workshop vol.08

issue

08

shop www.choisgallery.com

creative commercial space + concept

In A Different Professional Manner

– ACXT stimulates a new model distinct from the ones that are on offer.

Galaxy SOHO

– Zaha

Hadid made a composition of four continuous, flowing volumes a new urban landmark for Beijing.

Macalister Mansion

– Ministry of Design turned a 100-year-old historic mansion into a contemporary fairytale.

Starbucks Espresso Journey

– nendo designed a pop-up Starbucks shop to be like a library.

WORK shop

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The column in the middle of the room is a ‘straw’ which sucks up all the flavours splashing on the ceiling like a fountain.

Diplom-is: Ice Cream Castle _AS Scenario Interior Architects MNIL

RETAIL

Design_ AS Scenario Interior Architects MNIL

Photography_ Gatis Rozenfelds, F64

Country_ Norway

Client_ Diplom-is

_ D iplom- is: Ice Cr e am Cas tle

The client was presented to us through an advertising and design agency FRANK TM, who was hired to create a new ‘branding’ for Diplom-is, a Norwegian icecream company and to change their premises in the amusement park outside Oslo, Norway.

Along with FRANK TM, we had a brain-storming session and created a story where the known Diplom-is figure Eskimonika (a girl with a polar bear friend) should be at the central of the new concept.

It was important that both the interior and graphics reflect her world. The column in the middle of the room is a ‘straw’ which sucks up all the flavours: strawberry, chocolate, pistachio, mango etc. The flavours splash on the ceiling like a fountain, and children must help Eskimonika to eat it before it melts and runs down the walls.

The existing desk and back wall were kept and covered with graphics that reflect the mood elsewhere in the room. On the floor we laid sheets

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of ‘ice’ and built a small wooden fleet in front of the counter. It made the kids come up to a more appropriate height and feel equal to adults. Tables Magis penguins is a fun and playful element ‘dancing’ on the ice.

The entire building surface is painted in the colour vanilla, and thereby serves as a contrast to the surrounding amusement park landscape. It becomes an ice castle on the outside as well as the inside.

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Puma Social Club Store _edit! + Tereza Komarkova

The Puma company came to us with a specific brief – to make a multifunctional meeting point combining a shop with their social club concept and a café. The store is oriented especially towards young people who may discover Puma street wear products in a more amusing way.

Tereza Komarkova, a student of architecture at the Technical University in Liberec, joined the edit! team for six months as she was chosen after the workshop we organised for Puma for her original concept inspired by miners’ cloakrooms in coal mines of the Ostrava industrial region. Miners used suspended steel chains to hang up their clothes and pull them up to make them ventilated. In Puma store the chains serve to present the products

RETAIL

Design_ edit! + Tereza Komarkova

and to modify the inner space or even to free it up for various occasions or events. Their height can be controlled both manually and remotely and they can also be tied together to create a sort of chain tree with products.

The building where the Puma social club store is located is the birthplace of Franz Kafka, in the very heart of the historical centre of Prague. The approach was first to clean up the space from additional non-historic interventions and then unite all public areas by a massive wooden floor. Besides the chains the major interior feature is a long bar clad in rusted steel plates that also serves as a retail counter. The rusted steel is used also at specially designed walls of perforated plates where shoes and apparel are presented.

Photography_ Saša Dobrovodský

Country_ Czech Republic

Client_ Puma Czech Republic

_ Puma Social Club S to r e

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The original concept was inspired by miners’ cloakrooms in the coal mines of the Ostrava industrial region.

a long bar clad in rusted steel plates serves as a retail counter.

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As Good As New Pop-up shop in SPRMRKT _i29 interior architects

On 20th september the first batch of brand new second-hand furniture was presented in a pop-up shop during a festive launch party. For this occasion, i29 interior architects designed an installation to present the new AsGoodAsNew furniture label.

Four years ago, Gummo, i29 interior architects and Krimpex joined forces to create the recycled office, furnished entirely with recycled and reclaimed

furniture. It was a sensation on and offline, so a lot of praise and a few awards later, we’ve now decided to make a range of brand new second-hand furniture available to the public. It’s made in exactly the same way as everything in the award-winning office – we find old stuff we like. We fix it. We cover it with our special blend of solvent-free grey matter. Then it’s As Good As New. Now, another shared collaboration

resulted in the online AsGoodAsNew shop and a pop-up shop.

‘Everything in SPRMRKT’s recycled home is covered in a matt, dark grey nuance, which gives the little shop a highly conceptual look with arty vintage furniture mixing perfectly in SPRMRKT’s high-fashion universe.’ – Nelleke Strijkers, owner of SPRMRKT.

All second-hand furniture is covered with special blend of solvent-free grey matter.

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Design_ i29 interior architects

Photography_ Ewout Huibers

Country_ The Netherlands

Client_ As Good As New

_ As Go od As Ne w Pop- up shop in S PR M R K T

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The Loft _Joey Ho Design Ltd.

RESTAURANT / BAR

Design_ Joey Ho Design Ltd.

Photography_ Dick

Country_ Hong Kong

Client_ CafĂŠ de Coral Holdings Limited

_The Lo f t

Loft-style is applied to this restaurant for bringing diners an idyllically homely experience following the corporate strategy of creating a ‘house’ context. Raw materials and the simple contrast of the interior red and white frame system visually generate fusion of old and new elements. This minimalist layout evokes an unfinished chic and airy ambience. The semi-framed dining area

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provides privacy within this open-concept space. The designer has transformed the existing niche space of the restaurant into a loft with light-filled, charming character by using graphics featuring domestic scenes. This design presents an array of eclectic details with discreet luxury and communicates a newly-built, stylish image of the restaurant.

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Movement Café _Morag Myerscough

The Movement Café is a newly constructed and temporary performance space designed by British artist Morag Myerscough. Located next to the DLR station in Greenwich, South East London, the café was meant to be a gateway threshold to the 2012 Olympic Games borough to serve tourists as well as the residents of Greenwich.

Built within just 16 days, the Movement Café is an explosion of colour and type, sitting at the centre of an amphitheatre-like space created from the natural level of the site, post-demolition, being 2m below street level. Shipping containers and bright colours which exemplify the designer’s imagination, are used as the basis of the café and the containers can be locked up at night to keep the restaurant essentials safe. Reusable scaffolding and shade structures

RESTAURANT / BAR

were left around them to create a pleasant café atmosphere.

Collaborating with the official Olympic poet Lemn Sissay, the design was inspired by a poem about Greenwich he posted on twitter. Myerscough set the words into the design of the café, painting them on large wooden panels and become eye-catching fixtures noting the presence of the new social community space. The poem is posted on the wall wrapping the site.

Then artist Luke Morgan of Supergroup created the custom furniture and cushions for the seating area using water-resistant material recycled from kites.

The café also has a Pashley ice cream bicycle customised by artist Luke Morgan, selling homemade vegan ice cream.

Design_ Morag Myerscough

Photography_ Gareth Gardner / Dominic Dorin

Country_ UK

Client_ Cathedral Group

_ Mov ement Ca fé

_ R E S TA U R A N T/ B A R

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Shipping containers and bright colours which exemplify the designer’s imagination, are used as the basis of the café.

WORK shop

The table has nine individual heated areas to keep the plate warm.

RESTAURANT / BAR

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_ Paco Ro ncero’s wo rks h o p

_ R E S TA U R A N T/ B A R

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The oleotec has a capacity of 216 types of olive oil combining bright and matt surfaces, where the numbers and the letters are engraved to be able to identify each oil.

The project takes place in a space where the most advanced technologies, new materials and ecosustainable systems will be put together with the gastronomic proposals of a perfect technique from the chef.

The aim was to create a big white box that kept the character of its time, whereupon the first task was rehabilitation. Inside this box in a superimposed way allowing the difference between the past and present to be seen, the space was projected, designing the different elements that modernised it and defined it with a contemporary and changeable character thanks to technology.

Conceived as a type of large worktop to test new dishes, the table also has room to seat nine guests including the chef. The surface of the table is made of keraon (Tau ceramic) and the structure of the table legs is made of ash. The chairs were designed based on

special needs. On the one hand we were searching for comfort – they have to be comfortable for a meal and its after-lunch / afterdinner conversation. On the other hand, an essential requirement was that they had to be of adjustable height and swivel with wheels to allow full mobility. From all of this, a hybrid chair was invented, between what would be an office seat, a kitchen chair and an armchair. The tubes that emerge from the central hanging tray had been conceived to house different types of lighting, projectors, cameras, scent spreadings, extraction systems in the kitchen area, etc.

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OFFICE GREENHOUSE _OPEN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

OFFICE

Design_ OPEN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Photography_ Maris Lagzdins

Country_ Latvia

Client_ Binarium

_OFFICE G REEN H O U SE

The keyword of the design for the Greenhouse office was greenery. The principal request of the client was plenty of herbage. The specifics of work in this office gave the possibility to make an open-space office, planning special cabinets only for few groups of employees. In the open-space area we designed a multifunctional piece of furniture into which is integrated working places, a rest area (sofa), a dining zone and big trees. The kitchen is made of 6mm-thin metal sheets, integrating a metal sink and pull-out rubbish bin. The rest of the kitchen wall is greened

The keyword of the design for the Greenhouse office was greenery. The principal request of the client was plenty of herbage.

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by flowerpots which are put on warehouse wallshelves, straightened on rails. The wall construction is left visible from the side of the open-space room, using plasterboard plates only from the cabinet side, so from the open-space we can see construction profiles. The walls are painted white and in some planes the brick is left in its natural look. In the cabinets, walls with windows to the open-space room use Timorous Beasties wallpaper in London Toile, which fits with the green concept and portrays witty scenes from London.

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The heart of the building is a central atrium surrounded by a light-filled meeting centre with a reception space, meeting rooms, working areas, informal meeting areas, lounges, a restaurant, a service desk and an auditorium. Sun collectors on the south façade and on the roof track the sun throughout the day, absorbing the maximum amount of solar energy.

The working and meeting areas are designed to be energetic islands floating on an otherwise calm, light-white terrazzo floor. Some islands are open spaces and others enclosed for privacy but they are all executed with vibrant colours and materials.

Those on the ground floor are red, purple and orange, while those on the first floor are in different shades of verdant green (meeting rooms) and blue

OFFICE

(working spaces). Employees are drawn to these colourful islands across the white floor and ‘land’ on them to undertake work and hold discussions. The diversity of colour and materials on the work islands are not only lively and inviting but they give the different spaces specific identities and atmospheres that enable people to orientate themselves better in the office.

When arriving in the entrance hall, visitors are escorted by receptionists to one of the three Corian reception desks, making them feel they are arriving in a five-star hotel rather than an office building. This innovative piece of interior design reflects a new concept for hospitality that suits Eneco’s genuine generosity and focus on people.

_ Eneco He a d qua rter Rot te r da m

_O FFI C E

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The heart of the building is a central atrium surrounded by a light-filled meeting centre.

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The green plant walls on the outside actually make their way inside at the third floor, bringing the natural world into the built world.

OFFICE

_ Eneco He a d qua rter Rot te r da m

_O FFI C E

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Behind the meeting rooms lies the auditorium, designed with deliberately dark tones to create a tranquil and intimate space for presentations.

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The white and blue chairs with fairytale pastel animals and central white tree, add a touch of whimsicality to the dining space.

HOTEL

_ M aca lister M a n s i o n

_H OTE L

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Parco Acque ai Cappuccini _Simone Micheli

The Parco Acque is the new wellness centre that the Park Hotel ai Cappuccini opened for its guests last spring. We can define Simone Micheli’s work as an introspective journey whose destination is ‘relaxation’. It is based on an ancient structural matrix (a 17th century monastery) with futuristic design and technology based on the concept of wonder. The main area of the wellness centre is the pool zone where Simone Micheli says ‘the fluid and multiform matrix of the water is wonderfully exalted by bright, fun and interactive interior design.’

A playful, dreamy and enterprising mood is the result of an amount of various elements such as

HOTEL

Design_ Simone Micheli

the stranding mesh holding a gigantic yellow ball in the air, a ‘curl-fountain’ faucet and a rounded boardwalk to separate the swimming area from the first whirlpool zone. In this area – where Simone Micheli has skillfully highlighted an existing murals

by Arnaldo Pomodoro – there is also an upstream swimming pool and a ‘fun pool’ for children. This amazing area is linked with the outdoor terrace through an extensive floor to ceiling window. The swimming zone is directly connected to a more intimate area dedicated to the relationship between humans and water: a flotation bathtub suitable for meditation and relaxation, a huge magnesium pool

Photography_ Juergen Eheim

Country_ Italy

with anatomic chaise longue and a circular whirpool tub. The bathroom area contains a large basin.

Water is delivered by a sort of ‘proboscis’ coming from the sky while each toilet door is installed with monitors equipped with in-loop videos. Heraclitus’ phrase ‘panta rei’ (everything flows) could be a good way to explain this environment where design and lights work together as a fluid philosophy. For hotel guests, Parco Acque is a new reason to remember their holiday in this timeless dimension where each element is exalted in the ‘future-oriented’ work of Simone Micheli.

Client_ Park Hotel ai Cappuccini

_ Pa rco Acque a i Ca ppucc i n i

_H OTE L

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The work harmoniously integrated an ancient structural matrix with futuristic design and technology.

water is delivered by a sort of ‘proboscis’ coming from the sky while each toilet door is installed with monitors equipped with in-loop videos.

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Fudge P0p-Up Hair Salon _Zaha Hadid Architects

HEALTH /BEAUTY

Design_ Zaha Hadid Architects

Cult hair brand Fudge has teamed up with the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery, holding its first pop-up salon, opened throughout London Fashion Week and London Design Week.

Following the recent acquisition of Fudge into the PZ Cussons Beauty portfolio, this event was Fudge’s first major consumer facing activity. The fudge pop-up salon not only presented its leading creative geniuses for hair advice and styling, cutting and colour appointments but the collaboration unique designs from the Zaha Hadid Architects, in celebration of London Fashion Week and London Design Week.

Photography_ Marcus Peel

Country_ UK

Client_ Fudge Hair

_ Fudge P0 p- Up H a ir S a lo n

_ H E A LT H / B E A U T Y

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A model of King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre, one of Hadid’s latest buildings, protruded from one of the corner.

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Established & Sons, milan 2012 _Constance Guisset

The renowned French designer and scenographer Constance Guisset was asked to present an installation for Established & Sons at the Milan Furniture Fair, 2012. The installation, while respects the exhibition, is the perfect combination of lightness and movement that she creates in her other designs.

The luminous, half transparent ropes envelop the furnitures.

EXHIBITION/SHOWROOM

Design_ Constance Guisset

Photography_ ŠPhoto Guisset

Country_ France

Client_ Established & Sons

_ Esta blis hed & Sons, m i l a n 2 012

_E X H I B I T I O N / S H OW R O O M

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The Original Porsche – a 356 No.1 built in 1948 – is the starting point for a swarm of 25 silver coloured vehicle models at the scale of 1:3, on show in the main exhibition area.

At the entrance the pavilion cantilevers 25m over the lagoon’s water surface in front. Below the cantilever of the large asymmetrical roof, a sheltered external space opens up. This space is visually connected to the surrounding landscape, but forms its own acoustic enclosure, providing seating for a few hundred guests. Architecture and landscape, interior and exterior as well as roof and façade are brought together by HENN in their architectural concept of a coherent and flowing continuum. The external area around the pavilion was designed by landscape architects WES and integrated into the overall concept of the park.

By walking around the sculptural Porsche Pavilion, further highlights of the Autostadt can be discovered.

Similar to the monocoque construction technology used for lightweight structures in the automotive and aerospace industries, the building envelope forms a spatial enclosure whilst at the same time acting as load-bearing structure. A total of 620 sheets of stainless steel cladding with welded ribs were prefabricated in a ship-yard in Stralsund and assembled on site.

Inside the pavilion a concentrated space opens up, allowing

EXHIBITION/SHOWROOM

visitors to experience the sports car brand Porsche and its history, yet, casting aside the conventional limits and restraints to perception. The elliptically curved ramp embraces the dynamic principle of the architecture and leads the visitor to the lower exhibition stage areas. The exhibition and staging concept created by hg merz architekten museumsgestalter and jangled nerves combines evolution, engineering and the fascination of Porsche into an impressive image of future oriented tradition. The Original Porsche – a 356 No.1 built in 1948 – is the starting point for a swarm of 25 silver coloured vehicle models at the scale of 1:3, on show in the main exhibition area.

Tradition and innovation, performance and day-to-day practicality, design and functionality, exclusiveness and social acceptance: these four antagonistic terms characterise Porsche’s values and philosophy. They are also picked up as themes in short films. A film about the company history, sound stories about selected Porsche models as well as tablet PCs with further information about the exhibited vehicles make this visit’s experience perfect.

_ Porsche Pavilion at the Autosta dt in Wo lfs bu rg

The elliptically cur ved ramp embraces the dynamic principle of the architecture and leads the visitor to the lower exhibition stage areas.

_E X H I B I T I O N / S H OW R O O M

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Daum Campus Masterplan & Daum Space Design _

Minsuk Cho and Kisu Park / Mass Studies Design team _

Hyunjung Kim, Jisoo Kim, Sungpil Won, Nikolas Urano, Sebastien Soan, Junghye Bae, Jangwon Choi, Kwonwoong Lim, Youngjoon Chung, Bhujon Kang, Zongxoo U, Taehoon Hwang, Sangkyu Jeon, Younkyoung Shin, Vin Kim, Daeun Jeong, Yuseok Heo, Kyungmok Park, Wonbang Kim, Jieun Lee, Sanghoon Lee and Songmin Lee Client _

Daum Communications Location _

Jeju Province, South Korea Photography _

Kyungsub Shin

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// Minsuk Cho / Founder of Mass Studies // Photo ŠSukmu Yun

Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, South Korea, as a critical investigation of architecture in the context of mass production, intensely overpopulated urban conditions, and other emergent cultural niches that define contemporary society. Amid the many frictions defining spatial conditions in the 21st century, namely past vs. future, local vs. global, utopia vs. reality, and individual vs. collective, Mass Studies focuses on the operative complexity of these multiple conditions instead of striving for a singular, unified perspective. For each architectural project, which exists across a wide range of scales, Mass Studies explores issues such as spatial systems / matrices, building materials / techniques, and typological divergences to foster a vision that allows the discovery of new socio - cultural potential.

‘...a rebellious attempt to move away from the urban setting to reinvent an independent, creative work community.’

As a combination of these modules, we were able to design the main centre as a five-storey building that is open on all four sides, allowing scenic views – a nearby forest to the west, Halla Mountain to the south, and the ocean to the north – to penetrate into the interior, creating a favourable working environment.

The inclined site meets the entrance road on the southern end of the second floor, where one enters the auditorium. The main entrance to the building is located further into the site, with an outdoor space separating the two entrances.

As one progress upward to the fourth and fifth floors, the floor areas become smaller, allowing for more isolated, intimate office spaces, project rooms and conference rooms, together with outdoor terraces (of either wooden decks or grass).

Inside the piers, which act as the vertical structural elements on all floors, are round or rounded rectangular spaces for various core services, HVAC, stairs, elevators, as well as programs such as smaller meeting rooms, restrooms, and breastfeeding rooms.

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Construction _

Hyundai Development Company Construction Manager _

Hanmi Global Co.

Forth floor plan.

Pacific Place // Thomas Heatherwick / Founder of Heatherwick Studio // Photo ©Markn Ogue

Heatherwick Studio was formed in 1994 to make unique design projects happen. Today a team of over 75 architects, designers and makers work from a combined studio and workshop in King’s Cross, London, UK. Heatherwick Studio has a wide breadth of expertise at all scales with a current focus on large scale building projects. The studio has worked on a Benedictine monastery in the UK, a power station in the north of England, the design for the New Bus for London, a 180m-tall hotel in Hong Kong, a residential development in Kuala Lumpur, the UK Shanghai Expo Pavilion and two mixed-use schemes in China.

Thomas is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Victoria & Albert Musuem. He is the recipient of honourary doctorates from four British Universities – Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Dundee, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Brighton. He has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize and in 2004, was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry.

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Design _

Heatherwick Studio Client _

Swire Properties Location _

Hong Kong Photography _

Iwan Baan

‘...an important and iconic development that sets the standard for shopping in Hong Kong.’

Dreamingly amazing and fascinating

by Constance Guisset // All Photos ŠPhoto Guisset

Born in 1976, Constance Guisset lives and works in Paris.

After studying politics and economics at the ESSEC and at Sciences Po and after a year of working for an MP at the Parliament of Tokyo, she opted for a creative career. As a manager at the Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec Studio between 2003 and 2010, she graduated in 2007 from the ENSCI-Les Ateliers. In 2008 she won the Paris Grand Prix du Design in the debutante category, and the Prix du Public at the noailles Design Parade in 2009.

The following year Maison et Objets, Now! Design Ă Vivre nominated her one of the ten top Designers of the year and she won the Audi Talents award. Her research projects include various applications in set design, object design and videos.

Her work reflects visual illusions and surprise. She creates moving objects, designed to amaze and fascinate.

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This first solo exhibition of Constance Guisset at the Chapelle des Calvairienne in Mayenne is the opportunity to show the connection between her seven years of various works in design, scenography and video.

Design – Constance Guisset, Mayenne

Lafayette Client _

Galeries Lafayette Maison

Window displays for Galeries Lafayette Maison.

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Lamps that celebrate the idea of light as a real presence.

Capes

Between the bird and the dress it seems to be flying elegantly in the space. The translucid plastic makes the presence soft and ghosted, almost immaterial.

VERTIGO Client _

Petite Friture

A lamp whose switch levitates when the light is on.

An enveloping lamp that creates a space of intimacy.

The lightness of the lamp (less than 500g for 2m2 amplitude) makes it mobile to the rhythm of the air – it turns softly, projecting an almost transparent graphic space between the floor and the ceiling.

FIAT LUX Client _

GrĂŠgory Cid

When the light is off, the switch is an autonomous sphere that can be stocked onto the lamp thanks to a magnet system. The user becomes an illusionist by turning the lamp on, just by approaching the switch.

This work is prototype only.

interview W: Tell us about your office, team, business and strategies.

J: Our strategy is entirely multidisciplinary. We are fully convinced that our architecture will be better as long as we are capable of

conceiving projects as a team, with outstanding professionals, in a creative, complex and multidisciplinary environment which is also rich and varied in points of view and analysis. This is unusual in our field, where individualism is sometimes abused and excess trust is put on genius.

W: What’s your routine in the office?

J: Unfortunately, management duties take up a large amount of my time. I like to get involved in projects, but sometimes, leading a team does not allow me to do that. I enjoy seeing the results of group work, even though it sometimes isn’t through my own participation in

each project. It is difficult to keep the balance. I try to find time to cover both aspects: my personal involvement and the management of the group.

W: In your company’s professional statement, you said that there is a need to establish a new professional model that is different from what’s currently on offer. Can you elaborate?

J: I consider creative processes to be undergoing deep transformation with regards to method and process. We carry a historic burden that makes us analyse creation within somewhat old-fashioned parameters, generally based on genius, invention or the opportunism typical of overcoming historic moments. Personally, I think every piece of work is a creative opportunity. I see no difference between major and minor creation. We should take more notice of the process than of the end product. In the end, there are more opportunities to be creative than we thought. In this way, it is the same as the evolution of cuisine, industrial design, publicity or graphic design.

W: ACXT was set up as an association of more than 400 professionals from over 20

countries. How do you successfully organise such a multidisciplinary and culturally hybrid team?

J: We value personal responsibility and capacity to settle into complex environments. Great

modesty is necessary in order to listen to others, while confidence can insure that individuals contribute something to the team. However, we have occasionally encountered good professionals that did not feel entirely comfortable in such an unorthodox environment.

W: Are there any common characteristics or motifs for ACXT projects?

J: No. Each project is the fruit of its authors and the result of the client’s needs, as well as the circumstances that surrounded the creation and construction processes at that particular

moment. Aspirations of excellence are the solution to any particular problem. I would like to highlight the idea of adaptation as the thread that runs through all our work: adaptation in terms of balance, moderation, serenity, proportion to the problem, understanding of context and situation.

W: How do you tackle relationships with your clients? Have you ever encountered a serious situation in which you were forced to change your original design?

J: The relationships with our clients are not set in dialectical terms. They are not excuses to

make our dreams come true. We try to share our designs with them and to involve them with the creative process of aiming for the best. We all share a social responsibility to do things properly and we do our best to let our clients enjoy the process with us. It does not always turn out to be easy.

W: Let’s get back to design. How do you define ‘design’ and manage it in a specific project?

// Jesús María Susperregui / General Director of ACXT Architects

J: I dislike the word ‘design’. I find it loaded with connotations and a little restrictive when explaining what really goes on during the construction of an architectural work.

W: What was your first project? And what has been the most important project of your career so far?

J: I fondly remember the first project in which I took part. It was an oxy-pipe – a pipe for oxygen. I had little to contribute as an architect,

but it explains a lot as to where we started from. Our office in Madrid is possibly the project in which I have felt the most involved and in a very complex manner.

W: You have lectured and taught around the world. What are your hopes for the younger generation?

J: The younger generation are the masters of the future. When learning from the past, we can only improve. I am an optimist when it comes to their role.

W: What do you think is the future potential for architecture and interior design?

J: Architecture is a basic need for humanity. It is related very deeply to mankind, with the occupation of nature and the need of inhabitation. These issues need to be readdressed by architects and interior designers.

W: What do you think is the biggest challenge that ACXT will face in the next ten years?

J: Our greatest challenge is internationalisation – to export our model all over the world, deepening in our principles and enriching them with the participation of professionals from various cultures.

Interviewer Workshop (W) Interviewee Jesús María Susperregui (J)

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ORIGIN.

Why?

The sociological changes that have taken place over the past decades have deeply affected our profession, causing a profound identity crisis. In this emerging society, it has become clear that there is a need to redefine our role, to find a new forma mentis of the very concept of the architect.

more about

ACXT OBJECTIVES.

The shifting of the social, economic and cultural context suggests the need for the reconsideration of the traditional organisational schemes.

ACXT was conceived from the enthusiasm of those who desire to be architects in the thriving field of a multidisciplinary team. It is a complex balance of shared interests in an attempt to push boundaries, trying to include and recognise the contributions of all. The existence of shared principles does not prevent projects from being conceived by authors and teams with genuine personality and character, in a recognisable style.

What for?

ACXT took interest in a process that considered the intransitive reality of the creative process. In contrast to a single perspective of the finished product, labelled for posterity, we feel we have acquired a greater feeling for the process: the process seen as a whole, of which we are just a part. They simply want to be, in the most profound, universal, ancient and etymological sense of the word, architects: ArchĂŠ, meaning beginning, origin, the first cause, creators of life, founders; and tekton, tectonic, from technical skill, carpenters and builders. It is free from the pressure of having to surprise, in the sense of putting on a show or display. All it tries to do is to offer a solution to an interior need of carrying out a responsible practice of our profession.

THE TEAM.

Who?

ACXT would be nothing without its people. More than half of them are architects.

Engineers in various fields are also involved. ACXT intends for all who are responsible for a project to be acknowledged as unique authors. Thus, there is no desire for monolithic thinking or brand-architecture. Common aspects do exist, but they have more to do with the process and method than with the end result.

It is a culturally hybrid team with a clear international vocation. It is intended that everyone will enjoy a long-term sustainable and truthful professional venture, always following ACXT policies. Opportunities and challenges are offered to the youngest – real possibilities of taking on responsibilities, growth and development, with the essential independence in order for them to mature and learn from the experience.

ORGANISATION.

How?

ACXT is structured, at a first physical level, around a series of offices located all over the world: Barcelona, Bilbao, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Mexico, Pamplona, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Seville, Valencia, Vitoria, Zaragoza, etc. Each office has a team that overlaps its management duties with its technical tasks.

It works under the permanent paradox of having to combine the recognition of personal contributions with the promotion of teamwork. Daily routine finds people carrying out their work on specific projects under the supervision of the person in charge.

Its business policies are rooted in the technical soundness and organisational experience of IDOM. The ownership of the group is in the hands of professionals who work for the firm. The associational object is strictly professional.

All individuals who carry out their work in ACXT, regardless of their role, have a right to become associates after a certain period of time and can therefore take part in the ownership and the benefits. ACXT has operated following this policy under the legal form of a public limited company since 1994.

Shape and function The building is horizontally divided into three layers: services plinth, public area and operational levels.

The services plinth (parking lot, changing rooms, stockrooms, resting areas, building services) becomes the element that adapts to the peculiarities of the plot (topography and shape). Its roof offers back to the environment a landscaped area, which meets with the public part of the building (auditorium, press room, restaurant) on the first floor.

This floor, situated above the olive-tree fields, grants excellent views over the territory, leading to the next floors: the operative box.

The operative box is formed by a large metal

The first floor, situated above the olive-tree fields, grants excellent views over the territory, leading to the next floors: the operative box.

structure and a plastic mesh that achieves a double objective: avoiding direct solar radiation on the fa Ç ade, on all sides, and cancelling out the idea of openings in the fa Ç ade, thus increasing the territorial aspect of the building.

The metal structure, apart from solving the functional needs of the operational rooms, also allows flexibility to be incorporated for future floor distributions and promotes an image of unity of the operational bodies integrated in the new emergencies management model, through its solidity and its white colour, neutral to the uniforms of the operational bodies.

To boost the coordination and the synergies amongst the operators, the operations rooms are

arranged around a large space that also allows natural diffuse sunlight to the inside of the operational box.

Vertical communications are defined by four nuclei: the telecommunications tower nucleus – which is also useful when receiving visits – the authorities’ one, the maintenance one and the main access for workers one.

This functional matrix (horizontal layers and vertical communications) coincides with the structural and conceptual configuration of the building: a ground floor with a reticular flooring (services plinth) and a metal structure box that forms the operative area and is supported by the four concrete nuclei.

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242 Social Housing Units in Salburúa Design_ Project Director _ ARCHITECTS_

ACXT Architects

Sanitary Facilities ENGINEERING_

Iñaki Garai José Cavallero, Ricardo Moutinho, Helena Sá

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING_

Marques and Oscar Ferreira da Costa Project Management_ Electrical ENGINEERING_ Telecomunication ENGINEERING_ Air conditioned_

Juan Dávila Unai Medina

Ibai Ormaza and Aritz Muňoz

Client_ Location_ Phase_

Jon Landaburu, Oscar Malo and Daniel Torre Fsestrucyuras (Fernando Sarria) Visesa Vitoria, Spain Design 20 06 -20 07 | Construction 20 09-2011

Building area _

28,70 0m 2

Photography_

Aitor Or tiz

Jon Landaburu, Oscar Malo and Daniel Torre

The building consists of a twenty-storey tower in the southwest and a continuous U-shaped block covering alignments west, north and east of the plot.

Development of 242 affordable units is located in the expansion area to the east of Vitoria-Gasteiz, specifically in Sector 11, plot M3, Salburua.

The building consists of a twenty-storey tower in the south-west and a continuous U-shaped block, of four to seven floors, covering alignments west, north and east of the plot. Entrances to the flats and the nine premises are located on the ground floor; the garages, the storage rooms and the tower’s technical rooms are located in the two basements; additional storage rooms of the dwellings are located in the attic.

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Entrances to the flats and the nine premises are located on the ground floor.