Transparent dome

On the northeastern edge of the University of Cyprus campus in Nicosia, an artificial hill rises from the terrain, completing the natural landscape shaped by Aronas Hill and the Kalogeros river. Seamlessly integrated into its surroundings, it appears less as an intervention and more as a quiet geological inevitability – an architectural gesture that feels as though it has always belonged there.

Design Philosophy

Beneath this constructed topography lie the Information Center and the Library of the University of Cyprus, named after Stelios Ioannou in recognition of the decisive donation by his widow, Ellie Ioannou, which set the long-envisioned project into motion. What emerges is not merely a repository of knowledge, but a landmark that redefines the relationship between architecture and landscape.

Designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Jean Nouvel, the complex embodies the French architect’s enduring preoccupation with light, materiality and contextual integration. Rather than imposing a monumental object onto the campus, Nouvel conceived a 15,700 m² structure that dissolves into the earth. The building unfolds across five levels, two of which are embedded underground, while the remaining three are contained within the 40-metre-wide artificial hill.

Custom Structure

The dome-like membrane that envelops the structure is rendered in an abstract composition of natural hues, reinforcing its dialogue with the Cypriot terrain. Transparent yet technologically advanced, the envelope allows daylight to penetrate deep into the interior while incorporating sophisticated solar protection systems that enhance the building’s bioclimatic performance. The result is an architecture that is both visually restrained and environmentally responsive.

A pivotal element of this strategy is the heliostat: a 24-metre-high, five-metre-thick conical structure clad in louvers. Acting as a light-harvesting device, it captures and redirects sunlight into the heart of the building, channeling it even to the lowest levels. This sculptural mechanism not only reinforces the project’s environmental agenda but also dramatizes the interior spatial experience.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the reading room at ground level. Arranged around the perimeter of a central atrium, 31 glazed study cubes function as intimate enclaves within the larger collective space. Bathed in filtered daylight, they form a rhythmic constellation of transparent volumes – quiet sanctuaries for concentration within an open, communal setting.

Context Integration

The building has quickly assumed the status of an architectural reference point in Cyprus, particularly for younger generations. Its planted landscape alternative – the constructed hill rather than a conventional green roof – demonstrates a deliberate departure from predictable sustainable tropes. Instead, the project proposes a more immersive integration of architecture and site, where enclosure, terrain and climate operate as a unified system.

As an institution, the library houses an extensive collection spanning the full spectrum of scientific knowledge, including approximately 600,000 volumes, 40,000 digital titles and 10,000 audiovisual items. It stands as a contemporary ark of knowledge – both protective and open – where physical and digital media coexist within a spatial framework defined by light and earth.

The interior further reflects the Ioannou family’s longstanding engagement with art. Significant works tracing the historical continuum of Cyprus are displayed alongside pieces by contemporary Cypriot artists, embedding cultural memory within the architectural narrative. In this synthesis of landscape, technology, knowledge and art, the Stelios Ioannou Library transcends its institutional function, positioning itself as a spatial manifesto for learning in the Mediterranean context.

The post University of Cyprus Library was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Designing for the perimeter

The new Zubiaur Musika Eskola in Amorebieta-Etxano, on the outskirts of Bilbao, emerged from an architectural competition held in 2015. Conceived as both an addition and a reinterpretation of its context, the project establishes a clear dialogue with the existing facilities while asserting its own architectural identity.

Context Integration

The building transforms the existing dividing wall into an additional façade, completing and redefining the perimeter of the current complex. The original wall of the adjoining frontón ballcourt is preserved and elevated as the central protagonist of the intervention. By exposing and layering the successive walls, the project makes the passage of time legible, allowing traces of the site’s history to remain visible. In doing so, the design safeguards local heritage and collective memory, integrating them into the contemporary architectural language.

Once the formal autonomy of the neighboring cultural center is acknowledged, the Musika Eskola operates as an independent volume. It respects the orthogonality and abstraction of the surrounding structures, yet distinguishes itself as a singular and recognizable element within the ensemble.

Spatial Organization

The newly conceived façade-dividing wall is set apart from the main volume, generating a ground-floor patio and a vertical void that extends alongside the upper levels. The plan wraps around this courtyard, which functions both as a drainage basin and as a rainwater retention space in the event of flooding.

A subtle setback from the longitudinal façade creates a sheltered porch at ground level, marking the main entrance and reinforcing its civic presence. Above, the upper floors complete the program in the form of a regular three-story prism, arranged parallel to the new façade-wall and complemented by a projecting corbel. The compact floor plates maximize usable surface area, forming an efficient and clearly defined spatial container.

Façade & Staircase Design

To achieve fully open-plan interiors, the structural system is pushed to the perimeter, allowing the façade to act as a self-supporting envelope. This strategy liberates the interior from structural constraints, enhancing flexibility and spatial clarity.

The staircases are positioned outside the primary prism and enclosed in glass, heightening transparency and reinforcing the building’s abstract character. More than a circulation device, the stair becomes an architectural promenade: it frames views toward the adjacent park, reveals the scale of the internal courtyard, and underscores the building’s identity as an extended, cohesive, and singular spatial composition.

The post Zubiaur School of Music was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Glass bridges

The Tianjin Juilliard School serves as a dynamic center for performance, practice, research, and interactive exhibitions, with communal spaces intentionally designed to welcome the public into the creative and performative process of music.

Design Philosophy

As the first performing arts institution in China to offer a U.S.-accredited Master of Music degree, it provides graduate programs in orchestral studies, chamber music, and collaborative piano. The school also offers a pre-college program for students ages 8–18, an instrumental training program, adult education courses, and a robust schedule of public performances.

Functional Organization

The 350,000-square-foot campus is located in the Yujiapu Financial District. The building consists of four faceted pavilions that house a 690-seat concert hall, a 299-seat recital hall, a 225-seat black box theater, as well as administrative offices, faculty studios, and rehearsal spaces. Five glass bridges span a large public atrium that extends the surrounding park into the building, creating an open and welcoming environment where students, visitors, and concertgoers can gather, relax, and observe informal performances and rehearsals. These bridges contain classrooms, teaching studios, and practice rooms enclosed in transparent glass, promoting both visual and auditory access to music study and encouraging spontaneous as well as structured interaction among students, faculty, and visitors.

Technological Integration

Echoing the design language of The Juilliard School in New York, the Tianjin campus incorporates advanced telecommunications and video conferencing technologies to foster close collaboration between the two institutions. The Juilliard Imagination Space, for instance, is a digitally connected exhibition venue capable of hosting livestreamed performances between Tianjin and New York, reinforcing the school’s global academic and artistic exchange.

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Architectural Competition

The “Magnifica Fabbrica” International Design Competition, promoted by the Municipality of Milan with the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala, has selected as the winning entry the design proposal of the Italo-Spanish group composed of FRPO Rodriguez y Oriol and WALK Architecture & Landscape of Madrid and SD Partners of Milan. 

The competition brief envisages the creation of the new site for the Teatro alla Scala laboratories and warehouses and the expansion of Parco della Lambretta, with the aim of regenerating the area located in the Lambrate district, once occupied by the Innocenti car manufacturer plant and now involved in a urban regeneration process. 

The intention is to create a new cultural, artistic and production centre, bringing all the phases of the creative process into close proximity, from design to production, offering the public the chance to take part in the birth of the shows, and to bring citizens closer to the world of theater. 

In addition to that, the expansion of Parco della Lambretta is aimed to become a real landmark for the district, as well as a place for gathering and leisure time. It will include the recovery and integration in the park of the so-called “Palazzo di Cristallo”, a monumental testimony of industrial archaeology.

The designers responsible for the winning proposal are: Pablo Oriol and Fernando Rodriguez for FRPO, Juan Tur Mc Glone for WALK and Massimo Giuliani, Alessandro Viganò and Beatrice Meroni for SD Partners. 

The multidisciplinary team also included Studio Gibelli, Ing. Luca Stefanutti, Agroservice, TRM and Mecanismo Ingegneria. 

The competition was divided in two phases in an open anonymous form and received a total of 59 entries.

Programmatic units

Milan, a metropolis in constant movement, dynamic and productive, always reinventing itself, today opens its secret heart. A heart in which others beat, with different rhythms, moved by skillful hands that forge treasures invisible to most. Vibrating center of the city and meeting point between industriousness and genius, La Scala and the Magnifica Fabbrica, are called today to take a new step in the history of the city.

Technology, culture and landscape

Magnificent for its size and location, the new Fabbrica will open its treasures to the public view to reveal the work of artists who create true works of art for La Scala shows. The Magnifica Fabbrica will thus be able to reveal its light and illuminate the renewal of the city, rebuilding a new balance between technology, culture and landscape, caring for the environment as a home, and reconnecting the living fabric of the city.

Biodiversity Green Factory

The expansion of the Parco della Lambretta will accompany the new Magnifica Fabbrica as the driving force behind the transformation of the ex-Innocenti area, whose soul will be the recovery of the grandiose structure of the Palazzo di Cristallo, the former production site for millions of lambrettas that have filled the streets of Italy and the world, and that will become a Green Biodiversity Factory, a place for citizens to participate in a great collective work of art, to fill the future of the city with green.

Canals, meadows, and rows of trees

The Parco della Lambretta project exemplifies a balanced relationship between natural resources and human activities, conceiving the landscape as a resilient green infrastructure. It is based on a circular concept of the water cycle, an element that has characterized the development of the city, inspired by the traditional elements of Milan’s agricultural heritage: canals, ditches, meadows, pedestrian paths and rows of trees, offering a natural environment and a usable public space for all. Water regains its leading role and becomes an indissoluble link between the Parco and the Fabbrica through the Water Gardens, a large green infrastructure for natural phytopurification, which will offer unique educational and sensory experiences.

Zero Energy Building

The Magnifica Fabbrica will be a ZEB (Zero Energy Building), it will produce more energy than it will consume, with a 3,600 kW photovoltaic system on the translucent roof and a gigantic open-cycle geothermal system, which will contribute to the purification of groundwater. The aim is to create a more rational and sustainable place, where La Scala’s production, rehearsal and storage operations can be combined in a very precise spatial design, responding to the needs raised by the Teatro alla Scala in the international competition.

The Torre dell’Acqua, a symbol of renewal

The new building and the park merge into the Piazza della Torre dell’Acqua, a symbol of renewal. The Space of Dreams sits at the head of the Fabbrica, a large container of visions of the future, where La Scala will be the protagonist of a revitalization that will involve schools, associations, companies, institutions, organizations.

Magic behind the scenes

Beginning and ending in the square, the Anello is a journey that will take the visitor to discover the magical world “behind the scenes”: more than 65,000 square meters of production spaces for sets, tailors, props, dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, warehouses and deposits. The new Magnifica Fabbrica will be open those who wish to witness the cultural and creative life that is hidden in this attractive heart.

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

On a spectacular site overlooking the Euboean Sea near the small village of St. Minas, a mix of raw and refined materials combine to create a unique summer house that opens to the landscape in all directions.

Layout elaboration under a vaulted roof

Two large shallow concrete arches orient the main living spaces towards the sea. Crossing perpendicular to this primary axis, a one-story bar of more private bedroom spaces is tucked into the existing slope of the landscape. The house disappears into the olive groves and wild pine forest from the approach road but opens up across two stories to embrace the full extent of the seafront views. Extensive terraces around the house create a multi-level network of outdoor living rooms.

Modern architecture reconfigured

An initial structure on the site, designed by Greek architect Nikos Hadjimichalis in the 1970s, has been extensively renovated, reconfigured, and extended. Whereas the original house was singularly focused towards the sea, by cutting large new openings into the original structure and extending space outdoors in all directions, the diversity of the site – forest, grove, lawn, meadow… and sea – is celebrated. Many of the original modernist details have been recreated and updated, but also complemented with playful new additions.

Material palette for an exposed concrete shell

The house is deliberately ambiguous in its treatment of old and new, and unprecious in its deference to the original house; at times revealing the traces of the manipulations and incisions to the original, at other times blending new with old, conflating past and present. The exposed concrete of the structural walls and ceiling are complemented by exposed brick, wood windows, custom terrazzo floors, perforated aluminum cabinets, and built-in upholstered furniture throughout.

Νeiheiser Argyros

The post Summer House in St. Minas was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Open plan design

Located in Plaka, the historic center of Athens, the building dates back to the 1920s with typical eclectic architectural features on the front facade. The remodeling of the once small hostel to a home for a family of six was based on the removal of the old room partitions to create an open plan common area on the ground floor and the redesign of four large suites on the upper floors.

Custom-made fixtures

The prominent feature of the building, the elaborated high ceilings, are preserved and highlighted in contrast to the elimination of any ceiling decorations on modern houses. All fixtures and fittings are custom designed with luxurious and timeless materials such as the Greek marble from Naxos island, the dark oak wood and the bronze details. The outcome is an outstanding residence where the elegance of the original atmosphere is restored in a classical yet contemporary interior.

Demetra Karampelia & Divercity Architects

The post Neoclassical building renovation in Athens 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.

This 170 m² hybrid barn house on a narrow piece of land dialogues in harmony and in contrast with the traditional surroundings.

Once upon a time in Audierne, in Britanny, lived a local fisherman nicknamed “Sentinel”. He observed the sea from the hills towering the village harbor. One century later, his descendants bought a piece of land in Audierne, up on a hill and facing the same ocean horizon their ancestor used to gaze at.

The project is located on a narrow and irregular piece of land, at the edge of a block and at the entrance of the village. Considering the peculiarity of this location, a traditional compact house would have had a strong impact on the surrounding landscape. Therefore, the architect chose to split the house into three volumes, each one being parallel to one edge of the plot of land. The main house, a barn house-like wooden structure, is situated below while two lower blocks occupy the upper part of the land.

The three-slope roof and the different levels optimize spaces while minimizing the size of the building, providing a view on the ocean with a minimal impact on the surrounding landscape.

More than being a mere reinterpretation of the local traditional barn house, this project is an answer to a very particular and irregular piece of land, and to a very specific urban tissue with a wide range of architectural typologies. The project is dynamic, and its perspectives are consistently changing. Seen from its South side, the house echoes with the traditional barn houses, while from the North side, it shows very contemporary lines.

The different materials composing the house are echoing with the diversity of the surrounding colors and elements: western red cedar cladding, mixed slate/zinc roofing, white wall coating and black stained wood.

The functional layout is based on bioclimatic design principles and site conditions: the car park at North side creates an acoustic and climatic screen, the main spaces face the ocean towards South, while the bedrooms face the East.

A skylight is located in the middle of the house bringing natural light to most of the space, and steel mesh along the stairs creates a transparency that keeps changing together with the motion of the clouds above.

This very specific steel mesh is used by local fishermen to catch local seashells.

The wood structure – visible from the inside – was digitally prefabricated in order to get complete control over the construction process.

Aurelien Chen

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

The house, in the outskirts of Nicosia, is built in a relatively large plot, at the corner of a busy street and a small dead-end, which provides the most convenient access to the property.

The simple, balanced architecture of the house is consistent with the way of approaching the building: The entrance is placed at street level; from there, in-between the two main volumes, one reaches the courtyard and then, the house. The functional arrangement and distribution of movement is correlated to the form and geometry of the building. The shape is a product of the program, making it visible. As a result, internal circulation is easily perceptible.

From the entrance gate, a flight of steps following the ground inclination leads to the main house level and to the garden. Two volumes on the left and right of the steps contain the kitchen and living room.

The volumes, occupying the north and south orientations, frame the sheltered patio in-between them and are connected on the level above the entrance space. An internal staircase from the kitchen leads to the floor, housing the bedrooms and office, all looking over the shared spaces on ground level. The gallery on the floor looks outside and brings eastern light to the rooms.

The raised level creates a sheltered patio and protects the shared indoor spaces from the western sun. Glazing is inclined on both sides, facilitating natural heating from the south during the winter months. The bedrooms are oriented to the west, with external shades on all windows, remaining at once protected from the intense summer sun and cross-ventilated.

Simpraxis Architects

The post House 1607 was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is an icon of twentieth-century architecture. Planned and built from 1963 to 1968, the steel and glass structure is the only building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Europe after his emigration to the USA.

After almost fifty years of intensive use, the listed building required a comprehensive refurbishment. The existing fabric has been refurbished and upgraded to current technical standards with a minimum of visual compromise to the building’s original appearance. The functional and technical upgrades include air-conditioning, artificial lighting, security, and visitors’ facilities, such as the cloakroom, café, and the museum shop, as well as improving disabled access and art handling.

The necessity of an extensive repair of the reinforced concrete shell and the complete renewal of the technical building services required an in-depth intervention. In order to expose the shell construction, around 35,000 original building components, such as the stone cladding and all the interior fittings, were dismantled. After their restoration and modification where necessary, they were reinstalled in their precise original positions.

The key to the complex planning process for this project was finding a suitable balance between monument conservation and the building’s use as a modern museum. The unavoidable interventions to the original fabric within this process had to be reconciled with preserving as much of the original substance as possible. Though the essential additions remain subordinate to the existing design of the building, they are nevertheless discreetly legible as contemporary elements. The refurbishment project does not represent a new interpretation, but rather a respectful repair of this landmark building of the International Style.

David Chipperfield Architects

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

The project, in the outskirts of Nicosia, confronts the changing face of contemporary dwelling by means of sustainable design, strategic positioning of the program and spatial flexibility.

After an orientation study, the house was placed at the back of the property to maximize natural lighting and ventilation.

As a result of this placement, the owners’ privacy was secured with a perforated wall with planters, sheltering the swimming pool and interior courtyard, and staging an experiential trail stimulating curiosity.

For flexibility, the interior is equipped with sliding wooden doors, that allow spaces to be merged or separated, according to everyday needs.

When all dividers are closed, the kitchen, the small living room and the courtyard become secluded, leaving the main living room and the dining area in a separate entity. When open, the space is integrated and accommodates the entire program of the house. This flexibility is not obvious, because all sliding doors remain hidden inside the walls.

The main living and dining room are a single space, extending to the outdoor covered porch through large openings.

Equally important is the architectural design dynamic: The building features striking diagonal volumes with wooden slats endowing the facades with a light impression.

In the back, planters create a green, protective skin for the southwestern volume.

Internal porosity, seamless continuity with the gardens, the inclusion of indoor green spaces and material and volumetric simplicity are the main design features. All the interior charm lies in the details, lighting, harmony, and continuity between materials from indoors to outdoors.

The material palette is simple and timeless. Bare concrete on the walls and floors, grey hues, white surfaces, and wooden elements.

Oversize openings with dark frames and metal details add a dynamic, balancing the other materials and textures.

Vegetation is found in indoor gardens and architectural elements that can receive crawling plants, adding a new identity with the course of time.

ΕΚΚΥ Studio Architects

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

This modest summer home redefines vacationing in an island where the presence of the ship-building industry dominates contemporary imagination as a place of production and labor. Lack of any remarkable features and a palpable sense of ambiguity in the surrounding community, street, and in the plot itself, turn the house inwards. This inward-looking condition anchors the house around an olive tree and a well, creating courtyards that take advantage of the micro-climate and contain the outdoors within. In contrast to most of the island’s year-round residences, which tend to exhibit a makeshift, “prosthetic” approach to spatial expansion through the chronic accumulation of built add-ons, the new summer house is conceived as a form of “subtraction” from a single material volume containing sculptural voids.

Exterior walls give the appearance of a monolithic volume, concealing the existence of a large interior courtyard at the center. A single, narrow passage leads visitors directly from the front yard to the courtyard, while a secondary, twin passage leads from the courtyard to the pool garden at the opposite end of the plot. Within the central courtyard, smaller glass volumes positioned around the olive tree provide the main living spaces. These are lined with full height sliding glass doors that merge indoor and outdoor space while they control circulation from one end of the courtyard to the other. Maximum flexibility of movement is provided when all sliding glass doors are open, including the front and back gates of the house, creating a single, uninterrupted chain of outdoor spaces that extends the entire length of the site, as if splitting the house into two.

The Salamis project is included in the nominations for the European Union Prize of Contemporary Architecture, Mies van der Rohe Award 2022.

AREA

Yiorgis Yerolymbos

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

Το ρεπορτάζ της Χαράς Τζαναβάρα, που γράφτηκε για το ek magazine, είναι η πρώτη εκτεταμένη παρουσίαση του κτιρίου του νέου Μουσείου της Ακρόπολης, που έγινε μόλις είχε ολοκληρωθεί η κατασκευή του, το 2007. Αναδημοσιεύεται από το αρχείο μας, με πρωτότυπο φωτογραφικό υλικό του Νίκου Δανιηλίδη και του Παναγιώτη Βουμβάκη, οι οποίοι αποτυπώνουν το κτίριο και τον περιβάλλοντα χώρο του πριν ολοκληρωθεί η τοποθέτηση των εκθεμάτων.

Και μόνον η αίθουσα του Παρθενώνα αρκεί για να κατατάξει το νέο Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης ανάμεσα στα ξεχωριστά κτίρια του πλανήτη μας. Την ίδια στιγμή τα πολύτιμα εκθέματα, με κορυφαία την πομπή των Παναθηναίων, που μετακόμισε μετά από σχεδόν 2.500 χρόνια από τον φυσικό τους χώρο, αδικούν κατά κάποιον τρόπο την αρχιτεκτονική δημιουργία, αφού από μόνη της συνιστά ένα τεχνικό και καλλιτεχνικό επίτευγμα.

Αυτό το «πάντρεμα» της αρχαιότητας με την τεχνολογική εξέλιξη ήταν από την αρχή το μεγάλο ζητούμενο, που σύμφωνα με την επιτροπή του διεθνούς διαγωνισμού κατάφερε με τη μεγαλύτερη μαεστρία το αρχιτεκτονικό δίδυμο των Τσουμί και Φωτιάδη, που ξεχώρισαν ανάμεσα σε 14 ομάδες που είχαν υποβάλει τις προτάσεις τους.

Εν αρχήν η …η θέση του κτιρίου, που βρίσκεται μόλις 300 μέτρα από τον ιερό βράχο, κυριολεκτικώς στη σκιά της Ακρόπολης. Το δεύτερο στοιχείο ήταν τα πολύτιμα εκθέματα, που με το ειδικό βάρος τους έδειχναν από την αρχή ότι θα εξαφάνιζαν τον τρίτο παράγοντα, το κτίριο. Αυτό το δεδομένο επισημάνθηκε από τους δύο αρχιτέκτονες, οι οποίο ακριβώς γι’ αυτό επέλεξαν να σχεδιάσουν ένα «μη κτίριο». Πολύτιμα εργαλεία τους ήταν τα δομικά υλικά, κυρίως το γυαλί, που μεταπλάστηκαν σε μια σύνθεση που δεν επιβάλλεται και δεν προκαλεί, παρά τον αδιαμφισβήτητο όγκο της.

«Μ΄ όλους τους ασυνήθιστους περιορισμούς που επιβάλει η θέση του μουσείου, το έργο προκύπτει αβίαστα και χωρίς επιτηδευμένο σχεδιασμό: η βάση-πιλοτή πάνω από αρχαία κατάλοιπα, το μεσαίο τμήμα με τις κύριες αίθουσες έκθεσης και η κορύφωση του κτιρίου με τη γυάλινη επίστεψη με τα γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα. Στόχος αυτής της ενορχηστρωμένης απλότητας είναι να επικεντρωθούν τα συναισθήματα και ο νους του θεατή στα εκπληκτικά έργα τέχνης», σημειώνει ο Μπερνάρ Τσουμί, δίνοντας με αυτές τις λίγες γραμμές την πεμπτουσία της κατασκευής.

Η τελική επιφάνεια του κτιρίου καλύπτει 20.000 τετραγωνικά, αρκετά λιγότερα σε σχέση με τους αρχικούς σχεδιασμούς και ξεδιπλώνεται σε τρία επίπεδα, καθένα από τα οποία έχει το δικό του χαρακτήρα. Αυτή η τριχοτόμηση των ενοτήτων, εκτός του ότι υπηρετεί υποδειγματικά τη λειτουργικότητα των χώρων, εξασφαλίζει την καλύτερη ένταξη του κτιρίου στο περιβάλλον, αξιοποιώντας στο έπακρο και τις κλίσεις του φυσικού εδάφους.

Η κεντρική είσοδος είναι από τον πεζόδρομο της Διονυσίου Αρεοπαγίτου, με μια σκάλα πλάτους 24 μέτρων που οδηγεί σχεδόν κατευθείαν στα πολύτιμα εκθέματα. Καλύπτεται από ένα γεωμετρικό στέγαστρο, που είναι προσβάσιμο από το εσωτερικό του κτιρίου. Μπορεί να λειτουργήσει ως καφέ και γωνιά υπαίθριων εκθέσεων, αφού έχουν προβλεφθεί κινητά χωρίσματα. Ο επισκέπτης εντυπωσιάζεται από έναν διαφανή διάδρομο, που λειτουργεί ως οδηγός αλλά και ως μέσο για την ανάδειξη των θησαυρών του νέου μουσείου. Εξίσου ενδιαφέρουσα όμως είναι η «πίσω πόρτα», προς την πλευρά της Ροβέρτου Γκάλι, όπου βρίσκεται ο υπόγειος χώρος των ανασκαφών. Η εικόνα είναι επιβλητική και επιλέξαμε να ξεκινήσουμε από τα «υπόγεια» τη νοερή μας ξενάγηση στο νέο μουσείο.

Στην πραγματικότητα τα υπόγεια είναι τέσσερα. Η κατεδάφιση των κτιρίων που απαλλοτριώθηκαν έφεραν στο φως σημαντικές αρχαιότητες, με αποτέλεσμα να χρειαστεί να προσαρμοστούν οι αρχικοί σχεδιασμοί με βάση τα νέα δεδομένα. Ιδιαίτερα χρονοβόρα ήταν η διαδικασία θεμελίωσης, αφού χρειάστηκε να τοποθετηθούν εφέδρανα, πάνω στα οποία στηρίχθηκαν 94 κυλινδρικές κολώνες, που δημιουργούν την αίσθηση στον ανυποψίαστο επισκέπτη ότι το μουσείο αιωρείται. Η λύση αυτή λειτουργεί ως προστατευτικό κέλυφος για τις αρχαιότητες και παράλληλα όμως εξασφαλίζει την αντοχή του κτιρίου σε ενδεχόμενο σεισμό έντασης 10 βαθμών της κλίμακας Ρίχτερ. Είναι από τις υψηλότερες προδιαγραφές που έχουν επιστρατευθεί για τεχνικό έργο στη χώρα μας και οι δοκιμές χρειάστηκε να γίνουν σε εξειδικευμένο εργαστήριο στο Σαν Ντιέγκο της Καλιφόρνιας. Οι μελετητές επέλεξαν το γυαλί για το κοινόχρηστο δάπεδο ώστε να αναδειχθούν με τον πιο αποδοτικό τρόπο τα πολύτιμα ευρήματα των ανασκαφών. Πρόκειται για δείγματα τριών διαφορετικών περιόδων της αρχαίας Αθήνας και αυτό το γεγονός υπογραμμίζεται με διαφοροποιήσεις των τεχνικών μέσων, όπως ο διαφορετικός φωτισμός.

Η δεύτερη ιδιαιτερότητα που έδωσαν οι αρχιτέκτονες στο μουσείο είναι ο ορθογώνιος πυρήνας από μπετόν, που διαπερνά το κτίριο από τη βάση του ως την κορυφή και λειτουργεί ως σηκός για την υποδοχή της ζωφόρου του Παρθενώνα. Οι μελετητές επέμειναν να έχει τις ίδιες διαστάσεις, αλλά και τον ίδιο προσανατολισμό με τον σηκό του αρχαίου ναού, παρόλο που η επιλογή αυτή δημιουργεί μια απόκλιση σε σχέση με τον προσανατολισμό του υπόλοιπου κτιρίου. Η κατασκευή αυτή λειτουργεί και ως υποδοχέας για το φυσικό φως, που φθάνει ως τα έγκατα του κτιρίου.

Το μεσαίο επίπεδο είναι ο κυρίως χώρος υποδοχής του επισκέπτη, που καταλαμβάνει περίπου 4.000 τετραγωνικά. Για όσους θα επιλέξουν τη βόρεια είσοδο, από την πλευρά του Παρθενώνα, θα υπάρχουν όλες οι εξυπηρετήσεις ενός σύγχρονου μουσείου. Έχουν προβλεφθεί γωνιές για τα πωλητήρια, το αναψυκτήριο με θέα προς την αρχαιολογική ανασκαφή, καθώς και ένα αμφιθέατρο που μπορεί να φιλοξενήσει έως και 200 άτομα. Δίπλα έχει κατασκευαστεί η γωνιά περιοδικών εκθέσεων, καθώς και ένας χώρος έκπληξη. Πρόκειται για την αίθουσα εικονικής πραγματικότητας, όπου θα προβάλλονται φιλμ για την Ακρόπολη, τον Παρθενώνα, τα Προπύλαια, το ναό της Νίκης, καθώς και για όλες τις αναστηλωτικές εργασίες που έχουν πραγματοποιηθεί. Θα δίνεται επίσης μια γεύση από το αρχείο μελετών της υπηρεσίας συντήρησης μνημείων Ακρόπολης, ενώ θα υπάρχουν στοιχεία από τη φωτοθήκη και τη σχεδιοθήκη της αρχαιολογικής υπηρεσίας. Στο Virtual Theater τα υλικά θα έχουν τρισδιάστατη εικόνα και θα δίνουν ακριβή στοιχεία για όλα τα σημαντικά μνημεία της αρχαιότητας. Το αρχιτεκτονικό ενδιαφέρον σε αυτή τη ζώνη εστιάζεται στα πλευρικά πετάσματα, ενώ ένα περιμετρικό κάθισμα επιτρέπει στους επισκέπτες να απολαμβάνουν τα εκθέματα και από απόσταση. Κυριαρχούν επίσης οι μεταλλικές κυλιόμενες σκάλες και τα ασανσέρ.

Το πιο ενδιαφέρον τμήμα του μουσείου είναι αναμφισβήτητα η επιβλητική αίθουσα του Παρθενώνα, που καταλαμβάνει έκταση 3.200 τετραγωνικών. Η διατάσεις του χώρου, 21 επί 80 μέτρα, αλλά και το ύψος του, ακολουθούν την γεωμετρία του Παρθενώνα. Το ύψος της είναι τέτοιο που ξεπερνά το γειτονικό διατηρητέο κτίριο Βάϊλερ. Χάρη στους γυάλινους περιμετρικούς τοίχους το φυσικό φως φθάνει παντού και δίνει την αίσθηση ότι τα πολύτιμα εκθέματα εξακολουθούν να βρίσκονται στον φυσικό τους χώρο. Η επιλογή της θέσης για τα γλυπτά της ζωφόρου έγινε με τέτοιον τρόπο ώστε οι επισκέπτες να έχουν την αίσθηση ότι παρακολουθούν τα μνημεία σαν να βρίσκονται στην αρχική τους θέση, στην Ακρόπολη.

Ένα επίπεδο πιο κάτω διαμορφώνεται άλλη μία ξεχωριστή αίθουσα, που φιλοξενεί τις Καρυάτιδες του Ερεχθείου, που συμπληρώνουν με τον καλύτερο τρόπο αυτό τον νοερό περίπατο στην αρχαιότητα.

Στην ταράτσα έχει προβλεφθεί χώρος περίπου 400 τετραγωνικών, όπου θα λειτουργήσει καφέ με μοναδική θέα προς τον ιερό βράχο. Αλλά και ο περιβάλλων χώρος προβλέπεται να αποτελέσει όαση πρασίνου για το ιστορικό κέντρο. Η έκταση που έχει απαλλοτριωθεί φθάνει τα 7.000 τετραγωνικά και έχει ήδη ξεκινήσει η διαμόρφωσή του.

Αν σήμερα το νέο μουσείο της Ακρόπολης αποτελεί καμάρι για όλους τους Έλληνες, δεν πρέπει να ξεχνάμε τις περιπέτειες του όλου εγχειρήματος, που ξεκίνησε το 1974, μαζί με τη μεγάλη επιχείρηση συντήρησης των μνημείων της Ακρόπολης. Συνέπεσαν με το αδιαχώρητο στο μουσείο, ένα κτίσμα του 1865 με επιφάνεια μόλις 1.450 τετραγωνικά.

Στα χρόνια που μεσολάβησαν δεν έλειψαν τα προβλήματα, που έφθασαν σχεδόν κοντά στη ματαίωση. Με καθοριστικό κριτήριο την επαφή του μουσείου με τον αρχαιολογικό χώρο, είχε επιλεγεί από τον τότε πρωθυπουργό Κωνσταντίνο Καραμανλή το οικόπεδο Μακρυγιάννη. Οι δύο πανελλήνιοι αρχιτεκτονικοί διαγωνισμοί (1976 και 1979) δεν κατέληξαν σε πρώτο βραβείο, ενώ είχαν ακουστεί οι πρώτες φωνές για ανεπάρκεια του προσφερόμενου χώρου.

Η υπόθεση πήρε νέα δυναμική στη δεκαετία του ΄80, με τη σφραγίδα της τότε υπουργού Πολιτισμού Μελίνας Μερκούρη, που συνέδεσε το νέο μουσείο με την επιστροφή των γλυπτών των κλεμμένων Μαρμάρων. Ο νέος αρχιτεκτονικός διαγωνισμός του 1990 προέβλεπε τρεις θέσεις: Του Μακρυγιάννη, την Κοίλη και τον χώρο στο σημερινό εστιατόριο «Διόνυσος». Νικητές αναδείχθηκαν οι Ιταλοί Νικολέτι και Πασαρέλι, αλλά το θέμα κόλλησε λόγω προσφυγής του συλλόγου αρχιτεκτόνων. Παρενέβη το ίδρυμα Μ. Μερκούρη για να ξεπεραστεί το εμπόδιο, ενώ ο όγκος του κτιρίου μειώθηκε σε σχέση με τις αρχικές προβλέψεις των 45.000 τετραγωνικών.

Χρειάστηκε να φθάσουμε στο 1995, με τη δημιουργία του Οργανισμού Νέου Μουσείου Ακρόπολης, για να ξεκινήσει το μουσείο με σωστές βάσεις. Το εμβαδόν του κτιριακού συγκροτήματος είναι πλέον 24.000 τετραγωνικά, που και αυτά στη συνέχεια στρογγυλεύτηκαν αφού ένα μέρος του οικοπέδου είχε ήδη παραχωρηθεί για τις ανάγκες του εντυπωσιακού σταθμού «Ακρόπολη» της γραμμής του μετρό. Στόχος ήταν να είναι έτοιμο το μουσείο την άνοιξη του 2004, όμως δεν έλειψαν και πάλι τα εμπόδια. Οι απαλλοτριώσεις προκάλεσαν δικαστικές εμπλοκές, ενώ καθυστέρηση έξι χρόνων έφεραν και οι αρχαιολογικές ανασκαφές σε σημεία που ήταν κρυμμένα κάτω από τις πολυκατοικίες της οδού Ρ. Γκάλι. Μέχρι να φθάσουμε στην εφαρμογή της μελέτης των αρχιτεκτόνων Τσουμί-Φωτιάδη, είχε μεσολαβήσει μια δύσκολη διετία (2002-4) με 35 μηνύσεις σε βάρος της Α΄ Εφορείας Ακρόπολης, αλλά και της διοίκησης του Οργανισμού, που τελικώς απαλλάχθηκαν. Μεταξύ των μηνυτών ήταν και ο Π. Τατούλης, που τον Μάρτιο του 2004 ορίστηκε υφυπουργός Πολιτισμού, γεγονός που δεν τον εμπόδισε στη συνέχεια με τη νέα του θέση να λάβει μέτρα για την προώθηση των έργων.

Όλα αυτά αποτελούν παρελθόν και την ερχόμενη άνοιξη οι επισκέπτες της Ακρόπολης θα έχουν την ευκαιρία να δουν για πρώτη φορά ευρήματα από όλες τις περιόδους του ιερού βράχου.

Bernard Tschumi , Μιχάλης Φωτιάδης

The post Νέο Μουσείο Ακρόπολης was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Mary Maydan, founder and principal of Maydan Architects designed this ultra-modern 7,000 square-foot Palo Alto residence, for her family. Nicknamed “Floating Boxes,” the home creates an illusion of three floating boxes.

The boxes, which appear to float separately but are structurally interconnected, symbolize the three generations that share the home: Mary and her husband, their four children, and Mary’s parents. The home’s ultra-modern minimalist style stands out in the neighborhood. Mary’s multigenerational family home redefines modern design in Silicon Valley, both through the exterior facade and the interior details. The floating concept continues inside the home with walls that appear to be detached from the floor and ceiling, an effect that was achieved using special aluminum drywall molds. The house includes doors with no jambs to create a completely flush look with only a slim reveal between the door and the walls, and door handles without rosettes. A 52-foot-long glass facade opens the home to the backyard, enhancing the indoor-outdoor flow.

The primary goal of the design was to provide the family members with ample options for privacy and connectivity. Maydan Architects designed an attached ADU on the ground floor for the grandparents, with its own exterior entry as well as a door that leads to the rest of the house. The unit includes a full kitchen, living room, bedroom, two bathrooms, and a small office. Also on the ground floor is a living room with 16-foot-high ceilings, and dining area open to the kitchen, with a motorized screen that can be used to divide the space as needed. In the kitchen, a custom mix of walnut, glossy white, and dark gray cabinetry by Maydan Architects is complemented by white Corian countertops and soft gray porcelain slabs on the wall. A living room library brings warmth into the space, while a ladder adds a touch of color and enables the family to reach the higher shelves. On the right side, a wall with a double-sided fireplace separates a home office. From the living room, the office appears to be ensconced in a concrete box, a striking design element that further emphasizes the theme of floating boxes.

The basement floor is washed with daylight, designed with room for large lightwells on both sides. The two teenagers have suites in the basement that open to their own below-grade patio and can function almost as separate apartments. Also in the basement, a spacious playroom, media room, and gym provide additional spaces for individual and communal recreation. A major objective in the design was the creation of a space in the basement for the Maydan Architects office, complete with a bathroom and pantry. An exterior staircase leading to the office enables complete separation from the house, creating a comfortable workspace for employees and a suitable location to host meetings with clients. The second floor of the home consists of a master bedroom suite, three children’s bedrooms, and two bathrooms.

Although designed and completed before the pandemic, the concept proved ideal for remote working and learning. The children had privacy for school, Mary and her husband for work, and the grandparents had a safe place to be separated from the younger generations if needed. The project was designed to be suitable for the family for many years. Maydan Architects incorporated forward-thinking design details such as an elevator shaft to enable easy installation of an elevator if ever needed by the older generation.

The home has a passive solar energy design, with a 10’ overhang for blocking the sun and preventing excess solar heat gain. The home enjoys soft natural light throughout the day but does not require additional shading due to the overhang and orientation. The home is prepped for solar panels which are currently being installed and has many other sustainable elements, including green building materials such as zero VOC paints, LED lighting throughout, tankless water heaters, and electric car plug-ins in the garage.

While striking and ultra-modern, the house is warm, livable, and inviting. The home takes a mature approach to a soft color palette, with shades of whites and grays complemented by purple, dusty pink, and other soft tones. Maydan Architect’s airy design sensibility is achieved through open, light-washed spaces that promote a seamless indoor-outdoor flow.

Maydan Architects

The post A multigenerational house in Palo Alto was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Architect Amelia Tavella has just completed the rehabilitation and extension of the Convent Saint-François, in Santa-Lucia di Tallano, Corsica. This partially ruined building from 1480, listed as a historical monument, had been abandoned for a very long time.

“I believe in higher and invisible forces. The Convent of Saint Francis of Saint Lucia in Tallano, built in 1480, is part of this belief. Housed high up, on its promontory, it was a defensive castle before being a place of prayer, of retreat, chosen by monks aware of the absolute beauty of the site. Faith rallies to the sublime. 

With its back to the cemetery, it overlooks the village it is watching. It has a front and a backstage. An olive grove is like a collar at its feet, a happy garden of heavenly food. In front, the spectacle of the Corsican mountains, a dizzying merry-go-round of passes and ridges that seem to move in the direction of the clouds and change their dress with the seasons. Here pulses the heart of Alta Roca. The beauty there is religious, supernatural.

Nature has grown inside the building, slipping between the stones, and then transformed into a plant armor that protects against erosion and collapse. A fig tree is included in the facade. The horn, the wood, the roots become structural, replacing the lime which would not have withstood the test of time. An essential component of the historic monument, we have honored this nature which will have long protected the dormant building before its resurrection.We have chosen to keep the ruins and replace the torn part, the phantom part, in copper work, which will become the House of the Territory. I walked in the footsteps of the past, connecting beauty to faith, faith to art, moving minds from before to a form of modernity that never alters or destroys. The ruins are marks, vestiges, imprints, they also tell the foundations and a truth, they were beacons, cardinal points, directing our axes, our choices, our volumes. Building after ruins is the past and modernity embracing each other, making the promise never to betray each other. One becomes the other and no one is erased. It is an interweaving of an older time in a new time which does not undo, which does not recompose, but which links, attaches, grabs, two unknown and not foreign parts, one of which becomes the extension of the other. in a sort of transfiguration. I have always built this way on my Corsican island, like an archaeologist who brings together what was and what is and what will happen; I do not remove, I hang, bind, affix, slide, resting on the initial ground, on the original work: the copper reveals the stone, the monument and it sacralizes the ruiniform and poetic state. The ruin is like the radiographic image of a structure polished and undone by time and suddenly magnified because it is raised and held by a reversible frame, a light frame, itself doomed to transform, to become a second skin and to possess a story. I liked the idea of a possible return to ruin, that the copper could be undone – this possibility is a courtesy, a respect, to the past, to Corsican heritage.I built the Maison du Territoire by aligning myself with the original massing. By mimicry, I reproduced the silhouette of the pre-existing building. Like the mountain scene, I retraced the blueprint, concerned with a symmetry of Beauty, nothing should strike the eye. I am haunted by the obvious. Each work is a work of love. Love of the place, of the building, of its mutation as one could say of a species which transforms itself from what it has been. The copper allowed a gesture of softness, it is feminine like stone. Unlike granite, however, it approaches its grandeur, by its preciousness and its propensity to capture the light, to reflect it, sending it back to the sky like the prayers of the monks and the faithful who address themselves to the Most High. 

Its moucharabiés direct the light inwards, light captured and diffused as if it were passing through the stained-glass window of a church. A noble and dazzling material in the first sense of the term, copper transforms the place into an experience. The sun falls there and carries away.”

Amelia Tavella

The post Convent Saint-François was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The family house in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, was complete in 2021. The determining elements for the design have been the dialogue between the natural terrain of the plot with its views. Simple lines and clear volumes, natural lighting and horizontal features combine harmoniously.

The access to the house is from the highest point of the plot and then following the outer slope of the land we cross the first garden through large stone platforms, which lead us directly to the access of the main volume.

The foyer reveals an interior patio that organizes the uses of the house, clearly dividing the day program: living room, dining room, kitchen and service area, and the night program with the bedrooms.

The day area has a spacious terrace with large windows where there is a gradual and fluid transition towards the garden and the pool, which is located at the lower level of the plot, thus providing a feeling of protection and privacy through the natural environment of the terrain.

The most intimate program – the night area –  oriented to the east, is made up of bedrooms, allowing maximum privacy. Under this wing of bedrooms is the cellar room.

FH2L Arquitectos

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

The project draws inspiration from imagery uniquely associated with Fuzhou: the Jinshan Temple. This is a rare example of a temple structure built in the middle of a river in China. John Thomson was one of the first photographers ever to travel to the country and provided Western audiences with some of the first glimpses into the Far East. In the album Foochow and the River Min, which documented his legendary journey up the Min River, Thomson captured the ancient structure in its original state resting serenely above a floating rock in 1871. This would become a lasting image unmistakably identified with the city of Fuzhou.

Conceived as an urban artifact and drawing from the historical roots of the city of Fuzhou, the Relic Shelter internalizes a piece of distinct heritage at a time when rapid new development has eroded traditional culture and identity. The client’s brief posed the unique challenge of creating an enclosure for a Chinese artifact – the wooden structure of a high-ranking Qing dynasty official’s residence, replete with ornamental carvings and intricate joinery. Relocated from Anhui to its new home in Fuzhou, the Hui-style structure is enshrined as the inhabitable centrepiece of a new teahouse.

Envisioned as a house atop a rock, the teahouse is elevated above a rammed concrete base, while its sweeping copper roof echoes the roofline of the enclosed architectural relic. Its core material, rammed concrete, is a modern homage to the traditional earthen dwellings of the region, emphasizing a raw monumentality. Visitors are presented with two images of the building upon approach: the upright silhouette of the form, and its mirrored reflection duplicated in the surrounding pool of water.

A series of contrasts play out among elements that are bright and dark, light and heavy, coarse and refined, as visitors enter the grand hall where the structure of the ancient residence is situated. Sky wells penetrate the roof, bringing natural light into the depths of the enclosure and illuminating the priceless artifact on display. Only upon reaching the mezzanine does the structural configuration of the building begin to reveal itself. The hovering metal roof is lifted 50 cm off the solid base by copper-clad trusses to introduce a sliver of continuous illumination around its periphery. Wrapping itself around the historical wooden structure, the mezzanine space allows visitors to appreciate intricate carpentry details at eye level.

The basement level includes a secondary arrival lobby housing a rotunda, a sunken courtyard, and tasting rooms. At the top of the rotunda, a carved oculus capped by the glass is submerged beneath the pool in the courtyard above. It filters the sun through a thin film of water, creating a mesmerizing play of reflections.

Neri&Hu Design and Research Office

The post Teahouse in Fuzhou was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) is New York’s new central circulating library, built within the 1914 shell and steel frame of the Mid-Manhattan Library which it replaces, the 16,722 m² building is topped with a spectacular angular roof and public rooftop amenities to make a new urban icon on Fifth Avenue.

SNFL is a new-generation library for all New Yorkers, with special facilities for young users, adult learning, and business. It offers the perfect contemporary complement to NYPL’s world-famous Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (SASB), located across Fifth Avenue from SNFL. SASB opened in 1911, designed by architects Carrère & Hastings in a glorious Beaux-Art style, and receives over 1.7 million visits a year as the mothership of NYPL’s reference collections.

Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle’s concept was to leverage the synergy of SNFL and SASB and bring them together as NYPL’s Midtown Campus. New features at SNFL reflect this harmony between the buildings: long tables that recall the impressive scale of those in SASB’s Rose Main Reading Room, ceiling artwork in the Long Room that echoes the neo-classical paintings set in SASB’s ceilings, and the use of classic materials including natural stone, terrazzo, and oak.

SNFL’s ground floor is arranged around an internal street that runs beneath a floating linear canopy of wood beams, from the Fifth Avenue entrance to the welcome desks. Located on one side are elevators, stairs, and a mezzanine balcony. On the other side, a rectangular opening in the floorplate reveals the lower ground floor, which houses a Children’s Library and Teen Center. The Children’s Library play area enjoys natural light, and the Teen Center has a dedicated staircase and study and media rooms decorated with bold and whimsical commissioned murals by artist Melinda Beck. An internal window in the lower ground floor allows visitors to see SNFL’s book-sorting machine in action.

SNFL has an annual circulation of two million items, and this sheer volume generates challenges in access, organization, and storage. The design solution offers more space, more books, more seats, and lower shelves. The heart of the library is the Long Room, a new space that truly brings the idea of a library into the old structure, which was originally designed as a department store. A triple height void has been cut into it, 9m (31 feet) wide and rising 26m (85 feet) from the second story to a vibrant new abstract ceiling artwork by Hayal Pozanti.This dramatic linear atrium separates three floors of flexible, daylit reading areas on one side and five levels of book stacks on the other, a creative and efficient solution to balancing the need for a browsable collection and the desire for more public reading room space. Book stacks are a vertical means of storing books dating back to the nineteenth century, and here they are revived to give open access for library users. Through the library’s 40th Street windows, passers-by will see the northern end of the book stacks, visible as a continuous vertical wall of book spines welcoming New Yorkers into the space to browse.

The Long Room’s atrium wall at the southern end is deep red, and perforated with new windows to bring light from a pocket park to the south. Its distinctive look assists wayfinding. Ramps gently slope to connect the different floor heights of the book stack levels and reading areas. The reading areas extend from the atrium to the Fifth Avenue facade, and have bespoke reading tables assembled in situ, many supported by the building’s original steel frame. These oak-surfaced tables stretch up to 20 meters (66 feet) in length. Readers at these tables sit in chairs designed in collaboration with Thos. Moser exclusively for NYPL branch libraries.

Above the Long Room, the fifth and sixth floors host the Business Center and the Pasculano Learning Center facilities. SNFL’s vertical arrangement of programs improves the user experience and journey of learning. The materiality of the library contributes to that user experience, for example in terrazzo flooring and travertine presented in the elevator banks.

SNFL now delivers to the Midtown cityscape a sensational new public roof attraction and a striking sculptural addition. Elevators and stairs continue to the seventh floor, which is built at the original building’s roof level. This new floor has pitched wood slat ceilings and contains a flexible 268-occupant conference and event center. An L-shaped roof terrace runs above the 40th Street and Fifth Avenue facades and includes a roof garden and an adjacent indoor café. It is Manhattan’s only free, publicly-accessible roof terrace and offers staggering Midtown views, including across Fifth Avenue to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and surrounding skyscrapers.

Above the seventh floor, a dramatic new roof slopes up to cover mechanical equipment, reaching 56m above street level. Its angled pitches, and a patinated copper-colored aluminum surface, are inspired by Manhattan’s Beaux Art copper-clad mansard roofs, two 1904 examples of which are visible from the terrace. As a new native New Yorker, the form also nods to the tapering spires of New York’s art deco skyscrapers and faceted facades of its newer towers. This spectacular roof is to be ‘a Wizard Hat for all New Yorkers!’

Mecanoo , Beyer Blinder Belle

John Bartlestone , Max Touhey

The post Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

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

Legend has it that the Italian king of Inotrae was the first inhabitant -and first Greek- to settle in the neighboring Appenine peninsula, that would later be named after the mythical colonizer.

Italus, in the commercial heart of Kallithea, Athens, creates an interesting fusion drawing from the products, flavors and traditions of both countries.

The long and narrow plan extends from a busy street to an equally noisy pedestrian lane, first through a double-story interior, then through a low and narrow passageway with a mezzanine, and ultimately to an interior courtyard.

As a response to this challenge, consecutive ground floor spaces are assigned distinct roles: An outdoor lounge, an open façade with an impressive bar welcoming the patrons, an interior private lounge, a cozy, quiet interior courtyard. The distinctive element of all spaces, as well as the feature of the corporate identity, is the “Italian touch”, highlighted by the slender, linear space partitions.

Natural wood and cement, alternating as cladding materials, are joined at an angle, creating interesting V-shapes that define the space’s identity.

The private lounge is designed as a wooden box with a metal skin, bringing light into the formerly dark part of the space. The horizontal perspective is only “disturbed” by the black beams, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plan.

In the background, the interior courtyard, lush in greenery and in diffuse light, creates a hospitable environment that invites visitors to cross through the bar, into an intimate, calm space.

Chadios+Associates

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

At a dead-end of Sarri Street in Athens, the old, two-story foundry, built in 1930, is radically remodeled to house a boutique hotel with twelve independent suites.

From the entrance of the building to the planted roof, elements of Athenian history, the industrial character of Psirri district, the Greek landscape and materiality (marble, terrazzo, and stone) are brought together in a contemporary architectural design.

The building’s total area of 860m² is distributed in five levels. The basement accommodates all service areas, and the ground floor houses the reception. The hotel’s 12 apartments occupy the other three floors, and the terrace is planted with Greek varieties, providing a quiet, relaxing space looking over the city’s historical center.

The guiding principle during the design process was respect for the structural shell of the property, for its singular volumetric character, as well as provision for integrating key features of its architectural identity into its newest incarnation.

The building was structurally reinforced to withstand the weight of the planted roof, and its new use as a boutique hotel. Vertically arranged industrial windows were replaced with new, iron frames of the same appearance, bearing double glazing. Concurrently, all stone walls of the property were restored and highlighted.

Two recent additions to the building, informal structures dating from the 1990ies, were incorporated in the design as green cubes-parasites, underscored with visibly standing-out materials: their free-standing platforms were framed in Greek plants (horizontally and vertically), and the new rectangular openings, with cor-ten steel details and aluminum frames, channel the view to selected vanishing points.

Efi Malandraki,

Miltiadis Portokalis

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

The project comprises two adjacent vacation houses on the northeastern edge of Paros island, in Santa Maria.

During the last years, Paros has been one of the most rapidly developing Cycladic islands, being a popular destination in the domestic and international tourist flows. Beside the increase in visitors’ volume, services have been upgraded and demand has become more selective, and this has had an impact on the programmatic requirements of vacation houses.

On the one hand, users seek relaxation and breaking away from their urban lifestyles; on the other, they seek the same amenities that they enjoy during the rest of the year. The project had to confront two challenges: devising a place-specific solution and finding a balance between tradition and modernity.

Both houses, located at the last property north of Santa Maria, bordering the Natura area of natural preservation, face east with uninterrupted views to Naxos (east) and Delos (north).

This orientation, beside the view and the ground morphology, results from the need to protect the residents from the strong summer wind from the north, and from the view of neighboring buildings on the south.

This protection is enhanced with the use of architectural elements such as stone walls, shades, and pergolas, that create hospitable nooks.

In the building’s aesthetics, the pair of tradition and modernity finds a balance that is redefined each time, according to the individual features of each building and user.

In this case, one aspect of the project involves the large scale, increased technical requirements, the need for high-level services and living, paired with the intention for clear lines and spaces, consistent with the teachings of the modern movement.

On the other side lies the restrained Cycladic architecture, small scale, the simplicity of island living and the rough feel of traditional materials. The balance between all these elements became the main driving force in the architecture of both houses: Technology combined with tradition, comfort with simplicity, clarity and texture, contemporary and vernacular.

ISV Architects

The post Two vacation houses in Santa Maria was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The 300m² double-story house is designed for a family of four; the privileged position of the property, with uninterrupted south views of Limassol’s waterfront, solicited the wish for all spaces to enjoy the sea view.

The design was established as a play of two volumes, one white and one in bare reinforced concrete with visible formwork. The white, double-story volume penetrates the other perpendicularly. The concrete volume extends along the entire length of the property, and the white one accommodates the main program of the ground floor and first level, keeping the required distances from the property limits. Their intersection is marked with the use of vertical wooden shades. The concrete volume, extended, dissolves into vertical elements, to provide the courtyard with privacy and protection from the western winds.

The ample lounge and dining area are joined in the same open space on the ground level, while the kitchen and living room are separated with a sliding glass door. Visitor access crosses through an upward trail to the main entrance and is demarcated by vertical concrete elements that turn towards an enclosed garden.

At night, the trail is animated with lighting, leading to the house. The living room and kitchen are connected to the outside through a covered terrace, equipped with barbecue and a dining bench. The integrated lounge and dining room area extends outdoors through the large corner opening, consistent with the wish of the owners for seamless communication between all spaces.

The first level houses four bedrooms, in-suite with bathrooms for complete independence. The master bedroom is located on the southwestern part of the volume and includes a dressing room, bathroom, and a large porch. The bedrooms of the two children are placed int the “heart” of the floor, intercepted with two bathrooms for better sound insulation. The guest bedroom is in a recess at the southeastern end of the house. All rooms enjoy the Limassol sea view and are connected through a long, continuous balcony opposite the southern view.

Marinos Marinou Architects

The post A Play of Parallel Volumes was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In a protected natural reserve in Paros, the redesign of eight obsolete vacation rental studios into a pair of upmarket houses, required a wise architectural approach and renegotiation, in many scales.

In its volumetric disposition, the design combines composition and proportioning of cubic volumes, repetition and standardization of openings, ample outdoor spaces and environmentally friendly materials; what is accomplished is a formal plasticity and architectural unity that respects the Cycladic vernacular, adapts to the landscape and confronts the requirements of contemporary vacation housing.

Each building is reinstated as a composition of cubic volumes upon a marked socle-platform, negotiating its harmonious integration into the landscape.

At a height of 3m from the base, a wooden pergola with cantilevered beams designates shaded, comfortable, and protected lounging, sunbathing, showering and food preparation areas, for all-day outdoor living.

Private spaces are distributed on the ground level, oriented towards the south, benefitting from the sea view and seamless outdoor access to the socle.

In-between the bedrooms, a central, glass-enclosed space contains the living room, as an extension of the outdoor area and the pergola, allowing the landscape to be present in a dynamic, changing way.

Living spaces -the lounge, dining area and kitchen- as well as an independent guestroom, are placed on the first level, enjoying panoramic views, both from inside as well as from the spacious balconies.

A protected, open-air lounge with barbecue is created between the living spaces and the guestroom, above the glass-enclosed ground floor living room.

The local vegetation in the unbuilt part of the property is enhanced, to increase the feel and quality of the Cycladic natural landscape.

Buerger Katsota Architects

The post Houses A2 in Paros was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The hotel is located on the northwestern part of the traditional settlement of Oia, Santorini, beneath the limits of the old medieval castle, Castelli, looking over the sea, Thirasia island and the world-famous Santorini sunset. Access to the building is provided from a stepped lane connecting Castelli to Ammoudi, its old harbor.

The building, a 19th-century two-story house with an old bread oven, a mule barn, small storage rooms, and a rainwater tank on the ground level, and all main rooms on the first floor, was in a state of ruin, structurally perilous with a derelict shell.

After thorough analysis of the old building, of its morphology and ornaments, the architectural restoration aimed to strictly preserve its initial appearance and interior space, without any compromises on its character or integration into the volcanic landscape and traditional settlement.

In the framework of its intended use as a hotel, a few minor modifications were undertaken in the outdoor spaces of the building: Renovation saw the construction of small water surfaces-swimming pools, sitting areas and partitions, and the differentiation of the two external stairs and interior distribution.

The hotel comprises three rooms on the ground level and two more on the first floor, each with its independent access courtyard and integrated lounge, bedroom, vestiary, and bathroom. The terrace accommodates a shared sitting area for patrons, with uninterrupted views of the caldera.

The white plasticity of the grotto rooms on the former ground level is complete with new, bespoke furniture. As a counterpoint, the lines and geometries of the old house interior are accentuated and highlighted, with the addition of new, bespoke colorful wooden furniture and a new oak floor, in the framework of a minimal island-neoclassical style. The surfaces of the baths and the mezzanine are faced with traditional pressed cement.

Local stone and heat-insulating bricks were used as wall infill. Ground-retaining walls in the landscaping were carried out in reinforced concrete and stone, with the necessary use of sprayed concrete on the interior and exterior surfaces of the building for structural reinforcement and water insulation.

The use of local volcanic rock on the retaining walls, brown-gray plaster on the facades and exterior floors, and grey wooden frames, contribute to the smooth integration of the building to its surroundings by means of its materiality, colors, and textures.

Olives, a palm tree at the entrance of the compound, lavender, thyme, and wind-resistant shrubs complete the building’s integration into its singular environment.

Kapsimalis Architects

The post Old Castle Oia was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The design concept for the new MCM flagship in Gangnam, Seoul, is inspired by the Bauhaus movement, which married experimentation in manufacturing with craftsmanship and traditional arts.

The store is conceived as a house that embodies the Bauhaus’ totality of artistic mediums – spanning industrial, graphic, furniture, interior design and architecture.
The Bauhaus ethos finds expression in flagship store’s new metal façade, the building reads as a curio box with curated window openings that rests on a heavy concrete base. The existing building was articulated as two separate facades and the main challenge was to create a new façade that would still respect the floor area ratio but be perceived as one building. Additional structural reinforcement was required to support the new façade which was straightened to bridge the gap between the irregular slab edge between the parking tower and the retail area to create a singular massing.

In response to the north facing condition of the façade, a bronze-colored metal was chosen to reflect as much natural light as possible on windows with 400mm depth, introducing relief and shadows. These large openings also help frame visual merchandise and the activities of the interior. Bronze metal mesh is veiled over the large openings and rests proud of the façade to give depth and textured layering. The brutal concrete base provides a street scape presence at the scale of the pedestrian and offers a dedicated show window for visual merchandise.

On the interior, graphic signage, lighting décor and carefully curated furniture selection brings MCM HAUS to life as a space for dwelling. The walls and floors are finished in raw concrete. Ceilings were left exposed and painted to maximize clear height. The simple exterior massing and form, exposed structural elements on the interior and use of raw concrete pays homage to functionalism and a return to material honesty.

Bronze accents and metalwork throughout offer contrast with the raw finishes to give warmth and luxury to the space. Millwork for all vitrines, shelving and display platforms were all custom designed and tailored to the functional requirements of the various types of products on display. The fitting rooms are lined with a corrugated, ribbed glass-fiber-reinforced-concrete with bronze metalwork supporting hooks, shelving and curtains.

The interior journey begins on the ground floor – spatially the most open floor with large windows looking out to the street and rear courtyard garden. Built-in wall millwork display handbags and backpacks, while floating VMD platforms showcase larger products and lastly, the smaller vitrines showcase the smaller leather goods and accessories. The visitor then continues up the large sculptural staircase spanning 3 levels with large platforms that double a stage for rotating visual merchandise displays.

Neri & Hu

The post MCM Flagship Seoul was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

A neglected exhibition hall in Luxembourg, originally built as a warehouse, has been transformed to create a light-filled, collaborative office space.

The architects renovated the former warehouse in Steinsel to create the new headquarters of DSL, a company specialised in IT solutions. The main emphasis of the project was to bring in more natural daylight, creating an efficient, clean and bright office space where people and communication take center stage.

The concept aimed to adapt the warehouse whilst preserving a flavour of certain key characteristics of the original building.

As you enter the space you are welcomed by a bright, double-height reception area. Light filters through from the large bay windows and from the skylights set into the steel roof. The overhaul included entirely gutting and renovating the feature skylights.

Inside, a central statement staircase made from oak doubles as a common area. This creates a mix of semi-private, informal work and social areas maintaining an open-plan layout.

Metaform architects chose a simple material palette including pure white walls, grey steel beams but also oak floor paneling and detailing in contrast with the original characteristics of the warehouse.

To finish the space, offices and meeting rooms are decorated with some large plants to help create a calming work environment. Through the introduction of light, the architects sought to foster a positive and welcoming working environment. The choice of furniture also inspires a “homely” atmosphere.

The building contains 1.950 square meters of office space, which includes a reception area, a staff kitchen, meeting rooms, open-plan offices, exhibition n space, an outdoor terrace area and ample storage space.

Metaform architects

The post Office Building in Luxembourg 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.

Casa na Caniçada is located in a densely wooded area next to the Caniçada reservoir, in Vieira do Minho (Portugal). In the adjacent space, the intervention was minimized in order to preserve the density of the vegetation, ensuring the feeling of protection provided by the natural surroundings of the land.

The volumetry of the existing building was the starting point for the definition of a new volume that consists of three floors, where a traditional single-family housing program is distributed. The most intimate program is located on the highest floor, while the social program is spread over the remaining two.

Carvalho Araújo

The post Casa na Caniçada was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The simple, four-sided building in Kalamata, emerging through the green of nature, maintains a prismatic shape on all sides of its volume with protracting, linear balconies, and comes in contrast with the rectangular neighboring buildings.

The metal frame tears through the shell of the house, revealing the structure.

The house is divided in four levels: The garage, the machinery room and a guestroom are placed in the basement. On the ground floor, the open-plan space contains the kitchen, the living room and a small wc. On the first floor are three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while on the roof there is storage space and a kitchen for the roof garden.

The prismatic shape plan does not affect the interior living divisions as the uneven shape spaces are dedicated to circulation. All levels are connected through an elevator.

The main consideration in the design was the certification of A+ energy class. This which was achieved by the thermal insulation of the shell, heating pump, photovoltaic panels, and passive ventilation of all house with a heat exchanger.

Tzokas Architects

Athanassios Tzokas,
Fotis Dalianis,
Kelly Filippopoulou,
Giorgos Georgiadis

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

The house is integrated in a rocky, steep property overlooking the South Euboean Gulf. The existing stone building and its surrounding walls stand as fossils, inside the natural landscape.

The stone part of the house is reconstructed in accordance with its initial structure, preserving the wooden roofs and mortar joinery, to highlight the sculptural terrain.

Existing openings are modified to comply with the new use of spaces. The introvert stone volume and its small openings mark the existing building as the most private space, including bedrooms and bathrooms.

A new, white volume, lands on the terrain as a foreign body, superimposed on the old stone building, balancing at the steepest part of the property in an act of levitation. Inside are housed all everyday activities, with the lounge, dining area and kitchen inside an integrated space that is internally defined with three large openings.

The latter, rigidly places, frame the sea and the mountain, focusing upon the village that ends in the most active site in the vicinity: the harbor.

Access to the house, and the connection between the old and the new building, is done through a metal and glass prism functioning as a buffer zone, intended to keep the connection between both buildings almost invisible.

The landscape remained untouched to the largest possible extent; the only interventions involve low stone retaining walls, suggesting internal circulation routes that constitute a system of movement on the site, in order to maintain the existing topography.

Gkotsis Serafimidou Architects

George Messaritakis

The post House in Marmari was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The Buchli, the Schärer family’s private residence, sits atop a small hill overlooking the company site in Münsingen, offering spectacular views all round. Named after the property’s field name, it was completely and meticulously renovated in 2019 to mark its 50th anniversary. The building was designed and constructed by Fritz Haller, one of the most influential Swiss architects of the 20th century. A pioneer of modular construction, Haller developed the MINI, MIDI and MAXI modular building block and installation systems, based on the principle of steel-framed construction. Haller and Paul Schärer jr. also applied this systematic approach to furniture design, creating the world-renowned USM Haller modular furniture system. 

The Schärer house was Fritz Haller’s first residential project to be based on a prefabrication system. It is located on a steep slope overlooking the company site. Positioned parallel to the slope, the rooms on the top floor of the house face the Aare river basin and open up on all sides. The house is accessed from above, with the driveway leading from the road to the covered parking area on the ground floor. The house is built on a support grid, which follows a 1:2:1:2:1 rhythm. On the ground floor, the middle axis serves as the entrance hall with a metal spiral staircase that leads up to the first floor, which is elevated atop columns. The basement houses an office and a guest room. On the first floor, the central installation and circulation area borders onto the kitchen and three north-east-facing bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. Extending to the south-west across the whole width of the building is the spacious open-plan living/dining area with a balcony. The outer axis also forms a balcony at the back. The built-in cabinets and central kitchen units were designed by Haller. Even the freestanding fireplace fits into the grid, just like the rest of the interior features, which were mainly built using the USM Haller modular furniture system. The tall, narrow, rectangular windows with a width of just 1.20 metres play a major part in shaping the building’s overall external appearance. The building was extensively renovated in 2019, while still maintaining the original construction principles and strictly complying with historic preservation guidelines. The Buchli is now used to accommodate USM guests.

Fritz Haller

vuotovolume Architekten

Simon Opladen

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

Transforming an abandoned industrial building from the 1960s to a state-of-the-art gym, provided the opportunity for Cyprus-based ADP Architecture Design Practice to pay tribute to the building’s heritage and maintain elements from its past. The main building has been restored to encompass all the activities and needs of the gym such as areas for free-weights and weight equipment, an MMA cage, and Martial Arts area. Concurrently, the mezzanine hosts supporting functions and the old annex is reconnected to the main building to provide space for changing rooms and lavatories.

The front façade has been completely reimagined, half escaping the concrete envelope and providing the illusion of a solid corten block when approaching from the west and the other half is dominated by a curtain wall that opens visibility between the public busy street and the gym’s main space.

While the roof has been replaced, the new metal structure follows the original wooden beams and a secondary support system allows the exposed services to suspend mid-air. A tailored lighting plan signposts circulation and activity zones with emphasis placed in the elevated cage area aiming to showcase the protagonists of the fight.

Completing an adaptive reuse project is a challenge on its own. Even more so, when the project requires a speedy construction time of only four months, taking place during a global pandemic with restrictions in factories and construction sites imposed. The excellent communication between the design and construction teams and use of BIM systems to coordinate information has been instrumental in achieving the complex construction of the exposed services in a matter of weeks as well as dealing with an existing structure of the 60s.

Lelita Ioannidou, Director at ADP Architecture Design Practice comments: “We are extremely excited to play our part in the revitalisation of the industrial area of Egkomi and as strong advocates of reuse and we hope that this project inspires a wider adaptation of local industrial heritage.”

ADP Architecture Design Practice

Unseen Views

The post Molon Labe Gym was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project at hand is the rebuilding and reorganisation of a ruin in the small village of Cristinacce, Corsica, to create three city-owned apartments.

The project follows three axes:

Firstly, there is a social aspect to it as not-only it is city-owned, but the typologies are different to respond to the diversity of situations within Corsican villages.

Secondly, you find an environmental angle as it is a now pressing matter for the whole island. This building is dimmed “low-carbon”, which makes it the first of its kind in Corsica.

Finally, the architectural aspect of the project of course, which lies in the form of a contemporary construction that fits the needs of modern life but in the midst of an old, traditional fabric, ever present in our small villages.

There is an act of resistance to the approach of building three social dwellings in a small village as it aims also at fighting against the depopulation inland. Offering high quality dwellings for lower a population with lower income is even greater.

The project is characterized by a structure and a surface mainly wood-made, thus really setting the building in our times. There was also the purpose of further integrating the modern volumes and shape, considering the material unity and sobriety of the façades. Furthermore, the architecture of the building allows us to create wide openings, necessary to meet the environmental standards as well as framing the views on the mountains afar.

Advocating the merits of a wood channel, industry, in Corsica could no longer be necessary as it is a material that you don’t only find in abundance across the island, but it also is a wood of the highest quality. Nevertheless, we still wanted to champion the local craftsmanship and point out the fact that despite wood being in a plenty, difficulties in building with such a simple material can still arise because of the lack of drying units in Corsica. Indeed, the majority of the wood being used has to be dried and transformed, either on the mainland or in Italy.

The project is looking into providing immediate answers to the issues at hand. In order to do this, the building methods we have looked into had to be precise and to integrate the fact that the wood we would use would not reach the required 13% humidity rate, as it is normally the case in all traditional wooden structures. Doing so, we avoided shipping the wood on the mainland, lowering the carbon footpring of the project at the same time.

Hence, in beign very demanding with regard to the whole process, we wanted to ensure that the project would be exemplary in all aspects. This project is socially and environmentally sound, promoting endemic resources (the wood used in Laricio pine tree) and it participate to repopulate the inland parts of Corsica.

Orma Architettura

The post Municipal Housing in Corsica was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club’s new Dock Building is an example of industrial architectural elegance crafted from a modest budget.

The Dock Building, located on Jericho Beach in Vancouver, BC, serves a large marina of sailboats. The facility provides washrooms and showers, offices for the Harbour Master, instruction space for children, and a variety of workshops to maintain boats, sails, and gear. The project’s practical working needs, very modest budget, and prominent siting required a simple solution that honoured the cannery and industrial heritage of waterfront buildings that were once found on the site a half-century before.

The massing is simple. Two intersecting wedge volumes mirror each other to create a lantern to the sea and a lantern to the land. Facing land is a glulam and translucent polycarbonate wall that brings light into the workshop spaces and glows along the beach at night. Facing the sea and the marina itself are a series of garage doors opening to the shop bays as well as glazed offices for the management of the docks. A wood screen above the offices hides the mechanical systems in the high volume of the wedge that faces the water. A knife-edge gutter provides an overhang for the shop doors mimicking the razor edge forms of the racing sailboats that line the dock.

The building resides on the waters’ edge just where high tide meets the beach. Almost half of the project budget went to the foundation and piles, leaving the design team with the challenge of meeting the project’s functional needs while delivering something more meaningful to the community.

White standing seam panels are used for the exterior in the spirit of the forms and colour of the sails and boats. The structure is a mix of glulam posts and beams with light timber infill decking and walls. The interior is predominantly construction-grade plywood, providing a tough, easily replaceable interior finish. Throughout, the details are modest and practical to work with the limited project budget.

MGA | Michael Green Architecture

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

The 19th century, semi-detached Georgian property in Hackney was radically transformed, by further extending and updating of the existing garden studio to the rear. Located in London Fields and within a conservation area, the house forms one of several pairs of four-storey family houses and had previously being occupied as two individual flats.

From the outset, the client had a strong brief outlining what they wished to achieve and the first design challenge was to refine these into a series of coherent and feasible options addressing both the needs of the client, budget. The client was keen to be heavily involved in both the design process as well as the day-to-day matters affecting procurement and construction.

The first challenge was to design a highly modified, coherent layout to each floor, enabling better interaction between living spaces through a more open-plan living arrangement, increasing the passage of daylight to the rear of the lower ground floor. The floor level dropped to the rear and formed a rejuvenated outrigger with an aesthetic that heavily contrasts, yet complements the existing London stock brickwork. With openings scaled-up in proportion to those of the original building, the architects opted for one single, enveloping material to unify, punctuate and define the rear facade.

Being situated in a conservation area the use of weathering steel (aka. Corten) on such a dramatic scale could be considered to be potentially controversial however after seeking pre-application advice, London Borough of Hackney were supportive of the more contemporary addition. The reconstructed rear facade sits, grounded in a sunken, concrete-lined garden leading to a discreet yet spacious, larch-clad pilates studio beyond.

Internally the new double-height space to the rear features a monolithic cast in-situ, concrete staircase linking the upper floors with the split-level lower ground floor in which the kitchen, family living spaces form the heart of the home. The interior palette serves a backdrop to the clients own art/sculpture collection with the decor and muted chalky wall finishes not seeking to dominate. Characterful oak floors and oversized rugs add another layer of patina and texture. Throughout internal rooms feature bespoke joinery with marble-lined vanities set against metallic and tactile brassware to each of the four bathrooms.

The ground-back concrete staircase ascends from lower ground to ground floor, from where a fully plastered, solid balustrade folds its way vertically serving the upper three floors. This dramatic centrepiece with oak stairs opens up on each landing offering glimpses into each room through the full-height door openings. The master suite takes over the first floor providing a spacious dressing room and calming Tadelakt lined ensuite with central free-standing bath.

Extensive works to the garden and pilates studio to the rear have sought to bring harmony to the main house and studio, linking both with a naturally weathered larch walkway which drops down into the sunken rear patio. The planting seeks to blur the edges between hard and soft landscaping, affording the occupants the most use of a relatively compact rear garden.

deDraft

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

The New Archaeological Museum in Chania is an exhibition space for antique artefacts, and a pole for producing and advancing culture. The result was shaped by conceptual considerations, the terrain features, and the program, technologies, and materials.

The building site is in the historical Chalepa district, with a sea view, relatively close to the Chania Old Harbor. The main idea was to create a building shell with an atrium; adapting to the site was the main consideration in the design.

The limited field of view from the site entrance led to a reduced building height for the overground part, to secure the horizon view beyond. From the entrance, one has an immediate perception of the entire circulation network and wayfinding to the exhibition halls, the museum shop, the amphitheater, and the restaurant. Spaces are demarcated by clear surfaces, to create an appropriate environment for exhibitions.

The need for a recognizable Museum, given its public, cultural character, was also a key consideration in the design. Through the composition and form of the volumes, as well as the texture and color of the cladding materials, a discrete yet identifiable shell was created, as a contemporary building, expressive of its time, yet designated for accommodating past civilizations. The linear, geometric shell aims for a timeless aesthetic, through expressive restraint; this is inscribed in the volumes, surfaces, materials, and the main façade, which is flat and defined by a trapezoidal shape, dominated by the main entrance.

Natural lighting penetrates the building from its sides, controlled in a way that prevents excessive reflection. The openings are not immediately visible, and their role is confided to creating the proper exhibition atmosphere. Exhibits benefit from artificial lighting.

The architectural design created the potential for alternative activities and exhibitions at the new museum and designated their interactive character. The result is a timeless building.

Bobotis+Bobotis Architects

Thomas Gerasopoulos

ek 240 | September 2019

The post New Archaeological Museum in Chania was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

This house along the Leuvense Vaart in Mechelen, is a seemingly random play of asymmetrical concrete canopies opens and closes the façade, creating a pleasing impression of introverted openness.

The dynamics created by the angled concrete canopies and the sophisticated positioning of the triangular storeys was an aesthetic necessity, designed in response to the environment in which the house was built. In this case, a narrow, deep plot with close proximity to neighbours, but also with an expansive view of the canal and the fields behind it. The concept of the house is the result of a creative process that takes all these parameters into account in a single, consistent story.

Each storey is set back in relation to the previous one and has been superimposed at a slightly shifted angle, with the intention of creating privacy and a sense of security for the residents. This fan-like movement inward also creates a playful effect that counters the monolithic appearance of the nine-metre-high building. At the same time, the fan shape is intended to cast as little shadow as possible on the neighbours. The breaches in the concrete walls in turn create exciting openings to the garden and the water. While the concrete construction is no less imposing than the ships that slowly pass by on the canal, the openings give the whole a human scale.

The concrete from which the house is built also forms the supporting structure. This made it possible for the opening movement of the facades to be continued in the interior.
The lowest concrete wedge serves as a carport and hides the entrance of the house from the view of passers-by. However, anyone who rings the bell will instantly feel welcome thanks to the large, pivoting door and the inviting concrete entrance step. The stairs, together with a cloakroom and laundry room, are located in the concrete core of the house and lead to the living areas that nestle around the central part on the first floor in a single, flowing movement. The kitchen is bathed in the morning sun, while the living room with adjoining terrace catches the last rays of the sun. The bedrooms in the top storey are primarily functional and all open onto a beautiful terrace.

The furniture in the house was custom designed, including the storage units and fireplace wall. The special symbiosis between secure enclosure and openness also comes into its own in the interior. A feeling that is enhanced by a balanced use of understated materials, alternating the warm texture of clay plaster on walls and ceilings with the raw concrete and wooden finishing that are also used in the external facades.

The tranquil material palette of the house has been carried over into the smallest details. For the balustrades, we deliberately did not work with modern glass, but with galvanized steel. This aligns the enclosure and the breaches in the facade with the human scale of the residents, in an otherwise imposing building. The steel of the balustrades is reflected in the external staircase and gate, which were specially designed for this house. A nice detail is that in this gate, just like in the facade of the house, recesses have been applied that make the wheels of the gate visible and give it a surprising touch.

Graux & Baeyens Architecten

The post House N-DP was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

This house was designed around the premise that, in such a special place, architecture could not ever compete or obstruct the nature around it. To fulfill that goal, the building was placed to be as close as possible to the century-old oaks and chestnuts without touching them. The house is reached from above and placed in a sharp slope; this combination of factors places the eye level of the habitants in line with the top of the trees, in perpetually shifting colors and movement motivated by the wind.

Located in north of Portugal, where vegetation is both dense and ever changing, this house aims at getting better connected to the nature; in the short period of construction, vines start to take control and the higher branches are already touching the glass: the fusion has started.

From the inside that connection is obvious: the exterior walls are all transparent and it is the furniture that defines the living spaces among in open floor plan. Through the different spaces, it is always possible to see the vegetation outside.

João Marques Franco

Primeiro Plano Audiovisual

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

Situated along the western edge of the redevelopment area, south of the bridges over Hammarby canal and beside a major road into Stockholm, the ensemble comprises a tower and a low-rise building with heights of 100 and 25 metres respectively. Together, these two distinct volumes reconcile the divergent scales and conditions of the context, at the interface between the wide arterial road and a narrow park to the west and, to the east, the new city district that lies some 16 metres lower. Between the two buildings, a sweeping flight of steps extends the local pedestrian network to provide an additional route to and from the nearby underground railway station and the new housing area by the water.

The emblematic geometry of the tower – a conical star that gradually extends its perimeter as it rises into the sky – minimises its footprint on this limited site while providing flexible office space that benefits from long-distance views and an abundance of daylight. On the two different ground levels the high rise houses commercial units while a restaurant and sky bar on the top level offer spectacular views of the city.

Sauerbruch Hutton

Αnders Βobert

The post Sthlm 01 Tower was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The new Manufacturing, Technology and Engineering Center (MTEC) at Daley College is an addition to the Richard J. Daley campus. The MTEC sets the framework for a wider master plan. The project unifies the existing complex by creating a campus environment with engaging pathways and collaborative spaces throughout.

Rising from the transformed parking lot, the MTEC project speaks to issues larger than architecture; it seeks to revitalize a Chicago southwest neighborhood by creating a connective message that all are significant and welcome. Daley College tasked JGMA with removing the negative stereotypes that exist in the workforce when pertaining to manufacturing careers. Often suggesting these careers as devoid of dignity and reserved typically for minority populations. The project reverses the misconception through a design focused on celebrating state-of-the-art manufacturing spaces and proves careers in this industry require tech and skills as advanced as any other.

The design strategy utilizes building transparency to showcase machines, equipment, and products integral to the learning objectives of the colleges as well as provide a visual connection to the surrounding West Lawn community. The seamless fluidity to the building’s form was inspired by the constant and linear flow of the manufacturing process. The building spans the main thoroughfare with a strong industrial bridge that links the south and north campus of Daley College.

The new building celebrates the manufacturing industry through the expression of materials such as metal panels, glass, and exposed steel. In addition, the underside of the elevated bridge is intentionally painted caution yellow, bringing the manufacturing expression to the exterior.

The transparency of the building provides a similar experience for even the casual passerby, by providing a look into the advanced technical nature of manufacturing today.

The project challenges the latent stereotypes of a community college and alters the psychology of simply crossing the street to go to class. Through dynamic spatial organizations and site responsive architecture, the MTEC provides students and staff a unique experience from the moment they walk into the building. The circulation spaces inside the building intentionally collide with seating areas, platforms, and alcoves to encourage students to congregate and participate in incidental learning between peers. There is a combination of exterior and interior terraces for users to enjoy in the warm weather months. These green areas facilitate the students’ and faculty’s interaction providing connections with nature and lead to increased cognitive function and wellness, as well as creating a more unified campus.

As the MTEC is now the front door to the campus, thorough analysis was conducted to the user experience with regards to security, wayfinding, and new learning opportunities. It was imperative that the new addition set-up a framework for further transformation of the existing building while still celebrating its current legacy. The unique exterior façade of the MTEC building is phase one in a masterplan to completely rebrand and re-clad the existing facilities to create one new energized campus.

The new building will not only be a catalyst for growth and change within City Colleges of Chicago, but also inspire the pursuit of manufacturing careers as a sophisticated and high-tech learning path.

JGMA

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

The building is defined from a structural frame that organizes the spaces and the different parts of the program, as well as the facade itself.

The main parts of the house are concentrated on the first floor, leaving the ground floor for access and multipurpose space. On the first floor, the house is organized divided into three strips; the two opaque sides, understood as container walls for use, house the service and private parts, while the central strip is understood as a free space that is projected outwards.
The ground floor contains the main entrance, the access staircase, services and two large porches. The first one is for entrance and parking, and the second one, understood as another space in the house, another multipurpose living-dining room in relation to the garden and the pool.
The materiality of the building is reduced to the use of concrete as an expressive element of the construction system. Exposed concrete in structure and concrete bricks in facades, which also enter the interior.

Nordest Arquitectura

FilippoPoli

The post House in Vilablareix was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

A new work of public infrastructure, the Lange Erlen pumping station is aligned to the main axis of the site and leaves space for future expansion. Under the projecting roof of the entrance façade, a concrete fountain transforms first into a bench and stairs and further along into a wheelchair-accessible ramp.

The interior spaces are built with gentle, polished curves in emulation of glacial mills. These curves also give shape to the large skylight in the foyer. A generous staircase winds up around the light by the artist Madlaina Lys to the building’s true centrepiece: the observation deck, from which visitors have a view over the extensive pumping facility.

Staehelin Meyer Architekten

The post Pumping Station in Basel was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house, built in a town in south Bavaria, is located in a north-south oriented narrow inclined property, surrounded by old trees, in-between two listed villas from the beginning of the 20^th century.

For better integration of the new building, plaster facing, prominent in both adjacent listing buildings, was used on the entire façade, using a custom-made mixture that was approved by the preservation authorities, and applied by hand by a local church plasterer, using a trowel.

The hexagonal layout resulted from the side distances prescribed by the building regulations. To stage the faraway view to the Andechs monastery, over the Ammersee lake, the building volume is raised in a tower, over the trees. To increase the lofty feeling, the living room was designed on the top floor, with an oversize opening. The kitchen, being the center of everyday family life, is connected to the garden on the ground level.

Great attention was given to large surfaces with untreated materials. Following the idea of a simple, sustainable construction, this is a brick building, without additional insulation. The selected energy profile is kfW 55, without artificial ventilation. Shading is achieved with deep openings, without any other solar protection.

The design was a collaboration between the owner, Andreas Schwab, who holds a degree in architecture while being employed as a product designer, and Huber architectural office.

Architekturbüro Huber

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