Category Archives: ARCHITECTURE

The ‘Forest house’ is a project of studio Chris Tate Architecture, located in Auckland New Zealand. The residence that Tate himself uses on the weekend has very little site impact.  It sits on 16 poles drilled into the ground, allowing trees to grow from under the house.  The structure was also designed to point at the arch of a giant Puriri tree, which frames the rear entrance.

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Located inside the W Hotel in Montreal, the Wunderbar Lounge is a space created by BPC, a hospitality development and management company.

The design is inspired by the four seasons and boasts vivid colors and beautiful lighting effects.

Photos by Stephane Groleau.

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Renowned for its casinos and yacht-filled marinas, Monaco has become a magnet for the richest and most discerning property tycoons in the world. Soaring to a height of 170m (557ft), the Odeon Tower will be the Mediterranean coastline’s second tallest building. The twin towers will contain 70 luxury apartments with between one and six bedrooms. Also available will be two sky duplexes and a 1,200sq m penthouse. Topping out the block will be a spectacular 3,300 sq metre multi-story penthouse complete with private water slide and exclusive infinity pool. One estimate for the value of this apartment suggests it could fetch as much as £256m when it is released onto the market in 2014. Each apartment will boast floor-to-ceiling windows and private terraces with panoramic views of Monaco, Larvotto beach and the Ligurian Sea. The block will have Russian and Turkish saunas, several swimming pools, private spas, a full-time concierge, private chauffeured limousines and a cinema. Housekeeping, dry cleaning and valet services will all be organised by residents from touchscreen controls in each apartment. As well as being within easy reach of the Italian Riviera, occupants can take advantage of annual local events such as Monaco’s  Grand Prix and Jazz Festival. Excavation and demolition work began on the towers in 2009. Structural work is expected to be finished by July 2013 before work can begin on the facade. The entire project is expected to be completed by July 2014. The venture was the dream of architect Alexander Giraldi, a master of “belle epoque” design, which is inspired by the atmosphere of early 20th century Paris. The belle epoque (beautiful era) was a period between 1871 and 1914 which was characterised by optimism and peace in Europe, and scientific discoveries. Responsibility for the apartment interiors has been given to the Alberto Pinto agency, whose previous clients include Saudi Arabian royalty and American captains of industry. The grounds will be designed by prominent landscape architect Jean Mus.

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Photographer: fuse-atelier

This project is a residence for a couple in their thirties, built in Abiko City. The client desired a gallery-like concrete-made space where their pleasure of designed furniture stands out.

The location is at the bottom of two plateaus on a soft foundation. Therefore, stakes were necessary to support a reinforced concrete structure. In order to reduce costs, contacting area to the ground was minimized and the number of stakes was reduced. Accordingly, the upper structure was cantilevered. Then, the walls in varying volumes and the roof slab were made into three-dimensional continuous slanted surface and the stress transmission was rationalized, which became a characteristic form.

Living/dining room on the second floor has a large open composition towards the green way so as to take in the trees planted on the south side of the site to the interior space. The haircutting space was raised for 1.2 meters from the second floor, so that people will look at the south side green way and the upper side green way and the upper side of the parking on the north side. It also controls the eyesight from the surroundings. The interior space was given a modulated proportion and scale that respond to each space’s activities.

The monocoque form made of concrete was inflated and squeezed, following the necessary spatial volume at the living room, cutting space and the wet area. The stiff structure enabled a sash-less detail of glass and the exterior wall aligned in the same surface and realizes the exterior that emphasizes various facets.
The residence creates many senses of distance by the form that pursued the relationship of spaces and a rationality of the structure. Moreover, by the angles of the multi-surface composition the space is divided, though connected, and creates various sequences that are accompanied by sensual naturel light’s reflection and refraction.

Design team:
fuse-atelier + Musashino Art University／fuse-studio

Project partners:
Main contractor: Shishido Koumuten
Structural Engineers: Ysutaka Konishi

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Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa has recently completed ‘house & garden’, a residence in tokyo, japan. a series of stacked concrete floor slabs bordered with transparent railings and curtains, this four-storey dwelling is enclosed with walls of household plants growing within pots. generous balconies and terraces push the main living space from the street.
these outdoor areas are filled with greenery, making the home seem more like a vertical garden. The architect has also opted to use curtains on both the interior and exterior of the house to provide privacy and divide up the living space.

Images © iwan baan

Thanks for the link Lachie.

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The Paris New York restaurant specializing in burgers offer a place combining Parisian spirit and mind New Yorkers without falling into the cliches of the genre. A black ceiling, dressed bulbs Broadway recalling dialogue with floor tile cements geometric patterns. The provision mirrors facilitates dialogue between the patina of the walls and the fuselage of the bar and the staircase leading to the upstairs room.Dressed in riveted aluminum, the bar is monolithic telescope of the staircase whose aesthetic is reminiscent of the U.S. Air Stream. The steel structure of the staircase is visible from inside kept reminding workshop bays and structures Eiffel.

Photos by David Foessel

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South Africa comes with some of the most beautiful, untouched land– and when you’re living amongst it all, there’s no way that you can’t take advantage of the views. This completely glazed home by Saota Architects sits along the edge of the Crescent Bay.

The overall layout of this home is quite open with plenty of secluded areas created within each space. The master suite is a sensual space, complete with a bed centered in the room and the bathroom just beyond, with a glass enclosure shower. The space remains quite linear within the natural setting, keeping the focus on the almost 360 degree views.

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Project description

This house is sited among tall buildings in downtown Hiroshima, overlooking a street with many passing cars and trams. To obtain privacy and tranquility in these surroundings, we placed a garden and optical glass façade on the street side of the house. The garden is visible from all rooms, and the serene soundless scenery of the passing cars and trams imparts richness to life in the house. Sunlight from the east, refracting through the glass, creates beautiful light patterns. Rain striking the water-basin skylight manifests water patterns on the entrance floor. Filtered light through the garden trees flickers on the living room floor, and a super lightweight curtain of sputter-coated metal dances in the wind. Although located downtown in a city, the house enables residents to enjoy the changing light and city moods, as the day passes, and live in awareness of the changing seasons.

Optical Glass Façade

A façade of some 6,000 pure-glass blocks (50mm x 235mm x 50mm) was employed. The pure-glass blocks, with their large mass-per-unit area, effectively shut out sound and enable the creation of an open, clearly articulated garden that admits the city scenery. To realize such a façade, glass casting was employed to produce glass of extremely high transparency from borosilicate, the raw material for optical glass. The casting process was exceedingly difficult, for it required both slow cooling to remove residual stress from within the glass, and high dimensional accuracy. Even then, however, the glass retained micro-level surface asperities, but we actively welcomed this effect, for it would produce unexpected optical illusions in the interior space.

Waterfall

So large was the 8.6m x 8.6m façade, it could not stand independently if constructed by laying rows of glass blocks a mere 50mm deep. We therefore punctured the glass blocks with holes and strung them on 75 stainless steel bolts suspended from the beam above the façade. Such a structure would be vulnerable to lateral stress, however, so along with the glass blocks, we also strung on stainless steel flat bars (40mm x 4mm) at 10 centimeter intervals. The flat bar is seated within the 50mm-thick glass block to render it invisible, and thus a uniform 6mm sealing joint between the glass blocks was achieved. The result?—a transparent façade when seen from either the garden or the street. The façade appears like a waterfall flowing downward, scattering light and filling the air with freshness.

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The glass block façade weighs around 13 tons. The supporting beam, if constructed of concrete, would therefore be of massive size. Employing steel frame reinforced concrete, we pre-tensioned the steel beam and gave it an upward camber. Then, after giving it the load of the façade, we cast concrete around the beam and, in this way, minimized its size.

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