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News: architect Daniel Libeskind has unveiled plans to build an angular apartment block in Berlin that will feature a gleaming metallic facade.

Daniel Libeskind, whose previous Berlin projects include the Jewish Museum, designed the eight-storey building for a corner plot on Chausseestrasse, in the Mitte district of Berlin.

Set to complete in 2015, the building will accommodate shops at ground level and 73 residences on its upper storeys.

The facade will be clad using a specially developed stoneware tile with a reflective metallic coating, which the studio claims will be both self-cleaning and air-purifying.

Large asymmetric windows will be added to maximise natural light within the building and parking will be located underground.

A penthouse apartment at the front will feature a double-height living room, as well as a roof terrace looking out across the city.

Describing the building, Libeskind commented: “Even as my studio is often called upon to design skyscrapers these days, I continue to love to build homes, the basic unit of human life.”

Here’s a more detailed description from Studio Daniel Libeskind:

Daniel Libeskind returns to Berlin to build and apartment building in centre of city

Studio Daniel Libeskind has just unveiled the design for a residential building in Berlin that, upon completion in 2015, is expected to brighten the already emerging neighbourhood of Chausseestrasse. With large angular windows designed to catch maximum light, canted walls, and a metallic-­coated ceramic facade, the 107,000 sq. ft. (10,000 m2) Chausseestrasse 43 occupies the corner of a block in central Berlin. Says the architect: “Even as my studio is often called upon to design skyscrapers these days, I continue to love to build homes, the basic unit of human life.” In this case, Libeskind is adding a dash of brightness and transparency to a key spot in Berlin, one that also happens to be located directly opposite the headquarters of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service.

Daniel Libeskind’s challenge was to create 73 desirable one-­ to four-bedroom apartments on a more or less rectangular plot a little less than half an acre (16,000 sq. ft.), accommodating attractive retail on the ground floor, underground parking, and a common outdoor area. The architect achieved this and more. The dramatic coda is found at the top, where a penthouse apartment, perched on the prow of the building, embodies the ultimate in inside/outside urban living. Here, a double-­height living room is lined on one side by a sloping wall of obliquely shaped windows, which leads out to a patio overlooking Berlin. A floating stairway ascends to an open-plan living area, bedrooms are tucked into the rear, and the ceiling sweeps up to a height of 21 feet.

The facade cladding is an innovative three­‐dimensional stoneware tile that Libeskind designed with the Italian company Casalgrande Padana. The geometric ceramic panels not only create an expressive metallic pattern, but they possess surprising sustainable properties such as air purification and they are self-­cleaning.

This cathedral for modern living occupies a piece of land where the Wulffersche iron factory once operated before being expropriated from its Jewish owners during World War II.

The Berlin-­based real estate developer, MINERVA, is handling the technical and economic implementation of Chausseestrasse 43 in partnership with the Berlin-based property developer, econcept. The 20­-year-old MINERVA specialises in real estate development for commercial and residential projects, such as the contemporary Alexander Parkside apartment and hotel complex that recently opened in Berlin. Econcept specialises in the construction of new residential buildings, such as the Palais KolleBelle, a new residential complex in Berlin inspired by the architecture of 19th-­century Paris.

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apartment block for Berlin appeared first on Dezeen.

A collection of vintage Aston Martins can be glimpsed through the fritted glass facade of this house in Maastricht, the Netherlands, by Dutch studio Wiel Arets Architects.

Named V House, the three-storey residence is sandwiched between two historic buildings in a part of the city where new structures have to match the scale of their surroundings.

Wiel Arets Architects designed the building with an asymmetric glass facade so that the edge of the roof slopes between the eaves of its neighbours, creating an angular plane facing up towards the sky.

The glazed wall is fritted at the base to maintain some privacy for residents, while thin curtains hang behind.

In contrast, the rear facade is made up concrete frames infilled with windows. A large void opens the ground floor up to the elements, creating a space for storing around seven or eight vintage cars.

“Due to the house’s very narrow site, the intention was to increase the amount of natural daylight that enters it, at both its front and rear,” project architect Alex Kunnen told Dezeen.

“Without the void that has been cut into the maximum volume in the rear, the house would have been far too dark. And so the fully glazed front facade and the back void work in tandem,” added the architect.

Two separate staircases lead up from the parking level to the first floor above. The first is a “fast” stair that ascends to every floor, while the second is a “slow” route that climbs gently towards a living room at the back of the house.

“It was always the intention to have two paths of circulation,” said Kunnen, “foremost for safety reasons due to the house’s large size, but also because the multiple paths of circulation create various cinematographic scenes throughout the house while they are being experienced.”

A fully glazed living room is contained within a suspended structure, hanging from a pair of I-beams that span the site at the rear. A combined kitchen and dining room sit just beyond and features a 3.5-metre cantilevered dining table.

The bedroom occupies the second floor, alongside an office that can be transformed into a guest suite by folding a bed down from the wall.

Glass doors open out to one roof terrace at the rear, plus a staircase leads up to a second terrace at the very top of the building.

Storage is built into the walls to minimise clutter, and heating and cooling systems are built into the floors.

Residents use iPhones to remotely open and close the house’s entrances, so there are no handles or keyholes anywhere around the exterior.

Photography is by Jan Bitter, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from Wiel Arets Architects:

V House

V House was constructed for a couple that collects vintage cars, and is stitched within the medieval tapestry of historic Maastricht. The city dictates all new structures remain within the envelope of pre-existing buildings, and so a cut was created in the house’s front façade to generate a triangulated surface, which leads from one neighbour’s sloped roof to the opposite neighbour’s vertical bearing wall.

As the house’s site is long and narrow, voids were cut into the maximum permitted volume to ensure that natural light spills throughout the interior. The ground floor is both open to the exterior elements and sunken to the rear of the site, which makes possible the maximum two-story height allowance. A covered portion of this exterior space serves as an outdoor parking garage for the owners’ collection of Aston Martins.

As the house finds refuge between two historical buildings, it is a burst of modernity within this currently gentrifying neighborhood of Maastricht. The house is enormous, totaling 530 m2, and is entered through two oversized sliding glass doors that perforate its front façade. These doors serve as the house’s main entry and open to either their left or right for entry by foot, and both simultaneously retract to allow the entry of automobiles.

Due to safety and privacy concerns, these glass entry doors have no handles or keyholes and are instead are remotely opened from any iPhone, from anywhere in the world. For further privacy the house’s front façade was fritted with a gradient pattern of dots, which disperse in placement as the house rises towards the sky and focus at a distance to compose an image of curtains fluttering in the wind. Actual curtains align the interior of the front façade to afford additional privacy.

Circulation throughout the house occurs via two paths. A ‘slow’ stair leads from the ground floor to the expansive living room, which is connected to the partially raised kitchen and dining areas by a small ramp. A ‘fast’ stairwell traverses the entire height of the house and, together with the platform elevator, allows for direct vertical shortcuts to all levels of living.

Thus this house, with its multiple circulation interventions, such as its living room ramp and ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ paths, is organised not around the traditional notion of stacked floors and is instead organised around its circulatory section. At the apex of this ‘fast’ route is the entrance to an expansive roof terrace that’s also the most public space of the house, as it offers panoramic views over the spired roofline of Maastricht.

The living room has been suspended from two I-beams that span two masonry bearing walls that surround the rear of the site. Steel tension rods measuring 5×10 cm extend from these I-beams into the almost fully glazed façade of the living room, which allows its volume to float above the Aston Martins below. For privacy reasons, this glazing was treated with a highly reflective coating that casts a hue of chartreuse or amber depending on the season and angle of the sun. Only when inhabiting the master bedroom is this hanging of the living room apparent, as the I-beams are visible from the master bedroom, which opens onto the living room’s roof, which functions as a private terrace for the owners.

Heating and cooling is provided via a concrete core activation system concealed within the floors and ceilings of the house, while all storage is built into the circulatory areas in order to divide spaces and define rooms. These custom designed storage units also outfit the office space, where they conceal a bed that can be lowered to accommodate temporary visitors, such as the owners’ now grown children. All storage areas recede in prominence due to their fluid integration, which allows the house’s interior to remain flexible and open for ephemeral definition.

The one-piece custom designed kitchen was constructed in stainless steel, and the dining table, which is connected to it, cantilevers 3.5 m toward the front façade. The custom furnishings and storage spaces, together with the in-situ concrete and multiple roof terraces, make the V’ house an expression of free space in a regulated heritage context.

Program: Housing
Size: 530 m2
Date of design: 2006-2010
Date of completion: 2013
Project team: Wiel Arets, Alex Kunnen, Joris Lens, Breg Horemans, Felix Thies, Daniel Meier
Collaborators: Francois Steul
Client: Private
Consultants: Palte BV, Wetering Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV, Permasteelisa BV

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for a vintage car collector appeared first on Dezeen.

The translucent polycarbonate walls of this house in Hiroshima by Japanese architects Suppose Design Office allow natural light to flood the interior from all sides (+ slideshow).

Named House of Tousuienn, the three-storey building was designed by Suppose Design Office as the residence of a family of five, who also requested a space for storing and repairing a collection of motorcycles.

The long and narrow shape of the site dictated the shape of the house. It is surrounded on three sides by neighbouring buildings, so the architects added translucent cladding to allow light to permeate the interior without comprising residents’ privacy.

“Most exterior walls are thick and heavy,” said the architects. “For the House of Tousuien, we used a thin and translucent material to replace the regular exterior walls, where natural light can be maximised in the interior space.”

Windows are made from the same material as the walls, so they don’t offer any additional light but can be opened to allow residents to let fresh air into the building.

At night, lights glowing from within transform the building into a huge lightbox along the streetscape.

“The client can fully experience [the] change of the surrounding nature inside the house with a warm and bright space,” added the architects.

A steel structure made up of I-beams is on show inside the building and has been painted white. Concrete ceilings are left exposed, while the floors encompass a mixture of concrete and timber.

The motorcycle room occupies the entire ground floor and features wide sliding doors for easy access.

A small maintenance room sits in the centre of the space, while bicycles can be stored behind a staircase leading to the living spaces above.

A kitchen, dining room and living room are grouped together on the first floor, with a bathroom positioned behind.

On the uppermost floor, an enclosed children’s room in the middle of the space creates a barrier between two larger bedrooms on either side.

Photography is by Toshiyuki Yano, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a short project description from Suppose Design Office:

The House of Tousuien

The House of Tousuien is located in a quiet residential area, and it is designed for a couple and 3 children. The three sides of this house are surrounded by other residence buildings, and the shape of the site forces the house to stay long and narrow.

Most exterior walls are thick and heavy, where windows are added to balance out the heavy look of the exterior. For the House of Tousuien, we used a thin and translucent material to replace the regular exterior walls, where natural light can be maximised in the interior space.

In the House of Tousuien the client can fully experience change of the surrounding nature inside the house with a warm and bright space.

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has translucent plastic walls appeared first on Dezeen.

A bridge over a stream connects the two sides of this concrete house in India by Mumbai firm Architecture Brio (+ slideshow).

House on a Stream was designed by Architecture Brio as a weekend retreat near the town of Alibag, on a site with a stream meandering through it.

The architects chose to separate the master bedroom from the main part of the house containing the kitchen, dining room, living room and guest bedroom by arranging them on either side of the stream.

Monolithic concrete boxes containing the various rooms rest on the uneven ground and cantilever over the water, while trees grow in the gaps between.

“Like an organism trying to make most use of its resources and surroundings, the house with its several limbs reaches out into the landscape, making full use of the views within the site and dramatises special moments: a beautiful tree, a view of the mountains beyond or the cascading stream during the monsoon rains,” said the architects.

A walkway covered by a pergola links the bridge with the entrance to the larger part of the house. Next to it, a narrow swimming pool follows the course of the stream and adjoins a sheltered verandah that becomes an extension of the dining room when sliding doors are pulled back.

The living room and both bedrooms also feature doors that can be slid or folded back to open these spaces onto outdoor decks that bring the occupants closer to the surrounding nature.

The kitchen is located at the centre of the house, with a high ceiling containing a skylight contributing to the bright space, around which the other rooms are arranged.

By offsetting these surrounding rooms and raising the level of the living area, the architects intended to give each space a sense of autonomy, while strategically positioned windows create views from one part of the building to another.

Concrete cast against wooden planks gives the building’s exterior a textured finish, which will be enhanced as it gains additional patina over time. The natural aesthetic is enhanced by timber screens that cast delicate shadows on the floors and walls.

Photography is by Sebastian Zachariah.

The following project description is from the architects:

House on a stream

Landscape

With a stream running through the house, this retreat in Alibag is delicately woven into the landscape, alternately opening up and closing itself to the different characteristics of the site.

A multitude of medicinal and fruit bearing trees provide for an intimate ambiance and comfortable microclimate. Though seasonal, the stream bed allows for an interesting landscape feature throughout the year. The house is placed on the banks of the stream where it makes a sudden S-curve. A short walk along the stream before entering the house builds up an element of anticipation.

Like an organism trying to make most use of its resources and surroundings, the house with its several limbs reaches out into the landscape making full use of the views within the site and dramatises special moments: a beautiful tree, a view of the mountains beyond or the cascading stream during the monsoon rains. What started out as a Cartesian response to the site became deformed, stretched and pushed in.

Program

The house consists of two parts: the day areas of the house such as the dining/kitchen, the living room and entrance verandah are separated from the master bedroom by a bridge that spans across the stream.

Since the owners are passionate about cooking, the kitchen is made the heart and centre of the house, a large, inviting volume with a high ceiling and a skylight that floods the space with light.

This space forms the anchor of the house from where its various limbs branch out into the landscape around existing components of the site. The living room on the left is lifted off the ground to have a panoramic view of the mountain range in the distance. The guest room embraces an existing tree to create a courtyard and just peeks across the dining room to have a view over the length of the stream. The pool is aligned along the stream acting as a celebration of it during the monsoons, and a memory of it during the dry season.

Orientation

The orientation of the program is based on climatic considerations. The bedrooms are mostly west facing with large verandahs and get the evening sun.

The living rooms faces east once again with a large verandah. The kitchen, dining, and pool areas all look towards the north and are shaded by large trees. The south façade of the house is predominately closed and more solid with the exception of a picture window that frames the view out from the pantry to the fields beyond.

Monolithic character

While the external structural concrete shell contracts and expands in plan in section it does so as well. The external form of the house responds to site and its orientation and flows from high to low in accordance with the monolithic fluidity of its form. Internally, however, it responds to the creation of space, and directs the eye to frame a particular view.

The outside and inside are therefore apart and internal spaces are defined with volumes created by the changing thickness of the internal ceiling.

The heaviness of this mass however is reversed by the lightness of the white washed walls and ceilings. A central skylight and large sliding doors, which span from floor to ceiling and wall to wall bring in the outside into the interiors. The cantilevered ‘limbs’ of the living room and two bedrooms defy the heaviness of the concrete volumes. By not resting it on the ground the relationship with the landscape paradoxically is strengthened.

Internal relationships

A series of asymmetrical axis create a path of discovery through the house. The arrival path is aligned with the axis of the pergola, which embracing the pool enters the dining room on the left side. One corner of the dining room overlaps with the conically shaped volume of the kitchen. By shifting the axis of the dining room off the axis of the kitchen and raising the level of the living room, this becomes a more secluded space.

Furthermore it allows a glazed door in the kitchen to open up to the outside and view along the external living room wall. At strategic positions in the house steel framed box windows protrude through the concrete walls. Placed symmetrically on the interior walls they highlight specific elements of the site, such as the bark of a tree, or peek from the master pavilion to the main house.

Materialisation

The house is cast in plank-finished concrete with a vertical grain. The homogenous materialisation emphasises the sculptural quality of the house that is moulding itself about the site. Concrete being left exposed in the humid Indian climate, attracts a patina that becomes more rich and alive over time. More so the grey textured surface provides a muted surface against the vibrant green surrounding.

Elegant timber screens further soften the greyness of the con- crete. They not only form a buffer between the interior space and the exteriors, but also create an intensive play of shadow and light on the floors and walls.

Description: Weekend house
Location: Jirad, Alibaug, Mumbai, India
Size: 300 m2
Design: Architecture BRIO, Robert Verrijt + Shefali Balwani
Structural design: Vijay K. Patil & Associates
Realisation: September 2013

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that straddles a stream in India appeared first on Dezeen.

News: students from the Bartlett School of Architecture have cleaned up at the RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards this evening, with winning projects including a floating community centre for the Helsinki archipelago and a proposal to rebuild 250 Russian churches.

The medals, which are awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to three architecture graduates, have for the first time in the programme’s history been given to individuals who all studied at the same university – the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.

Ben Hayes received the Bronze Silver Medal for his project Kizhi Island, which proposes the reconstruction of 250 wooden Orthodox churches on a six-kilometre-wide isle in northern Russia.

The Part II graduate analysed the influence of romanticism on the ecclesiastical architecture of the former Soviet Union, before designing a museum and restoration centre to facilitate the dismantling and restoration of different kinds of churches.

The Silver Bronze Medal was awarded to Part I graduate Ness Lafoy for her design for a community hub serving the 50,000 residents of the archipelago surrounding Helsinki.

The conceptual Helsinki Archipelago Town Hall comprises a floating clubhouse and hotel to accommodate islanders travelling to the mainland. It would incorporate a postal service for remote islands, as well as a council meeting place for addressing transport issues.

The Dissertation Medal, which is awarded in recognition of a research project, was given to Tamsin Hanke for Magnitogorsk: Utopian vision of spatial socialism. This theoretical research explores how a socialist political ideology was developed in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk between 1930 and 1953.

Speaking about the winners, RIBA President Stephen Hodder said: “They overcame intense competition from the best students of architecture around the world and truly shined with their innovative, challenging and thought-provoking projects.”

“This is an unprecedented achievement,” said Bartlett director Marcos Cruz. “It’s due to the extraordinary talent and dedication of our students and staff. It is also a reflection of the school’s commitment to keeping our staff and students at the forefront of innovation, ideas, and excellence in architecture.”

The medal recipients were announced in a ceremony this evening at the RIBA headquarters in London.

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all go to one London school appeared first on Dezeen.