Architect Daniel Libeskind recently has completed the Grand Canal Square Theatre and Commercial Development. It comprises two extensive office buildings and a stunning theatre with the dynamic formal expression. The project aims to enhance the new urban structure of Grand Canal Harbor in Dublin, serving as a focus point for its context.

The architectural concept of the Theatre is based on stages: the stage of the Theatre itself, the stage of the piazza, and the stage of the multiple level Theatre lobby above the piazza.

Architekt Daniel Libeskind AG

+ Project description courtesy of Architekt Daniel Libeskind AG

The concept of the Grand Canal Square Theatre and Commercial Development is to build a powerful cultural presence expressed in dynamic volumes sculpted to project a fluid and transparent public dialogue with the cultural, commercial and residential surroundings whilst communicating the various inner forces intrinsic to the Theatre and office buildings.

This composition creates a dynamic urban gathering place and icon mirroring the joy and drama emblematic of Dublin itself. The 2000 seat Grand Canal Theatre is a landmark that creates a focus for its urban context, specifically Grand Canal Square, the new urban piazza at the waterfront of Grand Canal Harbour.

The architectural concept of the Theatre is based on stages: the stage of the Theatre itself, the stage of the piazza, and the stage of the multiple level Theatre lobby above the piazza. The Theatre becomes the main façade of a large public piazza that has a five star hotel and residences on one side and an office building on the other. The piazza acts as a grand outdoor lobby for the Theatre, itself becoming a stage for civic gathering with the dramatic Theatre elevation as a backdrop offering platforms for viewing.

From its rooftop terrace, the Theatre offers spectacular views out over the Dublin Harbour. The Theatre is integrated into the Commercial Development by office buildings that include 45,500 square meters of leasable office and retail space.

With their twin facades, glazed atriums and landscaped roofs, the two office blocks offer sustainable state of the art work environments. By designing multi-story glazed atriums, the commercial buildings integrate with the adjacent retail, residential, cultural and public space components. Three prominent entrances make the buildings accessible from Grand Canal Square, Misery Hill and from Cardiff Lane. Although both offices are designed in the same architectural language, each responds to its site uniquely.

Two Grand Canal Square (South Block), which is adjacent to the new 2,000 seat Theatre, opens up towards the Square, while Four & Five Grand Canal Square (North Block), in conjunction with the Theatre, form a dramatic gateway to Dublin Harbour. The Grand Canal Square Development enhances the new urban structure of Grand Canal Harbor with an exciting cultural landmark and magnet for Dublin, a destination for working, shopping, and entertainment. The Theatre will open in March, 2010 with the opening of the office blocks scheduled for mid 2010 and 2011.

+ Project credits / data

Project Name: Grand Canal Square Theatre and Commercial Development
Location: Dublin Docklands
Address: Grand Canal Square 3, Dublin 2, Ireland

Gross Building Area:
South Office block – 21,092 sq.m / 226,992 sq.ft (including basement)
Theatre – 13,768 sq.m / 148,171 sq.ft (including basement)
North Office block – 33,320 sq.m / 358,590 sq.ft (including basement)

Other Building Details:
South Block – 7 Floors over basement
Theatre – 7 Floors over basement
North Block – 7 Floors over basement

Budget:
Theatre + Commercial – €196M / $269.9M USD
Theatre Budget – € 75M / $101.8M USD

Principal Architect: Stefan Blach
Project Architect & Project Team Leader: Gerhard Brun
Project Team: Feargal Doyle, Patrick Cox, Andreas Baumgärtner, Matthias Rühl, Toralf Sümmchen, Anna Poullou, Guillaume Chapallaz, Nathaniel Lloyd, Jens Jessen, Jens Hoffman, Kaori Hirasawa, Luca Mangione, Anja Bungies and Christian Müller

Services provided by Architekt Daniel Libeskind AG:
Theatre: Building envelope, FOH and Auditorium; RIAI Stages 1-8
Commercial: Building envelope, Lobby & Atrium spaces; RIAI stages 1-4

Starting Date:
2004: Competition, early concept phase Dec.
2006: from RIAI stage 2, under contract with Ramford Limited

Completion Date:
South Block Office –September 2009
Theatre –December 2009
North Block Office – Mid-2010

Client:
Ramford Limited, Chartered Land
Usher House, Main Street
Dundrum, Dublin 14, Ireland

Project Management:
Lafferty Project Management
Usher House, Main Street
Dundrum, Dublin 14, Ireland

Executive Architect: Commercial Buildings; RIAI Stages 4-8
McCauley Daye O’Connell Architects
7 Harcourt Street
Dublin 2, Ireland

Theatre Consultants & Architects: Theatre Back of House; RIAI Stages 4-8:
ArtsTeam (part of RHWL Architects)
Ivory House St Katharine Docks
London E1W 1AT

Quantity Surveyor: Davis Langdon PKS – Dublin
Structural / Civil: ARUP Consulting Engineers – Dublin
Mechanical & Electrical: ARUP Consulting Engineers – Dublin
Acoustic Consultants: ARUP Acoustics – Winchester, UK
Venue Consultants: ARUP Venue Consulting – Winchester, UK
Façade Consultants: Billings Design Associates – Dublin
Lighting Designers: Pritchard Themis – London, UK
Fire Engineers: Michael Slattery Associates – Dublin
Health & Safety: Bruce Shaw Partnership- Dublin
Main Contractor: John Sisk & Son Ltd. – Dublin
Façade Sub-Contractor: Permasteelisa Central Europe (Theatre); Permasteelisa S.p.A (Commercial Buildings)

Principal Materials:
Theatre Volume – Stainless steel rain screen cladding panels on reinforced concrete and steel structure with strips of high performance glazing.
Theatre Glass Curtain – High performance glazing with exposed polyester powder coated pre-fabricated steel box sections.
Commercial Buildings – Low-iron unitized twin skin glazing system with geometric ceramic frit patterns with solar / glare perforated venetian blinds and capped unitized curtain walling with fixed blade louvers.

Photographer: Ros Kavanagh

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Architekt Daniel Libeskind AG

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Colombia-based architectural firm Entorno AID has designed a car service center - AutoSura Bogotá in Colombia.

One of the architectural proposals for the volume of the building is to maintain a direct visual relationship with the outside through a metal lattice that covers most of the façade, and integrates advertising volumes in the large loose truss.

Entorno AID

+ Project description courtesy of Entorno AID

The Service Center seeks to meet the needs of policyholders and clients in general, regarding basic procedures for preventive and corrective maintenance of the car.

The project is located on Avenida 19 # 139, Bogota, Colombia has its principal address facing the Avenida which makes an impact in the project’s volumetric development. The building is set in a high volume of triple and a double skin bioclimatic using concepts that can optimize the natural light, ventilation and thermal comfort.

One of the architectural proposals for the volume of the building is to maintain a direct visual relationship with the outside through a metal lattice that covers most of the façade, and integrates advertising volumes in the large loose truss.

On the first floor, the Client’s Reception Entry is located in a glass box that allows a visual connection with the Vehicle’s Technical Inspection area (-Dynamometer- Test Tracks). It is situated in a perimeter, like a parking area, outside the building with a direct and independent entrance and exit of vehicles.

The second floor is divided in the Employee Area and the Customer Zone which functions independently. The Customer Zone has a reception, a Waiting Room, and the offices for the claim of insurances, and a cafeteria for clients.

In the third floor there is the Technical Area of the building arranged in one volume.

+ About

Entorno AID Ltda. is a company specialized in the Urban and Architectural design. It is formed by a group of four designers whose strength is based in the fusion between the image and the contemporary design applied to Architecture. Dedicated to evolve this premise in the development of each design, we have created a working group whose main objective is the sum of creativity and collective efforts. Within our work dynamics we use technological tools that merge with elements of art like Bioclimatic and the awareness of the urban environment. The final product is an integral aesthetic, functional and environmentally friendly concept. Our premise is to build a more dignified and fair city.

+ Project credits / data

Architect: Entorno AID
Project: AutoSura Bogotá
Location: Avenida 19 # 139, Bogota, Colombia

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Entorno AID

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On the Muskö island in Sweden, Swedish architectural studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designed the Folded Roof House which is an one-storey house with an asymmetric folded roof plane, bedrooms are located at two gable ends and separated by the living and dining rooms, with a full glazed opening and recessed terrace. It provides an interesting panorama view towards the water.

+ Description courtesy of Claesson Koivisto Rune

In Sweden, as in many other countries, much of the market for new private houses is provided for by kit house manufacturers. In their catalogues you can pick your house from a selection of styles and sizes to put on your lot. The advantage is that the price is more or less fixed and that the construction process is handled by the company.

Unfortunately, these houses carry little or no architectural ambition, as they are often designed by company engineers or sales people. The idea behind the new company, Arkitekthus, is to provide kit houses designed by leading architects at prices competitive with these other manufacturers.

Folded Roof house is our second house for Swedish kit house manufacturer Arkitekthus. It is a one-storey house with an asymmetric folded roof plane. The floor plan provides for separation between private bedrooms and a communal kitchen and living room. The bedrooms are positioned at the gable ends and the living room is between, with an open main façade.

The openings are fully glazed and inset into the house volume so that roof-covered terrace spaces serve as continuations of the interior. Another important visual feature is the framing of these insets by the thin wall and roof edges. This was possible because no insulation is needed in the sections located outside of the actual house.

For the site on Muskö island the separate guest house and sauna buildings were specifically designed for the client.

+ Project credits / data

Architect: Claesson Koivisto Rune
Project: Folded Roof house
Location: Muskö, Haninge, Sweden
Client: Arkitekthus AB
Design: 2006
Construction: 2008–2009
Project team: Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto, Ola Rune, Deta Gemzell
Structure/Materials: wooden structure and facade
Total floor area: 140 m2
Photo: © Louise Billgert and Åke E:son Lindman

+ All image courtesy of Claesson Koivisto Rune | Photo by Åke E:son Lindman / Louise Billgert

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Italian studio PROGETTOSPORE has designed The [F] club located in LIDO DI CAMAIORE [LU] Italy.

The plan’s aim is to build a structure which answers the needs of a beach Club and at the same time is not a visual barrier but a frame between people who walk along the shore and the seaside.

The choice of the materials included wood, brick, glass and hemp, which have a lower environmental impact because of their physical and production characteristics.

+ Project credits / data

Project: The [F] club
Location: LIDO DI CAMAIORE [LU] Italy
Year: 2007-2009
Architectural plan: PROGETTOSPORE
Buyer: Assonautica
Graphics: werkdesign

+ All images and drawings courtesy of PROGETTOSPORE

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Italian studio PROGETTOSPORE and Samuele Calamai have designed the Parish complex which was developed from the idea of the ribbons wrapping around the spaces.

This our formal choice arises from the evaluation that the contemporary individuality –exactly such the ribbons are- cannot be understood without knowing the others to whom it is linked. Wishing more and more to appear unique, we change our identities into boxes of gum which have to be pressed firmly among the few empty places (they are defined by what we are not, the non-I) that remained.

PROGETTOSPORE and Samuele Calamai

+ Project description courtesy of PROGETTOSPORE

The parish complex consists of three main volumes. Although trying to show deep inside its own architectural language, the design remained strongly linked to the technical and functional needs dictated by the Episcopal commission for liturgy.

The formal development arises from the intent to relate to each of the three buildings three ribbons placed freely in the three-dimensional space. Their relation enables the definition of volumetries which are concluded, or better closed through the use of opal glass planes. Having no preference for the Cartesian axes there is such a little distinction between plants and sections that clear daughters of the same seed become the proof of this formal approach. The project is dipped into white but in every building one of the three volumetric ribbons had been divided into bundles of colour.

Each of these ribbons , how we like to call them – as if it were a fabric waving into the wind moulded by the case- in reality it is more assimilated to a three-dimensional course which is always looking for a formal contact with the other two. This our formal choice arises from the evaluation that the contemporary individuality –exactly such the ribbons are- cannot be understood without knowing the others to whom it is linked. Wishing more and more to appear unique, we change our identities into boxes of gum which have to be pressed firmly among the few empty places (they are defined by what we are not, the non-I) that remained.

Even in the pastoral ministry premises, as in the parsonage house, the development of forms kept firm and solid to the decidedly functional needs, in the attempt to unify the emotions arises from looking at the fulfillment of the body moving through the space.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Parish complex – Ribbons In The Space
Location: Galciana (PO), Italy 2008
Status: Design contest
Architectural project : PROGETTOSPORE and Samuele Calamai
Graphics : werkdesign

+ All images courtesy of PROGETTOSPORE

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The RATP Bus Centre by Paris-based architectural firm Emmanuel COMBAREL Dominique MARREC Architects (ECDM) appears like a monolith with rounded edges, polished, and partially cut out to expose multi-colored glass skin. Characterized by a dense square plan (35m x 35m) developed on 2 levels, the skin Ductal ® extended from the road surface to the façades, the suspended ceilings and the terrace rooftop without any rupture.

We wanted to work on the inorganic hardness of the site and propose a building that would extend into the surrounding road surface

Dominique Marrec

+ Project description courtesy of ECDM

Located in the southern suburban area of Paris along wide boulevards and roadway interchanges, in an industrial landscape characterised by a succession of boxes (at best basic), the RATP Bus Centre in Thiais controls all the bus lines of the south and east of Paris.

The centre accommodates 300 buses. 800 bus drivers pass through the building every day, including the administrative, the security and the maintenance staffs which manage the Bus Centre. It’s a flux building.

In this fuzzy territory, only one federating element can be pointed out: the 100 % inorganic ground of the site – a mix of asphalt and concrete.

So, we reduced the site to its primary function: a bus park, a vast monolithic slab, uniform mineral territory.

The existing concrete crust that covers the evolution area of the buses is distorted, modeled to cover the administrative center. The building starts with the deformation of the ground and continues it with an apparently similar material, a sheet of ultra high performance concrete, paradoxical and superlative, 3 cm thick displaying a non slippery texture of dots in relief like a game of “LEGO” (24 mm diameter x 7 mm high, distant of 12 mm) contributing to a kinetic morphing which responds to very sophisticated demands : informality of the structure, constant evolution of the plans, density, homogeneity, dematerialization, precision, durability towards emphasized constraints. It ensures a continuity of the ground from the road, to the skin of the facades, the suspended ceilings and the terrace rooftop without any rupture, proposing a merging between the building and its support to a point of confusion. The building has neither a beginning nor an end.

The plasticity of the material combined with its mechanical performance induces an all-over appropriate to a multiplicity of uses and maximized solicitations, possibly opened to a non-control of the limits and the uses.

The building appears like a monolith with rounded edges, polished somehow, required here as a morphing of the context to cover the carcass of a composite program. The result is a dense, inert and deaf building, as enigmatic as the hull of a Russian submarine in the waters of Murmansk.

The concrete hull is cut out with a Stanley knife, surgical incisions revealing cavities of reflective and coloured glass. Treated with silver mirror dots, chromatics of the glass products are inspired by the tinted curtain wall frontages of the office buildings which border the main road.

Aside the administrative building, the program also includes the realization of a new checkpoint of the centre and a bikes shelter.

+ Project credits / data

Project : RATP BUS CENTRE IN THIAIS (France-94)
Program : Administrative building
Location : Thiais (France)
Address : 12-14 rue du Bas-Marin 94 THIAIS
Site area : 3.5 Ha
Gross floor area HON : 35 x 35 m x 2 450 m?
Building scale : 2 stories elevated on a technical basement
Building permit : 2003, December 2
Completion : 2007, June 27
Cost : 3 540 000 € HT

Client : RATP
Client delegate : SEDP
Architects : Emmanuel COMBAREL Dominique MARREC Architects (ECDM)
Engineering : BETOM – SIT

Main contractors :
DUTHEIL – BETSINOR (prefab concrete)
LABASETERE (aluminum windows, metalwork)

Photographers : Benoit FOUGEIROL – Philippe RUAULT

+ All images and drawings courtesy of ECDM

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2. Avila Congress and Exhibitions Municipal Centre | Francisco Mangado
3. Bangalore International Convention Centre | Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design

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Mexican architect Arquitectura en Proceso has completed the Darcons Headquarters in suburbs of Delicias City in the Chihuahua state of Mexico.

+ Project description courtesy of Arquitectura en Proceso

The site is located at a suburban lot of a middle size city in northern Mexico. As one drives towards it and away from de city, the building appears aligned with the road as an arched gate of a medieval town: looking through it one gets the scenery of the rural fields that surround the city.

The building was conceived as a frame that captures part of the landscape and at the same time defines a plane that divides the intercity from the suburbs. The skin of the building plays a dual role: on one hand it is the transparent material that allows the view through it, and on the other hand, it is the opaque continuous skin that defines the shape of the frame and protects the interior from solar irradiance.

This skin was manipulated in order to differentiate the public space from the internal activities of the company: the main reception and the costumer rooms are outside the envelope raised above the ground as a Piano Nobile and organized as self defined entities. The operation space is contained within the envelope and flows throughout the building in a three dimensional open plan that honors the hierarchical organization of the company. In order to solve the continuity of the circulation the mass of the building was divided in various transversal slices, each presenting an intentionally different profile and two of them defining the geometry of the north and south elevations. The sequential juncture of all the slices creates deviations and convergences between the internal operational route and the external costumer route.

The geometry of the volume is shaped according to a juxtaposition of three rotated orthogonal axis structures. This was primarily done in an effort to recreate the space complexity produced by a urban grid designed in the style of the 18th century. The west elevation also benefits from the rotated planes by casting shades onto itself and minimizing direct sun exposure.

The rule was meant to be broken at the main entrance where the opaque skin suddenly sift direction to frame a cantilevered volume that flies above the portico. This creates a gesture of urban scale to emphasize the hierarchy of the entrance and contain the atrium of the building prior to the stair flight.

Concept

We start designing in order to respond to the needs of the company by generating a flowing diagram according to the architectural program, starting by separating the private and working areas of the building and the public spaces, generating a dual flow. This was possible by the creation of a stripe that bifurcate and generates the continuo’s space thru all the levels of the building, this design element let us give the functional and formal solution to the project, but not only this was solve by this element, the solar issues to the most critical façades of the building was also solved by letting this fly out side of the boundaries of the glass façade, giving shade to those spaces that needed the most. Having this problem solved the next issue to solve was the engineering’s involved, according to the shape and thickness of the stripe.

First the wrapping skin of the building, considering our geographical situation to think in fancy materials is not the problem, but to get them is question of high cost. Considering the aluminum panel as a material that has about thirteen years in the Mexican market we thought this could help us solved the skin having in mind that this is a flexible material that also let us design a skin in a rhomboidal form without having to much waste of it, but the problem was not solve yet, this material it can’t be installed on the floor so we start generating strategies to cut the incidence of this on the floor areas by using a second inside skin that shapes the outside form of the stripe in the façades formed by Porcelain floors and cement board at the out side walls. Same process to solve the interior; floors, walls and ceilings were determinate by giving continuity to the wrapping space.

+ Project credits / data

Project Name: Darcons Headquarters
Location: Delicias City, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Use: Office Building
Size: 15,134 Sq ft.
Design Period: 2005
Completion Period: 2008

Design Office: Arquitectura en Proceso
Chief Architect: Jorge Cajiga, Raúl Rodríguez, Roberto Villarreal, Reyes Baeza
Client: Darcons Construction Company
Structural Design: Estructuristas y Consultores
Project Managment: Urbanismo y Edificación Mexicana
Structural Engineering: EASA construcciones
Photography: Francisco Lubbert, Jorge Cajiga

+ All drawings and images courtesy of Arquitectura en Proceso

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2. Horten Headquarters | 3XN
3. JLI house of Massive, Void and Liquid | MCP Arquitectura

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a10 studio has recently completed the Re*evolution Lounge & Bar located in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

The project explored the redefinition of the “ground”, the manipulation of the ground surface, transforming an element that carries a fixed code into an active field, complex and mutant. The ambiguity between the surface and the space, between bi-dimension and tri-dimension, is perhaps one of the constants of the project as an alternative to the contrast between the ground and the architectural object.

a10 studio

+ Project description courtesy of a10 studio

In the center of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the Re.evolution lounge+bar is a project that you’d most probably be seeing in Miami or LA than in a touristy Mexican beach resort; it provides some fresh air to the city nightlife, and has also unintentionally triggered a micro urban renewal in the neighborhood.

Cabo San Lucas, a popular vacation spot and one of the places in Mexico with the highest density of high-end resorts, faces two public images; on one side, a place of highest luxury and style, visible trough resort catalogues and sponsored promotions, while creating a ‘vision’ of ‘traditional’ Mexico with palapas, colorful taco stands and mariachis. On the other side the town of Cabo San Lucas in its mere heart reveals dusty streets, poverty, cheep local labor and poor urban image due to the negligence of urban planners.

The “Re.evolution lounge+bar” project called for the remodeling of two different commercial spaces, joining them together into a restaurant and a lounge bar in downtown Cabo San Lucas. a10 studio saw in this project the opportunity to comply to the clients needs and transform the two existing ‘rough’ spaces into a comfortable and contemporary space for a restaurant and a lounge bar, seeking to stand out from the expensive palapa-like bar that seems to be the general aesthetic for businesses in the area.

The project explored the redefinition of the “ground”, the manipulation of the ground surface, transforming an element that carries a fixed code into an active field, complex and mutant. The ambiguity between the surface and the space, between bi-dimension and tri-dimension, is perhaps one of the constants of the project as an alternative to the contrast between the ground and the architectural object.

The surface here is not only the envelope of space, but also what defines it, as it emerges in between the both of them as a close relationship. By exploring the ambiguity between ground and envelope, instead of opposing them as is commonly done, a10 studio exploited the indeterminacy that exists between them. With this, the architecture is not anymore just a vertical and active entity built on top of the horizontal and passive flat surface of the ground. Here the ground mutates into an active surface, a plane constructed from where architecture emerges as an unlikely fluctuating figure.

The plan of the project – a restaurant wing (together with kitchen and services) and a bar wing, which are interconnected and function as a whole, but which can also be isolated and functioning independently as individual spaces if needed – is solved with a spatial loop with transgressive trajectories, with knots and crosses, links and virtual links, as well as overlapping messages which are attractors of activity intended to provoke multiple situations (junctions seeming impossible suddenly become possible) in open and closed spatial agencies at once. All these elements make the space feel like a single sleek surface folding into each other, the factor that enables lights to create different ambient, atmospheres and feelings with a mere change of color of the light.

One of the visible, striking and as proved, publicly very acceptable elements of the Re.evolution lounge+bar is its terrace. Its idea derives from Mediterranean terraces, where the terrace becomes a main space of the project. Taking advantage of the Cabo San Lucas weather with average 350 sunny days yearly, the shape of the sidewalk and limits of the lot, the project allowed a10 studio to pull the facade away from the sidewalk and generate an enjoyable open space still part of the bar, and which is now one of the favorite spots where people hang out, see and let themselves be seen.

The project deployed several constraints as low and non-equal walls of two adjacent business spaces, time to delivery and budget limits among others. These were successfully over passed with creative use of locally available materials as for example PVC water pipes, used to create a shade at a terrace, etc. With a budget of $ 50,000 USD and 3 months time from original idea to completion, including design, remodeling, construction, interior design and the opening, a10 studio created an attractive and contemporary entertainment spot which style you’ll most likely be seeing in the popular areas of Miami than of downtown Cabo San Lucas.

The Re.evolution lounge+bar is creating a lot of buzz bringing style, contemporary architecture and design to downtown Cabo, and furthermore creating a micro urban renewal after neighbors realized the added value of putting design to work for them and their businesses, plenty of them have started painting their facades, or even planning to remodel their very own businesses improving the overall image of this part of the city.

This are the kind of things you hardly realize when you do a project, but then, when architectural ideas mix with the everyday rationalization and use of the city by its dwellers and flaneurs, great things can be accomplished.

Mariano Arias-Diez, principal of a10studio

The project allowed a contemporary space for local entertainment and nightlife, but also triggered a much-needed evolution of the urban image of the very heart of still rural Cabo San Lucas.

+ Project credits / data

Project: Re*evolution Lounge+Bar
Type: commercial, restaurant and lounge bar
Location: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico area: 198.50 m2
Project year: 2009
Date of completion: September 2009
Client: JDFA S. DE R.L.
Time to completion: 3 months
Status: completed

Architectural project: a10studio
Principal in charge: Mariano Arias-Diez
Graphics and logos: LA76 strategic design
Structural engineer: Ing. Jacobo Perez-Valle / OBRA Metalica
Lighting design: a10studio
Audio+acoustics: Daniel Bradley / Expo Cabo
General contractor: Fernando Hernandez / AMP
Windows + glass: Vidrios San Marcos, CSL
Construction photos: a10studio
Final images: Romana Lilic + Onairam Saira / LA76 strategic design

+ All images and drawings courtesy of a10 studio

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3. Blue Frog Acoustic Lounge | Serie architects

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Hanover House by Kraus Schoenberg Architects is the refurbishment and extension project on the rooftop of a Victorian warehouse building located in Bradford, United Kingdom.

The sculptural aspect of the roof silhouette is no mere architectural fancy, but reflects the roofscape of the surrounding buildings and has been used to form the living spaces.

Kraus Schoenberg Architects

+ Project description courtesy of Kraus Schoenberg Architects

The development of the grade II listed Hanover House involves the refurbishment and roof extension of a Victorian warehouse building.

Hanover House is located in Bradford’s Little Germany, a conservation area of great historical interest and beauty. The unique character of the area is created by the uniformity of buildings, which date from the 19th century.

The used sandstone material and the ornamental treatment of the facades unify the blocks – although, as with many other semi-industrial areas from the period, the buildings in Little Germany vary in size and form. Accordingly, the roofscape is one of great diversity.

This informs the design of the new roof, which reinterprets the surrounding forms, sizes and orientations.

The sculptural aspect of the roof silhouette is no mere architectural fancy, but reflects the roofscape of the surrounding buildings and has been used to form the living spaces.

Aiming to create a highly efficient structure, the roof has been designed as a self-supporting system to avoid additional loading onto the existing floors. We used engineered timber as a sustainable high-performance material, creating a roof surface which folds up and down and bears on the external walls.

+ Project credits / data

Architect: Kraus Schoenberg Architects
Project: Hanover House
Type: Apartment building
Client: Garbe Group
Location: Bradford, United Kingdom
Date: 2005 – 2008
Construction: 11 months
Area: 1300m2
Volume: 5200m3
Ceiling heights: 2.80m – 3.20m
Value: £ 1.6 m.
Structure: EDA London
Project management:  Maber

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Kraus Schoenberg Architects

Related posts:

1. House L | Pott Architects
2. H-house | Tamizo Architects Group
3. Fresh Water House | Chenchow Little Architects

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Spanish architecture firm A-cero recently has completed a house located in Dominican Republic, sleeping zone and living zone was organized into 2 blocks and connected by a covered veranda, while featuring curved volumes emerged from the ground.

The stone of exterior Coralline interferes inside to offer visual continuity… The exterior sensation – interior ends up by getting lost putting the gardens inside the house.

Joaquín Torres, A-cero

+ Project description courtesy of A-cero

The benign climate that prevails during the whole year in the Caribbean island, as well as the situation of the plot of 7.000 m2 first coast line, they determine in advance the project executed by A-cero Studio.

With a singular architectural idea and a certain level of risky, peculiar of the team that Joaquin Torres directs. There appear two blocks well separated from that there arises a game of curved volumes that look for the vertical position from the covering.

The housing is projected by demand of program of needs of the client, in only one plant. There is dressed the whole house of an indigenous stone of Coralline of clear tones (white – beige) that, to part of the proper quality of the material, a visual aspect that prospers with the abundant solar light, and the marine reference.

From the principal access, the house seems to hide behind an attainment of curved walls that believe a sculptural set. In the middle, a big door of two sheets in wood leads to the housing. The whole housing has crossed ventilation, this way to be able to make use of all the advantages of the Caribbean climate especially the sea breeze.

Interiors are proposed with furniture designed by A-cero and made to measurement, practically the whole production was realized in Spain. But very overloaded ambiences do not want to be created not of pronounced decoration, claiming a certain simplicity inside the big interior spaces. The stone of exterior Coralline interferes inside to offer visual continuity, in addition to there is this a material much adapted for the warm present climate the whole year. The whole housing one can say that it is opened on the outside in practically all his fronts, with big practicable large windows. The exterior sensation – interior ends up by getting lost putting the gardens inside the house.

The couches design of A-cero, they are realized by the carpentry “Amboage“ and upholstered by “Manama“ in textile of neopreno model Scuba in white color of the firm “Kvadrat“. In the whole housing this composition follows, in addition to the couches also in chairs, exterior beach chairs or some small tables. The furniture of carpentry designed by A-cero carried out in wood DM lacquer in high white shine for “Cándido Hermida“.

The kitchen of the Italian signature “Arclinea” purchased in Miami. The carpets, in sisal they are of “Moquetas Asan”. The blinds in white of “Persianas Victoria”. The lighting of “Iguzzini”. The beds in the whole housing by “Chateau vitre” for “Supermatrex”. In baths, the bathroom fittings of “Duravit“ and the taps of “Axor”.

In the exterior, there looks after very much the landscaping project of A-cero, executed by “Aybar“. The indigenous gardening is imposed, as there are different species of palm trees.

+ Project credits / data

Author of the project: A-cero, Joaquin Torres architects – Joaquín Torres (director), Rafael Llamazares (architect partner, collaborator)
Project: House in Casa de Campo – La Romana / Dominican Republic
Location: Dominican Republic
Date of project: octuber 2006
Date of termination: April 2009
Photographer: Fernando Manosalvas
Gardening/ landscaping: A-cero / Aybar
Construction: Arena Gorda (República Dominicana)

+ All images and drawings courtesy of A-cero

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3. Murcia Project | A-cero

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