American architecture firm studio gang architects have designed this aqua tower in Chigago, USA.
Aqua tower considers criteria such as views, solar shading and function to derive a vertical system of contours that gives the structure its sculptural form. Its vertical topography is defined by its outdoor terraces that gradually change in plan over the length of the tower.
More info via Designboom or on Studio Gang Architects
3XN has won a architectural competition for the design of the Courthouse in Frederiksberg in Denmark.
The expansion of the Courthouse in Frederiksberg, Denmark, will be a sculptural and classic structure, which at once expresses a welcoming transparency while maintaining the justice system’s sobriety and seriousness.
The new Courthouse will be a natural extension of the existing neo-classical building, yet still maintaining its own identity through a modern and contemporary expression. The building design is therefore composed with clear references to the architectural style of the refined neighborhood of Frederiksberg. The form of the structure is both classic and dynamic – standing as a modern interpretation of the classical saddle style roof.
The interior of the courthouse focuses on compliance with the law reform’s requirements on security and internal segregations in the building. Therefore, the building provides its employees, the defendants, witnesses and guests an open and friendly environment in which it is easy for the different user groups to navigate.
A small atrium cuts through the middle of the building; drawing light deep into the interior creating an open and airy connection across departments. This creates the feeling of direct daylight in the rooms and gives a general lightness to the building’s inner core, meeting the visitors as they come up from the foyer.
The Courthouse is expected for completion during the first half of 2012.
Special Thanks to Lise Roland Johansen from 3XN
All images and text are from 3XN!
A few weeks ago, I passed this cozy cafe in Eindhoven during the Dutch Design Week in Netherland. After some search work, I found some pictures and text via Dezeen. Amsterdam designers Bearandbunny designed the interior of this cafe, that is located in a disused factory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Called Grand Cafe Usine, the cafe is located on the ground floor of the building where the Philips light bulbs were once produced.
The former Philips light tower in Eindhoven is now host to Grand Cafe Usine which is based on the ground floor of this iconic building. In the early days light bulbs for Philips where produced here. Nowadays the building is one of Eindhoven’s well known monuments.
An old Philips poster with the caption: ‘Les plus grandes usines du monde’ was the inspiration for the restaurant. For the concept it was changed into: ‘Usine le plus grand cafe du monde.’ A grand cafe for everyone!
Project Usine concerned the development of an overall concept where the menu, the food as offered, the service as desired, the opening hours, the graphic language and the interior should all bind together.
Bearandbunny therefore first visualised the moments of the day and analysed Usine’s consumers. With these analysis as a base we created the different zones in the restaurant; entrance, kitchen, bar, cafe, brasserie, restaurant, function room, childrens corner, shop, smoking area, office, toilets, storage and the terrace.
When making the lay-out Bearandbunny started by planning the toilet area; we believe that enough space and attention for this particular zone emphasizes the level of service as provided.
A large entrance was created to liaise with the existing architectural language and to get a strong sense of atmosphere. Big windows characterise the architectural aspects of the building and guarantee the interior space has a strong focus towards the outside. However, the raised flooring near the windows creates an intimate atmosphere indoors.
When we refined the details and selected the materials, our main goal was to make the contemporary interior fit flawlessly in the structure and characteristics of this characteristic building.
By combining old and new together in a natural way an atmosphere was created as if Usine has been there already for several years. Bearandbunny was responsable the overall part of the design of the furniture.
Click here for more info and pictures
Photographs are made by Arjen Schmitz.
News from home! Belgium based architects BOB361 designed this office building for VDAB located in St. Niklaas, Belgium. The project got recently shortlisted in the office category of the World Architecture Festival this year.
Staff can enter the building via an internal staircase from the car park beneath the building. The building on top is supported by black and yellow angled columns. Visitors can enter from the street or through the garden.
Considering the urban anchoring of the site, the angles of this building block are the regulating elements. The VDAB-project anchors itself with the existing context on the corner of the Noordlaan-Drie Koningenstraat, which is in direct relation with various public functions (post, ministry of finances), located near the main road. It is an intuitive meeting point located on a wide footpath. The second angle is the location for a possible extension and is at present, included in the project’s garden.
Concerning the implantation of the building, the volume is entirely concentrated on the street side. This offers several advantages in the field of compactness, economy and energy assessment, acoustic comfort for the offices on the garden side, large distances to the neighbouring houses and avoids fragmentation of the open green space. For the acoustic comfort on the street side, patios were added. As a result, a simple image of the emplacement between the built and green space appears.
Because of the excavating cost the lightly polluted soil, the actual volume to be removed is minimised by mooring the parking into a slope. The remaining volume of soil extracted is used to form a landscaped garden and is naturally purified by the use of fotoremediating plants. The open and slightly sloped car park, offers thus, a pleasant solution that is naturally lit and ventilated, with clear views on the garden and other open spaces. Furthermore, the principal interior distribution passage way of the building, runs from the ground level to the first floor along a slope that is parallel to the parking space; This walkway links the public spaces on the ground floor in a natural and spatial manner with semi-public spaces on the higher levels.
On the second floor, functions that receive a lesser public audience are concentrated. These functions include offices for the Executive Board, staff services. A general meeting room forms the head of the building. The space next to the vertical staircase, can be used as individual conversation areas, by all staff members.
On the first floor, a number of common functions are settled. Directly above the reception hall, the cafeteria that includes a small kitchen, a smoking lounge, and a meeting room. The financial and facility services offices are situated, centrally in the building.
The parallel walls of the corridors are smooth, the flooring consists of concrete tiles and the respective portals of the varied coloured offices are drawn back from the wall line. Because of this the public functions are as if located with their front door to the circulation area: thus the small scale and a sense of intimacy are reinforced.
The lobby hall on the ground floor, regroups the three basic functions, firstly, the employer line, secondly the central administrative cell, which is linked with the counter and thirdly the employee line. From the reception one has a direct view on the garden as well as on the entrance hall. The offices in the left wing of the building are organised around a central patio.
The jobseeker line is organised on the ground and first floor around the central pedestrian sloped walkway, which offers a spatial and physical connection between all the functions of the building. The staff services and administrative support facilities have been situated along the slope.
Firstly the building has been modulated on a 1,25 m, grid, secondly, the circulation area was positioned asymmetrically. Due to this, a large range of possible properties and surface of spaces arises.
The lower level includes storage rooms for archives, some technical spaces, a fitness area next to a covered pedestrian ramp, and to the half open car park for 43 vehicles that is linked to 12 parking places in open air.
Photographs are by Nullens André, Kempenaers Jan and Frederik Vercruysse.
Via Dezeen
Visit BOB361 Architects homepage for more info and pictures (or click on dezeen)
Melbourne architects March Studio have designed a new shop interior for Aesop. They hung 30 km of coconut-husk string from the ceiling of the new shop in Singapore the Australian skincare brand Aesop.
Here’s some more information from Aesop:
In our Singapore store, thirty kilometres of coconut husk string, a regional product, was used to construct a dynamic whole-ceiling light fixture. When combined en mass, the seemingly insignificant threads mesmerise and remind one of airline magazine flight maps.
Aesop Director Dennis Paphitis says, “Geography, climate and light all inform which path we take with our design decisions. For Singapore, we referenced the humble ball of twine with which we wrap and detail our gift boxes. The entire store is framed with meticulously detailed grids that suspend twine from the ceiling. The idea is to work with a sombre material palette in an unexpected way. We’ve used coir matting as carpet and marine plywood to detail our storage units which conceal a palette of Corbusier-inspired coloured wall panels.”
Other Aesop store’s @ArchiDE:
- Aesop store in Notting Hill, London by March studio
- Aesop store in Australia by Ryan Russel
- Aesop store in Sydney by March studio
More info on March studio and Aesop
Via Dezeen
The Princi bakery in the heart of Milan, is designed by Claudio Silvestrin Architects.
The bakery offers a whole new experience to the Milanese: a bread baked with organic flour, but without yeast, in a solid brick fire oven positioned in the bakery shop itself. A simple expanse of clear glass is all that separates the customers from the baking process, protecting them from the considerable heat of the exposed fire.
The elements that are involved in the making of bread – water, air, earth and fire – are strongly present in this works of rigorous geometry and pure, natural materials. They have chosen a sand-coloured porphyry stone that matches the color of the bread-flour. Slabs of smooth porphyry cover the floor, while rough porphyry is used to texture the wall that faces the stretched 19 meter-long bronze counter.
The mighty impact of this earth-wall is softened by the gentle features of the waterfall and by seven candles, which are placed inside the wall. Recessed spotlights, positioned in the ceiling, illuminate only the bread.
Claudio Silvestrin Architects was established in 1989 with offices in London, and since 2006 in Milan.
The Otake house is located in the West of Hiroshima prefecture, on a high plateau that neighbors the Kamei Park of the Kamei Castle Ruins. To the South is an industrial region and a beautiful mountain range, and to the North a remarkable view of the Seto Inland Sea and Miyajima. We created a design fitting to these two contrasting and beautiful scenes.
We thought of the North side as the type of scenery you take in and savor, and the South side as the type that you place yourself in.
Structurally we divided the area between load bearing zones and free zones to make a place that could have two personalities at once. The North side is open even while closed, with the bedrooms, kitchen, dining area, and wide apertures to view the distant scenery, which at the same time are functional as load bearing parts of the structure.
We wanted the South side to be as close as possible to being outside, so we got rid of some structural elements and designed a living area and terrace with a 6 meter eave,treating the terraceand living area as equal to create a free space with no division between inside and out.Though there were setbacks after considering the structure necessary to support such a large eave,as well as legal safety standards,the building began to take shape.
By covering the entire building with water proof material used in ship construction we made a unique and detailed building that doesn’t require sealants or tiling. Furthermore, because the glossy, water proof material wraps around the building inside and out uninterrupted, a nature-like space is created where you can take in the outside scenery and the building and surroundings seem to blend together.
By considering views about execution from the planning stage on, we discovered water proof materials previously unknown to us. In much the same way that an object will look different when seen from different angles, by looking at one project from the different view points of planning, structure, and execution we think we were able to move in a better direction.
By rethinking standard practices and personal opinions about structure,utility,form,materials, interiors,and exteriors, we think we can find new possibilities for materials,the relationship of form and space,and the building and its surroundings, in a planning environment that opens up new wonders not found in traditional buildings.
By combining traditional values and new, and breaking down not just the border between inside and out but between the values themselves, we hope to create the buildings of the future.
Photographs are made by Toshiyuki Yano from Nacasa&Partners Inc.
Other stories off Suppose Design Office on archiDE:
+ Clinic in Hirosihima, Japan
+ House in Nagoya, Japan
+ House in Sakuragawa, Japan
+ Nature Factory store, Japan
+ house2 in Nagoya, Japan
Belgium based structural engineering consultancy designed by Ney & Partners, is situated on the Gueen Elisabeth Avenue, connecting Knokke with Ostende in Belgium.
Situated on the Queen Elisabeth Avenue, connecting Knokke with Ostende, this pedestrian bridge full fills two functions. On the one hand, the bridge connects the sea dike with a green zone in the “Polders”, creating tourism possibilities for cyclists and pedestrians. On the other hand the bridge symbolizes the entrance into the marine city of Knokke Heist. The static model is a continuous beam with 102m length that rests on 4 supports. This creates an ideal span division of 28m/46m/28m.
The structural form was first hand sketched, then digitally processed: a software program computed the minimum amount of material required and thus the shapes of the openings. The result is an optimized shape. From a conceptual point of view, the bridge consists of welded bent steel plates of 12mm thickness, forming a structural steel “hammock” to which a concrete deck is tied. To resist shear forces, caused by the bent shape in plan, the sides of the plates are inclined at 45°, with respect to the central axis.
Photographs are made by Daylight
Here are some more pictures of Danish Firm 3XN Architects winning proposal. The competition was to transform the former freight train halls in Aarhus, Denmark into a new and dynamic cultural center. The winning design was part of an collaboration effort with Nord Arkitekter, Hans Ulrik Jensen A/S,Exner Studio, and Søren Jensen Engineers.
Special thanks to Lise Roland Johansen from 3XN!
Takei-Nabeshima-Architects -TNA Architects designed this country retreat some 185 miles northwest of Tokyo in Japan. The house is wrapped in rings of glass and wood and has an beautiful uninterrupted 360 view of the forest.
TNA Architects designed rings around the facade so that areas of private spaces and utilities could be met. The height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it. The glass between the rings allow you to look straight into the forest, so the whole house appears to dissolve into the forest.
Photographs are made by Daici ano Architectural photography
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