Tehran’s building and construction landscape is purely economically driven, due to revised construction laws and consciences of a fast-growing metropolis. This has led to the creation of an architecture that is mostly based on necessities rather than a complex interplay of form, material, and texture. As a result of an expanding metropolis, the notion of boundary and territory is challenged. In Tehran, these notions have shaped rigid and nonporous thresholds between the developments and their surroundings. Cutting off and isolating the lifestyles they contain; therefore, a major touchstone of VOID+ is defining its fee, focusing on the relationship it establishes with the ground and its periphery. The project tries to set an example or a prototype for dealing with notions of shared ownership, privacy, safety, territory, collective memory and most importantly improving the quality of the domestic space in Tehran.

Studio Pousti

Studio Pousti

The post Void+ was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Throughout the years, Mexican cities had experimented urban and regulation changes -sometimes unplanned- due to the demand of living spaces, creating a void and density difference between the downtown neighborhoods and the outside suburbs. On that basis, to live in community and recovering the public space to re-densify the city, have been the values and goals to share from our trench to deal with the uncontrolled urban growth. These concepts served as starting point to become reality this multi-dwelling building in the heart of Querétaro.

Urban and social context

Nearby the historic center of the city, Las Hadas emerges as one of the first apartment buildings placed in a neighborhood with single-family density. The building attempts to promote a new public initiative to change the land use in the area, opening the way to re-densification and reactivation.

With a narrow surface -where a house used to be -, the length of the site was exploited to design a four-story concrete building, formed by 100, 200 and 300-sqm housing units, where the last apartment crowns the building by occupying a double height story, allowing interesting views towards the front park and the city.

The building blends into its built and socioeconomic environment, by choosing a spatial distribution that stands out for its rhythmic, logical, and simple architecture, that would allow for a cost-efficient building, rich in atmospheric possibilities of space.

Las Hadas favors open and wide interior spaces, without affecting the privacy of each one of the inhabitants, by using artisanal-concrete lattices on lower levels and the integration of terraces and planters on main’s façade that works as filter between the street and the dwellings. 

Material palette

The material palette was defined by neutral and contemporary elements, being the exposed concrete a protagonist on the building’s language, chosen for its durability and timeless appearance whose green patina allows the building to age properly. This gray canvas is complemented by subtle accents of wood and steel, while contrasting with the lush greenery from the trees and gardens.

Layout design

Each apartment’s layout is developed around the central patio, which maximizes daylight, ventilation, and communication between the access and the 3 housing units. This common area houses an olive tree that was planted in celebration of a new life for the property and the neighborhood.

One particularity of the project is the unique design and identity for each apartment, avoiding a copy-pasted floor plan. This characteristic is improved by the integration of private and public amenities that highlights the benefits of a shared-living system, showcasing a design alternative to urban density and land use issues.

Reims 502

Onnis Luque, Ariadna Polo

The post Apartment building in Mexico was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The new Cosmote TV building is the outcome of the transformation of a former industrial venue into offices and studios, aspiring to become a landmark for its area at large. Following the structure of the existing building, the design introduces three programmatic zones with different heights and qualities. In the middle, among the offices, television studios and technical rooms, the Plaza becomes the building’s central square, a meeting area for all employees. This “heart” of the building, which includes open plan workspaces, is endowed with a mezzanine and a bridge, connecting separate sectors. Along the bridge, existing columns were treated as “trees” growing from the ground, with their “branches” covering the “sky” of the Plaza. The transformation of the building relied on the use of high-tech tensile membrane in the interior, while the curved white zones of bioclimatic cantilevers provide shade at a distance from the façade, in a strikingly dynamic result. 

LC Architects

George Fakaros

256 | April 2021

The post Cosmote TV was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The apartment building is on the main commercial street of Voula in South Athens, an area of vigorous new housing construction. The elongated property allowed the design of two separate building volumes, divided by a water surface and garden on the ground level in-between. The absence of a fence on the ground level facilitates communication between the private and public, urban space. The building shell, with horizontal and vertical fair-face concrete planes, creates a shield against adjacent buildings and provides uniform light diffusion in the house interiors. The shading cantilevers appear to float over V-shaped supports. The project involves 12 independent, cross-ventilated houses, on one or two levels, with large balconies equipped with mini pools. The penthouses are shaped in roof gardens enjoying panoramic views. The buildings are connected on the first underground level (parking, equipment, storage) while the double-height ground floor can operate independently, accommodating retail or bar-restaurant uses.

Haris Ghikas, Kimon Veneris

Vangelis Paterakis

255 | March 2021

The post V Lofts was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

An innovative apartment block in Limassol

A four-story apartment block with six apartments was designed to create a pleasant living experience while optimizing construction and maximizing material and energy savings. Two two-bedroom apartments were created on each floor for the first two floors while two different three-bedroom apartments were created on the 3rd and 4th floors.

The Structural System and Layout

A strong core with columns only on the perimeter of the building, allows flexibility in floor plan design. The compact central volume of the cube-shaped block is juxtaposed with lightweight metal structures, becoming the suspended balconies, mainly for private outdoor use. The compact block includes a high level of insulation, aiming to leave a small ecological footprint and to be economically efficient, and shadings for the edifice, and solar, power-generating panels; those were placed to maximize the building’s orientation.

Special attention was given to the floor design of the apartments, where a combination of materials unifies the spaces, disregarding the separating walls.

The ceiling of each typology was designed independently so that the functional, aesthetic, and structural needs of the building are served.

The roof is organized into a roof garden that acts as a common recreation area, through lightweight structures which are covering up the mechanical floor, adding to the building’s overall aesthetic.

Computational optimization techniques

Computational optimization techniques were applied to determine the structural system in order to minimize the impact of seismic activity. This led to a decrease in the amount of reinforcement needed for the construction, given the small cross-sections of the structural elements.

Additionally, the waffle slab system was chosen to reduce the cost for the formworks and to lessen the total weight of the reinforced concrete structure. The cantilevered balconies are hinged metal additions that don’t affect the sturdiness of the rest of the structure.

Alexis Papadopoulos Architectural Practice

Creative Photo Room

The post ZIO Apartment Block in Limassol was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The building is in a residential area in north Athens, surrounded by three calmed roads with a distinctive neighborhood feel. The new building houses eight independent units on four floors raised on pilotis, and a house with a garden on the ground level. The block is placed at a distance from the property limits and is slightly tilted to make the best of its southern orientation.

The design relies on the elaboration of a clear geometric structure, symmetrically distributed along the central vertical circulation core. The internal programmatic arrangement of each unit leads to the creation of a recessed façade, bracketing all four sides of the volume. A second façade, in reinforced concrete, is placed at a distance, negotiating the limit with the surrounding urban fabric. Further, it highlights the internal distribution of the building, underlining its spatial qualities, such as the two structural voids on the southern façade, on the first and second floors. This creates two layers of depth, allowing the perception of the structure as a single volume.

This second façade, compositionally independent, with its own proportions and geometry, is the “face” of the building towards the city.

Agis Mourelatos

The post Apartment building in Neo Iraklio was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Renaissance is a boutique residential block consisting of 4 one-bedroom flats, 4 two-bedroom flats and 2 three-bedroom flats. Inspired by the history of the area but with a modern note, the building consists of a raw podium made of arches that is presented as the base of the building.

The frame and the main body of the building are made of bare dark colour render material depicting the roots of a place, which will always exist no matter how much time passes.

Thin decorative elements consisting of arches and vertical columns embrace the building, regenerating the past which also acts as a sun shading system and gives more privacy to the tenants from the surrounding buildings.

Surrounded by flowers and vegetation, the building aims to create a new way of living to the residents, providing a distinctive experience. The boundary between interior-exterior blends smoothly as every apartment has wide openings facing the large verandas which include its own private garden zone.

The vertical landscape covers approximately 50% of the building’s façade area. This exceptional living environment is working like a natural “brise soleil”. The plants will act as a natural sun control shielding the apartments from direct sun during summer while admitting a maximum of sunlight in winter.

A variety of Cypriot climbing and spreading plants will be continually transformed by the cyclic movements of the different seasons. Old olive trees continue this vertical landscape on the ground floor of the building. It creates the link to the adjacent road and gets a part of the scenery of the area.

Kailistudio

The post Renaissance was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The building is located in a central residential district of Limassol; it extends on three levels and includes seven apartments, six out of which are one-bedroom studios and the seventh is a three-bedroom condo on the last floor.

The distribution of the residential units follows a conventional typology, with all the apartments placed on the floors, allowing the creation of an enclosed pilotis on the ground level, accommodating all shared and secondary uses in a free-form plan. The circulation core is centrally placed, reducing the circulation surface and increasing the layout of the units. Parking space is provided underground.

The main design principle is the segmentation of the building mass in four smaller volumes, subtracting vertical slices from all four sides of the initial envelope. This way, the building de-escalates and adapts to the scale of its vicinity, reducing ground cover and facilitating natural lighting and ventilation of the central circulation core. Employing an integrated architectural vocabulary, all four volumes are raised and juxtaposed, creating a perpetual conversation of solids and voids in-between.

The building shell is designed independent from the loadbearing structure, providing the opportunity of free development for the apartment interiors. The outside shades, beside their main function, further become an abstract mechanism in the design of the outer envelope. Attached in places beyond the obvious, they confound the relation between the floors and their included programs, reinforcing the geometric, monolithic features of the volumes and creating an ambiguity concerning the building scale and use.

The building acquires high energy efficiency, mostly by employing passive means. The folding shades allow natural lighting and protect the spaces from solar overheating, both indoors and at the outdoor covered areas. Combined with a properly heat-insulated shell, living conditions are flexible and adaptable to seasonal change, according to the time of the day and to the needs of the tenants. Planted surfaces on the ground floor slab cover 25% of the property in local shrubs, reducing the building’s thermal mass. Two planted ground inclinations penetrate the ground floor and basement, allowing natural lighting and ventilation in the underground spaces.

 Sofronis Marcou Architects

Creative Photo Room

Sofronis Marcou

The post Apartment Building in Limassol was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

This building with two apartments is located in Costa do Castelo, a street that surrounds the hill and where its buildings hide the view towards the city of Lisbon. To counteract with the horizontal extension of the plot, an interior void crosses and illuminates every floor. This void organizes the building circulation and allows one to watch the sky or the person two levels below. A vertical view that complements the dominating horizontality of the outer landscape.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the context of rapid city expansion and growing need for housing in Lisbon led to the appearance of buildings dubbed ‘Gaioleiros’. One of the most recognizable features of this type of buildings is the unusually big depth of the lots, marked by corridors running through the apartments across their full length. The original layout of these buildings suggest a polarization of the social and functional areas at both ends, while the bedrooms are organized around a central lightwell.

For this specific ‘Gaioleiro’ located in Costa do Castelo, in addition to the features that inherently belong to this typology, the terrain’s steep slope allows a generous view over Lisbon. The natural consequence would then be a horizontal distribution logic that seeks, above all, a relationship with the landscape.

Instead, the expansion of the lightwell through its ‘duplication’ and incorporation of the stair core reinforces a relationship that is meant to be zenithal, in search of light and ventilation. Therefore, it ceases to be the element that divides the building in half to become a centripetal force that organizes all its circulations, activities and celebrates its interior.

The project, which comprises a duplex on the lower floors, and a triplex on the upper floors, develops around this lightwell as a central element able to introduce balance in the preexistent horizontal relations. If, on the one hand, this horizontality spreads the floorplans in search of a vanishing point on the exterior, on the other, it is the lightwell that interconnects all floors, establishing itself as an internal vertical counterpoint. Thus, the polarized design that usually characterizes the plan of such buildings, now suggests the reinterpretation of its own center.

aurora arquitectos

do mal o menos

The post Building in Costa do Castelo was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The final decisions on the best architects 21 award are in. With almost 400 entries, the number of participants was higher than ever before. The diversity and range of the projects submitted was impressive, but at the same time a challenge for this year’s jury.

«It is exciting to see the vibrant way in which architecture is developing. Architects are meeting new challenges with a good deal of creativity and courage and are producing some surprising new solutions as a result. Most are guided by a strong concept that goes beyond formal approaches and does justice to the durability of the architecture and the often changing use over time. That development was recognised with this year’s award-winning projects.»

(Tobias Schwarzer, founder of the best architects award)

The jury consisting of Professor Johannes Modersohn (Berlin), Yves Moreau (Paris) and Patrick Schmid (Zurich) honoured 80 projects with the «best architects 21» award. An additional 11 projects received the distinction «best architects 21 in Gold» for their outstanding quality.

«With almost 400 project entries, it is not easy to set the evaluation criteria. The spectrum of submissions ranged from the largely faithful renovation of a stellar architectural residential building from the 1960s to an investors’ urban office complex and an architectural sculpture that ostensibly has no function. Is it even possible to define criteria that allow for the comparison of such diverse interventions? And whose achievement should win an award? Of course, the best architects award is primarily aimed at architects, but every architect knows that their work alone is not enough to create a good building. The role that the developers and authorities play is just as critical. A building of exceptional quality is therefore also always evidence of the particularly constructive collaboration of all parties concerned.

If we now consider the results of our adjudication process, then it is obvious that all the award-winning projects are characterised by exactly that kind of interaction between all participants. But they not only satisfy the original requirements by means a good compromise. Instead they manage to achieve something at a higher level on the basis of strong ideas. These projects thus make a contribution to our society.»

(Patrick Schmid / Schmid Schärer Architekten, Zurich)

The Gold winners of the best architects 21 award

In the «Residential single-family» category, the gold winners were the architectural firms Aretz Dürr Architekten from Cologne (DE) with their project «House D // 6» as well as Kast Kaeppeli Architekten from Bern (CH) and their project «Jurastrasse 58» and the Lukas Lenherr Architektur practice from Zurich (CH) for their project «Small house».

For their exceptionally creative and innovative residential buildings in the «Residential multi-family» category, the firms Atelier EGR Architectes from Marseille (FR) and their project «Jouques», BS+EMI Architektenpartner from Zurich (CH) and their project «Am Katzenbach IV/V Residential Complex», the Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten practice from Zurich (CH) with their project «Allenmoosstrasse Residential Building» and the firm Rapin Saiz Architectes from Vevey (CH) with their «Renovation and Elevation of a Residential Building» project also received a gold award.

A further gold distinction in the «Office and Administrative Buildings» category went to the «Hilti Office Mitte» project by the Giuliani Hönger Architekten practice from Zurich (CH).

In the «Commercial and Industrial Buildings» category, the SLIK Architekten firm from Zurich (CH) won a gold award with the project «Yond».

Additional gold awards in the «Educational Buildings» category went to the ARGE Architekten Hull Inoue Radlinsky + Wolfgang Rossbauer consortium from Zurich (CH) for its «Marzili Primary School» project.

In the «Public Buildings» category, the consortium ARGE Joos & Mathys Architekten / Daniel Nyffeler Architekten from Zurich (CH) scored a gold with its «Rüti ZH Parish Hall» project.

All the award-winning projects can be seen at www.bestarchitects.de.

About the Best Architects Award

The best architects award was created in 2006 to filter out the best and most interesting architectural projects the German-speaking countries have to offer in order to present them to a broad, interested public. In 2015, the award competition was opened up to participants across Europe.

The award is conferred each year on completed architecture projects that are distinguished by outstanding architectural quality. An independent jury of prominent architects awards the «best architects» label and the «best architects in gold» label for exceptional quality.

Due to the constantly increasing number of participants and the exceptionally high standard of submissions, the award has become a significant event in the world of architecture. The award, and the lavish publication that documents all the award-winning projects in depth, offer potential developers guidance and contribute to the dialogue concerning architectural culture. The award also allows award-winning architects and/or architectural firms to stand out in the market place and to position themselves at the forefront of the international architectural scene.

Best Architects 21

The post Best Architects 21 Award Results was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The design of an apartment building always presents a great challenge; this typology corresponds to the most common mode of living in Greece and it needs updated approaches to its architectural form.

The compound was designed in a corner property in the north suburbs of Athens, at a difficult time for the building industry and for the economy at large. It consists of three apartments: 120m², 150², and a 200m² terraced house. The project was required to keep a balance between marketability and a desired formal and volumetric simplicity.

The positioning of the building in the plot became the starting point for the design development; a simple, elongated rectangular bar was placed adjacent to the back limit, creating ample open-air space for greenery. The simple rectangular volume had large, dynamic, triangular cantilevered balconies attached, embracing its surrounding green space. A central staircase was introduced to maximize privacy between the apartments.

The materials chosen are consistent with the specific location and with its older architecture; stone dresses the ground floor socle, as well as supporting walls that demarcate the entrances.

A shading system at the balcony cantilevers was designed for filtering the view, using 7cm-round cedar wooden components. Those vertical elements are distributed along the facades in varying densities, interacting with the natural light into a dynamic play.

The building facades are clad in grey or black exterior insulation, the open-air space is dressed in chiseled grey marble and the verandas in iroko wood. All materials are natural and harmonize with their pine-wood surroundings.

The apartment layout is simple, and all units were designed to enjoy the same natural light and cross-ventilation; the ample balconies effectively extend the interiors during the summer months. Most apartments include three bedrooms and are equipped with an open kitchen, enlarging the lounge spaces. White and black surfaces come into interplay, mostly in the lounge areas around the fireplace, and natural wood is chosen for case-in furniture. The bathrooms are clad in grey mosaic tiles, combined with wooden fittings. The vertical metal supports in the staircase establish a dialogue with the outdoor wooden shades.

Simplicity and clear lines integrate the outer shell with the interior. The core of the building accommodates covered open spaces that create interesting shelters between indoors and outdoors. Those intermediate, protected spaces, elongated cantilevers and large openings, merging the balconies with the indoor lounges are the optimal design solution for a truly Mediterranean way of living.

Spacelab Architecture

Sotiris Hainis, Vana Krimnioti

George Messaritakis

ek magazine 240 | September 2019

The post Apartment Building in Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.