Belle Iloise House | Opus 5 | Architecture

Paris studio Opus 5 Architects have completed this island house in Brittany, France, featuring a glazed façade with sections covered by stone screens.

Called Belle Iloise House, the long building is divided in two by a glazed walkway.

The walkway houses a glazed footbridge, which connects the bedrooms to the rest of the house.

A NEW VERSION OF THE BELLE ILOISE HOUSE

n°1 NIGHT- HOUSE

This house has been designed by Opus 5 Architects, Bruno Decaris and Agnes Pontremoli. It is located on Belle-ile-en-Mer, the biggest island of Britany which is famous for its protected and wild lands. Some strict architectural rules have imposed the construction of a unique model of ‘neo-Britannic’ style: the same little houses are spread all over the island, with no proper architectural quality.

n°2 ENTRANCE

The architects have proposed a contemporary and personal vision of the traditional model imposed by the severe regulations of the site. They took the challenge to transform the existing stereotype into a new up-to-date construction, by respecting the restricted architectural rules:

Slate roof with two slides at 45 degrees, gables and limited openings (max width 1,60 m)

Despite the fact that the house aimed to be harmoniously integrated in the landscape, the reasonable stylistic daring has created fierce debate.

n°3 FACADE SEA (ARCHITECTURE PRICE OF Bretagne)

Spared volume: low and long proportions, limited height, with limited roof space. The roofing is built without salient element and only contains some panes of glass in the front.

n°4 LIVING ROOM (ARCHITECTURE PRICE OF Bretagne)

The façades are split into two: an inner skin which is entirely glazed and partially hidden by schist panels, to release the ‘regulatory’ openings. Those stone ‘paravents’ create some magical lighting effects and reflexions inside the house.

Click for larger image

n°5 CAT LIVING ROOM

When the daylight fades, the glass panels light up and disappear to create a warm atmosphere: the house seems to float.

n°6 ENTRANCE AND GLASS FOOTBRIDGE (ARCHITECTURE PRICE OF Bretagne)

The two portions of the main part of the house- living room and bedrooms, are connected by a transparent window screen and an entirely glass footbridge, enabling a clear sea view from both the inside and the outside.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro | LEED Gold Arts Center | Architecture

Brown University is now the proud owner of a new Creative Arts Center that breaks the mold — literally. The LEED Gold facility by Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a three-floor multi-disciplinary building that is split in half to create six floors connected by vision glazing. The result is an interactive arts center that incorporates chance interactions as a part of the creative process.


Diller Scofidio + Renfro is used to breaking the design mold with project such as the Highline Park, Boston’s ICA, and the Lincoln Center remodel — so their unique interpretation of a the new creative arts space should come as no surprise. The space hosts multiple disciplines ranging from a dance studio, to video production, a theater, and a technology center. Interdisciplinary projects are a core message in the building’s design. The levels are broken in half, so each transition has access to the floor above and below with plentiful breakout spaces.
The education center’s ample daylighting and vision glazing opens the building to the street and creates a stimulating environment for experimentation with new forms of expression. The 35,000 square foot facility incorporates radical, subtle and unexpected elements in its re-orientation of an education and arts program.
+ Diller Scofidio + Renfro

 

Lance Armstrong Foundation Offices | Lake Flato Architects | Architecture

Description from the architects:

After 10 years of leasing space in a corporate office building, the Lance Armstrong Foundation found its permanent home in the 1950s Gulf Coast Paper Co. warehouse in East Austin, an underserved community in the process of revitalization. The design breathes new life and energy into both the building and neighborhood.

The renovated facility provides office space, meeting rooms, dining facilities, an in-house gymnasium, open-air courtyard, and parking for the staff of 62. Future plans may call for adding a community-based cancer-support program to provide direct services to uninsured and underinsured East Austin residents. Achieved LEED Gold certification.

Lake Flato Architects designed a nefice for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in Austin, Texas.

Orange Cube | Jakob + Macfarlane | Architecture

'orange cube' by jakob + macfarlane architects in quai rambaud, lyon, france
all images courtesy jakob + macfarlane
image © roland halbe


Paris-based jakob + macfarlane architects (dominique jakob, brendan macfarlane) 'orange cube', their soon-to-be-complete commercial and cultural complex in lyon, france.
Designed as a part of an urban planning project to replenish the docks of lyon, the five-storey orthogonal cube plays off the fluid movement of the river saône, exploring the effects of subtraction and voids on the quality and generation of space.



elevation
image courtesy RBC


Built on a regular framework of 29 x 33 m, the structure stands autonomously on the site, a wharf with a predominantly industrial background. The most noticeable element of the design - its bright orange shade - is an abstraction of lead paint, an industrial color often used for harbor zones.
The external skin is a light facade, punctured with a pixilated pattern that resembles trailing droplets, a reference to the adjacent river's flow. This porous envelope allows sightlines and natural daylighting while establishing a distinct identity for the building. 



in context of the river and surrounding structures
image © roland halbe


The structural regularity of the cube is broken on the north-west corner which faces the river.
CConic in form, the large, diagonally-running void generates new space: a large atrium is created
which is circumscribed by a series of outdoor corridors that connect the office platforms together.
The facade is pulled into the depth of the volume, resulting in a shift in interior/exterior relations,
as well as facilitating light and views.Another volumetric subtraction on the entry and roof level
establish direct relations between the building, its users, and the site.



view of the void from an outdoor terrace space
image © roland halbe




roof top terrace
image © roland halbe



interior view of the design showroom
image © nicolas borel


Featuring a double-height layout, the ground floor accommodates a design showroom. the display concept, which was also created by jacob + macfarlane architects, was developed as an extrapolation of the 'orange cube's
Architectural language. taking the treatment of the facade, a three-dimensional volume was generated for an L-shaped wall that wraps around the space. Sixty 'alvéoles' are used to display furniture pieces, while the unit as a whole define the circulation of the floor.



display wall
image © nicolas borel



image © nicolas borel




image courtesy RBC



office floor
image © nicolas borel



staircase
images © nicolas borel



detail of light facade
image © nicolas borel



3D rendering of display wall units



floor plan / level 0



floor plan / level +4



section



project info:

client: rhône saône développement
surface: 6,300 m2
commercial program: headquarters cardinal group
cultural program: design showroom, RBC
cost consultant: michel forgue
electrical engineering: alto ingénierie
acoustic: avel acoustique
structure: RFR GO+
facade: T.E.S.S.

Meltino Bar & Lounge | LOFF | Last Architecture

LOFF, a Portugeuse lighting design and architecture office, have designed the Meltino Bar & Lounge in Braga, Portugal.

Meltino Bar & Lounge by LOFF

MELTINO BAR & LOUNGE is a place intended to update the concept of a coffee embedded in a shopping center.

Having the strong presence of the design element, the furniture is the result of coffee derivatives, in order to allow that the community assimilates the singularity of a place that serves as a lounge and bar. Both are similar and transparent, although with different purposes. The lounge site has a relaxed atmosphere and offers gourmet products. The bar site is appropriated to drink coffee.

Cláudia Costa, LOFF atelier mentor, conceived this project from the geometrization of coffee grains, always with the concern to exclude the idea presented in the space to the final consumer, that they are drinking coffee in a commercial gallery.

The final result is the invasion made by the coffee Grains, instead of the Shopping layout. Meltino Bar & Lounge is a coffee grain that peeks, pierces walls, roofs and counters.

Meltino Bar & Lounge

In the first meeting with the client, it was asked to draw a charismatic and unique project for a bar with the identity of the brand Meltino.

The idea was to create a project that endured in the visual memories of the public. The first intention was to build a Bar inside a mall without a sense of enclosure in a confined space. The thought of how to be inside and have the feeling of being outside was always present. The box inside the box, the light, the transparence, the defragmentation of the space, the well-being associated with the simple act of drinking coffee.

Concept

A coffee grain that draws the space… a coffee made of coffee…

The underlying concept was the geometrization of the coffee grain that draws the two volumes / spaces in the plan. The grain conquers the Coffee, perforates and draws the volumes, the walls, the ceiling. Its shadow is cast in the floor, dancing in the space.

The project is divided in three areas: two volumes and an interior esplanade, which is elevated from the mall floor.

The two volumes are identical and translucent. However, they have distinct uses and furniture. The 1st Volume (lounge space) comprehends a relax area where it is served gourmet coffee.  In the 2nd volume (bar space) the public can take express coffee. The coffee grain conquers the mall gallery and spies the public space inviting the public to enjoy the Coffee.

The grain was drawn on many scales. Then, a matrix was built in the form of 3 panels (3 meters high by 1 meter of anchor) which, inverted, created a total of 6 distinct panels.

All the walls where developed based in the study of the 6 panel matrix.

Double walls

It intends to reinforce the perforation of the grain and proportionate a body to the space. For this reason the walls and ceilings were duplicated. The central part of the ceiling is higher to give space a more dynamic feeling.

The structure is in pine wood which is light and easy to build.  The covering of the walls, ceilings and balconies is in MDF, painted in white. The floor covering is in linoleum.

The colors chosen were the white and the brown because of the association of these with the coffee fruit and the reflection of the light.

Furniture

The crockery and the tables were also drawn with detail, aesthetics and comfort attention. The furniture was covered with a unique and new material that is a derivative from the remnants of coffee. The furniture fulfills the space and appeals to sensorial feelings.

Lighting Design

The entire project was thought to create a light balance atmosphere. For that, it was used indirect light with diachronic lamps and halogens lamps in the bar. Orange leds were applied in the brand lettering.

.
Visit the LOFF website – here.

Photography by Fernando Guerra