Architect Gary Chang’s apartment is located in downtown Hong Kong, and represents a remarkable example of interior refurbishment. With only 32 sqm, Chang studied the different distribution possibilities to optimize his space.
Showing posts with label ARCHITECTURE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ARCHITECTURE. Show all posts
19.5.10
#1 ARCHITECTURE CLASSICS
The Farnsworth House, built between 1945 and 1951 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth as a weekend retreat, is a platonic perfection of order gently placed in spontaneous nature in Plano, Illinois. Just right outside of Chicago in a 10-acre secluded wooded site with the Fox River to the south, the glass pavilion takes full advantage of relating to its natural surroundings, achieving Mies’ concept of a strong relationship between the house and nature.
Mies explained this concept in an interview about the glass pavilion stating, “Nature, too, shall live its own life. We must beware not to disrupt it with the color of our houses and interior fittings. Yet we should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together into a higher unity.”
Aside from walls in the center of the house enclosing bathrooms, the floor plan is completely open exploiting true minimalism.
“If you view nature through the glass walls of the Farnsworth House, it gains a more profound significance than if viewed from the outside. That way more is said about nature—it becomes part of a larger whole.”
12.5.10
The Office Cadaval & Solà-Morales shows here The X House . This project takes place in Barcelona, Spain.
4.5.10
Suppose Design recently finished a family house In Obama, in the Fukui prefecture on the sea of Japan. The site, situated near the beach, posed climatic problems such as damage from the sea breeze. The client – the director of a company opposite the house – wished to combine openness on the ground floor to allow for parking spaces for his clients with more protected first floor living spaces.
Kitchen space, bathrooms, study corners and storage are strategically placed at the perimeter of the site to form a buffer around the living areas and bedrooms to protect them from the harsh climate. Light and air are allowed in through the insertion of courtyards with glass-framed walls between the rooms. It opposes the notion of letting the outside world in and offers an intimate controlled environment, but one that can be very open at the same time.
Standing beside the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry (1989) and the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando (1993) VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein, by Herzog & de Meuron (2010) connects the two buildings. The concept behind its design connects two themes which appear in the work of Herzog & de Meuron; the stacked volumes and the typical house figure which we drew as kids.
The entire concept and the primary purpose behind the design of this five-storey building is the presentation of Vitra furniture and objects for the home as if they are in your home. The showrooms proportions and dimensions are very human like and very familiar as the VitraHaus is very similar to a residential setting – the architects prefer to use the term ‘domestic scale’ to describe the case. Despite the showroom appearance, the interiors have turned out to be very cozy and welcoming.
However, what I find most fascinating is the element of the reversed perspective that VitraHaus has. The building has a daytime and a night time view. During the day, one can gaze from the VitraHaus outwards while when the night falls the illuminated interior allows for uninterrupted views from the exterior into the interior. The interior lies before the eyes of the Vitra Campus and the countryside of Weil am Rhein.
5.4.10
In Michael Wolf’s “Architecture of Density” series he documents the complex urban dynamics of Hong Kong, one the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world. In his vibrantly colorful interpretation of the graphic architectural scapes he has created a beautiful swatch book of palettes. Palettes drawn directly from the highest density of civilization, a true indication that inspiration is all around us.
In a world where people appreciate good design everywhere, cool mini hotel rooms are the latest ‘it’ trend. In Tokyo, the Capsule Inn exemplifies the bare-essentials hotel rooms for brief use, and similar concepts are popping up at airports, train stations and downtowns around the world, replacing and mimicking the “day rooms” already existing at many airports.
Taking the next step in rest and space efficiency, Russia’s Arch Group designed the SleepBox.
27.1.10
MILAN EXPO 2015
The conceptual master plan for the Milan World Exposition 2015 resulted from the teamwork of five architects: Jacques Herzog, Mark Rylander, Ricky Burdett, Stefano Boeri, and William McDonough. Working with the theme “feeding the planet, energy for life”, the exposition will be a planetary botanical garden that will “feed Milan literally, spiritually and intellectually.” The architects created the framework for the exposition and organized an orthogonal bridge that contains an agrofood park and is surrounded by water ways.
The idea for this planetary botanical garden is based on the Ancient Roman urban plans that included twin axes (the cardo and the decumanus) with a central forum. The two axis create a grid of spaces where some will be developed by the exposition, and other spaces will be give to individual countries to design.
http://www.milanoexpo-2015.com/
http://www.archdaily.com/34772/milan-expo-2015/#more-34772
20.1.10
13.1.10
THE SELETAR CLOSE IN SINGAPORE // FORMWERKZ
Family and lifestyle patterns have changed throughout times, however sometimes it’s good to keep traditional patterns in modern lifestyles. Singaporean practice Formwerkz Architects has completed such a contemporary house in Seletar Estate, Singapore where the idea of cluster living “apartments” with open communal spaces was devised for the multi-generation families living under one roof. While paying close attention to the needs of the end user and constructing a residence from the primary state, Formwerks focused on the requests of each person on an individual basis as well as their function as a group or a whole. The primary question upon designing and building this residence is can architecture deal with the differences in behavior, lifestyles, needs or even the potential tension between individuals or sub-families when these individuals are to live in one residence? The answer is yes! The rest is up to the occupants who have to cooperate on a daily basis to co-exist in harmony! The areas were defined into working spaces, fun spaces, personal spaces and engaging spaces; they were attached together with each family’s needs which were carefully studied and planned with the required privacies. The choice in materials and architectural language has been vigilantly expressed by the hierarchy of spaces and family cells. To embrace the individuals’ differences and desires, material palettes were restrained to the most basic form of construction elements. The basis of selections was simplified to natural colors and textures rather than subjective decorative merits. Formwerks Architects believes that dwelling spaces are organic; therefore, most elements were designed to be easily de-mountable and replaceable. This strategy allows room for future growth, since they started bare and simple.
BUMPS BUILDING // SAKO ARCHITECTS
Sako Architects have designed the BUMPS building complex in Beijing, China.
The complex is a mixed-use residential and commercial development, which will be a landmark that leads to further development in the surrounding area of the city.
The building is characterized by it’s constant variation between the different levels. Every two floors are set as a unit, and every unit is staggered by 2 metres horizontally, with the resulting set-back areas being used for terraces.
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