Hasta La Ideas

A pattern of metallic bronze leaves covers the facade of this house in Mayfair, London, by British architecture firm Squire and Partners (+ slideshow).

Squire and Partners sandwiched the five-storey house between existing buildings, retaining an eighteenth-century facade in front.

The leaf cladding, made from 4080 folded aluminium pieces, was inspired by a nearby building covered with a Virginia Creeper plant.

The building’s facades have been designed to fit in with the different areas they face.

“The east and west portions of the building are finished with a stucco render to match the existing Waverton Street facade, with full-height bronze-framed windows of traditional Georgian proportions,” said the architects.

“A discreet Cotswold Buff brick facade with oak-framed windows then faces the more utilitarian Red Lion Yard,” they added.

The interior features five bedrooms, a swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, a rooftop pavilion and two separate roof terraces.

A living wall of native plants grows down one side of a lightwell that features in the centre of the house.

Photography is by Gareth Gardner.

Other creative facades in London include a cast iron facade on the Paul Smith store in London, a faceted glass surface on a building in Oxford Street and an office building with four glazed slashes in the aluminium surface.

See more residential architecture stories »

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Mayfair House

Squire and Partners approached their commission to design a private house as a crafted building, sensitive to its Mayfair Conservation Area context but with a unique contemporary presence. Sited at a junction of streets and views, and being physically linked to a listed Georgian wall at the termination of Chesterfield Mews facing Curzon Street, the building responds to a variety of contexts and viewpoints.

The project involved the retention of an existing 18th century façade facing Waverton Street, and the design of a new building comprising three linked volumes to create a unique home in central Mayfair. The accommodation provides five bedrooms, a swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, rooftop pavilion and two separate roof terraces.

Construction involved sandwiching the retained façade between two steel frames which was then suspended while piling and construction of the lower ground floor took place. This floor then became a platform from which excavation of the two basement floors and construction of the concrete frame above could happen simultaneously, speeding up the weather tightness of the site and fast-tracking the programme.

The east and west portions of the building are finished with a stucco render to match the existing retained Waverton Street façade, with full height bronze framed windows of traditional Georgian proportions. A discreet Cotswold Buff brick façade with oak framed windows faces the more utilitarian Red Lion Yard.

The middle part of the building is set back from the restored listed wall on Chesterfield Gardens to create a light well drawing daylight into the central spaces, and features a playful bespoke leaf façade.

The façade of this element takes inspiration from a facing building on Curzon Street, mirroring an established Virginia Creeper with a contemporary interpretation of leaves expressed as a metallic shingle.

The PPC coated folded aluminium leaves – 4,080 in total – subtly vary in tones of bronze to mimic organic growth patterns, and clad a three storey elevation facing Curzon Street including a rooftop pavilion.

At the centre of the c-shaped building internally, a grand double height space gives views into the light well which features a living wall planted with a variety of native plants.

Social spaces are located off the main double height volume, with the gymnasium, cinema and swimming pool situated in the two basement floors. Bedrooms are organised on the upper two levels, above which sits the stunning leaf- clad rooftop pavilion.

Westminster planning committee described the proposal as ‘striking’ and ‘raising the bar for design within the borough’.

Project Team
Client: Central Investment Properties Architect: Squire and Partners
M&E: Wallace Whittle UK Ltd
Structure: Heyne Tillett Steel
Quantity Surveyor: Rider Hunt
Planning Consultant: The London Planning Practice
Contractor: GPF Lewis Ltd
Interior Designer: Bill Bennette Landscaping: Haynes Design

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Squire and Partners appeared first on Dezeen.

This house in Józefów, Poland, has randomly positioned windows each framing different views of the surrounding trees (+ slideshow).

Tokyo-based hayakawa/kowalczyk completed the two-storey family home in a dense pine forest on the outskirts of Warsaw.

A steel roof covers the grey brick exterior, which is interspersed with square-shaped wooden window frames.

“Located in the middle of the woods prior to any development in the neighbourhood, the house was designed to recall a stone that had been thrown and left intact,” said the architects.

A wooden box-like structure is set into the entrance of the house, leading into the ground floor.

The open, all-white interior features high ceilings with long corridors along the edges of the house.

One the south side, the living room opens out to deep-set sliding doors, forming a wooden terrace.

The second-floor bathroom offers a view out into the surrounding pine forest.

Other houses in the woods we’ve also featured include a cantilevered house with a hole underneath to let trees grow up inside, a diamond-shaped woodland house and a tree-top hotel accessed via a bridge leading from the hilly forest to an entrance on the roof.

See more architecture and design in Poland »

Photography is by Marcin Czechowicz and Juliusz Sokołowski.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

House in the Woods

This family house stands amongst dense pine trees on the outskirts of Warsaw. Open ground floor plan with a living room, dining, kitchen area and separated level with bedrooms for four members of the family were required by the client in the initial brief.

Located in the middle of the woods, prior to any current development in the neighbourhoods, was designed to recall a stone that has been thrown and left intact. A faceted shape of the house, higher towards the main access road and lower to the garden is a result of the long study between required program and the volume.

The windows are of different sizes and appear randomly positioned. Each of them is framing a different view of the surrounding trees. Living room facing south opens up completely thanks to large fully glazed, sliding doors which allows to take a deep plunge outside and rest on the wooden deck terrace. Each room has been designed to accommodate variety of different spatial qualities of the faceted shape of the house.

Used materials are modest and compliment carefully studied volume of the building. Grey brick was chosen as the primary cladding to create monolithic character along with roof which is cladded with titanium zinc steel completing the process of consolidating.

Project Name: House in the Woods
Architect: hayakawa/kowalczyk
Project team: Emiko Hayakawa, Aureliusz Kowalczyk
Client: Private
Area: 250 sqm
Years: 2009–2013

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by hayakawa/kowalczyk appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: London designer Samuel Wilkinson has launched a blown-glass lamp with a digitally created lozenge pattern for Danish brand &tradition (+ movie).

Combining traditional craft with digital technology, the BLOWN pendant lamp is Samuel Wilkinson‘s first lighting collaboration with &tradition.

Wilkinson used 3D computer software to model the structure of the metal mould used to imprint the diamond shapes onto the glass.

“The texture of the glass is rendered carefully in 3D CAD in order to control the inflation of each bubble precisely, achieving fine control of how the form would reflect the light at different angles,” said Wilkinson.

The mould incorporates zig-zag teeth that fit into each other exactly and follow the diamond pattern, so the mould line is hidden within the indentations to leave a seamless finish.

Molten glass is inflated and shaped using traditional glass-blowing techniques and then inserted into the mould while still hot.

The mould imprints the pattern onto the glass, then once it cools the shade is sanded and cleaned.

The lampshade encloses the light source and refracts the lozenge pattern onto surrounding surfaces.

BLOWN comes in two versions: translucent with a silver lustre and sandblasted matte white. Both are completed by a powder-coated aluminium suspension fitting and a fabric chord.

Wilkinson also designed the energy efficient light bulb Plumen 001 in collaboration with London design brand Hulger.

BLOWN was exhibited at design fair designjunction during the London Design Festival last month. Other lighting designs that featured at the event include the Apollo lighting range by International and wicker lighting by Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune.

See more designs by Samuel Wilkinson »
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See all our coverage of London Design Festival »

See more information from the designer:

Blown is a mouth-blown glass pendant light with a variegated lozenged pattern imprinted on the surface which encloses the light source. It comes in two versions: translucent with a silver lustre and sandblasted matte white . Both versions are finished off with a powder-coated die-cast aluminium suspension and a fabric chord.

Wilkinson came to prominence for his involvement with the design of the avant-garde energy efficient light bulb Plumen 001, but this is his first light for &tradition. “It’s nice to be working with Samuel Wilkinson on a pendant light that marries traditional form with material innovation in this way,” says Brand Manager Martin Kornbek Hansen. Wilkinson has previously designed the Hoof tables for &tradition.

Like the Hoof tables, Blown is experimenting with a manufacturing process which combines industrial manufacture with a hand-crafted finish. While the making of Blown relies on technical 3dCAD (computer-aided design), the end product is mouth-blown by highly skilled craftsmen, connecting traditional craft with innovative technology.

Blown makes a statement as a standalone item, but works equally as well in clusters or in succession. The two versions cater to a range of interiors, with the sandblasted variant providing a subtle, sophisticated glow, while the translucent version transforms the space it inhabits with the intricate textures and patterning.

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for &tradition appeared first on Dezeen.

Coloured storage units that double as cubby-holes and hiding places for children feature in this Stockholm kindergarten by Swedish firm Rotstein Arkitekter.

Rotstein Arkitekter designed the L-shaped space on the ground floor of a residential apartment block, with the kindergarten’s entrance in the middle.

Cubby-holes in the common areas are yellow, while each of the three classes has its own signature colour.

“We envisioned a playful environment designed to encourage and inspire the creativity of the children,” said architect Anders Rotstein.

A small hut with a glass window is located on the first floor with views over the rest of the kindergarten space, providing a place to play or sit and read books.

The staircase widens towards the bottom for use as an amphitheatre and there’s a darkened hideout underneath it.

Each classroom has three windows – two large and one small – to offer views in from the neighbouring street, while windows between classrooms visually connect spaces together inside.

Another project in Stockholm by Rotstein Arkitekter is an apartment with an open-plan, monochrome living space.

Other kindergartens we’ve featured include one with a play area of wooden blocks shaped like a mountain, another with a cloud-shaped courtyard enclosing six mulberry trees and a small wooden nursery in a public garden.

See more stories about kindergartens »
See more Swedish architecture and design »

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman.

Here’s some information from the architects:

Sjötorget Kindergarten

Rotstein Arkitekter has designed a kindergarten on the ground level of a new residential block in Stockholm. We envisioned a playful environment designed to encourage and inspire the creativity of the children. The entrance is situated at the centre of the kindergarten, with an abundance of natural light and sight lines through the building.

The entrance space flows into the two studios, each with two connecting group rooms. All group rooms have three windows facing the lane outside: one placed low, one high and one bigger than the others. These scattered windows offer the passerby views of the activities from the outside, thus revitalising the street. Windows between group rooms open up sight lines within the kindergarten itself.

The kindergarten is also a play with colours; yellow elements in the common areas and one specific colour for each department.Many of the units were designed to serve multiple purposes. For example, the storage units are built into the walls as coloured niches, serving also as caves and huts for the children.

A sculptural staircase leads down to the workshop. The stairway becomes a place for parallel activities. It also functions as cabin, lookout tower, forest, cave and platform. When descending the stairs it widens, turning into an amphitheater like area. This is the perfect place for play during the day. A quieter and darker room has been created underneath the stairs: a secret hideout.

Some of the interior design budget was earmarked for solutions with architectural qualities, specific for this space. Using built-in storage units and niches is space saving. Maximizing the room height makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to the acoustic environment.

Sjötorget is a kindergarten created by Rotstein Arkitekter, as part of a new residential block built by the developer JM at Liljeholmskajen in Stockholm, and designed by the same architect.

Architects: Rotstein Arkitekter
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Project year: 2012-2013
Partner in charge: Anders Rotstein
Team: Katarina Bukowska, Måns Elander, Jonas Hesse, Petter Forsberg, Rickard Rotstein

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by Rotstein Arkitekter appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: Milan design studio NVDRS has designed a coffee table with a removable wooden top that doubles as a tray.

An orange metal stand with triangular legs forms the base of the Gergeti coffee table by NVDRS.

The table’s ash wood top can be lifted off and independently used as a tray.

This surface has niches carved into the wood for holding a collection of accessories, which features an ashtray, a candlestick and a vase.

These three grey elements with orange accents can also be removed and used on their own.

Other coffee tables on Dezeen include Foster + Partners’ table with a base made by stretching a perforated disk of steel and a collection of small stands with interlocking wooden legs.

See more coffee table designs »
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by NVDRS appeared first on Dezeen.