Courtesy of Gbau

• Architects: Gbau
• Location: 74570 Thorens-Glières, France
• Area: 710.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of Gbau, Emmanuelle Blanc , Beatrice Cafieri , Courtesy of Maire de Thorens Glieres

• Structural Engineering: Giraldon Ingénierie
• Fluids Engineers: Bureau Nicolas
• Economy And Project Coordination: eic2
• Acoustic: res’on
• Paysage: Apu atelier de Paysage et d’urbanisme

© Emmanuelle Blanc

From the architect. The town of thorens-glières wished to renovate the presbytery building dating back to the middle of the 19th century with a view to housing a medical center and small lodging for the parish priest. It also wanted to have a reception hall for the pilgrims who regularly come to venerate the theologist Saint François de sales, born in the château of the same name, very near the town and made a bishop in 1602 in the adjoining church, unfortunately rebuilt at the end of the 19th century.

Courtesy of Gbau

Courtesy of Gbau

The first goal of the project was to restore the house and garden pair constituting a rural subsistence economy, typical of grouped housing village planning. The old jardin de curé (small enclosed garden) redesigned to match its former size was enclosed by a thick outer wall creating a sanctuary. The garden section was positioned at the foot of the old building as the folded down apron of its façade.

Courtesy of Gbau

Plan 1

© Emmanuelle Blanc

This composition develops the interiority and withdrawal associated with a sunken enclosed garden, protected from the bustle of the street. It seeks to diminish the volume of the pilgrim’s hall, a structure completely overlooking the garden and part of the wall, creating a sort of cavity at its triangular point. The second goal was to make the shape invisible from the road.

© Emmanuelle Blanc

The intervention in the old presbytery cultivates an affection for ‘‘the natural state of things’’ well-ordered rooms and a plan linking them, materials and surfaces altered or painted, inclusion of new features in the palimpsest of the past. 

Courtesy of Gbau

Section

The third goal was to reject the picturesque, or, conversely, vivid and ostentatious contemporary surroundings, obtaining a middle ground in the mixture of techniques and non-invasive materials: engineering materials, no-fines concrete aggregating a lean concrete and a river washed aggregate, renderings and lime wash, preservation of wood flooring by hea upturned beam reinforcement in the joist work and implemented in thickness of the old structure.

Courtesy of Maire de Thorens Glieres

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© Saeed Pirasteh

• Architects: S-A-L Design Studio
• Location: Tehran, Iran
• Architect In Charge: Behrad Tondravi
• Design Team: Siamak Khaksar, Hiva Farajpour Bakhtiari, Faranak Foroughi, Soheil Ghasemi, Alireza Fazeli, Nilufar Moosavi, Nahid Malayeri, Farshid Moosavi
• Area: 1900.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Saeed Pirasteh

© Saeed Pirasteh

Project’s site is located in one of North Tehran vicinities which comprises of condensed cluster buildings and narrow alleys. Therefore, approximately an amount of 48 sq. m. of the total land area of 350 sq. m. was neglected by the municipality code in order to widen the alley. In addition to the client’s required physical program, this issue led the building to be extremely compressed, as well as parking lots to be hard to design and the mass of building to be solid for shaping.

© Saeed Pirasteh

Consequently, Building’s outstanding features has been restricted to variety of terraces, altered skyline in comparison with regular flats and a new geometrical patterns which dominate the main facade. The said pattern provides maximum view and natural light into interior spaces, while illusively does not let observer recognize story arrangements and inner structures; in the meanwhile, it makes new and different view layout, by rearranging the floor story levels, horizontal lines and skyline; and this may lead the building to be realized as a unity so long as challenging the observers’ perception.

Section

Facade’s basic structure consisted of large-scale rectangular frames covered by natural honed travertine. The secondary effective layer outlines wooden cribriform panels used in similar pattern and color with the main material. Geometrically, the lattice has square holes in small-scale which inspires ancient Persian architecture with its famous humanized values.

© Saeed Pirasteh

Diagram

On the other hand, conducting light through the lattice imparts the outer sense continuously into interior space, whereas lights inside the house would be adjusted due to the harmonic moves by casting shadows and lights. Inside the house has been influenced by façade’s theme using wood and natural stone in large tiles and vast areas, which promotes a calm and peaceful place to live.

© Saeed Pirasteh

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Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

• Architects: Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.
• Location: No. 1, Dongkangsi Street, Daci Temple, Chengdu City, China (Taikoo Li)
• Main Designers: Tang Jiajun, Liu Ruiyan
• Area: 700.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

 It is challenge consisting of passion and contradiction when we take over the new restaurant which will keep a foothold at the most fashionable and dynamic landmark in Chengdu.

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

It is a time-honored restaurant which has been famous for Sichuan cuisine over a hundred years and inherited by four generations. The restaurant devotes itself to cook traditional exquisite Sichuan dishes by using the most ecological and natural food materials. The sense of leisure embodies the beauty of simplicity in “Xiaohebang” (a style of Sichuan cuisine).

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

After experiencing, recollecting and perceiving the glamour of various teahouses, old streets and markets in western Sichuan, the highlight of our space design must be the long-lost “relaxation and leisure” which is also the language to be used by us at this time.

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

Ground Floor Plan

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

Some noise, which may be a kind of jollification and feelings for ancient Sichuan and Chengdu, shall be included. Drinking tea, taking a meal and enjoying unvoiced sound may be at the same timeline. The bamboo and bamboo weaving at the West Sichuan Plain Area may accompany us as a kind of geniality and aftertaste of lives. It also may be a local characteristic to feel but not covered by impracticality and vanity as well as a space sense matched with the century-old restaurant.

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

The architectural design tries to avoid artificial elements in building appearance and patterns as much as possible, whatever they are outside surfaces or entrances. The building appearance can become gentle and exquisite by installing simple bamboo screens, ensuring good day-lighting and removing deliberate assemblies. Every detail in the room may shorten the distance between space and customers artificially, whatever it is the mental, spatial or reminiscent distance, such as Laohuzao (a traditional Chinese kitchen range used to boil water) tea table at the entry of restaurant, a large amount of kitchen range above the cooking station and rattan weaving behind sofas. It should be a combination of space and delicacy when customers cannot help having their eye expression of surprise just like in childhood. 

Courtesy of Chengdu Hummingbird Design Consultant Co., Ltd.

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© Peter Bennetts

• Architects: DKO
• Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
• Area: 12000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Peter Bennetts , Derek Swalwell

• Client: One Community Church

© Derek Swalwell

From the architect. The design of the Church focused on reinventing the modern day church to create a multi-purpose community and youth centre for all people. The result is a centre that encourages community based activities and provides an ideal vehicle for sharing information, ideas and resources.

© Peter Bennetts

© Peter Bennetts

The building contains a coffee shop, function rooms, youth centre, reception area, breakout spaces and a 500 seat auditorium. Construction of this project was undertaken whilst maintaining full operation of the Church facilities.

© Derek Swalwell

DKO’s architect and interior design teams worked closely to design the latest addition to the burgeoning floor plate of the Church. The design brief was looking to achieve a series of spaces that would appeal to both their existing congregation and a new, younger following whilst also encapsulating the fresh, modern image of the Church.

Floor Plan

Catering to a richly diverse demographic, the series of spaces were designed for flexibility to assist in the abundance of events held at the church; from weddings to children’s Sunday school.

© Derek Swalwell

Both the large open plan areas and smaller intimate zones act as a meeting point for the young and old generations within the community. 

© Derek Swalwell

The interior palette was paired back to natural timber and durable materials, successfully grounding the project and dividing the expansive floor plate into a series of functional & private enclosures. Clad entirely in American Oak these pods mimic the angular architecture of the building’s exterior fabric whilst housing the Café, Reception and Councillors rooms. In contrast to the warm timber tones, cool greys and black were used to create a versatile interior that will stand the test of time.

© Derek Swalwell

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© Brett Boardman

• Architects: Those Architects , End of Work
• Location: Sydney NSW, Australia
• End Of Work Team: Geordie McKenzie, Justin Smith, Goran Momircevski
• Those Architects Team: Simon Addinall, Ben Mitchell
• Client: Vic’s Meat
• Area: 650.0 sqm
• Photographs: Brett Boardman

© Brett Boardman

From the architect. A new home for the head of ce of Australia’s iconic meat brand. The founders/owners of this iconic specialist Australian meat business have always been ahead the pack. They wanted their new head of ce to reflect essence of their brand; a high end meat supplier to Australia’s leading chefs, hotels, restaurants and consumers, as well as housing a range of pragmatic and state of the art production and cooking facilities.

© Brett Boardman

Plan

Australia has a strong food culture, and this business is a key part of that. The Vic’s Meat brand is two faceted; at a retail level, it represents the ultra high end retail experience for a very indulgent kind of foodie/home chef types through Victor Churchill located in Woollahra. Vic’s Meat is the trade brand – it’s more of a B2B type brand that services high end restaurants and hotels. They have also developed the television show and iphone app, Ask the Butcher.

© Brett Boardman

We set out to design a flexible, pragmatic, robust, inspiring space that would embody the Vic’s Meat brand – a space where our clients could run the business, oversee production, entertain top chefs, showcase the latest ideas in meat cooking and technology, host regular television appearances and welcome international guests and suppliers.

© Brett Boardman

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North façade of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, TX. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

Michael Maltzan Architecture has released new images of their design for the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University in Houston, Texas, coinciding with the announcement that the building will open to the public on February 24, 2017. The building is conceived as a multi-disciplinary lab for creativity, which will contain “an experimental platform for creating and presenting works in all disciplines” as well as a flexible teaching space and a forum to host partnerships with visiting national and international artists.

Northwest corner of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

The $30 million, 50,000 square foot building will be located in the new arts district of campus, adjacent to the Shepherd School of Music and James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany Skyspace. Program pieces in the building include an art gallery space, a 150-seat black box theater, a experimental performance space and a cafe. These spaces will be centered around a light-filled atrium containing a fully-fitted maker lab, with immediate access to a wood shop, metal shop, paint booth, rapid prototyping areas, classrooms, a technology library and AV editing booths.

Rendering of Creative Open Studio at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

Flexible Gallery at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

“The interior of the Moody is designed to foster a sense of openness and possibility” said Michael Maltzan. “The double-height makers’ space at its heart can be imagined as an interior quad, echoing the other quads found throughout the Rice campus. This interior landscape brings the most diverse programmatic functions into contact with one another, while opening views out to the campus.”

“This emphasis on transparency extends to the building’s exterior, whose brick-clad upper story seems to float over an entry level encased in floor-to-ceiling glass. With pedestrian paths cutting across the site’s open lawn and into the building, a set of stairs on the north façade turning back to form an interior amphitheater, and the cantilevered mass of the second story creating covered walkways below, the Moody will be one of the most active social spaces on the Rice campus, and a welcoming facility for all of Houston.”

West façade of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Summer 2016. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

Northwest corner detail of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, August 2016. Image © Geoff Winningham

Development of the Moody is made possible by a $20 million grant from the Texas-based Moody Foundation, a charitable organization with an emphasis on education, social services, children’s needs and community development, with additional generous support from the Brown Foundation and other donors.

The Moody will also contain facilities for its first artist-in-residence program. The first resident will be Mona Hatoum, an internationally acclaimed Beirut-born Palestinian artist whose sculpture, performance, video and installation pieces are currently on display as part of a major survey exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. Hatoum will begin her residency in spring 2017, following the completion of the building, to develop works for a major exhibition to be displayed at Houston’s Menil Collection in fall 2017.

North façade of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Summer 2016. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

Gallery at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. Image Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.

Development on the Moody is funded by a $20 million grant from the Moody Foundation, a charitable organization that places an emphasis on education, social services, children’s needs and community development. Additional support comes from the Brown Foundation and other donors.

The building is currently under construction.

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© Salva López

• Architects: MESURA
• Location: 17467 Sant Mori, Girona, España
• Project Manager: Marcos Parera
• Project Year: 2016
• Photography: Salva López

• Constructor: Construccions i Reformes El Yazidi SL

© Salva López

From the architect. Shade becomes shelter.

…And at the appropriate place, builds up coexistence between individuals. 

A couple, a traditional house in the Empordà and one dream.

© Salva López

Houses should evolve along with its user. Ana María and Manuel, our clients, made the decision of spending as much time as possible in their summerhouse in Sant Mori. Located between Figueres and Girona, Sant Mori is a rural village with irregular geometry, which offers a characteristic Mediterranean landscape scenery to its inhabitants, bounded by  fields and forests.

© Salva López

The Blasco-Nicolau family was already using the house regularly during the hottest months of the year and therefore, the swimming pool has always been an important feature to their summer lifestyle. Nevertheless, its use was mainly focused on the water area, as the adjacent space was not comfortable despite its appeal.

© Salva López

The idea was to bring back the space’s vitality with the purpose of making it the house’s exterior heart: a meeting point, an exterior room for the family. A place under a canopy’s shade, where three generations would coexist, chat and share moments.

© Salva López

The pool area used to be a place of joy and gathering for the family in summer. Due to the pasing of time and to low maintenance, it ended up being a cold, uncomfortable and neglected place. 

Lying under the sun is one of the pleasures of open spaces and a canopy is a haven of shade if you want to get away from the sun.). We should return this area the identity it had one day.

© Salva López

Facing east, the swimming pool was surrounded, on two of its sides, by the façade of the main room of the house and by the cold and hard neighbour’s common facade. On the contrary, the remaining sides were surrounded by vegetation with views towards Sant Mori’s fields and forests.

© Salva López

We had a clear answer:: Generate– a new facade with dominant horizontality  on  the existing common facade, in order to give this space a sense of unity.

Plan 1

Once again, the project’s challenge was how to achieve  the objectives using all resources given and reducing the visual impact as much as possible. The functional necessity to build a large storeroom with a facade to the outdoor area  wasn`t going to  be  an obstacle but a  defining elements of the project’s strategy. The recycling of some extra floor tiles from a previous project carried out by the owners was also going  to sum up . Minimum investment in all resources, maximum transformation in the spaces revitalization. A contained architecture for an intense lifestyle.  

© Salva López

The project starts from an already existing piece  (50×50 cm, with open joints) that helps to organize the project’s development, creating a very structured grid pattern where alignment lines and modular order are respected. The noblest areas, such as the solarium and the living room, contrast with a solid wood pavement, which gives the necessary warmth to the place.

© Salva López

Canopy and storeroom share a common roof: a single supportive element, that rests on a concrete wall. The structure is formed by two metal rectangles and follows the project’s key principle:  8mx2m storeroom  formed by UPN-240 and 12,5mx3m canopy formed by UPN-300, joined together on one side by UPN-200. This connecting line is in charge of assuming everything the project demands: a subtle edge yet complex beam (formed by three profiles that help to reduce the sag or deflection), collects the sliding doors that compose the facade of the storeroom at its lower edge and produces the gutter at its upper profile. One single element with three accomplished objectives.

Detail

The light belts of the canopy project a  sequence of changeable  shadows  on the floor, which reflect the passing of  time. 

Proposal of minimum intervention: A simple horizontal element, which generates shade and transforms  dramatically  the interior/exterior perception. It is not under the sunrays where architecture is experienced, but under the shade’s shelter. Consequently,  walls or openings aren’t limits but a subtle and vibrant barrier created by its own projected shadows.

© Salva López

The project Blasco-Nicolau is an example of Mesura; of how, from a small intervention it is possible to generate an enormous impact on architecture’s use and enjoyment. An effort to reduce what is strictly functional and structural to achieve the highest quality of the space. The smart use of all available materials as well as the way in which they are carefully selected, leads to a transforming and at the same time calm and restrained intervention.

El uso inteligente de los materiales disponibles, así como su cuidadosa puesta en obra, permite una actuación transformadora pero, a su vez, tranquila y sobria.

© Salva López

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Courtesy of Urban Agency

Urban Agency and Group-K have placed 3rd in a competition for a “Wood Experience Center” on the island of Jeju, South Korea. The project location is an area of the island called Redorum, a wild natural environment containing a dense cedar forest and a tranquil lake. The architects responded to this unique site by designing a building that both preserves the unspoiled beauty of the landscape and creates an iconic building containing an exhibition hall, workshop and library.

Courtesy of Urban Agency

The architects began by asking the question, “How [do you] design a building which can truly be in dialogue with the “genius loci” of the site?” The solution was to create a low, one-story building that both blends and complements the natural context. A semi-circular opening in the back of the structure forms a natural courtyard for the building to open onto, while the front features opening with views of the lake.

Urban Agency and Group-K propose a timber structure for the building to reflect its environment through “materiality, proportion and architectural expression.” The building is also clad in timber siding; together with the parabolic roof, the aesthetic begins to mirror the rhythm of the surrounding tree trunks. Because the timber would be left untreated, the timber would silver with time, allowing the building to blend increasingly into the site.

Courtesy of Urban Agency

Wood finishes continue into the building interior, where wooden floors, ceiling and walls envelope visitors in the sensory qualities of the material, connecting the indoors to the outdoors. The only other material in the project is the glazing from the strategically placed windows offering framed views to the forest and lake, giving the space an interior expression akin to a modern tree house or hut.

The parabolic roof gives the interior spaces additional ceiling height, and provides room for a large mezzanine that cuts through the building, bringing visitors higher into the canopy level of the forest and providing the best view out beyond the lake.

Courtesy of Urban Agency

• Architects: URBAN AGENCY, Group-K
• Location: Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
• Architect Team: Urban Agency, Group-K
• Client: Jeju Island Commune
• Budget: 3,200,000 EUR
• Area: 1500.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Urban Agency

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© Javier Agustín Rojas

• Architects: Colle-Croce
• Location: Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
• Authors: Sebastián Colle, Rodolfo Croce
• Collaborator: Lucas Bruno
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Javier Agustín Rojas

© Javier Agustín Rojas

From the architect. The house is located in an urbanization in the town of Pilar, province of Buenos Aires. The environment is characterized by a long-standing, profuse vegetation. 

Diagram

On a 20m x 40m. plot, the implantation seeks to minimize the footprint of the house to achieve a greater absorbent surface soil, and direct natural illumination of all north-facing areas of the house.

© Javier Agustín Rojas

The resolution of the cross section allows incorporating the gallery insidet the built volume and qualifying the public area with a higher altitude.

© Javier Agustín Rojas

On the ground floor the window system favors the expansion of the living room and the kitchen into the gallery. The access, toilet, sauna hydro-massage and the service area safeguard this huge ground floor from the street. 

Details

The stereotomic plinth made of reinforced concret confers solidity. Furthermore, the tectonic finish of the house with a steel frame system along with a metalic cover, complet the expressive-comstructive system of the house.

© Javier Agustín Rojas

“We define stereotomic architecture as that one in which gravity is discountinuosly transferred, in a continuous structural system where the constructive continuity is completed. It´s a massive architecture, petreous, heavy. That one that sits on the soil as emerging from there. It´s the architecture that follow the light, that one that pierce the walls so the light could enter. It´s the architecture of the podium, the plinth. That one of the stylobate. It´s, summarizing, the cave architecture.” Campo Baeza.

© Javier Agustín Rojas

“We define tectonic architecture as that one in which gravity is discountinuosly transferred, in a structural system with knots where the construction is syncopated. It´s a boney architecture, woody, light. That one that settle on the soil as raising on tiptoe. It´s the architecture that safeguard from light, that look after their hollow to control the light coming inside. It´s the shell architecture. The one of the abacus. It´s, summarizing, the architecture of the cottage.” Campo Baeza.

© Javier Agustín Rojas

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via World Architecture Festival

The program for the 2016 edition of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) has been announced. Being held from November 16-18 at the Arena Berlin, Germany, the festival will feature 3 days and 4 nights of events including conferences, lectures and seminars, architect-led city tours and networking opportunities, as well as live critiques of the 411 projects shortlisted for the 2016 WAF Awards. An all-star list of speakers will include leading architectural figures such as Patrik Schumacher, Ole Scheeren and Peter Cook.

This theme of this year’s festival is “Housing For Everyone.” Inspired by a variety of influences, markedly the condition of displaced communities of political and disaster refugees, lectures will focus on “the growing understanding of how demographics and global urbanization are forcing change; and the imperatives to create shelter at one end of the spectrum, and sufficiency for occupation and investment at the other.”

Keynote speakers will end each night with an hour long lecture or discussion. On Wednesday, filmmaker Hubertus Siegert will talk to Louisa Hutton, Principal of Sauerbruch Hutton, about his acclaimed 2001 film “Berlin Babylon” and the continued reconstruction of Berlin from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the present day. Thursday, Zaha Hadid Architects director Patrik Schumacher will examine the typology of housing as architecture, looking beyond the current discourse typically focused on politics, migration, urbanization and numbers. Wrapping up proceedings on Friday will be Sir Christopher Frayling, historian, critic, broadcaster, and Chancellor of the University of the Arts, Bournemouth, discussing film, architecture and the city of Berlin.

In addition to the Arena Berlin events, the WAF will offer architect-led tours of the city by Niche Berlin, a city guide company that focuses on introducing visitors to contemporary and hard-to-find architectural gems, including access to normally restricted destinations. The tours will present both important and under-appreciated building projects, as well as their history and context within the city and the history of architecture as a whole.

Attendees will also be welcome to attend the live project critiques, WAF’s Gala Dinner and late-night drinks. Additionally, the Festival Hall will provide the opportunity to meet with suppliers and manufacturers, and will feature installations and product showcases.

More information about the event can be found in the online event brochure.

A full list of city tours and additional information is available here.

World Architecture Festival Announces Judges for 2016
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