A house of rest for an artist and his family, a patio house, with a square plan, a regular object in a natural environment, on a terrain with a slight slope, near the long mountain in which is embedded the sacred lagoon of Iguaque. This location generates the idea of the main visual orientation of the house: The volcanic cone where the lagoon is.
Startup InCUBAtors, a project for the inclusion and promotion to new identitarian ideas of the Cuban culture.
The project is located on the Haiphong esplanade, in the bay of Habana, Cuba. The port and industrial identity of the bay will undergo a reconversion, since the port will be transferred to the city of Mariel, which offers the opportunity to rethink itself as a significant cultural enclave, from the anthropic and the symbolic.
What does an authentic workplace look like? Designing an authentic office is not an easy task. Just like the terms “artist”, “poet” or “great lover”, these are titles that are given or need to be earned rather than being self-assigned.
Our attempt in creating an authentic workplace started off with our WorkVitamins methodology. This methodology was created by me, Martin van der Linden, principal of van der Architects, when I was an assistant researcher at Waseda Univeristy in 2001 here in Tokyo. I believes that architecture can be a catalyst for change in innovative environments, and this methodology – called “WorkVitamins” – is based on this idea.
Perched House is a light extension at the rear of an inner city semi-detached Edwardian house that sweeps over your head.
The brief and site are common in inner-city Melbourne properties. Usually, because of the need to pack in as much space and storage as possible, the spaces are susceptible to becoming dark and feeling cramped. We decided to stick to the essentials and neatening up the layout to reduce dead space while playing with natural light to increase the drama and the effect – the space is in fact quite small, but no one would think so.
Hourglass is a minimalist residence located in Gunma, Japan, designed by Studio LOOP. The exterior of the house is characterized by blue galvanized panels and an array of wooden accents. The building is constructed of two main volumes, connected in the middle by a transparent walkway. The interior is composed of wooden walls and ceilings that match the bespoke cabinetry and furniture found throughout the space. The floors are a darker grain of wood that shift to walnut on the upper level.
In this world everything is clear – a simple form, minimalistic colors selection, natural materials. This concept of design has been dictated by the male point of view from the very beginning.
The apartment was purchased in the fall and when the architects entered it, they noticed an exceptional view of the old trees in the neighborhood. Yellow, red and brown colors were the perfect background.
Negenoord is a former gravel extraction area (about 150ha), which is now transformed to a nature reserve called Maasvalley Riverpark, 2500 hectares in size and located on both sides of the Belgium-Netherlands border which is formed by the Maas river. The redevelopment also gives more space for the river creating a flooding area.
“The ceiling used to be decorative, a symbolic plane, a place invested with intense iconography. (…) Now, it has become an entire factory of equipment that enables us to exist, a space so deep that it begins to compete with the architecture. It is a domain over which architects have lost all control, a zone surrendered to other professions.” Rem Koolhaas, Venice Biennial. This restaurant is located on the rooftop of one of the newest unit of an international chain hotel located in the centre of Brasília. This is a type of space that is often impersonal, where standardized characteristics are kept throughout its units all over the world. In this project, we were interested in exploring the tension between characteristics that could be understood both as undefined and specific in a hotel building. Therefore, the project aimed to stress the differences between its two main surfaces: the floor and the ceiling. The floor is neutral and impersonal. The ceiling has a specific design with a clear iconographic reference.
The client of this project is an advertising agency, who providing full industry chain service in West China. In the earliest beginning, when the client invite us and introduce themselves, we were attracted by their unique “big platform + branch company” structure. Starting from this very point as concept, we developed the whole space design.
Office spaces are often associated with unfriendliness and anonymity. Architects from the Metaforma Group have faced the challenge of designing a space that will not only foster concentration while working, but will also allow you to fully rest during breaks. Acoustics and individually adjusted solutions in surface zoning have become the guiding ideas of the concept.
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