Hasta La Ideas

BeL Associates of Germany have transformed a listed former railway workers’ house in Cologne into a family home.

The terraced house, built between 1903 and 1905, has been part of one of Cologne’s oldest cooperative housing developments.

The house was previously divided up into three apartments but is now a single family home.

Round mosaic tiles feature throughout the house, covering surfaces including a built-in desk in a former fireplace, doorways and the shower cubicle.

Above photograph is courtesy of BeL Architects

The kitchen and dining areas are on the ground floor, with the living room and two bedrooms on the first floor and the master bedroom and bathroom on the second.

Photographs are by Veit Landwehr unless otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information form the architects:

The garden city Eisenachstraße erected by the „Köln-Nippeser Bau- und Spargenossenschaft“ Cooperative in 1903-1905 is one of the oldest cooperative settlements in Cologne. Built as housing for the railroad workers of the adjacent coach yard by the architect Heinrich Krings, the settlement won a gold medal for innovative floor plans at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900.

Above photograph is courtesy of BeL Associates

Each of the sixty terrace houses has two storeys plus attic, brickwork walls and 150 square meters of floor space. The functional floor plans allow a division into up to three residential units, a small kitchen garden to the rear is accessed from the staircase.

Above photograph is courtesy of BeL Associates

Today, the formerly independent City of Nippes is part Cologne‘s inner city and a sought-after residential area. The old workers’ district is in an advanced stage of gentrification, the rail maintenance facility has been replaced by a car-free settlement, similar to Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin it has the second highest birth rate in Germany, workshops are replaced by cafes serving Belgian chocolate and ginger-pumpkin soups.

e38 is a listed building as the last building of the settlement with original facades. The house was nearly ruined by a late 90‘s refurbishment without any affection.

Three bathrooms were installed, rooms partitioned, dreadful wallpaper and tiles covered the simple but sturdy original materials. When the new owners, a graphic designer and an actress with two children, acquired the house for a considerable amount of money, there was little left for the renovation budget. 

In a state of decay and divided into three apartments the house was reconverted into a single-family home through subtle interventions in the building‘s structure. The enclosed staircase now opens to the adjacent living and dining rooms, the kitchen moved to the front of the building and the former narrow hallway was replaced by a spacious entrance hall.

The separation wall between kitchen and entrance hall kitchen has built-in storage rooms and a desk space comes kitchen counter. A new door gives access to the garden from the dining room, which is accompanied by a new fireplace extending into the staircase. The fireplace wall is a mirror connecting the upper floors to the ground floor by reflecting the historical wooden stairs.

On the first floor the large living room faces the garden and has openings to the staircase. The two children‘s rooms face the street. The second floor features the master bedroom with a dressing room and a large family bathroom. The conceptual idea of the building‘s conversion is a two-pronged strategy of both brutalization and refinement. Found in a condition with a sound substance covered by a layer of junk materials, the building was stripped of the latter and dissected to its essence.

Traces of the buildings alterations throughout its 100 years purposely remain visible. Where ever unwanted alterations were removed original materials such as brickwork or wooden floorboards surfaced. The design melts the building‘s evolvement in time into a single condition of concurrence. No period is preferred to the other. It is a juxtaposition of fragments. Even though there is strong evidence of the true, original state of the building, the design does not claim to be authentic. In fact the margins between old, very old and new are blurred by an all-embracing color concept consisting of shades of beige. Like a dentist adjusting infill colours to the patient‘s teeth the design‘s incisions and insertions adapt to their conditions, dissolve into the overall blur, while, paradoxically, remain genuine on a material level. Round mosaic tiles are found throughout the building.

realisation

owners: jörg waschat, sonja baum
cooperative terrace house conversion
architecture: BeL Associates, Cologne
team: Anne-Julchen Bernhardt, Jörg Leeser, Wiebke Schlüter, Wolfgang Zeh
net floor area: 150 m2
client: N.N.
refurbishment budget: 100.000 €
structural engineer: Jürgen Bernhardt, Cologne
completion: May 2009

See also:

.

31 Blair Road by ONG&ONG	Santpere47 by Miel Arquitectos	More interior stories on Dezeen

French photographer Julien Lanoo has sent us these images of an installation by Belgian architects Joris De Schepper and Thomas De Ridder at S.M.A.K – Museum of Modern Art in Ghent, designed to give visitors an idea of the museum’s work behind-the-scenes.

A part of a series called Inside Installations, it focuses on what happens behind the scenes of an exhibition and the archiving process.

Located in a large open space in the museum, a plywood box has been built in the corner and is surrounded by shelving units used to display some of the equipment that’s required to prepare an exhibition.

The walls, ceiling and floor inside the wooden structure are covered with documents, photos, sketches and manuals relating to other installations being shown at the museum.

Photographs are copyright Julien Lanoo.

Here’s some more information about the project:

task
In an the 2010-2011 exhibition ʻinside installationsʼ the public should have a view on what happens behind the scenes of SMAK, more specific on the complexity of installation art.

questions
whatʼs specific about installation art? how to show information during the visit of an art exhibition? information as a negative of an art object which effort can we ask of a visitor, can we demand any effort at all? if thereʼs one thing weʼd want a visitor to understand and remember, even without actively visiting the information space, what would that be?

intention
we wanted to work with different accessibility levels to reach people who are interested and willing to do an effort, people who are not willing to do an effort but also people who are not interested. Using architectural themes (space, light, structure, texture and context) we tried to attract visitors and make things clear in an obvious way. we didnʼt want a didactic space. on the other hand we wanted to allow researchers and interested visitors to find detailed information. the visitors decide how much information they see.

solution
all information is being used as wallpaper for the documentation room: texts, photos, video screens, artist sketches, manuals, restoration objects. the information can be organized into 4 themes: research, conservation and restoration, exhibition production, package and transport.

Click for larger image

All documentation is related to installations that are shown on the exhibition. entering the room visitors will quickly recognize the objects, thus linking it to what they saw minutes before. Essential is that all walls, including flour and ceiling are treated in a same way, as if the common museum space has been inverted, turned inside out.

Click for larger image

The amount of documentation and the seemingly random organization represent the complexity of installation art. But when you look further youʼll start to find out that the shown information is organized, youʼll see repeating layoutʼs and document structures, discover video-interview with artists and glass-boxes with art-specific restoration material.

Click for larger image

situation
located at the big central void of the museum, with views on the entrance hall halfway the visit of the exhibition, maybe a moment to rest and look around. not a flexible white box due to a lot of circulation space, but very interesting as a social meeting place during the exhibition. Two benches allow people to rest, talk and look into original documentation folders.

Click for larger image

construction
The room is constructed with industrial shelves and plywood. The paper (laserprints) at the inside is finished with glue and varnish. The outside doesnʼt have any finishing: the shelves, tv-sets, dvd- players, boxes containing restoration material and cables are all left visible. At some point the shelves are removed to make space for a bench (including red cushions). With some leftover shelves and plywood another, bigger bench was made next to the void.

Click for larger image

architects
We are Joris De Schepper and Thomas De Ridder, both architect. We studied at Sint-Lucas Architectuur in Ghent and work as architect since 2008.

Click for larger image

See also:

.

More about Julien Lanoo	More exhibition/installation stories	More photography stories

Pascal Grasso Architectures have inserted extruding and recessed volumes along the walls of corridors to create a showroom in Paris, France, for fashion sourcing company Stella K.

The aim of the project was to transform two 115ft corridors into usable spaces, by covering their walls with protruding geometric shapes, providing display areas for clothing and fashion accessories.

The blocks, made from lacquered MDF, increase along the corridors, gradually fading as they lead to the offices.

The interior space is completely white, with the exception of randomly placed grey panels set into the walls.

Photographs are by Nicolas Dorval-Bory.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

SHOWROOM IN CHAMPS-ELYSEES By Pascal Grasso Architectures

The company Stella K, specialized in the design and distribution of prêt-à-porter, occupies two floors in Avenue des Champs-Elysees. It calls upon the skills of Pascal Grasso Architectures to assist in the project realization.

The issue is simple: to turn these levels into office space and showroom for its clients. A major constraint remains unsolved.

How to take advantage of the two corridors that are more than 35m (115 ft) each, leading to the main spaces?

The origin of the project consists therefore in the transformation of these long corridors in a functional and atypical space, the strain of the place becoming its strength.

 These corridors, being originally simple passages, become the display area, the showroom itself.

Its use allows to display clothing and other fashion accessories.
 This new feature is made possible by the clamping of random volumes made of gray lacquered MDF.

These volumes are like pieces of the wall that have been extruded.
 The rhythm, created by the volumes, increases along the showroom before fading gradually to the office. The effect boosting the space. 

Another strong element structures and animates this place.

This is a main piece of furniture, passing by through the place, which is separating the public space of the exhibition from the space for private offices and storage.
 Its way begins from over the reception, allowing the necessary porosity to host clients.

Then it gets denser in order to make the offices more intimate. This piece of furniture is made out of racks that allow the storage of supplies.

It ends in the assembly hall and takes on the functions of exhibition and storage.

 To complete the dynamics of the space, a subtle play of light is set up for both levels. At the first level the suspensions form falling tears from the ceiling.

They create plays of light reflecting from more or less bright surfaces. The organic appearance is in contrast with the geometry of the installation.
 Upstairs, the strips of fluorescent tube boost the effect of perspective created by the length of the showroom. They reinforce the geometric rigor of the space.

Geometry, by its (overwhelming) presence, transforms the space, blurring the bench-marks. The scale of the place becomes difficult to grasp.

The intervention is seen as a series of spatial devices provoking disorder, disruption of the senses, a reaction which changes the perception and feeling. Geometric abstraction is enhanced by the lighting, which makes this negative space into an immaterial space.

Program : Designing a duplex showroom
Location : 34, Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris 8e, France

Architect : Pascal Grasso Architectures
Client : Stella K
Completion : 2010

Assistants : Damien Descamps – Juliano Bottari
General Contractor : Bane Deco
Carpenter : Art et Confort

See also:

.

Nomiya temporary restaurant by Pascal Grasso	Lik+Neon by Gitta Gschwendtner	Flatform 322 by Toby Horrocks and Kristian Aus

Japanese studio Epitaph have remodelled the interior of this bungalow in Iwate, Japan, by removing internal walls and exposing the roof truss structure.

Called Mint, the 35-year-old, steel-framed building has been transformed into an open-plan home.

Exposing the roof structure creates height, opening up the space even more.

A sliding door partitions the bedroom from the rest of the space.

A strip of wooden cupboards and flooring on one side of the space provides a contrast to the predominantly white interior.

Here’s a bit of text from the designers:

“　mint　”

This project is a reform of the house of 35 years old. This house is an one-storied house. The structure is a light gauge steel.

The owner hoped to us for removing the partition wall that became unnecessary by the change in the family structure, and making one big room.

We secured a bigger space by exposing the truss of the ceiling with the removal of the partition wall.

The finish material of the space that became one was changed according to the layout of old times.

However, neither the structure nor the window have been changed. Because we tried to tie the past of the owner and a new space.

Sunlight from the window and the light of the lighting obscure the boundary. It help the connection of time and the connection of the space.

Toilet and lavatory and bathroom and hall are walled. All other spaces are connecting but the bedroom can be partitioned with the sliding door.

Above: plan before renovation

Project name：mint
Architect:：epitaph （naoki horiike and norihisa asanuma）
Use:：Private house
Area:：77sqm
Location:：Iwate, Japan

Above: plan after renovation

See also:

.

AZB by Geneto	Fiat Lux by Label Architecture	More interior stories on Dezeen

Tokyo 2010: the LLOVE exhbition currently on show in Tokyo comprises a hotel with rooms created by Dutch and Japanese designers, including this one by Pieke Bergmans filled with an enormous undulating mattress.

Above: Buried by Yuko Nagayama

The exhibition consists of guests rooms each designed by Japanese and Dutch designers to celebrate 400 years of trade and cultural relations between the two countries.

The rooms can be booked by visitors for an overnight stay.

The concept of the exhibition was created by Suzanne Oxenaar, director of the Amsterdam Lloyd Hotel, and it will run until 23 November.

Above and below: Rotating bed by Jo Nagasaka

See all our stories about Tokyo 2010 »

Photographs are by Takumi Ota.

Here’s some more information about the exhibition:

LLOVE is an exhibition which is all about enjoying the experience of this space ; you can eat, drink, and stay for the night.

The concept of this experimental exhibition was created by Suzanne Oxenaar, director of the Amsterdam based Lloyd Hotel, and realized by a group of Japanese and Dutch designers through different disciplines.

Above and top: In Llove by Pieke Bergmans

LLOVE is also an event to celebrate the 400 years of trade relations between Japan and the Netherlands and to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the establishment of Japan’s first full-fledged capital, Nara Heijokyo.

Above and below: Llayers Llove Hotel, Tokyo by Richard Hutten

This exhibition is not completed with its opening. During the one month that LLOVE is hosted, all kinds of LLOVE will be fostered and new stories will be born, all adorning this theatrical space.

If you, our guest, can stay with us for as long as you can, this theater will become an even more fascinating place. I invite you to look for all kinds of LLOVE here; please enjoy your stay!

Architect director Jo Nagasaka

Above and below: Little Big Room by Hideyuki Nakayama

LLOVE is an exhibition consisting of a hotel with guest rooms created by Dutch and Japanese designers to celebrate 400 years of trade and cultural relations between Japan and the Netherlands.

LLOVE is more than just an exhibition which you visit; you can actually stay there for the night (or nights!), and also a café and shops are included.

Above and below: Pond by Ryuji Nakamura

The LLOVE concept was created by Suzanne Oxenaar, Artistic Director of the Lloyd Hotel & cultural Embassy.

The access from the main venue of DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is very convenient and LLOVE is sure to become the meeting and exchange space for designers from around thte world.

Above: Fertility by Joep Van Lieshout

Above and below: Re-creation by Scholten & Baijings

Above: Bathroom gallery by Yokujo

Above and below: Llove Creation team and Jo Nagasaka

Above and below: Café

Above: shop

See also:

.

Paco by Jo Nagasaka + Schemata Architecture Office	Hotel Forsthaus by Naumann Architektur	Pantone Hotel by Olivier Hannaert & Michel Penneman