© Alicja Dobrucka

• Architects: Merki Schmid Architects
• Location: Basel, Switzerland
• Area: 350.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Alicja Dobrucka

 

© Alicja Dobrucka

Situation

The Swiss town of Gelterkinden is situated among the gently rolling hills of the Upper Basel Biets, located between Sissach and Olten, which function as a local railway junction. There, the plot in question is situated southwards bordering the building zone from where one has a great vantage point toward the town and the valley. The area towards the West cannot be built upon and flows smoothly into the agricultural   countryside.

© Alicja Dobrucka

 Volume

The volume, situated diagonally to the slope, is subdivided into three levels. The uphill facing entrance on the middle level enhances the solid visual anchor of the volume, while the passageway for the car effectively divides into the base. The middle floor is devised as a free-standing, glassed-in area. The more likely closed attic area with its circulating balustrade accommodates the top level.

Section

 Space allocation programme

The layout of the rooms, too, follows the division into three levels. Located on the ground floor, looking out towards the valley, are two nurseries featuring a shower, a water closet, a separate entrance as well as an exit leading into the garden. These rooms cannot be converted into a separate  unit. In addition, on the ground floor in the area of the base, the billiard room can be accessed as well as the technical office and the wine cellar located beyond. For the most part, the ground floor is used as a living  space, eating nook and kitchen. The living space is affiliated with an office and also connected to the entrance opening up to other areas, as well as a bicycle storage. According to its central living functions, this floor features a loggia-like balcony which is partially covered. The top floor of the house accommodates the bedroom with an open bath area, a shower, WC, and a dressing room. A large roof terrace attached to this floor provides the occupants with a sun deck, a water-lily pond and an outside fireplace with a bench to sit or to lay on.

The uncovered area of the balcony provides a visual connection to the ground floor. In this manner, each floor possesses its own, individual and useable exterior space.

© Alicja Dobrucka

Plan 2

© Alicja Dobrucka

Materials, construction and technique

The building primarily represents a concrete structure and will be, directly and fixedly, perceived as such. Ergo, when erecting the ceiling, floating support beams and covering construction were not considered but the underside of the ceiling makes the concrete visible. The concrete skin of the floors was polished using a water method, and a sealing process refined it into a durable floor covering.

© Alicja Dobrucka

The concrete theme is combined with wooden windows, carpentry work in the interior construction (kitchen); oak wood was used for the inner- and outer panelling. A layer of filter, made of gold-bronze anodized aluminium stretch metal, extends outside in front of the room-high glassed-in features.

© Alicja Dobrucka

This material concept is consequently also continued in the wet areas. Therefore, a special construction set-up had  to be developed for the panelling of the showers. This enabled the installation of durable oak veneer which needs to function under such highdemands.

© Alicja Dobrucka

All installations are placed in concrete rough brickwork. Heat is generated via an air-water-heating pump whereby the blast apparatus, which causes a noise, is placed outside together with the heat exchanger. The heat is distributed by means of a TABS system inside the flooring and ceiling. The controlled ventilation moves the outside air over an  earth register, and thus enables it to warm up the cold outside air but also to cool down the hot air. The water needed for the flushing of the toilet and the water needed for the outside spigots is obtained from a rainwater tank placed underground.

© Alicja Dobrucka

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© Sebastian van Damme

• Architects: EVA architecten
• Location: The Netherlands, s-Hertogenbosch
• Area: 200.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Sebastian van Damme

• Contractor: Bouwcomfort Schijndel
• Structural Engineer: Martijn Bettonvil

© Sebastian van Damme

From the architect. In the heart of 's-Hertogenbosch a former office and workshop was completely renovated and converted into a loft. Because the building is 20 meters deep and really only has light at the front and rear, access of daylight has been an important theme. The explicit wish of the client was to be able to enjoy the property as one large space. Various voids/vides were introduced that allow daylight to penetrate deep into the home.

© Sebastian van Damme

Floor Plan

© Sebastian van Damme

The voids provide glimpses between the various residential functions themselves. The functional elements such as bathroom, toilets, storage room and kitchen are grouped in one large timber volume that also connects the floors. From the bath you can look right through the void into the sky.

© Sebastian van Damme

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Courtesy of Che Fu Chang Architects

• Architects: Che Fu Chang Architects
• Location: Taoyuan City, Taiwan
• Architect In Charge: Che Fu Chang Architects
• Design Team: Yi He Hong, Heng Song Tong, Rosalind Wang, Pei Chen Yang, Chung Yin Wang, Ru Ting Zheng, Ren Yu Fang, Fu Yang Luo
• Project Year: 2012
• Photographs: Courtesy of Che Fu Chang Architects

• Structural Engineer: Supertech Consultants International
• M&E Consultant: Ementech Electrical Engineering Consultant Co. Ltd
• Landscape Architect: The Environmental Arts Design Company
• Client: Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp., Taiwan
• Completion: 2012

Courtesy of Che Fu Chang Architects

From the architect. Steelmaking is a sophisticated process. Extruding, rolling, extending—the dynamic flow gives birth to the basic element of modern building structure, the steel bar. A primary goal of our project was to capture the suddenness of the motion, a moment that sustains pressure, force, and heat. The complexity is reflected in the building’s multifaceted function, encompassing areas for administration and accommodation as well as a canteen, auditorium, and gallery. Moreover, a narratively arranged visitors’ route is integrated into the building’s circulation system. These features also shape the buildings and connecting bridge.

Courtesy of Che Fu Chang Architects

The site is located in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, which is a traffic-efficient industrial area. We were commissioned to design an administrative building for the enterprise’s steelmaking factory. What needed special attention was the necessity of a multi-tasking circulation. The building was expected to be not only a head office but also an informal gallery which, in collaboration with local artists, could showcase the company’s innovative ideas. Furthermore, due to the size of the enterprise (the factory’s product occupies a large majority of Taiwan market), hundreds of employees needed to be accommodated. Therefore, the architectural solution had to be smart enough to channel the building’s complicated circulation in a way that would avoid congestion.

3F Plan

That is why we proposed a building with a twist, taking advantage of a site on an undulating hill. Two major elements—the employee’s section, partially hidden in the landscape, and the administration volume on top—sandwich a lifted platform that works as the common platform of the building, holding the two clusters together. This third floor platform, opened up on its sides, works as the visitor’s vehicular arrival and holds large scale activities and exhibitions when there’s occasion. By arranging separate access points for visitors and employees, we were able to optimize vehicular flow while creating a complex which encourages interaction without causing mutual interruption. Inside the administration level, we opened up the roof to conduct sunlight into the interior, lighting up the linear atrium, which houses the gallery. The building’s expression tends to be humble. Instead of stacking up expensive stone and elaborate decoration, we exposed the concrete and used basic materials such as steel, glass, zinc, and precast concrete panels to convey the company’s business culture, which combines values of honesty and integrity with highly skilled detail design. The connecting walk bridge guides visitors and functions as a symbolic link between the manufacturing base and the administrative building. Inspired by the product manufactured here—the deformed bar—we transformed the double helix of its ridges into the bridge’s structural system to compose a tensional image.

Courtesy of Che Fu Chang Architects

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Renzo Piano's Proposed Tower at 87 Park in Downtown Miami. Image Courtesy of Terra

While certain cities in the world have instantly recognizable skylines, other burgeoning cities like Miami are still finding their architectural identity. A new online, 3D-map by the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA) outlines the over 100 new towers being erected in the city by architects including Renzo Piano and OMA, set against Miami’s existing cityscape. The projects are color-coded according to their status as either proposed, under construction or built. You can access the interactive map here.

Sample Screenshot from Interactive Map

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© Sandy Rush

• Architects: Setless Architecture
• Location: 31 Fallsview Rd, Dundas, ON L9H 5J7, Canada
• Architect In Charge: Setless Architecture
• Contractor: Sandy Tod
• Area: 129.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Sandy Rush

© Sandy Rush

From the architect. Sited above the intersection of Tew’s Falls and Webster’s falls on the Bruce Trail, this house makes a strong connection to a singular landscape. The Bruce Trail follows the edge of the Niagara escarpment – a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve – from the Niagara River, almost 900 kilometers to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. On its way, the Trail passes through a mix of provincial land, municipal and provincial conservation authorities, and private land owners.

© Sandy Rush

Our site contains a 250 foot stretch of privately owned path that connects the two heavily used city parks. The key vista into the bowl shaped Spencer Gorge occurs right in front of the main exterior courtyard. As such, the project that looks idyllic in a secluded setting gets activated on weekends by thousands of hikers and city dwellers that climb the 200 foot cliff to experience this expansive view.

© Sandy Rush

The build had to comply with the most restricted land use in Ontario. The process began with a derelict house within both the Municipal Hamilton Conservation Authority and the Provincial Niagara Escarpment Commission protected zones. Our experience working in tight urban settings helped us work inside the regulations, eventually carving out a small building site on this expansive 1.5 acre lot.

Floor Plan

The main public rooms in the house open to the front to take advantage of the view, and the rolling seasonal mist. The rear of the house is a landscape unto itself. The tall, slender, Carolinian Forest provides a high canopy for the bustling forest bed. The bedrooms and patios were designed to enjoy this concealed natural space. The house takes advantage of the leafy canopy to provide shade in the summer. In the winter, as the leaves fall, the high R-value glass lets the daylight flood in. The light filled spaces are at odds with the owners’ impressive art collection. Artifacts collected over long sojourns through the Zagros mountain range, India and Myanmar nestle next to modern Canadian art and bookend the exterior views.

© Sandy Rush

Looking back at the house from the Bruce, the program of residence blurs with gallery and public building. We are proud to provide this urban elevation to this important thoroughfare.

© Sandy Rush

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Courtesy of Magellan Development Group

New interior images have been released of Studio Gang’s‘s Vista Tower, a 95-story luxury residential high rise located in Chicago. Upon completion, Vista Tower will become the third tallest tower in the city.

The design of the tower was inspired by the “frustrum,” a geometric shape commonly found in gemstones, accentuating the “sweeping views of the skyline.”

© Marcin Cymmer

The tower contains more than twenty penthouses, including a $17.1 million two-story, 7,000-square-foot penthouse, and in total, the tower will boast the highest number of “full floor penthouses with unobstructed 360 degree views in the US,” according to a press release from the Magellan Development Group.

Courtesy of Magellan Development Group

© Marcin Cymmer

Vista Tower includes 406 units with no two floor plans that are alike. Besides the twenty penthouses, the remaining units consist of 1-4 bedroom luxury apartments.

Courtesy of Magellan Development Group

The tower gives views to Lake Michigan, the Magnificent Mile, and Millennium Park. The newly added green spaces will connect to the Chicago Riverwalk with a new route that will pass through the tower at the ground level.

© Marcin Cymmer

The tower’s interior options and images were revealed to the public on April 4 at the grand opening of Vista Sales Gallery, a 10,000 square-foot space which will provide potential buyers with opportunity to experience the tower.

Courtesy of Magellan Development Group

Courtesy of Magellan Development Group

Learn more about the project here.

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Capital Gate ADNEC, 2010. Image Courtesy of RMJM

The British firm RMJM, founded in 1956 by Robert Matthew and Stirrat Johnson-Marshall with its first offices in London and Edinburgh, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The international firm has grown considerably in six decades and now boasts offices and design studios in numerous cities – New York, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Shanghai, Karachi, Dubai, Pretoria, Nairobi – on five continents.

The firm’s early success in the United Kingdom led to international commissions in the Middle East and North Africa, with RMJM anticipating the impending globalism of the architecture profession, its actions allowing it to become “one of the largest and most geographically diverse architecture firms in the world.” Read on for a small selection of RMJM‘s most notable designs, with one example taken from each decade of the firm’s illustrious past.

1960s

Turnhouse Airport, 1964

Turnhouse Airport, 1964. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect. The original terminal was designed to accommodate 70,000 passengers per year. It comprised a low asymmetrical group of buildings utilizing prefabricated steel frame structures (to permit extension) and faced with Auchinlea sandstone and mahogany cladding. Further office and cargo space was added in 1959 and a new customs block, baggage reclaim area, buffet and kitchens in 1964.

Turnhouse Airport, 1964. Image Courtesy of RMJM

1970s

Royal Commonwealth Pool, 1970

Royal Commonwealth Pool, 1970. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect.This covered swimming pool was designed to Olympic standards to provide for training and competitive events. The building contains separate swimming and diving pools and a teaching pool, together with seating for 1,700 spectators. It was opened by HRH Princess Anne at the start of the Commonwealth Games in 1970. Since then it has proved highly successful both for the many competitions which have been held there and for its wider use as Edinburgh’s principal public pool. The building was granted listed status in 1996 as “an outstanding piece of architecture”.

1980s

Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, 1984

Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, 1984. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect. RMJM was appointed by the Property Services Agency for the conversion of an 1820s Grade A listed building, originally designed as a school, to provide a new home for the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art. The building provides 22 galleries, with galleries for temporary exhibitions on the top floor, permanent collection galleries at ground level, and storage, offices, workshops and restaurant at the lower ground floor level. We also prepared a masterplan for development of grounds as amenity, pleasure ground and sculpture park.

Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, 1984. Image Courtesy of RMJM

1990s

Cherry Garden Pier, 1992

Cherry Garden Pier, 1992. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect. The Cherry Garden Pier urban regeneration project on a prestigious site near London’s Tower Bridge comprised an integrated housing and riverside walk development. Created over five distinct terraces, the majority of the houses have their own garden, garage and parking. The scheme included an attractive riverside garden overlooking the Thames for the enjoyment of local residents, which has become a popular linear park. The detail of fish patterns in the paving reminds visitors of the close proximity to Billingsgate Fish Market.

2000s

New Scottish Parliament, 2005

RMJM with Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, 2005. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect. RMJM, in a unique partnership with Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue, was selected to design the new Scottish Parliament. The single most dramatic and outstanding idea in the winning competition was that “The Parliament sits in the land.” The intellectual vision was for a unique institution – open, anti-classical and non-hierarchical. The architecture that expressed this was to be de-institutionalized, aggregated, and organic – embracing the landscape and defying all the canonical rules of architectural composition. In 2005 the New Scottish Parliament won the Stirling Prize, the Edinburgh Architecture Association ‘Centenary Medal’ and the Scottish Design Awards ‘Best Publicly Funded Building’ ‘Architecture Grand Prix’.

RMJM with Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, 2005. Image Courtesy of RMJM

2010s

Capital Gate ADNEC, 2010

Capital Gate ADNEC, 2010. Image Courtesy of RMJM

From the architect. Structurally, this challenging building sits on an intensive distribution of 490 piles which were drilled 30 meters underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic forces caused by the distinctive lean of the building. The Feature Tower is an exemplary example of RMJM’s design and in-house engineering capabilities. In January 2010 Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi was recognized as the world’s furthest leaning manmade tower by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Project descriptions courtesy of RMJM.

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Courtesy of Pasel Kuenzel

• Architects: Pasel Kuenzel
• Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
• Area: 180.0 sqm
• Photographs: Courtesy of Pasel Kuenzel

Courtesy of Pasel Kuenzel

From the architect. Home to a patchwork family and space for a living and working environment, this house serves several ambitions.

Courtesy of Pasel Kuenzel

With just one façade facing the narrow alley, zenith daylight is directed through a central light well reaching all spaces of the residence. The spacious atrium is the core element of the building, providing a space of specific neutrality and merging the living areas on the ground floor with the home office of the client photographer on the top floor. From the outside the house hides its spacious qualities, from the inside it unfolds a world of visual connections and provides a framework for social diversity.

Model

Under the Dutch skies, natural daylight creates an ever-changing ambience of light and space, being the essential elements of the photographer to work with.
A hidden roof terrace connects the home with the stars…

Courtesy of Pasel Kuenzel

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Over the past 20 years, many of the most renowned European cultural institutions – including ARTE France, Les Films d’Ici, the Louvre, the Ministry of Culture and Communication Department of Architecture and Heritage, Centre Pompidou, City of Architecture and Heritage, Musée d’Orsay and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe – have come together to produce more than 50 architecture documentaries devoted to the most significant achievements of architecture, its beginnings, and the latest creations of the great architects of today. Now, these videos are accessible to the public via the YouTube Channel ACB (Art and Culture Bureau).

Each documentary is approximately 26 minutes long, and focuses on the genesis and impact of a single building that has played a role in the evolution of architecture. Narration is in English, and many of the videos of newer buildings feature interviews with the architects themselves. Check out some of the videos below, or find the entire list here.

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© Adrià Goula

• Architects: Sergi Pons architects
• Location: Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain
• Area: 120.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Adrià Goula

• Collaborators: Anna Giralt
• Construction Company: GdR (Grup de reformes)

© Adrià Goula

From the architect. We find ourselves on ground floor of a building constructed in the year 1930, in the historical centre of Sarrià, a district in the upper part of Barcelona. It was a well-known establishment, since it had been a confectionary shop in the neighbourhood for many years. 

Plan

Our clients, a couple of young entrepreneurs, called us to see if we could turn this space into a home despite being in fairly poor conditions. When we were moving forward with the survey, we realised that there was a false ceiling covering up the traditional Catalan vaulted ceiling, made in delightful ceramics, which could give the finished home a great deal of character. 

© Adrià Goula

The door to the street leads into an entrance hall and the main bedroom. Then we have an open plan kitchen, living room and dining room with the vaulted ceiling, and two other bedrooms, one of which looks out onto the patio and the garden.

There is a gallery designed as a reading room that leads on to the patio.

© Adrià Goula

We created wooden steps to cover the slope between the house and the garden, which was on a higher level where there is a hundred-year-old acacia.

Section

We have combined natural oak wood with geometric mosaics. The doors, some made of pine wood, give us the feeling of quality that we wanted to achieve.

© Adrià Goula

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