In the past few years, I have seen van Gogh’s Starry Night and Sunflowers on separate occasions. At that time, I was not so touched – perhaps my mood wasn’t set up quite right. Last year, when working on a renovation project, I revisited my impression of those paintings and had some new revelations.
The project site sits in a hidden spot in the heart of Beijing’s CBD area. We were asked to renovate a three-story tall 80’s light industry factory building with a 4-6m span. The entire industrial complex had had its façade system redesigned by Kengo Kuma, and we were not allowed much room for expression on the exterior. Function-wise, it was initially purposed as a yoga school; half-way through construction, however, the client decided it would become home to an educational organization, and before long, the project brief went from a kindergarten to a shared working space. Towards the end, one no longer knew what the project was about.
To cover from an atmospheric condensation, to provide a shadow during the sunny summer and to give an electric light during the dark night these are the essential functions needed for a man whose intention to smoke with comfort.
Art objects from steel and ancient wooden planks, marble chips and street furniture all of that take place in Nefa Architects project of the sunshade on the roof of the office building.
To be on an island and then inside a garden, allows a state of being where one’s mind can drift to a peaceful place of reflection. The garden in San Giorgio has a fan structure of walks, starting from Palladio’s Cloister towards the Lagoon. The Morning Chapel is along one of these long paths, and sits right before this walking line meets the water.
The physical impact of books has been important in terms of my entire formation. The first books that fascinated me were the fairy tales of Grim illustrated by Gustave Doré. I still remember the physical nature of those books as one of the strongest memories of my entire life. In the 1950s I would spend time in the library of the Stedelijk Museum – almost like in a living room. My first intersection of writing and architecture was Delirious New York, which I wrote in the New York Public Library, going through microfilms, old newspapers, and books. I made one particular seat my own, almost day and night.
Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA
Photography: Iwan Baan, Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Client: Qatar Foundation
Partners in Charge: Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Iyad Alsaka
Associate in Charge: Kunle Adeyemi
Design Team SD, DD and CD: Sebastian Appl, Laura Baird, Andrea Bertassi, Helen Billson, Benito Branco,Nils Christa, Daniel Colvard, Tom Coronato, Anita Ernodi, Clarisa Garcia-Fresco, Dina Ge, Mauricio Gonzales, Benny H o, Vincent Kersten, Keigo Kobayashi, Dimitri Koubatis, Jang Hwan Lee, Oliver Luetjeus, Bimal Mendis, Joaquin Millan Villamuelas, Barbara Modolo, David Nam, Sebastian Nau, Rocio Paz Chavez, Francesca Portesine, Teo Quintana, Miriam Roure Parera, Peter Richardson, Silvia Sandor, Tjeerd van de Sandt, Louise Sullivan, Anatoly Travin, Yibo Xu Executive team and on site team: Vincent Kersten, Gary Owen
Designed by exexe Centor’s European HQ in Warsaw is a multifunctional space acting as a background for company’s dynamic activities. The main aim was to create an elegant, smart place that stimulates creativity. Space perfect for business meetings as well as continuous and subtle display of high quality terrace doors at the same time.
The spatial organisation of the place is composed around three folded-wall objects, inserted into the existing rectangular premise, out of which two – so called Display Stands – constitute a main products’ display in the Showroom. Their shape was designed in such a way as to divide the premise into series of smaller consecutive areas, each used for a different purposes: entrance area – lounge zone – the garden – reception and staircase – office and conference room – kitchen and toilet. A set of four Centor doors was installed as a part of the space-dividing elements, taking advantage of their basic architectural role as a border of the interior and the exterior. Following that feature all added walls have different finishes made of distinct surfaces, one always resembling the exterior while the other using the typical interior materials. This simple rule continued in all other design decisions reflects Centor door’s actual structure in which the aluminum frame visible on the one side is usually finished with a timber overlay on the other side. This design and use of suitably selected materials consequently carried out throughout the space introduced an order into the Showroom and created a unique character in each zone.
Renowned architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) has announced their designs for two new buildings at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Both projects, ANSYS Hall and TCS Hall, are designed for collaborative research and maker-based learning. The buildings will be utilized by faculty, graduate and undergraduate students across multiple disciplines, and underscore university-corporate partnerships.
Bar TORÖ is the last project by Masquespacio in Ibiza, Spain, commissioned by Servitur Group, the touristic management consultant behind hotel chain Typic Hotels.
The concept of Bar TORÖ starts with the aim to develop a hospitality venue with a Mediterranean spirit, offering a service of a sports bar and Spanish tapas focused on an international clientele.
People often say that life is like a voyage. Then, home must be that only island floating on it. It is the place where you treasure the collectibles discovered, and keep all the joys and tears you have experienced during the voyage. You may also bring back a person who is willing to spend the rest of the life with you.
Our designer Thomas Xie was invited to lead his team for a renovation of a one-hundred-year-old house in Guangzhou, in order to achieve the finest home-living experience. In the meantime, he wanted to evoke the family’s treasurable memory, as well as to re-narrate the memory in a more lively way.
The client is a young couple with two small children, the order: their first house built, own, made to measure and for life. They wanted a house of “unique space” integrated and flexible on the ground floor. A large kitchen, a living room with double height, a wild space that at times could operate as a desk, be daily or projection of the living room to expand your area in special events. An interior patio and an isolated battery of services. Upstairs the private rooms highlighting the main room above the rest, with en suite bathroom, dressing room and own terrace.
Danish architecture studio CEBRA has completed an adult education centre in the heart of the city of Odense, Denmark. Located next to the central station the HF & VUC Fyn complex marks an important step towards the realisation of a new city campus that ties the inner city and the harbour together. By combining elements from its coarse industrial neighbours with an embracing and transparent interior organisation the HF & VUC Fyn aims at bridging between the scale of the harbour and urban life. The building’s robust and unassuming exterior is contrasted by an inner spatial diversity of rounded forms that create a varied learning environment for 1.300 students – an inspiring and vivid school that continuously suggests new ways of use and makes room for individual learning needs in a collective building.
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