The New Flexible and Spontaneous Work Systems by Manadaº Architecture Receive the PRISMA Award.

In 30 or 40 years we will be amazed to see how un-livable where the office spaces of today.

Jean Nouvel

In the last decades there has been a degeneration of the "Action Office", a model generated in the 60's by Rob-ert Propst, resulting on a series of homogeneous, universal, anonymous and repetitive spaces, which form a deficient spatial response for today's working space needs.

courtesy Manadaº Architecture

courtesy Manadaº Architecture

Today, working shapes and formats shift rapidly, the con-stant redefinition of collaborations, privacy, and the in-creasing interest for the well being of the workers, are di-rectly related to the environments where we work in. Places where today, change and adaptation are always a constant.

For Element Studios, manadaº architecture was seeking to generate an inspiring space that encourages random en-counters among the workers of a creative agency, looking always to generate "spontaneous collaboration spaces".

courtesy Manadaº Architecture

We find the most complex schemes of human interaction in collaboration. And within the search for materials and technologies to shape different, friendly, ecological, recyclable, transformable and adaptable spaces, we designed a series of reconfigurable spaces where users can choose the type of space they will need to perform their tasks, based on parameters like phys-ical needs of the space, number of collaborators, type of collaborators, and so on.

Alejandro Tapia of manadaº

courtesy Manadaº Architecture

The project they created for Element Studios manages the program through the "flexible band", which is capable of hosting the totality of activities thanks to its capacity to ad-aptation and permeability without losing the capacity to tension, or become impermeable and fragment in smaller spaces if needed. The total project's surface is 964 m2, due to a restricted budget only 316 m2 were "activated" by the proposal, but as manadaº was able to stack a second layer in it, they generated a total of 1,281 m2 of usable surface.

courtesy Manadaº Architecture

The tight execution calendar (16 weeks from commission of the project, to project development, construction, and completion), functionality, economy and construction speed were an essential part of the itinerary and the way we tackled the execution. Paradoxically the spaces get "free" by the definition of different work "stages" that lack obvious formal hierarchies. The "flexible band" that integrates the intervention is shaped by 174 prefab, light-weight and structural wood panels. This panels create the space when they get installed on site and resolve the pro-gram needs by its shape and its great capacity for adapta-tion to the original space, which is one of the priorities we efficiently wanted to solve.

The concept and design of Element Studios got manadaº architecture awarded with a PRISMA Award by Habitat Ex-po in Mexico City in the category of office space larger than 300 m2.

+ Project facts

manadaº
Arch. Alejandro Tapia
Arch. Katerina Alatzia

Collaborators:
Jorge Arteaga
Sofía Pérez

Element Studios:
Area 1,281 m2
Photography: manadaº / Jaime Navarro
Construction: manadaº
Wood work: lainvencible.org

+ All images courtesy manadaº

Concrete House Ring is an elegant, audacious piece of jewelry designed by Linda Bennett, founder and author of archi-ninja.com. A hand casted concrete and resin composite is moulded within a sterling silver, satin finish inner and outer piece. The icon of the house enunciates to the memory of home, where families grow and contract, habitual routines are developed, and our notions of safety and placemaking are formed.

courtesy Linda Bennett

courtesy Linda Bennett

courtesy Linda Bennett

Kaptol staircases in Sarajevo were envisaged as homage and monument to the prominent poets of the Bosnian capital city. The main goal of the design team was to conceive this urban intervention as a completely new and distinctive urban space for Sarajevo. This was achieved by assigning additional cultural and educational qualities to the basic, functional role of ordinary staircases. In this way, the newly designed 120 stairs and seven landings have transformed Kaptol into a new meeting place for the citizens, offering beautiful and unconventional views of the city. Each of the seven landings was devoted to a poet from Sarajevo, whose verses and short biography were printed on the peripheral wall. This was a unique way of giving acknowledgment to the writers whose creativity and inspiration were closely tied to Sarajevo. Experience of climbing 18 meters high staircases has been enriched by a dynamic play of spatial sequences, each accompanied by the verses of poetry that was inspired by the city of Sarajevo. In terms of composition, the entire urban scenario of Kaptol staircases is characterized by a discreet formal appearance and subtle use of the local limestone "hreša".

courtesy Dzenat Drekovic

courtesy Dzenat Drekovic

courtesy Dzenat Drekovic

+ Project credits / data:

Architectural studio: ‘Firma’ Sarajevo | http://www.firma-arh.com
Project: Kaptol stairs
Location: Sarajevo
Surface: 295 sqm
Project year: 2012
Client: Sarajevo Canton Construction Institute
Project team: Dina Samic, Nermina Zagora
Collaborators: Adis Kurtalic, Amra Macic
Photograph credit: Dzenat Drekovic

+ All images courtesy Dzenat Drekovic

Showcasing the creation of a new life for an old building, Landini Associates brief was to restore the former Collingwood industrial warehouse into the new headquarters base for T2.

courtesy Landini Associates

The aim was to respect and celebrate the original building, while creating a dramatic statement to represent the T2 company's ethos. Throughout the building, timber beams, columns and brick walls were sandblasted to bring back their original finish whilst a few scuffs and marks are kept as a remembrance of its history. This was contrasted with T2's trademark dark, streamlined pallet.

Perceived constraints were turned into an advantage, exploiting various levels within the warehouse while designing a unified space. This was due to the site being located on a sloped block through to the rear street. This resulted in creating a different arrival experiences for both the public and staffs.

courtesy Landini Associates

With the street frontage lower than the general entry, the public is ushered into the space through an oversized steel framed pivot door into a double height space. Led by concrete steps, guests are greeted by a spotlighted oversized T2 logo featured in incandescent light bulbs. To the left of the entrance is a Tea Bar, a façade reception. It is an informal place to stop, drink and chat to guests, personifying T2's identity. This space also acted as the trial concept for T2's latest tea-retailing concept T2B, which similarly features a large cast concrete bar and Tea Library.

courtesy Landini Associates

In comparison, the staff entry is from the upper level rear car park, from where they walk down onto a lavish catwalk in the center of the office warehouse. This acts as both a uniting feature and the sites backbone, yet separates the space into two. Both sides of the railings feature different faces. One, a clean line façade featuring a sleek black steel panel that hides the catwalk, while the other featuring a warm and raw industrial finish, with a timber panel, exposed steel and mesh steel frame balustrade.

While the rawness and industrial experience is continued upstairs to the tea making and tasting workshop and CEO's office, a completely different colour palette is entertained. It emphasizes a white, clean space, encouraging light and nature to transfix the room through the opened windows.

courtesy Landini Associates

The development marks a new era for T2, providing and innovative and functional office space that reflects a deep understanding of culture, urbanity, and of course, celebrates the centuries-old art of tea-making.

+ Project facts

Project
T2 Headquarters

Project Design Practice
Landini Associates

Project location
Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia

Completed
2013

Project design team
Mark Landini
Wenny Arief
Isti Yudibrata
Sarah Maclsaac

+ All images and drawings courtesy Landini Associates

Antler? NO! Chair. “Antler chair”

Antler shape was used as a design motif. Aluminum frame and fabric was used as the main ingredient It is light and simple, and can be used easily. with vivid color to target young people or single life style Design proceeded. Also, consider the aesthetics to the interior harmony which.

+ Designer: Dongsung Jung

courtesy Dongsung Jung

courtesy Dongsung Jung