Hasta La Ideas

A copper facade frames the grey stone interior of this dining and retail space in Shanghai designed by local firm Office Coastline.

Located on the first floor of a commercial complex on Madang Road in downtown Shanghai, the 198-square-metre venue belongs to lifestyle brand Genshang and combines a shop, tea bar, dining area and lounge room.

“The client wished to have a place for slow life to contrast with the daily fast-paced life,” said Office Coastline , which was founded by Chinese architects Zhenyu Yang and Zhenyan Wu alongside Japanese architect Akihito Matsushita, who led the project.

“We approached the project by making a gentle sequence of spaces, from the entrance shop, long tea bar, dining area to the lounge room at the end.”

The restaurant’s generous glazed facade is framed by copper panels that contrast with the shopping centre’s grey stone walls and concourse. The entrance door is recessed to the side, which the architects said was in order to “welcome guests gently” into the shop.

Customers enter the space through the tea bar and restaurant. A timber and grey stone-clad bar lined with leather stools and backed by a fluted concrete panel sits nearest to the entrance.

Copper pipe lights hang over the counter and a long backlit copper shelf stretches across the back panel.

The bar, which has a half-vaulted ceiling above, serves Chinese tea in the daytime and cocktails at night.

Custom-designed tables and chairs are spread across the centre of the space below an 4.8-metre-high exposed ceiling, and are overlooked by the kitchen service counter. An enclosed dining area hidden behind folding cane and reeded glass screens sits on the far side.

The main seating area features both square and circular tables set with wood, leather and cane armchairs. To save space, the cane-backed chairs that are set at the circular tables have curved backs that sit flush with the table top when pushed in.

The bar and dining area leads to a small shop with a minimal display of home accessories and clothing. A set of translucent coppery-pink fabric blinds shield the shop space from the cafe.

A lounge area with a vaulted ceiling sits at the rear of the space and is accessed through a set of folding screen doors set with panels of reeded glass and cane.

The dining area, which is used for activities such as meetings, events and private parties, benefits from a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the street below.

A long bank of seating with cane armrests and tan leather upholstery spans the wall opposite the windows. The walls are clad in fluted concrete panels inset with three copper mirror panels.

Elsewhere in the city, Chinese studio Neri&Hu has designed the interior of Chi-Q restaurant, which features a long communal table and a dramatic light-filled atrium.

Photography is by Alessandro Wang.

Project credits:

Architects firm: Office Coastline
Lead architect: Akihito Matsushita
Other participants: Yang Zhenyu, Wu Zhenyan, Zhou Benyang

The post Shanghai restaurant by Office Coastline is a “gentle sequence of spaces” appeared first on Dezeen.

IF_DO has wrapped the sixth form centre in Surrey, England, around a courtyard and planted a tree in the centre to connect it too its woodland setting.

The London-based practice designed the buildings for St Teresa’s School, an independent girls’ school in the village of Effingham, in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Its courtyard is a nod to the arrangement of old university collages around cloisters, and a means of drawing the natural landscape further into the scheme.

This design decision was driven by research into the benefits of natural views on pupils’ mental health and concentration.

“Nature pervades the entire scheme,” said IF_DO. From the formal courtyards to the outdoor woodland classroom, to the tree growing through the “roof canopy at the centre of the plan.”

The sixth form centre comprises two blocks, one housing classrooms, offices and a common room, and the other a lecture theatre.

Connected by a covered walkway, these buildings wrap around two sides of a large courtyard to form a colonnade.

“The scheme includes a sequence of elements which harnesses the under-utilised green spaces of the school’s site,” said the architects.

Classrooms look inward to the central quad, and common areas and the lecture theatre look outwards, over the woodland canopy. A new silver birch tree stands between the two buildings, overlooked by the common and reading rooms.

The scheme uses prefabricated structural insulated panels (SIPs), a light steel frame and glued laminated timber beams for larger spans.

The whole building is clad in light timber, which contrasts with the brick ground floor of the lecture theatre block.

IF_DO worked with contractor Net Zero Buildings, which specialises in low-energy, prefabricated classroom blocks. Solar panels will provide enough energy for heating and lighting the building.

The sixth form centre is the first phase of a 10-year masterplan designed by IF_DO for the school, which seeks to both improve its existing buildings and their connection to the surrounding landscape.

IF_DO garnered much attention in 2017 for their mirrored pavilion at the Dulwich Picture Gallery for the London Festival of Architecture.

Studio Weave has also designed a school that connects to its woodland surrounds with sliding doors that can open classrooms up to the outdoors.

Photography is by Charles Hosea unless stated.

Project credits:

Architect: IF_DO
Planning consultant: Indigo Planning
Structural engineer: Fluid Structures
M&E engineer: Chris Evans Consulting
Quantity surveyor: The CBE Partnership
Main contractor: Net Zero Buildings

The post Colonnades and courtyards bring nature into sixth form centre by IF_DO appeared first on Dezeen.

We’ve updated our Pinterest board showcasing the best prefabricated homes, including a hutong house that plugs-in to a small Beijing plot and OMA’s stacked precast concrete tower. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest ›

The post Imaginative prefabricated homes feature on our Pinterest board appeared first on Dezeen.

VAC Library by Farming Architects is a large wooden climbing frame that uses solar-powered aquaponics to keep vegetables, koi carp and chickens in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Farming Architects designed the library and city farm hybrid as a way for children to learn about self-sustaining ecosystems.

Koi carp swim in the pond adjacent to the structure, crossed via a series of concrete stepping-stones, and several chicken cages sit at the rear of the space.

These chickens also contribute to the library’s miniature ecosystem, providing eggs to eat and manure to fertilise the vegetables.

Aquaponics combines aquaculture – the keeping of fish – with hydroponics – cultivating plants in water, to create a cyclical system that uses waste-water from ponds as a nutrient-rich resource for plants. In turn, plants help purify water that is then returned to the fish ponds.

“Children will learn that Koi carp are not only pets to watch, but also how their waste can benefit the vegetable planters,” said Farming Architects.

The structure itself is a modular wooden grid, designed to be adaptable to a range of different urban sites, topped by a roof with solar panels.

Simple concrete seating areas provide space to sit and read, with the floor surface extending to produce a square in front of the structure.

Various elements are slotted into the gaps of the structure’s wooden beams, such as acrylic boxes housing lights, planters for growing vegetables, and shelving units containing children’s books.

Farming Architects developed the idea based on small interventions people in Hanoi make in their own homes, such as ponds for fish or planters for growing vegetables.

“The aim is not only to produce an effective use of resources, but also experiment in using different types of plants an animals in an urban environment”, said the architects.

The project’s name is an acronym of three Vietnamese words: Vườn (garden), Ao (pond) and Chuồng (cage).

Farming Architects have previously used the concept of a self-sustaining ecosystem at a cafe in Hanoi, which features a waterfall, fish pond and vegetable patch.

Similar concepts have also been used in a proposal for vertical farms in Shanghai, and a pop-up farm created by Space10, IKEA’s innovation lab.

Photography is by Thai Thach and Viet Dung An.

The post Climbing-frame library in Vietnam has a thriving aquaponics system appeared first on Dezeen.

VAC Library by Farming Architects is a large wooden climbing frame that uses solar-powered aquaponics to keep vegetables, koi carp and chickens in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Farming Architects designed the library and city farm hybrid as a way for children to learn about self-sustaining ecosystems.

Koi carp swim in the pond adjacent to the structure, crossed via a series of concrete stepping-stones, and several chicken cages sit at the rear of the space.

These chickens also contribute to the library’s miniature ecosystem, providing eggs to eat and manure to fertilise the vegetables.

Aquaponics combines aquaculture – the keeping of fish – with hydroponics – cultivating plants in water, to create a cyclical system that uses waste-water from ponds as a nutrient-rich resource for plants. In turn, plants help purify water that is then returned to the fish ponds.

“Children will learn that Koi carp are not only pets to watch, but also how their waste can benefit the vegetable planters,” said Farming Architects.

The structure itself is a modular wooden grid, designed to be adaptable to a range of different urban sites, topped by a roof with solar panels.

Simple concrete seating areas provide space to sit and read, with the floor surface extending to produce a square in front of the structure.

Various elements are slotted into the gaps of the structure’s wooden beams, such as acrylic boxes housing lights, planters for growing vegetables, and shelving units containing children’s books.

Farming Architects developed the idea based on small interventions people in Hanoi make in their own homes, such as ponds for fish or planters for growing vegetables.

“The aim is not only to produce an effective use of resources, but also experiment in using different types of plants an animals in an urban environment”, said the architects.

The project’s name is an acronym of three Vietnamese words: Vườn (garden), Ao (pond) and Chuồng (cage).

Farming Architects have previously used the concept of a self-sustaining ecosystem at a cafe in Hanoi, which features a waterfall, fish pond and vegetable patch.

Similar concepts have also been used in a proposal for vertical farms in Shanghai, and a pop-up farm created by Space10, IKEA’s innovation lab.

Photography is by Thai Thach and Viet Dung An.

The post Climbing-frame library in Vietnam has a thriving aquaponics system appeared first on Dezeen.