© Filip Dujardin

• Architects: Urbain Architectencollectief
• Location: Wetteren, Belgium
• Architects In Charge: David Niville, David Claus, Dieter Delbaere
• Area: 270.0 m2
• Project Year: 2009
• Photographs: Filip Dujardin

• Collaborator: Corneel Cannaerts
• Structural Engineer: Studieburo Mouton
• Contractor: Wycor nv
• Client: Omega vzw

© Filip Dujardin

‘the gallery’

Since the establishment of the centre in 1987, Omega offers day care to people with mental disabilities. A trajectory was mapped out to expand the activities of the  centre. Omega acquired a building plot in between the railway and the Gentsesteenweg, a typical Flemish town acces road. In a first phase a rowhouse was extendend with several living groups, a multipurpose hall and an industrial kitchen. In a second phase a new workshop building was added, to replace the older temporary construction, and to house a music studio, a textile studio, a clay studio, a wood workshop, a sensory room. A third phase included the actual renovation of the rowhouse.

© Filip Dujardin

In 2005 urbain architectencollectief won the competition for a new workshop building. Through the introduction of a low and long volume and its smart one sided position against a blank wall, the project chose to preserve a maximum of open space. The studios were also designed with a strong focus on the garden.

© Filip Dujardin

1st Floor Plan

© Filip Dujardin

The floor plan has a simple structure: in front, a carport houses the busses of the day care centre. In the juxtapostion of the workshops the guests are modelling clay, composing and playing music, assembling wooden furniture, painting, … The workshops are combined in pairs, with the insertion of a storage room, toilets and entrances. In the back, a small volume is cut off from the workshops by an open space. It houses the garden workshop.

© Filip Dujardin

The building is composed out of a prefabricated steel structure, enrobed with insulated wooden chipboard walls, and clad with wooden sidings. The rhythm of the steel porches defines the size of the different workshops. Inside the structural logic is on show: the corrugated steel roof, the wooden chipboard walls, concrete floors, steel columns and beams are left unfinished. High quality cupboards in birch multiplex and wooden windowframes offer a certain feeling of domesticity in return.

© Filip Dujardin

By designing the circulation as a covered gallery, the thermal boundary was shifted and the actualy built surface was reduced. The gallery is also a generous space in itself. Its comfortable width and light structure is inviting people to meet up, to stick around, to exhibit.

© Filip Dujardin

By opening the double fire escape doors, the workshops can be extended. The design seeks an honest and pure detailling of basic materials. The structure of the gallery is made up of wood. The roof is made of transparent polycarbonate sheets. The rigid rhythm of wooden columns and beams offers a strong spatial dynamic. Different points of view offer various experiences. The space of the gallery has in a short term earned a special place in the perception of guests and staff, as the building is referred to as ‘the gallery’.

© Filip Dujardin

Within this messy, banal, yet typical Flemish environment, the workshop building manages to introduce structure. It gives meaning to the place, starts up the dialogue with the previous extension.

© Filip Dujardin

Product Description. The search for an industrial feel inside the building, also led to a the introduction of a polished concrete flooring that is mostly used in large industrial halls.

Due to the postion of the new workshop building against a blank wall, skylux domes had to be introduced to let daylight into the workshops

© Filip Dujardin

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© Sergio Grazia

• Architects: Michel Rémon & Associés
• Location: Marseille, France
• Architect In Charge: Michel Rémon
• Area: 18400.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Sergio Grazia

• Project Manager: Rémi Bellec
• Lead Contractor: Bouygues Bâtiment Sud Est
• Space Planner: DEGW
• Engineering: WSP France

© Sergio Grazia

Whiter than White

“A block of sky carrying a piece of Mediterranean soil”: this is how Michel Rémon describes the building he designed for the Airbus Helicopters Research and Development Center. Among the “white” buildings on the surrounding industrial site – all different in their envelopes of metal or concrete – the Airbus monolith shines like a unique nugget, radiant by its simplicity, rigor and purity.

© Sergio Grazia

This immaculately white parallelepiped serves three main goals: to give a prestigious identity to this new brand base; to offer the teams modern, collaborative and integrated working conditions; and to upgrade the site’s image by landscaping the outdoor areas for the well-being of company personnel.

© Sergio Grazia

This final goal is met well beyond specifications: on the east side of the building, a green carpet of pines and heath rooted in three meters of earth rises from the ground to climb up to the northeast corner of the site. 

© Sergio Grazia

Site Plan

© Sergio Grazia

A tribute to the incredible vertical ascension of a helicopter? Without doubt, just like the mirror of the glass façades reaching into the sky toward these magical, humming insects. Made of self-cleaning silk-screened glass, these façades protect the building from the heat of the sun by breathable double glazing with integrated venetian blinds. On the various floors, the natural light is soft and omnipresent, all the way to the central core dedicated to social spaces and large stairways.

© Sergio Grazia

“At the center of a landscape which has been carefully planted by landscape architect Laure Planchais, the building brilliantly manifests the R&D activity that is both secret and emblematic.”

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Temple of Vesta in Plaster of Paris model by François Fouquet. Image © Sir John Soane's Museum

The Sir John Soane’s Museum is often cited as a seminal inspiration for architects of all generations. Located in London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the house—designed by Soane (born in 1753), architect of the Bank of England—is a remarkable biographical bricolage of unique spaces, objects and ideas. Kept exactly as it was at the time of Soane’s death in 1837, the museum is packed with paintings, sculpture, furniture and drawings – all curated and composed by the architect himself to “enhance their poetic qualities.”

Soane’s ingenious design for the courts in Westminster. Image © Sir John Soane's Museum

The house and collection was gifted to the United Kingdom upon the condition that “it should be preserved as it was at that time and that it should be kept open and free for the public’s inspiration and education.” Now, using 3D technology to scan and digitize a number of the museum’s rooms and objects on display (including the famous model room, and King Seti I’s sarcophagus), curious minds no longer need to visit London to get to know the museum. Discover it virtually, here.

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© Mariela Apollonio

• Architects: DG Arquitecto Valencia
• Location: Valencia, Spain
• Architects In Charge: Isabel Roger Sánchez, Daniel González López
• Constructor: ELO Construcciones
• Area: 120.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Mariela Apollonio

© Mariela Apollonio

From the architect. Our projects always begin with a detailed study of some preliminary premises:

The space, in this case is an old townhouse with almost a hundred years of history located in one of the towns near Valencia, with a small backyard, and the needs of the clients, a young couple with three year old daughter.

© Mariela Apollonio

The new layout of the house comes out as a result of introducing these premises into de project, preserving the essence of the original housing, and opening the main spaces to the backyard.

© Mariela Apollonio

The original structure of the house, of wooden beams and beam fills, turns into an important part of the new layout as well as the old wooden doors that, althoug being in a new position, are all restored and reused to delimit the new spaces.

© Mariela Apollonio

Located back in the house there are the living spaces, living room, kitchen and the main room so that the backyard becomes the key area of the house, being a direct extensión of the interior spaces.

Previous State

Reformed state

The new layout of the house and the backyard are proposed in three areas:

The central area in with the most important rooms of the house are located: the entrance, hallway, the living room, the dinning room and the orchard area.

The upper area where the rooms are located, two smalller rooms lighted up with the house´s  access road, the master bedroom and the pool area.

© Mariela Apollonio

The lower area in which the kitchen area, laundry and barbacue are located.

© Mariela Apollonio

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© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

• Architects: Department of Architecture
• Location: Bangkok 10110, Thailand
• Architects In Charge: Amata Luphaiboon, Twitee Vajrabhaya Teparkum
• Area: 5000.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

• Design Team: Chaiyapat Mirasena, Chanlika Boonpha, Matusorn Surachattumrongrat, Taraya Antarasena
• Owner: The Commons Co., Ltd.
• Landscape Architect: Wabi-Sabi Studio Co., Ltd.
• Lighting Designer: Accent Studio
• Structural Engineer: Jet Structural
• M&E Engineer: EEC Engineering Network
• Environmental Graphic: be>our>friend studio
• Identity Design: TNOP Design
• Construction Management: International Project Administration Co., Ltd. (InterPAC)
• Main Contractor: NL Development Public Co., Ltd.
• Façade Contractor: SC Glazing Co., Ltd.
• Construction Cost: 180 Million THB (USD 5,200,000)

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

For Bangkok, or any other modern-day cosmopolitan cities, living conditions and spatial form continue to evolve.  Bangkokians are now yearning for new possibilities of outdoor living space that can effectively answer to the tropical heat and its dense living condition where there is not much space for the outdoor. ‘The Commons’, a small retail development in the city center, is an attempt to create a new active outdoor space where people can comfortably enjoy it at anytime of the year.  

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

‘The Commons’ proposes a vertical open-air public space folding upward as a backbone of the building. It starts with ‘the Ground’ which is a landscape of steps and ramps integrated with platforms, seatings, planting and small kiosks. The area is well shaded by the third and the fourth floor structure above protecting the entire space from the sun and the rain. ‘The Ground’ vertically opens up through large voids on the upper floors, connecting to a large public open-air area occupying nearly thirty percent of each of the third and the fourth floor plate. The space vertically and horizontally flows in and out the entire building and allows for natural ventilation throughout. Two sets of industrial fans are incorporated into the ceiling screen below the skylight. One set draws hot air upward and out; the other set blows the wind downward to effectively increase the air movement in extra hot days. This airy semi-outdoor space is well incorporated with gardens on all levels. It becomes an active vertical urban living area. It is a place for strolling and relaxing at any time and in any seasons.

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

Section

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

‘The Commons’ also provides a solution answering to a classic challenge of a multi-storey retail building on how to draw people upward to the upper levels. The wide ‘Ground’ with its gradual series of steps and platforms connecting the street level to the second floor naturally draws people to walk up leisurely. A series of openings in the third and the fourth floor further enhance a continuity of the vertical space. Shops on the upper levels are clearly seen from different angles from ‘the Ground’. People flow to every floor effortlessly.  

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

A building skin on the upper floors answers to another challenge. While the project wants to open up the facade for a through ventilation, the different identities of various shops on the façade would have made the building appear to be fragmented. The project applies a thin sheer steel mesh over the façade to partially mask off the differences among the shops providing a unified surface while allowing for visual transparency from the inside, a through ventilation, and the lightness appearance from the outside.

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

The ceiling of ‘the Ground’ is carefully up-lighted creating a floating effect to the mass above and give a cozy atmosphere to the area. The exterior light on the meshed façade fades in and out slowly. With light, the surface of the building skin comes into presence, while when the light fades away, the façade becomes transparent and briefly reveals what is inside. It feels as if the walls could breathe and the building itself is alive. 

Product Description.

Expanded Metal – V&P
Expanded metal was selected as the material for a building facade thanks to its see-through and wind-through quality.  The thin material was folded to add its structural stability, was cut into patterns to allow clear view through the voids.  When lit up by LED strip, the material softly carries the light upward and appears to be a sheer illuminated layer afloat in front of the interior space.

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

Wood Substitution – Tree Concept.
Wood plastic composite was selected to substitute timber floor for the entire Common Ground due to its reasonable cost, durability and easy maintenance.  Real timber is not a sensible choice because of its price, potential termite problem and tendency to change its color over time.

© Ketsiree Wongwan / W Workspace

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© Etudio Guto Requena

From the 4-6 of November, the Mediterranean Real Estate Fair, URBE 2016, featured an installation by São Paulo architect and urban planner Guto Requena. The public artwork, entitled “Can you tell me a secret?” is a collection of temporary street furniture: a phone booth that records visitors’ stories and plays them back randomly into five wooden benches.

© Etudio Guto Requena

At night, the pieces transform into light sculptures that use warm colors and movement to coincide with the volume and tone of the audio recordings. LED lights are mounted inside the furniture pieces, amplifying the installation’s presence in Coronel Fernando Prestes Square and developing a dreamlike landscape.

© Etudio Guto Requena

The site is an energetic public square within the Bom Retiro neighborhood in São Paulo, which is now populated largely by immigrants but served as the site of torture and repression during Brazil’s period of Military Dictatorship. The work is one component of Estudio Guto Requena’s ongoing investigations into the nexus between emotion, memory, design, and digital technology. It encourages viewers to engage reflectively with their everyday urban surroundings, looking deeper into the transition between private and public spheres.

News via: Estudio Guta Requena

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© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

This article is part of our new series “Material in Focus“, where we ask architects to share with us their creative process through the choice of materials that define important parts of the construction of their buildings.

Casa Restelo was designed by Portuguese studio João Tiago Aguiar – architects. The 225 square meter project consists of the expansion of a 50’s residence in the Restelo neighborhood, an area of semi-detached houses. For this project they also completely renovated the exterior facades, keeping the current look in mind while creating a new interpretation of the patterns inspired by traditional Portuguese tiles. We talked with the architect João Tiago Aguiar to know more about the material choices and the challenges of this project.

What were the main materials used for this project?

JTA: We used phenolic panels on the posterior façade, wood for the floors, stone, and glass.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

What were your biggest sources of inspiration and influences when choosing the materials used in this project?

JTA: Traditional Portuguese architecture with the use of cement tiles and colored tiles with patterns.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Describe how the material decisions influenced the design of the project.

JTA: To start with we wanted to make something more traditional. Then we took the concept to using modern materials and traditional methods but reinvented it and adapted it for the present day.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

What were the advantages that this material offered for the construction of the project?

JTA: It created a unique and different look and also helped solve the issues of shade and security.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Did the choice of materials create any challenges for the project in any way?

JTA: Yes, a little, since we needed to think of a light, durable, resistant solution that at the same time wasn’t too expensive. 

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Did you ever consider other possible materials for the project? How would that have changed the project?

JTA: Yes, metal plates or laser-cut lacquered aluminum, for example, or even GRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete). After some discussion and comparing costs, thicknesses, decisions on sliding brackets, etc., we ended up going with the phenolic panels. They seemed like the perfect solution for the desired effect. As I mentioned, if we had opted for one of the other materials, the slenderness and lightness on the whole, would certainly not be the same. It would have another thickness, another weight, and probably would have ended up being more expensive as well. However, I think that in spite of everything the effect would be quite similar and the concept that served as the basis for the whole project wouldn’t have changed much.

How did you research the suppliers and builders appropriate to the materials used in the project?

JTA: To be honest, I didn’t do much research. Fortunately, one of the contractors who was bidding for the project and who ultimately got it had an excellent sub-contractor for metal work and we developed the details with them and they helped make the concept something real and tangible.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Check out the full project below:

Restelo House / João Tiago Aguiar Arquitectos
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© Leonardo Finotti

• Architects: Apiacás Arquitetos
• Location: São Sebastião, SP, Brazil
• Architects In Charge: Acácia Furuya, Anderson Freitas, Pedro Barros
• Design Team: Daniela Santana, Francisco Veloso, Leonor Vaz Pinto, Otávio Filho, Pedro Paredes
• Area: 240.0 m2
• Project Year: 2013
• Photographs: Leonardo Finotti

© Leonardo Finotti

From the architect. Located in a residential condominium in Barra do Una (a beach located near of São Paulo city), the project Pavilion Una signed by the brazilian architecture office Apiacás Arquitetos had the feasibility as a premise, considering the choice of materials and mainly focusing on the constructive details, capable of organizing the assembly system. Therefore, the structure is made up of standardized and modular elements: the foundation was executed in concrete, followed by pillars and beams in Cumaru wood, strategically placed in central axes in order to give greater freedom to the pivotal doors that make up the facade. 

These closures consist of interspersed wooden slats that end up acting as vertical bricks, exerting a double function of protecting the construction and revealing the Atlantic Forest where it is inserted. The ground is suspended 50 cm from the ground in order to avoid any flooding due to its proximity to an existing stream. All the connections were made in metal parts in order to facilitate the assembly and guarantee better structural performance for the meeting of pieces. In this way, the wooden fittings consequently become simpler and faster in their execution. The roof, in metallic tiles, has a continuous shutdown, all around the perimeter, favoring the circulation of the air by convection, in addition to balancing the light filtered by the closing panels.

© Leonardo Finotti

Maquete

© Leonardo Finotti

The set of furniture was also idealized according to the initial premises of the project: made of the same kind of wood, they follow the rigor and simplicity of the constructive logic designed for the work. Reaffirming our premise of looking at a tectonic coherence no matter the scale of the object.

© Leonardo Finotti

Sections

© Leonardo Finotti

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© BIQ via GOOD

In a recent article for 99% Invisible, Kurt Kohlstedt explores how integrating microalgae into buildings can create a dualistic system of living and built, in order to perform services like create shade, generate power, and work with HVAC systems to modulate interior environments.

Projects that utilize such technology include bioreactors that produce oxygen and bio-fuel, a building with a bio-adaptive façade, and a street lamp that filters carbon dioxide from the urban environment.

Learn more about how microalgae pushes boundaries in building ecosystems by reading the 99% Invisible article, here.

News via 99% Invisible. 

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© Francisco Nogueira

• Architects: NEXT architects
• Location: Amsterdam,The Netherlands
• Architects In Charge: Marijn Schenk, Mark Spijkerman, Arno Kwint and Douwe Strating
• Other Participants : Studio Fabrick, B. Amsterdam, Collaboration-O, SKEPP
• Area: 18000.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Francisco Nogueira

© Francisco Nogueira

From the architect. What can be done with a 18.000 m2 empty office building situated at the outskirts of the city and that has been deemed unsuited for redevelopment for the last 11 years? This is the big challenge faced with B.Amsterdam at the Johan Huizingalaan in Amsterdam. From the start, NEXT architects was closely involved in the transformation of this static cube-shaped building into a lively hotspot for startups, freelancers and creative entrepreneurs. Strategic interventions are used to strengthen the quality, experience and identity of the building. 

© Francisco Nogueira

B.Amsterdam is a new working space concept in the former IMB headquarters building in the Rieker Business Park in Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West district. Usually, this is the place to find monofunctional office buildings, lack of occupancy, and, outside office hours, a chronic absence of entertainment. It is exactly here that B.Amsterdam’s 5 stores building is re-thought as a lively and dynamic city. Just as with any city, different functions are present that grow and develop organically. People can go to B.Amsterdam for work, sports, dining, events, and, most recently, to enjoy lunch or dinner on the rooftop restaurant Bureau.

© Francisco Nogueira

Floor Plan

© Francisco Nogueira

NEXT was involved in developing the vision of the building as a city, with a recognisable, industrial appeal and re-use of materials. An important intervention is the new entrance situation, which now focuses on the experience and the quality of the entrance space for dwelling and encounters. Likewise, the raising the external fire staircase with the characteristic orange top makes the building highly recognizable from the road.

© Francisco Nogueira

© Francisco Nogueira

The crowning glory on the building is without a doubt the recently inaugurated restaurant Bureau. The restaurant is situated on the rooftop of B.Amsterdam in IBM’s former installation space. Bureau is surrounded by a green roof park with a rich vegetable garden, daily providing the restaurant with fresh seasonal products, vegetables and herbs. For the roof’s transformation, NEXT used existing elements to preserve the place’s raw and dynamic character. The most eye-catching amongst these elements are the large industrial sliding doors to create continuity between in- and outdoor spaces, the use of shipping containers and the remarkable bathtubs to serve as flowerpots. The result is a successful transformation project where innovation and creativity are put centre stage. 

3D Model

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