Architects are increasingly designing staircases that double as seating, allowing office workers to congregate between floors, circulation to be turned into event space and homeowners to curl up with a book on the landing. Here are some of our favourite stair/seating configurations (+ slideshow).
In informal working environments, such as data storage company Evernote’s offices in Silicon Valley, employees are encouraged to stop and chat on the padded side of the staircase.
Outdoor stairs with deep treads and low risers, often referred to as bleachers, are also regularly used as temporary seating when public spaces are turned into performance venues.
These make-shift arenas vary from small open-air theatres to elaborate landscaping projects, such as 3XN’s cultural centre in Molde, Norway, where stairs climb up over the roof to a viewing platform.
“By using steps instead of traditional seats, the atmosphere becomes more informal,” 3XN creative director Kim Herforth Nielsen told Dezeen. “People use the [Plassen Cultural Centre] to meet and hang out on a daily basis just as much as they come there for live performances. By turning the building into an integrated part of the public square it becomes more than a building. It turns into a piece of land art, which adds an extra dimension to the place and generates life.”
Japanese studio Tato Architects references the ad-hoc extensions of neighbouring buildings with the steel, concrete and wooden volumes that make up this house in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow).
Located on the hillside of Mount Ikoma, House in Ishikiri is a three-storey family home and was designed by Tato Architects as a composition of three separate blocks.
From the rear, the house comprises a glazed ground-floor storey with a gabled upper floor floating above, while the street facade reveals an extra storey and garage tucked underneath.
“We observed favourably the mosaic pattern of old and rebuilt houses telling each history of over 80 years,” said architect Yo Shimada, explaining how he approached the design as a collection of connected elements.
“We proceeded with the design by making the places step by step, searching for an appropriate way of building the house that adapts to surrounding environments,” he added.
A steel-plated box forms part of the lower ground floor, and contains a storage space and small toilet. A steel framework extends across it, creating space for the adjacent garage.
A split-level living and dining room occupies a double-height space on the middle floor and features sliding doors that open the space out to a wooden roof terrace.
A children’s bedroom is also situated on this floor. Positioned on top of the steel box, it comes with a row of windows around its base.
A staircase cantilevered from the dining room’s concrete wall leads up to a master bedroom and balcony on the top floor.
The kitchen is positioned at the opposite end of the house, overlooking a rear garden. A guest room above can be accessed by climbing a wooden ladder that extends up through a hole in the ceiling.
Dark concrete walls and a black house form volume above it, a translucent lean-to roof, a white high flat roof and a silver box under it. Those totally different and inconsistent materials and colours are combined to form this house.
The site is in a residential area developed around 1930, sloping to the west on a hillside of Mt. Ikoma, which overlooks the urban area of Osaka Plain. We observed favourably the mosaic pattern of old and rebuilt houses telling each history of over eighty years.
It was not easy to find out the way for making the house coordinated to the surroundings as the site is 3.5m up from the road so that the house would look larger than the actual size. We proceeded with the design by making places step by step searching an appropriate way of building the house that adapt to surrounding environments.
First, we made concrete walls with rough texture by using formwork made by small split lauan to match with old masonry walls and concrete-block walls in surrounding environments, and covered those with a black house form structure following the roof form of houses in the neighbourhood. After that, living space is made in the way as renovating interior space. The space for facilities to support the daily life such as a kitchen and a bathroom is made in between the concrete walls and the cliff-retaining wall behind the house, covered with a translucent lean-to roof and wooden windows and doors.
On the road side, a thin, modern flat-roof, which represents a new life style and cars covers the box made of steel plates commonly used for temporary enclosure at construction sites in Japan, pretending the atmosphere of ongoing construction sites.
These resulted in making places that are related to both ‘before’ and ‘after’. Living places are provided in space where different time-axes meet as ‘concrete walls’ and ‘a black house-type,’ ‘concrete walls’ and ‘a retaining wall,’ and ‘a white flat-roof’ and ‘boxes of steel plates.’
Rethinking the whole residential are from the way that this house exists would suggests us to rediscover potentials and richness of all elements and space among those with different histories in the area.
Project name: House in Ishikiri Location of site: Osaka, Japan Site area: 233.32m2 Building area: 61.37m2 Total floor area: 99.38m2 Type of Construction: Steel Program: house Project by: Tato Architects Principal designer:Yo Shimada Design period: March 2010 – April 2012 Construction period: July 2012 – January 2013
Danish architecture studio BIG has completed an underground maritime museum that loops around an old dry dock in Helsingør, Denmark (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Rather than filling the empty dock, BIG chose to repurpose it as a public courtyard at the centre of the new museum, then added a series of bridges that cut into the 60-year-old walls.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
Located in the surrounds of Kronborg Castle, which dates back to the fifteenth century, the Danish Maritime Museum forms part of the Kulturhavn Kronborg initiative – an effort to bring cultural attractions to Helsingør’s harbour.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The museum’s underground galleries present the story of Denmark’s maritime history up to the present day, contained within a two-storey rectangular structure that encases the dry dock.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
“By wrapping the old dock with the museum program we simultaneously preserve the heritage structure, while transforming it to a courtyard bringing daylight and air in to the heart of the submerged museum,” said Bjarke Ingels, the founding partner of BIG.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The architect also emphasises that the presence of the dock allows the museum to be visible, without impacting on views towards the adjacent castle.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
“Out of respect for Hamlet’s Castle we needed to remain completely invisible and underground, but to be able to attract visitors we needed a strong public presence,” he said. “Leaving the dock as an urban abyss provides the museum with an interior facade facing the void and at the same time offers the citizens of Helsingør a new public space sunken eight metres below the level of the sea.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
A trio of double-level bridges span the dock. The first run directly across, forming an extension of the harbour promenade, while the second and third lead visitors gradually down to the museum’s entrance.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
An auditorium is contained inside one, while the others form extensions of the galleries, which were put together by exhibition designers Kossmann.Dejong.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
KiBiSi, the design studio co-run by Ingels, created a collection of street furniture to line the edge of the site, arranged as dots and dashes to resemble Morse code.
BIG with Kossmann.dejong+Rambøll+Freddy Madsen+KiBiSi have completed the Danish National Maritime Museum in Helsingør. By marrying the crucial historic elements with an innovative concept of galleries and way-finding, BIG’s renovation scheme reflects Denmark’s historical and contemporary role as one of the world’s leading maritime nations.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
The new Danish National Maritime Museum is located in Helsingør, just 50 km (30 mi.) north of Copenhagen and 10 km (6.5 mi.) from the world famous Louisiana Museum for Modern Art.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
The new 6,000 m² (65,000 ft²) museum finds itself in a unique historical context adjacent to one of Denmark’s most important buildings, Kronborg Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site – known from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is the last addition to Kulturhavn Kronborg, a joint effort involving the renovation of the Castle and two new buildings – offering a variety of culture experiences to residents and visitors to Helsingør.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
Leaving the 60 year old dock walls untouched, the galleries are placed below ground and arranged in a continuous loop around the dry dock walls – making the dock the centrepiece of the exhibition – an open, outdoor area where visitors experience the scale of ship building.
Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj
A series of three double-level bridges span the dry dock, serving both as an urban connection, as well as providing visitors with short-cuts to different sections of the museum. The harbour bridge closes off the dock while serving as harbour promenade; the museum’s auditorium serves as a bridge connecting the adjacent Culture Yard with the Kronborg Castle; and the sloping zig-zag bridge navigates visitors to the main entrance. This bridge unites the old and new as the visitors descend into the museum space overlooking the majestic surroundings above and below ground. The long and noble history of the Danish Maritime unfolds in a continuous motion within and around the dock, 7 metres (23 ft.) below the ground. All floors – connecting exhibition spaces with the auditorium, classroom, offices, café and the dock floor within the museum – slope gently creating exciting and sculptural spaces.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
Bjarke Ingels: “By wrapping the old dock with the museum program we simultaneously preserve the heritage structure while transforming it to a courtyard bringing daylight and air in to the heart of the submerged museum. Turning the dock inside out resolved a big dilemma; out of respect for Hamlet’s Castle we needed to remain completely invisible and underground – but to be able to attract visitors we needed a strong public presence. Leaving the dock as an urban abyss provides the museum with an interior façade facing the void and at the same time offers the citizens of Helsingør a new public space sunken 8 m (16 ft.) below the level of the sea.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
KiBiSi has designed the above ground bench system. The granite elements are inspired by ship bollards and designed as a constructive barrier that prevents cars from driving over the edge. The system is a soft shaped bench for social hangout and based on Morse code – dots and dashes writing a hidden message for visitors to crack.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
The exhibition was designed by the Dutch exhibition design office Kossmann.dejong. The metaphor that underpins the multimedia exhibition is that of a journey, which starts with an imagining of the universal yearning to discover far away shores and experience adventures at sea. Denmark’s maritime history, up to the current role of the shipping industry globally, is told via a topical approach, including notions such as harbour, navigation, war and trade. The exhibition has been made accessible for a broad audience through the intertwining of many different perspectives on the shipping industry.
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
David Zahle, Partner-in-Charge: “For 5 years we have been working on transforming the old concrete dock into a modern museum, which required an archaeologist care and spacecraft designer’s technical skills. The old lady is both fragile and tough; the new bridges are light and elegant. Building a museum below sea level has taken construction techniques never used in Denmark before. The old concrete dock with its 1.5 m thick walls and 2.5 m thick floor has been cut open and reassembled as a modern and precise museum facility. The steel bridges were produced in giant sections on a Chinese steel wharf and transported to Denmark on the biggest ship that has ever docked in Helsingør. The steel sections weigh up to 100 tons a piece and are lifted on site by the two largest mobile cranes in northern Europe. I am truly proud of the work our team has carried out on this project and of the final result.”
Photograph by Luca Santiago Mora
On Saturday October 5, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II, cut the ribbon to mark the grand opening. The new Danish National Maritime Museum is open to the public for outdoor activities, exhibitions and events, making the museum a cultural hub in the region throughout the year.
This gas compressor station in southern Denmark by Scandinavian firm C.F. Møller comprises Corten steel-clad boxes atop a pair of artificial hills (+ slideshow).
Corten steel panels create a textured surface around the upper walls of the structures, and were chosen because they are easy to maintain and fit in well with the natural surroundings.
“The plating is juxtaposed to create a varied and vibrant pattern of light and shadow,” said architect Julian Weyer. “The combination of materials aims to make the buildings appear rugged and elegant at the same time.”
The bases of both buildings are tucked down into the centre of two artificial hills, which are covered with grass.
The new technical plant is the first of its kind in Denmark, suppling gas to pipelines as far away as Germany and Sweden.
The interior of the plant is divided up into a linear sequence of rooms, accommodating storage areas, fire-extinguishing spaces, workshops, and boiler rooms. Additional buildings on-site accommodate an emergency generator in case of power failure.
Photography is by Julian Weyer.
Here’s a description from the architects:
Gas Kompressor Station, Egtved
Natural gas plant consisting of compressor station and service buildings.
A technical site is normally swaddled in greenery to prevent it from becoming an eyesore in the natural environment. The new Energinet.dk compressor station at Egtved is Denmark’s first installation of its kind, and here the opposite is true.
C.F. Møller has designed the plant, consisting of four compressor units and service buildings, as an architectural feature in the open landscape. The form of the buildings was also specially chosen in order to achieve optimum safety conditions at the plant.
The new technical plant, supplying the central intersection of the gas pipelines connection north-south from Germany and east-west to Sweden, has a landscape-like expression emerging from the landscape as a grassy embankment.
The remainder of the building appears almost to hover over the mound and is clad with rust-coloured Corten steel plating. The plating is juxtaposed to create a varied and vibrant pattern of light and shadow. The combination of materials aims to make the buildings appear rugged and elegant at the same time.
The grass and iron-clad plant houses service buildings, including an emergency generator and storage rooms, and beyond the buildings lies the compression plant itself atop an open plane. The buildings are designed to provide visual, aural and safety screening from the compression units.
“We began by asking ourselves a question: Can we push the boundaries for how we see a technical plant? Can we create a gas plant in dialogue with the landscape and yet focus on the energy supply infrastructure, on which we all depend?” says Julian Weyer, architect and partner.
The simple and striking design of the service buildings and substation also provides the opportunity for great flexibility in relation to the functional adaptation of the design in the coming phases.
Background
Natural gas supplies from the North Sea are dwindling. To ensure a regular and safe energy supply in the future, Denmark has to be able to receive gas from continental Europe.
Concept diagram
Energinet.dk has therefore constructed 94 kilometres of “gas motorway” from Egtved to Germany. This extension of the fossil gas system may well be a decisive step on the road to a green energy system, which is projected by 2050 to use only renewable energy.
Concept diagram
Client: Energinet.dk Address: Egtved, Denmark Engineering: Niras A/S Architect: C. F. Møller Architects Landscape: C. F. Møller Architects Size: 4.600 m² new-built and 20.000 m2 compressor station Year: 2010-2013
News: the #milanuncut debate that exposed the poor royalties designers earn has inspired the launch of Crowdyhouse, a new crowdfunding platform that helps designers find funding for their products.
CrowdyHouse homepage
CrowdyHouse, which will launch next week at Dutch Design Week, has been developed by Mark Studholme and Suzan Claesen to provide an alternative to the traditional royalties system, which Studholme says provides “an awful deal for the designers”.
“Our platform means that designers don’t have to take their product to Milan, stand next to it for a week, convince someone to buy it and then only receive 5 percent in royalties of the wholesale price,” Studholme told Dezeen.
Each designer has a page explaining their practice and approach
Studholme says the #milanuncut project, which engaged dozens journalists and designers during Milan 2011, focused his attention on the difficulties faced by young designers trying to sell their work.
“I’m very surprised that, since #milanuncut two years ago, no solutions have really been proposed,” he points out. “The conversation just died down, so hopefully we can ignite it again.”
“The #milanuncut story was really just a symptom of the unsustainable state of the furniture industry,” said McGuirk this week. “As design manufacturing is forced to reinvent itself, crowdfunding platforms are an obvious step in a new direction, potentially giving designers direct access to markets of their own making.”
Product pages include descriptions of the concept and production methods
Using a similar crowdfunding principle to the one popularised by companies such as Kickstarter, designers are able to raise money upfront by inviting funding for products which investors eventually receive once they have been produced. The designers retain 90 percent of the funding total, with CrowdyHouse taking the other 10 percent.
“Crowdyhouse is actually the first crowd-funded platform specifically for design,” says Studholme. “We realised the traditional Kickstarter model doesn’t favour designers so we thought there was a need for a design-specific platform that really allows the designers to focus on the designs.”
CrowdyHouse offers contemporary products and furniture ranging in price from €65-3000. Designs have to reach a minimum order number before the designer begins to manufacture the product and distribute it to investors.
Details about the designers and the story behind the products, how the funds will be used, and the progress of funding and product development are listed on the website.
Some of the products featured include pressed-clay vessels by Studio Floris Wubben and a concrete, wood and leather lamp by Tim Vinke. Design studio Vilt aan Zee plans to use the funds generated on CrowdyHouse to buy a sheep to supply wool for its felt-shaded table lamp.
The designers listed on the site are currently all based in CrowdyHouse’s home nation of The Netherlands but Studholme and Claesen plan to expand the roster to include designers from other countries.
Here’s a full press release about the launch of CrowdyHouse:
CrowdyHouse stimulates unique design Launch of innovative crowdfunding and sales platform on October 21st
A new Dutch concept to stimulate innovative design: CrowdyHouse. This platform is a unique combination of crowdfunding and retail. Giving designers the possibility to self-produce their work and allowing consumers to buy unique design in a transparent manner. CrowdyHouse is launching during the Dutch Design Week, October 21st, in Eindhoven.
When you have a good design as a designer, it’s surprisingly difficult to get financing for the production of it. What CrowdyHouse does is loosely based on the popular crowdfunding principle, but adds a dimension. Investors are also aspiring buyers. Their funding enables the designer to start producing. In return for funding the product upfront they will get the design they helped put into production.
On CrowdyHouse.com, the renowned designer Marc de Groot offers his Helix Light, a strongly geometrical shaped ceiling lamp, which splits a line of light into the shape of a three-dimensional Helix. Rebob offers a sympathetic porcelain birdhouse, shaped like a bird’s head. Renate Vos designed a table lamp of concrete, which sounds heavy but appears fragile and subtly spreads light.
‘The idea for CrowdyHouse began at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, says Mark Studholme who, together with Suzan Claesen, founded the platform. ‘We were surprised about how little a designer earns if his design is taken into production by a large manufacturer. It can be just 5 percent of the wholesale price that goes to the designer.’
Democratic design for an honest price, is one of the principles of CrowdyHouse. Democratic because the consumer decides which design gets produced by funding it. And honest because the money that is earned fully benefits the designer. CrowdyHouse’s role is limited to being a mediator. The initiative for the new design platform arrives at a time where the creative industry boils of good ideas, but all sources of financing have been depleted. The government is handing out increasingly less innovation grants. Banks don’t spend any money on young entrepreneurs. ‘CrowdyHouse can be a crowbar, a party that fills the void between a good idea and the lover of design’, according to Studholme.
The dozens of products being offered on CrowdyHouse.com are mostly meant for home interior use and vary in price from 65 to 3000 euro. Those who like the product and its story deposits their funding upfront. The site can then be used to track the popularity of a product, how long it will take before production starts and what the money will be used for.
The designers at Vilt aan Zee want to use the investment to purchase a sheep which they can use to produce wool for a lamp. Carpet designer Lizan Freijsen needs a small storage space before she can close a good deal with a textiles lab which produces carpets made from lichen. Each designer needs a small push. Design consumers can provide this small push on CrowdyHouse.
Stimulating unique design through crowdfunding, is the core of what this new platform does. ‘We offer products with a story from the designer’, says Studholme. ‘This gives funding and ordering at CrowdyHouse a very special dimension.’
Japanese design studio Nendo has come up with a range of transformable accessories for dogs (+ slideshow).
Nendo‘s three-piece Heads or Tails collection consists of a dog bed, dishes and toys, all of which can be used in two ways.
“As a result of looking for a form that could be stable in two different shapes, the collection is constructed of triangular panels connected in polygon mesh,” said the designers.
The artificial leather bed pops up to become a little hut or can simply be used as a cushion.
Ceramic dishes have a larger bowl for water on one side and present a smaller saucer for food when flipped over.
A lightweight silicone toy bone made from a skeleton of triangles can be reshaped into a ball by folding the two ends back on themselves.
The black and white collection was designed for Japanese lifestyle magazine Pen.
Nendo isn’t the only team to have created objects for canines. Japanese designer Kenya Hara rounded up architects and designers including Kengo Kuma, Toyo Ito and Shigeru Ban to create architecture for dogs shown at Design Miami last year.
Indian studio Khosla Associates used a modular concrete framework, bold colours and perforated terracotta screens to create this climate-sensitive kindergarten in Bangalore, which topped the education category at the Inside Festival awards earlier this month.
Khosla Associates designed the Delhi Public School kindergarten as a prototype for a series of school buildings that will be rolled out around southern India in the future.
“We were asked to create a simple and cost-effective language that could be adapted easily to different site conditions and slightly varying programs,” explained architects Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand.
A modular concrete framework provides a standard size for the classrooms, which in some places are stacked to create a second storey.
There are 25 classrooms in total and they are arranged around a pair of courtyards that can be used as either playgrounds or outdoor learning spaces.
“The central linear open-to-sky court is the soul of the school and facilitates learning outside the classroom,” said the architects.
Rather than adding air-conditioning systems, Khosla and Anand wanted to make use of natural light and ventilation throughout the building, so they installed a series of perforated screens.
Constructed from two standard types of perforated brick, these decorative screens – referred to locally as jaalis – reduce the impact of direct sunlight and enable cross ventilation.
In places where more solid walls were needed, the architects added corrugated metal sheets in vivid shades, intended to reference the colours of traditional Indian textiles.
“The simplicity of the repetitive exposed concrete structure is what eventually dictated the design outcome as we added flexible layers onto it,” they explained.
Corridors run around the central perimeter of the school, while a bright red staircase connects the ground floor with classrooms on the upper level.
The kindergarten is the first of four blocks proposed for this site and will be followed by construction of junior, middle and senior school buildings.
Photography is by Shamanth Patil J.
Read on for a project description from Khosla Associates:
DPS Kindergarten School, Bangalore, India
The brief called for us to design a franchise for a popular north Indian school chain called Delhi Public School.
Since the model was to be potentially replicated across several schools in South India, we were asked to create a simple and cost effective language that could be adapted easily to different site conditions and slightly varying programs.
While the overall master plan currently under construction comprises a kindergarten, junior, middle and senior school block that will eventually cater to 4000 children; the current kindergarten facility has 25 classrooms, and with 40 children a class, a total strength of 1000.
The primary challenge was to design and complete construction of the first 35,000 sft. Kindergarten block within a 6-month time span at an efficient cost of Rs.1200/sft (USD $20/sft). The efficiencies of designing and constructing a building so rapidly had to be balanced with what we believed in; creating a warm, playful and welcoming environment for these young children that would be filled with natural light and ventilation. We set out to achieve our goal by creating an efficient modular system that we could use as building blocks. We looked at the basic module of a 700 sft classroom (35ft x 20 ft.) that could be repeated horizontally, or stacked one atop the other.
The classrooms on either side flank an 8ft wide single loaded corridor and open up to a central open-to-sky courtyard.
The simplicity of the repetitive exposed concrete structure is what eventually dictated the design outcome as we added flexible layers onto it. We added a corrugated metal wall on all corridors, which would serve a dual purpose; facilitate speed of construction and be durable for the wear and tear school corridors usually take. The corrugated sheets also gave us the opportunity to play with pattern and use tropical colours typical of the vernacular architecture of the region.
Other contextual references are in the vernacular terracotta jaalis (shading and ventilation screens used traditionally in India) that wrap around parts of the building and are included on both sides of each classroom to facilitate adequate cross ventilation from NE to SW. The jaalis cut down the sun especially on the western face of the building where we have effectively used them in breakout areas.
Judging the sun directions we played with a number of devices: horizontal and vertical pergolas and a combination of two different patterns of jaali on the exterior that create interesting patterns on the building at different times of the day.
The central linear open-to–sky court that runs the entire length of the building is the soul of the school and facilitates learning outside the classroom. The temperate climate of Bangalore allows for open to sky discussion on benches surrounding the courtyard trees or on the steps of the corridors.
In an age of air-conditioned schools becoming increasingly popular, we have attempted an energy efficient and cost-effective approach that utilises minimal electrical load during the day due to effective harnessing of breezes and adequate natural light during the day. It is our hope as architects that we are able to take this simple yet effective typology further to other franchises in the region.
Architects: Khosla Associates Principal Designers: Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand Design Team: Sandeep Khosla, Amaresh Anand, and Bijeta Bachaspati Structural Engineers: S&S Associates Civil Contractors: Gomini Constructions Pvt. Ltd. Project Management: Kris Cooper Pvt. Ltd. Landscape: Garden World Pvt. Ltd. Date completed: 31st May 2013 Area: 43967 sq ft
A raw concrete interior is contained behind the white limestone facade of this townhouse in Lisbon by ARX Portugal (+ slideshow).
Slotted in amongst a row of traditional Lisbon townhouses, the five-storey residence was designed by local studio ARX Portugal with the same tall and narrow proportions as its neighbours.
The facade of the building is an arrangement of white limestone blocks, broken up by a grid of protruding piers and narrow windows.
“Just as most of Lisbon’s old buildings, it is a flat elevation whose expressiveness comes from its rhythmic nature and the light-and-shade effects produced with the backing-up of its surfaces,” said the architects.
Contrastingly, the rear facade is made up entirely of windows, fronted by steel balconies that overlook a secluded garden.
Walls, ceilings and staircases inside the house are bare concrete. “The precision of the design as well as the inclusion of two doors in most rooms endows the five small floors with a sense of a generous space and gives its dwellers a strong feeling of fluidity and freedom,” added the architects.
The main street-level entrance to the house leads onto the storey above the garden, which primarily encompasses a garage and living room.
The dining room and kitchen are located on the floor below and open out to the paved terrace and lawn.
The first and second floors accommodate bedrooms and bathrooms, while an office occupies the uppermost floor.
There’s also a small roof patio, featuring a small bench and a solitary tree.
The concept for this house emerges from a reflection on the identity of Lisbon architecture, a recurring type of 6-metre-wide and 15-meter-long deep house, ending in a small garden in the back. It is a 5-storey building with two radically different elevations: one “public” in white lioz limestone (the most used in Lisbon) and the one in the back, in glass, connected by an interior world in exposed concrete, punctuated by birch wood elements.
The elevation obviously follows on the Lisbon tradition, stressed further by the windows’ rhythmic structure, opened in a span system created by horizontal strips and vertical bars – characteristic of the city architecture.
Just as most of Lisbon’s old buildings, it is a flat elevation whose expressiveness comes from its rhythmic nature and the light-and-shade effects produced with the backing-up of its surfaces. This apparatus brings the elevation a sense of time, expressed by the change in the shadows throughout the day: from a more subtle morning light – with no direct sunlight – to the strong contrasting afternoon shadows.
Besides a straightforward concern in aligning the elevation with the surrounding lines, the design stresses an obvious contrast between the block-type bottom, and the more dematerialised crest.
If on the one hand the ground floor responds defensively to the narrowness of the street, combined with the fact that neighbours park their cars in front of doors and windows, on the other hand the top comes out much lighter and dematerialised: it is a space at once interior and exterior – a top patio allowing the transition between the lower building, to the south, and the higher one, to the north. Nevertheless, despite its intimate nature, the space allows a view over the surrounding landscape and to the far-off Christ the King statue to the south, along the street line.
On the back elevation we have explored the extreme transparency which extends the interior onto the exterior and opens up the view to the garden – where a splendid Linden tree takes centre stage – leading the eyes from the top floors over Lisbon’s hills, the Tagus river, and the South Bank. Radically opened to the exterior, the generous morning light that floods in directly is balanced by the grey concrete making up all the surfaces.
Inside, the precision of the design, as well as the inclusion of two doors in most rooms, endows the five small floors with a sense of a generous space, and give its dwellers a strong feeling of fluidity and freedom.
The constructive research for this project provides an example in which the whole structure shapes the space and becomes architecture in itself: the whole concrete structure, built with only 3 planes – two gables and a transversal plan – is set forth and designed to define the essential house space.
At once a natural and staged space, of both contemplation and living experience, the garden is expressed as an archeological site, where all layers of time, since the house was built, are present. Here, one can still see the ancient techniques that have raised thick stone walls (often recovered from other buildings), later brick overlays, mortar or paint, as well as the stones from the demolished house that have become pavement.
Location: Lisbon, Portugal Project: 2010-2011 Construction: 2012-2013 Gross construction surface: 436 m2
Architecture: ARX Portugal, Arquitectos Lda. (José Mateus, Nuno Mateus) Work Team: Isabel Gorjão Henriques, Miguel Torres, Joana Pedro, Sofia Raposo, Rodrigo Gorjão Henriques, Paulo Rocha Structures: SAFRE, Projectos e Estudos de Engenharia Lda. Electrical, telecommunications and security planning: Energia Técnica – Gabinete de Engenharia, Lda Contractor: Manuel Mateus Frazão
These previously unseen photographs show the faceted modular structure of the Baku Crystal Hall in Azerbaijan, which was designed and completed in just eight months (+ slideshow).
The building, which was presented earlier this month at the Inside Festival in Singapore, had to be designed and constructed simultaneously to be ready in time to host last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, so German firm GMP Architekten collaborated closely with contractors Alpine Bau Deutschland and Nüssli throughout the process.
Conceived as both a concert hall and a sports stadium, the 25,000-seat stadium comprises a lightweight steel structure with a faceted membrane facade intended to resemble cut crystal.
According to Nussli’s Claus Kruppa, it was originally planned as a temporary structure, but was subtly altered during construction to enable it to remain in place for longer.
“A small change in the drawings, and now it’s going to be there for 30-40 years,” he said.
The building is located on a peninsula outside the centre of Baku. Its facade is covered with 9500 LED lights, which bring the structure to life after dark.
Exposed brick walls and a large bookshelf are on show through the glazed facade of this ground-floor apartment in Montreal by Canadian designer Anne Sophie Goneau (+ slideshow).
Anne Sophie Goneau began the renovation by stripping the apartment back to its structure, revealing raw brick walls and steel I-beams, then designed an open-plan layout with a bedroom on side and a bathroom at the back.
“The concept was to highlight the raw materials discovered during the demolition, in order to communicate their material, their relief and colour environment,” explained Goneau.
A kitchen runs along one side of the space. Glossy black cabinets, surfaces and appliances flank the exposed red brickwork, while a contrasting white counter is positioned in front.
“The open kitchen is the focal point of the space; it unfolds on the dining room and living room,” said Goneau.
A floor-to-ceiling glass partition separates the kitchen and dining area from the main bedroom, which residents can choose to screen with curtains.
A full-height bookshelf is positioned in front of this bedroom, forming the backdrop of a living room that is also furnished with a large green sofa and a pair of reclaimed wooden armchairs.
A timber-lined corridor leads to a second bedroom and bathroom towards the rear. The bathroom is divided into sections; on one side the bathtub and steel sink are surrounded by white walls, while the adjacent shower and toilet are contained behind dark-tinted glass for privacy.
The project is the design of a 1,280 square feet condo located on the ground floor of a triplex in Montreal. The mandate was to divide each living area in order to maximise while maintaining the architectural integrity of the existing location, each room with natural light.
The concept was to highlight the raw materials, discovered during the demolition (brick wall, wall hemlock and steel structure), in order to communicate their material, their relief and colour environment.
Upon entering the hall is semi-closed hall, so that it has an overview of the condo. The open kitchen is the focal point of the space; it unfolds on the dining room and living room, where the master bedroom fits.
It is bounded by a glass wall which preserves the view of the bare brick; an archaeological reminder wanting to highlight the existing raw materials as an exhibitor showcase. A green velvet sofa, two vintage chairs and a bookshelf that leans against the bedroom wall bound the living room.
On the ground, a radiant hot water heating system was installed under a concrete slab which was covered by a light grey epoxy and polyurethane matt finish to replicate the natural colour of concrete. The primary and secondary bedrooms, as well as the bathroom, are glossy white epoxy to distinguish the private area of the common space.
The steel beam, flameproof, delimits the passage area. In the corridor leading to the bathroom, a light-emitting diode was installed in the recessed ceiling for a more intimate setting, which features the original hemlock wall.
Tone on tone, glossy black kitchen cabinets and electrical appliances are blended. The cooktop with integrated sub-hood, allows maximum exposure of brick wall, the backsplash, lit by a light-emitting diode recessed in counter.
The dining table becomes the visual continuity of the kitchen island. In the bathroom, custom-made stainless steel countertop and bath rectilinear shapes are stacked on each other, forming a sculptural composition. On the floor, a white epoxy and in the shower a dark grey epoxy were applied.
The contrast between these two colours form a psychological boundary of two areas: one is clear and bright, the other, darker, creating a private area for the shower and toilet. The window allows natural light in the room while preserving the intimacy of the space, with a frosted film.
Project name: Espace St-Denis Description: Design of a condo, storefront Design: Anne Sophie Goneau Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Date: 2013
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