Style of Design

Architects: JVR Arhitektuuribüroo
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Architect in charge: Kalle Vellevoog, Velle Kadalipp
Design Year: 2004
Construction Year: 2005
Constructed area: 2,820 sqm
Number of flats: 24
Photographs: JVR Arhitektuuribüroo

The apartment house finds itself in the very city centre, at close quarters of the main square of Tallinn, Vabaduse square. These were the quartes where the dashing building and city planning activities stopped in the end of 1930s because of the war and it stopped for decades, for the whole period of soviet power in Estonia. Today we can find here the small wooden houses from the turn of the 19/20th centuries side by side with the scheme of consistent street walls carried through during the first period of independence.

At the end of the 1990s the developments in the field of the city planning have finally reached to this quarter again.

The apartment house has been built instead of two small old houses pulled down and fills an empty hole between two recent apartment houses locating on both sides of the plot. The house “smartens up” a section of city landscape on the crossing of the streets, marks its position and stresses the significance of the site by craning above the street (6th and 7th floor levels), also joining together dislocated “red lines” of the crossing streets.

The ground floor of the building is open for commercial functions, the apartments are situated on the upper floors, 27 altogether.

The two uppermost glassed floors, which reach frontward above the street, are defended from the straight sunlight by metal sun blinds.

We’ve recently featured the winning project of the Xi’an World Horticulture Expo by Plasmastudio. Here’s the proposal by Serie Architects that received the second place with their Xi’an Horticulture Expo Masterplan.

Like the Xian City Wall, this new structure, named the ‘Five Climates Crossing’ will mark the centre of the park and simultaneously act as a connector, linking the entrance square on the north, Chang’an Park in the middle and the viewing tower on the south. within the crossing, the green house is arranged linearly as five different episodes of climates zones, allowing visitors to move sequentially from one green house to another whilst maintaining visual connection to the outside.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break.

Architects: dans arhitekti
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Project team: Miha Desman, Katarina Pirkmajer Desman, Rok Bogataj, Eva Fiser Berlot, Vlatka Ljubanovic
Collaborators: Vesna Drnovsek, Luka Mladenovic, Nina Savnik, Veronika Ule
Building Physics: Peter Zargi
Statics: Franc Zugel
Electrical Engineer: Sebastjan Zelko
Mechanical Engineer: Franc Peperko
Quantity Engineer: Irena Bele
Graphics: Natasa Skusek
Project year: 2004-2006
Construction Year: 2008
Photographs: dans arhitekti

The Institute complex was designed between 1954 and 1962 by architect Danilo Kocjan, who envisioned low and elongated buildings, characteristic of Scandinavia, in a planted environment. The new building with the children’s unit on the ground floor and the vocational rehabilitation unit on the first floor keeps in with the pavilion-like design. It is linked with the existing complex by means of the interjacent middle part housing the lifts.

The building itself has a rectangular floor plan with an internal atrium. The corridors and halls are well-lit and interesting. Along the sides of the atrium and the corridors, there are living spaces that open outwards into the exterior space with their wooden terraces. The large windows of the rooms and other spaces overlook the old park with the large trees, which have been retained despite the park’s having been reduced in area.

The building fits organically into the planted environment. The basic facade, made of fibre cement panels with a smooth finish, is white with large horizontal window apertures and a rhythm of vertical yellow accents made of corrugated panels.

Architects: XPIRAL / Javier Peña Galiano
Location: Murcia, Spain
Collaborators: Lola Jiménez, Susana Velasco, Malte Eglinger
Structural Engineering: IDEEE
Services: Federico Garcia Salmerón
Construction Engineering: Luis Fernando Perona, Miguel Ángel Carceles
Promotor: Juan Carlos López Orenes
Project year: 2003-2006
Budget: US $1,15 M
Constructed Area: 467 sqm
Photographs: Juan de la Cruz Megías

The house among pines acts as an interface between domestic life and the land. It is a device that allows inhabiting the plot. It is not a house for vacation but for daily use. In this way, the whole space is for the enjoyment of its inhabitants.

The lower area is voided in the mountain, inlaid with the uses that hardly require sunlight and the main access to the upper floor. Between this access and the one to the plot, the shadow of the cantilevered upper area creates an exterior suburban hall, thought as a car access.

The upper part is a staple shaped piece stuck to the rock. It remains suspended, and generates in its hollow, south and east façades that let the sun and the breeze in the habitable space.

The central courtyard gives maximum openness between inside and outside, without a lack of privacy. Walls are completely transparent so, by night, when lights are lit, all the spaces of the house become one unitary space.

Installation devices are situated in a peripheral cavity so it is easily accessible for maintenance from the outside. In that way you can see the materials without any make-up: concrete, thermo-clay…The steel cover wraps everything, like a veil. It protects us from the weather and from the aggression of others sights, and allows us to look at the spots we wish.

Over it all, in the sunniest area, there is a solarium and a swimming-pool that get a better sun exposition and better views. The roof blocks the sight from the neighborhood, and takes the eye to the horizon, the valley, the mountains…

SUSTAINABILITY

Formal aspects

By means of the peculiar relation with the site, we obtain open façades to the good orientations: south and east.

The geometry of the house defines a breezy space with shadow underneath the cantilever, where conditions are optimal, even in the hottest days.

The forest is the garden of the house. Once the works were finished, the same number of trees that had been pulled up were replanted around the house. The vegetable matter was recovered by a hydro-sowing with native seeds which allows a natural scattering of the species.

Construction materials

We are using natural materials that link the house with the environment: the rocks from the plot were re-used as raw material for the stone-work retaining walls; vegetation is used as construction material; external pavements are in wood.

“High tech” materials as Robertson sandwich panels, “heat mirror” glazing or thermo-clay are used to manage an optimal energetic performance.

Constructive system

The sun is filtered by a system of mobile slats and a selective glass “heat-mirror” type.

Windows are equipped with A.S.K grilles that assure a light, continuous, cross ventilation with a minimum leakage of heating or air conditioning.

Structure and walls are wrapped by a layer of Robertson sandwich panel and an air cavity that give the house a considerable inertia that allows to keep temperature stable inside.

Ian Simpson Architects with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers and Hoare Lea Engineers has been announced as winners of the competition to design a new innovative, architecturally striking educational, conference and seed production complex at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, part of the Liverpool City Region which is intended to be one of the first buildings in the country to be rated BREEAM “Outstanding”.

Seen at bustler. Images of the other five shortlisted practices, after the break.

This villa is located in plot #74 of the ORDOS project.

Architects: JDS Architects
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox

A house of 1000 sqm can almost be populated rather than inhabited to the least it can entertain quite a party! We have designed a house around the principle of big brother，a place where one can watch and be watched. A house where the circulation is gathered into an atrium of hedonistic leisure and excess, an unavoidable place of pleasure control, that distributes its visitors and party goers in the confines of protected rooms. Each room flanked on this panopticon atrium is equipped of a private terrace, or dune, that continues the idea of the original desert over the house. Similarly the desert is trapped inside the atrium to form an oasis of sand.

Climatically the house functions like an igloo: the outer rooms act as a layer of extra protection to the indoor atrium space. The larger space allows for natural ventilation both of itself and of each individual room.

The programmatic layout allows for maximum publicity on the 2 primary levels while the top floor is dedicated to the master bedroom and attendance, turning it almost into an apartment within the house.

University of Southern California’s School of Architecture presents Border Architectures 2000-2008, a lecture by colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti.

Giancarlo Mazzanti Sierra is the founder and principal of Giancarlo Mazzanti Arquitectos based in Bogotá, Colombia. Mazzanti was the recipient of the 2008 Iberoamerican Architecture Biennial award for his most well known work the hilltop park and library, Parque Biblioteca Espana, in Medellin, Colombia.

Lectures are free and open to the public. They are located in the Gin D. Wong, FAIA Conference Center, Harris Hall, on the University Park campus. No reservations are required. Parking is available on campus at Gate 1 off Exposition Blvd.

For more information on the lecture, click here.

We all have our weaknesses.  Mine just happens to be squirrels – or "squiggles" as they are known in my family.  That's why I was so excited to see this adorable pillow from Bonjourteaspoon on Etsy.  It's just the sort of whimsical, oddball touch that can make a room go from predictable to fun.

By the way, if you've never explored the amazing world of Etsy.com you're in for a treat.  Comprised of literally thousands of sellers of handcrafts, vintage finds and original artworks, it's THE place to go when you're looking for just that little bit of whimsy.  

It is amazing how some people can take a seemingly cramped space and turn it into a perfectly good and even astoundingly beautiful living space. This fine home in Gothenburg uses the limited space on offer to the hilt and yet never looks crowded or overdone at any point. The feminine-looking home uses subtly demarcated areas by fitting a bed in a hidden corner of the living room, a cool kitchen with integrated dining space and a sink. The use of three different colors of wallpapers with lovely prints not only accentuates the beauty of the home further, but clearly defines each given space. With modern and ergonomic furniture use and with creative decorating, the 43 square meters on offer look amply sufficient. Isn’t it? – via

This is a post from the Freshome Magazine, who bring you the latest news in Interior Design, Decorating, Furniture and Architecture.

A Girls Touch: Crafting a Chic Living Space in Just 43 sqm

Designed by Grant + Sinclair Architects and featured on the prestigious Canadian ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN magazine, the ocean front residence steals your heart with a bundle of lovely contradictions. Apart from a fantastic view of the ocean through a retractable door that leads to the exterior pool, the pool itself gives the home a very relaxed and ultra-cool look. Then you step into the sumptuous interiors that exude cozy warmth with the usage of Beechwood floor and ceiling, Pennsylvania bluestone walls and excellent use of glass. Apart from the visual grandeur and the apparent aesthetics, the home also is highly energy efficient with a geothermal system, solar panels for energy, and rainwater harvesting system in place. Makes you a tad bit jealous of the lucky ones who call the Ocean Front Residence their home!

This is a post from the Freshome Magazine, who bring you the latest news in Interior Design, Decorating, Furniture and Architecture.

Ocean Front Residence in West Vancouver: A culmination of the warm and cool