This house by Portuguese architect Miguel Marcelino rests on top of an old warehouse in Torres Novas, central Portugal (+ slideshow).
Miguel Marcelino extended the existing building upwards to create the single-storey residence, which overlooks a valley planted with olive groves.
The warehouse was first built in the 1980s and was originally planned as a two-storey structure, although it has taken 30 years for the second phase of construction to take place.
Marcelino used brickwork for the exterior of the extension, then added white paint to unite the two floors.
A protruding concrete slab divides the two storeys and creates a balcony around two sides of the building, while a similar-sized roof slab forms a canopy overhead.
A bridge with a steel balustrade leads to the house’s entrance from the adjacent hillside and is positioned alongside a large olive tree.
The entrance hall opens out into a living and dining area, featuring a sliced-off south-east corner that increases the size of the surrounding balcony.
Three bedrooms are positioned along the east side of the house, while the kitchen and bathroom sit on the opposite side.
Concrete walls and ceilings are exposed in each room and timber panels covers the floor.
The briefing was to build a three-bedroom house on top of a warehouse built in the 80’s, where part of the roof was made with a flat slab and a small balcony, precisely with that idea of later building the house.
Given the constraints of the existing warehouse, the house shape turns out to be automatically set: a box that rests on the existing structure.
The rooms are placed to the east, the toilets to the west, as well as the kitchen, looking to a centennial olive tree.
The existing balcony will be maintained and “duplicated” as a shading element.
The living room is placed south where its south/east corner is diagonally cut in a way that the balcony could enlarge and offer an outdoor area protected from the sun and rain, overlooking the valley.
Product news: Austrian design collective Mostlikely has created a set of posters that can be cut up and folded into lampshades shaped like cartoon animal heads.
To create the DIY Lampshades, Maik Perfahl and Wolfgang List of Mostlikely collaborated with Vienna based artist BOICUT, whose illustrations cover the designs.
The poster arrives in a tube as a roll of paper, which can be framed as a 2D picture.
The paper pattern can also be cut out, folded and glued together using the tabs drawn onto the image.
The colourful graphics form different faceted animal heads, which can be used as lampshades, stacked up to create a totem pole or worn as masks.
See more information from the designer:
The goal was to create complex objects at a low price that can be used as masks, posters, lampshades or something else. To achieve a low price and be able to ship our designs worldwide we deliver our lampshades as construction sets in a role of paper.
The customers have to cut out, fold and glue the parts together by themselves – DIY. The aim of our company is not only to design lampshades, we produce them also by ourselves. All designs were printed on a large format printer and packed in our workshop in Vienna.
Until now we only produce lampshades in a simple white design. Since sometime we have the idea to bring more colour in our world and to offer our customers lampshades with designs and colour all over. We want to invite artists and designers from all over the world to be part of our company and deliver colour designs for our lampshades.
Dutch Design Week 2013: designer Eric Klarenbeek has 3D-printed a chair using living fungus, which then grows inside the structure to give it strength (+ slideshow)
The chair is the result of a collaboration between Klarenbeek and scientists at the University of Aachen to develop a new way of printing with living organisms. “Our main purpose was to bring together the machine and nature to create a new material that could be used to make any product,” Klarenbeek told Dezeen.
Research samples
The result is a new material that, Klarenbeek believes, could be used to make almost anything in future. “It could be a table, a whole interior or even a house,” he said. “We could build a house with it.”
3D-printed segment of bioplastic shell
Presented at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven this weekend, the Mycelium Chair was printed using a mixture of water, powdered straw and mycelium, which is the thread-like part of a fungus that lives underground.
3D-printed segment of straw core
The mycelium grew within the structure, replacing the water and creating a solid but extremely lightweight material. Mushrooms began sprouting on the surface, at which point Klarenbeek dried out the structure to prevent further growth.
Scale model
“When you dry it out you have the straw kind of glued together by the mushroom,” Klarenbeek said. “You have this strong, solid material that is really lightweight and durable.”
A thin layer of printed bioplastic covers the structure of the chair to contain the growing fungus. Straw was used as a substrate since the fungus used in the project – the yellow oyster mushroom – likes to grow on straw.
Scale model
“The mushrooms are only a decorative element,” said Klarenbeek. That’s why we shot the photograph with the mushrooms popping out. Our main purpose was to bring together the machine and nature to create a new material that could be used to make any product.
3D-printing straw substrate
“This chair is really a metaphor for what could be made with this technique of 3D printing a living organism and then have it grow further. It could be a table, a whole interior or even a house. We could build a house with it.”
Here’s some text from Klarenbeek:
Studio Eric Klarenbeek most recent project is the Mycelium Chair, a chair in which 3D printing and growing material are combined.
Designer Eric Klarenbeek interest is combining materials in unexpected ways. Klarenbeek is exploring ways of making 3D prints of living organisms, such as mycelium, the threadlike network in fungi.
3D-printing straw
He uses experimental raw materials for printing material: organic substrate for mushroom growing and bioplastics. Working with scientists, Klarenbeek has printed a chair from straw, with a thin coating of bioplastic.
Once it is mature it should be strong enough to support a person. The chair is a metaphor for what can be achieved with materials and production methods.
Thanks to: CNC Exotic Mushrooms, Wageningen UR ⋅ Plant Breeding ⋅ Mushroom Research Group, Beelden op de Berg
New Orleans firm Trahan Architects used over a thousand cast stone panels to create the undulating interior of this museum in Natchitoches, Louisiana (+ slideshow).
The Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame brings together two previously independent collections to create a combined exhibition for regional history and sport in the centre of the city.
Rather than separating the exhibitions over two distinct floors, Trahan Architects designed a series of curving structural volumes that allow the three galleries to gently flow into one another.
“While sports and regional history may appeal to different audiences, the exhibits and configuration explore interconnections between the two,” explained the architects.
“The spaces flow visually and physically together, configured to accommodate state-of-the-art exhibits, education and support functions,” they added.
Using the fluid geometries of the nearby Cane River as a guide, the architects centred the spaces around a generous foyer that curves through the heart of the building, dividing two galleries on the lower level and leading to a third above.
The white stone surfaces can be used as screens for film projection, plus there’s also a first-floor balcony overlooking the city square.
The museum’s exterior envelope is a simple rectilinear volume, clad on all sides by pleated copper panels that form louvres.
“The louvred skin controls light, views and ventilation, animates the facade and employs surface articulation previously achieved by architectural ornamentation,” said the architects.
Here’s a project description from Trahan Architects:
Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame
The Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame in historic Natchitoches, Louisiana merges two contrasting collections formerly housed in a university coliseum and a nineteenth century courthouse, elevating the visitor experience for both. Set in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase on the banks of the Cane River Lake, the design mediates the dialogue between sports and history, past and future, container and contained.
Our exploration focuses on three questions. How does our design explore the client brief to exhibit sports and history simultaneously? How does it respond to the historic building fabric? How does it make a connection to context?
Our resolution is, first, to interpret athletics as a component of cultural history rather than as independent themes. While sports and regional history may appeal to different audiences, the exhibits and configuration explore interconnections between the two. The spaces flow visually and physically together, configured to accommodate state-of-the-art exhibits, education and support functions. Visitors however can experience both narratives either separately or simultaneously.
Second, historical pastiche is set aside in favour of a design language in response to the site. The internal organisation is an extension of the existing meandering urban circulation, while the design mediates the scale and character of the historic commercial core and adjacent residential neighbourhood. The “simple” exterior, clad with pleated copper panels, alluding to the shutters and clapboards of nearby plantations, contrasts with and complements the curvaceous interior within. The louvred skin controls light, views and ventilation, animates the facade, and employs surface articulation previously achieved by architectural ornamentation. The flowing interior emerges at the entrance, enticing visitors to leave the walking tour and into the evocative exhibit spaces within.
Third the design reflects the carving of the ancient river whose fluvial geomorphology inspired the dynamic interior form. The dynamic foyer is sculpted out of 1,100 cast stone panels, seamlessly integrating all systems and washed with natural light from above. The cool white stone references bousillage, the historic horse hair, earth and Spanish moss utilised by 17th Century settlers. The flowing surfaces reach into the galleries, serving as “screens” for film and display. At the climax of the upper level, the path arrives at a veranda overlooking the city square, sheltered by copper louvres, further connecting the interior to the public realm.
Designer Kacper Hamilton has created a port decanter set that encourages users to constantly share the drink around.
Hamilton‘s glassware is named after the British tale of the Bishop of Norwich, about a nineteenth-century gentleman who was notorious for forgetting to pass the port.
To ensure the drink is shared by users of this set, the bottoms of the decanter and glasses are pointed so they can’t be put down. This means they will be constantly sipped and drained, so the port is always passed from person to person.
The vessels only stand when returned to their individual brass bases. The bases hold six glasses and a decanter with a matching brass stopper, which are displayed in a row on a wooden tray.
Influenced by and named after the classic tale of the ‘Bishop of Norwich’, a nineteenth-century gentleman notorious for forgetting to pass the port. This set brings about the return of humble rituals from the past through a drink that has become quintessentially British.
With respect to the tradition, the ‘Bishop of Norwich’ has been specifically designed to encourage the user to drink their port and pass the decanter. Due to their elaborate design the port glasses and decanter cannot be put down on the table unless placed within their individual brass bases, hence the port is continuously passed, shared and quaffed.
An elongated wooden tray brings all the parts together, making the complete creation a grand central piece. The ebony finish creates a striking contrast with the brushed sheen of the brass and a distinctive sculptural form appears when all the elements are displayed alongside one another.
Each solid brass base is engraved with the KH Studio monogram. The large decanter base displays the edition number (Limited Edition of 12), date of production, and ‘Made in England’.
When Port wine is passed around at British meals, one tradition dictates that a diner passes the decanter to the left immediately after pouring a glass for his or her neighbour on the right; the decanter should not stop its clockwise progress around the table until it is finished. If someone is seen to have failed to follow tradition, the breach is brought to their attention by asking ‘Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?’; those aware of the tradition treat the question as a reminder, while those who do not are told ‘He is a terribly good chap, but he always forgets to pass the port!’
Interview: renderings are now as convincing as reality and are changing the way people perceive architecture, according to architectural visualisation artist Peter Guthrie. “It allows for greater conversation about the built environment,” he says in this interview. “Most people are familiar with computer images but would find it harder to interpret a line drawing.” (+ slideshow).
“I try to make atmospheric, memorable images without using too many post-production tricks,” Guthrie says. “Other visualisers perhaps take their inspiration from film and video games, but that isn’t an aesthetic I’m drawn to.”
InnieOutie House
When asked whether we’ve reached the point where renderings are indistinguishable from photographs, he replied: “I think we have… The 2013 Ikea catalogue has a surprising number of visualisations in it and most people are none the wiser.”
HendeeBorg House
Guthrie believes that people are now so used to computer imagery thanks to movies and computer games that they can “read” architectural renderings more readily than line drawings or sketches. “It makes un-built architecture more immediate and allows for greater conversation about the built environment,” he says.
HendeeBorg House
He adds: “Most people these days are incredibly familiar with computer generated images (although they are usually in the form of feature films or computer games) but would find it harder to interpret a line drawing or watercolour of a proposed building.”
HendeeBorg House
Boundaries are now becoming so blurred that skilled visualisers are now being employed to make it appear that unbuilt projects were actually realised, he said. “I’ve even had architects in the past ask me to render unbuilt house designs from their archives,” he says.
HendeeBorg House
Here is a full transcript of the interview:
Ross Bryant: How did you get into visualisations?
Peter Guthrie: I studied architecture in Edinburgh and worked for Richard Murphy Architects for about five years after completing my degree. During that time I became more and more interested in both photography and visualisation and eventually decided to make the switch.
Peter Guthrie
Ross Bryant: Are there other visualisers that have inspired or informed your work?
Peter Guthrie: Within visualisation I’m inspired by people like Alex Roman and Bertrand Benoit for their pioneering techniques. You need to have a healthy interest in all the technical geeky things in 3D visualisation and it’s important to stay up to date. Most of my inspiration for making images of architecture though comes from architectural photography.
Allandale House
Ross Bryant: How would you describe your visualisation style? Does it differ from other styles?
Peter Guthrie: I hope it is seen as being closer to architectural photography, that’s what I am aiming for anyway. Other visualisers perhaps take their inspiration from film and video games, which still results in captivating beautiful images but it isn’t an aesthetic I’m drawn to. I still try to make atmospheric, memorable images but without using too many post-production tricks.
Allandale House
Ross Bryant: What software do you use?
Peter Guthrie:SketchUp because it’s so quick, easy and so suited to the changeable nature of architectural design. Making the model myself builds familiarity with the project and I think that is a very important part in the whole process of coming up with good compositions, a bit like a photographer walking round a building to get an idea for what he wants to shoot.
Allandale House
3ds Max is the main base for a whole raft of plugins such as V-Ray. The raw rendered images are then treated much like a raw file would be in digital photography – imported into Lightroom to work on colours, exposure, dodging and burning as well as graduated filters etc.
This post production process is probably very different to the vast majority of people working in 3D visualisation and I think this reflects the fact that I have a background in architecture and photography – it’s just a workflow I feel comfortable with.
Allandale House
Ross Bryant: Why go to so much trouble with the images? Where’s the value?
Peter Guthrie: Because I enjoy it. For me personally, I just like making good images that I’m proud of and that I can look back at in a couple of years’ time and still enjoy. For some clients, like for example Ström Architects whose Suffolk House project you featured on Dezeen back in August, there is a lot of value in making images of as yet un-built designs to help them establish their practices.
Allandale House
There are projects I have worked on which never actually got built in the end, so the renders then become even more important as a record of the design. I’ve even had architects in the past ask me to render unbuilt house designs from their archives. It’s true that on some of my older projects I could have got away with a lot less and my client probably would still have been perfectly happy, but often I use a project as an excuse to learn a new skill or develop a new technique.
Allandale House
Ross Bryant: How long does each image take you?
Peter Guthrie: Typically maybe a month for five or six images of a house. The museum project I worked on with Thomas Phifer & Partners in New York lasted three months but we ended up with 24 images in total.
Ross Bryant: Are high-end visualisations lucrative?
Peter Guthrie: They can be, there are a lot of visualisation studios around these days and there seems to be a lot of work for freelancers. It can be tricky finding the balance between interesting work and work that pays well.
Allandale House
Ross Bryant: Do you think that we’ve reached the point where visualisations are indistinguishable from real photos?
Peter Guthrie: I think we have, but certain types of shot are more successful than others. You can get away with a lot if the overall image has a photographic quality, if the composition and lighting are convincing. The 2013 Ikea catalogue has a surprising number of visualisations in it and most people are none the wiser.
Kilburn House
Ross Bryant: Can renderings look better than the finished building?
Peter Guthrie: Photographs of a completed building often look better than the building does in real life. Whether or not renderings do is part of the same argument isn’t it?
Peter Guthrie: I’ve always been interested in materiality in architecture so it is important for me to spend time working on making materials look realistic. Taking materials to the next level is about introducing the variety of texture and lack of uniformity that you see in real life situations. You can take the realism of individual materials to a very high level without resorting to making things deliberately worn and dirty as you often see in video games. I’m yet to meet an architect who wants their new design to look weathered before it has even been built!
InnieOutie House
Adding small details can also add greatly to the realism of an image. It sounds crazy I know, but I like to model double glazing accurately so that you get the subtle double reflections that you see in real life.
Ross Bryant: Do photorealistic visualisations and the way they are published on the internet change the way people perceive architecture?
Peter Guthrie: I’m sure it does, at least in that it makes un-built architecture more immediate and allows for greater conversation about the built environment. Most people these days are incredibly familiar with computer generated images (although they are usually in the form of feature films or computer games) but would find it harder to interpret a line drawing or watercolour of a proposed building.
HendeeBorg House
Ross Bryant: Do you think that the big architectural firms will begin to use photorealistic renderings to illustrate major proposals?
Peter Guthrie: They already have that capability, but good designers will know what is appropriate to the current stage of the design they are showing. It really depends how fixed the designs are, and how much time they want to invest in renders. Sometimes architects are deliberately hesitant about showing too much detail as it can make planners or clients question how much scope there is for making changes.
InnieOutie House
Ross Bryant: Where is architectural visualisation heading next?
Peter Guthrie: Actually I’m not even that comfortable with the title architectural visualiser as architectural visualisation is too often seen as a service industry where the most valuable aspect is how quickly images can be produced. I think as the industry matures we are starting to see more distinct styles develop. Companies and individuals have the confidence to lead the artistic direction of an image, and clients are employing them because they can offer something different. Thankfully these days potential clients are more aware of the type of work I do.
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.”
This fashion collection made of heavy-duty black tarpaulin by graduate designer Martijn Van Strien is on show at Design Academy Eindhoven as part of Dutch Design Week, which kicked off yesterday.
Martijn Van Strien made each garment in his Dystopian Brutalist Outerwear collection from a single piece of tarpaulin, with only straight cuts and sealed seams so they are easy to manufacture.
“This series of coats explores the possibilities of combining very durable but inexpensive materials with fast and effective ways of putting them together,” said Van Strien.
“After the economic downfall and the decline of our society life on this planet will be tough and unsure,” he continued. “For people to survive they will need a protective outer layer which guards them from the harsh conditions of every day life.”
The Dutch designer explained that the basic shapes were inspired by Brutalist architecture. “It has an austere feeling due to the linear, fortresslike and blockish look,” he said. “The style comes off cold, distant, sober and mysterious.”
Martijn Van Strien was awarded the Keep and Eye Grant for his project at the opening of the show yesterday morning.
Here’s some more information from the Design Academy Eindhoven:
The future may be bright, but it might also be very dark, says Martijn van Strien. He considered the worst-case scenario and came up with the ultimate back-to-basics collection for harsh conditions.
Made with minimum cost and effort from a single piece of heavy-duty black tarpaulin, with only straight cuts and sealed seams. The styles are inspired by Brutalist architecture, giving this outerwear a linear, invincible look.
The design says it all: brace yourself and be safe.
Product news: these flexible plastic connecters have been designed by Christina Kazakia to help children to lash sticks together when building dens.
Philadelphia designer Christina Kazakia’s Stick-lets are silicone connecters that come in brightly coloured organic shapes.
The latest collection Fort Kit 2.0 comprises connecters with two to four holes, which vary in size to connect sticks of different girths.
The stretchy silicone is child safe and weather resistant.
“Stick-lets can help kids get back outside, away from the screen and into the world, where they create stimulating and imaginative experiences,” said the designer. “By engaging with this toy, they become aware of a resourceful and renewable element, the stick.”
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
