Hasta La Ideas

Spanish firm Nook Architects has renovated a Barcelona apartment by adding patterned floor tiles plus a combined step and window seat leading out onto the terrace (+ slideshow).

The Casa Sal apartment in the Poble Sec district of the city is only three metres wide and 19 metres long.

Nook Architects covered the kitchen, bathroom and study with patterned ceramics to divide up the space visually. They then used wooden flooring for a softer look and feel in the rest of the home.

The kitchen acts as the hub of the apartment by linking the living room and the bedroom areas. Nook said they placed extra emphasis on the kitchen.

“For our client, the most important part was the kitchen which had to be the heart of the home; functional, resistant, lively, and very much on the lead in regards to the rest of the room.”

The brightly tiled kitchen leads on to the living room and a slightly raised terrace. Before work started the terrace was in poor condition and could only be accessed through a narrow, opaque door.

To make it feel more connected to the rest of the home, Nook fitted a window seat that doubles as a step with storage space underneath. By using the same material for the top of the bench and floor of the terrace they managed to integrate the terrace with the rest of the apartment. The sliding window doors also allow far more natural light into the room.

Like the kitchen and living room, the client’s bedroom is separated from the study by using floor tiles. Again, Nook used the eye-catching tiles to divide up the relatively small space.

It is becoming increasingly popular to use encaustic floor tiles in Barcelona, with many architects uncovering original flooring from the 1960s. In this case, with no original tiles to unearth, Nook’s client chose the tiles herself – a floral theme for the study, a checkerboard tile for the bathroom and geometrical patterns for the kitchen.

Photography is by nieve.

Here’s a project description from Nook Architects:

CASA SAL, Apartment in Poble Sec, Barcelona

For nook there are two different types of projects from the client’s point of view: that of an owner who will live on the dwelling, and those focused for an unknown user (for example, a rental apartment). On commissions for the first example, we try get to know the client’s day to day customs and habits as thoroughly as possible- anything that could have an effect on their way of life. This was the case of CASA SAL, where the refurbishment of a dwelling was shaped around personality of its owner.

On the other hand, we had to face de difficulties of the original geometry, a very compartmentalised rectangle, only 3 metres wide, and 19 metres long. On one of its ends lay a terrace in very poor conditions, elevated in regards to the dwellings floor level, which could only be accessed through a narrow, opaque door.

These were the premises we worked around in order to solve the architectural problems of the property and the functional requirements of our client. From the start, it involved teamwork, between the architects and the client.

For the client, the most important part was the kitchen, which had to be the heart of the home; functional, resistant, lively, and very much on the lead in regards to the rest of the room. The kitchen therefore articulates the rest of the spaces: on one side there’s the living room with Access to the terrace, and on the other the most private areas, her bedroom and study, a bathroom and a guest room.

To counter the sensation of the narrow proportions of the dwelling, we treated the pavement with fringes of different types of very eye-catching finishes, placing more resistant materials in the kitchen, bathroom, and study, and combining them with Wood for a softer look and feel on the rest of the home. Our client participated by choosing the different tiles used: a hydraulic mosaic for the kitchen with geometrical shapes, a floral theme for the study, and a checker board for the bathroom.

For the terrace, we had a double objective: to solve the deficient connection between it and the living room and to transform into source of natural light, giving it a purpose all year long. This is why we decided to open a large hole on the facade and placed a seating bench that doubles as a stair and storage area with bookcases and drawers. The same pavement was used to finish the terrace on the outside, and the bench on the inside, making the terrace part of the living room itself.

We understood from the beginning that even though our intervention was over, the client’s intervention had only begun. She now has a starting point based on a very familiar architecture to her past, her tastes, and way of live, which will evolve naturally and alongside herself.

Architects: nook architects
Location: Barcelona, España
Year: 2013

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window seat to Barcelona apartment renovation appeared first on Dezeen.

British studio Snook Architects has overhauled a dilapidated eighteenth-century barn in Yorkshire to create a modern home with chunky wooden trusses, exposed brickwork and a double-height family kitchen (+ slideshow).

Cat Hill Barn was first built as an agricultural shed, but had been abandoned for years and was on the brink of ruin after previous owners had inserted a truss structure that was too weak to support the roof, causing the outer walls to bow.

Snook Architects was tasked with rebuilding the internal structure and roof of the barn, removing a floor added previously by a local architect, and transforming the space into a two-storey family home.

“Structurally the building was in a worse state than we first anticipated,” architect Neil Dawson told Dezeen. “As well as removing the entire roof, which frankly was on the verge of collapse, we ended up having to secure all external walls by means of a steel structural frame that sits within the existing masonry.”

The team replaced the existing roof structure with a system of pegged oak trusses that are revealed in the double-height kitchen and dining room at the centre of the building.

“Spatially we wanted to retain the spirit of the place by allowing the barn to reveal itself and its double-height volume at key points,” said Dawson.

A glazed first-floor gallery overlooks this space from above, leading through to bedrooms at both ends of the first floor, while living rooms and guest bedrooms occupy the end sections of the ground floor.

“Planning of the project concentrated on creating drama within the existing structure by focusing on the tension and release formed between constricted single-height spaces and the double-height volume of the barn,” said the architect.

Interior fittings and finishes were designed to respect the honest utilitarian aesthetic of the old barn and include a stone fireplace, timber-framed windows and a poured concrete floor.

Photography is by Andy Haslam.

Here’s a description from Snook Architects:

Cat Hill Barn

Cat Hill Barn is the complete renovation and refurbishment of a previously dilapidated grade II listed barn in South Yorkshire. Originally built in the late 1700’s as agricultural storage for the neighbouring Cat Hill Hall, the building in recent years stood neglected and was at the point of complete ruin.

Snook have secured the existing structure of the barn with a new internal steel framework and rebuilt the previously collapsing roof. The project has attempted to retain much of the working aesthetic of the barn utilising a stripped down utilitarian palette of material.

Planning of the project also concentrated on creating drama within the existing structure by focusing on the tension and release formed between constricted single-height spaces and the double-height volume of the barn.

Brief

Prior to the appointment of Snook Architects the owners of the barn had commissioned a feasibility study from a local rural architect. Despite not having any prior construction experience both Mr and Mrs Wills were disappointed with the outcome. The scheme essentially inserted a new floor throughout the full length of the barn and created a series of boxes over the two floors. All drama and sense of space within the barn structure was destroyed.

Through a mutual client of Snook and Mr Wills, Mr Wills discovered the work of Snook Architects and set up a competitive interview with Snook and another practice. It was the production of Snook’s speculative feasibility study that largely set up the brief. In presenting the scheme and having a critical discourse about the previous scheme both the clients and Snook discovered a mutual appreciation and understanding of the essence of the project: a need to retain the sense of the barn in both use of volumetric space and utilitarian finish. It was this mutual understanding that ultimately won Snook the project.

Planning

However, despite an almost immediate synergy with the client and owners of the barn a less successful understanding was achieved with the local planning authority. Despite repeated attempts at dialogue with the local planning and conservation officer an application was ultimately refused. Reasons cited were numerous but all ultimately pointed to the planning and conservation officers feeling that the scheme was too ‘domestic’ (despite both the spaces and finishes proposed being anything but domestic). Following the refusal Snook launched an appeal and after removing a small balcony from the gable end permission was successfully granted almost 16 months after initially starting the project.

The project then stalled for a further couple of years as with the credit crunch in full swing the owners of the barn found it impossible to sell their current home to raise funds for the conversion of the barn. Finally, in summer 2011 Mr and Mrs Wills were able to sell their house, a caravan was purchased, drawings were resurrected, and the scheme began on site later that year.

Structure

Both client and architect had always been aware of the perilous state of the structure with the architect and structural engineer instructing the owners to seal the barn and keep out. It was no exaggeration to state that the roof could have literally collapsed in at any moment. In short when previous owners had rebuilt the barn they had installed trusses that were both too weak and too short for the cross sectional span.

To exacerbate matters the completely inadequate trusses were supported on breeze block corbels which were also crushing towards wholesale failure. In short the trusses were collapsing and pushing the perimeter walls out. Walls were seriously bowed out and it was immediately apparent that both the roof and the perimeter walls could literally collapse at any moment.

Method of Construction

Construction of the superstructure was relatively straight forward. The roof and one of the main perimeter walls were carefully taken down, a new steel supporting frame was inserted inside the building and walls and the roof were then re built around the steel frame (using the existing material).

Budget / Programme

Budget on the project was incredibly tight with the project initially tendered @ £231,000 and ultimately delivered for £234,383 – an astounding £710/sq.m (including all finishes).

Construction programme on the project at tender was nine months and it was delivered in just short of ten.

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modern home by Snook Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Latticed wooden screens form balustrades for a red pigmented concrete staircase inside this renovated mews house in west London by British studio Jonathan Tuckey Design.

Named Submariner’s House, the three-storey residence was redesigned by Jonathan Tuckey Design for a resident who used to work on a submarine. This client asked for a home that maximises space and includes a new basement and roof terrace.

The compact proportions of the building led to a simple layout with one main room on each floor and a focal staircase that runs along one wall.

“Our ambition was to provide a series of new domestic spaces that were pulled together as a whole by a new staircase and voids between the different levels to create a psychologically expanded space,” said project architect Ryuta Hirayama.

Red pigment was added to concrete to give a warm colour to the staircase. It is fronted by screens made from timber slats, which are white washed so that they appear bleached and have diagonal braces for handrails.

On the ground floor, an illuminated glass box sits at the end of the staircase to allow light to reach a shower room in the basement.

The rest of the newly excavated basement is used as a games room. Felt-lined walls slide back to reveal shelves and cupboards, and the room can also be partitioned to create a small guest bedroom.

More built-in cupboards line the walls of a ground-floor kitchen and dining room, while old stable doors open the room out to the quiet street.

The living room occupies the first floor and the client’s bedroom can be found on the storey above. There’s also an en suite bathroom including a limestone bath and a skylight with adjustable opacity.

Photography is by Dirk Lindner.

Here’s a project description from Jonathan Tuckey Design:

Submariner’s House

Reconstruction of a mews house in the conservation area of St Luke’s Mews, west London.

Brief

Full refurbishment of a three storey mews house and construction of a new basement for a private client who is an ex-submariner. The house consists of a kitchen/dining room on the ground floor, living room on the 1st floor,bedroom/bathroom on the 2nd floor and media room in the basement which can also be used as a guest bedroom.

This late Victorian mews house is located in a conservation area allowing us only minor alteration works to the external facade. Briefed to maximise both the living and storage space in this small mews house, our ambition was to provide a series of new domestic spaces that were pulled together as a whole by a new staircase and voids between the different levels to create a psychologically expanded space.

Concrete stairs and screen

The staircase is made from red pigmented concrete and is veiled in a delicate screen of whitened timber slats that acts as both balustrade and room divider. In places this screen parts to reveal views through the house and, together with the strategically positioned new windows, helps to join the different levels and spaces of the house into one. Polished plaster walls also tie the spaces together and draw light deep in to the building.

Basement

A newly excavated basement allowed for the addition of a new media room and guest accommodation and a sequence of felt-lined panels and cupboards allow this space to accommodate its mix of functions.

Ground floor

The main entrance garage door can be opened out a full 180 degrees and with an integrated folding table can create a dining room extended into the street. A glass box by the entrance door lets natural light into the basement shower room. The entire polished plaster wall alongside the kitchen/dining room conceals a cupboard with black MDF shelves.

First floor

Whitened timber slats and bookshelves create spacious open living room space.

Second floor

Skylight on the pitched bathroom roof allows natural light to flood into the bedroom. A control on the skylight allows the client to adjust the opacity of the glass while looking up at the sky from the bathtub. Bathtub is made of limestone and the floor is tiled with natural cement tiles.

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a mews house for an ex-submariner appeared first on Dezeen.

Swiss firm Haberstroh Schneider Architekten has extended a house in Basel by adding a chain of three rooms, creating a new semi-enclosed courtyard that is filled with stepping stones (+ slideshow).

Haberstroh Schneider Architekten removed a number of previous extensions to reduce Haus von Arx to its original size, before adding the new volumes to the western edge of the building to provide a home office and library.

The architects designed the courtyard and stepping stones to allow the family to move between the existing house and the extension.

“We wanted this area, as small as it is, to be a space for contemplation, where movements slow down and one is not able to rush through,” they told Dezeen.

A sheltered porch creates a separate entrance for the extension, leading through to a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and then on into the small office.

The architects also added a guest bedroom and bathroom above the house’s existing garage, as well as a new swimming pool and pavilion on the east side of the building.

The exterior of the extensions is finished in white render, contrasting with the grainy grey-painted facade of the main house.

Existing living rooms and bedrooms were left to their original layout, but a curving staircase with iron balustrades was painted in a deep shade of green.

“We wanted to enhance the very elegant stairs so we decided to paint them a dark green that, besides contrasting with the rest of the house, is a colour used traditionally on the interior of historical, wealthy and important houses,” added the architects.

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Haus von Arx

The former building – originally built in 1951 – had been extended, converted and renovated several times over the past years. As a consequence, it presented itself as an accumulation of heterogeneous rooms and styles.

In discussions with the new owner we developed the idea of reducing the building to both its original size and primary qualities.

The dismantling of all the old additional elements called for a controlled addition of new expansions.

These new volumes were clustered at the western side of the plot, touching the old building only in one place.

While the old building had been freed from any disturbing elements and thus restored to its classic elegance, the new cubes present a composition of simple and plastically reduced volumes.

The cubes, according to their different position, spacing and size, create fascinating passageway- and patio-situations with the old building.

To the south-western side of the plot we removed the former winter garden. In its place we constructed a generous, open garden pavilion which works well as mediating element between old building, pool area and the garden.

Architects: Haberstroh Schneider Architekten, Basel
Planners: Proplaning AG, Basel Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure AG, Basel ProEngineering AG, Basel Stokar + Partner AG, Basel Locher, Schwittay Gebäudetechnik GmbH, Basel August + Margrith Künzel Landschaftsarchitekten AG, Binningen
Place: Binningen BL, Schweiz
Year of construction: 2012

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inside by Haberstroh Schneider Architekten appeared first on Dezeen.

Spanish architects Nook have renovated a small apartment in Barcelona‘s gothic quarter, leaving decorative floor tiles in place to reveal the original layout of the flat (+ slideshow).

Called Roc³, the conversion is the third that Nook Architects have carried out in the same building, following Casa Roc and Twin House.

“We have followed the same conceptual thread in all three projects, highlighting the original envelope,” the architects told Dezeen. “We have retained all original floors as much as possible, and they have been left exactly in the original place, so you can read the old distribution of the apartment.”

It has become fashionable to retain old tiles in Barcelona apartment conversions; see more projects that use this technique in our slideshow.

Nook removed some of the original internal partitions to optimise space, creating a combined living room and kitchen on the street side of the apartment, and a bedroom and bathroom on the courtyard side.

“We thought it correct to once again incorporate the washbasin in the bedroom to make a better use of natural light and to enlarge the sensation of open space,” the architects said.

The bathroom of the one-bedroom apartment has a second door into the entrance hall, meaning that guests sleeping over in the lounge can access it without disturbing the owner.

Nook used a more industrial palette of materials than in the previous two conversions, in order to save money and create longer-lasting fixtures.

A row of suspended steel storage boxes backed with chicken wire separates the bedroom from the bathroom. The waist-high partition is made of white-painted clay bricks.

Much of the furniture was sourced from a local second-hand store while the dining table is topped with an old door. Walls are left unpainted in places, revealing layers of faded plaster and old tile adhesive.

“In all three projects, we have used modular furniture for the kitchen and the bath, concrete floors, ceramic tiles and translucent polycarbonate for interior doors,” the architects said. “The other furniture, door frames and accessories have been made in steel, not like in the other two first projects which were made of wood. The idea is to use neutral materials which can last and get older in a good way.”

Photography is by Nieve.

Here’s some text from the architects:

ROC³ | apartment in Barcelona, third intervention | nookarchitects

With ROC³ we reached the end of a cycle, the renovation of three, very similar, but different apartments on a single building in Barcelona’s gothic quarter.

We were recently advised that in times of economic crisis, as architects, we had to look for a formula to obtain products with scalability to optimise our resources. We understood that a product with scalability was the repetition of valid solutions from one project to the other, a difficult approach within the refurbishment industry. In the midst of that search for a common denominator the opportunity to rehabilitate ROC³ arrived- another diamond in the rough on the very same building where we had done two previous interventions: CASA ROC and TWIN HOUSE.

We approached the project thinking that we could apply the same parameters as in TWIN HOUSE due to the fact that it was a very similar apartment in terms of dimensions, orientation and pre-set requirements.

This meant placing the daytime space towards the Street, the bedroom towards the interior courtyard, and placing the kitchen and bathroom against the median Wall in the form of a humid strip. What seemed obvious, however, was not possible due to the fact that the sanitary drainpipe changed its position on this apartment from the one in TWIN HOUSE, so we had to look for a new solution for placing the bathroom.

We thought it correct to once again incorporate the washbasin in the bedroom to make a better use of natural light and to enlarge the sensation of open space. This time we separated it from the rest of the room with a low Wall and suspended iron cubes that allow storage from both sides. These same cubes were also used to create night tables and extra storage space for recipe books and utensils in the kitchen.

The shower and water closet have independent entries, but can be closed using a single sliding door, a solution first use don CASA ROC. The water closet can also be accessed from the main entry through a second door, which gives the option of guests using this space without having to enter the bedroom. This way, boundaries were set between one space and the other without creating a visual barrier.

The building’s structure and closings are very irregular, so we introduced lineal elements that counterpoint these irregularities and set order within the space. Amongst these elements are a close hanger that integrates lighting (borrowed from TWIN HOUSE) and connects itself with the support of the suspended cubes and the sliding door’s guide. Wood was used to set limits on the pavement which regulates the traces of the previously existing partition walls. This was also synthetised on the living room lamp.

ROC³ was about applying new ideas to new challenges, but maintaining the spirit behind CASA ROC and TWIN HOUSE in which we searched for the original spirit of the building and subtly intervened to achieve today’s levels of comfort while harmonising with the building’s history.

Architects: Nook Architects
Location: Barcelona, España
Year:  2013
Furniture: Casa Jornet, Sillas-Muebles

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but leaves original tiled floors intact appeared first on Dezeen.