key principlewas pointed out: to make visually accessible to customers the process of beer distillation.

© Youtao Cao

This350m² space is composed of a main dining area and a VIP room area, a kitchen, and other service areas. The dining area is organized around a bar counter in the center, which is radically accessible from all directions. A battery of eight brewing kettles is located behind a glass wall on one side, making it also visible from the entrance in order to welcome customers.

Axometric

Due to the industrial appearance of the elements in the project, copper materials take the leading role, shaping up joints, ceilings, lamps, handrails and other design elements according to the nature of artifacts used during beer production, such as pipes and tanks.

© Youtao Cao

The concept provides ceiling lamps with golden mesh surfaces and copper pipes which, on one hand, channel the wiring, shape the lamps and the signage, and on the other, indicate zones in the dining area. These ceiling lamps work according to a design concept: pipes coming down hold big glass bulbs that provide warm color lighting, a sense of coziness, and a unified look.

© Youtao Cao

In addition, pairing concrete walls and floors with wood furniture complete the selection of materials and give a strong character to the bar. The floor in the dining area is finished with concrete of three different tones, while most of the walls portray concrete as well. The wooden elements are appliedin the sitting areas, tables, chairs and bar counter, providing the design with a touch of domestic and welcoming feeling that anybody would desire for a long afternoon with friends sharing craft beer.

© Youtao Cao

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© Anice Hoachlander

• Architects: Robert M. Gurney
• Location: Washington, DC, USA
• Architect In Charge: Brian Tuskey; Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Architect
• Area: 2500.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Anice Hoachlander

• Interior Designer: Therese Baron Gurney, ASID; Baron Gurney Interiors
• Engineer: TadjerCohenEdelson Associates, Inc.
• Contractor: Brook Rose

© Anice Hoachlander

The Metropole is a sleek, new, urban condo development positioned on a prominent corner in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. The seven-story building comprises 90 residences.

© Anice Hoachlander

Plan 1

© Anice Hoachlander

The starting point for this project is a corner unit penthouse with walls of windows along a southern and western exposure.  The space as inherited was raw and included a large double height space, anchored at the corner with expansive two-story walls of glass.  These windows afford generous city views, including a defined view toward the Washington Monument.

© Anice Hoachlander

Plan 2

© Anice Hoachlander

The design strategy employs part of the two story space to be used for a bedroom and bathroom while providing access to two rooftop spaces. These spaces are located away from the double height window wall. A large pocketing door in the bedroom provides views through the space below and south toward the Washington Monument. As designed, the stair location and arrangement of spaces allow public access to the larger rooftop terrace, while the smaller terrace becomes privately accessible from the bedroom.

© Anice Hoachlander

This project is organized around the two story corner window walls. A fireplace is suspended from the ceiling and floats in the space. A cantilevered glass platform extends from the bedroom and extends into the volume. Light fixtures that change color animate the space. The goal was to provide a dynamic space that anchored the unit while not distracting from the city views beyond.    

© Anice Hoachlander

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