The post Canning Factory | Matosinhos, Portugal was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The touristic villa consists of 5 luxurious rooms and comfortable indoor and outdoor living areas. It has a total surface of 320 m² and a part of 44 m² that is buried into the ground, at a plot of 9055 m²

On the western ground floor are placed the living areas, which are in immediate connection with the natural landscape. The large openings on both sides of the building facades offer permeability and allow continuous and unimpeded flow with the surrounding space, both spatial and visual. In this way the outside space flows inside while at the same time there is constant visual contact with the sea. In the eastern volume of the two levels, there are the private spaces, which are placed by taking advantage of the favorable orientation and the view of the landscape.

Throughout the building, the openings are located almost theatrically, framing the view or the circulation of the building. With this way they intensify the contact between outside and inside, allowing the sea and the landscape to enter inside.

At a lower level along the main route, a slit in the ground leads to the two additional buried dormitories. They expand to the north in an enclosed protected courtyard, where the user, hidden inside the slope, enjoys privacy in the natural environment and unobstructed views at the sea.

At the end of the route, the pool area, the outdoor kitchen, and the dining area form an independent zone of outdoor living.

Mostly endemic plants were selected for planting, as well as olive trees. The goal is the smooth integration in the local landscape of “Apokoronas”.

The volumes of the building are covered with local stone so that they converse with the natural landscape. At the same time the corridor slit is underlined by white walls. The floors inside and outside are with the same material, which is pressed cement mortar, to ensure the continuity of interior and exterior spaces.

The study lasted 2017-2018 and the construction of the project 2018-2020. Both stages were developed by Archtify. The diligence in the design and implementation of the project enabled the consistency between the initial idea and the result.

The post K1 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 130m² apartment is located in Papagou, a suburb of Athens. The apartment features large floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides of the living room, creating a space where natural light is predominant. The main brief requirement was to create an open, integrated space that could accommodate social gatherings.

For this reason, the existing partition walls separating the kitchen from the living room were demolished, creating an open floor plan for the living room and the kitchen. New white cabinets and a lapitec countertop were installed in the kitchen, emphasizing daylight and its interior reflections on white lacquer. The entire floor was dressed in American hard maple hardwood. All millwork details, including closets, cabinets, and small furniture were designed by the architect.

For furnishing, the open space and the white color were used as a background for a two-seat sofa and classic paintings from the owner’s collection, combined with contemporary design furniture.

Minas Konstantinou Architecture

The post White Box Apartment was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The distinctive housing development, titled “Voronoi’s Corrals”, benchmarks from the local corral typology, processed with contemporary computation. The design employs Voronoi grids, which are organic and more easily adaptable to data. The house faces south; exposed concrete beams project beyond the facades, shaping Voronoi cells and supporting shading devices. Each cell is covered with soil, planted with a different herb species. Earth provides adequate heat insulation to the interiors, and the colors of the plants highlight the strategy at large. In the interior, the roof is formulated in successive funnels topped with a round skylight for natural ventilation. The idea of the “hourglass”, lending the house its name, informed the design of an architecture that is achieved with contemporary computational means and geometries, aiming to develop the landscape in a similarly natural way as the one that led, perhaps, the corral builders into their peculiar -yet absolutely goal-oriented and place-specific- choices.

DECA architecture

The post Best of 2020: The Hourglass Corral was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house has a square layout, demarcated by a wall than encloses all indoor spaces and their adjacent four gardens. Historical travel records of Nicosia, dating as far back as the 14^th century, mention the garden as a space protected inside a walled enclosure, containing ornamental and edible plants, offering scents and sounds; the garden has been a contributing factor to the historical identity of Nicosia, at times including cisterns, fountains, open-air kitchens, wells, or steam baths. The gardens of the house, adjoining different programmatic units, cater to daily, practical necessities, such as the control of sunlight, temperature, and air flow. Special attention has been put on the passive heating and cooling of the house. The construction materials are selected from local light industries; some are left exposed, while part of the finishing is carried out on site, as is the case for the flooring. All case furniture and some moveable pieces are custom-designed by the architects, while the rest are hand-made from local artisans in Nicosia.

Draftworks Architects

The post Best of 2020: Four Gardens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house is built in a narrow plot, following an unconventional composition, whose aim is to accommodate the extensive program and to secure the desired contact with its surroundings. Articulated in discernible volumes and structural voids in-between, the building is compressed towards the middle of the plot, evolving upwards, leaving two narrow green strips on its sides, and two gardens, at the front and back. The dominant material on the facades is exposed concrete. Occasionally, the hard skin is removed to expose stained wood-clad surfaces, or it recedes in strategically placed niches, on various levels. The core of the home is a double-height space, accommodating the lounge and an office on the mezzanine. Sliding glass panels bring abundant light to the interior and open views to the narrow swimming pool, adjacent to the dining area. The interior is dominated by white color and extensive wooden surfaces, where nooks containing plants extend the landscaping. At the staircase, the concrete skin is fragmented in small rectangles, creating a permeable limit.

Divercity Architects

The post Best of 2020: Filothei House was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In contrast to many urban homes that remain hidden behind high walls and green fences, the “house-garden” is an extension of its adjacent green public space, and part of the urban fabric. The connection between house, public space, and neighborhood allows all three elements to be perceived as a compact whole, in perpetual interaction. The principal design concept was the development of gardens, both on the ground level as well as on the floor, as an accessible green roof. The two-storey home is articulated in two monolithic volumes, containing a green patio. The ground level accommodates the shared spaces, and the floor houses two bedrooms. On the top level, facades are formed in sliding aluminum panels for sound insulation, controlled light, and protection from solar radiation during the summer months. Sustainable design relies on discreet solar paneling, on the chimney effect through the green internal patio, and natural ventilation through the north-south axis. The project has been awarded with the Cyprus State Prize for Architecture, 2019.

Christos Pavlou

The post Best of 2020: The House-garden in the City was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

A local developer and owner of a unique piece of land in Yeroskipou, Pafos, Cyprus, invited the architects to participate in a competition for designing and developing an outstanding residential resort for locals and tourists. The project has been set to become a new hyper luxury Tourist Residential Resort for area’s tourism.   

Set in a plot right next to the sea, the project pursues environmental standards of sustainability in an effort to preserve the region’s stunning and picturesque landscape. Additionally, it has been designed to blend itself effortlessly and smoothly into the beautiful natural landscape of sown and reaped fields.

The masterplan has been visioned to become a special enterprise zone. Beyond hyper-luxury accommodations, it includes exclusive facilities for the residents as well as external visitors. This project seeks not only to complement the existing touristic facilities of Kato Pafos but to upgrade the services, offering a new unique paradigm establishing a new financial model.

The proposal is respectful of the environmental sensitivity of the region, taking a “green” approach that will have the least detrimental impact on the wonderful landscape of the area. Using sustainable materials, the idea is to carry out most of the disruptive construction work in off-site and allow greater control in factory conditions.

The proposed Resort is in a plot of 5844m² south-east of Pafos, with stunning views of the rising and setting sun, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to the south-west. Formed of 10 residential buildings positioned at the edges of a triangular arrangement to ensure maximum visibility to the sea and all looking towards the heart of the development, the Club House, the Resort is defined by its materiality and structure.

Each 2-storey block consists of two parallel vertical white walls which support an upper lightweight structure, forming a two-bedroom family at the ground floor level and a one-bedroom hyper-luxury residence at the first-floor level.

The opposite edge of triangles peak point is marked by the neat and contemporary volume of the Club House consisting of a double height fine-dining restaurant and a vibrant roof-top bar with views out to the sea as well as an underground luxury spa for relaxing and recovering.

Using textured, earthy tones the resort is made predominantly from timber and streel structure, reducing the concrete walls and its embodied carbons. The buildings propose a lightweight structural frame construction along with a minimal precast foundation, minimizing the impact on site. Louvers along with screens and solid facades mitigate the low strong sun during summer season while they offer privacy, keeping though the architectural lightness of the elements.        

The Masterplan’s vision explores the balance of landscape and built area to achieve the ideal luxury tourist resort. Our vision sources its inspiration by the surroundings, low and high vegetation, goldy fields and the long coastline with the sandy linear beach.

AYK Associates Architects

The post Tourist Residential Resort in Cyprus was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project consists of the remodeling of an existing structure that has been modified several times over the years. When reviewing the archives of the house, traces of the original project designed by the Mexican architect Augusto H. Álvarez in the 50’s were found.

The archtiects decided to align the proposal to the base grid plan of this construction, which assembles the distribution of spaces around four structural axes every four meters. A clean volume was proposed with large glass windows facing the garden and a facade facing the street that would provide security and privacy to the project.

The different levels of the volume mark the sequence of privacy in the spaces of the house. It is accessed on the ground floor from the street through a dimly lit entrance hall, which creates a sculptural effect of dark light through openings with vertical lines on the entrance door, which, crossing it, drift into the living room and dining room that, in turn, connect with kitchen and library. The four bedrooms and the family room are located on the second level. The third floor offers a space dedicated to well-being, which is extended with a large outdoor terrace.

The aim was to evoke the features of modern architecture from the mid-twentieth century through materiality, the exaltation of order and structural elements. The configuration of the spaces seeks the constant perception of openness and connection with the immediate natural context.

The exterior of the project was covered with a dark gray stucco that emphasizes its tectonic and monolithic condition. The interior design derives from generating a contrast against the solidity of the gray stucco, the blacksmithing and the use of stone outside, complemented by the warmth and naturalness generated by the predominance of oak wood, the white finish of the walls and the lighting. indirect to the interior that softens contrasts and neutralizes light, making spaces feel relaxed, fresh, and natural.

The round columns in the middle of the main common area, in addition to be a structural element, are an aesthetic gesture – which refers us to the functionalism of the 1950s – that implicitly divides the dining room. This, incorporated with the vegetation of the garden, creates an atmosphere of tranquility and comfort over the house, which preserves and enhances the neutrality of the project in every aspect.

The choice of furniture and lighting pieces were selected mainly seeking an evocation of the modernist movement of the mid-20th century, with a tonal palette that served to maintain the impartiality of the whole. Thus, furniture covered with fabric in gray and white tones that incorporate wood in tones similar to those prevalent in the space was chosen, a dark marble table accompanied by two Louis Poulsen suspended luminaires that cover, unify and give identity to the dining room, finishing off with a guest bathroom.

The final functionality is consistent with the modulation of the spaces that is perceived from the façade, thus generating an X-ray of the living space of the house that is transformed with the different moments of the day through reflections and transparencies, softening the boundaries between the interior and exterior of the project.

hemaa

Rafael Gamo

The post sierra negra 27 was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house in Aegina is organized around a central patio. The dialogue with the natural terrain of the plot as well as the unobstructed visual views of the land were elements crucial to the design. The visitor enters from the highest point of the patio from where the movements are distributed around the three living areas of the house – the master bedroom, the guest rooms and the lounge area – and the swimming pool. The morphology of the patio follows the outer sloping terrain and as it gradually descends through a path of terraces and outdoor seating areas leads the visitor to the view. Its final level, in combination with the airy living room, constitutes an expanded covered balcony to the sea. Its transparent roof bears the pool-observatory. The patio functions as a vital living space of the residence and so does the rooftop swimming pool. The bedrooms maintain their privacy while at the same time referring to the heart of the whole – the patio and the sea view. The section of the house levels creates an internal microcosm of spaces and movements, constituting a path that can bypass the enclosed spaces and end up outside the plot around the side of the daily activities volume. The morphology of the complex expresses the function of each individual space housed under it while the selected rough materials set up a direct dialogue with the island’s topos. The individual volumes are embraced by a dynamic curved, unifying outer skin that holds the whole together and forms a characteristically acute, yet silent gesture of a human intervention on the natural landscape.  

The visitor enters the house after descending a few steps and reaching the front door. The door follows the outer skin of the house in morphology and materiality resulting to its “camouflage” so as not to disturb the overall visual aesthetic balance of the outer surface. The resident is now inside the inner atrium where the whole organization of the house is revealed to him / her. The atrium functions as a “panorama” of movements and glances while at the same time it shapes the outdoor life of the house through step-seats and a built-in sitting space. Its organization into levels and corners, flower beds and water elements creates an internal visitor-friendly micro-scale that comes to imitate the island alleys and terraces and to offer interest and reasons to stay in it. Outdoor living acquires equal value with indoor living.

The pool of the house was designed as a visual continuation of the water element of the sea and at the same time as an observatory – “belvedere”. This was achieved by placing it in a receptor tank formed by the roof structure of the living room volume. Thus, its visual continuity-integration with the sea is immediately perceived when entering the highest level of the atrium. The visitor’s vision field “perceives” the water tank as one with the sea. The route towards the pool is made possible through the use of a staircase starting from the entrance level of the patio and leading to the roof of the guest-bedrooms. Then, a connecting slab leads the habitant to the elongated water tank.

The gradual and flowing transition to the second and third level of the atrium signals the possibility to enter the guest-bedrooms and the main master bedroom respectively. Each function is housed under different morphoplastic elements. The common element of both volumes that accommodate the bedrooms is the curvature. The roof of the guest rooms projects as a semicircular cantilever towards the atrium in order to achieve two results: To extend the roof surface of the guest rooms which acts as a seating area for the pool, while this curved extension projects less aggressively towards the atrium and at the same time enriches the vocabulary of islandic forms that are designated to convey the aesthetic vocabulary of the proposal.

The entrance to the guest rooms is made possible through the double puncturing of a concrete breeze block wall bearing plantation and also standing as an element of the night light scenario of the atrium. Each guest room is an independent residential unit. The roof of the rooms recedes in relation to the curvy outer wall, thus forming a single skylight that runs through both bedrooms. This design solution leads to the increase of natural day light reaching the rooms, to the direct visual contact of the inhabitant with the element of the sky and finally to the detachment of the volume housing the rooms from the perimeter wall so that it can be perceived as an independent synthetic element of the solution.

The entrance to the master bedroom is situated on the third level of the atrium. A grand opening on an inclined concrete wall leads to the private functions of the master bedroom, through the descent of a ramp. The wall separates and isolates the private life of the couple from the shared life of the house. The wall formed by exposed reinforced concrete bears a twofold role: it is an element on which the different morphologies of the living room and bedroom volumes “collide”. At the same time the wall acts as a filter of movements and glances from the patio and the living room to the master-bedroom. Its separative role is reflected upon its monolithic morphology and the robustness it exudes. Both the guest houses and the master bedroom offer access to private open spaces overlooking the sea. The curvature of the exterior walls that enclose the whole complex is shaped that way in order to emphasize the “opening” and the reference of the residence towards the sea.

The living room was designed as an elongated space with its long dimension unfolding parallel to the sea view. The absolute transparency provided by the sliding windows that run through the long sides of the living room allows the visitor’s gaze to “penetrate” unhindered from the highest point of the atrium to the sea. The living space is transformed into a frame-pavilion with direct reference to the seafront and the water element. Its division into two levels, corresponding to the living room and the kitchen area, ensures the connection of the latter with the natural ground level in the SE part of the plot. The transparent roof of the living room, which at the same time serves as the bottom of the pool above, contributes to the visual connection of the two elements as well as to the attribution of a surreal atmosphere in this space. The “water” roof generates a unique natural day light that is never constant throughout the passing of hours. The view of the bodies that swim offers a theatricality and a certain flow in a space that aims to the unification of the outside with the inside in every possible way.

ADD Architecture Studio

ADD Architecture Studio

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

The building is located in the southern suburbs of Patras, in the outskirts of the urban area, characterized by narrow roads and low building density. The project involves the design of two new, separate one-story houses, considering each one’s privacy.

The main idea creates a singular, elongated building that accommodates both houses, one primary and one secondary, arranged in a series. The common typology, adapted to the traits of each house, creates a composition with a common denominator and a common architectural syntax. The result of this typology is the perception of both houses as one building.

The owner asked for special care to be given to the design of outdoor areas. This provided the starting point for the organization of interior and exterior spaces, benefitting from the existing olive grove in the property. Thus, a sheltered open-air courtyard is designed to be dominated by an olive tree, placed at the center of the building, with the rest of spaces arranged in the periphery.

The architectural treatment of the main house includes two clear zones, one for the lounge – kitchen – dining area, and one for the bedrooms; they are connected through a transparent, protected, open-air sheltered living space. The oblong axis of movement integrates the rest of the program in interchanging closed and open spaces.

The large sliding frames of the lounge merge indoors and outdoors, creating an ample, open living room adjacent to the sheltered outdoor area, accomplishing day-long outdoor living. All interiors can be extended outdoors, expanding their limits according to everyday needs. This articulation accommodates multiple scenarios and composes a perpetual interplay between inside and out.

The creation of an atrium under a convenient opening at the roof slab brings in abundant natural light and air. Concurrently, the patio becomes the necessary open area for daily activities, endowed with privacy.

The main entrance is placed perpendicular to the house, in relation with the dominant horizontal axis and its monumental scale; combined with the recess of the entrance door, it highlights the entrance to the building emphatically, and gently leads the visitor inside.

The dominant material is fair-face concrete, wrapping around the building. This way, both houses are united, open-air sheltered areas are created and views are framed. The building is lifted from the ground and generates a captivating image of levitation.

The minimalist construction, the visibility of each component’s structural role and the use of untreated materials, result in a functional building with strong personality, which becomes an identifiable landmark in the surrounding urban area.

Façade Architecture

Yiorgis Yerolymbos

ek 240 | September 2019

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

The 200m² house is located in Colymvari, in the outskirts of Chania, Crete, in a setting of exceptional natural beauty.

The intensely sloping ground and the orientation of the property towards a plain lush with olive groves, provided the basic design principles. The main concern was integrating the new building into the terrain and illustrating the landscape qualities (olive trees, rocks, dry bushes) in an architectural proposal.

The building evolves on three levels, aligned to the terrain contour lines, with access from the top of the property going downwards. The main house is divided in two levels. The master bedroom with its en-suite bathroom  is on the top one; the kitchen, lounge, sleeping quarters and bathrooms in the middle, and the bottom level accommodates the guestroom with independent access and outdoor area.

The first design gesture was the stone wall supporting the ground slope, allowing uninterrupted views from its one side for all main functions (rooms, kitchen, lounge) and keeping the secondary ones on its other.

The same wall defines the pathway to the building, integrating the outdoor stairs and creating an entrance to the house.

The resulting building is partially underground and horizontal, and progressively adapts to the ground and the landscape through an array of indoor and outdoor levels. This is further enforced with the bending of the volume, aiming at a smooth integration of the guestroom and its outdoor space into the terrain.

Distinct building volumes are linked under a single roof slab, which acts as shelter for the solid and void composition on the middle level, and more, as outdoor space for the master bedroom.

Moreover, as the house escalates downwards, its only visible element from street level is the planted roof over the garage and the entrance, minimizing the visual footprint.

Outdoor vital spaces, as well as the swimming pool, are organized in successive levels in an organic manner. Rocks and bushes blend into the built space, into the open-air platforms and the access points, composing a harmonious coexistence between architecture and nature.

The material palette follows the same spirit. Coarse terracotta-colored cement facing integrates the outdoor built elements into the landscape. The stone wall provides a background to the main building volume which, through its white plaster facing, stands out from the slope to converse with the Mediterranean landscape.

Parti Architecture

Parti Architecture

The post 29 ° Villa. was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The two-story house is on top of the Acropolis hill, only 200m from the busiest and liveliest street of Skiathos town. The building rises 40m above the street, providing seamless views to the sea and an unexpected sense of privacy.

The restrained design is aligned to the North-South axis, benefitting from the panoramic 270º view to the Aegean and the town. The transition between common and private is done swiftly and accurately, following the same method of abstraction employed at the design of the house, creating an interior courtyard.

The main entrance leads to a spacious living room with an open plan kitchen and a stone-built wine cellar. The extension of the floor to the outside and the large openings integrate indoors and outdoors. The infinity pool, with cutting edge technology for maintaining the same temperature year-round, hovers in the outdoor area, blending with the horizon and the sea.

The outdoor space includes a lounge, a dining area, and a barbecue. Two floating staircases positioned at the opposite ends of the lounge, lead to the two independent volumes at the second floor, accommodating four comfortable bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms.

Those spaces touch upon each other and communicate through the sheltered, atmospheric courtyard. The stage is complete with an outdoor jacuzzi and matchless views towards the sea in the South and the nearby island of Tsougria.

The clear lines and the symmetry featured in the entire house, complemented with neutral greige colors in the indoor and outdoor areas, contribute to a contemporary minimalist feel.

Large openings allow uninterrupted views to the Aegean and bring abundant light to the interior; the custom-designed Cor-ten screen graces the sparse building, creating a focal point of interest.

All furniture, decorative elements and fabrics outline the bo-ho element in the house, to soften the austere minimalist straight lines, making the space more pleasant and accommodating.

ikos.studio and partners

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

The project responds to the need of creating a new area adjacent to a weekend home for a big family, located in the outskirts of the city of Quito, Ecuador. With the idea of generating spaces for leisure as well as for family gatherings, the new extension includes two wide-open areas connected to each other, one functioning as a family and game room, the other serving as a lounge-dining area with an integrated kitchen. The program further includes service spaces such as bathrooms and storage, embracing a big green patio that serves as a garden for the main house.

The project emulates the natural landscape of the site by adapting the architectural volume to the terrain. From behind the building is barely visible and it does not show its actual size, nor does it interfere with the view from the site to the nearby valleys and mountains. The visual pattern is a determinant factor of the building placement; the volumes are positioned to frame the view as well as possible. Also, the placement corresponds to an east-west axis line to try to take in the natural light.

Although from certain spots on the surrounding land, the project practically disappears, the architectural volume has a height of 4m, and the project creates open areas of 8m width and 20m length. Because of this, a constructive strategy had to be planned to allow these spaces to come to fruition while trying to avoid the placement of columns inside the space that might have divided the open areas or have interfered with the view. The height of the spaces comes from the strategy of dealing with the specific microclimate of the area, which tends to be quite hotter than the weather in Quito city. The placement of the openings in the volumes corresponds to the idea of creating cross ventilation inside the spaces, especially in the lounge-dining area.

Besides the engineering difficulties, the project proposes slanted walls as infill of the architectural volumes, which are an essential esthetic element and correspond to the idea of wanting to bring the mountain shapes near the site to the terrain itself. The project is thought in such a way that the articulation of the spaces does not interfere with the view from the site, which is why the architectural volumes are plain white with pronounced edges and some walls made of exposed concrete to contrast the white. The interior design also follows this program with plain white walls and ceiling that contrasts with grey flooring.

It is worth mentioning that the spaces created can also function as a place for reception events since the project presents open areas as well as staff areas for that complimentary use of the space.

j2ibstudio

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

The 200m² house is located in the Ag. Onoufrios in Chania. The design was informed by the view to the mountains lying east and west and by the requirement for nearly zero energy building (nZEB).

The optimal south-western orientation is one of the bioclimatic tools employed, and the volumetric treatment of the building maximizes this exposure.

Specifically, the double L-shaped layout and the guesthouse volume, integrated inside the ground, maximize the southwestern exposure during the year, following the changing angle of natural light during the year.

Two main solar spaces are created in that direction: one with a shading cantilever and one with rotating louvers and a massive wall. Warming and cooling of those spaces is achieved with natural means, transposing the desired thermal mass to the other spaces of the house. The solar space behind a corner frame becomes a cool, sheltered open-air area during the summer months.

The water surfaces at the south-facing walls, the planted roof, protection from the western sun, the vertical cross-ventilated air duct and the small northern openings, as well as the roof openings with controlled shading, complement the two solar spaces for optimal performance. Concurrently, the photovoltaic panels, the solar ZNX production system and the vertical geothermal system contribute to the minimal energy footprint of the building. This way, near zero energy consumption is achieved, in accordance with the European Directive 2010/31/EE.

Parti Architecture

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

Huidekoperstraat 13-15, 17 is a housing project by the Dutch practice Studio Hartzema, located in the historical center of Amsterdam. 11 apartments for an ensemble of two apartment buildings were commissioned by Boelens de Gruyter. The housing complex follows the original parcel of the street and its design is inspired by the timeless qualities of the archetypical Dutch house.

The two buildings have traditionally been the coach houses of the mansions on Frederiksplein. Although these no longer exist, the parcel layout still corresponds exactly to the historical design. In close collaboration with the Municipality of Amsterdam, the overall urban configurations were drawn up. The whole process was based on the parcel layout and the position of the Huidekoperstraat in relation to the Frederiksplein. The original passage from the coach house to the rear courtyard has also been restored.

Bringing together many separate elements has been accompanied by a high degree of restraint and accuracy in the overall composition. In fact, distinguishing the character two buildings on the one hand and taking into consideration their common historical origin on the other hand were key factors for the architectural design. The purity of the architectural, typological and design units is clearly manifested in the flatness of the facade and the clean-cut volumes. The overall expressiveness of the composition has been very subtle and refined.

Studio Hartzema

The post Huidekoperstraat 13-15, 17 was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

After the release of a prototype and the exhibition in La Biennale di Venezia, SUMMARY studio unveils their newest project using their prefab and modular building systems.

The requirements for this project were boldly defined from the beginning: the construction should be fast, cost effective and changeable over time, which prompted the studio to use prefabricated elements and to leave parts of the project undefined, assuming the immediacy, flexibility and resources optimization as core themes.

The strategy was clear: a ground floor level for the multi-services program connected with the public space, crowned by the individual habitational units (six cabins with 45m²). Due to the differences between these two programs, an independent access was created for each function, placing them in different levels and taking advantage of the natural ground slope.

The ground floor is shaped by prefabricated slabs and structural panels in the external perimeter. This area was conceived in a very flexible way: it’s possible to add or remove compartments or let the whole floor functioning as a big open space. Thus, the users may adapt the space according to their needs.

The first floor is all composed by Gomos System units. Considering that the maximum building area permitted by law was quite small, the requested empty space was used to separate the housing units. Designed and licensed as a collective housing building, with this feature this project offers the main advantages of single houses: clearly individualized entrances and a complete acoustic separation between the different units.

In the whole building, the structural material – precast concrete – is directly exposed, without any additional finishing, thus reducing the resources, the manpower and the arts involved in the construction process and, consequently, reducing its environmental impact. This approach has a direct effect in the acceleration of the building process: all its components are fully prepared in factory and quickly assembled in situ, performing at once as structure, insulation and cladding elements.

SUMMARY

Fernando Guerra

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