Hasta La Ideas

Here’s another small-scale project featuring strikingly realistic renderings – this time a timber-clad home in England by Ström Architects, who claim that investing in quality CGI is “more effective than advertising” (+ slideshow + interview).

Sited on the edge of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, Woodpeckers is designed by Ström Architects as a two-storey holiday house with a glazed conservatory and a raised terrace wrapping the south and east elevations.

The structure of the house will comprise a prefabricated timber frame, allowing for a quick construction, while the dimensions have been generated using standard truss components that will help keep the project within budget.

Larch cladding panels will in time give a silvery grey colour to the external walls, plus a bulky brick chimney will create both indoor and outdoor fireplaces.

Architect Magnus Ström commissioned architect and visualiser Henry Goss to create the hyper-realistic renderings, which he also uses as a marketing tool to promote his three-year-old practice.

“It takes three years from inception to completion for a project, but I needed to have these projects on my website sooner and of a quality good enough for publication,” he told Dezeen.

Explaining how he found investment in advertising to be a waste of time, Ström said that presenting high-quality imagery has helped him to win work, earn press coverage and get projects approved for construction.

“Renders definitely help to convey a feeling of what you are trying to achieve. They also help to demonstrate top design quality,” he said.

He added: “I can say with confidence that current projects as well as numerous enquiries, even from abroad, have been linked to high-end visualisations.”

Dezeen recently interviewed Henry Goss about how 3D visualisations are becoming indistinguishable from real photographs. “The addition of real-world imperfections is taking architectural visualisation to the next level,” he said.

Other projects we’ve featured with lifelike visualisations include a prefabricated Scandinavian house and a triangular house in Sweden.

Read the full interview with Magnus Ström:

Amy Frearson: Why do you choose to invest in such highly detailed visualisations?

Magnus Ström: As a new practice, it has been very important to build up a portfolio of work, as as you have to be patient in architecture and I am not. It takes three years from inception to completion for a project, but I needed to have these projects on my website sooner and of a quality good enough for publication.

AF: How did you get started?

MS: When I first set up, I invested in some advertising, and this resulted in absolutely nothing. I then discovered Peter Guthrie, whose renders were the best I had ever seen. I immediately called him and said I wanted to work with him, although I at this stage didn’t have a project! As soon as I had a suitable project, I decided to smash my marketing budget and get him to render my project, which was a private house in Suffolk.

AF: What kind of press response did you have to those images?

MS: It immediately got loads of attention and was featured on several websites and magazines as far away as Australia. This played a big part in me being selected as the UK representative for Wallpapers Emerging Architects 2012, which in turn directly led to the commission of Woodpeckers. I have had an enormous amount of press interest in the project, although many have shied away when they realised it wasn’t built.

AF: Were there any negatives?

MS: The downside is that you show a finished project, which can put you in a difficult situation if [the press] doesn’t like it. However this hasn’t happened for me yet, and hopefully, as your clients select you in the first place, they will like what you do for them.

AF: Do you use the renderings as a design tool or just to present a resolved idea?

MS: I do build SketchUp models of all my projects – in particular to communicate with clients – but renders definitely help to convey a feeling of what you are trying to achieve. They also help to demonstrate top design quality. Since I set up my practice, I have been lucky to get 100% of planning applications approved. I think at times, particularly in sensitive areas, the images have helped to demonstrate the quality aimed for in the design and has successfully helped the planning application.

AF: Would you recommend the approach to other architects starting out?

MS: Overall, I think high quality renders have managed to promote my practice in a way that previously wouldn’t have been possible. This of course needs to be coupled with an on-line presence, whether through Facebook, Twitter, BEhance, Architizer or similar. So I can say with confidence that current projects as well as numerous enquiries, even from abroad, have been linked to high-end visualisations.

Read on for a project description from the architect:

Woodpeckers, New Forest, UK

“Woodpeckers” is a replacement house on a rural site on the edge of the New Forest National Park.

The design for the house, which is to be used mainly as holiday home, is constrained by planning issues that to some extent dictated the built footprint and its position on the site. Very tight size restrictions forced the design to push windows to the outside of the envelope, not allowing any overhangs which would be included in an area calculation, therefore reducing the actual built area. However, within the allowable area, there are provisions for inclusion of a conservatory, and one challenge was how to successfully integrate this with architecture devoid of the normal connotations of a lean-to structure.

The very simple building is also driven by economics of construction. The superstructure is a simple timber frame structure that will be pre-fabricated allowing a short erection time on site. Spans as well as the width of the house are decided by the performance restrictions of standard timber truss components. Fenestration is generated by floor to ceiling gaps in the timber façade.

The house sits on a platform that will create a terrace to the south and the east. This platform connects with a masonry chimney breast that provides both internal and external fireplaces. The platform, being raised slightly off the ground, allows a level connection between inside and outside terraces as well as raises the house off the ground, which in the winter months can be quite wet.

The proposed building will be finished in larch cladding that will weather to a slivery grey.

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Ström Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Original floor tiles were relocated to highlight seating areas during designer Laura Bonell Mas’ renovation of this Barcelona apartment (+ interview).

Local designer Laura Bonell Mas completely refurbished the 100-square-metre apartment, located among the grid of buildings in the city’s Eixample district.

She uncovered patterned tiles beneath newer ceramics and reused them throughout the property as they were in good condition.

“All the hydraulic tiles in the apartment were there from the beginning,” Bonell Mas told Dezeen. “Most of them had been covered by a brown ceramic flooring for years, which probably explains why they were in a relatively good state.”

Some of the tiles were kept in their original location, while others were relaid in other spaces to denote seating areas at angles to the walls.

“We put back the tiles in the living room and dining room as they were before, and then we used the ones that had originally been in the corridor and entrance of the apartment for the carpets and paths,” said the designer.

Wooden boards frame the tiled areas and cover the remainder of the floor, except for large black tiles used in the kitchen and bathroom. Ceiling mouldings on the suspended ceilings were also restored where possible, along with the balcony doors.

The rooms by the entrance were reorganised and partition walls removed to make the flat more open-plan. A walk-in cupboard was installed between the bedroom and hall to keep clutter hidden away.

As the front door and hallway are positioned at an angle to the rest of the apartment, a curved shelving unit and desk were installed to remedy the awkward junctions.

After noticing a few apartments in the Catalan capital that feature decorative tiles, we published a slideshow and roundup of our favourites. “Lately their popularity has gone up and when doing a renovation, finding beautiful pieces in a good state is almost like finding little jewels,” Bonell Mas said.

See more apartment interiors »
See more architecture and design in Barcelona »
See more design with tiles »

Here’s our short interview with the designer about the history of tiles in Barcelona:

Dan Howarth: Did you move tiles from elsewhere in the apartment, or were they bought new to match the existing?

Laura Bonell Mas: All the hydraulic tiles in the apartment were there from the beginning, we didn’t have to buy any new ones.

Most of them had been covered by a brown ceramic flooring for years, which probably explains why they were in a relatively good state.

Nevertheless, we had to take them all out in order to reinforce the floor with a thin layer of concrete, as it is an old building, and the floors had some problems – some unlevelled parts and sound isolation in general.

So we put back the tiles in the living room and dining room as they were before, and then we used the ones that had originally been in the corridor and entrance of the apartment for the carpets and paths. In the rest of the rooms, the tiles were not very beautiful – maybe they had already been changed before.

Dan Howarth: Why were patterned tiles used in Barcelona apartments historically?

Laura Bonell Mas: Initially, these tiles were created as an alternative to natural stone for floorings. The fact that they didn’t have to be baked like ceramic tiling probably had an impact in their development.

Despite the fact that they were used in other Mediterranean areas, the hydraulic tiles seems to be found more often in Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia, and that is probably due to the art nouveau movement of Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner, Puig i Cadafalch, etc. In their search for a new architecture, decoration played an important part and hydraulic tiling was very versatile in terms of geometries and colours.

Their use went far beyond the age of modernism though, probably because the industry was already quite advanced by then. It has to be said that the more colours a piece has, the more expensive it is because it takes more time to do it. For instance, you can see that the flooring in the living room and the dining room is more noble or was at least more expensive than the ones in the corridor, which only have three colours and its geometry is far more simple.

Dan Howarth: Why are they still implemented today?

Laura Bonell Mas: Around the 1960s their implementation decreased and most of the factories that produced the pieces do not exist anymore.

But lately their popularity has gone up and when doing a renovation, finding beautiful pieces in a good state is almost like finding little jewels. New ones can also be used, even though they are quite expensive, but they don’t look exactly the same. They don’t look aged and the colours are much brighter. Also, because the colour has a four to five millimetre thickness, unlike painted ceramics, you can polish and lower them a little so that they have an even surface.

Dan Howarth: How do the tiles affect the atmosphere of a space?

Laura Bonell Mas: I think this kind of tiling affects the atmosphere in many ways. They always add colour, so using relatively neutral furniture and walls you still get a joyful result.

Their cold materiality is also important to note. We decided to combine the tiling with wooden floors, especially in the parts of the house that have little natural light, or none at all, to add some warmth. I think, as a result, the atmosphere you get in the bedroom or the study is completely different to that of the living room.

But mainly, I think this kind of flooring gives an aged kind of feeling. It seeks to maintain the old character of this kind of building but with a twist. The combination of old and new gives an interesting atmosphere to the space, and by recycling some of the existing materials, it also allowed us to reduce the expense in new ones.

Read on for Bonell Mas’ project description:

Renovation of an apartment in Barcelona

The project consists in the complete refurbishment of an apartment of about 100m2, in the Eixample area of Barcelona.

The geometry of its original plan layout responded to the building typology of the Eixample, with load-bearing walls parallel to the façade and the distribution of the rooms to each side of a long corridor. At the same time, though, it was partially determined by the fact that it is a corner building, which means that the entrance space is rotated 45º relative to the rest of the apartment.

The main strategy of the project was to enhance these different geometries to allow visual continuity and greater amplitude of space, by defragmenting the excessive compartmentalisation.

Partition walls were removed (bearing walls were not modified in any case) and the bathrooms and the kitchen were redistributed around one of the inner courtyards, so that the spaces or rooms are concatenated and the idea of a long corridor is destroyed. The needs of the client and future user, who would be living alone or with a couple, influenced decision making: less rooms, and bigger.

The presence of the original building components was especially important to preserve the atmosphere of an Eixample apartment. The suspended ceiling, with its existing cornices, was kept where possible, and the wooden balcony doors were restored. The windows that had to be changed and the interior doors that had no use anymore were recycled into the enclosures of a new piece of furniture.

The hydraulic tile floor, which had been covered for years with another ceramic pavement, was recovered and reattached following new guidelines: it is maintained as it was in the living room and dining room, while in the rest of the apartment it is combined with an oak parquet flooring, with the intention to create “carpets” that point out some of the liveable areas and suggest paths.

This old materiality is complemented with some made to measure furniture, which shows autonomy from the original structure with its curved shapes and directs the user through the space. These are various tables made with recycled teak wood and a big piece of furniture situated at the entrance of the apartment, and which has a double function of bookshelves and coat wardrobe on the outer side and closet for the master bedroom in the inner side. Its height emphasises the will of a fluid space as it doesn’t reach the ceiling, which allows the visual continuity of the structure of ceramic vaults and wooden beams, which in this part of the apartment was left uncovered.

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by Laura Bonell Mas appeared first on Dezeen.

Gigantic tree-like columns support the overhanging roof of the Qatar National Convention Centre by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, captured in these new shots by Portuguese photographer Nelson Garrido.

The building was designed by Arata Isozaki to reference the Sidrat al-Muntaha, a holy Islamic tree that is believed to symbolise the end of the seventh heaven.

A pair of sprawling steel columns create the illusion of two trees in front of the large rectangular glass facade, supporting a roof canopy that extends out to offer shelter to a public plaza in front of the building.

“The tree is a beacon of learning and comfort in the desert and a haven for poets and scholars who gathered beneath its branches to share knowledge,” said the architects.

Located on the 1000-hectare campus of the Qatar Foundation in Doha, the Qatar National Convention Centre opened to the public in December 2011. It is the largest exhibition centre in the Middle East and can accommodate up to 7000 people in its three main halls.

Visitors enter the building through a large reception hall that spans both the full width and height of the building. Steel-clad staircases beyond lead to floors both above and below ground, and are flanked by a wall of colourful tessellated shapes.

Other spaces include a 4000-seat conference hall, a 2300-seat theatre, nine exhibition halls and a series of 52 meetings rooms that can be used for various events and activities.

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986. His best-known works include the Oita Prefectural Library and Kamioka Town Hall, while more recent projects include the Maranello library in Italy and a modular office block in Spain. See more architecture by Arata Isozaki »

See more photography by Nelson Garrido on Dezeen, or on the photographer’s website.

Read on for more information from the design team:

Qatar National Convention Centre

QNCC was designed by the renowned Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. Officially opened on 4 December 2011, the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) is one of the most sophisticated convention and exhibition centres built to date, boasting iconic design bearing the ‘Sidra Tree’.

The spectacular façade resembles two intertwined trees reaching up to support the exterior canopy. The tree is a beacon of learning and comfort in the desert and a haven for poets and scholars who gathered beneath its branches to share knowledge.

QNCC was conceived with a focus on sustainability. The Centre was successfully built according to U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) gold certification standards. The building is designed to operate efficiently with innovations such as water conservation and energy-efficient fixtures.

A member of the Qatar Foundation, QNCC features a conference hall of 4,000-seat theatre style, a 2,300-seat theatre, three auditoria and a total of 52 flexible meetings rooms to accommodate a wide range of events. It also houses 40,000 square metres of exhibition space over nine halls, and is adaptable to seat 10,000 for a conference or banquet. The Centre’s stunning architecture and cutting edge facilities are ideal for hosting local, regional and international conventions and exhibitions, gala events, theatrical productions and banquet functions.

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by Arata Isozaki appeared first on Dezeen.

Two Denmark architects have designed a concept for narrow apartments that fill tiny gaps between existing buildings.

Mateusz Mastalski and Ole Robin Storjohann’s project Live Between Buildings proposes a series of micro-home apartments for urban living. In the designs, the tiny living quarters are proposed in playful shapes including an X, an O, a tree, a cloud, a speech bubble and a space invader.

The designers have illustrated, in a series of diagrams, how their concept could work in highly dense cities such as New York, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Helsinki and London.

Mastalski and Storjohann’s concept recently won the annual New Vision of the Loft 2 design award, organised by roof window manufacturer Fakro. The competition asked designers to develop concepts for urban lofts spaces that would be functional, space-saving, energy-efficient and full of natural light. All entries had to include Fakro products, as well as others.

Fakro has said that the winning infill-loft dwellings could be realised entirely out of roof windows. “The possibility of shapes is endless,” the firm added.

In related news, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in the UK published a consultation about minimum space standards for new build homes.

Other micro-homes we’ve previously featured include Renzo Piano’s tiny wooden cabin at the Vitra Campus for one inhabitant and a mini prefabricated guest house that gets delivered by helicopter.

See more micro-homes »

Images are by Mateusz Mastalski and Ole Robin Storjohann.

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Mastalski and Ole Robin Storjohann appeared first on Dezeen.

Portuguese studio Clínica de Arquitectura has installed a pavilion with 12 concrete ribs in a garden at the University of Porto (+ slideshow).

The PINC Pavilion was designed by Clínica de Arquitectura for use as a meeting place and events venue for everyone at the University of Porto’s Park of Science and Technology (UPTEC), which functions as both an innovation centre and an incubator for start-up businesses.

Located amongst the trees of a previously neglected garden, the pavilion is encased by a row of regular concrete frames that are intended to reference architectural ruins.

“The pavilion is drawn with an open and permeable structure, framed by existing trees,” said the architects. “A structure without any coating, inspired by the images of the timeless ruins, it should merge with the garden over the time.”

Clear glass panels infill the gaps between the ribs, while the rear interior wall is lined with chunky chipboard panels.

Red-painted doors lead into the building at both ends, while a small concrete block extends from a square window on the rear facade, creating a small outdoor seating area.

The pavilion is also set to be used as a dining room, a training centre or just as a quiet retreat for individuals.

Other university pavilions of interest include a stone-clad events building at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and a cardboard pavilion at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid by Shigeru Ban.

See more pavilions on Dezeen »
See more architecture and design from Porto »

Photography is by Alexandre Delmar.

Here’s a project description from Clínica de Arquitectura:

PINC – Pole for the Creative Industries of Park of Science and Technology, University of Porto – quickly became a space of great dynamism of Porto. A recognised centre for the creation and production of events and contacts.

It became necessary to create a meeting point, aggregating all who work there, its customers, partners and friends. A space that should be open and flexible, able to serve as pantry for the everyday meals, but also for the moments of relaxation or discussion, meeting and training, this new building should serve all sorts of events and training.

This leads to the new PINC Pavilion, built in a forgotten centennial garden, a romantic memory of the old Quinta do Mirante.

The pavilion is drawn with an open and permeable structure, framed by existing trees. A structure without any coating, inspired by the images of the timeless ruins, such like these, it should merge with the garden over the time. Inside of the pavilion, by contrast, warm colours of wood based panels and the red doors fit a welcoming environment. At night, this environment expands to the garden by the hand of warm light, which overflows to the outside through glass surfaces.

Name: PINC Pavilion
Function: Pantry and formation room
Area: 70 sqm
Work conclusion: December of 2012
Client: UPTEC
Architecture: Clínica de Arquitectura (architects Pedro Geraldes, Nuno Travasso and João Silva)
Landscaping: Maria Luís Gonçalves
Coordination: SWark
Contractor: SHIFT Empreitadas

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Clínica de Arquitectura appeared first on Dezeen.