Hawthorn Residence

Hawthorn Residence by Canny

The initial client brief was to create a home that would allow independent living zones for the needs of the growing family. With three teenage boys the home allows ample breakout spaces for the children to be active and yet still enjoy the togetherness of combined family areas. The clients required a new home with a traditional façade to the compliment the streetscape, yet a more contemporary feel as one moved through to the rear of the home. The front rooms took on a traditional feel, whilst the rear presented more modern attributes.

The rear of the home showcases a distinctive curved pool house with expansive pool outlook. Dual outdoor entertaining areas with canopy skylights and recessed alfresco heaters allow for continuous enjoyment throughout all seasons. All of these elements were carefully integrated and designed with the landscape.

The highly detailed cellar is perhaps the standout feature of this residence. Complete with 2,000 unit wine storage, Vintec wine fridge, tasting bench, sink and luxe wooden joinery, the room carries an understated opulence and serves as a unique entertaining area for intimate dinner parties and tastings.

Source canny.com.au

The New Gerngross

The New Gerngross by LOVE architecture and urbanism, Vienna, Austria.

Architects: LOVE architecture and urbanism
Location: Vienna, Austria
Project team: DI Andreas Perchinig, DI Sigrid Derler, DI Dr. Uwe Unterberger, DI Sabine Sternbach
Client: DEKA Immobilien Invest GmbH
General planner: Delta Projektconsult GmbH
Electrical Planner: energieeffizienz gmbh
Structural engineering: KS Ingenieure
Lightning design: Bartenbach Lichtlabor
General contractor: Leyrer & Graf
Photographs: LOVE architecture and urbanism

Restructuring the Existing Centre

The layout of the store was not intuitive. Walkways were complex and confusing, and it was difficult to navigate. To improve this, the layout of the indoor levels (G, 1st, 2nd, and 5th) has been entirely re-designed and smaller retail spaces have been added. The key to designing the individual levels was to think “empty” in order to enable the future implementation of an improved orientation system.

The preconditions for this complex undertaking were: – For each rental space, a newer space of equal size but higher quality had to be provided. – Each tenant had to be relocated twice during the construction time. – The ongoing daily shopping activity should be only minimally disturbed.

Create a new Centre!

To this end, the atrium, with its escalator network, took centre stage. The atrium serves as the nucleus and has become the store’s central orientation point.

Source: archdaily.com

Villa 3S

Villa 3S by LOVE architecture and urbanism, Austria, 2010.

Villa 3S is located on a picturesque property on the fringes of Graz Geidorf.  One of the fundamental ideas was to incorporate the relatively large property into the living space.  Therefore, the design blurred the boundaries between house and garden creating fluid transitions and an extended exterior living space.  The relatively strict land-use plan, which stipulated a saddle roof with a designated inclination, presented a further challenge. The roof form begins by folding on the southern terrace continues up and over the building structure and thereby forms an abstract saddle roof.  This folding spatially differentiates the individual areas providing excitement.  This also creates unique views from every angle of the home.

Architects: LOVE architecture and urbanism
Location: Graz Geidorf, Austria
Construction Calculation: Hartmth Petschnigg
Building Physics: Roland Müller
Project Area: 145 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Jasmin Schuller

The architects describe the house as, “Simple yet complex; clear but also playful; light and optimistic; small yet also big.  A place that is architecturally distinct, yet eminently livable; unconventional and unique, and still functional for everyday living.”

The interior of the house is centered around one main room for cooking, eating and living. When open, large sliding doors between the individual rooms connect a fluid, complete spatial structure. With the sliding doors closed, each room maintains its intimacy and distinctiveness and also extends to its own outdoor area or access. For example, the bathroom has its own opaque terrace with an outdoor shower, which can be converted to an interior room with the use of broad folding doors. Weather permitting, the bathroom space can be doubled in this way.

The building is a massive brick construction with concrete walls and a reinforced concrete roof. This roof also serves as a thermal storage mass to provide a pleasant indoor climate and is covered with wood outside. This shades the planking and visually blends the terrace and roof into a unified whole.

Villa P.

Villa P by LOVE architecture and urbanism, Austria, 2010.

Architects: LOVE architecture and urbanism
Location: Waltendorf Graz, Austria
Design Team: Sigrid Derler, Sabine Sternbach
Area: 180.7 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Jasmin Schuller

The site – a relatively steep hill – offers a stunning view over Graz. This panorama also provided the main guiding principle for the design. One additional goal was to provide direct access to the garden. Due to the very steep slope, this goal actually worked contrary to the aim of maximizing the panoramic view.

The upper level, which is oriented completely towards the fantastic view, contains all of the living space, while the lower level houses the doctor’s office and adjoining rooms. This layout provides a clear separation of living and working spaces, including separate entrances.

The upper level features two spacious terraces – one facing south and west, which provides an extension of the living room and the children’s rooms, and one facing north and east, which is an extension of the bedroom and bathroom and affords somewhat more privacy. A very broad external staircase with sitting steps connects the upper level and the garden, thereby joining the living space and the garden into an organic whole.

A pool is located in front of the building and connects to the carport. The pool and carport together provide a clear border between the property and the street, thereby increasing the privacy of the property.

Thus, a harmonious ensemble is created – a play of extrovert and introvert, of proximity and distance, which maximizes the strengths of the property, while simultaneously offering privacy.

Leisure House

Leisure House, in Mill Valley, California

14 Official Proteccion Housing

14 Official Proteccion Housing in Ibiza by Castell-Pons Arquitectes

Red Apple Apartment Building

Red Apple Apartment Building by Aedes Studio

Architects: Aedes Studio
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Year: 2013
Photographs: Courtesy of Aedes Studio

The surrounding neighborhood consists mostly of apartment blocks that date back from the 70’s. The buildings are large with enough space in-between and plenty of greenery. Because the whole area is built in relatively short period of time and not very long ago, it lacks the typical historic layers of the city center. Here the connection to nature is direct enough, the access to all city-conveniences – fast enough and easy, what makes the area nice to dwell. In spite of that it still lacks history, (memories of) the past and atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the city is a result of two very important factors. On one hand the connection to nature, which as already said, is granted. On the other hand – the feeling of the past, the traces of the people that have been here before us; the feeling of human community not only here and now, but also back in time. The feeling of the past alone is achieved mostly by the buildings.

Aedes Studio set the uneasy task to design a new “old building”; a contemporary building with past – a building that contains opposites. Aedes Studio wanted to enrich the neighborhood with an atmosphere from another time, to create something that makes them a flâneur (Baudelaire’s character – stroller in Paris) in the city. Aedes Studio approached this project as if they had to revitalize an old, abandoned part of the city (which is the case for harbor and past-industrial areas in many European cities). When such neighborhoods wake up for new life, they possess the charm of the past as well as all contemporary conveniences. Aedes Studio imagined as starting point an abandoned factory building, which after renovation becomes a luxury and desired place for habitation. (In Sofia such potential is held by the significant old “Sugar factory”.) But since Aedes Studio didn’t have a factory to begin with, we had to create it. This is how their “living factory” arose, characterized by many opposing ideas related to the terms “old” and “new”.

Source: archdaily.com

Onyx Building

Onyx Building by Diez + Muller Architectos

Architects: Diez + Muller Arquitectos
Location: Quito-Ecuador
Project Architect: Diez + Muller Arquitectos
Design: Gonzalo Diez P, Felipe Muller B
Collaboration: Alvaro Borrero, Ana Chiluisa, Paola Picciallo, Daniel Sáenz, Andrés Salazar
Construction: Consorcio Gerenpro – Ecuacanelos
Year: 2012
Photographs: Sebastian Crespo

On a 1400 m2 lot in the heart of the north area of the city of Quito, the commission required a building for medium-density housing. The L-shaped lot has a steep slope, as the ground is depressed an entire floor between the top and the bottom. The slope is evident along the entire front of the lot. There are two important trees on the sidewalk worth keeping.

The design arises from two main ideas: First, to divide the building into two blocks laid out in an L-shape, following the morphology of the ground in planimetric and topographic terms. This indicates that the block on the upper area of the lot will be laid out an entire floor over the annexed block, thus establishing a hierarchy between interior and exterior spaces, and giving more exclusivity to the densification of the buildings. Second, to create a stepped square that serves to connect the two housing blocks, but at the same time give the project a semi-public space which visually connects the square and the street, complemented by outdoor furniture, landscaping and the existent vegetation of the street.

Source: archdaily.com