2020 and 2021 have proven to be seminal years for CLOU: One year after launching a Shanghai branch near the Bund, CLOU’s Beijing office has now expanded into sparkling new premises. Within the familiar surroundings of Sanlitun SOHO, the space has doubled in size to occupy half a tower floorplate on the 17th floor, with a fully glazed facade offering sweeping views across Sanlitun and into the mountains of Northeastern Beijing.

Flexible workspaces for complementary forms of collaboration

Cool and clean lines define different zones of work, communication, research, and display, all connected by CLOU’s signature silver galvanized walls – a feature tying all spaces together since the office’s inception.

Black and white materials and furnishings contrast with warm wood and color accents, softly mirrored in the reflection of the steel. 

Hot-dip galvanized steel sheet (SGCC) is widely used in industrial engineering, but mainly revolves around household appliances.

To date, galvanized steel panels have provided all CLOU offices with flexibility and multi-use surfaces. The material’s sharp and cool appearance, its non-directional surface pattern, and its magnetic properties render the surfaces of the functional wall and furniture cladding a versatile canvas for all displayed representations of our design processes. From the main entrance through to the design floor and the communal areas, the softly distorting reflections emphasize industrious brightness in a connective gesture.

Brand identity

Entering the galvanized steel-covered entrance, the right side appears as an open office area, and the left side contains a model workshop. The two zones are connected by a stepped display area, the reception area, and a public corridor. 

The CLOU logo, as part of the brand identity, is presented on the walls of the three areas in a variety of materials and sizes. The black and silver graphic logo showcases the firm’s bold and creative image.

On-site trying and testing

Brightly lit, open office zones are complemented by a variety of meeting rooms for in-person and virtual encounters. Each space infuses its own characteristics – the boardroom with its glass enclosure around bright blue flooring and warm orange-red fabric, a more intimate conference space with warm wood furniture on speckled green terrazzo, and a cave-like, all-wood retreat for quiet work and conversation.  

Terrazzo is the characteristic element providing rhythm and dynamics to the multidimensional expanse of our most common projects: convivial neighborhood malls that bring communities together.

CLOU’s new Beijing office references this material, transferring it from the bright floors of our retail spaces to introduce it as a means of territorial definition: open office areas are laid out to zone common and shared spaces in gleaming brightness, while meeting spaces encapsulate in subtle accent colors. Boldly striped contrast patterns create spatial dynamics in the lively community and circulation axis.

A proper workshop occupies a large area of the office: in a zone for model-making, design tests, and material research, the wood-clad environment integrates workbenches and 3D machinery with library storage and archive rooms.

Flexible furnishings allow for quick conversion into a photo studio or a mini auditorium for inter-office presentations.

Stepped display areas connect workplace and workshop along a communal meeting zone: where steel and wood intersect, models of projects past, present, and future showcase progress, and variety, while benchmarking possibility and quality.

CLOU

Banye Lin

The post Architecture Office Redesign in Beijing was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The new creative space is housed in an office building constructed in the 50’s, located in the heart of the “historical-commercial triangle” of Athens. It was considered a unique challenge since this specific area embodies the main principles of the office design philosophy: History and aesthetics mixed with city buzz and fusion eclecticism translated into today’s social needs.

The architects had a very limited space to work with – so they decided to reconfigure the whole layout and start from scratch. This was the only way to accommodate a fully operational space in limited footage. The intention is to create a mixture of “indoors and outdoors effect” combined with a “home element” to make the space inviting for both users and visitors. New office spaces, especially after the pandemic experience, have shifted from “clean cut” impersonal environments to an interacting nature evolving home centered habitat.

Hence, plants were introduced not only for decoration, but also for mixing the indoor lines with the outdoor limits. This is expected to evolve in time as plants grow. The design production space is formulated as an “open market kiosk” creating an illusion of city buzz and creative ideas laboratory. It separates from the rest of the office with sliding glass doors where plants act as a natural visual curtain. The meeting space is perceived as a house dining area drenched in natural light and vintage furniture.

All openings were resized to bring as much “city imagery and light” as possible into the space. The approach is to introduce more character into office space with less universal aesthetics – eventually making it a “home”. The working atmosphere aims to achieve a combination of functionality and individuality which also form the main ingredients of the firm’s design principles. The intent is to project the office’s aesthetic identity and provide a creative environment for all project participants whether they are clients, visitors, friends or collaborators.

Lab Athens

Lab Athens

The post New Architecture Office in Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Urban location and context 

The project is located in Lille, in the new developing area situated on the banks of the Deûle within EuraTechnologies – the new economic hub dedicated to information and communication technology, which brings together many local and foreign start-ups. The project site is open and complex, integrates into a plural public space, at various scales. It opens to the “Cour de Bretagne”, the large entry plaza of the new EuraTechnologies economic hub and faces “Le Blan-Lafont”. The “Blan-Lafont”, dominated by its Bell Tower, is the main building of this new urban project. It represents the heritage of the past thread mills of Lille and symbolizes the new economic restructuration. In its core, the project site regains a smaller scale that includes a square in front of the existing brick building. The project consists of an office space of 1 465 m², enclosed in a transparent volume that reveals the depth of the block. Flexible workspaces inside a low-consumption building have been created.

Façade design

The four building facades are exposed to the sun most of the day, with no immediate building proximity. This exceptional situation offers a large view to the surrounding landscape and public areas, as well as noticeable illumination throughout the day to the interior spaces. However, this significant solar intake is controlled to comply with the current energy requirements.

Glass shading louvers

To this end, Barbarito Bancel architects created an original composition of facades, a vertical glass louver facade positioned on a concrete base. This evanescent plane plays with the fragmented reflections of its surrounding, made of brick, concrete and birch, and create deep visual perspectives into the permeable heart of the project site. The vertical orientation of the glass louvers is chosen to protect from the southern sunrays and provide large visual perspectives. For the main facades – southwest and northwest – the project outlines the idea of a double skin that naturally creates a transparent and luminous curtain wall while protecting from the sunrays. The secondary southeast and northeast facades are composed of single walls and alternate surfaces of opaque polished aluminium and glass surfaces that follow the overall geometry of the inclined glass sunscreens by prolonging the gradual and increasing change of rhythm of the inclined panels. Finally, the volume is completed with a more slender attic reaching to the sky. 

Layout and Structural System

The main entrance of the building opens to the “Cour de Bretagne” square, the main public space of the district. It fits into the depth of the concrete base and reveals a neat and contemporary entrance lobby, with the use of elegant materials: concrete and wood. The building core, which groups together the annex spaces and the distribution of the floors, is rationally positioned to the south to protect the main workspaces from sunrays. The internal layout of the building comprising of prestressed lightened concrete slabs combined with an ingenious cooling-ventilation-heating system, built into the thickness of the structural slab/engineered floor complex, which makes it possible to create a fully modular platform at each level, free of columns and networks, enables the creation of a fully modular platform at each level that is free of columns and network cables. Visual comfort and luminosity are accentuated by the open view, the wide spaces and the grey painted concrete ceiling. The final product is a small precious object, similar to a delicate and evanescent set of glass scales, with elegant proportions and shapes. It subtly creates a game of transparency and reflections fragmented with its environment. The aim is also to give new neighborhood a new spirit and to go along with its development.

Barbarito Bancel Architectes

Alessandra Chemollo

The post Office Building in Lille 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.

Typeroom© is a creative space, inspired by typography and the graphic arts. Recently, it moved to the historical center of Athens and showcases the award-winning work of Parachute© type foundry.

Through a well-laid out timetable covering a wide range of art and design sectors, with a series of events, talks, workshops, exhibitions, and multidisciplinary platforms, the Typeroom© becomes a meeting point for domestic and international creatives.

The space, giving off an industrial feel, is conceived to showcase the dynamics of typography. Typographic forms, complexes and characters are employed in the design of typographic elements whose scope goes beyond ornamentation.

The Typeroom© transforms letters and the art of typography into physical objects that people can touch and interact with. Upon entry, visitors immediately experience physical applications of type, pressing upon a wooden letter “e” to open the door to the building.

The materials used for signage are oak and metal, both inside and outside the building, establishing a seamless transition between indoors and outdoors.

Furthermore, typographic elements can be encountered throughout the entire space: An oversize capital “omega” is used as partition between the exhibition area and the offices, while the letters “delta” and “beta” become lounges.

As about lighting, a N-shaped neon installation is placed on the office wall, transmitting warm, red light.

The Typeroom© is located in the Psirri district, in the heart of central Athens, at one of the oldest and busiest parts of the city. The choice of location came as a result of the wish, and need, to participate in a conversation with other designers and urban creatives, welcoming all who wish to discover and interact with the art of typography.

K-Studio

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

In a conscious move towards revitalizing the center of Athens with adaptive reuse of old buildings into the urban and social fabric, POTAMITISVEKRIS law firm chose to establish their offices in a listed neoclassical building in the historical center, featuring important 19^th century landmarks, such as the Athenian Trilogy -comprising the Academy of Athens, the National Libraby and the University- by the celebrated architects Christian and Theophil Hansen, and Ernst Ziller.

The building was designed in 1928 by the architect Kostas Kitsikis, a collaborator of Ludwig Hoffmann, who made a substantial contribution to the modernization and international propagation of Greek architecture. It consists of a ground floor, a basement, and six floors, with a total surface of 2500m². The conservative, monolithic facades conform to the neoclassical tripartite structure –base, shaft, and crown- and incorporate the morphology of Belle Époque combined with Art Deco elements: Sculptural, ornamental motifs, cast iron railings, and Art Nouveau details.

In contrast to the facades, preserved in their original state, the interior was radically remodeled during the 1980ies, with all its elements removed.

The new interior design is informed by the materiality and morphology of the entrance vestibules of the first apartment buildings that appeared in Western Europe by the beginning of the 20^th century, and it follows the tripartite structure of the neoclassical facades.

The “base”, on the ground floor, is the threshold to the building and hosts the reception area. The main design gesture there is the marble floor, bearing a motif that alludes to the entrances of town houses of its time; the geometrical pattern unfolds across the entire ground floor area. Vertical partitions with reflective bases, mirror the pattern, creating an illusion of levitation. The reception desk, with its reflective surface, becomes virtually invisible. Multiple reflections generate a diffraction effect with multiple geometries shifting according to one’s position in space. Each room is marked by its specified color. Artworks are mainly photographic, depicting contemporary Athens.

The “stem” consists of five floors, accommodating offices; the latter are separated with double feather white membrane panels with a transparent base, becoming opaque towards the center, generating overlapping reflections and transparencies. Neither isolated in a closed space nor exposed in an open-plan office, staff enjoy a diffuse lighting environment and remain protected behind a “veil of fog”, perceiving other people as shadows of passers-by in the city. The monolithic, bespoke secretary desk stands prominent, drawing from the forms of interwar janitors’ booths.

The library is custom-designed, hand-made by artisans, and becomes the main collective workspace, equipped with more than 5000 volumes.

AKA – Apostolou Kolaki Architects

The post Office renovation in Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Vienna and Linz-based practice destilat completely reorganized and redesigned Weinmanufaktur Clemens Strobl in 2019, as the centerpiece of a historical 4,000-m² ensemble that includes business premises and a manor house in Kirchberg am Wagram (Lower Austria).

The interior design distinguishes itself with building-block-like cubes, light as a central design element, grey in all its nuances, and aesthetics that highlight the work processes involved in wine-making. A vaulted cellar, tasting room, kitchen, and office form massive spatial components that are interwoven into the structural shell, define spatial borders and take over several functions.

The vast open spaces between these components make them usable in many different ways and provide a big stage for light and all its effects. Exposed concrete walls, polished concrete floors, grey varnished spruce wood, anthracite-coloured Eternit, scaled steel, glass, and grey-washed brickwork – that is the combination of historic and modern materials characterizes the interior design, as its reduced colour palette brings out the fine nuances of the materials’ aesthetics.

Elements of industrial architecture underline that these premises are used for work; the characteristics of the wine as a natural product are translated in a puristic and simplified way, with a sober charm. These aesthetics also have a significant impact on the outdoor areas.

The project is the winner of the Large Workspace category at the 2020 Dezeen Design Awards.

destilat design studio

Monika Nguyen

The post Weinmanufaktur Clemens Strobl was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The new offices of Ziegler, a timber company running one of the largest sawmills in Europe, grow from the ground in a clearing, creating a play of light, shadow, and wood, resembling a log cabin. The building is made of natural wood inside and out, since this is the material that the company deals with every day. The architecture introduces the company, Ziegler’s working environment, products and philosophy to the public.

The building is located on the border between the forest and the production areas, at the highest point of the site. The idea uses the most characteristic product in the Ziegler product line, the 19m tall spruce tree trunk. The logs rise and wrap around the building like columns, while the wood, as a natural filter between inside and outside, can receive a fabric shading system, protecting the core, clad in a facade of glass, wood and metal. The two cubes are aligned in height leaving two yards between them, so that each employee has their own window.

This idea continues in the interior, where the woodworking becomes increasingly delicate and the building reveals all the further stages of wood processing, from the rough wood benches to the smooth wooden surfaces of the office furniture: wood is used in all its diversity in processing, type and color.

The new administration building is a construction of solid wood with CLT walls and ceilings and two circular staircases. There too, the goal was to consistently showcase wood as a building material and to find modern answers for its use.

In addition to the showroom, there are offices for about 120 employees, meeting rooms and an enclosed balcony, a staff restaurant and a guest kiosk, all connected by a wooden staircase.

Brückner & Brückner Architects

Wilfried Dechau

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

Axel Springer has launched a move from print to digital media. Its new building on the campus in Berlin acts both as a symbol and a tool in this transition – a building to lure the elite of (Germany’s) digital Bohemia. Bisected by a diagonal atrium that opens up to the existing Axel Springer buildings, the essence of the design is a series of terraced floors that together form a ‘valley’ that creates an informal stage at the centre – a place to broadcast ideas to other parts of the company.

The genius of print is that it is a cheap, physical, hyper-accessible embodiment of a complex collective effort, for which so far the digital has been unable to find an equivalent. Architectural offices are similar to newspapers in that they produce complex assemblies and selections from radically different sources of information.

As architects, we have experienced the advantages: speed, precision, smoothness. But we have also suffered one crucial consequence: the relationship between the worker and his computer, which isolates him in a bubble of introverted performance, inaccessible to collective overview.

In the classical newsroom, dominated by smoking, typing journalists, each inhabitant was aware of the labour and progress of his colleagues and of the collective aim: a single issue, with the deadline as a simultaneous release. In the digital office, staring intently at a screen dampens all other forms of attention and therefore undermines the collective intelligence necessary for true innovation.

We therefore have designed a building that lavishly broadcasts the work of individuals for shared analysis. The new office block is injected with a central atrium that opens up to the existing Axel Springer buildings – a new centre of the Axel Springer campus.

The design was developed around a series of terraced floors that together form a digital valley. Each floor contains a covered part as a traditional work environment, which is then uncovered on the terraces. Halfway through the building, the valley is mirrored to generate a three-dimensional canopy.

The common space formed by the interconnected terraces offers an alternative to the formal office space in the solid part of the building, allowing for an unprecedented expansion of the vocabulary of workspaces: a building that can absorb all the question marks of the digital future.

The public can experience the building on three levels – ground floor lobby, meeting bridge, and roof-top bar. The meeting bridge is a viewing platform from which the visitors can witness the daily functioning of the company and how it evolves. The ground floor contains studios, event and exhibition spaces, canteens and restaurants.

The building is situated opposite the existing Axel Springer headquarters on Zimmerstrasse, a street which previously separated East and West Berlin, at one of the city’s most significant locations.

OMA

Laurian Ghinitoiu

The post Axel Springer Neubau was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The office complex is built in a 12-acre city block that includes one more building designed by the same architects in 2010.

The new building was granted the international LEED certification for environmentally sustainable buildings at the highest level -Platinum- by the US Green Building Council – USGBC.

Two main features of the plot designated the building’s placement: first, the axis of Paradisou Str., which is an important vehicle access in the area; second, the request for leaving intact, as much as possible, the lush garden surrounding the existing building.

Therefore, the optimal choice was to design a linear volume aligned with Paradisou Str., that would be adequately visible for passers-by and visitors, it would act as barrier between heavy traffic and the core of the development and, finally, would secure the preservation of the garden and maximize the relation between new and old buildings with the landscaping.

The new building develops in four levels. The ground floor accommodates all common spaces: Reception, conference rooms, multi-purpose room, and offices for customer service. The two consecutive floors house the main company offices and the last one, at a recess, is dedicated to administration.

A ground floor building, freely located in the garden in-between the two main wings, becomes the staff restaurant and recreation area and it is perceived as a meeting point to be appropriated by old and new tenants of the complex. It is linked to the two main buildings by a light, linear canopy, becoming thus the nodal point.

The underground parking, with a capacity of 300 vehicles, develops in three levels, with access from Aigialias Str. and exit on Artemidos. The uppermost level houses storage and mechanical equipment and the other two are parking space. The new janitor’s cabin is on Artemidos, overlooking pedestrian access and visitors making use of the short-term open parking.

The architectural design is informed by the character of the existing building, to create an integrated whole. In this spirit, the facades are clad with large expanses of glass that maximize natural lighting. Automatically rotating louvers control the solar exposure to optimize lighting conditions without excessive artificial ventilation.

The new building is dominated by horizontality, as the old one. Cantilevers clad in the same natural stone as the existing building, organize the expansive facades in front of the main office spaces; the same treatment is repeated at the uppermost, administration level, with a fixed surface of aluminum in its natural color. The interior palette creates a restrained, austere luxury, whose main interest results from shifting transparency and reflection on the surfaces; the only playful elements are the perforated panels dressing the roofs and the divides at the common room.

All the roofs of the underground parking space are planted, to restitute continuity in the garden. Concurrently, most roofs of the new building and staff recreation pavilion are also planted, for insulation, optimized microclimate and aesthetic performance of the “fifth façade”.

ISV Architects

The post Office Complex in Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

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

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

(Tobias Schwarzer, founder of the best architects award)

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

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

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

(Patrick Schmid / Schmid Schärer Architekten, Zurich)

The Gold winners of the best architects 21 award

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Best Architects Award

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

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

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

Best Architects 21

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