Terracotta

Rokuseki in Vigo is no typical Asian restaurant: it specialises in Yakiniku, a Japanese cooking technique in which you grill your own meat and vegetables directly at your table. The restaurant was designed by the Spanish architectural practice Modular Arquitectura and offers Japanese cuisine in an industrial-style setting with dark-grey walls, light-wood furniture and polished steel ventilation ducts. The seats are arranged along a wooden counter, above which hang extractor hoods over the terracotta grills used by diners to cook meat during their meal. The Spanish design team chose Ginko 1.0 projectors in stainless steel with 19° narrow optics, fixing them to the ventilation system, which runs all the way down to the counter. The stai... More

A new state of the art replacement science facility for a Girls' Grammar School, comprising of 9 teaching laboratories with support spaces. The new building has been delivered on the same site as the first Nightingale Hospital, surrounded by Scheduled Ancient Monuments, on a site overlooking Chatham, Kent.   What was the brief? The provision of a new group of science teaching facilities and a new 6th Form suite.   What were the key challenges? As a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a site containing 2 Listed Buildings, with very restricted access to much of the site, Fort Pitt School had been extensively developed during the late 1950’s and 60’s. The challenge for HMY was to find the most suitable location creating... More

This is a project of a multi-family housing building commissioned, promoted and built by Consorcio Ara. The proposal of Weber Architects seeks to prioritize the common areas and through its volumes, it divides the 14,000m2 land into three large courtyards. A central courtyard of around 4,000m2 with a set of benches and planters, a second one at the back that hosts the recreational area with sports courts, a playground and a park, and another one that divides the two white buildings.   The project plays with two colors, white volumes of eight levels that contrast with a four-level terracotta building in the form of an "L" that frames the courtyards. This hue change differentiates prisms, both in their scale and in their interior typol... More

Oliver Leech Architects has transformed a five-bedroom terraced house in Parsons Green with a radical remodel and reinterpretation of the internal layout.   The home, belonging to a photographer and her family, has been extended and refurbished to deliver on  the client’s desire for bright open-plan spaceswith an elegant and modern interior that’s the perfect backdrop to showcase their extensive photography collection.    The three-storey house on St Maur Road was bought in 2007 and although it had undergone minor refurbishments over the years it was in poor condition and in need of a complete overhaul. Work began in May 2017 when thehouse was stripped back to a shell, extended and internally rebuilt.&nbs... More

With Claremont McKenna College’s new Roberts Pavilion, John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects (JFAK) has dramatically redefined what a college athletic venue can be, designing an iconic social hub that brings students and faculty together while demarking a new gateway for the campus that reacts to the push and pull of surrounding buildings, playing fields, and aquatic center. Fotoworks/Benny Chan Roberts Pavilion bends and warps, slants, rises, and sinks with movement and expansive light. To meet the challenges of a compact site, the architects sank the central basketball arena below grade and placed other functions around the edges. The experience of the building is one of lightness and light. Lightness because it appears to hover... More

Hotel Calimala, the second Italian property of Milu Hotel Group, is a 38-room hotel in Florence’s bustling Centro Storico neighborhood that is set to open on September 1, 2019. Housed in a landmark 19th-century Eclectic architecture-style building, the property has been completely restored by architect Alex Meitlis (Ottolenghi restaurants and Tel Aviv’s Quattro & Messa).   The true spirit of Hotel Calimala emerges at ANGEL Florence’s newest dining, drinking and experiential rooftop destination occupying the fifth, sixth & seventh floors. Separate indoor and outdoor atmospheres frame a rooftop patio and floral garden, while the top floor offers breathtaking views of the city’s iconic landmarks. ANGEL ca... More

Under-utilised garages along the busy A12 in East London have been transformed into custom-designed workshops, studios and a manufacturing unit for local fashion businesses, training and community makers.   Designed by architects Adams & Sutherland and delivered by Poplar HARCA alongside London College of Fashion and social enterprise, The Trampery, Poplar Works sees 100 under-utilised and disused garages across two sites in the Aberfeldy and Teviot neighbourhoods, repurposed into 45 custom-designed, low-cost workshops and studios, a public café and events space, and manufacturing facilities offering enterprise support and training programmes.   The project has been supported by the Mayor’s Good Grow... More

New Future for an Outdated Office: MVRDV Completes Villa StardustMVRDV has completed Villa Stardust, transforming a former commercial building into a private home. Inspired by a Moroccan riad, the interior living spaces of the villa are oriented around a central patio, which functions as an extra outdoor chamber. The used materials and colour palette give the dwelling a Mediterranean look and feel. As a retrofit building, Villa Stardust is a highly sustainable project following circular economy principles.   As a former commercial building with a limited privacy due to neighbouring structures, the key strategy in this transformation is the insertion of a vibrant central garden patio. This draws its inspiration from the Moroccan riad... More

Bates Smart's proposal is for a mixed use development comprising 18 floors above ground level and a single basement. Located between the city fringe and Surry Hills. Three quarters of the site is occupied by a significant 10-storey Federation Warehouse. The proposal is articulated into 3 parts. The existing Federation Warehouse is retained with the lower 8 levels occupied by a hotel and the upper 2 levels occupied by residential apartments. Alongside the existing building is a 7-storey lightweight infill element, forming part of the hotel. Its steel and glass facade defines the street wall and forms a counterpoint to the heavy masonry facades of the existing building. At the ground floor two separate lobbies – one for the hotel... More

Sama Sama is an upscale Indonesian restaurant located in Changi Jewel Singapore. True to its Indonesian character, the space combines earthy element like terracotta and terrazzo with luxurious and elegant element like brass. This space invokes both classic yet modern interiors and it also exudes nostalgic feeling when one sits in this space. Components including bespoke furnitures and finishes were meticulously selected to achieve the overall experience and functionality of the space.   Material Used: 1. Terracotta for floor, wall cladding, and feature planter at main entrance area 2. Terrazzo tile for floor 3. Brass for skirting, ceiling cladding, foot rail 4. Wooden laminate by EDL for built-in furniture and cabinet 5. Natural... More

Beyond a physical home, Serendah Hill Retreat is a deeply personal homage to the clients, who are the Architect’s parents, and to the surrounding lush tropical landscape that has been the bedrock of their Buddhist spiritual life.   Adopting the Japanese principles of “shakkei” (borrowed landscape), the house was conceived from the beginning as an extension of the landscape, part of which has been meticulously curated and nurtured by the clients by hand from seeds, for more than a decade, even before the house was designed – Pre-existing soft architecture that the house needs to respect.   In the spirit of sustainable way of life, passive design principles are integrated to increase comfort without the n... More

Universal Music Finland’s office is located in a historic industrial building close to the seafront. What used to be an old cable factory now serves as a creative hub for new and legendary Finnish musical talent and the team that makes it all happen. Stunning architectural details remind of the building’s industrial past - the office boasts rough concrete floors and paned windows that reach the entire height of two-story space. To make the most of their prime location and iconic office space, the team hoped for updates that would make their work easier, gatherings more convenient, and everyday tasks more functional. A wish to achieve an overall “cool” factor, in line with Universal’s cutting-edge brand image an... More

The environment signed by Melina Romano Studio calls Hygge Studio, a minimalist space located in São Paulo, Brazil .   Hygge is the Danish word which has no Portuguese translation, but suggests comfort, delicacy and simplicity for the home. For this project, the designers challenged themselves to turns a Scandinavian concept in a Brazilian way of life.   It was between colors, textures and materialities that the designers found the exact point between hot and cold, between modern and bucolic. The home was also this base that allowed them to reach their own balance for what was wanted.   The 68m² space has a suite, bathroom, living room and kitchen completely integrated, but in a deconstructed way. The layout... More