Architecture highlights vol 5 part 1

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Architecture Highlights series is a global collection of contemporary architectural design, presenting the most active architects who have emerged on an international platform in recent years, with their forward-looking and groundbreaking work.

In volume 5, the works from Architects 49, Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, SAOTA, Henning Larsen Architects, Dominique Coulon et associés, Jean Bocabeille Architecte, Benthem Crouwel Architekten, Hofman Dujardin Architects, ACXT Arquitectos, Baragaño, CASA Sólo Arquitectos, Donaire Arquitectos, Josep Miàs & Partners | MiAS Architects, Damilano Studio Architects, Studio Ricatti, etc. are included. Each architectural work will be extensively illustrated with colour photographs drawings and text explaining their concept of 'good design'. Through this book, we wish to showcase and explore the dynamic trends of architectural design nowadays and as a gallery for designers to exchange their creative ideas and unique designs with each other.

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CONTENTS

Architects 49

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Royal Archive Center BU Landmark Complex

Frank La Riviere Architects

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Nebuta-no-ie Warasse

Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

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Golden Crust Bakery Henley Street Trojan House

Jorge Hernandez de la Garza

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Smooth Building

SAOTA - Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects

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Dakar Sow Sow Geneva Victoria 73

Henning Larsen Architects Denmark

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Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre Spiegel HQ Umeå School of Architecture Viborg Town Hall

Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter

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Fagerborg Kindergarden Trollwall Restaurant

Stein Halvorsen AS

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Solrosen Kindergarten Viken Skog Headquarter

2020 Liverpool

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The Alsop High School

Teo Hidalgo Nácher

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Ripolles-Manrique House

Dominique Coulon et associés

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‘Josephine Baker’ Group of Schools in La Courneuve House for déficient persons Library in Anzin Music School and Areas for Culture

Jean Bocabeille Architecte

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Biscornet Picard Nursery

LAN Architecture

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EDF Archives Centre Student Residence

Tank Architectes

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Levi Strauss High School

Benthem Crouwel Architekten

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Academic Centre for Dentistry Deutsches Bergbau Museum Elicium RAI

BOETZKES|HELDER Architects

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Villa DVT

Hofman Dujardin Architects

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Villa Geldrop

Frederico Valsassina Arquitectos

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Alcatel Head Office

LGLS Arquitectos

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University Canteen and Restaurant

Nelson Resende Arquiteto

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House in Praia Verde House in Souto

Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes

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Gandra School Valongo House

ACXT Arquitectos

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242 Social Housing Units in Salburúa CEIBS Business School IDOM Headquarters Bilbao

Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos

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ABC Museum, Illustration and Design Center

Baragaño

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Metal Foundation [sLAB] Cruise Ship Terminal in Bilbao

CASA Sólo Arquitectos

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C O R & Asociados

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Los Arcos del Mar Menor University Hospital Santa Lucía General University Hospital Funeral Home and Garden in Pinoso Music Hall and House in Algueña MUCA

Donaire Arquitectos

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New Theatre in Almonte Office and Services Building in the Port of Roquetas De Mar Social Center in La Av. De La Paz Warehouse Rehabilitation of Public Library and Music School

EQUIP Xavier Claramunt

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Hotel Acta Mimic Hotel Hospes Palma

Josep Miàs & Partners | MiAS Architects

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Annexa-Joan Puigbert Primary School in Girona iGuzzini Illuminazione Spain Headquarters Rubí Market and Town Hall Offices Topographic House

Larraz Arquitectos

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Nursery School in Pamplona Shelter Home for the Homeless

Luis Machuca & Associates

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Faculty Building, Málaga University

Sol89

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Training Center of Town Hall

Unia Arquitectos

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SPEE Sevilla

Virai Arquitectos

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Institutional Winery “ La Grajera” Secondary School in Miranda de Ebro

Kopper Architektur

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Research Center for Molecular Medicine

Zechner & Zechner ZTGmbH

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Stella Zwei Residential Building

CHRIST.CHRIST. associated architects

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House R House S

Scheidt Kasprusch Architekten

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Haus der Essener Geschichte Research & Sports Hall of Humboldt University

Pablo Horváth Architekt SIA/SWB

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Apartment Buildings J. Buff Grisons College of Education

Damilano Studio Architects

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Gazoline Petrol Station Oficina Vidre Negre

Studio Marco Piva

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Move Hotel

Markus Scherer

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Winery Nals Margreid

Studio Ricatti

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Diesel Headquarter

Architects 49 Thailand

Royal Archive Centre Nakhon Pathom, Thailand Royal Archive Centre is the central archive for important historical evidence related to Thai Royal Monarchy including manuscripts, photographs and other historical records. Previously these invaluable materials were stored separately in various sites. Therefore, the brief of this project was called for a permanent central royal archive building as a place for storing, researching and conserving any information related to the royal family – Chakri Dynasty. The main areas include: printed documents / objects archives, archives area, permanent exhibition space, a display area of the King Rama VI’s achievements and biographies, temporary exhibition space, conference room, public library, office and car park.

Architectural Solution - Zoning strategy. The project can be categorized into three main zones: 1. Public zone – the areas where public users have full access i.e. exhibition rooms, the library (designated area) and a 100-seat conference room. They are located in the front part of the building for easily accessible purpose.

2. Private zone – staff office area.

3. Secured zone – archives storage rooms where only authorized staff can have access.

Three building forms are, therefore, a direct translation of this zoning strategy analysis. They are connected by a central courtyard which is sometimes used for holding official functions by Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary as well.

- Modern Thai architecture. Due to the narrow drive way to the main building entrance, the front of the building is designed to reach forward to receive the visitors. The canopy at the drop-off area is made of red wood, a warm gesture to welcome guests. Other metaphoric approach to communicating the essence of traditional Thai architecture can be found elsewhere such as teak textured wall at the main entrance. The large red entry doors, derived from entries commonly found in traditional Thai palace, are designed to reflect the importance of archives created during Chakri Dynasty.

- Energy conservation. The project site is a rectangular shape with east-west orientation. The building functions do not require much natural daylight therefore the buildings are designed to be stacked masses to create shadows casting over one another, reducing heated surface area. The 8-storey archives building is built with mostly solid walls and situated at the back blocking direct sunlight from the west, sheltering the library building in the south-east. All archives storage rooms have interior wall insulation to prevent any heat gain. On the eastern facade of the library, vertical precast concrete panels are designed to protect the interior space from direct sunlight.

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Architects 49 Thailand

BU Landmark Complex Pathum Thani, Thailand The Bangkok University Landmark Complex is initiated on the necessities that are to reorganize the frontal area of the campus and to create an outstanding approach for the campus’s entrance. In addition to the mentioned requirements, the School of Business Management also required some supplementary facilities, for example, classrooms, seminar rooms, lecturers’ office and lecture halls.

Then, the new complex is emerged from the particular architectural form evoking the symbol of the university, a diamond.

A group of buildings as a “landmark” is a fundamental concept of the project. The created architectural form is evocative of the presence of the university, its symbol and also allows students and visitors to approach the campus easily.

The concept of a learning space, in which students search for refining themselves through learning process—in order to obtain knowledge and become qualified human resources—can be illustrated by analogy with a lapidary process. In common with a learning process, a lapidarian gradually transforms a stone into the precious diamond through cutting and polishing elaboration. Thus, the concept coincides precisely with the university’s vision that aims to be “creative university”.

The site planning considers the campus’s traffic system and provides two additional gates in order to facilitate the traffic flow efficiently. The landscape design plays a role of bringing the complex to become more outstanding. The pond is placed in the front of the building group so it creates a reflecting effect of the building forms. Moreover, it also serves as a natural barrier as well as the campus’s reservoir.

Principally, the design considers visual and functional continuity between the front area and the rear of the campus so the entire campus is inextricably intertwined.

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Frank La Riviere Architects Japan

Nebuta-no-ie Warasse Aomori City, Yasukata, Japan In August, Nebuta Festival (originated in 8th century) fever descends upon Aomori. Nebuta, created anew each year, take the form of huge (9m x 7m x 5.5 m) paper lantern like floats showing warriors from Japanese and Chinese history and myth in dramatic poses often showing battle scenes.

Roughly 20 large Nebuta are paraded through the streets accompanied by drums, bamboo flutes and hordes of revelers in traditional attire, dancing and chanting.

The Nebuta-no-ie Warasse is dedicated to all aspects of the Nebuta festival. Located in front of Aomori train station, where the city meets the sea, the building was opened on January 5th 2011.

As visitors approach, the building and its plaza frame a view of Aomori Bay. A screen 12-meter-tall steel ribbons wraps the whole building and encloses an outdoor walkway, a threshold between the mythical world of Nebuta and the contemporary city. Each ribbon is twisted and bended to form openings for light, views and passageways.

Inside, the Nebuta, luminous creatures reside in darkness. Humans enter into a world of giants.

Visitors first travel through the history of the Nebuta festival and Aomori city, to arrive at an upper level platform that brings them eye to eye with the real Nebutas. A ramp descends into the Nebuta Hall, a large T-shaped space that recreates the darkness of the city streets by night through the simple choice of black materials: black polished concrete floors, black stucco walls and a black painted ceiling. This materiality is dominant throughout the whole building except for the only two white cores that stand out. Each year, five new prize winning Nebuta take up residence in the Nebuta-no-ie Warasse and the cycle of designing and constructing the Nebuta starts all over again.

The Performance Hall (L2) opens to the Nebuta Hall, its huge sliding doors allowing for the Nebuta to become present in performances. Below, the Music Rehearsal Area can be used integrated with the Nebuta Hall by opening similar large sliding doors. Both the restaurant (L1) and the multipurpose space (L2) for community events offer glimpses into the Nebuta Hall as well as views to the sea.

Photography: Ogawa Shigeo, Frank la Riviere

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Jackson Clements Burrows Architects Australia

Golden Crust Bakery Victoria, Australia This project commenced in 2006 as a residential warehouse fit-out of the former Golden Crust Bakery in Armadale. In its more recent life the Golden Crust Bakery had suffered from a mock French provincial makeover that was incongruous with the original architecture. The building was in a state of serious deterioration and whilst it was perceived to have potential to meet our clients' brief, the possibility of demolition was a serious consideration on the basis that the building was not protected by any heritage overlays.

The brief for the project was reasonably straightforward,however,the requirement for a combination of separation and social integration in a large family is often complex. In response, the brief was condensed into four basic zones: Parents, Family, Kids and Teenagers.

An important consideration associated with the creation of separate zones was the need to ensure that social integration was maintained and encouraged. The primary device for achieving this integration was the introduction of a bridge which linked the first floor of the main building (young kids) and the first floor of the stables (teenage kids), an exciting sculptural space which allowed the “littlies” to directly engage with the “biggies”.

The physical separation of the teenage kids from the primary living areas (provided by passing over or under the bridge through covered outdoor space) also defines their growing sense of independence.

The bridge extends its function by providing important shading protection from both east and west sun. Other ESD strategies include automated external shutters to all primary east and west facing glass, architectural sun-screening devices, VRV A/C systems, solar hot water systems, solar pool heating, automated electrical management and 120,000L of underground rainwater storage for use in toilets, pool and garden irrigation.

Photography: Shannon McGrath

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Jackson Clements Burrows Architects Australia

Henley Street Barwon Heads, Victoria, Australia Barwon Heads is in a period of significant change. Heritage overlays currently protect older fishing shacks whilst the less significant built fabric remaining in the seaside town is progressively being redeveloped and architecture is now significantly contributing to the evolution of this small coastal township. In this case, a young family engaged JCB to design their new permanent residence which would replace a dilapidated 1950’s two-storey house that was beyond repair. A sculptural building form emerged from the client’s brief which jokingly requested a planetarium as an inclusion.

This led to the exploration of circular forms and resulted in a circular skylight in the first floor living areas as a direct reference,however,the house was primarily conceived to immerse itself over time as a natural extension of the Ti-tree dominated landscape. The house is wrapped in as skin of vertical cedar battens (providing privacy and solar protection) which appear to emerge from the front fence intentionally confusing the relationship between built form and landscape.

Photography: John Gollings

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Jackson Clements Burrows Architects Australia

Trojan House Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia This alterations and additions project addresses a briefing requirement of providing space for a young growing family with 3 children under the age of 10. The initial idea was to challenge the conventional “box on the back” type addition with a sculptural form born of site restraints, such as the ResCode setbacks along the south boundary, the ideal internal programmatic arrangement, the desire to maintain as much back yard as possible and inspired by the rooftop topography of hips and valleys of the existing Edwardian house.

Three kids’ bedrooms and a bathroom were placed cantilevering above the garden, above a large living space below. This programme was then wrapped in a seamless timber skin, covering roof, windows and walls. This idea of skin is carried through to the detailing of operable timber shutters that are scattered across the facade where openings are required.

The notion of the Trojan house is reflected in the idea of an enveloping skin, a built form which contains the unexpected; where windows are disguised with shutters, and where the internal programme is unknown. Internally this programme is extrapolated to fit the container with kids’ bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and living spaces downstairs.

A communication void that doubles as a thermal chimney allows for conversation between upstairs and the living spaces below. Visual connections can be made between the levels via the circular windows scattered along the corridor, bathroom and one of the upstairs bedrooms.

On first floor level a breezeway corridor and thermal chimney void enable cross ventilation to all bedrooms as well as drawing warm air up and out of the living spaces below during summer.

Photography: Emma Cross

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Jorge Hernandez de la Garza Mexio

Smooth Building Nuevo Leรณn, Mexico The Smooth Building is located in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, in a terrain that allows contemplation of the majesty of the Sierra Madre Oriental with its 1,350 km of length. By request of the client, the building has two uses: an office on the ground and first floors and a house on the upper floors for the client and his family.

The challenge was to organize the mixed use architectural programme within a continuous envelope, which dynamically unfolds to accommodate privacy and openings towards the powerful view. The interior is conceived as an open and fluid form with double height transitions and sequences of space and light.

The local urban restrictions determined the occupation of 70% of the site surface along with the number of floors. On the top floor, the roof opens like the lens of camera that metaphorically draws to the interior the best panoramic view. Located in this space is the social area of the house with glass doors that open up into a wooden terrace.

Photography: Paul Czitrom

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SAOTA - Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects South Africa

Dakar Sow Dakar, Senegal, South Africa Built on the site of an old World War Two bunker and on the edge of a cliff, Villa Sow maximises its commanding position to create a house that is not only dramatic but with the incorporation of historical elements quite magical and mysterious.

Part of the old bunker has been retained and a portion of it now houses an underground cinema that opens up into a water courtyard /moat that runs along the boundary creating a water feature at the gateway to the property. It is connected back to the house via a timber panelled walkway leading to a spiral staircase that runs from the lower ground through to the first floor and second floor levels of the villa.

The ground floor of the house, designed to facilitate seamless indoor and outdoor living and entertainment, is arranged in an L shape around the pool, the pool terrace and the garden. The formal living and dining spaces cantilever over the cliff and hang over the Atlantic Ocean enjoying panoramic sea views as well as views back to the house. The kitchen made up of a so so-called “American” or open kitchen and a separate traditional kitchen as well as the garage and staff facilities run along the east-west axis and along the northern side of the boundary. From the entrance one moves past the sculptural circular stair to the entertainment room and the double volume family lounge which connects up with a floating stair to the upper level pyjama lounge. The main and the two children’s bedrooms are placed on this upper level.

One of the features of the house is the spiral staircase, clad in stainless steel, while the treads are clad in white granite. To add to the sense of continuity between the levels the 20mm in diameter stainless steel rods run from the first floor handrail to the lower ground floor, thus making the stairwell look like a sculptural steel cylinder. A skylight above the stairwell as well as floor to ceiling glazing in the lounges adds to the sense of transparency.

The main bedroom suite opens up onto a large terrace which is the roof of the more formal living wing of the house and the element which projects over to the ocean. The main bathroom opens into a private garden and outdoor shower situated over the garages.

The study / office sits in a separate block and is joined to the main house by a hallway running along the spine of the building. Under the study/office is a separate fully contained guest room, alongside which is a private gym and reflecting pond.

Photography: SAOTA

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south-east elevation

north-east elevation

south-west elevation

north-west elevation

section A-A

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SAOTA - Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects South Africa

Sow Geneva Geneva, Switzerland On either side of the 20-meter wide channel sits the two portions that make this house, the main house and the annex. What link the two buildings are the cinemas, spa, auditorium and garages underneath. The main house is a combination of round edged cubes and triangular masses that form the L-shape of the living spaces. A double volume living area with a curved wall on the facade facing the lake, flows into a dining area and kitchen on the ground floor and bedrooms, a lobby and en-suite’s on the top level. The top floors are accessed by a glass cylinder encased lift.

The annex houses a guest suite and what unifies the two are their materiality and spacial relationship to each other, making the gap in between read rather like a pause in time as opposed to an empty space.

Mark Rielly from ANTONI ASSOCIATES spent a number of days in Geneva with the client to source and specify all interior decor and furniture. The contemporary architectural spaces defined the design direction, which resulted in a modern approach to the interior.

The living room is divided into two zones, the formal area and the informal arrangement centred around the feature fireplace – a black suspended flue and fire dish mounted on the floor. Continuity of these two zones was achieved by specifying the same modular sofa, the curved Arne sofa from B&B Italia, but in different configurations. Custom-sized organic-shaped patchwork Nguni rugs were designed for both of these areas.

Clearly, it’s a building that revels in counterpoint: sculptural versus man-made versus natural versus high-tech. Its poetry is a result of its parts and as the owners remarked, the African-ness of the design is enhanced by the subtlety and elegance of the light – so much more apparent in Europe – that moves through the house, changing from season to season and changing too the character of the spaces.

Photography: SAOTA

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SAOTA - Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects South Africa

Victoria 73 Bantry Bay, Cape Town, South Africa The site tapers from the rear being approximately 26m wide to the street boundary which is 17m wide and 16 meters below. This steep tapered shape complicated the design, and hampered the construction process. The budget restrictions implied that a component of the existing building needed to be retained, which also created consequential problems in design, documentation and execution.

The design was primarily driven by the need to create a family home, which accommodated the kitchen, living room and dining room in one single space. These areas enjoyed all day sunlight, and simultaneously framed views of the sea, and the adjacent rock features and connected this level to the private bedroom level above. The secondary living area was to be a dramatic entertainment space, located on the level immediately below the family level – where the clients could entertain large groups of friends. The pool terrace allows for covered and uncovered areas to relax around the pool. The entertainment lounge accommodates a generous bar, and is close to the outdoor braai area. A dramatic gazebo structure is perched at the western edge of the pool deck, which allows the owners to enjoy the last hours of the setting sun on the edge of the pool deck.

These 2 living levels are located centrally in the vertical arrangement of the house on the fourth and fifth floor. The sixth floor above accommodates the main bedroom with 2 children’s ensuite bedrooms and a small children’s lounge. The guests, and staff as well as a private library are located on the second and third storey below the entertainment level. The ground floor accommodates the entrance hall and a five car garage. A glass lift connects the building vertically, and an external service stair connects the levels externally.

The house relates directly to the expansive sea view and is framed by the bright red rectangular chimney flue and a Nero Marquina marble clad wall. The dining space opens out into a garden courtyard with a waterfeature and sculpture. A few steps lead down to the glass fronted wine cellar placed directly under the main bedroom’s study which overlooks this entire spatial volume.

Visually the building is enriched with the use of a number of interesting finishes and features. These include textured stone cladding to various walls internally and externally. This is contrasted with the roughness of the off-shutter concrete soffit to the living room, dining room and kitchen on the fifth floor. The finishes are rich and varied to various other areas in the house, including timber cladding to various rooms, and richly coloured mosaic finishes.

Photography: SAOTA

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Henning Larsen Architects Denmark

Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre Reykjavik, Iceland Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre gathers inspiration from the northern lights and the dramatic Icelandic scenery.

Situated on the border between land and sea, the Concert Hall stands out as a large, radiant sculpture reflecting both sky and harbour space as well as the vibrant life of the city. The spectacular facades have been designed in close collaboration between Henning Larsen Architects, the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and the engineering companies Rambøll and ArtEngineering GmbH from Germany.

The Concert Hall of 28,000 m2 is situated in a solitary spot with a clear view of the enormous sea and the mountains surrounding Reykjavik. The building features an arrival and foyer area in the front of the building, four halls in the middle and a backstage area with offices, administration, rehearsal hall and changing room in the back of the building. The three large halls are placed next to each other with public access on the south side and backstage access from the north. The fourth floor is a multifunctional hall with rooms for more intimate shows and banquets.

Seen from the foyer, the halls form a mountain-like massif that is similar to basalt rock on the coast forms a stark contrast to the expressive and open facade. At the core of the rock, the largest hall of the building, the main concert hall, reveals its interior as a red-hot centre of force.

The project is designed in collaboration with the local architectural company, Batteríið Architects.

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Henning Larsen Architects Denmark

Spiegel HQ Brooktorkai, HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany Henning Larsen Architects has chosen a two-part composition to create hierarchy and openness on the site and has integrated the complex urban spaces that meet at Ericusspitze in their design.

With its clearly readable figure each building has a reserved yet characteristic expression that provides a special significance in relation to creating identity for all the surrounding public spaces.

The Ericus building will be essential for the completion of the large park space. Spiegel will become the gateway to Hafencity seen from the main station and Brooktorkai.

The two buildings are designed as large U-forms that embrace the urban space they are directed towards. The Spiegel building embraces an internal space with a more urban character because of its direction towards the city. The Ericus building embraces an open, green outdoor space as it directed towards the large open Lohsepark.

The two buildings form two plazas: an arrival plaza for pedestrians, cy-clists and drivers towards Brooktorkai and an open public plaza, which has a direct connection to the waterfront promenade.

Photography: Cordelia Ewerth, Andreas Gehrke

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Henning Larsen Architects Denmark

Umeå School of Architecture Umeå, Sweden Umeå School of Architecture has a unique location by Umeå River. With its interior landscape of open floor levels and sculpturally shaped stairs, the building resonates with creativity and artistic experimenting.

As a growth centre for the architecture of the future, Umeå School of Architecture will provide the framework for inspiration and innovation. From the outside, the building has a cubic expression with its larch facades and square windows placed in a vibrant, rhythmic sequence on all sides.

The interior space of the building is designed as a dynamic sequence of stairs and split, open floor levels where abstract, white boxes hang freely from the ceiling filtering the light coming in through the high skylights.

One of the key objectives has been to create a bright and open study environment where everyone is part of the same room – only separated by the split levels and glass walls of the teaching rooms. The design supports the opportunity for mutual inspiration and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and ideas between the students.

In contrast to the dynamic atrium, the drawing rooms placed along the facades of the building in a strict and regular sequence of columns and beams have a simple and rational design. The varied pattern of windows not only creates a strong visual effect – it also generously lets the light flow into the building and offers a breathtaking view of the river.

The School of Architecture will form part of the new Arts Campus at Umeå University, which will also comprise the new Academy of Fine Arts and Art Museum – both designed by Henning Larsen Architects.

Photography: Åke E:son Lindman

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Henning Larsen Architects Denmark

Viborg Town Hall Viborg, Denmark With its complex faceted shape Viborg Town Hall becomes a symbol of the new large municipal community that opens in the wake of the municipal merger.

The interplay between house and park creates a new place in the town where the large inner atrium is the heart that joins the town hall’s professional community with the community of the citizens.

The town council hall is flexibly designed and together with the canteen, foyer and an adjoining meeting room it can be converted into a conference centre. The café on the top floor of the building has direct access to the roof garden with a view of Viborg Cathedral.

Sustainability The energy consumption of Viborg Town Hall will meet the requirements for low-energy class 1 according to Danish building regulations (max (50 +1100 / A) kWh/m2a (A = the heated floor area).

This is achieved by means of several sustainable initiatives, including: - a compact building geometry - treble glazing - natural ventilation (hybrid ventilation)—ensuring an energy-efficient ventilation of the building. An intelligent IT system measures the air quality and temperature and controls openings in the building envelope - mechanical ventilation in part of the building—requiring efficient heat recovery - absorption heat pumps powered by district heating - passive and active cooling of the building stock (concrete floor, open suspended ceilings) - groundwater cooling - daylight—the building has been designed to benefit the most from the daylight - external solar protection - movement sensors and use of energy-efficient light sources to reduce electricity consumption - solar cells on the roofed parking spaces (approx. 1,265 mono-crystalline solar cells) - rainwater collection and percolation Photography: Thorbjoern Hansen Kontraframe

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Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter Norway

Fagerborg Kindergarden Fagerborg, Oslo, Norway Fagerborg congregation committed Reiulf Ramstad Architects to develop and design a brand new nursery at Fagerborg in central Oslo. An existing nursery and a park of both poor and inappropriate standard were sanitized to make room for the newly completed Fagerborg Kindergarten. The new kindergarten comprises a total of four units—two of which are small units. The project has a total area of 1200 m2. The architect has been involved from the initial planning and followed the process from programming to final construction and completion.

Kindergartens are all too often made up by a basic or random and often very poor architectural design. The Fagerborg project did not want to be a part of this trend but rather give the kindergarten an important priority in order to develop a building with a stimulating environment for the next generation.

In nature, top seeds need the best soil for the best growth conditions to flourish. This is the same for humans. Children are the citizens of “tomorrow” and the resources of the future and it is important that this group have stimulating and developing physical limits in their everyday sphere.

Therefore, the objective of the programme—agreed upon by both the client and the architect – was to create a nursery that would have a rich architectural register and become a house of character to encourage the development of character—a meaningful architectural framework for children’s important first phase of the formation and development of the childnen's experience outside the family.

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Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter Norway

Trollwall Restaurant Trollveggen, Møre og Romsdal, Norway It’s a new cursor at the foot of the Troll Wall. The architecture of the new visitor centre is an outcome of the sites, closely connecting to the impressive mountain wall, Europe’s tallest vertical, overhanging rock face in The Romsdal Valley. The Romsdal valley has some of the tallest, sheerest cliffs in Europe and is a popular place for BASE jumping including “birdmen” jumping off cliffs in Wingsuits. This location allows for an exciting setting for the new service- and information centre.

The proposal is carefully planned in relation to the Troll Wall. At the same time it is building a character and identity which in itself will be an attraction in the region. The building has a simple, though flexible plan, with a characteristic roof that has its character from the majestic surrounding landscape. These simple ways of design gives the building its character and identity that makes the Service center an eye-catcher and an architectural attraction in the region.

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Stein Halvorsen AS Norway

Solrosen Kindergarten Hønefoss, Norway Solrosen is a hub-based day care where facilities suited for learning are highly valued and the idea of day care as a retention facility abandoned long ago. The different bases are independent zones each with specific content. The sum represents diversity where the child is challenged in different ways throughout the day.

Ambition of the design was inviting building, making kindergarten a place that welcomes you whether you are a child, a parent or an employee. Entering kindergarten from Kong Rings street you are led to the central circular room– the core of the building. The kindergarten’s somewhat unconventional floor plan is designed to resemble the petals of a marigold, with the different stations (bases) spread in a fan from the core towards outdoor programmes. The activities in the bases are reflected in the design of outdoor space linked to it. The large windows provide for day light inside and create cohesion between outside and inside. The building has mostly only one floor—the "petal" on the north side has two floors—and it appears low, intimate and inviting: a building on children's own terms.

The architecture of Solrosen kindergarten points towards the future architecture of day care. The architectural concept has give an interesting layout and interface between inside and outside. It invites to diverse play—from quiet and sensuous activities to the more physically challenging. The building is a workshop where every day is a new chapter in the curious mind of a child.

Photography: Jonas Aarre Sommarset

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Stein Halvorsen AS Norway

Viken Skog Headquarter Hønefoss, Norway Viken Skog is formed as a large display window in order to present wood both as modern construction material and as contemporary surface material.

The high pine trees create an open filter between the main road and the building. The glass prism stretches against the wood and the road, and invites you into the mystery of trees. The main entrance gives a sense of walking through the darkest part of the forest and seeing the meadow open up – you meet the entire lobby area.

Two solid logs – or walls – shape a constructive triangle and embrace a central area. In the middle of this area a cone is growing and shapes organic rooms – as the rooms between the trees in the forest.

In the open lobby you meet the bonfire that spreads a warm atmosphere – when sensing to be in the middle of the forest. The cone’s growing through all floors, which is exposed by the glass slit.

All elements and constructions, except the lift shaft, are in wood. Different sorts of wood is used in accordance with qualities. Hard oak in stairs and on floors, light aspen on walls, light spruce in massive floor slabs – create ceilings in the rooms down under.

Offices – with requirements of sound separation and visual abilities – are located in the more solid part: wings, while coffee places. Meeting spots are located in the open triangular space in between.

Meeting rooms – where new ideas are born – are located in the seeds, in the cone.

Between the pine trunks new sights continuously open in the mystic of the forest. At the top of the cone is the board’s meeting room, where big decisions are made – under the star sky. The cone is also a constructive element, and all floor slabs are fastened with visible brackets in the glass slits.

The office wings stand as separate volumes – also in the interiors. All elements are exposed as naked forms – as trees’ poetical expression of structure and energy source. The round penetrating wooden pillars have the pine trunks character and make sure that the massive wood floor slabs come forward as branches.

Vertical dividing plates are part of offices’ dividing walls and function as sun protection against low Nordic sun. Solid timber elements are exposed as naked pine trunks. Exposure to weathering through time leaves traces as patina. Seeds of the forest are exposed as a gilden cone in the dark Nordic forest.

Photography: Kim Müller

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2020 Liverpool United Kingdom

The Alsop High School Walton, Liverpool, United Kingdom Alsop High School is a popular mixed comprehensive with nearly 1,800 pupils, including over 300 in the sixth form. It is the largest secondary school in Liverpool.

The design is to replace the mobile classrooms with a stunning 5,500 m², three-storey building comprising of varied teaching and activity areas including new dining facilities, dance and performance studios and communal social areas. The shape of the new block takes into account the existing buildings on site and addresses the long-standing problems with traffic management, student movement between buildings, undefined car parking and scattered play areas.

A complete revamp of the external environment was also undertaken: removing all the existing portacabins and replacing the tarmac surfacing with landscaped courtyards, a variety of footpaths and materials, podium seating, raised planting beds and new trees and shrubbery. Now students have the choice whether to relax or play in a variety of bio-diverse spaces designed to promote health and well-being.

The new building incorporated good design principles and innovative approaches to BMS, natural ventilation and overall energy consumption which subsequently led to an Energy Performance Certificate rating of “A” and a BREEAM rating of “Very Good”. Facilities also now make it possible to integrate all current and future pupils with special educational needs and disabilities into the life of the school.

The use of a simple palate of materials and colours (based on the school corporate colours), combined with a unique form and shape has received both local and national recognition for the standard of design quality achieved. The scheme is visible from the Walton Village conservation area to passing pedestrians and the general public and has generated much interest with local community organisations and enquiries to the school due to its visual impact and “WOW” factor.

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Teo Hidalgo Nácher United Kingdom

Ripolles-Manrique House Benicassim, Castellón, Spain The site is surrounded by pine trees on an isolated estate on which building work began in the seventies, near the town of Benicassim in Castellon, Spain.

The plot, with its steep slopes and irregular geometry, is situated on top of a hill, overlooking the Mediterranean sea. Its main access point is via a public road at high level that leads down into the site.

The project was born out of this difficult terrain which, rather than proving problematic, helped guide the architect’s work. In alignment with the perimeter of the site, the two houses are joined together as one.

The layout aims to make the most of the available space and is partly configured to comply with building regulations which dictate the minimum distances from the site’s boundaries – three meters from the eastern edge and five from the western.

The building’s relationship with its surroundings is based on the following desires of the client and architect: both houses must be private whilst still being open to the vast stretches of land and sea surrounding them; they must be well-lit with natural ventilation and plenty of shaded outdoor spaces; the natural features of the surrounding environment must not be spoiled (e.g. the sea view from the access road to the north); and they must be constructed using as few materials as possible.

Throughout the build an ongoing dialogue was maintained between the architect, the quantity surveyor, the contractor and the client, with the site being closely monitored at all times. This collaborative style of working meant that aspects of the project could be changed and details redefined over the course of the construction process.

For each house, the main entrance is on the first floor where the private living spaces are situated.

These include three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a study. The ground floor is designed as an open-plan space that opens up onto the rear patio, side gardens and front terrace. This level contains all the shared spaces, such as the living/dining room, the kitchen, the utility room and a toilet.

Photography: José Hevia

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Dominique Coulon et associés France

“Josephine Baker” Group of Schools in La Courneuve La Courneuve, France The group of schools occupies a trapezoid-shaped plot. Dominique Coulon’s proposal sketches out a unitary organisation, deployed with virtuoso skill in the three dimensions of the space between two poles linked by a system of ramps. Thus the nursery school classrooms are pushed to the east, on a floor cantilevered above the entrance, and the primary school classrooms occupy areas to the west overlooking interstitial gardens. The older children’s playground merges into the area reserved for the younger children, which already contains the shared canteen, while the sports areas have been placed on the roof of the other block, which contains the library shared by the two schools.

Despite its sliding volumes, folds and asymmetry, the building gives a first impression of an enclosed shape with few openings. The primary school classrooms, superposed on the site, only open up to any real extent to their gardens at the side. Although on the outside the verticality is dominant as a result of the many indentations that break up the facades, it is paradoxically the horizontal aspect that is more evident once through the entrance.

Particular attention seems to have been paid to passages from one space to another. In a protective gesture, the upper floor projects forwards to welcome the children, while the glazed ground floor withdraws and digs in to defuse the drama of separating the child from its parents.

The corridors change shape and expand in front of the classroom doors and receive abundant natural light from the zenith, as if the better to define themselves as areas for decompression before taking a deep breath and plunging into the work areas. Lastly, the canopy of the playground thrusts out well beyond the ramp that leads up to the rooftop sport areas. This play of compression and expansion, giving an organic feel to the concrete structure, is further accentuated by use of the colour orange. It covers the floors and occasionally spills over onto the walls and ceilings, rendering the slightest ray of sunshine incandescent and lighting up the roof area.

This has the appearance of an open hand beneath the complementary blue of the sky, revealed in all its power. The sequences of traffic paths and classrooms are witness here to a different relationship between the child’s body and space, one that is all the more fused together in that it is not yet totally mediatised by language. The classrooms, corridors and playgrounds stretch out and break up around an indefinite body, a body in perpetual transformation, a body of feelings ready to be touched by the slightest ray of sunshine and to perceive a thousand opportunities for play in the slightest variation in the weather. The use of natural products – such as linoleum on the floors, and wood for the door and window frames – and the attention paid even to the smallest details contribute to making the building an almost luxurious place, a place hailed enthusiastically at its inauguration by a population of parents and pupils who are keen to turn the page of the demolitions and look resolutely to the future.

Photography: Eugeni Pons, Olivier Nicollas, Delphine George

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Dominique Coulon et associés France

House for Déficient Persons Mattaincourt, France Located at the approach to the town of Mattaincourt, the new medico-social establishment blends into the landscape, merging with the topography of the surrounding area. It preserves the landscape.

Its roof, onto which the local meadowland extends, contributes to the building’s integration. From the road, the disposition of the building hints at the hollows of the large inner garden and the collective terrace that opens onto the landscape.

The programme for the operation is divided between the two levels. Level with the garden is the administration, staff premises, and public reception areas providing the transition between public and private areas. The forty rooms for residents, common living areas and treatment stations are on the upper floor, looking out over the landscape. On this upper floor, the traffic areas are generously dimensioned for fluid movement, and all have natural light, thanks to the presence of many colourful patios, which also serve as markers guiding the residents as they move about inside the building. The rooms are organised in a simple, rational fashion around the periphery of the building and around the inner garden. All are open on two sides, with natural lighting provided by the patios.

It is also easy to create a current of air to cool the rooms during the summer. The rooms are only connected to the corridors by their doors. All its other openings connect with nature. Each room detaches itself from the institution to form a personal space – the home of its inhabitant.

The dining room, treatment stations, the activity room and the balneotherapy area are grouped around the central space. This is the heart of the building – the spaces open onto a panoramic terrace where people can contemplate the landscape or use the ramp to go down to the gardens.

Nature is omnipresent in the building. It filters the light, transmitting it gently and contributing to the peaceful atmosphere of the building.

Photography: Eugeni Pons

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Dominique Coulon et associés France

Library in Anzin Anzin, France Sited in a dip at a distance from the surrounding town, Anzin’s media library is an architectural object with what appears at first sight to be a relatively simple general shape – a large rectangular volume resting on a base with a smaller footprint.

The outer shell of the building is made up of folded planes, fine curtains of concrete pinched together slightly out of line. This play of articulation and interlocking creates an almost twodimensional composition, like an intriguing origami model.

Immediately on entering the building, the visitor finds himself directly at the foot of a monumental staircase that occupies almost the entire hall and directs the eye upwards, towards the underneath of the roof, where a set of suspended volumes – enormous “inverted patios” – bring light into the heart of the building: the spatial dimension comes from the ceiling. This is where the change takes place, as it becomes clear that we are no longer inside a set of folded sheets of paper. The idea of an origami model was wrong, as this is truly a volume that has been half hollowed out to create a very rich geometry in opposition to the great simplicity of the ground plan. It is this contrast that creates the defined places with their different dimensions and quality of light and their separate ambiences.

The inverted patios are also arrangements for retaining rainwater. The light reflected of them lends an iridescence to the underside of the ceilings and offers multiple reflections in constant motion.

This arrangement also provides natural cooling for the building during periods of hot weather.

Openings placed in the upper sections allow the creation of currents of air. In contact with the water on the roof, the air is cooled and absorbs humidity, and the difference in temperature accelerates the movement of air, producing a high level of comfort in terms of temperature whatever the season is.

The structure of the building is complex: the space on level 1 (reading rooms) is free of any intermediate load-bearing structure. The floors of the upper sections are suspended from the two main cross-beams (in reinforced concrete, with a large 30-meter span) with variable inertia using the curtains and beams incorporated in the facades of the upper sections.

Apart from the small auditorium, the entire media library is located on a single upper level. Thus from the head of the staircase it is possible to survey the entire space, bathed in light. The reverse of the folds of the outer shell frames views over portions of the area of workers’ housing and makes it possible to discover the surrounding town otherwise obscured by the dip in the land.

Everything here is white, but much more than just white. Whiteness is present in all its material manifestations: matte, glossy, perforated, smooth, dynamic, patterned, varnished and soft. The delicate material manifestations intersect, as in a kaleidoscope, breaking up the volumes of the building. Thus matte encounters glossy against a background of micro-perforations, producing new immaterial lines and above all an illusion of faceting that disappears in the light.

Photography: Eugeni Pons

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Dominique Coulon et associés France

Music School and Areas for Culture Maizières-lès-Metz, France The music school is a monolithic block of 100 meters long and 40 meters wide. It is sited perpendicular to the main road, projecting into the public area by 16 meters. The building is set against a forest of giant sequoias, also aligned perpendicular to the main road. The group forms a doorway marking the entrance to the town.

There is a broad forecourt area that disappears underneath the building. The public uses the monumental staircase leading to the inside courtyard and the main foyer. This is a wide area, open to the sky, treated with phosphorescent paint. In the evening it continues to glow with a strange light.

The building houses a mixed programme. It comprises premises for local teenagers, an extracurricular centre for schoolchildren, a community hall, an auditorium, and a music school. These functions are brought together in a monolithic building. The programming complexity is managed on the inside in a single building. The juxtaposition of the combined programmes greatly enriches the building, with each entity standing out in contrast to the others.

The outside of the building reveals little of the programme on the inside – only the large bay windows allow a glimpse of the community hall. It is possible to catch sight of the ephemeral movements of the dancers.

There is abundant natural light, with the highly coloured patios providing their own special light.

This configuration of patios also protects the areas from disturbance from the nearby motorway.

The building is not designed merely as an elongated monolith, however. The outside curls round progressively, finally absorbing the two levels devoted to the music school. This curling adds dynamic impetus to the general outline, and the vanishing lines of the volumes seem strangely disturbed. The outer casing has the rustic appearance of everyday concrete – concrete that assumes its defects. The building is in reinforced concrete, cast on the spot, resting on piles.

In contrast, the materials used for the interior are precious. The main hall is in light-coloured wood, while the ceiling allows glimpses of wonderful gilded surfaces through the large cavities, which gives the light a warm tinge. The auditorium is hung with tensed wires on its three sides.

The walls move with the slightest breath of air, revealing their thickness. The adjustable acoustic (controlled shutters) disappears behind this elegant filter. The precious wood used for the flooring (wenge) reinforces the effect of a presentation box. The extracurricular centre for schoolchildren is monochrome; the orange colour saturates the space, and the shiny resin flooring reinforces its highly artificial aspect.

The primary logic consists of implementing very marked contrasts among the different areas: contrasting materials, contrasting colours, contrasting light. The interior and the exterior are totally dissociated, with the rustic look of the outside being the diametrical opposite of the precious interior.

Photography: Eugeni Pons, Guillaume Wittmann

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Jean Bocabeille Architecte France

Biscornet Paris, France Is there an architect who has not dreamed of designing a building for the Biscornet site, which lay abandoned for so long? Its location is truly spectacular: slightly set back from the Place de la Bastille, it lies where the rue de Lyon and the road running along the canal basin meet; on one side you have a perspective towards the Gare de Lyon, on the other a view of the Bassin de l’Arsenal.

Looking at the building that now stands here, one has to admit that the architectural response provided by BP fits like a made-to-measure suit: it’s a hand-stitched design that oozes a very Parisian form of elegance.

Making best use of the trapezoid shape of the plot, the building abuts onto the neighbouring building then gradually tapers forward; it has a graceful, vertical outline. The side blocks are clad in golden aluminium panels whose distortions give the facades an angular relief that plays with the light. When all the window shutters are closed, the continuity and unity of the material are entire; when the residents open them, the vivid colours of the window frames appear, like an exuberant lining alternating flashes of pink, mauve and orange.

The pleated vertical metal panels on the facades continue upwards to form the “hood” of the roof, giving the design a strong sense of coherence.

The Lartigue Foundation gallery is on the ground floor, and this change of use facilitates interruption and differentiation: here, the metal stops. The cut is sharply done, and the hem, also pleated, turns inwards to line the inside surface. This contrast is underlined by transparency, and by a concrete structure whose zig-zag shape subtly connects the ground with the pleated surface above.

The building is highly responsive to changes in the light; the metallic character of the materials combined with its surface variations reinforces the interplay of contrasts and transforms perceptions of its colour. The aluminium facades can turn from mustard yellow to glittering gold in just a few seconds.

Although there are only about fifteen flats in the building, the loggias of the eight duplex apartments are behind glass Venetian blinds that form a continuous, abstract vertical screen. This reflective filter running the entire height of the building is like a ship’s prow. The random angles of the slits capture fragmented reflections, fleeting images of the constantly moving, ever-changing spectacle of our irreplaceable and historic Place de la Bastille.

Photography: Luc Boegly, Sergio Grazia

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Jean Bocabeille Architecte France

Picard Nursey Paris, France Located at the foot of the Butte Montmartre, rue Picard seems like a very Parisian street, with its dead straight alignment and high density. And yet in the middle of this ordered, montonous, monochrome urbanity with its off-white stone-coloured walls, a little nursery emerges like a Lilliputian in Gulliver’s world. Like a grain of sand, it manages to seize up the urban machine and provide the area with a real reference point. It’s an unforgiving environment: the deep, narrow plot is hemmed in by unattractive, high-gabled walls. Their profiles are reminiscent of building permit application blueprints. At the foot of these walls, curling in on itself as if for protection, is the 40-bed nursery.

Although its facade is in line with the street, its two-storey block winds inwards like a ribbon.

Nestling in its meanders are patios, tiny oases where the unremittingly ugly context can be ignored.

These empty spaces are flooded with light and create interesting effects of depth and transparency between the circulation zones, the play areas, the nap rooms and the various interior facilities.

Before being an architectural design, the building is a volume: a continuous expanse of zinc combining the vertical walls of the facades and the folds of the roof. The building is, in effect, a roof placed on the ground, as if all that was left of the house was its attic, a mysterious, scary and exciting world that all children (and adults) love.

Faced with the large scale of the surrounding buildings, Jean Bocabeille and Ignacio Prego have played with the idea of confrontation, designing a building that seems to stand on tiptoe, puffing out its chest to make itself look bigger. The coloured lines on the facades are its war paint: the Indians are on the attack, rushing to defend their territory.

Photography: Guillaume Crasset

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LAN Architecture France

eDF Archives Centre Bure-Saudron, France As a strategic project providing social and environmental positive impact on the region, the building fully integrates into the landscape as well as meets environmental quality standards, a fundamental aspect for the eDF’s building strategy. This building, symbol of the long term and visible presence of eDF in the Meuse and Haute Marne region, hosts the company’s industrial records. It has also a laboratory for micro-films, specifically designed for this purpose.

We realized a five-level, 19 m high building within a plot of 3.30 hectares comprehensive of an archives area covering approximately 1,400 m² and a total surface of approximately 7,000 m². This approach results in: - considerable saving in terms of the building’s envelope, - improved functionality translated by a reduced number of kilometers covered per year, - a marginal impact on the landscape, - the possibility of a maximum use of the excavated land around the building’s footprint to control water recuperation and treatment on the site, - an energetically and environmentally extremely high performance building, - the creation of a symbol representative of the approach taken by the Mouse and Haute Marne economic support programme.

Tree-planted surfaces give some advantages: from an ecological point of view the trees protect the building against climatic issues; from an aesthetical point of view – and within an idea of landscape integration – they complete the building by inserting a pattern recurring from the landscape: the “merlons”, narrow strips of land planted with hardwoods.

The project of the landscape foresees the framing of the views from the offices by planting vegetable masses. Some framings already exist from the highway in the project’s direction. A game of sequences is set in combination with the architectural plan in order to vary the visuals and to put an accent on the building’s continuity with its landscape.

To give the impression of a lightweight building in movement, we proposed incorporating stainless steel studs into the earth-coloured concrete cladding. This solution had the effect of blurring the building’s limits and reflecting the surrounding colours and changing seasons. The envelope has a very high performance resulting from the materials employed and the technology used for attaching the concrete facing (reduced thermal bridges). The combination of two layers of concrete (structure + facing) and insulation (30 cm) ensures that the building has a high level of inertia favoring comfort during the summer and reduces cooling requirements.

Photography: Julien Lanoo

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LAN Architecture France

Student Residence Paris, France The idea underpinning our project was challenged by the use of one single architectural gesture through which we would provide urban integration and optimised comfort for the future occupants.

The project of the student residence integrates the urban fabric of La Chapelle’s district in Paris (mostly Haussmannian buildings) and acquires an important role in its evolution. The plot is situated at the crossroad between rue Philippe de Girard and rue Pajol in the 18th arrondissement, close to the ZAC of Pajol, an area that hosts an ambitious redevelopment of former railway yards, where social, cultural and sports amenities are currently being created. The project plays on these intrinsic qualities, acknowledging the richness and wide diversity of people, activities and possibilities.

It is composed of several buildings, whose volumes and voids are sculpted around the surrounding context. A central courtyard, at the heart of the built mass provides access to the various buildings and ensures sunlight for all the rooms. Instead of being a “junkspace” and a by-product of the design of the building, this courtyard is rather a pleasant space that allows for conviviality and appropriation by its users, and a green lung within the dense urban fabric. Movement and destinations are not specified, as the intent is for residents to freely seek their use of the space.

The buildings facing the street are clad in dark, slate-coloured brick. The buildings around the courtyard are, in contrast, clad with larch planking with folding louvered shutters in front of the windows and balconies, as is also the facade along the entry passage. The ground coverings consist of a light-coloured, flexible material commonly used for sports facilities and playgrounds.

All in all, the choice of materials were guided by the desire of durability and the pursuit of a sober, refined and classical style that would complement the energy of the neighbourhood.

The project complies with the “Habitat and Environment” label’s VHEP specifications; this was achieved through exploration of compactness, treatment of the envelope, and solar heat coupled with high-performance ventilation, urban heating and solar panels. The concrete structure, insulated on the outside with 12 cm of mineral wool, brick or wood cladding and high-performance double-glazed fittings, provides efficient thermal insulation.

Photography: Julien Lanoo

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Elevation AA

Elevation BB

Elevation CC

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Tank Architectes France

Levi Strauss High School Lille, France Levi Strauss High School is settled in the heart of an urban growth district, between its ancient housing, warehouses and the port district of Lille, north of France. The main building was settled on the urban boulevard, and the main hall, highly transparent, is opened on the front square, which gives an institutional feature to the high school playing a major role within the district. The main entrance is through a porch at the intersection of boulevard de la Lorraine and rue Lestiboudois.

Very sunny and sheltered from the winds, the playground is mainly mineral and generously planted.

The entrance of the dining hall and club opened on the playground. Dedicated to the pupils’ facilities, those spaces have been thought like spaces in the bricks oriented towards the trees of the playground.

On top of the covered playground situated on the southern side, the scientific classrooms offer a large view on the nearby urban environment. Connecting to these specialized classrooms, the library is occupying a central position on the first floor with direct access to the school hall.

The asymmetrical alignment of the variously sized square windows brings light into the classrooms and offers pupils large views of the city. On the southern part of the site outdoor sporting facilities and a gymnasium operate independently.

As in many regions of northern Europe, the brick is the only material used for the facades. The architects wanted rounded corners, so that the high school looks soft. There’s no sharp angle. The bricks are rendered in 3 stratums corresponding to the 3 shifted levels of the building which create open spaces and identify the entrance of the pupils.

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Benthem Crouwel Architekten the Netherlands

Academic Centre for Dentistry

The new premises of the Academic Centre for Dentistry is situated on the ambitious Southern Axis development corridor (Zuidas), in full view of the A10 motorway, next door to the VU University Medical Centre. The urban principles informing the Zuidas business district in which it stands together with its prominent position along the A10 ring road served as a frame of reference for the building’s basic form of three stacked volumes: a sturdy city block for the low-rise portion, a narrow “waist” above that and a cantilevered volume on top.

The building is divided in three volumes and serves dental patients, students, employees and researchers. Each of the three volumes has a different shade of grey for its glazing, light grey for the low-rise, transparent above that and dark grey for the uppermost volume. This dark grey emphasizes the mass of the jutting block and ensures that the building has a strong silhouette at all times. The glazing bears the stylized digital image of a cloudy sky in alternating patterns of stripes and staggered window configurations. These patterns are printed on both panes of the double glazing so that the facade’s appearance changes subtly with changes in the angle of observation.

The real skies are reflected in the smooth glass facades. A basic graphic pattern of stripes applied to the glazing of the facade gives a surprising Moiré effect: the building’s look changes with the angle of observation and the weather conditions.

The first two floors are rendered as a transparent plinth with an open character. A large cantilever shelters the entrance zone, whose illuminated open-air ceiling emphasizes its height and has an inviting ambience. Inside, beneath the floor tilting in two directions of the double-height lecture hall, is a large public information desk. The central well, around which all functions are organized, is a vibrant hub pulling everything together. The restaurant in the transparent intermediary zone can be seen from a great distance and itself offers a spectacular view across Amsterdam.

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Benthem Crouwel Architekten the Netherlands

Deutsches Bergbau Museum Bochum, Germany The Deutsches Bergbau Museum (German Mining Museum) lies in the heart of the Ruhr Area, in the city of Bochum. The museum is one of the most important mining museums and one of the most popular museums in Germany. The current museum draws around 400,000 visitors annually to its 12,000 square meters of exhibition space.

The new building, a 1,795-square-meter extension, is linked to the existing structure by bridges.

The extension houses temporary exhibits (and research presentations) and the existing permanent collection devoted to Saint Barbara, the most important guardian saint of miners. The new building reflects a cross-section of a mine: a solid, dark, black cube with illuminated passages and mine shafts. Coal inspired the rough, black surface of the facade. The colour of the passageways ranges from white to light orange and deep red. The building looks as if it was extracted straight from a mine. A clearly marked route from inside to outside avoids any dead ends.

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Benthem Crouwel Architekten the Netherlands

Elicium RAI

The RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre has been extended with a new building, Elicium (from Elysium, meaning a delightful place). Its lower component, the Expo Foyer or “Ballroom”, hovers 5 meters above street level and is attached to the existing complex on both sides by aerial walkways.

This creates a circuit or perimeter walk, transforming the old forecourt into an “enclosed garden”.

Shifted up half a storey alongside the Expo Foyer are five congress halls; these are spatially linked but can be used separately. The “Ballroom” is a single large column-free space that may be divided up using sliding partitions. A seven-storey stack rises above the congress halls. Elicium puts the RAI in a better position to attract large multi-day international events and gives it a bold new front.

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BOETZKES|HELDER Architects the Netherlands

Villa DVT Arnhem, the Netherlands Villa DVT is a detached house on the outskirt of Arnhem in the suburb Schuytgraaf. The client expressed a desire for a unique and modern home and an interior with a “loft-quality�. This resulted in an explicit design with graphic lines and minimalistic details.

The facade is made of aluminum, constructed out of expanded metal sheets with a special coating which changes colour in different light conditions. The aluminum window frames are cut out from the metal sheets and carefully frames the environment as big dynamic paintings. The basic shape of the house is formed by the plot; it is oblique in the front side and runs parallel with the street, resulting in a volume with a sharp look which creates a spacious and specific interior.

At the back facade a big window with sliding door opens up to the garden and leads to the skewed terrace which acts as an extension of the ground floor. This glass facade can be covered with a moveable sunscreen that is also made of the perforated aluminum.

The ground floor is divided into three parts: a garage, the entrance and a large living area that combines a living room, dining room and kitchen.

The living room has a big void that gives the interior the needed spacious quality and creates a connection to the first floor. A visually dominant element in the interior is the big storage cupboard which acts as a large wooden tapestry that serves a number of functions such as the kitchen, storage, drinks cabinet, wardrobe and a toilet.

The open steel staircase covered with oak treads makes the connection to the more private and intimate first floor. The corridor opens to the void and connects the various rooms: three bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom has its own atmosphere, the walls and floor are plastered in an light grey colour and daylight is diffuse. The rooms at the front of the house are facing the north and overlook the green hills of Doorwerth.

Photography: Merel van Beukering

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Hofman Dujardin Architects the Netherlands

Villa Geldrop Geldrop, the Netherlands Villa Geldrop is a house for a businessman with a family. Seen as a home, it is easy to analyze.

Bedrooms and bathrooms are sheltered below ground. Living room, dining room and kitchen are all walk-through areas on the ground floor. On the upper level, more intimate than the others due to its angled roof, a study area has been created. This space benefits from the indirect light that is generated by the composition of glass and the opening up of the area by considering it to be a kind of mezzanine. This results in a house which, despite strong geometry, feels spacious rather than large, and cozy rather than crisp.

The building is more than a home, however. Primarily as a result of the different but complementary wishes of the client and the architect, the project lends itself to a multi-layered analysis. There is line-of-sight connection through the house’s main axis which runs along the concrete trench that defines the spatiality of the project. This effect is increased by moving the two staircases to the side. Both stairs run up from the lower level to the ground floor, one of which continues to the attic level. Using the floor plans as a guide, the project can be viewed as a modern interpretation of the classic box plan made famous by Italian renaissance architects such as Palladio. This allows the essence of the project to reveal itself. The channel cutting through the building and the orientation of the rooms towards the garden at the rear are an affirmation of the importance of light and the quality of the space created. In this sense, the orientation of the rooms becomes clear as a clever organization of space and light, to powerful effect.

Photography: Matthijs van Roon

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Frederico Valsassina Arquitectos Portugal

Alcatel Head Office Lucent, Portugal The building appears as an isolated block, morphologically linked to the ones around it, with a distinctively contemporary architectural language.

Using a volumetrical speech similar to the adjoining volumes, the new building is carved in order to soften and project its image to the outside. The form is enhanced as a project-asset, contributing for the intrinsic dynamics that is intended for the global proposal.

The two levels give place to one, through the “folding up� of the entrance level. The new volume releases itself from the ground, as a business card for anyone who enters. Suspended over the void, it directs people to the entrance, which is made to the north over the void that gives access to the parking lot.

The rotation of the upper volume translates, on the base level, a negative that directly exposes the parking lot, allowing construction to mix with a green protection area. The building is intimately connected with its natural surroundings, taking advantage of it as a barrier against external agents.

In terms of materials, the solution is as restrained as possible to ensure the sobriety of the whole.

Therefore, a limited range of materials is introduced in order to emphasize the formal clearance required: white spread surfaces and screen-printed glass are assumed as predominant materials.

Photography: FG+SG - Fotografia de Arquitectura

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LGLS Arquitectos portugal

University Canteen and Restaurant Coimbra, Portugal The building accepts and fulfils its purpose as public equipment and as central piece of the new Health Sciences Campus of the University of Coimbra: as a focal point of several pedestrian paths, as a limit and boundary of the new square and threshold of views to the distant landscape.

It responds to a context strongly marked by the topography and the determinations of the preexisting urban plan.

In terms of functional brief, the interior spaces are organized as superimposed layers. The technical areas are located in the socle; above them, are the refectory rooms according to different management models (self-service, free-flow, grilled area and a la carte). The bar/cafeteria rests at the higher level, with a direct relationship with the square where a XVIIth century chapel stands.

The spaces are articulated around an atrium/hall in which one enters (from the outside) through a concrete pergola that acts as a filter to the views and a modulator of light and shadow throughout the day and the year. From the hall, a direct connection is offered into the main refectory room, marked by a deep blue ceiling, hollowed out by the light, reminiscent of former times, when matter separating the inside from the outside had thickness and gravity. The eating spaces vary in their scales, proportions and views of the landscape and how they seek the sun light. Colour and matter reinforce the differences.

In the process of transforming and proposing the views over the landscape, the building offers “places�: different spatial units that support distinct ways of living and experiencing the whole, in an invitation to the individual discovery and architectural experience.

Photography: Luis Ferreira Alves

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Nelson Resende Arquiteto Portugal

House in Praia Verde Castro Marim, Algarve, Portugal The House is located in an area with very positive conditions. The surroundings are mainly occupied by isolated houses, with great wooded areas, predominantly pine trees that protect and apparently increase distance between constructions, offering a less modified environment, with the sea and the beach in a small distance too.

The need to create a common area in the house that could serve many different and polyvalent utilizations, and at the same time the need to empower the three bedrooms, giving them a private character, have worked to develop an idea that was the result of the soma between distinct parts, which from a central moment, could solve the horizontal and vertical distribution.

In that way, the proposal is the result of the coupling of a series of volumes, in direct relation with that central distribution area that on the ground floor allows permeability and union between different zonings. But on the first floor, because there are only private areas, they avoid the referred permeability and are designed with absolute autonomy between them.

The need to adapt the house to a hot climate influences the search for other concepts, like the result of a complex, with several volumes in different positions, conferring a less unitary treatment of the building, exploiting the design of shadows, in the reduction of the dimension of the windows to the exterior and using region materials.

The dematerialization of the house volume is made to increase a bigger connection between the existent trees and the construction itself, making the last one smaller, improving the connection with nature and keeping the existing environment too quiet to disturb. The relation interior/exterior is by this way, better solved, increasing a visual, but also a functional relation, hoping that the natural and the constructed environment could get a perfect balance without any kind of imposition in between.

Photography: FG + SG - Fotografia de Arquitetura

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Nelson Resende Arquiteto Portugal

House in Souto Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal The presented house is located in an irregular area, with a constant pendent. The visual dispersion of the surroundings is increased by the existence of several and different scales, with a disparity of heights, distances and volumetries.

By this fact, the project was developed with the major concern of conciliating the programme needed with the diversity of scales and existent morphologies, in the way of reducing these differences and getting an equilibrated solution, to the neighbourhood itself.

The imposed areas to this concrete programme and the need to reduce the impact of the resultant volume approved in the major plan, input the obligation of changing the referred plan and present, at the same time, the opportunity to reduce the proposed levels number, such as reproportionate the distances and areas of the different floors, instead of making ruptures with the surroundings, transforming this house in a kind of point of balance.

On the other side, the need to reduce the visual impact of the future house, conducted the project to the somatory of three smallest volumes, allowing a kind of densification of the proposal, working different parts and controlling them as one.

The house as it was built resulted from three different volumes, which integrated also different functions: first volume, in east, near the street, with the garage and the laundry in the upper level and a storage in the lower level; second volume, between the other two, solving the main access, the vertical and the horizontal distribution; third volume, with the biggest area, mainly orientated to west, having the main functions, such as kitchen, living and dinner rooms (in the lower level, communicating with the exterior, garden and terrace) and the bedroom in the upper level.

The described volumes also present different materials, with the purpose of getting more coherent, with an abstract image in the services volume (the first one), an eccentric image to the smaller and tallest volume (in the middle) and a more expansive and opened one in the third volume (the one that contains the main residential programme).

The exterior was treated in the same way: - exterior yards supporting the first volume; - main pedestrian access doing some distractions in the garden and connecting to the main entry in the second volume; - Terraces and balconies in the third volume, interacting the indoor spaces with the biggest exterior treated area.

Photography: FG + SG - Fotografia de Arquitetura

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Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes Portugal

Gandra School Paredes, Portugal This is a two-storey school centre based on a modular composition organized around a central courtyard. The classrooms are configured as single modules, juxtaposed and clearly perceptible, where variations of the implementation’s orientation and the roof’s slopes determine the formal design of this schools centre.

This results in a fragmentation of the global volume and roofing design, which cut out a silhouette of relative informality along the complex’s development. The different orientations and roof slopes grant a playful appearance that fits the scholar theme and its environment.

The circulation area, the corridor, is a bond element between the different functional areas and adopts the guiding lines and breaks defined by the classroom modules’ array, building a sense of unity and set in the individual volumes’ juxtaposition. It configures a dynamic and spatially rich path that provides access and simultaneously defines the shape of the central courtyard transposing its strong irregular geometry that characterizes the space. The asymmetric shape of the central courtyard is compensated by large openings through the “curtain wall” system with a strictly defined metric, which seeks not only to stimulate the inner patio relation but to maintain the volumetric purity and abstraction.

It is a unique solution in the educational framework with a strong modular sense, which conveys a distinguished spatial experience. The articulation of compositional variations renders a conceptual and consistent dynamic, controlled through design.

Photography: Fernando Guerra

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Atelier Nuno Lacerda Lopes Portugal

Valongo House Susão, Valongo, Portugal Designed as a large volume, with the entry markedly assumed by a gap between volumes, and enhanced by a sculpture panel that follows the entire entry route, the house shuts down the street contact and opens into the site through large glazed walls.

A rigorous metric served as the basis for the house’s design and volumetric conception. The programme was conceived according to functional requirements, and adjusted to the needs of the project, ensuring through the study of light, natural ventilation and circulation, a succession of different and adapted spaces with different uses. Thus, the compartments were designed with height differences, gaps and openings of light, resulting in a multitude of volumes that relate differently. On the other hand, there was a particular concern about the limits’ dilution between interior/exterior in the room, kitchen and gym/spa, seen as an extension to the outside through large glazed surfaces, taking the maximum advantage of the site and simultaneously ensuring adequate privacy, achieved through the design of landscape architecture.

The house’s continuity and unity guarantee was a major factor in the choice of materials to be used. The playing role of the shadows on the facades, resulting from forward and indented volumetric ensures greater expression in the elevations design. A vertical wood structure provides the necessary shade, giving a rhythm to the whole east facade, and furthermore safeguarding the users’ privacy. Thus, this solution results in a strong intervention marked by the materials’ combination and sober language, that reconciles the necessary aspects of modernity in the beginning of the century and the formal assuredness and classical expression aesthetics, ensuring a continuous updating of the times.

Photography: Nelson Garrido

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ACXT Arquitectos Spain

242 Social Housing Units in SalburĂşa Vitoria, Spain Development of 242 affordable units located in the expansion area to the east of Vitoria-Gasteiz, specifically in Sector 11, plot M3, SalburĂşa.

The building consists of a 20-storey tower in the south-west and a continuous U-shaped block, of 4 to 7 floors, covering alignments west, north and east of the plot. Entrances to the flats and the 9 premises are located on the ground floor; the garages, the storage rooms and the tower's technical rooms are located on the two basements; additional storage rooms of the dwellings are located in the attic.

The houses are built with a view to offering excellent living conditions, being energy efficient, and economizing the common areas, giving priority to double orientations and offering the best views of the environment.

In the interior, the development is proposed to maintain the spirit of continuous green area plan (the linear park), so that the courtyard is perceived as an expansion of urban space instead of an enclosure.

Photography: Aitor Ortiz

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SECTION 1

ACXT Arquitectos Spain

CEIBS Business School Beijing, China CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) is the Bussines School leader in Asia. Its growth has taken the decision of building a new Campus in Beijing.

The new Campus occupies about 19,000m2 in a three-storey building and a basement floor in a plot 33,000m2 in the Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing. The project is conditioned by the teaching function, the Zhongguancun Science Park master planning which proposes a series of compact buildings scattered in the forest as small islands in the ocean and finally by the client’s needs of building it in two phases and making it look good and finished at the end of phase 1.

The building in phase 1 is composed by a basement which occupies completely the plot permitted with the more public and main uses as the lecture hall, the amphitheatres classrooms, discussion rooms and a bar. It is full of courtyards that like the traditional Chinese architecture given as a very good climate control and let us prioritize the relationship among different spaces not losing the complete vision of the building as it happens in the Forbidden City in Beijing. On the other two floors we have some more discussion rooms and flat classrooms and other more not so public uses as professors and staff working spaces and organized as fingers linked to a long corridor.

Each floor has a different shape and a different relationship with the forest. Basement relationship is with the trunk of the tree and with the courtyards full of green bamboo creating an introvert space, second floor with the crown with a similar ambient and the third floor occupied by the staff and professors is the one that looks over the forest like a metaphor of a ship lookout.

The traditional Chinese architecture and philosophy have already fascinated us, and it has been the engine of our architectural ideas helping us to shape the project, and it is easy to recognize it in the selection of the colours and materials as, mainly, in the spatial configuration of the building. This is the way the building represents CEIBS spirit of encounter between China and Europe.

Now the phase 1 ended but it will be in phase 2 when the building will be able to express the dynamic concept of balance of the Chinese yin yang in the Chinese architecture thanks to the feng shui art and, in this case, interpreted from European respectful point of view.

Photography: Aitor Ortiz

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ACXT Arquitectos Spain

IDOM Headquarters Bilbao Bilbao, Spain The new IDOM Group offices are located in the old bonded warehouse in the Deusto canal, in Bilbao. It has 14,400m2 destined for offices, research and development areas such as the whiteroom and the prototypes workshop, and social spaces.

Outwardly, and from the first idea, the design has developed from the occupation manner of the roof, which was filled with goods that were stored in the building. An imaginary green carpet has been designed as if simply placed over the roof, hiding all air conditioning units which in most office buildings are visible, with the resulting sound and visual impact. Certain topography arises as a result of the adaptation of the “carpet” on the machines. Folds and surfaces that resemble a hill on which to stroll in the moments of relaxation and conversation with peers for this is the floor on which the rest area of the building is planned. The flat part of the “carpet” is natural grass. For maintenance and weight reasons, the part that covers machinery, the folded one, is artificial turf.

The design of “brise soleil” emerges as an imaginary extension of the roof carpet as something that has been stretched over the facades and “folds” in its singularities: an existing balcony facing the canal, the entrance, access points for firemen through the facade and other unique areas. The building envelope is solved with aluminium composite and rock wool in the blind parts and with high performance glass in an aluminium framed curtain wall in the spaces between pillars. Between the slat rails and the facade, a platform for external cleaning of the glass has been designed.

Inside, the design combines existing elements with new ones. The great beams of the original structure (a port warehouse) are left uncovered in most of the floors. The openings used by the old car-lifts that lifted cargo up to the roof are now occupied by a splendid main staircase and glass covered lifts that will offer views of both the offices and the canal. On the top floor of the tower, where the noisy machinery of the car-lifts used to be enclosed, there is now a library, a space for ideas to flow in silence.

On the ground floor, it was necessary to eliminate 3 pillars to accommodate a 400m2 exhibition hall. Three discharge frames, having great height in the middle, determine the design of the room: a continuous wood covering over floors, walls and ceilings, which adapts to the shape of the discharge beams through a geometry of sea echoes, like the hull of a boat.

The cold beams integrate water batteries, lamps and lighting sensors are installed between the existing large beams, which, due to the fact that they are uncovered, make the most of their inertia given by their great mass to mitigate temperature differences between day and night, when the HVAC system is off or on. The HVAC works with the water that feeds the batteries with no mechanical parts. It helps to create an effective and durable system, requiring minimal maintenance. The diffusion system for ventilation is displacement by which the air comes out from the ground, at very low speed, and rises, as it warms up, towards the ceiling where it comes in contact with the batteries and then descends by natural convection.

Photography: Aitor Ortiz

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