Hasta La Ideas

Coastal walkers in south-west England can now detour through a historic naval supply yard thanks to this dramatic staircase that cuts through formerly impregnable walls (+ slideshow).

Designed by Gillespie Yunnie Architects, the cantilevered stairs link Royal William Yard in Plymouth to the public park above, allowing ramblers on the South West Coast path to enter walk through the 19th Century yard for the first time.

The stairs are part of the regeneration of the yard by developer Urban Splash, which is converting the complex of Grade I-listed warehouses that once held supplies of beer, rum and ship’s biscuits into apartments, offices, shops and restaurants.

At night the stairs are illuminated by colour-shifting ribbons of LED lights.

Photography is by Richard Downer.

Here’s some info from Gillespie Yunnie Architects:

The stair links the defensive western end of the Royal William Yard to the South West Coast path above the site. The Royal William Yard was designed by Sir John Renny to supply the entire Royal navy Fleet with beer, rum, ships biscuits and cured meat. Built between 1826 and 1831 it was used continually by the Navy until the 1990s when it closed and has since been subject to one of the largest regeneration programmes in the South West. Gillespie Yunnie Architects have been working with developers Urban Splash since 2005 on the Grade I Listed site, which now houses a mixture of apartments, offices, shops and restaurants.

The Royal William Yard has always been a dead end due to its naturally defensive nature and peninsular location, so the staircase linking the far end of the Yard with the open green space of the peninsula above has always been a key part of the regeneration masterplan, to allow residents to access the park and historic battlements at the top of the high retaining wall, and allow walker to continue along the Coast Path route via a dramatic piece of architecture.

As a practice we are all very aware of how stunning our local coastline is, we all sail, surf and regularly walk the coast path. To be involved in linking two amazing and contrasting waterfront locations with a piece of bold contemporary design was always going to be right up our street. We designed the stair to emulate some of the excitement and surprise of journeying along the South West Coast path.

The journey is very different depending on which way you approach the stair; From the Yard, the stair is a dark solid mass, snug against the historic retaining wall, and the journey, hidden by the high solid sides, is only apparent as you begin to climb the stair, with the concealed glass viewing platform and panoramic views over the Tamar Estuary across to Cornwall being concealed until the last minute; from the park above, you first have to find the entrance, housed within a sunken ruin of an old military store. A steel ‘portal’ is cut through the huge wall marking the start of the journey, and your first view opens up before you, as you descend down the cantilevered upper flight. At night it changes again, using concealed LED ribbon lights beneath the handrail to wash the entire inner surfaces with an ever changing river of colour, a bit of fun, and brightness in the otherwise dark, hard context of the old military site, and reminiscent of seaside promenades across the country.

Architects: Will Hoare / Jackie Gillespie (Gillespie Yunnie Architects)
Developer/Contractor: Urban Splash
Steel Fabricator: Underhill Engineering
Engineer: Hydrock Structures 1

See more staircases, including this one made of extremely narrow steel rods

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by Gillespie Yunnie Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Our job of the week on Dezeen Jobs is a position for an architect with East China Architectural Design & Research Institute in Shanghai, who collaborated with Dutch firm OMA on the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (pictured). Visit the ad for full details or browse other architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.

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architect at ECADI appeared first on Dezeen.

An ancient archeological excavation determined the layout of this public library in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta by Madrid architects Paredes Pedrosa.

Paredes Pedrosa designed the education facility and visitor centre around the fourteenth century Marinid dynasty ruins discovered up a sloping site on the Spanish-owned peninsula, which juts out into the Mediterranean sea from Morocco’s north coast.

The former settlement sits at an angle to the current urban grid, and the external walls are angled to merge both geometries.

Seven triangular pillars strategically situated among the ruins support the high ceiling over the exposed remains.

Faceted concrete surfaces encompass the lower floors, joining up the edges of recessed windows.

Upper storeys are wrapped in a horizontal cladding system of aluminium mesh louvres, which blocks the heat and controls the level of light entering the glazed walls behind.

Entered from the lower street level, the exhibition area is contained in a wing packed with research labs, audiovisual learning tools and facilities for children.

Visitors can look down on the archeology from the terraced upper floors, which house the book collection, study, lecture and event spaces in a mix of single- and double-height rooms.

A shaded reading terrace on the roof provides views out over the sea and across to Europe on a clear day.

Paredes Pedrosa have also designed a four-armed police station in Seville, with cells hidden underground.

A couple of new libraries have been announced recently, including OMA’s X-shaped proposal for Caen in northern France and a twisted timber building for Helsinki by ALA Architects.

Photography is by Fernando Alda, unless where otherwise stated. See more of images of this project on his website.

See more library design »
See more architecture by Paredes Pedrosa »

The architects sent us the following text:

Public Library in Ceuta

Programme: public library, exhibition area, press area, children area, teen library, audiovisual area, research labs, manuscripts and archives. An archaeological centre exhibits a Marinid excavation of the XIV century.

The new Library in Ceuta is conditioned by the steep topography of the plot and by the Arab Marinid archaeological excavation of the XIV century that determine all interior spaces of the Library. Also the lack of space and the compactness of Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city located on the north coast of Africa on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, condition the proposal.

The orthogonal geometry of this ancient settlement is turned from that of the actual urban grid. This fact establishes a triangular geometry for the structure over the archaeological site and the urban value of the Arab city is included in the geometry of new building.

The Library is conceived as a compact volume that preserves the archaeological area as the core of the public spaces, creating a sense of openness and transparency between reading spaces and visitors to the Marinid centre. The library is organised in terraces placed on the slope that embrace the remains of the past. The lecture rooms are stacked in several levels overlooking the void where groups of hanging triangular lamps with peaks in both geometries are set over the archaeological centre. Two different entrances in two levels, one to the Library and other to the visitors centre, are placed linking the inside to the nearby streets.

Seven triangular concrete pillars support the building with a program organised vertically. The third floor with the general book display is placed over the concrete structure that covers the archaeological site. Over it a light steel structure in six levels stacks the program being the highest one the book depot, archives and offices.

The compact folded volume is entirely wrapped up in an aluminium-perforated skin that reduces glare and solar gain and maximises the use of natural daylight reducing long-term energy costs. The mesh mitigates the sometimes-harsh qualities of daylight thus minimising the use of artificial light to avoid contrast and helping to illuminate the depth of the space.

The final façade includes different glass-metal layers, energy efficient: an interior glass one and an outer metal one, as a veil, that interplay with the changing light conditions protecting the inside from the sun and heat. Slight variations in the make up of the panels, for different orientations, provide the library with a differentiated yet uniform skin, emphasising the faceted shape of the building. Between them a gallery permits easy maintenance of glass openings and simple installations.

A concrete plied basement runs along the steep streets and several concrete structural voids are cut up in the double façade of the Library as viewpoints towards the city. On the terrace in the roof level an open reading room is placed, shaded by the aluminium-perforated skin that wraps up the building that filters sun and open views towards both seas, Europe and Africa.

Location: Calle Manuel Olivencia/Calle Duarte, Ceuta

Architects: Ángela García de Paredes. Ignacio Pedrosa
Project team:
Lucía Guadalajara, Álvaro Rábano, Clemens Eichner, Álvaro Oliver, Guiomar Martín, Eva Urquijo, Ángel Camacho, Ignacio Cordero, Blanca Leal, Roberto Lebrero, Luis Calvo
Technical control: Juan Antonio Zoido

Consultants:
Structure: Alfonso Gómez Gaite. GOGAITE, S.L.
Installations: JG Ingenieros
Façade: Jofebar
Client: Ministry for Culture
Archaeologist: Fernando Villada
Contractor: Acciona Infraestructuras
Photographs: Fernando Alda, Manuel García de Paredes

Area: 6.159 sqm.

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by Paredes Pedrosa appeared first on Dezeen.

This plastic maternity vest by design graduate Alice Kim allows people to carry young plants like babies (+ movie).

Alice Kim, who recently graduated from Kingston University, designed the PVC maternity vest with a compartment on the front to carry seedlings and young plants.

Kim hopes the project will remind people of the care and attention that plants require to grow. “Plants share very similar birth and growth process to humans,” she said, “but we do not appreciate much of what they give us.”

After the seedling has grown into a small plant the owner can use Kim’s Plant Stroller to take it for a walk.

Kim exhibited the project at London’s graduate showcase New Designers 2013 last week.

Our highlights from this year’s graduate shows include a concept to transform London’s BT Tower into a pollution-harvesting high rise and cycle helmets made from mulched newspapers.

See more 2013 graduate projects »
See more stories about plants »

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by Alice Kim appeared first on Dezeen.

The new Silicon Valley HQ of data storage company Evernote features a coffee bar in the lobby, staircases with built-in seating and an in-house artist to paint murals on whiteboards. (+slideshow)

San Francisco interior designers Studio O+A converted a gloomy 90s office building in Redwood City for Evernote, carving out a double-height reception area and adding a broad staircase containing banks of seating to encourage staff to use, and meet on, the stairs.

“In their old space they were on one floor,” Studio O+A Principal Denise Cherry told Dezeen. “When they moved there was a lot of discussion about how to get interaction between floors.  We built an expansive staircase that includes cushioned steps for seating – it’s kind of understood that you’re not supposed to use the elevators.”

See more technology company offices including spaces for Google, Facebook, YouTube and Microsoft

The 80,000 square foot building includes Silicon Valley staples such as a ping-pong table and a gym as well as a variety of different workspaces.

“We put in lots of different types of meeting spaces – formal, informal, collaborative, concentrative,” says Cherry. “There is whiteboard paint everywhere. Anywhere you have an idea you can jot it down. And in fact they have an amazing whiteboard artist on staff who creates beautiful murals.”

Cherry describes the look of the new space as “Simple, clean, bright, airy. We wanted to create a clean palette for them to layer in their work, much like their product, which creates layers of personal documents and pictures unique to every user.”

The reception area is the most innovative part of the project, Cherry says. “Evernote doesn’t have a reception desk in the traditional sense. They have a coffee bar in the lobby.  The emphasis throughout the office is on circulation – they really want to encourage people to move around, meet with each other, talk with each other so we thought coffee and donuts in the lobby would help with that. The receptionist doubles as a barista.”

Photographer credit: Jasper Sanidad

Here’s some text about the project from Studio O+A:

Project: Evernote

Square Footage: 80,000

At Evernote in Redwood City, California, the strict budget and swift pace of construction helped determine the direction of the design. Evernote is an online data storage company that allows its users to save (and retrieve) everything from Post-It notes to photographs to formal documents in the Cloud. With the company moving into a much larger building than it had previously occupied, and with business booming, Evernote needed to be up and running in its new space with a minimum of downtime. Our challenge was to design an office commensurate with Evernote’s soaring profile—on what was essentially a start-up budget and schedule.

We began with the concept of making the process of construction part of the aesthetic. In a clean and modern context, construction materials may acquire the design impact of richer finishes. Evernote’s coffee bar and break areas are clad with Douglas fir plywood, the texture and grain of which provides its own graphic patterns. Forgoing expensive interior branding, Evernote instead hired chalk artist Dana Tanamachi to draft a wall-sized representation of the company’s identity, complete with its tagline, “Remember everything,” and elephant logo. Low-maintenance, water-conserving plants on an adjoining wall contribute to the reception area’s look of unforced spaciousness.

Adding to the informality is the placement of a coffee bar—with fully functioning donut and pastry counter—at the reception station. An echo of Evernote’s mission of turning impulses into lasting archives of information, our design transforms the spontaneous habits of its staff (grabbing a donut on arrival, for example) into a lasting element.

This encouragement of spontaneity is reprised in the white ash stairway that connects the second and third floors. The wide staircase is fitted with cushioned step seating to make it a natural gathering place and area for relaxation. There are other spaces for breaks and informal meetings throughout the office—a large communal dining room; a ping-pong table; a designated fitness center equipped with treadmills, stationary bikes, and other exercise devices; and a series of small, strategically placed snack and coffee counters. The cumulative result of all these break options is an environment that promotes those casual interactions from which so many creative impulses spring.

As befits a work environment attuned to informal collaboration, the finish palette for Evernote is light. White walls and pastel accents mix with blonde wood and lighting that augment the natural brightness of the windows to subliminally communicate the spirit of the company—and turn a tight-budget, tight-schedule build-out into something memorable.

Architect: Studio O+A
Project Team: Primo Orpilla, Verda Alexander, Clem Soga, Denise Cherry, Perry Stephney, Elizabeth Guerrero, David Hunter, Emily Brooks, Kroeun Dav, Alfred Socias, Sarunya Wongjodsri, Alma Lopez, Caren McDonald, Olivia Ward, Jeorge Jordan
Location: Redwood City, California
Client: Evernote
Gross square footage: 80,000
Contractor: DA Pope
Consultants: Vaziri Structural Engineering
Key materials (type/brand)
Carpet: Shaw Contract, Interface Flor;  Furniture: Allsteel, HPL, Inscape, Herman Miller; Cabinetry: Caesarstone, Abet Laminati, Formica, Nevamar; Flooring: Bolon, Armstrong, Capri Cork; Lighting:  Daybrite, Kirlin, Amerlux, Pinnacle, Prudential, Louis Poulsen, School House, Lithonia, Intense, Omega, Delray
Software used: AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, Adobe Creative Suite

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Studio O+A appeared first on Dezeen.