In 1717, Pedro de Ribera drew the first project of the Conde Duque barracks in Madrid. It had to provide answers for an ambitious program to house the more than 600 men and 400 horses of the Royal Guard.
For almost three centuries the building has maintained the same structure, having overcome countless trials. The most significant ones were two fires in the second half of the 19th Century that almost required its demolition and rebuilding. The restoration was never complete.
Solar Atrium House is intended for periodic or permanent use and life in nature. The basic concept is to create a peaceful, safe and intimate retreat. The building is introverted type, with centrally positioned courtyard – atrium, around which all living quarters are arranged.
Ned Engs, principal and founder of Los Angeles-based E4 Architects, recently completed a renovation and addition for a light post and beam mid-century modern house originally designed in 1954 by Pasadena firm Nyberg &Bissner Architecture & Engineering. Originally known as the Sechler House, the open and airy cruciform plan and design presented E4 with the unique opportunity to work with a mid-century classic.
By taking advantage of the existing design language E4 was able to create a design that is contemporary and adventurous yet sensitive to context. This was important for the historical character of the original house and the neighborhood—there is a Green & Green home right across the street.
E4’s extensive renovation and second story addition sought to highlight and complement the original home’s clean and efficient spaces, structure, and finishes. The primary strategy for the added second floor was to highlight the cruciform layout of the house and the dramatic sweeping roof gables. The light-filled addition, a painting studio for the client, was thus conceived of as the fifth “living gable” to complement the original design’s four prominent clerestory gables. With the original Nyberg &Bissner design, the dramatic sweeping roof seems to fly above the house. In similar fashion, E4’s addition, utilizing a light tube steel structure and glass, appears to float above the original house. “It’s a light touch,” says Engs. “We wanted to do something that would be more than just a matching addition.
The result is a singular house that, while retaining the spirit and character of the original, also builds upon it and adds new layers with up-to-date systems, materials, and spaces. The original clerestories became the inspiration to enhance the intrinsic Los Angeles indoor-outdoor aesthetic and functionality. A sliding glass wall seemingly dematerializes the house on its garden side. The front door was widened and hung on off-center pivots to complement an existing large picture window in the living room. The second story addition presents seamless butt-joined corner glazing and brings in natural light to illuminate the new floating” steel and wood stairs.
Through an interesting sequence of events, this also became the story of how two architects, spanning different generations, came to be connected through their experiences with one house and the continuing legacy of mid-century Los Angeles modernism and its relevance to contemporary architectural practice.
Soon after E4’s redesign was complete, the son of Harold Bissner, Jr., partner on the original 1954 design, saw the photographs of Susanne Hayek online and emailed her: “Wonderful photography and nice updating on the part of Mr. Engs. I’ll pass this onto my dad who continues to practice at age 87! Nice to see some homes modernized as opposed to torn down.
Once the connection was made, Ned Engs, principal and founder of E4, reached out to Mr. Bissner and they arranged to meet. As they walked the house together in March Mr. Bissner turned to Engs and said, “You did a very nice job.”
I realized he hadn’t seen the home in decades,” said Engs. “He shared thoughts on his design and memories of his career. It was truly enlightening.
The house is placed on the ground to adapt to the existing slope, dividing the program on three different level steps. Due to this organization on different levels we can orientated all rooms to south and to pretty views. A waved ramp allows the access to the house, situated on intermediate level and lighted by central patio.
The Havelwerke are a place for originals since over a hundred years. On the site of a former prussian powder factory the users have always produced, collected, preserved, presented their goods. The tradition of this special place is now the studio’s guideline. Pott Architects developed a masterplan to design the industrial park homogeneously.
Salzburg Central Station is one of two large-scale projects bringing the capital expenditure program of the ÖBB to completion. In the year 1999, the design of kadawittfeldarchitektur (Aachen/Graz) won a two-phase surveyed competition between 12 teams of architects. In order to integrate the station into the city, the task was not only to arrange the railway tracks anew. In particular, there was the task of integrating the historic train station from 1860 with its “authentic” appearance into a master plan that newly connects the boroughs on both sides of the tracks through several bridges and passageways.
Project Managment: Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Aldrik Lichtwark
Deputy Project Manager: Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Dirk Lange, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Holger Giesen
Project team: Benjamin Beckers, Frank Berners, Christina Delcour, Ursula Feld, Jochen Hansen, Lutz Langer, Max Schoeneich, Kilian Schuhmacher, Kerstin Tulke, Denise Venghaus, Stephan Völlings, Torsten zu Klampen
Project team competition: Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Patrick Müller-Langguth, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Aldrik Lichtwark, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Alexander Willems, Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Guido Schwark
Competition: Aldrik Lichtwark, Patrick Müller-Langguth, Guido Schwark, Alexander Willems
The project of the house M, it is located in La Nou de Gaia, a small locality in the north of Tarragona, Spain.
It is a small village, but with an ancient very well kept center. The house is located in this ancient center, which rises on the plateau of the zone, with historical defensive character, so that the zone northwest of the village looks at “Els masos de Vespella“, with a very attractive sights and a fantastic sunset.
Through this competition we start to relate us for the very first time with a really high building trying also to understand what we think was right in the last 150 years of skyscrapers history.
The first stage of our process was to find a spot for our concept since Delirious New York was clear that the Skyscraper city is New York so the first decision was taken. After that obviously we needed a ground and we found one next to the United Nation Headquarters who seemed to us perfect close to the river.
We find ourselves on a horizontal ground, a corner plot raised on two large slopes like a vantage point from which to enjoy superb views towards the agricultural plain that stretches at his feet until reaching Salt and the city of Girona.
It is thus an exceptional setting that claims for an intervention that recognizes the attributes of the site and put them in value.
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