Architecture: Horst Architects
Interior Design: Magni Design, Inc
Structural: Scott Wallace Structural Engineers
Landscape Architect: David A. Pedersen, Inc
Lighting: Kaplan Gehring McCarroll
Photography: John Ellis
Location: Laguna Beach, California, USA

Several generations of the owner’s family enjoyed seaside vacations in their weathered, wooden cottage in Crystal Cove, just north of Laguna Beach, California. When the lease with the State of California expired, the owners purchased a property within the Strand at the Headlands, a few miles south in Dana Point.

Seeking to re-establish their familial base, the owners requested a relaxed family beach house accommodating three master suites for parents and grandparents, as well as a suitable environment for children, grandchildren and friends. The parti reflects the program through a composition of three diaphanous pavilions around a central, unifying courtyard. This courtyard is concealed from the street and entered discretely through a pivoting wood door revealing a covered passageway along a stone wall leading to the entry. This sequence of movement from street to inner sanctum creates an atmosphere of mystery and heightens the sense of arrival, while also revealing the ocean view sequentially. A series of overlapping reflecting ponds contained within the central courtyard instill a sense of meditation and retreat where one can contemplate the ocean and sky.

The post The Strand by Horst Architects appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Ábaton
Photography: Ábaton Architecture and Belen Imaz
Location: Cáceres, Spain

Estate in Extremadura is located in a privileged environment in the province of Cáceres, the goal was to transform an abandoned stable into a family home by completely renovating it in a way that would be consistent and respectful with the environment. At the end, Ábaton, the studio responsible for the project, decided that building from scratch was the best option as the stable was in a terrible shape.

High on a hill and far from city water or an electrical grid, a thorough investigation resulted in the addition of photovoltaic and hydro power (weighted toward solar in summer and hydro in winter) and worked to ensure the home wouldn’t use much energy. The building’s original orientation also helped as southern exposure allowed for the sun to be the main source of heat during the winter. A generous eave prevents much sun from entering the home during summer, thus keeping it cool. Large wooden shutters that slide closed like a second skin, cover the large windows at night to trap in most of the home’s daily solar heat gain.

As the building is located far from city water but perfectly located below two streams that flow year round the water is pure and can be used for drinking and bathing. The swimming pool acts as a holding tank for use in irrigation. In the interior nature has been incorporated almost to every room in the house: bathrooms with views of the interior patio and its stone water fountain, bedrooms with huge picture windows overlooking the countryside.

The position of the architecture is as it was originally and the material used are also the same though given the home’s crumbling state the façade was built with a mix of cement and local stone.In the interior, supporting walls were replaced by light metal pillars, the haylofts in the upper area were converted into bedrooms and the enormous central lounge serves different purposes. In short, a mix of modern cement and iron beams coexist with well-worn stone, weather-beaten wood and local stone.

The post Estate in Extremadura by Ábaton appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Andrea Maffei Architects
Design Team: Arata Isozaki, M+T & Partners
Construction Manager: arch. Andrea Maffei / Andrea Maffei Architects
Structure: ing. Mario Sbrozzi, Studio Sbrozzi, Modena
Lighting Design: Koichi Tanaka, M+K Design, Milano
General Contractor: ATI – Cooperativa Muratori Reggiolo e Manutenzioni Generali Reggiane
Completion year: 2011
Location: Maranello, Italy

The competition place is located in Vittorio Veneto street in Maranello (Modena), inside a well- established residential fabric. The building borders with a residential court on the north, with a public green area on the west, with a residential building on the south built in adherence and with other residential buildings on the East and partially in adherence.

The project Andrea Maffei Architects proposal presents a surface equal to 1,175 sqm. It is the existing building renovation trough the existing north perimeter walls maintenance, east and south confining with some residential offices, the demolition of the central part of the prefabricated and the construction of a library as a volume contained within the old building’s height limits and devoloped partly outside the earth and partly under the earth. The access to the new library is situated on the west side.

The project has developed starting from the definition of three main spaces, corresponding to a consulting area, a great reading room and to the multipurpose rooms, these last rooms usable independently. Inside these three main spaces the consulting and library patrimony storage areas, the newspaper library, the sound archives and video library, the game room, the multi – functions room, the study hall, the historical local archive, the exposition and temporary exhibitions room are foreseen. Some service spaces have been foreseen inside these rooms which foresee some stations for catalogues consultation and for internet access, users’ loan desk, administrative offices for library’s staff and the library warehouse. A division of reading spaces has been foreseen according to possible users’category and a particular attention has been paid to 0 – 6 aged children’s spaces, for those children between 6 and 10 years and for those between 11 and 14. High school and university students instead have consulting and study areas which don’t interfere with the others. The building is composed by three main volumes conceived to satisfy the functions contained in them in the best way.

A transparent volume which hosts the coffee house is located at the ground floor, with a service space and a wide counter, expositive spaces for the association “Maranello myth’s land and all the library consultancy and reading areas. The volume mirrors on the water surface which surrounds it and water reverberates the deep green colour which enriches the boundary walls preserved by the project.

A platform roof juts towards public spaces and acknowledges architecture from the street ; inside the absolute white of the resin floor and of furniture shines with external green reflected through the continuing glass wall, which runs along the curvilinear shape. The light which pervades the library open space performs in a reflection game which bounces from the furnitures’ white elements, the floor’s elements and the structures’ elements, to water and to the continuing transparent glasses.

A single opaque volume is positioned on the south side, also pure white coloured, to contain service spaces, the stairs going down to the basements and to the game room, provided with a window to allow natural light. The basement floor consists of a parallelepiped accessible by a stair and an elevator for invalids, with a function of goods lift for books. Andrea Maffei Architects immediately find in a free space constituted by multifunction room and by the expositive space, which can be set up at one’s pleasure. In this underground area also storage spaces for library patrimony find a collocation, as well as the historical local archive which has little apposite consultative areas.

The post Maranello Library by Andrea Maffei Architects appeared first on I Like Architecture.

In reality some images or drawings have a greater impact than many buildings that are built.

Emilio Ambasz

The post Quote #65 – Emilio Ambasz appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Alataş Architecture & Consulting
Architectural Group: Özge Güngör Ülüğ, Dilan Yüksel, Emir Elmaslar, Gabriella Colacicco
Design Team: Ahmet Alataş, Emre Açar
Area: 1,100 sqm
Completion year: 2012
Location: Galata, İstanbul, Turkey

Ipera 25 is located on Tatarbeyi Sokak, is one of the most virginal and underdeveloped streets of the rapidly transforming Galata District under conservation. Comprised of eight 80-m2 studio flats and one 190-m2 penthouse up for sale, it has a total surface area of 1000 m2. The building is a residential project that extends beyond the conventional codes of the already-built environment, yet manages to reproduce these codes, respecting the existing architectural fabric. In this regard, it continues to find new solutions to the existing problems of architecture by utilizing contemporary technologies and taking into consideration the newly burgeoning socio-economic structure of the region, as well as the infrastructure, environmental conditions, climate, and solar movements.

The building is comprised of a wooden shell that covers the largely transparent living area in an uncompromising manner and set between two blind and extremely thing exposed concrete curtain walls. The wooden components on the front elevation run parallel to the glass façade that evolves into a saddle rood and entirely cover the front and back of the building. Perceived as a gigantic blind façade from one perspective, yet appearing as a translucent veil from the other, the wooden surface also functions as a sun filter. Comprised of parallel horizontal laths that angle at various points, the wooden element divides the façade into four as the middle segments expand outwards, towards the street; leaving the sides exposed, the wooden elements thus allow a view of the street and create a bay window effect that establishes a link between home life and life on the street.

While the building almost disregards the relationship with the street by refusing to repeat the conventional window spans in the neighborhood, it nonetheless revives its place within the context by reinterpreting the traditional bay window structure on the street. Behind its impressive presence on the street, the building displays a plain and statuesque appearance that simultaneously blends into and stands out against the context without competing with the neighboring historic buildings in its critical approach.

As the design is concretized, the concept of the transparent surface of the wooden veil covering the two façades and the roof between two walls is maintained throughout without any qualms. The dilapidated appearance of the neighboring building at arm’s length is perceived as part of the view and the transparent surface is not even partially compromised. While this attitude and the spatial relationship of the interior and the exterior expands the interior volumes of the 80-m2 flats –born out of the new lifestyle needs and culture– towards the façade of the buildings across the street, the translucent nature of the building’s shell allows the street to feel broader and more spacious.

The post Ipera 25 by Alataş Architecture & Consulting appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Bureau for Architecture
Design team: Naseem Alizadeh
Photography: Steve Maylone
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

The Matchbox House is a four bedroom house in a rural area near Ann Arbor. The house only has 1740 sf of conditioned space and a one car garage. The concept for the house in elevation came from the iconic shape of a four-sided house, much like a child would draw. In this case, the 5th side (the bottom) is expressed since the house is raised on an inset concrete plinth. The idea was for the house to read as a small object dropped into the woods.

Aside from the construction footprint of the house, septic field and driveway, the remainder of the site was left untouched as a natural wooded setting. No grass (and therefore no irrigation) has been used, the area of the septic tank now has a native meadow mix. The entire site, exlusive of the footprint of the house, is permeable (including the driveway).

In plan the house reads as a matchbox, with an exterior sleeve and interior container (in this case, split into 4 quadrants). They appear to slip past each other and the outer sleeve, thereby creating some exterior space which is still protected by the outer sleeve.

The house has received LEED Platinum Certification and has a HERS score of 46. In addition to an undisturbed site, no basement and a one car garage, the house is much smaller than the current average American home but still feels quite large and spacious inside, since all interior space is used and maximized (there is no attic, so upper floor rooms follow the line of the 45 degree angle roof).

The post The Matchbox House by Bureau for Architecture appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Modscape
Photography: Ben Johnson
Location: South Yarra, Australia

While deceptively unassuming from the street, this art deco apartment block in South Yarra conceals a Modscape designed extension that exhibits the true nature of adapting architecture to lifestyle.

© Ben Johnson

The architects clients purchased the apartments to use as a three storey home for their growing family with the intention of converting the home back into apartments as each of their children moved out. Our solution translated into a 102 sqm, three-module addition that introduced three clearly defined floors to each apartment level, consisting of an open plan kitchen/living/dining area to the ground floor, a bedroom and study to the second, and rooftop deck to the third.

The success of the project depended on a careful balance of materiality and form between the buildings despite the different eras of architectural style. Rheinzink cladding in a standing seam profile was chosen for its long term durability and attractive patina to ensure the extended spaces would complement the brick façade and improve with age.

Internally, the new spaces display a pared back style punctuated by European design and minimal ornamentation. A Morso fireplace, AGA oven and Corian benchtops in the kitchen/living/dining area are complemented by Modscape standard features, while an interior décor of Scandinavian inspired furniture maintains the design language between the old and new spaces.

Due to the tight nature of the block, the addition was then blended with clever landscaping and an in-ground pool in the yard to utilise every square inch of the site and complete the integration.

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Ben Johnson

© Modscape

The post South Yarra by Modscape appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: Studio mk27
Team members: Marcio Kogan, Maria Cristina Motta
Interiors: Studio mk27; Diana Radomysler
Photography: Fernando Guerra
Location: Bragança Paulista, Brazil

The MM House organization is set by the intersection of two perpendicular axes on a single ground floor. Along one axis is the horizontal volumetry of the house, with its green roof that lifts the grass of the land and merges with the surrounding construction. Along the other axis, there is emptiness: a wooden deck and pool.

At the intersection of these axes, a terrace holds the social spaces of the house, including a kitchen and a living. With permanent cross ventilation, the atmosphere is inviting, even with the high temperatures of São Paulo state, in southeastern Brazil. This terrace is the transition between interior and exterior. It divides the house into two blocks of wood. The southern block contains the garage and TV room while the northern block holds rooms, kitchen and services. The ceilings create a spatiality: over the terrace it is a low concrete porch and over the living room it is inclined as the roof design and made out of wooden slats.

The climate issue is key for the habitability of the house. All spaces are provided with ventilation through wooden folding doors, brises-soleil that can be fully opened. Moreover, the green roof acts as an insulator, besides creating the peculiarity of the volume.

The post MM House by Studio MK27 appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: SPARK
Project Director: Jan Felix Clostermann
Project team: Eldine Heep, Leonardo Micolta, Javen Ho
Interiors: One Plus Partnership Limited
Landscape: Hassell/Hong Kong
LDI: Chongqing Design Institute
Structure: Chongqing Design Institute
Photography: Jonathan Leijonhufvud / Fernando Guerra
Location: Chongqing, China

SPARK’s playful Clubhouse in Chongqing has opened to the public. The Clubhouse is the first part of a series of leisure facilities SPARK designed for a large villa community in the outskirts of Chongqing.

Apart from the 5,500 sqm clubhouse SPARK’s masterplan proposal includes a 12,000sqm hotel and a 13,000sqm outdoor retail street which will be completed early 2013.

” The uniqueness of the site was the source of inspiration for our design”, says Jan Clostermann, Director at SPARK. The design aims to embody the site’s steep topography, beautiful greenery and scenic views in the spatial experience of the architecture. The hotel, clubhouse and retail elements become part of a scenic route from a panoramic lookout fifty meters above the community down into the valley. Along this dramatic descent program has been carefully placed to respond to the topography and community needs. Thus, in the process of meandering through the landscape, one engages in activities that foster a healthy community and social interaction.

The clubhouse forms the centre point of this leisure route. It functions as a mediating icon that brings residents, visitors, and all the elements of the master plan together.

It was formally conceived as a continuous folded loop that pivots from a common double height space. The common space links together the different programmatic elements of the building; including a gym, a swimming pool, children playground, offices, arts-and-crafts classrooms, meeting rooms, a restaurant and a café. The design responds to the client needs by allowing this common space to be temporarily utilized as a showroom and sales floor for the villas. Surrounding the clubhouse is a shallow reflective lake abundant with carp and lotus. Wooden platforms outline the periphery of the building and bridge across the lake to connect the lobby with the residential villas.

Like the hotel and the retail street SPARK aimed to embed the clubhouse into the existing topography. There is a 5 meter level difference between the side facing the street and the side opening up to a shallow lake.

The roof folds down towards the main entry forming outdoor seating continuing the scenic route along the roof down towards the water. Thus the clubhouse seems to grow from the ground when approaching the main entry, and rising out of the reflecting water surface five meters lower on the opposite side of the building.

This terraced space is echoed in the interior spaces where the visitors enter into a low ceilinged space to descend into the double height space that is now used as the sales room.

The materiality aims to blend the building into its natural setting by employing is a simple palette of textured granites and glass.

By embracing the existing topographic conditions and integrating the water edge to be one of the main features of the design, SPARK has created a memorable indoor – outdoor experience for both residents and visitors alike.

The post Forte Nanshan by SPARK appeared first on I Like Architecture.

Architects: BARCODE Architects
Photography: Christian van der Kooij
Location: Belgium

Barcode Architects design for the extension and renovation of Markthuis is completed. The design is driven by the desire to optimize the daylighting in the house and the wish of the client to reserve a prominent place for his large collection of art and hunting trophies.

In order to maximize the spatial experience most of the interior walls are removed to remain with one open living space extending over the first two floors of the villa. Downstairs are comfortable spaces for receiving guests while on the upper first floor more intimate and private areas with an open plan kitchen, study, and lounge area are situated. A large atrium connects the two layers and provides space for an exclusive, double high exhibition wall with an impressive amount of artefacts. The wooden staircase is placed as a freestanding piece of furniture within the vide, on one side guided by a 6 meter tall piece of glass. The glazed element separates the kitchen and the entrance lobby from the rest of the house and offers exciting plays of light and shadow.

The post Markthuis by BARCODE Architects appeared first on I Like Architecture.