Drangar is a large estate on the northern shore of the Snæfellsnes peninsula including a handful of islands in the Breiðfjörður archipelago. Until recently the land was a farm with a collection of buildings built according to standard, state issue, blueprints in the early eighties. When the present owners acquired the property, the buildings were in a decrepit state of repair, some had even collapsed of their own accord.
The remaining structures were the farmhouse, tractorshed, hay-tower and cowshed and barn. Of the four the house was in the best condition and, sporting a dormer of absurd proportions, it is the most unique of the structures. Its renovation will be part of a later phase. The hay-tower is happily crumbling and will be allowed to continue doing so.
The renovation of this 29-story office tower for developer Tishman Speyer consisted of a lobby redesign, as well as exterior façade updates. Originally constructed in 1983, the building had experienced several additions to the façade throughout the 1990s. With this latest renovation, the goal was to reestablish 520 Pike as a modern building.
“One of the greatest design challenges in a climate like Seattle, is to create a light filled space. This drove every decision we made from elevating the ceiling plane, to opening up the window wall and inserting a variety of nuanced white finishes and light experiences throughout the space.” –Kirsten R. Murray, FAIA, Design Principal
The three pre-existing buildings around a mediterranean courtyard are located Coimbra, in the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Protection Zone.
In such delicate surroundings, the intervention seeks a sensible design balanced between the need for technical adaptations to contemporary building demands, the legal requirements for a contemporary hotel and the huge care that an intervention of this type requires. In other words, the adaption to the new program and the consequent deep intervention by all means paid deep respect for the historical relevance of the buildings and its great architectural and constructive values.
Blitz’s project includes the complete renovation of two office buildings on the 150,000-square-foot Marina Landing campus in Brisbane, CA, located just seven miles south of San Francisco. The goal of the building repositioning was to transform the location into a sought-after creative office campus. Both buildings, which had remained vacant for more than four years prior to the renovation, underwent complete exterior and interior repositioning. Blitz created a cohesive campus design that visually unifies the two buildings and fosters an instantly recognizable identity. The design embraces the surrounding mountains and marina.
This work is to erase; to delete everything added to the inherited architecture.
The original work was projected by one of the most important rationalist architects of Galicia, Eloy Maquieira (1901-1944), in the year 1936. His premature death deprived us of what would be a brilliant work. But until that date he left us samples of his talent. This is one of them.
Reformed in the 90s, we face the work from two basic ideas: eliminating everything added in the interior and opening the square to the outside, making the building more transparent.
Joseph Dejardin completes the renovation of a 12000sqm former factory building at Chenfeng Group’s Kunshan campus near Shanghai, South China. The design transforms garment production workshops & administrative offices into contemporary fashion studios and flexible office space. As one of China’s largest textile & garment manufacturing companies, the conversion project is part of the studios’s ambitious redevelopment masterplan to transform the factory site into a creative hub for nurturing fashion design in China.
Located at the border of Kunshan City and Shanghai, Chenfeng Group’s 90,000sqm factory campus was set up in 2003. With over 15,000 employees, Chenfeng Group is a certified enterprise of the International Fair Labor Association and a member of the International Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The company is a production partner to international brands including Patagonia, Uniqlo, Stella McCartney, and Chinese fashion designers such as Feng Chen Wang, Xu Zhi and Chen Peng. The group is also a partner in the ready-to-wear brand Comme Moi, founded by former supermodel Lü Yan. Taking advantage of the group’s garment manufacturing expertise, the redevelopment masterplan aims to establish long term collaborations with the country’s top fashion design institutions and internationally renowned young Chinese fashion designers, many of whom already maintain studios on site.
This project entails the extension and complete refurbishment and reorganisation of an early 20th century house in downtown Reykjavik, to create a contemporary, single-family home.
As is typical for many Icelandic buildings from this era, the historical edifice is a timber structure clad in corrugated iron, built on top of a cellar made from roughly hewn granite.
The long and colourful history of Haapsalu Castle began in the 13th century, when it was built. Since the 17th century the main castle has been in ruins.
Our conservation and renovation design has resulted in a journey along the walls and within the castle, inviting the guests to take a look at the castle structure and the picturesque town of Haapsalu from an unusual vantage point high above, and to experience the medieval environment from another level. The gardens on the roof terraces, the path floating along the walls and the elegant pavilion bring in freshness and provide an exciting synergy between the new and the old. The exhibition rooms inside the ruins are dark and massive. The new modern additions respect the past and assist present-day people in conceptualising it.
The New York Public Library’s Midtown renovation will enhance and unite the full spectrum of offerings available across the Library system, from circulating and research services to business resources and educational programs for all ages.
Mid-Manhattan Library – the Library’s most heavily used circulating branch – is set to undergo a transformation that will create a new, state-of-the-art library that will serve as both a model and catalyst for a rejuvenated library system.The team of Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle worked for over a year analysing library usage data, interviewing staff, surveying the public, and meeting with community stakeholders to ensure that the new branch will best meet the needs of library patrons.
Had you visited the Paris Court in downtown Budapest only a handful of years ago, you’d have met with a significantly different impression. Darkened corners, rusted metalwork and damage from the tumultuous wartime events that shook Europe in the 20th Century all combined to make for an architectural sight that was at once historically rich yet in many ways a shadow of its former glory. In fact, it was a popular destination for filmmakers, who saw the opportunity to leverage the combination of the ornate passageway and limited natural light for covert undercover meetings in spy films – such as 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Over the last three years, a partnership between interior design studio KROKI and architecture studio ARCHIKON has worked to revive the downtown location, restoring the dark and damaged arcade to a decorated landmark that introduces proper lighting to its intricate details for the first time in its history.
The goal was first to restore the historical features of the central passageway, which is now open to the public as it had been prior to its disrepair. This meant maintaining the unique facades and decorative elements of the building that its creator, Henrik Schmahl, had designed it with when it was built at the beginning of the 1900s. Glimpses of Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau and Moorish aesthetics can be spotted throughout the covered space. The myriad details that once decorated the passageway is a rarity across Europe, and so when work started it was essential that these same features were restored and maintained to their previous, ornate glory.