Hasta La Ideas

Portuguese studio Aires Mateus has transformed a house in Portugal into a bright white building with a sprawling extension (+ slideshow).

The three-storey house is located in Alcobaça, a Portuguese city dominated by the presence of a twelfth century monastery, and it occupies a large irregularly shaped site on the edge of the river Dull.

Aires Mateus upgraded and extended an existing residence and made every surface inside and outside of the house white, allowing it stand out amongst the brown and pink tones of the surrounding local architecture.

The new windows appear as narrow vertical slices. Some of them overlap the white-painted frames that housed the windows before the renovation and each one is sunken into a deep recess, revealing the thickness of the exterior walls.

Residents enter the house on the middle floor, where a staircase leads up and down towards either a top floor mezzanine or a lower floor living room.

A curved skylight punctures the roof overhead and projects a teardrop-shaped splash of light onto the walls of the stairwell.

Another curved opening leads from the living room to the rooms of the expansive extension, where a kitchen, a dining room and three bedrooms are spaced out around a series of small square courtyards.

Storage closets are contained inside each of the thick walls that separate the rooms.

The L-shaped garden wraps around the edge of the house and is bounded by the chunky white perimeter walls.

Aires Mateus is a Lisbon-based architectural studio led by Manual and Francisco Aires Mateus. Past projects include a nursing home in Alcácer do Sal and houses with sandy floors that were exhibited for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010.

See more Portuguese houses on Dezeen, including a house in Lisbon with bushy plants on its facade.

See more architecture in Portugal »

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Above: lower ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: upper ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: top floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: cross section – click above for larger image

Above: long section – click above for larger image

Above: rear elevation – click above for larger image

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by Aires Mateus appeared first on Dezeen.

Products are displayed amongst an array of colourful metal wireframes at this pharmacy in Madrid by interiors studio Stone Designs (+ slideshow).

“We use colour as an international language that everyone understands,” Stone Designs partner Cutu Mazuelos told Dezeen. “We love to use colour as a tool that lets people feel the atmosphere that we want to show them, turning the experience of buying medicine into a social event.”

Some of the wireframe boxes sit on a wooden platform, while others are mounted onto the walls.

Shelving colours shift from vivid red and pink on one wall to bright orange and yellow on another. Meanwhile, the checkout counter is finished in pale blue and features a white marble surface.

Pendant lights hang from the ceiling and patterned tiles cover the floor.

The shop is located beneath an old bridge, giving the space an arched ceiling.

Other pharmacies designed in recent years include one in Athens with a facade punctured by Braille and one in Belgium with a sliding cross-shaped window. See more pharmacies on Dezeen.

Here’s a project description from Stone Designs:

Farmacia de los Austrias The Farmacia de los Austrias (De los Austrias Chemist) is placed in one of the most emblematic areas of historical Madrid.

Our initial idea was to create a new space typology, in which tradition and vanguard merge in such a subtle way that originate a slow and deliberate dialogue in which no element stands out of the rest, creating an almost musical harmony.

Products are displayed in really thin metallic structures standing in the bluish walls, creating a sweet and warm chromatic range that makes us feel at ease. This space transmits that we are attended by real professionals, but with a more human touch than usual.

Some details such as the white marble counter help to strengthen the concept of the “well done job” that oozes the old; while other materials like the tiled floor, embrace us in a warm and close atmosphere.

It is a project in which, due to its nature and small size, even the slightest detail has been taken care of, creating an enormous sensory universe that makes the visitor enjoy a most gratifying experience.

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by Stone Designs appeared first on Dezeen.

An open fire welcomes visitors to this egg-shaped hut built by Danish studio SHJWorks on the edge of a Copenhagen park (+ slideshow).

SHJWorks, led by architect Simon Hjermind Jensen, built Fire Shelter 01 on a patch of wild land called Sydhavstippen in the southwest corner of the Danish capital.

The structure stands nearly five metres tall and has a hole in the top to let in light and let out smoke, plus two openings at the bottom for access.

The hut was constructed by bolting sheets of flexible plywood together through CNC-cut strips of white polycarbonate, which were inspired by seams in clothing.

The thin polycarbonate roof allows light to penetrate during the day, while at night it glows with light from the fire.

Visitors to the hut can take a seat on the long bench inside while tending the open fire.

Formerly a dumping ground for building materials, Sydhavstippen is now open to the public as a park and wildlife habitat.

“Walking around in the area is just amazing,” said Hjermid Jensen. “The ‘wild’ appearance of the nature on top of the building materials, which are visible in some places, makes you think of a ‘post-apocalyptic’ nature.”

Above: photograph by Christian Bøcker Sørensen

Hjermid Jensen did not have explicit permission to build the hut on the site. “The shelter is meant as a gift for the area and for those who wish to use it,” he explained, adding that he hopes it will remain in place for at least a year.

We recently featured a similar temporary hut in Kyoto made in tribute to a tiny 800-year-old dwelling.

Other projects in Copenhagen we’ve published recently include proposals for a series of artificial islands in the city’s harbour and an aquarium shaped like a whirlpool.

See all pavilions »
See all Danish architecture »

Photographs are by Simon Hjermid Jensen except where stated.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Fire Shelter: 01 is a personal project located at Sydhavnstippen in Copenhagen. The starting point for the design emerged from a fascination with the place. It’s a temporary project and a design experiment that wishes to celebrate the place. The project has public access and it establishes experiences of spatial and social character. In the creation of it, nobody has been asked for advice, neither has it been possible for anyone to give his or her opinion. It is simply thought of as a gift.

You can reach the location at Sydhavnstippen after a 20-minute bike ride from central Copenhagen. Sydhavnstippen was landfilled with building materials between 1945 and 1973. Before that it was a seabed. Since the landfill plants, bushes and trees have taken over the area, today it’s a habitat for a variety of animals. Walking around in the area is just amazing. The ‘wild’ appearance of the nature on top of the building materials, which are visible in some places, makes you think of a ‘post-apocalyptic’ nature. The often deserted area amplifies this.

The shelter takes inspiration from the architecture of ethnic and nomadic people. The shelter consists of one shape stretching for the sky. It has one hole in the top and two openings at the bottom. Plywood and polycarbonate are the main materials and all the different parts are fabricated using CNC technology. It is 4.7m tall and haves a diameter at ground level at 3.8m. The structural element of the shelter is the 2-9mm thick walls. The walls consist of thin and bendable shells which are tightened together with bolts and a piece of 2mm thick polycarbonate.

The bottom of the shelter is made of plywood and inside is a fire place surrounded by a bench. The bench is filled with building materials found on the site. This ballast secures the shelter to the ground without any kind of digging for foundations. The upper part of the shelter is in white transparent polycarbonate. The transparent ability allows daylight during the day, and after dusk the light from the fire will shine through the polycarbonate. This way the shelter brings back memories of old times lighthouses.

Besides being a design experiment, which tests the possibilities and structural solutions that digital fabrication is capable of giving, the shelter is meant as a gift for the area and for those who wish to use it. It’s about being in the company of good friends, in a fantastic place, around a fire during the dark time of the year. If bureaucracy had been taken into account, the project probably wouldn’t have happened. The wish to act independently was the desire to create a unique and specific project without being subject to any kind of compromises.

The shelter was designed, produced and paid for by the firm SHJWORKS. The assembly job, done without the use of ladders, was made possible assisted by Christian Bøcker Sørensen and others. Hopefully the shelter can stand for a year. SHJWORKS has a great respect for the value of the area, and we don’t think we jeopardise any of these values realising this project. The shelter is a temporary project and the day it’s gone it will leave no traces.

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SHJWorks appeared first on Dezeen.

These new shots by photographer Ty Cole document the scene at Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park in New York, which opened to the public in autumn 2012 almost 40 years after it was designed (+ slideshow).

American architect Louis Kahn was appointed to design the park in 1973 to commemorate the life and work of President Roosevelt, whose seminal Four Freedoms speech in 1941 called for freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Stretching out across the East River at the southernmost tip of Welfare Island, the park was envisioned as a triangular plain that directs a forced perspective towards a statue of the then president.

The architect died shortly after completing the design and funding issues prevented construction for another 38 years, during which time the island was renamed Roosevelt Island. In 2010, as part of the mayor’s plans to develop the area into a new residential community, Kahn’s plans were put back into action.

The completed park opened to the public on 24 October 2012, with a bronze bust of Roosevelt created by artist Jo Davidson as its focal point.

A granite terrace sits beyond the artwork, creating a contemplative space that Kahn referred to as “The Room”.

Five copper beech trees mark the entrance to the park, while two rows of linden trees line the edge of the triangular central lawn.

Louis Kahn is revered as one the greatest architects of the twentieth century. Four Freedoms Park is his final work, but his best-known designs include the Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire and the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas.

In 2008 we featured new photographs of Kahn’s 1961 project Esherick House, which was just about to be sold at auction.

See more photography by Ty Cole on his website.

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by Louis Kahn appeared first on Dezeen.

This timber-clad cinema in the south of France was designed by architects Encore Heureux to evoke both the arched facades of art deco picture houses and the herringbone walls of local tobacco-drying sheds (+ slideshow).

Located beside a former military camp in Auch, Ciné 32 is a five-screen cinema contained inside a staggered row of numbered wooden sheds.

“Rather than a large infrastructure-type multiplex, we wanted to create the image of a collection of small neighbourhood cinemas together,” explains Encore Heureux.

Zig-zagging wooden slats dress the arched gables of each structure, while numbers one to five are hand-painted over the surfaces using a traditional decorative font.

One screen is contained inside each of the sheds and every one is furnished with different coloured seating.

Above: photograph is by Nicola Delon

The architects comment: “Cinema has this unique opportunity to gather different people for a common but yet unusual journey. We wish to offer remarkable conditions for such a trip.”

A sixth shed gives the cinema a double-height reception and is contrastingly clad with translucent polycarbonate.

Activity workshops are contained in this part of the building, alongside offices, an exhibition space, a cafe and a terrace.

Other recently designed cinemas include one in a former slaughterhouse and one under a motorway flyover. See more cinemas on Dezeen.

Above: photograph is by Adélaide Maisonabe

Photography is by Sébastien Normand, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Above: photograph is by Adélaide Maisonabe

Here’s a short project description from Encore Heureux:

Cinema at Auch

Concept

To built a five rooms cinema for CINE 32 association has to answer some challenges. What else than a shoe box as you find in suburban territory? What kind of identity would suit to a meeting point, place of discoveries, debates and diversity? What presence for a brand new building right downtown, in place of an old military camp? How could we propose a place and an identity that fit to Cine 32 and its actions towards an always broader and mixed public?

We came up with images of old cinemas’ pediment and tobacco dryer from the south-west of France, with their openwork natural wood façade. We also care for an assumed double life image, an adequate day and night use.

Cinema has this unique opportunity to gather different people for a common but yet unusual journey. We wish to offer remarkable conditions for such a trip.

A strong relationship

To carry this adventure out we’ve looked preciously to the relationship between architect and client. Every step of conception has produced multiple studies. For instance, projection rooms were subject to a narrative outline and climatic environments ; bases leading us to built atmospheres. Thus, we go through starry night (first room) to sunrise (second room).

Interior and façade lights were developed specifically to this project with an effort of economy, consistency and precision. As were the custom-made administration’s furnitures.

Artist Bonnefrite has lead building’s signage with a delicate touch. The main sign, on avenue de l’Yser side, is a powerful and joyful gesture toward the city. Hand-painted numbers on pediments reveal the diversity of both spaces and styles in cinema.

Strong involvement from local construction firms allowed us to respect lead time and expected budget equally with a common requirement for the result. The adventure proved to be forceful and appealing.

Above: site plan – click above for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: front elevation – click above for larger image

Above: long section one – click above for larger image

Above: long section two – click above for larger image

Above: cinema section one – click above for larger image

Above: cinema section two – click above for larger image

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Encore Heureux appeared first on Dezeen.