Hasta La Ideas

Bonba Studio has transformed an office in Barcelona‘s Eixample district into a two-bedroom flat featuring traditional vaulted ceilings and multi-hued surfaces.

Casp21 is a 170-square-metre double-height apartment, located on the first floor of a five-storey block dating back to the late 19th century. The building had been used as offices since the 1980s.

A spacious master bedroom and a bright open-plan living space are situated at opposite ends of the home. A mint-green, timber-lined corridor links them, and also provides access to a guest bedroom, bathrooms and a laundry room slotted in between.

“Arranging these volumes on either side of the corridor acts as a central axis to connect the sleeping area to the living area,” said Bonba Studio, which is based locally.

Original features had been concealed when the space was used as an office, including the vaulted brick ceiling – known locally as a Catalan arch.

But the designers wanted to re-expose these details –  in a similar way to other apartment renovations in the area, including one by Laboratory for Architecture in Barcelona and another by Cavaa Arquitectes.

They removed the old drop ceiling to create four-metre-high ceilings in the bedroom and living room, and widened doorway openings to allow light to filter through the entire home.

“The reform, which has achieved a very personal ambience, fulfils the wishes of the client, who wanted the flat to become his place of disconnection and relaxation,” said the designers.

The open-plan living space includes a kitchen and dining area, although these two spaces are set back into the green-panelled section that frames the corridor. Terracotta tiles contrast with oak floorboards, making a clear transition between the two spaces.

A breakfast bar with a marble base and oak top is accompanied by grey bar stools, the same chairs that accompany a dining table and desk in the living area.

Two tall windows allow light to flood into the predominantly white-painted lounge space. They also open the room out to a terrace with additional seating.

At the opposite end of the apartment, the bright and spacious master bedroom also boasts clean white walls and oak floors, and also includes a walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite bathroom.

This wet room is recessed into the corridor and fronted by a glass translucent sliding door. It features the same terracotta tiles and marble seen in the kitchen, as well as matching dark grey tiles.

The guest bedroom and bathroom introduce a new colour – pale yellow tiles cover the walls in the bathroom.

Photography is by José Hevia.

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Spanish designer Unai Rollan has created a chair that is delivered in 11 same-sized self-assembly pieces to teach children the basics of furniture construction.

The Hamaika chair is intended to involve the end user in the creation process, and is made from basic pieces of wood that slot or screw together.

“I wanted to transmit what I feel when creating an object,” said Rollan, who named the chair after the Basque word for 11. “It’s about that moment in which all the pieces fit together and become a functional object.”

The designer kept the pieces as uniform in appearance as possible, meaning the chair is inexpensive and easy to manufacture. It is also efficient, as the pieces can be cut from a single strip of wood with little waste.

For Rollan, this also has the benefit of drawing attention to the assembly process. He chose a chair as a piece of furniture that offers a greater sense of ownership – particularly for younger users. According to Rollan, the chair takes around half an hour to put together.

“The final phase of the process is the one that generates that feeling of ownership and satisfaction of having created an object,” he added. “In this sense, Hamaika adds to the experience through touching and working with the material.”

Rollan adopted a similar philosophy for his Autoprogettazione furniture, which could be built, according to a manual, from basic materials using just a hammer and nails.

The designer set out to create a chair that would be clean and functional, relying only on basic construction. Necessary tools are kept to a minimum, and pieces either slot into one another, or screw together. 

The chair is made from lightweight spruce pine, which also was chosen to make the chair more economical to produce.

“When there are limits on access to expensive processes, this can also get the best design from us,” he added.

Other furniture that’s aimed at younger users includes Big-Game’s adjustable miniature plastic chair and a Kartell’s plastic swings and seats.

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This home surrounded by lush greenery in Mexico City pays homage to the aesthetics of modernism, and includes raw materials such as volcanic stone, exposed concrete and steel columns.

Casa Sierra Fría is a four-bedroom residence located in the western portion of the Mexican capital, in a neighbourhood known as Lomas de Chapultepec. It was completed in April 2016 by local architect José Juan Rivera Río and his studio JJRR/Arquitectura.

“The style and materials of this house refer to the architecture of the 1960s, developed in the south of Mexico City in Jardines del Pedregal, where the soil is primarily volcanic rock,” said the firm.

The home is surrounded by a verdant garden that can be accessed through multiple openings. “Direct access to the outside, either terraces or gardens, causes transparency through the house, creating ambiguous intersections between interior and exterior,” JJRR/Arquitectura said.

A thin concrete structure supported by steel columns directs visitors towards a double-height lobby. The entrance is also marked by a shallow water fountain and a monolithic volcanic stone wall.

The lobby acts as a hub for the home’s social spaces. It is connected to the main living room, which extends to an exterior gathering space under the concrete awning.

A smaller, private study was also included, and sits beside the dining table. Sliding glass doors allow the residents to open their eating area to the garden outside.

The back of the home contains a large kitchen, which has access to a secondary outdoor dining table.

Four bedrooms, which each have their own dressing room and bathroom, are accommodated on the upper floor.The two larger bedrooms enjoy access to exterior terraces with abundant vegetation.

The material palette was chosen for its ability to acquire an interesting patina over time. “The house’s volcanic stone, concrete, steel and glass, are intended to have the lowest possible maintenance without losing sight of the good ageing of materials,” said the firm.

In addition to the exposed structural materials visible throughout the property, interior finishes include wooden floors, and built-in furniture that contrast the other mineral materials.

JJRR/Arquitectura recently completed another home in Mexico City, where floor-to-ceiling sliding glass walls and terraces provide expansive views of the city.

Other projects in the Mexican capital include the conversion of a derelict mansion into a mixed-use venue that includes offices and a co-working space, and an apartment building with angled walls and a colourful facade.

Photography is by Nasser Malek Hernández.

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This ring hides a panic button that sends an alert to friends and emergency services if the wearer is in trouble.

The button is concealed in the underside of the ring – which otherwise resembles a normal piece of jewellery.

When held down for three seconds, it calls for help from contacts and people within 300 yards, who receive a message with the wearer’s location and personal details through the Nimb app.

The device – which was presented at London’s Wearable Technology Show last week – is also able to make an automated call to the police, and share the individual’s name and location with the call operator.

Accidental alarms can be cancelled using the app, with a separate password used to notify contacts of a forced cancellation.

Wearers set specific people to receive emergency alerts. They can also volunteer to receive notifications – with the idea being that the app forms a community of strangers ready to help.

Nimb is intended for use in all emergencies, including natural disasters and health-related issues, as well as assault. By using a simple button press, Nimb is designed to save users the time and trouble of getting a phone out to call for help.

The idea for the device was part-inspired by co-founder Kathy Roma’s own experience of a brutal attack in 2000, as well as stories told to CEO Leo Bereschansky by friends who had experienced street assaults.

The ring was launched on Kickstarter in 2016, and attracted over $200,000 (£160,000) in backing, after an initial goal of $50k (£40k).

It comes in either black or white, and according to the company has a battery life of up to two weeks. Nimb is currently available in the US, and retails for $149 (£120).

Other recently launched wearable technology includes a condom that measures performance in the bedroom and an earpiece that promises to translate languages in real-time.

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Stone walls extend past the four volumes of this holiday home for an elderly couple near Seoul, designed by local studio OBBA to disguise when the residents are away.

OBBA, which stands for Office for Beyond Boundaries Architecture, were asked to design the holiday home by a couple who were moving back to South Korea after living abroad for a long time.

Located in Ganghwa County in the Incheon Metropolitan City north-west of Seoul, The Layers occupies a slender site measuring 86-by-25 metres.

Four staggered, different-sized blocks make up the one-storey building. Openings on the shorter sides provide vistas towards a mountain in the south and a reservoir in the north.

Thick walls extend past the full length of the volumes in order to block views from the western and eastern side, maintaining the residents’ privacy.

“Considering it is a second house rather than their daily abode, it was designed to protect privacy, in order for the absence of the residents is inconspicuous,” the architects explained.

“Also, since the house was for the elderly couple as the main users, we simplified the spatial structure, avoiding stairs or elevated parts.”

The walls also create a series of sheltered garden areas – the northern side is planted with trees, while the southern side hosts a fruit and vegetable patch.

Each of the volumes perform different functions. The entrance and the guest room are placed in the western block, while the study and the master bedroom are located on the eastern side. The main living areas sit in the central fingers.

A corridor cuts through the centre of each volume, separating different spaces in each, like the kitchen from the dining room and the living room and from the study area.

“Although it is viewed as a blocked facade from the road, by entering the building one encounters a wide interior view via a long corridor that penetrates through the four layered spaces,” said OBBA.

“Mixed programmes in each layer are naturally separated by the corridor that penetrates them, but at the same time, they are visually and physically connected to further amplify openness of the space.”

The stone wall along the entrance remains exposed inside the residence, while the wall in the dining areas is partially clad in grey tiles. The rest of the walls are covered and painted.

Wooden flooring is used throughout the interiors to create a continuity between the different spaces.

OBBA was founded by Sojung Lee and Sangjoon Kwak in 2012. Among the studio’s previous projects is an overlooked Gangnam residence with deep-set windows to maintain privacy, an apartment block with perforated brickwork in Seoul’s Naebalsan-dong neighbourhood and a house with a feline-sized staircase for a pair of cat-lovers.

Photography is by Kyungsub Shin.

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