Shonan Christ Church by Takeshi Hosaka

The composition of construction was a one-storied building with a restrained height so that it might harmonize with a low-rise residential area and aimed at creating space appropriate to prayer and worship with the six curved surface roofs at different heights, which allowed natural light to pour down between those roofs. A message got across that six roofs means the first to sixth day from the Creation in the Bible genesis and worship manifests the seventh day.

Direct sunlight was inappropriate for the time zone of service, but considering that direct sunlight was appropriate for the time zone except for service, this construction was designed to create a space of skylight during the time zone for service (10:30-12:00 in Sunday morning) and direct sunlight during other time zones. So, light was simulated at intervals of 30 minutes on the representative days in 12 months and manipulated according to the time zones. As a result, the time zone for service comes to create a space under a soft skylight throughout year. If service comes close to finishing time, direct sunlight begins to draw a ray of light on the wall surface. Dynamic alterations take place that direct sunlight changes to the state of one line in the afternoon and further takes another form to pour down like shower at around three o’clock.

Uneven longitudinal ribs were carved at random rhythm to the exposed RC concrete wall of the chapel, and dark gray acoustic boards were placed between the ribs. Conflicting requirement arrived at a solution through striking a balance, by making it easy to hear priests’ preach and Bible Readings with concave acoustic boards, and the sound of ecclesiastical music such as hymns with RC convex surfaces. Flutter echo reduces by random rib pitches. Contrast of dark gray concave surfaces against light stands out a light gray brightness of direct sunlight shooting the convex surfaces. Based on the idea that modern church construction has to provide a space to enable the Bible Readings, it came up to mind that the state of direct sunlight shooting through a dark space became a reality in a bright, not dark space.

Space where direct sunlight reveals various expressions according to times is suitable for one person’s or several people’s prayer. In the afternoon after prayer, it becomes a space for prayer by the small number of people and direct sunlight changes the number of the ray from one to two or three and its angle by the minute.

 

 

 

 

 

Info and images © Takeshi Hosaka

Shonan Christ Church by Takeshi Hosaka

Concert Hall Blaibach by peter haimerl.architektur

The concert hall represents the heart of the urban development to revitalize the new centre of Blaibach. It is located next to the new community centre and complements the space of a new village square that was realized with funds of the state urban development support. The concert hall is a solitaire of concrete with an inclination above the slope in the village centre following the topography and linking with its granite facade to the stone carver tradition of Bailbach. The monolithic tilted building opens itself to the visitors at the new village square and guides them by a staircase to the foyer below the surface. The foyer provides not only the functional areas like wardrobe, sanitary rooms and bar, but also leads the visitor excitingly around the auditorium into the inner concert hall.

The hall unfolds its acoustics within the seemingly light building. While the precised light slits illuminate the space. The building body is made of pre-cast concrete and only a highly intricate constructed formwork made the realization of the difficult form possible. The dominant tilted surfaces of the concert hall are based on acoustic specifications and include besides LED-lights also bass absorber behind the light slits as well as underneath the steps for optimal acoustics. The concrete in the hall is untreated. Its lively surfaces help to absorb the medium-height tones.

The inclination of the building – based on the increase of the slope – carry the gallery. The seemingly transparent seats, which are fixed on iron swords, appear to float above the light slits. The stage of the concert hall, which is only designed for its actual function not as a multifunctional room, is equipped with modern LED-stage technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Info and images © peter haimerl.architektur

Concert Hall Blaibach by peter haimerl.architektur

Fiction book stand by Sebastian Bergne

Sebastian Bergne: ‘Make your books fly. Whether in a vertical pile or on a horizontal shelf the Fiction book stand turns your collection of books into a sculptural feature in your home or office. The robust sheet metal stand is simple to orientate horizontally on a desk or vertically next to your favourite reading chair. The object itself has been reduced to a minimum and painted in “paper” white to make it as invisible as possible. Although designed to accommodate typical fiction paperback books it can be effectively used with magazines or other reading material.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Info and images © Sebastian Bergne

Fiction book stand by Sebastian Bergne

Rehabilitation of an apartment in Braga by CORREIA/RAGAZZI arquitectos

The project intended to remodel two apartments and unite them in order to create a duplex apartment, which best meets the needs of the family. In this sense, the intervention was defined by the characterization of a social floor, consisting of kitchen, laundry, living room, terrace, guest bathroom and guest suite. The upper floor would be the private housing area consisting of three suites, one for the parents and two for the children.

The union of both floors and, consequently, of the house, was achieved by the introduction of a two storey high hall with the access stair, designed as a focal piece that distributes the program; a partial demolition of the existent slab was needed. The stairs create, also, on the upper floor, a balcony with a view over the lower floor.

The entire apartment was designed taking into consideration the characteristics of the materials that were chosen to create a game of volumes, light and dark. One chose light coloured walls, yet high in texture, finished in microcement.

Panels, doors and wardrobes of darker colour, made of black Valchromat. The lower floor, social, is united by its pavement in manual hydraulic mosaic, in a pattern that introduces texture and three dimensionality, studied according to the scale of the compartments, and specially produced. Throughout this floor one defined a height, of human scale, designed by either the change of material, colour or height of the ceiling, doorframe etc.; which transverses and unites all the spaces.

At the upper floor there are wood floors except on the bathrooms. The main suite is designed with four spaces, the entrance leading to a reading and/or gymnasium area, followed by the sleeping area, then the walk in closet with access to the bathroom, which is composed of a wet area with a shower and freestanding bathtub. The two smaller suites, for each child, are on the opposite side of the apartment; they each have a bathroom covered in glass and mirror, with natural light.

 

 

 

 

Info and images © CORREIA/RAGAZZI arquitectos

Rehabilitation of an apartment in Braga by CORREIA/RAGAZZI arquitectos

A complete entity with definite limits: Villa T by Architrend Architecture

The context is agricultural, a plateau with sandstone walls to divide the various portions of property. Once marked by the productive outposts of the “masserie”, farms with cultivated fields and cattle, today the Ibleo territory has changed its look. Instead of scattered farmhouses, isolated and divided by farmlands, construction has gradually filled spaces, erasing the network of isolated architectural complexes gathered around courtyards, like ‘pacific forts’. Nevertheless, the site of this project has partially conserved that precious idea of ‘isolation’, and the whole design comes to grips with this context, constructing a direct relationship with the landscape, faced openly on two sides, while emerging from it thanks to an eloquent contemporary design.

The program of the compositional process is that of a large single-family house, alone at the center of a meadow, bordered by the free, linear horizon of the plateau. Here, in the midst of the grassy terrain, treated as virgin land for construction, the architecture stands out clearly as a complete entity with definite limits. But its borders are not ‘introverted’, they are open to visual enjoyment of the outside world, through the creation of outdoor living spaces, rooms without walls that become parts of the overall solution.

The relationship with the context and the sequence of the three stacked floors relies on a sort of continuous architectural ribbon that reinterprets the flavor of the Mediterranean home, developing, bending to form rooms and the roof, outdoor zones raised from the meadow like platforms, porticos and overhangs, balconies and terraces. A solid facade clad in stone, to the north, is flanked by the harmonious antithesis of the southern and eastern facades, fully glazed and open to the greenery. They reveal the two-storey height of the living area, with the mono-beam staircase leading to the first floor, containing a studio zone and a bedroom.

The daytime area is joined to the kitchen, located in the lower volume, while the luminous living and dining area emphasizes the double height of the construction, with its large pitched roof. The master bedroom zone with bath and closet is located behind the living area.

The sequence living-dining-kitchen encounters two outdoor spaces: on one side, facing the living room, a terrace at ground level connects to a recessed patio faced by the underground spaces, with two bedrooms and a den, shaded for cool comfort. Behind the kitchen, connected by a full-height glazing, an external portico is like a room without walls, open to the surrounding lawn.

The white stucco and stone facings that wrap the forceful geometric design, highlighted by a red floor marker that interrupts the high corner glazing, the planes that combine, in a dynamic way, around the sloping roof, reveal the pursuit of a ‘possible Mediterranean style’ that pays attention to local history, but without copying, ready for experimentation with new possibilities.

 

 

 

Info and images © Architrend Architecture

A complete entity with definite limits: Villa T by Architrend Architecture