The former governor of Abidjan’s residence was remodelled by architect Paola Bagna as 4* boutique hotel.
The design takes its cue from the Ivory Coast villa’s mid century style and tropical surroundings to charm guests with understated yet luxurious materials and forms.
Nestled between palm trees and tropical plants, this Le Corbusier inspired diamond in the rough had retained it’s appeal despite waterproofing and conservation problems. Over three years, Paola Bagna directed a renovation of the home, transforming it into a boutique hotel of 17 rooms including reception area, restaurant, meeting rooms / event space, bar, wellness area, indoor and outdoor lounges and a swimming pool.
The project is located in a residential area north of the city of Aguascalientes, Olivos is developed for a family of 5 members.
On the ground floor we can find: living room, dining room, kitchen, garage, a stu-dio and the master bedroom. On the first level there are 4 bedrooms and a tv room. On the second level: the steam room and a roof-garden.
The Xinsu Group Research and Development (hereinafter referred to as “R&D”) Center is the third project designed by Minax Architects for the same owner. In this design, we had the chance to grasp even more accurately the owner’s requests and taste, also combining the new building with the corporate culture. As the R&D center of the company, the building undertakes the technical research and development work of the whole group. Xinsu Group has just completed a new large-scale merger and acquisition. The R&D departments originally belonging to different companies must work together in this new R&D center. Therefore, achieving smooth communication between R&D personnel of different departments through harmonious coexistence of architecture, landscape and environment has become the focus of this design.
GA DRILLING is a young and dynamically growing family company, that searches to achieve a creative working place for its employees in a new office building. We tried to find out the main philosophy and targets that characterize the company and translate it into an architectural response.
The main idea of the whole project is to create an open and continuous common space with closed working zones attached to it. This open space is crossing the entire building in both ways: horizontally and vertically, interconnecting the interior with the exterior, physically and visually. Light passes into the depth of the tract through wall, floor and roof holes openings, illuminating completely the interior spaces. This continuity creates a sense of transparency, clear halls making communication areas to become common spaces. This spacial continuity, or infinity, becomes a metaphor of the technological possibilities of development and growth of the company.
Services Engineers: Martin Liška (Eriden a pertners Co.s.r.o), Richard Romančík (Horvát klimatizácia a vetranie s.r.o.), Bc.Tomáš Rylka (PV Service Plus s.r.o.)
Site Managers: Ing. Ilja Nikolov, Radim Rulička
Lightninig Designer: Ing. Adam Vaňko (Asperia Tech, s.r.o.)
The project consists of updating a house with 400 square meters of living and 400 square meters of terrace space in the heart of the city, with a characteristic distribution of the Valencian expansion district. This type of building with a high depth of block and central patios determines the possible layout, which responds to the functional requirements of the inhabitants of the house. The intervention aims to understand the small central courtyards as an opportunity to introduce light and the sky into the centre of the house.
Photography: FG + SG. Ultimas Reportagens. Fernando Guerra
Software used: Autocad, 3dS Max
Interior Design: ALFARO HOFMANN
Collaborating Architect: María Masià, Fran Ayala, Estefanía Soriano, Pablo Camarasa, Sandra Insa, Sevak Asatrián, Ricardo Candela, David Sastre, Vicente Picó, Rubén March, Jose Manuel Arnao, Rosa Juanes, Gemma Aparicio, Juan Martinez, Paz Garcia-España, Daniel Uribe, Javier Briones, Ángel Pérez, Tomás Villa, Sergio Tórtola, Marta Escribano, Phoebe Harrison, Daniel Yacopino, Juan Fernandez
Financial Manager: Ana de Pablo
Communication: Sara Atienza
Principal in Charge: Fran Silvestre, Estefanía Soriano
Structural Engineer: Estructuras Singulares. Universitat Politécnica de Valencia
The challenge was to build at a hill of unspoilt native forest on one of the most beautiful beaches of the São Paulo’ coast. The house is a suspended structure, made of prefabricated laminated timber (glulam), supported by six pillars and anchored in the ground by the concrete platform of the pool. The ground floor platform that is sheltered by the main volume arrival with space for vehicles, a deposit, a bathroom of service, an technical area. Everything else happens on the upper level, which consists on a large suspended platform, composed of eight rectangular modules of 3,40m x 5,70m. Next to the hill is the pool and the solarium extension made in concrete. A large linear balcony stands in front of the whole room.
This is a children’s place offering a living, breathing form of nurturing. It allows self-discovery of the individual; understanding and being conscientious of oneself through the exploration of the senses, through physical movement, and through interacting with others and the environment. It is about cultivating the will and feelings, more than information gathering and defining knowledge.
“The concept of the ‘river’ via a terrazzo floor finish is a circulation strategy that encourages a smooth flow throughout the open sociable spaces of the apartment while articulating the architectural volumes along its route to create private spaces.” – Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui
“To hit a tone of luxury with freshness, we carefully composed a materials palette using leather, terrazzo, metal, timber and soft muted paint colours. The overall feel is simple and elegant.” – Lorène Faure
“A co-working study is shared between the parents’ master suite and the son’s room suite that can be shared or partitioned. The son’s room suite also features a smart ‘living pod’ to accommodate sleep entertainment storage needs.” – Lorène Faure & Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui.
There are two main guidelines for the architectural concept of Paloma Offices: the connection between the interior space that flows into the surrounding exterior and site constraints that generate the need to create a symbol for the area. The challenging requirements of the context led us to design the structure and escape paths towards the outer sides of the building, taking full advantage of the plot’s dimensions. We aimed to emphasize the building’s height, concealing its proportions by dividing the façade into modules. The rhythm of the cell grid pattern creates a dynamic continuous mesh, without indicating the height of each floor. As a result, the cells become sun protected private niches.
Binary Sites and the Strategy of Appearing and Disappearing
The Inventronics Tonglu LED driver production base is located among the beautiful landscapes of Fuchun Mountains depicted in Huang Gongwang’s Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. The land is adjacent to the No. 320 national highway linearly, and is approximately 4 kilometers away from the main urban area of Tonglu. The site was originally a suburban village and farmland, but in recent years, with the urbanization process, the interior and exterior of the site have presented two different looks – the neat and uniformed industrial park in development beyond the red line and the quite rustic and primitive fish ponds, tea mountains and other farming civilizations within the site form a sharp contrast.
The Phase I cluster of the project has been completed and put into operation, whose contour is relatively square, with flat ground, and surrounded by roads; the Phase II land in construction in the north side includes ponds, streams and tea mountains, where the environment is beautiful featuring comely landscapes. The binary site conditions necessitate the collision of large-scale industrial production logics and the organic natural environment, activating the design scheme of the unity of opposites of appearing and disappearing.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
