Hasta La Ideas

Glazed panels create views between the floors of these two Edwardian townhouses in London that have been renovated by local architects Studio Octopi to accommodate resident artists (+ slideshow).

By connecting two neighbouring properties, Studio Octopi has doubled the residency capacity of non-profit arts organisation the Delfina Foundation from four to eight, making it London’s largest artist residency provider.

The architects responded to a competition brief aimed at retaining the residential character of the townhouses by focusing on the central role of the hearth. They preserved existing fireplaces on the ground floor, as well as recesses and hearth stones in the artists’ private areas on the top two storeys.

Other original details, including brickwork and concrete lintels that previously surrounded doorways, have been left in their raw state to retain a sense of the buildings’ history.

“Adopting the role of architects-cum-archaeologists, Studio Octopi have created an environment which is unassuming, layered and contextual, while peeling back the layers of ornamentation and finish to expose the period craftsmanship of the buildings,” said the Delfina Foundation.

Throughout the interior, glazed panels in the floors and walls create a visual connection between public and private spaces, and allow light to filter through to rooms in the centre of the building.

Separate entrances for the public and the artists lead to a reception, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor of the five-storey property.

The basement houses a gallery and workshop space, while offices and a library are located on the first floor and the artists’ residences are contained on the top two floors.

Many of the spaces are updated with white walls, pale wood joinery and practical fitted cabinetry that offer a contemporary counterpoint to the grand facade and authentic detailing.

Splashes of bright colour provided by the kitchen cabinets and bathroom floor enhance the modern look of these spaces.

A small terrace located at the basement level provides an outdoor exhibition space, while a terrace on the ground floor can be accessed from the dining room.

“The scheme aims to act as a palimpsest, to retain the integrity and character of the existing buildings while simultaneously creating a series of spaces for residents, staff and visitors to use and enjoy,” said architects Chris Romer-Lee and James Lowe.

Studio Octopi designed the concept at the competition stage with Egyptian office Shahira Fahmy Architects, and subsequently oversaw the £1.4 million development and construction process.

Photography is by Julien Lanoo.

Here’s a press release about the project from Delfina Foundation:

Delfina Foundation opens its newly expanded building

The £1.4m redevelopment has doubled the residency capacity, increasing the number of residents at one time from four to eight, as well as creating 1,650 square feet of additional exhibition and event space. Currently located at 29 Catherine Place in an Edwardian townhouse in Victoria, the Foundation has expanded into the adjacent building, giving it a combined area total of 4,564 square feet.

Adhering to one of the core concepts of the Delfina Foundation’s history as a provider of ‘homes’ for artists, the architects have retained the domesticity of the two houses, exploring the significance of the hearth in a home. Across cultures and throughout history, the hearth has been an integral part of a household, becoming synonymous with notions of domesticity, and place making. Fireplaces are kept in their entirety on the lower floors, and the recesses and hearth stones are retained in the artists’ private spaces.

The designs also set out to maintain the juxtaposition of public and private spaces. The introduction of glazed panels in the floors and walls allow for their integration. Diagonal views across the buildings and through the floors expose the Foundation’s ecosystem at work, as well as opening up the two buildings and bringing in more light throughout the space. With flexible artist workspaces throughout, the five-storey property boasts an expansive gallery/workshop space on the lower ground floor; reception, dining area and kitchen on the ground level; offices and library on the first, whilst the residents’ quarters occupy the two top floors.

Adopting the role of architect cum archaeologists, Studio Octopi have created an environment which is unassuming, layered and contextual, while peeling back the layers of ornamentation and finish to expose the period craftsmanship of the buildings. New insertions are made with a light and considered touch, while detailing is discrete and at times whimsical.

Brickwork to the reveals of the new openings is left exposed and overhead concrete lintels retained in their natural state. By leaving materials in their raw state, a reminder of the building’s beginnings is introduced.

A sense of permanence is imbued in the two townhouses, linking the present with the past and consequently looking ahead into the building’s exciting future.

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townhouses for the Delfina Foundation appeared first on Dezeen.

These photographs show the newly converted aquatics centre by Zaha Hadid Architects for the London 2012 Olympics, which will open to the public next week without the controversial wings that housed additional seating during the Games.

Now configured as it was originally designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the temporary stands constructed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been removed and replaced with glazing that fills the space between the spectator stands and the roof.

In its new “legacy mode,” the centre accommodates 2500 seats for future events including the 2014 World Diving Series and 2016 European Swimming Championships.

Two boxy temporary wings housing 15,000 temporary seats that were tacked onto either side of the building when it was originally opened ahead of the Games were removed in May last year.

In a statement released ahead of the centre’s reopening on 1 March, mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “After a post-Olympic makeover, London’s majestic aquatics centre is now flinging open its doors for everyone to enjoy, whether an elite athlete or enthusiastic amateur.”

“All of the world-class sporting venues on the magnificent Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park have secured bright futures, dispelling fears of white elephants and helping to drive our ambitious regeneration plans for east London,” Johnson added.

The undulating form of the aquatics centre’s roof was based on sightlines for spectators during the Olympics, but came in for criticism when it was reported that some of the seats only offered restricted views.

A diving pool, competition pool and training pool are arranged in a line along the centre of the building, with the training pool housed under Stratford City Bridge on the edge of the Olympic Park.

The centre’s internal layout remains largely unchanged, but daylight now enters the space through expansive glass surfaces replacing the banked seating that rose from behind the permanent stands.

As well as prestigious international events, the venue will also provide community facilities for swimming and diving lessons, fitness and family sessions, water polo, synchronised swimming, diving, triathlon, sub aqua, gym and dry diving.

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

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due to open in its completed form appeared first on Dezeen.

An intricate three-dimensional lattice of narrow timber slats forms a cloud-like mass around the exterior of this pineapple cake shop in Tokyo by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (+ slideshow).

Kengo Kuma and Associates was asked by cake brand SunnyHills to come up with a shop design that mirrors the careful preparation of the company’s trademark pineapple cakes, so the architects developed a volume modelled on a well-crafted bamboo basket.

Over 5000 metres of wooden strips were used to construct the precise 3D grid that wraps around around the outer walls and ceiling of the three-storey building. Some pieces were cut shorter than others, revealing multiple layers and reducing the overall linearity.

“Our aim was to create a forest in the busy city centre,” said Kengo Kuma. “We studied how lighting states would change in a day in the woods, and came up with a shape like a basket.”

The narrow slats are arranged at angles of 30 and 60 degrees, creating hundreds of diamond-shaped hollows, and were assembled by local Japanese craftsman.

“I consider that wood joints without glues or nails are the essence of Japanese architecture,” added Kuma. “What is characteristic about SunnyHills is the angle of the lattice; unlike the conventional 90 degrees, we tried 30 degrees and 60 degrees to combine the pieces.

“By designing with these varied angles, we were able to achieve a shape and a frame that evokes a forest,” he added.

An opening at one corner leads visitor into the shop, which occupies the two lower floors of the building. An assortment of differently sized staircase treads form a route between the two floors and are flanked by sprouting foliage.

Cork tiles provide flooring on the first floor, where the architects have also added a kitchen. The cork surface continues up to the level above, which houses a meeting room and staff office.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a project description from Kengo Kuma and Associates:

SunnyHills at Minami-Aoyama

This shop, specialised in selling pineapple cake (popular sweet in Taiwan), is in the shape of a bamboo basket. It is built on a joint system called “Jiigoku-Gumi”, traditional method used in Japanese wooden architecture (often observed in Shoji: vertical and cross pieces in the same width are entwined in each other to form a muntin grid). Normally the two pieces intersect in two dimensions, but here they are combined in 30 degrees in 3 dimensions (or in cubic), which came into a structure like a cloud. With this idea, the section size of each wood piece was reduced to as thin as 60mm×60mm.

As the building is located in middle of the residential area in Aoyama, we wanted to give some soft and subtle atmosphere to it, which is completely different from a concrete box. We expect that the street and the architecture could be in good chemistry.

Design architecture: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Structure: Jun Sato Structural Engineering
Facilities: Kankyo Engineering
Construction: Satohide Corporation
Location: Minami Aoyama 3-10-20 Minato-ku Tokyo Japan
Site Area: 175.69 sqm
Building Area: 102.36 sqm
Total Floor Area: 293.00 sqm
No. of Floors: BF1, 1F, 2F, RF
Structure: reinforced concrete, partially timber
Primary use: Store (retail)
Client: SunnyHills Japan

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encased within intricate timber lattice appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers and David Chipperfield have been named on a shortlist of six architects in the running to resurrect Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace exhibition hall in south London.

London studios Grimshaw, Haworth Tompkins and Marks Barfield Architects also made the shortlist to recreate the “spirit, scale and magnificence” of the iron glass and steel structure that was designed by English architect Paxton to host the Great Exhibition of 1851, but was destroyed by fire in 1936.

Backed by Chinese developer the ZhongRong Group, the new exhibition venue will provide the centrepiece of a wider masterplan for the overhaul of the surrounding 80-hectare park.

“This is a stellar line-up of talent demonstrating the worldwide interest in this unique and challenging project,” said London mayor Boris Johnson, who is chairing the judging panel.

“The rebuild of The Crystal Palace is set to produce an extraordinary new landmark for the capital, which will support the rebirth of this historic park and catalyse jobs and growth in the local area,” he added.

Up to three of the shortlisted firms will be invited to prepare concept designs later this year. An overall winner will be announced shortly after and construction of the chosen scheme could start in late 2015.

Ni Zhaoxing of ZhongRong Group commented: “The expressions of interest and outstanding shortlist demonstrate the wealth and diversity of design talent inspired by the challenge of rebuilding the Crystal Palace in the spirit of the magnificent original.”

Plans to rebuild the Crystal Palace were first announced in October. Dezeen columnist Sam Jacob said the reconstruction will “only make our sense of loss greater”.

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for Crystal Palace rebuild appeared first on Dezeen.

Scottish studio Konishi Gaffney has constructed a wide dormer window to convert the loft of a terraced house in Edinburgh into an extra bedroom.

Konishi Gaffney, which is led by Scottish architect Kieran Gaffney and Japanese designer Makiko Konishi, added the roof extension to a two-storey house in Edinburgh’s Portobello – a seaside community filled with heritage properties.

Entitled Regent Street Dormer, the zinc-clad structure projects out from the rear of the house’s shallow-pitched roof to double the amount of useable floor space within the attic.

“The planners were resistant to the idea of a dormer in this location at all, but following long negotiations a rear dormer was conceded,” explained Gaffney, noting that the property sits within the immediate vicinity of over 50 listed buildings.

“We then made a case for a low profile, long dormer, more than twice as long as is normally permitted, because this had less visual impact than a dormer located near the eaves,” he added.

Pre-weathered zinc gives a charcoal colour to the outer walls of the structure blending in with the existing slate roof.

The west-facing picture window spans one face and sits within a tapered recess. “[It] includes an idiosyncratic splay to let afternoon light in,” said Gaffney.

A timber shutter at one end of the window lets in fresh air. “This is a nod to my favourite window – located at Louis Kahn’s Fischer House – where the glass is fixed and oak window shutters open for ventilation,” the architect told Dezeen.

The new bedroom is painted white and contains enough space for a double bed and a wall of built-in storage. A wooden staircase connects the room with the two storeys below.

Regent Street Dormer is one of 24 projects shortlisted for the AJ Small Projects 2014. The winner will be announced next month.

Photography is by Alan Craigie.

Here’s the project description from Kieran Gaffney:

Regent Street Dormer

The project was to extend a small 1st floor flat into the loft and create a new bedroom with dormer. A simple brief complicated only by the lack of headroom in the loft, the client’s design ambition and conservative planning rules in this conservation area of Edinburgh.

This street has the densest concentration of listed buildings in Portobello (54 in 120m). The planners were resistant to the idea of a dormer in this location at all but following long negotiations a rear dormer was conceded. We then made a case for a low profile, long dormer, more than twice as long as is normally permitted, because this had less visual impact than a dormer located near the eaves.

The project allowed a west facing picture window with an unusual view. It is clad in anthracite zinc by French artisans and includes an idiosyncratic splay to let afternoon light in, a fixed glass pane and a timber door for ventilation.

Completed: July 2013
Budget: £32,000
Architect: Konishi Gaffney
Contractor: Gloss Projects
Zinc: Artisan Roofing
Engineer: Burnt Siena Structures

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creates an extra bedroom appeared first on Dezeen.