This country house is located in the historic town of Tarusa. The customer purchased the land with a house on it, built without a project by the previous owner.
The first step of the renovation was to add a verandah, a porch and bay window, which allowed to place the dining room there. Then we built a terrace and added a doorway leading to the garden on the south side.
The structure of the additions is not connected to the main volume of the house: the new foundations laid at a distance from the old. The construction of the new part is a light wooden frame, which allowed local builders to finish all the work in one summer season.
Section
The living room is an open multifunctional space with a fireplace and a large area of glazing, creating an atmosphere of traditional Tarusa´s verandah. Southern terrace is located below ground level in the garden, so we turned a retaining wall into the bench. Asbestos pipe supporting the roof of the old house was replaced with a round log. Old house was winterized and planked with larch boards.
Set on a quarter-acre, tapering parcel the Gallery House maximises its frontage along the north facing green lawn and arrival court while negotiating the angled rear edge condition. The ground floor layout positions all primary rooms towards the north and west keeping the south primarily service heavy.
The movement between various zones of the house, at both levels, is externalized along this north face and acts as a stretched ‘multilevel gallery’. As with the layout, the façade for this house also expresses the gallery like movement
On the ground floor, the formal drawing/dining and the master bedroom become the bookends of this progression, while the family room is centered along it. Secondary bedrooms, kitchen, and service zones are positioned behind this promenade. On the upper floor this north facing connector assumes an airy and unencumbered character given the reduction in the programmatic dependencies. For a large part, the modulation of the upper floors’ layout emerges from a study in framing and sequencing of the visual progression as one moves between the upper master bedroom and guest bedroom towards the north-east quadrant . The position of the linear staircase is a part of this choreographed journey which now assumes a vertical dimension to it. While the staircase begins at the deeper end of the large living room; as one moves upwards they are maneuvered towards the northern threshold or skin of the house. This creates a dramatic change in the experiential quality of the interior space.
Plan
The upper level facade is conceived as a transparent linear volume; contained between series of masonry envelopes or folds. Use of seasoned hardwood battens helps screen the glazed upper corridor and also seems to weave together the long slab folds that define the upper level volume. This white stucco and timber clad composition is deliberately contrasted with the heavier visual tectonics of the ground floor that is primarily clad in sand-blasted and flamed granite slabs. Three partially enclosed north facing terraces punctuate the upper facade. Two of these modest sized terraces have cut-outs in the slab above which frames the sky and tree tops and also the shifting shaft of sunlight.
The landscape design palette echo’s the materials used on the facade. The paving and pool side decking is clad in rough steel-grey granite while the junctions between the paving and walls are separated by a continuous strip of black gravel. The driveway design is executed with the use of grey quartzite cobblestones and is deliberately kept understated.
From the architect. This home sits on a tree lined cul-de-sac in Fendalton, Christchurch; adjacent to the Wairarapa Stream. It was designed to replace a home lost in the 2010/2011 earthquake sequence.
Our brief was to create a contemporary environment that was light and open, embracing the stream aspect to the north and existing garden to the east. This, along with our client’s admiration of mid-century modern architecture (in particular Eichler’s Homes), was to inform the architectural language of the home.
The home has been carefully located in the general foot print of the original home allowing the extensive eastern tree lined garden to be retained. Spaces have been organised to allow the planting to have a strong visual connection to the homes interior.
Architecturally, our design anchors to the notion that no structural steel was to be used. This ‘rule’ was established during the design phase, initially to control the architecture and to guide the aesthetic and materiality. During the course of the project it became more of a narrative to engage all those who worked on it!
The home comprises of a gentle sloping roof plane resting on two dark, horizontal cedar board masses. Five structural timber portals span the width of the home creating a grid like exterior and a rhythm of timber to reinforce the language of the home internally. This grid is generally glazed to allow light to permeate enforcing the geometry of the low slung roof.
The home has been orientated to connect the primary living spaces to the northerly river view. A large court to the east provides private outdoor living and amenity to both the living and the sleeping quarters.
The home is planned in an ‘L’ shape around the east court. A central corridor bisects the home creating east and west oriented private quarters and linking occupants to the stream view as they navigate the home.
Floor Plan
The home’s living spaces are organised to provide the intimacy of day to day living for two and for larger groups while entertaining. One particular feature is the kitchen space which has been divided into two zones; the functional ‘back kitchen’ and the social ‘front kitchen’. This allows our client to work undisturbed and without the concern of a tidy appearance, while their guests enjoy a Pinot or a Whiskey in the heart of the home!
One Thousand Museum, the Zaha Hadid-designed skyscraper in Downtown Miami, has unveiled new interior renderings, including communal spaces designed by the architect. The 62-story tower, which began construction in December of 2014, will contain only 83 residences, consisting of a two-story duplex penthouse, four townhouses, eight full-floor residences, and 70 half-floor units. Overlooking the Pérez Art Museum by Herzog & deMeuron, the soon-to-be-completed Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science by Grimshaw Architects, and the American Airlines Arena by HOK & Architectonica, One Thousand Museum tilts the scales in luxury residences from a market historically centered on Miami Beach to Miami’s rapidly densifying Downtown.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
The building’s exterior features a curvaceous, structural exoskeleton that keeps floorplans large and nearly column-free, and the geometry creates unique terrace spaces for each of the tower’s residences. The communal spaces designed by Zaha Hadid, include the building’s lobby and a two-story Aquatic Center and Sky Lounge on the 61st floor. One Thousand Museum is one of the many projects that was started by Hadid, but after the architect’s untimely passing in March, will be completed posthumously. One Thousand Museum is scheduled to open in late 2018.
The project is the fit-out of an office space that is meant to accommodate about fifty employees of a transportation company.
Plan
The architectural concept stands on two factors: the intrinsic nature of the customer’s operations and the short time of construction. However, the development meets several criteria (I.e. functionality, occupants’ comfort, environmental design) and reflects the company’s philosophy.
Courtesy of Est Architecture
Functionally, the design is based on a concentric scheme that facilitates circulation and organizes the layout in an effective fashion: closed spaces are located in periphery while open space office is in the center. The open space is flooded with natural light through generous windows. In addition to the traditional functions, the fit-out contains a space for relaxation and entertainment, which allows employees to work and meet outside the areas designed for this purpose: at the table in the dining room, in the armchairs watching TV or at the counters that separate these spaces from the open office.
Courtesy of Est Architecture
3D
The choice of materials is simple: the wood in the form of plywood and OSB as well as glass. The resulting image is consistent with the carrier’s philosophy of openness, simplicity and transparency in addition to creating a warm, relaxed and cheerful working environment. Beside the OSB rough surfaces, sliding doors contribute to the ‘cargo’ character of space. In contrast with the simplicity of the materials, other elements eliminate any ambiguity about the role of the space. While the light in the background can change color according to the mood of the occupants, the white office furniture stands out against the brownish surfaces. The offices bear the names of the North American cities that are most frequented by the carrier. The counters and reception desk, made of plywood on a CNC machine, evoke traditional Romanian patterns.
Courtesy of Est Architecture
Finally, the fit-out is fully dismantable and can be easily modified. Upon departure of the carrier, most of the components can be reused, recycled or simply reintegrated into the natural cycle through bio-degradation.
The project consists of the extension of a house located in the foothills of Ilaló volcano. This land has a privileged view towards the oriental mountain chain, as well as to the Cayambe and Cotopaxi volcanos.
One of the main goals was to achieve a coherent integration within the preexistent architecture. Where do the physical limits of the current house begin and end? Which elements will be taken as reference? How do we reconcile these new elements to what was previously created and to the landscape?
Diagram
The new house envelope (see diagram) is conceptualized by referencing one of the structural modules from the pre-existing construction. This envelope is articulated as a projection/ spectrum of the existing house, while determining new relationships between the former and the current, the interior and the exterior, and the public and the private.
Working with a limited budget led to essential process based decisions. In terms of materials the eucalyptus wood used for the structure was obtained from the property itself. The interior finishing elements were designed to be assembled in stages, therefore allowing the client economic freedom. Other finishing elements such as the smoothed cement floor and the Seike wood carpentry were constructed in site.
In celebration of the four decade career of the late Zaha Hadid, Fondazione Berengo will host an exhibition of her paintings, drawings, and models at the 16th century Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, coinciding with the 2016 Venice Biennale. The exhibition will display the full range of Hadid’s design work from built projects, to those under construction, and others ultimately never realized. Some of the early, unrealized work that will be represented includes Malevich’s Tektonic, a bridge concept for the Thames River, which Hadid developed while she was still a student at the Architectural Association School in London (1976-77), as well Peak Club, Hong Kong (1982-83), Hafenstrasse, Hamburg (1989), Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London (1985), the Victoria City master-plan for Berlin (1988), and the Cardiff Bay Opera House (1994-95).
Projects that represent the milestones in Hadid’s career will also be on display, including her first built commission, the Vitra Firehouse (1993), as well as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (2003), which was completed in lead up to her receipt of the 2004 Pritzker Prize, and the MAXXI Museum (2009), a project that emphasizes Hadid’s use of on computer-aided design.
Adriano Berengo, president of Fondazione Berengo said, “Visitors to the exhibition will have a greater understanding of Zaha Hadid’s pioneering vision that redefined architecture and design for the 21st century and captured imaginations across the globe. Although I work in the art world and Dame Zaha Hadid’s excellence was architecture, her work is also imbued with art, that patina that makes everything eternal, including the creator herself.”
Zaha Hadid told Hans Ulrich Obrist in a conversation in 2011, “I know from my experience that without research and experimentation not much can be discovered. With experimentation, you think you’re going to find out one thing, but you actually discover something else. That’s what I think is really exciting. You discover much more than you bargain for. I think there should be no end to experimentation.”
From the architect. Casal da Coelheira succesfully dedicated more than 50 years to agriculture and wine production. In order to suit the characteristics of the space to the quality of products made, they designed a strategy to refurbish and modernize the exihsting buildings wich includes a new showroom, store and wine lounge.
The intervention deeply value the way of communication between firm, clients and visitors and express the accuracy and high technology envolved in the process of wine making.
In fact, a few years ago the factory and the production process were something the industrial firms hid from thrid parts. Currently, this areas are very important because they want to show how good they do. The inspiration for this project came with the evolution of perspective about a factory and the way history, tradition, quality, innovation and sophistication can be represented trough a space.
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Before the intervention, the left arcade of the existing building was sub used as a car park. Now, this is the main entrance and reception of the firm, with a showroom, store and wine longe, a multifunctional space where new products can be presented and wine tasting events cand be conducted. First floor has a meeting room with a window over the wine lounge.
Finishes and partitions were made with natural materials (stone, wood and metal) that resemble the long tradition of agriculture and viniculture. The building rehabilitation also provides safe and hygenic working spaces, environmentally responsibles. Wordless, Casal da Coelheira can purport their consistency effort to be one of the best wine maker of Ribatejo region.
Agence Ter and Team have been announced as the winners of a proposal to redesign the oldest park in Los Angeles, Pershing Square, with a call for “radical flatness.” Opened in 1866, with subsequent name changes and redesigns, the winning proposal will replace the most recent iteration by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta and landscape architect Laurie Olin, which opened in 1994. Pershing Square is a five-acre park bounded by 5th Street to the north, 6th Street to the south, Hill Street to the east, and Olive Street to the west, in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. The path to redevelopment began in September 2015, when the Los Angeles City Council adopted the plans of councilmember José Huizar, to create a public-private partnership and work with Pershing Square Renew, a non-profit partner, which came out of a task force created by Huizar in 2013.
Courtesy of Agence Ter and Team
Beginning with 10 semifinalists selected last October and four finalists in December, Agence Ter’s proposal won the competition yesterday, garnering the highest scores from the 1,355 members of the public who weighed in on the four finalists and a unanimous selection by the Pershing Square Renew jury. The redevelopment has been led by Councilmember Huizar, the Department of Recreation and Parks, MacFarlane Partners (provider of start-up funding for Pershing Square Renew), and other leaders, including Gensler and the law offices of Loeb and Loeb.
Courtesy of Agence Ter and Team
Agence Ter’s proposal would eliminate the elevated condition of the current park, caused by the inclusion of a garage beneath the square. By bringing the park back to ground level, a “radical flatness” would reestablish views across the park and allow the environment to spill out along the square’s borders and surrounding streets. Some of the new park’s main features are a reflecting pool along the west side, mirroring the stately Biltmore Hotel, and a “smart canopy” designed by artist Leo Villareal, providing shade during the day and light at night. Addressing issues of sustainability and efficiency, the park will use water cycling and alternative energy systems. The park seeks to establish a balance between open and shaded conditions, a need for flexible and programmable space, and to create a welcoming, ecologically diverse environment.
Courtesy of Agence Ter and Team
“We are extremely excited and ready to contribute to the rebirth of Downtown Los Angeles through the renewing of Pershing Square,” said Henri Bava, founder and director of Agence Ter. “By radically flattening the lifted surface, it will reach out to the neighborhood again, establishing a real dialogue with the city. It will become a green, sustainable and active destination for the metropolis and will be timeless and elegant through its welcoming simplicity.”
Courtesy of Agence Ter and Team
Although based in Paris, Agence Ter has assembled a “Team” of lauded partners, many of which are based in Los Angeles:
From the architect. This residence in the woods, located ten minutes away from city centre, is there to question its own nature. To what extent can a rural plot redefine a permanent dwelling for city users? The design concept addresses such matter as the search for shelter in open environments. However, late amendments on the brief, such as a requirement for both reading and working shared zones, plus comfort features like, for instance, natural lighting, determine a number of adjustments regarding the architectural programme. The basic outline includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a common space containing the kitchen, dining and living area.
Since the plot has a continuous slope of thirty-five percent, it provides not only a vast downward perspective from top, but also a panoramic view of the surrounding rainforest hills. Such visual openness founds the choice of keeping the house as high within site as possible. Also, physical proximity to giant native trees allows experiencing a sense of corporeal weakness -or vertigo-, as one looks up towards tree crowns while stepping on a leaning ground.
Noting this perception in relation to the steep soil, drives the design to propose an extension of the latter into the domestic space, by integrating the vertical dimension of both trees and soil as stated previously. Moreover, the lack of flat ground makes it possible to envisage the architectural programme as organised through a number of overlapped levels -each one with a narrow, squared floor plan- until completing all requirements. Therefore, a three-storey volume on a minimum platform within the incline raises as the desired recipient. Connecting the site entrance with this volume occurs through the addition of external treads as well as a pedestrian bridge, which conduct people towards a sheltered void in the south-east corner on first floor, where the main door is.
External references like sights and daylight, complement the domestic domain to both visual and physical links to all internal levels -above and below- from the receiving hall on first floor. Next to a shared reading zone, a mezzanine overlooks the ground floor as it also provides downward views of the surrounding landscape on north through a double-height fenestration. On top floor, the staircase arrives in a shared working zone which has a wide ocular dominion to the woods on south. Areas such as the kitchen, dining, and living room occupy an open plan on the ground floor, where it is yet possible to have a glimpse of most internal heights.
Section
Albeit smaller private spaces complete the remaining parts of the house structure, some are still able to extend in terms of gross floor area. That is the case of two separate bedrooms on top floor, which grow beyond the volume boundaries, in the form of a cantilever towards south and west, respectively.
Sig Nordal 