The number of cruise ships coming to Rotterdam and docking at the Cruise Terminal is increasing each year. To cope with this growth and associated baggage handling, TomDavid Architects have designed an industrial structure that brings together business and pleasure: a Pop Up Luggage Space (P.U.L.S.) with an elevated terrace providing stunning views over the river and of Rotterdam’s skyline.
The ‘Flower Terraces’ sit in the heart of the circular city of Ruichang, China. Referring to traditional Chinese housing motifs, the Flower Terraces arrange living areas as individual volumes around green outdoor spaces. The individually shaped apartments let the residents sense that they live in a unique ‘house’, rather than a numbered unit along a corridor. The seasonal warm temperatures of Ruichang allow for private and communal life to happen not only inside but also outside. The generous terraces become integral living spaces and an essential and characteristic element of the buildings. Similar to overhanging roofs in historic Chinese houses, a series of cantilever slabs create protected outdoor areas in front of the apartments. Foldable wooden shutter elements clad all apartments not only to provide privacy to the interiors but also to protect from direct sun and to allow natural ventilation across the apartments. The path through the building is a lively route with open spaces that enhance social encounters. Communal spaces are placed around the lifts and the open stairs with paths of increasing privacy towards the apartments. Residents of the ‘Flower Terraces’ live surrounded by flowers on each level. Open areas allow good air flow and a pleasant microclimate around the apartments where residents can plant on their individual private terraces and winter gardens, creating their own private retreats amongst greenery.
Our project consists of alterations and additions to an existing 1890’s duplex cottage on Bellevue Terrace in Fremantle.
The briefed starting point for our intervention was to improve the relationship between internal and external spaces that previously suffered on account of a 1.5m level variance and the inconvenient location of an existing bathroom.
At our first visit to Lake Heron in the Laurentides, we ended up in a forest enflamed by fall. We borrowed a small path to reach the top of the site where we found a clearing atop a promontory. We could contemplate the lake which was about 60 meters below. Small but sinuous, it gave the impression that a meander hid the invisible part of a larger lake. The silhouette of the mountains loomed in the distance. The scenery was of immense beauty. We all gasped discovering the site that day. We went down quietly through different ecosystems dotted with magnificent rocks. I remember a small forest of spruces with a constricted path the caused a rhythmic vertical which filtered the horizontality of the water.
The architectural idea of the building is derived from an inside-out perspective, where the social qualities of the building are a dominant driver for the design: Often in tall buildings, the sense of community amongst the occupants is challenged by the fact that you hardly ever meet your neighbours, except coming and going via the lobby and at the lifts.
This beautiful outside area is equipped with Esthec Terrace. Esthec is durable, splinter free, simple to maintain and above all it feels comfortable on bare feet. Even when it’s wet, Esthec provides excellent slip resistance, which is specifically important when it is used on a pool deck.
Esthec® Terrace is a high quality decking that can be used for outdoor applications including, but never limited to: terraces at hotels and resorts, beach club patios, high end residential balconies, spa areas at luxury villas, pool decks, roof top gardens, docks and jetties.
The three hundred and fifty square foot project, a moon deck overlooking the Arabian Sea, introduces into the semi open space a program previously conspicuously absent within the large urban apartment. The brief demanded a flexible multi functional out door deck that can accommodate for early morning sea side yoga practice, hosting lunches and dinners, in addition to an evening time party cum entertainment area amongst other usages. Of utmost importance was the retention of the ambivalent nature of the space, allowing for a maximum of programmatic and usage flexibility. The concerned project boundaries spill over the primary living area of the apartment, serving both as the extension of, as well as an alternate to the large semi public leisure space of the living unit. As such the inner confines of the target area are provided with illumination from the overspill of the indoor space, with the outer edges seeking lighting from elsewhere.
The park and terrace are situated in Bucharest, Romania, at Olimpia Sport Center. The owners wished to transform their common exterior space into a green open space, divided in two related major functions, where they can relax, walk or eat after sport training and after work. Total area of the project is aprox. 1000 sqm.
Martine Brisson designed the landscaping of the roof terrace of the former residence and studio of painter Betty Goodwin, for which she has just won one of the GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN 2012 in the “Terrace” category. Always keeping in mind a feeling of warmth, functionality, and simplicity, Brisson created an outdoor environment that is coherent yet open, with different functional zones (kitchen, living area, bathroom, garden, etc.) that fit together as naturally as the rooms in an interior space.
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