Architect: Department of ARCHITECTURE Co., Ltd.
Location: Phuket, Thailand
Owner: SALA Phuket, Co., Ltd.
Principals in Charge: Twitee Vajrabhaya Teparkum and Amata Luphaiboon
Collaborator: Penwisa Kietduriyakul
Interior Designer: Department of ARCHITECTURE Co., Ltd.
Lighting Designer: ACCENT Studio
Structural Engineering: SPC Consulting Engineers Co., Ltd.
M&E Engineering: A E Two O Co., Ltd
Interior Contractor: New Muang Thong Furniture Co., Ltd.
Project year: 2009
Photographer: Wison Tungthunya

Sala Phuket Restaurant is a main restaurant for a resort in Phuket, Thailand. Because of its pristine surrounding, the design is intended to respond to the sensational dimension of experience embodied within the area—beauty, simplicity, and silence. Taking advantage of its tropical climatic conditions and its beachfront location, the restaurant is designed to operate as an open-air pavilion. With 50 indoor and 70 outdoor seats, the restaurant offers its patrons with island breezes that beautifully accompanied by unimpeded views and sound of the sea in front.

The volume of the restaurant and bar has been programmatically stretched horizontally to maximize overlooking beachfront view to all patrons. Contrary to the grid system which usually demarcates a clear boundary line, structural columns are re-positioned at an unconstrained rhythm, thus creating an ambiguous edge– a sense of borderless. Consequently, the inside space and surrounding environment is seamlessly merged into one.

While exterior appears to be more solemn, overall atmosphere of the restaurant is soften with elaborate architectural details of interior space. Ceiling for instance, instead of a plain wooden slats, technique of splitting and rotating is employed to create various patterns on the ceiling. The same technique is applied to front panel for a counter bar as well.

Besides dining area on the ground, a new landscape of dining experience can be found on the restaurant’s rooftop. Dining area is depressed forming sunken dining pods. By replacing conventional guard rails with water boundary, visual obstruction is removed. The space is extended outward indefinitely.

Even though accommodating a number of elements such as structures, water ponds, seating pods, and shading device, the roof has been carefully designed to appear thin and light. By suspending the ceiling from the roof structure creating a gap between the roofs and ceiling. Functionally this gap allows technical elements to be concealed inside. To further emphasize an impression of thinness, the pond’s edges are lowered to form gutters whose outermost edges are shorter than those of the pond. The thinness of the roof which does not seem to be inhabitable further intensifies excitement when the outdoor dining area is finally discovered on the rooftop.

Solid volume of the service area, including kitchen and restroom, is separated from the main building; allowing the dining area to be surrounded entirely by nature. Unlike the dining area, the restroom, with constraint on its location, establishes its relation with nature in a different way. Hidden behind the wall, an outdoor space is carved out of the solid volume of the service area. This hidden open space with installation-setting vanities serves as a surprising entrance to the restroom.

© rasmussen | brunke | sauer

German office rasmussen | brunke | sauer shared with us their design of the new administrative building for BSU in Hamburg, Germany. It was an invited competition and they won the first prize ex aequo with three other offices (Sauerbruch Hutton, Behnisch Architects and GAP). More images and architect’s description after the break.

Situated in Hamburg Wilhelmsburg vis-à-vis the area of the IGS 2013 (International Garden Exhibition 2013) the new administrative building for the “Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Ummwelt (BSU)” is one of the central buildings of the IBA 2013 (International Building Exhibition 2013).

It is integrated into a greater urban masterplan that aims on linking the central part of the city of Hamburg north of the river Elbe with the southern districts.

The aim of the new building itself is to concentrate the different units of the BSU that are nowadays distributed widespread at different locations in the central city. The building will house around 1400 working places plus additional functions and will cover an area of around 58000 m² in total.

Operating in the boundaries of the strict and dense conditions of the building lot defined by the urban master plan, a three dimensional sculptural building approach, integrating the landscape of the surroundings into the structure, is developed. Therefore it is possible to walk literally through the building without entering it. The strong meandered body of the building is culminating in a massive high point which functions as a landmark and widely seen symbol of the new BSU.

The monolithic white body of the upper floors seems like floating over the warm coloured ground floor. While the Ground floor, with its public functions is clearly inviting visitors to enter and explore the building the upper body, mainly containing office spaces, acts more diffuse. It is neither totally transparent nor is it a completely introverted. The perception lies in between.

The buildings façade is besides atmospheric and aesthetic parameters designed as an energetic active façade using phase change material to save solar energy that can be used time-delayed as thermal energy for the buildings energy household.

The façade is only a part of an overall energy concept that ensure a high standard for a low energy office building that was designed to get the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council) Certification in Gold.

© Orlando Fonseca

Architects: Matéria Modular
Location: Alviães, Palmaz, concelho de Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal
Project team: Adelino Pinheiro, Marco Ferreira, Maria José Matos, Pedro Ribeiro, Zita Torres
Client: ACS, Investimentos Imobiliários Lda.
Project year: 2003
Construction period: 2007-2009
Constructed area: 938,44 sqm
Photographs: Orlando Fonseca

The houses that compose the complex Casas da Fonte (5 houses – lot 45 to lot 49) are integrated in the allotment developed in 1999 by Matéria Modular, Arquitectura Lda., for Lugar de Alviães, Freguesia de Palmaz, city of Oliveira de Azeméis.

© Orlando Fonseca

Following the Urban Director Plan, the lot is included in the transition zone, which is characterized by the occupation of small volume buildings. The proposed solution fits legally both in terms of typology and use, and it involves a set of parallel volumes that define patios, which organize functionally the programmatic relations.

© Orlando Fonseca

The lot develops pending towards south and sunset. To avoid big soil movements, it is made a contact of the volumes with the soil. Therefore, the edification adapts naturally to the allotment drawing and also to its infrastructures.

Architects: Elenberg Fraser Architecture
Location: Falls Creek, Victoria, Australia
Client: Zacamoco
Project team: Callum Fraser, Valerie Tan, Hazel Porter, Frank Olbrich, Lorenzo Nuti, Kathrin Wheib, Marcus Ieraci, Caroline King, Iva Foschia, Andrew Prodromou, Beth Solomon, Karl Engstrom
Project Management: PDS Group
Structural consultant: Bonacci Group Pty Ltd & VSL Australia Pty Ltd
Builder: LU Simon
Quantity Surveyor: Slattery Australia
Building Surveyor: Gardner Group
Budget: AU $24 millions
Project year: 2007
Construction year: 2009
Photographs: Peter Bennetts, Tony Miller & Peter Clarke

Situated in Falls Creek, the development is an essential and exciting new Gateway concept for the Village. Com- prising two elegantly formed buildings emerging from the landscape, the view on arrival is complimented by the clearly framed aspect up to the ski fields beyond.

At ground level there will be a new retail strip fronting Bogong High Plains Road enlivening the street frontage and creating weather protected spill out zones for visitors to the Village. Entries to the upper level apartments are integrated into this dynamic facade language with prominent entry canopies announcing the unique interiors of the St Falls lobbies.

The winding ramp system moves the visitor up through the two buildings and the broad central public staircase brings visitors up between the two buildings. Both paths of movement pass several retail and amenity spaces nestled into the rock faced walls, arriving at the elevated level of the revitalised Slalom Plaza and the expansive north facing terraced café & restaurant areas.

At Slalom Plaza level there are large commercial tenancies opening directly onto the large public meeting place. From the Plaza looking out over an endless view to the Valley and Mount Spion Kopje below, the buildings offer a multitude of spaces and programmes from which to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Plaza level entries to the upper level apartments are again integrated into this dynamic building language.

ground floor plan

Within the two buildings the apartments are unique in their concept, reflecting the exclusive nature of the overall St Falls concept. Expansive views through generous windows orchestrate the light filled interior spaces. Dining zones move into living spaces that flow to external balconies. The balconies all hold a hot tub and extend beyond the beautifully articulated timber building skin to present maximum availability to the views beyond.

The apartment materials exude a luxury reflective of the design quality and inspired approach to the idea of hotel apartment living. First class appliances and fixtures and fittings are used throughout. Furniture is included as part of a considered overall designed aesthetic.

The development is respectful of the natural environment within which it is situated and recognises the work that Falls Creek Resort Management Board has put into maintaining these values. The development will utilise passive techniques such as solar orientation and thermal massing, as well as more pro active measures where viable.

Architects: Enric Batlle & Joan Roig, arquitectos
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Collaborators: Francesc Puig, architect & Elena Mostazo, engineer
Project year: 2007
Construction year: 2008
Client: Foment de Ciutat Vella, S.A. – Barcelona Serveis Municipals
Contractor: COPISA
Project Area: 1,375 sqm
Budget: $343,239 Euro
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Eva Serrats, Wenzel

The palm grove in the Parc de la Ciutadella is a small 1,500 sqm garden made up of a wide collection of palm trees of different heights and a thick tropical bush vegetation. It has always been used as an habitat for the macaws. Its remote location and the noisy and colorful presence of the birds turn it into an exotic oasis inside the park and a unique place inside the city.

floor plan

The design of the cage was developed following the instructions of the Zoo’s technicians. The total surface of each unit is 21.5 sqm, from which 14.40 sqm can be seen by the general public. The rest is divided in 5.20 sqm of ‚sleeping area‚ and 4.90 sqm of maintenance corridor. The main structure of the cage is made up with several leaning metal tubes that bend and close on the top like a metal wheat sheaf.

The project focused on the cage design, which is complex enough to arrange the garden through the path of the visitor by its repetition.

The main criterion was arranging the cages in an apparently random way making them always offer different perspectives, creating a system than can be perceived as a picturesque system lacking of any rule and continuously surprising. Its immersion into the palm grove looks for coexistence, respecting its hidden nature and increasing its exoticism.

© Provast

Yesterday the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb and city councilor Hamit Karakus officially started the construction of the new Rotterdam Market Hall (previously featured here). The arched building located in the centre of Rotterdam, developed by Provast and designed by MVRDV is a hybrid of public market and apartment building.

The project with a total of 100.000 m2 is set to be completed in 2014 and part of the current regeneration of Rotterdam’s post war centre. Project developer Provast realizes the building, Unibail Rodamco invested in the shops and restaurants whilst Housing Corporation Vesteda will manage the rental apartments, making the building a socially integrated part of the city.

More images after the break.

© Armin Hess, Isochrom

Coop Himmelb(l)au has designed a temporary mobile performance space for the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany.  The pavilion will house performances during the annual Opera Festival  in 2010, and once that festival is over, the pavilion will be reassembled in various locations.  Designed to “give the impression of a quieter environment,” the pavilion reduces the apparent noise  to create a ‘zone of silence’ where visitors can sense a change in the soundscape.

More images and more about the pavilion after the break.

© Armin Hess, Isochrom

The pavilion’s form, and its material cladding, collects and deflects the sounds of the busy plaza.   The spatial structure acts as a ‘transformer’ that changes visitors’ perceptions and sensations of the soundscape and music on the plaza around the pavilion and inside the performance space.

© Markus Pillhofer

© Markus Pillhofer

© Markus Pillhofer

© Markus Pillhofer

As seen on designboom.

Project Information
pavilion 21 mini opera space, munich, germany 2008 – 2010 (in planning)

client: the bavarian state opera munich, germany
floor area: 560 meters squared (gross area)
site area: 1.790 meters squared
net area: 430 meters squared
gross area: 560 meters squared
footprint: 560 meters squared
volume: 4.350 metes squared

height: 12.5m
length: 38.5m
width: 25.5m

project team:
design principal: wolf d. prix
project partner: paul kath
project architect: volker kilian
design architect: sophie grell
project team: martin jelinek, daniela krohnert, valerie messini, judith mussel,
martin neumann, renate weissenbock
models: sebastian buchta, paul hoszowski

© Cesar Rubio

Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Project team: Stanley Saitowitz, Alan Tse
Acoustics Consultant: Colin Gordon & Associates
Mechanical Engineering: MHC Engineers, Inc.
Audio Visual Consultant: Pacific Audio Video
General Contractor: Landmark Construction
Project year: 2006
Photographs: Cesar Rubio

Mizu is water, which Mizu Spa embodies. The atmosphere is a tranquil stream. At the center is a river of rock, around which the communal therapy barge floats in space. The walls are draped in shimmering mesh creating light and fluid edges. The horizontal surfaces of floor and ceiling are black. Everything else is pure and white.

© Cesar Rubio

floor plan

Mizu Spa is a place for pampering, rejuvinating and transforming. Treatments include facials, massage and nails. The central object is a prosthetic throne to sit on. Soft pads pamper the body. Arms rest, hands support, feet soak, and the provider glides around on stools.

© Cesar Rubio

Behind the communal therapy area are private rooms for facials and massage. In the bathroom, below the sinks, rocks again appear as water.

Mizu is about beauty.

© Catarina Costa Cabral

Architect: José Marini Bragança
Location: Leiria, Portugal
Preliminary Project Team: Inês Vicente, Carla Costa, Susana Santos
Execution Project Team: Vítor Santos, Fabrice Margarido, Maria João
Client: LeiriaPolis
Landscape Architecture: SITIO E LUGAR – Sociedade de Arquitectos Paisagistas Lda / Paula Simões e Catarina Patrão
Foundations and Structures: CSA – Carlos Serrano & Associados / Carlos Serrano
Water Supply Drainage and Sewerage: BETAR – Marta Azevedo Pereira
Land Movement: BETAR – José Pedro Venâncio
Installation of Electric network: Álvaro Lopes
Acoustic Conditioning: BETAR/ CETIPROJECTO
Builder: MRG
Project year: 2005-2007
Photographs: Catarina Costa Cabral

On the outskirts of Leiria, beside the river Lis, where the urban and rural areas meet, a vast area has benefit from the intervention of the Polis Program. Its purpose was to extend the city to the river, by rebuilding the urban areas and redesigning an unoccupied zone, where the new sports park of the city was created. One of the facilities built was the tennis club.

© Catarina Costa Cabral

The main purpose for this intervention was the development of urban areas of leisure.Crossing the bridge from the left bank to the right we find a field. The pedestrian path between the bridge and the tennis courts is built on pillars, since this surface is prone to flooding; due to this the architect also chose to construct very little. A dike was erected to separate the fields from the construction site. The covering built crosses over two of the six tennis courts and was inspired by the industrial metallic structures and the winter gardens of the 19th century. The choice of metal also respected the budget and the deadline for this project.

© Catarina Costa Cabral

The indoor courts are made of clay and the others are hard surfaces; they have no barriers between them. The outdoor synthetic courts are brick red.

Along the road several acoustic barriers were created, protecting the athletes from the noise pollution. The first consists of tall trees; another of boxtree which directs the sound upwards; finally a delicate stone wall made from local basalt, before ending with the acoustic panels and the wind barriers.

Formally the building is very closed off to the public, however, once in the interior a sense of amplitude is gained. Once in the club, a sense of privacy subsists.

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