Tokyo Designers Week 09: Japanese designer Nosigner presented a jewellery box with square drawers at Design Tide Tokyo earlier this week. Called Squares, the front of the piece is divided into squares of different sizes. The surface is pollished using a technique traditionally used for finishing mirror stands in the Tokushima prefecture of Japan. Drawers are only released if the central one is o..
Architect: António Sérgio Koch Location: Oporto, Portugal Program: Private House Site area: 1,275 sqm Constructed area: 655 sqm Project Year: 2006-2009 Photographs: FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra The building sit is a street corner, in a natural terrace by the sea and the occupation of that is based on the search for optimal morphology of the land as a form of resolution for the deploy..
Paris practice LAN Architecture have designed a 142m high “mirror tower” for Beirut, Lebanon. The tower is part of 486 Mina El Hosn, a development also consisting of a shopping centre and five blocks of housing. Located in the port area of the city, the tower will be clad in glass and steel mesh, reflecting views of the surrounding city. Here’s some more information from LAN: – 486 Mina El Hosn ..
Photographer Julien Lanoo has sent us his photographs of a community centre near Avelgem, Belgium, designed by Belgian architects Dierendonck Blancke. Dierendonck Blancke collaborated with architects Stefaan Onraet, Tom Callebaut and Jonas Desmyter to design the centre, built on an existing slope on the border of a nature reserve in a small village. The concrete building consists of a theatre, a..
The Hespeler Library addition and renovation in the Town of Hespeler, Ontario (now part of Cambridge) wraps a 1922 Carnegie Library in this historically significant textile mill town within an elegant and generous glass case. The new building envelope is contemporary in its materiality with modulated ceramic frit patterns on glass that weave around the building to create varying degrees of trans..
Architects: Pasel.Kuenzel Architects Location: Leiden, The Netherlands Project Area: 130 sqm building + 60 sqm garden Project year: 2005-2009 Photographer: Marcel van der Burg As the plot does not allow for traditional front or back gardens, the design incorporates open-air spaces within the build structure. The open floor plan with its voids generates exciting views inside the volume and enhanc..
Architects: Emmanuel Combarel Dominique Marrec Location: Thiais, France Engineering: BETOM - SIT Main Contractor: DUTHEIL - BETSINOR / LABASETERE Client: PARIS HABITAT Program: Administrative building Project year: 2003-2007 Site Area: 3,5 há Constructed Area: 2,450 sqm Photographs: Benoit Fougeirol - Philippe Ruault Located in the southern suburban area of Paris along wide boulevards and roadwa..
German designers KARO have designed an outdoor library in Leipzig, Germany. Developed from an installation in 2005 made of beer crates, the new building comprises sheltered seating areas and niches to store books. The new building is clad in wood and materials from a former warehouse. Photographs are by Anja Schlamann. Here’s some text from KARO: – We established in 2005 in an abandoned district..
Architect: bittonidesignstudio Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA Project Team: Mark Bittoni, Ross Jeffries, Salomé Reeves Client: Private Structural Engineer: C.W. Howe & Associates Area: 185.8 sqm Project Year: 2009 Photographs: Eric Staudenmaier Photography Los Angeles-based bittonidesignstudio has recently completed the evansHOUSE, located in the modernist landmark community of Crestwood Hills. ..
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall Location: Manchester, England Project Instigator: Her Majesty’s Court Service Tenant: Ministry of Justice (North West) Developer: Allied London Properties Contractor: Bovis Lend Lease Engineers: Mott MacDonald Project area: 34,000 sqm Project year: 2008 Photographs: Tim Griffith An international competition-winning design for the headquarters of the Ministry of ..