Hasta La Ideas

Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates built this unusually skinny house on a three-metre-wide site in a residential district of Aichi Prefecture, Japan (+ slideshow).

To accommodate for its narrow width, the two-storey Imai house stretches out along most of the 21-metre-long plot. There was no room for corridors, so the interior is arranged as a simple sequence of rooms, one after another.

Japanese studio Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates adapted the proportions of each space to suit its function, so the living room features a double-height ceiling while the children’s sleeping space is a 1.3-metre-high loft.

“We adopted a way to construct a house by reinterpreting scale, natural light, and the use of each room,” said the architects.

The ground floor is recessed to make room for a sheltered driveway at the front of the plot. Here, a wall slides open to lead into a kitchen and dining room that takes up most of the ground floor.

A wooden staircase spirals up toward the living room, located at the centre of the first floor, while a second set of steps angles up to meet a secluded roof terrace at the front of the house.

This terrace is fronted by large panels of glazing, which help to bring natural light and ventilation into the living room from above.

There wasn’t enough space on the site to create a separate garden, so the architects also added a small indoor patio at the rear of the ground floor, featuring a wall that slides open.

A long narrow space between the living room and master bedroom functions as a children’s room. The sleeping space is raised up from the floor and includes an assortment of small square windows, while built-in shelves create a study desk along the opposite wall.

According to the architects, the rooms could become interchangeable. “The space setting becomes neutral; you can sleep, dine or relax whenever you like. For example, dining in the inner garden may be more enjoyable than in the dining room,” they said.

Photography is by the architects.

Here’s a project description from Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates:

Imai

A house built on a narrow strip of land of 3m wide and 21m long. For this ground that looks too long and tight, we adopted a way to construct a house by reinterpreting scale, natural light, and the use of each room. Instead of setting one concept to design it, we made five specific proposals.

1: Balancing of scale and light

Height of each room is adjusted according to the number of users and the use of the room. For example, children’s bedroom is 1.3m high while the living room is 4.4m. The room used by one person has limited natural light while the space people gather is much brighter. Balancing of scale and light brings a character to simple one room.

2: Exterior on the edge

The ground was too narrow to allow any space for garden, so we set an inner garden at the end of the ground floor and a terrace on the north end of the second floor. High window in the living room is designed not only to let in light, but also to provide ventilation route in summer to discharge the heat accumulated up on the ceiling plane.

3: Dismantling

By dismantling living room and dining room, we avoided large area concentrated to one place. As these spaces that have public nature are dispersed, lines of flow work effectively. Also, by de-concentrating the factors required to children’s room such as sleep, storage or study, we can reduce the floor space of children’s bedroom while sharing space for other functions of storage and study by entire family.

4: Unrestricting

We suggested the way of living to utilise the space other than wet areas (kitchen, bathroom etc) without restricting its purpose. In some, the space setting becomes neutral; you can sleep, dine or relax whenever you like. For example, dining in inner garden may be more enjoyable than in dining room.

5: Overlapping

By overlapping multiple uses on one space, efficiency of floor space is improved. Corridor as desk space, inner garden as dining or guest room, and so on. This narrow and long building that could be described as all lines of flow, is designed as functional, effective and liberating space by applying these operations.

Project name: Imai
Location: Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
Site area: 71.19 sqm
Built area: 42.64 sqm
Total floor area: 69.49 sqm
Type of construction: wooden, steel
Exterior materials: Metal finish
Interior materials: paint finish
Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company : Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Construction company: Inoue construction Ltd.

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is just three metres wide appeared first on Dezeen.

The three pitched roofs of this bungalow extension in Manchester were designed by Blee Halligan Architects to capture sunlight at different times of the day and frame views of trees in the garden (+ slideshow).

London studio Blee Halligan Architects arranged the extension’s three double-height windows to face east, west and south so that interior spaces receive light at times that are appropriate to their functions.

The kitchen faces east to welcome the morning light and create a bright space for eating breakfast, while the west-facing living room receives sunlight in the evening.

Each of the windows looks out onto the garden and the steeply pitched roofs direct views towards the canopies of the trees bounding the site.

“The brief was to turn a very common low-ceilinged bungalow into a bright, voluminous house,” architect Greg Blee told Dezeen.

“This was the reason we developed the tall pitched-roof composition, which frames views rather than providing expansive views.”

The external walls of the building are clad in dark-stained larch panelling that helps it blend in with the surrounding garden.

“We liked the idea that the extension would be recessive against the house and garden, which is a verdant green with mature trees and planting that accentuates its colour,” explained Blee. “The building does not fight with this garden setting.”

Sliding doors connect a central dining room with a patio that can be used for al fresco dining. The kitchen also leads to a terrace, which is set to be extended to link the house with a proposed garden room.

White-painted timber boards line the interior of the extension to give the space a soft domestic feel that contrasts with the dark external surfaces.

A short set of stairs connects the dining room to the existing house, which contains a reception area, study and the bedrooms and bathrooms.

A new timber porch outside the front entrance incorporates benches sheltered beneath a translucent plastic roof. The slatted aesthetic of this structure is complemented by a chunky wooden fence in front.

Photography is by Mike Black.

Here’s a short description from Blee Halligan Architects:

A dilapidated bungalow is the site for a new rear addition

Three interconnected, pitched volumes, face in three directions – east, west and south, capturing sunlight at different times of the day, appropriate to function – the kitchen faces east for a light-bathed breakfast and the living room faces west to catch the last of the sunlight. They each pitch up to a large double-height window, capturing views of the garden and trees.

The building is clad in black stained larch, so it appears recessive in the context of the garden and possesses an abstract geometric quality at night.

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catches sunlight from three directions appeared first on Dezeen.

Rem Koolhaas’ OMA has completed the new Amsterdam headquarters of Dutch denim brand G-Star RAW, which features a concrete shell, a glass core and a hangar-like facade that slides open (+ slideshow).

Located beside the A10 motorway in Amsterdam’s industrial Zuidoost district, the G-Star RAW HQ was designed by OMA to embody the rough-and-ready aesthetic of the brand’s military-inspired clothing, using stark materials and bulky volumes.

The 140-metre-long building sits over a large plinth that raises it up to the level of the road. It is wrapped by a dark concrete frame that houses the supporting facilities, while the central section is a row of glass boxes that contain the company’s creative departments.

Described by the architects as a “creative nucleus”, this section comprises a number of staggered floor plates and double-height spaces.

It also includes a flexible multi-purpose zone that the brand can use for large-scale production, fashion shows or parties.

This 20-metre-high space is fronted by sliding glass doors – sourced from an aircraft hangar manufacturer – that allow it to be either fully contained or exposed to the outside.

“The shifting facade and changing uses of the RAW Space, together with the various possible uses of the plinth, will create a constantly varying appearance reflecting the inner dynamism of G-Star RAW,” said OMA in a statement.

One glass box projects out from the facade to cantilever over the building’s entrance, creating a series of showrooms. This is surrounded by visitor facilities that offer framed views into the creative areas beyond.

The building is completed by a large G-Star RAW logo that stretches across the facade as if it were a billboard.

Photography is courtesy of OMA.

Here’s the project description from the architects:

G-Star RAW HQ

Situated next to the A10 in the industrial Zuidoost area of Amsterdam, the new HQ for G-Star RAW will consolidate G-Star RAW’s disparate facilities into a single building that aims to stimulate interaction between various departments.

The 27,500m2 horizontal building – 140 metres long – consists of a creative nucleus containing the core departments of G-Star RAW, which are enveloped by a ring of offices, parking and support facilities. The distinction between the support activities and the creative core is heightened through contrasting materials – a monolithic solidity rendered in black concrete for the ring, while the creative core is visible through the glass facade. The lower part of the ring forms a plinth for parking and drop off; the plinth also provides a location for installations and events.

The main entrance is situated at the level of the plinth and is underneath a cantilevered glass box that houses G-Star’s showrooms. This end of the building, distinct from the inner workings of G-Star, is dedicated to visitors; however there is still exposure of these inner workings through controlled views and access.

Inside the creative core of the building, staggered floor plates and double-height spaces promote a dynamic exchange between the different creative departments allowing for cross communication. The RAW-space, a flexible multi-use zone, either open to the outside or concealed behind sliding hangar-type doors, provides a space for work and production, parties, and fashion shows. Oriented towards the A10, the shifting facade and changing uses of the RAW-space, together with the various possible uses of the plinth, will create a constantly varying appearance reflecting the inner dynamism of G-Star RAW.

Project: headquarters for Dutch international fashion brand G-Star Status: Construction
Clients: G-Star RAW C.V.
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Site: industrial regeneration area in southeast Amsterdam next to A10 ring road
Program: offices and creative spaces (19,000m2) and parking (8,500m2)

Partners-in-charge: Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon

Current team (construction + interiors): Katrien van Dijk (project leader), Tjeerd van de
Sandt, Saskia Simon, Marina Cogliani, Jung-Won Yoon

Team (interiors concept): Saskia Simon (project leader), Marlies Boterman, Marina Cogliani, Karolina Czeczek, Green van Gogh, Sarah Moylan, Mafalda Rangel, Tjeerd van de Sandt

Team (SD/DD/TD): Richard Hollington III (associate in charge), Tjeerd van de Sandt (project leader), Fred Awty, Philippe Braun, Kaveh Dabiri, Katrien van Dijk, Hans Hammink, Mariano Sagasta, Koen Stockbroekx

Team (competition): Richard Hollington III (associate in charge), Fred Awty, Philippe Braun, Rob Daurio, David Gianotten, Shabnam Hosseini, Andreas Kofler, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Lawrence Siu

Tender documents: ABT
Structure consultant: ABT
MEP consultant: ABT
Building physics: DGMR
Contractor: Pleijsier Bouw

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for G-Star RAW in Amsterdam appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: a bracelet made from pencil leads and a stool designed to collect dust are among pieces that Danish designers will exhibit at this year’s Mindcraft exhibition in Milan (+ slideshow).

Curated by Danish designer Nina Tolstrup, this year’s Mindcraft exhibition includes work by 12 Danish designers who were all asked to create pieces under the theme Materialising Beliefs.

Tolstrup aims to highlight the craft element of Danish design and she selected designers from a range of disciplines to showcase their handcraft skills.

Projects displayed will include a bracelet by Katrine Borup, made from mechanical pencil leads woven together into a ribbon and rolled up. Borup poked the leads up to create an embossed message around the top of the coil. Titled iLoveLetters, it was created to highlight the fact that few people write letters to each other now.

The wooden chair by benandsebastian won’t be complete until dust has settled onto the intricate walnut latticework that forms the back. The chair is so fragile that attempting to clean it with a feather duster would cause it to collapse.

Pipaluk Lake formed her Suspension I piece by melting panes of glass over twisted wires in a giant kiln. She then hung the piece from a metal frame so the glass appears to be dripping from the wires.

A ten-metre-long textile print was made by Anne Fabricius Møller with objects she found on the street. The print is arranged in an almost symmetrical pattern, with colours matching the hues of the original objects where possible.

Usually known for working in wood, Jakob Jørgensen has tried his hand as a blacksmith and forged a set of steel woodworking tools.

Kristine Tillge Lund has extruded 600 tall white porcelain rods, which she will lean up against two walls in the exhibition and observe how people act in the space.

Martin Løbner Espersen’s glazed ceramic vases with growths and tumours sprouting from their Grecian form will be displayed alongside his tub-like containers patterned with layers of colour.

The Elements clothes rail by Line Depping is constructed from modules of steam-bent wood. Starting with three rails that fix together at each side, extra pieces can be added to create more storage space.

Nikoline Liv Andersens‘s Rococo-inspired wigs each have one of the Three Wise Monkeys – see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil – integrated into the top.

Also on show will be lamps that look like skirts by Iskos-Berlin, ceramic flower arrangements by Marianne Nielsen, and porcelain and wood sculptures by Marie Torbensdatter Hermann.

The exhibition will take place in the Ventura Lambrate design district at Via Venture 6 from 8 to 13 April, during Milan’s design week.

Here’s more information from the designers:

Mindcraft14: Danish Craft and Design at Milan Design Week 2014

A fragile bracelet woven of mechanical pencil lead, a delicate dust-collecting stool and a lamp shade that looks like a skirt that is picked up by the wind. 12 Danish craftspeople focus on the experimental and the tangible in Mindcraft14 at Fuori Salone from 8 through 13 April in Milan.

When 12 Danish craftspeople and designers present their works at the major design event Fuori Salone in Milan, the exhibits include both experiments and near-finished prototypes.

This year’s Danish Mindcraft exhibition focuses on the artistic process that unfolds in the workshop when craftspeople produce their unique works.

“Danish craft draws on a strong tradition, where the workshop is the setting for basic research and experimentation – and for materialising extraordinary ideas,” says Nina Tolstrup, the curator of this year’s Mindcraft.

The Danish exhibition showcases the high level of design quality, the firm knowledge of materials and the innovative approaches that have helped make Danish design world-renowned. Another goal is to help the individual participant break through on the international scene.

According to Nina Tolstrup, both the maker’s role and the experimental workshop processes have taken on growing relevance in recent years:

“Global industrial manufacturing is becoming increasingly uniform, simplified and thus also more vulnerable to plagiarism. Craft is a powerful response – as well as an important source of inspiration for renewal and development in industrial manufacturing,” she says.

Under the heading Materialising Beliefs, which addresses the link between artistic experimentation and the tangible contribution to the world, the exhibition includes Katrine Borup’s iLoveLetters: a ribbon woven of mechanical pencil lead, which reflects how the computer has virtually made hand-writing extinct. Iskos-Berlin have created a series of lamp shades that float down from the ceiling like skirts lifted by the wind.

At a distance, benandsebastian’s work Completely Dusty looks like a simple stool; close up, however, one discovers the overwhelmingly complex construction made of tiny elements carved in wood. The work is a comment on modern furniture design with its smooth, clean surfaces – Completely Dusty welcomes and virtually defends the dust that we work so hard to eliminate, in this fragile form that would most likely collapse if it were subjected to a feather duster.

Mindcraft14 is on display from 8 through 13 April at the design week in Milan’s Ventura Lambrate at 6 Via Ventura.

The craftspeople selected to participate in Mindcraft14 are:

» Nikoline Liv Andersen
» benandsebastian
» Iskos-Berlin
» Katrine Borup
» Line Depping
» Morten Løbner Espersen
» Marie Torbensdatter Hermann
» Jakob Jørgensen
» Pipaluk Lake
» Kristine Tillge Lund
» Anne Fabricius Møller
» Marianne Nielsen

Facts about Mindcraft14

Mindcraft is an internationally recognized and award-winning annual exhibition with varying participants, put together by external curators, that presents the finest examples of Danish craft and design at the world’s leading design scene during the Milan design week. From 2014, the MINDCRAFT exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation with the Danish Agency for Culture serving as the secretariat.

The post Mindcraft exhibition brings
Danish craft to Milan 2014 appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch firm Wiel Arets Architects applied an intricate fritting technique to the glazed facade of this office complex in Zurich to give it the appearance of onyx marble (+ slideshow).

Located within a developing commercial zone outside the city centre, the 20-storey tower and five-storey annex were designed by Wiel Arets Architects to provide a new Swiss headquarters for financial services company Allianz.

Planning guidelines stipulate that all new buildings in the area must be clad in natural stone. But the architects chose to instead create the look of onyx marble to “allow the building to blend into its context while simultaneously maintaining its distinguished stance”.

An abstracted pattern taken from the marble surfaces of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion was used to frit the glass. This was achieved by building up composite layers of black and white dots.

“The original image of the onyx marble was rasterised, and from this two versions of the same image were created – one black and the other white,” project architect Felix Thies told Dezeen.

“These two images were then patterned and fritted on the back side of two different layers of glass, separated by a distance of six millimetres,” he explained.”When viewing the facade from an angle, the reflections of the rasterised patterns appear ever-changing, in accordance with the angle of the sun.”

A regular grid of windows breaks up the facade and each one contains a silver curtain between two layers of glass. These are controlled by computer to vary the level of shade they provide, adapting to different weather and lighting conditions.

The building’s entrance is at the base of the tower and leads through to a central staircase that ascends from the main lobby through all 20 storeys. This is to encourage employees to interact with people on different floors.

Four enclosed bridges connect the tower with the adjoining annex. There are also voids in the floorplates to create double-height spaces between storeys.

“The Allianz Headquarters can be experienced as horizontal and vertical landscape of neighbourhoods,” said the design team in a statement.

Internal heating and ventilation is provided from behind a panelled ceiling system. These panels are made from steel and perforated with a pattern derived from Swiss chalet ornamentation.

A cafe and restaurant is located on the fifth floor, while the level below accommodates rooms for client meetings. Employees can also take time out from work on a roof terrace dotted with Japanese maple trees.

A three-level car park unites the two buildings at basement level and provides space for up to 300 vehicles.

Photography is by Jan Bitter.

Here’s a project description from Wiel Arets Architects:

WAA complete construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zurich

Allianz Headquarters is a 20-storey tower and 5-storey annex, the latter capped with roof gardens of Japanese maples; these two components are interlaced by four enormous bridges

The Allianz Headquarters is a hybrid-office and the pinnacle of a masterplanned mixed-use district on the edge of Zurich’s city centre. Comprised of a 20-storey tower and a 5-storey annex, these two components are externally linked by a series of four bridges, and vertically linked by numerous interior voids and staircases; as such, the Allianz Headquarters can be experienced as horizontal and vertical landscape of neighbourhoods.

Fluidly connected to the city centre by a multitude of public transportation options, the building encourages the blossoming of twenty-first century office culture, which demands flexibility in space and its use, via its hyper-hybrid programming that amplifies ‘interiority’.

The entire lobby and ground floor are publicly accessible, ensuring a continuous animation throughout both, which compliments the adjacent public square. A central staircase rises from the lobby up and into the 20-storey tower, allowing employees to, if desired, meander throughout all levels of the office without entering its core.

A café and restaurant are located on the fifth floor, rather than within the lobby, which creates a buffer zone between public and non-public areas. A ‘business centre’ is located one floor below, and contains meeting rooms for use with external clients. This ‘business centre’ enables employees to meet with their guests, without the need for elevators.

This new district’s masterplan mandated that all building facades be composed of natural stone, yet it was chosen to frit this building’s full glass facade with an abstracted pattern of Onyx marble – from Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion – which allows the building to blend into its context while simultaneously maintaining its distinguished stance.

Each element of the facade contains a closed cavity system, in which an aluminium-coated silver curtain hangs, which fluctuates its degree of shading by responding to external environmental factors – a process administered by a computer controlled algorithm.

Interior heating and cooling occurs through a panelled ceiling system that utilises concrete core activation and concealed air ventilation. These 1.35 x 1.35 m panels are composed of ‘crumpled’ steel sheets into which a three-dimensional pattern, derived from traditional ornamentation of Swiss chalet eave, has been stamped, which introduces a larger scale to the interior office spaces by decreasing the amount of visible ceiling seams. Micro-perforations in the panels maintain ventilation, allowing for no visible interior air ducts and the placement of an acoustically absorbing sheet on the back of each.

Inhabitable volumes adorn the roof of the lower building, with several garden terraces for employees. These gardens contain a singular red Japanese maple tree, which return in the landscaping of the central courtyard below.

Both the 20-storey tower and 5-storey annex are adjoined underground by a tri-level 300 car parking garage, where most of the extensive IT and mechanical facilities are stored. Similar to a home, the Allianz Headquarters has been infused with espresso corners and lounge like spaces throughout, for instance, its four 8m wide bridges, to stimulate informal conversation within this highly formal working environment.

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fritted to reference Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion appeared first on Dezeen.