Hasta La Ideas

Dutch studio KoningEllis Architects used a combination of grey slate, warm timber and shimmering aluminium for the walls of a new building at this school for children with learning disabilities in Haarlem, the Netherlands (+ slideshow).

Daaf Geluk secondary school had previously been located on two sites, but the construction of new housing had created the opportunity to bring the entire school together on one campus. KoningEllis Architects was tasked with renovating one of the old buildings – a brick structure from the 1940s – and adding an additional block of classrooms and sports facilities.

To complement the red and brown tones of the existing brickwork, architects Suzanne Ellis and Ieke Koning designed a two-storey extension with a timber facade, then added a ribbon of grey slate around its middle.

“The two buildings are in agreement with each other not only in form, but also in appearance, without being copies,” said the architects.

A glass tunnel leads from the renovated building to the new structure, which accommodates 12 classrooms, offices and a pair of sports halls.

Rooms are arranged around a double-height atrium with a generous skylight. A wide staircase extends up through the centre and doubles up as seating, allowing the space to function as an informal auditorium.

To create a “quiet, homely atmosphere”, the architects used a simple colour palette of white, grey and lime green. They also added windows at the end of every corridor so that natural light floods through the building.

“White walls and ceilings combined with grey melange floors form a peaceful basis,” explained Ellis. “For the frames, the staircase, floor and ceiling of the auditorium white oak was used, to add a neutral, natural and warm-looking material.”

She added: “We only added one distinct colour – grass green. This fresh colour forms a stylish, modern combination with the oak.”

Each of the classrooms feature thick partitions walls, creating built-in storage closets on the inside and private workspaces in the corridors.

The two sports halls are housed at the western end of the building and feature first-floor viewing platforms for spectators.

Other recently completed school buildings in Europe include a timber-clad extension to a school near The Hague and a French nursery and elementary school with hilly rooftops that pupils can explore. See more school design »

Photography is by Maarten Noordijk.

Here’s a more detailed project description from KoningEllis Architects:

Secondary School Haarlem

The Daaf Geluk School is a special-needs school, which means that it provides education for secondary school pupils who need more attention, guidance and help. The school offers tailored-made education and provides lessons in small classes of up to sixteen pupils.

Renovation and Expansion

Formerly, the 350 pupils of the ‘Daaf’ were spread over two locations in Haarlem. When the annex had to give way to housing, the school got the chance to come together on one site. The choice was made for renovation and expansion of the existing building at the current location. The expansion consists of offices, a communal space, twelve classrooms and two sports halls.

Design

For the type of pupils of ‘the Daaf’ it is important that the school has a quiet, homely atmosphere. Structure, clarity, peacefulness and security were therefore important conditions for the design. The layout ensures that there is always light at the end of the spacious corridors. The interior design has been kept basic and light, to avoid too much stimulation.

The heart of the school is the auditorium, where the broad wooden staircase, also functioning as seating for the stage, immediately catches the eye. The wood extends as a carpet in front of the staircase and at the end curls up into natural casing of the stage. A large skylight above the stairs makes the auditorium light and pleasant.

The building has been logically and cleverly planned. For example, the common areas are situated at the nodes and there is no wasted space. In the corridors smart double walls have been constructed. On the classroom side, there are built-in cupboards and on the corridor side there are recessed lockers and workplaces where pupils can sit and work quietly. Through the window the teacher can monitor them as well.

At the far end of the extension is a double gymnasium. The height in this part of the building is used for changing-rooms on the first floor and to provide a balcony where spectators can follow the activities in the gym. By providing the gyms with their own entrance they can also be used outside school hours.

Renovation

On the site they found a beautiful brick school building from the forties, but it didn’t meet the current requirements any longer and the original structure was not visible anymore. By removing the superficial interior additions and careful renovation of the primary structures, the architects were able to bring back the beauty of the original building. Constructive interventions strengthened the improvement of the routing and lines of visibility.

Sight lines are important to our design. From the new entrance square you look through the connecting corridor into the old building. The orientation of the buildings creates several outdoor areas: an entrance square, two playgrounds, and a secluded courtyard between the old and the new buildings. The old and the new are connected by a glazed corridor.

The new interventions were accentuated by using the colour green, which continues into the new building. To leave the historic appearance as much intact as possible, the iconic iron window frames were retained and renovated. Finally, a modern ventilation/air handling system was put in to improve the climate in the building. In this way the historic characteristics of the existing building have been preserved and the quality of the building environment has been optimised.

Exterior

The two buildings are in agreement with each other not only in form, but also in appearance, without being copies. The colour palette of the façade and the roof of the old building; brown and purple-grey, returns in the new building in contemporary materials such as preserved wood, aluminium and slate, all maintenance free materials. Hence the new building gets a warm feel to it, in tune with the old one, but still with its own character.

Around the school they put a ‘ribbon’; a horizontal stripe of purple-grey slate. In front of the entrance are the large steel letters ’DAAF’. The sign fits well with the modest building. No loud signs, just a stylish touch.

Detail

An aluminium strip ensures a tight transition between the different materials and gives the outline of the horizontal and vertical surfaces in the facade extra sharpness. The sun-blinds are hidden behind a removable panel. The technical drawings for the construction were not outsourced to ensure the quality of the design and to have maximum control during the building process.

Surroundings

With the same attention to detail the building was integrated into the environment. Also, the neighbourhood, welfare and preservation organisations were consulted. It was a puzzle to get the new building onto the plot. The new building doubled the volume of the existing school, and residential homes are close. That is why the appearance of the school has been kept modest. By using a light colour wood at the top and the bottom, the building looks friendly and inviting.

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by KoningEllis Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Perimeter skylights throw light across a grid of exposed wooden ceiling beams inside our second house this week from Japanese studio mA-style Architects (+ slideshow).

Positioned in a shady location between two neighbouring buildings in Aichi, Japan, the wooden house couldn’t have many windows, so mA-style Architects added skylights around each side of the flat roof.

Daylight disperses itself through the interior by bouncing off both the ceiling beams and the laminated wooden walls.

“The design intended to create a space with uniformly distributed light by adjusting the way of letting daylight in and the way of directing the light,” said the architects.

Bedrooms and storage spaces are contained within two-storey boxes scattered through the interior. Rectangular openings lead into the spaces, plus those at first-floor are accessed using wooden ladders.

“Considering each box as a house, the empty spaces in between can be seen as paths of plazas and remind us of a small town enclosed in light,” the architects added.

A bathroom, a study space, bookshelves and a kitchen with steel surfaces line the perimeter of the open-plan space.

White-painted wooden panels clad the exterior of the rectilinear structure, including a sliding door that gives the house a corner entrance.

Led by partners Atsushi and Mayumi Kawamoto, mA-style Architects has also completed a house with small attic spaces tucked into the triangular roof and an elevated house that points out like a giant rectangular telescope.

See more architecture by mA-style Architects »
See more Japanese houses »

Photography is by Kai Nakamura.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Light Walls House

The site is in a shady location where a two-story neighbouring house closely stands on the south side, and even the shade and shadow on the path intensify the impression of darkness.

Therefore, the design intended to create a space with uniformly distributed light by adjusting the way of letting daylight in, and the way of directing the light.

By taking into consideration the space for the residents, the functions for living, and the relationship with the surrounding environment, creation of a diversity and richness in the house was intended by controlling the concept of light.

Along the edges of the 9.1m square roof, sky lights are made, as if creating an outline, in order to provide sunlight.

The roof beams narrow the sunlight, and the slightly angled clapboard interior walls with laminated wood reflect and diffuse the light.

As a result, soft and uniformly distributed light is created and surrounds the entire space.

Along the outline of lighting, work spaces such as a kitchen, bathroom, and study are arranged. Private spaces such as bedrooms and storage are allocated into four boxes.

The path-like spaces created between them are public spaces. Each box attempts to balance within a large spatial volume.

Light coupled with the rhythm of scale raises the possibilities of the living space for the residents.

Considering each box as a house, the empty spaces in between can be seen as paths or plazas, and remind us of a small town enclosed in light.

The empty spaces, which cause shortening or elongating of distances between people, are intermediate spaces for the residents, as well as intermediate spaces that are connected to the outside when the corridor is open, and these are the image of a social structure that includes a variety of individuals.

In terms of a natural component, in which light is softened by small manipulations, and of a social component, in which a town is created in the house, this house turned out to be a courtyard house of light where new values are discovered.

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mA-style Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Lisbon Architecture Triennale: Portuguese artist Marta Wengorovius teamed up with architect Francisco Aires Mateus to create this small wooden library that can be used by only one person at a time.

On show as part of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, the reading cabin comprises a shed-like structure containing nothing but a single bookshelf and a raised seating area.

Daylight filters in through a skylight that punctures the gabled roof.

Marta Wengorovius invited 20 guests to choose books for the library, creating a collection of 60 volumes.

“Sharing this itinerant project creates a community between people who read the books, the guests who chose the books and the people who will read the books wherever the cabin shall pass,” she said.

Visitors can reserve time slots to occupy the library, whether it be an hour or a whole day.

The cabin first opened in Paredes and has since moved to Lisbon. The artist plans to relocate it each year, translating the books into different languages for foreign countries.

Francisco Aires Mateus designed the structure. His studio also recently completed a pair of waterfront cabins in Grândola, Portugal.

Other buildings designed specifically for a single inhabitant include a micro home by Renzo Piano and a travelling performance venue.

See more stories from the Lisbon Architecture Triennale »

Photography is by João Wengorovius.

Here’s a project description from Marta Wengorovius:

Um, Dois e Muitos (One, Two and Many)

The project is an itinerant library that aims to be a compass of reflection concerning the themes: “One”, “Two” and “Many”. The 60 books in the library relate to: “One” (every single one chosen), “two” (every single one two chosen) and “many” (every single one many chosen).

The books were chosen by 20 guests invited to collaborate with the artist and to be part of this project. With the intersection of these various books there is a desire to produce a sort of manifest, a synthesis to enlighten our roots, and searching some earth (roots?). I believe that the truthful ones cross our past and present, and give flowers throughout the ages, enlightening the time that goes by.

The library was planned to be in one different place per year. If exhibited in a foreign country the books will be translated to the native language of the country.

This art project had its first opening on December 2012 as part of the public art project in Paredes, north of Portugal.

Using Instructions

The Reading Cabin is to be used by one person at a time. The books can be read inside the cabin and requested to the entity where the Library is located. Sharing this itinerant project creates a community between people who read the books, the guests who chose the books and the people who will read the books wherever the cabin shall pass. The cabin was designed by Francisco Aires Mateus.

A Project by: Marta Wengorovius
In collaboration with: Francisco Aires Mateus and Ana Almada Pimentel
Photographs: João Wengorovius
Construction: Cenário Perfeito
Graphic design: barbara says…

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by Marta Wengorovius appeared first on Dezeen.

Our second project this week from British studio Simon Conder Associates is a timber-clad house built around a nineteenth-century railway carriage on Dungeness beach in Kent, England.

Simon Conder Associates designed El Ray beach house as the summer home for a family, who had previously lived in just the old carriage.

“We were asked by our clients to increase the accommodation area by approximately 50 percent and dramatically improve the environmental performance of the house,” said Simon Conder.

Completed in 2008, the house is located between two other shacks near the Dungeness power station. It features a bell-shaped plan, incorporating a sheltered front terrace and a pair of recessed courtyards that are protected from the prevailing winds.

The railway carriage is contained at the centre of house and accommodates a kitchen within its worn shell. A living room surrounds and opens out to all three terraces.

Different tones give a striped pattern to the hardwood exterior cladding. There are also ramps leading into the house from the surface of the beach.

A flat sloping roof acts as an observation deck with sweeping 360-degree views of the surrounding beach and ocean.

The walls, roof and floor are insulated using recycled newspaper, meaning very little energy is needed for heating, lights and ventilation.

In extremely cold weather, electric heating is powered by a rooftop wind turbine to heat beneath the floorboards in the two bedrooms and bathroom.

Simon Conder more recently completed a pair of timber-clad houses built on a steep hill in the town Porthtowan.

Other seaside houses in the UK include a shingle-clad house elsewhere on Dungeness beach, a small wooden house on the tip of the Isle of Skye and an experimental beach house at Maldon. See more British houses »

Here’s a project description from the architects:

El Ray, Dungeness Beach, Kent

Dungeness beach is a classic example of ‘Non-Plan’ and the houses that populate the beach have developed through improvisation and bodge. This scheme develops this tradition in a way that responds to the drama and harshness of the landscape.

El Ray is part of a group of five beach houses located immediately to the east of the huge Dungeness A power station. The original house consisted of a 19th century railway carriage with flimsy lean tos to the north and south. It was in extremely poor condition and too small to accommodate our clients and their growing family. We were asked by our clients to increase the accommodation area by approximately 50%, and dramatically improve the environmental performance of the house.

The new house incorporates the old railway carriage inside a highly insulated timber structure. The carriage forms the centre point of the main living area and accommodates the kitchen. A fully glazed southern elevation gives views out over the channel and a series of smaller slot windows on the other elevations give focused views of the adjacent lighthouse, coastguard station and nuclear power station.

The sloping roof deck acts as an observation platform with extraordinary 360 degree views of the beach and the sea. The plan incorporates two courtyards to provide shelter from the constant wind.

Environmental Performance

Environmental control is achieved through a combination of super insulation, passive solar gain, cross ventilation and a wind turbine.

The high levels of insulation in the walls, roof and floor ensure that heat loss from the building is minimal and very little energy is required for heating, lighting and ventilation. External glazing consists of a combination of double-glazed, low ‘E’, argon- filled frameless fixed lights and thermally-broken, aluminium sliding doors. The structural timber frame is constructed from lightweight engineered timber I-Joists, braced inside and out with a sheathing material manufactured entirely from wood waste. The insulation between the I-joists and studs is made from recycled newspaper. The external cladding and decking is made from an FSC certified hardwood called Itauba and the internal wall linings, floors and all joinery are constructed from FSC certified birch plywood.

A canopy projects out over the south deck to shade the living areas from the high summer sun, but allows the low winter sun to warm the house. When necessary a wood-burning stove, using drift wood from the beach, is used to supplement the passive solar gain in the winter months and in extremely cold conditions electric under floor heating, powered by the wind turbine, will heat the two bedrooms and the bathroom.

It is anticipated that the during the year the wind turbine will generate more electricity than the house will consume, meaning that the house can be run at carbon negative. The client intends to sell any surplus electricity generated by the wind turbine back to the National Grid.

Architects: Simon Conder Associates
Design Team: Simon Conder, Pippa Smith
Structural Engineer: Fluid Structures
Environmental Engineer: ZEF
Contractor: Ecolibrium Solutions
Construction cost per m2: £1,780.00
Completed: July 2008

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by Simon Conder Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Seoul architects studio_GAON designed this house in the Korean countryside for a couple who want to retire and grow walnuts (+ slideshow).

The couple, who are in their sixties, required a house where they could live with their parents and daughter.

Located on a sunny hillside near the provincial town of Geochang, the timber-framed house has traditional Korean architectural features including a raised timber “maru” deck offering views of the surrounding countryside.

The daughter and parents are accommodated on the second floor and ground floor annex respectively, sharing the living room and maru with the owners.

The house is designed to engender a sense of tranquility and privacy, allowing the owners to rest after their long careers.

“The scenery is so peaceful that it feels like midday nap soaks into a body as softly blowing wind,” write studio_GAON. “Nobody hinders or prohibits ingoing, but the house is so peculiar located that nobody from outside can see the inside.”

Here’s some more information from the architects:

House in Geochang

House in Geochang is the house built on a sunny hill of Geochang, a Korean provincial city. There is a tall, brushy dogwood in the site, and a spring next to the tree which always provides fresh water. Also there is a small pool at the foot of the hill.

The scenery is so peaceful that it feels like midday nap soaks into a body as softly blowing wind. Nobody hinders or prohibits ingoing, but the house is so peculiar located that nobody from outside can see the inside. Slope of the hill is moderately steep, and wind is blowing quietly. This is an ideal land, which has hill, water, wind and tree.

The house was built by a sexagenarian couple who was going to live with octogenarian parents. The house owner, who devoted his entire life to social movements (labor movements) resembles Prometheus, a Titan in Greek mythology.

The couple helped others during their whole life, and even now they are taking care of others at every opportunity. They are planning to grow walnuts after completing the house. So they wanted a land which is suitable for farming, and a house which can provide true relaxation.

So we wanted a modest and cozy house, which will not wake the Titan, who takes rest after a long time, from his nap. Nap is a temporary sleep, a sleep which provides a clear mind after waking up. Here they will take sleep and rest soundly. For this reason, we decided to call the house as ‘House, where shade rests’.

Required spaces are rooms for the couple, parents and daughter respectively, living room as common space, two restrooms and an attic. The relationships whithin the family is good, but we targeted on keeping discreet distance and protecting private life in order to prevent discomfort due to overly nearness and excessive consideration.

On the East corner, where the dogwood is seen clearly, we put a kitchen and dining room, and on the opposite side, projected the living room to the main approach, and added a wide floor. For this reason, if we see the house from the front, the part of left side is a space for daughter-in-law, and the part of right side is a space for mother-in-law.

The living space for the daughter-in-law is a kitchen and dining room, where the dogwood and spring are very close to. The living space for the mother-in-law is living room and main room, which has a good view of a garden and village. For a daughter, who wants a separate space, assigned a room with a balcony on the 2nd floor, and from there she can have a talk with a person on a deck connected with a kitchen, looking each other.

Due to the form of the site, the house was slightly tilted along East-West axis and took elongated shape. Since the scenery of the hill located on North-West side was so beautiful, they should be seen from the kitchen and living room, and we made windows toward South and North in order to receive warm sunlight from South.

As the house owner wished, we hope the family will remember this house as their new home, as the cozy and comfortable house, receiving consolation from nature. The building, like a farmer who endured storm and eventually collected teemful harvest, will be a permanent living place for the three generation family.

Architect: Hyoungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh + studio_GAON

Project Team: Sangwoo Lee, Minjung Choi, Sungpil Lee, Seongwon Son, Hanmoe Lee
Photographs: Youngchea Park
Location: Hangi-ri, Ungyang-myeon, Geochang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
Program: House
Site Area: 596㎡
Building Area: 128.47㎡
Gross Floor Area: 163.78㎡
Building Scope: 2F
Building-to-Land Ratio: 21.56%
Floor Area Ratio: 27.48%
Structure: Wood Light Frame Construction
Finish: Stucco, Wood
Supervision: studio_GAON
Design Period: 2012.9.1 – 2012.12.4
Construction Period: 2013.1.12 – 2013.5.2

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by studio_GAON appeared first on Dezeen.