Within the landscape surrounding the city of Mons, lies intermittent craggy piles of millstone which emerge through the panorama of a surrounding flat typography. This so called ‘terrils’ find their origins in the former mining industries and are commonly perceived as striking elements dotted within a flat panorama. Besides the landscape having been shaped through a number of linear infrastructures such as railways, highways and channelled waterways; the E19 and the service areas cut through the landscape to become geometric ribbons that visually demarcate the landscape.
Project: Tank Facilities, A Resting Place For All Road Users With Picnic Facilities, Children’s Playroom, General Sanitation, Shower Facilities For Truck Drivers, Shop And Restaurant, Additional Resto Stop Hensies
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.
The building is surrounded by the Headquarters buildings (built during the 80’s) and the rest of the Centre foundational buildings (built during the 60’s), all of them designed by Architect Antonio Pinzani.
A particular geometry characterizes those buildings from 60’s: thin double curved concrete surfaces (Hyperbolic Paraboloids or HYPAR) cover spaces such as restaurants, theatre, access area, etc. The use of these shells as umbrellas makes evident the architect’s intention to create spaces sensible to the weather and the surroundings. For the Headquarter building, 20 years apart from the first ones, Pinzani makes use of a similar design strategy taking it to the next level: a single roof, at a bigger scale, cover several fluid spaces of different hierarchy with its shadow.
Kaohsiung city is a port and, as many other ports is in a situation of changing. The reasons of this changing have been very well analysed by many.. factories that move their production somewhere else. the decreasing of the traffic on the sea.. and many others depending on the particular locations. New York and London already provided, at least partially, to reconvert the unused piers or the part of the city close to the sea or the river previously dedicated to the maritime traffic to other destinations and a different life. The case of Kaohsiung is somehow similar, but there is a difference in the conception of the changing and the strategy related. Many cities just dismissed their piers and their warfs because they were useless and decided to dedicate these part of the city to new and different destinations.
Project: Port and Cruise Service Center International Competition
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Software used: The projects are redacted using mostly 3dstudio max with the eventual contribution of autocad, with different renderings engines, in particular we have used mental ray.
The VIP Car Wash is located at 452 South Avenue at the corner of Forest Avenue and South Avenue, Staten Island, NY. The state of the art facility utilizes the latest in car wash technology and also contains a lube center. The architects utilized color and transparency to create a building that celebrates cars. Flooded with natural light, the building turns the humdrum task of getting your car cleaned and the oil changed in to an experience of color, light and motion.
Nun’s Island is part of the Hochelaga archipelago located immediately southwest of Montreal. It’s urbanization followed the opening of the Champlain bridge in 1962 under an ambitious master plan carried out by Metropolitan Structures, a real estate giant who had built numerous projects in Chicago with the collaboration of Mies van der Rohe. The new community included three high rise apartment buildings by Mies office and it led, in 1966, to a commission from Standard Oil to design a prototypical gas station.
The company Blaas in Bolzano is specialized in electro-mechanics. In the new head office the company presents its new product range and offers repair service.
On the ground floor of the building there is the sales division, on the first floor the exposition area and the repair shop. All administration offices are located on the second floor. The overall impression of the structure is a homogenous and closed building. Nevertheless, there exists a separation between the public and the private sector. The client can perceive this clear and formal internal division already from the outside.
It locates in the suburb of Nigata City as one of the big cities in Japan. The factory is used by the factory staff and the users who like to repair and remodel car by oneself. In the suburb of Nigata City, many suburbian architectures appear. The majority is classified in ‘the commercial establishment with strong color and fanciful form’ and ‘the monotonous offices and warehouses which have no interest of design and is finished with grey or beige color’. We intended to design a new suburbian architecture that reflects the character of the suburb but was neither involved in the fancifulness competition nor was different from the monotonous office.
The design of a service station is a strong reference to the idea of travel, short or long-distance routes interrupted only by a few stops and then back on the road. A break for refueling, or just to stretch a bit ‘legs before continuing his journey. With the same continuity, the service station is separated from the asphalt like a ribbon of road with the engine and wrapping around itself, creating a temporary volume to accommodate the traveler.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
