Delicately inserted into the so-called “Citroën” block,” Le Nant’ile reflects a return to the basic organizational principles of the district with the intensity one expects from a densely built-up city blended with its diverse purposes: living, dwelling and working. Three main goals underpin this structure: first, to create a ribbon volume that fits into the linear layout of existing buildings; second, to ensure visual and pedestrian porosity, weaving all the unbuilt spaces into a legible and fluid continuity; and finally, to build highly diverse spatial configurations making it possible for its occupants to lead a wide variety of lifestyles.
The Reflets de Loire project is located on block 6 of the ZAC du Pré Gauchet (joint development zone) in the center of Nantes. The mixed-use program is comprised of a base of two office locations on the ground floor atop which 90 apartments have been built. The meticulous treatment of the façades has resulted in a simple and expressive architectural style achieving three main criteria for success: first, meeting the quality expectations sought by the developer; second, taking into consideration the existing neighboring buildings as a reference for sizing volumes; third, ensuring a high quality of life in the apartments and the related spaces created.
This project arises from the desire to retake the idea of the Towers in La Boca, by the architects Justo Solsona, Josefa Santos, Gian Peani and Ernesto Katzenstein (with the structure of Eng. Gallo), from the year 1956. Winning project of a national competition for construction of 300 houses in La Boca, never realized. The main idea of these buildings, of metabolist design, was the stacking of boxes alternating floor to floor, which presented a housing typology with terraces in the corners, allowing a panoramic view of the port and the city.
The idea for these towers is to reinterpret, in the contemporary key, that project of 4 units per floor, 4 corners. Therefore, to do it, we had, in the first instance, to resign a unit of 2 dormitories per floor, which were displaced above Building K.
Article source: Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP
The rapid urbanization of Asian cities is driving innovation. In Taipei, one of Asia’s key cultural and economic hubs, growth and densification threaten to erode the quality of life for residents and visitors if continued unchecked. With limited resources to meet robust public agendas, governments are looking more and more to private development to meet their public infrastructure needs. A new luxury residential tower by Richard Meier & Partners creates a new model of urban living in Taiwan. Commissioned by the Continental Development Corporation, the Xin-Yi Residential Tower sets an important precedent in Taiwan as the first building to dedicate its entire landscape for public use.
Villa Cascade in Almere, Netherlands: Architecture creates dialogue between nature and urban feeling For Villa Cascade, CROSS Architecture has developed a terraced building structure with an inner courtyard that opens onto the adjoining waters. A total of 29 apartments of various sizes have been built on five floors. The modern city villa is located in Almere Poort in the Netherlands.
As the newest district of Almere, Poort differs from its neighbouring districts: Not only single-family houses are planned, but also a wide variety of high-density multi-family houses will dominate the picture in the future. Villa Cascade is located at the interface of green surroundings and adjacent water routes. An attractive location, not only because of its park character, but also because of its immediate proximity to Amsterdam and the unique view of the metropolis skyline.
The ambitious Désiré Colombe project by the architecture firm Leibar & Seigneurin completes a major project undertaken by the city of Nantes, jointly sponsored by Nantes Métropole Aménagement and ADI. This development has brought back to life an emblematic legacy of the built center of Nantes and an abandoned landscape, including the particularly noteworthy former Bourse and the Salons Mauduit, on a surface area of approximately one hectare (2.47 acres). It brings together public and private uses with dwellings, meeting spaces, a nursery and a public garden.
The Belvedere tower’s innovative form, is both informed and defined by the constraints of it’s site, it’s design began with rigorous analysis of these urban surrounding.
Located in the town of Hilversum the building’s site sits in an area of nondescript, four-storey, post-war housing, In the eighties six additional, modernist towers were constructed to the south of this area. The tower’s site marks the culmination of this series and sits on a prominent bend in the Oosterengweg bypass, a major thoroughfare through the small town. Due to the tower’s prominent position the municipality desired a building that would be sculptural in form and architecturally iconic. This exposed location also meant the proposed building would be visible from all sides and it therefore became important to design a building with a clear and logical symmetry.
MAD reveals its first residential project to be constructed in Europe. Located in Clichy-Batignolles, a newly developed neighborhood in Paris, UNIC is next to Martin Luther King Park and the currently-under construction courthouse designed by Renzo Piano. MAD won the project through an international design competition in collaboration with local French architects Accueil – Biecher Architectes.
“We worked closely with the local government, city planners and local architects in a series of workshops to ensure UNIC is a creative and iconic residential project united with the community,” revealed MAD’s founder & principal partner Ma Yansong.
Location: Clichy-Batignolles, neighborhood in Paris, France
Directors: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Design Team: Zhao Wei, Flora Lee, Wu Kaicong, Daniel Gillen, Jiang Bin, Andrea D’ Antrassi, Tristan Brasseur, Juan Valeros, Gustavo Alfred van Staveren, Xin Dogterom, Juan Pablo, Cesar d Pena Del Rey, Natalia Giacomino
Creating individuality and neighbourhood despite size, and singularity despite standards.
The former Northern Railway site is one of Vienna’s most central redensification areas where a quarter is just under construction that is planned to accommodate 20,000 residents and working people. Wohnen am Park was one of the pioneers of this development with a privileged location directly bordering the quarter’s park. It is connected to the centre by the underground railway U1 and boasts the nearby Danube Island as a local recreation area.
Here the omnipresent pressure of housing standardisation was playfully mastered. The canon of this building comprises just three basic apartment types: single-aspect apartments facing the park, maisonette apartments with a void facing the Vorgartenstraße, and dual-aspect apartments at the end of each corridor. Following simple grammatical rules, they produce a similar overall façade, yet do not look the same anywhere. Interdependency of joint decisions produces an organismic whole – a well-founded order. If one thing changes, everything has to change. Standards create singularity and build a place’s identity, thus clearly refuting the notion of the neutral.
Seven-theater cinema with cultural space, community center with concert space and dance studios, 342 residential units, a shared garden,bespoke artwork, and retail space Three residential buildings offering exceptional views of the great Parisian landscape anchor three corners of a mixed-use block. At the heart of the project is a cultural center for the new ZAC Clichy-Batignolles district in Paris’ 17th arrondissement: a seven-theatre cinema and a community center. These public volumes, anchored to the ground, give way to the public realm and are crowned with hanging gardens. Three residential blocks emerge from this base, climbing up to 50 meters. This simple distribution of masses effectively resolves the inscription of a complex program on a high-density site. Thickened facades permit a band of generous loggias around the residential blocks. Architectural precast concrete on the buildings’ facades situate the project within the material tradition of Parisian stone and concrete and gives each of the three buildings a singular expression from the ground to the sky: the twisted form with its torqued effect (sand colored), the chiseled bar with continuous balconies (in white) and the pleated tower with its progressive fold (in white).
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