Our design team was invited to rethink a ski resort apartment in Menuires, France. Located at the far end of a building built in 1965, it has triple orientation that was not valued by the previous layout which was too segmented. The request was to realize the impossible : increase the living space without touching the structure, create 2 bathrooms instead of the one existing, preserve the number of beds, 8 beds in 55m2, all while maintaining separate circultaions for each.
In our opinion architecture is not neutral, it takes a clear position. She moves, surprises and is beautiful. In the creation of good architecture, the role of the client is not to be underestimated. They have to choose the right architect for the realization of their dream. A client that has utter confidence in their architect, as was the case, allows us to push the project further than the direct materialization of the design brief. A critical dialogue between client and architect is an ideal breeding ground for a beautiful project.
Los Angeles based United Oil Company began incorporating modern architecture and unique interior design elements into their Southern California service stations in the early 80’s, shifting the way consumers experience pumping gas. Since then, the Company has redefined the service station Industry, creating flagship designs, using top-line materials such as hand cut slate, molded copper, and eclectic themes – all influences driven by the architectural vision of United Oil Co. vice president, Jeff Appel. The privately owned, family-run business recently celebrated 50 years in business, and are known for creating incredibly clean, vibrant, and artistic gas stations throughout Southern California – now operating 124 stations to date.
Who hasn’t, in their school-going days, skip a class or two, just to sleep in late or catch a movie on a quiet afternoon? In that spirit of playfulness and remembrances of lulling languid days, the design for Skyve Bistro was born. The bistro, thus named, also harks back to the compounds’ previous usage as a secondary school.
… a glimpse around the countryside wrapping the city will allow us to see the same scenery throughout different situations: the merging of soil, field and temples… moulded with the same clay, nurtured with the same land and dyed with the same colour…
Work team: Javier Gil (Architect), Lucía Astrain(Architect), Iñigo Beguiristain(Architect), Amaia Izkue, Juan Carlos de la Iglesia, Ángel Álvarez, Oscar Martínez, Isabel Franco
Quantity Surveyor: Jorge Visiers Elizaicín
Structure-engineering: OPERA INGENIERÍA, Raúl Escrivá Peyró, Civil Engineer
This operation of rental housing is part of the overall urban renewal of the concerted area Concorde Stalingrad in Vitry sur Seine, in the near suburbs of Paris. Between the RN 305 and hillsides, the lot Champs Fleuris acts as a link between urban dimensions. The 48 units are divided into two distinct entities: 24 units in an R+7 apartment building, which provides a front built on the boulevard Stalingrad, in the north east of the site, the other 24 homes develop into heart shapes in fragmented plots from ground floor to R+3.
We design in an exposed and desolate plane, no limits shown. For this reason we fold the base plane and we generate the “refuge”. We understand that the main feature of dwellings is care, and the essence of building is letting dwell*. Keeping the space from the popping of any foreign object but for the folding of the base plane, so the dwelling is prepared in is wrinkles, respecting the environment and making that the green constant, allowing the preservation of the inhabitant’s intimacy with its corrugations. Where these folds are broken, openings are generated. And they joined together with bridges wrapped in transparencies at double height, and topped by a fragment of sphere like a roof. Thus, the “Culata Yovai” is ready and disposed in his “tekoha”.
One of the main goals for the Bailey Park Apartments was to provide much needed housing sized for families in the heart of the city. Located steps from the Shaw Metro, the site is tapered, with one short side facing the street and one long side bounded by a public alley. The architect determined that increasing the density would make the most of the downtown location and the site. Working closely with city officials, the site was rezoned to replace four dilapidated townhouses with a 16-unit apartment building.
When the client approached Nico van der Meulen Architects, the brief presented was intended to alter and add to an existing 1950’s house and update its design. The first floor had to be designed from scratch to accommodate the bedrooms and the ground floor had to be converted to an exclusively open plan living space.
A sophisticated collage of old and new that reactivates a historic building in the heart of campus, the Johnston Building celebrates its mixed-use program through the dynamic intersection of circulation and transparency.
Particular attention was paid to the execution details in the building to reinforce the distinction between old and new and pay homage to the craftsmanship of the original building. Image credit: Adam Cohen Photography
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