The plot is part of the historic center of Felanitx. A place built by overlapping plots, patios, terraces and walls, a legacy that remains in the plot as part of the material history of the building and the city. In the same way, the building is a sequence of constructions and materials that gathers the constructive systems of the territory of Mallorca.
The existing property consisted of a Grade 2 listed double fronted Victorian house. Connected to the house was a disused cattle shed and beyond that a ruin, which was a former parchment factory and a scheduled monument. The client’s initial brief was to convert the cattle shed and demolish the ruin to make way for a new extension. From the beginning of the design process, it was clear that the client viewed the ruin as a constraint as opposed to a positive asset that could in fact be celebrated through a sensitive but well-conceived intervention.
After the former Community Centre was deliberately burnt down in 2015, the newly created City Architect’s Office took the opportunity to build a centre exemplifying its vision for community centres as places of lifelong learning, well-being, recreation and culture. Ambitions for the centre included an increased capacity and flexibility of spaces and for its architecture to galvanise civic pride. The brief to Carter Williamson called for:
A built structure of a seven-store apartment which two floors of them are under the ground was given to us to be designed. In that phase, we had to design the plans and also a façade which could create a strong connection between the interior and exterior spaces. Having interior spaces with an open view in spite of reaching an adequate privacy was required by our client. Thus, this issue played a crucial role in the designing process of the façade.
Traditions in a global world
Globalization also imposes on urbanism a loss of contextual and social values that are transferred to its plans and buildings.
At this house - a residence designed for a family of four - it was requested that everyone in the family should be able to feel the presence of each other regardless of where they are in the house. The design is based on the fixed topography of the site at the top of a hill, and the expectation that there will not be any big changes to the quiet residential area of the surrounding in the future. On the site there was an aging main house and a rental building; we decided to rebuild both houses using the same composition.
This house was built by a son for a sick mother. An important concept of this house is the way private and society interact. Eventually, I proposed a house with no windows on the wall except for the entrance and the rear entrance. Instead, he suggested installing 32 fixes and five large windows that could be opened and closed on the ceiling.
The architect’s house. The most personal, intimate and necessary project an architect can face. An opportunity to explore unlikely paths and propose a unique and particular way of living. This place must host stories coming from past lives and stimulate future ones. A space that expresses a particular character and identity, that welcomes dreams and whims invites you to fly.
The house is part of a terrace of 1970s neo-Georgian houses, built on the site of demolished large Victorian Villas. This terrace is one of many similar examples built in a ten year period from the mid-1960s around Canonbury. Whilst the front facade was designed in the Neo-Georgian style, the interior layout and design were generic 1970’s housebuilders. Stripping out the entire interior back to just the external walls and the roof, we inserted a new interior as a modern interpretation of a Georgian house interior. The design is centered around a cantilevered pill-shaped staircase that sits in a triple-height space with the upper rooms accessed directly off the stair.
The idea of a typical traditional London tavern, pub aesthetics was the premise of our client. In order to do so, we looked for concepts of the spirit of traditional British taverns, without falling into typical resources, nor losing the focus of the idea of a classic European restaurant with a contemporary artistic touch.
Inspired by the rolling hills of Rwanda and the thatched design of the King’s Palace at Nyanza, Bisate sits woven between the lush growths adjacent to Volcanoes National Park. Bisate reflects the innate organic culture of Rwanda and reflects sophisticated spaces around every turn. Craftily designed the spherical rooms and public areas add bespoke and sustainable solutions to the intricate and difficult surroundings. The design is a celebration of modern luxury and a unique culture which has stood the test of time, becoming a platform from which the guest experience departs.
House A12 is a duplex house + a professional office in the centre of Madrid. With direct access to the street it occupies the premises of an old commercial space. The starting point for the project was a deep and very dark space. The main challenge of the project has been light. We have used different mechanisms to bring it to all the rooms. Through metallic materials in the ceilings and vertical surfaces, the luminosity that enters from the street and the two courtyards that structure the house has multiplied. With the same objective, different mechanisms have been put into play: skylights, wall openings and windows. A landscaped interior English courtyard that receives light from the street filtered by a latticework creating a kind of oasis, a tropical garden of surreal character is connected to the lower level of the house.
A neighbourhood icon with multiple programs - The Microlibrary Warak Kayu is the fifth built project within the Microlibrary series – an initiative to increase reading interest by creating socially-performative multi-functional community spaces with environmentally-conscious design and materials, which aim to serve low-income neighborhoods. Designed by SHAU and prefabricated by PT Kayu Lapis Indonesia, this project is a community, private sector and government collaboration– a gift from Arkatama Isvara Foundation to the City of Semarang. The microlibrary charges no entry fee and is run by Harvey Center – a locally-embedded charity group in Semarang – in coordination with the local government.
This early XX century patio-apartment presents the opportunity to reformulate the dwelling's conditions, adapted to Mediterranean climate, in the urban density of Gracia’s district.
This plan is to renovate a house, built in 1974, into a two-family house. Its’ current figure is a result of going through extensions and reconstructions twice. Housings such as these which are called “Deformed Roof” houses, can be seen often in Hokkaido, but is difficult to call them beautiful, and cannot be seen out of Hokkaido. It could be said as a vernacular and anonymous kind of design.
The Opening
Taoyuan Village, which is in Qimen County, Anhui Province, is a typical an-cient Huizhou village. The project is the only coffee shop in the village, locat-ed in a corner. All three sides of the site are blocked by neighbors, with only one gable facing a more spacious triangular open space.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown yet again how designers are needed to reimagine emergency shelters. With an estimated 900 million people around the world to remain at home because of the virus, there are also a number of hospitals without the necessary beds to treat infected patients. At the same time, the need for emergency shelters is tied to many types of crisis, not just this virus or a pandemic.
House surrounded by the Hedges」 by Studio Velocity is a Housing for married couples and children located in Aichi, Japan. The surrounding area is different from the well-maintained city-scape, and there is a narrow and diagonal road that remains from the old days, and you can see irregular sites. The site was irregular due to the proximity of narrow roads running diagonally. There are many houses around the site with fences and hedges. The issue was how to relate this to the spatial composition.