The high demand for student housing is the reason for the initiation of this new development on the edge of Bielefeld’s city centre. It was only in 2009 that a new land use plan was approved for this area, prescribing two-story detached houses with sloping roofs for this location on a narrow building plot. Following on from this, the draft provides for the establishment of four detached houses, each with two floors and a stacked storey.
Albergo Villa Marta, a hotel near Lucca in Tuscany, has on its land a Neo Gothic church from the XVIII century. This incredible church was used as storage space until O2 Studio was asked to transform it into a hotel suite.
Article source: MICROSCAPE architecture urban design AA
The area covered by the project is part of the northern basin of the lake Massacciuccoli; until the 40s of the twentieth century the area was occupied by the cultivation of rice, then replaced in the late ’60s by the Lotus’ Flowers – today one of the largest camp in Europe. The site was in a state of decay and neglected and the public use was denied. Today with the new pedestrian and cycling path it brings to the light a true “environmental jewel” that opens a new scenario in an area unfortunately largely deteriorated by urbanization strongly pervasive and of poor quality. The Cycling & pedestrian track “Lotus Flower”, in its length of 1km, connects the train station of Bozzano to the centre of Massarosa and it is an integral part of the system of the regional cycling routes dedicated to Giacomo Puccini and places related to his life.
Article source: Nacho Gias Studio with Tomas Gruber
Ma mama, A qui li rifrega Delacroix?! (But mum, who cares about Delacroix?!)
That was the question thrown by a child to his mum while I was waiting on a huge line for the Louvre Museum, in Paris. It made me smile until I realized that the child’s premise was full of truth, it kept a reality that we forget so often.
The base for the design was the desire to create a free unrestricted access to knowledge and information, as well as a collaborative and cooperative management and decision making process with emphasis on the right to see the operations and activities of government at work. This supports government accountability and helps protect other necessary rights. The new City Hall of Sandnes would celebrate the concept of openness and transparency. Designed as a welcoming house which is as accessible as possible to it’s citizens and a building that lives up to the highest requirements for a modern, efficient and flexible office space. The volume required by the program would be adapted to the local urban conditions and modified to create connections with the surrounding area and bring the inhabitants closer to the city officials and their decision making process in the spirit of true participation. With all the office spaces continuously facing the streets a courtyard is created which would be the central area of the whole Havneparken masterplan. Walking and biking, crisscrossing from the streets, would be encouraged to reach the water promenade, creating a vibrant district for pedestrians and cyclists. The importance of the building in the area would be emphasized by it’s architectural exterior design where past tradition would be commemorated with a modern dynamic and universal outlook.
Parcela The plot for the construction of a family house is situated on the slopes of Medvednica, in the northwestern part of the city. The terrain is an ideal south-facing slope. The house is located in the longitudinal west-east direction, in order to maximize the benefits od of the south orientation and to allow a view of the city from the entire house. It is designed with a simple gesture of pulling the upper floor volume in a relation to the ground floor volume. This formed two valuable outer spaces as a functional extension of interior of the house – the entrance to the parking lots, which covers the console to the west, and a terrace with a roof garden for parents in the east. Cantelevered space can be used as a covered dining terrace. The ground floor has a living room, dining room and kitchen, the upper floor consists of sleeping spaces, and the basement is the utilitarian floor. The organization of the house is done around the centrally placed two-storey living room, which is vertically connected with the upper floor gallery, with dining area and the kitchen on the same level and with the exterior through the large glass walls. Gallery serves as a horizontal connection between parental bedroom and children’s rooms and as a playroom. Large windows oriented to the south allow the decline of winter sun rays deep into the house and make passive heating possible. Duplex living room accumulates heat and distributes it to other areas of the house. In the summer, the house is protected from the sun with a pergola and movable blinds.
Bergaliv Landscape hotel has completed the Loft house (Lofthuset), the first out of four planned getaways on the hillside of Åsberget mountain in the north of Sweden.
The 33 foot tall house is constructed in two stories, 14 sqm each. The lower, a sheltered room in close relation to the surrounding forrest. The upper: a roofed outdoor space stripped from walls allowing an uninterrupted view over the valley below. The dualism of the site with its closeness to nature combined with the expansive view has set the rules for the small house and is expressed in the two contrasting spaces sharing the purpose of providing a sanctuary and a peaceful vantage point for the visitors.
TRLZAK studio was asked by ekies All senses resort to give a deeper meaning to the hotel’s identity. Inspired by Chalkidiki’s special ecosystem, where rounded stone volumes and pine trees are in direct contact with the sea, CTRLZAK studio developed creative solutions that underline nature’s presence and invite visitors to reflect on their relationship with it. The typical Mediterranean Pine tree (Pinus Pinea), which is found in the region, was the archetype of the project. Starting from the lower parts of the Pine tree, the roots are translated into various paths leading visitors gradually towards the sea shore and eventually branching inside the sea itself. Going higher up the tree-trunk, one finds the tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius), an umbrella-shaped fungal species, that inspired us for the new shade coverings of the lounge area. The pine needles themselves become protagonists of the resort functioning as dividers and coverings taking the shape of articulate patterns that evolve in the restaurants, bar and in particular the Treehouse itself. Inside the tree’s branches though, there are also parasitic organisms such as the Pine Processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) whose larvae form silk-like nests and constitute the inspiration for the ‘cocoon’ that wraps around the gourmet restaurant of the Treehouse. A seemingly negative connotation that creates yet a scenic setting hopefully making people reflect on their role within such a context while providing a unique gourmet experience, admiring the sea from within the tree’s embrace. The studio’s intention with the above metaphor and other related elements within the project is to underline, in a symbolic way, the transition of the visitor’s role from parasitic to symbiotic creating a harmonic relationship between humans and nature.
The Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility is a 81,000 square foot, 1,200 seat modern food service facility that offers freshly prepared daily meals via a variety of open cooking venues and houses five different late night retail venues and a small P.O.D. convenience store. As part of Clemson’s redevelopment of its “Core Campus,” construction of this dining facility proceeded in tandem with new student housing construction, designed by VMDO Architects. These projects as a whole address the growing demand for contemporary housing and dining options in support of the university’s goals of retaining more sophomore students on campus, and maintaining its position in the top 20 national public universities.
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