• Architects: Nick Bell D&A
• Location: Whale Beach NSW 2107, Australia
• Design Team: Nick Bell, Poppi Denison, William Drew
• Area: 327.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Simon Whitbread photo

• Construction: Yuncken construction group
• Landscape Design : Marcia Hosking

© Simon Whitbread photo

The concept of this house is to create a space that mirrors its coastal setting, providing both a relaxed and uplifting environment for the owners. 

© Simon Whitbread photo

The use of steel, glass and recycled timbers creates a modern home that feels calm and confident, reflecting the underlying principle of our practice which is to design houses that are understated yet impressive; simple yet meticulously detailed. 

Plan

The building is conceived as two main elements. The main three-storey block contains the primary living and sleeping accommodation, each room enjoying an easterly aspect to the ocean, with services and circulation within a western spine. To the west is a separated two-storey pavilion, containing separated private garden accommodation.

© Simon Whitbread photo

The design of the main pavilion utilises a regular steel structure. The structural frame is emphasised to provide definition of individual areas within the main space. 

© Simon Whitbread photo

Crucial to the design is a two-storey void to the structure’s southern end. This places the communal spaces at the heart of the house and connects the two main levels used by the permanent occupants. The void also provides legible and inviting circulation within the building, to make the transition from the upper entry level to main living spaces. The main roof follows the slope up towards the west to capture natural afternoon light and, in combination with the void, maximises natural ventilation.

Section / Elevation

From this simple layout the design sought to reinforce the clarity of space and celebrate the interaction of the elements, surfaces and materials: steel, timber and glass.

© Simon Whitbread photo

When viewed from the beach and surrounds, the charcoal and timber palette ensures an understated recessive presence in keeping with the intended aesthetic and concept.

http://ift.tt/29zut4h

Courtesy of Twelve Architects

After receiving building permit approval, Twelve Architects has revealed their design for a 42,000 square meter international exhibition center in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The design, which houses a series of conference halls, a media center, gallery, exhibition space, seminar rooms and lounges, has been developed from their initial 2015 competition winning entry. Partnership with a local practice has helped to guide the design of the center, enabling the creation of a major cultural hub within Yekaterinburg.

Included within Twelve Architects’ £400 million masterplan does not only include the new cultural center but a new 300 room hotel and banqueting complex, all linking to existing exhibition halls and public spaces. The congress hall is the epicenter of the design, with a series of engaged, organically shaped volumes stacked and twisted forming the main area of the building. The architects explained in a press release that “the congress hall’s interlocking forms represent people coming together from around the world to meet and share experiences.” The main 4,000 seat auditorium is located at the heart of the building and is designed to facilitate a wide breadth of cultural and professional events.

Courtesy of Twelve Architects

Their 2015 winning design in the competition has undergone revisions to comply with the Russian SNIP building regulations. Many design decisions came from compliance necessities, including the standardization of the facade panels to meet fire codes. For this, the modular system of the steel rain screen alternates between 300mm wide silver and 150mm wide black panels, arranged into 3m panel ‘zones’ offsetting in elevation to accommodate the facade curvature.

The International Exhibition Center is the latest in a series of projects Twelve is working on in Russia, including Rostov On Don International Airport which is currently under construction. The Center is currently being documented, with construction due to begin mid-2017. 

• Architects: Twelve Architects
• Location: Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
• Area: 42000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Twelve Architects

News via Twelve Architects 

http://ift.tt/29Er4Dv

© Centrofotografico

• Architects: CMTarchitects
• Location: 53035 Monteriggioni, Province of Siena, Italy
• Architects In Charge: Arch. Paolo Mori, Arch. Simone Carloni
• Area: 400.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Centrofotografico

© Centrofotografico

The XV century farm villa, object of CMT Architetti restoration, is located in Tuscany (ITALY)  in the town of Monteriggioni (Siena), just a few steps away from the beautiful “Castello della Chiocciola”. The Villa has been attributed by some scholars to Baldassarre Peruzzi opera, a fomous Sienese painter and architect who worked in that area between the XV and the XVI century.

© Centrofotografico

© Centrofotografico

The intervention focuses on the noble floor of 400 square meters with the realisation of a modern, functional and every comfort equipped apartment.

© Centrofotografico

© Centrofotografico

The leading idea of the project was to use two parallel registers, the almost philological restoration of the original parts and the absolutely contemporary project of new interventions and  furnishing.
The result is an assembly in which the two parties communicate with expressions that are even very different, but with the constant search for a final common synthesis.

Plan

Section

The original walls were treated with a lime-colored paste and pulled to iron plaster on the example of the ancients XV centuty plasters , the floor slabs too, were treated with lime. The existing floors have been restored and they veiled with natural lime too.

© Centrofotografico

The new environments functional to the new residential program are made as white enamel gloss boxes which never arrive to the ceiling, so that they can hold  indidect led light illumination. The new living floor is made of clear ochre resin cement, without any expansion joint. Also the bath floors and coverings are made of the same materials. The night zone floors  are all made with a natural oxidized Oak parquet treated with lime.All the furniture of the house, with the exception of some object of recovery, are tailor made products from local artisans, unique and unrepeatable.

© Centrofotografico

The furnishings are made with recovered oak wood with black veins, crude raw plate treated with natural wax and opaque lacquered wood parts. The kitchen top is in black matt marble.

© Centrofotografico

The apartment is equipped with with radiant plate heating, domotics control for each function and lighting completely realized with led equipment.

http://ift.tt/29pb5Ux

Last month another building by Álvaro Siza Vieira, the Nadir Afonso Contemporary Art Museum in Chaves, Portugal commemorated its inauguration. To celebrate its opening, Fernando Guerra, from Últimas reportagens shared with us an amazing series of photographs.

See all the photos and learn more about the museum below.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Construction of the museum began in 2011 and now that it is finalized, it will house one of the most important Portuguese art collections, from the Nadir Afonso Foundation, this will most likely place the municipality of Chaves as a highlight of cultural tourism in Portugal.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

According to Bernardo Pinto de Almeida, professor and curator of the exhibit inauguration entitled “Nadir Afonso – Keys to a Work of Art,” which features 35 of the 70 years of the painter’s work says, “this is a museum that demonstrates the “greatness” of one of the great artists of the twentieth century.” The great painter of geometric abstraction is presented here as an artist, a philosopher, as well as demonstrates his other works such as his collaborations with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The museum cost £8.5 million to build, while 85% of it was privately funded. The building is punctuated by geometric references that reference the work of Nadir Afonso. His program includes an auditorium, exhibition halls, library, archive, workshop, café, and shop.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The 2,700 square meters project is set on a site about six times larger. Located on the right bank of the river Tamega, the museum was subjected to flooding, Siza’s solution was to raise it with a series of perpendicular structural blades to protect it.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The building has already been critically acclaimed by Jorge Figueira who told PUBLICO that he considers the project one of the most significant from Siza, putting it at the same level as the Iberê Camargo Foundation building in Porto Alegre. The winner of the Pritzker prize, Eduardo Souto de Moura, thinks that this is one of the best buildings he says, “I do not know if it’s the best, but it is one of the ones I like the most.”

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Nadir Afonso Contemporary Art Museum opened its doors to the public last month, a date which coincided with Chaves’s Municipal Day. Visitation is free of charge and it is open between the hours 10:00 and 24:00.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Nadir Afonso, who passed away at 93 in 2013, inspired another exhibition space, the Nadir Afonso Arts Center, by US architect Louise Braverman in collaboration with Paulo Pereira Almeida, which opened  in Boticas, near Chaves in 2013 .

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

News Via P3

http://ift.tt/29FSl5R

From the Cradle of Civilization in ancient Mesopotamia to the modern urban explosion in China, cities are among the most obvious and dramatic evidence of human existence. In a recent paper published in Scientific Data, a team led by Yale University researcher Meredith Reba mapped the emergence of cities between 3,700 BC and 2,000 AD based on when they were first mentioned in historical records.

Taking the data from this study, Max Galka of Metrocosm has produced this fascinating animation showing the history of cities worldwide. “Most datasets available go back only a few years or decades at most. This is the first one I’ve seen that covers 6 millennia,” Galka told CityLab. “I’m a big fan of history, so after reading the study, I thought it would be interesting to visualize the data and see if it offers some perspective.” The steady flow of time may seem a little slow at first, but stick with it through the early BC years and the shifts in urban development start to get intriguing. And—spoiler alert—buckle up as you approach the 20th century.

Story via CityLab

http://ift.tt/29CxTnw

© Pedro Napolitano Prata

• Architects: Studio R
• Location: São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
• Team: Flavia Ranieri, Fernanda Rosa
• Area: 60.0 m2
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Pedro Napolitano Prata

• Construction: VOS Construções
• Installations: Modelo Telecom

© Pedro Napolitano Prata

The refurbished building, located in Alto de Pinheiros – São Paulo, had its project developed to the Live Events Production Live Biz, using the existing building language in its conception: metal structures, apparent facilities, large wall frames, natural light, connection with the pleasant surrounding.

© Pedro Napolitano Prata

The ground floor is destined to the entrance and common environment of the building. There is the reception, workstations, restrooms and pantry. To this floor the specifications are cement coated floor, dark gray walls, pendant industrial luminaries, functional furniture and a street art wall panel. The big wall frames compose the ambient with the skyline view, reinforcing the connection with the city through the nice visual permeability that is beautiful in the sunset and protected by blinds from unwanted natural light during the day.

© Pedro Napolitano Prata

The meeting room in the mezzanine, which project was guided by the industrial and urban references just like the other rooms, has the floor made by gray painted wood boards, dark gray walls, pendant luminaries and a personalized wall painting in red. 

Section

The collection of their products and productions applied to a wall, combined with the forms, textures and exposed materials, are the synthesis of the contemporary trend intended from the beginning of the project

© Pedro Napolitano Prata

http://ift.tt/29wCnwg

© Paul Kuimet

• Architects: Kodasema
• Location: Tallinn, Estonia
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Paul Kuimet

© Paul Kuimet

From the architect. KODA by Kodasema – a movable pre-fab mini house prototype from Estonia has been shortlisted for the Small Project Prize at the World Architecture Festival 2016. KODA is one out of nine projects listed in that category. The mini house was first presented in autumn 2015 at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale.

© Paul Kuimet

KODA is a sustainable and movable mini house with built-in IT that enables the house to learn from and adjust to the surroundings. The house is being developed near Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, by a small company Kodasema. Kodasema functions as an open platform for professionals from various fields in Estonia and abroad. More than 100 experts helped to create the prototype.

Plan

The World Architecture Festival is an annual festival and awards ceremony for the architecture industry, taking place since 2008. This year the festival is held in Berlin, Germany on November 16-18. For this year’s competition, there are 343 shortlisted projects from 58 countries that compete for awards in 32 categories. One of these projects will be awarded the World Building of the Year title.

© Paul Kuimet

Next to KODA Walking Concrete in Small Project Prize category there is listed a ferry terminal resilient to flood in Australia, residential houses to protect from infectious diseases in Tanzania, a museum built of clay and straw in Russia, pop-up public library network in the urban space in the Philippines and four others.

Section

In previous years, altogether five projects from Estonia have been shortlisted in different categories for the World Architecture Festival Award.

© Paul Kuimet

http://ift.tt/29Cxq34

Courtesy of Studioninedots

• Architects: Studioninedots
• Location: The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Design Team: Albert Herder, Vincent van der Klei, Arie van der Neut, Metin van Zijl
• Area: 1150.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Studioninedots

• Project Team: Jurjen van der Horst, Coen Smit, Giovanni Lavanna
• Developer: OntwerpJeWoning
• Contractor: Vink Bouw

Courtesy of Studioninedots

From the architect. Amstelkwartier is a new mixed-use residential/commercial district in Amsterdam Oost. This 12-hectare site is currently being developed with 1,100 dwellings and 30,000 m2 commercial space. Amstelkwartier released four plots of land to accommodate the increasing popularity for people to design their own homes in an urban context. On plot C2, a collective of private owner-clients, with their own individual apartments, simultaneously developed the Lofts by the Amstel apartment block.

Scheme

Scheme

Lofts by the Amstel’s unique, prefabricated concrete structure enables a building width of 12.5 metres, which is twice that of traditional Amsterdam apartments. In addition the building features a glass facade that extends the entire building width – both conscious decisions considering the site’s phenomenal water views. The dwellings each occupy an entire floor of 160 m2 and have a different character from a family home to a completely open loft. Studioninedots also designed the interior of the top floor apartment.

Courtesy of Studioninedots

The facades and balconies are constructed from white prefab concrete. The white volume rests on a dark grey basalt plinth that recalls the cladding of dike and canal walls in Amsterdam. On the front and rear facades the balconies’ organic forms echo the meandering lines of the canal-side park and represent the movement of water of the river Amstel.

Courtesy of Studioninedots

The balcony dimensions are exceptional: 2.5 metres deep and 12.5 metres wide, the same as the building width. Folds recede on the balconies at certain sections, cleverly creating double-height spaces. This ensures that sun and daylight reach deep into the apartments. The fluid lines of the balconies are accentuated by integrated LED strips that illuminate by night and through the optical play of open and closed sections in the curved balustrades. Integrated in the floors of the front balconies, in line with the curves, are elongated concrete planters, which emphasise the sustainable character of the building.

Courtesy of Studioninedots

http://ift.tt/29u0WZs

© Uzi Porat

• Architects: Amitzi Architects
• Location: Bnei Dror, Israel
• Structural Engineer: Doron Tweg
• Area: 300.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2011
• Photographs: Uzi Porat

© Uzi Porat

From the architect. The house was designed for a family with 3 children and a modest budget, in a dense neighborhood.

© Uzi Porat

The public spaces open onto the back garden to the south, and the bedrooms face the street to the north.

Floor Plan

The section is split-level: The master bedroom is partially submerged in the ground, yet well-lit and cosy. The childrens’ bedrooms are stacked directly on top of it and are thus elevated and seperated from street level. The public area is on the mezzanine – ground floor – which results in a floor height of one storey and a half– almost 4 meters.

© Uzi Porat

The street facade is modest and lower than the adjacent houses, and the lofty, one-and-a-half storey high interior is unexpectedly revealed only when entering the house. The exposed concrete ceiling floats 60 centimeters above the peripheral walls using steel columns. The resulting clerestory windows provide glimpses to the outside and ample natural light. The ceiling overhangs outwards to block the sun’s heat and glare and prevent views from the adjacent, higher houses. The clerestory windows are executed with frameless glass panes inserted into U-profiles set into the ceiling during the casting. To maintain privacy, the side walls are windowless, and the living room opens only towards the back garden

Section

Materials are simple and typical to the area: exposed concrete ceiling, white-washed walls and oak floors. The approach path is combed concrete and the back garden holds a pine-wood deck

© Uzi Porat

Detail

© Uzi Porat

http://ift.tt/29t14LJ

• Architects: AEDAS
• Location: Dalian, Liaoning, China
• Area: 221900.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015

• Director: Christine Lam and David Clayton
• Structural: Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.
• E&M Engineer: Parsons Brinckerhoff (Asia) Ltd.
• Quantity Surveyor: Langdon & Seah China Ltd.
• Traffic Consultant: MVA Hong Kong Ltd.
• Lighting Designer: DUO Lighting Design + Associates
• Client: Hang Lung Properties Ltd
• Site Area: 63,400 sqm

From the architect. Olympia 66 is a statement of innovative design as a landmark in the city of Dalian, China. The design respects Chinese culture and urban context, with the thoughtful approach to its relationship to the street providing generous community space and plazas with integrated landscape. This 7-storey shopping mall grasps the  fine balance between complex form and function, responding to the immediate surroundings and local community and providing the largest shopping, lifestyle and leisure complex in Dalian.

Concept

Olympia 66 is located at Wusi Lu, a prominent avenue in the heart of commercial and residential district in Dalian. The 63,400-square- metre site is adjacent to the Olympia Square, a sequence of squares along the main avenue of Zhongshan Lu. To the east sits People’s Square, the home of the municipal government, whilst to the west is Xinghai Square. With great visibility from Zhongshan Lu and Wusi Lu, the project has good road transport connections and a link to the new underground railway.

Olympia 66 creates a contemporary statement with an oriental overtone, defining an iconic city destination. The design drew inspiration from the twin carp, a symbol of wealth and abundance in Chinese culture which are typically used in Chinese New Year paintings.

Floor Plan

The interplay of two swimming carp inspired a dynamic form which allows a loop circulation  owing through a continuous chain of retail, atrium and event spaces to the sky-plaza and central roof garden, creating an exciting and diverse lifestyle experience.

Internal curving arcs resemble the dancing carp, with the expression of a series of simple shells with the tail owing over the curving central spine. The shells on the roof are layered to create clear storey glazing, allowing direct and reflected light into the two atrium spaces. The main façade is composed of hexagonal modules with various lighting effects recapturing the reflective scales of a carp.

The building form enhances urban connectivity and integration through multiple entrances. The continuous shop frontage at street level not only provides great visibility of retail but also makes the building totally permeable at ground level. Main entrances are prominently de ned and open into generous event spaces allowing a pause before joining the vortex of circulation.

Exploded Envelope

The enormous  floor area is divided into open event spaces and retail areas with a central spine which runs through the centre of the mall linking two large atria on each side and diagonally linking the corner entrances. Leisure activities and event spaces are sequenced along the retail route providing opportunities for visitors to rest at a cafe or take in an exhibition. Landscaped terraces wrap around the building further enhancing a relaxing shopping environment. Integrated digital signage is implemented to direct visitors the shortest routes to destinations within the building.

Three floors of basement provide service docks and 1,400 car parking spaces. Basement circulation is enhanced by the underground railway connection and two passenger drop-offs located at the sunken courtyards at B1 level.

Section

In response to the northern Chinese climate, the largely solid insulated roof creates overlapping blades and clear storey glazing to allow direct light into the atrium while shading summer sun, thus preventing heat loss in winter and solar gain in summer. The roof blades also serves as a big light shelf to maximise reflected light down into the atrium spaces. The project is pre-certified with a LEED Gold rating.

http://ift.tt/29pbXIq