Hasta La Ideas

Tsutsumi & Associates has added a spiral staircase and glazed meeting rooms to an old factory in Beijing to transform the building into the headquarters of a furniture company (+ slideshow).

Beijing firm Tsutsumi & Associates renovated the entire four-storey building for Daxing Furniture, adding production facilities on the lower levels, a furniture showroom on the second floor, and offices on the third floor and mezzanine loft.

The staircase spirals up through a double-height void in the upper section of the building to connect the showroom with the offices. Glazed office cubes are positioned around the space, while an inclined atrium is visible on one side through a large internal window.

“I wanted to make [the space] as transparent as possible and emphasise the dynamics of the overhung loft volume,” architect Yoshimasa Tsutsumi told Dezeen.

Concrete slabs are left exposed throughout the building, creating gridded ceilings that are streaked with rows of angled spotlights.

The architects also installed a wall of living plants on the office floor. “This separates the white boxes from the background and softens the office space at the same time,” said Tsutsumi.

Photography is by Misae Hiromatsu.

Here’s a project description from Tsutsumi & Associates:

Daxing Factory Conversion

The factory building was converted to the head office of the furniture manufacturer.

The programs are factory for 1st floor , 2nd floor and half of 3rd floor, exhibition space for half of 3rd floor, office space for 4th floor. The exhibition space of 3rd floor is connected to the 4th floor through spiral stairs where the existing floor was removed. 5.5m ceiling height is enough to make skip-floor style, so that we aimed to realise three-dimensional office landscape.

The requested programs were conference room, meeting room, resting space, office space, vice-presidents room and so on. Comparatively public programs of these such as conference room were put near to the elevator hall, on the other hand office space was put on inner part of the floor. Office space was planned to open, whereas the rooms those were needed to be closed would be treated as a group of several volumes in the huge space.

The spiral staircase that was put in the centre of the floor connects the exhibition space of 3rd floor and office space of 4th floor and resting space of loft. When we enter from the elevator hall, we can see the conference room in tiers next to the void with spiral staircase. On the opposite side of the conference room across the void, there is small-sized meeting room and the volume of the resting space is flying over it.

After passing through this small-sized meeting room, there is office space with skip-floor where the sections are clearly separated by the floor height also the difference of eye level induce the communication between them.

When rising up to 1.2m level, we reach the back of the conference room in tiers. This conference room connects between entrance hall and office space, when not using conference room we can use this as shortcut.

Basic use materials are white EP paint on the wall, mortar finish on the existing floor, steel checkered plate on the skip-floor. Around some part like elevator hall or stairs, Corten steel was used to add rigid accent, on the other hand on the wide wall at the end of the entrance hall vertical plant was put to soften space.

Inside the landscape with various levels, white boxes are put as if to make village. There are some bypasses, hidden area and open area, alcove where we can look down the atrium, also we can overview whole area from the loft space. As if we walk inside the ancient village, we can enjoy sequential view here.

Client: THT Design & Consulting
Design: Nie Yong + Yoshimasa Tsutsumi / Tsutsumi & Associates
Address: Daxing district, Beijing, China
Area: 4,964 square metres
Program: office, exhibition space, factory
Construction: THT Design & Consulting
Completion: September 2013

The post Tsutsumi & Associates converts Beijing factory
into furniture brand headquarters appeared first on Dezeen.

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This labyrinth-like fashion store in Hangzhou, China, by 3Gatti Architecture Studio features a rotating toilet and a hidden love room “equipped with bar and condoms” (+ slideshow).

3Gatti Architecture Studio created a complex landscape of extruded cuboid volumes on the upper level and a similarly intricate topography on the ceiling of the floor below at the store, which is the first physical outlet for online fashion retailer D2C.

The architects liken the forms to rock forms generated by volcanic activity. “Volcanic Slab is an existing building slab reshaped with volcanic energy to accommodate two floors of retail space,” said chief architect Francesco Gatti.

Most intriguing – although unfortunately not shown in the photos – is a rotating, circular toilet, behind which is a hidden “love nest”.

“In case you want to go to the toilet the challenge ratio increases considerably,” the architects write. “Behind the door you will find a curved rubber-like wall impossible to pull or push but if you are smart enough you will discover that is the surface of a rotating cylindrical room. Sliding the wall will allow you to discover the hole-entrance where to go inside the circular space and the same hole if rotated again will make you discover before the toilet, after the sink and finally the entrance to the love room; a soft nest equipped with bar and condoms. I don’t need to say more.”

Back in the store itself, chunky cuboids that continue all the way to the floor are used as changing rooms and others that almost reach the ground house the cashiers. “If you enter inside the extruded fitting room the space will be red like hot lava stored inside the slab,” said Gatti.

Spotlights are dotted across the rough grey floor on the lower level, illuminating the white extrusions above.

A staircase ascends through a large hole in the slab to the upper level, where the concept is flipped upside-down and the volumes protrude from the floor instead.

On this floor shoppers have to navigate over a series of stepped blocks all at different heights.

The metal rails displaying the garments span over the white blocks, lit-up by more spotlights installed in the undulating grey ceiling.

Profiles of the volumes are visible around the edge of the store’s exterior. Glass walls surround both storeys so the thick slab dividing them appears to float.

3Gatti Architecture Studio has come up with a few experimental interior designs. The firm has completed a store in Shanghai with clashing concrete staircases that looks like an MC Escher drawing, and an office where meeting rooms and a cafe are housed in a red faceted volume.

Here’s the text sent to us by the designers:

Volcanic Slab – D2C flagship store in Hangzhou

D2C is a multi brand platform where to buy the most interesting international fashion brands on the internet and now also on a physical space, a challenging physical space. Volcanic Slab is an existing building slab reshaped with volcanic energy to accommodate two floors of retail space.

The concept is as simple as this but creates a very intricate and complex labyrinthine space that will challenge your shopping experience.

This simple idea creates a very strong identity of the shop; even coming from the street is possible to see immediately the reshaped slab on the building façade. This squared skyline is not only a façade decoration but you will notice immediately from the glass window that is actually the shape of the slab that will continue inside the store.

Entering from the ground floor will allow you to be under the squared slab, you will walk between the extruded volumes that come from the ceiling creating different functions depending on their shape and size; fitting rooms, cashier room, clothes or swing hangers areas or just simple screens and labyrinth walls that coming from the top never touch the ground.

Taking the stairs will allow you to go through the slab and understand its simple logic and identity; upstairs you will be able to walk on top of the volcanic formations, challenged in a continuous up and down of steps and cubes that actually serves as display area of the fashion products or in the biggest cases as fitting room. If you enter inside the extruded fitting room the space will be red like hot lava stored inside the slab.

In case you want to go to the toilet the challenge ratio increases considerably: behind the door you will find a curved rubber-like wall impossible to pull or push but if you are smart enough you will discover that is the surface of a rotating cylindrical room. Sliding the wall will allow you to discover the hole-entrance where to go inside the circular space and the same hole if rotated again will make you discover before the toilet, after the sink and finally the entrance to the love room; a soft nest equipped with bar and condoms. I don’t need to say more.

The post Volcanic Slab D2C flagship store
by 3Gatti Architecture Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

The folded concrete walls of this lakeside visitor centre in China‘s Anhui Province were designed by architects Archiplein to mimic the uneven surfaces of the surrounding mountains (+ slideshow).

The two-storey building sits at the base of Jiǔhuá Shān, one of the five Sacred Mountains of China, and provides a restaurant and rest stop for the many pilgrims that visit the landmark each year.

Architects Feng Yang, Leroux Marlène and Jacquier Francis of Archiplein wanted to design a building that merges with the landscape, like in traditional Chinese landscape paintings.

“In this kind of painting, the building and the nature are not two separated systems stuck together; they are represented as an integrated whole where the architecture is not the main focusing point of the composition,” they explained.

The building is constructed from concrete, which was formed against wooden boards to give a rough texture to the exterior surfaces.

The walls zigzag in and out on both levels, creating a series of facets along the lakeside facade.

“The strategy is to consider the building as the continuity of the existing topography so as to reduce its impact on the land,” said the architects. “The building is bended by following the natural movement and defines a set of different faces that minimises its size.”

Dozens of square windows are scattered across the elevations and matching skylights dot the rooftops.

An internal ramp connects the two floors inside the building, which both contain large dining areas filled with tables and chairs.

The architects have also added a shallow pool of water with steps leading down to its surface.

Photography is by Frédéric Henriques.

Here’s a project description from Archiplein:

Tianzhoushan Tea House

The project is located in Anhui province, in one of the five sacred Taoist mountains of China.

To define the new relation between this building and the surrounding nature, the project has been inspired by the typical Chinese painting.

In this kind of painting, the building and the nature are not two separated systems stuck together, they are represented as an integrated whole where the architecture is not the main focusing point of the composition.

It reproduces in a way the natural form and follows the general movement of the landscape.

For this specific situation we develop this philosophy of vanishing. The strategy is to consider the building as the continuity of the existing topography so as to reduce its impact on the land.

The building is bended by following the natural movement and defines as set of different faces that minimises its size.

Status: realised
Type: architecture, touristic infrastructure
Data: 2009-2012, 1000 m², 3M €
Location: Anhui, China
Team: Feng, Jacquier, Leroux

The post Tianzhoushan Tea House
by Archiplein appeared first on Dezeen.

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