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Posts Tagged ‘Architecture’

James & Mau Architecture have designed the Infiniski Manifesto House in Curacav, Chile.

Infiniski is a construction company that specialize in building eco-friendly houses and buildings based on the use of recycled, reused and non polluting materials.

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The Infiniski Manifesto House by James & Mau Architecture

The Manifesto house represents the Infiniski concept and its potential: bioclimatic design, recycled, reused materials, non polluting constructive systems, integration of renewable energy.

The project relies on a bioclimatic architecture adapting the form and positioning of the house to its energetic needs. The project is based on a prefabricated and modular design allowing a cheaper and faster constructive method. This modular system also allows thinking the coherence of the house with possible future modifications or enlargements in order to adapt easily to the evolving needs of the client.

The house, of 160m2 is divided in two levels and uses 3 recycled maritime containers as structure. A container cut in two parts on the first level is used as the support structure for the containers on the second level. This structure in the form a bridge creates an extra space in between the container structure, isolated with thermo glass panels. As a consequence with only 90m2 worth of container, the project generates a total 160m2, maximizing and reducing significantly the use of extra building materials. This structure in the form of a bridge, responds to the bioclimatic needs of the house- Form follows Energy – and offers an effective natural ventilation system. It also helps to take full advantage of the houses natural surroundings, natural light and landscape views.

Like if it had a second skin, the house dresses and undresses itself, thanks to ventilated external solar covers on walls and roof, depending on its need for natural solar heating. The house uses two types of covers or skin: wooden panels coming from sustainable forests on one side and recycled mobile pallets on the other. The pallets can open themselves in winter to allow the sun to heat the metal surface of the container walls and close themselves in summer to protect the house from the heat. This skin also serves as an exterior esthetic finishing helping the house to better integrate in its environment.

Both exterior and interior use up to 85% of recycled, reused and eco-friendly materials: recycled cellulose and cork for insulation, recycled aluminum, iron and wood, noble wood coming from sustainable forests, ecological painting, eco-label ceramics. Thanks to its bioclimatic design and to the installation of alternative energy systems the house achieves 70% autonomy.

Visit the James & Mau Architecture website – here.

Visit the Infiniski website – here.

Photography Antonio Corcuera

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HEAD Architecture and Design have sent us some photos of the Muse Bar interior they designed on the 26th floor of an office building in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay.

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The Muse Bar by HEAD Architecture and Design

To relieve from the tensed daily life in Hong Kong, our client has decided to open a Bar for people to relax & chill out with friends. HEAD architecture was asked to design a relaxing & stylish bar on the 26th floor of an office building in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It is an open bar with two VIP rooms & has a capacity of accommodating 92 people.
The name of the Bar inspired us to form the starting point of an interior which was to be relaxing, stylish and provide a retreat from the implications of daily life in Hong Kong. According to the dictionary MUSE has a meaning of to think or meditate in silence and to forget about the world around one. A soft colour scheme of purple and black provides an other-worldly backdrop to a long curving bar running almost the entire length of the building core. This bar forms the focus of the interior and is fronted with a three dimensional sculptural facing. Reprised at the entrance this unique treatment creates an obvious link to the bar interior but also a striking point of entry.

Visit the HEAD Architecture and Design website – here.

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Schola Architecture have designed the Temple Hills Residence in Laguna Beach, California.

Full description after the photos….

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The Temple Hills Residence by Schola Architecture

The design for the Temple Hills Residence is a study in connections. The project is an addition and remodel to an existing 1950s post and beam beach cottage. Taking cues from the eclectic neighborhood the deign captures the essence of the existing cottage, and reinterprets the traditional post and beam into a unique residence. The resulting solution is a house of two faces connected through a thin sheet of glass.

Nestled into a steeply sloping 5,000-square foot site, the volumes step up the hillside to the rear of the existing home creating an ascending series of interior and exterior spaces, giving access to all levels of the property. While the existing home creates the traditional base for the house, the new addition exploits the modular nature of post and beam connections. A monolithic concrete block mass anchors the addition; from which structure and glass pin wheel off creating ever dematerializing living spaces that open up to the views as one moves up through the home.

At the heart of the stainable strategies employed throughout the home is the reuse of the entire existing home. In addition, solar orientation, deep overhangs and operable glass allow the house to breathe throughout the year with little mechanical assistance. The palette is a mix of renewable and exposed building materials, eliminating the need for secondary finishes.

Visit the Schola Architecture website – here.

Photography: Costea Photography, Inc.

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Alain Lemay and Viateur Michaud got together in 1979 to found LEMAYMICHAUD Architecture Design, a firm that, to date, has served hundreds of clients across Canada and elsewhere in the world.

One of Quebecs largest architecture and design firms, LEMAYMICHAUD has 63 employees in two offices situated in Quebec City and Montreal.

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First Quebec City …
In 1989, LEMAYMICHAUD acquired an abandoned building, built in 1906 for the Bank of Montreal, in the Old Port of Quebec City. Twenty years later, in 2009, with a larger team and different needs, it was time to expand and update the premises.

It was quite a challenge, explains Lemay, because we had to expand from the inside. So we transformed a single-storey building with a nine-metre-high ceiling by constructing a mezzanine and occupying an unused attic, which has become a perfect space for relaxation, meetings, and creativity. This venture enabled us to almost double our usable area.

The LEMAYMICHAUD team thus created two superimposed work studios, one of which was in a floating mezzanine, in order to respect the nature of the building and let the entire team take advantage of the quality of the space. The mezzanine is detached from the lateral walls, allowing abundant natural light into both studios and letting the buildings architectural quality shine through.

… then Montreal
What the Montreal office has in common with the Quebec City one is that it is located in a historic building that no one wanted. Situated at 742 William, neighbouring the restaurant Le Local (which in fact occupies LEMAYMICHAUDs former premises), the firms Montreal branch took shape in a warehouse.

We left the charm of 740 William, with its inner courtyard and landscaping, for a windowless warehouse, recalls Michaud, who manages the Montreal office. And yet, I thought, What a space! And for us, space is the basic necessity.

The challenge? To integrate a touch of modernity into an old building. The LEMAYMICHAUD architects therefore made sure to take advantage of the existing space and its constraints to transform it into a unique place.

By excavating part of the building down to the foundation (1.52 m underground) and constructing a part of the floor 90 cm above ground level, they were able to create interior parking without making an underpinning. In addition, they integrated bicycle stands, a shower, and a radiant heat system; they improved the insulation and opened the interior to natural light; they had a number of pieces of furniture made from material recovered from the site, and so on.

In short, The result is simple because the space, interesting in itself, retained its character and its volumetry was highlighted, concludes Michaud.

And so, the LEMAYMICHAUD offices resemble the company and its clients: simple and yet elegant, sophisticated but not arrogant. Human.

Visit the LEMAYMICHAUD website – here.

Photographer: Pierre Blanger

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Sagan Piechota Architecture have designed the Otter Cove residence in Carmel, California.

Full description after the photos….

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Description of the Otter Cove Residence by Sagan Piechota Architecture:

Perched atop a rocky outcrop overlooking the ocean, this Carmel residence strives to appear as a natural extension of the landscape while resolving competing private and public concerns.

The large area of the house was disguised by splitting the house into two wings, recessing the house into the site and locating nearly half of the space partially underground. The plan-split created a courtyard, the eastern wing providing privacy from Highway One and the western wing buffering the ocean wind. Secondary spaces are located on the lower floor and borrow light from above through three staircases. These spaces provide respite from the panoramic drama on the upper floor.

Walls are located only where absolutely necessary for privacy or structure and treated as monolithic elements. Stone cladding predominates, rooting the house in the site and visually connecting with the rocky cove.

Visit the website of Sagan Piechota Architecture – here.

Photography by Joe Fletcher

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