Hasta La Ideas

This wooden extension to a school library near Melbourne, by local firm Branch Studio Architects, creates a reading lounge and balcony nestled among the branches of surrounding trees (+ slideshow).

Branch Studio Architects renovated the existing library at St Monica’s College and added a new reading room and decked terrace, which extends over a previously unused courtyard.

Pupils enter the library through a doorway clad in dark wood, which opens into an existing corridor and leads to a lounge area featuring angular sofas and benches that wrap around supporting columns.

Beside the entrance, a multi-purpose reception desk also incorporates borrowing facilities, an audiovisual hot desk and digital access to the library catalogue.

Sliding doors can be pulled back to open this space to an outdoor courtyard featuring planted beds and a tree surrounded by wooden structures that create seating areas.

On the back wall of the courtyard is a mural painted by architect Brad Wray that references the colours and shapes found in the landscape of a nearby national park.

The natural orange tones of the mural and the contrasting green grass in the courtyard informed the colours used to upholster some of the plywood furnishings.

“A carefully chosen colour and material palette was selected to reflect and complement the courtyard artwork, engaging with the Australian outback, an important icon of the St Monica’s College philosophy,” explained Wray.

Pupils can ascend from the lounge to the library’s main reference area using a wide set of stairs designed to evoke the monumental Spanish Steps in Rome.

“The book stacks are placed on the upper level of the library in reference to the books being the Trinita dei Monti Church at the top of the Spanish steps and the external courtyard as the Piazza di Spagna at the bottom of the steps,” said Wray.

This staircase incorporates spaces for pupils to sit and read, conduct meetings or use the built-in photocopying facilities.

It leads to an area containing the bookshelves and a series of work spaces that can be divided by drawing translucent curtains around them.

An existing wall was removed to create the entrance to the treetop reading lounge, which culminates in a balcony providing views towards the nearby countryside.

The exterior of the new addition is clad in black-stained plywood with natural timber battens creating a vertical contrast that references the nearby gum trees.

Plywood used throughout the interior provides continuity with the library’s facade and creates robust, hard-wearing surfaces that will be able to resist the scuffs and marks of daily life in a school.

Zig-zagging LED strip lights in the extension echo the shape of the bookshelves and the lights are also applied to highlight existing trusses in the main downstairs reading area.

Photography is by Nils Koenning.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

St Monica’s College Library, Epping, Australia

The traditional school library is becoming more digitalised and the all mighty physical book becoming more and more scarce. The St Monica’s College Library fit-out new extension consists of two parts: a renovation to the existing school library and a new reading lounge & deck extension. The project celebrates and elaborates on the traditions of the school & civic library through a series of key ideas, or ‘chapters’, that were translated into architectural interventions. These architectural interventions were collectively composed and narrated as a single ‘story’.

1. Entry Threshold – Inspired by the entry to the ‘Secret Garden’, the Entry Threshold is conceived as a singular volume and is the main entry to the library. The threshold protrudes slightly into the existing school corridor like a portal into another world.

2. Garden Foyer – Two large glass sliding doors open up the library to the courtyard where an existing internal corridor is used to segregate the courtyard from the library completely. The internal library spaces are now engaged with the external courtyard, creating an indoor/outdoor reading area.

3. The ‘Multi-desk’ – A singular multi-purpose, multi-use, “Swiss army” reception desk, catering for borrowing, audio-visual hot-desk, library catalogue and a seat.

4. The Spanish Steps – An existing 1400mm change in levels between the lower & upper floors of the library was previously connected by two awkward, narrow stairs. This has been redefined as a series of platforms that promote impromptu spaces for discussion, meeting, photocopying, reading, viewing and traversing between the two levels of the library.

5. Tree-top reading lounge – A new reading lounge punches through an existing brick wall on level one and extends out over a previously unused courtyard. The reading lounge is specifically orientated & configured to offer views towards the nearby Darebin creek green belt and wetlands.

Flexible & translucent staff areas encourage teacher and student engagement. Through the use of a curtain divider, a more transparent & sometimes blurred visual & spatial barrier is created. Similarly, curtains are used as informal screening devises to create flexible teaching & study areas. When a private class is required curtains may be pulled shut. At other times the curtains can be pulled open for the area to be used as a large open study area during lunchtime and after school.

A ‘grand’ reading-room area for larger class and study groups, sits in contrast with a series of ‘nook’ areas where students can hide-away, immerse themselves in the library and read alone. The library contains a series of Forum spaces for smaller, more intimate student reading, study groups and area for one-on-one teaching. The library supports both traditional reading and digitalised plug-in learning.

Painted dark grey and lined with strip LED lights, a series of existing zig-zag trusses are celebrated, creating a improved sense of space which previously was cluttered & segregated from the upper level of the library.

The book stacks are placed on the upper level of the library in reference to the books being the ‘Trinita dei Monti Church’ at the top of the Spanish steps and the external courtyard as the ‘Piazza di Spagna’ at the bottom of the steps.

A carefully chosen colour and material palette was selected to reflect and complement the courtyard artwork, engaging with the Australian outback, an important icon of the St Monica’s college philosophy.

Moments of the colour orange are used throughout in fabrics, paint finishes and bench tops to link back to the external courtyard artwork. The courtyard artwork or mural was designed and painted by myself [Brad Wray] with the help of my wife – Ellie Farrell. It is an abstraction of the Bungle Bungle national park viewed from an aerial perspective. It is the second time now I have been fortunate enough to simultaneously take on the roles of both architect and artist on a project. The painting was completed out-of-hours, after work and on weekends over a 3-month period.

Plywood was used generously throughout for its durability and practicality. The schoolyard is a place where wear and tear is common and plywood is a material whereby scratches and scuffs could add to the patina of the material. Often the embedded grain within the plywood ceiling, wall and joinery panels bare reflection with some of the forms and textures outside on the nearby grey gums.

Vertical natural timber battens, in collaboration with black stained plywood cladding, promote a visual connection with internal and external spaces. The shadow-clad external plywood cladding references the black and grey tones of the nearby grey-gums. Vertical, Victorian ash timber battens reference the vertical nature of the tall grey gums nearby.

The extension is almost completely hidden from outside of school grounds. Situated amongst the tree canopies with only a small glimpse to be seen from a nearby walking track, the new building fabric merges with its surroundings.

Internal loose furniture was custom designed for the project and made by a local furniture maker. A series of pendant lights highlight and promote both specific and non-specific areas of engagement within the library.

The project was constructed in two parts. One used a traditional means of contract with a building contractor undertaking the extension part of the works. Whilst the internal works or fit-out, which includes everything from all joinery to the Spanish steps were impressively undertaken by St Monica’s College’s own internal ‘maintenance’ team. It has been rewarding to learn from library staff, the amount of borrowing has significantly increased due the opening of the new library.

The post Branch Studio Architects adds timber-clad
extension to Australian school library appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: these hand-blown glass bubbles by Dutch duo Studio Thier&VanDaalen that delicately spill out of their wooden frames have been created to house precious objects (+ slideshow).

Each design in Studio Thier&VanDaalen‘s collection can be used as a cabinet, light shade or vessel. Wenge wood frames appear to struggle to contain different shaped glass structures within.

The basis for the Round Square Cabinet range was “the fascinating effect of a floating bubble which adapts to its surroundings until it snaps,” explained designers Iris Van Daalen and Ruben Thier. “We had the dream to capture these temporary beauties in a tendril frame.”

To recreate this idea, the studio teamed up with Dutch glass blower Marc Barreda.

Wood has traditionally been used as a mould in free-hand glass blowing, but not as a permanent fixture for the glass to sit inside.

The frame was created first, then the glass was gently blown to swell through the gaps.

“The glass will mark the wood forever during blowing, therefore the wooden mould and its object in glass match perfectly together,” the designers said.

The Round Square Cabinet comes in a variety of sizes. A low rectangular frame features a gold fish bowl-shaped piece of opaque glass.

A taller variant, akin to a side table, features a piece of glass perched on top of a stand inside the frame.

The largest iteration of the cabinet has two frames stacked on top of the other. Inside, glass with a blue hue appears to be escaping the upper frame through the sides.

The collection will be on display from 8 to 13 April at Ventura Team Up exhibition in the Ventura Lambrate district during Milan’s design week.

Here’s some information about the project from the designers:

Round square glass bells to show your precious objects

When blowing soap bubbles in the air Iris & Ruben had the dream to capture these temporary beauties in a tendril frame. The fascinating effect of a floating bubble which adapt to its surrounding until it snaps, was the inspiration for a new series of objects in glass combined with wood by Studio Thier&VanDaalen.

They came up with the idea to blow a round bubble of glass in a square frame made from wood. To challenge two ancient handcrafts; free glassblowing and fine woodworking. Fascinated by the two different materials with their own unique properties and treatments; when combined, they have to deal with each other.

Wet wood is commonly used as a mould in free hand glassblowing. But never as a definitive part of the end object. Iris and Ruben saw this as a beautiful element to use in the end result. The glass will mark the wood forever during blowing, therefor the wooden mould and its object in glass match perfectly together. With this new method Studio Thier & VanDaalen created different objects, to show your precious objects.

During the Milan Design Week 2014 we launch this new evolution of our showcase cabinets: Round Square. Our dream finally came true, “soap bubbles” made from glass blown in wooden frames! Come and see it in real life, from the 8th until the 13th of April at Ventura Lambrate Team-up (B on the map). We called AIR Collaboration.

We worked at ‘Van Tetterode Glas Studio’ together with Marc Barreda to blow the glass pieces in wood.

Materials: glass & Wenge
Variations: cabinet, light object, vessel etc.
Size: diverse
Year: 2014

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wooden frames showcase precious objects appeared first on Dezeen.

Black panels of corrugated iron clad the exterior of this lakeside wooden cabin in rural Victoria, Australia, by local firm Branch Studio Architects (+ slideshow).

Branch Studio Architects originally designed the Pump House to give the clients space for storing a water pump and other equipment needed to maintain their farmland property, but the compact shed also doubles as a quiet lakeside retreat.

“The original brief was for a temporary shed-like space to house the water pump and other farm equipment as well as to provide the owners with somewhere sheltered to have a cup of tea when they came to hang out with George, their horse, on the weekends,” said architect Nicholas Russo.

“Although the project eventually developed into something slightly more extravagant, the modesty of the original ambition is still evident in the ‘no-frills’ detailing and rugged materiality of the finished building,” Russo added.

Sections of corrugated Colorbond iron clad the asymmetric roof and two side walls, which feature narrow horizontal windows.

The front and rear walls are entirely glazed, so the owners can open the interior to a deck overlooking the lake.

The main space in the building is an open-plan living room and kitchen featuring a wood-burning stove. A central bathroom divides this space from a studio and bedroom at the rear, which offers views out into the countryside.

The interior is lined with unfinished low-grade plywood and rough-sawn timber boards. “The timber was used to create a soft, warm, cocoon-like interior which is a direct contrast to the robust external shell,” Russo told Dezeen.

The cabin is entirely self-sustaining. Along with wood fired heating, it features solar panels and tanks for collecting and recycling rainwater.

Here’s a project description from architect Nicholas Russo:

Pump House

Typically an architectural outcome is the product of a lengthy design, documentation & construction process where the ‘vision’ is communicated to both client and builder predominantly through detailed drawings and a paper-trail of addendums, RFI’s & variations.

The Pump House was different. Constructed and largely conceptualised by the owner on free weekends and rainy Mondays, the compact, re-locatable structure is more a product of rigorous discussion than that of resolved drawings… that’s not to downplay the careful consideration that was applied to the details of the house, it’s just that the way this project evolved meant that things could, more often than not, be resolved through a conversation on site and detail etched into the clay with a rusty nail.

The nature in which this project was realised meant that our involvement was quite informal as we were consulted with on an ad-hoc basis during the design & construction solely in regards to architectural detailing and the overall architectural outcome. It was exciting to be involved in a project where we could focus purely on the aesthetic and architectural outcomes of a building.

Having worked on a couple of challenging projects with the owner (a carpenter) previously, we often found ourselves deliberating over ideas revolving around establishing a methodology to design & build small scale structures that would achieve both a simplicity of construction as well as a successful architectural outcome. We regularly discussed the possibility of developing an architectural alternative to the conventional ‘off the shelf’ house and we were united in our refusal to concede that architectural detailing, simplicity of construction and affordability were mutually exclusive.

The Pump House was driven by the intersection of these three prerequisites – it had to be a considered response (architectural detailing), it had to be easy to build (simplicity of construction) & it had to be cost effective (affordability) – and in many ways is an architectural prototype that tests our responses to these age old dilemmas… it’s very much like a 1:1 concept model based on ideas which evolved through our discussions and previous experiences.

The Pump House is a celebration of the ordinary. Uncompromising in it’s simplicity, there is a rigid adherence to some very modest but key ideas about doing away with the unnecessary. Agricultural materials (Colorbond iron, low-grade plywood & rough sawn timber) are put together with carefully considered old-fashioned craftsmanship (custom made on-site windows, doors & joinery) to create something much more than the sum of their parts. In plan, the compact internal spaces arranged simply around a central service core provide only the very basic requirements of uncomplicated living, an idea that is reinforced by the uncomplicated nature of the architecture.

A semi-permanent structure, the Pump House sits softly on its site adjacent to a large dam and on the threshold between the open paddocks and the bush land surrounds. Large expanses of glazing along with a North/South orientation allow the sunlight and the wide-open green spaces to penetrate into, and seemingly pass through, the internal volume giving the condensed areas a sense of spaciousness. The formal gesture of the black box external shell creates a robust metal ‘cocoon’ within the landscape that is directly contrasted by the warmth of the timber lined internal spaces. A large horizontal window along the western facade provides the only penetration of the metal cocoon while also allowing afternoon light to filter through the dense treetop canopy and into the spaces.

The original brief was for a temporary shed-like space to house the water pump and other farm equipment as well as to provide the owners with somewhere sheltered to have a cup of tea when they came to hang out with George (their horse) on the weekends …and although the project eventually developed into something slightly more extravagant, the modesty of the original ambition is still evident in the ‘no-frills’ detailing and rugged materiality of the finished building.

The Pump House is fully ‘off grid’ and self-sustainable utilising rainwater tanks, wood heating and solar power.

The post Pump House by Branch Studio Architects
is a metal-clad lakeside retreat appeared first on Dezeen.

Charred cedar clads the walls of this house in Aichi, Japan, by architecture studio MDS, while exposed wooden beams create a rack-like effect on the underside of the diagonally slanted roof.

Like many houses owned by young families in Japan, Okazaki House was built on the same site as the residence of the client’s parents.

Tokyo-based studio MDS used a traditional charring technique known as Yakisugi to blacken the cedar planks used for the building’s exterior, helping to protect the building from decay.

The site naturally slopes down from one side to the other, so the architects created a single-storey dwelling containing a series of tiered levels.

An entrance leads into the house at the uppermost level, where the living room is located. The floor then steps down to create a dining room in the middle and a kitchen at the lowest level.

“This enables people to maintain the same level of eyesight, and retains an exquisite sense of distance,” said the architects, explaining how they wanted to maintain an open-plan atmosphere.

Pendant lamps hang down from between the ceiling beams to illuminate worktops and seating areas, while a piece of built-in furniture provides shelving and a desk.

A small courtyard with a tree at its centre cuts into the volume of the building, separating living spaces from the master bedroom.

A second bedroom and bathroom are tucked away on one side and residents have to step down again to access them.

Polished oak floorboards run throughout the house, while latticed wooden screens can be used to partition spaces when required.

Photography is by Forward Stroke Inc.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Okazaki House

The generation gap has become a problem in Japan in recent years. There are an increasing number of two-family homes, as well as houses built on the lots of parents’ houses. This house is one of the latter. Although the residents are parents and child, solicitude should be expressed with this not-so-large site.

This house is a one-storey building with a shed roof, which lowers the roof height on the side of the parents’ house, resulting in wide views maintained with open sky from the parents’ house.

For the interior space, the shape of the large shed roof is directly exposed, and two angled walls (canted walls) are placed in this open-space. This simple design creates various interior spaces in both plan and cross-section. The floor levels of the rooms are decided based on the ground height around the building, and are planned to utilise the height differences.

The site is sloped from north to south, and the west side, where the parents’ house stands, is lower. The main bedroom is located at the highest part of the site, the north-east side; across from a central courtyard, the level gradually slopes towards the south, from the living room, to the dining room and to the kitchen. This enables people to maintain the same level of eyesight, and retains an exquisite sense of distance.

For the framework of the roof, standard cedar lumber of 120x120mm, which is commonly sold on the market, is used. Instead of using custom sizes or laminated wood, the lumber is alternately laid over the beams within the maximum standard length of 6m, and is crisscrossed at the upper part of the canted walls that roughly divide the interior. This creates an impressive ceiling surface as well as functioning as the roof framework.

Company name: MDS Co.Ltd
Architecture: Kiyotoshi Mori & Natsuko Kawamura / MDS
Location: Okazaki-City, Aichi
Principal Use: residence

Structure: wood
Site Area: 213.74 sqm
Total Floor Area: 98.17 sqm /1F
Exterior finish: yakisugi / cedar forms exposed concrete
Roof: galvanised colour steel sheet standing-seam roofing
Floor: oak flooring
Wall: plasterer
Ceiling: oregon pine of 120 x 120 mm

The post Charred timber clads walls of
Okazaki House by MDS appeared first on Dezeen.

Les architectes suisses de Camponovo Baumgartner Architekten ont construit la Casa C. dans la vallée de Conches à Reckingen-Gluringen. Avec sa façade au vieux bois rustique et authentique, l’intérieur offre un cadre plus moderne et minimaliste, très chaleureux. Des clichés de la maison signés José Hevia.