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Interpretation Centre of the Romanesque

Architecture - 14.05.2020

Interpretation Centre of the Romanesque Spaceworkers

A facility designed to show visitors the ties between Portuguese Romanesque and current architecture. Spaceworkers is a studio in Paredes, in northern Portugal, that likes to work out connections between emotion and forms through contemporary architecture. One project it is known for is the Information Center of the Romanesque Route, near the town of Lousada. Through its play of volumes the building maintains the town’s urban continuity, tying in closely with the church and square – the Church of Senhor dos Aflitos and the Praça das Pocinhas. It also tries to forge a link between current architecture and the Portuguese Romanesque tradition. Volumes varying in dimensions form a unity while showing the diversity of features typical of Romanesque style. Each one contains a distinct exhibition space and is entered from an inner courtyard, the roof of which is a glass structure that ensures natural lighting and further unifies the complex. Inside, the monumentality of the space and the finishes, with the ceilings of the various volumes taking on the forms of Romanesque roofs, all contribute to the visitor’s sense of being transported to the past. Furthering the symbiosis of past and present, the facade presents surfaces of exposed concrete with a natural finish. 
House in Maitamon

Architecture - 05.05.2020

House in Maitamon

Tomohiro Hata architect & associates

A box of wood and glass set over the woods for admirable views of the natural landscape of Hyogo, in Kobe Prefecture. The design philosophy of Tomohiro Hata Architects & Associates involves creating spaces that adapt to the topography of the site and can maintain their essence as the years go by. The Japanese firm endeavors to make each project unique, and with the idea that the building is to be inhabited for a long time.‘House in Maitamon’ rises on the slope of a mountain outside a quiet residential district. Taking advantage of a 4-meter clearing in the woods, the wooden dwelling is raised over the ground to give it expansive views. It progressively inserts itself into the forest, growing in height and emerging amid the foliage. Nature is treated with respect: the project refrains from altering the geological features of the place, as well as from felling trees. The facades are almost entirely glazed, and the transparency makes the interiors merge with the surroundings. The house is only 3.6 meters wide, enabling the branches of the nearest trees to embrace it, not to mention the privacy provided by natural means. The long volume is held up by a structure of pinewood (selected and treated by local carpenters), a steel-reinforced framework of ‘flying 3D trusses’ that can move and bend, designed to withstand earthquakes and wind pressures.Inspired by tradition, Tomohito achieves a modest work of modern architecture in harmony with its environment.
Landaburu Borda

Architecture - 23.04.2020

Landaburu Borda

Jordi Hidalgo Tané

Jordi Hidalgo Tané merges old and new in Landaburu Borda, a country house to rest in and relish the landscape. The owner of an old farmhouse on the slope of a mountain close to the town of Bera, in Navarre, joined hands with the architect Jordi Hidalo Tané to give the place a makeover. While creating a dialogue of new and old, the project made a clear differentiation: the original building on one hand, and on the other a modern construction anchored to the slope, facing the breaktaking landscape of the Navarrese mountains.The preexisting stone caserío maintains its long-time relationship with the surroudings, cutting a figure in keeping with the architectural tradition of the area, but we are in for a surprise inside, where rooms for use by guests present new concrete walls and oakwood claddings. The other building becomes part of the mountain as it is embedded into it. Connected to the caserío by a glazed passageway, it contains a large living room and a kitchen with views of the exterior. Concrete and wood reappear in the bedrooms to reinforce the project's discourse, pursuing the rapport between traditional and contemporary, past and future. 
House in a Garden

Architecture - 20.04.2020

House in a Garden

Gianni Botsford

An underground house surrounded by a garden and showing a unique roof structure designed to make the most of sunlight. The firm Gianni Botsford Architects puts itself at the service of the user. In every project it tries to adapt to the context and culture of the place, proposing solutions to meet the needs of clients through details, leaving aside the ego to work side by side with them. In 2007 arose the idea of taking advantage of a Victorian-style urban block’s inner courtyard, then occupied by a 1960s bungalow. Studies of the impact of sunlight on its roof led to the ‘House in a Garden’ project, which would not be carried out until years later, when the plot was acquired by the client, who gave the studio the go-ahead. The starting point was a rigorous analysis of the site. Surrounded by buildings of more than five floors and facing north, the small plot has a lighting problem. The solution is a roof designed to maximize incoming daylight through a glass oculus on top. With a curved, copper-plated wooden structure, its oblique shape makes for optimal illumination of the interior space and the garden around, besides ensuring that views of the adjacent buildings are not blocked. Under a ground-level floor, two basement levels complete the domestic program, making the most of the lighting conditions, and rest on two inner courtyards. The house’s atypical configuration strikes a contrast with traditional London constructions, decongesting the block’s interior space and showing a peaceful ground level that acts like a roof terrace.
MS5

Architecture - 06.04.2020

MS5

Malu de Miguel González

A single-family home designed by Malu de Miguel González in Madrid to accommodate up to three generations of the same family. At Monte Sollube 5 – in Boadilla del Monte, a municipality of Madrid’s metropolitan area – stands this two-floor house built for three generations of the family its architect, Malu (María Luisa) de Miguel (Gran Canaria, 1987). The dwelling proper contains 315 square meters, complemented by 85 square meters for hallways and covered terraces. The construction really has two parts flanking the garage, the larger one harboring a double-height living room that connects the upstairs rooms. This configuration responds to the intention of the architect to generate a programme whose novelty is, paradoxically, to emphasize a concept as old as that of being able to accommodate a family: it replaces the habitual distribution of main or children's bedrooms, imposed by the house itself, with another more dynamic one in which the inhabitants can freely decide which rooms to occupy.
Estancia Morro Chico

Architecture - 02.04.2020

Estancia Morro Chico

RDR Architectes

RDR Architectes remodels a livestock complex from the late nineteenth century through constructions inspired by the building tradition of Santa Cruz. At Puente Blanco, a remote spot in the Argentinian Patagonia, close to the southern border with Chile, we find this stockbreeding estate that has been renovated and expanded by Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés architectes (RDR architectes), the firm run by Jacques Richter and Ignacio Dahl Rocha from offices in Lausanne and Buenos Aires.Morro Chico Ranch was started by a late-19th-century Scottish immigrant who took part in the ‘great drove,’ when close to 5,000 sheep were herded over 2,000 kilometers across the Humid Pampas to vast tracts of land granted to settlers by the government.A century later their descendants commissioned RDR architectes to renovate the wool and meat production complex, which includes new constructions like a shed for shearing sheep, a depot for machinery and general storage, accommodations for staff and guests, and a family house.Wood dominates the house, but fades as the constructions become more utilitarian, altogether disappearing in the shearing shed. In tune with regional building traditions, the simple, austere constructions blend into the Patagonian desert, following the model of a compact village in which utilitarian sheds and homes are clustered together, protecting each other against the harsh climate conditions. The facilities are fragmented into three parts: a core, and two puestos (Arteaga and El Zurdo). Renewable energy systems are incorporated, such as solar panels and wind turbines. The prefabricated volumes of wood and metal, clad in corrugagted iron, unfold as formal variations of the sheet metal shed, from the simple one where sheep are sheared to the more intricate forms of the family home.
Fabra i Coats

Architecture - 30.03.2020

Fabra i Coats

Roldán & Berengué

An old Fabra i Coats textile factory is revamped into a sustainable complex for social housing and cultural spaces. The firm Roldán + Berengué gives the old Fabra i Coats textile plant in Barcelona’s San Andreu neighborhood a revamp, turning it into a social housing development strong on sustainability criteria. The building presents a 19th-century industrial style characterized by brick in abundance and a regular rhythm of large windows bringing in light.Prominent among the elements preserved is the building envelope, which functions as thermal insulation. The 46 apartments inside are separated from the facade and the original tiled roof, and the spaces formed in between are places where residents can be neighborly and develop a community life. The double enclosure lets natural air circulate freely and makes artificial heating and cooling unnecessary during much of the year.The structure emphasizes the longitudinality of the building, with 24 successive trusses marking a modular pace throughout. In an endeavor to acknowledge textile manufacturing processes, different kinds of wood are used in the construction of a system that can be taken apart in the future: a metaphor for stitching and unstitching. If there were 2 stories, now there are 3, thanks to wood being five times lighter than steel, and to the reuse of the two original floors.Original elements of the old factory shed highlight the heritage of the textile industry. The apartments interact with a cultural facility thanks to a scheme thought out, through shared use of spaces, to foster a trading of ideas between artists and residents.
Depósito del Rei Martí

Architecture - 19.03.2020

Depósito del Rei Martí

Archikubik

A space reappropriated. A salute to building with ceramic and to the historical origins of a water tank. Some construction work carried out in 2001 on the grounds of the Bellesguard Tower in Barcelona – built by Gaudí over the remains of the stronghold of King Martin I of Aragon, also known as Martin the Humane – unveiled the Depósito del Rei Martí, a 14th-century water tank that had been hidden under a pine grove.A budget was approved and the digging up of the tank began with the intention of keeping it as is, with no alternations. “There are spaces that surface unexpected… Such surprises quickly create a need to appropriate them and give them some use.” This prevents a new space from forming and attracting attention. The idea is to preserve the original as much as possible while giving access to it, for all to appreciate.Inside, the ceramic is the centerpiece, appearing in seven rows of arches and pillars, separated by Catalan vaults, that serve to organize the almost 600 square meters of space. The walls and floors are clad in wood so as to go unnoticed, interacting with the ceramic to generate a single morphology and produce a special acoustic effect. The luminaires installed at the bottom of the pillars stress the presence of the arches and reinforce the place’s original use as a cistern.Turned into a versatile cultural space, the water tank seeks to be a salute to history and to ceramic, giving the city a new kind of experience.
Gharfa Pavilion

Architecture - 16.03.2020

Gharfa Pavilion

Edoardo Tresoldi

A pavilion to showcase works of different artists under the Studio Studio Studio seal and to create a space for disconnection. Studio Studio Studio is a multidisciplinary laboratory created by Eduardo Tresoldi, an architect known for his efforts to blur physical limits through transparency of material, and for using industrial elements tos strike up a dialogue between art and the surroundings. This collaboration project involves artists, musicians, designers, architects, and filmmakers gifted with an unconventional imagination.The proximity to Riyadh’s Al-Turaif District (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is used as leverage in the design of the Gharfa Pavilion, and the architect works hand in hand with the musician Max Magaldi, the designer Arberonero, and the garden designer Matteo Foschi to come up with a space for encounters, meditation, and rest.The scheme works upon the ruins of the space, and reveals the different spaces through narrow passageways. The structure, resembling an old fortress, shows the Tresoldi seal by means of a cork-filled wire mesh rising 26 meters. The atmosphere created reflects an intimate relationship between people, the landscape, and the architecture, inviting the visitor to walk through and discover the space.Duna, by Alberonero, seeks to generate a space where one can disappear thanks to semi-transparent cloths placed around the entrance threshold, complementing the pavilion.In a metaphor between the traditional and the contemporary, Tresoldi recreates a bonfire inside through audiovisual means, adding a sky with artificial clouds.The multidisciplinary experience of the pavilion is complemented by the contribution of Matteo Foschi, who makes plants interact with the industrial materials. Max Magaldi takes care of sound effects in the exhibition space, treating visitors to an isolated experience designed to be appreciated in an exceptional way, heard fully only at the very center of the installation.The complexity achieved thanks to the Arab style of the design is complemented in turn by the interation between the varios interventions carried out in the pavilion. Moreover, the projects, scaffolds, and other instruments employed to create artifices in the exhibition space are deliberately keep visible, emphasizing the interaction. Every piece fits in as if part of an intricate orchestral composition that aspires to serve as an example for future artistic expressions.
Termitary House

Architecture - 27.02.2020

Termitary House

Tropical Space

Efficiency of brickwork modeled on termite nests in resisting the inclemencies of Da Nang’s climate. The design of the Termitary House draws inspiration from termites’ ability to build their nests and addresses the extreme climate of Da Nang, a central Vietnamese coastal city.The house is built mainly with the region’s traditional baked brick, the same material used in erecting the famous Champa towers from the 4th to the 15th century. The brick helps to keep indoor temperatures at bay during warm seasons, and to keep humidity stable. Perforated walls serve to let daylight and breezes into the home and all the way to the least accessible corners. In the communal spaces the perforations enable the residents to see and talk to one another at all times, in pursuance of the termitarium concept. As the day progresses, the bricks take on different red tones, but at night the house becomes a giant lantern. All furniture is designed using the timber of the old roof, reducing costs.At ground level, a large, double-height central space encompasses the shared zones while giving access to the rest of the domestic spaces. Stairs lead to the next floor, where more partitions organize the more private area of the residence. An attic has been added on the roof and surrounded with climbing vines, creating a relaxing atmosphere for the whole family to enjoy.The toilets and storage rooms are arranged in a way that blocks out strong winds during stormy seasons and redirects them towards the roof through holes. In the same vein, the walls are a double skin: brick on the outside and glass-aluminum frames inside, with an air chamber in between that serves as a buffer.Outside, some of the plants of the old garden have been conserved in order to preserve some familiar features, repositioned on gravel pavements.
Ca'n Terra

Architecture - 13.02.2020

Ca'n Terra Ensamble Studio

Architecture and technology at the service of nature. An incursion in history devoted to contemplation. Ca’n Terra approaches nature by exploring the way of inhabiting the house. The dwelling is in an old Marais stone quarry, showing the typical rocky landscape of Menorca on the outside. To rescue it from neglect, Ensamble Studio uses technology to carry out a digital modelling of the cave’s interior projecting thousands of laser points on the surfaces, recording precise data about the structure. With these tools, the architect creates a new space starting out from small interventions that pursue maximizing the relationship with nature.In contrast to what’s usually been done in the past, the architecture remains in the background, letting the materiality of the place suggest the distribution of the house. In this way it avoids imposing itself on its context, proposing a journey to the interior of matter. As the project description says: “If the history of civilization has evolved to a great extent transcending the idea on site, in Ca’n Terra, the process is inverted and history is transformed into architecture.”The new open space is the result of a process of experimentation with context. It keeps a close bond with the earth, but at the same time manages to adopt the identity of the dwelling.