Hasta La Ideas

Portuguese studio Comoco Architects has converted a warehouse in Coimbra once used for storing industrial materials into an indoor football ground (+ slideshow).

A blanket of bright green turf stretches along the length of the building, creating a pair of pitches beneath the arched metal trusses that support the roof.

At the end of these pitches, the architects have inserted a new wooden structure, which contains changing rooms, showers and reception areas.

“We took advantage of the warehouse’s material rawness and rough surfaces to introduce a softer element within it, an element made with light materials and smooth surfaces, chiefly by using MDF board panels,” architect Nelson Mota told Dezeen.

A wooden grid forms a trellis-like ceiling over the new rooms and bare light bulbs hang down in the spaces between.

Mota explained how the high floor-to-ceiling height of the existing warehouse allowed them to “explore the roof of the new facility as a permeable, or even absent, surface, where the various compartments would be protected not at regular ceiling height, but high above by the arched metallic ceiling.”

The only change the architects made to the exterior of the building was to punch an entrance through one of the walls, which they’ve surrounded with a boxy metal frame.

Other indoor football grounds we’ve featured include a sports centre in Vienna and a training centre in South Africa.

See more stories about design for sport »

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s a project description from Comoco:

Our approach to the design of “N10-Eiras” indoor sports facility was determined twofold: on the one hand by the specific characteristics of the existing industrial pavilion in which we ought to insert our solution.

On the other hand by the brief, which asked for three main areas: reception; changing rooms and showers; and a party room.

One volume was created, organizing the two main areas at both sides of the reception area, which is also where the entrance is located.

The new volume thus created occupies the entire width of the existing pavilion, and its own width results from the subtraction of the football field from the pavilion’s total length.

The building system defines the materialization of the volume. A porticoed frame made of American pine wood beams and columns creates the basic structure.

The infill of this structure, both in the roof as in the walls, is made through the use of MDF boards, assembled in such a way as to perform both structural and formal roles in the overall construction.

The raw use of the MDF boards is followed by a straightforward use of white ceramic tiles in the changing rooms and showers, and by the design of the furniture components, which are also made of raw pine wood elements and black lacquered MDF panels.

The layout of the illumination devices was designed in order to accomplish an intense and expressive plasticity out of the volume’s formal and material characteristics.

A tunnel-like element pierces the pavilion’s existing wall to announce in the outside the entrance to the facility.

Location: Coimbra
Client: N10 Indoor
Architecture: Luís Miguel Correia, Nelson Mota, Susana Constantino

Project / Construction: 2011
Area: 2385.00m2

Total Investment: €1.000.000,00
Construction: € 200.000,00

Engineering: MyOption
Building Contractor: Timotec; Flexifusão, Lda

Axonometric – click above for larger image

Building plan – click above for larger image

Longitudinal section – click above for larger image

Elevation – click above for larger image

Elevation – click above for larger image

The post N10 Sports Facility
by Comoco Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Guests can lounge amongst orange trees and a water basin in the secluded courtyard of this dreamy Portuguese guesthouse by Vora Arquitectura (+ slideshow).

Above: photograph is by Alexander Gempeler

The communal living rooms of Villa Extramuros open out onto the central courtyard and the dining room has a terrace that faces the surrounding fields and olive trees.

The five guest suites are located on the first floor and each have their own private terrace, two of which overlook the nearby Arraiolos Castle.

Floors and ceilings inside the building are concrete, while cork lines a selection of exterior walls and surfaces.

Furnishings comprise a mixture of designer pieces and traditional local textiles and objects.

Other attractive guesthouses we’ve featured include a series of cabins in Mexico and a guesthouse of furniture-filled caves in Sicily.

See more stories about hotels »

Photography is by Adrià Goula, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a lengthier description from the hotel owners:

Villa Extramuros

The Villa Extramuros is located in Arriolos, Alentejo, at mid distance between Lisbon and Spain, and very close to Evora, member of World Heritage Cities.

In the heart of a preserved landscape of cork oaks and olive trees, and in a region rich of centuries of History and Culture, we invite you to come and discover a small villa-hotel of contemporary charm, immersed into nature.

Inspired by the traditional design of latin mansions and medieval convents, around a patio, the contemporary architecture of Villa Extramuros reflects the charms of villages in Southern and Mediterranean Europe.

Living spaces are hidden and protected from the outside in order to allow more privacy, but offer luminous views from inside.

Above: photograph is by Alexander Gempeler

Orange- trees, a fountain, sheltered and panoramic terraces, enhance the attractiveness of the building.

The internal fitting of our villa-hotel gathers raw concrete, glass and marble. The ground is of waxed concrete.

The decoration – carried out by the Parisians owners – is widely composed of pieces of designers from the 1950′s to now (from Jean Prouve and Charlotte Perriand, to Marc Newson and Konstantin Grcic, going through Pierre Paulin, Joe Colombo, Jasper Morrison for example).

But it also mixes with remarkable pieces of local Alentejan handicraft (carpets, blankets, cork, bowls, tiles, etc). And with the ones of young contemporary photographers such as Edgar Martins or Adriá Goula.

Above: photograph is by Alexander Gempeler

The Villa Extramuros offers 3 standard rooms and 2 superior rooms, all of them with a vast private terrace.

Here too, cork, marble and waxed concrete are the base of a minimalist decoration, leaving the primary to the outside landscape through the windows.

All rooms are equipped with a large wardrobe, a minibar, a safe, and with air conditioning, satellite TV, iPod dock and Wi-fi access.

Superior rooms benefit from the most spectacular views over the castle or the countryside, from the largest terraces and from specific design furniture and dedicated attentions.

Above: photograph is by Alexander Gempeler

The bathrooms are spacious, arranged with rain showers in Estemoz marble and heating floor.

Natural lighting from the roof and indirect lighting with LED provide a smooth atmosphere.

Above all the Villa Extramuros invites you to cool down far from the stress of the city.

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But you can anyway choose to practice many activities:

– our infinite 15m long swimming pool, perfect for swimmers, surrounded by a large terrace with sun-beds among olive trees. There is also a small pool for children.

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– the park, of 5 hectares of olive trees and oaks, where you can walk, run, nap, read, exercise, watch birds and other animals, or even have a picnic.

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– Diverse sports, wellness or cultural activities can be organised for you on site or nearby, such as massage, gym with a personal trainer, visits to wineries and farms cross country bicycle rides, horse and carriage rides and boat trips and aquatic sports.

The post Villa Extramuros by
Vora Arquitectura appeared first on Dezeen.

Une très belle installation de parapluies multicolores dans la ville de Águeda au Portugal. Une rue complète a été entièrement décorée avec des parapluies suspendu et flottant dans les airs, le tout capté en images par la photographe Patricia Almeida. A découvrir en détails dans la suite de l’article.

Shimmering brass walls surround this arts centre that Portuguese firm Pitagoras Arquitectos have just completed in Guimarães.

The new two-storey structure comprises a series of irregularly stacked volumes that extend out from a refurbished row of existing buildings on the edge of an old market square in the city centre.

Rows of rectilinear brass pipes give the centre its ridged golden facade, while mirrors clad the underside of cantilevered rooms on the first floor.

Two underground levels are located beneath the square to provide galleries, an auditorium and a car park, plus the building also houses creative workshops and offices.

The opening of the centre ties in with the city’s status as European Capital of Culture for 2012 and will showcase a permanent collection of works by local artist Jose de Guimarães.

Buildings with golden exteriors have been popular in the last year and so far we’ve featured a library, a pavilion, a museum and a wedding chapel with golden walls.

See all our stories about golden projects »

Photography is by Joao Morgado.

Here’s some text prepared by the architects:

Platform of Arts and Creativity
International Centre for the Arts Jose de Guimarães
Guimarães, Portugal

The buildings that make up the Municipal Market and the space defined by them, commonly referred to as “the square”, a name inherited from market square are, as a unit, characteristic elements of the urban landscape of the city of Guimarães.

The grounds of the old municipal market boasted a privileged and very central location with excellent accesses, very close to the Toural Square and the historic center.

With this project, the transformation of the marketplace into a multifunctional space dedicated to artistic, economic, cultural and social activities within the scope of European Capital of Culture 2012, allowed for the physical and functional reintegration into the urban fabric, to become a reality and so, to recover one key area of the city space.

In addition, the operation extended to adjacent plots, enabling the regeneration of the interior space of the block, which was completely uncharacterized, as a result of its occupation by a marble processing industry.

The program provided a clear concept and defined the objectives intended to achieve with this infrastructure, listing a series of skills and spaces that constitute the functional program for both the new and the existing buildings, as well as the adjacent plots of land.

For this purpose three major program areas were defined:

1. Art Center, which houses a permanent collection, in this case the Collection of José Guimarães, temporary exhibition area, a multipurpose space for additional activities, performances and shows, in addition to a series of complementary services.

2. Creative Labs (business support offices) for the reception and installation of activities related to creative industries, allowing the development of business projects.

3. Workshops to Support Emerging Creativity, consisting of workspaces and creative vocation for young creators in various areas, hoping to develop projects on a temporary basis.

Finally, the intent to recover the existing building on the eastern side, trying to promote the installation of additional commercial activities that could enhance the creation of a space with a broad scope in regards to multidisciplinary cultural activities.

The whole structure, according to the program would complement the existing equipment in the city, as well as those which are under development within the European Capital of Culture.

When interpreting the program, we aimed to allow for the possibility of each one of its components to function independently and simultaneously, creating accesses to each of the various services and support areas, as well as to the outdoor square and garden.

We opted for a methodology of intervention that involves the rehabilitation of the existing building to the east, keeping the materials and textures, but redoing the entire inside at level 0.

For the building at north, and for reasons previously mentioned, the façade towards the Avenue, which characterizes the building, is renovated, but its interior and façade facing the square were object of and almost complete demolition and redesign.

Although it is intended to maintain the scale and the existing formal relations, we propose a new solution for the building that promotes a strong relationship with the square and emphasizes the relationship of this structure with the outer space.

The new building takes a radically different language, by contrast with its surroundings, both from the standpoint of their language and image, discrete, repetitive, as well as by the succession of volumes, with full and empty, marked by the juxtaposition of contrasting surfaces.

The coatings, a grid of metal profiles in brass and glass surfaces chromatised on ventilated façades, accentuates a range of textures that is intended display, more dense and opaque in the majority of faces in the case of the metal structure, and transparent when it covertly comes to glass surfaces that intentionally conceal the few openings that the building comprises.

This series of volumes and dissonant elements, which result from decomposition of the initial volume, was originated by the need to create a variety of different spaces in the exhibition area, creating a tension evident in the volume of the building and the relationship with the space of the square, making it the main feature of its design.

For the square, we formulated a proposal with a drawing significantly more aseptic and a coating with large concrete slabs, as a counterpart to the surrounding buildings, characterized as a large reception and a multifunctional meeting area, translated into a physical platform, summing its vocation as public space by nature.

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It will be an area purposely under fitted, with the preservation of the large trees to the east, by introducing some elements of vegetation along the north building, but leaving most of the free space allowing for the development of numerous spontaneously or organized activities, in the scope of the Platform or not.

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The urban furniture used in the square comprises moveable elements, allowing for a more versatile use.

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Location: Guimarães
Date: July 2012

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Architects: Pitágoras Architects
Project team: Fernando Sá, Raul Roque, Alexandre Lima, Manuel Roque

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The post International Centre for the Arts Jose
de Guimarães by Pitagoras Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.

This concrete house in Portugal by architect Paula Santos features an indoor swimming pool and a painter’s studio (+ slideshow).

Most rooms in the house are at ground floor level on either side of a long corridor and only an ensuite bedroom is located upstairs.

The roof pitches upwards in three places to accommodate this first floor and to give high ceilings to the studio and pool room.

Paved terraces and a grass lawn surround the house and a concrete canopy provides an outdoor shelter with circular skylights.

Photographer Nelson Garrido sent us these new images of the house, although it was first completed in 2008.

More concrete houses in Portugal worth a look include one with a large hole in its wall and one with a concrete upper storey and glass walls below.

See more projects in Portugal »

Here’s some extra text sent by the photographer:

House in Ovar

The house at Ovar, Portugal, is an exercise where we stretched to the limit a number of ideas and concepts for a long time already contained in other projects, which had never been put in place. It is also – and above all – a project, which allows for thinking with other people about their own way of inhabiting a dwelling.

The large-scale project, covering 680m2, to be located on not very stable sandy soil allowed us to ponder the house as an object which develops in a continuum.

The need to design the main programme of the house as a ground floor meant that the difference between spaces was implemented by means of variable heights in geometric forms: in respect of their importance and meaning, the most expressive areas such as the swimming pool and the painter’s studio or the body of the entrance from the street acquire more expressive and more elevated forms.

The idea for the object in concrete, a traditionally sculptable material, appears implicit in this concept, designing the elevations with level and sloping surfaces up to the coverage.

The length of the corridor is used to distribute the desired functions and large areas, further creating clipping plan, which allow for a relation with landscape, with the various wooded areas to be constructed suggesting outdoor leisure.

Client: Laura Malaquias, Carlos Mendonça
Architecture: Paula Santos
Collaboration Joana Machado, Nuno Silva, Vasco Novais, Ana Renata Pinho

Foundations and structures: AFA Consult, Carlos Quinaz
Electrical installations, safety, communications: AFA Consult, Raul Serafim

Mechanical equipment, heating, gas: AFA Consult, Carlos Almeida
Hydraulic AFA Consult: Susana Miranda

Landscape architecture: Victor Beiramar Diniz
Construction: Construtora do Loureiro, Lda

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by Paula Santos appeared first on Dezeen.