There aren’t many architects whose names begin with Q, so our seventeenth A-Zdvent calendar entry is Belgian artist Arne Quinze, who built this 20 metre-high installation in Germany in 2009. Other architectural structures by Quinze include The Sequence, a canopy of tree-like forms installed outside the Flemish Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.
See more work by Arne Quinze »
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Arne Quinze appeared first on Dezeen.
Portuguese architect José Carlos Cruz claims to have built the world’s first cork-clad hotel, located amongst the olive and cork trees of Portugal’s Alentejo region (+ slideshow).
Situated outside the city of Évora, the Ecork Hotel comprises a cork-clad restaurant and leisure complex with 56 hotel suites contained in a series of adjacent bungalows.
José Carlos Cruz and his design team chose cork to clad the walls of the main building because it is both readily available and highly insulating.
“Portugal is the second biggest exporter of cork in the world, so we thought it would be a good starting point for the building,” project architect António Cruz told Dezeen.
There are only a few small openings in the outer walls of the building, creating large uninterrupted surfaces of the material.
“One of our intentions was to promote cork as a cladding material,” said Cruz. “It’s a good thermal insulator and is also recyclable.”
The two-storey leisure complex accommodates gym and spa facilities, conferences rooms and an indoor swimming pool, which all surround a central courtyard.
The first floor has walls but no roof, accommodating a bar, outdoor pool and sunbathing deck with views out over the rural landscape.
The hotel suites are set back from the main building in a layout based on the typical arrangement of a medieval Portuguese village.
“The general plan is inspired by the medieval villages of the Alentejo, where it was common to find a main complex or castle, and several white buildings around it,” said the architects.
With clean white-rendered walls, the suites form rows that line the edges of walkways. Each one comes with its own private courtyard, screened behind a perforated wall.
Photography is by Fernando Guerra.
Here’s a project description from Jose Carlos Cruz Arquitecto:
Ecork Hotel
Ecork is a Hotel in Évora, Portugal, with aspa, health club, gym, restaurant, bar, conference rooms, outdoor pool and 56 bungalows.
Built on a set of cork and olive trees, the general plan is inspired by the Medieval villages of the Alentejo, where it was common to find a main complex or castle, and several white buildings around it.
All services and hotel facilities are aggregated into a single building, freeing the land outside the bungalows.
Influenced by the vernacular architecture and Arabic, is created a monolithic volume with small openings to the outside, which together with cork coating which is fully recyclable and ensures thermal protection of the building.
Built around a large courtyard, the layout is designed so as to take advantage of crosswinds and air circulation, thus reducing power consumption to the minimum necessary.
In order to ensure the lowest possible occupation and overview of the Alentejo Landscape, outdoor pool and bar are located on the roof of the building.
All 56 bungalows are suites. Their deployment, scattered among the olive trees around the property is defined by the structure of internal thoroughfares.
These paths are read as a series of abstract volumes and surfaces, plastered and whitewashed.
Location: Évora, Portugal
Area: 6300 m2
Design time: November 2008
Completion time: May 2013
Architect: José Carlos Cruz
Interior Design and Decoration: José Carlos Cruz
Civil engineer: Newton, Consultores de Engenharia
Mechanics Engineer: ENES.COORD
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“world’s first cork-clad hotel” appeared first on Dezeen.
The next stop in our ongoing series with Bulgari is in celebration of the designs that inspired their Octo watch line, which happens to be…
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News: London architecture office FAT has announced that it will shut down its studio next summer, after “exploring the potential of the projects as much as possible”.
FAT directors Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob, who became famous for combining Postmodernist architecture with playful iconography, plan to end their 23-year-old practice with the completion of two major projects – the curation of the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014 and a house inspired by fairytales that they are working on with artist Grayson Perry for the Living Architecture series of holiday homes.
“We feel like we’ve explored the potential of the projects as much as possible,” Jacob told Dezeen. “We don’t want to end up like many architects do, flogging the same dead horse. We think it’s best to go out on a high.”
“In lots of ways FAT has been more like a band than a traditional architecture office,” he added. “We wanted to finish it in a way that’s coherent and makes sense.”
FAT started in the mid 1990s as a collective of architects, artists and film makers, before going on to complete projects such as the Blue House in London’s Hackney, the BBC Drama Production Village in Cardiff and the Community In A Cube (CIAC) in Middlesborough.
“What we’re doing is saying there’ll be two more projects,” said Jacob. “We think this is really the completion of the FAT project which began many years ago, with no intention that we were starting an architecture office and the ‘glittering careers’ we would have.”
After completing the two final projects, the three partners plan to “let the dust settle”, but will continue to work within the architecture and design industry. Jacob is currently also a columnist for Dezeen.
Here’s the full announcement from FAT:
FAT announces the end of its practice
The highly successful 23 year collaboration will culminate next summer with the completion of A House For Essex, designed for Living Architecture (in collaboration with artist Grayson Perry), and the curation of A Clockwork Jerusalem at the British Pavilion as part of the 2014 Venice Biennale (in collaboration with Crimson Architectural Historians and Owen Hatherley)
Following on from the completion of a number of architecturally significant projects, directors Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob believe that, with the conclusion of these final projects, FAT will have achieved all it set out to do when the practice first emerged in the 1990’s. FAT was always conceived as a project in itself, a vehicle for critically opening up the culture of architecture rather than purely a conventional architectural practice.
“FAT has provided the three of us with the most extraordinary platform for creative collaboration. We have enjoyed 23 years together and want to end our union on a high with two typically FAT projects – A House For Essex and our curatorial role at the world’s most prestigious architectural event – The Venice Architecture Biennale.”
Evolving out of a ‘collective’ of architects, artists and film makers, in the mid 1990’s, FAT became one of Britain’s most influential architecture practices. Their work pushed the boundaries of architecture by developing innovative forms of cross disciplinary practice and new critical directions in architecture while engaging mainstream clients and delivering a series of highly original buildings in the UK and abroad.
Their work has ranged across installations, interiors, buildings and masterplans that include (amongst others) Kessels Kramers offices in Amsterdam, Kessels Kramers offices in Amsterdam, the BBC Drama Production Village, Cardiff for Igloo, Islington Square for Urban Splash and the Great Places Housing Group, The Villa in Rotterdam and CIAC in Middlesbrough, as well as installations and exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, the V&A, MAK and the Vienna Secession House.
FAT’s work has been characterised by a highly conceptual approach, which combined the practical demands of architecture with critical and provocative thinking. Their work demonstrated the creative possibilities for architecture to engage beyond the traditional boundaries of an architecture office and the limits of professional concern.
FAT has also been an influential international presence in architectural education at a diverse range of institutions including the AA, the University of Westminster, the RCA, The Bartlett, the University of the Arts, UIC and Yale.
FAT’s final two projects will realise many of the strands that have characterised its work: Pushing the boundaries of architecture, collaboration and working with fine art, a deep interest in the culture of architecture and how architecture relates to wider culture, society and politics.
FAT would like to place on record its thanks to all our collaborators, the students, critics and journalists, who have avidly followed our progress, the outraged BTL commentators who gave us so much entertainment, and above all to the visionary clients who saw the potential for, and who dared to invest in, a unique approach to twenty first century architecture.
FAT’s directors will continue to be a presence as individuals in the fields of architecture, design, art, writing and education.
They remain open to offers for a lucrative reunion in 20 years’ time.
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studio closure appeared first on Dezeen.
Japanese architect Kazuhiko Kishimoto designed the ground floor of this house in Yokohama with barely any walls so it can function as a gallery and seating area for members of the local community (+ slideshow).
Kishimoto, principal of Kanagawa studio acaa, planned the lowest level of the timber-clad Beyond The Hill house as a series of courtyards and wide staircases that stagger downwards to follow the decline of a steeply sloping site.
Wicker cushions encourage people to sit on the staircases, plus there’s also a circular hollow that allows a group to sit together and have lunch.
According to Kishimoto, the client asked for a house that would be open to the community. “My answer to the requirement was to build the house ‘afloat’,” he explained.
“The wood deck, tilted towards the sloped road in front of the house, creates a place where the internal and external areas of the house meet and interact,” he added.
A square courtyard is open to the sky at the centre of the building and sits next to a glazed double-height space that functions as the informal public gallery.
Two staircases within the courtyard lead up to different parts of the building. The first ascends to a small office tucked into the south-east corner of the first floor, while the second leads up into the private spaces of the house.
The kitchen is positioned next to the house’s entrance and is the largest room in the building, as it is used by one of the residents to host cookery classes.
A wide staircase rises up from the kitchen to the second floor, which begins with a dining room. Some stairs curve outwards at the corners to form seats and one extends along the edge of the room to create a worktop.
“In daily life, of course, the space serves as the family’s living room,” said Kishimoto.
Bedrooms are located beyond the dining room. One opens out to a balcony, while the other features a raised platform with storage spaces underneath and a ladder that offers a route up to the roof.
Photography is by Hiroshi Ueda, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a project description from Kazuhiko Kishimoto:
Beyond The Hill
A gallery in the centre creating communications and connecting the house and community
The house stands on a site facing a narrow, steep slope. Across the street is a wood, which promises a pleasant view with fresh greenery in summer and crimson foliage in autumn.
The client’s request was a residential house containing a small gallery and office. The request suggested that the house must be open to the town community. My answer to the requirement was to build the house “afloat”. To be precise, the gallery is the only grounded room, which is surrounded by a breezy and sunny wood deck raised at about 1m.
Round hollow on the deck floor accommodates a round bench, where people can sit and enjoy meals while watching over the wood view. The space may also serve as the external gallery. The wood deck, tilted towards the sloped road in front of the house, created a place where the internal and external areas of the house meet and interacts.
The residential area and office can be approached via respective staircases. The internal space of the residential area consists of a dining kitchen on the right and facing the wood, and a floor on the left, surrounding the courtyard and spirally ascending.
The dining kitchen has a wide counter table suitable for accommodating cooking classes the madam organises, and the uneven floor provides various corners for different number of guests to sit down. In daily life, of course, the space serves as the family’s living room.
Location: Yokohama, Kanagawa
Date of Completion: January 2013
Principal Use: Residence, Office, Small gallery
Site Area: 132.47m2
Total Floor Area: 158.39m2 (66.32m2/1F, 79.00m2/2F, 13.07m2/garage,)
Architecture: Kazuhiko Kishimoto / acaa
Structural Engineer : Takahiro Suwabe
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seating deck and gallery underneath appeared first on Dezeen.
News: architects Rem Koolhaas and Foster + Partners will work alongside Hollywood power-couple Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin to create a new ocean-side cultural quarter at Miami Beach in Florida (+ slideshow).
Faena Miami Beach will include an arts centre by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, a beachside condominium tower by Foster + Partners, and a restoration of the landmark Saxony Hotel by husband-and-wife team Luhrmann and Martin.
The all-star cast has been assembled by Argentinian hotelier and property developer Alan Faena, who presented the plans during the Art Basel and Design Miami fairs in the city earlier this month.
“In Miami Beach we are creating a new epicenter for the city,” Faena said. “Acting as curators, we are commissioning a group of standout talents to create an urban installation without equal.”
Faena Miami Beach will stretch six blocks along Collins Avenue, between 32 Street and 37 Street, and extend from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Creek waterway.
Koolhaas’ Faena Arts Center, due to open next year, consists of a cubic volume and a cylindrical volume, both featuring diagonally banded facades.
The development will also include two further projects by Koolhaas: the Faena Bazaar retail building and Artists-in-Residence Center and Faena Park, an automated car parking garage.
“We were invited to design three buildings – an arts center, retail bazaar and car park,” said Koolhaas. “These distinct functions are linked by a sequence of public domains including a plaza, courtyard and marina dock.”
“Culture is at the core of Faena’s vision, and has been the driving force for our collaboration in Miami Beach,” Koolhaas added. “By curating their neighborhood with programmatic diversity, Alan’s sphere of influence will likely extend beyond this development to the rest of Miami Beach.”
Foster + Partners’ 18-storey residential tower, Faena House, will feature distinctive wraparound, Argentinian-style “alero” covered terraces on each floor (“alero” is the Spanish term for a projecting eave).
“We were talking about the nature of indoor and outdoor living, remarking on how much one used the alero, the outdoor terrace,” said Brandon Haw, senior partner at Foster + Partners. “This really became very much the leitmotif of the project.”
The aleros will be up to 37 feet (3.3 metres) deep and the glazed walls of the apartments will feature sliding glass doors up to 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 metres) wide, allowing the terraces and interior spaces to be used seamlessly.
The building will also feature a lobby with water pools to help cool the ground floor.
Film director Luhrmann and production designer Martin, whose credits include The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge, will oversee the renovation of the Saxony Hotel. Built in 1947, this was once one of the most glamorous luxury hotels at Miami Beach. Luhrmann and Martin will oversee the design of the 168-suite hotel – including the interiors and the staff uniforms – as well as curating entertainment in the theatre, cinema and public spaces. The hotel is due to reopen in December 2014.
The project is the latest in a string of new developments by high-profile European architects in Miami, which is rapidly establishing itself as the most architecturally progressive city in the USA. New apartment towers by Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron and Bjarke Ingels Group have been announced this year, while OMA recently won a competition to rebuild the Miami Beach convention centre.
Faena Miami Beach is the first project outside Argentina by Faena, who previously turned a stretch of abandoned docklands at Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires into a thriving arts-led urban quarter, featuring the Faena Hotel designed by Philippe Starck and the Faena Aleph residential buildings by Foster + Partners.
Visualisations are by Hayes Davidson.
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Hollywood duo on Miami Beach appeared first on Dezeen.
Dutch architecture studio Inbo has completed a transparent house in the Netherlands and has hidden it behind a grove of trees to protect the privacy of its residents (+ slideshow).
The single-storey house, named Villa Sterk, stretches across the full width of its site and features floor-to-ceiling glazing on its two longest sides, allowing views right through the building.
Inbo orientated the house so that its two long facades face north and south. “The location on the lot creates a north and a south facade with a public side and a private side, a sunny side and a shady side,” said the architects.
A dirt track leads up to the house from the nearby road. After passing through the woodland, the route leads into a sheltered driveway that cuts the house into two parts.
The smallest section accommodates a storage area and private office, while the larger side contains the main living spaces, which include an open-plan living and dining room, a pair of bedrooms and a separate study.
The house is raised slightly above the ground, so the architects have added small staircases and a ramp at various points around the perimeter, enabling easy access from the surrounding garden.
“The ground floor floats just above the earth as if the house has not yet ‘landed’ and is a guest in the landscape,” said the architects.
The end walls of the house are made from stone and extend out into the garden, while the glazed elevations feature doors that slide open.
Concrete walls and floors throughout the building’s interior are finished with natural white stone or stucco.
Solar panels have been installed in the garden to provide a self-sufficient energy source. The architects also want to add a folly at the end of the garden where residents can enjoy a cup of tea.
Photography is by Auke van der Weide.
Here’s a project description from Inbo:
Villa Sterk
Living in the countryside
On the outskirts of Bontebok, a village north of Heerenveen, Mr. and Mrs. Sterk have built a very special and interesting house. The long sweeping plot on which the house was built, is tucked away in the Frisian landscape and surrounded by ‘tree walls’, hiding it from the road.
Long lane through the private landscape
The house is designed within the landscape context. By placing the house across the full width of the lot, the lot is divided into a courtyard on the entrance side of the house and into an open landscape garden on the other side.
A long driveway leads the visitor through a small forest and the courtyard to the front door located at the entrance gate leading to the landscaped garden. The lane ends at the southern edge of the plot in the quiet of the countryside. At this point we suggested to make a folly where one can enjoy a cup of tea, while enjoying the silence of the landscape and the view of your home.
Inside and outside space gradually merge together
The architecture supports the spatial seclusion of the place. The location on the lot creates a north and a south facade with a public side and a private side, a sunny side and a shady side. The lot is enclosed by mature tree walls.
Where the tree rampart touches the house, a natural stone wall takes over the guidance of the landscape and at the same time serves as the termination on both short sides of the house. On the south side the stone wall retreats a little and provides a diagonal view of the landscaped garden. The ground floor floats just above the earth as if the house has not yet ‘landed’ and is a guest in the landscape.
Sustainable and energy efficient
The floors, walls and ceilings of the house are made of concrete, finished with natural white stone or stucco. High quality and durable materials that have been used include aluminum frames and high efficiency glass. The heat and cold storage in the ground ensures that no gas is needed. Together with a long narrow strip of solar collectors in the landscape garden, the house is very energy efficient.
Team: Eerde Schippers, Olof Schonewille, Fokke de Vries
Location: Bontebok, The Netherlands
Area: 470 sqm
Project Year: 2013
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behind a grove of trees appeared first on Dezeen.
P is for Peter Zumthor in today’s A-Zdvent calendar window. The Swiss architect designed a Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London in 2011, and was also responsible for the Brother Klaus Field Chapel in Germany (pictured) and a memorial to commemorate suspected witches in Norway.
See more architecture by Peter Zumthor »
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Peter Zumthor appeared first on Dezeen.
Visitors to this lakeside concrete tower in the Netherlands can scale its walls, jog up to an observation deck on its roof, or sail a zip wire across the water from a balcony (+ slideshow).
Designed by Eindhoven studio Ateliereen Architecten, the Beldert Beach Adventure Tower is part of a outdoor activities park surrounding Beldert Lake in the centre of the Netherlands.
Colourful treads are set into the concrete on two sides of the structure, allowing climbers to scramble their way up the entire 19-metre height of the tower and arrive at a viewing platform on the roof.
Those less willing to climb can take the stairs, which wind up through the centre of the tower but burst through the walls in three places before ending up at the top.
“Functionality and visibility were the basic principles for this design,” said architect Bram Hurkens. “We choose a clear shape, which is formed by the stairs, going inside and outside of the structure.”
Bright yellow balustrades allow the staircase to stand out against the concrete, and match one of the three colours used for the climbing treads.
“This way the route up is marked and the building has a cheerful and sunny appearance,” added Hurkens.
The zip line is attached to a balcony 11 metres above the ground, while a kiosk is located at the base of the tower offering drinks and snacks.
The tower was constructed from 11 prefabricated concrete modules stacked on top of one another.
“The tower is designed in such way that the centre of gravity is always located above the footprint,” said the architect.
The Beldert Beach logo was imprinted into the concrete during the casting process.
Here’s a project description from Ateliereen Architecten:
Adventure tower in concrete at Beldert Beach
For our client in the Betuwe – Holland Evenementen Groep – Ateliereen designed an adventure tower at Beldert Beach, which is a recreational lake.
The tower can be used for climbing and other group activities and there is a small kiosk included in the building. There is a viewing platform at a height of nineteen meters, which offers a view over the water, the wide area and the Holland Evenementen Groep.
Functionality and visibility were the basic principles for this design. We choose a clear shape, which is formed by the stairs, going inside and outside of the structure. The stairs have a prominent, bright yellow colour. This way the route up is marked and the building has a cheerful and sunny appearance.
The tower is constructed in prefab concrete rings, a robust material with a high-quality finish. The function of the tower is recognisable because the coloured climbing routes contrast with the silver-like background. The project is an addition to the activities of the Holland Evenementen Groep and a new impulse for the beach.
The eleven prefabricated concrete rings all have unique dimensions. In the rings at the top, the logo of Beldert Beach is poured into the surface, so no flags are needed.
The rings are approximately 3 x 5 meters. The peculiarity of casting these rings is that only one mold is used, which had to be converted after each ring working from the biggest element to the smallest.
Moreover, the architectural concrete requires a high quality surface with little room for errors. The different sloping walls have been an extra challenge whilst pouring and stacking. The tower is designed in such way that the centre of gravity is always located above the footprint, also during the stacking of the rings.
The kiosk is built with prefabricated walls. By opening the yellow shutters guests are invited to buy a snack at the counter.
Completion: November 2013
Client: Holland Evenementen Groep, Zoelen
Architect: Ateliereen Architecten, Eindhoven
Building contractor: Van Arnhem Bouwgroep, Culemborg
Concrete manufacturer: Mombarg Beton B.V., Doetinchem
Copyright pictures: Ateliereen Architecten
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tower features a climbing wall and zip line appeared first on Dezeen.
Following our exclusive interview with architect Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron last week on the studio’s recently completed Pérez Art Museum Miami, our new Pinterest board focuses on the Swiss firm. See our new Herzog & de Meuron Pinterest board »
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Herzog & de Meuron appeared first on Dezeen.
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