Hasta La Ideas

Architect David Adjaye has completed the renovation of this Art Deco building in London, providing six storeys of office accommodation.

The original brick and render facade of Edison House has been retained, as have the exposed concrete floors, columns and ceilings.

The refurbishment includes a new reception area that contains built-in red leather seating and a reception desk made from stacked planes of marble.

The developers, Manhattan Loft Corporation, now use part of the building as their headquarters.

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Here are some further details from Manhattan Loft Corporation and Adjaye Associates:

The Edison is a recently completed 6 storey office development on Old Marylebone Road, by Manhattan Loft Corporation and architect Adjaye Associates.

Both the external and internal structuring represents such a strong, constructive Art Deco style that this has been maintained throughout. The existing concrete floors, columns and ceilings have been retained, as has the original brick and render frontage.

The constructive design of the reception area is a reminder of the buildings industrial past. The stark combination of concrete flooring with fibre cement ceiling and walls heighten this essence, but the red marble desktop, red leather banquette and sunken mirrors give a modern, even feminine touch.

These sharp juxtapositions between original and modern, industrial and comforting, are found throughout the building and indeed in the contrast of the surrounding architecture.

“On first seeing the site, it was immediately obvious that this seemingly ordinary building could be converted in to something more modern and exciting: a stylish, contemporary loft development. I wanted to create an alternative in what has become a very fashionable area: something grittier, more urban” – Harry Handelsman, CEO, Manhattan Loft Corporation

“I have taken the theme of concrete and asked questions about how it is expressed now in its new hybrid forms. This is the playful design palette for the reception and core space” – David Adjaye – Adjaye Associates

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Moroso headquarters by David Adjaye	Rivington Place by David Adjaye	Housing for New Orleans by David Adjaye & others

Swedish design duo Elding Oscarson have completed this office for design consultants No Picnic in Stockholm, divided in two by a reflective aluminium wall. 

Previously a stable and troop hall, the office has meeting areas concealed behing the mirrored divider.

The large windows to the meeting room are set flush with the metal cladding.

A spiral staircase at the far end of the office leads to the existing mezzanine.

The office also includes a workshop, showroom, project rooms and customer area.

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Photographs are by Åke E:son Lindman.

The following is from the architects:

No Picnic by Elding Oscarson

No Picnic is one of the world’s largest design consultants, covering industrial design, product design, and packaging design; as well as art direction, consumer insight, and architecture. We could hardly imagine a better oriented client, and expected nothing less than an ambitious, demanding, and fun project. They wanted large, open office spaces, a prototype workshop, a prototype showroom, several project rooms, and a striking customer area, distinctly separated from the other spaces in order to maintain secrecy.

For this, the client had found a group of 19th Century buildings in central Stockholm, mainly consisting of two volumes, one originally an exercise hall for troops, and the other once a stable for police horses. They had been converted into showrooms in the 1980’s, and were in a sad state. These buildings currently enjoy the highest level of historical protection. Conversion had to be sensitive, and we have evaluated every step with an antiquarian, literally down to each new screw hole.

We wanted to get rid of all added layers down to the origin. In the old stable we were able to peel the room naked, and just add a custom designed acoustical treatment along the walls, but in the exercise hall, economy and function demanded that a mezzanine constructed there in the 1980’s, was kept. The mezzanine cut the hall lengthwise, and crippled the experience of the space in an unfortunate way. Its edge coincided with the center of the hall, so we opted for the industrial designer’s own method – the way arbitrary but symmetric shapes can be sculpted as half models onto a mirror, we could restore the impression of the entire exercise hall by constructing a delicate aluminum wall along its central axis.

The meeting rooms inside this metal membrane, has large window panes towards the hall. The flat reflection of the glass appearing flush with the distorting metal surface, makes the glass seem like a mirror while the metal appears transparent; the wall is there, yet it disappears. It is bold, kaleidoscopic and delusive with its trompe l’oeil effects. At the same time it takes a step back for the main act: the light and space of the exercise hall, and the old building’s straightforward display of material, construction, imperfections, and time that has passed.

Project Name: No Picnic
Architect: Elding Oscarson
Client: No Picnic AB
Location: Storgatan 23 C, Stockholm
Gross Area: 1100 sqm
Year of Construction: 2010-11

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ANZAS Dance Studio by Tsutsumi and Associates	Bridal Magic by Process5 Design	NE by Teruhiro Yanagihara

Amsterdam architects UNStudio have completed a new headquarters for the Dutch national tax offices and the student loan administration in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Called DUO², the 92 metre-tall building has a facade covered in horizontal fins to provide shade and reduce the need for artificial cooling.

The project comprises 2,500 work stations, underground parking for 1,500 bicycles and 675 cars and a public park.

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Photographs are by Christian Richters/View unless stated otherwise.

Here are some more details from UNStudio:

UNStudio/ Ben van Berkel realizes with consortium DUO² governmental offices for DUO– Education Executive Agency & Tax Offices in Groningen

A greener approach to tall buildings in the post-iconic age – The Dutch tax office moves to one of Europe’s most sustainable offices

A new, 92 meter tall complex of soft, undulating curves marks the skyline of Groningen. This asymmetric, aerodynamic construction is set amidst small, ancient woodland, sheltering rare and protected species. The project includes the design, construction and financing of two public institutions; the national tax offices and the student loan administration. The commission from the RGD (National Buildings Service) includes, besides the architecture, the management and building maintenance and care of facilities and services for a period of 20 years. Accommodating 2,500 workstations, parking facilities for 1,500 bicycles and 675 cars in an underground garage, the building will be surrounded by a large public city garden with pond and a multifunctional pavilion with commercial functions.

The architecture aims to present these institutions with a softer, more human and approachable profile. Tall buildings are generally associated with mid-twentieth century modernism. Their harsh, businesslike exteriors contain powerful, inaccessible-seeming strongholds. By contrast, the DUO and Tax offices deliberately cloak a commanding public institution in an organic, friendlier and more future-oriented form.

“We paid a great deal of attention to how people would move through the building. The office spaces are designed in such a way that they do not create simple linear corridors leading to dead ends, but instead each corridor has a route which introduces a kind of landscape into the building. You can take endless walks through the building, where there is a great deal of transparency, also towards the surrounding landscape.” Ben van Berkel

Attainability; a mix of affordable and responsible – reaping material benefits of integral design and construction with a Design Build Finance Maintenance Operate Contract

The governmental office complex is built as part of a far-reaching form of public-private partnership (DBFMO) that is designed to effectuate on a more efficient use of public funds. The design, construction, financing, managing and maintenance of the building was hosted by one consortium consisting of Strukton, Ballast Nedam and John Laing. This consortium won the competition for the project on the basis of a combination of esthetic, technical and financial criteria. UNStudio, as the architect of the project, collaborated with Lodewijk Baljon for the landscape design, Arup for the engineering and Studio Linse as the interior advisor.

The life-cycle approach of a DBFMO contract requires that all relevant experts (designers, lawyers, installation specialists, financial specialists, facility specialists) are involved from the start of the project in order to find the best, most cost effective and environmentally-friendly solutions for the continued use and maintenance of the building. This working methodology stimulates not only creative and innovative ideas, but facilitates a reduction of total costs over the entire contract period compared to the traditional means of contracting. In PPP projects contracts are not awarded to the lowest bidder, but to the party with most effective solutions providing the best value for money.

“In a PPP-construction you have to consider all the details concerning maintenance and the sustainable use of the building from the very early stages. It is a unique way to gather all the specialists and the end user around the table from the very outset of the project.”
Ben van Berkel

Exemplary sustainability

“The design contains numerous new innovations related to the reduction of materials, lower energy costs and more sustainable working environments. It presents a fully integrated, intelligent design approach towards sustainability.” Ben van Berkel

The project is one of Europe’s most sustainable large new office buildings. The RGD brief prescribed a future-proof building that couples flexibility and sustainability with an esthetic of sobriety. The architectural response to this has been to strive for an all-round understanding of the concept of sustainability, including energy and material consumption, as well as social and environmental factors. Thus the sustainability manifests itself in reduced energy consumption (EPC 0,74), as well as significantly reduced material consumption. Bringing back the floor heights from 3,60 m to 3,30 m resulted in a total reduction of 7,5 m. on the entire building, which also lessens the impact of the building on the surroundings. Both inside and outside the architecture generates a bio-climate that is beneficial to both humans and the local flora and fauna.

All-round architectural sustainability: a sum of many parts.

Fins
Sustainability and energy reduction have steered the design of the facade, which contains technical installations that are tailored to be durable and cause minimal environmental impact. The facade concept integrates shading, wind control, daylight penetration and construction in fin-shaped elements. These horizontal fins keep a large amount of the heat outside the building, reducing the requirement for cooling.

Concrete core activation
Another technical feature of the building that contributes to its sustainable character is the combination of concrete core activation and underground long term energy storage. This appreciably reduces the demand for external energy sources.

Individual climate control for each workspace
Creating a healthy, energy efficient interior climate and employee workspace comfort was also an important element in the design. Plenty of natural daylight and adjustable heating, ventilation and access to fresh air for individual workspaces contribute to the comfort of the workspaces throughout the building.

The 11-th floor
A high pressure ventilation system with natural air inflow and outflow via main engineering shafts and the facade grills on the 11th floor reduces the need for artificial ventilation

Future possibilities
In addition, the residual energy of the data center and offices can be used to heat the homes that will be realized in the future in the perimeter of the site.

Flexibility
And last, but not least, the building is designed so that it can be transformed into housing in the future without major structural modifications. Therefore, the locations of elevators, stairs and technical spaces have been carefully considered, and a structural grid of 1,20 m. has been deployed, rather than the conventional office grid of 1,80 m.

Conclusion
The inclusion of diverse passive and active environmental and energy efficient solutions has led to a building which is one of the most sustainable office buildings in the Netherlands.

Education Executive Agency & Tax offices, Groningen, the Netherlands, 2006 – 2011

Data:
Client of the consortium:
Dutch Government Buildings Agency (RGD)

Client UNStudio:
Consortium DUO² (Strukton, Ballast Nedam, John Laing)

Program: Office building (phase A); underground parking (phase B); public city garden, pavilion (phase C)

Building surface: 48.040m² offices, 21.000m² parking, 1.500m² pavilion
Building volume: 215.000m³
Building site: 31.134m²

Credits UNStudio:
UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, Gerard Loozekoot with Jacques van Wijk, Frans van Vuure, Lars Nixdorff and Jesca de Vries, Ramon van der Heijden, Alicja Mielcarek, Eric den Eerzamen, Wendy van der Knijff, Machiel Wafelbakker, Timothy Mitanidis, Maud van Hees, Pablo Herrera Paskevicius, Martijn Prins, Natalie Balini, Peter Moerland, Arjan van der Bliek, Alexander Hugo, Gary Freedman, Jack Chen, Remco de Hoog, Willi van Mulken, Yuri Werner, Machteld Kors, Leon Bloemendaal, Erwin Horstmanshof.

Designteam:
UNStudio, architecture and interior
Studio Linse, interior
Arup, structure, installations
Lodewijk Baljon, landscaping
Buro van Baar, wayfinding
YNNO, internal logistics
Consultants:
DGMR, acoustics
EFPC, fire prevention
Ingenieursbureau Wassenaar, prefab structure
BTS Bouwkundig Tekenburo Sneek, drawing agency
ISS Nederland B.V, maintenance
Peutz, environmental technology
WUR (Wageningen University & Research centre), ecology
Strukton Bouw en Vastgoed, management and costing
Strukton Betonbouw, construction
Strukton WorkSphere, installations

Financial:
John Laing Infrastructure Limited, financial
RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) Capital Markets, financial
TCN SIG Real Estate Strukton Vastgoed, pavilion development
Allen & Overy LLP, legal
Sequoia, legal

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Galleria Centercity by UNStudio	UNStudio Tower by UNStudio	Burnham Pavilion by UNStudio

Japanese architects Takeshi Hosaka have completed this office building in the Tokyo suburb of Yoyogi.

Located in a low rise, high density area, the Yoyogi Office Building is clad in white glass-fibre reinforced concrete panels.

Earthquake-resistant structures are hidden within a staircase and service core on the north side of the building, leaving each floor with an open plan to be divided up by tenants as necessary.

Strips of hand sand-blasted glazing round the top of each storey allow walls to be used for storage space, while eight full-height opening windows provide views over the surrounding garden and neighbourhood.

An apartment for the owner of the building is located on the top floor.

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Photographs are by Koji Fujii/Nacasa & Partners

The following is from the architect:

Office Building in Yoyogi

This office building faces Minami-Shinjuku Station. In this district, a dense cluster of low-rise residences and mid-size buildings constitutes a traditional neighborhood, with skyscrapers standing a little distance away. To me, this site conjured up an image of a valley consisting of swarms of building masses.

I wanted to make the rental office building, which would be constructed on this site, blend in naturally with the surrounding environment. On its premises, the building has a square-shaped garden measuring 15 m on each side.

As for the floor planning, I realized an expansive construction with no visible earthquake-proof elements around the circumference by placing quake-resistant structures including a staircase, plumbing and other piping spaces to the north end. With one or two companies scheduled to occupy each floor, I prepared five different positions for partitions in order to accommodate tenants with varying sizes.

Taking into consideration the fact that many objects would be placed on the wall sides of small rental offices, I constructed the basic façade structure so that the walls would measure 180 mm above the floors, with the high-side structure being double-skin glass.

Furthermore, in consideration of the positional relationship with its perimeter and ventilation paths, the building provides eight vertical glass windows extending between the first and third floors.

The high-side glass was unevenly sandblasted through manual labor, thereby creating irregular texture with a cloudy/hazy touch. This generates a perspective that makes the neighboring buildings look a little more distant than they really are on the crowded premises, in addition to letting in the offices soft diffused light converted from direct sunlight. Moreover, through the uneven sandblasted glass, the weather and views outside appear slightly different from their usual selves.

This offers curious enjoyment indoors, loosely connecting the indoors and outdoors. Having the vertical glass windows extending from the first floor to third floor means that they stretch from the floor to the ceiling, thus enabling sufficient natural ventilation and an air-conditioner-free office environment in the middle period.

The white surface on the façade is a GRC panel. Overshadowed by a valley of buildings, the premises and their vicinity are dark. Therefore, I attempted to lighten up the surrounding by adding a white surface. In addition to trees passed down from the generation before last, the garden is planted with as many plants as possible to provide much greenery. Also, the ground outside is left unpaved as much as possible, with earthy surfaces reintroduced, in an attempt to pursue pleasant coexistence with soil and plants even in the urban area.

For small office buildings in metropolitan areas, it is a common practice to construct homogeneous and functional buildings that place priority on efficiency based on the economic principle. However, I believe that it is high time for us to think about building novel office structures as places where people can harmonize with environment based on a mixture of themes such as a new relationship between the outdoors and indoors, while still maintaining efficiency and functionality.

Through attempts that could be made on the premises such as setting aside a little space for plantation, securing earthy grounds, and applying uneven sandblast on glass surfaces, I tried to give birth to an office building with a varying degree of environmental latitude as a place where people stay instead of an artificially-controlled homogeneous construction.

Building Details

Architect: Takeshi Hosaka
Structural Engineers: Hirofumi Ohno
Photographer: Koji Fujii / Nacasa&Pertners Inc.

Client: Masanori Yoshida
Name: Yoyogi Office Building
Location: Yoyogi, Tokyo, Japan

Structure: Steel
Site: 398.88 m2
Building area: 209.13 m2
Floor area ratio: 635.69 m2
Building height: 9991mm
No. of floors: 3F
Building function: Office Building + Owner’s House

Architect Details

(Name) Takeshi Hosaka
Takeshi Hosaka Architects

Planning data
Design: March 2008 – Feb. 2009
Planning start: March  /  2008
Beginning of construction: April   /  2010
Completion: December / 2010

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Hoto Fudo by Takeshi Hosaka Architects	Inside Out by Takeshi Hosaka Architects	More Offices on Dezeen

This office in Paris by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur for advertising agency JWT features caves made from pulped paper and plants that play music.

The rough exterior shells contain pristine white meeting rooms, while plants cascading from the ceiling outside activate the sound system when workers brush against them.

Green pathways snake across the floor of the lobby while clusters of white blocks provide informal seating.

Lehanneur collaborated with architect Ana Moussinet for the project.

More about Mathieu Lehanneur on Dezeen »

Photographs are by Véronique Huyghes.

Here are some more details from Mathieu Lehanneur:

The JWT Agency by Mathieu Lehanneur

Perpetually on the lookout for new ways to live, sleep, create and work, Mathieu Lehanneur turns the advertising agency JWT (Neuilly/Seine) into a “digital plant station”, a new reflection from the designer about contemporary working styles and the necessary invented depictions of them when applied to the professional world of communications. Hot on the heels of the office conceived for David Edwards, founder of the Le Laboratoire (Paris) and areas for teenagers and children at the Centre Pompidou, he has once again designed an area dedicated to creative production larger than 1000m2.

An interior architecture produced in collaboration with the architect Ana Moussinet where the objects are as much brainstorming aids as three dimensional logos assigned to sum up the spirit of this French JWT subsidiary specialising in digital media. First symbolic move: to reverse the usual dynamic of authority by placing the two chairmen and the director of JWT on the ground floor, as close as possible to the hub of the agency, separated from the reception simply by tall wadded doors!

The second meaningful gesture, the agency’s specific digital sensibility is entirely embodied by the meeting room, transformed into a creative cavern with walls totally produced from paper fibres, “It has literally sucked up and recycled the available paper in the agency, an archaic and useless support that JWT France eventually envisages totally eliminating.’ Providing excellent soundproofing, usually used for thermal insulating in organic buildings, the final execution sublimates the irregular exterior surface, a shell whose spray projected neo-archaism contrasts with the milky and luminous purity of the internal shell: pure James Bond genius where the most unobtrusive rock hides Dr No’s ultra technical trace.

Close-by, another mineral projection changes agency coffee breaks, this time from the sky and much higher, a black tar meteorite now serves as a bar. A strange and visually magnetic object, a small piece of interstellar virginity, this anti-design mass welcomes visitors for an onward journey towards creative horizons to be built. A place for fruit, objects or simply for leaning on or putting down coffee cups.

The lobby navigates alternatively between geometrical and unruly lines like these megabit landscapes in the form of seating, immediately counter-balanced by an effusion of plants, cascading from the ceiling that will prompt music when gently brushed against, inaugurating the plant mixing! A plant juke box developed with the artist group Scenocosme and whose play-list is updated by the creative members of the agency.

Linking digital rigour and the plant boom, between technology and the very human enthusiasm which transpires in each intervention of the building with the omnipresence of the Andrea air filter, a small harmless piece of equipment whose decorative plant becomes a resource dedicated to the lungs of the collaborators: probably the agency with the purest air in Paris!

JWT agency by Mathieu Lehanneur in collaboration with the architect Ana Moussinet.

Thanks to Anne Doizy, Managing Director JWT Paris, Frédéric Winckler and Claude Chaffiotte, chairmen at JWT Paris.

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Grotto by Callum Morton	Trufa by Anton García-Abril	My Caravan Studio by Paul Coudamy