Après le boom économique des années 1990 en Thaïlande, beaucoup de projets célébrant la prospérité du pays ont vu le jour, dont la Sathorn Unique a Bangkok. Monstre de 49 étages que le Dr Hank Snaffler a photographié, elle est aujourd’hui appelée par les habitants de la ville la tour fantôme.
Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled new images and a movie showing the studio’s proposals to convert an old textile factory in Belgrade, Serbia, into a free-flowing complex of apartments, offices and leisure facilities.
Presented during Belgrade Design Week 2013, Zaha Hadid’s designs show how the curving buildings will integrate with the riverside neighbourhood of the city’s historic Dorcol quarter.
The 94,000 square-metre complex will replace an unused and inaccessible site with a five-star hotel, art galleries, a conference centre, a department store and shops, as well as residential accommodation and offices, just 500 metres from the city centre.
Speaking at the presentation, Zaha Hadid Architects’ Christos Passas said: “All of our projects are unique and every time a project is proposed to us we know we have to create something new, to design something that is distinctive and adapted to the task, to the client, to local context.”
He continued: “This one should not only fit in, but also have a positive impact on the environment in which it is located, and of course, the integration between nature and architecture is also very important. New architecture, in terms of vision, should not be constrained by old forms. Architecture operates on many levels, it should include a particular location and context, and the building can also absorb the context in various ways, which makes the entire complex functional.”
“This project is very sensitive of the environment, but at the same time it can be a symbol of a new era for Serbia,” he concluded.
Construction of the Beko Masterplan will commence next year as part of a €200 million regeneration project that also includes a waterfront public space by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto and a new bridge across the Sava River.
Designs for the site were first revealed in 2012. See more images of the project in our earlier story.
Zaha Hadid Architects is also currently working on designs for a 215-metre Miami skyscraper, a mountain museum in the Dolomites and an apartment block beside New York’s High Line.
The studio also has several projects nearing completion, including a Hong Kong university building, an undulating cultural centre in Azerbaijan and an extension to the Serpentine Gallery in London.
See more architecture and design by Zaha Hadid »
See more architecture in Serbia »
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by Zaha Hadid Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Offset gabled volumes form a new classroom and play area at this infant school in Oxfordshire, England, by local firm Jessop and Cook Architects (+ slideshow).
Jessop and Cook Architects designed the adjoining buildings with the same profile, but shifted the timber play area sideways from the brick classroom.
“The different materials for the covered external canopy help create a warm friendly feel to the place and help define the spaces,” project architect Dan Wadsworth told Dezeen. “We didn’t want to just tack on a canopy and felt continuing to use brick would be too heavy and overbearing.”
Covered in cedar shingles on the outside and clad with stained planks of the same wood inside, the timber structure provides a sheltered outdoor play area open to the playground. “We created a small enclosed secret garden for the children to play in,” said Wadsworth.
Windows in the roof let in extra light, as well as the gap at the back where the two structures misalign.
Glass doors fold back to merge the play space with the classroom, which is normally entered from a door on the other side of the timber building.
Low wooden partitions house toys and learning materials for the 30 pupils, plus break up the single room to make smaller zones for different activities.
Steps in a back corner sit below a lowered portion of ceiling to create a small performance space. Additional teaching rooms and bathrooms are located at the back of the bulding.
Other primary schools we’ve featured include a modern version of traditional Japanese schoolhouse in Tokyo and one in The Hague that snakes around its site like a crocodile.
Photographs are by Nikhilesh Haval.
See more architecture for education »
See more architecture and design in England »
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Jessop and Cook Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Playground swings can be hung both inside and outside this Japanese house with a corner sliced off by Level Architects, the firm that previously completed a residence with a slide connecting its floors (+ slideshow).
Located in the city of Kamakura, the three-storey family house was designed by Level Architects with a series of children’s play areas, including a courtyard garden, a rooftop balcony, a large bedroom and a loft playroom.
Metal hooks allow residents to attach a swing to the ceiling in the ground-floor hallway. They can also hang either a swing or hammock across the L-shaped balcony on the middle floor.
From the street, the house appears as a large timber-clad cuboid that appears to have had its western corner sliced away, revealing the location of the courtyard garden and surrounding balcony.
“The cutaway corner of the exterior wall is adjusted so that it comes down to a height of a handrail, creating privacy at just the right level without completely enclosing the [first] floor outdoor terrace,” said the architects.
The building’s entrance leads through to an area that the architects refer to as an “inner terrace”, which is separated from the surrounding rooms by split levels. “The floor level can also be utilised as a bench,” added the architects.
The double-height living and dining room spans the width of the first floor and features high-level windows that bring in natural light without compromising privacy.
Two mezzanine loft rooms flank the space from above and feature internal windows so that parents can keep an eye on children playing upstairs.
Children’s playgrounds have provided the inspiration for several of Level Architects’ projects. The studio completed its house with an indoor slide in 2011 and have also worked on a residence with an indoor skateboarding area.
Other Japanese houses on Dezeen recently include a combined home and dog-grooming salon and a house raised up on pilotis. See more houses in Japan »
Photography is by Makoto Yoshida.
Read on for more details from Level Architects:
House in Ofuna
This design, which cuts away the western corner from this extruded volume of the site, created a focal point within the house, while still enabling a connection to the surrounding exterior environment. The cutaway corner is able to establish a direct view onto the small hills west of the house, as well as retaining privacy from the street below.
The use of natural wood material for the extruded volume itself allowed the design to incorporate a hard edge at the cutaway corner, creating a sharp and distinct separation from the rest of the design. This triangular surface edge also helps to break up the solid aspect of the design and somewhat control its presence onto the street.
The interior planning of the first floor revolves around layers of space; the terrace, inner terrace, and then the private bedrooms, all surround the enclosed symbolic tree planted in the inner garden. Level changes were also implemented to create different opportunities for the children’s room and its relation to the inner terrace; the floor level can also be utilised as a bench, allowing multiple uses to the open space. The inner terrace can also be viewed as a spacious entrance hall, which allows the extensive walls to be enjoyed as large storage areas as well.
The second floor living/dining/kitchen space enjoys a ceiling height of more than 3.5 meters. Looking towards the street you are able to view the triangular cutaway corner framing the hills beyond, as well as the symbolic tree sprouting up from the first floor. This tall ceiling brings in enough light to brighten up the loft, creating a sunny, playful space for the children, while still being connected to the living room below.
The cutaway corner of the exterior wall is adjusted so that it comes down to a height of a handrail, creating privacy at just the right level without completely enclosing the second floor outdoor terrace. The windows placed throughout the east and south side of the house take into consideration the neighbouring buildings and so are located at relatively high locations, controlling both light and the view into the home.
Site: Kanagawa Pref., Kamakura City
Site area: 135.44m²
Building footprint: 66.64 sqm
Total building area: 121.70 sqm
1F area: 66.64 sqm
1F terrace Area: 7.94 sqm
2F area: 55.06 sqm
2F terrace area: 11.43 sqm
Loft area: 10.69 sqm
Loft terrace area: 11.81 sqm
Construction type: Wood frame
Stories: 2 stories + Loft
Completion date: 03/2012
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Level Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
German photographer Roland Halbe has taken new photographs of Casa Klotz, a rural beach house in Chile by architect Mathias Klotz (+ slideshow).
The two-storey wooden house is located beside the seafront in Tongoy, north of Santiago. It was designed by Mathias Klotz in 1991 for his mother and was the Chilean architect’s first major project.
Clad with white-painted timber boards, the rectangular house has barely any glazing on its southern facade, while its northern elevation features large windows and balconies that face out across the beach.
The house centres around a large double-height living room with a chequerboard of floor-to-ceiling glazing stretching across one wall. Wooden decking covers the floor and extends out to a terrace suspended 30 centimetres above the ground.
The rest of the house is arranged with a symmetrical layout, with a ground-floor dining room and small bedroom that mirror a larger bedroom and bathroom area. Two identical bedrooms are located upstairs and both open out to recessed balconies.
The entrance to the house is a ramped bridge that angles up from the ground.
Since completing Casa Klotz, Mathias Klotz has worked on a string of houses and other buildings. Recent projects include Casa 11 Mujeres, a holiday home for a family with 11 daughters.
See more architecture in Chile »
See more photography by Roland Halbe on Dezeen or on the photographer’s website.
Here’s a project description from Mathias Klotz:
Casa Klotz/Klotz House
The Klotz house is in the vicinity of Tongoy on a beach situated 400 km to the north of Santiago. The bay is 24 km long and has very few buildings along it. The outline of the cove is recognisable from a distance, as is the coastal mountain range in the background.
The powerful contrast between the house and its surroundings is what defines the building. The work consists of a rectangle box 6 x 6 x 12 m which sits upon the ground and rises 30 cm above it.
The outside presents a blind face which serves as the access over a curved bridge. The opposite façade, facing the sea, has large openings.
The ground plan has two clearly defined sections on the first floor. The narrowest, of two meters, is for the entry, the stairs, the bathroom and a small bedroom. The larger, of four meters is for the main bedroom, the kitchen-dining room and the double-height living room. On the second floor, the bedrooms are set back from the sea facing façade to allow space for terraces. The staircase and bridge that connect the bedrooms continue the concept of the corridor or gallery on the first floor.
The fine white carpentry, the openings in the wall, the added and subtracted features, the interplay between the proportions, the horizontal lines of the wooden sealing fillets on the facades are all touches aimed at producing a detailed close-up effect in contrast with the panorama of the surroundings and the abstraction of the building itself.
Client: Isabel Germain
Construction: Mathias Klotz
Engineers: Jaime Frerk
Construction date: 1991
Completion date: 1991
Terrain surface: 5.700 sqm
Built surface: 99 sqm
Location: Playa grande, Tongoy, Chile
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photographed by Roland Halbe appeared first on Dezeen.
Here are two new images of Zaha Hadid Architects’ proposed 215-metre-high residential skyscraper for Miami.
The 60-storey One Thousand Museum tower will be located on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, overlooking the new Museum Park and Biscayne Bay.
The structure will feature a fluid concrete exoskeleton, rising out of the spa pools on top of the podium to a helipad and aquatic centre at the summit.
Apartments will cost between $5 million and $15 million, including duplex homes, half-floor residences, full-floor penthouses and one duplex penthouse right at the top.
See more images in our earlier story about the project »
Herzog & de Meuron are also working on a residential tower in the nearby Sunny Isles area of Miami and we featured the latest images of their design plus a movie from the developers last week.
Elsewhere in Miami OMA has landed the commission to redesign the Miami Beach Convention Center and John Pawson has designed 26 high-end apartments for a new leisure complex at Miami Beach.
Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled designs for a spiralling car park in Miami in 2011. More recent projects by the firm include plans for an apartment block that will be constructed beside New York’s popular High Line park and an extension to the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Visualisations are by Catapult 13 Creative Studios.
More architecture and design by Zaha Hadid Architects »
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by Zaha Hadid Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
A staircase folds around a double-height bookcase inside this wooden family house in Fukuoka, Japan, by local architects MOVEDESIGN (+ slideshow).
Illuminated from all sides by skylights, clerestory glazing and various windows, the staircase was designed by MOVEDESIGN to connect all three floors of House in Nanakuma, creating a well-lit study space that is surrounded by books and other personal items.
“We can see the sky from one window, or the green of trees from other windows,” explained the architects. “These window pictures change with the eye level walking up and down the stairs, making our minds calm and peaceful.”
Internal walls were added sparingly, so the staircase leads straight into rooms on each floor. “The individual spaces are continuous so that the family can have privacy and also feel the presence of each other,” said the architects.
On the ground floor, the staircase opens out to a living and dining room where all food preparation and dining is accommodated by a single wooden island. Translucent panels conceal storage areas behind, while a traditional Japanese room sits off to one side.
A living room occupies the basement floor and opens out to sunken terraces on both sides of the building. A long and narrow window offers a view out to the largest of these two spaces, which is overshadowed by a small balcony on the floor above.
Walls on this floor feature exposed concrete surfaces, contrasting with the wooden walls and partitions elsewhere in the house.
The main bedroom is located on the uppermost floor, alongside a second Japanese room and a small roof terrace.
We’ve published several unusual houses from Japan so far this summer. Others include a combined home and dog-grooming salon and a house that is just 2.7 metres wide. See more Japanese houses »
Other combined staircases and bookshelves on Dezeen include one in a Rotterdam townhouse and one inside a house in Osaka. See more staircases combined with bookshelves »
Photography is by Yousuke Harigane.
Here’s a project description from MOVEDESIGN:
House in Nanakuma
This house is located in Fukuoka, Japan. Reinforced concrete for basement and wood flame for two floors on the ground.
Three floors are in layers, different generations of this family live in this layered house. The individual spaces are continuous so that the family can have privacy and also feel the presence of each other.
The role of the large staircase is an apparatus to connect three layers. It takes sunlight and connects the air with the house. The stairs are the main traffic line, there are some windows cut outside scenery. We can see the sky from one window, or the green of trees from other windows. These window pictures change with the eye level walking up and down the stairs, making our minds calm and peaceful.
The staircase and windows were planned to control the opening to the outside, cutting the scenery, saving energy, bringing requisite sunlight and a wind through the house. We hope that three people of this family having different generations can have individual lifestyles for their day life.
Architects: MOVEDESIGN
Designer: Mikio Sakamoto
Function: private house
Location: Nanakuma, Fukuoka, Japan
Structure: reinforced concrete + wood frame
Site area: 126.68 sqm
Architectural area: 54.64 sqm
Total floor area: 142.68 sqm
Year: 2013
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by MOVEDESIGN appeared first on Dezeen.
News: the Cardboard Cathedral designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban opens to the public today in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The building was designed by Shigeru Ban as a temporary replacement for the city’s former Anglican cathedral, which was destroyed by the earthquake that struck the city in February 2011. With an expected lifespan of around 50 years, it will serve the community until a more permanent cathedral can be constructed.
The building features a triangular profile constructed from 98 equally sized cardboard tubes. These surround a coloured glass window made from tessellating triangles, decorated with images from the original cathedral’s rose window.
The main hall has the capacity to accommodate up to 700 people for events and concerts, plus eight steel shipping containers house chapels and storage areas below.
The cathedral had initially been scheduled to open in February, but was subject to a series of construction delays. The first service will now be held on Sunday 11 August.
The reconstruction of the permanent cathedral building has been a controversial topic in recent months, after critics rejected two contemporary designs and called for the building to be restored to its original gothic appearance. The selected design has yet to be announced.
Shigeru Ban has used cardboard on a number of pavilions and structures in recent years, particularly on disaster relief projects. Other examples include a temporary gallery in Moscow with cardboard columns and a cardboard pavilion at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid.
Dezeen interviewed Shigeru Ban back in 2009, when he explained that he considers “green design” to be just a fashion, but that he is most interested in “using materials without wasting”.
See more architecture by Shigeru Ban »
See more cardboard architecture and design »
See more stories about New Zealand »
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in Christchurch appeared first on Dezeen.
A perforated concrete wall screens the courtyard of this Singapore house by Formwerkz Architects from low sun and prying neighbours (+ slideshow).
Formwerkz Architects punctured the concrete wall joining the house’s two blocks with a pattern of holes that looks like inverted braille.
“The perforated concrete wall allows for air-flow and glimpses of the garden beyond but shields the western sun and its adjacent neighbours,” said the architects.
The blocks sit either side of a pool in a central courtyard and have gardens to the front and rear, a layout modelled on a northern Chinese typology but adapted for the tropical climate.
“Similar to the traditional courtyard typology, the inner core is a private, secure and well-ventilated outdoor space intended as an extension of the family space,” the architects said.
From street level the house is approached via a flight of stairs that lead up to a decked terrace, which sits on top of a garage next to the staff quarters in the basement.
The ground floor is tiled with travertine both outside and in, divided by the central pool that separates a living area on one side and a dining room and kitchen on the other.
Upper storeys overhang these spaces, protecting them from rain to remove the need for walls that would face the interior.
A spiral staircase leads up to a series of bedrooms, studies and bathrooms on both sides, connected by a balcony that circles the courtyard partly indoors and partly out. This walkway breaches the concrete walls so the residents can amble above the jungle-like garden.
Rooms on the first floor are screened with wooden strips, used either vertically or criss-crossed. A large bathroom, library and outdoor seating area take up the top floor.
Formwerkz Architects has also designed a house with bedrooms sheltered under a long canopy and a couple of the studio’s projects have been shortlisted for World Building of the Year 2013.
See more residential architecture »
See more architecture and design in Singapore »
The architects sent us the following information:
The Courtyard House
The courtyard house is located in a three-storey mixed-landed residential district, on the eastern part of Singapore. Built for a multi-generational family who seeks a communal way of living but wanted a space that are private, screened from the prying eyes of surrounding neighbours.
While inspired by the Si He Yuan courtyard house, the project seeks to readapt the vernacular typology found in the northern regions of China, to a detached house typology in an urbanised tropical context.
The massing, comprising of two blocks in a north-south orientation, delineate the site with a front garden, the central courtyard where all the rooms looked into and a back garden. The public and private realms are layered in a spatial procession from the street. Circulation within the house circumambulate the courtyard on all floors.
The main spaces are organised around this central, outdoor atrium where a lap pool runs parallel to one edge. The ground floor is finished entirely in hone travertine without any drops to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, unifying the entire ground floor as a singular, seamless, communal space. The perforated concrete wall allows for air-flow and glimpses of the garden beyond but shields the western sun and its adjacent neighbours.
The house expresses the relationship between periphery and core. Similar to the traditional courtyard typology, the inner core is a private, secure and well-ventilated outdoor space intended as an extension of the family space. While the periphery is surrounded in dense tropical foliage, the courtyard is tranquil and contemplative.
Through a series of spatial appendixes of bridges, wall perforations, pool extensions, shower stalls, stairs and bay windows that penetrate the two side walls that bound the inner sanctum, the residents gets to experience the tropical garden on the periphery.
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Formwerkz Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura has completed a cultural centre in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, which is designed to look more like a machine than a building (+ slideshow).
Positioned alongside a library by Álvaro Siza and a leisure centre by Fernando Tavora, Eduardo Souto de Moura’s three-storey building is the final addition to a stretch of land between the Limia River and a new tree-lined public square.
Huge aluminium pipes and services clad the upper walls of the building, intended to reference the nautical aesthetic of the Navio Hospital Gil Eannes, a 1950s ship that is anchored nearby and used as a museum. Meanwhile, the recessed ground-floor elevations are glazed to allow views through to the river.
The plan of the building centres around a large multipurpose hall that can be used for sports, music performances, talks and other events.
This space is located at basement level, but is surrounded by wooden bleachers that lead up to the entrances and viewing corridors on the ground floor. Additional stairs and lifts lead up to administrative areas on the first floor.
The completion of the building marks the end of a five-year construction period. The two original constructors suffered bankruptcy and funding had to be subsidised by the local authority.
Eduardo Souto de Moura was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2011. His previous buildings include the red concrete Casa das Histórias Paula Rego museum and the Casa das Artes Cultural Centre in Porto.
See more architecture by Eduardo Souto de Moura »
See more architecture in Portugal »
Photography is by Joao Morgado.
Here are some extra details from the design team:
Multipurpose Pavilion in Viana do Castelo
The building is implanted in the zone foreseen in the plan, aligned in the south side with one of the buildings projected by architect Fernando Távora.
In front of the north elevation it is foreseen an arborised square with alleys that mark the entries of the Pavilion. In this square will exist a slope that will make the access to level -1.
Formally the building is defined by a table where an aluminium box and every necessary equipments to the function of the different activities promoted in its interior will be placed. The whole image intends to be associated with the naval architecture, existing a relation with the image of the “Gil Eanes” ship.
The multipurpose pavilion will be a space directed to cultural and sport events. The main accesses will be situated in the north and south extremities. The service entrances will be made in the other elevations.
Its interior will be ample and permeable, existing the possibility of viewing the sea from the entrance floor. It is pretended that its transparency will be able to make it as lighter as possible in relation to the other buildings.
Author: Eduardo Souto de Moura
Locality: Viana do Castelo
Client: City Hall of Viana do Castelo
Collaborators: Diogo Guimarães, Ricardo Rosa Santos, João Queiróz e Lima, Jana Scheibner, Luis Peixoto, Manuel Vasconcelos, Tiago Coelho
Structural consultants: G.O.P.
Electrical consultants: G.O.P.
Mechanical consultants: G.O.P.
Building size: 8.706,7 sqm
Cost: €12.000.000,00
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by Eduardo Souto de Moura appeared first on Dezeen.
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