Hasta La Ideas

London studio David Mikhail Architects has renovated a nineteenth-century house in London and added a glazed kitchen and dining room at the rear (+ slideshow).

Recent additions and extra staircases were removed to make room for the new rear extension: a larch-framed glass box that stretches along the rear elevation to create an open-plan kitchen and dining room at the lowest ground floor level. This room is double-height on one side to accommodate a staircase and mezzanine library.

As well as using Siberian larch, the architects specified pale brickwork for both interior and exterior walls. Doors and windows are framed by chunky timber surrounds, while balustrades are made from bronze.

“These materials were all chosen to provide texture and scale and to achieve a domestic intimacy, which can so easily be lost with the tendency towards abstract planes and surfaces,” David Mikhail told Dezeen. “They also need to mediate between both the feel and the construction of the new and the older parts of the house, the inside and the outside.”

Other additions include a pivoting wall, which links the study with a billiard room, and a new landscaped garden comprising tiered patios and built-up planting areas.

The house was first constructed in the 1830s at three times the width of most London terraces, resulting in a later conversion into three separate residences. David Mikhail Architects’ job was to restore the original logic of the building so that it could again be used as a single family home.

The architects tracked down early photographs of the building and consulted other architects that had worked on the property in the 1980s to piece together plans of the original design and layout.

In front of the library is the original grand staircase, which winds up between the upper ground floor and first floor of the house. Previously there were no corridors beside this stair, but now residents can walk around it to reach the new rooms beyond.

One of these corridors leads through to a study in the north-east corner of the building. The architects extended this space to add an extra metre in length, creating a top-lit window seat beneath a large skylight. This extension also increased the size of a living room underneath.

“Our philosophy was to give the building back its dignity as a single house, and to be mindful of the likely original plan form,” David Mikhail told Dezeen. “But to combine original features with modern details is a question of both philosophy and detail; it needs an absorption in both to work.”

David Mikhail launched his studio in 1992. Other residential projects in London by the practice include a set of houses with triangular skylights and an extension that is just one metre wide.

See more residential extensions on Dezeen, including a barrel-vaulted addition to a farmhouse.

Photography is by Tim Crocker.

Here’s some more information from David Mikhail Architects:

East London House

Introduction

The East London House is the principle house of a picturesque development built in the 1830s and Grade 2 Listed. At 16m, it is the width of three typical London houses. The original house had been subdivided into three units, with an uneasy relationship to the garden. A glass conservatory to the rear gave the only rear access via an internal spiral staircase. These multiple alterations over time changed what was once a grand home into a jumble of dark, disconnected rooms, with no meaningful access to the large garden.

Client brief

This was to re-establish the elegance of the original, whilst removing the feeling of their being separate dwellings. At the same time, to inject a fresh, modern feel, maximising natural light and harnessing the potential of a large rear garden. The clients have children and other family members often stay. They had several ideas about how the house could function, but guidance was sought on how to connect the various levels and to make sense of the warren of rooms and staircases.

Spatial Strategies

Spatial remodelling has focused on the rear, the basement and the attic. The garden has also been designed by David Mikhail Architects (with planting by Jane Brockbank) and is the other major addition to the building. Much of the remainder of the work was about meticulously restoring the original, with recent works such as staircases and extensions removed. Upper ground and first floors were refurbished to respect the original. For example, one wall has been rebuilt on the upper ground floor to concord with the original plan form, making resultantly smaller, but more usable rooms. (Study/Billiards rooms). The basement and rear garden were excavated to give level access and a sense of openness to the landscape while the gentle terracing of the garden avoids the sense of being underground. The garden forms two spaces, a formal walled garden with water features and raised beds, and beyond it a rougher area for play, with garden sheds and turf.

Upon entering the house the original sweeping staircase is now presented in its original form, with the entrance hallway fully restored. Originally there were no views through beyond the stair, and no real connection to the garden, but now the stair hall is a prelude to the main event. Moving forward either side of the stair, you pass through the rear wall of the main house into a naturally lit double-height library with views to the garden and a bronze staircase down to the dining area. We were keen that this journey from the old to the new was explicitly experienced. The extension itself is a modern open-plan kitchen and dining space giving full views of the garden, with the junction between old and new highlighted through the use of linear flat roof lights.

Planning constraints

Although many original-styled features were present, some were later additions. Unfortunately, many records had been lost. We tracked down the local architects that had worked on the terrace in the 1980s and also used images from the Metropolitan Archive. We were able to use their records to form an understanding of where original details lay, and presented this knowledge to planners in the form of a room-by-room analysis. The extension was designed to clearly differentiate the new from the old, making our own works legible in the future. Even so, the design challenge of such a strategy is to do so in a way that resonates with the scale and sensibility of the original.

Materials and construction

The rear-half of the basement and rear garden was excavated and underpinned to increase head height and accessibility. The extension is a predominately timber and steel structure. Where two-storey, steel gives way to posts and beams of laminated Larch, forming a timber portal frame. The engineering required to achieve such a thin library floor was challenging.

All the timber used in the project is a white-oiled Siberian Larch, including the bespoke sliding doors designed by the architects, the floors the joinery and the external cladding. A white brick with light-grey lime mortar is used inside and out. Metalwork and ironmongery is bronze. A specialist precision metalwork company, where joints are glued rather than welded, constructed the fine bronze stair.

Above: basement floor plan – click for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click for larger image

Above: third floor plan – click for larger image

Above: cross-section – click for larger image

Above: rear elevation – click for larger image

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David Mikhail Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

A rescued stone colonnade stands amongst planes of concrete at this religious shrine in the Spanish countryside by Pamplona studio Otxotorena Arquitectos (+ slideshow).

Located outside the small village of Alberite, the Shrine of the Virgin of La Antigua stands alone on a hillside, offering wide-stretching views out across the nearby ravine.

Otxotorena Arquitectos designed the structure to accommodate both large parties and individual worship, as the shrine is only likely to attract groups of visitors at certain points on the religious calendar.

A tapered concrete canopy oversails the historic colonnade, which was rescued from near demolition by members of the local community. Concrete supports stand at either end to hold it firmly in place.

“The building volume is conceived considering the idea of framing the archway by building a parallel roof and floor to wrap and protect it,” explain the architects.

A secluded chapel is sheltered beneath the roof at the rear of the structure. Behind this, an irregular framework of concrete louvres shades a length of clerestory glazing and overhangs the end of the building to create a small belfry.

Other examples of isolated religious spaces include a stark concrete church on the side of a Chinese mountain and a see-through church in the countryside in Belgium. See more places of worship on Dezeen.

Photography is by Pedro Pegenaute.

Here’s some more information from Otxotorena Arquitectos:

Shrine of the Virgin of “La Antigua” in Alberite, La Rioja

The site corresponds to a plot on the outskirts of the town of Alberite. This is a 2.000 people village, very close to Logroño in La Rioja, Spain. The place is located on a gentle hill, overlooking a ravine opened into the road running through it. This was a plot of land given to the Parish by the Town Council for the construction of the shrine of the Virgin.

Above: context plan – click for larger image

First of all, the project aims to fulfill all the program requirements, concerning the nature and typical use given to this type of buildings, which, in its immediate environment, serve both for private devotional practices as well as for popular traditional temple fairs. This is a key ingredient in the way of considering the design, since we are obliged to expect a large influx of people within isolated intervals.

Above: location plan – click for larger image

On the other hand, the design also takes into consideration the characteristics of the place in terms of geometric, orientation and topographical measurements. It is also characterized by the appeal and width of its views.

Above: floor plan – click for larger image

Finally, there is added an absolutely fundamental premise: the need to incorporate a preexisting stone archway in the design. This archway was rescued from a previous demolition in the town and it was preserved by the locals. This way, it is intended to re-use the archway and to put more value on it. It was obviously called to assume a main role in the shape and perception of the building from the beginning.

Above: sections – click for larger image

When applying this set of arguments, however, we can remark some of the closely related choices chained to outline the design process:

a) The basic choice of the creation of a relatively wide outdoor space, which provides the interior of the shrine with some anteroom, protects the visitors from sun and rain and frames the view.
b) The attention given to the impact the building will cause in the landscape, even noticeable at long distances, that consists on a horizontal gesture correlative to the extent of the slope overlooking the ravine it faces.
c) The care given to the relationship between the few spaces created, both external and internal, as well as the hierarchical location of the entrances to the site and confined spaces of the chapel.

Above: sections – click for larger image

The building volume is conceived, in any case, considering the idea of framing the archway by building a parallel roof and floor to wrap and protect it.

Above: elevations – click for larger image

For its construction we are to use a single material, concrete, for immediacy and simplicity reasons, considering its suitable conditions of abstraction, continuity, stability and robustness.

Above: elevations – click for larger image

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by Otxotorena Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.

Italian industrial designer Diego Vencato has created a collection of wooden textiles (+ slideshow).

The fabrics, called Wooden Mesh, were designed to transform wood into a soft and flexible material that behaves more like cloth, Diego Vencato says.

Thin pieces of wood were cut into small shapes and applied evenly onto a felt backing.

The patterns include neatly ordered triangles, sharply angled parallelograms and smooth-edged shapes that resemble a giraffe’s markings.

We’ve previously featured a carpet made from wood veneer offcuts and a T-shirt made from triangles of wood, while Icelandic fashion designer Sruli Recht presented garments made of wood in the menswear collection he launched earlier this year.

Other textiles we’ve featured include an installation of hundreds of fabric ribbons and fabrics printed with bleach to spell out coded messages – see all textiles.

Here’s some more information from the designer:

Wooden Mesh by Diego Vencato

A high-tech patented process to create the “wooden mesh”, a compound which combines a rigid material to a flexible support. The wood goes through a metamorphosis process to become a new kind of skin.

Transforming wood, making it possible that it not only could be flexible or soft, but it could also behave exactly like a cloth, was the idea behind the project.

To turn wood into fabric we had to break the continuity of its surface, which we obtained by dividing it into pieces. Wood, organised as in polygons, was then coupled with the fabric, which acts as a support and a binder at the same time.

This is how we created “Wooden Mesh”, a compound – realised through a high-tech patented process – that combines a rigid material (parent material) to a flexible support (secondary material).

The goal was to move beyond the hand-crafted production to create an industrial product that had a more suitable cost for the market. This was possible thanks to the major contribution of Sintesi Laser and Alberto Martinuzzo, founder of Albeflex and “father” of the soft wood. Now the two-dimensional surface of a piece of wood has been completely transformed to become as smooth and soft as fabric.

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Diego Vencato appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian architects MPRDG were inspired by the shapes of tree branches to add a privacy screen across the glass-fronted upper storey of this family house in the Sydney suburb of Bronte (+ slideshow).

Named Hewlett House, the three-storey residence is sited on a hillside close to the seafront and was designed as the home for a builder who specialises in complicated concrete shapes, so the architects planned a twisted upper storey that faces out towards the water.

“The underlying design intent was to explore the notion of ‘prospect and refuge’ within a contemporary family house,” says MPRDG, explaining the “prospect” to be “the beach and coast views”, while the “refuge” is the creation of a “sense of sanctuary, enclosure and comfort”.

Living and dining rooms are located on the uppermost floor to benefit from the views. With an open-plan layout, the space has glazed elevations to the north and south that let daylight and sea breezes filter though.

Four bedrooms occupy the ground floor, but are pushed to the back for privacy, while a spiralling staircase at the front leads down to a second living room that opens out to a garden and swimming pool at the lowest level of the site.

A glass-reinforced concrete structure shapes the building into its three levels, which all feature chunky outlines and chamfered edges. More curved and angled forms are added inside the building, from the twisted concrete body of the staircase to the slanted columns and circular skylight.

Floors are finished in either oak or concrete, but walls and ceilings are painted white throughout.

Other houses completed recently in Australia include a blackened timber residence outside Melbourne and a cyclone-proof building in Queensland. See more Australian houses on Dezeen.

Photography is by John Gollings.

Here’s a project description from MPRDG:

The long standing client is a builder whom we have successfully worked with on several projects previously. He was open to ideas and had an ability to build complex forms and intricate details. The brief was for a modern family home to accommodate a couple and their three children. The house is located on the northern flank of the Bronte gully with views towards Bronte beach and the coastline beyond.

Our design response was to place the living spaces on the upper floor as better views and more light were available. The bedrooms were located on the middle floor as this was more private and enclosed. The lowest floor has a rumpus area linking the garden and swimming pool to the house.

The underlying design intent was to explore the notion of “prospect and refuge” within a contemporary family house. The “prospect” was the beach and coast views to the south of the site which change constantly depending on the season, weather and time of day. The “refuge” was the other desirable character where we created a quality of space that provides a sense of sanctuary, enclosure and comfort.

These two driving desires for the house were explored and accommodated through devising two sculpted concrete forms responding to their particular use. The forms are rounded at the edges similar to tubes which are independent of each other enabling the upper tube to twist towards the view.

The upper tube is open-ended which allows the northern winter sun to penetrate deeply into the living spaces while allowing an unimpeded outlook to the southern view. The form also provides efficient passive ventilation drawing the prevailing north-east breeze through the house.

On the two lower levels the character of the spaces changes to places of privacy and refuge. The middle tube houses the bedrooms, each with a different aspect and outlook. The lower level has a cave like atmosphere with the room formed by a cut bedrock wall and a dark stone floor connecting the internal and external spaces. The pool provides a water element spanning between the rock wall and the garden.

The house boldly sits as a modern insertion into the typically poor building stock of its surrounding environment. The context is of varying building styles, scales and materials so the house creates a deliberate contrast in form and colour. The homogenous appearance of the house allows the forms to be emphasised by sun and shadow with the play of light continually shifting and moving with the path of the sun.

Detail elements have drawn upon surrounding natural forms for inspiration. For example, the angled bands on the front façade reference the tree branches of the native eucalypts. They also serve as a privacy screen for the dining space behind the façade.

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: lower ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: section A to A – click for larger image

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by MPRDG appeared first on Dezeen.

Zaha Hadid Architects has completed five new boutiques for Milan-based fashion designer Neil Barrett, with each one containing portions of an abstract volume that was designed in one piece (+ slideshow).

Above: Shinsegae Main, Seoul

The “Shop in Shop” concept was devised to encompass four stores in Seoul and one in Hong Kong. The architects designed a free-flowing shape, then divided it up into 16 pieces that could be distributed to each of the stores for use as a modular display system.

 Above: Shinsegae Main, Seoul

Referred to by Zaha Hadid Architects as an “artificial landscape”, the curving shapes feature a variety of twists, folds and rotations that reference the moulded interior of Neil Barrett’s flagship Tokyo store, completed by the studio in 2008.

Above: Galleria Main, Seoul

Each block is different and can be used in a variety of arrangements to display different garments, shoes and accessories.

Above: Galleria Main, Seoul

The stark white colour of the objects contrasts with the polished black flooring underneath. This monochrome theme continues throughout each store, where walls are painted in alternating shades of white and black.

Above: Galleria Main, Seoul

The studio is now working with Neil Barrett to roll out more Shop in Shop stores in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere in Seoul.

Above: Hyundai Daegu, Seoul

Zaha Hadid Architects has been busy over recent weeks. In the last month the studio has released images of a lakeside cultural complex underway in China, revealed designs for a complex of towers in Bratislava and launched a system of twisting auditorium seats. See more architecture and design by Zaha Hadid on Dezeen.

Above: Hyundai Daegu, Seoul

As well as collaborating with Hadid, British designer Neil Barrett has also worked with Italian studio AquiliAlberg, who designed the angular scenography for his 2010 Autumn Winter catwalk.

Above: Hyundai Daegu, Seoul

Photography is by Virgile Simon Bertrand.

Above: Hyundai Daegu, Seoul

Here’s some more information from Zaha Hadid Architects:

Neil Barrett Shop in Shop

A display landscape

The ‘Shop in Shop’ concept for Neil Barrett is based on a singular, cohesive project that is divided into sixteen separate pieces. Specific pieces have then been selected and installed into each of the four Neil Barrett Shop in Shop’s in Seoul, and also into the Hong Kong shop; creating a unique display landscape within each store. Each separate element acts as a piece in a puzzle of the original ensemble, ensuring each shop maintains a relationship to the defined whole and with the other Neil Barrett Shop In Shop locations.

Above: Hyundai Daegu, Seoul

The pieces have been carved and moulded from the original solid as pairs that define each other to create an artificial landscape that unfolds multiple layers for display. The emerging forms engage the same design principles adopted for the Neil Barrett Flagship Store in Tokyo; the characteristic peeling, twisting and folding of surfaces has been extended to incorporate double curvatures and rotations.

Above: Hyundai Main, Seoul

Adaption to multiple conditions

The display landscape is a flexible modular system that allows multiple arrangements and adaptations according to specific locations and multiple conditions, developing an original space at every location. The pieces can be used individually or pieces can be used in conjunction with others from the collection accordingly to suit the scale and spaces of each shop, with each piece able to display shoes, bags or accessories.

Above: Hyundai Main, Seoul

Materiality

The Shop in Shop concept continues the geometries of the Tokyo Flagship Store, developing a dialogue between the Cartesian language of the existing envelope walls with the sculptural, smooth finish of each piece. This contrast of materials in combination with the formal language of the design plays with these visual and tactile characteristics and is further accentuated by the black polished floor.

Above: Hyundai Main, Seoul

Neil Barrett Shop in Shop designs are located in Seoul and Hong Kong:
» Galleria Main, 3F, Galleria Luxury Hall East, 515, Apgujung-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
» Hyundai Main, 4F, Hyundai DPS, 429, Apgujung-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
» Shinsegae Main, 5F, Shinsegae DPS, 52-5, Choongmuro 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
» Hyundai Daegu, 2F, Hyundai DPS, 2-ga, Gyeosan-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu. Seoul
» The Landmark, B1/F, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong

Zaha Hadid Architects and Neil Barrett are continuing their collaboration on further Shop in Shop concepts to open in Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul.

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by Zaha Hadid Architects appeared first on Dezeen.