Green Certification: LEED Silver for homes, U.S. Green Building Council
Area: 3626 sf2
Courtesy of Gabriela Caicedo-Liebert
From the architect. DILIDO HAUS is a single family home designed with a unique vision, the expression of both, personal story and architectural history. The intention was to achieve an architecture of dignity and honesty. The ideas built upon the strong foundations of Miami’s rich history, geography and culture, while using the latest construction technologies and high quality materials. The front façade of Dilido Haus expresses the key characteristics of MIMO, an architectural style that evolved from Art Deco and Streamline. A rectangle with horizontal proportions, flat roof broad overhanging eaves echoed by horizontal projections of balconies, creating what appear to be two thin continuous gray lines drawn across the white façade and dividing it into three elements: roof terrace, second and ground floor.
Courtesy of Gabriela Caicedo-Liebert
Two identical white, round cornered, windowless blocks form a mirror image of one another facing a generous interior courtyard, partially enclosed by a double height store front glass wall. A thin bridge connects the both volumes. The solidity of the blocks contrasts with their interior openness to the courtyard and the exterior balcony projections that expand the interior spaces. The horizontal planes appear to be suspended by traditional, thin round steel columns. The curved wall separates the car port from the exterior steps leading to the main entrance landing, strengthening the central axis shift to the west and producing a subtle but noticeable asymmetry. From the front door, the main axis is projected onto the floor as a mosaic line, running in serpentine motion across the central interior space to the exterior covered back patio, dipping into the pool and finding and end point on the wall of the water feature.
Courtesy of Gabriela Caicedo-Liebert
Plan 1
Courtesy of Gabriela Caicedo-Liebert
Dilido Haus was built using poured in place concrete. Due to the sandy terrain of the island, more than 30 pilotis, approximately 12 meters (40 feet) deep support the foundation. The glass windows and doors resist 110 Km/h (177 miles per hour) winds. The first floor is elevated 75 cm (2.5 feet) above the 100 year flood plain.
Model 1
About Gabriela Caicedo-Liebert
Gabriela Liebert, also known as Gabriela Caicedo, was born in Quito, Ecuador. She graduated with a Masters in Architecture from Tulane University. Gabriela then worked for The Rockwell Group in New York City and Arquitectonica in Miami, Fl. In 2000 Gabriela worked at Luminaire, Coral Gables where she broadened her knowledge of high end European modern furniture and Interior Space Planning. Gabriela specializes in the design of innovative prototypes and unique residential projects, with a strong emphasis in the development of conceptual design. Additionally, Gabriela currently represents the American Institute of Architects, European Chapter, as Germany Director.
MAD’s first residential project in Europe was revealed by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo earlier today. The building, called UNIC, will be located in the newly developed neighborhood of Clichy-Batignolles, a former brownfield site in the northeast of the seventeenth arrondissement, covering over fifty hectares. The tower will be adjacent to Martin Luther King Park and a courthouse by Renzo Piano that is currently under construction. MAD was awarded the design through an international competition, and the project is being developed in collaboration with Biecher Architectes.
Courtesy of MAD Architects
The 13-story 6,600 square meter (71,000 square foot) building features curvaceous floorplates that taper slightly as the tower reaches its full-height of 50 meters. Each floor spills out into exterior spaces that act as a vertical extension of the 10 hectares of green space in Martin Luther King Park. The terraces are reminiscent of those found on Studio Gang’s Aqua Tower, but are larger at UNIC, generating a more secluded and natural experience. The upper floors of the building will bestow views of the surrounding city.
Courtesy of MAD Architects
The building’s construction is a simple double core with a concrete facade. At the podium level, the structure is connected to an adjacent public housing project, and will provide community resources, including a kindergarten, retail spaces, and restaurants, as well as direct access to the Metro.
Courtesy of MAD Architects
To ensure the project integrates well into the neighborhood, MAD participated in workshops about macro-scale planning and micro-scale details, including sustainable community development, resource sharing, energy management, and population demographics. “We worked closely with the local government, city planners and local architects in a series of workshops to ensure UNIC is a creative and iconic residential project united with the community,” says MAD’s founder & principal partner Ma Yansong.
Location: Parc Clichy-Batignolles – Martin-Luther-King, 147 Rue Cardinet, 75017 Paris, France
Directors: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Design Team: Zhao Wei, Flora Lee, Wu Kaicong, Daniel Gillen, Jiang Bin, Andrea D’ Antrassi, Tristan Brasseur, Juan Valeros, Gustavo Alfred van Staveren, Xin Dogterom, Juan Pablo, Cesar d Pena Del Rey, Natalia Giacomino
From the architect. Casa Cal belongs to a coastal community of 8 houses in a coastal area near Puerto Escondido Oaxaca the mexican surf mecca. Six of these houses have ocean front and two are placed in a second row behind, at the beginning only the six ocean front houses were built and the other two were left in foundations and columns, the reason was that these two houses had the same design as the ocean front houses, so it was necessary a new design that considered the particular issues of this site.
So the owner hired Alfonso Quñones -BAAQ´- to design a whole new project that retook the already built foundations. It represented some challenges, first the view to the ocean in the ground floor was completely blocked by the other houses and in the second floor had partial views between the roofs of the other houses and to the east.
Part of the new design strategy was to allocate the bedrooms and private quarters in the ground floor, and the social area in the second floor. The north and west side was flank by a 5 m white wall with locally handmade latticework parametrically placed to exit the wind flow coming from the sea and passing thru the louver shaped carpentry opposed to the wall, cooling down the rooms.
The wall also gives privacy blocking the view from the common areas and paths of the community to the social area, and enhances the view towards the ocean, this gesture gives the project contrasting types of facades, one totally opened and the other totally closed. The system used for the roof of this area was the traditional Palapa, which is made by artisans with wood and palm leaves which is very fresh and provides shade to the slabs of the rooms beneath.
The pool was shaped as an independent concrete cube inserted in the middle of the house allowing the use from the top floor and dividing in two patios the ground area. Also a small studio was built in the top floor away from the palapa. Considering that the studio was the only element above ground aside from the palapa, it was designed as a cube but made of palm bones (stems) forming louvers,giving a more lite sensation and freshness.
The whole design considers the warm weather that prevails thru the year in the area and takes advantage of the ocean breeze, forming wind flows thru the whole house, inserting gardens for cooling the surrounding soil, and blocking direct sunrays in the closed areas. All these strategies makes possible to have really fresh temperatures inside the house without using air conditioning systems.
In a city as renowned for its historic buildings as Prague, urban change can often be hard to come by – which is why the announcement earlier this month that Zaha Hadid Architects will be designing a large complex of buildings around a railway station close to the city’s historic center was big news. But is this the design that Prague needs? In this interview, originally published in Czech by Česká televize, Michaela Polakova speaks to Martin Barry, the founder of Prague-based NGO reSITE, for his analysis of how the design will impact the city’s future.
Michaela Polakova: What is your opinion on the new Zaha Hadid Architects building in Prague?
Martin Barry: To me, it seems is too early to comment on the aesthetics of the buildings. We should focus on how the collection of buildings enhances the urban character of the city, and how they can improve the urban condition around the buildings. The city is a collection of buildings; the spaces between are what influence people’s lives; not so much the materials and forms of the architecture. That being said, this is a major development site and relatively large footprint of buildings from ZHA adjacent to the historic center of the city. So, we should pay close attention to how the designs develop. At present, it is clear that it is early and they need work.
It has been nearly 20 years since a private investor has hired an internationally known architect to design and construct a mixed-use building in Prague, since Frank Gehry designed Dancing House. My opinion is: it’s about time. Prague will be a more real and livable city with a healthy mix of contemporary and historic buildings.
MP: Do you think it will have an impact on the value of the surrounding land? And, on life in the neighborhood?
MB: Yes. And, by the way, that is the natural course of development and change in cities. If one walks past the site on Na Florenci street today, you cannot argue it’s a nice place to be. It’s a brownfield with fences and weeds. It’s neglected, it seems dangerous, it’s dark at night. There is no life on the street there other than business people going to-and-from the recently built, Jakub Cigler-designed Florentinum during working hours.
The current massing of the buildings is a bit off for me. This is partially a result of the architects not knowing whether the new Prague Building Regulations (zoning plan) would be adopted. For nearly two years, the architects were designing in a vacuum, without knowing what regulations to design to. This is a common problem in Prague now. Politicians have used building regulations and the proposed metropolitan plan as a political football. It’s very hard to design in that kind of environment. Now that the building regulations are tentatively approved, they will need to go back to the design, modify and make the massing work. Without studying the financials and building pro-forma, I think there should be a more balanced mix of flats, office space, cultural space and retail space there – if only to add more life and eyes on the street 24-hrs a day, 7-days per week.
If the developer improves the public space around the ZHA buildings, that will be a win-win for the City of Prague, us, and the investors. The new building regulations and IPR’s public space manual pretty much dictate how the street can be designed so it is at a human scale.
The scale of the new buildings should be broken-down into a series of smaller forms so that the connection between M nad and Florenc doesn’t feel so lonely and the pedestrian so isolated. But again, the buildings are only one piece of the puzzle and it can be solved with the new regulations. The ZHA building is a great pilot project for those regulations. Let’s test them!
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
MP: Are there any risks linked to that project?
MB: Yes. Nothing risked, nothing gained. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do major urban projects. There are risks in any major urban development project. The site is huge. Na Florenci feels longer than it really is.
There is a tendency in Prague to reject new buildings outright, before discussion and before revision. Whenever new buildings hit the main media outlets the public outcry begins. This doesn’t stop in popular media. Architects are even harsher on new buildings, particularly if the architect is foreign. It’s a tough environment. This is partially because there is virtually no public process. The city doesn’t really have a formal or legal mechanism to put the design through a public process and to accept comments from the public that the architects will need to accommodate. It is my understanding that the developer and architect have met with the City on this project, but it has not been debated with the public until it hit the papers. This is a bit of a problem. This would be a good time to implement a new public review process. I hope we can help with that, since we’re developing an online and offline process for this as we speak. It’s a huge problem in Prague, and in other cities. The public feels they don’t have a voice so when the project hits the street, the public criticism begins and usually remains unresolved, so a lot goes unheard. Frustration grows. The environment is sour. We should fix that.
If the city makes many demands of the investor, they need to be prepared to offer something in return. Transparently. No one ever does anything for free, especially in Prague. So, let’s have a formal and transparent process, just like in other developed cities.
MP: Do you think Prague is lacking this kind of buildings?
MB: Yes. A building designed by Zaha Hadid right next to the historical center in Prague could make an interesting architectural contrast and could set the stage for more international collaborations, which there are too few of in Prague. A ZHA building is not a silver bullet for anything. It must be done thoughtfully with a lot of input from the local architect, Jakub Cigler. Otherwise, we will have missed an opportunity. Regardless of who the architect is, building dense developments on brownfield sites in the city center fits with the Prague Institute for Planning and Development’s recommendations in the ongoing new metropolitan plan and Prague building regulations to build dense mixed-use developments in the city, not outside.
Moreover, many local experts complain that Prague has no vision. This kind of development can serve as a model for how city leaders might articulate a vision for a 21st century Prague, something that is notably and disturbingly absent. It can also be watched for how the private sector might work with the public and civic sector to develop other major sites in the city such as the Prague Bubny rail yards across the river.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
MP: To you, is the budget of $270 million adequate or overpriced?
MB: Let’s remember – this is a compilation of buildings and urban infrastructure almost directly in the center of one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. It is an incredibly important site. It has been designed by arguably one of the world’s most talented architecture studios. It will be expensive. Adding to the cost will be inefficiencies of the Czech bureaucracy. Among 32 advanced high-income countries in the OECD, the Czech Republic ranks last in the length of time and process to get a construction permit. Last. That’s right. When compared with all OECD countries, regardless of GDP, the Czech Republic does a bit better: #127, worse than Djibouti, and between Tanzania and Papua New Guinea. If Prague wants to compete in the modern economy, it needs to do better on this measure, at the very least. The City of Prague should do everything it can to make sure this project happens with public input but without major complication.
In this light, the cost seems inadequate. I’ve worked on individual market-rate residential towers in Manhattan that are twice as costly to build. I can’t claim expertise on local construction costs, but the sum seems entirely reasonable considering international norms for large-scale development projects. The market is good to build now. Credit and construction loans are basically free. The investors and city would be crazy not to build as quickly as they can – with adequate review by the community and process, of course.
MP: A project that is adjacent to a railway and a bus stations is the entrance gate to the city for travellers. Will this be a nice gate? Will the tourists appreciate it?
MB: It’s hard to say what tourists will appreciate, and it’s the wrong question to ask. Who cares what tourists will appreciate? Prague caters to this question all too often and we are left with a city-center emptied of real people, useful shops and cars parked on sidewalks since so many residents drive to work from outside the city. The center is gorgeous, but filled with tourists from Moscow and Miami on segways. If done properly, these buildings will stand hundreds of years from now. They have the potential to be European icons in an already iconic city. Make sure that they are integrated into the fabric of the city; make sure the investor contributes to the quality of the public space and urban cultural life; make sure it has an adequate mix of uses and includes cultural space for local residents; make sure locals can at least appreciate its contribution to the city, and make sure we improve the pedestrian environment from Republic Square to Florenc bus station. If all of that can be done, we all win. Tourists, too.
The question we should be asking is this: how can these buildings contribute to the cultural life, economic competitiveness and sustainability of Prague? And, how can we start a productive dialogue and public engagement process locally so people can positively contribute and not just complain and “architect bash.”
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
MP: Zaha Hadid and her studio is globally renowned for its opulent or even pretentious buildings. What about this example, do you find it appropriate?
MB: Many architects have criticized me for thinking this project should move ahead. Why would I a priori reject a project proposal (simply because of the investor and architect’s name), if I see an opportunity to improve urban space and connections in the city? The only thing I care about is the public space, an architecture that positively contributes to the urban experience and general improvements for us – Prague’s citizens. And, I want to make sure the investor understands the connection: a viable investment in the 21st century relies on citizen engagement. Given the scale of the project, this kind of engagement is unavoidable, I think. And for the architect haters – it’s easy to reject from the backseat. It’s hard work to compromise, negotiate and try to get a win for all sides. I’m in it for the hard work. Our mission at reSITE is centered on bridging the gaps between the community, the municipality and the developer. If everyone rejects a proposal before the discussion, it is mission impossible for us.
You know, a lot of the criticism so far has focused on the perceived, or real, lack of public space. I don’t think that is the problem. I am a landscape architect. My view of landscape is primarily focused on the intersection and interweaving of city and landscape, building and public space. We don’t need more public space in this part Prague. We need higher quality public space, not more of it. If the streetscape feels good, has lots of people on it, not too many cars, shade from trees – who cares if it’s not all public space? Not me. I’d rather a lively street with nicely scaled squares, gardens to collect storm water, nice places to sit and active storefronts.
Some people have also complained that the buildings are too big. I do not believe it is too big. Come on. It’s the center of the city – that is exactly where the density should be in cities. I don’t understand the argument that we shouldn’t have dense, big buildings in cities. What’s the alternative – build them in the countryside? No thanks.
Obviously, I’m more concerned with the urban elements at this point – the connections across the rail yard, making a nice pedestrian atmosphere and connection to Florenc bus station and the hip Karlin neighborhood – the streetscape. In this sense, the project is thoughtful, not too big, even though I could imagine some of the forms being broken down a bit to a more human scale at the streetscape and a mixed-use typology if it works financially. The buildings merge the predominant urban morphology of Prague 1 and neighboring Prague 8. This is tough to do and I’m sure it was difficult for ZHA to agree to this. Frankly, I am surprised with the design of the actual buildings. The architecture is reasonable. Not opulent at all. In fact, it could be more inspiring for such an interesting site, though I can imagine the limitations in this context where even “normal” buildings don’t get approved and get harshly criticized by the strict neo-functionalist architectural community in Prague. These buildings will change through the design process but these early renderings indicate that we will get a relatively “normal” morphology.
Disclosure: The investor for this project, Penta Investments, is a sponsor of reSITE, a Prague-based nonprofit organization directed by Martin Barry. In this interview, Martin gives his personal and expert statement as a landscape architect.
Martin Barry is a landscape architect, and the Founder and Chairman of reSITE, Prague-based NGO on more livable cities. reSITE is the organizer of the 5th annual international conference reSITE 2016: Cities in Migration (June 16-17, Prague). As a former Associate at W Architecture in New York City where he worked 8 years, Martin led multi-disciplinary teams on complex landscape projects all over the globe, collaborating on urban waterfronts, parks, plazas and universities in the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, United Arab Emirates, Haiti, Canada, Europe and Mexico. With degrees in history, business, and landscape architecture, and spending his younger years training in various construction trades he is uniquely positioned to understand and manage the disparate forces on complex projects. Because of this diverse background, he is adept at negotiating the distinct and often competing perspectives between municipalities, architects, investors, cultural needs and communities. Martin is a Fulbright Scholar, and it was during his fellowship in the Czech Republic when he dreamed-up the idea to start reSITE. He is also a Fellow with the Design Trust for Public Space and is a Registered Landscape Architect in the United States who lectures about landscape architecture, urban design and collaboration at conferences and universities in the United States, Europe and Asia. Above all, he is committed to a human-centered design approach that focuses on quality urban investments that simultaneously benefit ecology, economy and culture for the next generation of urban dwellers.
UCLA Hitch Commons, the new community building at the heart of the UCLA Hitch Student Residences project, is now LEED Platinum! The building houses a community kitchen and multipurpose rooms. The UCLA Grand Challenge in sustainability is a major university wide initiative focused on getting Los Angeles to 100% sustainability in energy, water, and biodiversity by 2050.
The recently renovated Hitch Student Residences, located on the northwest edge of campus, is a complex of four three-story residential buildings organized around a series of courtyards and a new commons building with shared amenities and meeting spaces. The renovation project was conceived to address accessibility and life-safety deficiencies, including seismic strengthening of the existing structures and inclusion of fire protection systems. The project also provided the opportunity to update the exterior image and energy performance of the buildings by providing a new “skin” as well as updating the interior spaces with new finishes. The existing outdated commons building was replaced with a new building that provides support functions for the Hitch community including study areas, offices, laundry facilities, vending, and a multipurpose space that includes a display kitchen.
The project site was reimagined by utilizing sloped walkways combined with new landscaping to mitigate the existing hillside topography that connect a series of courtyards and outdoor areas. Improvements to the site and recreation facilities help to bolster the sense of community for the residents.
Today, the complex has been transformed into a memorable and socially vibrant environment for future generations of students. Each suite has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room. In addition to the renovation, new courtyard and recreation spaces were developed, along with a new commons building that houses a community kitchen and multipurpose rooms. The new design capitalizes on views to the neighboring mountains and ocean, creating a unique student environment and a haven from the remainder of the urban campus.
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) has unveiled its plans for the renovation and master plan of the MBAD African Bead Museum, an arts and cultural complex in Detroit centered around African art.
Located on a major boulevard in a series of townhouses, the Museum is currently in a state of disrepair with the roof on its corner building having collapsed. This main corner building, although heavily damaged, still features wall murals by artist Olayami Dabls, and thus needs to be preserved.
Courtesy of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
“Instead of expending the extensive capital needed to repair the interior of the building and rebuild its roof, the LOHA scheme reinforces the property’s exterior walls so that they become freestanding surfaces—hence preserving the murals,” states a press release.
Courtesy of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
Therefore the damaged structure can be removed, and new spaces—a gallery and sculpture garden—can be inserted. Furthermore, new enclosure walls will provide blank canvases for Dabls to continue his work.
Courtesy of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
Courtesy of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
The project additionally includes a larger master plan, through which remaining townhomes on the site will be renovated in phases to create more exhibition space, climate-controlled storage space, visiting artist residences, and administration facilities.
The Republic of Seychelles will make their debut at the upcoming Venice Biennale with an exhibition titled Between Two Waters, Searching for Expression in the Seychelles. Curated by Andrés F. Ramírez, and featuring the work of local firm ADD.locus, the exhibition faces the Grand Canal and “transports visitors to the 115-island archipelago—the least populated nation in Africa,” exploring the identity of this nation while also investigating the architecture of every day life in the paradise islands.
The exhibition will contain a partially constructed shelter that incorporates elements of vernacular architecture and hundreds of posted messages from Seychellois residents and visitors, spanning across both ethnic and generational boundaries. Pictures, which represent the culture of the nation, display how architecture has changed over time, similar to the ebb and flow of the water around them.
Seven projects of a range of typology and program are also featured, acting as representations of the architecture that has emerged as Seychelles searches for its voice in the built environment. A video describing the “ongoing negotiation between fantasy and reality, represented by two waters—the rain and sea” will also be displayed.
From the architect. The intervention consists on the rehabilitation of an old housing build from the end of the XIX century, inserted in the historic district of Bairro Alto in Lisbon. With a gross area of 650m2 spread over 4 floors and a garden with 250m2.
The building was in an advanced state of degradation requiring a deep intervention.
Location: 11300 La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz, Spain
Promoter: Antonio Castillo López
Area: 193.5 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Collaborators: Marta Reguera Gutiez (estudiante de arquitectura), Sara Pavón Castillero (arquitecta)
Constructor: Antonio Castillo López, Mellado Romero Construcciones
Technical Architect: Alberto Roldán Maldonado
Budget: 127.500 euros
The Casa de Los Vientos matches, in a precise and precious way, geographical features, users’ expectations, programmatic versatility, honest architecture and economical restrictions due to the present context.
The final project of Casa de Los Vientos arises in 2012, after dismissing a greater previous project for economic reasons. The new project required to cut off the building cost up to 600€/m2 as well as to reduce the floor area while keeping the basic need program for a holiday home for a four member family, three generations included.
As an architect, the challenge was exciting: creating a new project to build a home as decent as the prior proposal for the same family, in the very same place and starting with three times less the budget planned for the initial project.
Plan
Plan
The new project is approached as an answer to the place and the expectations of the users in terms of leisure, comfort and economical adjustment. To do so, the following key principles were highlighted in the project and during the construction:
a. The shape emerges from the orientation, from the prevailing winds and from the premise of enjoyment of the outside spaces and their views.
b. Honest architecture and material honesty are accepted.
c. Austerity in terms of means is assumed and beauty is found in the inexpensive.
Section
Diagram
The built-up volume and the spaces’ geometry arise from the orientation, the logic of prevailing winds and the views to the sea, the peñón de Gibraltar, Morocco and the Sotogrande beaches. The result is a two floor house, minimal and necessary in the inside, and offering a maximal use of the outdoor spaces. A sort of porches, terraces, windbreak walls and balconies shape a volume offering outdoor spaces to be used all days of the year, depending on the direction of the winds.
The resting spaces are located in the ground floor. The upper level hosts two outdoor enjoyment spaces. On the one hand, the Terraza de Levante, which occupies a horizontal platform with two benches and the pool, SE oriented. The form of this volume protects it from the Poniente, the prevailing and colder wind of the area. On the other hand, the Terraza de Poniente is located on the roof and protected of the Levante wind by a windbreak wall. The views from this terrace open over the peñón de Gibraltar and Morocco.
The structure of the building is developed on the basis of load-bearing walls made of honeycomb clay blocks and reinforced concrete, both exposed in the ground floor and reinforced in central points by means of concrete pillars. First floor volume is made of a structure of reinforced concrete in pillars and slab in roof and enclosures, also made of honeycomb clay blocks. As these are more exposed to the winds, they are coated with white-coloured waterproof rendering mortar. The good weather conditions of the place allow the use of 29 cm tick thermal clay as enclosure, without needing more insulation reinforcement.
Both indoors and outdoors, honesty has been at the core of all construction choices. The thermal clay and concrete wall structure shows up sincere, creating interesting contrasts with the painted plaster of the partition walls inside. This contact, expressly highlighted, creates a dialog of materials showing all the phases of the construction process.
Due to the strong budget restrictions, both for the project and the construction, an exhaustive exercise of management and economic monitoring was assumed and required from the beginning of the creative process of the intervention.
From the architect. Located in the heart of Lisbon, in the emblematic railway station of Rossio, this project was designed for Uniplaces, a young, international, dynamic company that operates in the global student housing market.
We stipulated two lines of action: one concerning the space occupation strategy, geared toward maximising work performance, and another concerning the space’s character, as regards its ability to represent the company’s values and culture and its integration in the surrounding architectural environment.
In terms of functionality of the office areas, it was our understanding that an open-space environment would best suit Uniplaces. Communication between the various company departments is enhanced by creating a work space with as few partitions as possible. A balance in the relationship between the individual and the collective is attained by creating spaces for contemplation within the open-space. Therefore, small-scale spaces are strategically distributed, be it through fixed elements, such as the library and semi-open meeting rooms, or through movable furniture, such as the small structures intended for making Skype calls.
Axonometric
One of the major challenges for companies of this kind (start-ups) is the exponential and sudden spurt in headcount. For this reason, the space’s evolution-friendly structure and the ability of certain functional areas to adapt to different programmes (leisure versus work space) were a fundamental aspect in the project’s design.
We also took into consideration that this office would be serving itinerant employees. Work space is not limited to a desk, but encompasses the whole of the supplementary areas intended for relaxation and leisure. The goal was to stimulate communication and interaction between employees and to make the work-day less tiring through a change in setting and the created dynamic.
As regards the space’s character, we propose Uniplaces’ identity be communicated through the creation of a daring environment that is both young, but above all welcoming. As a result, we created static spaces, such as the living room, greenhouse, reading corner (library), together with dynamic systems that are both innovative and challenging in the experience their use provides, such as in the horizontal extension of the mezzanine with a suspended net structure.
In addition, we sought to architecturally interconnect the office space with the surrounding context. The building of the Rossio railway station, where the offices are located, is one of the great examples of the neo-Manueline style. This style is strongly evocative of the great voyages of the Discoveries. Elements such as ship ropes and armillary spheres mark the facade. Drawing on that, we have used rope netting as an architectural material in various office areas. The netting, given its ephemeral character, communicates the young and dynamic environment intended.
Sections
Lastly, in order to emphasize the romanticism associated with this building, we propose a greenhouse be created at the heart of the office. This light-filled nook contextualises the stone masonry of the imposing arcs and becomes the main visual bridge to the adjacent exterior urban square.
Sig Nordal 