News: London firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has won a competition to design the new Scotland Yard headquarters for the London Metropolitan Police.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), who are currently also working on Google’s new London headquarters, will renovate the riverside Curtis Green building in Whitehall – a former police station – to replace the existing New Scotland Yard building in Westminster.
The architects propose “a police headquarters that will be more open and accessible, and will help the Met reconnect with the public.” It will feature a new public entrance pavilion, extensions to the existing building and a series of public spaces, designed in collaboration with specialist architects Haverstock.
The well-known revolving sign will be retained and relocated, as will the Eternal Flame and Roll of Honour.
The old revolving sign will be retained and relocated to the new building
Paul Monaghan, a director at AHMM, said: “This is a very important project for AHMM with the opportunity to work with one of the most significant and longest established law enforcement bodies in the world. We look forward to working with the Metropolitan Police Service to develop a building that supports them in their changing role within the city.”
The police will move into the new building in 2015, while the old building will be sold to raise funds that will be reinvested in frontline policing.
“Through the careful extension of the public realm across the site and consideration of its neighbours in massing and materiality terms, these proposals will serve to strengthen this cohesion,” said RIBA competitions adviser Bill Taylor.
“Weaving the heritage and culture of the Metropolitan Police into the fabric of the building and the spaces that surround it, the proposals strike a balance between respect for what already exists and the desire of the client to present a new, open and progressive face to the community they serve,” he added.
Gabion walls, concrete staircases and huge rocks frame the spaces of this public park in Zaragoza by Spanish architects Héctor Fernández Elorza and Manuel Fernández Ramírez (+ slideshow).
Venecia Park spans a 415-metre stretch beside a ring road on the outskirts of the city, forming a gateway to the residential neighbourhoods to the south.
Architects Héctor Fernández Elorza and Manuel Fernández Ramírez, who previously teamed up on a park elsewhere in the city, were asked to overcome three issues – a 14-metre level change across the site, regular flooding caused by heavy rainfall and noise from the adjacent road.
The largest space in the park is a sunken concrete plaza in the south-west corner. Staircases lead down to it from all four corners, while the surrounding walls offer protection from the strong prevailing winds.
Most of the time this space can function as a pedestrian space, but it also doubles as an overflow basin for rainwater, reducing the impact of flooding to the surrounding residential areas.
To create a sound barrier and deal with the level change, the architects designed a system of rammed-earth banks to run along the north-west border of the park and fronted them with four staggered gabion walls, made from steel cages and stones.
Another sound barrier was required along the south-west side so the architects specified a wall made from oversized rocks, which they refer to as the “cyclopean wall”.
“This wall is conceived as an icon that characterises the new neighbourhood,” they said.
Young trees have been planted along some of the pathways, while metal shelters mark the location of viewpoints and ramps lead on towards the nearby canal.
“Venecia Park is a carefully planned topographical operation that complements the acoustic functions and flow-forming processes, in addition to providing green spaces to the city,” added the architects.
The green space within sector 88/1, known as Venecia Park, is located at its north-western limits, running parallel to the Ronda Hispanidad Avenue between the Calle Zafiro Roundabout and the historic channel of the Imperial Canal of Aragón. The project encompasses a linear urban infrastructure, averaging 415 metres in length and 60 metres in width: a surface area of approximately 2.5 hectares. It was required to address three issues: the resolution of an acoustic problem, the evacuation of rainfall deposits and the question of topography.
The sound issue caused by road traffic on the Ronda Hispanidad (Third Ring Road) affecting neighbouring dwellings, requires the establishment of a sound barrier to include the whole north-western border of the park. The existing topographical ground level difference between ground-level of the new residential quarter and the ring road reaches a maximum height of 14 metres, where the containment of the terrain is resolved by means of a system of reinforced earth walls. This is made up four steps set apart from one another by 1.50 metres, composed of a galvanised steel mesh and large gravel stones, thus forming a sound barrier that will protect future residential developments in the area.
To the far south-west of the park, where no significant topographical difference is noticeable, the issue of sound containment is resolved by means of a Cyclopean wall 100 metres long with a maximum height of 10 metres. This wall is moreover conceived as an icon that characterises the new neighbourhood and also provides access to the underground square or mill basin situated in its extrados.
This laminar flow basin is designed to cope with the intense rainfall that affects the area, thus preventing floodwaters from emptying into the municipal network, whose diameter and capacity are insufficient to deal with such heavy quantities of rainwater. This compound with its large surface area (3,150 m2), whose use as a laminar flow space will be conditioned by the frequency and intensity of local rainfall, has been conceived and designed as an urban space or pedestrian square for most of the year and a welcome area of shelter from the unpleasant Cierzo wind which blows in this upper area of the city. Four stairs situated at the corners provide access to the underground square, connecting with the adjacent neighbourhood and the city level. The incorporation of sufficiently wide ramps situated within the sound barrier wall gives access to service and maintenance vehicles and a more ample use of the compound.
Finally Venecia Park is a carefully planned topographical operation that complements the acoustic functions and flow-forming processes described above in addition to providing green spaces to the city. All this is structured spatially over the Ronda Hispanidad by means of staggered interconnecting platforms in a linear or extended link-up of little squares (hard and soft), viewing points protected with light metallic pergolas, extensive groves of pines and pedestrian ramps leading to the historic heritage site of Aragón’s Imperial Canal.
Spanish firm YLAB Arquitectos has completed a faceted house on the outskirts of Barcelona that appears to have been stretched down a hill.
Located beside the Collserola Natural Park, the three-storey family home is constructed on a small plot, so YLAB Arquitectos designed the building as a simple cube then distorted it to make better use of space and viewpoints.
“The objectives of the project were to get the maximum possible building area within a tight budget and an optimised orientation of all openings while protecting the privacy of the owners,” said the architects.
“The upper faces are extruded upwards to form the roof,” they continued. “The side faces rotate to frame significant scenic moments, mindful of the neighbours’ privacy.”
The house is constructed from concrete and features a white-rendered exterior with seamless edges.
Windows and doors can be concealed behind perforated aluminium shutters that sit flush with the walls.
A double-height kitchen and dining room is positioned on the upper-ground floor and includes drawers, cupboards and counters built from dark-tinted elm, while the lower-ground floor contains a living room and studio with access to the garden.
Stone provides flooring throughout the the house and lines the walls of a top-floor bathroom. The main bedroom is also on this floor.
A Corten steel fence encloses the site and features vertical slits that offer glimpsed views of the house from the street.
The project is situated in the Vallvidrera neighbourhood, a residential area with views overlooking the city of Barcelona, surrounded by the Collserola natural park, in a very sloped and small plot situated between a valley and a pine forest.
The objectives of the project were to get the maximum possible building area within a tight budget and an optimised orientation of all openings while protecting the privacy of the owners. To achieve this, a compact three level volume was created.
The geometry arises directly from the plot given geometry and slope, reinterpreting the aesthetic of the site’s vernacular architecture with its sloped roof, widening on the upper floors to gain some additional area. Formally the volume is a single cube in which every face has been divided into four quadrants. The upper faces are extruded upwards to form the roof. The side faces rotate to frame significant scenic moments, mindful of the neighbours’ privacy.
The façade consists of a continuous skin that provides the same matt white aspect to walls, roofs and openings. The fixed windows are made of glass panes totally flush with the façade, and the operating ones have a white perforated aluminium shutter also installed flush with the skin.
A perforated Corten steel front fence at the low end of the plot gives pedestrian and car access to the property. The exterior spaces are formed by two terraces and the sloped areas have been modelled forming triangulated ramps. Pavements are made in multi-coloured slat, typical of this area, using long narrow tiles for the plane zones, and smaller irregular pieces on sloping ones.
The entrance level is composed by the first dormitory, the bath and the kitchen with a dining room area. The kitchen is in a double height space with two large windows that offer the best views over the valley. In the upper level there is the master bedroom and its bath, both oriented to the pine forest at the back side of the plot.
The semi-buried lower floor is formed by the technical and storage rooms, a living room and a studio both with access to the garden. In the interior of the house the floors and bathroom walls are covered with Capri natural stone and the walls and doors are finished in ivory white colour paint. In the double height area, large built-in dark tinted elm furniture builds the kitchen and dining area wall furniture and the island, ascending to the upper floor to form the master dormitory cupboards. 
Architecture and interior design: YLAB Arquitectos, Barcelona Authors: Tobias Laarmann and Yolanda Yuste Project: One family house edification Client: Private Area: 286.91 square metres Location: Vallvidrera, Barcelona
Craftsmen: Coter de Construcciones, Ebanistería Agüera Structure and walls: prefabricated pieces of celullar concrete by Ytong Facade outer skin: single layer coating Weber.Pral Terra Cemarksa, white painted Roof covering: ceramic pieces Colortech, by Tau Cerámica Outdoor paving: Dark rusty grey slate Metallic fence: Corten steel sheets cut and folded, designed by YLAB Interior flooring: polished Capri natural limestone Walls and ceilings: ivory white matt plastic paint
Movie: a recently completed concrete house in São Paulo is depicted as a luxury home from the 1950s in the latest architecture film by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan.
Kogan, founder of São Paulo office Studio MK27, worked with film producer Lea van Steen to produce the movie, which is entitled Modern Living and based on a Bauhaus film by the late architect Richard Paulick.
The movie centres around Casa Pinheiro, a family house comprising rectilinear concrete blocks that appear to be stacked on top of one another at perpendicular angles.
A large living and dining room occupies the ground floor of the building and can be opened out to the garden by sliding glass walls, while the middle floor accommodates four bedrooms with access to a roof deck and the uppermost level contains a separate family room.
In the film, these spaces are presented as “the latest innovations in housing construction and technology,” filled with gadgets and space-saving solutions, such as a built-in vacuum cleaner and chutes for laundry and rubbish.
A garage is tucked away in the basement and is shown in the movie as the storage area for the owner’s classic Corvette.
Security is also highlighted in the film, as a housekeeper demonstrates how post can be collected “in total isolation from the outside world” and how every space can be monitored using a CCTV system.
The Pinheiro house is a puzzle game. Rotating three volumes around one nucleus generated not only a particular spatial dynamic, but also different visual relations between empty and full, between the private and semiprivate areas and the view of the city.
The site is located on the other side of the Pinheiros River, one of the main rivers that define and cut into the city of São Paulo, in an essentially residential neighborhood, Morumbi. From there it is possible to see the entire valley filled with gardened houses, the river and, on the other margin, another hill, the corporate area of the city drawing the metropolitan skyline with its typical skyscrapers.
The program boasts three floors: a garden, a terrace with fireplace and barbecue, home theatre, dining and living rooms, washroom, kitchen, four bedrooms, office and family room. In the basement: a garage, laundry room, utility rooms and a gym. The nucleus of the circulation is made of a continuous staircase joined in a structural wall. This block, which organises the structure and distributes the fluxes, is the pivot around which the boxes revolve.
The volumes are developed to create constant and distinct relations between the inner and outer spaces. The bedrooms on the second floor look out to the pool and take advantage of the deck above the roof of the living and dining rooms. The box comprising the bedrooms projects outwards over both sides of the first box. From one side, the cantilever determines the main entrance of the house and, on the other, it shades the terrace.
The spiral movement continues with the third box, supported by the second and projecting outwards over the first. It shades the window of the master bedroom and part of the deck while, simultaneously, creates new visual relations with the other bedrooms and the terrace.
All of the boxes are bare concrete frames. The living room and the bedrooms have their sides closed by freijó wooden folding panels which filter the light and allow for permanent crossed ventilation. The family room, on the top floor is enclosed by glass, to preserve the view.
The result strengthens interactions, the crossing of eye views and vectors through the garden: eyes that see the view and the treetops around the pool, eyes that are turned back to the house itself, its volumetry and, above all else, to its own life.
Project: Pinheiro House Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Architecture: Studio MK27 Architect: Marcio Kogan Co-architect: Lair Reis Interiors: Diana Radomysler
Collaborators: Carolina Castroviejo, Carlos Costa, Laura Guedes, Mariana Simas, Oswaldo Pessano, Suzana Glogowski Team: Andrea Macruz, Samanta Cafardo, Renata Furlanetto Architecture collaborator: Fernanda Reiva
London studio 6a Architects has extended the home of architecture critic Rowan Moore and his family by adding a timber structure that curves around a tree (+ slideshow).
The extension was designed by 6a Architects to provide a new ground-floor bedroom and bathroom for the London house, which is an amalgamation of two cottages constructed in the 1830s.
A ramped corridor runs parallel to the existing house, negotiating a gentle change in level and allowing access for the mother of the family, who uses a wheelchair.
This corridor connects the house’s living room with the new bedroom suite, which extends out into the garden.
The exterior of the structure is clad with reclaimed timber, while white-painted timber panels line the interior walls.
Glazed doors open the space out to a curving timber deck that surrounds the sumac tree and steps down to the garden.
The family home has been re-orientated so that the mother of a busy family remains central to all the activity whether resting in the garden, eating with her children or entertaining as she becomes more reliant on her wheelchair.
Italian designer Luca Nichetto has created a pavilion in Beijing with a facade covered in 1200 vertical brass tubes (+ slideshow).
Nichetto‘s pavilion sits within a garden and houses a range of design showrooms.
The tube facade is a reference to blades of grass and the landscaped setting in which the pavilion sits.
The brass tubes will oxidise and change colour naturally as time passes.
Behind the facade sit large bronze monoliths with generous windows revealing the exhibition spaces inside.
The reception and business area in the centre is clad in elm wood recycled from old houses in the Hebei province.
White plaster and concrete floors provide a plain backdrop for the products on sale in the showrooms.
The first floor mezzanine is lit by a large skylight, which is embedded within the exposed concrete beams.
The railings are decorated with gridded lattice work that references the plan of the building, and the same pattern is used for the window in the reception area, rugs and air-conditioning grids.
The pavilion opened to coincide with Beijing Design Week, which took place from 26 September to 3 October.
A cluster of seven house-shaped buildings makes up this cancer care centre in Næstved, Denmark, by Copenhagen firm EFFEKT (+ slideshow).
Rather than designing the facility as one large structure, EFFEKT planned a series of domestic-scale buildings with gabled roof profiles and arranged them around a pair of courtyards on a site at the Næstved Hospital.
“Varying roof heights and materials means that the building will have its own unique architectural character that clearly distinguishes it from the surrounding hospital buildings,” said the architects.
White fibre-cement boards are arranged horizontally across the exterior walls and roof of each block, apart from two facades that are clad in vertical timber boards to signify the positions of entrances.
The building was commissioned by the Danish Cancer Society and provides a centre where anyone affected by cancer can find out more about the illness or receive counselling. It is located close to the hospital’s cancer ward, providing easy access for patients and family members.
Each house-shaped building provides a different function and they include a library, a kitchen, private meeting rooms, a lounge, a shop, a gym and a healthcare facility.
“The houses offer a wide range of rooms for informal advice, therapy and interaction with a focus on the user’s comfort and wellbeing,” explained the architects.
Two courtyards are positioned between the buildings and feature paved areas filled with garden furniture.
Bookshelves cover entire walls, integrating small window seats, while a mixture of homely furnishings feature throughout.
Other cancer-care facilities we’ve featured include a series of Maggie’s Centres, which were developed in the UK to provide support to anyone affected by cancer and have been designed by architects including Snøhetta and OMA. See more Maggie’s Centres »
Livsrum – Cancer Counselling Centre, Næstved, Denmark
Livsrum is EFFEKT’s project in the competition for a new cancer counselling centre at Næstved Hospital in Denmark in collaboration with Hoffmann and Lyngkilde.
The centre is designed as a cluster of seven small houses around two green outdoor spaces.
Each house has its own specific function and together they form a coherent sequence of different spaces and functions such as a library, kitchen, conversation rooms, lounge, shops, gym, and wellness facilities.
The house offers a wide range of different rooms for informal advice, therapy and interaction with a focus on the users’ comfort and wellbeing.
A varying roof height and materials used means that the building will have its own unique architectural character that clearly distinguishes it from the surrounding hospital buildings.
With the location of the cancer counselling centre close to the hospital’s cancer ward, it is set for a closer collaboration between hospital staff and the Danish Cancer Society.
Photograph by the architects
In the spring of 2013 the Danish Cancer Society staff and volunteers in Næstved expects to offer cancer patients and caregivers a warm welcome in the new cancer counselling centre.
Exterior 3D diagram
Client: The Danish Cancer Society Architect: EFFEKT Engineers: Lyngkilde Contractor: Hoffmann
Interior 3D diagram
Size: 740 square metres Type: Cancer counselling centre Site: Næstved, Copenhagen, Denmark
Focus sur le travail des architectes d’Enota qui ont transformé ce monastère dominicain de plus de 800 ans située à Ptuj en Slovénie. En utilisant du béton noir pour contraster et moderniser ce lieu en une salle de performance, le résultat visuellement très réussi est à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.
Leaving behind the hippie farmers market vibe in favor of greener pastures with a more modern aesthetic, Oakland, California’s Juniper Ridge is becoming increasingly popular for their distinct scents and…
Concrete canopies shaped like leaves shelter the rooms of this house in the coastal town of Alibaug, India, by SJK Architects (+ slideshow).
Mumbai studio SJK Architects designed the home for a family, dividing the living spaces into five rooms that fan out around a central courtyard and large tree.
Supported by angled steel columns, the concrete roof canopies shelter all five rooms, which include four spaces surrounded by glazing and an open-air living room bordered by a lily pond and pool.
“The client enjoyed the idea of pods [that were] overlapping but distinct to house each part of the home,” the architects said. “They [wanted] the journey between pods to be a sculpted open space encompassing native trees.”
One of the pods accommodates a second living room, while the others house a kitchen, a childrens’ room and master bedroom. The two sleeping pods also have their own private courtyards.
Wooden doors fold back to open rooms out to the garden, plus glazed walls could be removed to create more open spaces.
“The lack of symmetry allows for walls to move as needed, open as needed and break into skylights or movable walls when required,” said the architects. “This allows sun and wind to enter the pods in the right amount, so that the quality of indoor light and air is dramatic and comfortable.”
Polished concrete floors feature throughout the house. The architects also tried to retain most of the existing plants on the site, including a number of coconut, neem and mango trees.
Across the harbour from the chaos of Mumbai lies the coastal area of Alibaug – a 45 minute boat ride away from crowds, 22 million people and the lowest open space ratio in the world.
Our project – to create a family home of 650sqm on a 1.3 acre plot of land at the base of the hills, but far removed from the sea. Land lush with the native coconut, mango and neem trees, and peers up at the sunrise on the eastern hills above it. It was a beautiful property – we wanted to include the hills and trees and the gentle winds – the leaves strewn over the earth were the perfect cue.
The form of the leaf – gentle but sloping was perfect and our very first sight of the plot yielded a site plan made of dried leaves. The Client enjoyed the idea of pods – overlapping but distinct, to house each part of the home, and the journey between pods, to be sculpted open space encompassing native trees. The clump of neem, bhend and coconut became the centre – an unstructured but designed courtyard, and each pod was created with an eye to the sun and the winds.
The “leaf” roofs open and rise to the north and the east and protect lower and deeper on the south and the west – the southwest monsoon is a formidable factor as is the sun on these faces. The critical design of the leaf – structurally, climatically and then ergonomically entailed innovation at every step.
The first-structural, involved the use of dense concrete and a steel web, to generate beamless, leaf-shells, supported over steel columns filled with concrete. Retaining the natural colour and texture of every material- concrete, steel, to endure the tropical rain and sun required research into clear chemical coatings that would endure and embellish.
The roofs were 3D modelled extensively to ensure that sun & rain and overlapping heights worked seamlessly. And then the ergonomics to allow doors, windows and cupboards that still adhered to orthogonal principles to sit cozily in the unorthodox leaf.
The pallet of materials – concrete, steel, linseed oil polished wood and natural limestone was kept subdued to focus on the light, the form and the enthralling nature around encompassing the structure. The simplicity of every other element to ensure the pure experience of space, form light and nature was a deliberate pursuit. However, there was a constant dialectic between creating rules and breaking them. We enjoyed the form but never allowed it to play dictator.
Each pod has played with different rules depending on need and circumstance. The lack of symmetry allows for walls to move as needed, open as needed and break into skylights or movable walls when required. This allowed for sun and wind to enter the pod in the right amount, so that quality of indoor light and air is dramatic and comfortable. The landscape for the house was carefully designed to augment the existing natural flora and fauna.
Local plant varieties were used – and nothing exotic was even considered lest it compete for attention or resources with the existing mango, coconut and neem. We used lemon grass extensively to counter mosquitos, and retain the simplicity of language. Rain water harvesting was important on this land where the bore wells ran dry most of the year. We have gathered all rain water run off into underground trenches and canals, and fed the bore wells to very good results.
The house began as an exploration of natural forms, built and designed to sit in nature. It encountered the manmade constructs of doors, windows and domestic gizmos – the orthogonal products of an industrial economy. Navigating and refining this encounter, into a serene and natural environment for a family to live in complete comfort, embedded in nature, was the challenge of this project.
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