Hasta La Ideas

This house in the Swedish seaside town of Mölle by Stockholm studio Elding Oscarson has an upper storey clad with roughly sawn Douglas fir and a lower section that is entirely transparent (+ slideshow).

When developing the design for the Mölle house, architects Jonas Elding and Johan Oscarson set out to reestablish the architectural experimentation they say dominated the town at the turn of the last century.

“Experimentation has been overpowered by conservation,” said the architects. “Our ambition has been to recover Mölle’s dormant architectural tradition, extrapolating it into the twenty-first century, while providing a house for generations to come.”

Referencing the nearby Villa Italienborg, which features a striking chequerboard facade, the designers chose oversized planks of Douglas fir to create a cladding unlike any other in the town.

These horizontal boards wrap all the way around the building, punctured at intervals by an assortment of square and rectangular windows.

To contrast, the ground floor level features floor-to-ceiling windows with slender frames, offering residents uninterrupted views towards the surrounding garden and coastline beyond.

“The building expresses both contrast and tenderness in relation to site and context,” said Elding and Oscarson.

The house has three storeys – two above ground and one below. Three wings make up the plan, framing a pair of garden terraces and a driveway at the building’s entrance.

Living, dining and kitchen spaces occupy the entire ground floor. All furniture is free-standing so as not to obstruct views through the glass walls, and includes a kitchen island. Heating is provided by a wood-burning stove in the middle of the space.

A spiral staircase leads to floors both above and below. Upstairs, three bedrooms are arranged around an extra lounge, while the basement accommodates a fourth bedroom and a sauna.

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman.

Here’s a project description from Elding Oscarson:

Mölle by the Sea

Mölle is an extreme location with regards to topography and landscape, as well as history and aura. Around the turn of the century 1900, Northern Europeans were migrating to “Sinful Mölle” – where men and women were allowed to enjoy each other’s company at the same beach – leaving a trace of eccentric and experimental architecture from the first half of the 20th century.

However, from that point in time and onwards, experimentation has been overpowered by conservation. Our shared ambition with our client has been to recover Mölle’s dormant architectural tradition, extrapolating it into the 21st century, while providing a house for generations to come suited an open-minded family, presently with one child.

The building expresses both contrast and tenderness in relation to site and context. Its volume has been kept low, without any plinth or pitched roof. Facing Öresund, the terraced site has an ocean view, but the building questions the convention to turn all rooms towards that same view – the site has many qualities all around, with stone and brick walls, vegetation, and an old ice cellar semi-submerged into a hill.

The building’s shape divides the site into different exterior spaces and provides a softly divided sequence to the interior. Not immediately perceptible, the graphic form of the plan results in a building volume that rather reads as a fragmentised whole – from some angles striking, from other angles neat.

On the ground floor, a pilotis space wrapped in low iron glass, with sliding doors and undivided panes of up to almost 7 metres wide, the garden and its stone walls frame the interior space. The upper volume is resting on a slender steel structure in an abrupt collision between glass and saw finish douglas planks in jumbo format – a facade which is the first of its kind, just like Mölle’s most famous house “Villa Italienborg”, with its chess-board ethernite shingles facade, was back in the days.

Architect: Elding Oscarson
Project team: Jonas Elding, Johan Oscarson, Yuko Maki, Gustaf Karlsson
Textile: Akane Moriyama
Location: Mölle, Sweden
Client: Private
Area: 300 sqm

The post Elding Oscarson completes Swedish
seaside house in Mölle appeared first on Dezeen.

by Laura Feinstein Nordic countries aren’t known for their mild climates. Whether it’s the near-mythic winter darkness of the Scandinavian “polar night,” or the periods of 24-hour light that characterize the Midnight Sun, this is a region of stark contrasts. “Darkness & Light:…

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News: “An architecture challenge doesn’t come much better than this,” says David Chipperfield, who has been named winner in the competition to design a new home for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm (+ slideshow).

David Chipperfield Architects saw off competition from Swedish studios Wingårdh and Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor to land the prestigious commission to create the Nobel Center – an exhibition centre and events venue for the award that recognises advances in science and culture.

“I think all projects are important but this project has enormous meaning, not just for the city of Stockholm but internationally. An architecture challenge doesn’t come much better than this,” said Chipperfield.

The architect’s vision is for a shimmering brass-clad building on the waterfront. It will be fully glazed on the ground floor, opening out to a new city park on the sunny south-eastern side of the site.

“The jury finds the lightness and openness of the building very appealing and consistent with the Nobel Foundation’s explicit ambition to create an open and welcoming centre for the general public,” said Nobel Foundation executive director Lars Heikensten, who was a member of the judging panel.

“We view the winning proposal as a concrete interpretation of the Nobel Prize as Sweden’s most important symbol in the world. Stockholm will gain a building – magnificent but without pomp, powerful yet graceful – with qualities like those the City Hall gave the capital a century ago.”

Fellow jury member Per Wästberg added: “We view the winning proposal as a concrete interpretation of the Nobel Prize as Sweden’s most important symbol in the world. Stockholm will gain a building – magnificent but without pomp, powerful yet graceful – with qualities like those the City Hall gave the capital a century ago.”

As well as hosting the annual award ceremony each December, the building will provide a public centre for exhibitions, educational activities, events and meetings.

“It can be spectacular on its greatest night, but also it can be very useful and functional and working the rest of the year,” said Chipperfield.

The post David Chipperfield triumphs in
Nobel Center competition appeared first on Dezeen.

Swedish firm OkiDoki! Arkitekter has created its own offices inside a former corset factory in Gothenburg, designing an open-plan workspace that hosts events for local residents in the evening (+ slideshow).

The Corset Factory by OkiDoki! Arkitekter is situated in a building that was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman in 1898 but had been renovated as offices several times over since production ceased in 1950.

Light floods in through the large original windows and the main space is divided by a series of ten cast-iron columns.

The open-plan space is dominated by one continuous table, where members of staff all sit together to reflect the company’s unhierarchical nature.

“Everyone sits around the same table, literally as well as figuratively,” said the architects. “Aside from a few smaller rooms for quiet meetings or telephone calls, everything takes place in the same big room.”

A selection of colourful curtains, rugs and specially designed furniture demarcates the space into zones for meetings of different sizes, reception areas or places to take a break.

There is also a row of smaller rooms along one side of the space for private meetings or phone calls.

In the corner of the main area, a stepped seating area replete with cushions looms over the room. This is used for presentations and screenings as well as a place for people to work away from their desks.

On evenings when the Corset Factory hosts seminars and lectures, movie festivals or parties, the break-out areas can be cleared to make open spaces or filled with chairs to create a screening area.

“The Corset factory is more than just an office,” explained the architects. “It is a place not only for architectural work but for open discussions, new ideas, spontaneous meetings – a sort of living room for the city: available for anyone, anytime.”

Off from the main space, conference and meeting rooms are simply finished in white with wooden floors. These are separated from the main area by a partially exposed brick wall with pieces of plaster painted in an array of different colours.

Photography is by Bert Leandersson.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

The Corset Factory, Gothenburg, Sweden

The old corset factory in central Gothenburg is one of the city’s most beautiful buildings. Designed by Gustaf Wickman in 1898, the great windows flooding the open spaces with light made it ideal for its original use as a factory. Since 1950, when the production shut down, the building has hosted several offices. In September 2013 Okidoki Arkitekter moved in.

Okidoki’s organisation is open and un-hierarchical. This is reflected in the premises and how they’re used. Everyone sits around the same table, literally as well as figuratively. Aside from a few smaller rooms for quiet meetings or telephone calls, everything takes place in the same big room. Curtains, carpets and specially designed furniture helps divide it into zones suited for different purposes; weekly meetings with the whole office, informal meetings with guests and customers, breaks with coffee and a magazine.

The Corset factory is more than just an office. It is a place not only for architectural work but for open discussions, new ideas, spontaneous meetings – a sort of living room for the city, available for anyone, anytime. In the evenings the Corset Factory hosts seminars and lectures, movie festivals and parties. Thus, the most interesting thing about the project is perhaps not how it is designed and used as an office but how it actually is a part of the urban life.

The post Former corset factory converted into office
and events space by OkiDoki! Arkitekter appeared first on Dezeen.

Art books should have a certain allure, one that makes you want to open its cover and discover the story within. Many of the major book publishers, however, have found themselves in a rut. The same big name artists—both deceased and living—make regular…

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