Hasta La Ideas

News: a design team led by London firm Grimshaw has revealed plans for a new six-runway airport in Istanbul capable of accommodating up to 150 million passengers a year.

The Grimshaw-led team, which also includes Norwegian firm Nordic Office of Architecture and London studio Haptic, says the Istanbul New Airport Terminal One will become the “world’s largest airport terminal under one roof”, covering a site of nearly 100 hectares.

Described by the designers as “modern and highly functional, with a unique sense of place”, the terminal will feature a vaulted canopy dotted with skylights. These will focus daylight onto key sections of the interior, including check-in desks, passport control and shops.

The airport will be located 20 miles outside the city on the Black Sea coast. It will be built in four phases, with the first expected to open in 2018 and serve up to 90 million passengers a year.

A large plaza and transport hub will be built at the entrance, allowing the airport to integrate with existing rail, metro and bus routes.

Grimshaw recently completed an airport in St Petersburg with golden ceilings, designed to reference the gilded spires of the Russian city’s churches. But partner Andrew Thomas says this new project will aim to capture “design worthy of the world city of Istanbul”.

“The Istanbul airport attempts to reconcile the requirements for a top modern, functional airport with something that is rooted in local identity,” added Haptic director Tomas Stokke.

“We were inspired by the local use of colours and patterns, the quality of light and how it penetrates buildings, as well as by traditional architecture such as the Süleymaniye Mosque.”

The post Grimshaw unveils “world’s largest airport
terminal under one roof” for Istanbul appeared first on Dezeen.

A suspended steel staircase is completed by a piece of wooden furniture in this renovated Oslo loft by London studio Haptic (+ slideshow).

Haptic created the split-level Idunsgate apartment in the upper levels of a nineteenth-century apartment block. The new staircase connects living spaces on the lower storey with a mezzanine above, but also creates a subtle divide between the kitchen and lounge.

Made from powder-coated white steel, the staircase hangs down from a ceiling beam and wall overhead. Its narrow vertical supports form a balustrade, while open risers allow views through from below.

As the stairs descend, they stop before reaching the floor, so residents have to step down over a piece of wooden furniture that functions as both a chest of drawers and a window seat.

On one side of the staircase is a white-painted living area featuring a low-slung sofa and white mesh chair, while the other side is a kitchen and dining area finished in dark grey.

“The original kitchen was tight, inefficient and north facing,” said architect Tomas Stokke, describing the old layout. “By moving it into the common areas we could create a light, airy and spacious space that becomes the social heart.”

An oak worktop doubles as a breakfast bar with room for two. There is also a small fireplace that creates a cooking space at the end of the kitchen worktop.

A double-height bathroom sits beside the living area and is finished in polished concrete and grey stone. The bath and shower are raised up, so residents have to climb up a small staircase to access them.

Upstairs, the hallway connecting the bedroom with the stairs becomes a viewing platform over the living space below. It also leads out to a small sheltered roof terrace.

Photography is by Simon Kennedy and Inger Marie Grini.

Here’s a project description from Haptic:

Idunsgate, Oslo

The apartment is in the top floor of a 19th century apartment building in central Oslo in Norway. Purchasing the loft space above the apartment enabled the client to do a full scale refurbishment of the loft, bringing the two floors into one, unified space.

Through a thorough three-dimensional survey of the apartment and careful assessment of the means of escape, we were able to incorporate every nook and cranny and even part of the stairwell into the design.

By fully utilising the level changes and opportunities we could introduce spatial drama with substantial vertical sight lines. The en-suite bathroom to the master bedroom is organised over three levels by incorporating found spaces. A sunny terrace has a large glass wall that brings evening light deep into the apartment. Some loft space has been sacrificed to create a double height space over the living room.

The centrepiece of the apartment is the feature staircase connecting the two levels. A modular, powder-coated, white steel stair is suspended between the joists and connects to a low storage/sofa unit that runs along the front façade.

The bathroom incorporated several level changes, and by using large scale 100x300cm tiles, the impression is of one that is carved out of a single block of stone.

The original kitchen was tight, inefficient and north facing. By moving it into the common areas we could create a light, airy and spacious space that becomes the social heart and integrates with the rest of the apartment. A small fireplace is integrated into the kitchen worktop and the kitchen fronts are painted to match the colour of the fireplace.

Typology: Refurbishment and loft conversion
Client: Gullestad/Skavlan
Architect: Haptic Architects
Team: Nikki Butenschøn, Aleksandra Danielak, Peder Skavlan

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Idunsgate Apartment by Haptic appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio Haptic has created a forest-like lounge at a hotel in Oslo, filled with trees, stacks of lumber and a plant-covered wall.

The open-plan lounge is also the lobby for the hotel, which contains 300 guest rooms and a business conference centre.

The stacked-up timber beams form the reception counter, while the trees create a protective canopy along the edges of a 350-seat canteen.

“The challenge was to provide spaces that felt intimate whilst being easy to get to, flexible and compatible with large-scale event logistics,” Haptic’s Tomas Stokke told Dezeen.

Instead of using matching furniture, the designers have added a variety of chairs by different designers, including Charles and Ray Eames, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and Jasper Morrison.

A row of timber columns separates the lounge from the hotel restaurant, where more columns fold outwards to shelter dining tables.

In contrast to the busy spaces of the lobby, the guest rooms have a simplified design, with a muted colour palette and plain furnishings.

Another hotel completed recently is the Hôtel Droog, which opened in Amsterdam earlier this month.

See more hotels on Dezeen »

Photography is by Trine Thorsen.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Inspired by Nature

This interior architectural project for a large, 300-room hotel and conferencing venue, is inspired by the stunning Norwegian landscape and uses a primary palette of natural materials to provide variety in spatial composition, form, texture and colour.

The primary design strategy was to rationalise a complex set of interconnecting spaces and functions, providing consistent themes and architectural tectonics, but variety and specific “installations” to define each space from the next.

The main communal space of the hotel is understood through a simple architectural theme, the “big floor”, which is then subtly sub-divided into zones to define the lobby, from the restaurant/canteen to private dining, lounge/library and conference lobby.

The Norwegian forests are a primary inspiration, whereby timber is used through out in very different ways to create semi-permeable screens, cladding to cores, a bespoke square-log reception and bar, right down to details such as signage and loose furniture.

The main lobby space is framed by a stylised forest wall that divides the lobby from the restaurant but allows glimpses between the spaces and filters natural light from the main skylight above.

The lobby is more than a reception and waiting lounge, elevated to a communal dining and meeting point for hotel and conference guests. Subtle lighting has been installed to work with the planted trees, where shadows from their canopies dance upon the articulated lobby ceiling.

The lounge and library space is defined by a slender timber screen, that seemingly goes off for a walk, creating bar shelving, bookshelves, desks and ceiling.

By contrast, the hotel rooms are pared down, with simple, quality materials and custom-made furniture made in collaboration with B&B Italia.

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by Haptic appeared first on Dezeen.