Nautical Sports Services Building Portonovo is a refurbishment project designed by Spanish architectural studio Diaz and Diaz Architects. The studio is formed by architects Gustavo Diaz Lucas Diaz and Sierra, with offices opened in La Coruna and Madrid.

The former club is involved with a new structure of phenolic panel with wood slats to give the old building a more complete program.

The layout of the vertical lines were inspired by the boat containers. The project also creats a new granite promenade and large wooden decks of IP wood.

Nautical Sports Services Building Portonovo, image courtesy Diaz and Diaz Architects

Nautical Sports Services Building Portonovo, image courtesy Diaz and Diaz Architects

Nautical Sports Services Building Portonovo - Ground floor plan, drawing courtesy Diaz and Diaz Architects

Nautical Sports Services Building Portonovo - Section, drawing courtesy Diaz and Diaz Architects

+ Project credits / data

Architect: Diaz and Diaz Architects | http://en.diazydiazarquitectos.com/
Project: Expansion and Reform of the Nautical Sport Services Building of Portonovo (Pontevedra)
Client: Portos de Galicia (Xunta de Galicia)
Surveyor: FernandoBores, Jose Salas
Constructor: San Jose
Date: 2010
Area: 465 m²

+ All images and drawings courtesy Diaz and Diaz Architects

Theatre Of Floating Garden is an extension project for an old theater in Szczecin, Poland. The new extension will be experienced as a light roof with transparent facades, connecting all the functions of the house and acting as a pavilion in the garden.

Our aim was to create an open house; a house for the people; a house which is as active and public from the inside as from the outside.

WE Architecture

Theatre Of Floating Garden, render courtesy WE Architecture

Theatre Of Floating Garden - Organization diagram, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

+ Architect's statement by WE Architecture

The theatre in the garden / Openness

Traditionally, theatres only serve a small group of the population. If judging a book by the cover, most theatres also architecturally exempt the idea of a closed world, a place that only a few experience from the inside.

Theatre Of Floating Garden - Multi-stage diagram, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

Theatre Of Floating Garden, render courtesy WE Architecture

Our aim was to create an open house; a house for the people; a house which is as active and public from the inside as from the outside.

We have tried to design a dynamical building which creates a harmony between the coexistence of humanity and nature.

Theatre Of Floating Garden, image courtesy WE Architecture

The new extension will be experienced as a light roof with transparent facades, connecting all the functions of the house and acting as a pavilion in the garden. With maximal respect towards the old trees on the site, we have tried to gently wrap the building around the surroundings in order to preserve as much of the original garden as possible.

Theatre Of Floating Garden - Section 1, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

Theatre Of Floating Garden - Section 2, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

+ Project credits / data

Project: Teatri Polski – Theatre Of Floating Garden
Assignment: Open competition
Type: Theater
Size: 4500 m2
Place: Szczecin, Poland
Year: 2010
Status: Idea

Architect: WE architecture | http://www.we-a.dk/
Team: Marc Jay, Julie Schmidt-Nielsen, Nora Fossum, Søren Thiesen,  Katarzyna Nycz, Jorge Cortes De Castro, Máté Szabó, Stella Buisan, kristian Hindsberg.
Clients: The City of Szczecin

+ All images and drawings courtesy of WE Architecture

The Triangular House by WE architecture was designed and developed based on the characteristics from both colonial and original housing in Ecuador.

The house seeks to join these two building styles into a contemporary house. A house which is organized around a triangulated green patio always giving you the sense of being close to nature and at the same time allowing for natural ventilation for the indoor spaces and a constant air flow through the covered terrace.

WE architecture

Triangular House, render courtesy WE architecture

Triangular House - Conceptual diagram, drawing courtesy WE architecture

Triangular House - Conceptual diagram, drawing courtesy WE architecture

+ Architect's statement by WE Architecture

Puerto Cayo
The generous climate and beautiful surroundings of Puerto Cayo represents a unique possibility of developing a future settlement which will attract residents from not only Ecuador but other countries as well.

We have tried to develop a house that joins some of the characteristics from both colonial and original housing in Ecuador.

Triangular House, render courtesy WE architecture

The colonial
One of the big qualities of the colonial style architecture of South America is the principle of organizing the houses around a patio. This becomes the heart of the building from where you orient yourself but as well a place which has significant importance for how you perceive the house.

The original
On the other hand the traditional architecture in almost all countries with tropical climates is recognized through its pitched roofs, its use of wood and pillars raising the house for both natural ventilation and protection against animals and insects.

The house seeks to join these two building styles into a contemporary house. A house which is organized around a triangulated green patio always giving you the sense of being close to nature and at the same time allowing for natural ventilation for the indoor spaces and a constant air flow through the covered terrace.

Triangular House, render courtesy WE architecture

Overall layout
The starting point of the project was to create a house around a patio as we know it from a lot of colonial style housing. By triangulating the house we minimized the distances from 1 function to another, creating 3 connected pitched roof blocks. Raising the west facing block to the second storey allows for magnificent views over the pacific and creates a large covered terrace with the patio on one side and the surroundings to the other, securing a constant airflow through the terrace.

We propose to place the house centrally on the site reusing parts of the existing banana plantation to help creating a natural green separation between the parcels.

Triangular House - Organization diagram, drawing courtesy WE architecture

Organization and flexibility
We have chosen to organize the house so the dining room is placed in a double high space with possibility of having the kitchen opening up towards it. This makes it possible to have informal cooking session using the kitchen counter facing the dining room as a bar but as well closing of the kitchen space to allow for people working in the kitchen without being noticed. The main window of the dining area is south facing allowing it to be uncovered in order to give the feeling of being sitting dining in nature.

Placing the living room on the second floor, gives splendid views over the pacific, while overlooking the dining room. This makes both the living and the dining areas seem larger than they are.

While the master bedroom is placed on the second floor to give the best views, we propose to organize the two other bedrooms on the ground floor as multipurpose rooms. By introducing large sliding doors ,between the ground floor bedrooms and the hallway, parts of the corridor can be integrated as part the rooms. As an addition these rooms can serve as an extra working space television room etc. This assures an optimal use of the spaces no matter how many residents the house is having.

Triangular House - Section, drawing courtesy WE architecture

Natural ventilation
The rooms facing the interior courtyard has the possibility of cross ventilating by opening the windows on both sides while ie. the bedrooms has the possibility of cross ventilating through a shaft in the ceiling. Louvres opens vertically unobstructed views without being bothered by the sun the louvre systems in front of the windows opens vertically creating shade for the glass avoiding overheating.

Materials and constructive principles
The house is a simple concrete frame structure placed on concrete decks. the frames are covered with local hardwood on the facade while having traditional plaster wall towards the interior. The materiality of the house softens up the hard geometry and makes the house blend softly into the surrounding nature.

Triangular House - Ground floor plan, drawing courtesy WE architecture

Triangular House - First floor plan, drawing courtesy WE architecture

+ Project credits / data

Project: Triangular House
Assignment: Invited competition
Type: Summer Housing Project
Size: 300 m2
Place: Puerto Cayo, Ecuador
Year: 2010
Status: Idea

Architect: WE architecture | http://www.we-a.dk/
Team: Marc Jay, Julie Schmidt-Nielsen, Hermanus Neikamp, Nora Fossum, Søren Thiesen, Cassandra Nakashima, Katarzyna Nycz, Jorge Cortes De Castro, Lena Rasmussen
Clients: Puerto Cayo, Orascom Development

+ All images and drawings courtesy of WE Architecture

Denmark-based studio WE Architecture has designed the +House located in Puerto Cayo, Ecuador. The house is composed of two linear volumes intersecting each others, one of the volumes is placed perpendicular on the coast line, following the terrain down the slope and the other is places along the same high of the hill crossing the other box in the middle.

+House, render courtesy WE Architecture

+House, render courtesy WE Architecture

+ Architect’s statement by WE Architecture

The +House is developed as one big terrace overlooking the breathtaking beach of manta. The house is formed at a plus or a cross, where one of the boxes is placed perpendicular on the coast line, following the terrain down the slope and the other is places along the same high of the hill crossing the other box in the middle.

+House - Site plan, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

+House - Floor plan, drawing courtesy WE Architecture

The open/public programs such as living room, dining and entrance is placed in the box following the slope down. In this grand open space you have the overview of the hole house, giving you feeling of living on a hill side, where the spaces is slowly stepping down the slope toward the beach.

The other box, following the same high level serve as one big terrace. Here is placed the more private functions as bedrooms and bathrooms.

+House, render courtesy WE Architecture

The functions are placed as closed wooden boxes on the terrace, overlooking the beach. In close connection to the sloping box and the dining area inside, is placed a pool on one hand side, overlooking the beautiful beach and to the other side, an outdoor kitchen and dining area.

+ Project credits / data

Project: +House
Assignment: Invited competition
Type: Summer Housing Project
Size: 300 m2
Place: Puerto Cayo, Ecuador
Year: 2010
Status: Idea

Architect: WE architecture | http://www.we-a.dk/
Team: Marc Jay, Julie Schmidt-Nielsen, Hermanus Neikamp, Nora Fossum, Søren Thiesen, Cassandra Nakashima, Katarzyna Nycz, Jorge Cortes De Castro, Lena Rasmussen
Clients: Puerto Cayo, Orascom Development

+ About WE Architecture

WE Architecture, founded in 2008, is a young innovating architecture office, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Our capability spans from architecture, urban strategies, tangible design and utopian ideas.

WE believes that the best result emerge through teamwork and transdisciplinary networks. That is why WE Architecture work across continents as well as across professional borders to enter complex conditions with the best insight and precision.

We create proposals that merge through creative translation of all the information we all get from contexts, conditions and programs.

WE Architecture strive to push innovative architecture forward to improve the condition of the world. No less.

+ All images and drawings courtesy of WE Architecture

Rotterdam-based design studio Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design recently has created the DOK sideboard.

+ Product description by Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

Atmosphere has left its moist traces on the appearance of DOK sideboard. The drops of a morning dew remain visible in the corrosion of this sideboard.

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

We deliberately choose steel rather than corten steel as the main material of the sideboard. By using steel we do not control the corrosion process but leave it up to the natural elements of the moment. This means a sideboard made in February may look different from one that was made in August. Once nature has done its job we finish the steel with a transparent lacquer to prevent it from further corrosion.

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

DOK is made up of different units which can be ordered separately. Each unit measures  90 cm wide, 60 cm high and 48 cm deep. The fronts and backs are made of the same type of plywood panels and therefore the sideboard can be a free standing piece. An essential and beautiful detail is how the joint of the steel case and the plywood fronts makes a super thin and minimal appearance.

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

DOK sideboard, image courtesy Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

The steel case has angle bars welded on the inside which function both as a reinforcement for the steel plate and as a rabbet for the fronts. The fronts are equipped with two types of hinges. A piano hinge and two pivot arms per unit which hold the door open and brake the door as it drops.

+ Designer: Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design | http://www.reinierdejong.com
+ Images: Peter van Dijk

A series of three workshops in London in February 2011, exploring the value of practicing interaction design technology approaches in the design and development of community environments to foster participation and exchange. Featuring guest speakers including David Barrie (The People’s Supermarket), Charlie Tims (Demos), Heather Ring (Urban Orchard) and Steve McAdam (Fluid and Soundings) presenting current real-life case studies that will be used to frame the workshop content and lead you towards the creation of real output to produce new insights and plans for action that can be brought back into your professional environment.

+ For more information and ticketing, please click to visit the following links

February 5 – 6: 'Urban App's: when meaningful ideas connect communities with interactive technology.

February 19 – 20: Digital Belonging: re-thinking interactive technology for crossover scenarios within changing communities.

March 5 – 6: Creating Engines of Participation: the move towards enabling people to technology to community interaction.

Paris-based architectural firm Pascal Grasso Architectures have completed a duplex apartment in Paris, France.

+ Project description by Pascal Grasso

The project data are promising and simple: a private client, an apartment in the center of Paris, duplex, an area about 280 m², a large terrace.

The challenge is to connect the apartment with the terrace. A large volume, opened directly on the terrace, is created. It will become the main space of the floor, the reception room. The bedrooms are rearranged on the first level.

Image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Device, consisting in visual accumulation of volumes, creates rhythm in the new space. They invade the floor, walls and ceiling. The ceiling is the strong element structuring the room.

Image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Composed of suspended plaster boxes, it makes the space more dynamic. It integrates and hides functional and technical components such as air conditioning, lightning, sound, ventilation. These elements gradually invest the place turning into storages, kitchen appliances, balustrade for stairs, bar, coffee table, etc…

The lightning system, hidden behind the volumes, provides diffused, indirect and scalable light.

Image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Render courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

The bedrooms are designed with the same process: clarity of the space and functional “furniture-objects”. A large furniture includes common functions such as bathroom, bed, desk, closet, etc… The set is made of grey painted MDF. Colours and shapes customize the rooms.

+ Project credits / data

Program: Designing an apartment
Location: Paris, France
Architect: Pascal Grasso Architectures | http://www.pascalgrasso.com/
Completion: 2011
Photographer: Nicolas Dorval-Bory
Assistants: Damien Descamps – Juliano Bottari
General Contractor: Bane-Déco
Carpenter: Art et confort

Pascal Grasso Architectures recently has completed the Show-room for Stella K in Champs-Elysées.

The origin of the project consists therefore in the transformation of these long corridors in a functional and atypical space, the strain of the place becoming its strength.

Pascal Grasso Architectures

+ Project description by Pascal Grasso

The company Stella K, specialized in the design and distribution of prêt-à-porter, occupies two floors in Avenue des Champs-Elysees. It calls upon the skills of Pascal Grasso Architectures to assist in the project realization.

The issue is simple: to turn these levels into office space and showroom for its clients. A major constraint remains unsolved. How to take advantage of the two corridors that are more than 35m (115 ft) each, leading to the main spaces? The origin of the project consists therefore in the transformation of these long corridors in a functional and atypical space, the strain of the place becoming its strength.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées, image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

These corridors, being originally simple passages, become the display area, the showroom itself. Its use allows to display clothing and other fashion accessories.

This new feature is made possible by the clamping of random volumes made of gray lacquered MDF. These volumes are like pieces of the wall that have been extruded.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées - Pattern diagram, drawing courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

The rhythm, created by the volumes, increases along the showroom before fading gradually to the office. The effect boosting the space.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées, image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

Another strong element structures and animates this place. This is a main piece of furniture, passing by through the place, which is separating the public space of the exhibition from the space for private offices and storage.

Its way begins from over the reception, allowing the necessary porosity to host clients. Then it gets denser in order to make the offices more intimate. This piece of furniture is made out of racks that allow the storage of supplies. It ends in the assembly hall and takes on the functions of exhibition and storage.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées, image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

To complete the dynamics of the space, a subtle play of light is set up for both levels. At the first level the suspensions form falling tears from the ceiling. They create plays of light reflecting from more or less bright surfaces. The organic appearance is in contrast with the geometry of the installation.

Upstairs, the strips of fluorescent tube boost the effect of perspective created by the length of the showroom. They reinforce the geometric rigor of the space.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées - Sectional perspective, drawing courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

Show-room in Champs-Elysées - Sectional perspective, drawing courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

Geometry, by its (overwhelming) presence, transforms the space, blurring the bench-marks. The scale of the place becomes difficult to grasp. The intervention is seen as a series of spatial devices provoking disorder, disruption of the senses, a reaction which changes the perception and feeling. Geometric abstraction is enhanced by the lighting, which makes this negative space into an immaterial space.

Show-room in Champs-Elysées, image courtesy Pascal Grasso Architectures

+ Project credits / data

Program: Designing a duplex showroom
Location: 34, Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris 8e, France
Architect: Pascal Grasso Architectures | http://www.pascalgrasso.com/
Client: Stella K
Completion: 2011
Photographer: Nicolas Dorval-Bory
Assistants: Damien Descamps – Juliano Bottari
General Contractor: Bane-Déco
Carpenter: Art et confort

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Pascal Grasso | Photo by Nicolas Dorval-Bory