CONTEMPORIST

K+JC House by Space Architecture
4×30 House by CR2 Arquitetos + FGMF Architects
DDB Office Interior by BBFL Design

Posted: 15 Sep 2011 06:46 AM PDT

Space Architecture designed the K+JC House in Jardines del Pedregal, Mexico City.

It would seem that house k+jc was destined to be what it is today. The owners, a young couple with two daughters, were looking for a spacious place, full of natural light, with a garden and open spaces.

The Pedregal was an idyllic place. This residential area was initially planned in the mid ´40s, in a development by Luis Barragán which became a point of reference for the modernist style in Latin America.

From the outset the clients were looking for a house that would represent the original style of the Pedregal and that its state would require complete renovation. Not an easy task given that many of these original jewels of the fifties have been demolished to give way to small gated communities. And so after a few months they found something that epitomized the original bright and light spirit of the Pedregal.

The house is articulated, with two intersecting parts. The first rests on a great volcanic rock approximately twenty meters long. In the form of a rectangular prism, it houses the living room, dining room, television room, kitchen and the study belonging to the client's wife, a writer and booklover. The second part, a half-level below, contains two bedrooms and a games room. A large exterior terrace was designed on the upper part of the house.

The design concepts were simple: to make the most of the good distribution of the original house but to lend it a contemporary style and to make it environmentally friendly. Equally it was important to create a space in which art would take centre stage, that the lighting should exploit the design qualities and generate agreeable atmospheres and a furnishing specification in line with the quality and style of the rest of the house.

In general, the design was created around very bright open spaces, giving views of the garden from the house. In the first part of the house, a stainless steel mesh was used to divide the living room and dining room from the rest of the spaces. These two areas were furnished with classic pieces by architects of the era of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. In contrast, the table at the center is made from a wrap of one of the stainless steel meshes, and owing to the quality of the chosen German wood, it gives rise to a contrasting aesthetic.

These spaces were decorated with works of art and objects which the couple had been acquiring as much in Mexico as in other countries.

The study, overrun with books of various colors, shapes and sizes, has bookcases covering the walls and with an orange leather desk specially made for the space; a courtyard provides natural light and ventilation to the study.

The second section which contains the bedrooms has a great walkway which on one side provides access to the rooms and on the other uses a large window onto the garden. The wall that surrounds the rooms is covered in hand-stitched leather which gives a feeling of warmth in contrast to the sheets of Italian arabesque marble on the floor. The finishing for this walkway is inspired by a small section of the same type of marble upon which rests a sculpture by the Mexican sculptor Javier Marín.

In the main bedroom, a second exterior terrace is created as an extension to the room, divided solely by a doorframe which practically disappears upon opening up this space. Part of the bedroom was designed as a reading area and a dressing room which give us the feeling of being in a boutique hotel.

Regarding the palette of materials, the intention was to use the fewest possible but with great creativity. All the floorings of the house are of a combination of marble and oil-treated wood.

In the television room floats a white crystal and the side wall is covered by suede, which give great quality to this living area.

The house relies on a system of rainwater capture, which after cleaning is used for bathrooms and irrigation. The project was designed with low VOC content materials. There are also solar water heaters and Lutron lighting controls which are energy saving as well as having the ability to create pre-programmed scenarios.

House k+jc represents a lifestyle which marries art, design, play and the sense of being a home. We can find a work of art in each space, including bathrooms and kitchen. The family living areas are strategically situated for light to provide quality and comfort. Play and fun, represented by means of shapes, colors and objects, are things which without doubt the smallest member of this household enjoys.

Visit the Space Architecture website – here.

Photography by Pim Schalkwijk

4×30 House by CR2 Arquitetos + FGMF Architects

Posted: 15 Sep 2011 04:33 AM PDT

CR2 Arquitetos and FGMF Architects have designed the 4×30 house in São Paulo, Brazil.

4×30 House by CR2 Arquitetos + FGMF Architects

Encrusted in a row of narrow geminate houses, the story began more as a challenge rather than as an architectural project. How make the entire program of a house fit in that 4x30m lot, relying on a few illuminated surfaces?

Even though the object is deceptively simple, the answer came across a lot of research. From the tiny Japanese and Dutch houses, we have borrowed more than the certainty that it would be possible to take advantage of the little space in a creative manner: some examples would also induce certain implosion of the program of the small-bourgeois house. The architectonic proposal ends a logic a bit aligned to the conventional space for the stereotype of a middle-class family in São Paulo and turns to integrated spaces and eliminates others considered "mandatory."

The occupation of the lot was one of the major factors for the development of the project. The search for natural illumination and ventilation conditioned the emphasis on the central garden, cut in the constructed volume in order to create three façades generously bathed in light. United by a footbridge around the garden, two blocks of different sizes organize the functions of the house and require residents to enjoy the green on all displacements. The larger block focuses the living room and kitchen on the ground floor and the bedrooms upstairs; the smaller one contains supporting environments such as service area, office and vertical circulation of the house.

That choice has followed the intention of perverting the limits of the garden with retractable glass doors in order to fully integrate the living room with the external space. At this point, a conceptual crossroad: if the living room is opened onto the garden, the only option for the kitchen was facing the façade.

The width of the lot and the garden-living room relationship implied, therefore, that the entrance of the house should be through a service space, and the solution found was going against the initial impulse of hiding it. Highlighting it in its form and, integrating it spatially passed from an obstacle to a project opportunity. The lowering of its floor in 75cm, besides increasing the headroom, has brought two important consequences. The first was the creation of an "elevated" passage, so that the entrance of the house would not exactly be through the kitchen, but through a circulation axis which extends throughout the house, setting it into an immediately identifiable logic. The second was the strange continuity between the level of the living room and the dining table, built on the island with built-in oven. Lowered, the kitchen offers itself to the visitor by an unused perspective. Integrated into the living room by the table-floor, by the bench that overflows from an environment to another, by the materials and details, the kitchen becomes part of the same space, but the lowering of the level highlights the differences between the programs.

Hovering over the gaps of the different heights of the living room and the kitchen, a large white object floats. Highlighted from the circulation axis, the cobblestone covered in aluminum wainscot transgresses the limits of the front façade and moves away from the left gable, allowing the visualization of a hydraulic tiling panel. The volume accommodates two suites, accessible by the expanded mesh footbridge that stops to create generous headroom over the entrance passage. In this linear 'atrium' and through the expanded mesh footbridge, there is the notion of continuity of the art panel signed by the artist Fabio Flaks. It occupies the entire gable, escorting the horizontal circulation on each floor, and refers to the large panels that were a characteristic feature of good modern architecture in Brazil. With an intentional prolongation, this panel is presented to the street and defines the entrance of the house, while a discrete glass slab allows the external observer to catch a glimpse of the continuity of the piece of art, which is offered as part of the urban landscape. Fully open, the permeable floor garage is also an exercise of generosity with the landscape of the city, often attacked by high walls reflecting the security paranoia and delusions of privacy that negates the very urbanity.

On the box of the bedrooms, a large deck occupies the top floor and creates a new area of enjoyment, framed by a strip of green roof. The solarium provides access for maintenance of air-conditioning and water heating equipment, but is primarily a recreational space that complements the garden on the ground floor. For the couple who lived in an apartment, every square inch outdoors corresponds to a great achievement.
In spite of being distant from the usual armed concrete, the metallic structure used is extremely simple. Slender metallic beams cross the space and rely on pillars built into the side gables. The concept of dry construction is also suitable in other employed systems, such as drywall and cementitious boards, wood panel flagstones, metallic passageways, large casements and floors made of rubber, resin or floating deck floors. Overall, this is an efficient building house, fast and accurate, with no waste and reworks. The materials used are as recyclable as the house itself, which can easily be adapted over time or simply disassembled when needed.

The tiling panel, of simple design, composes together with the polyurethane resin floor and the aluminum of the box a scenario of great simplicity and whiteness, only broken by the exuberance of the garden, on the one hand, and by the force of the black gable, on the other hand, which protects the interior from being seen from the street, on the opposite side. The obsession for the white color is not purely form, although the search for a simple space was a premise of the start-up: it is, above all, a strategy to reflect light internally, leading it to all points of the house.

The garden also plays a role in the efficiency of the house. In addition to allowing a permeable area superior to the required by law, the grassy area has a Surinam cherry tree and a bright green wall which cool naturally and create a low pressure zone. The air, cooled, crosses the living room toward the kitchen window, renewing the air and assuring appropriate thermal conditions for most of the year. In the winter, the external screen, which protects the façade from the sunset, can be collected so that the sunlight helps to warm the environment.

In addition to the retractable screen, other elements such as expanded mesh brise soleil, the green roof, the top floor deck which shades the metallic roof tile, the use of thermal-acoustic insulation on the seals and double-glazed windows in the bedrooms ensure a thermal performance which is above the average.
The result, in the end, is a small house in size but large for the integration and continuity of its spaces, for the use of light and the flexibility of a less rigid program than a conventional house.

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Architecture: CR2 Arquitetos + FGMF Architects

Photography: Fran Parente

DDB Office Interior by BBFL Design

Posted: 15 Sep 2011 02:33 AM PDT

BBFL Design created the interior for the DDB advertising agency in Singapore.

DDB Office Interior by BBFL Design

As one of the world's leading advertising agency, DDB have found a new home at Pico Creative Center in Singapore occupying 2 floors of 100 square meters each. BBFL were appointed as the architects to understand, interpret and create a workspace that embodies DDB's dynamic working culture.

The design process began with observing the designers at DDB work as a diverse group which involves a high level of discussion, debate and intervention sessions amongst each team with a common goal of achieving a creative solution for their clients. Group discussion activity was crucial for the team where workspace becomes a social network area rather than a confined individual space.

The design process has allowed us to create a bridge between two disciplines which played a huge role in the concept development of the entire DDB environment creating a conspicuous identity.

The workspace concept that revolves around DDB's office wasn't just about its corporate colors or even the branding of its company but create a collective space that leans towards the culture of the people in DDB itself. This lead us to create spaces in which improves and promotes inter-connectivity between creative individuals. To enhance this notion, spaces within the work environment weren't crafted out with walls or any form of concealed demarcation, compositing to an open office setting.

Territories are divided and screened by discussion and collaborative areas within the office. The aim was to enhance the current culture and to encourage a more lively work space, which will ultimately improve a better work flow. The workspaces are designed as long communal tables supporting an open office environment. We design spaces that allow these communal areas to be part of the workspace. Discussion bars are dispersed within team work areas. Even libraries and the staff pantry spanning across both floors were used as collaborative spaces for discussions

Conference rooms were meant to be flexible and open where staff would frequently occupy for internal presentations and brain-storming sessions. Gym-like staggered benches were introduced for audiences to participate in these sessions. Arrival lobbies on the other floors were treated with interactive projection of the collection of works that inspired DDB and a source of expression for the staff.

The spaces were intended to be open, flexible and inspiring where staff could express themselves freely.

DDB as clients, has been a project which involves cross-disciplinary professions, allowing us as designers to push the forefront of art & design as a holistic approach.

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Visit the BBFL Design website – here.