Architecture Review

Bolton Eco-House by Make Architects

27 days ago | By BilgeKobas

This new eco-home, designed by Make Architects is the first zero-carbon property in the North West of England. The 8,000ft² scheme has been , following close collaboration between the client, Bolton Council and CABE. The client has been heavily involved in the design process from the outset and is passionate about preserving the natural beauty of this area. High quality design was a driving factor, but the opportunity to deliver a home of the utmost environmental efficiency was identified from the outset.

Already billed as ‘a house of the future’, the unique scheme truly tests the boundaries of current sustainable thinking in terms of design and construction. The four-bedroom, single-storey family home is deliberately embedded into the contours of the Pennine hillside to minimise the impact on the surrounding moorland and has a roof of flora and meadow grasses which flows seamlessly over the property and into the landscape. It has been designed to consume less energy than it uses; a ground source heat pump, photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine will generate on-site renewable energy. The positioning and orientation of the property were carefully considered and it will be built using locally sourced building materials and traditional construction methods.

The design team has worked closely with Peter Rolton, a key member of the Government’s advisory panel for renewable and sustainable energy, and the proposed scheme has already been identified as an exemplar project within the Government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’ programme.

* Images taken from Make Architects website.

TuboHotel by T3arc

22 days ago | By admin

T3arc ,a Mexican architecture office, designed a new tubular hotel inspired by DasPark hotel, an innovative hotel in Austria built with recycled concrete tubular rooms, built by Andreas Strauss in 2006. The Tubo hotel, constructed in three months,stands for one of the world’s most interesting hotels.

From the designers;
“The idea came when we built Cafe Five, where we saw the need to adapt an inexpensive room for users. In our search for solutions, we found Desparkhotel, the work of the architect Andreas Strauss in 2006, using recycled concrete pipes for hotel rooms. Our client decided to make a hotel with the same characteristics as the Desparkhotel on a ground that is located on the outskirts of Tepoztlan, with excellent panoramic views of the Sierra del Tepozteco. Located in a wooded setting of unusual features, the surrounding environment provides an unique natural environment and for our project.”

“The goal was to have the ability to build a fast and affordable hotel that offered lodging for Tepoztlan tourist. With a projection of 20 rooms, we began building the first modules. Unlike the hotel of Andreas Strauss, we place the rooms (tubes) in three modules to harness the ground as possible much as possible.”

Architects: T3arc
Location: Tepoztlán, Mexico
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 220 sqm
Photographs: Luis Gordoa

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

22 days ago | By BilgeKobas

©SPINE 3D

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre for the City University of Hong Kong will provide facilities that will enable the University to become the first in Asia to offer the highest level of education and training in the creative media fields. The Centre will house the Centre for Media Technology and the Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology. Studio Daniel Libeskind has worked with Leigh & Orange Architects and the building’s construction was completed in 2010.

©SDL

The distinctive crystalline design will create an extraordinary range of spaces rich in form, light, and material that, together, will create an inspiring environment for research and creativity. Internal activity spaces have been designed specifically to encourage collaboration through openness and connectivity. The Centre will also serve as an exciting place for visitors, who will be welcomed to enjoy the facilities as part of an extended public outreach program of courses and events.

©Gollings Photography PTY Ltd (http://www.gollings.com.au)

The facility also includes a multi-purpose theatre, sound stages, laboratories, classrooms, exhibition spaces, a cafe and a restaurant. Secluded landscaped gardens to the north of the building is available for students and the general public alike.

©Gollings Photography PTY Ltd (http://www.gollings.com.au)

©SDL

©SPINE 3D

* Images and text are taken from Daniel Libeskind’s website.

A Green House in the Outskirts of Brussels

20 days ago | By BilgeKobas

This house near Brussels by architects Samyn and Partners has a glass wall at the front and a plant-covered wall by French botanical artist Patrick Blanc at the back.

This is a mixed-use construction for a cinematographer that includes production and workspaces as well as a residence. The construction includes the street level of an existing small house. It now houses the entry hall, a large office and a kitchen; the living-room and the stairway are in the extension to the building. The professional studios occupy all the cellars as well as part of the second floor. The remainder of this floor includes the master bedroom with its bathroom, as well as five children’s rooms and sanitary installations. They are equipped with a mezzanine protected by textile netting that leads to the glassed-wall facade.

The building presents curved and vegetalised facades that are very private and closed to the neighbours to the north, the east and the south. In contrast, the west facade is entirely glass-walled as if it were one huge partitioned window.

Initially conceived as a wall of ivy with a patinated copper roof, the vegetalised facade is finally composed of a selection of exotic plants chosen by the botanical artist Patrick Blanc, and extends to cover the roof.
The architects says that they had to design the structure, the insulation, and the water-tightness of the envelope and resolve the building physics issues in order to receive the necessary support systems, irrigation and fertilisation systems for the plants that are set into a felt support stapled to rigid PVC panels.

Immense translucid white polyester curtains in widths of 1.6 m suspended from the top of the structure to the ground floor run along this great « window » to ensure shade in the summer months.