Hasta La Ideas

Zaha Hadid Architects have designed two prototype villas for a site overlooking the historic town of Dubrovnik in Croatia.

The concepts, named “Rock” (top) and “Shell” (above), have been developed to help define the architectural style of the resort, which will eventually consist of 400 villas plus hotels and a golf course.

Above: Rock. Below: Shell.

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Here’s some text from the architects:

Concept Design Report

Introduction

The brief called for the design of two prototype Villas for a new Golf and Spa Resort in Croatia overlooking the old town of Dubrovnik. The total development comprises 400 villas, two 5* hotels, luxury apartments, retail facilities, a spa and an 18 hole golf course including a golf resort club house.

A recently developed master plan determines the perimeter and size of the parcels, which range from 12,000m2 to 20,000m2. The site of the prototype villas is located at the edge of the plateau with picturesque views. The prototype villas shall define the overall architectural design of the resort.

Site

The area of development is located north of Dubrovnik, a Unesco World Heritage Site. The land comprises 430 hectare and is located on a high plateau approximately 300m to 400m above sea level, north of the old town of Dubrovnik.

At the southern edge of the project site, the terrain slopes steeply towards the sea. The terrain also slightly slopes from west to east. The elevated level of the site allows for magnificent views in all directions.

Towards south the owner will enjoy sea views and views of the old town of Dubrovnik. In north direction one can enjoy picturesque mountain and landscape views.

Design Concept Option Rock

Zaha Hadid Architects architectural proposal is a distinct and unique structure with a strong sense of identity and character.

It has a highly expressive, sculptural quality, infused with a sense of light and space. Light and views are the driving forces of the house.

Above: Rock – site plan. Click for larger image

The design is inspired by the Croatian karst topography. Typical karst elements such as sharp-edged cliffs, caves, dolines and sinkholes are adopted by our design.

Above: Rock – level -1. Click for larger image

Metaphorically speaking, the structure appears like a rock, which is partly sunken into the ground.

Above: Rock – level 0. Click for larger image

The seven bedroom house is designed as a three-level structure keeping the buildings profile low in sympathy to the surrounding landscaping and the old town of Dubrovnik.

Above: Rock – level 1. Click for larger image

The building is positioned at the very edge of the slope to take full advantage of the views. The park and garden area to the north will be used as recreation area and buffer zone to the existing village and the semi-public road.

Above: Rock – roof plan. Click for larger image

Design Concept Option Shell

Zaha Hadid Architects design offers long views internally and engages with the surrounding landscape. The prototype for this luxurious private residence has been developed in response to the programme, the landscape and the views.

Above: Rock – section. Click for larger image

The house was designed to be light and spacious with sliding doors giving access to external terraces and courtyards.

Above: Shell – site plan. Click for larger image

The private residence elongated curvilinear building shape is inspired by shell structures as they are found along the Croatian Coastline.

Above: Shell – level -1. Click for larger image

The seven bedroom house is designed as a three-level structure keeping the buildings profile low in sympathy to the surrounding landscaping and the old town of Dubrovnik.

Above: Shell – level 0. Click for larger image

The building is positioned at the very edge of the slope to take full advantage of the views. The park and garden area to the north will be used as recreation area and buffer zone to the existing village and the semi-public road.

Above: Shell – roof plan. Click for larger image

Golf and Spa Resort Dubrovnik

Location: Croatia, Dubrovnik 2009
Design: Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
Project Architect: Markus Planteu
Lead Designer: Thomas Mathoy

Above: Shell – section. Click for larger image

Project Team: Dennis Brezina, Ivan Ucros, Jesus Garate, Dimitris Akritopoulos, Muthahar Khan
Client: Razvoj Golf
Program: Residential

See also:

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Regium Waterfront by Zaha Hadid Architects	Symbiotic Villa by Zaha Hadid	Rabat Grand Theatre by Zaha Hadid Architects

Back in the spring of 2009, Frank Gehry seemed to be turning things around for himself, after a particularly rough patch there, what with leaks at MIT, his Beekman Tower in New York was running the risk of being trimmed way back (this was before it was renamed and wound up staying the course in terms of height), and the rumors that he was going to be removed from the Atlantic Yards project lingering, and would finally happen just two months later. The positive was that the architect had landed the coveted Dwight Eisenhower Memorial commission in DC, a $90 million project on four-acre site across from the Air and Space Museum. That news seemed to be the first of improved spirits for the architect, who has since had much more positive press (about the memorial project in particular) and much better luck. However, now two years later, the Eisenhower Memorial is already a bit behind schedule and the National Capital Planning Commission says there is still work to be done with the architect’s plans. Late this past week, the NCPC held a meeting to review Gehry’s three proposals (pdf). While uniformly positive about the plans, the Washington Examiner reports that there are still a number of concerns that the pillars, central to all three of the plans, “intrude too much on views of the nearby Capitol.” It doesn’t sound like they’re bothered enough to demand drastic changes, but as the project moves into preliminary and final design reviews, we’re sure that at least portions of Gehry’s original vision, however small or large, will wind up being altered in some way to keep the NCPC happy and the view of the Capitol building crystal clear.

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Portuguese studio Jorge Mealha Arquitecto have completed a house in Lisbon, Portugal, featuring clusters of rectangular volumes and courtyards.

Called House in Paço de Arcos, the building sits on a sloping site and the volumes have been arranged in such a way to maximise the amount of sunlight that enters the interior.

A central glazed walkway connects two parts of the structure.

The house is finished primarily in white.

Photographs are by Fernando Guerra, courtesy of the architects.

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The following information is from the architects:

House in PaÁo de Arcos

Located at Alto do Lagoal in PaÁo de Arcos, a neighborhood of Lisbon facing the sea, this house has been built on a sloping site and proposes as main strategy an arrangement of several solids in order to attenuate the overall mass due to the functional program requested by the client.

This arrangement of different solids and voids, uses large plain surfaces and some in-between tensioned spaces to let light draw or reflect on the objects, emphasizing geometry and proposing a changeable reading of form and space during the day.

Some surfaces, covered by metal screening/shading devices, create large smooth textured plans on two facades of the house hiding windows and enhancing form, acting also as a kind of diaphragm device to filter the views between interior and exterior.

Also act as a passive sunshade control between internal and external spaces.

Some circulations, as the staircase and main corridor are built in white painted 10mm metal sheet slightly detached from the walls, leaving opportunity for light, caught by the long skylight to pass in between and spread to the lower floors.

The external envelope, a ìin situî concrete structure, integrates a double row masonry of perforated ceramic blocs as external walls, including inner rigid thermal insulation panels.

External walls finishes are in cement plaster painted.

Windows are in standard natural aluminum color profiles integrating double thermal glass.

In the interior, the walls main finish is plaster painted in white except in the bathrooms where the walls are covered in white/grey natural striped marble.

The circulation areas floors, corridors and staircases are in plain or folded 10mm thickness metal plates, painted with white mate epoxy enamel.

The bedrooms floors are finished in industrial wood parquet whit colorless wax varnish finish.

Social areas are covered with polished white stone and kitchen in brilliant black ceramic sandstone.

Architect: Jorge Mealha

Design Team: Arch. Jo„o SÌtima, Arch. LuÌs Banazol, Arch. Pedro Pereira, Arch., Marcelo Dantas

Location: Alto do Lagoal, PaÁo de Arcos, Lisbon, Portugal

Client: Margarida e AntÛnio Lemos

Use: Single Housing

Site Area: 907 m2

Building Gross Area: 388,50 m2

Floor Net Area: 302 m2

Landscape Area: 629 m2

Coverage Ratio: 30,6 %

Gross Floor Ratio: 77,74 %

Project Year: Sept. 2003-March 2004

Construction: 2006-2010

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House in Tróia by Jorge Mealha Arquitecto	House in Meco by Jorge Mealha Arquitecto	Black & White House by AGi architects

Photographer José Campos has sent us some images of a social centre in Brufa, Portugal, by Portuguese studio Imago.

Apertures have been carved out of the rectangular concrete volume, creating little slits and openings all around the building.

Openings in the roof plan create little courtyard areas flooded with natural light.

In contrast to the exterior façade, the interior features glazed walls that wrap around the courtyards.

A day care facility, rest home, offices and service areas are housed within the building, all oraganised aroung a central patio.

Photographs are by José Campos.

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The following information is from the architects:

Social Centre – Brufe
Brufe, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal
Inaugurated 2010

Based on a block form some openings are carved to illuminate the interior space or in most cases tearing and piercing the building to its inner courtyard.

The building is turned inside out: the exterior façades look opaque, dense, with just a few carves in the main points of the building like the stairs and the main entrance.

The interior façades appear as a translucid and continuous glass curtain wall that embrace the internal patio shaded by proposed trees.

In the top portion of the mass each carving provokes an event with its surroundings, covered parking spaces, main entrance, and a covered seating area for open air events.

The programs criteria includes day care, rest home, office and service areas and is organized in functional blocks surrounding a central court yard.

The physical communication within itself accentuates permanent visual relationship.

The interconnection or independence when necessary is distributed in a permanent manner.

Credits

Authors:
Architect André de Moura Leitão Cerejeira Fontes

Architect António Jorge de Moura Leitão Cerejeira Fontes

Co-Authors
Architect Nuno Cruz, Architect António Dias and Architect Bruno Marques

Collaborators
Architect José Forte, Architect Sónia Gonçalves, Architect José Pedro Fernandes

Architect José Miguel Bahia, Architect Pedro Negrões Soares

Engineer Eugénia Fontes, Dr. Tiago Fontes

Technical Projects
Structure – Engineer António Ramos – “R3R Gabinete de projectos Lda”

Electrical Instalation – Engineer Joaquim Filipe Leite de Abreu – “Apótema Gabinete de Projectos Eléctricos, Rita e Gás Lda”

HVAC project – Engineer António João Gomes da Costa Palmeira – “Gaprel”

Construction area – 1876,95 m2

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Office and warehouse by DCPP Arquitectos	CRAM Foundation by Hidalgo Hartmann	More photography stories on Dezeen

We’re still recovering a bit from the record-setting blizzard we got here over the last couple of days, which certainly didn’t help us get over this flu going around, so this writer is going to start gently this morning. Slate‘s resident architecture critic, Witold Rybczynski, has decided to weigh in on the way architects speak to one another, using lots of highfalutin, five dollar words, in an essay he’s entitled, “A Discourse on Emerging Tectonic Visualization and the Effects of Materiality on Praxis” or as the subheading says, “…an essay on the ridiculous way architects talk.” It’s a fun piece, quickly running through the history of American architecture speak, ranging from the days when “fenestration” meant “window,” to the modernist period when less-was-more, to our current state, which Rybczynski believes is just as jargon-heavy as ever, thanks to universities teaching architecture “as a theoretical discipline.” He provides a very funny, short translation guide for the words currently in large circulation, which should come in handy the next time you run into somewhere wearing a black turtle neck and eyeglasses that are much cooler than yours.

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