Habitat Valencia 2011, Part One

Seven anthropomorphic designs from Spain’s biggest design fair
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Other than sunshine, Spain has an abundance of laughter. Blame it on the jamón, verdejo wine or siestas, the good humor of the country’s people shows up in design too. At this year’s Habitat Valencia, we spotted several examples of one of our favorite ways to add wit to furniture and objects—anthropomorphic design.

From concepts that add function (like a light that doubles as a butler) to those that are just plain cute, the below represent some of the newest and best ways to add Spanish levity to your life.

Originally produced in 2009 for Lladró, Jaime Hayon‘s porcelain clown lamp is still an elegantly cheeky way to jazz up a room. That it turns off and on by a touch to its golden nose seals the deal.

Triangulo‘s new series of modular furniture called Crezko grows with kids, giving them appropriately-styled bedrooms for whichever age they are. The winking chair, produced by the new brand Kimoo, will rock infants to sleep and humor them when they’re old enough to laugh.

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Javier Ares Armero lights up the room with his Sisyphean Humallum lamps, which incorporates cord storage into the design.

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Part of Estudio Marsical‘s Me Too kids furniture collection, the humorous Ladrillos (Spanish for cinder block) creates shelving through power of adorable little plastic creatures.

Bringing tons of personality to furniture for kids, bm showed off their Facebox in Valencia this year. The uber-cute rolling cabinet’s drawer-pulls give it the appearance of having a face. Guaranteed to get a rise out of any fun-loving tyke, these cabinets (which come in multiple color combos and with different, funny-sized eyes) are a must-have in the design-forward children’s bedroom.

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Designed by Nacho Timon, Mr. Light is a well-considered lamp. Not only does the light illuminate for you, it also—by way of interchangeable arms—can act as a towel rack, butler or sitting companion. The cute, functional lamp is a great take on harnessing modular parts to offer dynamic functionality.

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Fitting on a desk or fastened to a wall, the Handy by Vandidoo is more than a key hanger, it’s a place to dump the entire contents of all your pockets. Holding keys, a wallet, mail, change, sunglasses or just about anything else that can fit on the steel-toothed tray, the Vandidoo borrows from one of the body’s most useful designs for a high-functioning home accessory.


Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Spanish architects Rstudio have designed a combined metro station and park in Alboraya near Valencia.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The new stepped park offers views into the semi-submerged station through large strip windows.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Escalators bring passengers down from a single-storey entrance hall to the underground platforms, where trains depart for the city centre.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Seven grass-covered terraces descend from the street towards the station entrance.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Walls and windows in and around the station are decorated with red, blue and yellow stripes to aid passenger navigation.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The old above-ground station located next to the site has been converted into a cafe while a pedestrian pathway replaces the old tracks.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

This project is the second train station to be featured on Dezeen this year, following a metro station in Naples filled with sculptures and graphic artworks – see all our stories about railway stations here.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Photography is by David Frutos.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Here’s some more information from the architects:


Palmaret train station
Alboraya

The new train station of Alboraya-Palmaret is built together with a big park, which stands out the new platform in a natural manner.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The park has an approximated surface of 6.000 square meters. It has seven platforms in different levels, and leads us from the street to the hall of the new station.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

We can find in it rest areas, as well as children’s playground under the shadow of a large number of tress of different species.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Through the projected intervention over the old Palmaret station, we can highlight that most of the old platforms have been removed. In this way we can connect the new park with the Horchata Avenue.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Considering the indoors of the new station, two important areas have emerged. The first one, a big Hall with views to the park, leads us in a natural way to the second area, the platform, that due to its double high gives the station a great atmosphere.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image

The building materials employed in the entire renovation gives the station as well as the park a modern image and constitutes the reference for the whole Alboraya district.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image

Year: 2010
Development company: G.T.P. Ente Gestor de Infraestructuras
Builder: Ute Metro 3 Alboraya. Ezentis. Aldesa Ortiz e Hijos
Collaboration: Eg Ineco (manager engineering)
Alfonso Peris (landscape)
David Frutos (photography)

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image


See also:

.

Naples Metro Station
by Karim Rashid
Subway Station by Amanda
Levete and Anish Kapoor
Tram Stop in Alicante
by Subarquitectura

Jhouse by BBLab Arquitectos

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

The façade of this house in Valencia by Spanish architects BBLab Arquitectos is punctured with a pattern of circular holes.

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

The garden-facing elevations of Jhouse are glazed from floor to ceiling on the ground floor.

 Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

An internal iron staircase connecting the ground and first floors appears solid in profile but has no risers, so it appears lighter when viewed straight-on.

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

More stories about houses on Dezeen »
More projects in Spain on Dezeen »

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

Photography is by Ricardo Espinoza.

The following is from the architects:


J HOUSE, a “wrapping” for everyday life.

How to combine an adequate privacy together with a straight relationship with the outdoor space in a small urban plot? How to enhance the spatial experience in a reduced residential program?

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

The building section articulates the public and private areas of the house. On the one hand, the sunny, open and transparent ground floor dissolves into the garden, whereas on the other hand a secretive, cagey and bright first floor introduces a more nuanced interior-exterior relationship. Here, the desired privacy is achieved by several patios enclosed by round-shaped lattice walls that allow seeing without being seen, and help to regulate the intense light of Valencia.

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

The hanging iron staircase acts as “transitional” device between the two floors. The spatial layout on both levels seeks to achieve further visual depth by constructing several interior-exterior sequences.

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

This is the project of a house characterized by its topological qualities rather than by its functional ones. The distinct and qualified spaces allow their residents to enjoy everyday experiences.

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

Data

Architects
(Design, Detailed Design and Site Management)
Ana Bonet Miró
Luca Brunelli

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

Team
Jean-Baptiste Joye
Carla de Prada
Juan Lobato
Enrique Lopéz (Quantity Surveyor, Site Security and Management)

External Consultants
Structural engineer: Jesús Egea
Services: Maria Ángeles González

Jhouse by bblab arquitectos

Date: 2006 – 2010
Location: Rocaford, Valencia, Spain
Client: J. B. Miró
Gross surface: 353 m2
Building cost: 375.000 €
Characteristics of work: Private residence


See also:

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House SGLight
by Grau.Zero
Wear House
by AUAU
House R
by Bembé Dellinger

Habit Makes Us Blind by Espai MGR

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

These conceptual images by Spanish studio Espai MGR show impossible Lego structures filling vacant neighbourhood plots in Valencia.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

The aim of the project, named Habit Makes Us Blind, is to draw attention to the problem of unused spaces in urban environments.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

The architects intend the project to promote the spaces for recreational use.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

More stories about installations on Dezeen »

This information is from the architects:


Habit make us blind

Day by day we pass by vacant lots downtown. Just like an invisible metastasis generated in the heart of the city and extending to all its arteries. Neighbourhoods that, although having a huge potential, have more and more unused spaces, a fact that does not at all promote a correct sustainable development. Years have made us immune to this problem. It’s a landscape we already recognise as typical of the central neighbourhoods in Valencia.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

Sometimes, the tourists are the ones who open our eyes by mentioning or questioning whether this situation is normal. On other occasions, we pay attention to it for a moment only because the secondary problems that those spaces imply affect us directly. But in most of the cases, they are only a part of our way. Like a gruyere cheese where the rats block any possibilities of reconstruction, while staring at us, far away from its holes.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR

This photographic work aims at calling people’s attention, just like painting those isolated walls yellow would. It demands the recreational use of those vacant lots through the eyes of a child, by filling them with impossible constructions, surrealistic installations in line with the problem. A children’s game as a neighbour’s shout, demanding the right to take part in their city.

Habit Makes Us Go Blind by Espai MGR


See also:

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Frank Lloyd Wright by Adam Reed Tucker & LEGOLEGO Towers by
Bjarke Ingels Group
Urban Beads
by MVRDV

Luis Beltran

Découverte de Luis Beltrán, un photographe espagnol au style original. En jouant avec les lumières, les contrastes et les couleurs, cet artiste originaire de Valence parvient à créer des photomontages intéressants. Une sélection de ses travaux à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.



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