Hasta La Ideas

Tokyo practice Klein Dytham Architecture referenced traditional Japanese festivals, bathhouses, fishponds and timber houses for the interior of Google’s new Japan office (+ slideshow).

Occupying several floors of the KPF-designed Roppongi Hills tower in Tokyo, Google Japan is intended to repeat the colourful and imaginative designs of the internet company’s other offices, but to also bring elements of local history and culture into each of the spaces.

“Google request that each of their national offices around the world reflects the unique culture of its location,” explain architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein. “[Our] design for the earlier phases of the project had taken cues from the graphics of traditional Japanese fabrics and contemporary anime, but then Google requested an even more vivid evocation of Japanese culture.”

The architects imagined a typical bathhouse for one floor. White ceramic tiles cover the floors, while computer stations look like dressing tables with large mirrors and a painted mural of Mount Fuji spans the rear wall.

Elsewhere, perforated concrete-block walls define corridors through workspaces, intended to evoke narrow residential alleys. Informal meeting areas can be glimpsed through the perforations and are designed to look like little parks.

Different zones are marked by different colours and follow the palette of Google’s logos. Some of these logos can be spotted in the patterned wallpapers, which the architects based on Japan’s timber architecture.

Other details include a hairy cafe surrounded by carwash brushes, a mobile street-food stall and a digital fish pond populated with interactive koi carp. “[We were] looking to communicate the Japanese context without resorting to cliche”, say the architects.

Other Google office interiors completed in recent years include the Tel Aviv office, which includes a meeting area filled with orange trees, and the London headquarters, featuring Union Jack flags and allotments where staff can grow vegetables. See more stories about Google.

Klein Dytham Architecture’s other projects include YouTube’s Tokyo production studio, plus a bookstore that uses the logo of the brand on its walls. Dytham discusses this project in an interview we filmed at the World Architecture Festival last year. See more architecture by Klein Dytham Architecture.

Here’s a project description from Klein Dytham Architecture:

Klein Dytham architecture
Google Japan Phases 1,2,3,4

Klein Dytham architecture (KDa) recently completed an additional phase to their design for Google’s Japan office. This ambitious interior project is located in the Roppongi Hills tower in central Tokyo.

In such a large project one of KDa’s key challenges was to develop a way to expand Google’s facilities that wasn’t repetitive or boring, and which also assisted wayfinding. To help staff feel comfortable and prevent visitors from becoming lost, KDa defined various zones across the floors and gave each a distinct character. Each zone was assigned a specific colour, the colours being modulated through different tones. This creates a “necklace” of differently coloured meeting rooms, each with a specific name and character, strung around the building’s large central core.

On the one of the floors, KDa defined the circulation route around the meeting rooms with the perforated concrete block walls common in Tokyo’s winding residential lanes. In the city these block walls often provide glimpses into lush gardens, and KDa used them here to allow views into enticing spaces beyond the walls. Each of these “pocket parks” has a huge wall graphic of brightly coloured plants and can be used for gatherings and informal meetings.

KDa also placed landmarks at key positions to help staff and visitors identify their location and navigate around the floor. KDa have provided mini- kitchens where staff can grab snacks and drinks, each space decorated a different colour. After having designed kitchens themed by Google colours – blue, yellow, red, green – on the lower floors, KDa then looked to create something even more memorable: a bight blue “hairy kitchen” clad in the giant brushes used in automatic carwashes.

Google request that each of their national offices around the world reflects the unique culture of its location. KDa’s design for the earlier phases of the project had taken cues from the graphics of traditional Japanese fabrics and contemporary anime, but then Google requested an even more vivid evocation of Japanese culture. Looking to communicate the Japanese context without resorting to cliché KDa incorporated surprising elements such as a full-scale yatai (mobile food stall) and a digital koi pond that greets people at one of the entrances – responding to hidden sensors, carp projected onto the floor move towards those who enter the space as if expecting to be fed.

A set of spaces on another floor was themed after a sento, the traditional neighbourhood bathhouses now fast disappearing from Japan’s cities. Passing through a traditional noren curtain, leads to space instantly recognisable as a “wash area”, complete white ceramic tiles, wooden stools, and computer screens cunningly configured where mirrors would be expected. This leads on to a spacious “soaking bath” area – actually a presentation and training room – which like classic sento features a huge mural of Mount Fuji specially created for Google by one of Japan’s last living mural painters. This space is also used for external events, with the “wash area” becoming a reception space for drinks and catering.

Nearby, a group of meeting rooms have a matsuri (traditional neighbourhood festival) theme. Here, red and orange wallpaper picks up patterns from the yukata robes and happi coats worn at festivals, wall graphics show photos of festival scenes, and sake and beer crates both act as impromptu seating and create a relaxed party atmosphere.

For previous sections of the interior, KDa created brightly coloured wallpaper patterns cleverly derived from refigured Google icons such as the Google Android and Google Map pin. For the new spaces, KDa developed a set of muted, timber-coloured wall graphics whose tone varies from light to dark wood. Subtly evoking Japan’s traditional timber architecture, the patterns occasionally incorporate cunningly hidden icons.

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Klein Dytham Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

An angular installation by Zaha Hadid has been unveiled in front of the architect’s Fire Station at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany (+ slideshow).

The work was commissioned by crystal manufacturer Swarovski to mark the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the Vitra Fire Station, Zaha Hadid‘s first completed building.

Called Prima, it comprises five components that can be arranged in different configurations to create adaptable seating landscapes.

Hadid’s original drawings for the Fire Station were translated into three-dimensional fragmented forms to create the seating. Highly polished surfaces reflect the sky and the angles of the nearby building, while strips of LED lighting illuminate the structure at night.

“I have a particular affection for Vitra Fire Station as it was my first building,” says Hadid. “Returning to Vitra to work with Swarovski on this installation has been a very rewarding experience.”

Prima will be on show at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, from tomorrow until 11 August.

First established in the 1980s, the Vitra Campus has become well-known as an unofficial museum of contemporary architecture, including Herzog & de Meuron’s VitraHaus showroom, the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry and a conference hall by Tadao Ando.

A SANAA-designed Factory Building is the latest addition, opened in April, and the building proposed for the site will be a children’s art workshop by Chilean architect Ale­jan­dro Ar­ave­na.

Zaha Hadid has recently proposed a masterplan for a site beside a lagoon in Izmir as part of Turkey’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 and has also been appointed to design a stadium in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

More about architecture and design by Zaha Hadid »
More about the Vitra Campus »

Photography is by Hélène Binet, unless stated otherwise.

Here’s some more information from Swarovski:

A spectacular new Swarovski commission – Prima

Swarovski has commissioned Zaha Hadid to create a celebratory installation marking the completion twenty years ago of her first major built project, the Fire Station at Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany.

The installation, entitled Prima, is an angular piece made from five highly polished components that can be moved into different configurations. It will be installed in front of the Fire Station, reflecting and honouring the design process of the building. The project recalls the dynamism of Hadid’s original drawings created for the Vitra Fire Station, exploding in three dimensions from the lines and planes of the paintings and sketches. Its reflective surfaces contain seating for visitors and are illuminated with LED technology.

One of the world’s most celebrated architects, Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture. For years, her radical designs remained on the drawing board, but the turning point came in 1993 with the opening of the Vitra Fire Station commissioned by Vitra’s Chairman Rolf Fehlbaum.

Painting formed a critical part of Hadid’s early career as the design tool that allowed powerful experimentation in both form and movement – leading to the development of a new language for architecture. Hadid’s interest in the concepts of fragmentation and abstraction is evident throughout her repertoire and continues to this day. Originally engaging with the work of Kazimir Malevich, Hadid translated the warped and anti-gravitational space of Russian avant-garde painting and sculpture into her own unique architectural practice.

Using the advanced design and manufacturing technologies available today, the facets of Prima are a direct translation of the dynamic two-dimensional lines and planes on the canvas, reflecting Hadid’s detailed experimentation to perfect the Fire Station design. The installation continues this research, documenting Hadid’s remarkable journey as an articulator of complexity: a 2D sketch evolves into a workable space, and then into a realised building.

Zaha Hadid commented: “I’m equally proud of all my projects as they each represent different times of my career and periods of research, but I have a particular affection for Vitra Fire Station as it was my first building. Rolf Fehlbaum shares my passion for architecture and was inspired by my early visualizations. He dared to engage me without seeing a prior track record and without the certainty of public success. Returning to Vitra to work with Swarovski on this installation has been a very rewarding experience.”

Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, commented: “Zaha is an astonishing force of nature who imparts her designs with power and grace in equal measure. It has been an honour to work with her once again on this exciting celebratory commission. Prima is a dramatic sculptural installation – half art, half furniture, and stunningly beautiful.”

Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman of Vitra, said: “I am happy to have worked with Zaha Hadid at such an early stage of her dazzling career. Her Fire Station is a spectacular building and it looks as impressive now as it did when it was first built. Few other architects would have been able to transform a modest commission like ours into a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. Zaha has been able to do so, thanks to an incredible sense of space and a radically new vision of what architecture can represent.”

Prima by Zaha Hadid for Swarovski at Vitra Fire Station on the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany. Prima will be showcased outside the Fire station from 12 June to 11 August 2013. The installation can be viewed as part of the public architectural tours.

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Swarovski at Vitra Campus appeared first on Dezeen.

Photographs depicting examples of unsung architecture from around London chosen by architecture critics are on show at the Design Museum in London (+ slideshow).

Curated by independent writer, editor and curator Elias Redstone, the series of original images by photographer Theo Simpson documents overlooked buildings and infrastructure, including an oil refinery jetty, a bus garage and a cemetery.

The ten colour offset prints are on display in the Design Museum‘s Café and Tank space until 22 July and have been compiled in a journal published by Theo Simpson and graphic designer Ben Mclaughlin’s publishing company, Mass Observation.

We recently published a set of photographs by Alastair Philip Wiper of the world’s largest solar furnace and wave-reflecting chambers and Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers documented a series of World War Two monuments in Yugoslavia.

See more photography projects on Dezeen »
See all stories about the Design Museum »

Here is a selection of photographs from the exhibition, with the explanatory texts from the critics:

Sam Jacob of FAT, a regular contributor to Dezeen’s opinion column, nominated Welbeck Street Car Park in Marlyebone.

Its neighbour is buried beneath Cavendish Square; modern necessity camouflaged beneath apparent historicism. But Welbeck Street is qualmless, a multistory car park celebrating itself as though it were the crowning glory of civilisation. Designed for Debenhams in 1971, it sits like a block-sized sculpture, its elongated diamond-shaped prefabricated concrete panels locked together into mesmeric and scaleless pattern that genuflects to the oddities of its historical boundary.

It is part of a small gang, a batch of buildings produced in a small window when car parks were treated as civic monuments, significant structures that expressed the modernity of the moment. This moment saw a coincidence of the tail end of brutalism and the megastructure along with enthusiasms for grand infrastructural highway planning.

Of course all of those things – cars, architecture, planning, concrete – soon found themselves if not blamed for the collapse of society at least tarnished with doubt, falling on the wrong side of every contemporary ideological debate.

Blampied’s architecture explores and expresses the possibilities of the multistory car park. Its frame remains open to the elements, a giant grill that ventilates fumes from the buildings interior while also, perhaps, referring to a cars radiator grill. It is simultaneously practical and symbolic. Its rawness casts it as part of the infrastructural landscape: highway engineered into vertical stack. But here infrastructure is handled with such delicacy that all its rawness is elevated to sublime beauty.

Welbeck Street Car Park should be regarded along with other great structures occurring at the intersection of transport and architecture, alongside Gilbert Scott’s St Pancras, Brunel’s train sheds and Grand Central Station. It also stands as a template for a problem that is not going to disappear any time soon. The building acts as an interface between cars and the city. It resolves this often troubling relationship beautifully, a structure for cars articulated as a fully urban phenomenon.

Tom Dyckhoff of the BBC Culture Show selected Berthold Lubetkin’s Bevin Court flats.

It felt a little like the white rabbit falling down the hole in Alice in Wonderland; only we fell up. It was the mid-1990s. We were at university, on an architecture field trip, trudging past Islington’s Farrow & Ball-ed brick townhouses and cappuccino-selling cafes (flat whites hadn’t been invented yet). Yuppies. We still called them yuppies, then.

Our tutor was a Marxist; he was having none of this. He marched his comrades, who, by now, were looking a little green with envy, down Percy Street (more posh townhouses), turned right, ta-dah! Oh… Is that it? A block of flats. And…? Designed by Berthold Lubetkin in the 1950s, we obediently scribbled in our notebooks. Yes, we get the message: we bothered to build homes for the proletariat back then.

It was originally to be called Lenin Court, containing a statue of the Soviet leader, until geopolitics shifted. Very interesting. But, basically, so what? Still not as nice as those Georgian houses. He continued: “Council cut the budget, usual story, so Lubetkin scaled back the ambition. Apart from…”

Our tutor opened the block’s little entrance door. That one single act will stay with me till I die. It was as if our tutor had slipped us all a tab of acid. We walked in and entered… what? Another universe. Another dimension. Whoosh. That staircase! Now, most staircases in postwar blocks of flats are nothing to write home about. This one, though, was plucked from an Escher print. We scampered up, dizzy, eyes wide open. Imagine coming home from work to this. Imagine popping out for a pint of milk. Going to school. Those Georgian houses didn’t have a staircase like this. Our tutor smiled. This was what architecture was all about. We got the message.

The Cabmen’s Shelter that provided refreshments to Victorian horse-drawn cab drivers was chosen by Oliver Wainwright of The Guardian.

Looking like a cross between a quaint country cricket pavilion and a large garden shed, the Cabmen’s Shelter is an enigmatic part of the London streetscape. With its green-painted timber panelled walls, pitched tiled rooftop and decorative air vent poking out of the top, it squats at the side of the road like an emerald Tardis, waiting to transport you back to Victorian London.

There are only 13 of these mysterious structures left, scattered from Chelsea Embankment to Russell Square, all of which are now Grade II listed, but at their height there were over 60 across the city, built at a cost of £200 each. They were the product of the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund, established in 1875 by the philanthropic Earl of Shaftesbury to provide “good and wholesome refreshments at moderate prices” for London’s army of horse-drawn cab drivers – of which there were 4,600 by 1869.

Law stated that cabbies could not leave their horse and cab at the stand unattended, so they had to pay someone to keep watch if they wanted to go for a break. Providing a place to rest at the head of the taxi rank, the shelters solved this problem. Occupying a place on the public highway, their dimensions could be no larger than the size of a hansom cab and its steed – that is “seven bays long by three bays wide”.

Built partly to tempt cabbies away from the pub, the shelters had a moralistic bent: each displays a sign declaring that gambling, swearing and political discussion is strictly forbidden, and alcohol cannot be served. Inside, there is space for 12 people, sitting on benches that run along both walls around a u-shaped Formica-topped table, hinged at the end to allow you to squeeze in. In the corner, an impossibly small kitchen serves up strong tea – and some of the best bacon sarnies in London.

Owen Hatherley of The Guardian nominated an oil refinery jetty in Canvey Island on the Thames estuary.

Canvey Island was ‘oil city’, a seaside town with a massive sideline in the petrochemical industry. The exceptionally long, spindly, worn jetty that was once part of the Occidental Petroleum site is both a remnant of and currently provides a view of one of the least commented-on but most astonishing ‘unknown architectures’ around – the buildings of the petrochemical industry, here more specifically, the Coryton refinery in Essex.

Anonymous and hardly even strictly definable as ‘architecture’, refineries are among the most dreamlike and complex things in the built environment, usually placed at a safe distance from actual cities, the sort of zones where the real workings of the economy, and the structures that house them, can be seen. Refineries themselves are the unacknowledged architectural inspiration for the Lloyds building and much else, bafflingly intricate steel structures made up of dozens of little towers, protrusions and connections, which have a spectacular sense of sheer spatial exuberance and a total lack of the cowardice of so much actual architecture.

Pick a refinery, it doesn’t matter which – Wilton, Fawley, or Canvey, where the beach and the jetty provide a view of a site that was mostly established by Mobil in the 1950s; the village of Coryton was razed for the purpose. By day, refineries are stunning enough, but  lit up at night, each one is a pocket metropolis, a constructivist’s dream of steel, flares and flashing lights, from a distance much more impressive a skyline than many actual cities. Therein, these all-but-illegible, bafflingly complex structures are processing our increasingly irrational oil economy in an appropriately mind-boggling way.

Here’s some more information about the exhibition:

Lesser Known Architecture: A Celebration of Underappreciated London Buildings

Lesser Known Architecture is a free exhibition celebrating extraordinary London architecture. Nominated by leading architecture critics, these ten buildings, structures and subways contribute to the mix and diversity of the city but are all too often overlooked and forgotten. Curated by Elias Redstone, Lesser Known Architecture presents an alternative architectural map of the city. Each site has been photographed by Theo Simpson and will be displayed as a series of single colour offset prints in the Design Museum Café and Tank. The installation is designed by Ben Mclaughlin.

The Ten London Buildings Featured and their Nominators:

» Bevin Court nominated by Tom Dyckhoff (BBC Culture Show)
» Brownfield Estate nominated by Owen Hatherley (The Guardian)
» Cabmen’s Shelters nominated by Oliver Wainwright (The Guardian)
» Crystal Palace Subway nominated by Rory Olcayto (The Architects’ Journal)
» London Underground Arcades nominated by Edwin Heathcote (Financial Times)
» Mail Rail nominated by Ellie Stathaki (Wallpaper*)
» Nunhead Cemetery nominated by Hugo MacDonald (Monocle)
» Occidental Oil Refinery Jetty nominated by Owen Hatherley (The Guardian)
» Stockwell Bus Garage nominated by Tom Dyckhoff (BBC Culture Show)
» Welbeck Street Car Park nominated by Sam Jacob (Dezeen / Art Review)

Each nominator has written an overview of their buildings historical and design credentials that will be published in the accompanying journal, Lesser Known Architecture, Vol. 1: London.

The Lesser Known Architecture photographs will also be produced as limited edition prints available to purchase from the Design Museum Shop.
Lesser Known Architecture is part of the London Festival of Architecture 2013.

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at the Design Museum appeared first on Dezeen.

This house in Nagahama, Japan, by Tokyo-based Comma Design Office has half of its body raised above the ground to offer protection to a rooftop terrace (+ slideshow).

Positioned between a residential district and a series of rice fields, House in Nagahama has an approximately square plan with a ground-level floor on one side, an elevated floor on the other side and a semi-enclosed courtyard at its centre.

Architects Atsuhiro Koda and Momo Sano of Comma Design Office lifted the south-west corner of the house to screen the roof terrace from neighbouring houses, as well as to create a sheltered driveway.

“The first floor opens to the neighborhood, while the second floor opens to the distant view,” they explain.

Staircases at two corners create a continuous loop through the building. There are no corridors, so residents must pass through each room in turn, including the three bedrooms occupying the upper floor.

The facade is clad with grey fibre-cement boards that are broken up by stripes of golden aluminium. “It picks up various shades of light depending on the weather,” say the architects.

Most interior walls are painted white, while floors are covered with wooden boards that turn to follow the orientation of the outer walls.

Other houses completed recently in Japan include a residence where rooms spiral up from a courtyard to the rooftop and a plain white house with only one window.

See more houses in Japan »

Photography is by Takumi Ota, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here’s some more information from Comma Design Office:

House in Nagahama

The house is located in Nagahama city, Shiga, Japan. Nagahama is an old town. There are more active relationships within the neighborhood community than in Tokyo. On the other hand, Nagahama is modernised with cars and shopping malls along the main roads. It is common in any local cities in Japan.

The site is bounded by the residential area on the south west; the road on the west is mainly used for the pedestrians. There is a peaceful landscape on the north east, where the rice fields and open space spread to Mt. Ibuki. However, there is a busy street on the north. The speed of the traffic is completely different from the slow pace living. There are several gaps in scale and difference in speed within the environment.

We planned a space that holds various relationships within the variety of environment. The space was created by providing a “buffer zone” instated of the space directly opens to a particular subject. The one-storey volume with the courtyard fills up the site; the first floor opens to the neighborhood, while the second floor opens to the distant view. The central unclosed courtyard simultaneously opens up to each surrounding environment. By looking at one’s own house over the courtyard, it looks like a house of others.

The facade is covered with the fibre-cement board accented with gold-stained aluminum, which often conveys the anonymous/neutral impression. However, it picks up various shades of light depending on the weather.

Architects: comma design office
Architects member: Atshuhiro Koda, Momo Sano
Structural Engineer: Souta Matou
Structure: Steel frame
Contractor: Nove works (Zainobu Consturuction)

Location: Shiga, Japan
Program: Private Residence
Project Year: 2012
Project Area: 132.58 sqm
Site Area: 201.03 sqm
Total Floor Area: 157.55 sqm

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Comma Design Office appeared first on Dezeen.

Wooden walls fade from dark red to yellow ochre on the exterior of this house that curves around an oak tree in Sollentuna, Sweden, by architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune (+ slideshow).

The architects planned a two-storey building with a curved L-shape, creating enough space for the client’s family without disturbing the old tree and without approaching the boundaries of the site too closely.

“The curved L-shape stems completely out of the zoning regulations,” explains Claesson Koivisto Rune. “The actual bend gives the house an interior spatial flow that would have been broken if we’d chosen a sharp corner.”

Timber cladding is arranged vertically around the facade and are painted with different shades of traditional Falu Rödfärg paint to create the gradient.

A double-height living room is positioned at one end of the house and features a large floor-to-ceiling window, while the roof overhead slopes up gradually towards the first floor.

A kitchen and dining room forms the centre of the plan. A dark red bookcase curves around the side of the room, concealing a set of generously proportioned stairs that lead to bedrooms on the first floor.

“With its slow climb, the staircase gives you a feeling of ‘proceeding’ rather than walking between levels,” say the architects.

A study is also located on this upper floor and offers a balcony overlooking the living room.

Marble covers the floors at the house’s entrance, while the bathroom floors and walls are lined with patterned green ceramics designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for tile brand Marrakech Design.

Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune launched their architecture and design studio in 1995. Recent architecture projects include a prefabricated Scandinavian house and the studio has also launched a stove for the developing world that uses two-thirds less wood than a traditional cooking fire.

See more design by Claesson Koivisto Rune »
See more houses in Sweden »

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman.

Read on for more information from Claesson Koivisto Rune:

Fagerström House

The client had split his garden city plot in two and moved the old house to the one. The other had a more embedded position, including a big old oak tree in the middle.

The gross building allowance had to be fully exploited in order to create a large enough home for the growing family. The stipulated distance to the property line of course limited the positioning from the sides, while the desire to preserve the old oak tree blocked the middle.

The curved L-shape stems completely out of the zoning regulations. The actual bend gives the house an interior spatial flow that would have been broken if we’d chosen a sharp corner. The curving of course also makes for an iconic and sculptural exterior – something that the client specifically requested.

Another distinctive feature is the facade colour. Vertical boards are painted in different Falun red shades. An irregular transition from ocher (wide boards) to dark red (narrow boards) happens from the bedroom end to the living room end. The inspiration for the colour mixture was taken from the Swedish children’s book ‘Where’s the Tall Uncle’s Hat?’.

The house has two floors in its tall end. That’s where you find bedrooms etcetera. In the second lower end, the upper floor terminates with a balcony facing the interior living room with its high ceilings. The roof has a diagonal, pitch; from one end to the other and also backwards. This skews the house’s gables but also makes for the constant changing of room geometry as one moves through the house.

The house’s waistline houses the kitchen and, behind a bookcase, stairs. The kitchen thus is very much open while the stairs up to the more private spaces are more to the side. With its slow climb, the stairs gives a you a feeling of ‘proceeding’ rather than walking between levels.

All openings/glazing is carefully placed so that visibility from neighbours is avoided. This also creates a feeling that the house is located in a place far more sparsely populated than the area in reality is. As if it was just the house and the outdoors.

Instead of a larger number of conventional windows, the remaining placements are generously glazed. For example, the living room is completely glazed toward a conservatory. As an outside extension of the living room.

The entrance floor is made of Carrara marble. The tiles are laid perpendicular to the main facade, even where the room bends (like a fan). An integrated blood-red bookcase and staircase flows into an equally blood-red wood floor upstairs. The bathrooms are tiled (floor, walls and ceiling) with different patterns from Marrakech Design’s collection by Claesson Koivisto Rune.

We thought of the house as if it designed itself; that it was neither particularly strange or extreme. But everyone else evidently did not agree. When the house was finished or nearly finished three cars drove into the concrete blocks placed on the street right outside to prevent high speed in the area. Three drivers, three different occasions, who could not keep their eyes on the road.

Location: Edsviken, Sollentuna
Architect: Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects
Project group: Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto, Ola Rune, Lotti Engstrand
Building area: 270 m2
Built: 2012
Client: Fagerström family
Builder: Komponent Byggen AB
Construction: Wood

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Claesson Koivisto Rune appeared first on Dezeen.