The Paris office of Thibaud Babled Architectes Urbanistes just delivered a multipurpose complex comprised of 4 buildings, housing the headquarters of the Nantes Métropole “proximity” center, an office of Pôle Emploi (national employment agency) and housing. The project’s varied program of high quality architectural and environmental design creates a link between the inner city of Nantes and its periphery. At this pivotal juncture of city and periphery, Thibaud Babled chose to build a strong statement at the intersection of the high traffic volume of the boulevard and a hub of tram lines. The project grows out of the concept of a new metropolitan multi-modal center at the intersection of main road and rail axes.
The complex of buildings includes some forty units of housing as well as offices to be occupied by Nantes Métropole and Pôle Emploi.
This SAOTA designed family home is positioned below Lion’s Head; with views of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, Signal Hill, the city of Cape Town and the mountains of the Boland and the winelands in the distance, the architecture is shaped to take in as much of the surrounding as is possible. The strongest gesture is the inverted pyramid roof which creates a clerestory window around the upper level. It allows the building to open up, capturing views of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head that would otherwise have been lost. This has also opened up views of the sky bringing the sun and moon into the home, heightening the connection to nature and its cycles.
MVRDV Breaks Ground on its First US Project, a Colourful 22-Storey “Vertical Village” in Manhattan’s Washington Heights
MVRDV breaks ground today on Radio Tower & Hotel, a 21,800-square-metre mixed-use high rise located at 2420 Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights area in Northern Manhattan. The 22-storey building, which is MVRDV’s first major project in the United States, combines hotel, retail, and office functions in vibrantly stacked blocks, reflecting the vivacious character of the neighbourhood and setting a direction for the future development of the area. Completion of the building is expected in 2021.
Design Team: Fedor Bron, Mick van Gemert, Mark van den Ouden, Samuel Delgado, Ronald Kam, Fouad Addou, Daniele Zonta, Yassin Matni, Giuseppe Carosini and Giuseppe Campo Antico.
Visualizations: Antonio Luca Coco, Kirill Emelianov
Executive Architect: Stonehill & Taylor Architects
The compact and opaque typology of the buildings of the original house did not take advantage of the landscaping quality offered by the immediate proximity of a public park. To meet the need for expansion, the agency recommended that the house be renovated by occupying the night area, giving it more intimate spaces, and designing a contrasting extension, by means of a very open volume for the day spaces.
The project consist of the remodel of an apartment located in an old building in Barcelona’s Gracia district. The former 90 m2 apartment, was heavily partitioned with up to 6 rooms and gave off a dark appearance with almost no connection with the outdoor space.
The new owners, a Norwegian couple in love with design and with the city of Barcelona, had understood the potential of its sunny inner courtyard covered with ivy vines, and chose to buy it as their holiday residence. They wanted to transform it in a bright and open space and create a semi-exterior garden to overcome the lack of an outdoor space.
SkB Architects is the collaborative design architect on the exterior of this significant new development, including the design of how the tower base meets the street, and the design of the tower’s three main entries. The design goal is to evolve the tower’s base to create an inviting and vibrant pedestrian experience, while honoring Willis Tower’s role as a unique Chicago and American icon: to create a sense of place, not just a place to work.
Located within an inner city suburb dotted with Victorian terrace houses, Falconer Street Residence alteration addition seeks an outlet for the owner to be with the landscape. With minimal yet clever intervention to the interior layout, new kitchen dining and home office embrace the garden and the bluestone laneway at the side. In the seemingly small home office, a frameless corner window carves a quaint view of the garden and gives a perception of spaciousness. Seasons are invited into the house, the workplace of the owner and her staff, telling the transient of time as well as the temper of Melbourne weather. Fine lines, pared down details, paired with earthy and robust materiality strike a balance between form and function calmly marrying the old and new with the garden.
Plumbers house by Finnis Architects, is a bold and unashamedly modern statement on a suburban street in Strathmore, Melbourne.
Located North of Melbourne’s CBD, the Plumbers house manages to capture the clients desire for a modern design, becoming a prominent statement to the streetscape in a growing area of Melbourne. The attention to detail seen both internally and externally throughout the entirety of the building perhaps sets the tone for the future Architectural style of the area which encapsulates the essence of family living.
“The owners were quite generous with the design of their home – they built it for themselves, but also to support the larger art community of which they are a part.” –Jim Olson, Design Principal
An interest in community and a love of art defines this couple and their Lake Washington home. Passionate art patrons, the clients requested that their extensive collection of glass, sculpture and two-dimensional art, mostly by Northwest masters, inspire their home’s design. The collection takes center stage and fills the home. The main floor is organized with a long spine from which the living, dining, family and kitchen areas flow. Art also links the indoors and outdoors, as exterior sculptures and custom glass pieces that delineate the home’s entrance draw visitors inside, through the home and to the waterfront terrace and lawn on the other side. Windows throughout offer sweeping views of Lake Washington from the inside, while also framing exterior views of the artwork within. This transparency creates a sense of openness and unity that balances the couple’s densely displayed art collection with nature, lake and sky.
When one of the most exclusive hotels in Southern Africa gave OKHA an open brief to redesign its Cellar bar, lead designer Adam Court combined Japanese reductionist minimalism and post-war Italian Baroque, two seemingly opposing visual styles to execute a complete transformation using what he refers to as “Naked Maximalism”.
Ellerman House is a family run hotel comprising several freestanding villas, a wellness spa, extensive art gallery, wine gallery and terraced gardens which surround the central house, an Edwardian Villa dating back to 1906. Each of these spaces has been given a unique design treatment which is why, when it came to the new bar it was important for the hotel to partner with a design studio they had not previously worked with; bringing fresh eyes to continue and explore the dialogue between contemporary and classical.
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