design digest

Lamp Shark / Mukomelov Studio

2012-05-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ukrainian designer Aleksandr Mukomelov of Mukomelov Studio has created the Lamp Shark (Shark Tale), a stylish lamp design which will be an outstanding lighting for both indoor and outdoor usage.

Text by the designer:

Lamp Shark. Elegant Floor Lamp. Excellent and cheerful decoration of interiors and exteriors. It can be put on a bookshelf or on the floor verandas, also can be an excellent nursery decoration. Lamp without a doubt will frighten all darkness around. For all the simplicity of form and ideas of the lamp causes positive emotions and forces surprised and smiling.

Author of lamp is Aleksandr Mukomelov founder of Ukrainian Mukomelov Studio (http://mukomelov.com). The idea, which was the starting point for creating an object, came to him while taking a bath. Aleksandr believes that the best ideas come when let go daily worries and seek inspiration in ordinary objects. Created objects must possess not only the meaning but also to give positive emotions.

The lamp was created for the collection Next Home Collection (Germany), goes on sale in early 2012.

Awarded Design and Design International (Paris) 2010

*For fans of the risks and thrills

Magma Towers / GLR Arquitectos

2012-05-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Magma Towers project are another mixed-use building by GLR Arquitectos located in Monterrey, following the Miravalle Tower and Urbania building. This 413,870 sq. ft. project is still in progress, started in 2008 and planned to complete in 2011.

Description from GLR Arquitectos:

Magma Towers are a mixed use project located in the exclusive zone of Valle Oriente, in Monterrey, Mexico.

A two floor shopping mall facing Frida Kahlo Avenue is complemented by a level of offices on Enrique Herrera Ave.

Above the volume that these elements represent, rise two towers with monolithic appearance in gray color graphite. The space that separates the lobby level is used for a swimming pool, the bar and other common areas.

The project demands different housing configurations, such as lofts, penthouses, department with one or two bedrooms, with or without balconies, and very diverse dimensions; this gives an image of freedom to the composition.

Project: Magma Towers

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez - GLR Arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2008-2011

Built Area: 413,870 sq. ft.

Project Team: Enrique Salas, Tomas Güereña, Cecilia Bautista, Gaudy Oyervides, Torsten rumm, Lorena Sampedro

Landscape: Claudia Harari

Renders: Arkimedia

Urbania Building / GLR Arquitectos

2012-05-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Originally built in the late fifties, Urbania building was then refashioned in 2009 by Gilberto L. Rodríguez of GLR Arquitectos. Urbania building was then awarded with Calli 1er Prize XV Architecture Biennal of the State of Nuevo Leon, in Remodeling category.

Description by the architect:

Urbania is an urban recycling project located in downtown Monterrey. The task was to work with a building that used to house the old headquarters of the “Monterrey-New York Life” insurance company.

Built in the late fifties, the property is restated as a rental housing project that would have 130 units with sizes ranging from 45 m2 to 150 m2. Originally had 15 stories high but after a profound transformation in both its interior and in its top four floors were added to the structure is simple, clearly differentiated from the original structure, as a topping.

At levels 1 and 2 remained the pre-existing commerce. The rest of the structure and original brick walls, were the subject of a careful restoration in order to rescue the architectural qualities of the building, which is an excellent example of modern architecture from the mid-twentieth century. In the interior was maintained, partly, the character of the building, leaving the ceilings with the original apparent 50 years old concrete.

Besides the apartments and commerce, the building has some amenities, such as a lounge-terrace and a gym at the 16th level. Without any doubt, the most important thing is that this work is a gamble for a new lifestyle that take advantage of what’s already built and wants to regain the movement of a moribund area of Monterrey.

This is a project that aims for public transport, because it's close to metro stations and public buses, but also is within walking distance to restaurants, shops, cafes and government offices and the most frequented parks such as the Macroplaza, Santa Lucia and Fundidora.

The slogan used to promote these apartments is in itself a manifesto of a new way of life because it says "The city can only be lived in the City" and this is the way it will be with Urbania.

Project: Urbania (Remodeling)

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez - GLR Arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2009

Built Area: 138,560 sq. ft.

Project Team: Enrique Salas, Cecilia Bautista, Oscar O’Farrill, Lorena Sampedro

Interior Design: Barbara Lobeira

Photography: Jorge Taboada

Calli 1er Prize

Category: Remodeling

XV Architecture Biennal of the State of Nuevo Leon

Miravalle Tower / GLR Arquitectos

2012-05-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

Miravalle Tower is a collective housing building which was completed in 2007 by Gilberto L. Rodríguez of GLR arquitectos. The project covers 230,350 sq ft built area located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.

Miravalle Tower had won two awards:

- Calli 1st Prize of XIV Architecture Biennal of the State of Nuevo Leon in Multifamily Housing category, and

- 2nd Place of XVI Cemex Building Award International Edition in Housing category.

Description by GLR arquitectos:

This multifamily housing project consisting of 84 high level apartments, plus four luxury penthouses was constructed on a densely wooded site that included eighty-foot tall pecan trees.

To protect as much of this site as possible and to take advantage of potential views, a high rise solution was adopted, creating a building with four apartments per floor with an integrating central core for vertical circulation.

The 26 storey tower has 3 underground parking levels, providing each housing unit with parking for 2 vehicles, as well as storage. The apartments range in size from 1760 square feet to 3,520 square feet for the penthouses.

The project has a large swimming pool, as well as a party pavilion within the existing gardens.

The structural solution is based on a post-tensed concrete structure, with a precast envelope of concrete in gray and white tones.

An aluminum louver serves both as a screen that permits natural ventilation in the two emergency stairways and as a visual skin for the entire vertical circulation core.

To enhance the building’s energy efficiency, the architect and his consultants made a detailed 3D model to facilitate an analysis to determine maximum energy efficiency levels.

The model incorporates bioclimatic techniques such as basic solar orientation and passive systems, as well as the use of current technologies such as envelope insulations and high performance windows, which are double glass, Low-E technology.

Project: Miravalle Tower

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez - GLR Arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2007

Built Area: 230,350 sq ft

Project Team:

Bernardo Chapa, Catalina Fernández, Tomas Güereña, Oscar O’Farrill, Joaquín Jenis, David Pedroza

Interior Design: Barbara Lobeira

Photography: Jorge Taboada, Alejandro Rodríguez

Calli 1st Prize

Category: Multifamily Housing

XIV Architecture Biennal of the State of Nuevo Leon

2nd Place, International Edition

Category: Housing

XVI Cemex Building Award

Torres House / GLR Arquitectos

2012-05-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Torres House project was completed by architect Gilberto L. Rodríguez of GLR Arquitectos in 2008. The house is constructed on 5,942 sq ft built area in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.

Description by GLR Arquitectos:

Set high in the Sierra Madre mountain range, the Torres House seeks to establish an intimate contact with the natural environment in which it is located.

Discreetly open towards the street, the house is accessed by crossing over a fountain from which a huge oak tree emerges, impressive both for its size and its beauty. Once on the porch, a grand mural-like door -constructed of marble, wood and steel- welcomes the visitor.

Inside, the entry hall merges into an area of contrasting materials consisting of Santo Tomas marble and volcanic stone walls. From this area there is a visual continuity with the rest of the house and with the garden that was left in its natural state as a small oak forest.

In the living room, conceived almost as a glass box, one can experience the view to the Sierra Madre peaks in the distance and the garden nearby. Owing to its location within the mountain, where winters can get really cold, there is a fireplace for the family to gather around in the evenings.

From the dining room and the media room, one can access the roof terrace and enjoy the splendid views of the Sierra Madre as well as of the city of Monterrey. Here the musical background of the sounds of nature is in sharp contrast to the roar of the city below.

Project: Torres House

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez - GLR Arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2008

Built Area: 5,942 sq ft

Project Team: Bernardo Chapa, Joaquín Jenis, Tomas Güereña, Diana Guerra, Eduardo Fuentes

Photography: Jorge Taboada

CG House / GLR arquitectos

2012-05-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

CG House is a 10,650 sq ft temperate private dwelling located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. Gilberto L. Rodríguez of GLR arquitectos realized the project in 2009.

Description by the architect:

The CG House rests on a generous 17,250 sq. ft. site adjacent to the Sierra Madre Mountains. While the site’s steep slope presented a number of design challenges, the dramatic views it afforded to the city of Monterrey provided the architect with a number of opportunities as well.

From the street, two massive oak trees rise to provide privacy and welcome shade to the swimming pool terrace above. A wide exterior granite staircase leads to an intimate garden of palm trees.

Due to the sloping nature of the site, a massive, exposed concrete wall defines and encloses the swimming pool and garden areas of the house and sets the tone for the design of the house itself, which is clad in brown/black volcanic stone, IPE wood, white stucco and steel.

A 12 feet-high dark oak door with grand scale offers a hint of the dramatic scale of this 10,650 sq. ft. home that lies beyond, beginning with an entry foyer whose 15 feet-high walls are adorned with silver leaf. A massive sculptural piece of coconut roots, steel and rocks was designed specifically for this space.

The living room, as well as the dining and family rooms, all have large windows with views of the garden, allowing light to penetrate deep within the spaces as well as creating a seamless interplay between the interior and exterior spaces.

Also, within the house, subtle level changes between rooms not only add interest to the interior layout but these changes also reflect the site’s topography.

In the private areas of the home, which is articulated through a long corridor, the occupants have access to a second garden, located at the highest point on the building site, which is less formal and more recreational.

Project: CG House

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez - GLR arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2009

Built Area: 10.650 sq ft

Project Team: Enrique Salas, Tomas Güereña, Felipe González

Photography: Jorge Taboada

BC House / GLR Arquitectos

2012-05-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

GLR Arquitectos have shared with us some of their architectural projects that consist of residential and commercial. BC House is the most recent residential project they have built located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.

Description by the architect:

This project holds a truly privileged topographic situation, due to its visual advantage because of its greater height in relation to surrounding neighbors. This allows the house to enjoy excellent views of the Chipinque National Park in the south, as well as towards the east, which is dominated in the horizon by the "Cerro de la Silla", an emblematic mountain in the boundaries of Monterrey.

With simple, pure geometric volumes, but rather challenging structural solutions, this project intends to evoke an image of lightness within a language of heavy and massive volumes. The interiors are plain, although the central concrete tower contains a rather sculptural staircase made out of wood, glass and steel, within a surprisingly high space, where natural light is captured through a series of museum-like skylights.

Even though color has never played a major role in the architect’s work, this project represents a step forward in the exploration of new materials, such as the black granite and the white exposed concrete, in addition to the character that the great amount of exposed steel elements give to the building.

Finally, it is important to mention that beyond its main purpose of insulation, the use of green roofs was determined as a way of integration with the landscape, aiming to be respectful with the natural surroundings of the area, always dominated by the presence of the spectacular Sierra Madre mountain range.

Sustainability

The BC House was conceived as a “Sustainable House” from the beginning. For this purpose, a study on energetic efficiency was made, analyzing the sun trajectory and the prevailing winds in all four seasons of the year.

As a result of these studies, the house was provided with diverse systems of isolation, such as its double concrete block walls filled with polisocianurate (an ecological insulator); double window panes with low emissivity glass; pluvial water harvesting systems and gray water treatment for irrigation, solar panels for pool heating and garden lighting, solar water heaters, hydronic heating systems that reduce power consumption, south oriented skylights, which attract light during summer and sun during winter, as well as a landscape architecture project made mostly out of native vegetation.

Project: BC House

Architect: Gilberto L. Rodríguez / GLR Arquitectos

Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México 2010

Project Area: 12,920 sq ft

Project Team: Felipe Dorado, Tomas Güereña, Joaquin Jenis, Oscar O’Farrill, Diana Guerra, Lorena Sampedro

Landscape Architecture: Mesa Design Group (Dallas, TX)

Photography: Jorge Taboada, Alejandro Rodriguez

Bluepoint Residences / Paul Raff Studio

2012-05-01T00:49:00.000-07:00

Paul Raff Studio designed this beachside residence in Phuket, Thailand. Planned to be built on 3,500 sqm area, the strategically sited 21 unit luxury residential building will benefit Thailand's most famous breathtaking panoramic views.

Description by Paul Raff Studio:

The Bluepoint Residences, a 21 unit luxury residential development, is set on a headland overlooking Pattong Bay and the Andaman Sea. The building's exterior is treated as a dynamic surface to modulate light, shade, and views. The primary objective is simultaneously to open residences to breathtaking panoramic views while maximizing solar shading and privacy.

Modular louvered screens form a dynamic layer grafted onto the building skin. Subtle shifts in plane and distortion of surfaces transform explicit apertures into gradients of transparency. Degrees of opacity shift relative to orientation and light. This system reduces heat-gain by more than 60%, thus increasing human comfort and lowering energy usage.

Constructed of a light-weight wood-plastic composite, made primarily of waste sawdust, the louvered system uses economical construction techniques and manufacturing processes. Lattice canopies and timber salas supplement the louver system and sit atop planted roof terraces. Their construction and design are inspired by local traditional crafts. A series of cascading pools and gardens interconnect the buildings and frame landscape views.

FOLLIES Emergency Exit / Paul Raff Studio

2012-04-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

Paul Raff Studio has designed a public safety system (special exit for emergencies) called the FOLLIES, Emergency Exit Buildings for a New Transit Line. FOLLIES will serve as exigent stairs or doors for faster evacuation like those required in above ground structures.

The construction of the buildings, which is still in progress, are scattered in various location in Greater Toronto Area, Canada.

FOLLIES, Emergency Exit Buildings for a New Transit Line, Toronto, Canada

Emergency exit buildings are required for public safety from underground facilities, in this case a new mass transit line. Although they are highly visible along city streets in many neighborhoods, they are typically no more than utilitarian concrete boxes.

By contrast, the design of this series of emergency exit buildings makes a strong positive contribution to the city. Each building successfully integrates life safety requirements within a strategy that also addresses issues of human scale, context, and beauty.

Their exteriors are composed of colored multi-layered glass that displays subtle artistic depth to passersby. The glass is designed to be strong enough to withstand a hammer blow. Each one is uniquely designed to reflect its context, in this case the vertical golden grasses and wildflowers.

Designer:

Paul Raff Studio (Paul Raff, Scott Barker, Tom Knezic, Farid Noufaily, Samantha Scroggie, Gary Siu, Sean Solowski, Jane Son, Ladan Sharifpour, and Alice Wong)

Architect: IBI Group Architects

Bluepoint Sales Pavilion / Paul Raff Studio

2012-04-30T22:27:00.002-07:00

Paul Raff Studio designed and built this unique wooden pavilion for their client the Bluepoint Development Co. The project was completed in 2008, on 63 m2 area located in Phuket, Thailand.

Description by Paul Raff Studio:

Serving as the sales office for the Bluepoint Residences in Phuket, Thailand, the Bluepoint Sales Pavilion provides an ideal lounge setting for potential clients to enjoy spectacular views while reviewing development plans and observing construction progress.

The pavilion's expression responds to the powerful contextual site conditions. A deep terrace and continuous wrapping canopy extend outward toward a look-out point, framing a spectacular panoramic vista.

The Pavilion's form is inspired by the region's first known inhabitants: nomadic fisherman who worked and lived on their boats. Today, Thai fishermen continue to construct simple vessels by curving lengths of timber over a gunnel framework. These beautiful flowing forms exist as an iconic regional aesthetic.

Innovatively using a sustainable wood-composite material arrayed by the traditional geometric techniques of ship building, the pavilion generates a unique dynamic configuration.

26 Housing Set / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Dom Arquitectura have shared with us the information of their last project in the Middle East, modern 26 residential housing units with traditional isolated house type typical in Obhur, Saudi Arabia.

26 Residential Housing Units in Obhur, Saudi Arabia

The aim is to project 26 houses in the Obhur area. The client wanted to use the same isolated unit type, but generate differences in the street facade to avoid the traditional house complex with all the same.

Recalling the Islamic markets, we remind the Arabic spices image, located in the same container but with different color shades. Natural tones that would fit perfectly into our idea.

We project a unique module housing with two small variations to produce the differential impact from the street, and we colored the cantilevered rooms volume.

The natural spices colors appear in this volume, repeating every two units and generating a natural gradient in the whole set. Giving to the project the necessary differentiation through the characteristic colors of an Islamic tradition.

A continuous ribbon forms the wall that divides the street from the plots. It folds up and down generating the different access to the houses. The facades behind are also generated as a ribbon forming the prismatic volumes. They are combined with slats as a lattice, using the same language and giving privacy and shade to the houses.

Architect: Pablo Serrano Elorduy

Surface: 13.386 m2

Dom Space OFFICE / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-28T00:40:00.000-07:00

Dom Arquitectura has finished their new office called the Dom Space / Studio Dom located in Barcelona. The office, which situates on 50 sqm surface, is a result of a carefully taken refurbishment toward an existing building formerly operated as a store.

Text by the architect:

The place previously used as a store was completely isolated from the outside. The first action we take, is to open the interior space, both the street and the garden outside, so we designed a completely open iron carpentry without studs, continuous glass, providing natural light throughout the space. All the iron is dark graphite gray painted the same of the interior furnishings. Across the glass surface is placed inside a dark gray screens, to control the space privacy.

As an architecture studio, we have some details about the profession, the graphite color of the pencils, the prevailing white color like papers and the wall parallel. The inner wall of the room is very irregular. With the goal of unifying all these folds we propose some horizontal lines that run through the wall, painted with the same gray that the continuous pavement. This allowed us to provide the wall of a plot in a gradient, starting with getting rid continuously and gradually breaking up until the roof.

We designed the Lamp that runs around the room, from some sections of iron flowing freely through space with convergent and divergent lines, covered with several sheets of folded parchment paper, as if they were the same studio plans. The result is an enlightened paper path through the roof.

We propose an edge distribution, where 6 tables are based on the exterior side. In the same perimeter is placed a dark shelf, which runs through the space, we can put all the books and magazines worker's hand and hide the strip turn providing the facilities for all jobs.

The bathroom walls are painted in dark as an inverted room, the plan annotation dimensions remain drawn on the walls. We wanted to give this space a color point, and we loved the Campari lamp by Ingo Maurer, finally decided to reinterpret it with green Carlsberg bottles.

Project: Dom Space, Barcelona 2011

Architect: Pablo Serrano Elorduy

Interior Designer: Blanca Elorduy

Collaborators: Jordi Anguera Photo

4 Houses in Jeddah / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Dom Arquitectura has started a project design adventure in Arabia Saudi named 4 Houses in Jeddah or Cuatro casas en Jeddah. The project aims at realizing modern architectural homes by highlighting a number of architecture concepts typical in Islamic culture.

A few quote from Dom Arquitectura:

Islamic culture is very rich in architecture concepts, the patio, the gallery, the blinds, the water, the plants, and the mosaic. We've highlighted a few to keep in mind when doing this project.

The project involves the construction of four houses in the city of Jeddah. The aim is to achieve modern architectural homes, functional and attractive to the user, but in turn, related to the environment of the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The placement of the house on its plot is given by the legal separation mandated by the legislation. Ground floor distribution is organized around a small central interior courtyard (patio), on which also develops the stairs. This contemplative courtyard recalls the old Islamic courts surrounded by arcades, and equipped with several plants and water in the area. This central element cools the house in the hottest months of the year enhancing cross-ventilation and provides natural illumination to the house floors central spaces.

The lateral separations of the ground floor along with the main patio, equipped with autochthonous plants, will allow the nature to be part inside the house. Also located at the end is a small fountain. The Qur'an presents the Oasis as a metaphor for paradise, and for centuries that Islamic culture has placed special emphasis to water and garden landscaping. The will generate an audible and visual landscape, which can be enjoyed from part of the ground floor, bringing beauty and purification to spaces.

The ground floor facade is understood as a zocalo (housing base) and the contact point with the ground, so he poses with two materials such as concrete and wood, as hard, rude and natural materials. The first floor is the one that has more front surface and therefore more exposed to the sun. It will be completely white as an open box resting on the concrete base. The white color will minimize the impact of solar radiation can produce.

The housing set floors arise symmetrically, since the separation of the solar law requires us. But we will avoid the symmetrical elevations as far as possible, so the outside perspective show us a modern set housing, looking rather the sum of elements, forming a sum of the four houses rather asymmetrical.

Project: 4 Houses in Jeddah, Jeddah, Arabia Saudi, 2010

Surface: 1322 square meters

Architect: Pablo Serrano Elorduy

Interior Designer: Blanca Elorduy

Würth Museum Gardens / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-27T19:04:00.004-07:00

Working with Ingeniería Torrella, Dom Arquitectura completed this 11.280 square meter landscaping project in 2007, a project that generate a beautiful garden encircling the Würth Museum in Agincillo, Logroño, La Rioja, northern Spain.

Würth la Rioja Museum Gardens:

The main idea was to project an argument that would permit it to be the same site that would supply the patterns of intervention, bringing out their morphological, topographical and topological conditions and forms of the new landscape.

These disordered lines are reminiscent of the nature, branches, leaves, channels, cracks, rivers. These lines seem to create a virtual grid over the existing site will geometrizing the ground, and organizing it too. So we managed to control each different areas of the future landscape. The result is not an arbitrary garden, but a space where everything is in place and has a rationale balance.

These irregular lines, widen and narrow, intersect and intertwine, and adapt to the solar topography. Volumes wood protruding from the ground, concrete walls and walkway like rocks that are breaking into the stillness of the vegetation. They become walking tours and rest areas.

Other strips become vertical trees walls, lace permeable branches laces, bark areas reminiscent of the forest ground, white pebbles stones eroded over time by water, as if a river were involved. The concrete walk lead us for a surprising ride, where everything is moving at the same pace, herbs, trees, rocks and water sheets.

Project: Würth La Rioja Museum Gardens (2007)

Architect: Pablo Serrano Elorduy of Dom Arquitectura

Promoter: Würth España S.A.

Beach Promenade / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Beach Promenade by Dom Arquitectura, a landscaping project on Colera beach, 74 km away from the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Realized in 2004, Colera beach promenade was built to protect the town’s sea front from the endangering east waves.

The project has resulted in a promenade texture that beautifully resembles the traces of marine erosion. Besides resisting the waves, the promenade also function as a bench allowing the walkers to sit on and comfortably enjoy the views of the bay.

Description by the architect:

East waves generally cause damage to the town's sea front. Taking these as a starting point, the project idea of forming their own waves, like traces of marine erosion itself, the different strata of the rocks come to the surface forming the new promenade.

The concrete wall that divides the area of the beach with the promenade prevents soiling boulders rise and ride up. It doesn't require maintenance. The continuous and wide bench along the wall functions as a rail, allowed sitting and not precluding the view.

Steeper waves create a small terraces with either sides benches, adjacent to the pedestrian zone, allowing to enjoy the views of the bay, without disturb the walkers, they walk behind it.

The continuous line of trees widened the ride to the maximum and covering the surrounding buildings. Isolated trees are placed in groups of three behind the benches so they produce shade in the resting areas, especially on summer afternoons.

The night lighting is based on small lights embedded in the soil bench and tangent to the wall, to enhance the walk shape at night. This system avoids light pollution and allows us to enjoy the night stars views.

Photos: Courtesy of Dom Arquitectura

House in Menorca / Dom Arquitectura

2012-04-27T16:40:00.001-07:00

Spanish architecture firm Dom Arquitectura built this two story summer house in 2009 in Ciutadella de Menorca, a town on the western side of Minorca Islands, Spain.

As a summer shelter, the house was designed in such arrangement that integrate the inner and outer spaces: solid structure capable to restrain the solar heat, sliding wooden slats that serve as a filter (sunscreens & privacy) to the outside, and two large openings on each side of the hall and a swimming pool to further define the summer house concept.

Situated on 443 sqm beach side ground, this contemporary home by Dom Arquitectura definitely benefits wonderful views to the ocean.

Text by the architect:

Private House in Menorca

Being a summer house, the main idea is not only creating the interior spaces of the house, but distribute all outer space. The interior spaces seek good relations with the outside world, colonizing their surroundings and their views.

Inspired by the typical Menorca "tanca", stone walls divisions of the realm. The plot is organized from a space frame, fully passable, based on a trace orthogonal, combining floors, platforms, water, trees, plants, tanca, pergolas, walls and the house itself. By combining these elements we are encountering this approach in which each piece is delimited and acquires its own identity and use within a harmonious whole. The diversity of outdoor stays provides the site a space balanced richness.

The house is situated in the center of the outer solar stays divided in two, front and rear. The hall of the house with two large openings on each side operates as a mixed external-internal transition. Falls outside the pavement causing a passage that connects the back yard with the front porch.

Based on typical lattices "menorquinas" designed a sliding wooden slats fixed set a filter to the outside, they act as sunscreens, giving privacy and multipliplying the usability. They combine the vertical slats of the east and west facades with horizontal south facade. Most of these openings are floor to ceiling, allowing for greater continuity to the outside and making the most magnificent views of the site.

Dom Arquitectura (Pablo Serrano Elorduy - Architect & Blanca Elorduy - Interior Designer)

Casa 4 Planos / Dear Architects

2012-03-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

CASA 4 PLANOS project by Dear Architects was completed in 2010 in Santa Catarina city of México. CASA 4 PLANOS is rested on 300 sqm built area, with 200 sqm plot and 138 sqm foot print, having the same size to the firm’s previous single family housing project in Monterrey.

Drawings and Diagrams:

CASA 4 PLANOS, Living “inside out”

With a double ulterior motive, assure the views to the mountains and provide the living areas contact with the interior outdoors, a 10m cube is placed 10m behind the street limit, inducing the division of the plot on four frames of 5m X 10m; fragmentation that permits to incorporate the garden as the void that articulates the relationship between the volume of the house and the frontal access/garage volume.

At first floor level, in axis with the main access, and 15m with the exterior limit, a change of material announces the access to the private area: a pass way that embraces the lineal ascend towards the bedrooms’ hall, from where you discover a higher space, a 25 feet high open space that allows a ray of light that traces time by the sun path moving through the walls that confine the tower. This void receives a staircase that sets out a continuous ascend towards the family room and the master bedroom.

The character that the house transmits to the exterior is given by the sobriety of its 4 planes, which are distinguished by its change in height and the arrangement of its openings given by the relationship that each bedroom establishes with the exterior; searching for a view and an specific light-shadow effect to complete the tacit sense of inhabitance.

Key materials: Reinforced concrete, CEMEX, Pumice block, Vulkano, Plaster, Pine wood triplay

Softwares used: AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Ecotect, Photoshop, Illustrator

Collaborators: Margarita Flores, Rubén Octavio Sepúlveda Chapa, Abel Salazar, Lorena Darquea, Ana Paulina Reyes

Photo Credits: Karen Mendoza, Dear Architects

Casa De Uno / Dear Architects

2012-03-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Architects have shared with us a residential project they called Casa De Uno, A Shelter For Individuality. Completed in 2009 in Monterrey city of México, the house was rested on 300 sqm (3,230 sq.ft) built area, measuring 200 sqm (2,153 sq.ft) plot and 138 sqm (1,485 sq.ft) foot print.

Drawings and Diagrams

Text by America Miranda:

From a practical perspective, it is to notice how shelter and intimacy are achieved on this specific construction that rises from a quoin, long and narrow, lot.

Casa de Uno envelope recalls the notion of a back that bends over to protect against “the inhospitable of the times to do”; and for the one that knows how to observe, it allows him to sense an intimacy without distractions.

Located along the narrow side, the pedestrian door, a wide steel plate, slight but of apparent heaviness, gives entrance to a cut of air that extends along the site, limited by the high neighboring wall and the even higher internal façade of the house; it is a gorge of light with the sufficient width to saturate with clarity each of the house precincts.

The one that enters the house dwells this open air that draws their views up to the east side of the sky. Beams of light, at entering, reflect planes of clarity over the long adjoining wall.

Interior spaces are ordered with economy and give way to each other on a linear functionality. At ground floor, a single room holds the living areas that gather the inhabitants of the house; here the saloon with a double height performs its unifying role, working as the place where all the spaces converge.

Bedrooms are set in one row at the top level; access is through the staircase that beings at the saloon and flows into a long and tight corridor that connects at the time that enables privacy, this passage breathes through the small slit window of the exterior façade.

Although each space preserves its functional independence, together they constitute a space of unity sheltered by the robustness of the exterior facade and the gorge of light.

Key Materials: Reinforced Concrete, Cemex, Pumice Block, Vulkano, Plaster

Softwares Used: Autocad, Archicad, Ecotect, Photoshop, Illustrator

Collaborators: Margarita Flores, Rubén Octavio Sepúlveda Chapa, Abel Salazar, Lucia Castro, Susana García, Ana Paulina Reyes

Photo Credits: Karen Mendoza, Dear Architects

Serrano Apartments / A-cero Architects

2012-02-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

Serrano Apartments, a contemporary flat in an old four storey building which belongs to the Group VP Hotels in Madrid, Spain.

As standard, the apartment has four or more bedrooms with its bathrooms, kitchen, lounge, dining room, utilities area and a toilette. All rooms are totally equipped with grey, black or white furniture designed by A-cero which has clean and modern lines. Special in the bedrooms is furniture made of organic material.

Different materials are used for flooring: travertine marble, wood and dark gray porcelain (in kitchens and bathrooms). Matched with the rooms shade, the decoration has been resolved with neutral colors combined with some red or yellow (pictures, sculptures, and etc).

Large windows and skylights in lounges, dining and halls, serve as the principal luminosity, while white walls and roofs in the interior give the senses of clarity, cleanliness and warmth in this contemporary flat.

Architect: A-cero Architects

Photography: Luis H. Segovia

Via: @Cool Boom

MAXXI Museum / Zaha Hadid Architects

2012-02-21T05:19:00.000-08:00

MAXXI Museum, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts of Italy which achieves the 2010 RIBA Stirling Prize award.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Fondazione MAXXI and Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Zaha Hadid Architects carried out this 21,200 sqm project in Rome, with a contract value €150m. This is the first Zaha project which has achieved the RIBA Stirling Prize award.

Description by Zaha Hadid Architects (summed up):

This is a museum of paths and routes, a museum where the curators have to invent how to hang and place the works of 21st Century art that have been collected since inception of the project – and the century.

The permeable plaza recreates routes and connections, but also forces you to consider the new context that is created to engage with the activities within. The whole building is behind a 2.5 meter high industrial aluminum mesh fence which is there to protect the outdoor art that’s planned.

The museum, for all its structural pyrotechnics, is rationally organized as five main suites. The building conforms to very strict climate control requirements of modern galleries; the skylights both orientate and excite the visitor, but also turn them into uplifting spaces.

MAXXI is described as a building for the staging of art, and whilst provocative at many levels, this project shows a maturity and calmness that belies the complexities of its form and organization.

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects

Photos: Iwan Baan

Via: @Bustler

Criminal Desk Lamp / Sébastien Maleville

2012-02-20T05:03:00.000-08:00

Criminal Desk Lamp, an exciting lamp which tells about Michael Jackson and his Smooth Criminal song.

Beijing-based designer Sébastien Maleville created this exotic desk lamp as a tribute to the King of Pop. The 45 degrees leaning aluminum base refers to his standing position, while the way for switching on and off refers to his gesture when moving up and down his hat with one hand.

Via@: Behance

Earth Tones Collection / Jason Phillips

2012-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Earth Tones Collection, an innovative idea on how recycled materials can be advantageously re-used in furniture design.

Earth Tones Collection by Jason Phillips Design is made of end cuts Plyboo® material. This stuff is the most respected name in bamboo plywood, manufactured by a US-based furniture production Smith & Fong Co.

By using eco-friendly cast-off materials from furniture production, Jason Phillips has demonstrated his exotic table collection coming up in three different types: cocktail table, console table, and side table.

Dimension:

Earth Tones Cocktail Table - 45x30x16

Earth Tones Console Table - 80x16x30

Earth Tones Side Table - 24x24x22

Via: @Industrial Design Served

Zagreb Museum / Studio Za Arhitekturu

2012-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

Zagreb Museum by Architect Igor Franić of Studio Za Arhitekturu (SZA), a museum of contemporary art located in the capital city of the Republic of Croatia.

Completely built in 2009 this Zagreb museum building, which is rest upon 14,400 sqm area, accommodates exhibition spaces, offices, restaurant, library, and other auxiliary rooms like programmed mini-towers and etc. The variety of program contents is enriched by the hall for lectures, screenings, and performances.

A few quotes from text by Maroje Mrduljas:

Studio Za Arhitekturu took into consideration the strongly stressed orthogonal matrix of Novi Zagreb, from where he continued to develop the project. For the architect, the context is the entire Novi Zagreb, both in the sense of the heritage of modern city-planning culture and the area with specific ambiance characteristics.

The project generates “its own city-planning” within the borders of the parcel and forms an ample square that slowly rises towards the large “hovering” mass of the Museum which covers the open public space. The relationship of the wide access cascades, the grand “neo-classicist” porch and the building itself reminds of Schinkel’s Altes Museum in Berlin.

The architect formed the body of the building as a geometrically very simple solid of approximately square ground-floor plan, whose cross-section is “folded” in the form of a meander.

Photos: Courtesy of Studio Za Arhitekturu

Via: @Archinect

Lake Forest Park House / Finne Architects

2012-01-29T03:46:00.000-08:00

Lake Forest Park house, a renovation project by Finne Architects toward a 1950’s house in north of Seattle, United States.

Lake Forest Park house project was about renovating a 1950’s contemporary house situated on an isolated wooded site. The renovation aimed at completely modernizing the house but at the same time keeping the spirit of the existing building.

Not only been enlarged, the main living and dining rooms have also been added with a roof windows to allow soft natural light to go in. In the kitchen, we will find counters in quartz and cast-glass, new fir ceilings, re-finished existing terrazzo flooring, and etc.

Besides the resizing and replacing action, the renovation has also added a palette of new materials to create powerful juxtapositions of texture and color. Custom fabrications dealing with the wall panels, furniture, and etc were therefore integrated.

From the aspect of sustainability, the renovation has introduced radiant heating under the terrazzo flooring, high clerestory windows, and many green materials such as resin panels, quart counters, linoleum, low VOC paint, and sustainable wood products.

Just like other Finne projects, this renovation was based on the idea of “crafted modernism,” the enrichment of a modernist aesthetic with highly personal, crafted materials and objects.

Photography: Benjamin Benschneider

Via: @Contemporist

Deichmann Plaza / Chyutin Architects

2012-01-29T01:15:00.000-08:00

Deichmann Plaza / Square, a landscape architecture project by Chyutin Architects located in Beer Sheeva city, Israel.

Deichmann Plaza is dedicated to offer an open-air space for cultural and social activities for the university students as well as the Beer Sheeva city residents, while serving as one of the entrance gates to the Ben-Gurion campus at the same time.

The project was realized in 2008 on an open area next to the Negev Gallery, in close proximity to Ben-Gurion University.

Since the plaza was designed to accommodate intensive agglomerations of youth and students, the chosen solution was to locate areas enclosed by vegetation.

The design of the plaza with various elements of exposed concrete connects the surrounding buildings both physically and visually, accentuating their common features.

The plaza appears as a carpet of integrated strips of concrete paving, vegetation and lighting with concrete benches and trees scattered randomly. The vegetation zones are covered with grass, plants and seasonal Equisetopsida.

Photos by: Sharon Yeari

Via: @Plataforma Arquitectura