© José Hevia

• Architects: GRAS arquitectos
• Location: Santa Ponsa, Balearic Islands, Spain
• Area: 10000.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: José Hevia

• Author Architectes: Guillermo Reynés, Álvaro Pérez, Mayca Sánchez, Xim Barceló, Marta Wieczorkiewicz and András Papp.
• Engennering: Andreu Ortiz
• Tecnic Architect: Vicente Juan
• Builder: EGOS
• Sport Club Surface: 1.130 m2

© José Hevia

From the architect. White concrete cantilevered slabs define a new tennis club in the middle of the nature that combines a social building together with tennis courts; a total of 17 courts of all surfaces: grass, clay and hard. A Master series facility.

© José Hevia

The strong natural context defines the concept of the project. The topography of the land demands a terracing strategy in order to place the different courts at different levels following the slope of the hill; The building itself is therefore conceived as a continuation of that terracing: 2 floating terraces, white concrete slabs, overlooking the tennis compound.

© José Hevia

By positioning the building at the highest point of the land, it works as the last terrace of the project and as a great viewpoint, balcony to the rest of the plot, specially to the Centre court, the heart of the project.

Ground Floor

The Centre Court is the heart of the project. A series of terraces are carved in the hill to create a natural stone stadium, a sort of “XXI century Greek Epidaurus tennis theatre”.  The “stadium” can seat up to 1500 spectators. The terraces are built with traditional stone masonry, using solid blocks of a Mallorcan natural stone called Mares. A natural scenario combining the stone and the natural grass is created following the context of the site.

© José Hevia

The clubhouse is designed not just as a social building, also as a viewing platform to watch the tennis games at the Centre Court. The building leans out to the court in order to enjoy views from all floors. White exposed concrete slabs cantilevers are created to maximize those views.

Section

A fully glazed ground floor welcomes the visitor with a lounge and a restaurant. The whole facade can be opened having a continuous space “in and out” so the user can enjoy the terraces, the gardens and the pool, always surrounded by the tennis courts. At the back of the lounge, the dressing rooms and service areas are located. An open steel staircase leads up to the first floor, an open plan multipurpose room with a balcony around the whole floor. Since the room can also be used as a gym, the balcony offers the possibility to install a jogging circuit around the building. A metallic mesh wraps the whole floor to protect the runners from falling.  The balcony “enlarges” when facing Centre Court to create an extra wide terrace to seat spectators during the tournament. The full floor works as a terrace overlooking the surrounding tennis courts.

© José Hevia

In connection with the deck utility of the project, the rooftop is also accessible and can be used by the general public, offering extensive views of all the courts and surroundings.

© José Hevia

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Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Adjaye Associates, alongside development manager Alchemi Group, have submitted a planning application for 5 Strand, a mixed-use scheme adjacent to London‘s iconic Trafalgar Square. Inspired and informed by the surrounding historic buildings, the new 5 Strand will include 62,000 square feet (5,760 square meters) of office space, 26 apartments, and two ground-level retail units.

Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

The design’s most striking element is the repeated arches which make up the facade. This feature “draws from the architectural rhythms and forms of the context,” states David Adjaye in a press release, “to produce something both modern and contextual, elegant and distinctive.” The arches can be seen on all facades of the building, and on the undercroft which provides a separate entrance to the apartments from Craven Street. However on the front facade, which responds to the more “ceremonial” buildings on the Strand and Trafalgar Square, the arches are joined by columns to give the facade increased depth and complexity.

Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Given the project’s sensitive location within the Trafalgar Square Conservation Area, the design development extended over 12 months, with Adjaye Associates consulting with Westminster City Council, Greater London, WCC Highways Department, St James’s Ward, Historic England, Westminster Society, The Grand Buildings, and Northbank BID.

Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

“The opportunity to work on the Strand, adjacent to the iconic Traflagar Square, is an immense honour and one that I do not take lightly,” said David Adjaye. “My team and I have undergone rigorous investigation into the history and development of this crucial piece of London’s urban fabric.”

News via Adjaye Associates.

Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

• Architects: Adjaye Associates
• Location: 5 Strand, London WC2N 5HR, United Kingdom
• Planning Consultant: Gerald Eve
• Mechanical Engineer: Hurley Palmer Flatt
• Structural Engineer: MNP
• Area: 14723.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of Adjaye Associates

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© Haruo Mikami

• Architects: BLOCO Arquitetos
• Location: Brasília – Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil
• Area: 400.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Haruo Mikami , Courtesy of BLOCO Arquitetos

• Authors: Daniel Mangabeira, Henrique Coutinho, Matheus Seco
• Team: Victor Machado, Guilhemre Mahana, Tatiana Lopes
• Constructor : Vítor Odísio Engenharia
• Structure: André Torres

© Haruo Mikami

© Haruo Mikami

© Haruo Mikami

From the architect. The house is located close to Brasília´s city centre. The previous owner of the house had planned to build a bigger one with 350sqm and two stories high. Instead, due to funding problems, he decided to build all the foundations of the house and only use it partially in a 150sqm, one story construction. He built the extra floor plan and covered it with a ceramic tile roof. Moreover, he sold the house without never going ahead with the expansion plan.

© Haruo Mikami

Plan

© Haruo Mikami

The value of the land often surpasses the price of the existing constructions, making it very common for people to buy old houses only to demolish them in order to make space for building new ones. The intention here was to build a bigger house in the same lot with a budget that was 35% lower than what was expected for a brand new construction. The idea to lower the final cost of the construction was to take advantage of the existing structure and re-use part of the existing walls.

© Haruo Mikami

The area occupied by the previous construction was not enough to fit the new program. Therefore, a new concrete grid created to expand its structure, create extra space and defined the outside casing. Due to the lack of regularity in the existing foundations, columns and beams, the new grid follows an “imaginary” pattern of growth inspired by the irregularity of the existing structure. It sits on both existing and new foundations and uses columns with two different sections: 40x40cm and 40x15cm.

© Haruo Mikami

The new grid works as a graft, connecting old walls and new ones and supporting the additional program of the extension. Porous brick walls intentionally arranged in the grid respond to different necessities of solar protection and privacy. Two steel structure pavilions added additional services to the house such as a garage, an outdoor kitchen and a sauna. 

© Haruo Mikami

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The use of steel in both the past and present is mainly associated with the success of grand industrial and civic structures. But due to the commercialization and standardization of steel profiles, its use in residential projects (thanks to its mechanical properties and fast installation) has resulted in complex and interesting solutions on a domestic scale.

Dive into these 15 construction details from residential projects that have made use of steel structures and cladding. 

01. Caterpillar House / Sebastián Irarrázaval

via © Sebastián Irarrázaval

02. Shokan House / Jay Bargmann

via © Jay Bargmann

03. House Pegasus / Frédéric Saint-Cricq 

via © Frédéric Saint-Cricq

04. Single House in Haut / Atelier Lame Architecture

via © Atelier Lame

05. House on Todos Los Santos Lake / Apio Arquitectos

via © Apio Arquitectos

06. Casa Gate / Pedro Oliveira 

via © Pedro Oliveira

07. RR House / Delfino Lozano 

via © Delfino Lozano

08. House V / Arkosis 

via © Arkosis

09. Tinman House / Junsekino Architect And Design

via © Junsekino Architect And Design

10. LLM House / Obra Arquitetos

via © Obra Arquitetos

11. VIMOB / Colectivo Creativo Arquitectos 

via © Colectivo Creativo Arquitectos

12. House in Salineiras / RVdM Arquitectos 

Courtesy of RVdM

13. H House / Björn Lundquist Arkitektur 

via © Björn Lundquist Arkitektur

14. House JP / Bevk Perović Arhitekti 

via © Bevk Perović Arhitekti

15. BLM House / ATRIA Arquitetos 

via © ATRIA Arquitetos

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<a href='http://ift.tt/2gjQG8y Healthcare Building / Brullet Pineda Arquitectes</a>

Today we live in a rapidly aging society. The shift in the population pyramid means that traditional healthcare systems need to be reimagined in order to efficiently support an increasing senior population. This added pressure on healthcare is significant–the number of older adults in the US alone requiring long-term healthcare support is set to increase from 15 million to 27 million by 2050. By partnering with designers, healthcare providers can create valuable responses to address these growing needs.

One building typology that expresses this designer-provider partnership are centers for healthy living (CHL). CHLs help to bridge the gap between the senior living and healthcare sectors, and go beyond simple clinic or exercise spaces. Taking a more holistic approach, they seek to become accessible destinations for programs that nurture wellness while providing a sense of place and community.

In a new downloadable report, Perkins Eastman have explored this typology in great depth by investigating existing CHLs. Through spatial and market research, case studies and user surveys, their findings identify strategies for improving upon the CHL model in the future. Read on for our summary of their discoveries.

<a href='http://ift.tt/2gjQG8y Healthcare Building / Brullet Pineda Arquitectes</a>

1. Address wellness holistically

Wellness has varied definitions and approaches–the report identifies eight dimensions of wellness in particular: emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, occupational, spiritual, social and financial. In their research, the Perkins Eastman team found that there was more focus on the physical and social dimensions than the others. For a CHL to fully provide for their users, its physical environment and programs/service need to address all dimensions of wellness with equal thought.

Courtesy of Perkins Eastman

2. Focus on a transition from illness to wellness

CHLs are more than clinical facilities, and so should focus on education and prevention rather than just treatment. Most of this is down to the user experience with the space and services.

Spatially, environments should be inviting, with clear wayfinding and plenty of natural light.­ Co-location of amenities is also a chance to increase interaction. For example, by placing therapy and general fitness gyms next to each other, rehab patients are familiarized with the facility and are more likely to continue gym use even after finishing physical therapy. Circulation is another design opportunity, with accessible and appealing stairs or ramps encouraging users to move from floor to floor without relying on elevators.

<a href='http://ift.tt/2fqIx2x Clinic Ruukki / alt Architects + Karsikas</a>

As for services, research found that users are looking for variety. Programs and services should offer personal, individualized options that address physical fitness, nutrition, clinical, counselling, education, social, recreational, spiritual or self-reflective, and volunteer opportunities.

3. Respond to, and work with, different sectors of the market

Long-term sustainability of the CHL itself is also important. This can be further broken down to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. To ensure this, an ear should constantly be kept out for new findings developments across multiple sectors. This convergence of ideas from healthcare, hospitality, senior living, sustainable building and market research can create a wellness that starts from the built environment itself.

<a href='http://ift.tt/2gjQG8y Healthcare Building / Brullet Pineda Arquitectes</a>

4. Design flexibly

This point also relates to long-term sustainability. As technology and lifestyles change, so too will the needs and requirements of the new generations aging into the user group. Therefore, spaces can’t afford to be functionally restrictive, especially when existing CHLs are already noting a lack of space (the average floor space of CHLs studied was 36,776 square feet, or 3,400 square meters). The report points out however, that flexibility does not automatically mean a one-size-fits-all environment, and that such spaces are often unable to support any one function well.

Courtesy of Perkins Eastman

5. Partnerships, plug, play

As mentioned earlier, the range of services provided by a CHL vary across different fields. By partnering with outside industry providers, the quality of services and programs can be increased while encouraging ties with the surrounding community. Furthermore, because of the many components of a CHL, it could also physically pair up with other buildings. As a base that could be “plugged into,” a CHL could share its facilities with hospitals, hotels, housing developments or even universities. Along with sharing resources, this “plug and play” approach would also help create intergenerational interactions between the different groups of users.

Courtesy of Perkins Eastman

You can find the full report with detailed case studies, along with other papers from Perkins Eastman, here

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Courtesy of Blue Crowe Media

Blue Crow Media in collaboration with editor Matthew Tempest has produced another alluring map — this time for modernists. The city of choice? Berlin. With its abundance of 20th-century architecture, the Modern Berlin Map highlights the details of fifty prominent buildings.

Courtesy of Blue Crowe Media

Matthew Tempest said – No twentieth century city has more ghosts than Berlin – and they live on its buildings. From the Kafkaesque Brick-Gothic Expressionism of its Weimar-era factories and churches to the chilling pomposity of its gargantuan Third Reich monsters, from the post-war coalface of Communism and Capitalism facing each other down over its most famous edifice – the Berlin Wall – to little-known Brutalist and sci-fi socialist structures.

Courtesy of Blue Crowe Media

Each building showcases the various forms of modernism: Expressionist, Bauhaus, Fascist, Soviet Realist, Modernist, Brutalist, Post-Modernist, etc. Structures like Bruno Taut’s Horseshoe Estate, Corbusier’s Berlin Unit for Living or the Third Reich’s Olympic Stadium all grace this new map. Berlin’s especially complex history has created a fascinating array of architectural styles, which its urban fabric has dutifully preserved.

Courtesy of Blue Crowe Media

“Its rebirth as the continent’s capital of cool comes with a blood-soaked and fractured past.”

The map itself is two-sided with an introduction to 20th century Berlin on one side and the map on the other. As Blue Crowe Media’s fifth exploratory guide, the company has perfected their art for arche-touring. 

Courtesy of Blue Crowe Media

News Via: Blue Crowe Media

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© Takuji Shimmura

• Architects: Atelier du Pont
• Location: 35 Rue de Nantes, 75019 Paris, France
• Project Manager: Luc Pinsard
• Area: 1300.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Takuji Shimmura

• Client: Paris Habitat
• Architect: Atelier du Pont
• Structure Engineering : EVP
• Fluids Engineering: Delta Fluides
• Construction Economics: RPO
• Sustainable Engineering: Plan02
• Landscape Designer: Paula Paysage
• Site Specific Art: Atelier YokYok

© Takuji Shimmura

Close to avenue de Flandre and just a stone’s throw from the canal de l’Ourcq, rue de Nantes is a fairly traditional Parisian street of Haussmann and inner-suburb buildings.

© Takuji Shimmura

The project gently inserts itself into a narrow parcel bordered by dense, adjoining housing. On the street side, it extends the building streetscape in a simple manner. On the garden side, the staggering from the 1st to the 6th floors creates large, private, south-facing terraces and allows for an unencumbered view of the sky.

Scheme

The “L” shape and the general volumetrics allowed for the creation of a true, collective garden at the ground level, planted with tall trees. The three townhouses integrated into the overall volume look out onto this landscape. The building is clad with a façade of black enamel terracotta tiles whose reflections change depending on the quality and direction of the light. It provides an elegant and subtle continuity to the building constructed by Philippe Gazeau in 1993 for Toit et Joie on the facing parcel, situated along rue de l’Ourcq.

© Takuji Shimmura

Floor Plan

© Takuji Shimmura

Section

We created a small collective that blends into its urban environment with its simple salute and enlivens the center of the block with a beautiful version of convivial, green living. And to inject art into its everyday life, Atelier YokYok created a site-specific drawing on the common walls: silhouettes that choreograph the space and accompany the inhabitants in their daily movements.

© Takuji Shimmura

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Many have walked by and wondered what purpose this vast, windowless skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan serves. 33 Thomas Street, also known as the “Long Lines Building” (LLB), appears as an impenetrable monolithic fortress amid a canyon of glass and steel. Ostensibly an AT&T telecoms building, the New York Times have reported (based on investigative work by The Intercept) that this “blank face[d] monument to privacy” may in fact be a NSA (National Security Agency) listening post – and hidden in plain sight.

Designed by San Franciscan John Carl Warnecke—an architect who worked closely with the Kennedy administration, and even designing the late President’s mausoleum—the Brutalist tower was completed in 1974. Built to withstand a nuclear attack on New York or, at the very least, a devastating loss of power to the city, the 550 foot-tall (169 meters) structure is supported by systems that allow it to provide enough food, water and fuel to sustain 1,500 people for two weeks completely removed from public infrastructure. It has been said that during the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks it was the only operational building south of lower Manhattan.

Plan for the tower mechanical equipment floor at 33 Thomas Street. Image via The Intercept

The history of the LLB’s programme is not totally fabricated. While it continues to house AT&T’s long distance telephone switches and carrier exchanges (originally as the New York Telephone Company), it also now operates as a datacenter and “gateway switch”. The vision of the practice who designed it, according to The Intercept, was as “a communication nerve center like a ’20th century fortress, with spears and arrows replaced by protons and neutrons laying quiet siege to an army of machines within’.” They continue:

True to the designers’ original plans, there are no windows and the building is not illuminated. At night it becomes a giant shadow, blending into the darkness, its large square vents emitting a distinct, dull hum that is frequently drowned out by the sound of passing traffic and wailing sirens.

Story via New York Times. At this time no concrete evidence is available which connects the building to the NSA – for more information read The Intercept’s article in full.

33 Thomas Street, New York City. Image Courtesy of wikimedia user Marcin Wichary (CC BY 2.0)

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© Olo Studio

• Architects: KWK Promes
• Location: Kraków, Poland
• Architect In Charge: Robert Konieczny
• Area: 138.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Olo Studio , Jakub Certowicz , Courtesy of Robert Konieczny

• Authorial Collaboration: Łukasz Marciniak
• Collaboration: Marcin Harnasz, Aneta Świeżak
• Structural Engineering: Kornel Szyndler

© Olo Studio

From the architect. The highest value of the plot is a wonderful view stretching out. The idea was for the house to become its framework that crops it. The most appropriate building turned out to be a fully open on mountain landscape one-storey building, which gives the same view to all of the interiors.

Scheme

Because of the plot being located in an absolute wilderness a problem of security came out. The solution turned out to be “twisting” the building so as only its one corner touches the ground and the rest is hang over the edge of the hill. With this solution, part of the ground floor where the bedrooms were located was pulled up to the level of the first floor. Because of the fact that there are wide glass openings in the building, my wife asked me to effectivly close the entrance side of the house. A 10 meter wall and a drawbridge, which combines the function of stairs and a window shutter, appeared.

© Jakub Certowicz

© Jakub Certowicz

Location of the house on a steep slope, was followed by high risk of landslip, more and more frequent in polish mountains. As to limit the movement of the subsoil the house was treated as a bridge, under which rain water flows naturally.

© Jakub Certowicz

Floor Plan

© Jakub Certowicz

Realities of mountain landscape as well as the local law constrained a gable roof. House took the form of a typical barn standing on three thin walls

Courtesy of Robert Konieczny

Courtesy of Robert Konieczny

To give rigidity to the building the walls were tensed by the planes of the ”inverted” roof, slightly lifted over gound. Their incline increased the feeling of security. And so, we basically created a house with two roofs that protect it from water, it began to resamble an arc floating over the fields. After some time I realized, that in order not to disturb this impression, the best garden design would be lack of it, the best fence would be a temporary herding fence, the best approach – few rocks. In the same time the building was supposed to be cheap and easy to construct. That is why I deciced on insulating it from the inside, the concrete structure became an finnished elevation. This is how I got rid of complicated details and finish, they were replaced by poured concrete from a local producer. Sprayed closed-cell-structure foam turned out to be the optimal insulation. It is also a vapour barrier.

© Olo Studio

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© Tristan McLaren

• Architects: Drew Architects
• Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
• Architect In Charge: Andrew Payne
• Area: 520.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Tristan McLaren

© Tristan McLaren

The site is located overlooking a golf course fairway on a prominent Johannesburg golf estate. Orientation is due north-east and there are distant views beyond the golf course to the horizon.

© Tristan McLaren

Access is taken from the south-west and the site is positioned on a bend on one of the main arterial roads within the estate. The land is predominantly flat with no natural features other than two thorn trees on the golf course interface.

Ground Plan

The home was designed for a bachelor with limited mobility looking for a modern, single storey home characterized by a strong connection to nature and views from all rooms in the home.  The client loves natural materials and the bushveld and was looking for a home which imbued a sense of being away in the bushveld: a place of comfort, a refuge from the world but reinterpreted in a more contemporary, urban context.

© Tristan McLaren

Given the clients requirement for a sense of seclusion and privacy and the location of the site on the bend of a main arterial roadway within the estate, the departure point for the design and defining gesture of the home is a large dry-packed natural stone wall which defines the line between public and private space. The intention to create a sense of protection and enclosure on the private side of the home but also to create an increased sense of interest and anticipation in the approaching visitor by the restrained use of line, form, pattern and materiality on the street. The bulk of the home hunkers down behind the spine wall, the only suggestion of what lies beyond being three chimney structures with an intentionally exaggerated vertical scale and a steel and timber roof terrace structure above the main terrace space. Given the position of the site the architects felt that providing an opportunity to access the incredible views and perspective from a first floor vantage point was too valuable an opportunity to miss. Accordingly, the architects planned a rooftop entertainment space taking full advantage of the panoramic views available looking north down the 13 th fairway and to the horizon beyond accessed from the ground floor entertainment space.

© Tristan McLaren

The spine wall also defines the primary movement route within the home and, whether experienced from inside or outside the home, provides powerful visual legibility.

A naturally filtered koi pond runs the length of the wall on both sides which not only provides life and movement at the wall but also the illusion, through reflection, that the wall continues into the ground.

© Tristan McLaren

Natural materials such as dry-packed stone, solid hardwood, solid granite tiles and copper create contrasted against more clean, contemporary materials such glass and off-shutter concrete.

© Tristan McLaren

Product Description. Our client has a physical disability and was looking for a single storey home. To create the most modest silhouette in the landscape and ‘hide’ the home behind the large 4m stone feature spine wall we opted for a flat in-situ concrete roof slab. For complete peace of mind and in order to simplify the construction of the roof slab and waterproofing thereof we chose Penetron Admix which is added to the concrete mix at the batch plant at the time of batching and renders the concrete completely waterproof without the need for cement screeds to fall and a waterproofing bituminous membrane of any sort. Penetron was pivotal to the success of this building.

© Tristan McLaren

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